Table of contents

Ultrathin van der Waals (vdW) magnets provide a possibility to access magnetic ordering in the two-dimensional (2D) limit, which are expected to be applied in the spintronic devices. Raman spectroscopy is a powerful characterization method to investigate the spin-related properties in 2D vdW magnets, including magnon and spin–lattice interaction, which are hardly accessible by other optical methods. In this paper, the recent progress of various magnetic properties in 2D vdW magnets studied by Raman spectroscopy is reviewed, including the magnetic transition, spin-wave, spin–lattice interaction, symmetry tuning induced by spin ordering, and nonreciprocal magneto-phonon Raman scattering.

Magnetic two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdWs) materials and their heterostructures attract increasing attentionin the spintronics community due to their various degrees of freedom such as spin, charge, and energy valley, which maystimulate potential applications in the field of low-power and high-speed spintronic devices in the future. This reviewbegins with introducing the long-range magnetic order in 2D vdWs materials and the recent progress of tunning their properties by electrostatic doping and stress. Next, the proximity-effect, current-induced magnetization switching, and the related spintronic devices (such as magnetic tunnel junctions and spin valves) based on magnetic 2D vdWs materials are presented. Finally, the development trend of magnetic 2D vdWs materials is discussed. This review provides comprehensive understandings for the development of novel spintronic applications based on magnetic 2D vdWs materials.

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting tin disulfide (SnS₂) has been widely used for optoelectronic applications. To functionalize SnS₂ for extending its application, we investigate the stability, electronic and magnetic properties of substitutional doping by high throughput first-principles calculations. There are a lot of elements that can be doped in monolayer SnS₂. Nonmetal in group A can introduce p-type and n-type carriers, while most metals in group A can only lead to p-type doping. Not only 3d, but also 4d and 5d transition metals in groups VB to VIIIB9 can introduce magnetism in SnS₂, which is potentially applicable for spintronics. This study provides a comprehensive view of functionalization of SnS₂ by substitutional doping, which will guide further experimental realization.

Two-dimensional ferromagnetic van der Waals (2D vdW) heterostructures have opened new avenues for creating artificial materials with unprecedented electrical and optical functions beyond the reach of isolated 2D atomic layered materials, and for manipulating spin degree of freedom at the limit of few atomic layers, which empower next-generation spintronic and memory devices. However, to date, the electronic properties of 2D ferromagnetic heterostructures still remain elusive. Here, we report an unambiguous magnetoresistance behavior in CrI₃/graphene heterostructures, with a maximum magnetoresistance ratio of 2.8%. The magnetoresistance increases with increasing magnetic field, which leads to decreasing carrier densities through Lorentz force, and decreases with the increase of the bias voltage. This work highlights the feasibilities of applying two-dimensional ferromagnetic vdW heterostructures in spintronic and memory devices.

Chirality is ubiquitous in natural world. Although with similar physical and chemical properties, chiral enantiomerscould play different roles in biochemical processes. Discrimination of chiral enantiomers is extremely important in biochemical, analytical chemistry, and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional chiroptical spectroscopic methods are disadvantageous at a limited detection sensitivity because of the weak signals of natural chiral molecules. Recently, superchiral fields were proposed to effectively enhance the interaction between light and molecules, allowing for ultrasensitive chiral detection. Intensive theoretical and experimental works have been devoted to generation of superchiral fields based on artificial nanostructures and their application in ultrasensitive chiral sensing. In this review, we present a survey on these works. We begin with the introduction of chiral properties of electromagnetic fields. Then, the optical chirality enhancement and ultrasensitive chiral detection based on chiral and achiral nanostructures are discussed respectively. Finally, we give a short summary and a perspective for the future ultrasensitive chiral sensing.

Photonic-plasmonic hybrid microcavities, which possess a higher figure of merit Q/V (the ratio of quality factor to mode volume) than that of pure photonic microcavities or pure plasmonic nano-antennas, play key roles in enhancing light–matter interaction. In this review, we summarize the typical photonic-plasmonic hybrid microcavities, such as photonic crystal microcavities combined with plasmonic nano-antenna, whispering gallery mode microcavities combined with plasmonic nano-antenna, and Fabry–Perot microcavities with plasmonic nano-antenna. The physics and applications of each hybrid photonic-plasmonic system are illustrated. The recent developments of topological photonic crystal microcavities and topological hybrid nano-cavities are also introduced, which demonstrates that topological microcavities can provide a robust platform for the realization of nanophotonic devices. This review can bring comprehensive physical insights of the hybrid system, and reveal that the hybrid system is a good platform for realizing strong light–matter interaction.

We experimentally investigated the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from aligned O₂ and N₂ molecules in a linearly polarized laser field, and presented the dependence of the harmonic spectrum on the driving laser intensity and molecular alignment angle. The minimum position of HHG of O₂ varies with changing the laser intensity, which is caused by multi-orbital interference. However, the location of the observed minimum structure in N₂ harmonic spectrum remained unchanged upon changing the laser intensity. The mechanism of the spectral minimum for N₂ case is regarded as a Cooper-like minimum in HHG associated with the molecular electronic structure. This work indicates that harmonic spectroscopy can effectively uncover information about molecular structure and electron dynamics.

A theory of multiphoton photoemission is derived to explain the experimentally observed monotonic decrease with the wavelength in the electron yield of TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) by as large as four orders of magnitude. It is found that the fitting parameter corresponds to the energy position of Ti3d e_g and t_2g states, and the derived theory is a novel diagnostic of excited states in the conduction band, very importantly, applicable to individual NPs. The difference between four-photon slope NPs and three-photon slope NPs is attributed to the difference in defect density. The success of the theory in solving the puzzling result shows that thermal emission from high-lying levels may dominate over direct multiphoton ionization in solids when the photon number larger than four is required.

A surrounding electromagnetic environment can engineer spontaneous emissions from quantum emitters through the Purcell effect. For instance, a plasmonic antenna can efficiently confine an electromagnetic field and enhance the fluorescent process. In this study, we demonstrate that a photonic microcavity can modulate plasmon-enhanced fluorescence by engineering the local electromagnetic environment. Consequently, we constructed a plasmon-enhanced emitter (PE-emitter), which comprised a nanorod and a nanodiamond, using the nanomanipulation technique. Furthermore, we controlled a polystyrene sphere approaching the PE-emitter and investigated in situ the associated fluorescent spectrum and lifetime. The emission of PE-emitter can be enhanced resonantly at the photonic modes as compared to that within the free spectral range. The spectral shape modulated by photonic modes is independent of the separation between the PS sphere and PE-emitter. The band integral of the fluorescence decay rate can be enhanced or suppressed after the PS sphere couples to the PE-emitters, depending on the coupling strength between the plasmonic antenna and the photonic cavity. These findings can be utilized in sensing and imaging applications.

Recent years, huge progress of first-principles methods has been witnessed in calculating the quasiparticle band gaps, with many-body perturbation theory in the GW approximation being the standard choice, where G refers to Green's function and W denotes the dynamically screened Coulomb interaction. Numerically, the completeness of the basis set has been extensively discussed, but in practice far from carefully addressed. Beyond the static description of the nuclei, the electron–phonon interactions (EPIs) are ubiquitous, which cause zero-point renormalization (ZPR) of the band gaps. Therefore, to obtain high quality band gaps, one needs both accurate quasiparticle energies and accurate treatments of EPIs. In this article, we review methods on this. The completeness of the basis set is analyzed in the framework of linearized augmented plane waves, by adding high-energy local orbitals (HLOs). The electron–phonon matrix elements and self-energy are discussed, followed by the temperature dependence of the band gaps in both perturbative and non-perturbative methods. Applications of such an analysis on bulk wurtzite BeO and monolayer honeycomb BeO are given. Adding HLOs widens their GW₀ band gaps by ∼ 0.4 eV while ZPR narrows them by similar amount. These influences cancel each other, which explains the fortuitous agreement between experiment and theory when the basis set is incomplete and the EPIs are absent. The phonon-induced renormalization, a term often neglected in calculations of the band gaps, is also emphasized by its large magnitude.

Motivated by the fact that Weyl fermions can emerge in a three-dimensional topological insulator on breaking either time-reversal or inversion symmetries, we propose that a topological quantum phase transition to a Weyl semimetal phase occurs under the off-resonant circularly polarized light, in a three-dimensional topological insulator, when the intensity of the incident light exceeds a critical value. The circularly polarized light effectively generates a Zeeman exchange field and a renormalized Dirac mass, which are highly controllable. The phase transition can be exactly characterized by the first Chern number. A tunable anomalous Hall conductivity emerges, which is fully determined by the location of the Weyl nodes in momentum space, even in the doping regime. Our predictions are experimentally realizable through pump-probe angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and raise a new way for realizing Weyl semimetals and quantum anomalous Hall effects.

We report experimental observations performed using a net anomalous dispersion Er-doped fiber ring laser without polarization-selective elements, highlighting the domain-wall solitary pulses generated under the incoherent polarization coupling. By adjusting the pump power and the polarization state appropriately, bright and dark solitons can stably co-exist in the cavity, both centered at 1562.16 nm with a 3-dB spectral width of ∼ 0.15 nm and a repetition rate of 3.83 MHz. Moreover, the 0.8 mm long thulium-doped fiber (TDF) facilitated the mode-locking and self-starting of the laser. This is the first demonstration of a laser being used to generate bright and dark solitons synchronously while using TDF as the saturable absorber (SA). Except possessing the all-fiber structure, the laser exhibits good stability, which may have a significant influence on improvement of the pulse-laser design, and may broaden practical applications in optical sensing, optical communication, and soliton multiplexed systems.

