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At least 109 records · Page 6

Simulations Supporting the Development of Northstar's Indirect Beam Parameters Monitoring System

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC is planning to produce the important medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), the parent of technetium-99m (Tc-99m), through photonuclear reactions in molybdenum-100 (Mo-100). In this approach, a target comprising multiple thin disks of enriched molybdenum metal is bombarded with a 40-MeV electron beam. Electrons impinged on the molybdenum target produce bremsstrahlung X-rays that cause the nuclear reaction. Because enriched Mo-100 is expensive, there is a desire to utilize as much beam power as possible to achieve maximum production yield and minimize the size of the target. This requirement leads to very high beam power density (and heat deposition in the target), which creates challenging requirements for the cooling of the target. The critical part of the target is the target window. It separates the high-pressure helium cooled target from the vacuum beamline and the subject of structural and thermal stress. The temperature of the target window is proportional to the energy density deposited by the beam, so it is critical to maintain the desired beam profile on the target window. The feasibility of indirectly monitoring the maximum energy density of the beam on the beam window through beam losses at the main collimator (Collimator) before the production target was verified. A model of the NorthStar beam transport line was constructed for this purpose using MAD-X and Tao/Bmad codes. Beam optics were computed for the standard operational scenario, followed by an investigation involving approximately 400 cases with parameter variations in the last tuning quadrupoles. This was done to assess the correlation between losses in the collimator and the peak energy density on the target. We developed a model to explore the potential application of Optical transition radiation (OTR) for controlling beam parameters in the NorthStar beam delivery system. This model was based on a generic formula derived from the fundamental solution of the inhomogeneous wave equation of the vector potential, and allowed us to consider various surfaces, even those with irregular or random features, using numerical integration. We applied the model to OTR generated by relativistic electrons impacting an Inconel® 718 beam window. We examined cases with different levels of the window’s surface roughness, ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 microns of root square mean (RMS) deviation. The results of the OTR simulations provided distributions of OTR photons that can be used to study the limitations of optical systems for controlling beam parameters.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Chiral terahertz wave emission from the Weyl semimetal TaAs

Weyl semimetals host chiral fermions with distinct chiralities and spin textures. Optical excitations involving those chiral fermions can induce exotic carrier responses, and in turn lead to novel optical phenomena. Here, we discover strong coherent terahertz emission from Weyl semimetal TaAs, which is demonstrated as a unique broadband source of the chiral terahertz wave. The polarization control of the THz emission is achieved by tuning photoexcitation of ultrafast photocurrents via the photogalvanic effect. In the near-infrared regime, the photon-energy dependent nonthermal current due to the predominant circular photogalvanic effect can be attributed to the radical change of the band velocities when the chiral Weyl fermions are excited during selective optical transitions between the tilted anisotropic Weyl cones and the massive bulk bands. Our findings provide a design concept for creating chiral photon sources using quantum materials and open up new opportunities for developing ultrafast opto-electronics using Weyl physics.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Room Temperature Lasing from Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Miniaturized near-infrared semiconductor lasers that are able to generate coherent light with low energy consumption have widespread applications in fields such as optical interconnects, neuromorphic computing, and deep-tissue optogenetics. With optical transitions at near-infrared wavelengths, diameter-tunable electronic structures, and superlative optoelectronic properties, semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are promising candidates for nanolaser applications. However, despite significant efforts in this direction and recent progress toward enhancing spontaneous emission from SWCNTs through Purcell effects, SWCNT-based excitonic lasers have not yet been demonstrated. Leveraging an optimized cavity-emitter integration scheme enabled by a self-assembly process, here we couple SWCNT emission to the whispering gallery modes supported by polymer microspheres, resulting in room temperature excitonic lasing with an average lasing threshold of 4.5 kW/cm 2 . The high photostability of SWCNTs allows stable lasing for prolonged duration with minimal degradation. Finally, this experimental realization of excitonic lasing from SWCNTs, combined with their versatile electronic and optical properties that can be further controlled by chemical modification, offers far-reaching opportunities for tunable near-infrared nanolasers that are applicable for optical signal processing, in vivo biosensing, and optoelectronic devices.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Photogalvanic Effects in Surface States of Topological Insulators under Perpendicular Magnetic Fields

