Abstract: Ultrathin superconductors of different materials are becoming a powerful platform to find mechanisms for enhancement of superconductivity, exploiting shape resonances in different superconducting properties. Here, we evaluate the superconducting gap and its spatial profile, the multiple gap components, and the chemical potential, of generic superconducting nanofilms, considering the pairing attraction and its energy scale as tunable parameters, from weak to strong coupling, at fixed electron density. Superconducting properties are evaluated at mean field level as a function of the thickness of the nanofilm, in order to characterize the shape resonances in the superconducting gap. We find that the most pronounced shape resonances are generated for weakly coupled superconductors, while approaching the strong coupling regime the shape resonances are rounded by a mixing of the subbands due to the large energy gaps extending over large energy scales. Finally, we find that the spatial profile, transverse to the nanofilm, of the superconducting gap acquires a flat behavior in the shape resonance region, indicating that a robust and uniform multigap superconducting state can arise at resonance.

Abstract: The effects of strain, induced by a Gaussian bump, on the magnetic field dependent transport properties of a graphene Hall bar are investigated. The numerical simulations are performed using both classical and quantum mechanical transport theory and we found that both approaches exhibit similar characteristic features. The effects of the Gaussian bump are manifested by a decrease of the bend resistance, RB, around zero-magnetic field and the occurrence of side-peaks in RB. These features are explained as a consequence of bump-assisted scattering of electrons towards different terminals of the Hall bar. Using these features we are able to give an estimate of the size of the bump. Additional oscillations in RB are found in the quantum description that are due to the population/depopulation of Landau levels. The bump has a minor influence on the Hall resistance even for very high values of the pseudo-magnetic field. When the bump is placed outside the center of the Hall bar valley polarized electrons can be collected in the leads.

Abstract: The idea of stacking multiple monolayers of different two-dimensional materials has become a global pursuit. In this work, a silicene armchair nanoribbon of width W and van der Waals-bonded to different transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) bilayer substrates MoX2 and WX2, where X = S, Se, Te is considered. The orbital resolved electronic structure and ballistic transport properties of these systems are simulated by employing van der Waals-corrected density functional theory and nonequilibrium Green's functions. We find that the lattice mismatch with the underlying substrate determines the electronic structure, correlated with the silicene buckling distortion and ultimately with the contact resistance of the two-terminal system. The smallest lattice mismatch, obtained with the MoTe2 substrate, results in the silicene ribbon properties coming close to those of a freestanding one. With the TMD bilayer acting as a dielectric layer, the electronic structure is tunable from a direct to an indirect semiconducting layer, and subsequently to a metallic electronic dispersion layer, with a moderate applied perpendicular electric field.

Abstract: The Bi3n+1Ti7Fe3n-3,O9n+11 materials are built of (001)(p) plane parallel perovskite blocks with a thickness of n (Ti,Fe)O-6 octahedra, separated by periodic translational interfaces. The interfaces are based on anatase-like chains of edge -sharing (Ti,Fe)O-6 octahedra. Together with the octahedra of the perovskite blocks, they create S-shaped tunnels stabilized by lone pair Bi3+ cations. In this work, the structure of the n = 4-6 Bi3n+1Ti7Fe3n-3,O9n+11 homologues is analyzed in detail using advanced transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The connectivity of the anatase-like chains to the perovskite blocks results in,a 3ap periodicity along the interfaces, so that they can be located either on top of each other or with shifts of +/- a(p) along [100](p). The ordered arrangement of the interfaces gives rise to orthorhombic Immm and monoclinic A2/m polymorphs with the unit cell parameters a = 3a(p), b = b(p), c = 2(n + 1)c(p) and a = 3a(p), b = b(p), c = 2(n + 1)c(p) – a(p), respectively. While the n = 3 compound is orthorhombic, the monoclinic modification is more favorable in higher homologues. The Bi3n+1Ti7Fe3n-3,O9n+11 structures demonstrate intricate patterns of atomic displacements in the perovskite blocks, which are supported by the stereochemical activity of the Bi3+ cations. These patterns are coupled to the cationic coordination of the oxygen atoms in the (Ti,Fe)O-2 layers at the border of the perovskite blocks. The coupling is strong in the 1/ = 3, 4 homologues, but gradually reduces with the increasing thickness of the perovskite blocks, so that, in the n = 6 compound, the dominant mode of atomic displacements is aligned along the interface planes. The displacements in the adjacent perovskite blocks tend to order antiparallel, resulting in an overall antipolar structure. The Bi3n+1Ti7Fe3n-3,O9n+11 materials demonstrate an unusual diversity of structure defects. The n = 4-6 homologues are robust antiferromagnets below T-N = 135, 220, and 295 K, respectively. They show a high dielectric constant that weakly increases with temperature and is relatively insensitive to the Ti/Fe ratio.