Brownian motors and self-phoretic microswimmers are two typical micromotors, for which thermal fluctuations play different roles. Brownian motors utilize thermal noise to acquire unidirectional motion, while thermal fluctuations randomize the self-propulsion of self-phoretic microswimmers. Here we perform mesoscale simulations to study a composite micromotor composed of a self-thermophoretic Janus particle under a time-modulated external ratchet potential. The composite motor exhibits a unidirectional transport, whose direction can be reversed by tuning the modulation frequency of the external potential. The maximum transport capability is close to the superposition of the drift speed of the pure Brownian motor and the self-propelling speed of the pure self-thermophoretic particle. Moreover, the hydrodynamic effect influences the orientation of the Janus particle in the ratched potential, hence also the performance of the composite motor. Our work thus provides an enlightening attempt to actively exploit inevitable thermal fluctuations in the implementation of the self-phoretic microswimmers.

Bulk group IB transition-metal chalcogenides have been widely explored due to their applications in thermoelectrics. However, a layered two-dimensional form of these materials has been rarely reported. Here, we realize semiconducting Cu₂Se by direct selenization of Cu(111). Scanning tunneling microcopy measurements combined with first-principles calculations allow us to determine the structural and electronic properties of the obtained structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data reveal chemical composition of the sample, which is Cu₂Se. The observed moiré pattern indicates a lattice mismatch between Cu₂Se and the underlying Cu(111)-$\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}$ surface. Differential conductivity obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy demonstrates that the synthesized Cu₂Se exhibits a band gap of 0.78 eV. Furthermore, the calculated density of states and band structure demonstrate that the isolated Cu₂Se is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap of ∼ 0.8 eV, which agrees quite well with the experimental results. Our study provides a simple pathway varying toward the synthesis of novel layered 2D transition chalcogenides materials.

We study the possibility to realize a Majorana zero mode that is robust and may be easily manipulated for braiding in quantum computing in the ground state of the Kitaev model in this work. To achieve this we first apply a uniform [111] magnetic field to the gapless Kitaev model and turn the Kitaev model to an effective p + ip topological superconductor of spinons. We then study possible vortex binding in such system to a topologically trivial spot in the ground state. We consider two cases in the system: one is a vacancy and the other is a fully polarized spin. We show that in both cases, the system binds a vortex with the defect and a robust Majorana zero mode in the ground state at a weak uniform [111] magnetic field. The distribution and asymptotic behavior of these Majorana zero modes are studied. The Majorana zero modes in both cases decay exponentially in space, and are robust against local perturbations and other Majorana zero modes far away, which makes them promising candidates for braiding in topological quantum computing.

A new frustrated triangular lattice antiferromagnet Na₂BaNi(PO₄)₂ was synthesized by high temperature flux method. The two-dimensional triangular lattice is formed by the Ni²⁺ ions with S = 1. Its magnetism is highly anisotropic with the Weiss constants θ_CW = –6.615 K (H ⊥ c) and –43.979 K (H ∥ c). However, no magnetic ordering is present down to 0.3 K, reflecting strong geometric spin frustration. Our heat capacity measurements show substantial residual magnetic entropy existing below 0.3 K at zero field, implying the presence of low energy spin excitations. These results indicate that Na₂BaNi(PO₄)₂ is a potential spin liquid candidate with spin-1.

Optical fiber temperature sensors have been widely employed in enormous areas ranging from electric power industry, medical treatment, ocean dynamics to aerospace. Recently, graphene optical fiber temperature sensors attract tremendous attention for their merits of simple structure and direct power detecting ability. However, these sensors based on transfer techniques still have limitations in the relatively low sensitivity or distortion of the transmission characteristics, due to the unsuitable Fermi level of graphene and the destruction of fiber structure, respectively. Here, we propose a tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber (Gr-PCF) with the non-destructive integration of graphene into the holes of PCF. This hybrid structure promises the intact fiber structure and transmission mode, which efficiently enhances the temperature detection ability of graphene. From our simulation, we find that the temperature sensitivity can be electrically tuned over four orders of magnitude and achieve up to ∼ 3.34 × 10⁻³ dB/(cm⋅°C) when the graphene Fermi level is ∼ 35 meV higher than half the incident photon energy. Additionally, this sensitivity can be further improved by ∼ 10 times through optimizing the PCF structure (such as the fiber hole diameter) to enhance the light–matter interaction. Our results provide a new way for the design of the highly sensitive temperature sensors and broaden applications in all-fiber optoelectronic devices.

In blue quantum dot light emitting diodes (QLEDs), electron injection is insufficient, which would degrade device efficiency and stability. Herein, we employ chlorine passivated ZnO nanoparticles as electron transport layer to facilitate electron injection into QDs effectively. Moreover, it suppresses exciton quenching at the QD/ZnO interface by blocking charge transfer channel. As a result, the maximum external quantum efficiency of blue QLED was increased from 2.55% to 4.60%, and the operation lifetime of blue QLED was nearly 4 times longer than that of the control device. Our work indicates that election injection plays an important role in blue QLED efficiency and stability.

The threading dislocations (TDs) in GaAs/Si epitaxial layers due to the lattice mismatch seriously degrade the performance of the lasers grown on silicon. The insertion of InAs quantum dots (QDs) acting as dislocation filters is a pretty good alternative to solving this problem. In this paper, a finite element method (FEM) is proposed to calculate the critical condition for InAs/GaAs QDs bending TDs into interfacial misfit dislocations (MDs). Making a comparison of elastic strain energy between the two isolated systems, a reasonable result is obtained. The effect of the cap layer thickness and the base width of QDs on TD bending are studied, and the results show that the bending area ratio of single QD (the bending area divided by the area of the QD base) is evidently affected by the two factors. Moreover, we present a method to evaluate the bending capability of single-layer QDs and multi-layer QDs. For the QD with 24-nm base width and 5-nm cap layer thickness, taking the QD density of 10¹¹ cm⁻² into account, the bending area ratio of single-layer QDs (the area of bending TD divided by the area of QD layer) is about 38.71%. With inserting five-layer InAs QDs, the TD density decreases by 91.35%. The results offer the guidelines for designing the QD dislocation filters and provide an important step towards realizing the photonic integration circuits on silicon.

The research of rogue waves is an advanced field which has important practical and theoretical significances in mathematics, physics, biological fluid mechanics, oceanography, etc. Using the reductive perturbation theory and long wave approximation, the equations governing the movement of blood vessel walls and the flow of blood are transformed into high-order nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations with variable coefficients. The third-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation is degenerated into a completely integrable Sasa–Satsuma equation (SSE) whose solutions can be used to approximately simulate the real rogue waves in the vessels. For the first time, we discuss the conditions for generating rogue waves in the blood vessels and effects of some physiological parameters on the rogue waves. Based on the traveling wave solutions of the fourth-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation, we analyze the effects of the higher order terms and the initial deformations of the blood vessel on the wave propagation and the displacement of the tube wall. Our results reveal that the amplitude of the rogue waves are proportional to the initial stretching ratio of the tube. The high-order nonlinear and dispersion terms lead to the distortion of the wave, while the initial deformation of the tube wall will influence the wave amplitude and wave steepness.

We study the Connes distance of quantum states of two-dimensional (2D) harmonic oscillators in phase space. Using the Hilbert–Schmidt operatorial formulation, we construct a boson Fock space and a quantum Hilbert space, and obtain the Dirac operator and a spectral triple corresponding to a four-dimensional (4D) quantum phase space. Based on the ball condition, we obtain some constraint relations about the optimal elements. We construct the corresponding optimal elements and then derive the Connes distance between two arbitrary Fock states of 2D quantum harmonic oscillators. We prove that these two-dimensional distances satisfy the Pythagoras theorem. These results are significant for the study of geometric structures of noncommutative spaces, and it can also help us to study the physical properties of quantum systems in some kinds of noncommutative spaces.

We fabricated a microfluidic chip with simple structure and good sealing performance, and studied the influence of the electric field on THz absorption intensity of liquid samples treated at different times by using THz time domain spectroscopy system. The tested liquids were deionised water and CuSO₄, CuCl₂, NaHCO₃, Na₂CO₃ and NaCl solutions. The transmission intensity of the THz wave increases as the standing time of the electrolyte solution in the electric field increases. The applied electric field alters the dipole moment of water molecules in the electrolyte solution, which affects the vibration and rotation of the whole water molecules, breaks the hydrogen bonds in the water, increases the number of single water molecules and leads to the enhancement of the THz transmission spectrum.

We study the Bose–Einstein condensation of parallel light in a two-dimensional nonlinear optical cavity, where the massive photons are converted into photon molecules (p-molecules). We extend the classical-field method to provide a description of the two-component system, and we also derive a coupled density equation which can be used to describe the conversion relation between photons and p-molecules. Furthermore, we obtain the chemical potential of the system, and we also find that the system can transform from the mixed photon and p-molecule condensate phase into a pure p-molecule condensate phase. Additionally, we investigate the collective excitation of the system. We also discuss the problem how the spontaneous decay of an atom is influenced by both the phase transition and collective excitation of the coupling system.

Capacity of dense coding via correlated noisy channel is greater than that via uncorrelated noisy channel. It is shown that the weak measurement and reversal measurement need to further improve their quantum dense coding capacity in correlated amplitude damping channel, but this improvement is very small in correlated phase damping channel and correlated depolarizing channel.

Reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI-QKD) can allow a quantum key distribution system to obtain the ideal key rate and transmission distance without reference system calibration, which has attracted much attention. Here, we propose an RFI-QKD protocol based on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) considering finite-key analysis and crosstalk. The finite-key bound for RFI-QKD with decoy states is derived under the crosstalk of WDM. The resulting secret key rate of RFI-QKD, which is more rigorous, is obtained. Simulation results reveal that the secret key rate of RFI-QKD based on WDM is affected by the multiplexing channel number, as well as crosstalk between adjacent channels.