We present a theoretical study of the nonlinear magneto-optical shift conductivity in the surface states of the prototypical topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$ under a perpendicular quantizing magnetic field. By describing the electronic states as Landau levels and using a perturbative approach, we derive the microscopic expression for the shift conductivity $\sigma^{(2);\alpha\beta\gamma}(-\omega,\omega)$, where $\alpha,\beta,\gamma=\pm$ stand for the circular polarization of light and $\omega$ is the light frequency; the spectra are further decomposed into contributions from the interband and intraband optical transitions, for which the selection rules are identified. Considering that the system possesses $C_3$ point group of symmetry, the nonzero components of the conductivity tensor are $\sigma^{(2);-++}=[\sigma^{(2);+--}]^\ast$. Therefore, a pure circularly polarized light generates zero shift current. In the clean limit, the conductivities are nonzero only for discrete photon energies because of the discrete Landau levels and energy conservation, and they become Lorentzian lineshapes with the inclusion of damping, which relaxes the condition of energy conservation. The dependence of the spectra on the damping parameters, the magnetic fields, and the chemical potentials is investigated in detail. Our results reveal that the shift current is highly tunable by the chemical potential and the magnetic field. Furthermore, these results underscore the potential of topological insulators for tunable, strong nonlinear magneto-optical applications.

Landau level↗

Entanglement of a nuclear spin qubit register in silicon photonics

Colour centres provide an optical interface to quantum registers based on electron and nuclear spin qubits in solids. The T centre in silicon is an emerging spin–photon interface that combines telecom O-band optical transitions and an electron spin in a scalable photonics platform. Here, in this study, we integrate T centres into single-mode photonic waveguides in a silicon-on-insulator platform. We demonstrate the initialization, coherent control and state read-out of a three-qubit register based on the electron spin of a T centre coupled to a hydrogen and a silicon nuclear spin. The spin register exhibits spin echo coherence times of 0.41(2) ms for the electron spin, 112(12) ms for the hydrogen nuclear spin and 67(7) ms for the silicon nuclear spin. We use nuclear–nuclear two-qubit gates to generate entanglement between the two nuclear spins with a fidelity of F = 0.77(3) and a coherence time of ${T}_{2}^{* }=2.60(8)$ ms. Our results show that a T centre in silicon photonics can realize a multi-qubit register with an optical interface for quantum communication.

Song, Hanbin [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborator↗

Design of High-Performance Lead-Free Quaternary Antiperovskites for Photovoltaics via Ion Type Inversion and Anion Ordering

The emergence of halide double perovskites significantly increases the compositional space for lead-free and air-stable photovoltaic absorbers compared to halide perovskites. Nevertheless, most halide double perovskites exhibit oversized band gaps (>1.9 eV) or dipole-forbidden optical transition, which are unfavorable for efficient single-junction solar cell applications. The current device performance of halide double perovskite is still inferior to that of lead-based halide perovskites, such as CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 (MAPbI 3 ). Here, by ion type inversion and anion ordering on perovskite lattice sites, two new classes of pnictogen-based quaternary antiperovskites with the formula of X 6 B 2 AA' and X 6 BB'A 2 are designed. Phase stability and tunable band gaps in these quaternary antiperovskites are demonstrated based on first-principles calculations. Further photovoltaic-functionality-directed screening of these materials leads to the discovery of 5 stable compounds (Ca 6 N 2 AsSb, Ca 6 N 2 PSb, Sr 6 N 2 AsSb, Sr 6 N 2 PSb, and Ca 6 NPSb 2 ) with suitable direct band gaps, small carrier effective masses and low exciton binding energies, and dipole-allowed strong optical absorption, which are favorable properties for a photovoltaic absorber material. The calculated theoretical maximum solar cell efficiencies based on these five compounds are all larger than 29%, comparable to or even higher than that of the MAPbI 3 based solar cell. Finally, our work reveals the huge potential of quaternary antiperovskites in the optoelectronic field and provides a new strategy to design lead-free and air-stable perovskite-based photovoltaic absorber materials.

