[Progress of light extraction enhancement in organic light-emitting devices].

PubMed

Liu, Mo; Li, Tong; Wang, Yan; Zhang, Tian-Yu; Xie, Wen-Fa

2011-04-01

Organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) have been used in flat-panel displays and lighting with a near-30-year development. OLEDs possess many advantages, such as full solid device, fast response, flexible display, and so on. As the application of phosphorescence material, the internal quantum efficiency of OLED has almost reached 100%, but its external quantum efficiency is still not very high due to the low light extraction efficiency. In this review the authors summarizes recent advances in light extraction techniques that have been developed to enhance the light extraction efficiency of OLEDs.

Colloidal quantum dot solar cells exploiting hierarchical structuring.

PubMed

Labelle, André J; Thon, Susanna M; Masala, Silvia; Adachi, Michael M; Dong, Haopeng; Farahani, Maryam; Ip, Alexander H; Fratalocchi, Andrea; Sargent, Edward H

2015-02-11

Extremely thin-absorber solar cells offer low materials utilization and simplified manufacture but require improved means to enhance photon absorption in the active layer. Here, we report enhanced-absorption colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells that feature transfer-stamped solution-processed pyramid-shaped electrodes employed in a hierarchically structured device. The pyramids increase, by up to a factor of 2, the external quantum efficiency of the device at absorption-limited wavelengths near the absorber band edge. We show that absorption enhancement can be optimized with increased pyramid angle with an appreciable net improvement in power conversion efficiency, that is, with the gain in current associated with improved absorption and extraction overcoming the smaller fractional decrease in open-circuit voltage associated with increased junction area. We show that the hierarchical combination of micron-scale structured electrodes with nanoscale films provides for an optimized enhancement at absorption-limited wavelengths. We fabricate 54.7° pyramid-patterned electrodes, conformally apply the quantum dot films, and report pyramid CQD solar cells that exhibit a 24% improvement in overall short-circuit current density with champion devices providing a power conversion efficiency of 9.2%.

Non-Markovianity and reservoir memory of quantum channels: a quantum information theory perspective

PubMed Central

Bylicka, B.; Chruściński, D.; Maniscalco, S.

2014-01-01

Quantum technologies rely on the ability to coherently transfer information encoded in quantum states along quantum channels. Decoherence induced by the environment sets limits on the efficiency of any quantum-enhanced protocol. Generally, the longer a quantum channel is the worse its capacity is. We show that for non-Markovian quantum channels this is not always true: surprisingly the capacity of a longer channel can be greater than of a shorter one. We introduce a general theoretical framework linking non-Markovianity to the capacities of quantum channels and demonstrate how harnessing non-Markovianity may improve the efficiency of quantum information processing and communication. PMID:25043763

Optoelectronic engineering of colloidal quantum-dot solar cells beyond the efficiency black hole: a modeling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahpeykar, Seyed Milad; Wang, Xihua

2017-02-01

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells have been under the spotlight in recent years mainly due to their potential for low-cost solution-processed fabrication and efficient light harvesting through multiple exciton generation (MEG) and tunable absorption spectrum via the quantum size effect. Despite the impressive advances achieved in charge carrier mobility of quantum dot solids and the cells' light trapping capabilities, the recent progress in CQD solar cell efficiencies has been slow, leaving them behind other competing solar cell technologies. In this work, using comprehensive optoelectronic modeling and simulation, we demonstrate the presence of a strong efficiency loss mechanism, here called the "efficiency black hole", that can significantly hold back the improvements achieved by any efficiency enhancement strategy. We prove that this efficiency black hole is the result of sole focus on enhancement of either light absorption or charge extraction capabilities of CQD solar cells. This means that for a given thickness of CQD layer, improvements accomplished exclusively in optic or electronic aspect of CQD solar cells do not necessarily translate into tangible enhancement in their efficiency. The results suggest that in order for CQD solar cells to come out of the mentioned black hole, incorporation of an effective light trapping strategy and a high quality CQD film at the same time is an essential necessity. Using the developed optoelectronic model, the requirements for this incorporation approach and the expected efficiencies after its implementation are predicted as a roadmap for CQD solar cell research community.

Broadband Light Collection Efficiency Enhancement of Carbon Nanotube Excitons Coupled to Metallo-Dielectric Antenna Arrays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shayan, Kamran; Rabut, Claire; Kong, Xiaoqing

The realization of on-chip quantum networks ideally requires lossless interfaces between photons and solid-state quantum emitters. We propose and demonstrate on-chip arrays of metallo-dielectric antennas (MDA) that are tailored toward efficient and broadband light collection from individual embedded carbon nanotube quantum emitters by trapping air gaps on chip that form cavity modes. Scalable implementation is realized by employing polymer layer dry-transfer techniques that avoid solvent incompatibility issues, as well as a planar design that avoids solid-immersion lenses. Cryogenic measurements demonstrate 7-fold enhanced exciton intensity when compared to emitters located on bare wafers, corresponding to a light collection efficiency (LCE) upmore » to 92% in the best case (average LCE of 69%) into a narrow output cone of +/-15 degrees that enables a priori fiber-to-chip butt coupling. The demonstrated MDA arrays are directly compatible with other quantum systems, particularly 2D materials, toward enabling efficient on-chip quantum light sources or spin-photon interfaces requiring unity light collection, both at cryogenic or room temperature.« less

External quantum efficiency enhancement by photon recycling with backscatter evasion.

PubMed

Nagano, Koji; Perreca, Antonio; Arai, Koji; Adhikari, Rana X

2018-05-01

The nonunity quantum efficiency (QE) in photodiodes (PD) causes deterioration of signal quality in quantum optical experiments due to photocurrent loss as well as the introduction of vacuum fluctuations into the measurement. In this paper, we report that the external QE enhancement of a PD was demonstrated by recycling the reflected photons. The external QE for an InGaAs PD was increased by 0.01-0.06 from 0.86-0.92 over a wide range of incident angles. Moreover, we confirmed that this technique does not increase backscattered light when the recycled beam is properly misaligned.

Enhancement of quantum-enhanced LADAR receiver in nonideal phase-sensitive amplification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shuan; Liu, Hongjun; Huang, Nan; Wang, Zhaolu; Han, Jing

2017-07-01

The phase-sensitive amplification (PSA) with an injected squeezed vacuum field is theoretically investigated in quantum-enhanced laser detection and ranging (LADAR) receiver. The theoretical model of the amplified process is derived to investigate the quantum fluctuations in detail. A new method of mitigating the unflat gain of nonideal PSA is proposed by adjusting the squeezed angle of the squeezed vacuum field. The simulation results indicate that signal-noise ratio (SNR) of system can be efficiently improved and close to the ideal case by this method. This research will provide an important potential in the applications of quantum-enhanced LADAR receiver.

Multiscale Modeling of Plasmon-Enhanced Power Conversion Efficiency in Nanostructured Solar Cells.

PubMed

Meng, Lingyi; Yam, ChiYung; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Rulin; Chen, GuanHua

2015-11-05

The unique optical properties of nanometallic structures can be exploited to confine light at subwavelength scales. This excellent light trapping is critical to improve light absorption efficiency in nanoscale photovoltaic devices. Here, we apply a multiscale quantum mechanics/electromagnetics (QM/EM) method to model the current-voltage characteristics and optical properties of plasmonic nanowire-based solar cells. The QM/EM method features a combination of first-principles quantum mechanical treatment of the photoactive component and classical description of electromagnetic environment. The coupled optical-electrical QM/EM simulations demonstrate a dramatic enhancement for power conversion efficiency of nanowire solar cells due to the surface plasmon effect of nanometallic structures. The improvement is attributed to the enhanced scattering of light into the photoactive layer. We further investigate the optimal configuration of the nanostructured solar cell. Our QM/EM simulation result demonstrates that a further increase of internal quantum efficiency can be achieved by scattering light into the n-doped region of the device.

Enhanced power conversion efficiency in InGaN-based solar cells via graded composition multiple quantum wells.

PubMed

Tsai, Yu-Lin; Wang, Sheng-Wen; Huang, Jhih-Kai; Hsu, Lung-Hsing; Chiu, Ching-Hsueh; Lee, Po-Tsung; Yu, Peichen; Lin, Chien-Chung; Kuo, Hao-Chung

2015-11-30

This work demonstrates the enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQWs) solar cells with gradually decreasing indium composition in quantum wells (GQWs) toward p-GaN as absorber. The GQW can improve the fill factor from 42% to 62% and enhance the short current density from 0.8 mA/cm² to 0.92 mA/cm², as compares to the typical MQW solar cells. As a result, the PCE is boosted from 0.63% to 1.11% under AM1.5G illumination. Based on simulation and experimental results, the enhanced PCE can be attributed to the improved carrier collection in GQW caused by the reduction of potential barriers and piezoelectric polarization induced fields near the p-GaN layer. The presented concept paves a way toward highly efficient InGaN-based solar cells and other GaN-related MQW devices.

Improving hole injection and carrier distribution in InGaN light-emitting diodes by removing the electron blocking layer and including a unique last quantum barrier

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cheng, Liwen, E-mail: lwcheng@yzu.edu.cn; Chen, Haitao; Wu, Shudong

2015-08-28

The effects of removing the AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL), and using a last quantum barrier (LQB) with a unique design in conventional blue InGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs), were investigated through simulations. Compared with the conventional LED design that contained a GaN LQB and an AlGaN EBL, the LED that contained an AlGaN LQB with a graded-composition and no EBL exhibited enhanced optical performance and less efficiency droop. This effect was caused by an enhanced electron confinement and hole injection efficiency. Furthermore, when the AlGaN LQB was replaced with a triangular graded-composition, the performance improved further and the efficiency droopmore » was lowered. The simulation results indicated that the enhanced hole injection efficiency and uniform distribution of carriers observed in the quantum wells were caused by the smoothing and thinning of the potential barrier for the holes. This allowed a greater number of holes to tunnel into the quantum wells from the p-type regions in the proposed LED structure.« less

GaN ultraviolet p-i-n photodetectors with enhanced deep ultraviolet quantum efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Guosheng; Xie, Feng; Wang, Jun; Guo, Jin

2017-10-01

GaN ultraviolet (UV) p-i-n photodetectors (PDs) with a thin p-AlGaN/GaN contact layer are designed and fabricated. The PD exhibits a low dark current density of˜7 nA/cm2 under -5 V, and a zero-bias peak responsivity of ˜0.16 A/W at 360 nm, which corresponds to a maximum quantum efficiency of 55%. It is found that, in the wavelength range between 250 and 365 nm, the PD with thin p-AlGaN/GaN contact layer exhibits enhanced quantum efficiency especially in a deep-UV wavelength range, than that of the control PD with conventional thin p-GaN contact layer. The improved quantum efficiency of the PD with thin p-AlGaN/GaN contact layer in the deep-UV wavelength range is mainly attributed to minority carrier reflecting properties of thin p-AlGaN/GaN heterojunction which could reduce the surface recombination loss of photon-generated carriers and improve light current collection efficiency.

Nanocrystal Size-Dependent Efficiency of Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells in the Strongly Coupled CdSe Nanocrystals/TiO2 System.

PubMed

Yun, Hyeong Jin; Paik, Taejong; Diroll, Benjamin; Edley, Michael E; Baxter, Jason B; Murray, Christopher B

2016-06-15

Light absorption and electron injection are important criteria determining solar energy conversion efficiency. In this research, monodisperse CdSe quantum dots (QDs) are synthesized with five different diameters, and the size-dependent solar energy conversion efficiency of CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cell (QDSSCs) is investigated by employing the atomic inorganic ligand, S(2-). Absorbance measurements and transmission electron microscopy show that the diameters of the uniform CdSe QDs are 2.5, 3.2, 4.2, 6.4, and 7.8 nm. Larger CdSe QDs generate a larger amount of charge under the irradiation of long wavelength photons, as verified by the absorbance results and the measurements of the external quantum efficiencies. However, the smaller QDs exhibit faster electron injection kinetics from CdSe QDs to TiO2 because of the high energy level of CBCdSe, as verified by time-resolved photoluminescence and internal quantum efficiency results. Importantly, the S(2-) ligand significantly enhances the electronic coupling between the CdSe QDs and TiO2, yielding an enhancement of the charge transfer rate at the interfacial region. As a result, the S(2-) ligand helps improve the new size-dependent solar energy conversion efficiency, showing best performance with 4.2-nm CdSe QDs, whereas conventional ligand, mercaptopropionic acid, does not show any differences in efficiency according to the size of the CdSe QDs. The findings reported herein suggest that the atomic inorganic ligand reinforces the influence of quantum confinement on the solar energy conversion efficiency of QDSSCs.

Current matching using CdSe quantum dots to enhance the power conversion efficiency of InGaP/GaAs/Ge tandem solar cells.

PubMed

Lee, Ya-Ju; Yao, Yung-Chi; Tsai, Meng-Tsan; Liu, An-Fan; Yang, Min-De; Lai, Jiun-Tsuen

2013-11-04

A III-V multi-junction tandem solar cell is the most efficient photovoltaic structure that offers an extremely high power conversion efficiency. Current mismatching between each subcell of the device, however, is a significant challenge that causes the experimental value of the power conversion efficiency to deviate from the theoretical value. In this work, we explore a promising strategy using CdSe quantum dots (QDs) to enhance the photocurrent of the limited subcell to match with those of the other subcells and to enhance the power conversion efficiency of InGaP/GaAs/Ge tandem solar cells. The underlying mechanism of the enhancement can be attributed to the QD's unique capacity for photon conversion that tailors the incident spectrum of solar light; the enhanced efficiency of the device is therefore strongly dependent on the QD's dimensions. As a result, by appropriately selecting and spreading 7 mg/mL of CdSe QDs with diameters of 4.2 nm upon the InGaP/GaAs/Ge solar cell, the power conversion efficiency shows an enhancement of 10.39% compared to the cell's counterpart without integrating CdSe QDs.

Exciplex-triplet energy transfer: A new method to achieve extremely efficient organic light-emitting diode with external quantum efficiency over 30% and drive voltage below 3 V

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Satoshi; Shitagaki, Satoko; Ohsawa, Nobuharu; Inoue, Hideko; Suzuki, Kunihiko; Nowatari, Hiromi; Yamazaki, Shunpei

2014-04-01

A novel approach to enhance the power efficiency of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) by employing energy transfer from an exciplex to a phosphorescent emitter is reported. It was found that excitation energy of an exciplex formed between an electron-transporting material with a π-deficient quinoxaline moiety and a hole-transporting material with aromatic amine structure can be effectively transferred to a phosphorescent iridium complex in an emission layer of a phosphorescent OLED. Moreover, such an exciplex formation increases quantum efficiency and reduces drive voltage. A highly efficient, low-voltage, and long-life OLED based on this energy transfer is also demonstrated. This OLED device exhibited extremely high external quantum efficiency of 31% even without any attempt to enhance light outcoupling and also achieved a low drive voltage of 2.8 V and a long lifetime of approximately 1,000,000 h at a luminance of 1,000 cd/m2.

Enhanced photoelectrochemical aptasensing platform based on exciton energy transfer between CdSeTe alloyed quantum dots and SiO2@Au nanocomposites.

PubMed

Fan, Gao-Chao; Zhu, Hua; Shen, Qingming; Han, Li; Zhao, Ming; Zhang, Jian-Rong; Zhu, Jun-Jie

2015-04-25

High-efficient exciton energy transfer between CdSeTe alloyed quantum dots and SiO2@Au nanocomposites was applied to develop an enhanced photoelectrochemical aptasensing platform with ultrahigh sensitivity, good selectivity, reproducibility and stability.

Plasmonic enhancement of electroluminescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzatov, D. V.; Gaponenko, S. V.; Demir, H. V.

2018-01-01

Here plasmonic effect specifically on electroluminescence (EL) is studied in terms of radiative and nonradiative decay rates for a dipole near a metal spherical nanoparticle (NP). Contribution from scattering is taken into account and is shown to play a decisive role in EL enhancement owing to pronounced size-dependent radiative decay enhancement and weak size effect on non-radiative counterpart. Unlike photoluminescence where local incident field factor mainly determines the enhancement possibility and level, EL enhancement is only possible by means of quantum yield rise, EL enhancement being feasible only for an intrinsic quantum yield Q0 < 1. The resulting plasmonic effect is independent of intrinsic emitter lifetime but is exclusively defined by the value of Q0, emission spectrum, NP diameter and emitter-metal spacing. For 0.1< Q0 < 0.25, Ag nanoparticles are shown to enhance LED/OLED intensity by several times over the whole visible whereas Au particles feature lower effect within the red-orange range only. Independently of positive effect on quantum yield, metal nanoparticles embedded in an electroluminescent device will improve its efficiency at high currents owing to enhanced overall recombination rate which will diminish manifestation of Auger processes. The latter are believed to be responsible for the known undesirable efficiency droop in semiconductor commercial quantum well based LEDs at higher current. For the same reason plasmonics can diminish quantum dot photodegradation from Auger process induced non-radiative recombination and photoionization thus opening a way to avoid negative Auger effects in emerging colloidal semiconductor LEDs.

Alleviation of efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well light-emitting diodes with trapezoidal quantum barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sang-Jo; Lee, Kwang Jae; Park, Seong-Ju

2018-06-01

We numerically investigated the effects of trapezoidal quantum barriers (QBs) on efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Simulations showed that the electrostatic field in QWs of LEDs with trapezoidal barriers is reduced because of the reduced sheet charge density at the QW-QB interface caused by the thin GaN layer in trapezoidal QBs. Additionally, the InGaN grading region in trapezoidal QBs suppresses hot carrier transport and this enhances efficient carrier injection into the QWs. The electroluminescence intensity of an LED with trapezoidal QBs is increased by 10.2% and 6.7% at 245 A cm‑2 when compared with the intensities of LEDs with square-type GaN barriers and multilayer barriers, respectively. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) droop of an LED with trapezoidal QBs is 16% at 300 A cm‑2, while LEDs with square-type GaN barriers and multilayer barriers have IQE droop of 31% and 24%, respectively. This IQE droop alleviation in LEDs with trapezoidal QBs is attributed to the reduced energy band bending, efficient hole injection, and more uniform hole distribution in the MQWs that results from reduction of the piezoelectric field by the trapezoidal QBs. These results indicate that the trapezoidal QB in MQWs is promising for enhanced efficiency in high-power GaN-based LEDs.

Enhanced photovoltaic performance of a quantum dot-sensitized solar cell using a Nb-doped TiO2 electrode.

PubMed

Jiang, Lei; You, Ting; Deng, Wei-Qiao

2013-10-18

In this work Nb-doped anatase TiO2 nanocrystals are used as the photoanode of quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells. A solar cell with CdS/CdSe quantum dots co-sensitized 2.5 mol% Nb-doped anatase TiO2 nanocrystals can achieve a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 3.3%, which is almost twice as high as the 1.7% obtained by a cell based on undoped TiO2 nanocrystals. The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency can reach as high as 91%, which is a record for all quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells. Detailed analysis shows that such an enhancement is due to improved lifetime and diffusion length of electrons in the solar cell.

Enhanced and Tunable Optical Quantum Efficiencies from Plasmon Bandwidth Engineering in Bimetallic CoAg Nanoparticles (Open Access Publisher’s Version)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

Engineering Engineering -- Faculty Publications and Other Works 8-2016 Enhanced and tunable optical quantum efficiencies from plasmon bandwidth engineering ...this and additional works at: http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_matepubs Part of the Materials Science and Engineering Commons This Article is brought to...you for free and open access by the Engineering -- Faculty Publications and Other Works at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been

Efficiency enhancement of organic solar cells using transparent plasmonic Ag nanowire electrodes.

PubMed

Kang, Myung-Gyu; Xu, Ting; Park, Hui Joon; Luo, Xiangang; Guo, L Jay

2010-10-15

Surface plasmon enhanced photo-current and power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells using periodic Ag nanowires as transparent electrodes are reported, as compared to the device with conventional ITO electrodes. External quantum efficiencies are enhanced about 2.5 fold around the peak solar spectrum wavelength of 560 nm, resulting in 35% overall increase in power conversion efficiency than the ITO control device under normal unpolarized light.

On-Demand Single Photons with High Extraction Efficiency and Near-Unity Indistinguishability from a Resonantly Driven Quantum Dot in a Micropillar.

PubMed

Ding, Xing; He, Yu; Duan, Z-C; Gregersen, Niels; Chen, M-C; Unsleber, S; Maier, S; Schneider, Christian; Kamp, Martin; Höfling, Sven; Lu, Chao-Yang; Pan, Jian-Wei

2016-01-15

Scalable photonic quantum technologies require on-demand single-photon sources with simultaneously high levels of purity, indistinguishability, and efficiency. These key features, however, have only been demonstrated separately in previous experiments. Here, by s-shell pulsed resonant excitation of a Purcell-enhanced quantum dot-micropillar system, we deterministically generate resonance fluorescence single photons which, at π pulse excitation, have an extraction efficiency of 66%, single-photon purity of 99.1%, and photon indistinguishability of 98.5%. Such a single-photon source for the first time combines the features of high efficiency and near-perfect levels of purity and indistinguishabilty, and thus opens the way to multiphoton experiments with semiconductor quantum dots.

Efficiency enhancement of blue light emitting diodes by eliminating V-defects from InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well structures through GaN capping layer control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Sheng-Chieh; Li, Ming-Jui; Fang, Hsin-Chiao; Tu, Chia-Hao; Liu, Chuan-Pu

2018-05-01

A facile method for fabricating blue light-emitting diodes (B-LEDs) with small embedded quantum dots (QDs) and enhanced light emission is demonstrated by tuning the temperature of the growing GaN capping layer to eliminate V-defects. As the growth temperature increases from 770 °C to 840 °C, not only does the density of the V-defects reduce from 4.12 ∗ 108 #/cm2 nm to zero on a smooth surface, but the QDs also get smaller. Therefore, the growth mechanism of smaller QDs assisted by elimination of V-defects is discussed. Photoluminescence and electroluminescence results show that smaller embedded QDs can improve recombination efficiency, and thus achieve higher peak intensity with smaller peak broadening. Accordingly, the external quantum efficiency of the B-LEDs with smaller QDs is enhanced, leading to a 6.8% increase in light output power in lamp-form package LEDs.

Efficient entanglement distillation without quantum memory.

PubMed

Abdelkhalek, Daniela; Syllwasschy, Mareike; Cerf, Nicolas J; Fiurášek, Jaromír; Schnabel, Roman

2016-05-31

Entanglement distribution between distant parties is an essential component to most quantum communication protocols. Unfortunately, decoherence effects such as phase noise in optical fibres are known to demolish entanglement. Iterative (multistep) entanglement distillation protocols have long been proposed to overcome decoherence, but their probabilistic nature makes them inefficient since the success probability decays exponentially with the number of steps. Quantum memories have been contemplated to make entanglement distillation practical, but suitable quantum memories are not realised to date. Here, we present the theory for an efficient iterative entanglement distillation protocol without quantum memories and provide a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration. The scheme is applied to phase-diffused two-mode-squeezed states and proven to distil entanglement for up to three iteration steps. The data are indistinguishable from those that an efficient scheme using quantum memories would produce. Since our protocol includes the final measurement it is particularly promising for enhancing continuous-variable quantum key distribution.

Efficient entanglement distillation without quantum memory

PubMed Central

Abdelkhalek, Daniela; Syllwasschy, Mareike; Cerf, Nicolas J.; Fiurášek, Jaromír; Schnabel, Roman

2016-01-01

Entanglement distribution between distant parties is an essential component to most quantum communication protocols. Unfortunately, decoherence effects such as phase noise in optical fibres are known to demolish entanglement. Iterative (multistep) entanglement distillation protocols have long been proposed to overcome decoherence, but their probabilistic nature makes them inefficient since the success probability decays exponentially with the number of steps. Quantum memories have been contemplated to make entanglement distillation practical, but suitable quantum memories are not realised to date. Here, we present the theory for an efficient iterative entanglement distillation protocol without quantum memories and provide a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration. The scheme is applied to phase-diffused two-mode-squeezed states and proven to distil entanglement for up to three iteration steps. The data are indistinguishable from those that an efficient scheme using quantum memories would produce. Since our protocol includes the final measurement it is particularly promising for enhancing continuous-variable quantum key distribution. PMID:27241946

Alternating InGaN barriers with GaN barriers for enhancing optical performance in InGaN light-emitting diodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Yujue; Zeng, Yiping, E-mail: ypzeng@semi.ac.cn

2015-01-21

InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with some specific designs on the quantum barrier layers by alternating InGaN barriers with GaN barriers are proposed and studied numerically. In the proposed structure, simulation results show that the carriers are widely dispersed in the multi-quantum well active region, and the radiative recombination rate is efficiently improved and the electron leakage is suppressed accordingly, due to the appropriate band engineering. The internal quantum efficiency and light-output power are thus markedly enhanced and the efficiency droop is smaller, compared to the original structures with GaN barriers or InGaN barriers. Moreover, the gradually decrease of indium compositionmore » in the alternating quantum barriers can further promote the LED performance because of the more uniform carrier distribution, which provides us a simple but highly effective approach for high-performance LED applications.« less

Unipolar Barrier Dual-Band Infrared Detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ting, David Z. (Inventor); Soibel, Alexander (Inventor); Khoshakhlagh, Arezou (Inventor); Gunapala, Sarath (Inventor)

2017-01-01

Dual-band barrier infrared detectors having structures configured to reduce spectral crosstalk between spectral bands and/or enhance quantum efficiency, and methods of their manufacture are provided. In particular, dual-band device structures are provided for constructing high-performance barrier infrared detectors having reduced crosstalk and/or enhance quantum efficiency using novel multi-segmented absorber regions. The novel absorber regions may comprise both p-type and n-type absorber sections. Utilizing such multi-segmented absorbers it is possible to construct any suitable barrier infrared detector having reduced crosstalk, including npBPN, nBPN, pBPN, npBN, npBP, pBN and nBP structures. The pBPN and pBN detector structures have high quantum efficiency and suppresses dark current, but has a smaller etch depth than conventional detectors and does not require a thick bottom contact layer.

Quantum-enhanced Sensing and Efficient Quantum Computation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-07-27

accuracy. The system was used to improve quantum boson sampling tests. 15. SUBJECT TERMS EOARD, Quantum Information Processing, Transition Edge Sensors...quantum  boson  sampling (QBS) problem are reported in Ref. [7]. To substantially  increase the scale of feasible tests, we developed a new variation

Highly efficient multiple-layer CdS quantum dot sensitized III-V solar cells.

PubMed

Lin, Chien-Chung; Han, Hau-Vei; Chen, Hsin-Chu; Chen, Kuo-Ju; Tsai, Yu-Lin; Lin, Wein-Yi; Kuo, Hao-Chung; Yu, Peichen

2014-02-01

In this review, the concept of utilization of solar spectrum in order to increase the solar cell efficiency is discussed. Among the three mechanisms, down-shifting effect is investigated in detail. Organic dye, rare-earth minerals and quantum dots are three most popular down-shift materials. While the enhancement of solar cell efficiency was not clearly observed in the past, the advances in quantum dot fabrication have brought strong response out of the hybrid platform of a quantum dot solar cell. A multiple layer structure, including PDMS as the isolation layer, is proposed and demonstrated. With the help of pulse spray system, precise control can be achieved and the optimized concentration can be found.

Efficient tools for quantum metrology with uncorrelated noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kołodyński, Jan; Demkowicz-Dobrzański, Rafał

2013-07-01

Quantum metrology offers enhanced performance in experiments on topics such as gravitational wave-detection, magnetometry or atomic clock frequency calibration. The enhancement, however, requires a delicate tuning of relevant quantum features, such as entanglement or squeezing. For any practical application, the inevitable impact of decoherence needs to be taken into account in order to correctly quantify the ultimate attainable gain in precision. We compare the applicability and the effectiveness of various methods of calculating the ultimate precision bounds resulting from the presence of decoherence. This allows us to place a number of seemingly unrelated concepts into a common framework and arrive at an explicit hierarchy of quantum metrological methods in terms of the tightness of the bounds they provide. In particular, we show a way to extend the techniques originally proposed in Demkowicz-Dobrzański et al (2012 Nature Commun. 3 1063), so that they can be efficiently applied not only in the asymptotic but also in the finite number of particles regime. As a result, we obtain a simple and direct method, yielding bounds that interpolate between the quantum enhanced scaling characteristic for a small number of particles and the asymptotic regime, where quantum enhancement amounts to a constant factor improvement. Methods are applied to numerous models, including noisy phase and frequency estimation, as well as the estimation of the decoherence strength itself.

Polarization control of spontaneous emission for rapid quantum-state initialization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DiLoreto, C. S.; Rangan, C.

2017-04-01

We propose an efficient method to selectively enhance the spontaneous emission rate of a quantum system by changing the polarization of an incident control field, and exploiting the polarization dependence of the system's spontaneous emission rate. This differs from the usual Purcell enhancement of spontaneous emission rates as it can be selectively turned on and off. Using a three-level Λ system in a quantum dot placed in between two silver nanoparticles and a linearly polarized, monochromatic driving field, we present a protocol for rapid quantum state initialization, while maintaining long coherence times for control operations. This process increases the overall amount of time that a quantum system can be effectively utilized for quantum operations, and presents a key advance in quantum computing.

Coherent spin control of a nanocavity-enhanced qubit in diamond

DOE PAGES

Li, Luozhou; Lu, Ming; Schroder, Tim; ...

2015-01-28

A central aim of quantum information processing is the efficient entanglement of multiple stationary quantum memories via photons. Among solid-state systems, the nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond has emerged as an excellent optically addressable memory with second-scale electron spin coherence times. Recently, quantum entanglement and teleportation have been shown between two nitrogen-vacancy memories, but scaling to larger networks requires more efficient spin-photon interfaces such as optical resonators. Here we report such nitrogen-vacancy nanocavity systems in strong Purcell regime with optical quality factors approaching 10,000 and electron spin coherence times exceeding 200 µs using a silicon hard-mask fabrication process. This spin-photon interfacemore » is integrated with on-chip microwave striplines for coherent spin control, providing an efficient quantum memory for quantum networks.« less

Optical devices featuring textured semiconductor layers

DOEpatents

Moustakas, Theodore D [Dover, MA; Cabalu, Jasper S [Cary, NC

2011-10-11

A semiconductor sensor, solar cell or emitter, or a precursor therefor, has a substrate and one or more textured semiconductor layers deposited onto the substrate. The textured layers enhance light extraction or absorption. Texturing in the region of multiple quantum wells greatly enhances internal quantum efficiency if the semiconductor is polar and the quantum wells are grown along the polar direction. Electroluminescence of LEDs of the invention is dichromatic, and results in variable color LEDs, including white LEDs, without the use of phosphor.

Optical devices featuring textured semiconductor layers

DOEpatents

Moustakas, Theodore D [Dover, MA; Cabalu, Jasper S [Cary, NC

2012-08-07

A semiconductor sensor, solar cell or emitter, or a precursor therefor, has a substrate and one or more textured semiconductor layers deposited onto the substrate. The textured layers enhance light extraction or absorption. Texturing in the region of multiple quantum wells greatly enhances internal quantum efficiency if the semiconductor is polar and the quantum wells are grown along the polar direction. Electroluminescence of LEDs of the invention is dichromatic, and results in variable color LEDs, including white LEDs, without the use of phosphor.

Photon-number-resolving SSPDs with system detection efficiency over 50% at telecom range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zolotov, P.; Divochiy, A.; Vakhtomin, Yu.; Moshkova, M.; Morozov, P.; Seleznev, V.; Smirnov, K.

2018-02-01

We used technology of making high-efficiency superconducting single-photon detectors as a basis for improvement of photon-number-resolving devices. By adding optical cavity and using an improved NbN superconducting film, we enhanced previously reported system detection efficiency at telecom range for such detectors. Our results show that implementation of optical cavity helps to develop four-section device with quantum efficiency over 50% at 1.55 µm. Performed experimental studies of detecting multi-photon optical pulses showed irregularities over defining multi-photon through single-photon quantum efficiency.

Convection-enhanced delivery of targeted quantum dot-immunoliposome hybrid nanoparticles to intracranial brain tumor models.

PubMed

Weng, Kevin C; Hashizume, Rintaro; Noble, Charles O; Serwer, Laura P; Drummond, Daryl C; Kirpotin, Dmitri B; Kuwabara, Anne M; Chao, Lucy X; Chen, Fanqing F; James, Charles D; Park, John W

2013-12-01

The aim of this work is to evaluate combining targeting strategy and convection-enhanced delivery in brain tumor models by imaging quantum dot-immunoliposome hybrid nanoparticles. An EGF receptor-targeted, quantum dot-immunoliposome hybrid nanoparticle (QD-IL) was synthesized. In vitro uptake was measured by flow cytometry and intracellular localization was imaged by confocal microscopy. In the in vivo study, QD-ILs were delivered to intracranial xenografts via convection-enhanced delivery and fluorescence was monitored noninvasively in real-time. QD-ILs exhibited specific and efficient uptake in vitro and exhibited approximately 1.3- to 5.0-fold higher total fluorescence compared with nontargeted counterpart in intracranial brain tumor xenografts in vivo. QD-ILs serve as an effective imaging agent in vitro and in vivo, and the data suggest that ligand-directed liposomal nanoparticles in conjunction with convection-enhanced delivery may offer therapeutic benefits for glioblastoma treatment as a result of specific and efficient uptake by malignant cells.

Solving search problems by strongly simulating quantum circuits

PubMed Central

Johnson, T. H.; Biamonte, J. D.; Clark, S. R.; Jaksch, D.

2013-01-01

Simulating quantum circuits using classical computers lets us analyse the inner workings of quantum algorithms. The most complete type of simulation, strong simulation, is believed to be generally inefficient. Nevertheless, several efficient strong simulation techniques are known for restricted families of quantum circuits and we develop an additional technique in this article. Further, we show that strong simulation algorithms perform another fundamental task: solving search problems. Efficient strong simulation techniques allow solutions to a class of search problems to be counted and found efficiently. This enhances the utility of strong simulation methods, known or yet to be discovered, and extends the class of search problems known to be efficiently simulable. Relating strong simulation to search problems also bounds the computational power of efficiently strongly simulable circuits; if they could solve all problems in P this would imply that all problems in NP and #P could be solved in polynomial time. PMID:23390585

Enhancing Thermoelectric Performance Using Nonlinear Transport Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Jian-Hua; Imry, Yoseph

2017-06-01

We study nonlinear transport effects on the maximum efficiency and power for both inelastic and elastic thermoelectric generators. The former device refers to phonon-assisted hopping in double quantum dots, while the latter device is represented by elastic tunneling through a single quantum dot. We find that nonlinear thermoelectric transport can lead to enhanced efficiency and power for both types of devices. A comprehensive survey of various quantum-dot energy, temperature, and parasitic heat conduction reveals that the nonlinear transport-induced improvements of the maximum efficiency and power are overall much more significant for inelastic devices than for elastic devices, even for temperature biases as small as Th=1.2 Tc (Th and Tc are the temperatures of the hot and cold reservoirs, respectively). The underlying mechanism is revealed as due to the fact that, unlike the Fermi distribution, the Bose distribution is not bounded when the temperature bias increases. A large flux density of absorbed phonons leads to a great enhancement of the electrical current, output power, and energy efficiency, dominating over the concurrent increase of the parasitic heat current. Our study reveals that nonlinear transport effects can be a useful tool for improving thermoelectric performance.

Ligand-Asymmetric Janus Quantum Dots for Efficient Blue-Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes.

PubMed

Cho, Ikjun; Jung, Heeyoung; Jeong, Byeong Guk; Hahm, Donghyo; Chang, Jun Hyuk; Lee, Taesoo; Char, Kookheon; Lee, Doh C; Lim, Jaehoon; Lee, Changhee; Cho, Jinhan; Bae, Wan Ki

2018-06-19

We present ligand-asymmetric Janus quantum dots (QDs) to improve the device performance of quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). Specifically, we devise blue QLEDs incorporating blue QDs with asymmetrically modified ligands, in which the bottom ligand of QDs in contact with ZnO electron-transport layer serves as a robust adhesive layer and an effective electron-blocking layer and the top ligand ensures uniform deposition of organic hole transport layers with enhanced hole injection properties. Suppressed electron overflow by the bottom ligand and stimulated hole injection enabled by the top ligand contribute synergistically to boost the balance of charge injection in blue QDs and therefore the device performance of blue QLEDs. As an ultimate achievement, the blue QLED adopting ligand-asymmetric QDs displays 2-fold enhancement in peak external quantum efficiency (EQE = 3.23%) compared to the case of QDs with native ligands (oleic acid) (peak EQE = 1.49%). The present study demonstrates an integrated strategy to control over the charge injection properties into QDs via ligand engineering that enables enhancement of the device performance of blue QLEDs and thus promises successful realization of white light-emitting devices using QDs.

Photoresponse Enhancement in Monolayer ReS2 Phototransistor Decorated with CdSe-CdS-ZnS Quantum Dots.

PubMed

Qin, Jing-Kai; Ren, Dan-Dan; Shao, Wen-Zhu; Li, Yang; Miao, Peng; Sun, Zhao-Yuan; Hu, PingAn; Zhen, Liang; Xu, Cheng-Yan

2017-11-15

ReS 2 films are considered as a promising candidate for optoelectronic applications due to their direct band gap character and optical/electrical anisotropy. However, the direct band gap in a narrow spectrum and the low absorption of atomically thin flakes weaken the prospect for light-harvesting applications. Here, we developed an efficient approach to enhance the performance of a ReS 2 -based phototransistor by coupling CdSe-CdS-ZnS core-shell quantum dots. Under 589 nm laser irradiation, the responsivity of the ReS 2 phototransistor decorated with quantum dots could be enhanced by more than 25 times (up to ∼654 A/W) and the rising and recovery time can be also reduced to 3.2 and 2.8 s, respectively. The excellent optoelectronic performance is originated from the coupling effect of quantum dots light absorber and cross-linker ligands 1,2-ethanedithiol. Photoexcited electron-hole pairs in quantum dots can separate and transfer efficiently due to the type-II band alignment and charge exchange process at the interface. Our work shows that the simple hybrid zero- and two-dimensional hybrid system can be employed for photodetection applications.

Bit-level quantum color image encryption scheme with quantum cross-exchange operation and hyper-chaotic system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Nanrun; Chen, Weiwei; Yan, Xinyu; Wang, Yunqian

2018-06-01

In order to obtain higher encryption efficiency, a bit-level quantum color image encryption scheme by exploiting quantum cross-exchange operation and a 5D hyper-chaotic system is designed. Additionally, to enhance the scrambling effect, the quantum channel swapping operation is employed to swap the gray values of corresponding pixels. The proposed color image encryption algorithm has larger key space and higher security since the 5D hyper-chaotic system has more complex dynamic behavior, better randomness and unpredictability than those based on low-dimensional hyper-chaotic systems. Simulations and theoretical analyses demonstrate that the presented bit-level quantum color image encryption scheme outperforms its classical counterparts in efficiency and security.

Trap-assisted hole injection and quantum efficiency enhancement in poly(9,9' dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) polymer light-emitting diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seeley, Alexander J. A. B.; Friend, Richard H.; Kim, Ji-Seon; Burroughes, Jeremy H.

2004-12-01

We report a reversible many-fold quantum efficiency enhancement during electrical driving of polymer light-emitting diodes (LEDs) containing poly(9,9' dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT), developing over several minutes or hours at low applied bias and recovering on similar time scales after driving. This phenomenon is observed only in devices containing F8BT as an emissive layer in pure or blended form, regardless of anode and cathode choices and even in the absence of a poly(styrene-sulphonate)-doped poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene) (PEDOT:PSS) layer. We report detailed investigations using a standardized device structure containing PEDOT:PSS and a calcium cathode. Direct measurements of trapped charge recovered from the device after driving significantly exceed the unipolar limit, and thermally activated relaxation suggests a maximum trap depth around 0.6eV. Neither photoluminescence nor electroluminescence spectra reveal any change in the bulk optoelectronic properties of the emissive polymer nor any new emissive species. During the quantum efficiency (QE) enhancement process, the bulk conduction of the device increases. Reverse bias treatment of the device significantly reinforces the QE enhancement. Based on these observations, we propose a simple model in which interfacial dipoles are generated by trapped holes near the anode combining with injected electrons, to produce a narrow tunneling barrier for easy hole injection. The new injection pathway leads to a higher hole current density and thus a better charge injection balance. This produces the relatively high quantum efficiency observed in all F8BT LEDs.

Large enhancement in photocurrent by Mn doping in CdSe/ZTO quantum dot sensitized solar cells.

PubMed

Pimachev, Artem; Poudyal, Uma; Proshchenko, Vitaly; Wang, Wenyong; Dahnovsky, Yuri

2016-09-29

We find a large enhancement in the efficiency of CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells by doping with manganese. In the presence of Mn impurities in relatively small concentrations (2.3%) the photoelectric current increases by up to 190%. The average photocurrent enhancement is about 160%. This effect cannot be explained by a light absorption mechanism because the experimental and theoretical absorption spectra demonstrate that there is no change in the absorption coefficient in the presence of the Mn impurities. To explain such a large increase in the injection current we propose a tunneling mechanism of electron injection from the quantum dot LUMO state to the Zn 2 SnO 4 (ZTO) semiconductor photoanode. The calculated enhancement is approximately equal to 150% which is very close to the experimental average value of 160%. The relative discrepancy between the calculated and experimentally measured ratios of the IPCE currents is only 6.25%. For other mechanisms (such as electron trapping, etc.) the remaining 6.25% cannot explain the large change in the experimental IPCE. Thus we have indirectly proved that electron tunneling is the major mechanism of photocurrent enhancement. This work proposes a new approach for a significant improvement in the efficiency of quantum dot sensitized solar cells.

Polarized quantum dot emission in electrohydrodynamic jet printed photonic crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

See, Gloria G.; Xu, Lu; Nuzzo, Ralph G.

2015-08-03

Tailored optical output, such as color purity and efficient optical intensity, are critical considerations for displays, particularly in mobile applications. To this end, we demonstrate a replica molded photonic crystal structure with embedded quantum dots. Electrohydrodynamic jet printing is used to control the position of the quantum dots within the device structure. This results in significantly less waste of the quantum dot material than application through drop-casting or spin coating. In addition, the targeted placement of the quantum dots minimizes any emission outside of the resonant enhancement field, which enables an 8× output enhancement and highly polarized emission from themore » photonic crystal structure.« less

Quantum-Enhanced Machine Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunjko, Vedran; Taylor, Jacob M.; Briegel, Hans J.

2016-09-01

The emerging field of quantum machine learning has the potential to substantially aid in the problems and scope of artificial intelligence. This is only enhanced by recent successes in the field of classical machine learning. In this work we propose an approach for the systematic treatment of machine learning, from the perspective of quantum information. Our approach is general and covers all three main branches of machine learning: supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning. While quantum improvements in supervised and unsupervised learning have been reported, reinforcement learning has received much less attention. Within our approach, we tackle the problem of quantum enhancements in reinforcement learning as well, and propose a systematic scheme for providing improvements. As an example, we show that quadratic improvements in learning efficiency, and exponential improvements in performance over limited time periods, can be obtained for a broad class of learning problems.

Nanostructured Materials Developed for Solar Cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, Sheila G.; Castro, Stephanie L.; Raffaelle, Ryne P.; Fahey, Stephen D.; Gennett, Thomas; Tin, Padetha

2004-01-01

There has been considerable investigation recently regarding the potential for the use of nanomaterials and nanostructures to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Efforts at the NASA Glenn Research Center have involved the development and use of quantum dots and carbon nanotubes to enhance inorganic and organic cell efficiencies. Theoretical results have shown that a photovoltaic device with a single intermediate band of states resulting from the introduction of quantum dots offers a potential efficiency of 63.2 percent. A recent publication extended the intermediate band theory to two intermediate bands and calculated a limiting efficiency of 71.7 percent. The enhanced efficiency results from converting photons of energy less than the band gap of the cell by an intermediate band. The intermediate band provides a mechanism for low-energy photons to excite carriers across the energy gap by a two-step process.

Graphene/CdTe heterostructure solar cell and its enhancement with photo-induced doping

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lin, Shisheng, E-mail: shishenglin@zju.edu.cn; Chen, Hongsheng; State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027

2015-11-09

We report a type of solar cell based on graphene/CdTe Schottky heterostructure, which can be improved by surface engineering as graphene is atomic thin. By coating a layer of ultrathin CdSe quantum dots onto graphene/CdTe heterostructure, the power conversion efficiency is increased from 2.08% to 3.10%. Photo-induced doping is mainly accounted for this enhancement, as evidenced by field effect transport, Raman, photoluminescence, and quantum efficiency measurements. This work demonstrates a feasible way of improving the performance of graphene/semiconductor heterostructure solar cells by combining one dimensional with two dimensional materials.

Continuous-time quantum walks on multilayer dendrimer networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galiceanu, Mircea; Strunz, Walter T.

2016-08-01

We consider continuous-time quantum walks (CTQWs) on multilayer dendrimer networks (MDs) and their application to quantum transport. A detailed study of properties of CTQWs is presented and transport efficiency is determined in terms of the exact and average return probabilities. The latter depends only on the eigenvalues of the connectivity matrix, which even for very large structures allows a complete analytical solution for this particular choice of network. In the case of MDs we observe an interplay between strong localization effects, due to the dendrimer topology, and good efficiency from the linear segments. We show that quantum transport is enhanced by interconnecting more layers of dendrimers.

Efficiency and droop improvement in a blue InGaN-based light emitting diode with a p-InGaN layer inserted in the GaN barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xing-Fu; Tong, Jin-Hui; Zhao, Bi-Jun; Chen, Xin; Ren, Zhi-Wei; Li, Dan-Wei; Zhuo, Xiang-Jing; Zhang, Jun; Yi, Han-Xiang; Li, Shu-Ti

2013-09-01

The advantages of a blue InGaN-based light-emitting diode with a p-InGaN layer inserted in the GaN barriers is studied. The carrier concentration in the quantum well, radiative recombination rate in the active region, output power, and internal quantum efficiency are investigated. The simulation results show that the InGaN-based light-emitting diode with a p-InGaN layer inserted in the barriers has better performance over its conventional counterpart and the light emitting diode with p-GaN inserted in the barriers. The improvement is due to enhanced Mg acceptor activation and enhanced hole injection into the quantum wells.

Tandem luminescent solar concentrators based on engineered quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Kaifeng; Li, Hongbo; Klimov, Victor I.

2018-02-01

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) can serve as large-area sunlight collectors for terrestrial and space-based photovoltaics. Due to their high emission efficiencies and readily tunable emission and absorption spectra, colloidal quantum dots have emerged as a new and promising type of LSC fluorophore. Spectral tunability of the quantum dots also facilitates the realization of stacked multilayered LSCs, where enhanced performance is obtained through spectral splitting of incident sunlight, as in multijunction photovoltaics. Here, we demonstrate a large-area (>230 cm2) tandem LSC based on two types of nearly reabsorption-free quantum dots spectrally tuned for optimal solar-spectrum splitting. This prototype device exhibits a high optical quantum efficiency of 6.4% for sunlight illumination and solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiency of 3.1%. The efficiency gains due to the tandem architecture over single-layer devices quickly increase with increasing LSC size and can reach more than 100% in structures with window sizes of more than 2,500 cm2.

Ligand removal and photo-activation of CsPbBr3 quantum dots for enhanced optoelectronic devices.

PubMed

Moyen, Eric; Kanwat, Anil; Cho, Sinyoung; Jun, Haeyeon; Aad, Roy; Jang, Jin

2018-05-10

Perovskite quantum dots have recently emerged as a promising light source for optoelectronic applications. However, integrating them into devices while preserving their outstanding optical properties remains challenging. Due to their ionic nature, perovskite quantum dots are extremely sensitive and degrade on applying the simplest processes. To maintain their colloidal stability, they are surrounded by organic ligands; these prevent efficient charge carrier injection in devices and have to be removed. Here we report on a simple method, where a moderate thermal process followed by exposure to UV in air can efficiently remove ligands and increase the photo-luminescence of the room temperature synthesized perovskite quantum dot thin films. Annealing is accompanied by a red shift of the emission wavelength, usually attributed to the coalescence and irreversible degradation of the quantum dots. We show that it is actually related to the relaxation of the quantum dots upon the ligand removal, without the creation of non-radiative recombining defects. The quantum dot surface, as devoid of ligands, is subsequently photo-oxidized and smoothened upon exposure to UV in air, which drastically enhances their photo-luminescence. This adequate combination of treatments improves by more than an order of magnitude the performances of perovskite quantum dot light emitting diodes.

Enhanced thermoelectric response in the fractional quantum Hall effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roura-Bas, Pablo; Arrachea, Liliana; Fradkin, Eduardo

2018-02-01

We study the linear thermoelectric response of a quantum dot embedded in a constriction of a quantum Hall bar with fractional filling factors ν =1 /m within Laughlin series. We calculate the figure of merit Z T for the maximum efficiency at a fixed temperature difference. We find a significant enhancement of this quantity in the fractional filling in relation to the integer-filling case, which is a direct consequence of the fractionalization of the electron in the fractional quantum Hall state. We present simple theoretical expressions for the Onsager coefficients at low temperatures, which explicitly show that Z T and the Seebeck coefficient increase with m .

Spectral difference Lanczos method for efficient time propagation in quantum control theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farnum, John D.; Mazziotti, David A.

2004-04-01

Spectral difference methods represent the real-space Hamiltonian of a quantum system as a banded matrix which possesses the accuracy of the discrete variable representation (DVR) and the efficiency of finite differences. When applied to time-dependent quantum mechanics, spectral differences enhance the efficiency of propagation methods for evolving the Schrödinger equation. We develop a spectral difference Lanczos method which is computationally more economical than the sinc-DVR Lanczos method, the split-operator technique, and even the fast-Fourier-Transform Lanczos method. Application of fast propagation is made to quantum control theory where chirped laser pulses are designed to dissociate both diatomic and polyatomic molecules. The specificity of the chirped laser fields is also tested as a possible method for molecular identification and discrimination.

Surface-plasmon-enhanced photoluminescence of quantum dots based on open-ring nanostructure array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kannegulla, Akash; Liu, Ye; Cheng, Li-Jing

2016-03-01

Enhanced photoluminescence (PL) of quantum dots (QD) in visible range using plasmonic nanostructures has potential to advance several photonic applications. The enhancement effect is, however, limited by the light coupling efficiency to the nanostructures. Here we demonstrate experimentally a new open-ring nanostructure (ORN) array 100 nm engraved into a 200 nm thick silver thin film to maximize light absorption and, hence, PL enhancement at a broadband spectral range. The structure is different from the traditional isolated or through-hole split-ring structures. Theoretical calculations based on FDTD method show that the absorption peak wavelength can be adjusted by their period and dimension. A broadband absorption of about 60% was measured at the peak wavelength of 550 nm. The emission spectrum of CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dots was chosen to match the absorption band of the ORN array to enhance its PL. The engraved silver ORN array was fabricated on a silver thin film deposited on a silicon substrate using focus ion beam (FIB) patterning. The device was characterized by using a thin layer of QD water dispersion formed between the ORN substrate and a cover glass. The experimental results show the enhanced PL for the QD with emission spectrum overlapping the absorption band of ORN substrate and quantum efficiency increases from 50% to 70%. The ORN silver substrate with high absorption over a broadband spectrum enables the PL enhancement and will benefit applications in biosensing, wavelength tunable filters, and imaging.

Enhancing quantum effects via periodic modulations in optomechanical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farace, Alessandro; Giovannetti, Vittorio

2012-07-01

Parametrically modulated optomechanical systems have been recently proposed as a simple and efficient setting for the quantum control of a micromechanical oscillator: relevant possibilities include the generation of squeezing in the oscillator position (or momentum) and the enhancement of entanglement between mechanical and radiation modes. In this paper we further investigate this modulation regime, considering an optomechanical system with one or more parameters being modulated over time. We first apply a sinusoidal modulation of the mechanical frequency and characterize the optimal regime in which the visibility of purely quantum effects is maximal. We then introduce a second modulation on the input laser intensity and analyze the interplay between the two. We find that an interference pattern shows up, so that different choices of the relative phase between the two modulations can either enhance or cancel the desired quantum effects, opening new possibilities for optimal quantum control strategies.

The elusive Heisenberg limit in quantum-enhanced metrology

PubMed Central

Demkowicz-Dobrzański, Rafał; Kołodyński, Jan; Guţă, Mădălin

2012-01-01

Quantum precision enhancement is of fundamental importance for the development of advanced metrological optical experiments, such as gravitational wave detection and frequency calibration with atomic clocks. Precision in these experiments is strongly limited by the 1/√N shot noise factor with N being the number of probes (photons, atoms) employed in the experiment. Quantum theory provides tools to overcome the bound by using entangled probes. In an idealized scenario this gives rise to the Heisenberg scaling of precision 1/N. Here we show that when decoherence is taken into account, the maximal possible quantum enhancement in the asymptotic limit of infinite N amounts generically to a constant factor rather than quadratic improvement. We provide efficient and intuitive tools for deriving the bounds based on the geometry of quantum channels and semi-definite programming. We apply these tools to derive bounds for models of decoherence relevant for metrological applications including: depolarization, dephasing, spontaneous emission and photon loss. PMID:22990859

Efficient amplitude-modulated pulses for triple- to single-quantum coherence conversion in MQMAS NMR.

PubMed

Colaux, Henri; Dawson, Daniel M; Ashbrook, Sharon E

2014-08-07

The conversion between multiple- and single-quantum coherences is integral to many nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments of quadrupolar nuclei. This conversion is relatively inefficient when effected by a single pulse, and many composite pulse schemes have been developed to improve this efficiency. To provide the maximum improvement, such schemes typically require time-consuming experimental optimization. Here, we demonstrate an approach for generating amplitude-modulated pulses to enhance the efficiency of the triple- to single-quantum conversion. The optimization is performed using the SIMPSON and MATLAB packages and results in efficient pulses that can be used without experimental reoptimisation. Most significant signal enhancements are obtained when good estimates of the inherent radio-frequency nutation rate and the magnitude of the quadrupolar coupling are used as input to the optimization, but the pulses appear robust to reasonable variations in either parameter, producing significant enhancements compared to a single-pulse conversion, and also comparable or improved efficiency over other commonly used approaches. In all cases, the ease of implementation of our method is advantageous, particularly for cases with low sensitivity, where the improvement is most needed (e.g., low gyromagnetic ratio or high quadrupolar coupling). Our approach offers the potential to routinely improve the sensitivity of high-resolution NMR spectra of nuclei and systems that would, perhaps, otherwise be deemed "too challenging".

Efficient Amplitude-Modulated Pulses for Triple- to Single-Quantum Coherence Conversion in MQMAS NMR

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The conversion between multiple- and single-quantum coherences is integral to many nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments of quadrupolar nuclei. This conversion is relatively inefficient when effected by a single pulse, and many composite pulse schemes have been developed to improve this efficiency. To provide the maximum improvement, such schemes typically require time-consuming experimental optimization. Here, we demonstrate an approach for generating amplitude-modulated pulses to enhance the efficiency of the triple- to single-quantum conversion. The optimization is performed using the SIMPSON and MATLAB packages and results in efficient pulses that can be used without experimental reoptimisation. Most significant signal enhancements are obtained when good estimates of the inherent radio-frequency nutation rate and the magnitude of the quadrupolar coupling are used as input to the optimization, but the pulses appear robust to reasonable variations in either parameter, producing significant enhancements compared to a single-pulse conversion, and also comparable or improved efficiency over other commonly used approaches. In all cases, the ease of implementation of our method is advantageous, particularly for cases with low sensitivity, where the improvement is most needed (e.g., low gyromagnetic ratio or high quadrupolar coupling). Our approach offers the potential to routinely improve the sensitivity of high-resolution NMR spectra of nuclei and systems that would, perhaps, otherwise be deemed “too challenging”. PMID:25047226

A novel biasing dependent circuit model of resonant cavity enhanced avalanche photodetectors (RCE-APDs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdelhamid, Mostafa R.; El-Batawy, Yasser M.; Deen, M. Jamal

2018-02-01

In Resonant Cavity Enhanced Photodetectors (RCE-PDs), the trade-off between the bandwidth and the quantum efficiency in the conventional photodetectors is overcome. In RCE-PDs, large bandwidth can be achieved using a thin absorption layer while the use of a resonant cavity allows for multiple passes of light in the absorption which boosts the quantum efficiency. In this paper, a complete bias-dependent model for the Resonant Cavity Enhanced-Separated Absorption Graded Charge Multiplication-Avalanche Photodetector (RCE-SAGCM-APD) is presented. The proposed model takes into account the case of drift velocities other than the saturation velocity, thus modeling this effect on the photodetector different design parameters such as Gain, Bandwidth and Gain-Bandwidth product.

Ultrasensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Detection Based on Amorphous Molybdenum Oxide Quantum Dots.

PubMed

Li, Hao; Xu, Qun; Wang, Xuzhe; Liu, Wei

2018-06-07

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based on plasmonic semiconductive material has been proved to be an efficient tool to detect trace of substances, while the relatively weak plasmon resonance compared with noble metal materials restricts its practical application. Herein, for the first time a facile method to fabricate amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dots with tunable plasmon resonance is developed by a controlled oxidization route. The as-prepared amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dots show tunable plasmon resonance in the region of visible and near-infrared light. Moreover, the tunability induced by SC CO 2 is analyzed by a molecule kinetic theory combined with a molecular thermodynamic model. More importantly, the ultrahigh enhancement factor of amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dots detecting on methyl blue can be up to 9.5 × 10 5 with expending the limit of detection to 10 -9 m. Such a remarkable porperty can also be found in this H x MoO 3 -based sensor with Rh6G and RhB as probe molecules, suggesting that the amorphous H x MoO 3 quantum dot is an efficient candidate for SERS on molecule detection in high precision. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Improved current extraction from ZnO/PbS quantum dot heterojunction photovoltaics using a MoO3 interfacial layer.

PubMed

Brown, Patrick R; Lunt, Richard R; Zhao, Ni; Osedach, Timothy P; Wanger, Darcy D; Chang, Liang-Yi; Bawendi, Moungi G; Bulović, Vladimir

2011-07-13

The ability to engineer interfacial energy offsets in photovoltaic devices is one of the keys to their optimization. Here, we demonstrate that improvements in power conversion efficiency may be attained for ZnO/PbS heterojunction quantum dot photovoltaics through the incorporation of a MoO(3) interlayer between the PbS colloidal quantum dot film and the top-contact anode. Through a combination of current-voltage characterization, circuit modeling, Mott-Schottky analysis, and external quantum efficiency measurements performed with bottom- and top-illumination, these enhancements are shown to stem from the elimination of a reverse-bias Schottky diode present at the PbS/anode interface. The incorporation of the high-work-function MoO(3) layer pins the Fermi level of the top contact, effectively decoupling the device performance from the work function of the anode and resulting in a high open-circuit voltage (0.59 ± 0.01 V) for a range of different anode materials. Corresponding increases in short-circuit current and fill factor enable 1.5-fold, 2.3-fold, and 4.5-fold enhancements in photovoltaic device efficiency for gold, silver, and ITO anodes, respectively, and result in a power conversion efficiency of 3.5 ± 0.4% for a device employing a gold anode.

Quantum demultiplexer of quantum parameter-estimation information in quantum networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Yanqing; Huang, Yumeng; Wu, Yinzhong; Hao, Xiang

2018-05-01

The quantum demultiplexer is constructed by a series of unitary operators and multipartite entangled states. It is used to realize information broadcasting from an input node to multiple output nodes in quantum networks. The scheme of quantum network communication with respect to phase estimation is put forward through the demultiplexer subjected to amplitude damping noises. The generalized partial measurements can be applied to protect the transferring efficiency from environmental noises in the protocol. It is found out that there are some optimal coherent states which can be prepared to enhance the transmission of phase estimation. The dynamics of state fidelity and quantum Fisher information are investigated to evaluate the feasibility of the network communication. While the state fidelity deteriorates rapidly, the quantum Fisher information can be enhanced to a maximum value and then decreases slowly. The memory effect of the environment induces the oscillations of fidelity and quantum Fisher information. The adjustment of the strength of partial measurements is helpful to increase quantum Fisher information.

Resonant quantum efficiency enhancement of midwave infrared nBn photodetectors using one-dimensional plasmonic gratings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nolde, Jill A., E-mail: jill.nolde@nrl.navy.mil; Kim, Chul Soo; Jackson, Eric M.

2015-06-29

We demonstrate up to 39% resonant enhancement of the quantum efficiency (QE) of a low dark current nBn midwave infrared photodetector with a 0.5 μm InAsSb absorber layer. The enhancement was achieved by using a 1D plasmonic grating to couple incident light into plasmon modes propagating in the plane of the device. The plasmonic grating is composed of stripes of deposited amorphous germanium overlaid with gold. Devices with and without gratings were processed side-by-side for comparison of their QEs and dark currents. The peak external QE for a grating device was 29% compared to 22% for a mirror device when themore » illumination was polarized perpendicularly to the grating lines. Additional experiments determined the grating coupling efficiency by measuring the reflectance of analogous gratings deposited on bare GaSb substrates.« less

Maximizing the quantum efficiency of microchannel plate detectors - The collection of photoelectrons from the interchannel web using an electric field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, R. C.; Hettrick, M. C.; Malina, R. F.

1983-01-01

High quantum efficiency and two-dimensional imaging capabilities make the microchannel plate (MCP) a suitable detector for a sky survey instrument. The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, to be launched in 1987, will use MCP detectors. A feature which limits MCP efficiency is related to the walls of individual channels. The walls are of finite thickness and thus form an interchannel web. Under normal circumstances, this web does not contribute to the detector's quantum efficiency. Panitz and Foesch (1976) have found that in the case of a bombardment with ions, electrons were ejected from the electrode material coating the web. By applying a small electric field, the electrons were returned to the MCP surface where they were detected. The present investigation is concerned with the enhancement of quantum efficiencies in the case of extreme UV wavelengths. Attention is given to a model and a computer simulation which quantitatively reproduce the experimental results.