We study the property of magnetopolaron in a parabolic quantum dot under the Rashba spin–orbit interaction (RSOI) by adopting an unitary transformation of Lee–Low–Pines type and the variational method of Pekar type with and without considering the temperature. The temporal spatial distribution of the probability density and the relationships of the oscillating period with the RSOI constant, confinement constant, electron–phonon coupling strength, phonon wave vector and temperature are discussed. The results show that the probability density of the magnetopolaron in the superposition of the ground and first excited state takes periodic oscillation (T₀/period) in the presence or absence of temperature. Because of the RSOI, the oscillating period is divided into different branches. Also, the results indicate that the oscillating period increases (decreases) when the RSOI constant, electron-phonon coupling strength and phonon wave vector (the confinement constant) increase in a proper temperature, and the temperature plays a significant role in determining the properties of the polaron.

We have developed an electronic hardware system for the control and readout of multi-superconducting qubit devices. The hardware system is based on the design ideas of good scalability, high synchronization and low latency. The system, housed inside a VPX-6U chassis, includes multiple arbitrary-waveform generator (AWG) channels, analog-digital-converter (ADC) channels as well as direct current source channels. The system can be used for the control and readout of up to twelve superconducting transmon qubits in one chassis, and control and readout of more and more qubit can be carried out by interconnecting the chassis. By using field programmable gate array (FPGA) processors, the system incorporates three features that are specifically useful for superconducting qubit research. Firstly, qubit signals can be processed using the on-board FPGA after being acquired by ADCs, significantly reducing data processing time and data amount for storage and transmission. Secondly, different output modes, such as direct output and sequential output modes, of AWG can be implemented with pre-encoded FPGA. Thirdly, with data acquisition ADCs and controlAWGs jointly controlled by the same FPGA, the feedback latency can be reduced, and in ourtest a 178.4 ns latency time is realized. This is very useful for future quantum feedback experiments. Finally, we demonstrate the functionality of the system by applying the system to the control and readout of a 10 qubit superconducting quantum processor.

Using coupled Gross–Pitaevksii (GP) equations, we simulate the output of one-dimensional pulsed atom laser in space station. We get two atom laser pulses propagating in opposite directions with one pulsed RF coupling. Compared with atom laser under gravity, the laser pulse in microgravity shows much slower moving speed, which is suitable to be used for long-term investigations. We also simulate the output flux at different coupling strengths.

The supersymmetric properties of a charged planar Dirac oscillator coupling to a uniform perpendicular magnetic field are studied. We find that there is an N = 2 supersymmetric structure in both commutative and noncommutative cases. We construct the generators of the supersymmetric algebras explicitly and show that the generators of the supersymmetric algebras can be mapped onto ones which only contain the left or right-handed chiral phonons by unitary transformations.

The open quantum system can be described by either a Lindblad master equation or a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian (NHH). However, these two descriptions usually have different exceptional points (EPs), associated with the degeneracies in the open quantum system. Here, considering a dissipative quantum Rabi model, we study the spectral features of EPs in these two descriptions and explore their connections. We find that, although the EPs in these two descriptions are usually different, the EPs of NHH will be consistent with the EPs of master equation in the weak coupling regime. Further, we find that the quantum Fisher information (QFI), which measures the statistical distance between quantum states, can be used as a signature for the appearance of EPs. Our study may give a theoretical guidance for exploring the properties of EPs in open quantum systems.

We investigate the dynamics of entanglement through negativity and witness operators in a system of four non-interacting qubits driven by a classical phase noisy laser characterized by a classical random external field (CREF). The qubits are initially prepared in the GHZ-type and W-type states and interact with the CREF in two different qubit-field configurations, namely, common environment and independent environments in which the cases of equal and different field phase probabilities are distinguished. We find that entanglement exhibits different decaying behavior, depending on the input states of the qubits, the qubit-field coupling configuration, and field phase probabilities. On the one hand, we demonstrate that the coupling of the qubits in a common environment is an alternative and more efficient strategy to completely shield the system from the detrimental impacts of the decoherence process induced by a CREF, independent of the input state and the field phase probabilities considered. Also, we show that GHZ-type states have strong dynamics under CREF as compared to W-type states. On the other hand, we demonstrate that in the model investigated the system robustness's can be greatly improved by increasing the number of qubits constituting the system.

In order to understand our previous numerical finding that steady-state entanglement along the instability boundary remains unchanged in a three-mode optomechanical system [Phys. Rev. A101 023838 (2020)], we investigate in detail the boundary entanglement in a simpler two-mode optomechanical system. Studies show that both the mechanism to generate entanglement and the parameter dependence of boundary entanglement are quite similar in these two models. Therefore, the two-mode system has captured the main features in the three-mode system. With the help of analytical calculations and discussing in a much bigger parameter interval, we find that the unchanging behavior previously discovered is actually an extremely slow changing behavior of the boundary entanglement function, and most importantly, this nearly invariant boundary entanglement is a general phenomenon via parametric down conversion process in the weak dissipation regime. This is by itself interesting as threshold quantum signatures in optomechanical phonon lasers, or may have potential value in related applications based on boundary quantum properties.

The ground state properties of the rotating Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with SU(3) spin–orbit coupling (SOC) in a two-dimensional harmonic trap are studied. The results show that the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems present three half-skyrmion chains at an angle of 120° to each other along the coupling directions. With the enhancement of isotropic SU(3) SOC strength, the position of the three chains remains unchanged, in which the number of half-skyrmions increases gradually. With the increase of rotation frequency and atomic density–density interaction, the number of half-skyrmions on the three chains and in the regions between two chains increases gradually. The relationships of the total number of half-skyrmions on the three chains with the increase of SU(3) SOC strength, rotation frequency and atomic density–density interaction are also given. In addition, changing the anisotropic SU(3) SOC strength can regulate the number and morphology of the half-skyrmion chains.

We study the effect of waveguide thickness variations on the frequency spectrum of spontaneous parametric down-conversion in the periodically-poled lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguide. We analyze several variation models and our simulation results show that thickness variations in several nanometers can induce distinct effects on the central peak of the spectrum, such as narrowing, broadening, and splitting. We also prove that the effects of positive and negative variations can be canceled and thus lead to a variation-robust feature and an ultra-broad bandwidth. Our study may promote the development of on-chip photon sources in the LNOI platform, as well as opensup a way to engineer photon frequency state.

Based on the two-dimensional (2D) tan-sin-cos-coupling (2D-TSCC), a new image protection method is designed, this method includes steganography and encryption. First, a 2D-TSCC system is designed. The 2D-TSCC has a large parameter space in a hyperchaotic state. The chaotic trajectory fills the entire window. The chaotic sequence generated by the 2D-TSCC has a good pseudorandomness, so it can be used in steganography and encryption. Then, the amount of information contained in each bit of the cover image is analyzed, and the three bits which carry the least amount of information are selected. The secret image is hidden in these three bits base on the 2D-TSCC. Finally, the carrier image is scrambled and diffused by the 2D-TSCC. The ciphertext is generated in this way. Send the ciphertext to the recipient through channel transmission, and the recipient obtains the secret image by decrypting twice.

By introducing a discrete memristor and periodic sinusoidal functions, a two-dimensional map with coexisting chaos and hyperchaos is constructed. Various coexisting chaotic and hyperchaotic attractors under different Lyapunov exponents are firstly found in this discrete map, along with which other regimes of coexistence such as coexisting chaos, quasi-periodic oscillation, and discrete periodic points are also captured. The hyperchaotic attractors can be flexibly controlled to be unipolar or bipolar by newly embedded constants meanwhile the amplitude can also be controlled in combination with those coexisting attractors. Based on the nonlinear auto-regressive model with exogenous inputs (NARX) for neural network, the dynamics of the memristive map is well predicted, which provides a potential passage in artificial intelligence-based applications.

Autonomous Boolean networks (ABNs) have been successfully applied to the generation of random number due to their complex nonlinear dynamics and convenient on-chip integration. Most of the ABNs used for random number generators show a symmetric topology, despite their oscillations dependent on the inconsistency of time delays along links. To address this issue, we suggest an asymmetrical autonomous Boolean network (aABN) and show numerically that it provides large amplitude oscillations by using equal time delays along links and the same logical gates. Experimental results show that the chaotic features of aABN are comparable to those of symmetric ABNs despite their being made of fewer nodes. Finally, we put forward a random number generator based on aABN and show that it generates the random numbers passing the NIST test suite at 100 Mbits/s. The unpredictability of the random numbers is analyzed by restarting the random number generator repeatedly. The aABN may replace symmetrical ABNs in many applications using fewer nodes and, in turn, reducing power consumption.

Hyperfine structures and the field effects of IBr molecule in its rovibronic ground state are theoretically studied by diagonalizing the effective Hamiltonian matrix. Perturbations of high-J levels up to 4 are taken into account when studying the hyperfine sub-levels of the J = 0 level, and thus, an 80 × 80 matrix is constructed and solved. Some of the experimentally absent molecular constants are computed using Dalton program. Our results will be helpful in the experimental investigation of manipulation and further cooling of cold IBr molecules.

We report the study on the complete three-body Coulomb explosion (CE) of N₂O^q+ (q = 5, 6) induced by 56-keV/u Ne⁸⁺ ion collision with N₂O gaseous molecule. Six CE channels for N₂O⁵⁺ and seven for N₂O⁶⁺ are identified by measuring three ionic fragments and the charge-changed projectile in quadruple coincidence. Correspondingly the kinetic energy release (KER) and momentum correlation angle (MCA) distributions of three ionic fragments for each of the CE channels are also deduced. Numerical computation is presented to reconstruct the geometric structure of N₂O^q+ prior to dissociation based on the measured KER and MCA. The N–N and N–O bond lengths and the N–N–O bond angles of N₂O^q+ for each of the channels are determined.

