No Arabic abstract
Starting from a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-like model inferred from first-principles simulations, we show that the metal-insulator transition in In/Si(111) is a first-order grand canonical Peierls transition in which the substrate acts as an electron reservoir for the wires. This model explains naturally the existence of a metastable metallic phase over a wide temperature range below the critical temperature and the sensitivity of the transition to doping. Raman scattering experiments corroborate the softening of the two Peierls deformation modes close to the transition.
We present a generic grand-canonical theory for the Peierls transition in atomic wires deposited on semiconducting substrates such as In/Si(111) using a mean-field solution of the one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. We show that this simple low-energy effective model for atomic wires can explain naturally the occurrence of a first-order Peierls transition between a uniform metallic phase at high-temperature and a dimerized insulating phase at low temperature as well as the existence of a metastable uniform state below the critical temperature.
We analyse a picture of transport in which two large but finite charged electrodes discharge across a nanoscale junction. We identify a functional whose minimisation, within the space of all bound many-body wavefunctions, defines an instantaneous steady state. We also discuss factors that favour the onset of steady-state conduction in such systems, make a connection with the notion of entropy, and suggest a novel source of steady-state noise. Finally, we prove that the true many-body total current in this closed system is given exactly by the one-electron total current, obtained from time-dependent density-functional theory.
We demonstrate the injection of pure valley-orbit currents in multi-valley semiconductors and present the theory of this effect. We studied photo-induced transport in $n$-doped (111)-oriented silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors at room temperature. By shining circularly polarized light on exact oriented structures with six equivalent valleys, non-zero electron fluxes within each valley are generated, which compensate each other and do not yield a net electric current. By disturbing the balance between the valley fluxes, in this work by applying linearly polarized radiation as well as by introducing a nonequivalence of the valleys by disorientation, we approve that the pure valley currents can be converted into a measurable electric current.
The metal-insulator transition observed in the In/Si(111)-4x1 reconstruction is studied by means of ab initio calculations of a simplified model of the surface. Different surface bands are identified and classified according to their origin and their response to several structural distortions. We support the, recently proposed [New J. of Phys. 7 (2005) 100], combination of a shear and a Peierls distortions as the origin of the metal-insulator transition. Our results also seem to favor an electronic driving force for the transition.
We analyze the strain state of GaN nanowire ensembles by x-ray diffraction. The nanowires are grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a Si(111) substrate in a self-organized manner. On a macroscopic scale, the nanowires are found to be free of strain. However, coalescence of the nanowires results in micro-strain with a magnitude from +-0.015% to +-0.03%.This micro-strain contributes to the linewidth observed in low-temperature photoluminescence spectra.