Unconditional violation of the shot-noise limit in photonic quantum metrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slussarenko, Sergei; Weston, Morgan M.; Chrzanowski, Helen M.; Shalm, Lynden K.; Verma, Varun B.; Nam, Sae Woo; Pryde, Geoff J.

2017-11-01

Interferometric phase measurement is widely used to precisely determine quantities such as length, speed and material properties1-3. Without quantum correlations, the best phase sensitivity Δ ϕ achievable using n photons is the shot-noise limit, Δ ϕ =1 /√{n }. Quantum-enhanced metrology promises better sensitivity, but, despite theoretical proposals stretching back decades3,4, no measurement using photonic (that is, definite photon number) quantum states has truly surpassed the shot-noise limit. Instead, all such demonstrations, by discounting photon loss, detector inefficiency or other imperfections, have considered only a subset of the photons used. Here, we use an ultrahigh-efficiency photon source and detectors to perform unconditional entanglement-enhanced photonic interferometry. Sampling a birefringent phase shift, we demonstrate precision beyond the shot-noise limit without artificially correcting our results for loss and imperfections. Our results enable quantum-enhanced phase measurements at low photon flux and open the door to the next generation of optical quantum metrology advances.

Nanophotonic photon echo memory based on rare-earth-doped crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Tian; Kindem, Jonathan; Miyazono, Evan; Faraon, Andrei; Caltech nano quantum optics Team

2015-03-01

Rare earth ions (REIs) are promising candidates for implementing solid-state quantum memories and quantum repeater devices. Their high spectral stability and long coherence times make REIs a good choice for integration in an on-chip quantum nano-photonic platform. We report the coupling of the 883 nm transition of Neodymium (Nd) to a Yttrium orthosilicate (YSO) photonic crystal nano-beam resonator, achieving Purcell enhanced spontaneous emission by 21 times and increased optical absorption. Photon echoes were observed in nano-beams of different doping concentrations, yielding optical coherence times T2 up to 80 μs that are comparable to unprocessed bulk samples. This indicates the remarkable coherence properties of Nd are preserved during nanofabrication, therefore opening the possibility of efficient on-chip optical quantum memories. The nano-resonator with mode volume of 1 . 6(λ / n) 3 was fabricated using focused ion beam, and a quality factor of 3200 was measured. Purcell enhanced absorption of 80% by an ensemble of ~ 1 × 106 ions in the resonator was measured, which fulfills the cavity impedance matching condition that is necessary to achieve quantum storage of photons with unity efficiency.

Localized surface plasmon enhanced deep UV-emitting of AlGaN based multi-quantum wells by Al nanoparticles on SiO2 dielectric interlayer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Ju; Wang, Shuai; Chen, Jingwen; Wu, Feng; Dai, Jiangnan; Long, Hanling; Zhang, Yi; Zhang, Wei; Feng, Zhe Chuan; Zhang, Jun; Du, Shida; Ye, Lei; Chen, Changqing

2018-05-01

In this paper, we report a 2.6-fold deep ultraviolet emission enhancement of integrated photoluminescence (PL) intensity in AlGaN-based multi-quantum wells (MQWs) by introducing the coupling of local surface plasmons from Al nanoparticles (NPs) on a SiO2 dielectric interlayer with excitons and photons in MQWs at room temperature. In comparison to bare AlGaN MQWs, a significant 2.3-fold enhancement of the internal quantum efficiency, from 16% to 37%, as well as a 13% enhancement of photon extraction efficiency have been observed in the MQWs decorated with Al NPs on SiO2 dielectric interlayer. Polarization-dependent PL measurement showed that both the transverse electric and transverse magnetic mode were stronger than the original intensity in bare AlGaN MQWs, indicating a strong LSPs coupling process and vigorous scattering ability of the Al/SiO2 composite structure. These results were confirmed by the activation energy of non-radiative recombination from temperature-dependent PL measurement and the theoretical three dimensional finite difference time domain calculations.

Conformal fabrication of colloidal quantum dot solids for optically enhanced photovoltaics.

PubMed

Labelle, André J; Thon, Susanna M; Kim, Jin Young; Lan, Xinzheng; Zhitomirsky, David; Kemp, Kyle W; Sargent, Edward H

2015-05-26

Colloidal quantum dots (CQD) are an attractive thin-film material for photovoltaic applications due to low material costs, ease of fabrication, and size-tunable band gap. Unfortunately, today they suffer from a compromise between light absorption and photocarrier extraction, a fact that currently prevents the complete harvest of incoming above-band-gap solar photons. We have investigated the use of structured substrates and/or electrodes to increase the effective light path through the active material and found that these designs require highly conformal application of the light-absorbing films to achieve the greatest enhancement. This conformality requirement derives from the need for maximal absorption enhancement combined with shortest-distance charge transport. Here we report on a means of processing highly conformal layer-by-layer deposited CQD absorber films onto microstructured, light-recycling electrodes. Specifically, we engineer surface hydrophilicity to achieve conformal deposition of upper layers atop underlying ones. We show that only with the application of conformal coating can we achieve optimal quantum efficiency and enhanced power conversion efficiency in structured-electrode CQD cells.

Localized surface plasmon enhanced deep UV-emitting of AlGaN based multi-quantum wells by Al nanoparticles on SiO2 dielectric interlayer.

PubMed

He, Ju; Wang, Shuai; Chen, Jingwen; Wu, Feng; Dai, Jiangnan; Long, Hanling; Zhang, Yi; Zhang, Wei; Feng, Zhe Chuan; Zhang, Jun; Du, Shida; Ye, Lei; Chen, Changqing

2018-05-11

In this paper, we report a 2.6-fold deep ultraviolet emission enhancement of integrated photoluminescence (PL) intensity in AlGaN-based multi-quantum wells (MQWs) by introducing the coupling of local surface plasmons from Al nanoparticles (NPs) on a SiO 2 dielectric interlayer with excitons and photons in MQWs at room temperature. In comparison to bare AlGaN MQWs, a significant 2.3-fold enhancement of the internal quantum efficiency, from 16% to 37%, as well as a 13% enhancement of photon extraction efficiency have been observed in the MQWs decorated with Al NPs on SiO 2 dielectric interlayer. Polarization-dependent PL measurement showed that both the transverse electric and transverse magnetic mode were stronger than the original intensity in bare AlGaN MQWs, indicating a strong LSPs coupling process and vigorous scattering ability of the Al/SiO 2 composite structure. These results were confirmed by the activation energy of non-radiative recombination from temperature-dependent PL measurement and the theoretical three dimensional finite difference time domain calculations.

A colloidal quantum dot photonic crystal phosphor: nanostructural engineering of the phosphor for enhanced color conversion.

PubMed

Min, Kyungtaek; Jung, Hyunho; Park, Yeonsang; Cho, Kyung-Sang; Roh, Young-Geun; Hwang, Sung Woo; Jeon, Heonsu

2017-06-29

Phosphors, long-known color-converting photonic agents, are gaining increasing attention owing to the interest in white LEDs and related applications. Conventional material-based approaches to phosphors focus on obtaining the desired absorption/emission wavelengths and/or improving quantum efficiency. Here, we report a novel approach for enhancing the performance of phosphors: structural modification of phosphors. We incorporated inorganic colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) into a lateral one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PhC) thin-film structure, with its photonic band-edge (PBE) modes matching the energy of 'excitation photons' (rather than 'emitted photons', as in most other PBE application devices). At resonance, we observed an approximately 4-fold enhancement of fluorescence over the reference bulk phosphor, which reflects an improved absorption of the excitation photons. This nano-structural engineering approach is a paradigm shift in the phosphor research area and may help to develop next-generation higher efficiency phosphors with novel characteristics.

A variational eigenvalue solver on a photonic quantum processor

PubMed Central

Peruzzo, Alberto; McClean, Jarrod; Shadbolt, Peter; Yung, Man-Hong; Zhou, Xiao-Qi; Love, Peter J.; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán; O’Brien, Jeremy L.

2014-01-01

Quantum computers promise to efficiently solve important problems that are intractable on a conventional computer. For quantum systems, where the physical dimension grows exponentially, finding the eigenvalues of certain operators is one such intractable problem and remains a fundamental challenge. The quantum phase estimation algorithm efficiently finds the eigenvalue of a given eigenvector but requires fully coherent evolution. Here we present an alternative approach that greatly reduces the requirements for coherent evolution and combine this method with a new approach to state preparation based on ansätze and classical optimization. We implement the algorithm by combining a highly reconfigurable photonic quantum processor with a conventional computer. We experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of this approach with an example from quantum chemistry—calculating the ground-state molecular energy for He–H+. The proposed approach drastically reduces the coherence time requirements, enhancing the potential of quantum resources available today and in the near future. PMID:25055053

Flexible deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes for significant improvement of quantum efficiencies by external bending

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shervin, Shahab; Oh, Seung Kyu; Park, Hyun Jung; Lee, Keon-Hwa; Asadirad, Mojtaba; Kim, Seung-Hwan; Kim, Jeomoh; Pouladi, Sara; Lee, Sung-Nam; Li, Xiaohang; Kwak, Joon Seop; Ryou, Jae-Hyun

2018-03-01

We report a new route to improve quantum efficiencies of AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV LEDs) using mechanical flexibility of recently developed bendable thin-film structures. Numerical studies show that electronic band structures of AlGaN heterostructures and resulting optical and electrical characteristics of the devices can be significantly modified by external bending through active control of piezoelectric polarization. Internal quantum efficiency is enhanced higher than three times, when the DUV LEDs are moderately bent with concave curvatures. Furthermore, an efficiency droop at high injection currents is mitigated and turn-on voltage of diodes decreases with the same bending condition. The concept of bendable DUV LEDs with a controlled external strain can provide a new path for high-output-power and high-efficiency devices.

Highly efficient non-degenerate four-wave mixing under dual-mode injection in InP/InAs quantum-dash and quantum-dot lasers at 1.55 μm

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sadeev, T., E-mail: tagir@mailbox.tu-berlin.de; Arsenijević, D.; Huang, H.

2015-11-09

This work reports on non-degenerate four-wave mixing under dual-mode injection in metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy grown InP/InAs quantum-dash and quantum dot Fabry-Perot laser operating at 1550 nm. High values of normalized conversion efficiency of −18.6 dB, optical signal-to-noise ratio of 37 dB, and third order optical susceptibility normalized to material gain χ{sup (3)}/g{sub 0} of ∼4 × 10{sup −19} m{sup 3}/V{sup 3} are measured for 1490 μm long quantum-dash lasers. These values are similar to those obtained with distributed-feedback lasers and semiconductor optical amplifiers, which are much more complicated to fabricate. On the other hand, due to the faster gain saturation and enhanced modulation of carriermore » populations, quantum-dot lasers demonstrate 12 dB lower conversion efficiency and 4 times lower χ{sup (3)}/g{sub 0} compared to quantum dash lasers.« less

Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Photovoltaics: Translating Fundamental Nanostructure Research to Enhanced Solar Conversion Efficiency

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-31

component hybrid nanocrystals constituting pentacene or single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) as well as through control of interfacial chemistry and linkage...nanotubes-quantum dot conjugates or pentacene -quantum dot composits into organic matrices significantly improved photoconductivity of polymer/nanocrystal

Reversed oxygen sensing using colloidal quantum wells towards highly emissive photoresponsive varnishes

PubMed Central

Lorenzon, Monica; Christodoulou, Sotirios; Vaccaro, Gianfranco; Pedrini, Jacopo; Meinardi, Francesco; Moreels, Iwan; Brovelli, Sergio

2015-01-01

Colloidal quantum wells combine the advantages of size-tunable electronic properties with vast reactive surfaces that could allow one to realize highly emissive luminescent-sensing varnishes capable of detecting chemical agents through their reversible emission response, with great potential impact on life sciences, environmental monitoring, defence and aerospace engineering. Here we combine spectroelectrochemical measurements and spectroscopic studies in a controlled atmosphere to demonstrate the ‘reversed oxygen-sensing’ capability of CdSe colloidal quantum wells, that is, the exposure to oxygen reversibly increases their luminescence efficiency. Spectroelectrochemical experiments allow us to directly relate the sensing response to the occupancy of surface states. Magneto-optical measurements demonstrate that, under vacuum, heterostructured CdSe/CdS colloidal quantum wells stabilize in their negative trion state. The high starting emission efficiency provides a possible means to enhance the oxygen sensitivity by partially de-passivating the particle surfaces, thereby enhancing the density of unsaturated sites with a minimal cost in term of luminescence losses. PMID:25910499

Photon catalysis acting as noiseless linear amplification and its application in coherence enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shengli; Zhang, Xiangdong

2018-04-01

Photon catalysis is an intriguing quantum mechanical operation during which no photon is added to or subtracted from the relevant optical system. However, we prove that photon catalysis is in essence equivalent to the simpler but more efficient noiseless linear amplifier. This provides a simple and zero-energy-input method for enhancing quantum coherence. We show that the coherence enhancement holds both for a coherent state and a two-mode squeezed vacuum (TMSV) state. For the TMSV state, biside photon catalysis is shown to be equivalent to two times the single-side photon catalysis, and two times the photon catalysis does not provide a substantial enhancement of quantum coherence compared with single-side catalysis. We further extend our investigation to the performance of coherence enhancement with a more realistic photon catalysis scheme where a heralded approximated single-photon state and an on-off detector are exploited. Moreover, we investigate the influence of an imperfect photon detector and the result shows that the amplification effect of photon catalysis is insensitive to the detector inefficiency. Finally, we apply the coherence measure to quantum illumination and see the same trend of performance improvement as coherence enhancement is identified in practical quantum target detection.

Effect of interface roughness on Auger recombination in semiconductor quantum wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Chee-Keong; Sun, Wei; Wierer, Jonathan J.; Tansu, Nelson

2017-03-01

Auger recombination in a semiconductor is a three-carrier process, wherein the energy from the recombination of an electron and hole pair promotes a third carrier to a higher energy state. In semiconductor quantum wells with increased carrier densities, the Auger recombination becomes an appreciable fraction of the total recombination rate and degrades luminescence efficiency. Gaining insight into the variables that influence Auger recombination in semiconductor quantum wells could lead to further advances in optoelectronic and electronic devices. Here we demonstrate the important role that interface roughness has on Auger recombination within quantum wells. Our computational studies find that as the ratio of interface roughness to quantum well thickness is increased, Auger recombination is significantly enhanced. Specifically, when considering a realistic interface roughness for an InGaN quantum well, the enhancement in Auger recombination rate over a quantum well with perfect heterointerfaces can be approximately four orders of magnitude.

Enhancement of photoluminescence from GaInNAsSb quantum wells upon annealing: improvement of material quality and carrier collection by the quantum well.

PubMed

Baranowski, M; Kudrawiec, R; Latkowska, M; Syperek, M; Misiewicz, J; Sarmiento, T; Harris, J S

2013-02-13

In this study we apply time resolved photoluminescence and contactless electroreflectance to study the carrier collection efficiency of a GaInNAsSb/GaAs quantum well (QW). We show that the enhancement of photoluminescence from GaInNAsSb quantum wells annealed at different temperatures originates not only from (i) the improvement of the optical quality of the GaInNAsSb material (i.e., removal of point defects, which are the source of nonradiative recombination) but it is also affected by (ii) the improvement of carrier collection by the QW region. The total PL efficiency is the product of these two factors, for which the optimal annealing temperatures are found to be ~700 °C and ~760 °C, respectively, whereas the optimal annealing temperature for the integrated PL intensity is found to be between the two temperatures and equals ~720 °C. We connect the variation of the carrier collection efficiency with the modification of the band bending conditions in the investigated structure due to the Fermi level shift in the GaInNAsSb layer after annealing.

Electrical and Optical Enhancement in Internally Nanopatterned Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fina, Michael Dane

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have made tremendous technological progress in the past two decades and have emerged as a top competitor for next generation light-emitting displays and lighting. State-of-the-art OLEDs have been reported in literature to approach, and even surpass, white fluorescent tube efficiency. However, despite rapid technological progress, efficiency metrics must be improved to compete with traditional inorganic light-emitting diode (LED) technology. Organic materials possess specialized traits that permit manipulations to the light-emitting cavity. Overall, as demonstrated within, these modifications can be used to improve electrical and optical device efficiencies. This work is focused at analyzing the effects that nanopatterned geometric modifications to the organic active layers play on device efficiency. In general, OLED efficiency is complicated by the complex, coupled processes which contribute to spontaneous dipole emission. A composite of three sub-systems (electrical, exciton and optical) ultimately dictate the OLED device efficiency. OLED electrical operation is believed to take place via a low-mobility-modified Schottky injection process. In the injection-limited regime, geometric effects are expected to modify the local electric field leading to device current enhancement. It is shown that the patterning effect can be used to enhance charge carrier parity, thereby enhancing overall recombination. Current density and luminance characteristics are shown to be improved by OLED nanopatterning from both the model developed within and experimental techniques. Next, the optical enhancement effects produced by the nanopatterned array are considered. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations are used to determine positional, spectral optical enhancement for the nanopatterned device. The results show beneficial effects to the device performance. The optical enhancements are related to the reduction in internal radiative quenching (improved internal quantum efficiency) and improvement in light extraction (improved outcoupling efficiency). Furthermore, the electrical model is used to construct a positional radiative efficiency map that when combined with the optical enhancement reveals the overall external quantum efficiency enhancement.

Ag-Decorated Localized Surface Plasmon-Enhanced Ultraviolet Electroluminescence from ZnO Quantum Dot-Based/GaN Heterojunction Diodes by Optimizing MgO Interlayer Thickness.

PubMed

Chen, Cheng; Chen, Jingwen; Zhang, Jun; Wang, Shuai; Zhang, Wei; Liang, Renli; Dai, Jiangnan; Chen, Changqing

2016-12-01

We demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of localized surface plasmon (LSP)-enhanced n-ZnO quantum dot (QD)/MgO/p-GaN heterojunction light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by embedding Ag nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) into the ZnO/MgO interface. The maximum enhancement ration of the Ag-NP-decorated LEDs in electroluminescence (EL) is 4.3-fold by optimizing MgO electron-blocking layer thickness. The EL origination was investigated qualitatively in terms of photoluminescence (PL) results. Through analysis of the energy band structure of device and carrier transport mechanisms, it suggests that the EL enhancement is attributed to the increased rate of spontaneous emission and improved internal quantum efficiency induced by exciton-LSP coupling.

Ag-Decorated Localized Surface Plasmon-Enhanced Ultraviolet Electroluminescence from ZnO Quantum Dot-Based/GaN Heterojunction Diodes by Optimizing MgO Interlayer Thickness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Cheng; Chen, Jingwen; Zhang, Jun; Wang, Shuai; Zhang, Wei; Liang, Renli; Dai, Jiangnan; Chen, Changqing

2016-10-01

We demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of localized surface plasmon (LSP)-enhanced n-ZnO quantum dot (QD)/MgO/p-GaN heterojunction light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by embedding Ag nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) into the ZnO/MgO interface. The maximum enhancement ration of the Ag-NP-decorated LEDs in electroluminescence (EL) is 4.3-fold by optimizing MgO electron-blocking layer thickness. The EL origination was investigated qualitatively in terms of photoluminescence (PL) results. Through analysis of the energy band structure of device and carrier transport mechanisms, it suggests that the EL enhancement is attributed to the increased rate of spontaneous emission and improved internal quantum efficiency induced by exciton-LSP coupling.

Mid-IR colloidal quantum dot detectors enhanced by optical nano-antennas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yifat, Yuval; Ackerman, Matthew; Guyot-Sionnest, Philippe

2017-01-01

We report the fabrication of a colloidal quantum dot based photodetector designed for the 3-5 μm mid infrared wavelength range incorporated with optical nano-antenna arrays to enhance the photocurrent. The fabricated arrays exhibit a resonant behavior dependent on the length of the nano-antenna rods, in good agreement with numerical simulation. The device exhibits a three-fold increase in the spectral photoresponse compared to a photodetector device without antennas, and the resonance is polarized parallel to the antenna orientation. We numerically estimate the device quantum efficiency and investigate its bias dependence.

Bright nanoscale source of deterministic entangled photon pairs violating Bell's inequality.

PubMed

Jöns, Klaus D; Schweickert, Lucas; Versteegh, Marijn A M; Dalacu, Dan; Poole, Philip J; Gulinatti, Angelo; Giudice, Andrea; Zwiller, Val; Reimer, Michael E

2017-05-10

Global, secure quantum channels will require efficient distribution of entangled photons. Long distance, low-loss interconnects can only be realized using photons as quantum information carriers. However, a quantum light source combining both high qubit fidelity and on-demand bright emission has proven elusive. Here, we show a bright photonic nanostructure generating polarization-entangled photon pairs that strongly violates Bell's inequality. A highly symmetric InAsP quantum dot generating entangled photons is encapsulated in a tapered nanowire waveguide to ensure directional emission and efficient light extraction. We collect ~200 kHz entangled photon pairs at the first lens under 80 MHz pulsed excitation, which is a 20 times enhancement as compared to a bare quantum dot without a photonic nanostructure. The performed Bell test using the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality reveals a clear violation (S CHSH  > 2) by up to 9.3 standard deviations. By using a novel quasi-resonant excitation scheme at the wurtzite InP nanowire resonance to reduce multi-photon emission, the entanglement fidelity (F = 0.817 ± 0.002) is further enhanced without temporal post-selection, allowing for the violation of Bell's inequality in the rectilinear-circular basis by 25 standard deviations. Our results on nanowire-based quantum light sources highlight their potential application in secure data communication utilizing measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution and quantum repeater protocols.

Highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes with a quantum dot interfacial layer.

PubMed

Ryu, Seung Yoon; Hwang, Byoung Har; Park, Ki Wan; Hwang, Hyeon Seok; Sung, Jin Woo; Baik, Hong Koo; Lee, Chang Ho; Song, Seung Yong; Lee, Jun Yeob

2009-02-11

Advanced organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), based on a multiple structure, were achieved in combination with a quantum dot (QD) interfacial layer. The authors used core/shell CdSe/ZnS QDs passivated with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and TOPO-free QDs as interlayers. Multiple-structure OLEDs (MOLEDs) with TOPO-free QDs showed higher device efficiency because of a well-defined interfacial monolayer formation. Additionally, the three-unit MOLED showed high performance for device efficiency with double-structured QD interfacial layers due to the enhanced charge balance and recombination probability.

Conservation of quantum efficiency in quantum well intermixing by stress engineering with dielectric bilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arslan, Seval; Demir, Abdullah; Şahin, Seval; Aydınlı, Atilla

2018-02-01

In semiconductor lasers, quantum well intermixing (QWI) with high selectivity using dielectrics often results in lower quantum efficiency. In this paper, we report on an investigation regarding the effect of thermally induced dielectric stress on the quantum efficiency of quantum well structures in impurity-free vacancy disordering (IFVD) process using photoluminescence and device characterization in conjunction with microscopy. SiO2 and Si x O2/SrF2 (versus SrF2) films were employed for the enhancement and suppression of QWI, respectively. Large intermixing selectivity of 75 nm (125 meV), consistent with the theoretical modeling results, with negligible effect on the suppression region characteristics, was obtained. Si x O2 layer compensates for the large thermal expansion coefficient mismatch of SrF2 with the semiconductor and mitigates the detrimental effects of SrF2 without sacrificing its QWI benefits. The bilayer dielectric approach dramatically improved the dielectric-semiconductor interface quality. Fabricated high power semiconductor lasers demonstrated high quantum efficiency in the lasing region using the bilayer dielectric film during the intermixing process. Our results reveal that stress engineering in IFVD is essential and the thermal stress can be controlled by engineering the dielectric strain opening new perspectives for QWI of photonic devices.

Nano-scale engineering using lead chalcogenide nanocrystals for opto-electronic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Fan

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) or nanocrystals of inorganic semiconductors exhibit exceptional optoelectronic properties such as tunable band-gap, high absorption cross-section and narrow emission spectra. This thesis discusses the characterizations and physical properties of lead-chalcogenide nanocrystals, their assembly into more complex nanostructures and applications in solar cells and near-infrared light-emitting devices. In the first part of this work, we demonstrate that the band edge emission of PbS quantum dots can be tuned from the visible to the mid-infrared region through size control, while the self-attachment of PbS nanocrystals can lead to the formation of 1-D nanowires, 2-D quantum dot monolayers and 3-D quantum dot solids. In particular, the assembly of closely-packed quantum dot solids has attracted enormous attention. A series of distinctive optoelectronic properties has been observed, such as superb multiple exciton generation efficiencies, efficient hot-electron transfer and cold-exciton recycling. Since the surfactant determines the quantum dot surface passivation and inter dot electronic coupling, we examine the influence of different cross-linking surfactants on the optoelectronic properties of the quantum dot solids. Then, we discuss the ability to tune the quantum dot band-gap combined with the controllable assembly of lead-chalcogenide quantum dots, which opens new possibilities to engineer the properties of quantum dot solids. The PbS and PbSe quantum dot cascade structures and PbS/PbSe quantum dot heterojunctions are assembled using the layer-by-layer deposition method. We show that exciton funnelling and trap state-bound exciton recycling in the quantum dot cascade structure dramatically enhances the quantum dots photoluminescence. Moreover, we show that both type-I and type-II PbS/PbSe quantum dot heterojunctions can be assembled by carefully choosing the quantum dot sizes. In type-I heterojunctions, the excited electron-hole pairs tend to localize in narrower band-gap quantum dots, leading to significant photoluminescence enhancement. In contrast, the staggered energy bands in type-II heterojunctions lead to rapid exciton separation at the junctions that considerably quenches the photoluminescence. As such, this strategy can be fruitfully employed to enhance performances in nanocrystal-based photovoltaic devices. Using this approach, we achieve efficient PbS nanocrystal-based solar cells using an ITO/ TiO2/ PbS QDs/Au architecture, where a porous TiO2 nanowire network is employed as electron transporting layer. Our best heterojunction solar cells exhibit a decent short circuit current of 2.5 mA/cm2, a large open circuit voltage of 0.6 V and a power converting efficiency of 5.4 % under 8.5 mW/cm2 low-light illumination. On the other hand, nanocrystal-based near infrared LED devices are fabricated using a simple ITO-PbS QDs-Al device structure. There, the active quantum dot layer serves as both the electron- and hole-transporting layer. With appropriate surface chemistry treatment on quantum dots, a high-brightness near-infrared LED device is achieved.

Probing the structural dependency of photoinduced properties of colloidal quantum dots using metal-oxide photo-active substrates.

PubMed

Patty, Kira; Sadeghi, Seyed M; Campbell, Quinn; Hamilton, Nathan; West, Robert G; Mao, Chuanbin

2014-09-21

We used photoactive substrates consisting of about 1 nm coating of a metal oxide on glass substrates to investigate the impact of the structures of colloidal quantum dots on their photophysical and photochemical properties. We showed during irradiation these substrates can interact uniquely with such quantum dots, inducing distinct forms of photo-induced processes when they have different cores, shells, or ligands. In particular, our results showed that for certain types of core-shell quantum dot structures an ultrathin layer of a metal oxide can reduce suppression of quantum efficiency of the quantum dots happening when they undergo extensive photo-oxidation. This suggests the possibility of shrinking the sizes of quantum dots without significant enhancement of their non-radiative decay rates. We show that such quantum dots are not influenced significantly by Coulomb blockade or photoionization, while those without a shell can undergo a large amount of photo-induced fluorescence enhancement via such blockade when they are in touch with the metal oxide.

Probing the structural dependency of photoinduced properties of colloidal quantum dots using metal-oxide photo-active substrates

PubMed Central

Patty, Kira; Sadeghi, Seyed M.; Campbell, Quinn; Hamilton, Nathan; West, Robert G.; Mao, Chuanbin

2014-01-01

We used photoactive substrates consisting of about 1 nm coating of a metal oxide on glass substrates to investigate the impact of the structures of colloidal quantum dots on their photophysical and photochemical properties. We showed during irradiation these substrates can interact uniquely with such quantum dots, inducing distinct forms of photo-induced processes when they have different cores, shells, or ligands. In particular, our results showed that for certain types of core-shell quantum dot structures an ultrathin layer of a metal oxide can reduce suppression of quantum efficiency of the quantum dots happening when they undergo extensive photo-oxidation. This suggests the possibility of shrinking the sizes of quantum dots without significant enhancement of their non-radiative decay rates. We show that such quantum dots are not influenced significantly by Coulomb blockade or photoionization, while those without a shell can undergo a large amount of photo-induced fluorescence enhancement via such blockade when they are in touch with the metal oxide. PMID:25316953

Solar cells using quantum funnels.

PubMed

Kramer, Illan J; Levina, Larissa; Debnath, Ratan; Zhitomirsky, David; Sargent, Edward H

2011-09-14

Colloidal quantum dots offer broad tuning of semiconductor bandstructure via the quantum size effect. Devices involving a sequence of layers comprised of quantum dots selected to have different diameters, and therefore bandgaps, offer the possibility of funneling energy toward an acceptor. Here we report a quantum funnel that efficiently conveys photoelectrons from their point of generation toward an intended electron acceptor. Using this concept we build a solar cell that benefits from enhanced fill factor as a result of this quantum funnel. This concept addresses limitations on transport in soft condensed matter systems and leverages their advantages in large-area optoelectronic devices and systems.

Deterministic realization of collective measurements via photonic quantum walks.

PubMed

Hou, Zhibo; Tang, Jun-Feng; Shang, Jiangwei; Zhu, Huangjun; Li, Jian; Yuan, Yuan; Wu, Kang-Da; Xiang, Guo-Yong; Li, Chuan-Feng; Guo, Guang-Can

2018-04-12

Collective measurements on identically prepared quantum systems can extract more information than local measurements, thereby enhancing information-processing efficiency. Although this nonclassical phenomenon has been known for two decades, it has remained a challenging task to demonstrate the advantage of collective measurements in experiments. Here, we introduce a general recipe for performing deterministic collective measurements on two identically prepared qubits based on quantum walks. Using photonic quantum walks, we realize experimentally an optimized collective measurement with fidelity 0.9946 without post selection. As an application, we achieve the highest tomographic efficiency in qubit state tomography to date. Our work offers an effective recipe for beating the precision limit of local measurements in quantum state tomography and metrology. In addition, our study opens an avenue for harvesting the power of collective measurements in quantum information-processing and for exploring the intriguing physics behind this power.

An integrated approach to realizing high-performance liquid-junction quantum dot sensitized solar cells

PubMed Central

McDaniel, Hunter; Fuke, Nobuhiro; Makarov, Nikolay S.; Pietryga, Jeffrey M.; Klimov, Victor I.

2013-01-01

Solution-processed semiconductor quantum dot solar cells offer a path towards both reduced fabrication cost and higher efficiency enabled by novel processes such as hot-electron extraction and carrier multiplication. Here we use a new class of low-cost, low-toxicity CuInSexS2−x quantum dots to demonstrate sensitized solar cells with certified efficiencies exceeding 5%. Among other material and device design improvements studied, use of a methanol-based polysulfide electrolyte results in a particularly dramatic enhancement in photocurrent and reduced series resistance. Despite the high vapour pressure of methanol, the solar cells are stable for months under ambient conditions, which is much longer than any previously reported quantum dot sensitized solar cell. This study demonstrates the large potential of CuInSexS2−x quantum dots as active materials for the realization of low-cost, robust and efficient photovoltaics as well as a platform for investigating various advanced concepts derived from the unique physics of the nanoscale size regime. PMID:24322379

High charge-carrier mobility enables exploitation of carrier multiplication in quantum-dot films

PubMed Central

Sandeep, C. S. Suchand; Cate, Sybren ten; Schins, Juleon M.; Savenije, Tom J.; Liu, Yao; Law, Matt; Kinge, Sachin; Houtepen, Arjan J.; Siebbeles, Laurens D. A.

2013-01-01

Carrier multiplication, the generation of multiple electron–hole pairs by a single photon, is of great interest for solar cells as it may enhance their photocurrent. This process has been shown to occur efficiently in colloidal quantum dots, however, harvesting of the generated multiple charges has proved difficult. Here we show that by tuning the charge-carrier mobility in quantum-dot films, carrier multiplication can be optimized and may show an efficiency as high as in colloidal dispersion. Our results are explained quantitatively by the competition between dissociation of multiple electron–hole pairs and Auger recombination. Above a mobility of ~1 cm2 V−1 s−1, all charges escape Auger recombination and are quantitatively converted to free charges, offering the prospect of cheap quantum-dot solar cells with efficiencies in excess of the Shockley–Queisser limit. In addition, we show that the threshold energy for carrier multiplication is reduced to twice the band gap of the quantum dots. PMID:23974282

Highly Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation Efficiency Based on Triadic Quantum Dot/Layered Double Hydroxide/BiVO 4 Photoanodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tang, Yanqun; Wang, Ruirui; Yang, Ye

2016-08-03

The water oxidation half-reaction is considered to be a bottleneck for achieving highly efficient solar-driven water splitting due to its multiproton-coupled four-electron process and sluggish kinetics. Herein, a triadic photoanode consisting of dual-sized CdTe quantum dots (QDs), Co-based layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets, and BiVO4 particles, that is, QD@LDH@BiVO4, was designed. Two sets of consecutive Type-II band alignments were constructed to improve photogenerated electron-hole separation in the triadic structure. The efficient charge separation resulted in a 2-fold enhancement of the photocurrent of the QD@LDH@BiVO4 photoanode. A significantly enhanced oxidation efficiency reaching above 90% in the low bias region (i.e., Emore » < 0.8 V vs RHE) could be critical in determining the overall performance of a complete photoelectrochemical cell. The faradaic efficiency for water oxidation was almost 90%. The conduction band energy of QDs is -1.0 V more negative than that of LDH, favorable for the electron injection to LDH and enabling a more efficient hole separation. The enhanced photon-to-current conversion efficiency and improved water oxidation efficiency of the triadic structure may result from the non-negligible contribution of hot electrons or holes generated in QDs. Such a band-matching and multidimensional triadic architecture could be a promising strategy for achieving high-efficiency photoanodes by sufficiently utilizing and maximizing the functionalities of QDs.« less

Carbon quantum dots coated BiVO{sub 4} inverse opals for enhanced photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nan, Feng; Shen, Mingrong; Fang, Liang, E-mail: zhkang@suda.edu.cn, E-mail: lfang@suda.edu.cn

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) coated BiVO{sub 4} inverse opal (io-BiVO{sub 4}) structure that shows dramatic improvement of photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation has been fabricated using electrodeposition with a template. The io-BiVO{sub 4} maximizes photon trapping through slow light effect, while maintaining adequate surface area for effective redox reactions. CQDs are then incorporated to the io-BiVO{sub 4} to further improve the photoconversion efficiency. Due to the strong visible light absorption property of CQDs and enhanced separation of the photoexcited electrons, the CQDs coated io-BiVO{sub 4} exhibit a maximum photo-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 0.35%, which is 6 times higher than that of themore » pure BiVO{sub 4} thin films. This work is a good example of designing composite photoelectrode by combining quantum dots and photonic crystal.« less

Giant photocurrent enhancement by transition metal doping in quantum dot sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rimal, Gaurab; Pimachev, Artem K.; Yost, Andrew J.; Poudyal, Uma; Maloney, Scott; Wang, Wenyong; Chien, TeYu; Dahnovsky, Yuri; Tang, Jinke

2016-09-01

A huge enhancement in the incident photon-to-current efficiency of PbS quantum dot (QD) sensitized solar cells by manganese doping is observed. In the presence of Mn dopants with relatively small concentration (4 at. %), the photoelectric current increases by an average of 300% (up to 700%). This effect cannot be explained by the light absorption mechanism because both the experimental and theoretical absorption spectra demonstrate several times decreases in the absorption coefficient. To explain such dramatic increase in the photocurrent we propose the electron tunneling mechanism from the LUMO of the QD excited state to the Zn2SnO4 (ZTO) semiconductor photoanode. This change is due to the presence of the Mn instead of Pb atom at the QD/ZTO interface. The ab initio calculations confirm this mechanism. This work proposes an alternative route for a significant improvement of the efficiency for quantum dot sensitized solar cells.

Influence of surface states of CuInS2 quantum dots in quantum dots sensitized photo-electrodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Zhuoyin; Liu, Yueli; Wu, Lei; Zhao, Yinghan; Chen, Keqiang; Chen, Wen

2016-12-01

Surface states are significant factor for the enhancement of electrochemical performance in CuInS2 quantum dot sensitized photo-electrodes. DDT, OLA, MPA, and S2- ligand capped CuInS2 quantum dot sensitized photo-electrodes are prepared by thermolysis, solvethermal and ligand-exchange processes, respectively, and their optical properties and photoelectrochemical properties are investigated. The S2- ligand enhances the UV-vis absorption and electron-hole separation property as well as the excellent charge transfer performance of the photo-electrodes, which is attributed to the fact that the atomic S2- ligand for the interfacial region of quantum dots may improve the electron transfer rate. These S2--capped CuInS2 quantum dot sensitized photo-electrodes exhibit the excellent photoelectrochemical efficiency and IPCE peak value, which is higher than that of the samples with DDT, OLA and MPA ligands.

Plasmon-resonance-enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag quantum dots/TiO2 microspheres for methyl orange degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xin; Shang, Liwei; Wang, Dongjun; An, Li; Li, Zhonghua; Liu, Jiawen; Shen, Jun

2018-06-01

We successfully prepared Ag quantum dots modified TiO2 microspheres by facile solvothermal and calcination method. The as-prepared Ag quantum dots/TiO2 microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The Ag quantum dots/TiO2 photocatalyst showed excellent visible light absorption and efficient photocatalytic activity for methyl orange degradation. And the sample with the molar ratio of 0.05 (Ag to Ti) showed the best visible light photocatalytic activity for methyl orange degradation, mainly because of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects of Ag quantum dots to generate electron and hole pairs for enhanced visible light photocatalysis. Finally, possible visible light photocatalytic mechanism of Ag quantum dots/TiO2 microspheres for methyl orange degradation was proposed in detail.

Sub-Shot-Noise Transmission Measurement Enabled by Active Feed-Forward of Heralded Single Photons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabines-Chesterking, J.; Whittaker, R.; Joshi, S. K.; Birchall, P. M.; Moreau, P. A.; McMillan, A.; Cable, H. V.; O'Brien, J. L.; Rarity, J. G.; Matthews, J. C. F.

2017-07-01

Harnessing the unique properties of quantum mechanics offers the possibility of delivering alternative technologies that can fundamentally outperform their classical counterparts. These technologies deliver advantages only when components operate with performance beyond specific thresholds. For optical quantum metrology, the biggest challenge that impacts on performance thresholds is optical loss. Here, we demonstrate how including an optical delay and an optical switch in a feed-forward configuration with a stable and efficient correlated photon-pair source reduces the detector efficiency required to enable quantum-enhanced sensing down to the detection level of single photons and without postselection. When the switch is active, we observe a factor of improvement in precision of 1.27 for transmission measurement on a per-input-photon basis compared to the performance of a laser emitting an ideal coherent state and measured with the same detection efficiency as our setup. When the switch is inoperative, we observe no quantum advantage.

Nanophotonic rare-earth quantum memory with optically controlled retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Tian; Kindem, Jonathan M.; Bartholomew, John G.; Rochman, Jake; Craiciu, Ioana; Miyazono, Evan; Bettinelli, Marco; Cavalli, Enrico; Verma, Varun; Nam, Sae Woo; Marsili, Francesco; Shaw, Matthew D.; Beyer, Andrew D.; Faraon, Andrei

2017-09-01

Optical quantum memories are essential elements in quantum networks for long-distance distribution of quantum entanglement. Scalable development of quantum network nodes requires on-chip qubit storage functionality with control of the readout time. We demonstrate a high-fidelity nanophotonic quantum memory based on a mesoscopic neodymium ensemble coupled to a photonic crystal cavity. The nanocavity enables >95% spin polarization for efficient initialization of the atomic frequency comb memory and time bin-selective readout through an enhanced optical Stark shift of the comb frequencies. Our solid-state memory is integrable with other chip-scale photon source and detector devices for multiplexed quantum and classical information processing at the network nodes.

A strategy of combining SILAR with solvothermal process for In2S3 sensitized quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Peizhi; Tang, Qunwei; Ji, Chenming; Wang, Haobo

2015-12-01

Pursuit of an efficient strategy for quantum dot-sensitized photoanode has been a persistent objective for enhancing photovoltaic performances of quantum dot-sensitized solar cell (QDSC). We present here the fabrication of the indium sulfide (In2S3) quantum dot-sensitized titanium dioxide (TiO2) photoanode by combining successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) with solvothermal processes. The resultant QDSC consists of an In2S3 sensitized TiO2 photoanode, a liquid polysulfide electrolyte, and a Co0.85Se counter electrode. The optimized QDSC with photoanode prepared with the help of a SILAR method at 20 deposition cycles and solvothermal method yields a maximum power conversion efficiency of 1.39%.

Performance improvement of AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes via Al-composition graded quantum wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Lin; Zhang, Yu; Xu, Fujun; Ding, Gege; Liu, Yuhang

2018-06-01

Characteristics of AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) with step-like and Al-composition graded quantum wells have been investigated. The simulation results show that compared to DUV-LEDs with the conventional AlGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) structure, the light output power (LOP) and efficiency droop of DUV-LEDs with the Al-composition graded wells were remarkably improved. The key factor accounting for the improved performance is ascribed to the better modulation of carrier distribution in the quantum wells to increase the overlap between electron and hole wavefunctions, which contributes to more efficient recombination of electrons and holes, and thereby a significant enhancement in the LOP.

Modeling photovoltaic performance in periodic patterned colloidal quantum dot solar cells.

PubMed

Fu, Yulan; Dinku, Abay G; Hara, Yukihiro; Miller, Christopher W; Vrouwenvelder, Kristina T; Lopez, Rene

2015-07-27

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells have attracted tremendous attention mostly due to their wide absorption spectrum window and potentially low processability cost. The ultimate efficiency of CQD solar cells is highly limited by their high trap state density. Here we show that the overall device power conversion efficiency could be improved by employing photonic structures that enhance both charge generation and collection efficiencies. By employing a two-dimensional numerical model, we have calculated the characteristics of patterned CQD solar cells based of a simple grating structure. Our calculation predicts a power conversion efficiency as high as 11.2%, with a short circuit current density of 35.2 mA/cm2, a value nearly 1.5 times larger than the conventional flat design, showing the great potential value of patterned quantum dot solar cells.

Apparatus and method for enabling quantum-defect-limited conversion efficiency in cladding-pumped Raman fiber lasers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heebner, John E.; Sridharan, Arun K.; Dawson, Jay Walter

Cladding-pumped Raman fiber lasers and amplifiers provide high-efficiency conversion efficiency at high brightness enhancement. Differential loss is applied to both single-pass configurations appropriate for pulsed amplification and laser oscillator configurations applied to high average power cw source generation.

Enhancement of the thermoelectric efficiency in a T-shaped quantum dot system in the linear and nonlinear regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez-Silva, G.; Orellana, P. A.; Anda, E. V.

2018-02-01

In the present work, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of a T-shaped double quantum dot system coupled to two metallic leads incorporating the intra-dot Coulomb interaction. We explore the role of the interference effects and Coulomb blockade on the thermoelectric efficiency of the system in the linear and nonlinear regimes. We studied as well the effect of a Van-Hove singularity of the leads density of states (DOS) at the neighborhood of the Fermi energy, a situation that can be obtained using a carbon nanotube, a graphene nano-ribbon or other contacts with one-dimensional properties. The system is studied above the Kondo temperature. The Coulomb blockade of the electronic charges is studied using the Hubbard III approximation, which properly describes the transport properties of this regime. In the linear response, our results show an enhancement of the thermopower and the figure of merit of the system. For a nonlinear situation, we calculate the thermoelectric efficiency and power output, concluding that the T-shaped double quantum dot is an efficient thermoelectric device. Moreover, we demonstrate the great importance of the DOS Van-Hove singularity at the neighborhood of the Fermi energy to obtain a very significant increase in the thermoelectric efficiency of the system.

Analysis of light extraction efficiency enhancement for thin-film-flip-chip InGaN quantum wells light-emitting diodes with GaN micro-domes.

PubMed

Zhao, Peng; Zhao, Hongping

2012-09-10

The enhancement of light extraction efficiency for thin-film flip-chip (TFFC) InGaN quantum wells (QWs) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with GaN micro-domes on n-GaN layer was studied. The light extraction efficiency of TFFC InGaN QWs LEDs with GaN micro-domes were calculated and compared to that of the conventional TFFC InGaN QWs LEDs with flat surface. The three dimensional finite difference time domain (3D-FDTD) method was used to calculate the light extraction efficiency for the InGaN QWs LEDs emitting at 460nm and 550 nm, respectively. The effects of the GaN micro-dome feature size and the p-GaN layer thickness on the light extraction efficiency were studied systematically. Studies indicate that the p-GaN layer thickness is critical for optimizing the TFFC LED light extraction efficiency. Significant enhancement of the light extraction efficiency (2.5-2.7 times for λ(peak) = 460nm and 2.7-2.8 times for λ(peak) = 550nm) is achievable from TFFC InGaN QWs LEDs with optimized GaN micro-dome diameter and height.

Waveguide based compact silicon Schottky photodetector with enhanced responsivity in the telecom spectral band.

PubMed

Goykhman, Ilya; Desiatov, Boris; Khurgin, Jacob; Shappir, Joseph; Levy, Uriel

2012-12-17

We experimentally demonstrate an on-chip compact and simple to fabricate silicon Schottky photodetector for telecom wavelengths operating on the basis of internal photoemission process. The device is realized using CMOS compatible approach of local-oxidation of silicon, which enables the realization of the photodetector and low-loss bus photonic waveguide at the same fabrication step. The photodetector demonstrates enhanced internal responsivity of 12.5mA/W for operation wavelength of 1.55µm corresponding to an internal quantum efficiency of 1%, about two orders of magnitude higher than our previously demonstrated results [22]. We attribute this improved detection efficiency to the presence of surface roughness at the boundary between the materials forming the Schottky contact. The combination of enhanced quantum efficiency together with a simple fabrication process provides a promising platform for the realization of all silicon photodetectors and their integration with other nanophotonic and nanoplasmonic structures towards the construction of monolithic silicon opto-electronic circuitry on-chip.

Strongly Cavity-Enhanced Spontaneous Emission from Silicon-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Jingyuan Linda; Sun, Shuo; Burek, Michael J.; ...

2018-01-29

Quantum emitters are an integral component for a broad range of quantum technologies, including quantum communication, quantum repeaters, and linear optical quantum computation. Solid-state color centers are promising candidates for scalable quantum optics due to their long coherence time and small inhomogeneous broadening. However, once excited, color centers often decay through phonon-assisted processes, limiting the efficiency of single-photon generation and photon-mediated entanglement generation. Herein, we demonstrate strong enhancement of spontaneous emission rate of a single silicon-vacancy center in diamond embedded within a monolithic optical cavity, reaching a regime in which the excited-state lifetime is dominated by spontaneous emission into themore » cavity mode. We observe 10-fold lifetime reduction and 42-fold enhancement in emission intensity when the cavity is tuned into resonance with the optical transition of a single silicon-vacancy center, corresponding to 90% of the excited-state energy decay occurring through spontaneous emission into the cavity mode. Here, we also demonstrate the largest coupling strength ( g/2π = 4.9 ± 0.3 GHz) and cooperativity ( C = 1.4) to date for color-center-based cavity quantum electrodynamics systems, bringing the system closer to the strong coupling regime.« less

Strongly Cavity-Enhanced Spontaneous Emission from Silicon-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Jingyuan Linda; Sun, Shuo; Burek, Michael J.

Quantum emitters are an integral component for a broad range of quantum technologies, including quantum communication, quantum repeaters, and linear optical quantum computation. Solid-state color centers are promising candidates for scalable quantum optics due to their long coherence time and small inhomogeneous broadening. However, once excited, color centers often decay through phonon-assisted processes, limiting the efficiency of single-photon generation and photon-mediated entanglement generation. Herein, we demonstrate strong enhancement of spontaneous emission rate of a single silicon-vacancy center in diamond embedded within a monolithic optical cavity, reaching a regime in which the excited-state lifetime is dominated by spontaneous emission into themore » cavity mode. We observe 10-fold lifetime reduction and 42-fold enhancement in emission intensity when the cavity is tuned into resonance with the optical transition of a single silicon-vacancy center, corresponding to 90% of the excited-state energy decay occurring through spontaneous emission into the cavity mode. Here, we also demonstrate the largest coupling strength ( g/2π = 4.9 ± 0.3 GHz) and cooperativity ( C = 1.4) to date for color-center-based cavity quantum electrodynamics systems, bringing the system closer to the strong coupling regime.« less

Diffuse reflectance of the ocean - The theory of its augmentation by chlorophyll a fluorescence at 685 nm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, H. R.

1979-01-01

The radiative transfer equation is modified to include the effect of fluorescent substances and solved in the quasi-single scattering approximation for a homogeneous ocean containing fluorescent particles with wavelength independent quantum efficiency and a Gaussian shaped emission line. The results are applied to the in vivo fluorescence of chlorophyll a (in phytoplankton) in the ocean to determine if the observed quantum efficiencies are large enough to explain the enhancement of the ocean's diffuse reflectance near 685 nm in chlorophyll rich waters without resorting to anomalous dispersion. The computations indicate that the required efficiencies are sufficiently low to account completely for the enhanced reflectance. The validity of the theory is further demonstrated by deriving values for the upwelling irradiance attenuation coefficient at 685 nm which are in close agreement with the observations.

Effect of core quantum-dot size on power-conversion-efficiency for silicon solar-cells implementing energy-down-shift using CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots.

PubMed

Baek, Seung-Wook; Shim, Jae-Hyoung; Seung, Hyun-Min; Lee, Gon-Sub; Hong, Jin-Pyo; Lee, Kwang-Sup; Park, Jea-Gun

2014-11-07

Silicon solar cells mainly absorb visible light, although the sun emits ultraviolet (UV), visible, and infrared light. Because the surface reflectance of a textured surface with SiNX film on a silicon solar cell in the UV wavelength region (250-450 nm) is higher than ∼27%, silicon solar-cells cannot effectively convert UV light into photo-voltaic power. We implemented the concept of energy-down-shift using CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum-dots (QDs) on p-type silicon solar-cells to absorb more UV light. CdSe/ZnS core/shell QDs demonstrated clear evidence of energy-down-shift, which absorbed UV light and emitted green-light photoluminescence signals at a wavelength of 542 nm. The implementation of 0.2 wt% (8.8 nm QDs layer) green-light emitting CdSe/ZnS core/shell QDs reduced the surface reflectance of the textured surface with SiNX film on a silicon solar-cell from 27% to 15% and enhanced the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of silicon solar-cells to around 30% in the UV wavelength region, thereby enhancing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) for p-type silicon solar-cells by 5.5%.

Enhanced Internal Quantum Efficiency in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Effect of Long-Lived Charge-Separated State of Sensitizers.

PubMed

Sun, Haiya; Liu, Dongzhi; Wang, Tianyang; Lu, Ting; Li, Wei; Ren, Siyao; Hu, Wenping; Wang, Lichang; Zhou, Xueqin

2017-03-22

Effective charge separation is one of the key determinants for the photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Herein, two charge-separated (CS) sensitizers, MTPA-Pyc and YD-Pyc, have been synthesized and applied in DSSCs to investigate the effect of the CS states of the sensitizers on the device's efficiency. The CS states with lifetimes of 64 and 177 ns for MTPA-Pyc and YD-Pyc, respectively, are formed via the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from the 4-styryltriphenylamine (MTPA) or 4-styrylindoline (YD) donor to the pyrimidine cyanoacrylic acid (Pyc) acceptor. DSSCs based on MTPA-Pyc and YD-Pyc exhibit high internal quantum efficiency (IQE) values of over 80% from 400 to 600 nm. In comparison, the IQEs of the charge transfer (CT) sensitizer cells are 10-30% lower in the same wavelength range. The enhanced IQE values in the devices based on the CS sensitizers are ascribed to the higher electron injection efficiencies and slower charge recombination. The results demonstrate that taking advantage of the CS states in the sensitizers can be a promising strategy to improve the IQEs and further enhance the overall efficiencies of the DSSCs.

Enhancing light absorption within the carrier transport length in quantum junction solar cells.

PubMed

Fu, Yulan; Hara, Yukihiro; Miller, Christopher W; Lopez, Rene

2015-09-10

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells have attracted tremendous attention because of their tunable absorption spectrum window and potentially low processing cost. Recently reported quantum junction solar cells represent a promising approach to building a rectifying photovoltaic device that employs CQD layers on each side of the p-n junction. However, the ultimate efficiency of CQD solar cells is still highly limited by their high trap state density in both p- and n-type CQDs. By modeling photonic structures to enhance the light absorption within the carrier transport length and by ensuring that the carrier generation and collection efficiencies were both augmented, our work shows that overall device current density could be improved. We utilized a two-dimensional numerical model to calculate the characteristics of patterned CQD solar cells based on a simple grating structure. Our calculation predicts a short circuit current density as high as 31  mA/cm², a value nearly 1.5 times larger than that of the conventional flat design, showing the great potential value of patterned quantum junction solar cells.

Expected number of quantum channels in quantum networks.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Wang, He-Ming; Ji, Dan-Tong; Mu, Liang-Zhu; Fan, Heng

2015-07-15

Quantum communication between nodes in quantum networks plays an important role in quantum information processing. Here, we proposed the use of the expected number of quantum channels as a measure of the efficiency of quantum communication for quantum networks. This measure quantified the amount of quantum information that can be teleported between nodes in a quantum network, which differs from classical case in that the quantum channels will be consumed if teleportation is performed. We further demonstrated that the expected number of quantum channels represents local correlations depicted by effective circles. Significantly, capacity of quantum communication of quantum networks quantified by ENQC is independent of distance for the communicating nodes, if the effective circles of communication nodes are not overlapped. The expected number of quantum channels can be enhanced through transformations of the lattice configurations of quantum networks via entanglement swapping. Our results can shed lights on the study of quantum communication in quantum networks.

Expected number of quantum channels in quantum networks

PubMed Central

Chen, Xi; Wang, He-Ming; Ji, Dan-Tong; Mu, Liang-Zhu; Fan, Heng

2015-01-01

Quantum communication between nodes in quantum networks plays an important role in quantum information processing. Here, we proposed the use of the expected number of quantum channels as a measure of the efficiency of quantum communication for quantum networks. This measure quantified the amount of quantum information that can be teleported between nodes in a quantum network, which differs from classical case in that the quantum channels will be consumed if teleportation is performed. We further demonstrated that the expected number of quantum channels represents local correlations depicted by effective circles. Significantly, capacity of quantum communication of quantum networks quantified by ENQC is independent of distance for the communicating nodes, if the effective circles of communication nodes are not overlapped. The expected number of quantum channels can be enhanced through transformations of the lattice configurations of quantum networks via entanglement swapping. Our results can shed lights on the study of quantum communication in quantum networks. PMID:26173556

A quantum optical firewall based on simple quantum devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amellal, H.; Meslouhi, A.; Hassouni, Y.; El Baz, M.

2015-07-01

In order to enhance the transmission security in quantum communications via coherent states, we propose a quantum optical firewall device to protect a quantum cryptosystem against eavesdropping through optical attack strategies. Similar to the classical model of the firewall, the proposed device gives legitimate users the possibility of filtering, controlling (input/output states) and making a decision (access or deny) concerning the traveling states. To prove the security and efficiency of the suggested optical firewall, we analyze its performances against the family of intercept and resend attacks, especially against one of the most prominent attack schemes known as "Faked State Attack."

Slow-light-enhanced upconversion for photovoltaic applications in one-dimensional photonic crystals.

PubMed

Johnson, Craig M; Reece, Peter J; Conibeer, Gavin J

2011-10-15

We present an approach to realizing enhanced upconversion efficiency in erbium (Er)-doped photonic crystals. Slow-light-mode pumping of the first Er excited state transition can result in enhanced emission from higher-energy levels that may lead to finite subbandgap external quantum efficiency in crystalline silicon solar cells. Using a straightforward electromagnetic model, we calculate potential field enhancements of more than 18× within he slow-light mode of a one-dimensional photonic crystal and discuss design trade-offs and considerations for photovoltaics.

Small slot waveguide rings for on-chip quantum optical circuits.

PubMed

Rotenberg, Nir; Türschmann, Pierre; Haakh, Harald R; Martin-Cano, Diego; Götzinger, Stephan; Sandoghdar, Vahid

2017-03-06

Nanophotonic interfaces between single emitters and light promise to enable new quantum optical technologies. Here, we use a combination of finite element simulations and analytic quantum theory to investigate the interaction of various quantum emitters with slot-waveguide rings. We predict that for rings with radii as small as 1.44 μm, with a Q-factor of 27,900, near-unity emitter-waveguide coupling efficiencies and emission enhancements on the order of 1300 can be achieved. By tuning the ring geometry or introducing losses, we show that realistic emitter-ring systems can be made to be either weakly or strongly coupled, so that we can observe Rabi oscillations in the decay dynamics even for micron-sized rings. Moreover, we demonstrate that slot waveguide rings can be used to directionally couple emission, again with near-unity efficiency. Our results pave the way for integrated solid-state quantum circuits involving various emitters.

Improving the efficiency of hierarchical equations of motion approach and application to coherent dynamics in Aharonov–Bohm interferometers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hou, Dong; Xu, RuiXue; Zheng, Xiao, E-mail: xz58@ustc.edu.cn

2015-03-14

Several recent advancements for the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach are reported. First, we propose an a priori estimate for the optimal number of basis functions for the reservoir memory decomposition. Second, we make use of the sparsity of auxiliary density operators (ADOs) and propose two ansatzs to screen out all the intrinsic zero ADO elements. Third, we propose a new truncation scheme by utilizing the time derivatives of higher-tier ADOs. These novel techniques greatly reduce the memory cost of the HEOM approach, and thus enhance its efficiency and applicability. The improved HEOM approach is applied to simulate themore » coherent dynamics of Aharonov–Bohm double quantum dot interferometers. Quantitatively accurate dynamics is obtained for both noninteracting and interacting quantum dots. The crucial role of the quantum phase for the magnitude of quantum coherence and quantum entanglement is revealed.« less

Thermal conductivity engineering in width-modulated silicon nanowires and thermoelectric efficiency enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zianni, Xanthippi

2018-03-01

Width-modulated nanowires have been proposed as efficient thermoelectric materials. Here, the electron and phonon transport properties and the thermoelectric efficiency are discussed for dimensions above the quantum confinement regime. The thermal conductivity decreases dramatically in the presence of thin constrictions due to their ballistic thermal resistance. It shows a scaling behavior upon the width-modulation rate that allows for thermal conductivity engineering. The electron conductivity also decreases due to enhanced boundary scattering by the constrictions. The effect of boundary scattering is weaker for electrons than for phonons and the overall thermoelectric efficiency is enhanced. A ZT enhancement by a factor of 20-30 is predicted for width-modulated nanowires compared to bulk silicon. Our findings indicate that width-modulated nanostructures are promising for developing silicon nanostructures with high thermoelectric efficiency.

Electrical control of optical orientation of neutral and negatively charged excitons in an n -type semiconductor quantum well

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dzhioev, R. I.; Korenev, V. L.; Lazarev, M. V.; Sapega, V. F.; Gammon, D.; Bracker, A. S.

2007-01-01

We report electric field induced increase of spin orientation of negatively charged excitons (trions) localized in n -type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well. Under resonant excitation of free neutral heavy-hole excitons, the polarization of trions increases dramatically with electrical injection of electrons. The polarization enhancement correlates strongly with trion/exciton luminescence intensity ratio. This effect results from a very efficient trapping of free neutral excitons by the quantum well interfacial fluctuations (“natural” quantum dots) containing resident electrons.

Probing the structural dependency of photoinduced properties of colloidal quantum dots using metal-oxide photo-active substrates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patty, Kira; Campbell, Quinn; Hamilton, Nathan

We used photoactive substrates consisting of about 1 nm coating of a metal oxide on glass substrates to investigate the impact of the structures of colloidal quantum dots on their photophysical and photochemical properties. We showed during irradiation these substrates can interact uniquely with such quantum dots, inducing distinct forms of photo-induced processes when they have different cores, shells, or ligands. In particular, our results showed that for certain types of core-shell quantum dot structures an ultrathin layer of a metal oxide can reduce suppression of quantum efficiency of the quantum dots happening when they undergo extensive photo-oxidation. This suggestsmore » the possibility of shrinking the sizes of quantum dots without significant enhancement of their non-radiative decay rates. We show that such quantum dots are not influenced significantly by Coulomb blockade or photoionization, while those without a shell can undergo a large amount of photo-induced fluorescence enhancement via such blockade when they are in touch with the metal oxide.« less

Theoretical investigation of confocal microscopy using an elliptically polarized cylindrical vector laser beam: Visualization of quantum emitters near interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boichenko, Stepan

2018-04-01

We theoretically study laser-scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy using elliptically polarized cylindrical vector excitation light as a tool for visualization of arbitrarily oriented single quantum dipole emitters located (1) near planar surfaces enhancing fluorescence, (2) in a thin supported polymer film, (3) in a freestanding polymer film, and (4) in a dielectric planar microcavity. It is shown analytically that by using a tightly focused azimuthally polarized beam, it is possible to exclude completely the orientational dependence of the image intensity maximum of a quantum emitter that absorbs light as a pair of incoherent independent linear dipoles. For linear dipole quantum emitters, the orientational independence degree higher than 0.9 can normally be achieved (this quantity equal to 1 corresponds to completely excluded orientational dependence) if the collection efficiency of the microscope objective and the emitter's total quantum yield are not strongly orientationally dependent. Thus, the visualization of arbitrarily oriented single quantum emitters by means of the studied technique can be performed quite efficiently.

Generation and transfer of single photons on a photonic crystal chip.

PubMed

Englund, Dirk; Faraon, Andrei; Zhang, Bingyang; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa; Vucković, Jelena

2007-04-30

We present a basic building block of a quantum network consisting of a quantum dot coupled to a source cavity, which in turn is coupled to a target cavity via a waveguide. The single photon emission from the high-Q/V source cavity is characterized by twelve-fold spontaneous emission (SE) rate enhancement, SE coupling efficiency beta ~ 0.98 into the source cavity mode, and mean wavepacket indistinguishability of ~67%. Single photons are efficiently transferred into the target cavity via the waveguide, with a target/source field intensity ratio of 0.12 +/- 0.01. This system shows great promise as a building block of future on-chip quantum information processing systems.