Molecular dynamics simulation of a sympathetically-cooled ¹¹³Cd⁺ ion crystal system is achieved. Moreover, the relationship between ions' axial temperature and different electric parameters, including radio frequency voltage and end-cap voltage is depicted. Under stable trapping condition, optimum radio frequency voltage, corresponding to minimum temperature and the highest cooling efficiency, is obtained. The temperature is positively correlated with end-cap voltage. The relationship is also confirmed by a sympathetically-cooled ¹¹³Cd⁺ microwave clock. The pseudo-potential model is used to illustrate the relationship and influence mechanism. A reasonable index, indicating ions' temperature, is proposed to quickly estimate the relative ions' temperature. The investigation is helpful for ion crystal investigation, such as spatial configuration manipulation, sympathetic cooling efficiency enhancement, and temporal evolution.

The broadband metamaterial perfect absorber has been extensively studied due to its excellent characteristics and promising application prospect. In this work a solar broadband metamaterial perfect absorber is proposed based on the structure of the germanium (Ge) cone array and the indium arsenide (InAs) dielectric film on the gold (Au) substrate. The results show that the absorption covers the whole ultraviolet-visible and near-infrared range. For the case of A > 99%, the absorption bandwidth reaches up to 1230 nm with a wavelength range varied from 200 nm to 1430 nm. The proposed absorber is able to absorb more than 98.7% of the solar energy in a solar spectrum from 200 nm to 3000 nm. The electromagnetic dipole resonance and the high-order modes of the Ge cone couple strongly to the incident optical field, which introduces a strong coupling with the solar radiation and produces an ultra-broadband absorption. The absorption spectrum can be feasibly manipulated via tuning the structural parameters, and the polarization insensitivity performance is particularly excellent. The proposed absorber can possess wide applications in active photoelectric effects, thermion modulators, and photoelectric detectors.

We report the generation of a crossed, focused, optical vortex beam by using a pair of hybrid holograms, which combine the vortex phase and lens phase onto a spatial light modulator. We study the intensity distributions of the vortex beam in free propagation space, and the relationship of its dark spot size with the incident Gaussian beam's waist, the lens's focal length, and its orbital angular momentum. Our results show that the crossed, focused, vortex beam's dark spot size can be as small as 16.3 μm and adjustable by the quantum number of the orbital angular momentum, and can be used to increase the density of trapped molecules. Furthermore, we calculate the optical potential of the blue-detuned, crossed vortex beam for MgF molecules. It is applicable to cool and trap neutral molecules by intensity-gradient-induced Sisyphus cooling, as the intensity gradient of such vortex beam is extremely high near the focal point.

A novel organized multipulse pattern and its birth dynamics under strong optomechanical effect in microfiber-assisted ultrafast fiber laser are investigated in this work. The background pulses are observed to obviously exhibit selectively amplifying self-organized process of evolving into quasi-stable equidistant clusters. The radio frequency spectrum of the multipulse pattern displays a harmonic mode-locking-like behavior with a repetition rate of 2.0138 GHz, corresponding to the frequency of torsional-radial (TR_2m) acoustic mode in microfiber. The results show the evidence of optomechanical effect in dominating the birth dynamics and pattern of multipulse.

We develop a hybrid scheme of cross phase modulation based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and active Raman gain (ARG) in a multi-level atomic medium. The cross phase modulation, with low loss and without noise, is demonstrated in a room-temperature ⁸⁵Rb vapor. We show that a π radian nonlinear Kerr phase shift of the signal light relative to a reference light is observed when the signal light is modulated by the phase control field with the low light intensity. We also show that the linear and the third-order absorption can be eliminated via the Raman gain, and the phase noise of the signal light can be ignored when the phase control light is applied in this hybrid scheme.

Cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) has attracted plenty of attention for potential nonlinear photonic applications due to its superior third-order nonlinear optical property such as two-photon absorption. In this paper, we investigated the two-photon excitation induced carrier dynamics of a Cu₂O thin film prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering, using the femtosecond transient absorption experiments. Biexponential dynamics including an ultrafast carrier scattering (< 1 ps) followed by a carrier recombination (> 50 ps) were observed. The time constant of carrier scattering under two-photon excitation is larger than that under one-photon excitation, due to the different transition selection rules and smaller absorption coefficient of the two-photon excitation.

High-order harmonics and attosecond pulse generation with coherent wake emission are theoretically investigated for the effect of pulse duration and carrier envelope phase (CEP) of few-cycle laser pulse. We find that short pulse duration will cause the negative chirp for the high harmonics. When the laser pulse is shortened to a few cycles, the influence of the laser CEP on the chirp of the harmonics will also become more prominent.

The effects of inner nanowire radius, shell thickness, the dielectric functions of middle layer and surrounding medium on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of gold-dielectric-silver nanotube are studied based on the quasi-staticapproximation. Theoretical calculation results show that LSPR of gold-dielectric-silver nanotube and LSPR numbers can bewell optimized by adjusting its geometrical parameters. The longer wavelength of $|{\omega }_{-}^{-}\rangle$ mode takes place a distinct red-shift with increasing the inner nanowire radius and the thickness of middle dielectric layer,while a blue-shift with increasing outer nanotube thickness. The physical mechanisms are explained based on the plasmon hybridization theory, induced charges and phase retardation. In addition, the effects of middle dielectric function and surrounding medium on LSPR, and the local electric field factor are also reported. Our study provides the potential appications of gold-dielectric-silver nanotube in biological tissues, sensor and related regions.

A biological sensing structure with a high-order mode (${{\rm{E}}}_{21}^{y}$) is designed, which is composed of a suspended racetrack micro-resonator (SRTMR) and a microfluidic channel. The mode characteristics, coupling properties, and sensing performances are simulated by using the finite element method (FEM). To analyze the mode confinement property, the confinement factors in the core and cladding of the suspended waveguide for the ${{\rm{E}}}_{11}^{x}$, ${{\rm{E}}}_{11}^{y}$, and ${{\rm{E}}}_{21}^{y}$ are calculated. The simulation results show that the refractive index (RI) sensitivity of the proposed sensing structure can be improved by using the high-order mode (${{\rm{E}}}_{21}^{y}$). The RI sensitivity for the ${{\rm{E}}}_{21}^{y}$ mode is ∼ 201 nm/RIU, which is twice to thrice higher than those for the ${{\rm{E}}}_{11}^{x}$ mode and the ${{\rm{E}}}_{11}^{y}$ mode. Considering a commercial spectrometer, the proposed sensing structure based on the SRTMR achieves a limit of detection (LOD) of ∼ 4.7 × 10⁻⁶ RIU. Combined with the microfluidic channel, the SRTMR can possess wide applications in the clinical diagnostic assays and biochemical detections.

Accelerating beams have been the subject of extensive research in the last few decades because of their self-acceleration and diffraction-free propagation over several Rayleigh lengths. Here, we investigate the propagation dynamics of a Fresnel diffraction beam using the nonlocal nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NNLSE). When a nonlocal nonlinearity is introduced into the linear Schrödinger equation without invoking an external potential, the evolution behaviors of incident Fresnel diffraction beams are modulated regularly, and certain novel phenomena are observed. We show through numerical calculations, under varying degrees of nonlocality, that nonlocality significantly affects the evolution of Fresnel diffraction beams. Further, we briefly discuss the two-dimensional case as the equivalent of the product of two one-dimensional cases. At a critical point, the Airy-like intensity profile oscillates between the first and third quadrants, and the process repeats during propagation to yield an unusual oscillation. Our results are expected to contribute to the understanding of NNLSE and nonlinear optics.

An ultra-longer fiber cantilever taper for simultaneous measurement of the temperature and relative humidity (RH) with high sensitivities was proposed. The structure was fabricated by using the simple and cost-effective method only including fiber cleaving, splicing, and tapering. The length of the cantilever taper is about 1.5 mm. The dip A and dip B were measured simultaneously, owing to the ultra-long length and super-fine size, the temperature sensitivities of the dip A and dip B reached as high as 127.3 pm/°C and 0 pm/°C between 25 °C and 50 °C, and the RH sensitivities are –31.2 pm/% RH and –29.2 pm/% RH with a broad RH interval ranging from 20% RH to 70% RH. Besides, the proposed structure showed good linearity in the sensing process and small temperature crosstalk. It will be found in wide applications in environmental monitoring, food processing, and industries.

The determination of band offsets is crucial in the optimization of Ga₂O₃-based devices, since the band alignment types could determine the operations of devices due to the restriction of carrier transport across the heterogeneous interfaces. In this work, the band offsets of the Ga₂O₃/FTO heterojunction are studied using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) based on Kraut's method, which suggests a staggered type-II alignment with a conduction band offset (Δ E_C) of 1.66 eV and a valence band offset (Δ E_V) of –2.41 eV. Furthermore, the electronic properties of the Ga₂O₃/FTO heterostructure are also measured, both in the dark and under ultraviolet (UV) illuminated conditions (254 nm UV light). Overall, this work can provide meaningful guidance for the design and construction of oxide hetero-structured devices based on wide-bandgap semiconducting Ga₂O₃.

This study proposes a bi-layer windmill-shaped metamaterial that consists of resonators, with similar shapes, on both sides of a dielectric substrate. In this study, the second layer is rotated clockwise around the substrate normal at 90° and thereafter flipped in the first layer. Due to the introduction of a windmill-like shape, the resonant structures result in new resonant modes and thus can achieve multi-band high-efficiency cross-polarization conversions and asymmetric transmissions (ATs) for a linearly polarized incident plane wave with a maximum asymmetric parameter of 0.72. Depending on the geometric parameters of our windmill-shaped structures, the AT effect scan be flexibly modulated in a broad multi-band from 160 THz to 400 THz, which has not been reported in previous studies. These outstanding AT effects provide potential applications in optical diodes, polarization control switches, and other nano-devices.