Abstract: The depth strain profile in silicon from the Si (001) substrate to the surface of a 2 nm thick Si/12 nm thick SiGe/bulk Si heterostructure has been determined by medium energy ion scattering (MEIS). It shows with sub-nanometer resolution and high strain sensitivity that the thin Si cap presents residual compressive strain caused by Ge diffusion coming from the fully strained SiGe layer underneath. The strain state of the SiGe buffer have been checked by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nano-beam electron diffraction (NBED) measurements.

Abstract: In order to improve the performance of todays nanoscaled semiconductor devices, characterization techniques that can provide information about the position and activity of dopant atoms and the strain fields are essential. Here we demonstrate that by using a modern transmission electron microscope it is possible to apply multiple techniques to advanced materials systems in order to provide information about the structure, fields, and composition with nanometer-scale resolution. Off-axis electron holography has been used to map the active dopant potentials in state-of-the-art semiconductor devices with 1 nm resolution. These dopant maps have been compared to electron energy loss spectroscopy maps that show the positions of the dopant atoms. The strain fields in the devices have been measured by both dark field electron holography and nanobeam electron diffraction.

Abstract: Although adult and embryonic stem cell-based therapy for central nervous system (CNS) injury is being developed worldwide, less attention is given to the immunological aspects of allogeneic cell implantation in the CNS. The latter is of major importance because, from a practical point of view, future stem cell-based therapy for CNS injury will likely be performed using well-characterised allogeneic stem cell populations. In this study, we aimed to further describe the immunological mechanism leading to rejection of allogeneic bone marrow-derived stromal cells (BM-SC) after implantation in murine CNS. For this, we first investigated the impact of autologous and allogeneic BM-SC on microglia activation in vitro. Although the results indicate that both autologous and allogeneic BM-SC do not activate microglia themselves in vitro, they also do not inhibit activation of microglia after exogenous stimuli in vitro. Next, we investigated the impact of allogeneic BM-SC on microglia activation in vivo. In contrast to the in vitro observations, microglia become highly activated in vivo after implantation of allogeneic BM-SC in the CNS of immune-competent mice. Moreover, our results suggest that microglia, rather than T-cells, are the major contributors to allograft rejection in the CNS.

Abstract: Ionic diffusion through the novel (AlxMg1-2xLix)Al2O4 spinel electrolyte is investigated using first-principles calculations, combined with the Kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm. We observe that the ionic diffusion increases with the lithium content x. Furthermore, the structural parameters, formation enthalpies and electronic structures of (AlxMg1-2xLix)Al2O4 are calculated for various stoichiometries. The overall results indicate the (AlxMg1-2xLix)Al2O4 stoichiometries x = 0.2...0.3 as most promising. The (AlxMg1-2xLix)Al2O4 electrolyte is a potential candidate for the all-spinel solid-state battery stack, with the material epitaxially grown between well-known spinel electrodes, such as LiyMn2O4 and Li4+3yTi5O12 (y = 0...1). Due to their identical crystal structure, a good electrolyte-electrode interface is expected.

Abstract: In order to minimize the dead volume in large cells for laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and improve the aerosol entrainment characteristics, the gas inlet nozzle has been set in rotation. This allowed a wider volume to be swept than with the traditional static inlet nozzle approach. Therefore, sensitivity combined with site-to-site repeatability was improved by a factor of two, together with minimization of aerosol loss within the cell and signal dispersion.