Ag colloids and arrays for plasmonic non-radiative energy transfer from quantum dots to a quantum well

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Graham P.; Gough, John J.; Higgins, Luke J.; Karanikolas, Vasilios D.; Wilson, Keith M.; Garcia Coindreau, Jorge A.; Zubialevich, Vitaly Z.; Parbrook, Peter J.; Bradley, A. Louise

2017-03-01

Non-radiative energy transfer (NRET) can be an efficient process of benefit to many applications including photovoltaics, sensors, light emitting diodes and photodetectors. Combining the remarkable optical properties of quantum dots (QDs) with the electrical properties of quantum wells (QWs) allows for the formation of hybrid devices which can utilize NRET as a means of transferring absorbed optical energy from the QDs to the QW. Here we report on plasmon-enhanced NRET from semiconductor nanocrystal QDs to a QW. Ag nanoparticles in the form of colloids and ordered arrays are used to demonstrate plasmon-mediated NRET from QDs to QWs with varying top barrier thicknesses. Plasmon-mediated energy transfer (ET) efficiencies of up to ˜25% are observed with the Ag colloids. The distance dependence of the plasmon-mediated ET is found to follow the same d -4 dependence as the direct QD to QW ET. There is also evidence for an increase in the characteristic distance of the interaction, thus indicating that it follows a Förster-like model with the Ag nanoparticle-QD acting as an enhanced donor dipole. Ordered Ag nanoparticle arrays display plasmon-mediated ET efficiencies up to ˜21%. To explore the tunability of the array system, two arrays with different geometries are presented. It is demonstrated that changing the geometry of the array allows a transition from overall quenching of the acceptor QW emission to enhancement, as well as control of the competition between the QD donor quenching and ET rates.

Efficient perovskite/organic integrated solar cells with extended photoresponse to 930 nm and enhanced near-infrared external quantum efficiency of over 50.

PubMed

Guo, Qiang; Liu, Hao; Shi, Zhenzhen; Wang, Fuzhi; Zhou, Erjun; Bian, Xingming; Zhang, Bing; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Hayat, Tasawar; Tan, Zhan'ao

2018-02-15

Enhancing the light-harvesting activity is an effective way to improve the power conversion efficiency of solar cells. Although rapid enhancement in the PCE up to a value of 22.1% has been achieved for perovskite solar cells, only part of the sunlight, i.e., with wavelengths below 800-850 nm is utilized due to the limited bandgap of the perovskite materials, resulting in most of the near infrared light being wasted. To broaden the photoresponse of perovskite solar cells, we demonstrate an efficient perovskite/organic integrated solar cell containing both CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskite and PBDTTT-E-T:IEICO organic photoactive layers. By integrating a low band gap PBDTTT-E-T:IEICO active layer on a perovskite layer, the maximum wavelength for light harvesting of the ISC increased to 930 nm, sharply increasing the utilization of near infrared radiation. In addition, the external quantum efficiency of the integrated device exceeded 50% in the near infrared range. The MAPbI 3 /PBDTTT-E-T:IEICO ISCs show an enhanced short-circuit current density of over 24 mA cm -2 , which is the highest existing value among perovskite/organic integrated solar cells and much higher than the traditional MAPbI 3 based perovskite solar cells. The results reveal that a perovskite/organic integrated structure is a promising strategy to extend and enhance sunlight utilization for perovskite solar cells.

Thermoelectric efficiency enhanced in a quantum dot with polarization leads, spin-flip and external magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Hui; Niu, Peng-Bin; Zhang, Chao; Xu, Wei-Ping; Li, Zhi-Jian; Nie, Yi-Hang

2018-03-01

We theoretically study the thermoelectric transport properties in a quantum dot system with two ferromagnetic leads, the spin-flip scattering and the external magnetic field. The results show that the spin polarization of the leads strongly influences thermoelectric coefficients of the device. For the parallel configuration the peak of figure of merit increases with the increase of polarization strength and non-collinear configuration trends to destroy the improvement of figure of merit induced by lead polarization. While the modulation of the spin-flip scattering on the figure of merit is effective only in the absence of external magnetic field or small magnetic field. In terms of improving the thermoelectric efficiency, the external magnetic field plays a more important role than spin-flip scattering. The thermoelectric efficiency can be significantly enhanced by the magnetic field for a given spin-flip scattering strength.

Photon-enhanced thermionic emission for solar concentrator systems.

PubMed

Schwede, Jared W; Bargatin, Igor; Riley, Daniel C; Hardin, Brian E; Rosenthal, Samuel J; Sun, Yun; Schmitt, Felix; Pianetta, Piero; Howe, Roger T; Shen, Zhi-Xun; Melosh, Nicholas A

2010-09-01

Solar-energy conversion usually takes one of two forms: the 'quantum' approach, which uses the large per-photon energy of solar radiation to excite electrons, as in photovoltaic cells, or the 'thermal' approach, which uses concentrated sunlight as a thermal-energy source to indirectly produce electricity using a heat engine. Here we present a new concept for solar electricity generation, photon-enhanced thermionic emission, which combines quantum and thermal mechanisms into a single physical process. The device is based on thermionic emission of photoexcited electrons from a semiconductor cathode at high temperature. Temperature-dependent photoemission-yield measurements from GaN show strong evidence for photon-enhanced thermionic emission, and calculated efficiencies for idealized devices can exceed the theoretical limits of single-junction photovoltaic cells. The proposed solar converter would operate at temperatures exceeding 200 degrees C, enabling its waste heat to be used to power a secondary thermal engine, boosting theoretical combined conversion efficiencies above 50%.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schaefer, Tim; Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Universität zu Köln, 50939 Köln; Schwab, Tobias

A random scattering approach to enhance light extraction in white top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is reported. Through solution processing from fluorinated solvents, a nano-particle scattering layer (NPSL) can be deposited directly on top of small molecule OLEDs without affecting their electrical performance. The scattering length for light inside the NPSL is determined from transmission measurements and found to be in agreement with Mie scattering theory. Furthermore, the dependence of the light outcoupling enhancement on electron transport layer thickness is studied. Depending on the electron transport layer thickness, the NPSL enhances the external quantum efficiency of the investigated white OLEDsmore » by between 1.5 and 2.3-fold. For a device structure that has been optimized prior to application of the NPSL, the maximum external quantum efficiency is improved from 4.7% to 7.4% (1.6-fold improvement). In addition, the scattering layer strongly reduces the undesired shift in emission color with viewing angle.« less

Record-level quantum efficiency from a high polarization strained GaAs/GaAsP superlattice photocathode with distributed Bragg reflector

DOE PAGES

Liu, Wei; Chen, Yiqiao; Lu, Wentao; ...

2016-12-19

Photocathodes that provide high polarization and high quantum efficiency (QE) can significantly enhance the physics capabilities of electron accelerators. We report record-level QE from a high-polarization strained GaAs/GaAsP superlattice photocathode fabricated with a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR). The DBR photocathode technique enhances the absorption of incident laser light thereby enhancing QE, but as literature suggests, it is very challenging to optimize all of the parameters associated with the fabrication of complicated photocathode structures composed of many distinct layers. Past reports of DBR photocathodes describe high polarization but typically QE of only ~ 1%, which is comparable to QE of highmore » polarization photocathodes grown without a DBR structure. As a result, this work describes a new strained GaAs/GaAsP superlattice DBR photocathode exhibiting polarization of 84% and QE of 6.4%.« less

Record-level quantum efficiency from a high polarization strained GaAs/GaAsP superlattice photocathode with distributed Bragg reflector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Wei; Chen, Yiqiao; Lu, Wentao

Photocathodes that provide high polarization and high quantum efficiency (QE) can significantly enhance the physics capabilities of electron accelerators. We report record-level QE from a high-polarization strained GaAs/GaAsP superlattice photocathode fabricated with a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR). The DBR photocathode technique enhances the absorption of incident laser light thereby enhancing QE, but as literature suggests, it is very challenging to optimize all of the parameters associated with the fabrication of complicated photocathode structures composed of many distinct layers. Past reports of DBR photocathodes describe high polarization but typically QE of only ~ 1%, which is comparable to QE of highmore » polarization photocathodes grown without a DBR structure. As a result, this work describes a new strained GaAs/GaAsP superlattice DBR photocathode exhibiting polarization of 84% and QE of 6.4%.« less

Carbon-doped SnS2 nanostructure as a high-efficiency solar fuel catalyst under visible light.

PubMed

Shown, Indrajit; Samireddi, Satyanarayana; Chang, Yu-Chung; Putikam, Raghunath; Chang, Po-Han; Sabbah, Amr; Fu, Fang-Yu; Chen, Wei-Fu; Wu, Chih-I; Yu, Tsyr-Yan; Chung, Po-Wen; Lin, M C; Chen, Li-Chyong; Chen, Kuei-Hsien

2018-01-12

Photocatalytic formation of hydrocarbons using solar energy via artificial photosynthesis is a highly desirable renewable-energy source for replacing conventional fossil fuels. Using an L-cysteine-based hydrothermal process, here we synthesize a carbon-doped SnS 2 (SnS 2 -C) metal dichalcogenide nanostructure, which exhibits a highly active and selective photocatalytic conversion of CO 2 to hydrocarbons under visible-light. The interstitial carbon doping induced microstrain in the SnS 2 lattice, resulting in different photophysical properties as compared with undoped SnS 2 . This SnS 2 -C photocatalyst significantly enhances the CO 2 reduction activity under visible light, attaining a photochemical quantum efficiency of above 0.7%. The SnS 2 -C photocatalyst represents an important contribution towards high quantum efficiency artificial photosynthesis based on gas phase photocatalytic CO 2 reduction under visible light, where the in situ carbon-doped SnS 2 nanostructure improves the stability and the light harvesting and charge separation efficiency, and significantly enhances the photocatalytic activity.

Metallic tin quantum sheets confined in graphene toward high-efficiency carbon dioxide electroreduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Fengcai; Liu, Wei; Sun, Yongfu; Xu, Jiaqi; Liu, Katong; Liang, Liang; Yao, Tao; Pan, Bicai; Wei, Shiqiang; Xie, Yi

2016-09-01

Ultrathin metal layers can be highly active carbon dioxide electroreduction catalysts, but may also be prone to oxidation. Here we construct a model of graphene confined ultrathin layers of highly reactive metals, taking the synthetic highly reactive tin quantum sheets confined in graphene as an example. The higher electrochemical active area ensures 9 times larger carbon dioxide adsorption capacity relative to bulk tin, while the highly-conductive graphene favours rate-determining electron transfer from carbon dioxide to its radical anion. The lowered tin-tin coordination numbers, revealed by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, enable tin quantum sheets confined in graphene to efficiently stabilize the carbon dioxide radical anion, verified by 0.13 volts lowered potential of hydroxyl ion adsorption compared with bulk tin. Hence, the tin quantum sheets confined in graphene show enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability. This work may provide a promising lead for designing efficient and robust catalysts for electrolytic fuel synthesis.

Enhanced Telecom Emission from Single Group-IV Quantum Dots by Precise CMOS-Compatible Positioning in Photonic Crystal Cavities.

PubMed

Schatzl, Magdalena; Hackl, Florian; Glaser, Martin; Rauter, Patrick; Brehm, Moritz; Spindlberger, Lukas; Simbula, Angelica; Galli, Matteo; Fromherz, Thomas; Schäffler, Friedrich

2017-03-15

Efficient coupling to integrated high-quality-factor cavities is crucial for the employment of germanium quantum dot (QD) emitters in future monolithic silicon-based optoelectronic platforms. We report on strongly enhanced emission from single Ge QDs into L3 photonic crystal resonator (PCR) modes based on precise positioning of these dots at the maximum of the respective mode field energy density. Perfect site control of Ge QDs grown on prepatterned silicon-on-insulator substrates was exploited to fabricate in one processing run almost 300 PCRs containing single QDs in systematically varying positions within the cavities. Extensive photoluminescence studies on this cavity chip enable a direct evaluation of the position-dependent coupling efficiency between single dots and selected cavity modes. The experimental results demonstrate the great potential of the approach allowing CMOS-compatible parallel fabrication of arrays of spatially matched dot/cavity systems for group-IV-based data transfer or quantum optical systems in the telecom regime.

Enhanced Telecom Emission from Single Group-IV Quantum Dots by Precise CMOS-Compatible Positioning in Photonic Crystal Cavities

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Efficient coupling to integrated high-quality-factor cavities is crucial for the employment of germanium quantum dot (QD) emitters in future monolithic silicon-based optoelectronic platforms. We report on strongly enhanced emission from single Ge QDs into L3 photonic crystal resonator (PCR) modes based on precise positioning of these dots at the maximum of the respective mode field energy density. Perfect site control of Ge QDs grown on prepatterned silicon-on-insulator substrates was exploited to fabricate in one processing run almost 300 PCRs containing single QDs in systematically varying positions within the cavities. Extensive photoluminescence studies on this cavity chip enable a direct evaluation of the position-dependent coupling efficiency between single dots and selected cavity modes. The experimental results demonstrate the great potential of the approach allowing CMOS-compatible parallel fabrication of arrays of spatially matched dot/cavity systems for group-IV-based data transfer or quantum optical systems in the telecom regime. PMID:28345012

Role of quantum correlations in light-matter quantum heat engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrios, G. Alvarado; Albarrán-Arriagada, F.; Cárdenas-López, F. A.; Romero, G.; Retamal, J. C.

2017-11-01

We study a quantum Otto engine embedding a working substance composed of a two-level system interacting with a harmonic mode. The physical properties of the substance are described by a generalized quantum Rabi model arising in superconducting circuit realizations. We show that light-matter quantum correlation reduction during the hot bath stage and adiabatic stages act as an indicator for enhanced work extraction and efficiency, respectively. Also, we demonstrate that the anharmonic spectrum of the working substance has a direct impact on the transition from heat engine into refrigerator as the light-matter coupling is increased. These results shed light on the search for optimal conditions in the performance of quantum heat engines.

Tailoring of quantum dot emission efficiency by localized surface plasmon polaritons in self-organized mesoscopic rings.

PubMed

Margapoti, Emanuela; Gentili, Denis; Amelia, Matteo; Credi, Alberto; Morandi, Vittorio; Cavallini, Massimiliano

2014-01-21

We report on the tailoring of quantum dot (QD) emission efficiency by localized surface plasmon polaritons in self-organized mesoscopic rings. Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with CdSe QDs embedded in a polymeric matrix are spatially organised in mesoscopic rings and coupled in a tuneable fashion by breath figure formation. The mean distance between NPs and QDs and consequently the intensity of QD photoluminescence, which is enhanced by the coupling of surface plasmons and excitons, are tuned by acting on the NP concentration.

Synergistic doping of fullerene electron transport layer and colloidal quantum dot solids enhances solar cell performance.

PubMed

Yuan, Mingjian; Voznyy, Oleksandr; Zhitomirsky, David; Kanjanaboos, Pongsakorn; Sargent, Edward H

2015-02-04

The spatial location of the predominant source of performance-limiting recombination in today's best colloidal quantum dot (CQD) cells is identified, pinpointing the TiO2:CQD junction; then, a highly n-doped PCBM layer is introduced at the CQD:TiO2 heterointerface. An n-doped PCBM layer is essential to maintain the depletion region and allow for efficient current extraction, thereby producing a record 8.9% in overall power conversion efficiency. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Density of Trap States and Auger-mediated Electron Trapping in CdTe Quantum-Dot Solids.

PubMed

Boehme, Simon C; Azpiroz, Jon Mikel; Aulin, Yaroslav V; Grozema, Ferdinand C; Vanmaekelbergh, Daniël; Siebbeles, Laurens D A; Infante, Ivan; Houtepen, Arjan J

2015-05-13

Charge trapping is an ubiquitous process in colloidal quantum-dot solids and a major limitation to the efficiency of quantum dot based devices such as solar cells, LEDs, and thermoelectrics. Although empirical approaches led to a reduction of trapping and thereby efficiency enhancements, the exact chemical nature of the trapping mechanism remains largely unidentified. In this study, we determine the density of trap states in CdTe quantum-dot solids both experimentally, using a combination of electrochemical control of the Fermi level with ultrafast transient absorption and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy, and theoretically, via density functional theory calculations. We find a high density of very efficient electron traps centered ∼0.42 eV above the valence band. Electrochemical filling of these traps increases the electron lifetime and the photoluminescence quantum yield by more than an order of magnitude. The trapping rate constant for holes is an order of magnitude lower that for electrons. These observations can be explained by Auger-mediated electron trapping. From density functional theory calculations we infer that the traps are formed by dicoordinated Te atoms at the quantum dot surface. The combination of our unique experimental determination of the density of trap states with the theoretical modeling of the quantum dot surface allows us to identify the trapping mechanism and chemical reaction at play during charge trapping in these quantum dots.

Programming and Tuning a Quantum Annealing Device to Solve Real World Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perdomo-Ortiz, Alejandro; O'Gorman, Bryan; Fluegemann, Joseph; Smelyanskiy, Vadim

2015-03-01

Solving real-world applications with quantum algorithms requires overcoming several challenges, ranging from translating the computational problem at hand to the quantum-machine language to tuning parameters of the quantum algorithm that have a significant impact on the performance of the device. In this talk, we discuss these challenges, strategies developed to enhance performance, and also a more efficient implementation of several applications. Although we will focus on applications of interest to NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the methods and concepts presented here apply to a broader family of hard discrete optimization problems, including those that occur in many machine-learning algorithms.

Pseudohalide-Exchanged Quantum Dot Solids Achieve Record Quantum Efficiency in Infrared Photovoltaics.

PubMed

Sun, Bin; Voznyy, Oleksandr; Tan, Hairen; Stadler, Philipp; Liu, Mengxia; Walters, Grant; Proppe, Andrew H; Liu, Min; Fan, James; Zhuang, Taotao; Li, Jie; Wei, Mingyang; Xu, Jixian; Kim, Younghoon; Hoogland, Sjoerd; Sargent, Edward H

2017-07-01

Application of pseudohalogens in colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar-cell active layers increases the solar-cell performance by reducing the trap densities and implementing thick CQD films. Pseudohalogens are polyatomic analogs of halogens, whose chemistry allows them to substitute halogen atoms by strong chemical interactions with the CQD surfaces. The pseudohalide thiocyanate anion is used to achieve a hybrid surface passivation. A fourfold reduced trap state density than in a control is observed by using a suite of field-effect transistor studies. This translates directly into the thickest CQD active layer ever reported, enabled by enhanced transport lengths in this new class of materials, and leads to the highest external quantum efficiency, 80% at the excitonic peak, compared with previous reports of CQD solar cells. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Novel Plasmonic Materials and Nanodevices for Integrated Quantum Photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shalaginov, Mikhail Y.

Light-matter interaction is the foundation for numerous important quantum optical phenomena, which may be harnessed to build practical devices with higher efficiency and unprecedented functionality. Nanoscale engineering is seen as a fruitful avenue to significantly strengthen light-matter interaction and also make quantum optical systems ultra-compact, scalable, and energy efficient. This research focuses on color centers in diamond that share quantum properties with single atoms. These systems promise a path for the realization of practical quantum devices such as nanoscale sensors, single-photon sources, and quantum memories. In particular, we explored an intriguing methodology of utilizing nanophotonic structures, such as hyperbolic metamaterials, nanoantennae, and plasmonic waveguides, to improve the color centers performance. We observed enhancement in the color center's spontaneous emission rate, emission directionality, and cooperativity over a broad optical frequency range. Additionally, we studied the effect of plasmonic environments on the spin-readout sensitivity of color centers. The use of CMOS-compatible epitaxially grown plasmonic materials in the design of these nanophotonic structures promises a new level of performance for a variety of integrated room-temperature quantum devices based on diamond color centers.

Surface plasmon-enhanced light-emitting diodes using silver nanoparticles embedded in p-GaN.

PubMed

Cho, Chu-Young; Kwon, Min-Ki; Lee, Sang-Jun; Han, Sang-Heon; Kang, Jang-Won; Kang, Se-Eun; Lee, Dong-Yul; Park, Seong-Ju

2010-05-21

We demonstrate the surface plasmon-enhanced blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using Ag nanoparticles embedded in p-GaN. A large increase in optical output power of 38% is achieved at an injection current of 20 mA due to an improved internal quantum efficiency of the LEDs. The enhancement of optical output power is dependent on the density of the Ag nanoparticles. This improvement can be attributed to an increase in the spontaneous emission rate through resonance coupling between the excitons in multiple quantum wells and localized surface plasmons in Ag nanoparticles embedded in p-GaN.

Enhanced emission of quantum dots embedded within the high-index dielectric regions of photonic crystal slabs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

See, Gloria G.; Naughton, Matt S.; Kenis, Paul J. A.

2016-04-25

We demonstrate a method for combining sputtered TiO{sub 2} deposition with liquid phase dip-coating of a quantum dot (QD) layer that enables precise depth placement of QD emitters within a high-index dielectric film, using a photonic crystal (PC) slab resonator to demonstrate enhanced emission from the QDs when they are located at a specific depth within the film. The depth of the QDs within the PC is found to modulate the resonant wavelength of the PC as well as the emission enhancement efficiency, as the semiconducting material embedded within the dielectric changes its spatial overlap with the resonant mode.

Improving hole injection efficiency by manipulating the hole transport mechanism through p-type electron blocking layer engineering.

PubMed

Zhang, Zi-Hui; Ju, Zhengang; Liu, Wei; Tan, Swee Tiam; Ji, Yun; Kyaw, Zabu; Zhang, Xueliang; Hasanov, Namig; Sun, Xiao Wei; Demir, Hilmi Volkan

2014-04-15

The p-type AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) is widely used in InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for electron overflow suppression. However, a typical EBL also reduces the hole injection efficiency, because holes have to climb over the energy barrier generated at the p-AlGaN/p-GaN interface before entering the quantum wells. In this work, to address this problem, we report the enhancement of hole injection efficiency by manipulating the hole transport mechanism through insertion of a thin GaN layer of 1 nm into the p-AlGaN EBL and propose an AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN-type EBL outperforming conventional AlGaN EBLs. Here, the position of the inserted thin GaN layer relative to the p-GaN region is found to be the key to enhancing the hole injection efficiency. InGaN/GaN LEDs with the proposed p-type AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN EBL have demonstrated substantially higher optical output power and external quantum efficiency.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Z. D.; Wang, J.; Department of Chemistry, SUNY Stony Brook, New York 11794

We established a theoretical framework in terms of the curl flux, population landscape, and coherence for non-equilibrium quantum systems at steady state, through exploring the energy and charge transport in molecular processes. The curl quantum flux plays the key role in determining transport properties and the system reaches equilibrium when flux vanishes. The novel curl quantum flux reflects the degree of non-equilibriumness and the time-irreversibility. We found an analytical expression for the quantum flux and its relationship to the environmental pumping (non-equilibriumness quantified by the voltage away from the equilibrium) and the quantum tunneling. Furthermore, we investigated another quantum signature,more » the coherence, quantitatively measured by the non-zero off diagonal element of the density matrix. Populations of states give the probabilities of individual states and therefore quantify the population landscape. Both curl flux and coherence depend on steady state population landscape. Besides the environment-assistance which can give dramatic enhancement of coherence and quantum flux with high voltage at a fixed tunneling strength, the quantum flux is promoted by the coherence in the regime of small tunneling while reduced by the coherence in the regime of large tunneling, due to the non-monotonic relationship between the coherence and tunneling. This is in contrast to the previously found linear relationship. For the systems coupled to bosonic (photonic and phononic) reservoirs the flux is significantly promoted at large voltage while for fermionic (electronic) reservoirs the flux reaches a saturation after a significant enhancement at large voltage due to the Pauli exclusion principle. In view of the system as a quantum heat engine, we studied the non-equilibrium thermodynamics and established the analytical connections of curl quantum flux to the transport quantities such as energy (charge) transfer efficiency, chemical reaction efficiency, energy dissipation, heat and electric currents observed in the experiments. We observed a perfect transfer efficiency in chemical reactions at high voltage (chemical potential difference). Our theoretical predicted behavior of the electric current with respect to the voltage is in good agreements with the recent experiments on electron transfer in single molecules.« less

Investigation of efficiency enhancement in InGaN MQW LED with compositionally step graded GaN/InAlN/GaN multi-layer barrier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prajoon, P.; Anuja Menokey, M.; Charles Pravin, J.; Ajayan, J.; Rajesh, S.; Nirmal, D.

2018-04-01

The advantage of InGaN multiple Quantum well (MQW) Light emitting diode (LED) on a SiC substrate with compositionally step graded GaN/InAlN/GaN multi-layer barrier (MLB) is studied. The Internal quantum efficiency, Optical power, current-voltage characteristics, spontaneous emission rate and carrier distribution profile in the active region are investigated using Sentaurus TCAD simulation. An analytical model is also developed to describe the QW carrier injection efficiency, by including carrier leakage mechanisms like carrier overflow, thermionic emission and tunnelling. The enhanced electron confinement, reduced carrier asymmetry, and suppressed carrier overflow in the active region of the MLB MQW LED leads to render a superior performance than the conventional GaN barrier MQW LED. The simulation result also elucidates the efficiency droop behaviour in the MLB MQW LED, it suggests that the efficiency droop effect is remarkably improved when the GaN barrier is replaced with GaN/InAlN/GaN MLB barrier. The analysis shows a dominating behaviour of carrier escape mechanism due to tunnelling. Moreover, the lower lattice mismatching of SiC substrate with GaN epitaxial layer is attributed with good crystal quality and reduced polarization effect, ultimately enhances the optical performance of the LEDs.

Emission enhancement and polarization of semiconductor quantum dots with nanoimprinted plasmonic cavities: towards scalable fabrication of plasmon-exciton displays.

PubMed

Cadusch, Jasper J; Panchenko, Evgeniy; Kirkwood, Nicholas; James, Timothy D; Gibson, Brant C; Webb, Kevin J; Mulvaney, Paul; Roberts, Ann

2015-09-07

Here we present an application of a high throughput nanofabrication technique to the creation of a plasmonic metasurface and demonstrate its application to the enhancement and control of radiation by quantum dots (QDs). The metasurface consists of an array of cold-forged rectangular nanocavities in a thin silver film. High quantum efficiency graded alloy CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots were spread over the metasurface and the effects of the plasmon-exciton interactions characterised. We found a four-fold increase in the QDs radiative decay rate and emission brightness, compared to QDs on glass, along with a degree of linear polarisation of 0.73 in the emitted field. Such a surface could be easily integrated with current QD display or organic solar cell designs.

Enhancing the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells by Hybridizing SnS Quantum Dots with CH3 NH3 PbI3.

PubMed

Han, Jianhua; Yin, Xuewen; Nan, Hui; Zhou, Yu; Yao, Zhibo; Li, Jianbao; Oron, Dan; Lin, Hong

2017-08-01

The combination of perovskite solar cells and quantum dot solar cells has significant potential due to the complementary nature of the two constituent materials. In this study, solar cells (SCs) with a hybrid CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /SnS quantum dots (QDs) absorber layer are fabricated by a facile and universal in situ crystallization method, enabling easy embedding of the QDs in perovskite layer. Compared with SCs based on CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 , SCs using CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /SnS QDs hybrid films as absorber achieves a 25% enhancement in efficiency, giving rise to an efficiency of 16.8%. The performance improvement can be attributed to the improved crystallinity of the absorber, enhanced photo-induced carriers' separation and transport within the absorber layer, and improved incident light utilization. The generality of the methods used in this work paves a universal pathway for preparing other perovskite/QDs hybrid materials and the synthesis of entire nontoxic perovskite/QDs hybrid structure. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Experimental realization of entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom between two quantum memories.

PubMed

Zhang, Wei; Ding, Dong-Sheng; Dong, Ming-Xin; Shi, Shuai; Wang, Kai; Liu, Shi-Long; Li, Yan; Zhou, Zhi-Yuan; Shi, Bao-Sen; Guo, Guang-Can

2016-11-14

Entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom has many benefits over entanglement in a single one. The former enables quantum communication with higher channel capacity and more efficient quantum information processing and is compatible with diverse quantum networks. Establishing multi-degree-of-freedom entangled memories is not only vital for high-capacity quantum communication and computing, but also promising for enhanced violations of nonlocality in quantum systems. However, there have been yet no reports of the experimental realization of multi-degree-of-freedom entangled memories. Here we experimentally established hyper- and hybrid entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom, including path (K-vector) and orbital angular momentum, between two separated atomic ensembles by using quantum storage. The results are promising for achieving quantum communication and computing with many degrees of freedom.

Trade-off between bandwidth and efficiency in semipolar (20 2 ¯ 1 ¯) InGaN/GaN single- and multiple-quantum-well light-emitting diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monavarian, M.; Rashidi, A.; Aragon, A. A.; Nami, M.; Oh, S. H.; DenBaars, S. P.; Feezell, D.

2018-05-01

InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with large modulation bandwidths are desirable for visible-light communication. Along with modulation speed, the consideration of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) under operating conditions is also important. Here, we report the modulation characteristics of semipolar (20 2 ¯ 1 ¯ ) InGaN/GaN (LEDs) with single-quantum well (SQW) and multiple-quantum-well (MQW) active regions grown on free-standing semipolar GaN substrates with peak internal quantum efficiencies (IQEs) of 0.93 and 0.73, respectively. The MQW LEDs exhibit on average about 40-80% higher modulation bandwidth, reaching 1.5 GHz at 13 kA/cm2, but about 27% lower peak IQE than the SQW LEDs. We extract the differential carrier lifetimes (DLTs), RC parasitics, and carrier escape lifetimes and discuss their role in the bandwidth and IQE characteristics. A coulomb-enhanced capture process is shown to rapidly reduce the DLT of the MQW LED at high current densities. Auger recombination is also shown to play little role in increasing the speed of the LEDs. Finally, we investigate the trade-offs between the bandwidth and efficiency and introduce the bandwidth-IQE product as a potential figure of merit for optimizing speed and efficiency in InGaN/GaN LEDs.

Splitting efficiency and interference effects in a Cooper pair splitter based on a triple quantum dot with ferromagnetic contacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bocian, Kacper; Rudziński, Wojciech; Weymann, Ireneusz

2018-05-01

We theoretically study the spin-resolved subgap transport properties of a Cooper pair splitter based on a triple quantum dot attached to superconducting and ferromagnetic leads. Using the Keldysh Green's function formalism, we analyze the dependence of the Andreev conductance, Cooper pair splitting efficiency, and tunnel magnetoresistance on the gate and bias voltages applied to the system. We show that the system's transport properties are strongly affected by spin dependence of tunneling processes and quantum interference between different local and nonlocal Andreev reflections. We also study the effects of finite hopping between the side quantum dots on the Andreev current. This allows for identifying the optimal conditions for enhancing the Cooper pair splitting efficiency of the device. We find that the splitting efficiency exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence on the degree of spin polarization of the leads and the magnitude and type of hopping between the dots. An almost perfect splitting efficiency is predicted in the nonlinear response regime when the energies of the side quantum dots are tuned to the energies of the corresponding Andreev bound states. In addition, we analyzed features of the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) for a wide range of the gate and bias voltages, as well as for different model parameters, finding the corresponding sign changes of the TMR in certain transport regimes. The mechanisms leading to these effects are thoroughly discussed.

Enhanced out-coupling efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes using an nanostructure imprinted by an alumina nanohole array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endo, Kuniaki; Adachi, Chihaya

2014-03-01

We demonstrate organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with enhanced out-coupling efficiency containing nanostructures imprinted by an alumina nanohole array template that can be applied to large-emitting-area and flexible devices using a roll-to-roll process. The nanostructures are imprinted on a glass substrate by an ultraviolet nanoimprint process using an alumina nanohole array mold and then an OLED is fabricated on the nanostructures. The enhancement of out-coupling efficiency is proportional to the root-mean-square roughness of the nanostructures, and a maximum improvement of external electroluminescence quantum efficiency of 17% is achieved. The electroluminescence spectra of the OLEDs indicate that this improvement is caused by enhancement of the out-coupling of surface plasmon polaritons.

Enhanced photoluminescence of corrugated Al2O3 film assisted by colloidal CdSe quantum dots.

PubMed

Bai, Zhongchen; Hao, Licai; Zhang, Zhengping; Huang, Zhaoling; Qin, Shuijie

2017-05-19

We present the enhanced photoluminescence (PL) of a corrugated Al 2 O 3 film enabled by colloidal CdSe quantum dots. The colloidal CdSe quantum dots are fabricated directly on a corrugated Al 2 O 3 substrate using an electrochemical deposition (ECD) method in a microfluidic system. The photoluminescence is excited by using a 150 nm diameter ultraviolet laser spot of a scanning near-field optical microscope. Owing to the electron transfer from the conduction band of the CdSe quantum dots to that of Al 2 O 3 , the enhanced photoluminescence effect is observed, which results from the increase in the recombination rate of electrons and holes on the Al 2 O 3 surface and the reduction in the fluorescence of the CdSe quantum dots. A periodically-fluctuating fluorescent spectrum was exhibited because of the periodical wire-like corrugated Al 2 O 3 surface serving as an optical grating. The spectral topographic map around the fluorescence peak from the Al 2 O 3 areas covered with CdSe quantum dots was unique and attributed to the uniform deposition of CdSe QDs on the corrugated Al 2 O 3 surface. We believe that the microfluidic ECD system and the surface enhanced fluorescence method described in this paper have potential applications in forming uniform optoelectronic films of colloidal quantum dots with controllable QD spacing and in boosting the fluorescent efficiency of weak PL devices.

Phosphor-Free Apple-White LEDs with Embedded Indium-Rich Nanostructures Grown on Strain Relaxed Nano-epitaxy GaN.

PubMed

Soh, C B; Liu, W; Yong, A M; Chua, S J; Chow, S Y; Tripathy, S; Tan, R J N

2010-08-01

Phosphor-free apple-white light emitting diodes have been fabricated using a dual stacked InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells comprising of a lower set of long wavelength emitting indium-rich nanostructures incorporated in multiple quantum wells with an upper set of cyan-green emitting multiple quantum wells. The light-emitting diodes were grown on nano-epitaxially lateral overgrown GaN template formed by regrowth of GaN over SiO(2) film patterned with an anodic aluminum oxide mask with holes of 125 nm diameter and a period of 250 nm. The growth of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells on these stress relaxed low defect density templates improves the internal quantum efficiency by 15% for the cyan-green multiple quantum wells. Higher emission intensity with redshift in the PL peak emission wavelength is obtained for the indium-rich nanostructures incorporated in multiple quantum wells. The quantum wells grown on the nano-epitaxially lateral overgrown GaN has a weaker piezoelectric field and hence shows a minimal peak shift with application of higher injection current. An enhancement of external quantum efficiency is achieved for the apple-white light emitting diodes grown on the nano-epitaxially lateral overgrown GaN template based on the light -output power measurement. The improvement in light extraction efficiency, η(extraction,) was found to be 34% for the cyan-green emission peak and 15% from the broad long wavelength emission with optimized lattice period.

Phosphor-Free Apple-White LEDs with Embedded Indium-Rich Nanostructures Grown on Strain Relaxed Nano-epitaxy GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soh, C. B.; Liu, W.; Yong, A. M.; Chua, S. J.; Chow, S. Y.; Tripathy, S.; Tan, R. J. N.

2010-11-01

Phosphor-free apple-white light emitting diodes have been fabricated using a dual stacked InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells comprising of a lower set of long wavelength emitting indium-rich nanostructures incorporated in multiple quantum wells with an upper set of cyan-green emitting multiple quantum wells. The light-emitting diodes were grown on nano-epitaxially lateral overgrown GaN template formed by regrowth of GaN over SiO2 film patterned with an anodic aluminum oxide mask with holes of 125 nm diameter and a period of 250 nm. The growth of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells on these stress relaxed low defect density templates improves the internal quantum efficiency by 15% for the cyan-green multiple quantum wells. Higher emission intensity with redshift in the PL peak emission wavelength is obtained for the indium-rich nanostructures incorporated in multiple quantum wells. The quantum wells grown on the nano-epitaxially lateral overgrown GaN has a weaker piezoelectric field and hence shows a minimal peak shift with application of higher injection current. An enhancement of external quantum efficiency is achieved for the apple-white light emitting diodes grown on the nano-epitaxially lateral overgrown GaN template based on the light -output power measurement. The improvement in light extraction efficiency, ηextraction, was found to be 34% for the cyan-green emission peak and 15% from the broad long wavelength emission with optimized lattice period.

Optical pumping of the electronic and nuclear spin of single charge-tunable quantum dots.

PubMed

Bracker, A S; Stinaff, E A; Gammon, D; Ware, M E; Tischler, J G; Shabaev, A; Efros, Al L; Park, D; Gershoni, D; Korenev, V L; Merkulov, I A

2005-02-04

We present a comprehensive examination of optical pumping of spins in individual GaAs quantum dots as we change the net charge from positive to neutral to negative with a charge-tunable heterostructure. Negative photoluminescence polarization memory is enhanced by optical pumping of ground state electron spins, which we prove with the first measurements of the Hanle effect on an individual quantum dot. We use the Overhauser effect in a high longitudinal magnetic field to demonstrate efficient optical pumping of nuclear spins for all three charge states of the quantum dot.

Optical Pumping of the Electronic and Nuclear Spin of Single Charge-Tunable Quantum Dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bracker, A. S.; Stinaff, E. A.; Gammon, D.; Ware, M. E.; Tischler, J. G.; Shabaev, A.; Efros, Al. L.; Park, D.; Gershoni, D.; Korenev, V. L.; Merkulov, I. A.

2005-02-01

We present a comprehensive examination of optical pumping of spins in individual GaAs quantum dots as we change the net charge from positive to neutral to negative with a charge-tunable heterostructure. Negative photoluminescence polarization memory is enhanced by optical pumping of ground state electron spins, which we prove with the first measurements of the Hanle effect on an individual quantum dot. We use the Overhauser effect in a high longitudinal magnetic field to demonstrate efficient optical pumping of nuclear spins for all three charge states of the quantum dot.

Coherent optimal control of photosynthetic molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caruso, F.; Montangero, S.; Calarco, T.; Huelga, S. F.; Plenio, M. B.

2012-04-01

We demonstrate theoretically that open-loop quantum optimal control techniques can provide efficient tools for the verification of various quantum coherent transport mechanisms in natural and artificial light-harvesting complexes under realistic experimental conditions. To assess the feasibility of possible biocontrol experiments, we introduce the main settings and derive optimally shaped and robust laser pulses that allow for the faithful preparation of specified initial states (such as localized excitation or coherent superposition, i.e., propagating and nonpropagating states) of the photosystem and probe efficiently the subsequent dynamics. With these tools, different transport pathways can be discriminated, which should facilitate the elucidation of genuine quantum dynamical features of photosystems and therefore enhance our understanding of the role that coherent processes may play in actual biological complexes.

Rigidifying fluorescent linkers by metal-organic framework formation for fluorescence blue shift and quantum yield enhancement.

PubMed

Wei, Zhangwen; Gu, Zhi-Yuan; Arvapally, Ravi K; Chen, Ying-Pin; McDougald, Roy N; Ivy, Joshua F; Yakovenko, Andrey A; Feng, Dawei; Omary, Mohammad A; Zhou, Hong-Cai

2014-06-11

We demonstrate that rigidifying the structure of fluorescent linkers by structurally constraining them in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to control their conformation effectively tunes the fluorescence energy and enhances the quantum yield. Thus, a new tetraphenylethylene-based zirconium MOF exhibits a deep-blue fluorescent emission at 470 nm with a unity quantum yield (99.9 ± 0.5%) under Ar, representing ca. 3600 cm(-1) blue shift and doubled radiative decay efficiency vs the linker precursor. An anomalous increase in the fluorescence lifetime and relative intensity takes place upon heating the solid MOF from cryogenic to ambient temperatures. The origin of these unusual photoluminescence properties is attributed to twisted linker conformation, intramolecular hindrance, and framework rigidity.

On-chip low loss heralded source of pure single photons.

PubMed

Spring, Justin B; Salter, Patrick S; Metcalf, Benjamin J; Humphreys, Peter C; Moore, Merritt; Thomas-Peter, Nicholas; Barbieri, Marco; Jin, Xian-Min; Langford, Nathan K; Kolthammer, W Steven; Booth, Martin J; Walmsley, Ian A

2013-06-03

A key obstacle to the experimental realization of many photonic quantum-enhanced technologies is the lack of low-loss sources of single photons in pure quantum states. We demonstrate a promising solution: generation of heralded single photons in a silica photonic chip by spontaneous four-wave mixing. A heralding efficiency of 40%, corresponding to a preparation efficiency of 80% accounting for detector performance, is achieved due to efficient coupling of the low-loss source to optical fibers. A single photon purity of 0.86 is measured from the source number statistics without narrow spectral filtering, and confirmed by direct measurement of the joint spectral intensity. We calculate that similar high-heralded-purity output can be obtained from visible to telecom spectral regions using this approach. On-chip silica sources can have immediate application in a wide range of single-photon quantum optics applications which employ silica photonics.

Nearly Efficiency-Droop-Free AlGaN-Based Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes with a Specifically Designed Superlattice p-Type Electron Blocking Layer for High Mg Doping Efficiency.

PubMed

Zhang, Zi-Hui; Huang Chen, Sung-Wen; Chu, Chunshuang; Tian, Kangkai; Fang, Mengqian; Zhang, Yonghui; Bi, Wengang; Kuo, Hao-Chung

2018-04-24

This work reports a nearly efficiency-droop-free AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diode (DUV LED) emitting in the peak wavelength of 270 nm. The DUV LED utilizes a specifically designed superlattice p-type electron blocking layer (p-EBL). The superlattice p-EBL enables a high hole concentration in the p-EBL which correspondingly increases the hole injection efficiency into the multiple quantum wells (MQWs). The enhanced hole concentration within the MQW region can more efficiently recombine with electrons in the way of favoring the radiative recombination, leading to a reduced electron leakage current level. As a result, the external quantum efficiency for the proposed DUV LED structure is increased by 100% and the nearly efficiency-droop-free DUV LED structure is obtained experimentally.

Nearly Efficiency-Droop-Free AlGaN-Based Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes with a Specifically Designed Superlattice p-Type Electron Blocking Layer for High Mg Doping Efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zi-Hui; Huang Chen, Sung-Wen; Chu, Chunshuang; Tian, Kangkai; Fang, Mengqian; Zhang, Yonghui; Bi, Wengang; Kuo, Hao-Chung

2018-04-01

This work reports a nearly efficiency-droop-free AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diode (DUV LED) emitting in the peak wavelength of 270 nm. The DUV LED utilizes a specifically designed superlattice p-type electron blocking layer (p-EBL). The superlattice p-EBL enables a high hole concentration in the p-EBL which correspondingly increases the hole injection efficiency into the multiple quantum wells (MQWs). The enhanced hole concentration within the MQW region can more efficiently recombine with electrons in the way of favoring the radiative recombination, leading to a reduced electron leakage current level. As a result, the external quantum efficiency for the proposed DUV LED structure is increased by 100% and the nearly efficiency-droop-free DUV LED structure is obtained experimentally.

Remote state preparation through hyperentangled atomic states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nawaz, Mehwish; ul-Islam, Rameez-; Ikram, Manzoor

2018-04-01

Hyperentangled states have enhanced channel capacity in quantum processing and have yielded` evident increased communication speed in quantum informatics as a consequence of excessively high information content coded over each quantum entity. In the present article, we intend to demonstrate this fact by utilizing atomic states simultaneously entangled both in internal as well as external degrees of freedom, i.e. the de Broglie motion for remote state preparation (RSP). The results clearly demonstrate that we can efficiently communicate two bit information while manipulating only a single quantum subsystem. The states are prepared and manipulated using atomic Bragg diffraction as well as Ramsey interferometry, both of which are now considered as standard, state of the art tools based on cavity quantum electrodynamics. Since atomic Bragg diffraction is a large interaction time regime and produces spatially well separated, decoherence resistant outputs, the schematics presented here for the RSP offer important perspectives on efficient detection as well as unambiguous information coding and readout. The article summarizes the experimental feasibility of the proposal, culminating with a brief discussion.

Photodynamic therapy potential of thiol-stabilized CdTe quantum dot-group 3A phthalocyanine conjugates (QD-Pc).

PubMed

Tekdaş, Duygu Aydın; Durmuş, Mahmut; Yanık, Hülya; Ahsen, Vefa

2012-07-01

Thiol stabilized CdTe quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles were synthesized in aqueous phase and were used as energy donors to tetra-triethyleneoxythia substituted aluminum, gallium and indium phthalocyanines through fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Energy transfer occurred from the QDs to phthalocyanines upon photoexcitation of the QDs. An enhancement in efficiency of energy transfer with the nature of the carboxylic thiol stabilizer on the QDs was observed. As a result of the nanoparticle and the phthalocyanine mixing, the photoluminescence efficiency of the phthalocyanine moieties in the mixtures does not strictly follow the quantum yields of the bare phthalocyanines. The photochemistry study of phthalocyanines in the presence of the QDs revealed high singlet oxygen quantum yield, hence the possibility of using QDs in combination with phthalocyanines as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy of cancer. The fluorescence of the CdTe quantum dots-phthalocyanine conjugates (QDs-Pc) were effectively quenched by addition of 1,4-benzoquinone. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enhanced hot-carrier cooling and ultrafast spectral diffusion in strongly coupled PbSe quantum-dot solids.

PubMed

Gao, Yunan; Talgorn, Elise; Aerts, Michiel; Trinh, M Tuan; Schins, Juleon M; Houtepen, Arjan J; Siebbeles, Laurens D A

2011-12-14

PbSe quantum-dot solids are of great interest for low cost and efficient photodetectors and solar cells. We have prepared PbSe quantum-dot solids with high charge carrier mobilities using layer-by-layer dip-coating with 1,2-ethanediamine as substitute capping ligands. Here we present a time and energy resolved transient absorption spectroscopy study on the kinetics of photogenerated charge carriers, focusing on 0-5 ps after photoexcitation. We compare the observed carrier kinetics to those for quantum dots in dispersion and show that the intraband carrier cooling is significantly faster in quantum-dot solids. In addition we find that carriers diffuse from higher to lower energy sites in the quantum-dot solid within several picoseconds.

Ultimate limits for quantum magnetometry via time-continuous measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albarelli, Francesco; Rossi, Matteo A. C.; Paris, Matteo G. A.; Genoni, Marco G.

2017-12-01

We address the estimation of the magnetic field B acting on an ensemble of atoms with total spin J subjected to collective transverse noise. By preparing an initial spin coherent state, for any measurement performed after the evolution, the mean-square error of the estimate is known to scale as 1/J, i.e. no quantum enhancement is obtained. Here, we consider the possibility of continuously monitoring the atomic environment, and conclusively show that strategies based on time-continuous non-demolition measurements followed by a final strong measurement may achieve Heisenberg-limited scaling 1/{J}2 and also a monitoring-enhanced scaling in terms of the interrogation time. We also find that time-continuous schemes are robust against detection losses, as we prove that the quantum enhancement can be recovered also for finite measurement efficiency. Finally, we analytically prove the optimality of our strategy.

Entanglement distillation for quantum communication network with atomic-ensemble memories.

PubMed

Li, Tao; Yang, Guo-Jian; Deng, Fu-Guo

2014-10-06

Atomic ensembles are effective memory nodes for quantum communication network due to the long coherence time and the collective enhancement effect for the nonlinear interaction between an ensemble and a photon. Here we investigate the possibility of achieving the entanglement distillation for nonlocal atomic ensembles by the input-output process of a single photon as a result of cavity quantum electrodynamics. We give an optimal entanglement concentration protocol (ECP) for two-atomic-ensemble systems in a partially entangled pure state with known parameters and an efficient ECP for the systems in an unknown partially entangled pure state with a nondestructive parity-check detector (PCD). For the systems in a mixed entangled state, we introduce an entanglement purification protocol with PCDs. These entanglement distillation protocols have high fidelity and efficiency with current experimental techniques, and they are useful for quantum communication network with atomic-ensemble memories.

Deterministic implementation of a bright, on-demand single photon source with near-unity indistinguishability via quantum dot imaging.

PubMed

He, Yu-Ming; Liu, Jin; Maier, Sebastian; Emmerling, Monika; Gerhardt, Stefan; Davanço, Marcelo; Srinivasan, Kartik; Schneider, Christian; Höfling, Sven

2017-07-20

Deterministic techniques enabling the implementation and engineering of bright and coherent solid-state quantum light sources are key for the reliable realization of a next generation of quantum devices. Such a technology, at best, should allow one to significantly scale up the number of implemented devices within a given processing time. In this work, we discuss a possible technology platform for such a scaling procedure, relying on the application of nanoscale quantum dot imaging to the pillar microcavity architecture, which promises to combine very high photon extraction efficiency and indistinguishability. We discuss the alignment technology in detail, and present the optical characterization of a selected device which features a strongly Purcell-enhanced emission output. This device, which yields an extraction efficiency of η = (49 ± 4) %, facilitates the emission of photons with (94 ± 2.7) % indistinguishability.

Quantum correlation enhanced super-resolution localization microscopy enabled by a fibre bundle camera

PubMed Central

Israel, Yonatan; Tenne, Ron; Oron, Dan; Silberberg, Yaron

2017-01-01

Despite advances in low-light-level detection, single-photon methods such as photon correlation have rarely been used in the context of imaging. The few demonstrations, for example of subdiffraction-limited imaging utilizing quantum statistics of photons, have remained in the realm of proof-of-principle demonstrations. This is primarily due to a combination of low values of fill factors, quantum efficiencies, frame rates and signal-to-noise characteristic of most available single-photon sensitive imaging detectors. Here we describe an imaging device based on a fibre bundle coupled to single-photon avalanche detectors that combines a large fill factor, a high quantum efficiency, a low noise and scalable architecture. Our device enables localization-based super-resolution microscopy in a non-sparse non-stationary scene, utilizing information on the number of active emitters, as gathered from non-classical photon statistics. PMID:28287167

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yamashita, G.; Nagai, M., E-mail: mnagai@mp.es.osaka-u.ac.jp, E-mail: ashida@mp.es.osaka-u.ac.jp; Ashida, M., E-mail: mnagai@mp.es.osaka-u.ac.jp, E-mail: ashida@mp.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

We estimated the carrier multiplication efficiency in the most common solar-cell material, Si, by using optical-pump/terahertz-probe spectroscopy. Through close analysis of time-resolved data, we extracted the exact number of photoexcited carriers from the sheet carrier density 10 ps after photoexcitation, excluding the influences of spatial diffusion and surface recombination in the time domain. For incident photon energies greater than 4.0 eV, we observed enhanced internal quantum efficiency due to carrier multiplication. The evaluated value of internal quantum efficiency agrees well with the results of photocurrent measurements. This optical method allows us to estimate the carrier multiplication and surface recombination of carriersmore » quantitatively, which are crucial for the design of the solar cells.« less

Tuning energy relaxation along quantum Hall channels.

PubMed

Altimiras, C; le Sueur, H; Gennser, U; Cavanna, A; Mailly, D; Pierre, F

2010-11-26

The chiral edge channels in the quantum Hall regime are considered ideal ballistic quantum channels, and have quantum information processing potentialities. Here, we demonstrate experimentally, at a filling factor of ν(L)=2, the efficient tuning of the energy relaxation that limits quantum coherence and permits the return toward equilibrium. Energy relaxation along an edge channel is controllably enhanced by increasing its transmission toward a floating Ohmic contact, in quantitative agreement with predictions. Moreover, by forming a closed inner edge channel loop, we freeze energy exchanges in the outer channel. This result also elucidates the inelastic mechanisms at work at ν(L)=2, informing us, in particular, that those within the outer edge channel are negligible.

Quantum Corrections to the 'Atomistic' MOSFET Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Asenov, Asen; Slavcheva, G.; Kaya, S.; Balasubramaniam, R.

2000-01-01

We have introduced in a simple and efficient manner quantum mechanical corrections in our 3D 'atomistic' MOSFET simulator using the density gradient formalism. We have studied in comparison with classical simulations the effect of the quantum mechanical corrections on the simulation of random dopant induced threshold voltage fluctuations, the effect of the single charge trapping on interface states and the effect of the oxide thickness fluctuations in decanano MOSFETs with ultrathin gate oxides. The introduction of quantum corrections enhances the threshold voltage fluctuations but does not affect significantly the amplitude of the random telegraph noise associated with single carrier trapping. The importance of the quantum corrections for proper simulation of oxide thickness fluctuation effects has also been demonstrated.

Experimental realization of entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom between two quantum memories

PubMed Central

Zhang, Wei; Ding, Dong-Sheng; Dong, Ming-Xin; Shi, Shuai; Wang, Kai; Liu, Shi-Long; Li, Yan; Zhou, Zhi-Yuan; Shi, Bao-Sen; Guo, Guang-Can

2016-01-01

Entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom has many benefits over entanglement in a single one. The former enables quantum communication with higher channel capacity and more efficient quantum information processing and is compatible with diverse quantum networks. Establishing multi-degree-of-freedom entangled memories is not only vital for high-capacity quantum communication and computing, but also promising for enhanced violations of nonlocality in quantum systems. However, there have been yet no reports of the experimental realization of multi-degree-of-freedom entangled memories. Here we experimentally established hyper- and hybrid entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom, including path (K-vector) and orbital angular momentum, between two separated atomic ensembles by using quantum storage. The results are promising for achieving quantum communication and computing with many degrees of freedom. PMID:27841274

New Molecular Design Concurrently Providing Superior Pure Blue, Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence and Optical Out-Coupling Efficiencies.

PubMed

Rajamalli, P; Senthilkumar, N; Huang, P-Y; Ren-Wu, C-C; Lin, H-W; Cheng, C-H

2017-08-16

Simultaneous enhancement of out-coupling efficiency, internal quantum efficiency, and color purity in thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters is highly desired for the practical application of these materials. We designed and synthesized two isomeric TADF emitters, 2DPyM-mDTC and 3DPyM-pDTC, based on di(pyridinyl)methanone (DPyM) cores as the new electron-accepting units and di(tert-butyl)carbazole (DTC) as the electron-donating units. 3DPyM-pDTC, which is structurally nearly planar with a very small ΔE ST , shows higher color purity, horizontal ratio, and quantum yield than 2DPyM-mDTC, which has a more flexible structure. An electroluminescence device based on 3DPyM-pDTC as the dopant emitter can reach an extremely high external quantum efficiency of 31.9% with a pure blue emission. This work also demonstrates a way to design materials with a high portion of horizontal molecular orientation to realize a highly efficient pure-blue device based on TADF emitters.

Solvothermal synthesis of InP quantum dots and their enhanced luminescent efficiency by post-synthetic treatments.

PubMed

Byun, Ho-June; Lee, Ju Chul; Yang, Heesun

2011-03-01

InP quantum dots (QDs) were solvothermally synthesized by using a greener phosphorus source of P(N(CH(3))(2))(3) instead of highly toxic P(TMS)(3) widely used, and subsequently subjected to a size-sorting processing. While as-grown QDs showed an undetectably low emission intensity, post-synthetic treatments such as photo-etching, photo-radiation, and photo-assisted ZnS shell coating gave rise to a substantial increase in emission efficiency due to the effective removal and passivation of surface states. The emission efficiency of the photo-etched QDs was further enhanced by a consecutive UV photo-radiation, attributable to the photo-oxidation at QD surface. Furthermore, a relatively thick ZnS shell on the surface of InP QDs that were surface-modified with hydrophilic ligands beforehand was photochemically generated in an aqueous solution at room temperature. The resulting InP/ZnS core/shell QDs, emitting from blue to red wavelengths, were more efficient than the above photo-treated InP QDs, and their luminescent properties (emission bandwidth and quantum yield) were comparable to those of InP QDs synthesized with P(TMS)(3). Structural, size, and compositional analyses on InP/ZnS QDs were also conducted to elucidate their core/shell structure. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Photoconductive gain and quantum efficiency of remotely doped Ge/Si quantum dot photodetectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakimov, A. I.; Kirienko, V. V.; Armbrister, V. A.; Bloshkin, A. A.; Dvurechenskii, A. V.; Shklyaev, A. A.

2016-10-01

We study the effect of quantum dot charging on the mid-infrared photocurrent, optical gain, hole capture probability, and absorption quantum efficiency in remotely delta-doped Ge/Si quantum dot photodetectors. The dot occupation with holes is controlled by varying dot and doping densities. From our investigations of samples doped to contain from about one to nine holes per dot we observe an over 10 times gain enhancement and similar suppression of the hole capture probability with increased carrier population. The data are explained by quenching the capture process and increasing the photoexcited hole lifetime due to formation of the repulsive Coulomb potential of the extra holes inside the quantum dots. The normal incidence quantum efficiency is found to be strongly asymmetric with respect to applied bias polarity. Based on the polarization-dependent absorption measurements it is concluded that, at a positive voltage, when holes move toward the nearest δ-doping plane, photocurrent is originated from the bound-to-continuum transitions of holes between the ground state confined in Ge dots and the extended states of the Si matrix. At a negative bias polarity, the photoresponse is caused by optical excitation to a quasibound state confined near the valence band edge with subsequent tunneling to the Si valence band. In a latter case, the possibility of hole transfer into continuum states arises from the electric field generated by charge distributed between quantum dots and delta-doping planes.

Sequential Modular Position and Momentum Measurements of a Trapped Ion Mechanical Oscillator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flühmann, C.; Negnevitsky, V.; Marinelli, M.; Home, J. P.

2018-04-01

The noncommutativity of position and momentum observables is a hallmark feature of quantum physics. However, this incompatibility does not extend to observables that are periodic in these base variables. Such modular-variable observables have been suggested as tools for fault-tolerant quantum computing and enhanced quantum sensing. Here, we implement sequential measurements of modular variables in the oscillatory motion of a single trapped ion, using state-dependent displacements and a heralded nondestructive readout. We investigate the commutative nature of modular variable observables by demonstrating no-signaling in time between successive measurements, using a variety of input states. Employing a different periodicity, we observe signaling in time. This also requires wave-packet overlap, resulting in quantum interference that we enhance using squeezed input states. The sequential measurements allow us to extract two-time correlators for modular variables, which we use to violate a Leggett-Garg inequality. Signaling in time and Leggett-Garg inequalities serve as efficient quantum witnesses, which we probe here with a mechanical oscillator, a system that has a natural crossover from the quantum to the classical regime.

Efficient teleportation between remote single-atom quantum memories.

PubMed

Nölleke, Christian; Neuzner, Andreas; Reiserer, Andreas; Hahn, Carolin; Rempe, Gerhard; Ritter, Stephan

2013-04-05

We demonstrate teleportation of quantum bits between two single atoms in distant laboratories. Using a time-resolved photonic Bell-state measurement, we achieve a teleportation fidelity of (88.0 ± 1.5)%, largely determined by our entanglement fidelity. The low photon collection efficiency in free space is overcome by trapping each atom in an optical cavity. The resulting success probability of 0.1% is almost 5 orders of magnitude larger than in previous experiments with remote material qubits. It is mainly limited by photon propagation and detection losses and can be enhanced with a cavity-based deterministic Bell-state measurement.

Evidence of significant down-conversion in a Si-based solar cell using CuInS2/ZnS core shell quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardelis, Spiros; Nassiopoulou, Androula G.

2014-05-01

We report on the increase of up to 37.5% in conversion efficiency of a Si-based solar cell after deposition of light-emitting Cd-free, CuInS2/ZnS core shell quantum dots on the active area of the cell due to the combined effect of down-conversion and the anti- reflecting property of the dots. We clearly distinguished the effect of down-conversion from anti-reflection and estimated an enhancement of up to 10.5% in the conversion efficiency due to down-conversion.

Hierarchical structures consisting of SiO2 nanorods and p-GaN microdomes for efficiently harvesting solar energy for InGaN quantum well photovoltaic cells.

PubMed

Ho, Cheng-Han; Lien, Der-Hsien; Chang, Hung-Chih; Lin, Chin-An; Kang, Chen-Fang; Hsing, Meng-Kai; Lai, Kun-Yu; He, Jr-Hau

2012-12-07

We experimentally and theoretically demonstrated the hierarchical structure of SiO(2) nanorod arrays/p-GaN microdomes as a light harvesting scheme for InGaN-based multiple quantum well solar cells. The combination of nano- and micro-structures leads to increased internal multiple reflection and provides an intermediate refractive index between air and GaN. Cells with the hierarchical structure exhibit improved short-circuit current densities and fill factors, rendering a 1.47 fold efficiency enhancement as compared to planar cells.

Neural-Network Quantum States, String-Bond States, and Chiral Topological States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glasser, Ivan; Pancotti, Nicola; August, Moritz; Rodriguez, Ivan D.; Cirac, J. Ignacio

2018-01-01

Neural-network quantum states have recently been introduced as an Ansatz for describing the wave function of quantum many-body systems. We show that there are strong connections between neural-network quantum states in the form of restricted Boltzmann machines and some classes of tensor-network states in arbitrary dimensions. In particular, we demonstrate that short-range restricted Boltzmann machines are entangled plaquette states, while fully connected restricted Boltzmann machines are string-bond states with a nonlocal geometry and low bond dimension. These results shed light on the underlying architecture of restricted Boltzmann machines and their efficiency at representing many-body quantum states. String-bond states also provide a generic way of enhancing the power of neural-network quantum states and a natural generalization to systems with larger local Hilbert space. We compare the advantages and drawbacks of these different classes of states and present a method to combine them together. This allows us to benefit from both the entanglement structure of tensor networks and the efficiency of neural-network quantum states into a single Ansatz capable of targeting the wave function of strongly correlated systems. While it remains a challenge to describe states with chiral topological order using traditional tensor networks, we show that, because of their nonlocal geometry, neural-network quantum states and their string-bond-state extension can describe a lattice fractional quantum Hall state exactly. In addition, we provide numerical evidence that neural-network quantum states can approximate a chiral spin liquid with better accuracy than entangled plaquette states and local string-bond states. Our results demonstrate the efficiency of neural networks to describe complex quantum wave functions and pave the way towards the use of string-bond states as a tool in more traditional machine-learning applications.