The phonon dispersion relations of crystalline solids play an important role in determining the mechanical and thermal properties of materials. The phonon dispersion relation, as well as the vibrational density of states, is also often used as an indicator of variation of lattice thermal conductivity with the external stress, defects, etc. In this study, a simple and fast tool is proposed to acquire the phonon dispersion relation of crystalline solids based on the LAMMPS package. The theoretical details for the calculation of the phonon dispersion relation are derived mathematically and the computational flow chart is present. The tool is first used to calculate the phonon dispersion relation of graphene with two atoms in the unit cell. Then, the phonon dispersions corresponding to several potentials or force fields, which are commonly used in the LAMMPS package to modeling the graphene, are obtained to compare with that from the DFT calculation. They are further extended to evaluate the accuracy of the used potentials before the molecular dynamics simulation. The tool is also used to calculate the phonon dispersion relation of superlattice structures that contains more than one hundred of atoms in the unit cell, which predicts the phonon band gaps along the cross-plane direction. Since the phonon dispersion relation plays an important role in the physical properties of condensed matter, the proposed tool for the calculation of the phonon dispersion relation is of great significance for predicting and explaining the mechanical and thermal properties of crystalline solids.

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) technology has become important application of microfluidic technology to manipulate particles. By using a local modulating electric field to control the combination of electroosmotic microvortices and DEP, our group proposed a device using a direct current (DC) electric field to achieve continuous particle separation. In this paper, the influence of the Joule heating effect on the continuous separation of particles is analyzed. Results show that the Joule heating effect is caused by the local electric field, and the Joule heating effect caused by adjusting the modulating voltage is more significant than that by driving voltage. Moreover, a non-uniform temperature distribution exists in the channel due to the Joule heating effect, and the temperature is the highest at the midpoint of the modulating electrodes. The channel flux can be enhanced, and the enhancement of both the channel flux and temperature is more obvious for a stronger Joule heating effect. In addition, the ability of the vortices to trap particles is enhanced since a larger DEP force is exerted on the particles with the Joule heating effect; and the ability of the vortex to capture particles is stronger with a stronger Joule heating effect. The separation efficiency can also be increased because perfect separation is achieved at a higher channel flux. Parameter optimization of the separation device, such as the convective heat transfer coefficient of the channel wall, the length of modulating electrode, and the width of the channel, is performed.

We present the first simulation results of a multi-shell target ignition driven by Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum radiation pulse. The radiation pulse is produced with a special Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum configuration, where the hohlraum is composed of a single metal liner, a low-Z plastic foam, and a high-Z metallic foam. The implosion dynamics of a hohlraum and a multi-shell target are investigated separately by the one-dimensional code MULTI-IFE. When the peak drive current is 50 MA, simulations suggest that an x-ray pulse with nearly constant radiation temperature (∼ 310 eV) and a duration about 9 ns can be obtained. A small multi-shell target with a radius of 1.35 mm driven by this radiation pulse is able to achieve volumetric ignition with an energy gain (G) about 6.19, where G is the ratio of the yield to the absorbed radiation. Through this research, we better understand the effects of non-uniformities and hydrodynamics instabilities in Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum.

An efficient scheme for generating ultrabright γ-rays from the interaction of an intense laser pulse with a near-critical-density plasma is studied by using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation including quantum electrodynamic effects. We investigate the effects of target shape on γ-ray generation efficiency using three configurations of the solid foils attached behind the near-critical-density plasma: a flat foil without a channel (target 1), a flat foil with a channel (target 2), and a convex foil with a channel (target 3). When an intense laser propagates in a near-critical-density plasma, a large number of electrons are trapped and accelerated to GeV energy, and emit γ-rays via nonlinear betatron oscillation in the first stage. In the second stage, the accelerated electrons collide with the laser pulse reflected from the foil and emit high-energy, high-density γ-rays via nonlinear Compton scattering. The simulation results show that compared with the other two targets, target 3 affords better focusing of the laser field and electrons, which decreases the divergence angle of γ-photons. Consequently, denser and brighter γ-rays are emitted when target 3 is used. Specifically, a dense γ-ray pulse with a peak brightness of 4.6 × 10²⁶ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW (at 100 MeV) and 1.8 × 10²³ photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW (at 2 GeV) are obtained at a laser intensity of 8.5 × 10²² W/cm² when the plasma density is equal to the critical plasma density n_c. In addition, for target 3, the effects of plasma channel length, foil curvature radius, laser polarization, and laser intensity on the γ-ray emission are discussed, and optimal values based on a series of simulations are proposed.

Plasma density and temperature can be diagnosed by x-ray line emission measurement with crystal, and bent crystals such as von Hamos and Hall structures are proposed to improve the diffraction brightness. In this study, a straightforward solution for the focusing schemes of flat and bent crystals is provided. Simulations ith XOP code are performed to validate the analytical model, and good agreements are achieved. The von Hamos or multi-cone crystal can lead to several hundred times intensity enhancements for a 200 upmu mplasma source. This model benefits the applications of the bent crystals.

Cobalt-silicon based carbon composites (Co–Si/C) have established a noteworthy consideration in recent years as a replacement for conventional materials in the automotive and aerospace industries. To achieve the composite, a reactive melt infiltration process (RMI) is used, in which a melt impregnates a porous preform by capillary force. This method promises a high-volume fraction of reinforcement and can be steered in such a way to get the good "near-net" shaped components. A mathematical model is developed using reaction-formed Co–Si alloy/C composite as a prototype system for this process. The wetting behavior and contact angle are discussed; surface tension and viscosity are calculated by Wang's and Egry's equations, respectively. Pore radii of 5 μm and 10 μm are set as a reference on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. The graphs are plotted using the model, to study some aspects of the infiltration dynamics. This highlights the possible connections among the various processes. In this attempt, the Co–Si (62.5 at.% silicon) alloy's maximum infiltration at 5 μm and 10 μm radii are found as 0.05668 m at 125 s and 0.22674 m at 250 s, respectively.

A new structural parameter of amorphous alloys called atomic bond proportion was proposed, and a topological algorithm for the structural parameter was proven feasible in the previous work. In the present study, a correction factor, λ, is introduced to optimize the algorithm and dramatically improve the calculation accuracy of the atomic bond proportion. The correction factor represents the ability of heterogeneous atoms to combine with one another to form the metallic bonds and it is associated with the uniformity of the master alloy, mixing enthalpy, cooling rate during preparation, and annealing time. The correction factor provides a novel pathway for researching the structures of the amorphous alloys.

The dislocation slip behaviors in GaN bulk crystal are investigated by nanoindentation, the dislocation distribution patterns formed around an impress are observed by cathodoluminescence (CL) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscope (TEM). Dislocation loops, vacancy luminescence, and cross-slips show hexagonal symmetry around the 〈11-20〉 and 〈1-100〉 direction on c-plane. It is found that the slip planes of dislocation in GaN crystal are dominated in {0001} basal plane and {10-11} pyramid plane. According to the dislocation intersection theory, we come up with the dislocation formation process and the related mechanisms are discussed.

Since it was proposed, memtransistors have been a leading candidate with powerful capabilities in the field of neural morphological networks. A memtransistor is an emerging structure combining the concepts of a memristor and a field-effect transistor with low-dimensional materials, so that both optical excitation and electrical stimuli can be used to modulate the memristive characteristics, which make it a promising multi-terminal hybrid device for synaptic structures. In this paper, a single CdS nanowire memtransistor has been constructed by the micromechanical exfoliation and alignment lithography methods. It is found that the CdS memtransistor has good non-volatile bipolar memristive characteristics, and the corresponding switching ratio is as high as 10⁶ in the dark. While under illumination, the behavior of the CdS memtransistor is similar to that of a transistor or a memristor depending on the incident wavelengths, and the memristive switching ratio varies in the range of 10 to 10⁵ with the increase of the incident wavelength in the visible light range. In addition, the optical power is also found to affect the memristive characteristics of the device. All of these can be attributed to the modulation of the potential barrier by abundant surface states of nanowires and the illumination influences on the carrier concentrations in nanowires.

Laser-accelerated ion beams (LIBs) have been increasingly applied in the field of material irradiation in recent years due to the unique properties of ultra-short beam duration, extremely high beam current, etc. Here we explore an application of using laser-accelerated ion beams to prepare graphene. The pulsed LIBs produced a great instantaneous beam current and thermal effect on the SiC samples with a shooting frequency of 1 Hz. In the experiment, we controlled the deposition dose by adjusting the number of shootings and the irradiating current by adjusting the distance between the sample and the ion source. During annealing at 1100 °C, we found that the 190 shots ion beams allowed more carbon atoms to self-assemble into graphene than the 10 shots case. By comparing with the controlled experiment based on ion beams from a traditional ion accelerator, we found that the laser-accelerated ion beams could cause greater damage in a very short time. Significant thermal effect was induced when the irradiation distance was reduced to less than 1 cm, which could make partial SiC self-annealing to prepare graphene dots directly. The special effects of LIBs indicate their vital role to change the structure of the irradiation sample.

Molecular dynamic analysis was performed on pure and doped (by Re, Ru, Co or W) Ni at 300 K using the embedded-atom-method (EAM) potentials to understand the crack formation of the doped Ni matrix in the (010)[001] orientation. When Ni was doped with Re, Ru, and W, the matrix demonstrated increased lattice trapping limits and, as a result, improved the mechanical properties. Consequently, this prevented the bond breakage at the crack tips and promoted crack healing. The average atomic and surface energy values increased when Re, Ru, and W were added. Analysis of these energy increase helpedus to understand the influence these elements had on the lattice trapping limits. The fracture strength of the Ni matrixat 300 K increased because of the formation of the stronger Ni–Re, Ni–Ru, and Ni–W bonds. At the same time, doping the Ni matrix with Co did not demonstrate any strengthening effects because of the formation of Co–Ni bonds, which are weaker than the Ni–Ni bonds. Out of all dopants tested in this work, Ni doping with W showed the best results.