three-dimensional electronic transport↗

Carbon complexes in highly C-doped GaN

We investigate the properties of heavily C-doped GaN grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy using both optical experiments and hybrid density functional theory calculations. Previous work has established that carbon acceptors (C N ) give rise to a yellow luminescence band near 2.2 eV along with a blue luminescence band near 2.9 eV. Photoluminescence measurements show the yellow band shifting as a function of carbon concentration, suggesting a change in the behavior of carbon species as carbon content increases. With hybrid density functional theory we calculate the electrical and optical behavior of carbon centers containing multiple carbon impurities, which may arise in heavily doped material. We compare the behavior of these complexes to the isolated centers, and find that the dicarbon donor-acceptor (C Ga –C N ) complex is a candidate to explain the shift in the yellow luminescence peak. Tricarbon complexes have high formation energies and modest binding energies, and also give rise to optical transitions that are inconsistent with the observed spectra. We also identify the split dicarbon interstitial on the gallium site as a low-energy species with a large binding energy that may act to compensate carbon acceptors. Here, local vibrational modes are calculated for carbon impurity centers, and we compare these results to recent experiments. Dicarbon and tricarbon complexes involving C Ga and C N exhibit modes that are only slightly higher than the isolated species, while carbon interstitials and related complexes give rise to vibrational modes much higher than C Ga and C N .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Hexagonal boron nitride: Epitaxial growth and device applications

As a newest family member of the III-nitrides, BN is considered amongst the remaining frontiers in wide energy bandgap semiconductors with potentials for technologically significant applications in deep UV (DUV) optoelectronics, solid-state neutron detectors, electron emitters, single photon emitters, switching/memory devices, and super-capacitors. It was shown that it is possible to produce h-BN epilayers with high hexagonal phase purity, UV transparency, and film stoichiometry by employing nitrogen-rich growth conditions. The quasi-2D nature of h-BN supports unusually strong optical transitions near the band edge and a large exciton binding energy on the order of 0.7 eV. Since the isotope of B-10 has a large capture cross-section for thermal neutrons, h-BN is an ideal material for the fabrication of solid-state neutron detectors for special nuclear materials detection, well and geothermal logging, and medical imaging applications. Freestanding B-10 enriched h-BN (h- 10 BN) epilayers with varying thicknesses up to 200 μm have been successfully synthesized by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) as of this writing. By utilizing the conductivity anisotropy nature of h-BN, 1 cm 2 lateral detectors fabricated from 100 μm thick h-10BN epilayers have demonstrated a detection efficiency of 59% for thermal neutrons, which is the highest on record among all solid-state neutron detectors as of today. It was noted that high growth temperatures, long growth times and the use of sapphire substrate tend to incorporate oxygen related impurities into h- 10 BN epilayers, which strongly impacted the carrier mobility-lifetime (μτ) products and charge collection efficiencies of h- 10 BN neutron detectors. As the h-BN material technology further develops, improved carrier mobilities and μτ products will allow the fabrication of h-BN devices with enhanced performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Boron Phosphide Films by Reactive Sputtering: Searching for a P‐Type Transparent Conductor