Fuzzy Matching Based on Gray-scale Difference for Quantum Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, GaoFeng; Zhou, Ri-Gui; Liu, XingAo; Hu, WenWen; Luo, Jia

2018-05-01

Quantum image processing has recently emerged as an essential problem in practical tasks, e.g. real-time image matching. Previous studies have shown that the superposition and entanglement of quantum can greatly improve the efficiency of complex image processing. In this paper, a fuzzy quantum image matching scheme based on gray-scale difference is proposed to find out the target region in a reference image, which is very similar to the template image. Firstly, we employ the proposed enhanced quantum representation (NEQR) to store digital images. Then some certain quantum operations are used to evaluate the gray-scale difference between two quantum images by thresholding. If all of the obtained gray-scale differences are not greater than the threshold value, it indicates a successful fuzzy matching of quantum images. Theoretical analysis and experiments show that the proposed scheme performs fuzzy matching at a low cost and also enables exponentially significant speedup via quantum parallel computation.

Silicon coupled with plasmon nanocavities generates bright visible hot luminescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Chang-Hee; Aspetti, Carlos O.; Park, Joohee; Agarwal, Ritesh

2013-04-01

To address the limitations in device speed and performance in silicon-based electronics, there have been extensive studies on silicon optoelectronics with a view to achieving ultrafast optical data processing. The biggest challenge has been to develop an efficient silicon-based light source, because the indirect bandgap of silicon gives rise to extremely low emission efficiencies. Although light emission in quantum-confined silicon at sub-10 nm length scales has been demonstrated, there are difficulties in integrating quantum structures with conventional electronics. It is desirable to develop new concepts to obtain emission from silicon at length scales compatible with current electronic devices (20-100 nm), which therefore do not utilize quantum-confinement effects. Here, we demonstrate an entirely new method to achieve bright visible light emission in `bulk-sized' silicon coupled with plasmon nanocavities at room temperature, from non-thermalized carrier recombination. The highly enhanced emission (internal quantum efficiency of >1%) in plasmonic silicon, together with its size compatibility with current silicon electronics, provides new avenues for developing monolithically integrated light sources on conventional microchips.

Graphene oxide quantum dot-sensitized porous titanium dioxide microsphere: Visible-light-driven photocatalyst based on energy band engineering.

PubMed

Zhang, Yu; Qi, Fuyuan; Li, Ying; Zhou, Xin; Sun, Hongfeng; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Daliang; Song, Xi-Ming

2017-07-15

We report a novel graphene oxide quantum dot (GOQD)-sensitized porous TiO 2 microsphere for efficient photoelectric conversion. Electro-chemical analysis along with the Mott-Schottky equation reveals conductivity type and energy band structure of the two semiconductors. Based on their energy band structures, visible light-induced electrons can transfer from the p-type GOQD to the n-type TiO 2 . Enhanced photocurrent and photocatalytic activity in visible light further confirm the enhanced separation of electrons and holes in the nanocomposite. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enhanced energy transport in genetically engineered excitonic networks.

PubMed

Park, Heechul; Heldman, Nimrod; Rebentrost, Patrick; Abbondanza, Luigi; Iagatti, Alessandro; Alessi, Andrea; Patrizi, Barbara; Salvalaggio, Mario; Bussotti, Laura; Mohseni, Masoud; Caruso, Filippo; Johnsen, Hannah C; Fusco, Roberto; Foggi, Paolo; Scudo, Petra F; Lloyd, Seth; Belcher, Angela M

2016-02-01

One of the challenges for achieving efficient exciton transport in solar energy conversion systems is precise structural control of the light-harvesting building blocks. Here, we create a tunable material consisting of a connected chromophore network on an ordered biological virus template. Using genetic engineering, we establish a link between the inter-chromophoric distances and emerging transport properties. The combination of spectroscopy measurements and dynamic modelling enables us to elucidate quantum coherent and classical incoherent energy transport at room temperature. Through genetic modifications, we obtain a significant enhancement of exciton diffusion length of about 68% in an intermediate quantum-classical regime.

Sampling enhancement for the quantum mechanical potential based molecular dynamics simulations: a general algorithm and its extension for free energy calculation on rugged energy surface.

PubMed

Li, Hongzhi; Yang, Wei

2007-03-21

An approach is developed in the replica exchange framework to enhance conformational sampling for the quantum mechanical (QM) potential based molecular dynamics simulations. Importantly, with our enhanced sampling treatment, a decent convergence for electronic structure self-consistent-field calculation is robustly guaranteed, which is made possible in our replica exchange design by avoiding direct structure exchanges between the QM-related replicas and the activated (scaled by low scaling parameters or treated with high "effective temperatures") molecular mechanical (MM) replicas. Although the present approach represents one of the early efforts in the enhanced sampling developments specifically for quantum mechanical potentials, the QM-based simulations treated with the present technique can possess the similar sampling efficiency to the MM based simulations treated with the Hamiltonian replica exchange method (HREM). In the present paper, by combining this sampling method with one of our recent developments (the dual-topology alchemical HREM approach), we also introduce a method for the sampling enhanced QM-based free energy calculations.

High efficient OLED displays prepared with the air-gapped bridges on quantum dot patterns for optical recycling

PubMed Central

Kim, Hyo-Jun; Shin, Min-Ho; Kim, Joo-Suc; Kim, Se-Eun; Kim, Young-Joo

2017-01-01

An optically efficient structure was proposed and fabricated to realize high brightness organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays based on a white OLED prepared with the air-gapped bridges on the quantum dot (QD) patterns. Compared with a conventional white OLED display, in our experiments, the optical intensity of the proposed OLED display shows the enhancement of 58.2% in the red color and 16.8% in the green color after applying the air-gapped bridge structure on QD patterns of 20 wt% concentration. This enhancement comes from the two facts that the QD patterns downconvert unnecessary blue or blue/green light to the required green or red light and the air-gapped bridges increase the color conversion efficiency of QDs by optical recycling using total internal reflection (TIR) at the interface. In addition, the color gamut of the proposed OLED display increases from 65.5 to 75.9% (NTSC x, y ratio) due to the narrow emission spectra of QDs. PMID:28211516

High efficient OLED displays prepared with the air-gapped bridges on quantum dot patterns for optical recycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hyo-Jun; Shin, Min-Ho; Kim, Joo-Suc; Kim, Se-Eun; Kim, Young-Joo

2017-02-01

An optically efficient structure was proposed and fabricated to realize high brightness organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays based on a white OLED prepared with the air-gapped bridges on the quantum dot (QD) patterns. Compared with a conventional white OLED display, in our experiments, the optical intensity of the proposed OLED display shows the enhancement of 58.2% in the red color and 16.8% in the green color after applying the air-gapped bridge structure on QD patterns of 20 wt% concentration. This enhancement comes from the two facts that the QD patterns downconvert unnecessary blue or blue/green light to the required green or red light and the air-gapped bridges increase the color conversion efficiency of QDs by optical recycling using total internal reflection (TIR) at the interface. In addition, the color gamut of the proposed OLED display increases from 65.5 to 75.9% (NTSC x, y ratio) due to the narrow emission spectra of QDs.

High efficient OLED displays prepared with the air-gapped bridges on quantum dot patterns for optical recycling.

PubMed

Kim, Hyo-Jun; Shin, Min-Ho; Kim, Joo-Suc; Kim, Se-Eun; Kim, Young-Joo

2017-02-17

An optically efficient structure was proposed and fabricated to realize high brightness organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays based on a white OLED prepared with the air-gapped bridges on the quantum dot (QD) patterns. Compared with a conventional white OLED display, in our experiments, the optical intensity of the proposed OLED display shows the enhancement of 58.2% in the red color and 16.8% in the green color after applying the air-gapped bridge structure on QD patterns of 20 wt% concentration. This enhancement comes from the two facts that the QD patterns downconvert unnecessary blue or blue/green light to the required green or red light and the air-gapped bridges increase the color conversion efficiency of QDs by optical recycling using total internal reflection (TIR) at the interface. In addition, the color gamut of the proposed OLED display increases from 65.5 to 75.9% (NTSC x, y ratio) due to the narrow emission spectra of QDs.

Enhanced Luminescence Performance of Quantum Wells by Coupling Piezo-Phototronic with Plasmonic Effects.

PubMed

Huang, Xin; Jiang, Chunyan; Du, Chunhua; Jing, Liang; Liu, Mengmeng; Hu, Weiguo; Wang, Zhong Lin

2016-12-27

With a promising prospect of light-emitting diodes as an attractive alternative to conventional light sources, remaining challenges still cannot be addressed owing to their limited efficiency. Among the continued scientific efforts, significant improvement on the emission efficiency has been achieved via either piezo-phototronic effect-based strain modulation or resonant excitation of plasmons in metallic nanostructures. Here, we present the investigation on the coupling process between piezo-phototronic effect and localized surface plasmonic resonance for enhancing the photoluminescence of InGaN/GaN quantum wells coated with Ag nanoparticles. The underlying physical mechanism of experimental results originates from tuning plasmonic resonance controlled by the shift of emission wavelength via piezo-phototronic effect, and it is further confirmed with the support of theoretical calculations. As a result, our research provides an approach to the integration of plasmonics with piezo-phototronic effect and brings widespread applications to high-efficiency artificial lighting, on-chip integrated plasmonic circuits, subwavelength optical communication, and micro-optoelectronic mechanical systems.

Enhanced emission of charged-exciton polaritons from colloidal quantum dots on a SiN/SiO2 slab waveguide

PubMed Central

Xu, Xingsheng; Li, Xingyun

2015-01-01

We investigate the photoluminescence (PL) spectra and the time-resolved PL decay process from colloidal quantum dots on SiN/SiO2 wet etched via BOE (HF:NH4F:H2O). The spectrum displays multi-peak shapes that vary with irradiation time. The evolution of the spectral peaks with irradiation time and collection angle demonstrates that the strong coupling of the charged-exciton emission to the leaky modes of the SiN/SiO2 slab waveguide predominantly produces short-wavelength spectral peaks, resulting in multi-peak spectra. We conclude that BOE etching enhances the charged-exciton emission efficiency and its contribution to the total emission compared with the unetched case. BOE etching smoothes the electron confinement potential, thus decreasing the Auger recombination rate. Therefore, the charged-exciton emission efficiency is high, and the charged-exciton-polariton emission can be further enhanced through strong coupling to the leaky mode of the slab waveguide. PMID:25988709

Enhancing Cell Nucleus Accumulation and DNA Cleavage Activity of Anti-Cancer Drug via Graphene Quantum Dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chong; Wu, Congyu; Zhou, Xuejiao; Han, Ting; Xin, Xiaozhen; Wu, Jiaying; Zhang, Jingyan; Guo, Shouwu

2013-10-01

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) maintain the intrinsic layered structural motif of graphene but with smaller lateral size and abundant periphery carboxylic groups, and are more compatible with biological system, thus are promising nanomaterials for therapeutic applications. Here we show that GQDs have a superb ability in drug delivery and anti-cancer activity boost without any pre-modification due to their unique structural properties. They could efficiently deliver doxorubicin (DOX) to the nucleus through DOX/GQD conjugates, because the conjugates assume different cellular and nuclear internalization pathways comparing to free DOX. Also, the conjugates could enhance DNA cleavage activity of DOX markedly. This enhancement combining with efficient nuclear delivery improved cytotoxicity of DOX dramatically. Furthermore, the DOX/GQD conjugates could also increase the nuclear uptake and cytotoxicity of DOX to drug-resistant cancer cells indicating that the conjugates may be capable to increase chemotherapy efficacy of anti-cancer drugs that are suboptimal due to the drug resistance.

Tailored Emission Properties of ZnTe/ZnTe:O/ZnO Core-Shell Nanowires Coupled with an Al Plasmonic Bowtie Antenna Array.

PubMed

Nie, Kui-Ying; Tu, Xuecou; Li, Jing; Chen, Xuanhu; Ren, Fang-Fang; Zhang, Guo-Gang; Kang, Lin; Gu, Shulin; Zhang, Rong; Wu, Peiheng; Zheng, Youdou; Tan, Hark Hoe; Jagadish, Chennupati; Ye, Jiandong

2018-06-14

The ability to manipulate light-matter interaction in semiconducting nanostructures is fascinating for implementing functionalities in advanced optoelectronic devices. Here, we report the tailoring of radiative emissions in a ZnTe/ZnTe:O/ZnO core-shell single nanowire coupled with a one-dimensional aluminum bowtie antenna array. The plasmonic antenna enables changes in the excitation and emission processes, leading to an obvious enhancement of near band edge emission (2.2 eV) and subgap excitonic emission (1.7 eV) bound to intermediate band states in a ZnTe/ZnTe:O/ZnO core-shell nanowire as well as surface-enhanced Raman scattering at room temperature. The increase of emission decay rate in the nanowire/antenna system, probed by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy, yields an observable enhancement of quantum efficiency induced by local surface plasmon resonance. Electromagnetic simulations agree well with the experimental observations, revealing a combined effect of enhanced electric near-field intensity and the improvement of quantum efficiency in the ZnTe/ZnTe:O/ZnO nanowire/antenna system. The capability of tailoring light-matter interaction in low-efficient emitters may provide an alternative platform for designing advanced optoelectronic and sensing devices with precisely controlled response.

Improvements of Quantum Private Comparison Protocol Based on Cluster States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Ming-Kuai

2018-01-01

Quantum private comparison aims to determine whether the secrets from two different users are equal or not by utilizing the laws of quantum mechanics. Recently, Sun and Long put forward a quantum private comparison (QPC) protocol by using four-particle cluster states (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 52, 212-218, 2013). In this paper, we investigate this protocol in depth, and suggest the corresponding improvements. Compared with the original protocol, the improved protocol has the following advantages: 1) it can release the requirements of authenticated classical channels and unitary operations; 2) it can prevent the malicious attack from the genuine semi-honest TP; 3) it can enhance the qubit efficiency.

Multistage quantum absorption heat pumps.

PubMed

Correa, Luis A

2014-04-01

It is well known that heat pumps, while being all limited by the same basic thermodynamic laws, may find realization on systems as "small" and "quantum" as a three-level maser. In order to quantitatively assess how the performance of these devices scales with their size, we design generalized N-dimensional ideal heat pumps by merging N-2 elementary three-level stages. We set them to operate in the absorption chiller mode between given hot and cold baths and study their maximum achievable cooling power and the corresponding efficiency as a function of N. While the efficiency at maximum power is roughly size-independent, the power itself slightly increases with the dimension, quickly saturating to a constant. Thus, interestingly, scaling up autonomous quantum heat pumps does not render a significant enhancement beyond the optimal double-stage configuration.

Enhanced autocompensating quantum cryptography system.

PubMed

Bethune, Donald S; Navarro, Martha; Risk, William P

2002-03-20

We have improved the hardware and software of our autocompensating system for quantum key distribution by replacing bulk optical components at the end stations with fiber-optic equivalents and implementing software that synchronizes end-station activities, communicates basis choices, corrects errors, and performs privacy amplification over a local area network. The all-fiber-optic arrangement provides stable, efficient, and high-contrast routing of the photons. The low-bit error rate leads to high error-correction efficiency and minimizes data sacrifice during privacy amplification. Characterization measurements made on a number of commercial avalanche photodiodes are presented that highlight the need for improved devices tailored specifically for quantum information applications. A scheme for frequency shifting the photons returning from Alice's station to allow them to be distinguished from backscattered noise photons is also described.

Synergistically enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of ZnCdS by co-loading graphene quantum dots and PdS dual cocatalysts under visible light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fang; Su, Yanhong; Min, Shixiong; Li, Yanan; Lei, Yonggang; Hou, Jianhua

2018-04-01

Here, we report that the co-loading of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and PdS dual cocatalysts on ZnCdS surface achieves a high efficiency photocatalytic H2 evolution under visible light (≥420 nm). The GQDs/ZnCdS/PdS photocatalyst was prepared by a facile two steps: hydrothermal coupling of GQDs on ZnCdS surface followed by an in-situ chemical deposition of PdS. The resulted GQDs/ZnCdS/PdS exhibits a H2 evolution rate of 517 μmol h-1, which is 15, 7, and 1.7 times higher than that of pure ZnCdS, GQDs/ZnCdS, and ZnCdS/PdS, respectively, demonstrating the synergistic effects of GQDs and PdS dual cocatalysts. A high apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) up to 22.4% can be achieved over GQDs/ZnCdS/PdS at 420 nm. GQDs/ZnCdS/PdS also has a relatively good stability. Such a considerable enhancement of photocatalytic activity was attributable to the co-loading of the GQDs and PdS as respective reduction and oxidation cocatalysts, leading to an efficient charge separation and surface reactions.

Scalable quantum information processing with atomic ensembles and flying photons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mei Feng; Yu Yafei; Feng Mang

2009-10-15

We present a scheme for scalable quantum information processing with atomic ensembles and flying photons. Using the Rydberg blockade, we encode the qubits in the collective atomic states, which could be manipulated fast and easily due to the enhanced interaction in comparison to the single-atom case. We demonstrate that our proposed gating could be applied to generation of two-dimensional cluster states for measurement-based quantum computation. Moreover, the atomic ensembles also function as quantum repeaters useful for long-distance quantum state transfer. We show the possibility of our scheme to work in bad cavity or in weak coupling regime, which could muchmore » relax the experimental requirement. The efficient coherent operations on the ensemble qubits enable our scheme to be switchable between quantum computation and quantum communication using atomic ensembles.« less

Nanophotonic rare-earth quantum memory with optically controlled retrieval.

PubMed

Zhong, Tian; Kindem, Jonathan M; Bartholomew, John G; Rochman, Jake; Craiciu, Ioana; Miyazono, Evan; Bettinelli, Marco; Cavalli, Enrico; Verma, Varun; Nam, Sae Woo; Marsili, Francesco; Shaw, Matthew D; Beyer, Andrew D; Faraon, Andrei

2017-09-29

Optical quantum memories are essential elements in quantum networks for long-distance distribution of quantum entanglement. Scalable development of quantum network nodes requires on-chip qubit storage functionality with control of the readout time. We demonstrate a high-fidelity nanophotonic quantum memory based on a mesoscopic neodymium ensemble coupled to a photonic crystal cavity. The nanocavity enables >95% spin polarization for efficient initialization of the atomic frequency comb memory and time bin-selective readout through an enhanced optical Stark shift of the comb frequencies. Our solid-state memory is integrable with other chip-scale photon source and detector devices for multiplexed quantum and classical information processing at the network nodes. Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Broadband Epsilon-near-Zero Reflectors Enhance the Quantum Efficiency of Thin Solar Cells at Visible and Infrared Wavelengths.

PubMed

Labelle, A J; Bonifazi, M; Tian, Y; Wong, C; Hoogland, S; Favraud, G; Walters, G; Sutherland, B; Liu, M; Li, Jun; Zhang, Xixiang; Kelley, S O; Sargent, E H; Fratalocchi, A

2017-02-15

The engineering of broadband absorbers to harvest white light in thin-film semiconductors is a major challenge in developing renewable materials for energy harvesting. Many solution-processed materials with high manufacturability and low cost, such as semiconductor quantum dots, require the use of film structures with thicknesses on the order of 1 μm to absorb incoming photons completely. The electron transport lengths in these media, however, are 1 order of magnitude smaller than this length, hampering further progress with this platform. Herein, we show that, by engineering suitably disordered nanoplasmonic structures, we have created a new class of dispersionless epsilon-near-zero composite materials that efficiently harness white light. Our nanostructures localize light in the dielectric region outside the epsilon-near-zero material with characteristic lengths of 10-100 nm, resulting in an efficient system for harvesting broadband light when a thin absorptive film is deposited on top of the structure. By using a combination of theory and experiments, we demonstrate that ultrathin layers down to 50 nm of colloidal quantum dots deposited atop the epsilon-near-zero material show an increase in broadband absorption ranging from 200% to 500% compared to a planar structure of the same colloidal quantum-dot-absorber average thickness. When the epsilon-near-zero nanostructures were used in an energy-harvesting module, we observed a spectrally averaged 170% broadband increase in the external quantum efficiency of the device, measured at wavelengths between 400 and 1200 nm. Atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence excitation measurements demonstrate that the properties of these epsilon-near-zero structures apply to general metals and could be used to enhance the near-field absorption of semiconductor structures more widely. We have developed an inexpensive electrochemical deposition process that enables scaled-up production of this nanomaterial for large-scale energy-harvesting applications.

Realization of a Knill-Laflamme-Milburn controlled-NOT photonic quantum circuit combining effective optical nonlinearities

PubMed Central

Okamoto, Ryo; O’Brien, Jeremy L.; Hofmann, Holger F.; Takeuchi, Shigeki

2011-01-01

Quantum information science addresses how uniquely quantum mechanical phenomena such as superposition and entanglement can enhance communication, information processing, and precision measurement. Photons are appealing for their low-noise, light-speed transmission and ease of manipulation using conventional optical components. However, the lack of highly efficient optical Kerr nonlinearities at the single photon level was a major obstacle. In a breakthrough, Knill, Laflamme, and Milburn (KLM) showed that such an efficient nonlinearity can be achieved using only linear optical elements, auxiliary photons, and measurement [Knill E, Laflamme R, Milburn GJ (2001) Nature 409:46–52]. KLM proposed a heralded controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate for scalable quantum computation using a photonic quantum circuit to combine two such nonlinear elements. Here we experimentally demonstrate a KLM CNOT gate. We developed a stable architecture to realize the required four-photon network of nested multiple interferometers based on a displaced-Sagnac interferometer and several partially polarizing beamsplitters. This result confirms the first step in the original KLM “recipe” for all-optical quantum computation, and should be useful for on-demand entanglement generation and purification. Optical quantum circuits combining giant optical nonlinearities may find wide applications in quantum information processing, communication, and sensing. PMID:21646543

Modulating emission intensity of GaN-based green light emitting diodes on c-plane sapphire

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Du, Chunhua; Ma, Ziguang; Zhou, Junming

2014-04-14

The asymmetric dual-wavelength (green/blue) coupled InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells were proposed to modulate the green emission intensity. Electroluminescent measurements demonstrate the conspicuous increment of the green light intensity by decreasing the coupled barrier thickness. This was partly attributed to capture of more carriers when holes tunnel across the thinner barrier from the blue quantum wells, as a hole reservoir, to the green quantum wells. While lower effective barrier height of the blue quantum wells benefits improved hole transportation from p-GaN to the active region. Efficiency droop of the green quantum wells was partially alleviated due to the enhanced injection efficiencymore » of holes.« less

Hybrid polymer/ZnO solar cells sensitized by PbS quantum dots

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene)]/ZnO nanorod hybrid solar cells consisting of PbS quantum dots [QDs] prepared by a chemical bath deposition method were fabricated. An optimum coating of the QDs on the ZnO nanorods could strongly improve the performance of the solar cells. A maximum power conversion efficiency of 0.42% was achieved for the PbS QDs' sensitive solar cell coated by 4 cycles, which was increased almost five times compared with the solar cell without using PbS QDs. The improved efficiency is attributed to the cascade structure formed by the PbS QD coating, which results in enhanced open-circuit voltage and exciton dissociation efficiency. PMID:22313746

Pure sources and efficient detectors for optical quantum information processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zielnicki, Kevin

Over the last sixty years, classical information theory has revolutionized the understanding of the nature of information, and how it can be quantified and manipulated. Quantum information processing extends these lessons to quantum systems, where the properties of intrinsic uncertainty and entanglement fundamentally defy classical explanation. This growing field has many potential applications, including computing, cryptography, communication, and metrology. As inherently mobile quantum particles, photons are likely to play an important role in any mature large-scale quantum information processing system. However, the available methods for producing and detecting complex multi-photon states place practical limits on the feasibility of sophisticated optical quantum information processing experiments. In a typical quantum information protocol, a source first produces an interesting or useful quantum state (or set of states), perhaps involving superposition or entanglement. Then, some manipulations are performed on this state, perhaps involving quantum logic gates which further manipulate or entangle the intial state. Finally, the state must be detected, obtaining some desired measurement result, e.g., for secure communication or computationally efficient factoring. The work presented here concerns the first and last stages of this process as they relate to photons: sources and detectors. Our work on sources is based on the need for optimized non-classical states of light delivered at high rates, particularly of single photons in a pure quantum state. We seek to better understand the properties of spontaneous parameteric downconversion (SPDC) sources of photon pairs, and in doing so, produce such an optimized source. We report an SPDC source which produces pure heralded single photons with little or no spectral filtering, allowing a significant rate enhancement. Our work on detectors is based on the need to reliably measure single-photon states. We have focused on optimizing the detection efficiency of visible light photon counters (VLPCs), a single-photon detection technology that is also capable of resolving photon number states. We report a record-breaking quantum efficiency of 91 +/- 3% observed with our detection system. Both sources and detectors are independently interesting physical systems worthy of study, but together they promise to enable entire new classes and applications of information based on quantum mechanics.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, Kun; Ikeda, Masao, E-mail: mikeda2013@sinano.ac.cn, E-mail: jpliu2010@sinano.ac.cn; Liu, Jianping, E-mail: mikeda2013@sinano.ac.cn, E-mail: jpliu2010@sinano.ac.cn

The efficiency droop of InGaN/GaN(InGaN) multiple quantum well (MQW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) with thin quantum barriers (QB) is studied. With thin GaN QB (3 nm–6 nm thickness), the efficiency droop is not improved, which indicates that hole transport cannot be significantly enhanced by the thin GaN QBs. On the contrary, the efficiency droop was remarkably reduced by using a InGaN staircase QB (InGaN SC-QB) MQWs structure where InGaN SC-QBs lower the transport energy barrier of holes. The efficiency droop ratio was as low as 3.3% up to 200 A/cm{sup 2} for the InGaN SC-QB LED. By using monitoring QW with longer wavelengthmore » we observe a much uniform carrier distribution in the InGaN SC-QB LEDs, which reveals the mechanism of improvement in the efficiency droop.« less

Exploration of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites for surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy of small molecules.

PubMed

Chen, Jia; Mo, Zhi-Hong; Yang, Xiao; Zhou, Hai-Ling; Gao, Qin

2017-06-22

The organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites efficiently enhance the infrared absorption of small molecules. It is suggested that the quantum wells of perovskites enable the electrons of the perovskites to be excited by light in the infrared region. The exploration has opened a new path for chemical sensing through infrared spectroscopy.

Activation tagging in indica rice identifies ribosomal proteins as potential targets for manipulation of water-use efficiency and abiotic stress tolerance in plants.

PubMed

Moin, Mazahar; Bakshi, Achala; Saha, Anusree; Udaya Kumar, M; Reddy, Attipalli R; Rao, K V; Siddiq, E A; Kirti, P B

2016-11-01

We have generated 3900 enhancer-based activation-tagged plants, in addition to 1030 stable Dissociator-enhancer plants in a widely cultivated indica rice variety, BPT-5204. Of them, 3000 were screened for water-use efficiency (WUE) by analysing photosynthetic quantum efficiency and yield-related attributes under water-limiting conditions that identified 200 activation-tagged mutants, which were analysed for flanking sequences at the site of enhancer integration in the genome. We have further selected five plants with low Δ 13 C, high quantum efficiency and increased plant yield compared with wild type for a detailed investigation. Expression studies of 18 genes in these mutants revealed that in four plants one of the three to four tagged genes became activated, while two genes were concurrently up-regulated in the fifth plant. Two genes coding for proteins involved in 60S ribosomal assembly, RPL6 and RPL23A, were among those that became activated by enhancers. Quantitative expression analysis of these two genes also corroborated the results on activating-tagging. The high up-regulation of RPL6 and RPL23A in various stress treatments and the presence of significant cis-regulatory elements in their promoter regions along with the high up-regulation of several of RPL genes in various stress treatments indicate that they are potential targets for manipulating WUE/abiotic stress tolerance. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Enhancing quantum annealing performance for the molecular similarity problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, Maritza; Aramon, Maliheh

2017-05-01

Quantum annealing is a promising technique which leverages quantum mechanics to solve hard optimization problems. Considerable progress has been made in the development of a physical quantum annealer, motivating the study of methods to enhance the efficiency of such a solver. In this work, we present a quantum annealing approach to measure similarity among molecular structures. Implementing real-world problems on a quantum annealer is challenging due to hardware limitations such as sparse connectivity, intrinsic control error, and limited precision. In order to overcome the limited connectivity, a problem must be reformulated using minor-embedding techniques. Using a real data set, we investigate the performance of a quantum annealer in solving the molecular similarity problem. We provide experimental evidence that common practices for embedding can be replaced by new alternatives which mitigate some of the hardware limitations and enhance its performance. Common practices for embedding include minimizing either the number of qubits or the chain length and determining the strength of ferromagnetic couplers empirically. We show that current criteria for selecting an embedding do not improve the hardware's performance for the molecular similarity problem. Furthermore, we use a theoretical approach to determine the strength of ferromagnetic couplers. Such an approach removes the computational burden of the current empirical approaches and also results in hardware solutions that can benefit from simple local classical improvement. Although our results are limited to the problems considered here, they can be generalized to guide future benchmarking studies.

Accelerated optimization and automated discovery with covariance matrix adaptation for experimental quantum control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roslund, Jonathan; Shir, Ofer M.; Bäck, Thomas; Rabitz, Herschel

2009-10-01

Optimization of quantum systems by closed-loop adaptive pulse shaping offers a rich domain for the development and application of specialized evolutionary algorithms. Derandomized evolution strategies (DESs) are presented here as a robust class of optimizers for experimental quantum control. The combination of stochastic and quasi-local search embodied by these algorithms is especially amenable to the inherent topology of quantum control landscapes. Implementation of DES in the laboratory results in efficiency gains of up to ˜9 times that of the standard genetic algorithm, and thus is a promising tool for optimization of unstable or fragile systems. The statistical learning upon which these algorithms are predicated also provide the means for obtaining a control problem’s Hessian matrix with no additional experimental overhead. The forced optimal covariance adaptive learning (FOCAL) method is introduced to enable retrieval of the Hessian matrix, which can reveal information about the landscape’s local structure and dynamic mechanism. Exploitation of such algorithms in quantum control experiments should enhance their efficiency and provide additional fundamental insights.

Polarization-independent high-speed photodetector based on a two-dimensional focusing grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Xiaofeng; Chen, Hailang; Huang, Yongqing; Liu, Kai; Cai, Shiwei; Ren, Xiaomin

2018-01-01

We demonstrate a reflection-enhanced high-speed photodetector, which integrated a mushroom-mesa p-i-n structure on a two-dimensional (2D) nonperiodic focusing grating. Mushroom-mesa p-i-n photodetectors exhibit a high frequency response owing to their low resistance capacity (RC) time constant. 2D nonperiodic focusing gratings not only can increase the external quantum efficiency of the device owing to their reflecting and focusing abilities, but also are not sensitive to the polarization of the incident light. The external quantum efficiency of this device is 44.71% and the measured 3 dB bandwidth is up to 32 GHz.

Enhanced light extraction in tunnel junction-enabled top emitting UV LEDs

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Yuewei; Allerman, Andrew A.; Krishnamoorthy, Sriram; ...

2016-04-11

The efficiency of ultra violet LEDs has been critically limited by the absorption losses in p-type and metal layers. In this work, surface roughening based light extraction structures are combined with tunneling based p-contacts to realize highly efficient top-side light extraction efficiency in UV LEDs. Surface roughening of the top n-type AlGaN contact layer is demonstrated using self-assembled Ni nano-clusters as etch mask. The top surface roughened LEDs were found to enhance external quantum efficiency by over 40% for UV LEDs with a peak emission wavelength of 326 nm. The method described here can enable highly efficient UV LEDs withoutmore » the need for complex manufacturing methods such as flip chip bonding.« less

Investigation of the optical characteristics of a combination of InP/ZnS-quantum dots with MWCNTs in a PMMA matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landi, G.; Henninger, M.; De Girolamo del Mauro, A.; Borriello, C.; Di Luccio, T.; Neitzert, H. C.

2013-10-01

In the present study we investigated a combination of quantum dots with multi-walled carbon nanotubes as a possible future additive to the active layer of polymer solar cells. In this case the quantum dots should serve to enhance the long wavelength response of the solar cell, while the nanotubes enhance the charge carrier collection efficiency by favoring charge carrier separation and enhancement of the lateral conduction of the films. In order to clarify the interplay of the nanoparticles only, we deposited them into a non-conducting and transparent polymethyl-methalacrylate (PMMA) matrix. InP/ZnS quantum dots with an emission peak wavelength of 660 nm have been chosen in this study, because their addition can enhance the long wavelength response of conventional poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT): phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bulk heterostructure polymer solar cells. In our study we kept the quantum dot concentration constant and varied the concentration of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the deposited films. The characterization of the film morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and of the optical properties by photoluminescence and transmittance revealed a rather complex interplay between nanotubes and quantum dots. In particular we found a strong quenching of the photoluminescence and an inhomogeneous CNT distribution for carbon nanotube concentrations exceeding 1%. The decrease in optical transmittance of the films with increasing CNT concentration is less pronounced, when quantum dots (QDs) are added. The optical transmittance in a wavelength range between 380 nm and 800 nm of the composites could be expressed empirically as a simple second order polynomial function.

Quantum tomography enhanced through parametric amplification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knyazev, E.; Spasibko, K. Yu; Chekhova, M. V.; Khalili, F. Ya

2018-01-01

Quantum tomography is the standard method of reconstructing the Wigner function of quantum states of light by means of balanced homodyne detection. The reconstruction quality strongly depends on the photodetectors quantum efficiency and other losses in the measurement setup. In this article we analyze in detail a protocol of enhanced quantum tomography, proposed by Leonhardt and Paul [1] which allows one to reduce the degrading effect of detection losses. It is based on phase-sensitive parametric amplification, with the phase of the amplified quadrature being scanned synchronously with the local oscillator phase. Although with sufficiently strong amplification the protocol enables overcoming any detection inefficiency, it was so far not implemented in the experiment, probably due to the losses in the amplifier. Here we discuss a possible proof-of-principle experiment with a traveling-wave parametric amplifier. We show that with the state-of-the-art optical elements, the protocol enables high fidelity tomographic reconstruction of bright non-classical states of light. We consider two examples: bright squeezed vacuum and squeezed single-photon state, with the latter being a non-Gaussian state and both strongly affected by the losses.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Quan, Zhijue, E-mail: quanzhijue@ncu.edu.cn; Liu, Junlin; Fang, Fang

The effect of InGaN/GaN superlattices (SLs) on quantum efficiency and forward voltage of vertical blue InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) light-emitting diodes (LED) grown on Si substrate has been experimentally and theoretically investigated. We have prepared two LED samples, in which the 30 and 45 periods of SLs are inserted between MQW active layers and n-GaN layer, respectively. Electroluminescence measurement shows that the LED with 45 periods of SLs has higher quantum efficiency but lower forward voltage. It is observed that V-shaped pits grow up in size with an increase in SLs period number by means of scan transmission electronmore » microscope and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Further numerical simulations confirm that the performance improvement of LED by SLs is mainly ascribed to enhancing hole injection from the V-shaped pits.« less

Photonic sources and detectors for quantum information protocols: A trilogy in eight parts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rangarajan, Radhika

Quantum information processing (QIP) promises to revolutionize existing methods of manipulating data, via truly unique paradigms based on fundamental nonclassical physical phenomenon. However, the eventual success of optical QIP depends critically on the available technologies. Currently, creating multiple-photon states is extremely inefficient because almost no source thus far has been well optimized. Additionally, high-efficiency single-photon detectors can drastically improve multi-photon QIP (typical efficiencies are ˜70%). In fact, it has been shown that scalable linear optical quantum computing is possible only if the product of the source and detector efficiencies exceeds ˜67%. The research presented here focuses on developing optimized source and detector technologies for enabling scalable QIP. The goal of our source research is to develop an ideal " indistinguishable" source of ultrabright polarization-entangled but spatially- and spectrally-unentangled photon pairs. We engineer such an ideal source by first designing spatio-spectrally unentangled photons using optimized and group-velocity matched spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC). Next, we generate polarization-entangled photons using the engineered SPDC. Here we present solutions to the various challenges encountered during the indistinguishable source development. We demonstrate high-fidelity ultrafast pulsed and cw-diode laser-pumped sources of polarization-entangled photons, as well as the first production of polarization-entanglement directly from the highly nonlinear biaxial crystal BiB3O6 (BiBO). We also discuss the first experimental confirmation of the emission-angle dependence of the downconversion polarization (the Migdall effect), and a novel scheme for polarization-dependent focusing. The goal of our single-photon detector research is to develop a very high-efficiency detection system that can also resolve incident photon number, a feature absent from the typical detectors employed for QIP. We discuss the various cryogenic, optical and electronic challenges encountered en route to detector development and present details on detector characterization, ultra-short electronics design and photon-number-resolution studies. The source and detector technologies developed here share a common goal: to enhance the efficiency of existing quantum protocols and pave the way for new ones. Here we discuss some of the possible benefits via a popular quantum protocol---teleportation---as well as a novel quantum communication technique---hyper-fingerprinting. Taken as a whole, this dissertation explores viable technological options for enhancing optical quantum information protocols, offers a perspective on the current status and limitations of existing technologies, and highlights the possibilities enabled by optimized photonic sources and detectors.

Simultaneously Enhancing Light Emission and Suppressing Efficiency Droop in GaN Microwire-Based Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diode by the Piezo-Phototronic Effect.

PubMed

Wang, Xingfu; Peng, Wenbo; Yu, Ruomeng; Zou, Haiyang; Dai, Yejing; Zi, Yunlong; Wu, Changsheng; Li, Shuti; Wang, Zhong Lin

2017-06-14

Achievement of p-n homojuncted GaN enables the birth of III-nitride light emitters. Owing to the wurtzite-structure of GaN, piezoelectric polarization charges present at the interface can effectively control/tune the optoelectric behaviors of local charge-carriers (i.e., the piezo-phototronic effect). Here, we demonstrate the significantly enhanced light-output efficiency and suppressed efficiency droop in GaN microwire (MW)-based p-n junction ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) by the piezo-phototronic effect. By applying a -0.12% static compressive strain perpendicular to the p-n junction interface, the relative external quantum efficiency of the LED is enhanced by over 600%. Furthermore, efficiency droop is markedly reduced from 46.6% to 7.5% and corresponding droop onset current density shifts from 10 to 26.7 A cm -2 . Enhanced electrons confinement and improved holes injection efficiency by the piezo-phototronic effect are revealed and theoretically confirmed as the physical mechanisms. This study offers an unconventional path to develop high efficiency, strong brightness and high power III-nitride light sources.

Photoinduced Single- and Multiple-Electron Dynamics Processes Enhanced by Quantum Confinement in Lead Halide Perovskite Quantum Dots

DOE PAGES

Vogel, Dayton J.; Kryjevski, Andrei; Inerbaev, Talgat; ...

2017-03-21

Methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI 3) is a promising material for photovoltaic devices. A modification of MAPbI 3 into confined nanostructures is expected to further increase efficiency of solar energy conversion. Photoexcited dynamic processes in a MAPbI3 quantum dot (QD) have been modeled by many-body perturbation theory and nonadiabatic dynamics. A photoexcitation is followed by either exciton cooling (EC), its radiative (RR) or nonradiative recombination (NRR), or multiexciton generation (MEG) processes. Computed times of these processes fall in the order of MEG < EC < RR < NRR, where MEG is on the order of a few femtoseconds, EC ismore » in the picosecond range, while RR and NRR are on the order of nanoseconds. Computed time scales indicate which electronic transition pathways can contribute to increase in charge collection efficiency. Simulated mechanisms of relaxation and their rates show that quantum confinement promotes MEG in MAPbI 3 QDs.« less

Cavity-Enhanced Optical Readout of a Single Solid-State Spin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Shuo; Kim, Hyochul; Solomon, Glenn S.; Waks, Edo

2018-05-01

We demonstrate optical readout of a single spin using cavity quantum electrodynamics. The spin is based on a single trapped electron in a quantum dot that has a poor branching ratio of 0.43. Selectively coupling one of the optical transitions of the quantum dot to the cavity mode results in a spin-dependent cavity reflectivity that enables spin readout by monitoring the reflected intensity of an incident optical field. Using this approach, we demonstrate spin-readout fidelity of 0.61. Achieving this fidelity using resonance fluorescence from a bare dot would require 43 times improvement in photon collection efficiency.

Photoinduced Electron Transfer-based Halogen-free Photosensitizers: Covalent meso-Aryl (Phenyl, Naphthyl, Anthryl, and Pyrenyl) as Electron Donors to Effectively Induce the Formation of the Excited Triplet State and Singlet Oxygen for BODIPY Compounds.

PubMed

Zhang, Xian-Fu; Feng, Nan

2017-09-19

Pristine BODIPY compounds have negligible efficiency to generate the excited triplet state and singlet oxygen. In this report, we show that attaching a good electron donor to the BODIPY core can lead to singlet oxygen formation with up to 58 % quantum efficiency. For this purpose, BODIPYs with meso-aryl groups (phenyl, naphthyl, anthryl, and pyrenyl) were synthesized and characterized. The fluorescence, excited triplet state, and singlet oxygen formation properties for these compounds were measured in various solvents by UV/Vis absorption, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence methods, as well as laser flash photolysis technique. In particular, the presence of anthryl and pyrenyl showed substantial enhancement on the singlet oxygen formation ability of BODIPY with up to 58 % and 34 % quantum efficiency, respectively, owing to their stronger electron-donating ability. Upon the increase in singlet oxygen formation, the fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime values of the aryl-BODIPY showed a concomitant decrease. The increase in solvent polarity enhances the singlet oxygen generation but decreases the fluorescence quantum yield. The results are explained by the presence of intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer from the aryl moiety to BODIPY core. This method of promoting T 1 formation is very different from the traditional heavy atom effect by I, Br, or transition metal atoms. This type of novel photosensitizers may find important applications in organic oxygenation reactions and photodynamic therapy of tumors. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Diodes Implementing Platinum Complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ecton, Jeremy Exton

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are a promising approach for display and solid state lighting applications. However, further work is needed in establishing the availability of efficient and stable materials for OLEDs with high external quantum efficiency's (EQE) and high operational lifetimes. Recently, significant improvements in the internal quantum efficiency or ratio of generated photons to injected electrons have been achieved with the advent of phosphorescent complexes with the ability to harvest both singlet and triplet excitons. Since then, a variety of phosphorescent complexes containing heavy metal centers including Os, Ni, Ir, Pd, and Pt have been developed. Thus far, the majority of the work in the field has focused on iridium based complexes. Platinum based complexes, however, have received considerably less attention despite demonstrating efficiency's equal to or better than their iridium analogs. In this study, a series of OLEDs implementing newly developed platinum based complexes were demonstrated with efficiency's or operational lifetimes equal to or better than their iridium analogs for select cases. In addition to demonstrating excellent device performance in OLEDs, platinum based complexes exhibit unique photophysical properties including the ability to form excimer emission capable of generating broad white light emission from a single emitter and the ability to form narrow band emission from a rigid, tetradentate molecular structure for select cases. These unique photophysical properties were exploited and their optical and electrical properties in a device setting were elucidated. Utilizing the unique properties of a tridentate Pt complex, Pt-16, a highly efficient white device employing a single emissive layer exhibited a peak EQE of over 20% and high color quality with a CRI of 80 and color coordinates CIE(x=0.33, y=0.33). Furthermore, by employing a rigid, tetradentate platinum complex, PtN1N, with a narrow band emission into a microcavity organic light emitting diode (MOLED), significant enhancement in the external quantum efficiency was achieved. The optimized MOLED structure achieved a light out-coupling enhancement of 1.35 compared to the non-cavity structure with a peak EQE of 34.2%. In addition to demonstrating a high light out-coupling enhancement, the microcavity effect of a narrow band emitter in a MOLED was elucidated.

Enhanced Electron Injection and Exciton Confinement for Pure Blue Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diodes by Introducing Partially Oxidized Aluminum Cathode.

PubMed

Wang, Zhibin; Cheng, Tai; Wang, Fuzhi; Bai, Yiming; Bian, Xingming; Zhang, Bing; Hayat, Tasawar; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Tan, Zhan'ao

2018-05-31

Stable and efficient red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light sources based on solution-processed quantum dots (QDs) play important roles in next-generation displays and solid-state lighting technologies. The brightness and efficiency of blue QDs-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) remain inferior to their red and green counterparts, due to the inherently unfavorable energy levels of different colors of light. To solve these problems, a device structure should be designed to balance the injection holes and electrons into the emissive QD layer. Herein, through a simple autoxidation strategy, pure blue QD-LEDs which are highly bright and efficient are demonstrated, with a structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/Poly-TPD/QDs/Al:Al2O3. The autoxidized Al:Al2O3 cathode can effectively balance the injected charges and enhance radiative recombination without introducing an additional electron transport layer (ETL). As a result, high color-saturated blue QD-LEDs are achieved with a maximum luminance over 13,000 cd m -2 , and a maximum current efficiency of 1.15 cd A -1 . The easily controlled autoxidation procedure paves the way for achieving high-performance blue QD-LEDs.

Observation of Significant Quantum Efficiency Enhancement from a Polarized Photocathode with Distributed Bragg Reflector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Shukui; Poelker, Matthew; Stutzman, Marcy L.

2015-09-01

Polarized photocathodes with higher Quantum efficiency (QE) would help to reduce the technological challenge associated with producing polarized beams at milliampere levels, because less laser light would be required, which simplifies photocathode cooling requirements. And for a given amount of available laser power, higher QE would extend the photogun operating lifetime. The distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) concept was proposed to enhance the QE of strained-superlattice photocathodes by increasing the absorption of the incident photons using a Fabry-Perot cavity formed between the front surface of the photocathode and the substrate that includes a DBR, without compromising electron polarization. Here we presentmore » recent results showing QE enhancement of a GaAs/GaAsP strained-superlattice photocathode made with a DBR structure. Typically, a GaAs/GaAsP strained-superlattice photocathode without DBR provides a QE of 1%, at a laser wavelength corresponding to peak polarization. In comparison, the GaAs/GaAsP strained-superlattice photocathodes with DBR exhibited an enhancement of over 2 when the incident laser wavelength was tuned to meet the resonant condition for the Fabry-Perot resonator.« less

282-nm AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with improved performance on nano-patterned sapphire substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Peng; Yan, Jianchang; Wang, Junxi; Zhang, Yun; Geng, Chong; Wei, Tongbo; Cong, Peipei; Zhang, Yiyun; Zeng, Jianping; Tian, Yingdong; Sun, Lili; Yan, Qingfeng; Li, Jinmin; Fan, Shunfei; Qin, Zhixin

2013-06-01

We first report AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) grown on nano-patterned sapphire substrates (NPSS) prepared through a nanosphere lithography technique. The AlN coalescence thickness on NPSS is only 3 μm due to AlN's nano-scaled lateral growth, which also leads to low dislocation densities in AlN and epi-layers above. On NPSS, the light-output power of a 282-nm UV-LED reaches 3.03 mW at 20 mA with external quantum efficiency of 3.45%, exhibiting 98% better performance than that on flat sapphire. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence reveals this significant enhancement to be a combination of higher internal quantum efficiency and higher light extraction efficiency.

Improved Efficiency and Enhanced Color Quality of Light-Emitting Diodes with Quantum Dot and Organic Hybrid Tandem Structure.

PubMed

Zhang, Heng; Feng, Yuanxiang; Chen, Shuming

2016-10-03

Light-emitting diodes based on organic (OLEDs) and colloidal quantum dot (QLEDs) are widely considered as next-generation display technologies because of their attractive advantages such as self-emitting and flexible form factor. The OLEDs exhibit relatively high efficiency, but their color saturation is quite poor compared with that of QLEDs. In contrast, the QLEDs show very pure color emission, but their efficiency is lower than that of OLEDs currently. To combine the advantages and compensate for the weaknesses of each other, we propose a hybrid tandem structure which integrates both OLED and QLED in a single device architecture. With ZnMgO/Al/HATCN interconnecting layer, hybrid tandem LEDs are successfully fabricated. The demonstrated hybrid tandem devices feature high efficiency and high color saturation simultaneously; for example, the devices exhibit maximum current efficiency and external quantum efficiency of 96.28 cd/A and 25.90%, respectively. Meanwhile, the full width at half-maximum of the emission spectra is remarkably reduced from 68 to 44 nm. With the proposed hybrid tandem structure, the color gamut of the displays can be effectively increased from 81% to 100% NTSC. The results indicate that the advantages of different LED technologies can be combined in a hybrid tandem structure.

Amortization does not enhance the max-Rains information of a quantum channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berta, Mario; Wilde, Mark M.

2018-05-01

Given an entanglement measure E, the entanglement of a quantum channel is defined as the largest amount of entanglement E that can be generated from the channel, if the sender and receiver are not allowed to share a quantum state before using the channel. The amortized entanglement of a quantum channel is defined as the largest net amount of entanglement E that can be generated from the channel, if the sender and receiver are allowed to share an arbitrary state before using the channel. Our main technical result is that amortization does not enhance the entanglement of an arbitrary quantum channel, when entanglement is quantified by the max-Rains relative entropy. We prove this statement by employing semi-definite programming (SDP) duality and SDP formulations for the max-Rains relative entropy and a channel’s max-Rains information, found recently in Wang et al (arXiv:1709.00200). The main application of our result is a single-letter, strong converse, and efficiently computable upper bound on the capacity of a quantum channel for transmitting qubits when assisted by positive-partial-transpose preserving (PPT-P) channels between every use of the channel. As the class of local operations and classical communication (LOCC) is contained in PPT-P, our result establishes a benchmark for the LOCC-assisted quantum capacity of an arbitrary quantum channel, which is relevant in the context of distributed quantum computation and quantum key distribution.

RF Photoelectric injectors using needle cathodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewellen, J. W.; Brau, C. A.

2003-07-01

Photocathode RF guns, in various configurations, are the injectors of choice for both current and future applications requiring high-brightness electron beams. Many of these applications, such as single-pass free-electron lasers, require beams with high brilliance but not necessarily high charge per bunch. Field-enhanced photoelectric emission has demonstrated electron-beam current density as high as 10 10 A/m 2, with a quantum efficiency in the UV that approaches 10% at fields on the order of 10 10 V/m. Thus, the use of even a blunt needle holds promise for increasing cathode quantum efficiency without sacrificing robustness. We present an initial study on the use of needle cathodes in photoinjectors to enhance beam brightness while reducing beam charge. Benefits include lower drive-laser power requirements, easier multibunch operation, lower emittance, and lower beam degradation due to charge-dependent effects in the postinjector accelerator. These benefits result from a combination of a smaller cathode emission area, greatly enhanced RF field strength at the cathode, and the charge scaling of detrimental postinjector linac effects, e.g., transverse wakefields and CSR.

Enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in a ferromagnet-quantum dot-superconductor device due to intradot spin-flip scattering and ac field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Wei-Ping; Zhang, Yu-Ying; Li, Zhi-Jian; Nie, Yi-Hang

2017-08-01

We investigate the thermoelectric properties of a ferromagnet-quantum dot-superconductor hybrid system with the intradot spin-flip scattering and the external microwave field. The results indicate that the increase of figure of merit in the gap is very slight when the spin-flip scattering strength increases, but outside the gap it significantly increases with enhancing spin-flip scattering strength. The presence of microwave field results in photon-assisted Andreev reflection and induces the satellite peaks in conductance spectrum. The appropriate match of spin-flip scattering strength, microwave field strength and frequency can significantly enhances the figure of merit of thermoelectric conversion of the device, which can be used as a scheme improving thermoelectric efficiency using microwave frequency.

Origins of low energy-transfer efficiency between patterned GaN quantum well and CdSe quantum dots

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Xingsheng, E-mail: xsxu@semi.ac.cn

For hybrid light emitting devices (LEDs) consisting of GaN quantum wells and colloidal quantum dots, it is necessary to explore the physical mechanisms causing decreases in the quantum efficiencies and the energy transfer efficiency between a GaN quantum well and CdSe quantum dots. This study investigated the electro-luminescence for a hybrid LED consisting of colloidal quantum dots and a GaN quantum well patterned with photonic crystals. It was found that both the quantum efficiency of colloidal quantum dots on a GaN quantum well and the energy transfer efficiency between the patterned GaN quantum well and the colloidal quantum dots decreasedmore » with increases in the driving voltage or the driving time. Under high driving voltages, the decreases in the quantum efficiency of the colloidal quantum dots and the energy transfer efficiency can be attributed to Auger recombination, while those decreases under long driving time are due to photo-bleaching and Auger recombination.« less

Impact of one-dimensional photonic crystal back reflector in thin-film c-Si solar cells on efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalali, Tahmineh

2018-05-01

In this work, the effect of one-dimensional photonic crystal on optical absorption, which is implemented at the back side of thin-film crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, is extensively discussed. The proposed structure acts as a Bragg reflector which reflects back light to the active layer as well as nanograting which couples the incident light to enhance optical absorption. To understand the optical mechanisms responsible for the enhancement of optical absorption, quantum efficiency and current density for all structures are calculated and the effect of influential parameters, such as grating period is investigated. The results confirm that our proposed structure have a great deal for substantial efficiency enhancement in a broad range from 400 to 1100 nm.

Combining ligand-induced quantum-confined stark effect with type II heterojunction bilayer structure in CdTe and CdSe nanocrystal-based solar cells.

PubMed

Yaacobi-Gross, Nir; Garphunkin, Natalia; Solomeshch, Olga; Vaneski, Aleksandar; Susha, Andrei S; Rogach, Andrey L; Tessler, Nir

2012-04-24

We show that it is possible to combine several charge generation strategies in a single device structure, the performance of which benefits from all methods used. Exploiting the inherent type II heterojunction between layered structures of CdSe and CdTe colloidal quantum dots, we systematically study different ways of combining such nanocrystals of different size and surface chemistry and with different linking agents in a bilayer solar cell configuration. We demonstrate the beneficial use of two distinctly different sizes of NCs not only to improve the solar spectrum matching but also to reduce exciton binding energy, allowing their efficient dissociation at the interface. We further make use of the ligand-induced quantum-confined Stark effect in order to enhance charge generation and, hence, overall efficiency of nanocrystal-based solar cells.

Fuzzy wavelet plus a quantum neural network as a design base for power system stability enhancement.

PubMed

Ganjefar, Soheil; Tofighi, Morteza; Karami, Hamidreza

2015-11-01

In this study, we introduce an indirect adaptive fuzzy wavelet neural controller (IAFWNC) as a power system stabilizer to damp inter-area modes of oscillations in a multi-machine power system. Quantum computing is an efficient method for improving the computational efficiency of neural networks, so we developed an identifier based on a quantum neural network (QNN) to train the IAFWNC in the proposed scheme. All of the controller parameters are tuned online based on the Lyapunov stability theory to guarantee the closed-loop stability. A two-machine, two-area power system equipped with a static synchronous series compensator as a series flexible ac transmission system was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller. The simulation and experimental results demonstrated that the proposed IAFWNC scheme can achieve favorable control performance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Room-temperature lasing in a single nanowire with quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tatebayashi, Jun; Kako, Satoshi; Ho, Jinfa; Ota, Yasutomo; Iwamoto, Satoshi; Arakawa, Yasuhiko

2015-08-01

Semiconductor nanowire lasers are promising as ultrasmall, highly efficient coherent light emitters in the fields of nanophotonics, nano-optics and nanobiotechnology. Although there have been several demonstrations of nanowire lasers using homogeneous bulk gain materials or multi-quantum-wells/disks, it is crucial to incorporate lower-dimensional quantum nanostructures into the nanowire to achieve superior device performance in relation to threshold current, differential gain, modulation bandwidth and temperature sensitivity. The quantum dot is a useful and essential nanostructure that can meet these requirements. However, difficulties in forming stacks of quantum dots in a single nanowire hamper the realization of lasing operation. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature lasing of a single nanowire containing 50 quantum dots by properly designing the nanowire cavity and tailoring the emission energy of each dot to enhance the optical gain. Our demonstration paves the way toward ultrasmall lasers with extremely low power consumption for integrated photonic systems.

Photorefractive InGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells in the Franz{endash}Keldysh geometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Iwamoto, S.; Kageshima, H.; Yuasa, T.

2001-06-01

We fabricate semi-insulating InGaAs/GaAs multiple quantum wells and observe the excitonic enhancement of the photorefractivity in the Franz{endash}Keldysh geometry at wavelengths of 0.92{endash}0.94 {mu}m. A maximum two-wave mixing gain of 138 cm{sup {minus}1} and a maximum diffraction efficiency of 1.5{times}10{sup {minus}4} are obtained. The saturation intensity and the spatial resolution are also measured by four-wave mixing. The diffraction efficiency is saturated at a high external electric field. The dominant cause of this saturation is the deviation of the excitonic electroabsorption from its quadratic law. {copyright} 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Ultraviolet /UV/ sensitive phosphors for silicon imaging detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Viehmann, W.; Cowens, M. W.; Butner, C. L.

1981-01-01

The fluorescence properties of UV sensitive organic phosphors and the radiometric properties of phosphor coated silicon detectors in the VUV, UV, and visible wavelengths are described. With evaporated films of coronene and liumogen, effective quantum efficiencies of up to 20% have been achieved on silicon photodiodes in the vacuum UV. With thin films of methylmethacrylate (acrylic), which are doped with organic laser dyes and deposited from solution, detector quantum efficiencies of the order of 15% for wavelengths of 120-165 nm and of 40% for wavelengths above 190 nm have been obtained. The phosphor coatings also act as antireflection coatings and thereby enhance the response of coated devices throughout the visible and near IR.

Enhanced monolayer MoS2/InP heterostructure solar cells by graphene quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Peng; Lin, Shisheng; Ding, Guqiao; Li, Xiaoqiang; Wu, Zhiqian; Zhang, Shengjiao; Xu, Zhijuan; Xu, Sen; Lu, Yanghua; Xu, Wenli; Zheng, Zheyang

2016-04-01

We demonstrate significantly improved photovoltaic response of monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/indium phosphide (InP) van der Waals heterostructure induced by graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Raman and photoluminescence measurements indicate that effective charge transfer takes place between GQDs and MoS2, which results in n-type doping of MoS2. The doping effect increases the barrier height at the MoS2/InP heterojunction, thus the averaged power conversion efficiency of MoS2/InP solar cells is improved from 2.1% to 4.1%. The light induced doping by GQD provides a feasible way for developing more efficient MoS2 based heterostructure solar cells.

Nanoimprint-Transfer-Patterned Solids Enhance Light Absorption in Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cells.

PubMed

Kim, Younghoon; Bicanic, Kristopher; Tan, Hairen; Ouellette, Olivier; Sutherland, Brandon R; García de Arquer, F Pelayo; Jo, Jea Woong; Liu, Mengxia; Sun, Bin; Liu, Min; Hoogland, Sjoerd; Sargent, Edward H

2017-04-12

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) materials are of interest in thin-film solar cells due to their size-tunable bandgap and low-cost solution-processing. However, CQD solar cells suffer from inefficient charge extraction over the film thicknesses required for complete absorption of solar light. Here we show a new strategy to enhance light absorption in CQD solar cells by nanostructuring the CQD film itself at the back interface. We use two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations to study quantitatively the light absorption enhancement in nanostructured back interfaces in CQD solar cells. We implement this experimentally by demonstrating a nanoimprint-transfer-patterning (NTP) process for the fabrication of nanostructured CQD solids with highly ordered patterns. We show that this approach enables a boost in the power conversion efficiency in CQD solar cells primarily due to an increase in short-circuit current density as a result of enhanced absorption through light-trapping.

Tailoring local density of optical states to control emission intensity and anisotropy of quantum dots in hybrid photonic-plasmonic templates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Indukuri, Chaitanya; Mukherjee, Arnab; Basu, J. K.

2015-03-01

We report results of controlled tuning of the local density of states (LDOS) in versatile, flexible, and hierarchical self assembled plasmonic templates. Using 5 nm diameter gold (Au) spherical nanoantenna within a polymer template randomly dispersed with quantum dots, we show how the photoluminescence intensity and lifetime anisotropy of these dots can be significantly enhanced through LDOS tuning. Finite difference time domain simulations corroborate the experimental observations and extend the regime of enhancement to a wider range of geometric and spectral parameters bringing out the versatility of these functional plasmonic templates. It is also demonstrated how the templates act as plasmonic resonators for effectively engineer giant enhancement of the scattering efficiency of these nano antenna embedded in the templates. Our work provides an alternative method to achieve spontaneous emission intensity and anisotropy enhancement with true nanoscale plasmon resonators.

Enhancement of slope efficiency and output power in GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with a SiO2-buried lateral index guide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuramoto, Masaru; Kobayashi, Seiichiro; Akagi, Takanobu; Tazawa, Komei; Tanaka, Kazufumi; Saito, Tatsuma; Takeuchi, Tetsuya

2018-03-01

We have achieved a high output power of 6 mW from a 441 nm GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) under continuous wave (CW) operation, by reducing both the internal loss and the reflectivity of the front cavity mirror. A preliminary analysis of the internal loss revealed an enormously high transverse radiation loss in a conventional GaN-based VCSEL without lateral optical confinement (LOC). Introducing an LOC structure enhanced the slope efficiency by a factor of 4.7, with a further improvement to a factor of 6.7 upon reducing the front mirror reflectivity. The result was a slope efficiency of 0.87 W/A and an external differential quantum efficiency of 32% under pulsed operation. A flip-chip-bonded VCSEL also exhibited a high slope efficiency of 0.64 W/A and an external differential quantum efficiency of 23% for the front-side output under CW operation. The reflectivity of the cavity mirror was adjusted by varying the number of AlInN/GaN distributed Bragg reflector pairs from 46 to 42, corresponding to reflectivity values from 99.8% to 99.5%. These results demonstrate that a combination of internal loss reduction and cavity mirror control is a very effective way of obtaining a high output GaN-based VCSEL.

Integrated spatial multiplexing of heralded single-photon sources

PubMed Central

Collins, M.J.; Xiong, C.; Rey, I.H.; Vo, T.D.; He, J.; Shahnia, S.; Reardon, C.; Krauss, T.F.; Steel, M.J.; Clark, A.S.; Eggleton, B.J.