The III–V alloys and doping to tune the bandgap for solar cells and other optoelectronic devices has remained a hot topic of research for the last few decades. In the present article, the bandgap tuning and its influence on optical properties of In_1–xGa_xN/P, where (x = 0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0) alloys are comprehensively analyzed by density functional theory based on full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method (FP-LAPW) and modified Becke and Johnson potentials (TB-mBJ). The direct bandgaps turn from 0.7 eV to 3.44 eV, and 1.41 eV to 2.32 eV for In_1–xGa_xN/P alloys, which increases their potentials for optoelectronic devices. The optical properties are discussed such as dielectric constants, refraction, absorption, optical conductivity, and reflection. The light is polarized in the low energy region with minimum reflection. The absorption and optical conduction are maxima in the visible region, and they are shifted into the ultraviolet region by Ga doping. Moreover, static dielectric constant ε₁(0) is in line with the bandgap from Penn's model.

Bi doped n-type SnSe thin films were prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and their structure and thermoelectric properties were studied. The x-ray diffraction patterns, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and microscopic images show that the prepared SnSe thin films were composed of pure SnSe crystals. The Seebeck coefficients of the Bi-doped SnSe were greatly improved compared to that of undoped SnSe thin films. Specifically, Sn_0.99Bi_0.01Se thin film exhibited a Seebeck coefficient of –905.8 μV⋅K⁻¹ at 600 K, much higher than 285.5 μV⋅K⁻¹ of undoped SnSe thin film. Further first-principles calculations reveal that the enhancement of the thermoelectric properties can be explained mainly by the Fermi level lifting and the carrier pockets increasing near the Fermi level due to Bi doping in the SnSe samples. Our results suggest the potentials of the Bi-doped SnSe thin films in thermoelectric applications.

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides can normally exist in several structural polymorphs with distinct electrical, optical, and catalytic properties. Effective control of the relative stability and transformation of different phases in these materials is thus of critical importance for applications. Using density functional theory calculations, we investigate the effects of low-work-function metal substrates including Ti, Zr, and Hf on the structural, electronic, and catalytic properties of monolayer MoS₂ and WS₂. The results indicate that such substrates not only convert the energetically stable structure from the 1H phase to the 1T'/1T phase, but also significantly reduce the kinetic barriers of the phase transformation. Furthermore, our calculations also indicate that the 1T' phase of MoS₂ with Zr or Hf substrate is a potential catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

The interaction of single water droplet impacting on immiscible liquid surface was focused with the temperature varying from 50 °C to 210 °C. The impact behavior is recorded with a high-speed camera running at 2000 frames per second. It is found that droplet diameter, oil temperature, and Weber number have important influences on impact behaviors. Three typical phenomena, including penetration, crater-jet, and crater-jet–secondary jet, were observed. Penetration only occurs when the Weber number is below 105. With Weber number increasing to 302, the jet begins to appear. Moreover, to gain deeper physical insight into the crater formation and jet formation, the energy of droplet impingement onto the liquid pool surface was estimated. The oil temperature has a significant effect on the energy conversion efficiency. High temperature is beneficial to improve energy conversion efficiency.

We preform a first-principles study of performance of 5 nm double-gated (DG) Schottky-barrier field effect transistors (SBFETs) based on two-dimensional SiC with monolayer or bilayer metallic 1T-phase MoS₂ contacts. Because of the wide bandgap of SiC, the corresponding DG SBFETs can weaken the short channel effect. The calculated transfer characteristics also meet the standard of the high performance transistor summarized by international technology road-map for semiconductors. Moreover, the bilayer metallic 1T-phase MoS₂ contacts in three stacking structures all can further raise the ON-state currents of DG SiC SBFETs in varying degrees. The above results are helpful and instructive for design of short channel transistors in the future.

The construction of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures by stacking different two-dimensional layered materials have been recognised as an effective strategy to obtain the desired properties. The 3N-doped graphdiyne (N-GY) has been successfully synthesized in the laboratory. It could be assembled into a supercapacitor and can be used for tensile energy storage. However, the flat band and wide forbidden bands could hinder its application of N-GY layer in optoelectronic and nanoelectronic devices. In order to extend the application of N-GY layer in electronic devices, MoS₂ was selected to construct an N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure due to its good electronic and optical properties. The N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure has an optical absorption range from the visible to ultraviolet with a absorption coefficient of 10⁵ cm⁻¹. The N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure exhibits a type-II band alignment allows the electron-hole to be located on N-GY and MoS₂ respectively, which can further reduce the electron-hole complexation to increase exciton lifetime. The power conversion efficiency of N-GY/MoS₂ heterostructure is up to 17.77%, indicating it is a promising candidate material for solar cells. In addition, the external electric field and biaxial strain could effectively tune the electronic structure. Our results provide a theoretical support for the design and application of N-GY/MoS₂ vdW heterostructures in semiconductor sensors and photovoltaic devices.

The first-principles calculations were used to explore the tunable electronic structure in DyNiO₃ (DNO) under the effects of the biaxial compressive and tensile strains. We explored how the biaxial strain tunes theorbital hybridization and influences the charge and orbital ordering states. We found that breathing mode and Jahn–Teller distortion play a primary role in charge ordering state and orbital ordering state, respectively. Additionally, the calculated results revealed that the biaxial strain has the ability to manipulate the phase competition between the two states. A phase transition point has been found under tensile train. If the biaxial train is larger than the point, the system favors orbital ordering state. If the strain is smaller than the point, the system is in charge ordering state favorably.

We investigate the electronic structure and magnetic properties of layered compound Sr₃Fe₂O₅ based on first-principles calculations in the framework of density functional theory with GGA+U method. Under high pressure, the ladder-type layered structure of Sr₃Fe₂O₅ is transformed into the infinite layered structure accompanied by a transition from G-type anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) insulator to ferromagnetic (FM) metal and a spin transition from S = 2 to S = 1. We reproduce these transformations in our calculations and give a clear physical interpretation.

As an ultrasensitive sensing technology, the application of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is one interesting topic of nano-optics, which has huge application prospectives in plenty of research fields. In recent years, the bottleneck in SERS application could be the fabrication of SERS substrate with excellent enhancement. In this work, a two-dimensional (2D) Ag nanorice film is fabricated by self-assembly method as a SERS substrate. The collected SERS spectra of various molecules on this 2D plasmonic film demonstrate quantitative detection could be performed on this SERS substrate. The experiment data also demonstrate this 2D plasmonic film consisted of anisotropic nanostructures has no obvious SERS polarization dependence. The simulated electric field distribution points out the SERS enhancement comes from the surface plasmon coupling between nanorices. And the SERS signals is dominated by molecules adsorbed at different regions of nanorice surface at various wavelengths, which could be a good near IR SERS substrate for bioanalysis. Our work not only enlarges the surface plasmon properties of metal nanostructure, but also exhibits the good application prospect in SERS related fields.

We report an abnormal phenomenon that the source-drain current (I_D) of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure devices decreases under visible light irradiation. When the incident light wavelength is 390 nm, the photon energy is less than the band gaps of GaN and AlGaN whereas it can causes an increase of I_D. Based on the UV light irradiation, a decrease of I_D can still be observed when turning on the visible light. We speculate that this abnormal phenomenon is related to the surface barrier height, the unionized donor-like surface states below the surface Fermi level and the ionized donor-like surface states above the surface Fermi level. For visible light, its photon energy is less than the surface barrier height of the AlGaN layer. The electrons bound in the donor-like surface states below the Fermi level are excited and trapped by the ionized donor-like surface states between the Fermi level and the conduction band of AlGaN. The electrons trapped in ionized donor-like surface states show a long relaxation time, and the newly ionized donor-like surface states below the surface Fermi level are filled with electrons from the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel at AlGaN/GaN interface, which causes the decrease of I_D. For the UV light, when its photon energy is larger than the surface barrier height of the AlGaN layer, electrons in the donor-like surface states below the Fermi level are excited to the conduction band and then drift into the 2DEG channel quickly, which cause the increase of I_D.

Alpha particle radiation detectors with planar double Schottky contacts (DSC) are directly fabricated on 5-μm-thick epitaxial semi-insulating (SI) GaN:Fe film with resistivity higher than 1 × 10⁸ Ω ⋅cm. Under 10 V bias, the detector exhibits a low dark current of less than 5.0 × 10⁻¹¹ A at room-temperature, which increases at higher temperatures. Linear behavior in the semi-log reverse current–voltage plot suggests that Poole–Frenkel emission is the dominant carrier leakage mechanism at high bias. Distinct double-peak characteristics are observed in the energy spectrum of alpha particles regardless of bias voltage. The energy resolution of the SI-GaN based detector is determined to be ∼ 8.6% at the deposited energy of 1.209 MeV with a charge collection efficiency of ∼ 81.7%. At a higher temperature of 90 °C, the measured full width at half maximum (FWHM) rises to 235 keV with no shift of energy peak position, which proves that the GaN detector has potential to work stably in high temperature environment. This study provides a possible route to fabricate the low cost GaN-based alpha particle detector with reasonable performance.