Abstract With an indirect band gap in the visible and a direct band gap at a much higher energy, boron phosphide (BP) holds promise as an unconventional p‐type transparent conductor. This work reports on reactive sputtering of amorphous BP films, their partial crystallization in a P‐containing annealing atmosphere, and extrinsic doping by C and Si. The highest hole concentration to date for p‐type BP (5 × 10 20 cm −3 ) is achieved using C doping under B‐rich conditions. Furthermore, bipolar doping is confirmed to be feasible in BP. An anneal temperature of at least 1000 °C is necessary for crystallization and dopant activation. Hole mobilities are low and indirect optical transitions are stronger than that predicted by theory. Low crystalline quality probably plays a role in both cases. High figures of merit for transparent conductors might be achievable in extrinsically doped BP films with improved crystalline quality.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Photophysics of Intrinsic Single‐Photon Emitters in Silicon Nitride at Low Temperatures

A robust process for fabricating intrinsic single-photon emitters in silicon nitride is recently established. These emitters show promise for quantum applications due to room-temperature operation and monolithic integration with technologically mature silicon nitride photonics platforms. Here, the fundamental photophysical properties of these emitters are probed through measurements of optical transition wavelengths, linewidths, and photon antibunching as a function of temperature from 4.2 to 300 K. Important insight into the potential for lifetime-limited linewidths is provided through measurements of inhomogeneous and temperature-dependent broadening of the zero-phonon lines. At 4.2 K, spectral diffusion is found to be the main broadening mechanism, while spectroscopy time series reveal zero-phonon lines with instrument-limited linewidths.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Spectrally-dependent positive and negative photo-plastic effects in CdZnTe and CdZnTeSe

We studied the Vickers microhardness HV0.025 of CdZnTe and CdZnTeSe samples upon illumination with quasi-monochromatic light with wavelengths ranging between 750 and 1540 nm. We observed that light with a wavelength close to or above the bandgap of the samples results in a positive photo-plastic effect (hardening), and light in the spectral range well below the band gap can lead both to positive or negative effects depending on the parameters of deep levels in the bandgap. We performed measurements of spectrally dependent photoconductivity and compared them with HV0.025. Based on the analysis, we propose a complex qualitative model explaining the spectral dependence of HV0.025 by the charging and neutralization of deep levels by optical transitions between the valence and conduction bands and between the bands and deep levels in the band gap. Tuning of parameters of deep levels could be used to control the sign and magnitude of the photo-plastic effect.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Correction to “Ruthenium Dye Excitations and Relaxations in Natural Sunlight”

An error in computing the optical rate coefficients for dye RuP was discovered in Table S4 of the Supporting Information Section S8 Model S? for this article, published in J. Phys. Chem. A, 2021, 125, 4365-4372, 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c02386. The optical rate coefficients include absorption, stimulated emission, and ground-state bleach associated with the ground state and the singlet and triplet excited states as well as for the excited-state absorption between the excited states and implicit higher-energy excited states. The optical rate coefficients for continuous solar irradiance were computed using eq 3 of the main text in which the product of the individual signal components and the solar spectrum are integrated and multiplied by the fundamental optical rate coefficient. We determined the incorrect signal components were used for RuP in the published Supporting Information Table S4. The corrected Table S4 column for RuP is presented with the reported values from the original paper in the corrected Supporting Information. New simulations have been performed using the corrected values, and the results were used to update Figures 5 and 6 and also Figure S9 in the corrected Supporting Information. The published conclusions are unchanged. The populations of RuP excited states, Figure 5, are only marginally smaller, which should be expected with minor changes to the optical rate coefficients. There is not a significant change in the results for the number of radiative and nonradiative interactions per dye per second (the optical transitions and nonradiative transitions increased, respectively, by approximately 2% and 10%, Figure 6A). The occurrence of excited-state absorption (ESA) and excited-state emission (ESE) events, Figure 6C, both decreased from the original simulation results by 20% and 33%. The most notable difference is exhibited in Figure 6B; the fraction of population moving from the lowest-energy singlet state (i.e., intersystem crossing or ultrafast nonradiative relaxation) and nonradiative relaxation from the triplet state have decreased from ~0.45 to ~0.4 and increased from ~0.35 to ~0.4, respectively..