Abstract: Background Cell transplantation is likely to become an important therapeutic tool for the treatment of various traumatic and ischemic injuries to the central nervous system (CNS). However, in many pre-clinical cell therapy studies, reporter gene-assisted imaging of cellular implants in the CNS and potential reporter gene and/or cell-based immunogenicity, still remain challenging research topics. Results In this study, we performed cell implantation experiments in the CNS of immunocompetent mice using autologous (syngeneic) luciferase-expressing bone marrow-derived stromal cells (BMSC-Luc) cultured from ROSA26-L-S-L-Luciferase transgenic mice, and BMSC-Luc genetically modified using a lentivirus encoding the enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP) and the puromycin resistance gene (Pac) (BMSC-Luc/eGFP/Pac). Both reporter gene-modified BMSC populations displayed high engraftment capacity in the CNS of immunocompetent mice, despite potential immunogenicity of introduced reporter proteins, as demonstrated by real-time bioluminescence imaging (BLI) and histological analysis at different time-points post-implantation. In contrast, both BMSC-Luc and BMSC-Luc/eGFP/Pac did not survive upon intramuscular cell implantation, as demonstrated by real-time BLI at different time-points post-implantation. In addition, ELISPOT analysis demonstrated the induction of IFN-ã-producing CD8+ T-cells upon intramuscular cell implantation, but not upon intracerebral cell implantation, indicating that BMSC-Luc and BMSC-Luc/eGFP/Pac are immune-tolerated in the CNS. However, in our experimental transplantation model, results also indicated that reporter gene-specific immune-reactive T-cell responses were not the main contributors to the immunological rejection of BMSC-Luc or BMSC-Luc/eGFP/Pac upon intramuscular cell implantation. Conclusion We here demonstrate that reporter gene-modified BMSC derived from ROSA26-L-S-L-Luciferase transgenic mice are immune-tolerated upon implantation in the CNS of syngeneic immunocompetent mice, providing a research model for studying survival and localisation of autologous BMSC implants in the CNS by real-time BLI and/or histological analysis in the absence of immunosuppressive therapy.

Abstract: The magnetic-field dependence of the energy spectrum, wave function, binding energy, and oscillator strength of exciton states confined in a circular graphene quantum dot (CGQD) is obtained within the configuration interaction method. We predict that (i) excitonic effects are very significant in the CGQD as a consequence of a combination of geometric confinement, magnetic confinement, and reduced screening; (ii) two types of excitons (intravalley and intervalley) are present in the CGQD because of the valley degree of freedom in graphene; (iii) the intravalley and intervalley exciton states display different magnetic-field dependencies due to the different electron-hole symmetries of the single-particle energy spectra; (iv) with increasing magnetic field, the exciton ground state in the CGQD undergoes an intravalley to intervalley transition accompanied by a change of angular momentum; (v) the exciton binding energy does not increase monotonically with the magnetic field due to the competition between geometric and magnetic confinements; and (vi) the optical transitions of the intervalley and intravalley excitons can be tuned by the magnetic field, and valley-dependent excitonic transitions can be realized in a CGQD.

Abstract: The electronic structure and transport properties of monolayer MoS2 are studied using a tight-binding approach coupled with the nonequilibrium Green's function method. A zigzag nanoribbon of MoS2 is conducting due to the intersection of the edge states with the Fermi level that is located within the bulk gap. We show that applying a transverse electric field results in the disappearance of this intersection and turns the material into a semiconductor. By increasing the electric field the band gap undergoes a two stage linear increase after which it decreases and ultimately closes. It is shown that in the presence of a uniform exchange field, this electric field tuning of the gap can be exploited to open low energy domains where only one of the spin states contributes to the electronic conductance. This introduces possibilities in designing spin filters for spintronic applications.

Abstract: The effect of B and P dopants on the band structure of Si nanowires is studied using electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory. At low concentrations a dispersionless band is formed, clearly distinguishable from the valence and conduction bands. Although this band is evidently induced by the dopant impurity, it turns out to have purely Si character. These results can be rigorously analyzed in the framework of effective mass theory. In the process we resolve some common misconceptions about the physics of hydrogenic shallow impurities, which can be more clearly elucidated in the case of nanowires than would be possible for bulk Si. We also show the importance of correctly describing the effect of dielectric confinement, which is not included in traditional electronic structure calculations, by comparing the obtained results with those of G(0)W(0) calculations.

Abstract: Two-dimensional (2D) carbon nitride materials play an important role in energy-harvesting, energy-storage and environmental applications. Recently, a new carbon nitride, 2D polyaniline (C3N) was proposed [PNAS 113 (2016) 7414-7419]. Based on the structure model of this C3N monolayer, we propose two new carbon nitride monolayers, named dumbbell (DB) C4N-I and C4N-II. Using first-principles calculations, we systematically study the structure, stability, and band structure of these two materials. In contrast to other carbon nitride monolayers, the orbital hybridization of the C/N atoms in the DB C4N monolayers is sp(3). Remarkably, the band structures of the two DB C4N monolayers have a Dirac cone at the K point and their Fermi velocities (2.6/2.4 x 10(5) m/s) are comparable to that of graphene. This makes them promising materials for applications in high-speed electronic devices. Using a tight-binding model, we explain the origin of the Dirac cone. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.