The successfully experimental fabrication of two-dimensional Te monolayer films [Phys. Rev. Lett.119 106101 (2017)] has promoted the researches on the group-VI monolayer materials. In this work, the electronic structures and topological properties of a group-VI binary compound of TeSe₂ monolayers are studied based on the density functional theory and Wannier function method. Three types of structures, namely, α-TeSe₂, β-TeSe₂, and γ-TeSe₂, are proposed for the TeSe₂ monolayer among which the α-TeSe₂ is found being the most stable. All the three structures are semiconductors with indirect band gaps. Very interestingly, the γ-TeSe₂ monolayer becomes a quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator with a global nontrivial energy gap of 0.14 eV when a 3.5% compressive strain is applied. The opening of the global band gap is understood by the competition between the decrease of the local band dispersion and the weakening of the interactions between the Se p_x, p_y orbitals and Te p_x, p_y orbitals during the process. Our work realizes topological states in the group-VI monolayers and promotes the potential applications of the materials in spintronics and quantum computations.

A magnetic field-controlled spin-current diode is theoretically proposed, which consists of a junction with an interacting quantum dot sandwiched between a pair of nonmagnetic electrodes. By applying a spin bias V_S across the junction, a pure spin current can be obtained in a certain gate voltage regime,regardless of whether the Coulomb repulsion energy exists. More interestingly, if we applied an external magnetic field on the quantum dot, we observed a clear asymmetry in the spectrum of spin current I_S as a function of spin bias, while the charge current always decays to zero in the Coulomb blockade regime. Such asymmetry in the current profile suggests a spin diode-like behavior with respect to the spin bias, while the net charge through the device is almost zero. Different from the traditional charge current diode, this design can change the polarity direction and rectifying ability by adjusting the external magnetic field, which is very convenient. This device scheme can be compatible with current technologies and has potential applications in spintronics or quantum processing.

For photon detection, superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) micro-calorimeters are excellent energy-resolving devices. In this study, we report our recent work in developing Ti-/Au-based TES. The Ti/Au TES devices were designed and implemented with a thickness ratio of 1:1 and different suspended structures using micromachining technology. The characteristics were evaluated and analyzed, including surface morphology, 3D deformation of suspended Ti/Au TES device structure, I–V characteristics, and low-temperature superconductivity. The results showed that the surface of Ti/Au has good homogeneity and the surface roughness of Ti/Au is significantly increased compared with the substrate. The structure of Ti/Au bilayer film significantly affects the deformation of suspended devices, but the deformation does not affect the I–V characteristics of the devices. For devices with the Ti/Au bilayer (150 – m × 150 μm) and beams (100 μ m × 25 μm), the transition temperature (T_c) is 253 mK with a width of 6 mK, and the value of the temperature sensitivity α is 95.1.

We construct an integrable quantum spin chain that includes the nearest-neighbor, next-nearest-neighbor, chiral three-spin couplings, Dzyloshinsky–Moriya interactions and unparallel boundary magnetic fields. Although the interactions in bulk materials are isotropic, the spins nearby the boundary fields are polarized, which induce the anisotropic exchanging interactions of the first and last bonds. The U(1) symmetry of the system is broken because of the off-diagonal boundary reflections. Using the off-diagonal Bethe ansatz, we obtain an exact solution to the system. The inhomogeneous T–Q relation and Bethe ansatz equations are given explicitly. We also calculate the ground state energy. The method given in this paper provides a general way to construct new integrable models with certain interesting interactions.

We investigate the ultrafast spin dynamics of an antiferromagnet in a ferromagnet/antiferromagnet heterostructure Fe/GdFeO₃ via an all-optical method. After laser irradiation, the terahertz spin precession is hard to be excited in a bare GdFeO₃ without spin reorientation phase but efficiently in Fe/GdFeO₃. Both quasi-ferromagnetic and impurity modes, as well as a phonon mode, are observed. We attribute it to the optical modification of interfacial exchange coupling between Fe and GdFeO₃. Moreover, the excitation efficiency of dynamics can be modified significantly via the pump laser influence. Our results elucidate that the interfacial exchange coupling is a feasible stimulation to efficiently excite terahertz spin dynamics in antiferromagnets. It will expand the exploration of terahertz spin dynamics for antiferromagnet-based opto-spintronic devices.

Two-dimensional multiferroics, which simultaneously possess ferroelectricity and magnetism in a single phase, are well-known to possess great potential applications in nanoscale memories and spintronics. On the basis of first-principles calculations, a CrNCl₂ monolayer is reported as an intrinsic multiferroic. The CrNCl₂ has an antiferromagnetic ground state, with a Néel temperature of about 88 K, and it exhibits an in-plane spontaneous polarization of 200 pC/m. The magnetic moments of CrNCl₂ mainly come from the d5_xy orbital of the Cr cation, but the plane of the d_xy orbital is perpendicular to the direction of the ferroelectric polarization, which hardly suppresses the occurrence of ferroelectricity. Therefore, the multiferroic exits in the CrNCl₂. In addition, like CrNCl₂, the CrNBr₂ is an intrinsic multiferroic with antiferromagnetic-ferroelectric ground state while CrNI₂ is an intrinsic multiferroic with ferromagnetic-ferroelectric ground state. These findings enrich the multiferroics in the two-dimensional system and enable a wide range of applications in nanoscale devices.

High-quality Fe-doped TiO₂ films are epitaxially grown on MgF₂ substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The x-ray diffraction and Raman spectra prove that they are of pure rutile phase. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) further demonstrates that the epitaxial relationship between rutile-phased TiO₂ and MgF₂ substrates is 110 TiO₂ ∥ 110 MgF₂. The room temperature ferromagnetism is detected by alternative gradient magnetometer. By increasing the ambient oxygen pressure, magnetization shows that it decreases monotonically while absorption edge shows a red shift. The transport property measurement demonstrates a strong correlation between magnetization and carrier concentration. The influence of ambient oxygen pressure on magnetization can be well explained by a modified bound magnetization polarization model.

Zn nano rods were produced on glass substrates using oblique angle deposition method at different deposition angles. For oxidation, the samples were placed in a furnace under oxygen flux. AFM and FESEM images were used to morphology analysis of the structures. The results showed that with increasing the angle of deposition, the grain size decreases and the porosity of the structures increases. XRD pattern and XPS depth profile analysis were used to crystallography and oxide thickness investigations, respectively. The XRD results confirmed oxide phase formation, and the XPS results analyzed the oxide layer thickness. The result showed that as the deposition angle of the nanorods increases, the thickness of the oxide layer increases. The reason for the increase in the thickness of the oxide layer with increasing deposition angle was investigated and attributed to the increase in the porosity of the thin films. The optical spectra of the structures for p polarized light at 10° incident light angle were obtained using single beam spectrophotometer in the 300 nm to 1000 nm wavelengths. The results showed that the formed structures although annealed in oxygen flux, tend to behave like metal. To calculate the optical constant of the structures, the reverse homogenization theory was used and the void fraction and complex refractive index of the structures were obtained. Finally, by calculating permittivity and optical conductivity of the structures, their changes with the deposition angle were investigated.

The equivalent medium theory of metamaterials provides a way to obtain their effective constitutive parameters. However, because of its non-reciprocity, the complexity of the electromagnetic coupling, and a metallic bottom layer, it has been challenging to retrieve them from a metamaterial absorber. In this paper, we propose a method without any approximation to obtain them, in which the non-reciprocity and the strong electromagnetic coupling are included. Compared with the three methods such as symmetric metamaterial method, asymmetric metamaterial method and metasurface method, our method can reveal the metamaterial absorber's electrical and magnetic resonance and show its electromagnetic coupling coefficients. To deal with a metamaterial absorber with a metallic bottom layer, four corners of the metallic bottom layer in the unit cell are removed, making it possible to retrieve the electromagnetic parameters. Surprisingly, these results show that the metamaterial absorber with a metallic bottom layer in our example operates in a negative refraction state at the half absorption frequencies, which helps further understand the absorbing mechanism of these metamaterial absorbers.

Thin films of millimeter-scale continuous monolayer WS₂ have been grown on SiO₂/Si substrate, followed by the deposition of β-In₂Se₃ crystals on monolayer WS₂ to prepare In₂Se₃/WS₂ van de Waals heterostructures by a two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. After the growth of In₂Se₃ at elevated temperatures, high densities of In₂Se₃/WS₂ heterostructure bubbles with monolayer to multilayer β-In₂Se₃ crystals atop are observed. Fluorescence of the resultant β-In₂Se₃/WS₂ heterostructure is greatly enhanced in intensity upon the formation of bubbles, which are evidenced by the Newton's rings in optical image owing to constructive and destructive interference. In photoluminescence (PL) mapping images of monolayer β-In₂Se₃/monolayer WS₂ heterobilayer bubble, significant oscillatory behavior of emission intensity is demonstrated due to constructive and destructive interference. However, oscillatory behaviors of peak position are also observed and come from a local heating effect induced by an excitation laser beam. The oscillatory mechanism of PL is further verified by changing the exterior pressure of bubbles placed in a home-made vacuum chamber. In addition, redshifted in peak position and broadening in peak width are observed due to strain effect during decreasing the exterior pressure of bubbles.

The effect of nitrogen flow and growth temperature on extension of GaN on Si substrate has been studied. By increasing the nitrogen flow whose outlet is located in the center of the MOCVD (metal–organic chemical vapor deposition) gas/particle screening flange and by increasing the growth temperature of HT-AlN and AlGaN buffer layers near the primary flat of the wafer, the GaN layer has extended more adequately on Si substrate. In the meantime, the surface morphology has been greatly improved. Both the AlN and GaN crystal quality uniformity has been improved. X-ray diffraction results showed that the GaN (0002) XRD FWHMs (full width at half maximum) decreased from 579 arcsec∼ 1655 arcsec to around 420 arcsec.