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Signatures of Antisymmetric Vibrations in the Ultrafast Dynamics of Quadrupolar Dyes

Antisymmetric molecular vibrations are central to ultrafast, nonadiabatic photophysical and photochemical processes such as conical intersection dynamics, Herzberg–Teller couplings and, potentially, singlet fission. Direct spectroscopic identification of such vibrations is, however, challenging, since they are typically Raman inactive and affect optical transitions only weakly. Here, we report experimental signatures of vibronic couplings to a high-frequency antisymmetric vibration in the excited state dynamics of a quasi-quadrupolar molecule by ultrafast two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES). The early time, sub-50 fs 2DES maps reveal an asymmetric peak pattern with characteristic low-energy cross-peaks. We show that these peaks arise from stimulated emission transitions from an anharmonic, double-minimum excited state potential energy surface formed by vibronic coupling to a high-frequency antisymmetric mode. Simulations based on a phenomenological essential state model support the results. Our findings offer a new approach for identifying antisymmetric vibrations in ultrafast 2DES and track excited state wavepacket motion before relaxation washes out the spectra.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Photocatalytic Transfer Hydrogenation in Water: Insight into Mechanism and Catalyst Speciation

Organometallic catalysts with strong metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) optical transitions and reactive metal-hydride bonds provide opportunities for new excited-state reactivity. Toward this end, we have investigated photoinduced transfer hydrogenation reactions for a series of Cp*IrH complexes with functionalized bipyridyl ligands. Overcoming the baseline reactivity of this class of catalyst toward hydrogen evolution in aqueous media presents a major challenge for focusing this photochemical reactivity into desired transformations of more complex organic substrates. In this work, a photochemically induced aqueous ketone reduction catalyzed by [Cp*Ir(bpy)H][Cl] is reported and benchmarked to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). A detailed mechanistic study is conducted of the reduction of cyclohexanone with sodium formate delivering the reducing equivalent. Examining the kinetic profile of the cyclohexanone reduction revealed an unexpected induction period, suggesting a more complex underlying reaction mechanism where product selectivity was not simply a function of direct competition from a common excited-state reactive intermediate. The reaction kinetics were analyzed by variable time normalization analysis (VTNA), and the catalyst resting state was interrogated through operando light-emitting diode (LED) illumination H-1 NMR spectroscopy. Overall, these and other mechanistic studies provide insight into a photochemical reaction pathway to ketone reduction that is distinct from that previously reported for HER.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Photocarrier Dynamics in TlGaS 2 Nanoflakes and van der Waals Heterostructures with Hexagonal Boron Nitride and WS 2 Nanoflakes: Implications for Optoelectronic Applications

We present an experimental investigation on photocarrier dynamics in a TlGaS 2 bulk crystal and its heterostructures with hexagonal BN and WS 2 . The samples were obtained by mechanical exfoliation and dry transfer techniques. The photocarrier dynamics was monitored by a transient absorption technique. We observed a direct optical transition of about 555 nm in the TlGaS 2 crystal. By utilizing transient absorption of that transition, we obtained a hot-carrier energy relaxation time of less than 1 ps and a carrier lifetime of about 300 ps in TlGaS 2 at room temperature. In the hexagonal-BN-TlGaS 2 heterostructure, the photocarrier dynamics was similar to that in TlGaS 2 , indicating the type-I band alignment of this structure with both band extremes located in TlGaS 2 . In the monolayer WS 2 -TlGaS 2 heterostructure, we observed charge transfer from TlGaS 2 to WS 2 and an extended lifetime of the transferred carriers in WS 2 . Here, these results introduce TlGaS 2 as a promising layered material for developing two-dimensional van der Waals materials that can be combined with other two-dimensional materials for various optoelectronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Engineering Edge States of Graphene Nanoribbons for Narrow-Band Photoluminescence

