Abstract: We investigate the effect of opening and closing pathways on the dynamics of electron wave packets in semiconductor quantum rings with different geometries. Our analysis is based on the time evolution of an electron wave packet, within the effective-mass approximation. We demonstrate that opening an extra channel in the quantum ring does not necessarily improve the electron transmission and, depending on the extra channel width, may even reduce it, either due to enhancement of quantum scattering or due to interference. In the latter case, transmission reduction can be controlled through the Aharonov-Bohm phase of the wave function, via an applied magnetic field. It is also shown that, closing one of the channels of the quantum ring, system improves the transmission probability under specific conditions, an effect which is a quantum analog of the Braess paradox.

Abstract: Quantum transport calculations are conducted using nonequilibrium Green's functional formalism to study the effect of halogenation on the electronic transport properties of aromatic S-(C6H5)(2)X and alkanethiolate S-(CH2)(11)X molecules (with X = H, F, Cl, Br, or I) sandwiched between gold electrodes. In terms of conductance, both molecules show the same dependence on the halogen terminal groups despite their different electronic nature. For example, fluorination results in a reduction of the current by almost an order of magnitude, whereas iodine substitution leads to larger current as compared to the reference system (i.e. hydrogen termination). Regarding the asymmetry in the current-voltage characteristics, halogenation reduces the rectification level for the aromatic molecule with the smallest asymmetry for iodine termination. However, in the case of alkanethiolate molecule, halogen substitution increases the current rectification except for fluorination. A physical explanation of these results is obtained from the analysis of the behavior of the density of states, transmission spectra and transmission eigenstates. These findings are of practical importance in exploring the potential of halogenation for creating functional molecular self-assemblies on metallic substrates.

Abstract: Wigner molecules formed at high magnetic fields in circular and elliptic quantum dots are studied by exact diagonalization (ED) and unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) methods with multicenter basis of displaced lowest Landau level wave functions. The broken symmetry states with semi-classical charge density constructed from superpositions of the ED solutions are compared to the UHF results. UHF overlooks the dependence of the few-electron wave functions on the actual relative positions of electrons localized in different charge puddles and partially compensates for this neglect by an exaggerated separation of charge islands which are more strongly localized than in the exact broken-symmetry states. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Transport properties of the 2DEG are studied in the presence of a normal magnetic field B and of a weak, two-dimensional periodic potential modulation. A tight-binding treatment has shown that each Landau level splits into several subbands with exponentially small gaps between them. Assuming the latter are closed due to disorder gives analytical wave functions and simplifies the evaluation of the magnetoresistance tensor p(muv) The relative phase of the oscillations in p(xx) and p(yy) depends on the modulation strengths and periods. For short periods less than or equal to 100 nm, in addition to the Weiss oscillations, the collisional contribution to the conductivity and the corresponding resistivity contribution show prominent peaks when one flux quantum h/e passes through an integral number of unit cells in good agreement with experiments. For periods 300-400 nm long used in early experiments, these peaks occur at fields 10-25 times smaller than those of the Weiss oscillations and are not resolved. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The multiband effective-mass model of cylindrical self-assembled quantum dots in a magnetic field normal to the layer of the quantum dots is presented. The strain distribution is computed by the valence force field method. The strain-dependent multiband Hamiltonian is modified into an axially symmetric form, which commutes with the total angular momentum F-2 = fh. where f denotes the total magnetic quantum number. The heavy hole and the light hole parts in the mixed hole state are resolved. It is found that the heavy hole component dominates in the ground states for both f = 1/2 and 3/2. The electronic structure exhibits numerous anticrossings between the hole levels. The Zeeman splitting between the +\f\ and -\f\ states is also computed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: We investigate the energy levels of the negatively and positively charged excitons (also called trions) in a 200 Angstrom wide GaAs quantum well in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. A comparison is made with the experimental results of Glasberg et al. (Phys. Rev. B. 59 (1999) R10 425) and of Yusa et al. (cond-mat/0103505). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: We study the effect of mechanical deformations on the elec- tronic properties of hexagonal flakes of bilayer graphene. The behavior of electrons induced by triaxial strain can be de- scribed by an effective pseudo-magnetic field which is homo- geneous in the center of the flake. We find that in-plane strain, applied to both layers equally, can break the layer symmetry leading to different behavior in the top and bottom layers of graphene. At low energy, just one of the layers feels
the pseudo-magnetic field: the zero-energy pseudo-Landau level is missing in the second layer, thus creating a gap be- tween the lowest non-zero levels. While the layer asymmetry is most significant at zero energy, interaction with the edges of the flake extends the effect to higher pseudo-Landau lev- els. The behavior of the top and bottom layers may be re- versed by rotating the triaxial strain by 60°.

Abstract: Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) thin films were produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and doped by the addition of phosphine to the gas mixture. The characterization of the films focused on probing the incorporation and distribution of the phosphorus (P) dopants. Electron microscopy evaluated the overall film morphology and revealed the interior structure of the nanosized grains. The homogeneous films with distinct diamond grains featured a notably low sp(2):sp(3)-ratio as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. High resolution spectroscopy methods demonstrated a homogeneous P-incorporation, both in-depth and in-plane. The P concentration in the films was determined to be in the order of 10(19) cm(-3) with a significant fraction integrated at substitutional donor sites. (C) 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Abstract: A calculation of the energy of a biexciton in a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wen is presented. We compare the results obtained using two different techniques. We discuss the dependence of the biexciton correlation energy and binding energy on the electron/hole mass ratio and on the well width. The structure of the biexciton is also investigated.