A new type of degradation phenomena featured with increased subthreshold swing and threshold voltage after negative gate bias stress (NBS) is observed for amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs), which can recover in a short time. After comparing with the degradation phenomena under negative bias illumination stress (NBIS), positive bias stress (PBS), and positive bias illumination stress (PBIS), degradation mechanisms under NBS is proposed to be the generation of singly charged oxygen vacancies (${V}_{{\rm{o}}}^{+}$) in addition to the commonly reported doubly charged oxygen vacancies (${V}_{{\rm{o}}}^{2+}$). Furthermore, the NBS degradation phenomena can only be observed when the transfer curves after NBS are measured from the negative gate bias to the positive gate bias direction due to the fast recovery of ${V}_{{\rm{o}}}^{+}$ under positive gate bias. The proposed degradation mechanisms are verified by TCAD simulation.

Hybrid halide perovskites have great potential for applications in optoelectronic devices. However, the typical ion migration in perovskite could lead to the non-repeatability of electrical measurement, instability of material, and degradation of device performance. The basic current–voltage behavior of perovskite materials is intricate due to the mixed electronic–ionic characteristic, which is still poorly understood in these semiconductors. Developing novel measurement schematic is a promising solution to obtain the intrinsic electrical performance without the interference of ion migration. Herein, we explore the pulse-voltage (PV) method on methylammonium lead tribromide single crystals to protect the device from the ion migration. A guideline is summarized through the analysis of measurement history and condition parameters. The influence of the ion migration on current–voltage measurement, such as repeatability and hysteresis loop, is under controlled. An application of the PV method is demonstrated on the activation energy of conductivity. The abruption of activation energy still exists near the phase transition temperature despite the ion migration is excluded by the PV method, introducing new physical insight on the current–voltage behavior of perovskite materials. The guideline on PV method will be beneficial for measuring halide perovskite materials and developing optoelectronic applications with new technique schematic.

Azo-based pillar[6]arene supramolecular organic frameworks are reported for CO₂ and N₂ adsorption and separation by density functional theory and grand canonical Monte–Carlo simulation. Azo-based pillar[6]arene provides suitable environment for CO₂ adsorption and selectivity. The adsorption and selectivity results show that introducing azo groups can effectively improve CO₂ adsorption and selectivity over N₂, and both CO₂ adsorption and CO₂ selectivity over N₂ follow the sequence pillar[6]arene_N4 > pillar[6]arene_N2 > pillar[6]arene. Pillar[6]arene_N4 exhibits CO₂ adsorption capacity of ∼ 1.36 mmol/g, and superior selectivity of CO₂ over N₂ of ∼ 116.75 with equal molar fraction at 1 bar (1 bar = 10⁵ Pa) and 298 K. Interaction analysis confirms that both the Coulomb and van der Waals interactions between CO₂ with pillar[6]arene frameworks are greater than that of N₂. The stronger affinity of CO₂ with pillar[6]arene_N4 than other structures and the larger isosteric heat differences between CO₂ and N₂ rendered pillar[6]arene_N4 to present the high CO₂ adsorption capacity and high CO₂ selectivity over N₂. Our results highlight the potential of azo-functionalization as an excellent means to improve pillar[6]arene for CO₂ capture and separation.

Pressure can reduce the distances among atoms, thereby modifying the overall optical characteristics of molecules. In this article, the excited state behavior of perylene is carefully observed under isotropic pressure and non-complexing condition. In a steady state, absorption peak shows red shift and spectral width are broadened with pressure increasing, which is ascribed to the π-electron delocalization between molecules. In a transient state, the transition dynamics presents a wavelike tendency with pressure increasing because the shift of self-tapping exciton state is contrary to that of Y-state with pressure increasing. The results conduce to understanding the influence of inter-molecule interaction on excited state behavior with inter-molecule distance decreasing, which contributes to studying the materials under extreme condition.

The different fluorescence behavior caused by the excited state proton transfer in 3-hydroxy-4-pyridylisoquinoline (2a) compound has been theoretically investigated. Our calculation results illustrate that the 2a monomer in tetrahydrofuran solvent would not occur proton transfer spontaneously, while the 2a complex in methanol (MeOH) solvent can undergo an asynchronous excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. The result was confirmed by analyzing the related structural parameters, infrared vibration spectrum and reduced density gradient isosurfaces. Moreover, the potential curves revealed that with the bridging of single MeOH molecular the energy barrier of ESIPT was modulated effectively. It was distinctly reduced to 4.80 kcal/mol in 2a-MeOH complex from 25.01 kcal/mol in 2a monomer. Accordingly, the ESIPT process induced a fluorochromic phenomenon with the assistant of proton-bridge. The elucidation of the mechanism of solvent discoloration will contribute to the design and synthesis of fluorogenic dyes as environment-sensitive probes.

Design and simulation results of a novel multifunctional electronic calibration kit based on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switches are presented in this paper. The short-open-load-through (SOLT) calibration states can be completed simultaneously by using the MEMS electronic calibration, and the electronic calibrator can be reused 10⁶ times. The simulation results show that this novel electronic calibration can be used in a frequency range of 0.1 GHz–20 GHz, the return loss is less than 0.18 dB and 0.035 dB in short-circuit and open-circuit states, respectively, and the insertion loss in through (thru) state is less than 0.27 dB. On the other hand, the size of this novel calibration kit is only 6 mm × 2.8 mm × 0.8 mm. Our results demonstrate that the calibrator with integrated radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) switches can not only provide reduced size, loss, and calibration cost compared with traditional calibration kit but also improves the calibration accuracy and efficiency. It has great potential applications in millimeter-wave measurement and testing technologies, such as device testing, vector network analyzers, and RF probe stations.

Unstable mechanical structure, low energy efficiency, and cooling requirements limit the application of conventional x-ray tubes based on filament as cathode in several academic areas. In this paper, we demonstrate a light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube using multialkali cathode as electron generator. The photocathode active area of the light controlled x-ray tube is 13.2 cm² (41 mm in diameter), which provides high photoelectron-emitting efficiency up to 0.288 mA/lm in 460-nm LED and 2.37-mA maximum tube current. Furthermore, the modulation ability from 1 kHz to 100 kHz of the x-ray tube is tested. The results suggest that the light-controlled pulsed x-ray tube has easy modulation and short x-ray pulse properties and is promising to be the next generation x-ray tube with wide applications in medical radiationtherapy as well as the calibration for detectors and scintillators.

The special any-polar resistive switching mode includes the coexistence and stable conversion between the unipolar and the bipolar resistive switching mode under the same compliance current. In the present work, the any-polar resistive switching mode is demonstrated when thin Ti intercalations are introduced into both sides of Pt/HfO₂/Pt RRAM device. The role of the Ti intercalations contributes to the fulfillment of the any-polar resistive switching working mechanism, which lies in the filament constructed by the oxygen vacancies and the effective storage of the oxygen ion at both sides of the electrode interface.

We propose a terahertz hybrid metamaterial composed of subwavelength metallic slits and graphene plasmonic ribbons for sensing application. This special design can cause the interaction between the plasmon resonances of the metallic slits and graphene ribbons, giving rise to a strong coupling effect and Rabi splitting. Intricate balancing in the strong coupling region can be perturbed by the carrier concentration of graphene, which is subject to the analyte on its surface. Thereby, the detection of analyte can be reflected as a frequency shift of resonance in terahertz transmission spectra. The result shows that this sensor can achieve a theoretical detection limit of 325 electrons or holes per square micrometer. Meanwhile, it also works well as a refractive index sensor with the frequency sensitivity of 485 GHz/RIU. Our results may contribute to design of ultra-micro terahertz sensors.

Signal transduction is an important and basic mechanism to cell life activities. The stochastic state transition of receptor induces the release of signaling molecular, which triggers the state transition of other receptors. It constructs a nonlinear sigaling network, and leads to robust switchlike properties which are critical to biological function. Network architectures and state transitions of receptor affect the performance of this biological network. In this work, we perform a study of nonlinear signaling on biological polymorphic network by analyzing network dynamics of the Ca²⁺-induced Ca²⁺ release (CICR) mechanism, where fast and slow processes are involved and the receptor has four conformational states. Three types of networks, Erdös–Rényi (ER) network, Watts–Strogatz (WS) network, and BaraBási–Albert (BA) network, are considered with different parameters. The dynamics of the biological networks exhibit different patterns at different time scales. At short time scale, the second open state is essential to reproduce the quasi-bistable regime, which emerges at a critical strength of connection for all three states involved in the fast processes and disappears at another critical point. The pattern at short time scale is not sensitive to the network architecture. At long time scale, only monostable regime is observed, and difference of network architectures affects the results more seriously. Our finding identifies features of nonlinear signaling networks with multistate that may underlie their biological function.

Noise and noise propagation are inevitable and play a constructive role in various biological processes. The stability of cell homeostasis is also a critical issue. In the unidirectional transition cascade of colon cells, stem cells (SCs) are the source. They differentiate into transit-amplifying cells (TACs), and TACs differentiate into fully differentiated cells (FDCs). Two differentiation processes are irreversible. The stability factor is introduced so that the noise propagation mechanism from the perspective of stability is studied according to the noise propagation formulas. It is found that the value of the stability factor corresponding to the minimum noise in FDCs may be the best choice to enable colon cells to maintain high stability and low noise of the cascade. Moreover, for the source cell, the total noise only includes intrinsic noise; for the downstream cell with self-proliferation capability, the total noise mainly depends on its intrinsic noise and transmitted noise from upstream cells, and its intrinsic noise is dominant. For the downstream cell without self-proliferation capability, the total noise is mainly determined by transmitted noises from upstream cells, and there is a minimum value. This work provides a new approach for studying the mechanism of noise propagation while considering the stability of cell homeostasis in biological systems.

Figures 2(a) and 2(b) in the original paper [Chin. Phys. B30 066701 (2021)] are replaced by the new ones.