2013-01-01

The non-deterministic nature of photon sources is a key limitation for single-photon quantum processors. Spatial multiplexing overcomes this by enhancing the heralded single-photon yield without enhancing the output noise. Here the intrinsic statistical limit of an individual source is surpassed by spatially multiplexing two monolithic silicon-based correlated photon pair sources in the telecommunications band, demonstrating a 62.4% increase in the heralded single-photon output without an increase in unwanted multipair generation. We further demonstrate the scalability of this scheme by multiplexing photons generated in two waveguides pumped via an integrated coupler with a 63.1% increase in the heralded photon rate. This demonstration paves the way for a scalable architecture for multiplexing many photon sources in a compact integrated platform and achieving efficient two-photon interference, required at the core of optical quantum computing and quantum communication protocols. PMID:24107840

Microcavity enhanced single photon emission from two-dimensional WSe2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flatten, L. C.; Weng, L.; Branny, A.; Johnson, S.; Dolan, P. R.; Trichet, A. A. P.; Gerardot, B. D.; Smith, J. M.

2018-05-01

Atomically flat semiconducting materials such as monolayer WSe2 hold great promise for novel optoelectronic devices. Recently, quantum light emission has been observed from bound excitons in exfoliated WSe2. As part of developing optoelectronic devices, the control of the radiative properties of such emitters is an important step. Here, we report the coupling of a bound exciton in WSe2 to open microcavities. We use a range of radii of curvature in the plano-concave cavity geometry with mode volumes in the λ3 regime, giving Purcell factors of up to 8 while increasing the photon flux five-fold. Additionally, we determine the quantum efficiency of the single photon emitter to be η=0.46 ±0.03 . Our findings pave the way to cavity-enhanced monolayer based single photon sources for a wide range of applications in nanophotonics and quantum information technologies.

Broadly tunable terahertz difference-frequency generation in quantum cascade lasers on silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Seungyong; Kim, Jae Hyun; Jiang, Yifan; Vijayraghavan, Karun; Belkin, Mikhail A.

2018-01-01

We report broadly tunable terahertz (THz) sources based on intracavity Cherenkov difference-frequency generation in quantum cascade lasers transfer-printed on high-resistivity silicon substrates. Spectral tuning from 1.3 to 4.3 THz was obtained from a 2-mm long laser chip using a modified Littrow external cavity setup. The THz power output and the midinfrared-to-THz conversion efficiency of the devices transferred on silicon are dramatically enhanced, compared with the devices on a native semi-insulating InP substrate. Enhancement is particularly significant at higher THz frequencies, where the tail of the Reststrahlen band results in a strong absorption of THz light in the InP substrate.

A Strategy to Enhance the Efficiency of Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells by Decreasing Electron Recombination with Polyoxometalate/TiO2 as the Electronic Interface Layer.

PubMed

Chen, Li; Chen, Weilin; Li, Jianping; Wang, Jiabo; Wang, Enbo

2017-07-21

Electron recombination occurring at the TiO 2 /quantum dot sensitizer/electrolyte interface is the key reason for hindering further efficiency improvements to quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Polyoxometalate (POM) can act as an electron-transfer medium to decrease electron recombination in a photoelectric device owing to its excellent oxidation/reduction properties and thermostability. A POM/TiO 2 electronic interface layer prepared by a simple layer-by-layer self-assembly method was added between fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and mesoporous TiO 2 in the photoanode of QDSCs, and the effect on the photovoltaic performance was systematically investigated. Photovoltaic experimental results and the electron transmission mechanism show that the POM/TiO 2 electronic interface layer in the QDSCs can clearly suppress electron recombination, increase the electron lifetime, and result in smoother electron transmission. In summary, the best conversion efficiency of QDSCs with POM/TiO 2 electronic interface layers increases to 8.02 %, which is an improvement of 25.1 % compared with QDSCs without POM/TiO 2 . This work first builds an electron-transfer bridge between FTO and the quantum dot sensitizer and paves the way for further improved efficiency of QDSCs. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of plasmonic photoconductive terahertz emitters.

PubMed

Berry, Christopher; Hashemi, Mohammad Reza; Unlu, Mehmet; Jarrahi, Mona

2013-07-08

In this video article we present a detailed demonstration of a highly efficient method for generating terahertz waves. Our technique is based on photoconduction, which has been one of the most commonly used techniques for terahertz generation (1-8). Terahertz generation in a photoconductive emitter is achieved by pumping an ultrafast photoconductor with a pulsed or heterodyned laser illumination. The induced photocurrent, which follows the envelope of the pump laser, is routed to a terahertz radiating antenna connected to the photoconductor contact electrodes to generate terahertz radiation. Although the quantum efficiency of a photoconductive emitter can theoretically reach 100%, the relatively long transport path lengths of photo-generated carriers to the contact electrodes of conventional photoconductors have severely limited their quantum efficiency. Additionally, the carrier screening effect and thermal breakdown strictly limit the maximum output power of conventional photoconductive terahertz sources. To address the quantum efficiency limitations of conventional photoconductive terahertz emitters, we have developed a new photoconductive emitter concept which incorporates a plasmonic contact electrode configuration to offer high quantum-efficiency and ultrafast operation simultaneously. By using nano-scale plasmonic contact electrodes, we significantly reduce the average photo-generated carrier transport path to photoconductor contact electrodes compared to conventional photoconductors (9). Our method also allows increasing photoconductor active area without a considerable increase in the capacitive loading to the antenna, boosting the maximum terahertz radiation power by preventing the carrier screening effect and thermal breakdown at high optical pump powers. By incorporating plasmonic contact electrodes, we demonstrate enhancing the optical-to-terahertz power conversion efficiency of a conventional photoconductive terahertz emitter by a factor of 50 (10).

UV plasmonic enhancement through three dimensional nano-cavity antenna array in aluminum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, Jieying; Stevenson, Peter; Montanaric, Danielle; Wang, Yunshan; Shumaker-Parry, Jennifer S.; Harris, Joel M.; Blair, Steve

2017-08-01

Metallic nanostructure can enhance fluorescence through excited surface plasmons which increase the local field as well as improve its quantum efficiency. When coupling to cavity resonance with proper gap dimension, gap hot spots can be generated to interact with fluorescence at their excitation/emission region in UV. A 3D nano-cavity antenna array in Aluminum has been conducted to generate local hot spot resonant at fluorescence emission resonance. Giant field enhancement has been achieved through coupling fundamental resonance modes of nanocavity into surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs). In this work, two distinct plasmonic structure of 3D resonant cavity nanoantenna has been studied and its plasmonic response has been scaled down to the UV regime through finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method. Two different strategies for antenna fabrication will be conducted to obtain D-coupled Dots-on-Pillar Antenna array (D2PA) through Focus Ion Beam (FIB) and Cap- Hole Pair Antenna array (CHPA) through nanosphere template lithography (NTL). With proper optimization of the structures, D2PA and CHPA square array with 280nm pitch have achieved distinct enhancement at fluorophore emission wavelength 350nm and excitation wavelength 280nm simultaneously. Maximum field enhancement can reach 20 and 65 fold in the gap of D2PA and CHPA when light incident from substrate, which is expected to greatly enhance fluorescent quantum efficiency that will be confirmed in fluorescence lifetime measurement.

Reducing inhomogeneity in the dynamic properties of quantum dots via self-aligned plasmonic cavities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demory, Brandon; Hill, Tyler A.; Teng, Chu-Hsiang; Deng, Hui; Ku, P. C.

2018-01-01

A plasmonic cavity is shown to greatly reduce the inhomogeneity of dynamic optical properties such as quantum efficiency and radiative lifetime of InGaN quantum dots. By using an open-top plasmonic cavity structure, which exhibits a large Purcell factor and antenna quantum efficiency, the resulting quantum efficiency distribution for the quantum dots narrows and is no longer limited by the quantum dot inhomogeneity. The standard deviation of the quantum efficiency can be reduced to 2% while maintaining the overall quantum efficiency at 70%, making InGaN quantum dots a viable candidate for high-speed quantum cryptography and random number generation applications.

Reducing inhomogeneity in the dynamic properties of quantum dots via self-aligned plasmonic cavities.

PubMed

Demory, Brandon; Hill, Tyler A; Teng, Chu-Hsiang; Deng, Hui; Ku, P C

2018-01-05

A plasmonic cavity is shown to greatly reduce the inhomogeneity of dynamic optical properties such as quantum efficiency and radiative lifetime of InGaN quantum dots. By using an open-top plasmonic cavity structure, which exhibits a large Purcell factor and antenna quantum efficiency, the resulting quantum efficiency distribution for the quantum dots narrows and is no longer limited by the quantum dot inhomogeneity. The standard deviation of the quantum efficiency can be reduced to 2% while maintaining the overall quantum efficiency at 70%, making InGaN quantum dots a viable candidate for high-speed quantum cryptography and random number generation applications.

Lifetime enhancement for multiphoton absorption in intermediate band solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezerra, Anibal T.; Studart, Nelson

2017-08-01

A semiconductor structure consisting of two coupled quantum wells embedded into the intrinsic region of a p-i-n junction is proposed as an intermediate band solar cell with a photon ratchet state, which would lead to increasing the cell efficiency. The conduction subband of the right-hand side quantum well works as the intermediated band, whereas the excited conduction subband of the left-hand side quantum well operates as the ratchet state. The photoelectrons in the intermediate band are scattered through the thin wells barrier and accumulated into the ratchet subband. A rate equation model for describing the charge transport properties is presented. The efficiency of the current generation is analyzed by studying the occupation of the wells subbands, taking into account the charge dynamic behavior provided by the electrical contacts connected to the cell. The current generation efficiency depends essentially from the relations between the generation, recombination rates and the scattering rate to the ratchet state. The inclusion of the ratchet states led to both an increase and a decrease in the cell current depending on the transition rates. This suggests that the coupling between the intermediate band and the ratchet state is a key point in developing an efficient solar cell.

Improvement of carrier injection symmetry and quantum efficiency in InGaN light-emitting diodes with Mg delta-doped barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, F.; Can, N.; Hafiz, S.; Monavarian, M.; Das, S.; Avrutin, V.; Özgür, Ü.; Morkoç, H.

2015-05-01

The effect of δ-doping of In0.06Ga0.94N barriers with Mg on the quantum efficiency of blue light-emitting-diodes (LEDs) with active regions composed of 6 (hex) 3-nm In0.15Ga0.85N is investigated. Compared to the reference sample, δ-doping of the first barrier on the n-side of the LED structure improves the peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) by 20%, owing to the increased hole concentration in the wells adjacent to the n-side, as confirmed by numerical simulations of carrier distributions across the active region. Doping the second barrier, in addition to the first one, did not further enhance the EQE, which likely indicates compensation of improved hole injection by degradation of the active region quality due to Mg doping. Both LEDs with Mg δ-doped barriers effectively suppress the drop of efficiency at high injection when compared to the reference sample, and the onset of EQE peak roll-off shifts from ˜80 A/cm2 in the reference LED to ˜120 A/cm2 in the LEDs with Mg δ-doped barriers.

Phosphorescent Iridium(III) Complexes Bearing Fluorinated Aromatic Sulfonyl Group with Nearly Unity Phosphorescent Quantum Yields and Outstanding Electroluminescent Properties.

PubMed

Zhao, Jiang; Yu, Yue; Yang, Xiaolong; Yan, Xiaogang; Zhang, Huiming; Xu, Xianbin; Zhou, Guijiang; Wu, Zhaoxin; Ren, Yixia; Wong, Wai-Yeung

2015-11-11

A series of heteroleptic functional Ir(III) complexes bearing different fluorinated aromatic sulfonyl groups has been synthesized. Their photophysical features, electrochemical behaviors, and electroluminescent (EL) properties have been characterized in detail. These complexes emit intense yellow phosphorescence with exceptionally high quantum yields (ΦP > 0.9) at room temperature, and the emission maxima of these complexes can be finely tuned depending upon the number of the fluorine substituents on the pendant phenyl ring of the sulfonyl group. Furthermore, the electrochemical properties and electron injection/transporting (EI/ET) abilities of these Ir(III) phosphors can also be effectively tuned by the fluorinated aromatic sulfonyl group to furnish some desired characters for enhancing the EL performance. Hence, the maximum luminance efficiency (ηL) of 81.2 cd A(-1), corresponding to power efficiency (ηP) of 64.5 lm W(-1) and external quantum efficiency (ηext) of 19.3%, has been achieved, indicating the great potential of these novel phosphors in the field of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Furthermore, a clear picture has been drawn for the relationship between their optoelectronic properties and chemical structures. These results should provide important information for developing highly efficient phosphors.

Protecting the entanglement of twisted photons by adaptive optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonhard, Nina; Sorelli, Giacomo; Shatokhin, Vyacheslav N.; Reinlein, Claudia; Buchleitner, Andreas

2018-01-01

We study the efficiency of adaptive optics (AO) correction for the free-space propagation of entangled photonic orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) qubit states to reverse moderate atmospheric turbulence distortions. We show that AO can significantly reduce crosstalk to modes within and outside the encoding subspace and thereby stabilize entanglement against turbulence. This method establishes a reliable quantum channel for OAM photons in turbulence, and it enhances the threshold turbulence strength for secure quantum communication by at least a factor 2.

The role of temperature ramp-up time before barrier layer growth in optical and structural properties of InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xing, Yao; Zhao, Degang; Jiang, Desheng; Liu, Zongshun; Zhu, Jianjun; Chen, Ping; Yang, Jing; Liu, Wei; Liang, Feng; Liu, Shuangtao; Zhang, Liqun; Wang, Wenjie; Li, Mo; Zhang, Yuantao; Du, Guotong

2018-05-01

In InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs), a low temperature cap (LT-cap) layer is grown between the InGaN well layer and low temperature GaN barrier layer. During the growth, a temperature ramp-up and ramp-down process is added between LT-cap and barrier layer growth. The effect of temperature ramp-up time duration on structural and optical properties of quantum wells is studied. It is found that as the ramp-up time increases, the Indium floating layer on the top of the well layer can be diminished effectively, leading to a better interface quality between well and barrier layers, and the carrier localization effect is enhanced, thereby the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of QWs increases surprisingly. However, if the ramp-up time is too long, the carrier localization effect is weaker, which may increase the probabilities of carriers to meet with nonradiative recombination centers. Meanwhile, more nonradiative recombination centers will be introduced into well layers due to the indium evaporation. Both of them will lead to a reduction of internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of MQWs.

High Quantum Yield Blue Emission from Lead-Free Inorganic Antimony Halide Perovskite Colloidal Quantum Dots.

PubMed

Zhang, Jian; Yang, Ying; Deng, Hui; Farooq, Umar; Yang, Xiaokun; Khan, Jahangeer; Tang, Jiang; Song, Haisheng

2017-09-26

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) of lead halide perovskite have recently received great attention owing to their remarkable performances in optoelectronic applications. However, their wide applications are hindered from toxic lead element, which is not environment- and consumer-friendly. Herein, we utilized heterovalent substitution of divalent lead (Pb 2+ ) with trivalent antimony (Sb 3+ ) to synthesize stable and brightly luminescent Cs 3 Sb 2 Br 9 QDs. The lead-free, full-inorganic QDs were fabricated by a modified ligand-assisted reprecipitation strategy. A photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) was determined to be 46% at 410 nm, which was superior to that of other reported halide perovskite QDs. The PL enhancement mechanism was unraveled by surface composition derived quantum-well band structure and their large exciton binding energy. The Br-rich surface and the observed 530 meV exciton binding energy were proposed to guarantee the efficient radiative recombination. In addition, we can also tune the inorganic perovskite QD (Cs 3 Sb 2 X 9 ) emission wavelength from 370 to 560 nm via anion exchange reactions. The developed full-inorganic lead-free Sb-perovskite QDs with high PLQY and stable emission promise great potential for efficient emission candidates.

Highly Efficient and Fully Solution-Processed Inverted Light-Emitting Diodes with Charge Control Interlayers.

PubMed

Fu, Yan; Jiang, Wei; Kim, Daekyoung; Lee, Woosuk; Chae, Heeyeop

2018-05-23

In this work, we developed a charge control sandwich structure around QD layers for the inverted QLEDs, the performance of which is shown to exceed that of the conventional QLEDs in terms of the external quantum efficiency (EQE) and the current efficiency (CE). The QD light-emitting layer (EML) is sandwiched with two ultrathin interfacial layers: one is a poly(9-vinlycarbazole) (PVK) layer to prevent excess electrons, and the other is a polyethylenimine ethoxylated (PEIE) layer to reduce the hole injection barrier. The sandwich structure resolves the imbalance between injected holes and electrons and brings the level of balanced charge carriers to a maximum. We demonstrated the highly improved performance of 89.8 cd/A of current efficiency, 22.4% of external quantum efficiency, and 72 814 cd m -2 of maximum brightness with the solution-processed inverted QLED. This sandwich structure (PVK/QD/PEIE), as a framework, can be applied to various QLED devices for enhancing performance.

Spin power and efficiency in an Aharnov-Bohm ring with an embedded magnetic impurity quantum dot

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Xi; Guo, Yong, E-mail: guoy66@tsinghua.edu.cn; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing

2015-05-11

Spin thermoelectric effects in an Aharnov-Bohm ring with a magnetic impurity quantum dot (QD) are theoretically investigated by using the nonequilibrium Green's function method. It is found that due to the exchange coupling between the impurity and the electrons in QD, spin output power, and efficiency can be significant and be further modulated by the gate voltage. The spin thermoelectric effect can be modulated effectively by adjusting the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) and the magnetic flux. The spin power and efficiency show zigzag oscillations, and thus spin thermoelectric effect can be switched by adjusting the magnetic flux phase factor andmore » RSOI ones. In addition, the spin efficiency can be significantly enhanced by the coexistence of the RSOI and the magnetic flux, and the maximal value of normalized spin efficiency η{sub max}/η{sub C} = 0.35 is obtained. Our results show that such a QD ring device may be used as a manipulative spin thermoelectric generator.« less

Emission rate and internal quantum efficiency enhancement in different geometrical shapes of GaN LED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rashid, S.; Wahid, M. H. A.; Hambali, N. A. M. Ahmad; Halim, N. S. A. Abdul; Ramli, M. M.; Shahimin, M. M.

2017-09-01

This work is based on the development of light emitting diode (LED) using different geometry of top surface on GaN p-n junction structure. Three types of LED chips are designed with different top surface to differ whether p-type layer or p contact plays an important role in improving its efficiency. The voltage applied ranges from 0V to 4V. Current-voltage characteristic for all three samples are obtained and analyzed. The results show that dome shaped of p-type layer operating at 4V increases the emission rate and internal quantum efficiency up to 70%, which is two times higher than basic cylindrically LED chip. Moreover, this new design effectively solved the higher forward voltage problem of the usual curve surface of p-contact GaN LED.

Efficient exciton generation in atomic passivated CdSe/ZnS quantum dots light-emitting devices

PubMed Central

Kang, Byoung-Ho; Lee, Jae-Sung; Lee, Sang-Won; Kim, Sae-Wan; Lee, Jun-Woo; Gopalan, Sai-Anand; Park, Ji-Sub; Kwon, Dae-Hyuk; Bae, Jin-Hyuk; Kim, Hak-Rin; Kang, Shin-Won

2016-01-01

We demonstrate the first-ever surface modification of green CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) using bromide anions (Br-) in cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The Br- ions reduced the interparticle spacing between the QDs and induced an effective charge balance in QD light-emitting devices (QLEDs). The fabricated QLEDs exhibited efficient charge injection because of the reduced emission quenching effect and their enhanced thin film morphology. As a result, they exhibited a maximum luminance of 71,000 cd/m2 and an external current efficiency of 6.4 cd/A, both significantly better than those of their counterparts with oleic acid surface ligands. In addition, the lifetime of the Br- treated QD based QLEDs is significantly improved due to ionic passivation at the QDs surface. PMID:27686147

Highly Efficient Flexible Quantum Dot Solar Cells with Improved Electron Extraction Using MgZnO Nanocrystals.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaoliang; Santra, Pralay Kanti; Tian, Lei; Johansson, Malin B; Rensmo, Håkan; Johansson, Erik M J

2017-08-22

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells have high potential for realizing an efficient and lightweight energy supply for flexible or wearable electronic devices. To achieve highly efficient and flexible CQD solar cells, the electron transport layer (ETL), extracting electrons from the CQD solid layer, needs to be processed at a low-temperature and should also suppress interfacial recombination. Herein, a highly stable MgZnO nanocrystal (MZO-NC) layer is reported for efficient flexible PbS CQD solar cells. Solar cells fabricated with MZO-NC ETL give a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.4% and 9.4%, on glass and flexible plastic substrates, respectively. The reported flexible CQD solar cell has the record efficiency to date of flexible CQD solar cells. Detailed theoretical simulations and extensive characterizations reveal that the MZO-NCs significantly enhance charge extraction from CQD solids and diminish the charge accumulation at the ETL/CQD interface, suppressing charge interfacial recombination. These important results suggest that the low-temperature processed MZO-NCs are very promising for use in efficient flexible solar cells or other flexible optoelectronic devices.

Plasmonic Control of Radiation and Absorption Processes in Semiconductor Quantum Dots

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paiella, Roberto; Moustakas, Theodore D.

This document reviews a research program funded by the DOE Office of Science, which has been focused on the control of radiation and absorption processes in semiconductor photonic materials (including III-nitride quantum wells and quantum dots), through the use of specially designed metallic nanoparticles (NPs). By virtue of their strongly confined plasmonic resonances (i.e., collective oscillations of the electron gas), these nanostructures can concentrate incident radiation into sub-wavelength “hot spots” of highly enhanced field intensity, thereby increasing optical absorption by suitably positioned absorbers. By reciprocity, the same NPs can also dramatically increase the spontaneous emission rate of radiating dipoles locatedmore » within their hot spots. The NPs can therefore be used as optical antennas to enhance the radiation output of the underlying active material and at the same time control the far-field pattern of the emitted light. The key accomplishments of the project include the demonstration of highly enhanced light emission efficiency as well as plasmonic collimation and beaming along geometrically tunable directions, using a variety of plasmonic excitations. Initial results showing the reverse functionality (i.e., plasmonic unidirectional absorption and photodetection) have also been generated with similar systems. Furthermore, a new paradigm for the near-field control of light emission has been introduced through rigorous theoretical studies, based on the use of gradient metasurfaces (i.e., optical nanoantenna arrays with spatially varying shape, size, and/or orientation). These activities have been complemented by materials development efforts aimed at the synthesis of suitable light-emitting samples by molecular beam epitaxy. In the course of these efforts, a novel technique for the growth of III-nitride quantum dots has also been developed (droplet heteroepitaxy), with several potential advantages in terms of compositional and geometrical control. The results of these studies provide fundamental new understanding of optical processes at the nanoscale, including near-field energy transfer between quantum emitters and photonic nanostructures, dissipation phenomena of plasmonic excitations, and radiation from nanoantennas. Furthermore, they may open the way to entirely new device concepts and applications, in a broad range of disciplines including optoelectronics, sensing, spectroscopy, photovoltaics, and quantum information science. A specific application of particularly strong relevance to the DOE mission is the development of energy efficient LED active materials for solid-state lighting, based on plasmonic enhancement effects.« less

Reactively sputtered nickel nitride as electrocatalytic counter electrode for dye- and quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soo Kang, Jin; Park, Min-Ah; Kim, Jae-Yup; Ha Park, Sun; Young Chung, Dong; Yu, Seung-Ho; Kim, Jin; Park, Jongwoo; Choi, Jung-Woo; Jae Lee, Kyung; Jeong, Juwon; Jae Ko, Min; Ahn, Kwang-Soon; Sung, Yung-Eun

2015-05-01

Nickel nitride electrodes were prepared by reactive sputtering of nickel under a N2 atmosphere at room temperature for application in mesoscopic dye- or quantum dot- sensitized solar cells. This facile and reliable method led to the formation of a Ni2N film with a cauliflower-like nanostructure and tetrahedral crystal lattice. The prepared nickel nitride electrodes exhibited an excellent chemical stability toward both iodide and polysulfide redox electrolytes. Compared to conventional Pt electrodes, the nickel nitride electrodes showed an inferior electrocatalytic activity for the iodide redox electrolyte; however, it displayed a considerably superior electrocatalytic activity for the polysulfide redox electrolyte. As a result, compared to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), with a conversion efficiency (η) = 7.62%, and CdSe-based quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs, η = 2.01%) employing Pt counter electrodes (CEs), the nickel nitride CEs exhibited a lower conversion efficiency (η = 3.75%) when applied to DSCs, but an enhanced conversion efficiency (η = 2.80%) when applied to CdSe-based QDSCs.

GaN Nanowire Arrays for Efficient Optical Read-Out and Optoelectronic Control of NV Centers in Diamond.

PubMed

Hetzl, Martin; Wierzbowski, Jakob; Hoffmann, Theresa; Kraut, Max; Zuerbig, Verena; Nebel, Christoph E; Müller, Kai; Finley, Jonathan J; Stutzmann, Martin

2018-06-13

Solid-state quantum emitters embedded in a semiconductor crystal environment are potentially scalable platforms for quantum optical networks operated at room temperature. Prominent representatives are nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond showing coherent entanglement and interference with each other. However, these emitters suffer from inefficient optical outcoupling from the diamond and from fluctuations of their charge state. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of regular n-type gallium nitride nanowire arrays on diamond as photonic waveguides to tailor the emission direction of surface-near NV centers and to electrically control their charge state in a p-i-n nanodiode. We show that the electrical excitation of single NV centers in such a diode can efficiently replace optical pumping. By the engineering of the array parameters, we find an optical read-out efficiency enhanced by a factor of 10 and predict a lateral NV-NV coupling 3 orders of magnitude stronger through evanescently coupled nanowire antennas compared to planar diamond not covered by nanowires, which opens up new possibilities for large-scale on-chip quantum-computing applications.

Inkjet printed fluorescent nanorod layers exhibit superior optical performance over quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halivni, Shira; Shemesh, Shay; Waiskopf, Nir; Vinetsky, Yelena; Magdassi, Shlomo; Banin, Uri

2015-11-01

Semiconductor nanocrystals exhibit unique fluorescence properties which are tunable in size, shape and composition. The high quantum yield and enhanced stability have led to their use in biomedical imaging and flat panel displays. Here, semiconductor nanorod based inkjet inks are presented, overcoming limitations of the commonly reported quantum dots in printing applications. Fluorescent seeded nanorods were found to be outstanding candidates for fluorescent inks, due to their low particle-particle interactions and negligible self-absorption. This is manifested by insignificant emission shifts upon printing, even in highly concentrated printed layers and by maintenance of a high fluorescence quantum yield, unlike quantum dots which exhibit fluorescence wavelength shifts and quenching effects. This behavior results from the reduced absorption/emission overlap, accompanied by low energy transfer efficiencies between the nanorods as supported by steady state and time resolved fluorescence measurements. The new seeded nanorod inks enable patterning of thin fluorescent layers, for demanding light emission applications such as signage and displays.Semiconductor nanocrystals exhibit unique fluorescence properties which are tunable in size, shape and composition. The high quantum yield and enhanced stability have led to their use in biomedical imaging and flat panel displays. Here, semiconductor nanorod based inkjet inks are presented, overcoming limitations of the commonly reported quantum dots in printing applications. Fluorescent seeded nanorods were found to be outstanding candidates for fluorescent inks, due to their low particle-particle interactions and negligible self-absorption. This is manifested by insignificant emission shifts upon printing, even in highly concentrated printed layers and by maintenance of a high fluorescence quantum yield, unlike quantum dots which exhibit fluorescence wavelength shifts and quenching effects. This behavior results from the reduced absorption/emission overlap, accompanied by low energy transfer efficiencies between the nanorods as supported by steady state and time resolved fluorescence measurements. The new seeded nanorod inks enable patterning of thin fluorescent layers, for demanding light emission applications such as signage and displays. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06248a

Carrier transport and luminescence properties of nanocomposites of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethyl hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] and dehydrated nanotubes titanic acid.

PubMed

Zhang, Ting; Xu, Zheng; Liu, Ran; Teng, Feng; Wang, Yongsheng; Xu, Xurong

2007-12-01

The carrier transport capability and luminescence efficiency of poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethyl hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) films are enhanced by doping with dehydrated nanotubed titanic acid (DNTA). MEH-PPV molecules, either wrapped on the outer surface of or encapsulated into DNTA pores, have a more open, straighter conformation than undoped molecules, which induces a longer conjugated backbone and stronger interchain interactions, thereby, enhancing carrier mobility. MEH-PPV molecules within DNTA pores have higher exciton recombination efficiency owing to quantum confinement and the antenna effect.

Noise-assisted energy transport in electrical oscillator networks with off-diagonal dynamical disorder.

PubMed

León-Montiel, Roberto de J; Quiroz-Juárez, Mario A; Quintero-Torres, Rafael; Domínguez-Juárez, Jorge L; Moya-Cessa, Héctor M; Torres, Juan P; Aragón, José L

2015-11-27

Noise is generally thought as detrimental for energy transport in coupled oscillator networks. However, it has been shown that for certain coherently evolving systems, the presence of noise can enhance, somehow unexpectedly, their transport efficiency; a phenomenon called environment-assisted quantum transport (ENAQT) or dephasing-assisted transport. Here, we report on the experimental observation of such effect in a network of coupled electrical oscillators. We demonstrate that by introducing stochastic fluctuations in one of the couplings of the network, a relative enhancement in the energy transport efficiency of 22.5 ± 3.6% can be observed.

Photoluminescence Enhancement of Silole-Capped Silicon Quantum Dots Based on Förster Resonance Energy Transfer.

PubMed

Kim, Seongwoong; Kim, Sungsoo; Ko, Young Chun; Sohn, Honglae

2015-07-01

Photoluminescent porous silicon were prepared by an electrochemical etch of n-type silicon under the illumination with a 300 W tungsten filament bulb for the duration of etch. The red photoluminescence emitting at 650 nm with an excitation wavelength of 450 nm is due to the quantum confinement of silicon quantum dots in porous silicon. HO-terminated red luminescent PS was obtained by an electrochemical treatment of fresh PS with the current of 150 mA for 60 seconds in water and sodium chloride. As-prepared PS was sonicated, fractured, and centrifuged in toluene solution to obtain photoluminescence silicon quantum dots. Dichlorotetraphenylsilole exhibiting an emission band at 520 nm was reacted with HO-terminated silicon quantum dots to give a silole-capped silicon quantum dots. The optical characterization of silole-derivatized silicon quantum dots was investigated by UV-vis and fluorescence spectrometer. The fluorescence emission efficiency of silole-capped silicon quantum dots was increased by about 2.5 times due to F6rster resonance energy transfer from silole moiety to silicon quantum dots.

Single Photon Counting UV Solar-Blind Detectors Using Silicon and III-Nitride Materials

PubMed Central

Nikzad, Shouleh; Hoenk, Michael; Jewell, April D.; Hennessy, John J.; Carver, Alexander G.; Jones, Todd J.; Goodsall, Timothy M.; Hamden, Erika T.; Suvarna, Puneet; Bulmer, J.; Shahedipour-Sandvik, F.; Charbon, Edoardo; Padmanabhan, Preethi; Hancock, Bruce; Bell, L. Douglas

2016-01-01

Ultraviolet (UV) studies in astronomy, cosmology, planetary studies, biological and medical applications often require precision detection of faint objects and in many cases require photon-counting detection. We present an overview of two approaches for achieving photon counting in the UV. The first approach involves UV enhancement of photon-counting silicon detectors, including electron multiplying charge-coupled devices and avalanche photodiodes. The approach used here employs molecular beam epitaxy for delta doping and superlattice doping for surface passivation and high UV quantum efficiency. Additional UV enhancements include antireflection (AR) and solar-blind UV bandpass coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition. Quantum efficiency (QE) measurements show QE > 50% in the 100–300 nm range for detectors with simple AR coatings, and QE ≅ 80% at ~206 nm has been shown when more complex AR coatings are used. The second approach is based on avalanche photodiodes in III-nitride materials with high QE and intrinsic solar blindness. PMID:27338399

Self-rolling and light-trapping in flexible quantum well–embedded nanomembranes for wide-angle infrared photodetectors

PubMed Central

Wang, Han; Zhen, Honglou; Li, Shilong; Jing, Youliang; Huang, Gaoshan; Mei, Yongfeng; Lu, Wei

2016-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) design and manufacturing enable flexible nanomembranes to deliver unique properties and applications in flexible electronics, photovoltaics, and photonics. We demonstrate that a quantum well (QW)–embedded nanomembrane in a rolled-up geometry facilitates a 3D QW infrared photodetector (QWIP) device with enhanced responsivity and detectivity. Circular geometry of nanomembrane rolls provides the light coupling route; thus, there are no external light coupling structures, which are normally necessary for QWIPs. This 3D QWIP device under tube-based light-trapping mode presents broadband enhancement of coupling efficiency and omnidirectional detection under a wide incident angle (±70°), offering a unique solution to high-performance focal plane array. The winding number of these rolled-up QWIPs provides well-tunable blackbody photocurrents and responsivity. 3D self-assembly of functional nanomembranes offers a new path for high conversion efficiency between light and electricity in photodetectors, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. PMID:27536723

Unipolar infrared detectors based on InGaAs/InAsSb ternary superlattices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ariyawansa, Gamini, E-mail: gamini.ariyawansa.2@us.af.mil; Reyner, Charles J.; Duran, Joshua M.

2016-07-11

Growth and characteristics of mid-wave infrared (MWIR) InGaAs/InAsSb strained layer superlattice (SLS) detectors are reported. InGaAs/InAsSb SLSs, identified as ternary SLSs, not only provide an extra degree of freedom for superlattice strain compensation but also show enhanced absorption properties compared to InAs/InAsSb SLSs. Utilizing In{sub 1-y}Ga{sub y}As/InAs{sub 0.65}Sb{sub 0.35} ternary SLSs (y = 0, 5, 10, and 20%) designed to have the same bandgap, a set of four unipolar detectors are investigated. These demonstrate an enhancement in the detector quantum efficiency due to the increased absorption coefficient. The detectors exhibit dark current performance within a factor of 10 of Rule 07 atmore » temperatures above 120 K, and external quantum efficiencies in the 15%–25% range. This work demonstrates ternary SLSs are a potential absorber material for future high performance MWIR detectors.« less

Single Photon Counting UV Solar-Blind Detectors Using Silicon and III-Nitride Materials.

PubMed

Nikzad, Shouleh; Hoenk, Michael; Jewell, April D; Hennessy, John J; Carver, Alexander G; Jones, Todd J; Goodsall, Timothy M; Hamden, Erika T; Suvarna, Puneet; Bulmer, J; Shahedipour-Sandvik, F; Charbon, Edoardo; Padmanabhan, Preethi; Hancock, Bruce; Bell, L Douglas

2016-06-21

Ultraviolet (UV) studies in astronomy, cosmology, planetary studies, biological and medical applications often require precision detection of faint objects and in many cases require photon-counting detection. We present an overview of two approaches for achieving photon counting in the UV. The first approach involves UV enhancement of photon-counting silicon detectors, including electron multiplying charge-coupled devices and avalanche photodiodes. The approach used here employs molecular beam epitaxy for delta doping and superlattice doping for surface passivation and high UV quantum efficiency. Additional UV enhancements include antireflection (AR) and solar-blind UV bandpass coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition. Quantum efficiency (QE) measurements show QE > 50% in the 100-300 nm range for detectors with simple AR coatings, and QE ≅ 80% at ~206 nm has been shown when more complex AR coatings are used. The second approach is based on avalanche photodiodes in III-nitride materials with high QE and intrinsic solar blindness.

Ion implantation enhanced metal-Si-metal photodetectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, A. K.; Scott, K. A. M.; Brueck, S. R. J.; Zolper, J. C.; Myers, D. R.

1994-05-01

The quantum efficiency and frequency response of simple Ni-Si-Ni metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors at long wavelengths are significantly enhanced with a simple, ion-implantation step to create a highly absorbing region approx. 1 micron below the Si surface. The internal quantum efficiency is improved by a factor of approx. 3 at 860 nm (to 64%) and a full factor of ten at 1.06 microns (to 23%) as compared with otherwise identical unimplanted devices. Dark currents are only slightly affected by the implantation process and are as low as 630 pA for a 4.5-micron gap device at 10-V bias. Dramatic improvement in the impulse response is observed, 100 ps vs. 600 ps, also at 10-V bias and 4.5-micron gap, due to the elimination of carrier diffusion tails in the implanted devices. Due to its planar structure, this device is fully VLSI compatible. Potential applications include optical interconnections for local area networks and multi-chip modules.

Effects of Organic Cation Length on Exciton Recombination in Two-Dimensional Layered Lead Iodide Hybrid Perovskite Crystals.

PubMed

Gan, Lu; Li, Jing; Fang, Zhishan; He, Haiping; Ye, Zhizhen

2017-10-19

In recent years, 2D layered organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites have attracted considerable attention due to the distinctive quantum confinement effects as well as prominent excitonic luminescence. Herein, we show that the recombination dynamics and photoluminescence (PL) of the 2D layered perovskites can be tuned by the organic cation length. 2D lead iodide perovskite crystals with increased length of the organic chains reveal blue-shifted PL as well as enhanced relative internal quantum efficiency. Furthermore, we provide experimental evidence that the formation of face-sharing [PbI 6 ] 4- octahedron in perovskites with long alkyls induces additional confinement for the excitons, leading to 1D-like recombination. As a result, the PL spectra show enhanced inhomogeneous broadening at low temperature. Our work provides physical understanding of the role of organic cation in the optical properties of 2D layered perovskites, and would benefit the improvement of luminescence efficiency of such materials.

Ultrafast spontaneous emission of copper-doped silicon enhanced by an optical nanocavity.

PubMed

Sumikura, Hisashi; Kuramochi, Eiichi; Taniyama, Hideaki; Notomi, Masaya

2014-05-23

Dopants in silicon (Si) have attracted attention in the fields of photonics and quantum optics. However, the optical characteristics are limited by the small spontaneous emission rate of dopants in Si. This study demonstrates a large increase in the spontaneous emission rate of copper isoelectronic centres (Cu-IECs) doped into Si photonic crystal nanocavities. In a cavity with a quality factor (Q) of ~16,000, the photoluminescence (PL) lifetime of the Cu-IECs is 1.1 ns, which is 30 times shorter than the lifetime of a sample without a cavity. The PL decay rate is increased in proportion to Q/Vc (Vc is the cavity mode volume), which indicates the Purcell effect. This is the first demonstration of a cavity-enhanced ultrafast spontaneous emission from dopants in Si, and it may lead to the development of fast and efficient Si light emitters and Si quantum optical devices based on dopants with efficient optical access.

Ultrafast spontaneous emission of copper-doped silicon enhanced by an optical nanocavity

PubMed Central

SUMIKURA, HISASHI; KURAMOCHI, EIICHI; TANIYAMA, HIDEAKI; NOTOMI, MASAYA

2014-01-01

Dopants in silicon (Si) have attracted attention in the fields of photonics and quantum optics. However, the optical characteristics are limited by the small spontaneous emission rate of dopants in Si. This study demonstrates a large increase in the spontaneous emission rate of copper isoelectronic centres (Cu-IECs) doped into Si photonic crystal nanocavities. In a cavity with a quality factor (Q) of ~16,000, the photoluminescence (PL) lifetime of the Cu-IECs is 1.1 ns, which is 30 times shorter than the lifetime of a sample without a cavity. The PL decay rate is increased in proportion to Q/Vc (Vc is the cavity mode volume), which indicates the Purcell effect. This is the first demonstration of a cavity-enhanced ultrafast spontaneous emission from dopants in Si, and it may lead to the development of fast and efficient Si light emitters and Si quantum optical devices based on dopants with efficient optical access. PMID:24853336

Multipositional silica-coated silver nanoparticles for high-performance polymer solar cells.

PubMed

Choi, Hyosung; Lee, Jung-Pil; Ko, Seo-Jin; Jung, Jae-Woo; Park, Hyungmin; Yoo, Seungmin; Park, Okji; Jeong, Jong-Ryul; Park, Soojin; Kim, Jin Young

2013-05-08

We demonstrate high-performance polymer solar cells using the plasmonic effect of multipositional silica-coated silver nanoparticles. The location of the nanoparticles is critical for increasing light absorption and scattering via enhanced electric field distribution. The device incorporating nanoparticles between the hole transport layer and the active layer achieves a power conversion efficiency of 8.92% with an external quantum efficiency of 81.5%. These device efficiencies are the highest values reported to date for plasmonic polymer solar cells using metal nanoparticles.

Experimental characterization of a direct conversion amorphous selenium detector with thicker conversion layer for dual-energy contrast-enhanced breast imaging.

PubMed

Scaduto, David A; Tousignant, Olivier; Zhao, Wei

2017-08-01

Dual-energy contrast-enhanced imaging is being investigated as a tool to identify and localize angiogenesis in the breast, a possible indicator of malignant tumors. This imaging technique requires that x-ray images are acquired at energies above the k-shell binding energy of an appropriate radiocontrast agent. Iodinated contrast agents are commonly used for vascular imaging, and require x-ray energies greater than 33 keV. Conventional direct conversion amorphous selenium (a-Se) flat-panel imagers for digital mammography show suboptimal absorption efficiencies at these higher energies. We use spatial-frequency domain image quality metrics to evaluate the performance of a prototype direct conversion flat-panel imager with a thicker a-Se layer, specifically fabricated for dual-energy contrast-enhanced breast imaging. Imaging performance was evaluated in a prototype digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) system. The spatial resolution, noise characteristics, detective quantum efficiency, and temporal performance of the detector were evaluated for dual-energy imaging for both conventional full-field digital mammography (FFDM) and DBT. The zero-frequency detective quantum efficiency of the prototype detector is improved by approximately 20% over the conventional detector for higher energy beams required for imaging with iodinated contrast agents. The effect of oblique entry of x-rays on spatial resolution does increase with increasing photoconductor thickness, specifically for the most oblique views of a DBT scan. Degradation of spatial resolution due to focal spot motion was also observed. Temporal performance was found to be comparable to conventional mammographic detectors. Increasing the a-Se thickness in direct conversion flat-panel imagers results in better performance for dual-energy contrast-enhanced breast imaging. The reduction in spatial resolution due to oblique entry of x-rays is appreciable in the most extreme clinically relevant cases, but may not profoundly affect reconstructed images due to the algorithms and filters employed. Degradation to projection domain spatial resolution is thus outweighed by the improvement in detective quantum efficiency for high-energy x-rays. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Hybrid zinc oxide/graphene electrodes for depleted heterojunction colloidal quantum-dot solar cells.

PubMed

Tavakoli, Mohammad Mahdi; Aashuri, Hossein; Simchi, Abdolreza; Fan, Zhiyong

2015-10-07

Recently, hybrid nanocomposites consisting of graphene/nanomaterial heterostructures have emerged as promising candidates for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices. In this work, we have employed a facile and in situ solution-based process to prepare zinc oxide/graphene quantum dots (ZnO/G QDs) in a hybrid structure. The prepared hybrid dots are composed of a ZnO core, with an average size of 5 nm, warped with graphene nanosheets. Spectroscopic studies show that the graphene shell quenches the photoluminescence intensity of the ZnO nanocrystals by about 72%, primarily due to charge transfer reactions and static quenching. A red shift in the absorption peak is also observed. Raman spectroscopy determines G-band splitting of the graphene shell into two separated sub-bands (G(+), G(-)) caused by the strain induced symmetry breaking. It is shown that the hybrid ZnO/G QDs can be used as a counter-electrode for heterojunction colloidal quantum-dot solar cells for efficient charge-carrier collection, as evidenced by the external quantum efficiency measurement. Under the solar simulated spectrum (AM 1.5G), we report enhanced power conversion efficiency (35%) with higher short current circuit (80%) for lead sulfide-based solar cells as compared to devices prepared by pristine ZnO nanocrystals.

Quantum coherence spectroscopy reveals complex dynamics in bacterial light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2).

PubMed

Harel, Elad; Engel, Gregory S

2012-01-17

Light-harvesting antenna complexes transfer energy from sunlight to photosynthetic reaction centers where charge separation drives cellular metabolism. The process through which pigments transfer excitation energy involves a complex choreography of coherent and incoherent processes mediated by the surrounding protein and solvent environment. The recent discovery of coherent dynamics in photosynthetic light-harvesting antennae has motivated many theoretical models exploring effects of interference in energy transfer phenomena. In this work, we provide experimental evidence of long-lived quantum coherence between the spectrally separated B800 and B850 rings of the light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2) of purple bacteria. Spectrally resolved maps of the detuning, dephasing, and the amplitude of electronic coupling between excitons reveal that different relaxation pathways act in concert for optimal transfer efficiency. Furthermore, maps of the phase of the signal suggest that quantum mechanical interference between different energy transfer pathways may be important even at ambient temperature. Such interference at a product state has already been shown to enhance the quantum efficiency of transfer in theoretical models of closed loop systems such as LH2.

Quantum coherence spectroscopy reveals complex dynamics in bacterial light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2)

PubMed Central

Harel, Elad; Engel, Gregory S.

2012-01-01

Light-harvesting antenna complexes transfer energy from sunlight to photosynthetic reaction centers where charge separation drives cellular metabolism. The process through which pigments transfer excitation energy involves a complex choreography of coherent and incoherent processes mediated by the surrounding protein and solvent environment. The recent discovery of coherent dynamics in photosynthetic light-harvesting antennae has motivated many theoretical models exploring effects of interference in energy transfer phenomena. In this work, we provide experimental evidence of long-lived quantum coherence between the spectrally separated B800 and B850 rings of the light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2) of purple bacteria. Spectrally resolved maps of the detuning, dephasing, and the amplitude of electronic coupling between excitons reveal that different relaxation pathways act in concert for optimal transfer efficiency. Furthermore, maps of the phase of the signal suggest that quantum mechanical interference between different energy transfer pathways may be important even at ambient temperature. Such interference at a product state has already been shown to enhance the quantum efficiency of transfer in theoretical models of closed loop systems such as LH2. PMID:22215585

Improved photovoltaic performance and stability of quantum dot sensitized solar cells using Mn-ZnSe shell structure with enhanced light absorption and recombination control.

PubMed

Gopi, Chandu V V M; Venkata-Haritha, M; Kim, Soo-Kyoung; Kim, Hee-Je

2015-08-07

To make quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) competitive, photovoltaic parameters comparable to those of other emerging solar cell technologies are necessary. In the present study, ZnSe was used as an alternative to ZnS, one of the most widely used passivation materials in QDSSCs. ZnSe was deposited on a TiO2-CdS-CdSe photoanode to form a core-shell structure, which was more efficient in terms of reducing the electron recombination in QDSSCs. The development of an efficient passivation layer is a requirement for preventing recombination processes in order to attain high-performance and stable QDSSCs. A layer of inorganic Mn-ZnSe was applied to a QD-sensitized photoanode to enhance the adsorption and strongly inhibit interfacial recombination processes in QDSSCs, which greatly improved the power conversion efficiency. Impedance spectroscopy revealed that the combined Mn doping with ZnSe treatment reduces interfacial recombination and increases charge collection efficiency compared with Mn-ZnS, ZnS, and ZnSe. A solar cell based on the CdS-CdSe-Mn-ZnSe photoanode yielded excellent performance with a solar power conversion efficiency of 5.67%, Voc of 0.584 V, and Jsc of 17.59 mA cm(-2). Enhanced electron transport and reduced electron recombination are responsible for the improved Jsc and Voc of the QDSSCs. The effective electron lifetime of the device with Mn-ZnSe was higher than those with Mn-ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnS, leading to more efficient electron-hole separation and slower electron recombination.

Amine-Based Passivating Materials for Enhanced Optical Properties and Performance of Organic-Inorganic Perovskites in Light-Emitting Diodes.

PubMed

Lee, Seungjin; Park, Jong Hyun; Lee, Bo Ram; Jung, Eui Dae; Yu, Jae Choul; Di Nuzzo, Daniele; Friend, Richard H; Song, Myoung Hoon

2017-04-20

The use of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites in optoelectronic applications are attracting an interest because of their outstanding characteristics, which enable a remarkable enhancement of device efficiency. However, solution-processed perovskite crystals unavoidably contain defect sites that cause hysteresis in perovskite solar cells (PeSCs) and blinking in perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). Here, we report significant beneficial effects using a new treatment based on amine-based passivating materials (APMs) to passivate the defect sites of methylammonium lead tribromide (MAPbBr 3 ) through coordinate bonding between the nitrogen atoms and undercoordinated lead ions. This treatment greatly enhanced the PeLED's efficiency, with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.2%, enhanced photoluminescence (PL), a lower threshold for amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), a longer PL lifetime, and enhanced device stability. Using confocal microscopy, we observed the cessation of PL blinking in perovskite films treated with ethylenediamine (EDA) due to passivation of the defect sites in the MAPbBr 3 .

Fluorescence enhancement and strong-coupling in faceted plasmonic nanocavities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kongsuwan, Nuttawut; Demetriadou, Angela; Chikkaraddy, Rohit; Baumberg, Jeremy J.; Hess, Ortwin

2018-06-01

Emission properties of a quantum emitter can be significantly modified inside nanometre-sized gaps between two plasmonic nanostructures. This forms a nanoscopic optical cavity which allows single-molecule detection and single-molecule strong-coupling at room temperature. However, plasmonic resonances of a plasmonic nanocavity are highly sensitive to the exact gap morphology. In this article, we shed light on the effect of gap morphology on the plasmonic resonances of a faceted nanoparticle-on-mirror (NPoM) nanocavity and their interaction with quantum emitters. We find that with increasing facet width the NPoM nanocavity provides weaker field enhancement and thus less coupling strength to a single quantum emitter since the effective mode volume increases with the facet width. However, if multiple emitters are present, a faceted NPoM nanocavity is capable of accommodating a larger number of emitters, and hence the overall coupling strength is larger due to the collective and coherent energy exchange from all the emitters. Our findings pave the way to more efficient designs of nanocavities for room-temperature light-matter strong-coupling, thus providing a big step forward to a non-cryogenic platform for quantum technologies.

Plasmon enhanced Raman scattering effect for an atom near a carbon nanotube

DOE PAGES

Bondarev, I. V.

2015-01-01

Quantum electrodynamics theory of the resonance Raman scattering is developed for an atom in a close proximity to a carbon nanotube. The theory predicts a dramatic enhancement of the Raman intensity in the strong atomic coupling regime to nanotube plasmon near-fields. This resonance scattering is a manifestation of the general electromagnetic surface enhanced Raman scattering effect, and can be used in designing efficient nanotube based optical sensing substrates for single atom detection, precision spontaneous emission control, and manipulation.

Control of fluorescence in quantum emitter and metallic nanoshell hybrids for medical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Mahi R.; Guo, Jiaohan; J. Cid, José M.; De Hoyos Martinez, Jesús E.

2017-03-01

We study the light emission from a quantum emitter and double metallic nanoshell hybrid systems. Quantum emitters act as local sources which transmit their light efficiently due to a double nanoshell near field. The double nanoshell consists of a dielectric core and two outer nanoshells. The first nanoshell is made of a metal, and the second spacer nanoshell is made of a dielectric material or human serum albumin. We have calculated the fluorescence emission for a quantum emitter-double nanoshell hybrid when it is injected in an animal or a human body. Surface plasmon polariton resonances in the double nanoshell are calculated using Maxwell's equations in the quasi-static approximation, and the fluorescence emission is evaluated using the density matrix method in the presence of dipole-dipole interactions. We have compared our theory with two fluorescence experiments in hybrid systems in which the quantum emitter is Indocyanine Green or infrared fluorescent molecules. The outer spacer nanoshell of double metallic nanoshells consists of silica and human serum albumin with variable thicknesses. Our theory explains the enhancement of fluorescence spectra in both experiments. We find that the thickness of the spacer nanoshell layer increases the enhancement when the fluorescence decreases. The enhancement of the fluorescence depends on the type of quantum emitter, spacer layer, and double nanoshell. We also found that the peak of the fluorescence spectrum can be shifted by changing the shape and the size of the nanoshell. The fluorescence spectra can be switched from one peak to two peaks by removing the degeneracy of excitonic states in the quantum emitter. Hence, using these properties, one can use these hybrids as sensing and switching devices for applications in medicine.

Energy relay from an unconventional yellow dye to CdS/CdSe quantum dots for enhanced solar cell performance.

PubMed

Narayanan, Remya; Das, Amrita; Deepa, Melepurath; Srivastava, Avanish Kumar

2013-12-02

A new design for a quasi-solid-state Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) enabled solar cell with unattached Lucifer yellow (LY) dye molecules as donors and CdS/CdSe quantum dots (QDs) tethered to titania (TiO2 ) as acceptors is presented. The Forster radius is experimentally determined to be 5.29 nm. Sequential energy transfer from the LY dye to the QDs and electron transfer from the QDs to TiO2 is followed by fluorescence quenching and electron lifetime studies. Cells with a donor-acceptor architecture (TiO2 /CdS/CdSe/ZnS-LY/S(2-)-multi-walled carbon nanotubes) show a maximum incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 53 % at 530 nm. This is the highest efficiency among Ru-dye free FRET-enabled quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs), and is much higher than the donor or acceptor-only cells. The FRET-enhanced solar cell performance over the majority of the visible spectrum paves the way to harnessing the untapped potential of the LY dye as an energy relay fluorophore for the entire gamut of dye sensitized, organic, or hybrid solar cells. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Quantum-Enhanced Cyber Security: Experimental Computation on Quantum-Encrypted Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-02

AFRL-AFOSR-UK-TR-2017-0020 Quantum-Enhanced Cyber Security: Experimental Computation on Quantum-Encrypted Data Philip Walther UNIVERSITT WIEN Final...REPORT TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 15 Oct 2015 to 31 Dec 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Quantum-Enhanced Cyber Security: Experimental Computation...FORM SF 298 Final Report for FA9550-1-6-1-0004 Quantum-enhanced cyber security: Experimental quantum computation with quantum-encrypted data

Quantum Landauer erasure with a molecular nanomagnet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudenzi, R.; Burzurí, E.; Maegawa, S.; van der Zant, H. S. J.; Luis, F.

2018-06-01

The erasure of a bit of information is an irreversible operation whose minimal entropy production of kB ln 2 is set by the Landauer limit1. This limit has been verified in a variety of classical systems, including particles in traps2,3 and nanomagnets4. Here, we extend it to the quantum realm by using a crystal of molecular nanomagnets as a quantum spin memory and showing that its erasure is still governed by the Landauer principle. In contrast to classical systems, maximal energy efficiency is achieved while preserving fast operation owing to its high-speed spin dynamics. The performance of our spin register in terms of energy-time cost is orders of magnitude better than existing memory devices to date. The result shows that thermodynamics sets a limit on the energy cost of certain quantum operations and illustrates a way to enhance classical computations by using a quantum system.

Frictional lubricity enhanced by quantum mechanics.

PubMed

Zanca, Tommaso; Pellegrini, Franco; Santoro, Giuseppe E; Tosatti, Erio

2018-04-03

The quantum motion of nuclei, generally ignored in the physics of sliding friction, can affect in an important manner the frictional dissipation of a light particle forced to slide in an optical lattice. The density matrix-calculated evolution of the quantum version of the basic Prandtl-Tomlinson model, describing the dragging by an external force of a point particle in a periodic potential, shows that purely classical friction predictions can be very wrong. The strongest quantum effect occurs not for weak but for strong periodic potentials, where barriers are high but energy levels in each well are discrete, and resonant Rabi or Landau-Zener tunneling to states in the nearest well can preempt classical stick-slip with nonnegligible efficiency, depending on the forcing speed. The resulting permeation of otherwise unsurmountable barriers is predicted to cause quantum lubricity, a phenomenon which we expect should be observable in the recently implemented sliding cold ion experiments.

Quantum photonic network and physical layer security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasaki, Masahide; Endo, Hiroyuki; Fujiwara, Mikio; Kitamura, Mitsuo; Ito, Toshiyuki; Shimizu, Ryosuke; Toyoshima, Morio

2017-06-01

Quantum communication and quantum cryptography are expected to enhance the transmission rate and the security (confidentiality of data transmission), respectively. We study a new scheme which can potentially bridge an intermediate region covered by these two schemes, which is referred to as quantum photonic network. The basic framework is information theoretically secure communications in a free space optical (FSO) wiretap channel, in which an eavesdropper has physically limited access to the main channel between the legitimate sender and receiver. We first review a theoretical framework to quantify the optimal balance of the transmission efficiency and the security level under power constraint and at finite code length. We then present experimental results on channel characterization based on 10 MHz on-off keying transmission in a 7.8 km terrestrial FSO wiretap channel. This article is part of the themed issue 'Quantum technology for the 21st century'.

Experimental measurement-device-independent quantum digital signatures.

PubMed

Roberts, G L; Lucamarini, M; Yuan, Z L; Dynes, J F; Comandar, L C; Sharpe, A W; Shields, A J; Curty, M; Puthoor, I V; Andersson, E

2017-10-23

The development of quantum networks will be paramount towards practical and secure telecommunications. These networks will need to sign and distribute information between many parties with information-theoretic security, requiring both quantum digital signatures (QDS) and quantum key distribution (QKD). Here, we introduce and experimentally realise a quantum network architecture, where the nodes are fully connected using a minimum amount of physical links. The central node of the network can act either as a totally untrusted relay, connecting the end users via the recently introduced measurement-device-independent (MDI)-QKD, or as a trusted recipient directly communicating with the end users via QKD. Using this network, we perform a proof-of-principle demonstration of QDS mediated by MDI-QKD. For that, we devised an efficient protocol to distil multiple signatures from the same block of data, thus reducing the statistical fluctuations in the sample and greatly enhancing the final QDS rate in the finite-size scenario.

Quantum photonic network and physical layer security.

PubMed

Sasaki, Masahide; Endo, Hiroyuki; Fujiwara, Mikio; Kitamura, Mitsuo; Ito, Toshiyuki; Shimizu, Ryosuke; Toyoshima, Morio

2017-08-06

Quantum communication and quantum cryptography are expected to enhance the transmission rate and the security (confidentiality of data transmission), respectively. We study a new scheme which can potentially bridge an intermediate region covered by these two schemes, which is referred to as quantum photonic network. The basic framework is information theoretically secure communications in a free space optical (FSO) wiretap channel, in which an eavesdropper has physically limited access to the main channel between the legitimate sender and receiver. We first review a theoretical framework to quantify the optimal balance of the transmission efficiency and the security level under power constraint and at finite code length. We then present experimental results on channel characterization based on 10 MHz on-off keying transmission in a 7.8 km terrestrial FSO wiretap channel.This article is part of the themed issue 'Quantum technology for the 21st century'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Nuclear spin cooling by electric dipole spin resonance and coherent population trapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ai-Xian; Duan, Su-Qing; Zhang, Wei

2017-09-01

Nuclear spin fluctuation suppression is a key issue in preserving electron coherence for quantum information/computation. We propose an efficient way of nuclear spin cooling in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) by the coherent population trapping (CPT) and the electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR) induced by optical fields and ac electric fields. The EDSR can enhance the spin flip-flop rate and may bring out bistability under certain conditions. By tuning the optical fields, we can avoid the EDSR induced bistability and obtain highly polarized nuclear spin state, which results in long electron coherence time. With the help of CPT and EDSR, an enhancement of 1500 times of the electron coherence time can been obtained after a 500 ns preparation time.

Hybrid type-I InAs/GaAs and type-II GaSb/GaAs quantum dot structure with enhanced photoluminescence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ji, Hai-Ming; Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083; Liang, Baolai, E-mail: bliang@cnsi.ucla.edu

2015-03-09

We investigate the photoluminescence (PL) properties of a hybrid type-I InAs/GaAs and type-II GaSb/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structure grown in a GaAs matrix by molecular beam epitaxy. This hybrid QD structure exhibits more intense PL with a broader spectral range, compared with control samples that contain only InAs or GaSb QDs. This enhanced PL performance is attributed to additional electron and hole injection from the type-I InAs QDs into the adjacent type-II GaSb QDs. We confirm this mechanism using time-resolved and power-dependent PL. These hybrid QD structures show potential for high efficiency QD solar cell applications.

A theoretical investigation of the influence of gold nanosphere size on the decay and energy transfer rates and efficiencies of quantum emitters.

PubMed

Marocico, Cristian A; Zhang, Xia; Bradley, A Louise

2016-01-14

We present in this contribution a comprehensive investigation of the effect of the size of gold nanospheres on the decay and energy transfer rates of quantum systems placed close to these nanospheres. These phenomena have been investigated before, theoretically and experimentally, but no comprehensive study of the influence of the nanoparticle size on important dependences of the decay and energy transfer rates, such as the dependence on the donor-acceptor spectral overlap and the relative positions of the donor, acceptor, and nanoparticle, exists. As such, different accounts of the energy transfer mechanism have been presented in the literature. We perform an investigation of the energy transfer mechanisms between emitters and gold nanospheres and between donor-acceptor pairs in the presence of the gold nanospheres using a Green's tensor formalism, experimentally verified in our lab. We find that the energy transfer rate to small nanospheres is greatly enhanced, leading to a strong quenching of the emission of the emitter. When the nanosphere size is increased, it acts as an antenna, increasing the emission of the emitter. We also investigate the emission wavelength and intrinsic quantum yield dependence of the energy transfer to the nanosphere. As evidenced from the literature, the energy transfer process between the quantum system and the nanosphere can have a complicated distance dependence, with a r(-6) regime, characteristic of the Förster energy transfer mechanism, but also exhibiting other distance dependences. In the case of a donor-acceptor pair of quantum systems in the presence of a gold nanosphere, when the donor couples strongly to the nanosphere, acting as an enhanced dipole; the donor-acceptor energy transfer rate then follows a Förster trend, with an increased Förster radius. The coupling of the acceptor to the nanosphere has a different distance dependence. The angular dependence of the energy transfer efficiency between donor and acceptor exhibits a strong focusing effect and the same enhanced donor-dipole character in different angular arrangements. The spectral overlap of the donor emission and acceptor absorption spectra shows that the energy transfer follows the near-field scattering efficiency, with a red-shift from the localized surface plasmon peak for small sphere sizes.