Solid-state narrow-band light emitters are on-demand for quantum optoelectronics. Current approaches based on defect engineering in low-dimensional materials usually introduce a broad range of emission centers. Here, we report narrow-band light emission from covalent heterostructures fused to the edges of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) by controllable on-surface reactions from molecular precursors. Two types of heterojunction (HJ) states are realized by sequentially synthesizing GNRs and graphene nanodots (GNDs) and then coupling them together. HJs between armchair GNDs and armchair edges of the GNR are coherent and give rise to narrow-band photoluminescence. In contrast, HJs between the armchair GNDs and the zigzag ends of GNRs are defective and give rise to nonradiative states near the Fermi level. At low temperatures, sharp photoluminescence emissions with peak energy range from 2.03 to 2.08 eV and line widths of 2–5 meV are observed. Furthermore, the radiative HJ states are uniform, and the optical transition energy is controlled by the band gaps of GNRs and GNDs. As these HJs can be synthesized in a large quantity with atomic precision, this finding highlights a route to programmable and deterministic creation of quantum light emitters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Charge Delocalization and Vibronic Couplings in Quadrupolar Squaraine Dyes

Squaraines are prototypical quadrupolar charge-transfer chromophores that have recently attracted much attention as building blocks for solution-processed photovoltaics, fluorescent probes with large two-photon absorption cross sections, and aggregates with large circular dichroism. Their optical properties are often rationalized in terms of phenomenological essential state models, considering the coupling of two zwitterionic excited states to a neutral ground state. As a result, optical transitions to the lowest S 1 excited state are one-photon allowed, whereas the next higher S 2 state can only be accessed by two-photon transitions. A further implication of these models is a substantial reduction of vibronic coupling to the ubiquitous high-frequency vinyl-stretching modes of organic materials. Here, in this study, we combine time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy, two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy, and quantum-chemical simulations to test and rationalize these predictions for nonaggregated molecules. We find small Huang–Rhys factors below 0.01 for the high-frequency, 1500 cm –1 modes in particular, as well as a noticeable reduction for those of lower frequency modes in general for the electronic S 0 → S 1 transition. The two-photon allowed state S 2 is well separated energetically from S 1 and has weak vibronic signatures as well. Thus, the resulting pronounced concentration of the oscillator strength in a narrow region relevant to the lowest electronic transition makes squaraines and their aggregates exceptionally interesting for strong and ultrastrong coupling of excitons to localized light modes in external resonators with chiral properties that can largely be controlled by the molecular architecture.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Ultrafast photoinduced band splitting and carrier dynamics in chiral tellurium nanosheets

Trigonal tellurium (Te) is a chiral semiconductor that lacks both mirror and inversion symmetries, resulting in complex band structures with Weyl crossings and unique spin textures. Detailed time-resolved polarized reflectance spectroscopy is used to investigate its band structure and carrier dynamics. The polarized transient spectra reveal optical transitions between the uppermost spin-split H4 and H5 and the degenerate H6 valence bands (VB) and the lowest degenerate H6 conduction band (CB) as well as a higher energy transition at the Lpoint. Surprisingly, the degeneracy of the H6 CB (a proposed Weyl node) is lifted and the spin-split VB gap is reduced upon photoexcitation before relaxing to equilibrium as the carriers decay. Using ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we conclude that the dynamic band structure is caused by a photoinduced shear strain in the Te film that breaks the screw symmetry of the crystal. The band-edge anisotropy is also reflected in the hot carrier decay rate, which is a factor of two slower along the c-axis than perpendicular to it. The majority of photoexcited carriers near the band-edge are seen to recombine within 30 ps while higher lying transitions observed near 1.2 eV appear to have substantially longer lifetimes, potentially due to contributions of intervalley processes in the recombination rate. These new findings shed light on the strong correlation between photoinduced carriers and electronic structure in anisotropic crystals, which opens a potential pathway for designing novel Te-based devices that take advantage of the topological structures as well as strong spin-related properties.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