Biocompatible 5-Aminolevulinic Acid/Au Nanoparticle-Loaded Ethosomal Vesicles for In Vitro Transdermal Synergistic Photodynamic/Photothermal Therapy of Hypertrophic Scars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zheng; Chen, Yunsheng; Ding, Jiayue; Zhang, Chunlei; Zhang, Amin; He, Dannong; Zhang, Yixin

2017-12-01

Biocompatible 5-aminolevulinic acid/Au nanoparticle-loaded ethosomal vesicle (A/A-ES) is prepared via ultrasonication for synergistic transdermal photodynamic/photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT) of hypertrophic scar (HS). Utilizing ultrasonication, Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) are synthesized and simultaneously loaded in ethosomal vesicles (ES) without any toxic agents, and 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is also loaded in ES with 20% of the entrapment efficiency (EE). The prepared A/A-ES displays strong absorbance in 600-650 nm due to the plasmonic coupling effect between neighboring AuNPs in the same A/A-ES, which can simultaneously stimulate A/A-ES to produce heat and enhance quantum yields of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by using 632 nm laser. In vitro transdermal penetrability study demonstrates that A/A-ES acts as a highly efficient drug carrier to enhance both ALA and AuNPs penetration into HS tissue . Taking human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSF) as therapeutic targets, synergistic PDT/PTT of HS indicates that A/A-ES could enhance quantum yields of ROS by photothermal effect and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of AuNPs, resulting in a high level of apoptosis or necrosis. In a word, the prepared A/A-ES shows a better synergistic PDT/PTT efficiency for HSF than the individual PDT and PTT, encouraging perspective for treatment of HS.

Optical antenna enhanced spontaneous emission

PubMed Central

Eggleston, Michael S.; Messer, Kevin; Zhang, Liming; Yablonovitch, Eli; Wu, Ming C.

2015-01-01

Atoms and molecules are too small to act as efficient antennas for their own emission wavelengths. By providing an external optical antenna, the balance can be shifted; spontaneous emission could become faster than stimulated emission, which is handicapped by practically achievable pump intensities. In our experiments, InGaAsP nanorods emitting at ∼200 THz optical frequency show a spontaneous emission intensity enhancement of 35× corresponding to a spontaneous emission rate speedup ∼115×, for antenna gap spacing, d = 40 nm. Classical antenna theory predicts ∼2,500× spontaneous emission speedup at d ∼ 10 nm, proportional to 1/d2. Unfortunately, at d < 10 nm, antenna efficiency drops below 50%, owing to optical spreading resistance, exacerbated by the anomalous skin effect (electron surface collisions). Quantum dipole oscillations in the emitter excited state produce an optical ac equivalent circuit current, Io = qω|xo|/d, feeding the antenna-enhanced spontaneous emission, where q|xo| is the dipole matrix element. Despite the quantum-mechanical origin of the drive current, antenna theory makes no reference to the Purcell effect nor to local density of states models. Moreover, plasmonic effects are minor at 200 THz, producing only a small shift of antenna resonance frequency. PMID:25624503

Optical antenna enhanced spontaneous emission

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eggleston, Michael S.; Messer, Kevin; Zhang, Liming

Atoms and molecules are too small to act as efficient antennas for their own emission wavelengths. By providing an external optical antenna, the balance can be shifted; spontaneous emission could become faster than stimulated emission, which is handicapped by practically achievable pump intensities. In our experiments, InGaAsP nanorods emitting at ~200 THz optical frequency show a spontaneous emission intensity enhancement of 35 × corresponding to a spontaneous emission rate speedup ~115 ×, for antenna gap spacing, d = 40 nm. Classical antenna theory predicts ~2,500 × spontaneous emission speedup at d ~10 nm, proportional to 1/d 2. Unfortunately, at dmore » < 10 nm, antenna efficiency drops below 50%, owing to optical spreading resistance, exacerbated by the anomalous skin effect (electron surface collisions). Quantum dipole oscillations in the emitter excited state produce an optical ac equivalent circuit current, I(o) = qω|x(o)|/d, feeding the antenna-enhanced spontaneous emission, where q|x(o)| is the dipole matrix element. Despite the quantum-mechanical origin of the drive current, antenna theory makes no reference to the Purcell effect nor to local density of states models. Additionally, plasmonic effects are minor at 200 THz, producing only a small shift of antenna resonance frequency.« less

Optical antenna enhanced spontaneous emission.

PubMed

Eggleston, Michael S; Messer, Kevin; Zhang, Liming; Yablonovitch, Eli; Wu, Ming C

2015-02-10

Atoms and molecules are too small to act as efficient antennas for their own emission wavelengths. By providing an external optical antenna, the balance can be shifted; spontaneous emission could become faster than stimulated emission, which is handicapped by practically achievable pump intensities. In our experiments, InGaAsP nanorods emitting at ∼ 200 THz optical frequency show a spontaneous emission intensity enhancement of 35 × corresponding to a spontaneous emission rate speedup ∼ 115 ×, for antenna gap spacing, d = 40 nm. Classical antenna theory predicts ∼ 2,500 × spontaneous emission speedup at d ∼ 10 nm, proportional to 1/d(2). Unfortunately, at d < 10 nm, antenna efficiency drops below 50%, owing to optical spreading resistance, exacerbated by the anomalous skin effect (electron surface collisions). Quantum dipole oscillations in the emitter excited state produce an optical ac equivalent circuit current, I(o) = qω|x(o)|/d, feeding the antenna-enhanced spontaneous emission, where q|x(o)| is the dipole matrix element. Despite the quantum-mechanical origin of the drive current, antenna theory makes no reference to the Purcell effect nor to local density of states models. Moreover, plasmonic effects are minor at 200 THz, producing only a small shift of antenna resonance frequency.

Optical antenna enhanced spontaneous emission

DOE PAGES

Eggleston, Michael S.; Messer, Kevin; Zhang, Liming; ...

2015-01-26

Atoms and molecules are too small to act as efficient antennas for their own emission wavelengths. By providing an external optical antenna, the balance can be shifted; spontaneous emission could become faster than stimulated emission, which is handicapped by practically achievable pump intensities. In our experiments, InGaAsP nanorods emitting at ~200 THz optical frequency show a spontaneous emission intensity enhancement of 35 × corresponding to a spontaneous emission rate speedup ~115 ×, for antenna gap spacing, d = 40 nm. Classical antenna theory predicts ~2,500 × spontaneous emission speedup at d ~10 nm, proportional to 1/d 2. Unfortunately, at dmore » < 10 nm, antenna efficiency drops below 50%, owing to optical spreading resistance, exacerbated by the anomalous skin effect (electron surface collisions). Quantum dipole oscillations in the emitter excited state produce an optical ac equivalent circuit current, I(o) = qω|x(o)|/d, feeding the antenna-enhanced spontaneous emission, where q|x(o)| is the dipole matrix element. Despite the quantum-mechanical origin of the drive current, antenna theory makes no reference to the Purcell effect nor to local density of states models. Additionally, plasmonic effects are minor at 200 THz, producing only a small shift of antenna resonance frequency.« less

Quantum interference in plasmonic circuits.

PubMed

Heeres, Reinier W; Kouwenhoven, Leo P; Zwiller, Valery

2013-10-01

Surface plasmon polaritons (plasmons) are a combination of light and a collective oscillation of the free electron plasma at metal/dielectric interfaces. This interaction allows subwavelength confinement of light beyond the diffraction limit inherent to dielectric structures. As a result, the intensity of the electromagnetic field is enhanced, with the possibility to increase the strength of the optical interactions between waveguides, light sources and detectors. Plasmons maintain non-classical photon statistics and preserve entanglement upon transmission through thin, patterned metallic films or weakly confining waveguides. For quantum applications, it is essential that plasmons behave as indistinguishable quantum particles. Here we report on a quantum interference experiment in a nanoscale plasmonic circuit consisting of an on-chip plasmon beamsplitter with integrated superconducting single-photon detectors to allow efficient single plasmon detection. We demonstrate a quantum-mechanical interaction between pairs of indistinguishable surface plasmons by observing Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference, a hallmark non-classical interference effect that is the basis of linear optics-based quantum computation. Our work shows that it is feasible to shrink quantum optical experiments to the nanoscale and offers a promising route towards subwavelength quantum optical networks.

Photon upconversion using InAs-based quantum structures and the control of intermediate states (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamiya, Itaru; Tex, David M.; Zhang, Yuwei; Kanemitsu, Yoshihiko

2017-04-01

We have reported that a novel quantum structure which we term quantum well island (QWI), a few monolayer thick and sub-micron wide structure, is effective in confining the carriers and enhancing multi-exciton interactions. By embedding InAs-based QWIs in AlGaAs barrier layers, we demonstrated that upconverted photoluminescence (PL) in the visible regime can be obtained by impinging near infrared (IR) photons, which may potentially be applied for intermediate band (IB) solar cells [1]. Further investigation has revealed that the dominant upconversion mechanism is most likely Auger, while two-step excitation may also take place under selected conditions [2]. The upconverted carriers generated by IR irradiation may also be detected as photocurrents. Through a series of studies using this structure, we note the importance of the carrier trapping involved during the upconversion processes. For instance, multiple laser-beam excitation measurements have shown that trapping and re-trapping processes reduce the photocurrents [3]. However, recently, using a structure that consists of InAs quantum dots embedded in InAs/GaAs multi-quantum wells (MQWs), we find that efficient carrier trapping can enhance upconverted PL [4]. We show the preparation and the control of this structure by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and the possible mechanisms of the upconversion. We also discuss how the conversion efficiency may be improved using device structures based on this concept. [1] D. M. Tex and I. Kamiya, Phys. Rev. B 83 (2011) 081309. [2] D. M. Tex, I. Kamiya, and Y. Kanemitsu, Sci. Rep. 4 (2014) 4125. [3] D. M. Tex, T. Ihara, I. Kamiya, and Y. Kanemitsu, to be published. [4] Y. Zhang and I. Kamiya, JSAP Spring Meeting, 2016.

Microscopic models of non-radiative and high-current effects in LEDs: state of the art and future developments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertazzi, Francesco; Goano, Michele; Calciati, Marco; Zhou, Xiangyu; Ghione, Giovanni; Bellotti, Enrico

2014-02-01

Auger recombination is at the hearth of the debate on droop, the decline of the internal quantum efficiency at high injection levels. The theory of Auger recombination in quantum wells is reviewed. The proposed microscopic model is based on a full-Brillouin-zone description of the electronic structure obtained by nonlocal empirical pseudopotential calculations and the linear combination of bulk bands. The lack of momentum conservation along the confining direction in InGaN/GaN quantum wells enhances direct (i.e. phononless) Auger transitions, leading to Auger coefficients in the range of those predicted for phonon-dressed processes in bulk InGaN.

Ideal square quantum wells achieved in AlGaN/GaN superlattices using ultrathin blocking-compensation pair

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Xiaohong; Xu, Hongmei; Xu, Fuchun

A technique for achieving square-shape quantum wells (QWs) against the intrinsic polar discontinuity and interfacial diffusion through self-compensated pair interlayers is reported. Ultrathin low-and-high % pair interlayers that have diffusion-blocking and self-compensation capacities is proposed to resist the elemental diffusion at nanointerfaces and to grow the theoretically described abrupt rectangular AlGaN/GaN superlattices by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Light emission efficiency in such nanostructures is effectively enhanced and the quantum-confined Stark effect could be partially suppressed. This concept could effectively improve the quality of ultrathin QWs in functional nanostructures with other semiconductors or through other growth methods.

Mitigating Structural Defects in Droop-Minimizing InGaN/GaN Quantum Well Heterostructures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Zhibo; Chesin, Jordan; Singh, Akshay

2016-12-01

Modern commercial InGaN/GaN blue LEDs continue to suffer from efficiency droop, a reduction in efficiency with increasing drive current. External quantum efficiency (EQE) typically peaks at low drive currents (< 10 A cm 2) and drops monotonically at higher current densities, falling to <85% of the peak EQE at a drive current of 100 A cm 2. Mitigating droop-related losses will yield tremendous gains in both luminous efficacy (lumens/W) and cost (lumens/$). Such improvements are critical for continued large-scale market penetration of LED technologies, particularly in high-power and high flux per unit area applications. However, device structures that reduce droopmore » typically require higher indium content and are accompanied by a corresponding degradation in material quality which negates the droop improvement via enhanced Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination. In this work, we use advanced characterization techniques to identify and classify structural defects in InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW) heterostructures that share features with low-droop designs. Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (C s-STEM), we find the presence of severe well width fluctuations (WWFs) in a number of low droop device architectures. However, the presence of WWFs does not correlate strongly with external quantum efficiency nor defect densities measured via deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS). Hence, performance losses in the heterostructures of interest are likely dominated by nanoscale point or interfacial defects rather than large-scale extended defects.« less

Narrow Band Gap Lead Sulfide Hole Transport Layers for Quantum Dot Photovoltaics.

PubMed

Zhang, Nanlin; Neo, Darren C J; Tazawa, Yujiro; Li, Xiuting; Assender, Hazel E; Compton, Richard G; Watt, Andrew A R

2016-08-24

The band structure of colloidal quantum dot (CQD) bilayer heterojunction solar cells is optimized using a combination of ligand modification and QD band gap control. Solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of up to 9.33 ± 0.50% are demonstrated by aligning the absorber and hole transport layers (HTL). Key to achieving high efficiencies is optimizing the relative position of both the valence band and Fermi energy at the CQD bilayer interface. By comparing different band gap CQDs with different ligands, we find that a smaller band gap CQD HTL in combination with a more p-type-inducing CQD ligand is found to enhance hole extraction and hence device performance. We postulate that the efficiency improvements observed are largely due to the synergistic effects of narrower band gap QDs, causing an upshift of valence band position due to 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) ligands and a lowering of the Fermi level due to oxidation.

10.6% Certified Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cells via Solvent-Polarity-Engineered Halide Passivation.

PubMed

Lan, Xinzheng; Voznyy, Oleksandr; García de Arquer, F Pelayo; Liu, Mengxia; Xu, Jixian; Proppe, Andrew H; Walters, Grant; Fan, Fengjia; Tan, Hairen; Liu, Min; Yang, Zhenyu; Hoogland, Sjoerd; Sargent, Edward H

2016-07-13

Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells are solution-processed photovoltaics with broad spectral absorption tunability. Major advances in their efficiency have been made via improved CQD surface passivation and device architectures with enhanced charge carrier collection. Herein, we demonstrate a new strategy to improve further the passivation of CQDs starting from the solution phase. A cosolvent system is employed to tune the solvent polarity in order to achieve the solvation of methylammonium iodide (MAI) and the dispersion of hydrophobic PbS CQDs simultaneously in a homogeneous phase, otherwise not achieved in a single solvent. This process enables MAI to access the CQDs to confer improved passivation. This, in turn, allows for efficient charge extraction from a thicker photoactive layer device, leading to a certified solar cell power conversion efficiency of 10.6%, a new certified record in CQD photovoltaics.

Enhancing Solar Cell Efficiencies through 1-D Nanostructures

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

The current global energy problem can be attributed to insufficient fossil fuel supplies and excessive greenhouse gas emissions resulting from increasing fossil fuel consumption. The huge demand for clean energy potentially can be met by solar-to-electricity conversions. The large-scale use of solar energy is not occurring due to the high cost and inadequate efficiencies of existing solar cells. Nanostructured materials have offered new opportunities to design more efficient solar cells, particularly one-dimensional (1-D) nanomaterials for enhancing solar cell efficiencies. These 1-D nanostructures, including nanotubes, nanowires, and nanorods, offer significant opportunities to improve efficiencies of solar cells by facilitating photon absorption, electron transport, and electron collection; however, tremendous challenges must be conquered before the large-scale commercialization of such cells. This review specifically focuses on the use of 1-D nanostructures for enhancing solar cell efficiencies. Other nanostructured solar cells or solar cells based on bulk materials are not covered in this review. Major topics addressed include dye-sensitized solar cells, quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells, and p-n junction solar cells.

Heavy Atom Effect of Bromine Significantly Enhances Exciton Utilization of Delayed Fluorescence Luminogens.

PubMed

Gan, Shifeng; Hu, Shimin; Li, Xiang-Long; Zeng, Jiajie; Zhang, Dongdong; Huang, Tianyu; Luo, Wenwen; Zhao, Zujin; Duan, Lian; Su, Shi-Jian; Tang, Ben Zhong

2018-05-23

Raising triplet exciton utilization of pure organic luminescent materials is of significant importance for efficiency advancement of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Herein, by introducing bromine atom(s) onto a typical molecule (bis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,5-dicyanobenzene) with thermally activated delayed fluorescence, we demonstrate that the heavy atom effect of bromine can increase spin-orbit coupling and promote the reverse intersystem crossing, which endow the molecules with more distinct delayed fluorescence. In consequence, the triplet exciton utilization is improved greatly with the increase of bromine atoms, affording apparently advanced external quantum efficiencies of OLEDs. Utilizing the enhancement effect of bromine atoms on delayed fluorescence should be a simple and promising design concept for efficient organic luminogens with high exciton utilization.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Wei, E-mail: wguo2@ncsu.edu; Kirste, Ronny; Bryan, Zachary

Enhanced light extraction efficiency was demonstrated on nanostructure patterned GaN and AlGaN/AlN Multiple-Quantum-Well (MQW) structures using mass production techniques including natural lithography and interference lithography with feature size as small as 100 nm. Periodic nanostructures showed higher light extraction efficiency and modified emission profile compared to non-periodic structures based on integral reflection and angular-resolved transmission measurement. Light extraction mechanism of macroscopic and microscopic nanopatterning is discussed, and the advantage of using periodic nanostructure patterning is provided. An enhanced photoluminescence emission intensity was observed on nanostructure patterned AlGaN/AlN MQW compared to as-grown structure, demonstrating a large-scale and mass-producible pathway to higher lightmore » extraction efficiency in deep-ultra-violet light-emitting diodes.« less

Towards scalable quantum communication and computation: Novel approaches and realizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Liang

Quantum information science involves exploration of fundamental laws of quantum mechanics for information processing tasks. This thesis presents several new approaches towards scalable quantum information processing. First, we consider a hybrid approach to scalable quantum computation, based on an optically connected network of few-qubit quantum registers. Specifically, we develop a novel scheme for scalable quantum computation that is robust against various imperfections. To justify that nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond can be a promising realization of the few-qubit quantum register, we show how to isolate a few proximal nuclear spins from the rest of the environment and use them for the quantum register. We also demonstrate experimentally that the nuclear spin coherence is only weakly perturbed under optical illumination, which allows us to implement quantum logical operations that use the nuclear spins to assist the repetitive-readout of the electronic spin. Using this technique, we demonstrate more than two-fold improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. Apart from direct application to enhance the sensitivity of the NV-based nano-magnetometer, this experiment represents an important step towards the realization of robust quantum information processors using electronic and nuclear spin qubits. We then study realizations of quantum repeaters for long distance quantum communication. Specifically, we develop an efficient scheme for quantum repeaters based on atomic ensembles. We use dynamic programming to optimize various quantum repeater protocols. In addition, we propose a new protocol of quantum repeater with encoding, which efficiently uses local resources (about 100 qubits) to identify and correct errors, to achieve fast one-way quantum communication over long distances. Finally, we explore quantum systems with topological order. Such systems can exhibit remarkable phenomena such as quasiparticles with anyonic statistics and have been proposed as candidates for naturally error-free quantum computation. We propose a scheme to unambiguously detect the anyonic statistics in spin lattice realizations using ultra-cold atoms in an optical lattice. We show how to reliably read and write topologically protected quantum memory using an atomic or photonic qubit.

Band engineering in core/shell ZnTe/CdSe for photovoltage and efficiency enhancement in exciplex quantum dot sensitized solar cells.

PubMed

Jiao, Shuang; Shen, Qing; Mora-Seró, Iván; Wang, Jin; Pan, Zhenxiao; Zhao, Ke; Kuga, Yuki; Zhong, Xinhua; Bisquert, Juan

2015-01-27

Even though previously reported CdTe/CdSe type-II core/shell QD sensitizers possess intrinsic superior optoelectronic properties (such as wide absorption range, fast charge separation, and slow charge recombination) in serving as light absorbers, the efficiency of the resultant solar cell is still limited by the relatively low photovoltage. To further enhance photovoltage and cell efficiency accordingly, ZnTe/CdSe type-II core/shell QDs with much larger conduction band (CB) offset in comparison with that of CdTe/CdSe (1.22 eV vs 0.27 eV) are adopted as sensitizers in the construction of quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). The augment of band offset produces an increase of the charge accumulation across the QD/TiO2 interface under illumination and induces stronger dipole effects, therefore bringing forward an upward shift of the TiO2 CB edge after sensitization and resulting in enhancement of the photovoltage of the resultant cell devices. The variation of relative chemical capacitance, Cμ, between ZnTe/CdSe and reference CdTe/CdSe cells extracted from impedance spectroscopy (IS) characterization under dark and illumination conditions clearly demonstrates that, under light irradiation conditions, the sensitization of ZnTe/CdSe QDs upshifts the CB edge of TiO2 by the level of ∼ 50 mV related to that in the reference cell and results in the enhancement of V(oc) of the corresponding cell devices. In addition, charge extraction measurements have also confirmed the photovoltage enhancement in the ZnTe/CdSe cell related to reference CdTe/CdSe cell. Furthermore, transient grating (TG) measurements have revealed a faster electron injection rate for the ZnTe/CdSe-based QDSCs in comparison with the CdSe cells. The resultant ZnTe/CdSe QD-based QDSCs exhibit a champion power conversion efficiency of 7.17% and a certified efficiency of 6.82% under AM 1.5 G full one sun illumination, which is, as far as we know, one of the highest efficiencies for liquid-junction QDSCs.

Are hot charge transfer states the primary cause of efficient free-charge generation in polymer:fullerene organic photovoltaic devices? A kinetic Monte Carlo study.

PubMed

Jones, Matthew L; Dyer, Reesha; Clarke, Nigel; Groves, Chris

2014-10-14

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations are used to examine the effect of high-energy, 'hot' delocalised charge transfer (HCT) states for donor:acceptor and mixed:aggregate blends, the latter relating to polymer:fullerene photovoltaic devices. Increased fullerene aggregation is shown to enhance charge generation and short-circuit device current - largely due to the increased production of HCT states at the aggregate interface. However, the instances where HCT states are predicted to give internal quantum efficiencies in the region of 50% do not correspond to HCT delocalisation or electron mobility measured in experiments. These data therefore suggest that HCT states are not the primary cause of high quantum efficiencies in some polymer:fullerene OPVs. Instead it is argued that HCT states are responsible for the fast charge generation seen in spectroscopy, but that regional variation in energy levels are the cause of long-term, efficient free-charge generation.

Efficient carrier relaxation and fast carrier recombination of N-polar InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Shih-Wei; Liao, Po-Hsun; Leung, Benjamin; Han, Jung; Yang, Fann-Wei; Wang, Hsiang-Chen

2015-07-01

Based on quantum efficiency and time-resolved electroluminescence measurements, the effects of carrier localization and quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) on carrier transport and recombination dynamics of Ga- and N-polar InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are reported. The N-polar LED exhibits shorter ns-scale response, rising, delay, and recombination times than the Ga-polar one does. Stronger carrier localization and the combined effects of suppressed QCSE and electric field and lower potential barrier acting upon the forward bias in an N-polar LED provide the advantages of more efficient carrier relaxation and faster carrier recombination. By optimizing growth conditions to enhance the radiative recombination, the advantages of more efficient carrier relaxation and faster carrier recombination in a competitive performance N-polar LED can be realized for applications of high-speed flash LEDs. The research results provide important information for carrier transport and recombination dynamics of an N-polar InGaN/GaN LED.

Efficient carrier relaxation and fast carrier recombination of N-polar InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Feng, Shih-Wei, E-mail: swfeng@nuk.edu.tw; Liao, Po-Hsun; Leung, Benjamin

2015-07-28

Based on quantum efficiency and time-resolved electroluminescence measurements, the effects of carrier localization and quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) on carrier transport and recombination dynamics of Ga- and N-polar InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are reported. The N-polar LED exhibits shorter ns-scale response, rising, delay, and recombination times than the Ga-polar one does. Stronger carrier localization and the combined effects of suppressed QCSE and electric field and lower potential barrier acting upon the forward bias in an N-polar LED provide the advantages of more efficient carrier relaxation and faster carrier recombination. By optimizing growth conditions to enhance the radiative recombination, the advantagesmore » of more efficient carrier relaxation and faster carrier recombination in a competitive performance N-polar LED can be realized for applications of high-speed flash LEDs. The research results provide important information for carrier transport and recombination dynamics of an N-polar InGaN/GaN LED.« less

Enhanced Photon Extraction from a Nanowire Quantum Dot Using a Bottom-Up Photonic Shell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeannin, Mathieu; Cremel, Thibault; Häyrynen, Teppo; Gregersen, Niels; Bellet-Amalric, Edith; Nogues, Gilles; Kheng, Kuntheak

2017-11-01

Semiconductor nanowires offer the possibility to grow high-quality quantum-dot heterostructures, and, in particular, CdSe quantum dots inserted in ZnSe nanowires have demonstrated the ability to emit single photons up to room temperature. In this paper, we demonstrate a bottom-up approach to fabricate a photonic fiberlike structure around such nanowire quantum dots by depositing an oxide shell using atomic-layer deposition. Simulations suggest that the intensity collected in our NA =0.6 microscope objective can be increased by a factor 7 with respect to the bare nanowire case. Combining microphotoluminescence, decay time measurements, and numerical simulations, we obtain a fourfold increase in the collected photoluminescence from the quantum dot. We show that this improvement is due to an increase of the quantum-dot emission rate and a redirection of the emitted light. Our ex situ fabrication technique allows a precise and reproducible fabrication on a large scale. Its improved extraction efficiency is compared to state-of-the-art top-down devices.

Photon-Number-Resolving Transition-Edge Sensors for the Metrology of Quantum Light Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, M.; von Helversen, M.; López, M.; Gericke, F.; Schlottmann, E.; Heindel, T.; Kück, S.; Reitzenstein, S.; Beyer, J.

2018-05-01

Low-temperature photon-number-resolving detectors allow for direct access to the photon number distribution of quantum light sources and can thus be exploited to explore the photon statistics, e.g., solid-state-based non-classical light sources. In this work, we report on the setup and calibration of a detection system based on fiber-coupled tungsten transition-edge sensors (W-TESs). Our stand-alone system comprises two W-TESs, read out by two 2-stage-SQUID current sensors, operated in a compact detector unit that is integrated in an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. Fast low-noise analog amplifiers and digitizers are used for signal acquisition. The detection efficiency of the single-mode fiber-coupled detector system in the spectral region of interest (850-950 nm) is determined to be larger than 87 %. The presented detector system opens up new routes in the characterization of quantum light sources for quantum information, quantum-enhanced sensing and quantum metrology.

Diamond photonics for distributed quantum networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Sam; Dolan, Philip R.; Smith, Jason M.

2017-09-01

The distributed quantum network, in which nodes comprising small but well-controlled quantum states are entangled via photonic channels, has in recent years emerged as a strategy for delivering a range of quantum technologies including secure communications, enhanced sensing and scalable quantum computing. Colour centres in diamond are amongst the most promising candidates for nodes fabricated in the solid-state, offering potential for large scale production and for chip-scale integrated devices. In this review we consider the progress made and the remaining challenges in developing diamond-based nodes for quantum networks. We focus on the nitrogen-vacancy and silicon-vacancy colour centres, which have demonstrated many of the necessary attributes for these applications. We focus in particular on the use of waveguides and other photonic microstructures for increasing the efficiency with which photons emitted from these colour centres can be coupled into a network, and the use of microcavities for increasing the fraction of photons emitted that are suitable for generating entanglement between nodes.

Trapped-ion quantum simulation of excitation transport: Disordered, noisy, and long-range connected quantum networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trautmann, N.; Hauke, P.

2018-02-01

The transport of excitations governs fundamental properties of matter. Particularly rich physics emerges in the interplay between disorder and environmental noise, even in small systems such as photosynthetic biomolecules. Counterintuitively, noise can enhance coherent quantum transport, which has been proposed as a mechanism behind the high transport efficiencies observed in photosynthetic complexes. This effect has been called "environment-assisted quantum transport". Here, we propose a quantum simulation of the excitation transport in an open quantum network, taking advantage of the high controllability of current trapped-ion experiments. Our scheme allows for the controlled study of various different aspects of the excitation transfer, ranging from the influence of static disorder and interaction range, over the effect of Markovian and non-Markovian dephasing, to the impact of a continuous insertion of excitations. Our paper discusses experimental error sources and realistic parameters, showing that it can be implemented in state-of-the-art ion-chain experiments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Damtie, Fikeraddis A., E-mail: Fikeraddis.Damtie@teorfys.lu.se; Wacker, Andreas, E-mail: Andreas.Wacker@fysik.lu.se; Karki, Khadga J., E-mail: Khadga.Karki@chemphys.lu.se

Multiple exciton generation (MEG) is a process in which more than one electron hole pair is generated per absorbed photon. It allows us to increase the efficiency of solar energy harvesting. Experimental studies have shown the multiple exciton generation yield of 1.2 in isolated colloidal quantum dots. However real photoelectric devices require the extraction of electron hole pairs to electric contacts. We provide a systematic study of the corresponding quantum coherent processes including extraction and injection and show that a proper design of extraction and injection rates enhances the yield significantly up to values around 1.6.

Improvement of Charge Transportation in Si Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Vanadium Doped TiO2.

PubMed

Seo, Hyunwoong; Ichida, Daiki; Hashimoto, Shinji; Itagaki, Naho; Koga, Kazunori; Shiratani, Masaharu; Nam, Sang-Hun; Boo, Jin-Hyo

2016-05-01

The multiple exciton generation characteristics of quantum dots have been expected to enhance the performance of photochemical solar cells. In previous work, we first introduced Si quantum dot for sensitized solar cells. The Si quantum dots were fabricated by multi-hollow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition, and were characterized optically and morphologically. The Si quantum dot-sensitized solar cells had poor performance due to significant electron loss by charge recombination. Although the large Si particle size resulted in the exposure of a large TiO2 surface area, there was a limit to ho much the particle size could be decreased due to the reduced absorbance of small particles. Therefore, this work focused on decreasing the internal impedance to improve charge transfer. TiO2 was electronically modified by doping with vanadium, which can improve electron transfer in the TiO2 network, and which is stable in the redox electrolyte. Photogenerated electrons can more easily arrive at the conductive electrode due to the decreased internal impedance. The dark photovoltaic properties confirmed the reduction of charge recombination, and the photon-to-current conversion efficiency reflected the improved electron transfer. Impedance analysis confirmed a decrease in internal impedance and an increased electron lifetime. Consequently, these improvements by vanadium doping enhanced the overall performance of Si quantum dot-sensitized solar cells.

Performance Enhancement of 3-Mercaptopropionic Acid-Capped CdSe Quantum-Dot Sensitized Solar Cells Incorporating Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes.

PubMed

Yang, Jonghee; Park, Taehee; Lee, Jongtaek; Lee, Junyoung; Shin, Hokyeong; Yi, Whikun

2016-03-01

We fabricated a series of linker-assisted quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells based on the ex situ self-assembly of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) onto TiO2 electrode using sulfide/polysulfide (S(2-)/Sn(2-)) as an electrolyte and Au cathode. Our cell were combined with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by two techniques; One was mixing SWNTs with TiO2 electrode and the other was spraying SWNTs onto Au electrode. Absorption spectra were used to confirm the adsorption of QDs onto TiO2 electrode. Cell performance was measured on samples containing and not-containing SWNTs. Samples mixing SWNTs with TiO2 showed higher cell efficiency, on the while sample spraying SWNTs onto Au electrode showed lower efficiency compared with pristine sample (not-containing SWNTs). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis suggested that SWNTs can act as either barriers or excellent carrier transfers according their position and mixing method.

Nanoscale Characterization of Carrier Dynamic and Surface Passivation in InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Wells on GaN Nanorods.

PubMed

Chen, Weijian; Wen, Xiaoming; Latzel, Michael; Heilmann, Martin; Yang, Jianfeng; Dai, Xi; Huang, Shujuan; Shrestha, Santosh; Patterson, Robert; Christiansen, Silke; Conibeer, Gavin

2016-11-23

Using advanced two-photon excitation confocal microscopy, associated with time-resolved spectroscopy, we characterize InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells on nanorod heterostructures and demonstrate the passivation effect of a KOH treatment. High-quality InGaN/GaN nanorods were fabricated using nanosphere lithography as a candidate material for light-emitting diode devices. The depth- and time-resolved characterization at the nanoscale provides detailed carrier dynamic analysis helpful for understanding the optical properties. The nanoscale spatially resolved images of InGaN quantum well and defects were acquired simultaneously. We demonstrate that nanorod etching improves light extraction efficiency, and a proper KOH treatment has been found to reduce the surface defects efficiently and enhance the luminescence. The optical characterization techniques provide depth-resolved and time-resolved carrier dynamics with nanoscale spatially resolved mapping, which is crucial for a comprehensive and thorough understanding of nanostructured materials and provides novel insight into the improvement of materials fabrication and applications.

Noise-assisted energy transport in electrical oscillator networks with off-diagonal dynamical disorder

PubMed Central

León-Montiel, Roberto de J.; Quiroz-Juárez, Mario A.; Quintero-Torres, Rafael; Domínguez-Juárez, Jorge L.; Moya-Cessa, Héctor M.; Torres, Juan P.; Aragón, José L.

2015-01-01

Noise is generally thought as detrimental for energy transport in coupled oscillator networks. However, it has been shown that for certain coherently evolving systems, the presence of noise can enhance, somehow unexpectedly, their transport efficiency; a phenomenon called environment-assisted quantum transport (ENAQT) or dephasing-assisted transport. Here, we report on the experimental observation of such effect in a network of coupled electrical oscillators. We demonstrate that by introducing stochastic fluctuations in one of the couplings of the network, a relative enhancement in the energy transport efficiency of 22.5 ± 3.6% can be observed. PMID:26610864

Catalysis of heat-to-work conversion in quantum machines

PubMed Central

Ghosh, A.; Latune, C. L.; Davidovich, L.; Kurizki, G.

2017-01-01

We propose a hitherto-unexplored concept in quantum thermodynamics: catalysis of heat-to-work conversion by quantum nonlinear pumping of the piston mode which extracts work from the machine. This concept is analogous to chemical reaction catalysis: Small energy investment by the catalyst (pump) may yield a large increase in heat-to-work conversion. Since it is powered by thermal baths, the catalyzed machine adheres to the Carnot bound, but may strongly enhance its efficiency and power compared with its noncatalyzed counterparts. This enhancement stems from the increased ability of the squeezed piston to store work. Remarkably, the fraction of piston energy that is convertible into work may then approach unity. The present machine and its counterparts powered by squeezed baths share a common feature: Neither is a genuine heat engine. However, a squeezed pump that catalyzes heat-to-work conversion by small investment of work is much more advantageous than a squeezed bath that simply transduces part of the work invested in its squeezing into work performed by the machine. PMID:29087326

Catalysis of heat-to-work conversion in quantum machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, A.; Latune, C. L.; Davidovich, L.; Kurizki, G.

2017-11-01

We propose a hitherto-unexplored concept in quantum thermodynamics: catalysis of heat-to-work conversion by quantum nonlinear pumping of the piston mode which extracts work from the machine. This concept is analogous to chemical reaction catalysis: Small energy investment by the catalyst (pump) may yield a large increase in heat-to-work conversion. Since it is powered by thermal baths, the catalyzed machine adheres to the Carnot bound, but may strongly enhance its efficiency and power compared with its noncatalyzed counterparts. This enhancement stems from the increased ability of the squeezed piston to store work. Remarkably, the fraction of piston energy that is convertible into work may then approach unity. The present machine and its counterparts powered by squeezed baths share a common feature: Neither is a genuine heat engine. However, a squeezed pump that catalyzes heat-to-work conversion by small investment of work is much more advantageous than a squeezed bath that simply transduces part of the work invested in its squeezing into work performed by the machine.

Catalysis of heat-to-work conversion in quantum machines.

PubMed

Ghosh, A; Latune, C L; Davidovich, L; Kurizki, G

2017-11-14

We propose a hitherto-unexplored concept in quantum thermodynamics: catalysis of heat-to-work conversion by quantum nonlinear pumping of the piston mode which extracts work from the machine. This concept is analogous to chemical reaction catalysis: Small energy investment by the catalyst (pump) may yield a large increase in heat-to-work conversion. Since it is powered by thermal baths, the catalyzed machine adheres to the Carnot bound, but may strongly enhance its efficiency and power compared with its noncatalyzed counterparts. This enhancement stems from the increased ability of the squeezed piston to store work. Remarkably, the fraction of piston energy that is convertible into work may then approach unity. The present machine and its counterparts powered by squeezed baths share a common feature: Neither is a genuine heat engine. However, a squeezed pump that catalyzes heat-to-work conversion by small investment of work is much more advantageous than a squeezed bath that simply transduces part of the work invested in its squeezing into work performed by the machine.

Whole article corrigendum: "Surface-plasmon-enhanced GaN-LED based on the multilayered rectangular nano-grating" [Optics Communications 322 (2014) 66-72

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jun; Zhang, Haosu; Zhu, Zhendong; Li, Qunqing; Jin, Guofan

2017-02-01

This article proposes a surface-plasmon-enhanced GaN-LED based on the multilayered rectangular nano-grating. This structure contains a SiO2 film, an Ag film and a HfO2 film sequentially coated on the rectangularly-patterned p-GaN layer. The Ag film is used to enhance the internal quantum efficiency. The HfO2 cover-layer symmetrizes the distribution of refractive index besides the Ag film to improve the light extraction efficiency and surface-plasmon (SP) extraction efficiency. The inserted SiO2 layer is utilized to further improve the SP extraction efficiency. The properties of SP modes and Purcell effect in this structure are investigated. The photoluminescence experiments demonstrate that its peak intensity of top-emission is about 2.5 times greater than that from the reference structure covered by a single-layer Ag film on the rectangularly-patterned p-GaN layer.

Characterization and Analysis of Multi-Quantum Well Solar Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradshaw, Geoffrey Keith

Multijunction (MJ) photovoltaics are the most efficient solar cells today. Under sufficient solar concentration, these devices can achieve over 44% efficiency, roughly twenty percentage points higher than single crystal silicon based solar cells. Current records for triple junction (3J) multijunction cells are being challenged and broken regularly. However, it is unclear at this time which method of device growth will ultimately produce an efficiency that approaches the Shockley-Queisser limit. Lattice-matched (LM) MJ cells offer benefits over metamorphic and/or inverted metamorphic cells in that the device can be grown continuously, require no extra fabrication steps, and will ultimate produce the highest material quality throughout all junctions. The efficiency of current 3JMJ cells composed of GaInP(1.8eV)/(In)GaAs(1.4eV)/Ge(0.7eV) is limited by the bandgap combination used in the structure. The low energy bandgap bottom Ge cell produces roughly twice as much current as the middle GaAs cell and results in a current mismatch that limits the total current and thus total efficiency. By replacing the middle GaAs subcell with a 1-1.2eV subcell, the current mismatch could be alleviated and the efficiency enhanced. Unfortunately, there are no semiconductors lattice-matched to GaAs/Ge with this bandgap. InGaAs, which has a larger lattice constant than GaAs/Ge, can be grown with the appropriate bandgap, but due to compressive stresses introduced during growth the thickness that can be grown is limited to tens of nanometers, thus limiting absorption and current production. However, by growing layers of tensile strained GaAsP with appropriate thickness and composition, the stresses introduced by the InGaAs can be balanced. By repeating this process and inserting these layers into the intrinsic region of the GaAs middle subcell, a low bandgap material with an effective lattice constant equal to that of GaAs is introduced while maintaining lattice-matching conditions. The InGaAs layers form quantum well capable of absorbing lower energy wavelengths than GaAs which leads to an increase in current. Absorption due to quantum wells is proportional to the number of quantum wells in the intrinsic region. Therefore, in order to grow the maximum number of the absorbing quantum wells within the background doping limited intrinsic region, it is necessary to reduce the width of the non-absorbing GaAsP barriers to as thin as possible. The research presented within shows this concept by exploring the fabrication and electrical characterization of these quantum well devices when balanced with ultra-thin GaAsP layers with very high phosphorus content (˜75-80%). By reducing the width of the barriers to approximately 30 A, tunneling of carriers dominates carrier transport across the structure as opposed to the traditional quantum well approach with very thick, low phosphorus GaAsP barriers that rely on thermionic emission of carriers to escape the InGaAs quantum wells. This research shows the strong effect and sensitivity to not only the thickness the GaAsP barriers, but also to the polarity of the device and the dependence of electric field. As well widths are decreased, quantum confinement of carriers within the InGaAs quantum wells increases. This leads to a blue-shift in the wavelengths of light absorbed and limits the current gain potential of the quantum well structure. To combat this blue-shift, the staggered MQW is introduced. The staggering technique can be use to not only improve wavelength absorption extension, but also lead to an enhancement in the absorption coefficient. These structures were also included into a GaInP/GaAs(MQW) tandem device to see the effects of the structure on the GaInP top cell.

Spin-dependent Otto quantum heat engine based on a molecular substance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hübner, W.; Lefkidis, G.; Dong, C. D.; Chaudhuri, D.; Chotorlishvili, L.; Berakdar, J.

2014-07-01

We explore the potential of single molecules for thermodynamic cycles. To this end we propose two molecular heat engines based on the Ni2 dimer in the presence of a static magnetic field: (a) a quantum Otto engine and (b) a modified quantum Otto engine for which optical excitations induced by a laser pulse substitute for one of the heat-exchange points. For reliable predictions and to inspect the role of spin and electronic correlations we perform fully correlated ab initio calculations of the molecular electronic structure including spin-orbital effects. We analyze the efficiency of the engines in dependence of the electronic level scheme and the entanglement and find a significant possible enhancement connected to the quantum nature and the heat capacity of the dimer, as well as to the zero-field triplet states splitting.

Strong Coupling Corrections in Quantum Thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perarnau-Llobet, M.; Wilming, H.; Riera, A.; Gallego, R.; Eisert, J.

2018-03-01

Quantum systems strongly coupled to many-body systems equilibrate to the reduced state of a global thermal state, deviating from the local thermal state of the system as it occurs in the weak-coupling limit. Taking this insight as a starting point, we study the thermodynamics of systems strongly coupled to thermal baths. First, we provide strong-coupling corrections to the second law applicable to general systems in three of its different readings: As a statement of maximal extractable work, on heat dissipation, and bound to the Carnot efficiency. These corrections become relevant for small quantum systems and vanish in first order in the interaction strength. We then move to the question of power of heat engines, obtaining a bound on the power enhancement due to strong coupling. Our results are exemplified on the paradigmatic non-Markovian quantum Brownian motion.

Some Thoughts Regarding Practical Quantum Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghoshal, Debabrata; Gomez, Richard; Lanzagorta, Marco; Uhlmann, Jeffrey

2006-03-01

Quantum computing has become an important area of research in computer science because of its potential to provide more efficient algorithmic solutions to certain problems than are possible with classical computing. The ability of performing parallel operations over an exponentially large computational space has proved to be the main advantage of the quantum computing model. In this regard, we are particularly interested in the potential applications of quantum computers to enhance real software systems of interest to the defense, industrial, scientific and financial communities. However, while much has been written in popular and scientific literature about the benefits of the quantum computational model, several of the problems associated to the practical implementation of real-life complex software systems in quantum computers are often ignored. In this presentation we will argue that practical quantum computation is not as straightforward as commonly advertised, even if the technological problems associated to the manufacturing and engineering of large-scale quantum registers were solved overnight. We will discuss some of the frequently overlooked difficulties that plague quantum computing in the areas of memories, I/O, addressing schemes, compilers, oracles, approximate information copying, logical debugging, error correction and fault-tolerant computing protocols.

Long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) quantum-dot infrared photodetector (QDIP) focal plane array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunapala, S. D.; Bandara, S. V.; Hill, C. J.; Ting, D. Z.; Liu, J. K.; Rafol, S. B.; Blazejewski, E. R.; Mumolo, J. M.; Keo, S. A.; Krishna, S.; Chang, Y. C.; Shott, C. A.

2006-05-01

We have exploited the artificial atomlike properties of epitaxially self-assembled quantum dots for the development of high operating temperature long wavelength infrared (LWIR) focal plane arrays. Quantum dots are nanometer-scale islands that form spontaneously on a semiconductor substrate due to lattice mismatch. QDIPs are expected to outperform quantum well infrared detectors (QWIPs) and are expected to offer significant advantages over II-VI material based focal plane arrays. QDIPs are fabricated using robust wide bandgap III-V materials which are well suited to the production of highly uniform LWIR arrays. We have used molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology to grow multi-layer LWIR quantum dot structures based on the InAs/InGaAs/GaAs material system. JPL is building on its significant QWIP experience and is basically building a Dot-in-the-Well (DWELL) device design by embedding InAs quantum dots in a QWIP structure. This hybrid quantum dot/quantum well device offers additional control in wavelength tuning via control of dot-size and/or quantum well sizes. In addition the quantum wells can trap electrons and aide in ground state refilling. Recent measurements have shown a 10 times higher photoconductive gain than the typical QWIP device, which indirectly confirms the lower relaxation rate of excited electrons (photon bottleneck) in QDIPs. Subsequent material and device improvements have demonstrated an absorption quantum efficiency (QE) of ~ 3%. Dot-in-the-well (DWELL) QDIPs were also experimentally shown to absorb both 45o and normally incident light. Thus we have employed a reflection grating structure to further enhance the quantum efficiency. JPL has demonstrated wavelength control by progressively growing material and fabricating devices structures that have continuously increased in LWIR response. The most recent devices exhibit peak responsivity out to 8.1 microns. Peak detectivity of the 8.1μm devices has reached ~ 1 x 1010 Jones at 77 K. Furthermore, we have fabricated the first long-wavelength 640x512 pixels QDIP focal plane array. This QDIP focal plane array has produced excellent infrared imagery with noise equivalent temperature difference of 40 mK at 60K operating temperature. In addition, we have managed to increase the quantum efficiency of these devices from 0.1% (according to the data published in literature) to 20% in discrete devices. This is a factor of 200 increase in quantum efficiency. With these excellent results, for the first time QDIP performance has surpassed the QWIP performance. Our goal is to operate these long-wavelength detectors at much higher operating temperature than 77K, which can be passively achieved in space. This will be a huge leap in high performance infrared detectors specifically applicable to space science instruments.

Long-Wavelength Infrared (LWIR) Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetector (QDIP) Focal Plane Array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gunapala, Sarath D.; Bandara, S. V.; Liu, J. K.; Hill, C. J.; Rafol, S. B.; Mumolo, J. M.; Shott, C. A.

2006-01-01

We have exploited the artificial atomlike properties of epitaxially self-assembled quantum dots for the development of high operating temperature long wavelength infrared (LWIR) focal plane arrays. Quantum dots are nanometer-scale islands that form spontaneously on a semiconductor substrate due to lattice mismatch. QDIPs are expected to outperform quantum well infrared detectors (QWIPs) and are expected to offer significant advantages over II-VI material based focal plane arrays. QDIPs are fabricated using robust wide bandgap III-V materials which are well suited to the production of highly uniform LWIR arrays. We have used molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology to grow multi-layer LWIR quantum dot structures based on the InAs/InGaAs/GaAs material system. JPL is building on its significant QWIP experience and is basically building a Dot-in-the-Well (DWELL) device design by embedding InAs quantum dots in a QWIP structure. This hybrid quantum dot/quantum well device offers additional control in wavelength tuning via control of dot-size and/or quantum well sizes. In addition the quantum wells can trap electrons and aide in ground state refilling. Recent measurements have shown a 10 times higher photoconductive gain than the typical QWIP device, which indirectly confirms the lower relaxation rate of excited electrons (photon bottleneck) in QDPs. Subsequent material and device improvements have demonstrated an absorption quantum efficiency (QE) of approx. 3%. Dot-in-the-well (DWELL) QDIPs were also experimentally shown to absorb both 45 deg. and normally incident light. Thus we have employed a reflection grating structure to further enhance the quantum efficiency. JPL has demonstrated wavelength control by progressively growing material and fabricating devices structures that have continuously increased in LWIR response. The most recent devices exhibit peak responsivity out to 8.1 microns. Peak detectivity of the 8.1 micrometer devices has reached approx. 1 x 10(exp 10) Jones at 77 K. Furthermore, we have fabricated the first long-wavelength 640x512 pixels QDP focal plane array. This QDIP focal plane may has produced excellent infrared imagery with noise equivalent temperature difference of 40 mK at 60K operating temperature. In addition, we have managed to increase the quantum efficiency of these devices from 0.1% (according to the data published in literature) to 20% in discrete devices. This is a factor of 200 increase in quantum efficiency. With these excellent results, for the first time QDIP performance has surpassed the QWIP performance. Our goal is to operate these long-wavelength detectors at much higher operating temperature than 77K which can be passively achieved in space. This will be a huge leap in high performance infrared detectors specifically applicable to space science instruments.

A novel near-infrared nanomaterial with high quantum efficiency and its applications in real time in vivo imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, X. X.; Fan, Q.; Shi, S. J.; Wen, W. H.; Chen, D. F.; Guo, H. T.; Xu, Y. T.; Gao, F.; Nie, R. Z.; Ford, Harold D.; Tang, Gordon H.; Hou, C. Q.; Peng, B.

2018-05-01

Fluorescence imaging signal is severely limited by the quantum efficiency and emission wavelength. To overcome these challenges, novel NIR-emitting K5NdLi2F10 nanoparticles under NIR excitation was introduced as fluorescence imaging probe for the first time. The photostability of K5NdLi2F10 nanoparticles in the water, phosphate buffer saline, fetal bovine serum and living mice was investigated. The fluorescence signal was detected with depths of 3.5 and 2.0 cm in phantom and pork tissue, respectively. Fluorescence spectrum with a significant signal-to-background ratio of 10:1 was captured in living mice. Moreover, clear NIR images were virtualized for the living mice after intravenous injection. The imaging ability of nanoparticles in tumor-beard mice were evaluated, the enrichment of K5NdLi2F10 nanoparticles in tumor site due to the enhanced permeability and retention effect was confirmed. The systematic studies of toxicity, bio-distribution and in-vivo dynamic imaging suggest that these materials give high biocompatibility and low toxicity. These NIR-emitting nanoparticles with high quantum efficiency, high penetration and low toxicity might facilitate tumor identification in deep tissues more sensitively.

Adsorption and Corrosion Inhibition Studies of Some Selected Dyes as Corrosion Inhibitors for Mild Steel in Acidic Medium: Gravimetric, Electrochemical, Quantum Chemical Studies and Synergistic Effect with Iodide Ions.

PubMed

Peme, Thabo; Olasunkanmi, Lukman O; Bahadur, Indra; Adekunle, Abolanle S; Kabanda, Mwadham M; Ebenso, Eno E

2015-09-02

The corrosion inhibition properties of some organic dyes, namely Sunset Yellow (SS), Amaranth (AM), Allura Red (AR), Tartrazine (TZ) and Fast Green (FG), for mild steel corrosion in 0.5 M HCl solution, were investigated using gravimetric, potentiodynamic polarization techniques and quantum chemical calculations. The results showed that the studied dyes are good corrosion inhibitors with enhanced inhibition efficiencies. The inhibition efficiency of all the studied dyes increases with increase in concentration, and decreases with increase in temperature. The results showed that the inhibition efficiency of the dyes increases in the presence of KI due to synergistic interactions of the dye molecules with iodide (I(-)) ions. Potentiodynamic polarization results revealed that the studied dyes are mixed-type inhibitors both in the absence and presence of KI. The adsorption of the studied dyes on mild steel surface, with and without KI, obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and involves physical adsorption mechanism. Quantum chemical calculations revealed that the most likely sites in the dye molecules for interactions with mild steel are the S, O, and N heteroatoms.

A novel near-infrared nanomaterial with high quantum efficiency and its applications in real time in vivo imaging.

PubMed

Cui, X X; Fan, Q; Shi, S J; Wen, W H; Chen, D F; Guo, H T; Xu, Y T; Gao, F; Nie, R Z; Ford, Harold D; Tang, Gordon H; Hou, C Q; Peng, B

2018-05-18

Fluorescence imaging signal is severely limited by the quantum efficiency and emission wavelength. To overcome these challenges, novel NIR-emitting K 5 NdLi 2 F 10 nanoparticles under NIR excitation was introduced as fluorescence imaging probe for the first time. The photostability of K 5 NdLi 2 F 10 nanoparticles in the water, phosphate buffer saline, fetal bovine serum and living mice was investigated. The fluorescence signal was detected with depths of 3.5 and 2.0 cm in phantom and pork tissue, respectively. Fluorescence spectrum with a significant signal-to-background ratio of 10:1 was captured in living mice. Moreover, clear NIR images were virtualized for the living mice after intravenous injection. The imaging ability of nanoparticles in tumor-beard mice were evaluated, the enrichment of K 5 NdLi 2 F 10 nanoparticles in tumor site due to the enhanced permeability and retention effect was confirmed. The systematic studies of toxicity, bio-distribution and in-vivo dynamic imaging suggest that these materials give high biocompatibility and low toxicity. These NIR-emitting nanoparticles with high quantum efficiency, high penetration and low toxicity might facilitate tumor identification in deep tissues more sensitively.

A comprehensive evaluation of factors that influence the spin polarization of electrons emitted from bulk GaAs photocathodes

DOE PAGES

Liu, Wei; Poelker, Matt; Peng, Xincun; ...

2017-07-19

Here, the degree of polarization of photoemitted electrons extracted from bulk unstrained GaAs photocathodes is usually considerably less than the theoretical maximum value of 50%, as a result of depolarization mechanisms that originate within the photocathode material and at the vacuum surface interface. This paper provides a comprehensive review of depolarization mechanisms and presents a systematic experimental evaluation of polarization sensitivities to temperature, dopant density, quantum efficiency, and crystal orientation. The highest measured polarization was similar to 50%, consistent with the maximum theoretical value, obtained from a photocathode sample with relatively low dopant concentration and cooled to 77 K. Inmore » general, measurements indicate electron spin polarization can be enhanced at the expense of photoelectron yield (or quantum efficiency).« less

Effect of Organic and Inorganic Passivation in Quantum-Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells.

PubMed

de la Fuente, Mauricio Solis; Sánchez, Rafael S; González-Pedro, Victoria; Boix, Pablo P; Mhaisalkar, S G; Rincón, Marina E; Bisquert, Juan; Mora-Seró, Iván

2013-05-02

The effect of semiconductor passivation on quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) has been systematically characterized for CdS and CdS/ZnS. We have found that passivation strongly depends on the passivation agent, obtaining an enhancement of the solar cell efficiency for compounds containing amine and thiol groups and, in contrast, a decrease in performance for passivating agents with acid groups. Passivation can induce a change in the position of TiO2 conduction band and also in the recombination rate and nature, reflected in a change in the β parameter. Especially interesting is the finding that β, and consequently the fill factor can be increased with the passivation treatment. Applying this strategy, record cells of 4.65% efficiency for PbS-based QDSCs have been produced.

A comprehensive evaluation of factors that influence the spin polarization of electrons emitted from bulk GaAs photocathodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Wei; Poelker, Matt; Peng, Xincun

Here, the degree of polarization of photoemitted electrons extracted from bulk unstrained GaAs photocathodes is usually considerably less than the theoretical maximum value of 50%, as a result of depolarization mechanisms that originate within the photocathode material and at the vacuum surface interface. This paper provides a comprehensive review of depolarization mechanisms and presents a systematic experimental evaluation of polarization sensitivities to temperature, dopant density, quantum efficiency, and crystal orientation. The highest measured polarization was similar to 50%, consistent with the maximum theoretical value, obtained from a photocathode sample with relatively low dopant concentration and cooled to 77 K. Inmore » general, measurements indicate electron spin polarization can be enhanced at the expense of photoelectron yield (or quantum efficiency).« less

Generating single microwave photons in a circuit.

PubMed

Houck, A A; Schuster, D I; Gambetta, J M; Schreier, J A; Johnson, B R; Chow, J M; Frunzio, L; Majer, J; Devoret, M H; Girvin, S M; Schoelkopf, R J

2007-09-20

Microwaves have widespread use in classical communication technologies, from long-distance broadcasts to short-distance signals within a computer chip. Like all forms of light, microwaves, even those guided by the wires of an integrated circuit, consist of discrete photons. To enable quantum communication between distant parts of a quantum computer, the signals must also be quantum, consisting of single photons, for example. However, conventional sources can generate only classical light, not single photons. One way to realize a single-photon source is to collect the fluorescence of a single atom. Early experiments measured the quantum nature of continuous radiation, and further advances allowed triggered sources of photons on demand. To allow efficient photon collection, emitters are typically placed inside optical or microwave cavities, but these sources are difficult to employ for quantum communication on wires within an integrated circuit. Here we demonstrate an on-chip, on-demand single-photon source, where the microwave photons are injected into a wire with high efficiency and spectral purity. This is accomplished in a circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture, with a microwave transmission line cavity that enhances the spontaneous emission of a single superconducting qubit. When the qubit spontaneously emits, the generated photon acts as a flying qubit, transmitting the quantum information across a chip. We perform tomography of both the qubit and the emitted photons, clearly showing that both the quantum phase and amplitude are transferred during the emission. Both the average power and voltage of the photon source are characterized to verify performance of the system. This single-photon source is an important addition to a rapidly growing toolbox for quantum optics on a chip.

Graphene shield enhanced photocathodes and methods for making the same

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moody, Nathan Andrew

Disclosed are graphene shield enhanced photocathodes, such as high QE photocathodes. In certain embodiments, a monolayer graphene shield membrane ruggedizes a high quantum efficiency photoemission electron source by protecting a photosensitive film of the photocathode, extending operational lifetime and simplifying its integration in practical electron sources. In certain embodiments of the disclosed graphene shield enhanced photocathodes, the graphene serves as a transparent shield that does not inhibit photon or electron transmission but isolates the photosensitive film of the photocathode from reactive gas species, preventing contamination and yielding longer lifetime.

Photovoltaic properties of multilayered quantum dot/quantum rod-sensitized TiO₂ solar cells fabricated by SILAR and electrophoresis.

PubMed

Cerdán-Pasarán, Andrea; López-Luke, Tzarara; Esparza, Diego; Zarazúa, Isaac; De la Rosa, Elder; Fuentes-Ramírez, Rosalba; Alatorre-Ordaz, Alejandro; Sánchez-Solís, Ana; Torres-Castro, Alejandro; Zhang, Jin Z

2015-07-28

A multilayered semiconductor sensitizer structure composed of three differently sized CdSe quantum rods (QRs), labeled as Q530, Q575, Q590, were prepared and deposited on the surface of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) for photovoltaic applications. By varying the arrangement of layers as well as the time of EPD, the photoconversion efficiency was improved from 2.0% with the single layer of CdSe QRs (TiO2/Q590/ZnS) to 2.9% for multilayers (TiO2/Q590Q575/ZnS). The optimal EPD time was shorter for the multilayered structures. The effect of CdS quantum dots (QDs) deposited by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) was also investigated. The addition of CdS QDs resulted in the enhancement of efficiency to 4.1% for the configuration (TiO2/CdS/Q590Q575/ZnS), due to increased photocurrent and photovoltage. Based on detailed structural, optical, and photoelectrical studies, the increased photocurrent is attributed to broadened light absorption while the increased voltage is due to a shift in the relevant energy levels.

The quantum mitochondrion and optimal health

PubMed Central

Nunn, Alistair V.W.; Guy, Geoffrey W.; Bell, Jimmy D.

2016-01-01

A sufficiently complex set of molecules, if subject to perturbation, will self-organize and show emergent behaviour. If such a system can take on information it will become subject to natural selection. This could explain how self-replicating molecules evolved into life and how intelligence arose. A pivotal step in this evolutionary process was of course the emergence of the eukaryote and the advent of the mitochondrion, which both enhanced energy production per cell and increased the ability to process, store and utilize information. Recent research suggest that from its inception life embraced quantum effects such as ‘tunnelling’ and ‘coherence’ while competition and stressful conditions provided a constant driver for natural selection. We believe that the biphasic adaptive response to stress described by hormesis–a process that captures information to enable adaptability, is central to this whole process. Critically, hormesis could improve mitochondrial quantum efficiency, improving the ATP/ROS ratio, whereas inflammation, which is tightly associated with the aging process, might do the opposite. This all suggests that to achieve optimal health and healthy aging, one has to sufficiently stress the system to ensure peak mitochondrial function, which itself could reflect selection of optimum efficiency at the quantum level. PMID:27528758

Dot-in-Well Quantum-Dot Infrared Photodetectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gunapala, Sarath; Bandara, Sumith; Ting, David; Hill, cory; Liu, John; Mumolo, Jason; Chang, Yia Chung

2008-01-01

Dot-in-well (DWELL) quantum-dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) [DWELL-QDIPs] are subjects of research as potentially superior alternatives to prior QDIPs. Heretofore, there has not existed a reliable method for fabricating quantum dots (QDs) having precise, repeatable dimensions. This lack has constituted an obstacle to the development of uniform, high-performance, wavelength-tailorable QDIPs and of focal-plane arrays (FPAs) of such QDIPs. However, techniques for fabricating quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) having multiple-quantum- well (MQW) structures are now well established. In the present research on DWELL-QDIPs, the arts of fabrication of QDs and QWIPs are combined with a view toward overcoming the deficiencies of prior QDIPs. The longer-term goal is to develop focal-plane arrays of radiationhard, highly uniform arrays of QDIPs that would exhibit high performance at wavelengths from 8 to 15 m when operated at temperatures between 150 and 200 K. Increasing quantum efficiency is the key to the development of competitive QDIP-based FPAs. Quantum efficiency can be increased by increasing the density of QDs and by enhancing infrared absorption in QD-containing material. QDIPs demonstrated thus far have consisted, variously, of InAs islands on GaAs or InAs islands in InGaAs/GaAs wells. These QDIPs have exhibited low quantum efficiencies because the numbers of QD layers (and, hence, the areal densities of QDs) have been small typically five layers in each QDIP. The number of QD layers in such a device must be thus limited to prevent the aggregation of strain in the InAs/InGaAs/GaAs non-lattice- matched material system. The approach being followed in the DWELL-QDIP research is to embed In- GaAs QDs in GaAs/AlGaAs multi-quantum- well (MQW) structures (see figure). This material system can accommodate a large number of QD layers without excessive lattice-mismatch strain and the associated degradation of photodetection properties. Hence, this material system is expected to enable achievement of greater densities of QDs and correspondingly greater quantum efficiencies. The host GaAs/AlGaAs MQW structures are highly compatible with mature fabrication processes that are now used routinely in making QWIP FPAs. The hybrid InGaAs-dot/GaAs/AlGaAs-well system also offers design advantages in that the effects of variability of dot size can be partly compensated by engineering quantum-well sizes, which can be controlled precisely.

Coupling single giant nanocrystal quantum dots to the fundamental mode of patch nanoantennas through fringe field

DOE PAGES

Wang, Feng; Karan, Niladri S.; Minh Nguyen, Hue; ...

2015-09-23

Through single dot spectroscopy and numerical simulation studies, we demonstrate that the fundamental mode of gold patch nanoantennas have fringe-field resonance capable of enhancing the nano-emitters coupled around the edge of the patch antenna. This fringe-field coupling is used to enhance the radiative rates of core/thick-shell nanocrystal quantum dots (g-NQDs) that cannot be embedded into the ultra-thin dielectric gap of patch nanoantennas due to their large sizes. We attain 14 and 3 times enhancements in single exciton radiative decay rate and bi-exciton emission efficiencies of g-NQDs respectively, with no detectable metal quenching. Our numerical studies confirmed our experimental results andmore » further reveal that patch nanoantennas can provide strong emission enhancement for dipoles lying not only in radial direction of the circular patches but also in the direction normal to the antennas surface. Finally, this provides a distinct advantage over the parallel gap-bar antennas that can provide enhancement only for the dipoles oriented across the gap.« less

Enhanced interfacial contact between PbS and TiO2 layers in quantum dot solar cells using 2D-arrayed TiO2 hemisphere nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Wonseok; Ryu, Ilhwan; Lee, Haein; Yim, Sanggyu

2018-02-01

Two-dimensionally (2D) arrayed hemispherical nanostructures of TiO2 thin films were successfully fabricated using a simple procedure of spin-coating or dip-coating TiO2 nanoparticles onto 2D close-packed polystyrene (PS) nanospheres, followed by PS extraction. The nanostructured TiO2 film was then used as an n-type layer in a lead sulfide (PbS) colloidal quantum dot solar cell. The TiO2 nanostructure could provide significantly increased contacts with subsequently deposited PbS quantum dot layer. In addition, the periodically arrayed nanostructure could enhance optical absorption of the cell by redirecting the path of the incident light and increasing the path length passing though the active layer. As a result, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) reached 5.13%, which is approximately a 1.7-fold increase over that of the control cell without nanostructuring, 3.02%. This PCE enhancement can mainly be attributed to the increase of the short-circuit current density from 19.6 mA/cm2 to 30.6 mA/cm2, whereas the open-circuit voltage and fill factor values did not vary significantly.

IR CMOS: near infrared enhanced digital imaging (Presentation Recording)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pralle, Martin U.; Carey, James E.; Joy, Thomas; Vineis, Chris J.; Palsule, Chintamani

2015-08-01

SiOnyx has demonstrated imaging at light levels below 1 mLux (moonless starlight) at video frame rates with a 720P CMOS image sensor in a compact, low latency camera. Low light imaging is enabled by the combination of enhanced quantum efficiency in the near infrared together with state of the art low noise image sensor design. The quantum efficiency enhancements are achieved by applying Black Silicon, SiOnyx's proprietary ultrafast laser semiconductor processing technology. In the near infrared, silicon's native indirect bandgap results in low absorption coefficients and long absorption lengths. The Black Silicon nanostructured layer fundamentally disrupts this paradigm by enhancing the absorption of light within a thin pixel layer making 5 microns of silicon equivalent to over 300 microns of standard silicon. This results in a demonstrate 10 fold improvements in near infrared sensitivity over incumbent imaging technology while maintaining complete compatibility with standard CMOS image sensor process flows. Applications include surveillance, nightvision, and 1064nm laser see spot. Imaging performance metrics will be discussed. Demonstrated performance characteristics: Pixel size : 5.6 and 10 um Array size: 720P/1.3Mpix Frame rate: 60 Hz Read noise: 2 ele/pixel Spectral sensitivity: 400 to 1200 nm (with 10x QE at 1064nm) Daytime imaging: color (Bayer pattern) Nighttime imaging: moonless starlight conditions 1064nm laser imaging: daytime imaging out to 2Km

Enhanced quantum yield of photoluminescent porous silicon prepared by supercritical drying

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Joo, Jinmyoung; Biomedical Engineering Research Center, Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 05505; Defforge, Thomas

2016-04-11

The effect of supercritical drying (SCD) on the preparation of porous silicon (pSi) powders has been investigated in terms of photoluminescence (PL) efficiency. Since the pSi contains closely spaced and possibly interconnected Si nanocrystals (<5 nm), pore collapse and morphological changes within the nanocrystalline structure after common drying processes can affect PL efficiency. We report the highly beneficial effects of using SCD for preparation of photoluminescent pSi powders. Significantly higher surface areas and pore volumes have been realized by utilizing SCD (with CO{sub 2} solvent) instead of air-drying. Correspondingly, the pSi powders better retain the porous structure and the nano-sized siliconmore » grains, thus minimizing the formation of non-radiative defects during liquid evaporation (air drying). The SCD process also minimizes capillary-stress induced contact of neighboring nanocrystals, resulting in lower exciton migration levels within the network. A significant enhancement of the PL quantum yield (>32% at room temperature) has been achieved, prompting the need for further detailed studies to establish the dominant causes of such an improvement.« less

The improvement of GaN-based LED grown on concave nano-pattern sapphire substrate with SiO2 blocking layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Jyun-Hao; Huang, Shyh-Jer; Su, Yan-Kuin; Huang, Kai-Wen

2015-11-01

In contrast to convex nano-pattern sapphire substrates (NPSS), which are frequently used to fabricate high-quality nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs), concave NPSS have been paid relatively less attention. In this study, a concave NPSS was fabricated, and its nitride epitaxial growth process was evaluated in a step by step manner. A SiO2 layer was used to avoid nucleation over the sidewall and bottom of the nano-patterns to reduce dislocation reformation. Traditional LED structures were grown on the NPSS layer to determine its influence on device performance. X-ray diffraction, etched pit density, inverse leakage current, and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) results showed that dislocations and non-radiative recombination centers are reduced by the NPSS constructed with a SiO2 blocking layer. An IQE twice that on a planar substrate was also achieved; such a high IQE significantly enhanced the external quantum efficiency of the resultant device. Taken together, the results demonstrate that the SiO2 blocking layer proposed in this work can enhance the performance of LEDs.

Enhanced wall-plug efficiency in AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with uniform current spreading p-electrode structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Guo-Dong; Taniguchi, Manabu; Tamari, Naoki; Inoue, Shin-ichiro

2016-06-01

The current crowding is an especially severe issue in AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) because of the low conductivity of the n-AlGaN cladding layer that has a high Al fraction. We theoretically investigated the improvement in internal quantum efficiency and total resistances in DUV-LEDs with an emission wavelength of 265 nm by a well-designed p-electrode geometry to produce uniform current spreading. As a result, the wall-plug efficiency was enhanced by a factor of 60% at an injection current of 350 mA in the designed uniform-current-spreading p-electrode LED when compared with an LED with a conventional cross-bar p-electrode pattern.

Highly sensitive photodetectors based on hybrid 2D-0D SnS{sub 2}-copper indium sulfide quantum dots

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Yun; Zhan, Xueying; Xu, Kai

2016-01-04

Both high speed and efficiency of photoelectric conversion are essential for photodetectors. As an emerging layered metal dichalcogenide (LMD), tin disulfide owns intrinsic faster photodetection ability than most other LMDs but poor light absorption and low photoelectric conversion efficiency. We develop an efficient method to enhance its performance by constructing a SnS{sub 2}-copper indium sulfide hybrid structure. As a result, the responsivity reaches 630 A/W, six times stronger than pristine SnS{sub 2} and much higher than most other LMDs photodetectors. Additionally, the photocurrents are enhanced by more than 1 order of magnitude. Our work may open up a pathway to improvemore » the performance of photodetectors based on LMDs.« less

100-period InGaAsP/InGaP superlattice solar cell with sub-bandgap quantum efficiency approaching 80%

DOE PAGES

Sayed, Islam E. H.; Jain, Nikhil; Steiner, Myles A.; ...

2017-08-25

Here, InGaAsP/InGaP quantum well (QW) structures are promising materials for next generation photovoltaic devices because of their tunable bandgap (1.50-1.80 eV) and being aluminum-free. However, the strain-balance limitations have previously limited light absorption in the QW region and constrained the external quantum efficiency (EQE) values beyond the In 0.49Ga 0.51P band-edge to less than 25%. In this work, we show that implementing a hundred period lattice matched InGaAsP/InGaP superlattice solar cell with more than 65% absorbing InGaAsP well resulted in more than 2x improvement in EQE values than previously reported strain balanced approaches. In addition, processing the devices with amore » rear optical reflector resulted in strong Fabry-Perot resonance oscillations and the EQE values were highly improved in the vicinity of these peaks, resulting in a short circuit current improvement of 10% relative to devices with a rear optical filter. These enhancements have resulted in an InGaAsP/InGaP superlattice solar cell with improved peak sub-bandgap EQE values exceeding 75% at 700 nm, an improvement in the short circuit current of 26% relative to standard InGaP devices, and an enhanced bandgap-voltage offset (W oc) of 0.4 V.« less

Modeling quantum yield, emittance, and surface roughness effects from metallic photocathodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dimitrov, D. A.; Bell, G. I.; Smedley, J.

Here, detailed measurements of momentum distributions of emitted electrons have allowed the investigation of the thermal limit of the transverse emittance from metal photocathodes. Furthermore, recent developments in material design and growth have resulted in photocathodes that can deliver high quantum efficiency and are sufficiently robust to use in high electric field gradient photoinjectors and free electron lasers. The growth process usually produces photoemissive material layers with rough surface profiles that lead to transverse accelerating fields and possible work function variations, resulting in emittance growth. To better understand the effects of temperature, density of states, and surface roughness on themore » properties of emitted electrons, we have developed realistic three-dimensional models for photocathode materials with grated surface structures. They include general modeling of electron excitation due to photon absorption, charge transport, and emission from flat and rough metallic surfaces. The models also include image charge and field enhancement effects. We report results from simulations with flat and rough surfaces to investigate how electron scattering, controlled roughness, work function variation, and field enhancement affect emission properties. Comparison of simulation results with measurements of the quantum yield and transverse emittance from flat Sb emission surfaces shows the importance of including efficient modeling of photon absorption, temperature effects, and the material density of states to achieve agreement with the experimental data.« less

Modeling quantum yield, emittance, and surface roughness effects from metallic photocathodes

DOE PAGES

Dimitrov, D. A.; Bell, G. I.; Smedley, J.; ...

2017-10-26

Here, detailed measurements of momentum distributions of emitted electrons have allowed the investigation of the thermal limit of the transverse emittance from metal photocathodes. Furthermore, recent developments in material design and growth have resulted in photocathodes that can deliver high quantum efficiency and are sufficiently robust to use in high electric field gradient photoinjectors and free electron lasers. The growth process usually produces photoemissive material layers with rough surface profiles that lead to transverse accelerating fields and possible work function variations, resulting in emittance growth. To better understand the effects of temperature, density of states, and surface roughness on themore » properties of emitted electrons, we have developed realistic three-dimensional models for photocathode materials with grated surface structures. They include general modeling of electron excitation due to photon absorption, charge transport, and emission from flat and rough metallic surfaces. The models also include image charge and field enhancement effects. We report results from simulations with flat and rough surfaces to investigate how electron scattering, controlled roughness, work function variation, and field enhancement affect emission properties. Comparison of simulation results with measurements of the quantum yield and transverse emittance from flat Sb emission surfaces shows the importance of including efficient modeling of photon absorption, temperature effects, and the material density of states to achieve agreement with the experimental data.« less

Colossal photo-conductive gain in low temperature processed TiO2 films and their application in quantum dot solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandal, Debranjan; Goswami, Prasenjit N.; Rath, Arup K.

2017-03-01

Colloidal quantum dot (QD) solar cells have seen remarkable progress in recent past to reach the certified efficiency of 10.6%. Anatase titanium oxide (TiO2) is a widely studied n-type widow layer for the collection of photogenerated electrons in QD solar cells. Requirement of high temperature (˜500 °C) processing steps proved to be disadvantageous for its applications in flexible solar cells and roll to roll processing, and it also has adverse commercial implications. Here, we report that solar light exposure to low temperature processed (80 °C-150 °C) TiO2 and niobium doped TiO2 films leads to unprecedented enhancement in their electron densities and electron mobilities, which enables them to be used as efficient n-type layers in quantum dot solar cells. Such photoinduced high conducting states in these films show gradual decay over hours after the light bias is taken off and can be retrieved under solar illumination. On the contrary, TiO2 films processed at 500 °C show marginal photo induced enhancements in their characteristics. In bilayer configuration with PbS QDs, photovoltaic devices based on low temperature processed TiO2 films show improved performance over high temperature processed TiO2 films. The stability of photovoltaic devices also improved in low temperature processed TiO2 films under ambient working conditions.

Slow-Photon-Effect-Induced Photoelectrical-Conversion Efficiency Enhancement for Carbon-Quantum-Dot-Sensitized Inorganic CsPbBr3 Inverse Opal Perovskite Solar Cells.

PubMed

Zhou, Shujie; Tang, Rui; Yin, Longwei

2017-11-01

All-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskite is suggested as a promising candidate for perovskite solar cells due to its prominent thermal stability and comparable light absorption ability. Designing textured perovskite films rather than using planar-architectural perovskites can indeed optimize the optical and photoelectrical conversion performance of perovskite photovoltaics. Herein, for the first time, this study demonstrates a rational strategy for fabricating carbon quantum dot (CQD-) sensitized all-inorganic CsPbBr 3 perovskite inverse opal (IO) films via a template-assisted, spin-coating method. CsPbBr 3 IO introduces slow-photon effect from tunable photonic band gaps, displaying novel optical response property visible to naked eyes, while CQD inlaid among the IO frameworks not only broadens the light absorption range but also improves the charge transfer process. Applied in the perovskite solar cells, compared with planar CsPbBr 3 , slow-photon effect of CsPbBr 3 IO greatly enhances the light utilization, while CQD effectively facilitates the electron-hole extraction and injection process, prolongs the carrier lifetime, jointly contributing to a double-boosted power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.29% and an increased incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of up to 76.9%. The present strategy on CsPbBr 3 IO to enhance perovskite PCE can be extended to rationally design other novel optoelectronic devices. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Explanation of the photocurrent quantum efficiency (Φ) enhancements through the CAN's model equation for the p-CuI sensitized methylviolet-C18 LB films in the photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) and Cu/n-Cu2O/M-C18/p-CuI solid-state photovoltaic cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernando, C. A. N.; Liyanaarachchi, U. S.; AARajapaksha, R. D.

2013-04-01

Photocurrent enhancements in a dye sensitized photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) with a Cu/p-CuI/M-C18 photoelectrode and a dye sensitized solid state photovoltaic cell (DSSC) with Cu/n-Cu2O/M-C18/p-CuI are studied by controlling the formation of dye aggregates of M-C18 Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films on the p-CuI layer. LB films of M-C18 are deposited under biasing conditions during the LB deposition process on Cu/p-CuI, Cu/n-Cu2O/p-CuI and conductive glass plates with the three-electrode configuration setup coupling to the LB trough. LB films prepared under positive biasing conditions enhance the photocurrent quantum efficiencies for both PECs and DSSCs controlling and minimizing the formation of dye aggregates. The electrolyte used for LB deposition and photocurrent measurements is (10-2 M) Fe2+ + Fe3+ (10-2 M) and (10-2 M) NaH2PO4-Na2HPO4, pH = 6 buffer solution. Maximum photocurrent quantum efficiencies (Фmax%) obtained are ≈22% for PEC and ≈20% for DSSCs, where the M-C18 LB film deposition applied potentials +0.3 V versus Ag/AgCl. The mechanism of the photocurrent enhancement is discussed through the CAN's model equation, Ф = AD0-BD02, where A = k1k2/F, B = I k12 k2[2k6/F3 + k2k4/k32 X2F2], F = k2 + k5Y + k7 + k1 I [1 + k2/k3 X], presented from our previous study [1]. Experimental evidence for the formation of the aggregates of M-C18 LB films for the negative applied potentials and suppression of the aggregates with positive applied potentials are presented from absorption spectra, AFM pictures and fluorescence measurements of the samples. Conversion efficiency obtained is ≈2.5%, Voc ≈750 mV and Isc ≈ 5.8 mA cm-2 for DSSC fabricated with +0.3 V versus Ag/AgCl applied deposition potential of M-C18 LB films.

Effects of proton irradiation on luminescence and carrier dynamics of self-assembled III-V quatum dots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leon, R.; Marcinkevicius, S.; Siegert, J.; Magness, B.; Taylor, W.; Lobo, C.

2002-01-01

The effects of proton irradiation (1.5 MeV) on photoluminescence intensities and carrier dynamics were compared between III-V quantum dots and similar quantum well structures. A significant enhancement in radiation tolerance is seen with three-dimensional quantum confinement. Measurements were carried out in different quantum dot (QD) structures, varying in material (InGaAs/GaAs and InAlAs/AlGaAs), QD surface density (4x10^8 to 3x10'^10 cm^-2), and substrate orientation [(100) and (311) B]. Similar trends were observed for all QD samples. A slight increase in PL emission after low to intermediate proton doses, are also observed in InGaAs/GaAs (100) QD structures. The latter is explained in terms of more efficient carrier transfer from the wetting layer via radiation-induced defects.

Generation of maximally entangled states and coherent control in quantum dot microlenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bounouar, Samir; de la Haye, Christoph; Strauß, Max; Schnauber, Peter; Thoma, Alexander; Gschrey, Manuel; Schulze, Jan-Hindrik; Strittmatter, André; Rodt, Sven; Reitzenstein, Stephan

2018-04-01

The integration of entangled photon emitters in nanophotonic structures designed for the broadband enhancement of photon extraction is a major challenge for quantum information technologies. We study the potential of quantum dot (QD) microlenses as efficient emitters of maximally entangled photons. For this purpose, we perform quantum tomography measurements on InGaAs QDs integrated deterministically into microlenses. Even though the studied QDs show non-zero excitonic fine-structure splitting (FSS), polarization entanglement can be prepared with a fidelity close to unity. The quality of the measured entanglement is only dependent on the temporal resolution of the applied single-photon detectors compared to the period of the excitonic phase precession imposed by the FSS. Interestingly, entanglement is kept along the full excitonic wave-packet and is not affected by decoherence. Furthermore, coherent control of the upper biexcitonic state is demonstrated.

Engineering of lead chalcogenide nanostructures for carrier multiplication: Core/shell, 1D, and 2D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Qianglu

Near infrared emitting semiconductors have been used widely in industry especially in solar-cell fabrications. The efficiency of single junction solar-cell can reach the Shockley-Queisser limit by using optimum band gap material such as silicon and cadmium telluride. The theoretical efficiency can be further enhanced through carrier multiplication, in which a high energy photon is absorbed and more than one electron-hole pair can be generated, reaching more than 100% quantum efficiency in the high energy region of sunlight. The realization of more than unity external quantum efficiency in lead selenide quantum dots solar cell has motivated vast investigation on lowering the carrier multiplication threshold and further improving the efficiency. This dissertation focuses on synthesis of lead chalcogenide nanostructures for their optical spectroscopy studies. PbSe/CdSe core/shell quantum dots were synthesized by cation exchange to obtain thick shells (up to 14 monolayers) for studies of visible and near infrared dual band emissions and carrier multiplication efficiency. By examining the reaction mechanism, a thermodynamic and a kinetic model are introduced to explain the vacancy driven cation exchange. As indicated by the effective mass model, PbSe/CdSe core/shell quantum dots has quasi-type-II band alignment, possessing electron delocalized through the entire quantum dot and hole localized in the core, which breaks down the symmetry of energy levels in the conduction and valence band, leading to hot-hole-assisted efficient multi-exciton generation and a lower carrier multiplication threshold to the theoretical value. For further investigation of carrier multiplication study, PbTe, possessing the highest efficiency among lead chalcogenides due to slow intraband cooling, is synthesized in one-dimensional and two-dimensional nanostructures. By using dodecanethiol as the surfactant, PbTe NRs can be prepared with high uniformity in width and resulted in fine quantum confinement features. The reaction can be explained by a soft-template assisted process, in which the lamellar lead-thiolate precursor transforms into rod-shape micelle in the existence of telluride anions by electrostatic attraction. Fine tuning the reaction condition by changing the solvent to oleylamine, lead telluride nanowires with length up to 200 nm can be prepared, which bundled together because of the strong dipole-dipole attraction between nanowires. Decreasing the amount of surfactant dodecanethiol in the synthesis produces lead telluride nanorings, which formed by attaching four small particles together, leaving the center void. To prepare two-dimensional nanoplatelets, mixture ligands containing two amines with different carbon chain length were used, which initiate oriented attachment of the nanoparticles to form square-shape nanoplatelets. By further adopting stronger binding ligands such as phosphonic acid, PbTe nanoplatelets with micrometer lateral dimension were prepared with extremely sharp near infrared photoluminescence (less than 40 meV), which has never be achieved in quantum dots and other nanostructures.

Quantum-dot light-emitting diodes utilizing CdSe /ZnS nanocrystals embedded in TiO2 thin film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Seung-Hee; Kumar, Ch. Kiran; Lee, Zonghoon; Kim, Kyung-Hyun; Huh, Chul; Kim, Eui-Tae

2008-11-01

Quantum-dot (QD) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are demonstrated on Si wafers by embedding core-shell CdSe /ZnS nanocrystals in TiO2 thin films via plasma-enhanced metallorganic chemical vapor deposition. The n-TiO2/QDs /p-Si LED devices show typical p-n diode current-voltage and efficient electroluminescence characteristics, which are critically affected by the removal of QD surface ligands. The TiO2/QDs /Si system we presented can offer promising Si-based optoelectronic and electronic device applications utilizing numerous nanocrystals synthesized by colloidal solution chemistry.

Integration of a terahertz quantum cascade laser with a hollow waveguide

DOEpatents

Wanke, Michael C [Albuquerque, NM; Nordquist, Christopher D [Albuquerque, NM

2012-07-03

The present invention is directed to the integration of a quantum cascade laser with a hollow waveguide on a chip to improve both the beam pattern and manufacturability. By coupling the QCL output into a single-mode rectangular waveguide the radiation mode structure can be known and the propagation, manipulation, and broadcast of the QCL radiation can then be entirely controlled by well-established rectangular waveguide techniques. By controlling the impedance of the interface, enhanced functions, such as creating amplifiers, efficient coupling to external cavities, and increasing power output from metal-metal THz QCLs, are also enabled.

Nonleaky Population Transfer in a Transmon Qutrit via Largely-Detuned Drivings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Run-Ying; Feng, Zhi-Bo

2018-06-01

We propose an efficient scheme to implement nonleaky population transfer in a transmon qutrit via largely-detuned drivings. Due to weak level anharmonicity of the transmon system, the remarkable quantum leakages need to be considered in quantum coherent operations. Under the conditions of two-photon resonance and large detunings, the robust population transfer within a qutrit can be implemented via the technique of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. Based on the accessible parameters, the feasible approach can remove the leakage error effectively, and then provides a potential approach for enhancing the transfer fidelity with transmon-regime artificial atoms experimentally.

Approximate reversibility in the context of entropy gain, information gain, and complete positivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buscemi, Francesco; Das, Siddhartha; Wilde, Mark M.

2016-06-01

There are several inequalities in physics which limit how well we can process physical systems to achieve some intended goal, including the second law of thermodynamics, entropy bounds in quantum information theory, and the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. Recent results provide physically meaningful enhancements of these limiting statements, determining how well one can attempt to reverse an irreversible process. In this paper, we apply and extend these results to give strong enhancements to several entropy inequalities, having to do with entropy gain, information gain, entropic disturbance, and complete positivity of open quantum systems dynamics. Our first result is a remainder term for the entropy gain of a quantum channel. This result implies that a small increase in entropy under the action of a subunital channel is a witness to the fact that the channel's adjoint can be used as a recovery map to undo the action of the original channel. We apply this result to pure-loss, quantum-limited amplifier, and phase-insensitive quantum Gaussian channels, showing how a quantum-limited amplifier can serve as a recovery from a pure-loss channel and vice versa. Our second result regards the information gain of a quantum measurement, both without and with quantum side information. We find here that a small information gain implies that it is possible to undo the action of the original measurement if it is efficient. The result also has operational ramifications for the information-theoretic tasks known as measurement compression without and with quantum side information. Our third result shows that the loss of Holevo information caused by the action of a noisy channel on an input ensemble of quantum states is small if and only if the noise can be approximately corrected on average. We finally establish that the reduced dynamics of a system-environment interaction are approximately completely positive and trace preserving if and only if the data processing inequality holds approximately.

Fluorescence quantum yield measurements of fluorescent proteins: a laboratory experiment for a biochemistry or molecular biophysics laboratory course.

PubMed

Wall, Kathryn P; Dillon, Rebecca; Knowles, Michelle K

2015-01-01

Fluorescent proteins are commonly used in cell biology to assess where proteins are within a cell as a function of time and provide insight into intracellular protein function. However, the usefulness of a fluorescent protein depends directly on the quantum yield. The quantum yield relates the efficiency at which a fluorescent molecule converts absorbed photons into emitted photons and it is necessary to know for assessing what fluorescent protein is the most appropriate for a particular application. In this work, we have designed an upper-level, biochemistry laboratory experiment where students measure the fluorescence quantum yields of fluorescent proteins relative to a standard organic dye. Four fluorescent protein variants, enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP), enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), mCitrine, and mCherry, were used, however the methods described are useful for the characterization of any fluorescent protein or could be expanded to fluorescent quantum yield measurements of organic dye molecules. The laboratory is designed as a guided inquiry project and takes two, 4 hr laboratory periods. During the first day students design the experiment by selecting the excitation wavelength, choosing the standard, and determining the concentration needed for the quantum yield experiment that takes place in the second laboratory period. Overall, this laboratory provides students with a guided inquiry learning experience and introduces concepts of fluorescence biophysics into a biochemistry laboratory curriculum. © 2014 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The thermoelectric efficiency of quantum dots in indium arsenide/indium phosphide nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffmann, Eric A.

State of the art semiconductor materials engineering provides the possibility to fabricate devices on the lower end of the mesoscopic scale and confine only a handful of electrons to a region of space. When the thermal energy is reduced below the energetic quantum level spacing, the confined electrons assume energy levels akin to the core-shell structure of natural atoms. Such "artificial atoms", also known as quantum dots, can be loaded with electrons, one-by-one, and subsequently unloaded using source and drain electrical contacts. As such, quantum dots are uniquely tunable platforms for performing quantum transport and quantum control experiments. Voltage-biased electron transport through quantum dots has been studied extensively. Far less attention has been given to thermoelectric effects in quantum dots, that is, electron transport induced by a temperature gradient. This dissertation focuses on the efficiency of direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion in InAs/InP quantum dots embedded in nanowires. The efficiency of thermoelectric heat engines is bounded by the same maximum efficiency as cyclic heat engines; namely, by Carnot efficiency. The efficiency of bulk thermoelectric materials suffers from their inability to transport charge carriers selectively based on energy. Owing to their three-dimensional momentum quantization, quantum dots operate as electron energy filters---a property which can be harnessed to minimize entropy production and therefore maximize efficiency. This research was motivated by the possibility to realize experimentally a thermodynamic heat engine operating with near-Carnot efficiency using the unique behavior of quantum dots. To this end, a microscopic heating scheme for the application of a temperature difference across a quantum dot was developed in conjunction with a novel quantum-dot thermometry technique used for quantifying the magnitude of the applied temperature difference. While pursuing high-efficiency thermoelectric performance, many mesoscopic thermoelectric effects were observed and studied, including Coulomb-blockade thermovoltage oscillations, thermoelectric power generation, and strong nonlinear behavior. In the end, a quantum-dot-based thermoelectric heat engine was achieved and demonstrated an electronic efficiency of up to 95% Carnot efficiency.

Impact of an AlAs window layer upon the optical properties of Al x Ga1-x As photodiodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, T.; Chen, X. J.; Johnson, E. B.; Christian, J. F.; Lee, K.; Hammig, M. D.

2016-05-01

Recently developed advanced scintillators, which have the ability to distinguish gamma-ray interaction events from those that accompany neutron impact, require improved quantum efficiency in the blue to near UV region of the spectrum. We utilize GaAs/Al0.8Ga0.2As photodiode elements as components in a wide band-gap solid-state photomultiplier as a lower-cost, lower logistical burden, and higher quantum efficiency replacement for the photomultiplier tube. An AlAs window layer is employed as a means to increase the diode’s optical performance. Relative to structures absent the window layer, simulations and measurements demonstrate that the AlAs layer produces a spatial coincidence between regions of large drift fields with regions of high photon absorption. In addition to the AlAs layer, secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements show that an unexpected high degree of inter-diffusion of GaAs and AlAs quenches the photon-detection efficiency, a decrease that can be avoided by its post-growth removal. With the AlAs layer, the peak external quantum efficiency of 49% is achieved at 450 nm with 10 V reverse bias, which does not fully deplete the device. Simulations show that full depletion can result in efficiencies exceeding 90%. In order to enhance the optical response, a simple anti-reflective coating layer is designed using the existing passivation layer components that successfully minimizes the reflection at the wavelength range of interest (300 nm-500 nm).

Au@Ag core-shell nanocubes for efficient plasmonic light scattering effect in low bandgap organic solar cells.

PubMed

Baek, Se-Woong; Park, Garam; Noh, Jonghyeon; Cho, Changsoon; Lee, Chun-Ho; Seo, Min-Kyo; Song, Hyunjoon; Lee, Jung-Yong

2014-04-22

In this report, we propose a metal-metal core-shell nanocube (NC) as an advanced plasmonic material for highly efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). We covered an Au core with a thin Ag shell as a scattering enhancer to build Au@Ag NCs, which showed stronger scattering efficiency than Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) throughout the visible range. Highly efficient plasmonic organic solar cells were fabricated by embedding Au@Ag NCs into an anodic buffer layer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), and the power conversion efficiency was enhanced to 6.3% from 5.3% in poly[N-9-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT):[6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) based OSCs and 9.2% from 7.9% in polythieno[3,4-b]thiophene/benzodithiophene (PTB7):PC70BM based OSCs. The Au@Ag NC plasmonic PCDTBT:PC70BM-based organic solar cells showed 2.2-fold higher external quantum efficiency enhancement compared to AuNPs devices at a wavelength of 450-700 nm due to the amplified plasmonic scattering effect. Finally, we proved the strongly enhanced plasmonic scattering efficiency of Au@Ag NCs embedded in organic solar cells via theoretical calculations and detailed optical measurements.

TiO2 hierarchical porous film constructed by ultrastable foams as photoanode for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xing; He, Xuan; Zhao, Lei; Chen, Hui; Li, Weixin; Fang, Wei; Zhang, Wanqiu; Wang, Junjie; Chen, Huan

2016-11-01

It reported a novel and simple method for the first time to prepare TiO2 hierarchical porous film (THPF) using ultrastable foams as a soft template to construct porous structures. Moreover, dodecanol as one foam component was creatively used as solvent during the synthesis of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) to decrease reaction temperature and simplify precipitation process. The result showed that hierarchical pores in scale of microns introduced by foams were regarded to benefit for high coverage and unimodal distribution of QDs on the surface of THPF to increase the efficiencies of light-harvesting, charge-collection and charge-transfer. The increased efficiencies caused an enhancement in quantum efficiency of the cell and thus remarkably increased the short circuit current density (Jsc). In addition, the decrease of charge recombination resulted in the increase of the open circuit voltage (Voc) as well. The QDSSC based on THPF exhibited about 2-fold higher power conversion efficiency (η = 2.20%, Jsc = 13.82 mA cm-2, Voc = 0.572 V) than that of TiO2 nanoparticles film (TNF) (η = 1.06%, Jsc = 6.70 mA cm-2, Voc = 0.505 V). It provided a basis to use foams both as soft template and carrier to realize simultaneously construction and in-situ sensitization of photoanode in further work.

Metal Complexes for Organic Optoelectronic Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Liang

Organic optoelectronic devices have drawn extensive attention by over the past two decades. Two major applications for Organic optoelectronic devices are efficient organic photovoltaic devices(OPV) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED). Organic Solar cell has been proven to be compatible with the low cost, large area bulk processing technology and processed high absorption efficiencies compared to inorganic solar cells. Organic light emitting diodes are a promising approach for display and solid state lighting applications. To improve the efficiency, stability, and materials variety for organic optoelectronic devices, several emissive materials, absorber-type materials, and charge transporting materials were developed and employed in various device settings. Optical, electrical, and photophysical studies of the organic materials and their corresponding devices were thoroughly carried out. In this thesis, Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the background knowledge of OPV and OLED research fields presented. Chapter 2 discusses new porphyrin derivatives- azatetrabenzylporphyrins for OPV and near infrared OLED applications. A modified synthetic method is utilized to increase the reaction yield of the azatetrabenzylporphyrin materials and their photophysical properties, electrochemical properties are studied. OPV devices are also fabricated using Zinc azatetrabenzylporphyrin as donor materials. Pt(II) azatetrabenzylporphyrin were also synthesized and used in near infra-red OLED to achieve an emission over 800 nm with reasonable external quantum efficiencies. Chapter 3, discusses the synthesis, characterization, and device evaluation of a series of tetradentate platinum and palladium complexesfor single doped white OLED applications and RGB white OLED applications. Devices employing some of the developed emitters demonstrated impressively high external quantum efficiencies within the range of 22%-27% for various emitter concentrations. And the palladium complex, i.e. Pd3O3, enables the fabrication of stable devices achieving nearly 1000h. at 1000cd/m2 without any outcoupling enhancement while simultaneously achieving peak external quantum efficiencies of 19.9%. Chapter 4 discusses tetradentate platinum and palladium complexes as deep blue emissive materials for display and lighting applications. The platinum complex PtNON, achieved a peak external quantum efficiency of 24.4 % and CIE coordinates of (0.18, 0.31) in a device structure designed for charge confinement and the palladium complexes Pd2O2 exhibited peak external quantum efficiency of up to 19.2%.

Design and analysis of resonant cavity enhanced photodetector by using InP-based concentric circular subwavelength grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Tingting; Huang, Yongqing; Duan, Xiaofeng; Shang, Yufeng; Wang, Wei; Ren, Xiaomin

2011-12-01

This paper presents the design and analysis of a novel resonant cavity enhanced photodetector which is realized by utilizing concentric circular subwavelength gratings (CC-SWGs) as reflective mirrors. The CC-SWG proposed here can achieve a reflectivity of higher than 99% within a broad wavelength range from 1.37 to 1.63 μm. The calculated peak quantum efficiency of the designed photodetector can achieve 90% at 1.55 μm.

A hydrophobic dye-encapsulated nano-hybrid as an efficient fluorescent probe for living cell imaging.

PubMed

Chang, Shu; Wu, Xumeng; Li, Yongsheng; Niu, Dechao; Ma, Zhi; Zhao, Wenru; Gu, Jinlou; Dong, Wenjie; Ding, Feng; Zhu, Weihong; Shi, Jianlin

2012-07-01

Water-soluble hydrophobic-dye@nano-hybrids (DPN@NHs) with extraordinarily enhanced fluorescent performance were fabricated by encapsulating the hydrophobic dye molecules into the core of the hybrid nanospheres based on the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers followed by shell cross-linking using 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxy-silane. The DPN@NHs are 50 nm in size, are monodispersed in aqueous solution and have a quantum yield enhanced by 30 times. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Synthesis and effect of Sr substitution on fluorescence of new Ba 2-xSr xZnS 3: Eu 2+ red phosphor: Considerable enhancement of emission intensity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Chi-Woo; Petrykin, Valery; Kakihana, Masato

2009-01-01

A series of 0.5 mol% Eu 2+-activated Ba 2-xSr xZnS 3 phosphor materials were synthesized using precursors prepared by the polymerizable complex method and their fluorescent properties were studied for the first time. It was found that Sr substitution for Ba leads to the considerable improvement of internal quantum efficiency and emission intensity in these materials compared to Ba 2ZnS 3, while emission peak wavelength exhibits a blue shift from 680 to 660 nm. Rietveld refinement of crystal structure of sample with x=0.7 suggests that Sr ions preferentially occupy one of two Ba sites in this compound. Such a structural re-arrangement might be responsible for the observed quantum efficiency dependence on Sr concentration.

Innovatively Continuous Mass Production Couette-taylor Flow: Pure Inorganic Green-Emitting Cs4PbBr6 Perovskite Microcrystal for display technology.

PubMed

Song, Young Hyun; Choi, Seung Hee; Park, Won Kyu; Yoo, Jin Sun; Kwon, Seok Bin; Kang, Bong Kyun; Park, Sang Ryul; Seo, Young Soo; Yang, Woo Seok; Yoon, Dae Ho

2018-01-31

We report for the first time the mass production of Cs 4 PbBr 6 perovskite microcrystal with a Couette-Taylor flow reactor in order to enhance the efficiency of the synthesis reaction. We obtained a pure Cs 4 PbBr 6 perovskite solid within 3 hrs that then realized a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 46%. Furthermore, the Cs 4 PbBr 6 perovskite microcrystal is applied with red emitting K 2 SiF 6 phosphor on a blue-emitting InGaN chip, achieving a high-performance luminescence characteristics of 9.79 lm/W, external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 2.9%, and correlated color temperature (CCT) of 2976 K; therefore, this perovskite is expected to be a promising candidate material for applications in optoelectronic devices.

Effect of a Phonon Bottleneck on Exciton and Spin Generation in Self-Assembled In1 -xGaxAs Quantum Dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Y. Q.; Buyanova, I. A.; Yang, X. J.; Murayama, A.; Chen, W. M.

2018-04-01

We provide direct experimental evidence for the effect of a phonon bottleneck on exciton and spin generation in self-assembled In0.5Ga0.5As quantum dots (QDs). With the aid of tunable laser spectroscopy, we resolve and identify efficient exciton generation channels in the QDs mediated by longitudinal-optical (LO) phonons from an otherwise inhomogeneously broadened QD emission background that suffers from the phonon bottleneck effect in exciton generation. Spin-generation efficiency is found to be enhanced under the LO-assisted excitation condition due to suppressed spin relaxation accompanying accelerated exciton generation. These findings underline the importance of fine-tuning QD energy levels that will benefit potential spin-optoelectronic applications of QDs by reducing spin loss due to the phonon bottleneck.

Broadband enhancement of single photon emission and polarization dependent coupling in silicon nitride waveguides.

PubMed

Bisschop, Suzanne; Guille, Antoine; Van Thourhout, Dries; Hens, Zeger; Brainis, Edouard

2015-06-01

Single-photon (SP) sources are important for a number of optical quantum information processing applications. We study the possibility to integrate triggered solid-state SP emitters directly on a photonic chip. A major challenge consists in efficiently extracting their emission into a single guided mode. Using 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations, we investigate the SP emission from dipole-like nanometer-sized inclusions embedded into different silicon nitride (SiNx) photonic nanowire waveguide designs. We elucidate the effect of the geometry on the emission lifetime and the polarization of the emitted SP. The results show that highly efficient and polarized SP sources can be realized using suspended SiNx slot-waveguides. Combining this with the well-established CMOS-compatible processing technology, fully integrated and complex optical circuits for quantum optics experiments can be developed.

High resolution, two-dimensional imaging, microchannel plate detector for use on a sounding rocket experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bush, Brett C.; Cotton, Daniel M.; Siegmund, Oswald H.; Chakrabarti, Supriya; Harris, Walter; Clarke, John

1991-01-01

We discuss a high resolution microchannel plate (MCP) imaging detector to be used in measurements of Doppler-shifted hydrogen Lyman-alpha line emission from Jupiter and the interplanetary medium. The detector is housed in a vacuum-tight stainless steel cylinder (to provide shielding from magnetic fields) with a MgF2 window. Operating at nominal voltage, the four plate configuration provides a gain of 1.2 x 10 exp 7 electrons per incident photon. The wedge-and-strip anode has two-dimensional imaging capabilities, with a resolution of 40 microns FWHM over a one centimeter diameter area. The detector has a high quantum efficiency while retaining a low background rate. A KBr photocathode is used to enhance the quantum efficiency of the bare MCPs to a value of 35 percent at Lyman-alpha.

Enhanced solar-blind responsivity of photodetectors based on cubic MgZnO films via gallium doping.

PubMed

Xie, Xiuhua; Zhang, Zhenzhong; Li, Binghui; Wang, Shuangpeng; Jiang, Mingming; Shan, Chongxin; Zhao, Dongxu; Chen, Hongyu; Shen, Dezhen

2014-01-13

We report on gallium (Ga) doped cubic MgZnO films, which have been grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. It was demonstrated that Ga doping improves the n-type conduction of the cubic MgZnO films. A two-orders of magnitude enhancement in lateral n-type conduction have been achieved for the cubic MgZnO films. The responsivity of the cubic MgZnO-based photodetector has been also enhanced. Depletion region electric field intensity enhanced model was adopted to explain the improvement of quantum efficiency in Ga doped MgZnO-based detectors.

Photoluminescence enhancement of silicon quantum dot monolayer by plasmonic substrate fabricated by nano-imprint lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanagawa, Hiroto; Inoue, Asuka; Sugimoto, Hiroshi; Shioi, Masahiko; Fujii, Minoru

2017-12-01

Near-field coupling between a silicon quantum dot (Si-QD) monolayer and a plasmonic substrate fabricated by nano-imprint lithography and having broad multiple resonances in the near-infrared (NIR) window of biological substances was studied by precisely controlling the QDs-substrate distance. A strong enhancement of the NIR photoluminescence (PL) of Si-QDs was observed. Detailed analyses of the PL and PL excitation spectra, the PL decay dynamics, and the reflectance spectra revealed that both the excitation cross-sections and the emission rates are enhanced by the surface plasmon resonances, thanks to the broad multiple resonances of the plasmonic substrate, and that the relative contribution of the two enhancement processes depends strongly on the excitation wavelength. Under excitation by short wavelength photons (405 nm), where enhancement of the excitation cross-section is not expected, the maximum enhancement was obtained when the QDs-substrate distance was around 30 nm. On the other hand, under long wavelength excitation (641 nm), where strong excitation cross-section enhancement is expected, the largest enhancement was obtained when the distance was minimum (around 1 nm). The achievement of efficient excitation of NIR luminescence of Si-QDs by long wavelength photons paves the way for the development of Si-QD-based fluorescence bio-sensing devices with a high bound-to-free ratio.

Wedge Waveguides and Resonators for Quantum Plasmonics

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Plasmonic structures can provide deep-subwavelength electromagnetic fields that are useful for enhancing light–matter interactions. However, because these localized modes are also dissipative, structures that offer the best compromise between field confinement and loss have been sought. Metallic wedge waveguides were initially identified as an ideal candidate but have been largely abandoned because to date their experimental performance has been limited. We combine state-of-the-art metallic wedges with integrated reflectors and precisely placed colloidal quantum dots (down to the single-emitter level) and demonstrate quantum-plasmonic waveguides and resonators with performance approaching theoretical limits. By exploiting a nearly 10-fold improvement in wedge-plasmon propagation (19 μm at a vacuum wavelength, λvac, of 630 nm), efficient reflectors (93%), and effective coupling (estimated to be >70%) to highly emissive (∼90%) quantum dots, we obtain Ag plasmonic resonators at visible wavelengths with quality factors approaching 200 (3.3 nm line widths). As our structures offer modal volumes down to ∼0.004λvac3 in an exposed single-mode waveguide–resonator geometry, they provide advantages over both traditional photonic microcavities and localized-plasmonic resonators for enhancing light–matter interactions. Our results confirm the promise of wedges for creating plasmonic devices and for studying coherent quantum-plasmonic effects such as long-distance plasmon-mediated entanglement and strong plasmon–matter coupling. PMID:26284499

Semiconductor nanocrystals for novel optical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, Jong-Sik

Inspired by the promise of enhanced spectral response, photorefractive polymeric composites photosensitized with semiconductor nanocrystals have emerged as an important class of materials. Here, we report on the photosensitization of photorefractive polymeric composites at visible wavelengths through the inclusion of narrow band-gap semiconductor nanocrystals composed of PbS. Through this approach, internal diffraction efficiencies in excess of 82%, two-beam-coupling gain coefficients in excess of 211 cm-1, and response times 34 ms have been observed, representing some of the best figures-of-merit reported on this class of materials. In addition to providing efficient photosensitization, however, extensive studies of these hybrid composites have indicated that the inclusion of nanocrystals also provides an enhancement in the charge-carrier mobility and subsequent reduction in the photorefractive response time. Through this approach with PbS as charge-carrier, unprecedented response times of 399 micros were observed, opening the door for video and other high-speed applications. It is further demonstrated that this improvement in response time occurs with little sacrifice in photorefractive efficiency and with internal diffraction efficiencies of 72% and two- beam-coupling gain coefficients of 500 cm-1 being measured. A thorough analysis of the experimental data is presented, supporting the hypothesized mechanism of the enhanced charge mobility without the accompaniment of superfluous traps. Finally, water soluble InP/ZnS and CdSe/ZnS quantum dots interacted with CPP and Herceptin to apply them as a bio-maker. Both of quantum dots showed the excellent potential for use in biomedical imaging and drug delivery applications. It is anticipated that these approaches can play a significant role in the eventual commercialization of these classes of materials.

Band tailing and efficiency limitation in kesterite solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gokmen, Tayfun; Gunawan, Oki; Todorov, Teodor K.; Mitzi, David B.

2013-09-01

We demonstrate that a fundamental performance bottleneck for hydrazine processed kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) solar cells with efficiencies reaching above 11% can be the formation of band-edge tail states, which quantum efficiency and photoluminescence data indicate is roughly twice as severe as in higher-performing Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 devices. Low temperature time-resolved photoluminescence data suggest that the enhanced tailing arises primarily from electrostatic potential fluctuations induced by strong compensation and facilitated by a lower CZTSSe dielectric constant. We discuss the implications of the band tails for the voltage deficit in these devices.

InGaN/GaN light-emitting diode having direct hole injection plugs and its high-current operation.

PubMed

Kim, Sungjoon; Cho, Seongjae; Jeong, Jaedeok; Kim, Sungjun; Hwang, Sungmin; Kim, Garam; Yoon, Sukho; Park, Byung-Gook

2017-03-20

The light-emitting diode (LED) with an improved hole injection and straightforward process integration is proposed. p-type GaN direct hole injection plugs (DHIPs) are formed on locally etched multiple-quantum wells (MQWs) by epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) method. We confirm that the optical output power is increased up to 23.2% at an operating current density of 100 A/cm². Furthermore, in order to identify the origin of improvement in optical performance, the transient light decay time and light intensity distribution characteristics were analyzed on the DHIP LED devices. Through the calculation of the electroluminescence (EL) decay time, internal quantum efficiency (IQE) is extracted along with the recombination parameters, which reveals that the DHIPs have a significant effect on enhancement of radiative recombination and reduction of efficiency droop. Furthermore, the mapping PL reveals that the DHIP LED also has a potential to improve the light extraction efficiency by hexagonal pyramid shaped DHIPs.

Design of Al-rich AlGaN quantum well structures for efficient UV emitters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Funato, Mitsuru; Ichikawa, Shuhei; Kumamoto, Kyosuke; Kawakami, Yoichi

2017-02-01

The effects of the structure design of AlGaN-based quantum wells (QWs) on the optical properties are discussed. We demonstrate that to achieve efficient emission in the germicidal wavelength range (250 - 280 nm), AlxGa1-xN QWs in an AlyGa1-yN matrix (x < y) is quite effective, compared with those in an AlN matrix: Time-resolved photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectroscopies show that the AlyGa1-yN matrix can enhance the radiative recombination process and can prevent misfit dislocations, which act as non-radiative recombination centers, from being induced in the QW interface. As a result, the emission intensity at room temperature is about 2.7 times larger for the AlxGa1-xN QW in the AlyGa1-yN matrix than that in the AlN matrix. We also point out that further reduction of point defects is crucial to achieve an even higher emission efficiency.

A highly efficient silole-containing dithienylethene with excellent thermal stability and fatigue resistance: a promising candidate for optical memory storage materials.

PubMed

Chan, Jacky Chi-Hung; Lam, Wai Han; Yam, Vivian Wing-Wah

2014-12-10

Diarylethene compounds are potential candidates for applications in optical memory storage systems and photoswitchable molecular devices; however, they usually show low photocycloreversion quantum yields, which result in ineffective erasure processes. Here, we present the first highly efficient photochromic silole-containing dithienylethene with excellent thermal stability and fatigue resistance. The photochemical quantum yields for photocyclization and photocycloreversion of the compound are found to be high and comparable to each other; the latter of which is rarely found in diarylethene compounds. These would give rise to highly efficient photoswitchable material with effective writing and erasure processes. Incorporation of the silole moiety as a photochromic dithienylethene backbone also was demonstrated to enhance the thermal stability of the closed form, in which the thermal backward reaction to the open form was found to be negligible even at 100 °C, which leads to a promising candidate for use as photoswitchable materials and optical memory storage.

Hot carrier multiplication on graphene/TiO2 Schottky nanodiodes

PubMed Central

Lee, Young Keun; Choi, Hongkyw; Lee, Hyunsoo; Lee, Changhwan; Choi, Jin Sik; Choi, Choon-Gi; Hwang, Euyheon; Park, Jeong Young

2016-01-01

Carrier multiplication (i.e. generation of multiple electron–hole pairs from a single high-energy electron, CM) in graphene has been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally, but direct application of hot carrier multiplication in graphene has not been reported. Here, taking advantage of efficient CM in graphene, we fabricated graphene/TiO2 Schottky nanodiodes and found CM-driven enhancement of quantum efficiency. The unusual photocurrent behavior was observed and directly compared with Fowler’s law for photoemission on metals. The Fowler’s law exponent for the graphene-based nanodiode is almost twice that of a thin gold film based diode; the graphene-based nanodiode also has a weak dependence on light intensity—both are significant evidence for CM in graphene. Furthermore, doping in graphene significantly modifies the quantum efficiency by changing the Schottky barrier. The CM phenomenon observed on the graphene/TiO2 nanodiodes can lead to intriguing applications of viable graphene-based light harvesting. PMID:27271245

The Influences of Quantum Coherence on the Positive Work and the Efficiency of Quantum Heat Engine with Working Substance of Two-Qubit Heisenberg XXX Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Hu-Ping; Fang, Mao-Fa; Yu, Min; Zou, Hong-Mei

2018-03-01

We study the influences of quantum coherence on the positive work and the efficiency of quantum heat engine (QHE) based on working substance of two-qubit Heisenberg model under a constant external magnetic field. By using analytical and numerical solution, we give the relation expressions for both the positive work and the efficiency with quantum coherence, and in detail discuss the effects of the quantum coherence on the positive work and the efficiency of QHE in the absence or presence of external magnetic field, respectively.

The Influences of Quantum Coherence on the Positive Work and the Efficiency of Quantum Heat Engine with Working Substance of Two-Qubit Heisenberg XXX Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Hu-Ping; Fang, Mao-Fa; Yu, Min; Zou, Hong-Mei

2018-06-01

We study the influences of quantum coherence on the positive work and the efficiency of quantum heat engine (QHE) based on working substance of two-qubit Heisenberg model under a constant external magnetic field. By using analytical and numerical solution, we give the relation expressions for both the positive work and the efficiency with quantum coherence, and in detail discuss the effects of the quantum coherence on the positive work and the efficiency of QHE in the absence or presence of external magnetic field, respectively.

Local Gaussian operations can enhance continuous-variable entanglement distillation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang Shengli; Loock, Peter van; Institute of Theoretical Physics I, Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Staudtstrasse 7/B2, DE-91058 Erlangen

2011-12-15

Entanglement distillation is a fundamental building block in long-distance quantum communication. Though known to be useless on their own for distilling Gaussian entangled states, local Gaussian operations may still help to improve non-Gaussian entanglement distillation schemes. Here we show that by applying local squeezing operations both the performance and the efficiency of existing distillation protocols can be enhanced. We find that such an enhancement through local Gaussian unitaries can be obtained even when the initially shared Gaussian entangled states are mixed, as, for instance, after their distribution through a lossy-fiber communication channel.

Plasmon Enhanced Hetero-Junction Solar Cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Gen; Ching, Levine; Sadoqi, Mostafa; Xu, Huizhong

2015-03-01

Here we report a systematic study of plasmon-enhanced hetero-junction solar cells made of colloidal quantum dots (PbS) and nanowires (ZnO), with/without metal nanoparticles (Au). The structure of solar cell devices was characterized by AFM, SEM and profilometer, etc. The power conversion efficiencies of solar cell devices were characterized by solar simulator (OAI TriSOL, AM1.5G Class AAA). The enhancement in the photocurrent due to introduction of metal nanoparticles was obvious. We believe this is due to the plasmonic effect from the metal nanoparticles. The correlation between surface roughness, film uniformity and device performance was also studied.

Highly Efficient Deep Blue Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Imidazole: Significantly Enhanced Performance by Effective Energy Transfer with Negligible Efficiency Roll-off.

PubMed

Shan, Tong; Liu, Yulong; Tang, Xiangyang; Bai, Qing; Gao, Yu; Gao, Zhao; Li, Jinyu; Deng, Jian; Yang, Bing; Lu, Ping; Ma, Yuguang

2016-10-26

Great efforts have been devoted to develop efficient deep blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) materials meeting the standards of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) standard with Commission International de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.06) for flat-panel displays and solid-state lightings. However, high-performance deep blue OLEDs are still rare for applications. Herein, two efficient deep blue emitters, PIMNA and PyINA, are designed and synthesized by coupling naphthalene with phenanthreneimidazole and pyreneimidazole, respectively. The balanced ambipolar transporting natures of them are demonstrated by single-carrier devices. Their nondoped OLEDs show deep blue emissions with extremely small CIE y of 0.034 for PIMNA and 0.084 for PyINA, with negligible efficiency roll-off. To take advantage of high photoluminescence quantum efficiency of PIMNA and large fraction of singlet exciton formation of PyINA, doped devices are fabricated by dispersing PyINA into PIMNA. A significantly improved maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 5.05% is obtained through very effective energy transfer with CIE coordinates of (0.156, 0.060), and the EQE remains 4.67% at 1000 cd m -2 , which is among the best of deep blue OLEDs reported matching stringent EBU standard well.

Role of interference in the photosynthetic heat engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Y. Y.; Liu, J.

2014-11-01

The observation of quantum coherence in pigment-protein complexes has attracted considerable interest. One such endeavor entails applying a quantum heat engine to model the photosynthetic reaction center, but the definition of work used is inconsistent with that defined in quantum thermodynamics. Using the definition of work proposed in Weimer et al. [Europhys. Lett. 83, 30008 (2008), 10.1209/0295-5075/83/30008], we investigated two proposals for enhancing the performance of the photosynthetic reaction center. In proposal A, which is similar to that in Dorfman et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 2746 (2013), 10.1073/pnas.1212666110], we found that the power and current-voltage characteristic of the heat engine can be increased by Fano interference but the efficiency cannot. In proposal B, which is similar to that in Creatore et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 253601 (2013), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.253601], we found that the mechanism of strengthening the performance of the heat engine is invalid; i.e., the dipole-dipole interaction between two electron donors could not increase the power, efficiency, or current-voltage characteristic.

Efficient two-step photocarrier generation in bias-controlled InAs/GaAs quantum dot superlattice intermediate-band solar cells.

PubMed

Kada, T; Asahi, S; Kaizu, T; Harada, Y; Tamaki, R; Okada, Y; Kita, T

2017-07-19

We studied the effects of the internal electric field on two-step photocarrier generation in InAs/GaAs quantum dot superlattice (QDSL) intermediate-band solar cells (IBSCs). The external quantum efficiency of QDSL-IBSCs was measured as a function of the internal electric field intensity, and compared with theoretical calculations accounting for interband and intersubband photoexcitations. The extra photocurrent caused by the two-step photoexcitation was maximal for a reversely biased electric field, while the current generated by the interband photoexcitation increased monotonically with increasing electric field intensity. The internal electric field in solar cells separated photogenerated electrons and holes in the superlattice (SL) miniband that played the role of an intermediate band, and the electron lifetime was extended to the microsecond scale, which improved the intersubband transition strength, therefore increasing the two-step photocurrent. There was a trade-off relation between the carrier separation enhancing the two-step photoexcitation and the electric-field-induced carrier escape from QDSLs. These results validate that long-lifetime electrons are key to maximising the two-step photocarrier generation in QDSL-IBSCs.

The Influence of Geometrical Structure of AlInGaN Double Quantum Well (DQWs) UV Diode Laser on Its Performance and Operating Parameters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghazai, A. J.; Thahab, S. M.; Hassan, H. Abu; Hassan, Z.

2010-07-01

The development of efficient MQWs active regions of quaternary InAlGaN in the ultraviolet (UV) region is an engaging challenge by itself. Demonstrating lasers at such low wavelength will require resolving a number of materials, growth and device design issues. However, the quaternary AlInGaN represents a more versatile material since the bandgap and lattice constant can be independently varied. We report a quaternary AlInGaN double-quantum wells (DQWs) UV laser diode (LDs) study by using the simulation program of Integrated System Engineering-Technical Computer Aided Design (ISE TCAD). Advanced physical models of semiconductor properties were used. In this paper, the enhancement in the performance of AlInGaN laser diode can be achieved by optimizing the laser structure geometry design. The AlInGaN laser diodes operating parameters such as internal quantum efficiency ηi, internal loss αi and transparency threshold current density show effective improvements that contribute to a better performance.

640 x 512 Pixels Long-Wavelength Infrared (LWIR) Quantum-Dot Infrared Photodetector (QDIP) Imaging Focal Plane Array

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gunapala, Sarath D.; Bandara, Sumith V.; Hill, Cory J.; Ting, David Z.; Liu, John K.; Rafol, Sir B.; Blazejewski, Edward R.; Mumolo, Jason M.; Keo, Sam A.; Krishna, Sanjay;

Simple Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Amphiphilic Carbon Quantum Dots from A3/B2 Polyamidation Monomer Set.

PubMed

Choi, Yujin; Jo, Seongho; Chae, Ari; Kim, Young Kwang; Park, Jeong Eun; Lim, Donggun; Park, Sung Young; In, Insik

2017-08-23

Highly fluorescent and amphiphilic carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were prepared by microwave-assisted pyrolysis of citric acid and 4,7,10-trioxa-1,13-tridecanediamine (TTDDA), which functioned as an A 3 and B 2 polyamidation type monomer set. Gram quantities of fluorescent CQDs were easily obtained within 5 min of microwave heating using a household microwave oven. Because of the dual role of TTDDA, both as a constituting monomer and as a surface passivation agent, TTDDA-based CQDs showed a high fluorescence quantum yield of 29% and amphiphilic solubility in various polar and nonpolar solvents. These properties enable the wide application of TTDDA-based CQDs as nontoxic bioimaging agents, nanofillers for polymer composites, and down-converting layers for enhancing the efficiency of Si solar cells.

Nanosecond pulsed laser ablated sub-10 nm silicon nanoparticles for improving photovoltaic conversion efficiency of commercial solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasouli, H. R.; Ghobadi, A.; Ulusoy Ghobadi, T. G.; Ates, H.; Topalli, K.; Okyay, A. K.

2017-10-01

In this paper, we demonstrate the enhancement of photovoltaic (PV) solar cell efficiency using luminescent silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs). Sub-10 nm Si-NPs are synthesized via pulsed laser ablation technique. These ultra-small Si nanoparticles exhibit photoluminescence (PL) character tics at 425 and 517 nm upon excitation by ultra-violet (UV) light. Therefore, they can act as secondary light sources that convert high energetic photons to ones at visible range. This down-shifting property can be a promising approach to enhance PV performance of the solar cell, regardless of its type. As proof-of-concept, polycrystalline commercial solar cells with an efficiency of ca 10% are coated with these luminescent Si-NPs. The nanoparticle-decorated solar cells exhibit up to 1.64% increase in the external quantum efficiency with respect to the uncoated reference cells. According to spectral photo-responsivity characterizations, the efficiency enhancement is stronger in wavelengths below 550 nm. As expected, this is attributed to down-shifting via Si-NPs, which is verified by their PL characteristics. The results presented here can serve as a beacon for future performance enhanced devices in a wide range of applications based on Si-NPs including PVs and LED applications.

Enhanced charge carrier transport properties in colloidal quantum dot solar cells via organic and inorganic hybrid surface passivation† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6ta06835a Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Hong, John; Hou, Bo; Lim, Jongchul; Pak, Sangyeon; Kim, Byung-Sung; Cho, Yuljae; Lee, Juwon; Lee, Young-Woo; Giraud, Paul; Lee, Sanghyo; Park, Jong Bae; Morris, Stephen M.; Snaith, Henry J.; Kim, Jong Min

2016-01-01

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are extremely promising as photovoltaic materials. In particular, the tunability of their electronic band gap and cost effective synthetic procedures allow for the versatile fabrication of solar energy harvesting cells, resulting in optimal device performance. However, one of the main challenges in developing high performance quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs) is the improvement of the photo-generated charge transport and collection, which is mainly hindered by imperfect surface functionalization, such as the presence of surface electronic trap sites and the initial bulky surface ligands. Therefore, for these reasons, finding effective methods to efficiently decorate the surface of the as-prepared CQDs with new short molecular length chemical structures so as to enhance the performance of QDSCs is highly desirable. Here, we suggest employing hybrid halide ions along with the shortest heterocyclic molecule as a robust passivation structure to eliminate surface trap sites while decreasing the charge trapping dynamics and increasing the charge extraction efficiency in CQD active layers. This hybrid ligand treatment shows a better coordination with Pb atoms within the crystal, resulting in low trap sites and a near perfect removal of the pristine initial bulky ligands, thereby achieving better conductivity and film structure. Compared to halide ion-only treated cells, solar cells fabricated through this hybrid passivation method show an increase in the power conversion efficiency from 5.3% for the halide ion-treated cells to 6.8% for the hybrid-treated solar cells. PMID:29308200

Enhancing the brightness of electrically driven single-photon sources using color centers in silicon carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khramtsov, Igor A.; Vyshnevyy, Andrey A.; Fedyanin, Dmitry Yu.

2018-03-01

Practical applications of quantum information technologies exploiting the quantum nature of light require efficient and bright true single-photon sources which operate under ambient conditions. Currently, point defects in the crystal lattice of diamond known as color centers have taken the lead in the race for the most promising quantum system for practical non-classical light sources. This work is focused on a different quantum optoelectronic material, namely a color center in silicon carbide, and reveals the physics behind the process of single-photon emission from color centers in SiC under electrical pumping. We show that color centers in silicon carbide can be far superior to any other quantum light emitter under electrical control at room temperature. Using a comprehensive theoretical approach and rigorous numerical simulations, we demonstrate that at room temperature, the photon emission rate from a p-i-n silicon carbide single-photon emitting diode can exceed 5 Gcounts/s, which is higher than what can be achieved with electrically driven color centers in diamond or epitaxial quantum dots. These findings lay the foundation for the development of practical photonic quantum devices which can be produced in a well-developed CMOS compatible process flow.

Efficient classical simulation of the Deutsch-Jozsa and Simon's algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johansson, Niklas; Larsson, Jan-Åke

2017-09-01

A long-standing aim of quantum information research is to understand what gives quantum computers their advantage. This requires separating problems that need genuinely quantum resources from those for which classical resources are enough. Two examples of quantum speed-up are the Deutsch-Jozsa and Simon's problem, both efficiently solvable on a quantum Turing machine, and both believed to lack efficient classical solutions. Here we present a framework that can simulate both quantum algorithms efficiently, solving the Deutsch-Jozsa problem with probability 1 using only one oracle query, and Simon's problem using linearly many oracle queries, just as expected of an ideal quantum computer. The presented simulation framework is in turn efficiently simulatable in a classical probabilistic Turing machine. This shows that the Deutsch-Jozsa and Simon's problem do not require any genuinely quantum resources, and that the quantum algorithms show no speed-up when compared with their corresponding classical simulation. Finally, this gives insight into what properties are needed in the two algorithms and calls for further study of oracle separation between quantum and classical computation.

Efficiency and formalism of quantum games

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, C.F.; Johnson, Neil F.

We show that quantum games are more efficient than classical games and provide a saturated upper bound for this efficiency. We also demonstrate that the set of finite classical games is a strict subset of the set of finite quantum games. Our analysis is based on a rigorous formulation of quantum games, from which quantum versions of the minimax theorem and the Nash equilibrium theorem can be deduced.

SERS and integrative imaging upon internalization of quantum dots into human oral epithelial cells.

PubMed

Cepeda-Pérez, Elisa; López-Luke, Tzarara; Plascencia-Villa, Germán; Perez-Mayen, Leonardo; Ceja-Fdez, Andrea; Ponce, Arturo; Vivero-Escoto, Juan; de la Rosa, Elder

2016-07-01

CdTe quantum dots (QDs) are widely used in bio-applications due to their size and highly efficient optical properties. However internalization mechanisms thereof for the variety of freshly extracted, not cultivated human cells and their specific molecular interactions remains an open topic for discussion. In this study, we assess the internalization mechanism of CdTe quantum dots (3.3 nm) capped with thioglycolic acid using non cultivated oral epithelial cells obtained from healthy donors. Naked gold nanoparticles (40 nm) were successfully used as nanosensors for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to efficiently identify characteristic Raman peaks, providing new evidence indicating that the first interactions of these QDs with epithelial cells occurred preferentially with aromatic rings and amine groups of amino acid residues and glycans from trans-membrane proteins and cytoskeleton. Using an integrative combination of advanced imaging techniques, including ultra-high resolution SEM, high resolution STEM coupled with EDX spectroscopy together with the results obtained by Raman spectroscopy, it was determined that thioglycolic acid capped CdTe QDs are efficiently internalized into freshly extracted oral epithelial cells only by facilitated diffusion, distributed into cytoplasm and even within the cell nucleus in three minutes. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

MoS2 quantum dots@TiO2 nanotube composites with enhanced photoexcited charge separation and high-efficiency visible-light driven photocatalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Fenfen; Rong, Yuefei; Wan, Junmin; Hu, Zhiwen; Peng, Zhiqin; Wang, Bing

2018-03-01

MoS2 quantum dots (QDs) that are 5 nm in size were deposited on the surface of ultrathin TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) with 5 nm wall thickness by using an improved hydrothermal method to form a MoS2 QDs@TNT visible-light photocatalyst. The ultrathin TNTs with high percentage of photocatalytic reactive facets were fabricated by the commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles (P25) through an improved hydrothermal method, and the MoS2 QDs were acquired by using a surfactant-assisted technique. The novel MoS2 QDs@TNT photocatalysts showed excellent photocatalytic activity with a decolorization rate of 92% or approximately 3.5 times more than that of pure TNTs for the high initial concentration of methylene blue solution (20 mg l-1) within 40 min under visible-light irradiation. MoS2 as the co-catalysts favored the broadening of TNTs into the visible-light absorption scope. The quantum confinement and edge effects of the MoS2 QDs and the heterojunction formed between the MoS2 QDs and TNTs efficiently extended the lifetime of photoinduced charges, impeded the recombination of photoexcited electron-hole pairs, and improved the visible-light-driven high-efficiency photocatalysis.

Cavity-enhanced frequency doubling from 795nm to 397.5nm ultra-violet coherent radiation with PPKTP crystals in the low pump power regime.

PubMed

Wen, Xin; Han, Yashuai; Bai, Jiandong; He, Jun; Wang, Yanhua; Yang, Baodong; Wang, Junmin

2014-12-29

We demonstrate a simple, compact and cost-efficient diode laser pumped frequency doubling system at 795 nm in the low power regime. In two configurations, a bow-tie four-mirror ring enhancement cavity with a PPKTP crystal inside and a semi-monolithic PPKTP enhancement cavity, we obtain 397.5nm ultra-violet coherent radiation of 35mW and 47mW respectively with a mode-matched fundamental power of about 110mW, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 32% and 41%. The low loss semi-monolithic cavity leads to the better results. The constructed ultra-violet coherent radiation has good power stability and beam quality, and the system has huge potential in quantum optics and cold atom physics.

Broadband Solar Energy Harvesting in Single Nanowire Resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yiming; Peng, Xingyue; Hyatt, Steven; Yu, Dong

2015-03-01

Sub-wavelength semiconductor nanowires (NWs) can have optical absorption cross sections far beyond their physical sizes at resonance frequencies, offering a powerful method to simultaneously lower the material consumption and enhance photovoltaic performance. The degree of absorption enhancement is expected to substantially increase in materials with high refractive indices, but this has not yet been experimentally demonstrated. Here, we show that the absorption efficiency can be significantly improved in high-index NWs, by a direct observation of 350% external quantum efficiency (EQE) in lead sulfide (PbS) NWs. Broadband absorption enhancement is also realized in tapered NWs, where light of different wavelength is absorbed at segments with different diameters analogous to a tandem solar cell. Our results quantitatively agree with the finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulations. Overall, our single PbS NW Schottky solar cells taking advantage of optical resonance, near bandgap open circuit voltage, and long minority carrier diffusion length exhibit power conversion efficiency comparable to single Si NW coaxial p-n junction cells, while the fabrication complexity is greatly reduced.

Enhancing Photovoltaic Performance Using Broadband Luminescent Down-Shifting by Combining Multiple Species of Eu-Doped Silicate Phosphors.

PubMed

Ho, Wen-Jeng; Shen, Yu-Tang; Liu, Jheng-Jie; You, Bang-Jin; Ho, Chun-Hung

2017-10-21

This paper demonstrates the application of a broadband luminescent downshifting (LDS) layer with multiple species of europium (Eu)-doped silicate phosphors using spin-on film technique to enhance the photovoltaic efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. The surface morphology of the deposited layer was examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The chemical composition of the Eu-doped silicate phosphors was analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The fluorescence emission of the Eu-doped silicate phosphors was characterized using photoluminescence (PL) measurements at room temperature. We also compared the optical reflectance and external quantum efficiency (EQE) response of cells with combinations of various Eu-doped phosphors species. The cell coated with two species of Eu-doped phosphors achieved a conversion efficiency enhancement (∆ η ) of 19.39%, far exceeding the ∆ η = 15.08% of the cell with one species of Eu-doped phosphors and the ∆ η = 8.51% of the reference cell with the same silicate layer without Eu-doped phosphors.

An Adaptive Cultural Algorithm with Improved Quantum-behaved Particle Swarm Optimization for Sonar Image Detection.

PubMed

Wang, Xingmei; Hao, Wenqian; Li, Qiming

2017-12-18

This paper proposes an adaptive cultural algorithm with improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (ACA-IQPSO) to detect the underwater sonar image. In the population space, to improve searching ability of particles, iterative times and the fitness value of particles are regarded as factors to adaptively adjust the contraction-expansion coefficient of the quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm (QPSO). The improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm (IQPSO) can make particles adjust their behaviours according to their quality. In the belief space, a new update strategy is adopted to update cultural individuals according to the idea of the update strategy in shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA). Moreover, to enhance the utilization of information in the population space and belief space, accept function and influence function are redesigned in the new communication protocol. The experimental results show that ACA-IQPSO can obtain good clustering centres according to the grey distribution information of underwater sonar images, and accurately complete underwater objects detection. Compared with other algorithms, the proposed ACA-IQPSO has good effectiveness, excellent adaptability, a powerful searching ability and high convergence efficiency. Meanwhile, the experimental results of the benchmark functions can further demonstrate that the proposed ACA-IQPSO has better searching ability, convergence efficiency and stability.

The quantum mitochondrion and optimal health.

PubMed

Nunn, Alistair V W; Guy, Geoffrey W; Bell, Jimmy D

2016-08-15

A sufficiently complex set of molecules, if subject to perturbation, will self-organize and show emergent behaviour. If such a system can take on information it will become subject to natural selection. This could explain how self-replicating molecules evolved into life and how intelligence arose. A pivotal step in this evolutionary process was of course the emergence of the eukaryote and the advent of the mitochondrion, which both enhanced energy production per cell and increased the ability to process, store and utilize information. Recent research suggest that from its inception life embraced quantum effects such as 'tunnelling' and 'coherence' while competition and stressful conditions provided a constant driver for natural selection. We believe that the biphasic adaptive response to stress described by hormesis-a process that captures information to enable adaptability, is central to this whole process. Critically, hormesis could improve mitochondrial quantum efficiency, improving the ATP/ROS ratio, whereas inflammation, which is tightly associated with the aging process, might do the opposite. This all suggests that to achieve optimal health and healthy aging, one has to sufficiently stress the system to ensure peak mitochondrial function, which itself could reflect selection of optimum efficiency at the quantum level. © 2016 The Author(s). published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

InGaAs/GaAsP strain balanced multi-quantum wires grown on misoriented GaAs substrates for high efficiency solar cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alonso-Álvarez, D.; Thomas, T.; Führer, M.

Quantum wires (QWRs) form naturally when growing strain balanced InGaAs/GaAsP multi-quantum wells (MQW) on GaAs [100] 6° misoriented substrates under the usual growth conditions. The presence of wires instead of wells could have several unexpected consequences for the performance of the MQW solar cells, both positive and negative, that need to be assessed to achieve high conversion efficiencies. In this letter, we study QWR properties from the point of view of their performance as solar cells by means of transmission electron microscopy, time resolved photoluminescence and external quantum efficiency (EQE) using polarised light. We find that these QWRs have longermore » lifetimes than nominally identical QWs grown on exact [100] GaAs substrates, of up to 1 μs, at any level of illumination. We attribute this effect to an asymmetric carrier escape from the nanostructures leading to a strong 1D-photo-charging, keeping electrons confined along the wire and holes in the barriers. In principle, these extended lifetimes could be exploited to enhance carrier collection and reduce dark current losses. Light absorption by these QWRs is 1.6 times weaker than QWs, as revealed by EQE measurements, which emphasises the need for more layers of nanostructures or the use light trapping techniques. Contrary to what we expected, QWR show very low absorption anisotropy, only 3.5%, which was the main drawback a priori of this nanostructure. We attribute this to a reduced lateral confinement inside the wires. These results encourage further study and optimization of QWRs for high efficiency solar cells.« less

P-type surface effects for thickness variation of 2um and 4um of n-type layer in GaN LED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halim, N. S. A. Abdul; Wahid, M. H. A.; Hambali, N. A. M. Ahmad; Rashid, S.; Ramli, M. M.; Shahimin, M. M.

2017-09-01

The internal quantum efficiency of III-Nitrides group, GaN light-emitting diode (LED) has been considerably limited due to the insufficient hole injection and this is caused by the lack of performance p-type doping and low hole mobility. The low hole mobility makes the hole less energetic, thus reduced the performance operation of GaN LED itself. The internal quantum efficiency of GaN-based LED with surface roughness (texture) can be changed by texture size, density, and thickness of GaN film or by the combined effects of surface shape and thickness of GaN film. Besides, due to lack of p-type GaN, attempts to look forward the potential of GaN LED relied on the thickness of n-type layer and surface shape of p-type GaN layer. This work investigates the characteristics of GaN LED with undoped n-GaN layer of different thickness and the surface shape of p-type layer. The LEDs performance is significantly altered by modifying the thickness and shape. Enhancement of n-GaN layer has led to the annihilation of electrical conductivity of the chip. Different surface geometry governs the emission rate extensively. Internal quantum efficiency is also predominantly affected by the geometry of n-GaN layer which subjected to the current spreading. It is recorded that the IQE droop can be minimized by varying the thickness of the active layer without amplifying the forward voltage. Optimum forward voltage (I-V), total emission rate relationship with the injected current and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) for 2,4 µm on four different surfaces of p-type layer are also reported in this paper.

InGaAs/GaAsP strain balanced multi-quantum wires grown on misoriented GaAs substrates for high efficiency solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alonso-Álvarez, D.; Thomas, T.; Führer, M.; Hylton, N. P.; Ekins-Daukes, N. J.; Lackner, D.; Philipps, S. P.; Bett, A. W.; Sodabanlu, H.; Fujii, H.; Watanabe, K.; Sugiyama, M.; Nasi, L.; Campanini, M.

2014-08-01

Quantum wires (QWRs) form naturally when growing strain balanced InGaAs/GaAsP multi-quantum wells (MQW) on GaAs [100] 6° misoriented substrates under the usual growth conditions. The presence of wires instead of wells could have several unexpected consequences for the performance of the MQW solar cells, both positive and negative, that need to be assessed to achieve high conversion efficiencies. In this letter, we study QWR properties from the point of view of their performance as solar cells by means of transmission electron microscopy, time resolved photoluminescence and external quantum efficiency (EQE) using polarised light. We find that these QWRs have longer lifetimes than nominally identical QWs grown on exact [100] GaAs substrates, of up to 1 μs, at any level of illumination. We attribute this effect to an asymmetric carrier escape from the nanostructures leading to a strong 1D-photo-charging, keeping electrons confined along the wire and holes in the barriers. In principle, these extended lifetimes could be exploited to enhance carrier collection and reduce dark current losses. Light absorption by these QWRs is 1.6 times weaker than QWs, as revealed by EQE measurements, which emphasises the need for more layers of nanostructures or the use light trapping techniques. Contrary to what we expected, QWR show very low absorption anisotropy, only 3.5%, which was the main drawback a priori of this nanostructure. We attribute this to a reduced lateral confinement inside the wires. These results encourage further study and optimization of QWRs for high efficiency solar cells.

High-Efficiency and High-Power Mid-Wave Infrared Cascade Lasers

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

internal quantum efficiency () and factor (2) is usually called the optical extraction efficiency (). The optical extraction efficiency ... quantum efficiency involves more fundamental parameters corresponding to the microscopic processes of the device operation, nevertheless, it can be...deriving parameters such as the internal quantum efficiency of a QC laser, the entire injector miniband can be treated as a single virtual state

Surface tuning laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (STLDI-MS) for the analysis of small molecules using quantum dots.

PubMed

Abdelhamid, Hani Nasser; Chen, Zhen-Yu; Wu, Hui-Fen

2017-08-01

In most applications of quantum dots (QDs) for surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS), one side of QDs is supported by a solid substrate (stainless - steel plate), whereas the other side is in contact with the target analytes. Therefore, the surface capping agent of QDs is a key parameter for laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). Cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) modified with different capping agents are synthesized, characterized, and applied for surface tuning laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (STLDI-MS). Data shows that CdTe quantum dot modified cysteine (cys@CdTe QDs) has an absorption that matches with the wavelength of the N 2 laser (337 nm). The synergistic effect of large surface area and absorption of the laser irradiation of cys@CdTe QDs enhances the LDI-MS process for small - molecule analysis, including α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrin, gramicidin D, perylene, pyrene, and triphenylphosphine. Cys@CdTe QDs are also applied using Al foils as substrates. Aluminum foil combined with cys@CdTe QDs enhances the ionization efficiency and is cheap compared to traditional matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) with a stainless - steel plate.

On the minimum quantum requirement of photosynthesis.

PubMed

Zeinalov, Yuzeir

2009-01-01

An analysis of the shape of photosynthetic light curves is presented and the existence of the initial non-linear part is shown as a consequence of the operation of the non-cooperative (Kok's) mechanism of oxygen evolution or the effect of dark respiration. The effect of nonlinearity on the quantum efficiency (yield) and quantum requirement is reconsidered. The essential conclusions are: 1) The non-linearity of the light curves cannot be compensated using suspensions of algae or chloroplasts with high (>1.0) optical density or absorbance. 2) The values of the maxima of the quantum efficiency curves or the values of the minima of the quantum requirement curves cannot be used for estimation of the exact value of the maximum quantum efficiency and the minimum quantum requirement. The estimation of the maximum quantum efficiency or the minimum quantum requirement should be performed only after extrapolation of the linear part at higher light intensities of the quantum requirement curves to "0" light intensity.

ZnO Quantum Dot Decorated Zn2SnO4 Nanowire Heterojunction Photodetectors with Drastic Performance Enhancement and Flexible Ultraviolet Image Sensors.

PubMed

Li, Ludong; Gu, Leilei; Lou, Zheng; Fan, Zhiyong; Shen, Guozhen

2017-04-25

Here we report the fabrication of high-performance ultraviolet photodetectors based on a heterojunction device structure in which ZnO quantum dots were used to decorate Zn 2 SnO 4 nanowires. Systematic investigations have shown their ultrahigh light-to-dark current ratio (up to 6.8 × 10 4 ), specific detectivity (up to 9.0 × 10 17 Jones), photoconductive gain (up to 1.1 × 10 7 ), fast response, and excellent stability. Compared with a pristine Zn 2 SnO 4 nanowire, a quantum dot decorated nanowire demonstrated about 10 times higher photocurrent and responsivity. Device physics modeling showed that their high performance originates from the rational energy band engineering, which allows efficient separation of electron-hole pairs at the interfaces between ZnO quantum dots and a Zn 2 SnO 4 nanowire. As a result of band engineering, holes migrate to ZnO quantum dots, which increases electron concentration and lifetime in the nanowire conduction channel, leading to significantly improved photoresponse. The enhancement mechanism found in this work can also be used to guide the design of high-performance photodetectors based on other nanomaterials. Furthermore, flexible ultraviolet photodetectors were fabricated and integrated into a 10 × 10 device array, which constitutes a high-performance flexible ultraviolet image sensor. These intriguing results suggest that the band alignment engineering on nanowires can be rationally achieved using compound semiconductor quantum dots. This can lead to largely improved device performance. Particularly for ZnO quantum dot decorated Zn 2 SnO 4 nanowires, these decorated nanowires may find broad applications in future flexible and wearable electronics.

Scattering theory of efficient quantum transport across finite networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walschaers, Mattia; Mulet, Roberto; Buchleitner, Andreas

2017-11-01

We present a scattering theory for the efficient transmission of an excitation across a finite network with designed disorder. We show that the presence of randomly positioned network sites allows significant acceleration of the excitation transfer processes as compared to a dimer structure, but only if the disordered Hamiltonians are constrained to be centrosymmetric and exhibit a dominant doublet in their spectrum. We identify the cause of this efficiency enhancement to be the constructive interplay between disorder-induced fluctuations of the dominant doublet’s splitting and the coupling strength between the input and output sites to the scattering channels. We find that the characteristic strength of these fluctuations together with the channel coupling fully control the transfer efficiency.

Positive temperature coefficient of photovoltaic efficiency in solar cells based on InGaN/GaN MQWs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Zhaoying; Zheng, Xiantong; Li, Zhilong

2016-08-08

We report a 23.4% improvement of conversion efficiency in solar cells based on InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells by using a patterned sapphire substrate in the fabrication process. The efficiency enhancement is due to the improvement of the crystalline quality, as proven by the reduction of the threading dislocation density. More importantly, the better crystalline quality leads to a positive photovoltaic efficiency temperature coefficient up to 423 K, which shows the property and advantage of wide gap semiconductors like InGaN, signifying the potential of III-nitride based solar cells for high temperature and concentrating solar power applications.

Recent advancements in plasmon-enhanced promising third-generation solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thrithamarassery Gangadharan, Deepak; Xu, Zhenhe; Liu, Yanlong; Izquierdo, Ricardo; Ma, Dongling

2017-01-01

The unique optical properties possessed by plasmonic noble metal nanostructures in consequence of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) are useful in diverse applications like photovoltaics, sensing, non-linear optics, hydrogen generation, and photocatalytic pollutant degradation. The incorporation of plasmonic metal nanostructures into solar cells provides enhancement in light absorption and scattering cross-section (via LSPR), tunability of light absorption profile especially in the visible region of the solar spectrum, and more efficient charge carrier separation, hence maximizing the photovoltaic efficiency. This review discusses about the recent development of different plasmonic metal nanostructures, mainly based on Au or Ag, and their applications in promising third-generation solar cells such as dye-sensitized solar cells, quantum dot-based solar cells, and perovskite solar cells.

GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Grown on Nanoscale Patterned Sapphire Substrates with Void-Embedded Cortex-Like Nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yu-Sheng; Yeh, J. Andrew

2011-09-01

High-efficiency GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an emitting wavelength of 438 nm were demonstrated utilizing nanoscale patterned sapphire substrates with void-embedded cortex-like nanostructures (NPSS-VECN). Unlike the previous nanopatterned sapphire substrates, the presented substrate has a new morphology that can not only improve the crystalline quality of GaN epilayers but also generate a void-embedded nanostructural layer to enhance light extraction. Under a driving current of 20 mA, the external quantum efficiency of an LED with NPSS-VECN is enhanced by 2.4-fold compared with that of the conventional LED. Moreover, the output powers of two devices respectively are 33.1 and 13.9 mW.

Quantum dot sensitized solar cells: Light harvesting versus charge recombination, a film thickness consideration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiu Wei; Wang, Ye Feng; Zeng, Jing Hui; Shi, Feng; Chen, Yu; Jiang, Jiaxing

2017-08-01

Sensitizer loading level is one of the key factors determined the performance of sensitized solar cells. In this work, we systemically studied the influence of photo-anode thicknesses on the performance of the quantum-dot sensitized solar cells. It is found that the photo-to-current conversion efficiency enhances with increased film thickness and peaks at around 20 μm. The optimal value is about twice as large as the dye counterparts. Here, we also uncover the underlying mechanism about the influence of film thickness over the photovoltaic performance of QDSSCs from the light harvesting and charge recombination viewpoint.

High efficiency blue and white phosphorescent organic light emitting devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eom, Sang-Hyun

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have important applications in full-color flat-panel displays and as solid-state lighting sources. Achieving high efficiency deep-blue phosphorescent OLEDs (PHOLEDs) is necessary for high performance full-color displays and white light sources with a high color rendering index (CRI); however it is more challenging compared to the longer wavelength light emissions such as green and red due to the higher energy excitations for the deep-blue emitter as well as the weak photopic response of deep-blue emission. This thesis details several effective strategies to enhancing efficiencies of deep-blue PHOLEDs based on iridium(III) bis(4',6'-difluorophenylpyridinato)tetrakis(1-pyrazolyl)borate (FIr6), which are further employed to demonstrate high efficiency white OLEDs by combining the deep-blue emitter with green and red emitters. First, we have employed 1,1-bis-(di-4-tolylaminophenyl) cyclohexane (TAPC) as the hole transporting material to enhance electron and triplet exciton confinement in Fir6-based PHOLEDs, which increased external quantum efficiency up to 18 %. Second, dual-emissive-layer (D-EML) structures consisting of an N,N -dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) layer doped with 4 wt % FIr6 and a p-bis (triphenylsilyly)benzene (UGH2) layer doped with 25 wt % FIr6 was employed to maximize exciton generation in the emissive layer. Combined with the p-i-n device structure, high power efficiencies of (25 +/- 2) lm/W at 100 cd/m2 and (20 +/- 2) lm/W at 1000 cd/m 2 were achieved. Moreover, the peak external quantum efficiency of (20 +/- 1) % was achieved by employing tris[3-(3-pyridyl)mesityl]borane (3TPYMB) as the electron transporting material, which further improves the exciton confinement in the emissive layer. With Cs2CO3 doping in the 3TPYMB layer to greatly increase its electrical conductivity, a peak power efficiency up to (36 +/- 2) lm/W from the deep-blue PHOLED was achieved, which also maintains Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.16, 0.28). High efficiency white PHOLEDs are also demonstrated by incorporating green and red phosphorescent emitters together with the deep-blue emitter FIr6. Similar to the FIr6-only devices, the D-EML structure with high triplet energy charge transport materials leads to a maximum external quantum efficiency of (19 +/- 1) %. Using the p-i-n device structure, a peak power efficiency of (40 +/- 2) lm/W and (36 +/- 2) lm/W at 100 cd/m2 were achieved, and the white PHOLED possesses a CRI of 79 and CIE coordinates of (0.37, 0.40). The limited light extraction from the planar-type OLEDs is also one of the remaining challenges to the OLED efficiency. Here we have developed a simple soft lithography technique to fabricate a transparent, close-packed hemispherical microlens arrays. The application of such microlens arrays to the glass surface of the large-area fluorescent OLEDs enhanced the light extraction efficiency up to (70 +/- 7)%. It is also shown that the light extraction efficiency of the OLEDs is affected by microlens contact angle, OLEDs size, and detailed layer structure of the OLEDs.

Exceeding Conventional Photovoltaic Efficiency Limits Using Colloidal Quantum Dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pach, Gregory F.

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are a widely investigated field of research due to their highly tunable nature in which the optical and electronic properties of the nanocrystal can be manipulated by merely changing the nanocrystal's size. Specifically, colloidal quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs) have become a promising candidate for future generation photovoltaic technology. Quantum dots exhibit multiple exciton generation (MEG) in which multiple electron-hole pairs are generated from a single high-energy photon. This process is not observed in bulk-like semiconductors and allows for QDSCs to achieve theoretical efficiency limits above the standard single-junction Shockley-Queisser limit. However, the fast expanding field of QDSC research has lacked standardization of synthetic techniques and device design. Therefore, we sought to detail methodology for synthesizing PbS and PbSe QDs as well as photovoltaic device fabrication techniques as a fast track toward constructing high-performance solar cells. We show that these protocols lead toward consistently achieving efficiencies above 8% for PbS QDSCs. Using the same methodology for building single-junction photovoltaic devices, we incorporated PbS QDs as a bottom cell into a monolithic tandem architecture along with solution-processed CdTe nanocrystals. Modeling shows that near-peak tandem device efficiencies can be achieved across a wide range of bottom cell band gaps, and therefore the highly tunable band gap of lead-chalcogenide QDs lends well towards a bottom cell in a tandem architecture. A fully functioning monolithic tandem device is realized through the development of a ZnTe/ZnO recombination layer that appropriately combines the two subcells in series. Multiple recent reports have shown nanocrystalline heterostructures to undergo the MEG process more efficiency than several other nanostrucutres, namely lead-chalcogenide QDs. The final section of my thesis expands upon a recent publication by Zhang et. al., which details the synthesis of PbS/CdS heterostructures in which the PbS and CdS domains exist on opposite sides of the nanocrystal and are termed "Janus particles". Transient absorption spectroscopy shows MEG quantum yields above unity very the thermodynamic limit of 2Eg for PbS/CdS Janus particles. We further explain a mechanism for enhanced MEG using photoluminescence studies.

Exploring the effect of band alignment and surface states on photoinduced electron transfer from CuInS2/CdS core/shell quantum dots to TiO2 electrodes.

PubMed

Sun, Mingye; Zhu, Dehua; Ji, Wenyu; Jing, Pengtao; Wang, Xiuying; Xiang, Weidong; Zhao, Jialong

2013-12-11

Photoinduced electron transfer (ET) processes from CuInS2/CdS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) with different core sizes and shell thicknesses to TiO2 electrodes were investigated by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The ET rates and efficiencies from CuInS2/CdS QDs to TiO2 were superior to those of CuInS2/ZnS QDs. An enhanced ET efficiency was surprisingly observed for 2.0 nm CuInS2 core QDs after growth of the CdS shell. On the basis of the experimental and theoretical analysis, the improved performances of CuInS2/CdS QDs were attributed to the passivation of nonradiative traps by overcoating shell and enhanced delocalization of electron wave function from core to CdS shell due to lower conduction band offset. These results indicated that the electron distribution regulated by the band alignment between core and shell of QDs and the passivation of surface defect states could improve ET performance between donor and acceptor.

Enhanced photocurrent density of HTM-free perovskite solar cells by carbon quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Haiyuan; Guo, Daipeng; He, Bowen; Yu, Jiaguo; Fan, Ke

2018-02-01

Full-printable and hole transport material (HTM)-free perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with carbon counter electrodes feature high stability and low cost. However, the perovskite film prepared by conventional one-step solution-coating method always shows a relatively poor coverage on the substrate, leading to the limit of the photocurrent density. In this study, we incorporated carbon quantum dots (CQDs) in the perovskite films, and investigated their effects on the performance of TiO2 nanosheet-based and HTM-free PSCs. It was found that the addition of CQDs to the perovskite film can enhance the photocurrent density of PSCs, and the optimal PSC with 0.1% CQDs evolved 60% higher photocurrent density than the pristine one. The improved photocurrent density was attributed to the heterogeneous nuclei derived from CQDs during perovskite crystallization, which would increase amount of perovskite nuclei and form a fine perovskite grain, leading to a better coverage on the substrate. Moreover, due to the excellent conductivity, CQDs in perovskite films could efficiently transport the photo-excited electrons, accelerating the separation and mobilization of charge carriers. This study presents the incorporation of CQDs in perovskite as an efficient approach to promote the performance of HTM-free PSCs.

Single-crystalline germanium nanomembrane photodetectors on foreign nanocavities

DOE PAGES

Xia, Zhenyang; Song, Haomin; Kim, Munho; ...

2017-07-07

Miniaturization of optoelectronic devices offers tremendous performance gain. As the volume of photoactive material decreases, optoelectronic performance improves, including the operation speed, the signal-to-noise ratio, and the internal quantum efficiency. Over the past decades, researchers have managed to reduce the volume of photoactive materials in solar cells and photodetectors by orders of magnitude. However, two issues arise when one continues to thin down the photoactive layers to the nanometer scale (for example, <50 nm). First, light-matter interaction becomes weak, resulting in incomplete photon absorption and low quantum efficiency. Second, it is difficult to obtain ultrathin materials with single-crystalline quality. Wemore » introduce a method to overcome these two challenges simultaneously. It uses conventional bulk semiconductor wafers, such as Si, Ge, and GaAs, to realize single-crystalline films on foreign substrates that are designed for enhanced light-matter interaction. We use a high-yield and high-throughput method to demonstrate nanometer-thin photodetectors with significantly enhanced light absorption based on nanocavity interference mechanism. As a result, these single-crystalline nanomembrane photodetectors also exhibit unique optoelectronic properties, such as the strong field effect and spectral selectivity.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lin, Chun-Han; Su, Chia-Ying; Chen, Chung-Hui

Further reduction of the efficiency droop effect and further enhancements of internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and output intensity of a surface plasmon coupled, blue-emitting light-emitting diode (LED) by inserting a dielectric interlayer (DI) of a lower refractive index between p-GaN and surface Ag nanoparticles are demonstrated. The insertion of a DI leads to a blue shift of the localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance spectrum and increases the LSP coupling strength at the quantum well emitting wavelength in the blue range. With SiO{sub 2} as the DI, a thinner DI leads to a stronger LSP coupling effect, when compared with themore » case of a thicker DI. By using GaZnO, which is a dielectric in the optical range and a good conductor under direct-current operation, as the DI, the LSP coupling results in the highest IQE, highest LED output intensity, and weakest droop effect.« less

Growth of delta-doped layers on silicon CCD/S for enhanced ultraviolet response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoenk, Michael E. (Inventor); Grunthaner, Paula J. (Inventor); Grunthaner, Frank J. (Inventor); Terhune, Robert W. (Inventor); Hecht, Michael H. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

The backside surface potential well of a backside-illuminated CCD is confined to within about half a nanometer of the surface by using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow a delta-doped silicon layer on the back surface. Delta-doping in an MBE process is achieved by temporarily interrupting the evaporated silicon source during MBE growth without interrupting the evaporated p+ dopant source (e.g., boron). This produces an extremely sharp dopant profile in which the dopant is confined to only a few atomic layers, creating an electric field high enough to confine the backside surface potential well to within half a nanometer of the surface. Because the probability of UV-generated electrons being trapped by such a narrow potential well is low, the internal quantum efficiency of the CCD is nearly 100% throughout the UV wavelength range. Furthermore, the quantum efficiency is quite stable.

H3PO4 treated surface modified CuS counter electrodes with high electrocatalytic activity for enhancing photovoltaic performance of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panthakkal Abdul Muthalif, Mohammed; Sunesh, Chozhidakath Damodharan; Choe, Youngson

2018-05-01

Herein we report a simple synthetic strategy to prepare highly efficient and surface modified CuS counter electrodes (CEs) for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) in the presence of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) using the chemical bath deposition method. This is the first report of successful treatment of H3PO4 on the surface of CuS CEs for designing a high-performance QDSSCs with improved photovoltaic properties. After optimization, the 4 ml H3PO4 treated CuS CE-based QDSSC exhibits excellent photovoltaic performance with a conversion efficiency (η) of 4.20% (Voc = 0.592 V, Jsc = 13.35 mA cm-2, FF = 0.532) under one full-sun illumination (100 mW cm-2, AM 1.5 G).

Hydrothermal growth of TiO2 nanowire membranes sensitized with CdS quantum dots for the enhancement of photocatalytic performance

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

In this paper, TiO2 nanowires (NWs) on Ti foils were prepared using a simple hydrothermal approach and annealing treatment. CdS quantum dots (QDs) were assembled onto the crystallized TiO2 NWs by sequential chemical bath deposition. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra showed that CdS adds bands in the visible to the TiO2 absorption and exhibited a broad absorption band in the visible region, which extended the scope of absorption spectrum and helped improve the photocatalytic degradation efficiency. The results of photocatalytic experiment revealed that CdS-TiO2 NWs possessed higher photocatalytic activities toward methyl orange than pure TiO2 nanowires. The degradation efficiency of 96.32% after ten cycles indicated that the as-prepared CdS-TiO2 composite exhibited excellent long-time recyclable ability and can be reused for the degradation of contaminants. PMID:24936164

Effect of Ag doping on the properties of ZnO thin films for UV stimulated emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razeen, Ahmed S.; Gadallah, A.-S.; El-Nahass, M. M.

2018-06-01

Ag doped ZnO thin films have been prepared using sol-gel spin coating method, with different doping concentrations. Structural and morphological properties of the films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Thin films have been optically pumped and stimulated emission has been observed with strong peaks in the UV region. The UV stimulated emission is found to be due to exciton-exciton scattering, and Ag doping promoted this process by increasing the excitons concentrations in the ZnO lattice. Output-input intensity relation and peak emission, FWHM, and quantum efficiency relations with pump intensity have been reported. The threshold for which stimulated emission started has been evaluated to be about 18 MW/cm2 with quantum efficiency of about 58.7%. Mechanisms explaining the role of Ag in enhancement of stimulated emission from ZnO thin films have been proposed.

Nanotetrapods: quantum dot hybrid for bulk heterojunction solar cells

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Hybrid thin film solar cell based on all-inorganic nanoparticles is a new member in the family of photovoltaic devices. In this work, a novel and performance-efficient inorganic hybrid nanostructure with continuous charge transportation and collection channels is demonstrated by introducing CdTe nanotetropods (NTs) and CdSe quantum dots (QDs). Hybrid morphology is characterized, demonstrating an interpenetration and compacted contact of NTs and QDs. Electrical measurements show enhanced charge transfer at the hybrid bulk heterojunction interface of NTs and QDs after ligand exchange which accordingly improves the performance of solar cells. Photovoltaic and light response tests exhibit a combined optic-electric contribution from both CdTe NTs and CdSe QDs through a formation of interpercolation in morphology as well as a type II energy level distribution. The NT and QD hybrid bulk heterojunction is applicable and promising in other highly efficient photovoltaic materials such as PbS QDs. PMID:24139059

Enhancing the luminescence efficiency of silicon-nanocrystals by interaction with H+ ions.

PubMed

Cannas, Marco; Camarda, Pietro; Vaccaro, Lavinia; Amato, Francesco; Messina, Fabrizio; Fiore, Tiziana; Li Vigni, Maria

2018-04-18

The emission of silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs), synthesized by pulsed laser ablation in water, was investigated on varying the pH of the solution. These samples emit μs decaying orange photoluminescence (PL) associated with radiative recombination of quantum-confined excitons. Time-resolved spectra reveal that both the PL intensity and the lifetime increase by a factor of ∼20 when the pH decreases from 10 to 1 thus indicating that the emission quantum efficiency increases by inhibiting nonradiative decay rates. Infrared (IR) absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experiments allow addressing the origin of defects on which the excitons nonradiatively recombine. The linear correlation between the PL and the growth of SiH groups demonstrates that H+ ions passivate the nonradiative defects that are located in the interlayer between the Si-NC core and the amorphous SiO2 shell.

Molecular-Barrier-Enhanced Aromatic Fluorophores in Cocrystals with Unity Quantum Efficiency.

PubMed

Ye, Huanqing; Liu, Guangfeng; Liu, Sheng; Casanova, David; Ye, Xin; Tao, Xutang; Zhang, Qichun; Xiong, Qihua

2018-02-12

Singlet-triplet conversion in organic light-emitting materials introduces non-emissive (dark) and long-lived triplet states, which represents a significant challenge in constraining the optical properties. There have been considerable attempts at separating singlets and triplets in long-chain polymers, scavenging triplets, and quenching triplets with heavy metals; nonetheless, such triplet-induced loss cannot be fully eliminated. Herein, a new strategy of crafting a periodic molecular barrier into the π-conjugated matrices of organic aromatic fluorophores is reported. The molecular barriers effectively block the singlet-to-triplet pathway, resulting in near-unity photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) of the organic fluorophores. The transient optical spectroscopy measurements confirm the absence of the triplet absorption. These studies provide a general approach to preventing the formation of dark triplet states in organic semiconductors and bring new opportunities for the development of advanced organic optics and photonics. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Effet de l'énergie du faisceau d'ions servant à l'assistance du dépôt de matériaux organiques utilisés pour réaliser des diodes électroluminescentes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antony, R.; Moliton, A.; Ratier, B.

1998-06-01

Light emitting diode based on the structure ITO/Alq3/Ca-Al lead to enhanced quantum efficiency when the Alq3 active layer is obtained by IBAD (Ion Beam Assisted Deposition): with Iodine ions, the optimization (quantum efficiency multiplied by a factor10) is obtained for an ion energy equal to 100eV. La réalisation de diodes électroluminescentes basées sur la structure ITO/Alq3/Ca-Al conduit à des performances améliorées lorsque le dépôt de la couche active Alq3 est effectué avec l'assistance d'un faisceau d'ions; l'optimisation (rendement quantique interne accru d'un ordre de grandeur) correspond à des ions Iode d'énergie 100eV.

Entanglement routers via a wireless quantum network based on arbitrary two qubit systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metwally, N.

2014-12-01

A wireless quantum network is generated between multi-hops, where each hop consists of two entangled nodes. These nodes share a finite number of entangled two-qubit systems randomly. Different types of wireless quantum bridges (WQBS) are generated between the non-connected nodes. The efficiency of these WQBS to be used as quantum channels between its terminals to perform quantum teleportation is investigated. We suggest a theoretical wireless quantum communication protocol to teleport unknown quantum signals from one node to another, where the more powerful WQBS are used as quantum channels. It is shown that, by increasing the efficiency of the sources that emit the initial partial entangled states, one can increase the efficiency of the wireless quantum communication protocol.

An efficient quantum circuit analyser on qubits and qudits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loke, T.; Wang, J. B.

2011-10-01

This paper presents a highly efficient decomposition scheme and its associated Mathematica notebook for the analysis of complicated quantum circuits comprised of single/multiple qubit and qudit quantum gates. In particular, this scheme reduces the evaluation of multiple unitary gate operations with many conditionals to just two matrix additions, regardless of the number of conditionals or gate dimensions. This improves significantly the capability of a quantum circuit analyser implemented in a classical computer. This is also the first efficient quantum circuit analyser to include qudit quantum logic gates.

New Insights into Sensitization Mechanism of the Doped Ce (IV) into Strontium Titanate

PubMed Central

Wang, Yuan; Liu, Chenglun; Xu, Longjun

2018-01-01

SrTiO3 and Ce4+ doped SrTiO3 were synthesized by a modified sol–gel process. The optimization synthesis parameters were obtained by a series of single factor experiments. Interesting phenomena are observable in Ce4+ doped SrTiO3 systems. Sr2+ in SrTiO3 system was replaced by Ce4+, which reduced the surface segregation of Ti4+, ameliorated agglomeration, increased specific surface area more than four times compared with pure SrTiO3, and enhanced quantum efficiency for SrTiO3. Results showed that Ce4+ doping increased the physical adsorption of H2O and adsorbed oxygen on the surface of SrTiO3, which produced additional catalytic active centers. Electrons on the 4f energy level for Ce4+ produced new energy states in the band gap of SrTiO3, which not only realized the use of visible light but also led to an easier separation between the photogenerated electrons and holes. Ce4+ repeatedly captured photoelectrons to produce Ce3+, which inhibited the recombination between photogenerated electrons and holes as well as prolonged their lifetime; it also enhanced quantum efficiency for SrTiO3. The methylene blue (MB) degradation efficiency reached 98.7% using 3 mol % Ce4+ doped SrTiO3 as a photocatalyst, indicating highly photocatalytic activity. PMID:29690605

Advancing colloidal quantum dot photovoltaic technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Yan; Arinze, Ebuka S.; Palmquist, Nathan; Thon, Susanna M.

2016-06-01

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are attractive materials for solar cells due to their low cost, ease of fabrication and spectral tunability. Progress in CQD photovoltaic technology over the past decade has resulted in power conversion efficiencies approaching 10%. In this review, we give an overview of this progress, and discuss limiting mechanisms and paths for future improvement in CQD solar cell technology.We briefly summarize nanoparticle synthesis and film processing methods and evaluate the optoelectronic properties of CQD films, including the crucial role that surface ligands play in materials performance. We give an overview of device architecture engineering in CQD solar cells. The compromise between carrier extraction and photon absorption in CQD photovoltaics is analyzed along with different strategies for overcoming this trade-off. We then focus on recent advances in absorption enhancement through innovative device design and the use of nanophotonics. Several light-trapping schemes, which have resulted in large increases in cell photocurrent, are described in detail. In particular, integrating plasmonic elements into CQD devices has emerged as a promising approach to enhance photon absorption through both near-field coupling and far-field scattering effects. We also discuss strategies for overcoming the single junction efficiency limits in CQD solar cells, including tandem architectures, multiple exciton generation and hybrid materials schemes. Finally, we offer a perspective on future directions for the field and the most promising paths for achieving higher device efficiencies.

Efficient quantum walk on a quantum processor

PubMed Central

Qiang, Xiaogang; Loke, Thomas; Montanaro, Ashley; Aungskunsiri, Kanin; Zhou, Xiaoqi; O'Brien, Jeremy L.; Wang, Jingbo B.; Matthews, Jonathan C. F.

2016-01-01

The random walk formalism is used across a wide range of applications, from modelling share prices to predicting population genetics. Likewise, quantum walks have shown much potential as a framework for developing new quantum algorithms. Here we present explicit efficient quantum circuits for implementing continuous-time quantum walks on the circulant class of graphs. These circuits allow us to sample from the output probability distributions of quantum walks on circulant graphs efficiently. We also show that solving the same sampling problem for arbitrary circulant quantum circuits is intractable for a classical computer, assuming conjectures from computational complexity theory. This is a new link between continuous-time quantum walks and computational complexity theory and it indicates a family of tasks that could ultimately demonstrate quantum supremacy over classical computers. As a proof of principle, we experimentally implement the proposed quantum circuit on an example circulant graph using a two-qubit photonics quantum processor. PMID:27146471

Modulating emission polarization of semiconductor quantum dots through surface plasmon of metal nanorod

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Mu-Tian; Liu, Shao-Ding; Wang, Qu-Quan

2008-04-01

We theoretically investigated the dynamics of exciton populations [ρyy(t ) and ρxx(t )] on two orthogonal polarization eigenstates (∣x⟩ and ∣y⟩) and the polarization ratio P(t )=[ρyy(t )-ρxx(t )]/[ρyy(t )+ρxx(t )] of an anisotropic InGaAs quantum dot modulated by the surface plasmon of an Au nanorod (NR). In the resonance of longitudinal surface plasmon of AuNR, the polarization ratio P(t ) increases from 0.22 to 0.99 during the excitation due to the efficient enhancement of Rabi frequency of the transition between the ∣y⟩ and vacuum states, and decreases from 0.02 to -0.92 after the excitation pulse due to the enhancement of decay rate of the ∣y⟩ state. This offers an approach to modulate the dynamic polarization ratio of radiative emissions.

High intersubband absorption in long-wave quantum well infrared photodetector based on waveguide resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yuanliao; Chen, Pingping; Ding, Jiayi; Yang, Heming; Nie, Xiaofei; Zhou, Xiaohao; Chen, Xiaoshuang; Lu, Wei

2018-06-01

A hybrid structure consisting of periodic gold stripes and an overlaying gold film has been proposed as the optical coupler of a long-wave quantum well infrared photodetector. Absorption spectra and field distributions of the structure at back-side normal incidence are calculated by the finite difference time-domain method. The results indicate that the intersubband absorption can be greatly enhanced based on the waveguide resonance as well as the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode. With the optimized structural parameters of the periodic gold stripes, the maximal intersubband absorption can exceed 80%, which is much higher than the SPP-enhanced intersubband absorption (<50%) and about 6 times the one of the standard device. The relationship between the structural parameters and the waveguide resonant wavelength is derived. Other advantages of the efficient optical coupling based on waveguide resonance are also discussed.

Broadband light trapping strategies for quantum-dot photovoltaic cells (>10%) and their issues with the measurement of photovoltaic characteristics.

PubMed

Cho, Changsoon; Song, Jung Hoon; Kim, Changjo; Jeong, Sohee; Lee, Jung-Yong

2017-12-12

Bandgap tunability and broadband absorption make quantum-dot (QD) photovoltaic cells (PVs) a promising candidate for future solar energy conversion systems. Approaches to improving the electrical properties of the active layer increase efficiency in part. The present study focuses on optical room for enhancement in QD PVs over wide spectrum in the near-infrared (NIR) region. We find that ray-optical light trapping schemes rather than the nanophotonics approach may be the best solution for enhancing broadband QD PVs by suppressing the escape probability of internal photons without spectral dependency. Based on the theoretical study of diverse schemes for various bandgaps, we apply a V-groove structure and a V-groove textured compound parabolic trapper (VCPT) to PbS-based QD PVs along with the measurement issues for PVs with a light scattering layer. The efficiency of the best device is improved from 10.3% to 11.0% (certified to 10.8%) by a V-groove structure despite the possibility of underestimation caused by light scattering in small-area devices (aperture area: 0.0625 cm 2 ). By minimizing such underestimation, even greater enhancements of 13.6% and 15.6% in short circuit current are demonstrated for finger-type devices (0.167 cm 2 without aperture) and large-area devices (2.10 cm 2 with an aperture of 0.350 cm 2 ), respectively, using VCPT.

Hot carrier-enhanced interlayer electron-hole pair multiplication in 2D semiconductor heterostructure photocells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barati, Fatemeh; Grossnickle, Max; Su, Shanshan; Lake, Roger K.; Aji, Vivek; Gabor, Nathaniel M.

2017-12-01

Strong electronic interactions can result in novel particle-antiparticle (electron-hole, e-h) pair generation effects, which may be exploited to enhance the photoresponse of nanoscale optoelectronic devices. Highly efficient e-h pair multiplication has been demonstrated in several important nanoscale systems, including nanocrystal quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and graphene. The small Fermi velocity and nonlocal nature of the effective dielectric screening in ultrathin layers of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) indicates that e-h interactions are very strong, so high-efficiency generation of e-h pairs from hot electrons is expected. However, such e-h pair multiplication has not been observed in 2D TMD devices. Here, we report the highly efficient multiplication of interlayer e-h pairs in 2D semiconductor heterostructure photocells. Electronic transport measurements of the interlayer I-VSD characteristics indicate that layer-indirect e-h pairs are generated by hot-electron impact excitation at temperatures near T = 300 K. By exploiting this highly efficient interlayer e-h pair multiplication process, we demonstrate near-infrared optoelectronic devices that exhibit 350% enhancement of the optoelectronic responsivity at microwatt power levels. Our findings, which demonstrate efficient carrier multiplication in TMD-based optoelectronic devices, make 2D semiconductor heterostructures viable for a new class of ultra-efficient photodetectors based on layer-indirect e-h excitations.

Focused-ion-beam overlay-patterning of three-dimensional diamond structures for advanced single-photon properties

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiang, Qianqing; Liu, Dongqi; Liu, Gangqin

2014-07-28

Sources of single photons are of fundamental importance in many applications as to provide quantum states for quantum communication and quantum information processing. Color centers in diamond are prominent candidates to generate and manipulate quantum states of light, even at room temperature. However, the efficiency of photon collection of the color centers in bulk diamond is greatly reduced by refraction at the diamond/air interface. To address this issue, diamond structuring has been investigated by various methods. Among them, focused-ion-beam (FIB) direct patterning has been recognized as the most favorable technique. But it has been noted that diamond tends to presentmore » significant challenges in FIB milling, e.g., the susceptibility of forming charging related artifacts and topographical features. In this work, periodically-positioned-rings and overlay patterning with stagger-superimposed-rings were proposed to alleviate some problems encountered in FIB milling of diamond, for improved surface morphology and shape control. Cross-scale network and uniform nanostructure arrays have been achieved in single crystalline diamond substrates. High quality diamond solid immersion lens and nanopillars were sculptured with a nitrogen-vacancy center buried at the desired position. Compared with the film counterpart, an enhancement of about ten folds in single photon collection efficiency was achieved with greatly improved signal to noise ratio. All these results indicate that FIB milling through over-lay patterning could be an effective approach to fabricate diamond structures, potentially for quantum information studies.« less

CdS/CdSe quantum dots and ZnPc dye co-sensitized solar cells with Au nanoparticles/graphene oxide as efficient modified layer.

PubMed

Chen, Cong; Cheng, Yu; Jin, Junjie; Dai, Qilin; Song, Hongwei

2016-10-15

Co-sensitization by using two or more sensitizers with complementary absorption spectra to expand the spectral response range is an effective approach to enhance device performance of quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). To improve the light-harvesting in the visible/near-infrared (NIR) region, organic dye zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) was combined with CdS/CdSe quantum dots (QDs) for co-sensitized solar cells based on ZnO inverse opals (IOs) as photoanode. The resulting co-sensitized device shows an efficient panchromatic spectral response feature to ∼750nm and presents an overall conversion efficiency of 4.01%, which is superior to that of the individual ZnPc-sensitized solar cells and CdS/CdSe-sensitized solar cells. Meanwhile, an Au nanoparticles/graphene oxide (Au NPs/GO) composite layer was successfully prepared to modify Cu2S counter electrode for the co-sensitized solar cells. Reducing the carrier recombination process by GO and catalytic process of Au NPs leads to increased power conversion efficiency(PCE) from 4.01 to 4.60% and sustainable stability remains ∼85% of its original value after 60min light exposure. In this paper, introduction of the organic dyes as co-sensitizer and Au NPs/GO as counter electrode modified layer has been proved to be an effective route to improve the performance of QDSSCs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance of a multilevel quantum heat engine of an ideal N-particle Fermi system.

PubMed

Wang, Rui; Wang, Jianhui; He, Jizhou; Ma, Yongli

2012-08-01

We generalize the quantum heat engine (QHE) model which was first proposed by Bender et al. [J. Phys. A 33, 4427 (2000)] to the case in which an ideal Fermi gas with an arbitrary number N of particles in a box trap is used as the working substance. Besides two quantum adiabatic processes, the engine model contains two isoenergetic processes, during which the particles are coupled to energy baths at a high constant energy E(h) and a low constant energy E(c), respectively. Directly employing the finite-time thermodynamics, we find that the power output is enhanced by increasing particle number N (or decreasing minimum trap size L(A)) for given L(A) (or N), without reduction in the efficiency. By use of global optimization, the efficiency at possible maximum power output (EPMP) is found to be universal and independent of any parameter contained in the engine model. For an engine model with any particle-number N, the efficiency at maximum power output (EMP) can be determined under the condition that it should be closest to the EPMP. Moreover, we extend the heat engine to a more general multilevel engine model with an arbitrary 1D power-law potential. Comparison between our engine model and the Carnot cycle shows that, under the same conditions, the efficiency η = 1 - E(c)/E(h) of the engine cycle is bounded from above the Carnot value η(c) =1 - T(c)/T(h).

ZnSe quantum dots modified with a Ni(cyclam) catalyst for efficient visible-light driven CO2 reduction in water.

PubMed

Kuehnel, Moritz F; Sahm, Constantin D; Neri, Gaia; Lee, Jonathan R; Orchard, Katherine L; Cowan, Alexander J; Reisner, Erwin

2018-03-07

A precious metal and Cd-free photocatalyst system for efficient CO 2 reduction in water is reported. The hybrid assembly consists of ligand-free ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) as a visible-light photosensitiser combined with a phosphonic acid-functionalised Ni(cyclam) catalyst, NiCycP. This precious metal-free photocatalyst system shows a high activity for aqueous CO 2 reduction to CO (Ni-based TON CO > 120), whereas an anchor-free catalyst, Ni(cyclam)Cl 2 , produced three times less CO. Additional ZnSe surface modification with 2-(dimethylamino)ethanethiol (MEDA) partially suppresses H 2 generation and enhances the CO production allowing for a Ni-based TON CO of > 280 and more than 33% selectivity for CO 2 reduction over H 2 evolution, after 20 h visible light irradiation ( λ > 400 nm, AM 1.5G, 1 sun). The external quantum efficiency of 3.4 ± 0.3% at 400 nm is comparable to state-of-the-art precious metal photocatalysts. Transient absorption spectroscopy showed that band-gap excitation of ZnSe QDs is followed by rapid hole scavenging and very fast electron trapping in ZnSe. The trapped electrons transfer to NiCycP on the ps timescale, explaining the high performance for photocatalytic CO 2 reduction. With this work we introduce ZnSe QDs as an inexpensive and efficient visible light-absorber for solar fuel generation.

A universal quantum information processor for scalable quantum communication and networks

PubMed Central

Yang, Xihua; Xue, Bolin; Zhang, Junxiang; Zhu, Shiyao

2014-01-01

Entanglement provides an essential resource for quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum networks. How to conveniently and efficiently realize the generation, distribution, storage, retrieval, and control of multipartite entanglement is the basic requirement for realistic quantum information processing. Here, we present a theoretical proposal to efficiently and conveniently achieve a universal quantum information processor (QIP) via atomic coherence in an atomic ensemble. The atomic coherence, produced through electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the Λ-type configuration, acts as the QIP and has full functions of quantum beam splitter, quantum frequency converter, quantum entangler, and quantum repeater. By employing EIT-based nondegenerate four-wave mixing processes, the generation, exchange, distribution, and manipulation of light-light, atom-light, and atom-atom multipartite entanglement can be efficiently and flexibly achieved in a deterministic way with only coherent light fields. This method greatly facilitates the operations in quantum information processing, and holds promising applications in realistic scalable quantum communication and quantum networks. PMID:25316514

Scheme for efficient extraction of low-frequency signal beyond the quantum limit by frequency-shift detection.

PubMed

Yang, R G; Zhang, J; Zhai, Z H; Zhai, S Q; Liu, K; Gao, J R

2015-08-10

Low-frequency (Hz~kHz) squeezing is very important in many schemes of quantum precision measurement. But it is more difficult than that at megahertz-frequency because of the introduction of laser low-frequency technical noise. In this paper, we propose a scheme to obtain a low-frequency signal beyond the quantum limit from the frequency comb in a non-degenerate frequency and degenerate polarization optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) operating below threshold with type I phase matching by frequency-shift detection. Low-frequency squeezing immune to laser technical noise is obtained by a detection system with a local beam of two-frequency intense laser. Furthermore, the low-frequency squeezing can be used for phase measurement in Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be enhanced greatly.

Quantum optimization for training support vector machines.

PubMed

Anguita, Davide; Ridella, Sandro; Rivieccio, Fabio; Zunino, Rodolfo

2003-01-01

Refined concepts, such as Rademacher estimates of model complexity and nonlinear criteria for weighting empirical classification errors, represent recent and promising approaches to characterize the generalization ability of Support Vector Machines (SVMs). The advantages of those techniques lie in both improving the SVM representation ability and yielding tighter generalization bounds. On the other hand, they often make Quadratic-Programming algorithms no longer applicable, and SVM training cannot benefit from efficient, specialized optimization techniques. The paper considers the application of Quantum Computing to solve the problem of effective SVM training, especially in the case of digital implementations. The presented research compares the behavioral aspects of conventional and enhanced SVMs; experiments in both a synthetic and real-world problems support the theoretical analysis. At the same time, the related differences between Quadratic-Programming and Quantum-based optimization techniques are considered.

Suppressing molecular motions for enhanced room-temperature phosphorescence of metal-free organic materials

PubMed Central

Kwon, Min Sang; Yu, Youngchang; Coburn, Caleb; Phillips, Andrew W.; Chung, Kyeongwoon; Shanker, Apoorv; Jung, Jaehun; Kim, Gunho; Pipe, Kevin; Forrest, Stephen R.; Youk, Ji Ho; Gierschner, Johannes; Kim, Jinsang

2015-01-01

Metal-free organic phosphorescent materials are attractive alternatives to the predominantly used organometallic phosphors but are generally dimmer and are relatively rare, as, without heavy-metal atoms, spin–orbit coupling is less efficient and phosphorescence usually cannot compete with radiationless relaxation processes. Here we present a general design rule and a method to effectively reduce radiationless transitions and hence greatly enhance phosphorescence efficiency of metal-free organic materials in a variety of amorphous polymer matrices, based on the restriction of molecular motions in the proximity of embedded phosphors. Covalent cross-linking between phosphors and polymer matrices via Diels–Alder click chemistry is devised as a method. A sharp increase in phosphorescence quantum efficiency is observed in a variety of polymer matrices with this method, which is ca. two to five times higher than that of phosphor-doped polymer systems having no such covalent linkage. PMID:26626796

Transparent Ultra-High-Loading Quantum Dot/Polymer Nanocomposite Monolith for Gamma Scintillation.

PubMed

Liu, Chao; Li, Zhou; Hajagos, Tibor Jacob; Kishpaugh, David; Chen, Dustin Yuan; Pei, Qibing

2017-06-27

Spectroscopic gamma-photon detection has widespread applications for research, defense, and medical purposes. However, current commercial detectors are either prohibitively expensive for wide deployment or incapable of producing the characteristic gamma photopeak. Here we report the synthesis of transparent, ultra-high-loading (up to 60 wt %) Cd x Zn 1-x S/ZnS core/shell quantum dot/polymer nanocomposite monoliths for gamma scintillation by in situ copolymerization of the partially methacrylate-functionalized quantum dots in a monomer solution. The efficient Förster resonance energy transfer of the high-atomic-number quantum dots to lower-band-gap organic dyes enables the extraction of quantum-dot-borne excitons for photon production, resolving the problem of severe light yield deterioration found in previous nanoparticle-loaded scintillators. As a result, the nanocomposite scintillator exhibited simultaneous improvements in both light yield (visible photons produced per MeV of gamma-photon energy) and gamma attenuation. With these enhancements, a 662 keV Cs-137 gamma photopeak with 9.8% resolution has been detected using a 60 wt % quantum-dot nanocomposite scintillator, demonstrating the potential of such a nanocomposite system in the development of high-performance low-cost spectroscopic gamma detectors.

Directive and enhanced spontaneous emission using shifted cubes nanoantenna

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bahari, B.; Tellez-Limon, R.; Kante, B., E-mail: bkante@ucsd.edu

2016-09-07

Recent studies have demonstrated that nano-patch antennas formed by metallic nanocubes placed on top of a metallic film largely enhance the spontaneous emission rate of quantum emitters due to the confinement of the electromagnetic field in the small nanogap cavity. The popularity of this architecture is, in part, due to the ease in fabrication. In this contribution, we theoretically demonstrate that a dimer formed by two metallic nanocubes embedded in a dielectric medium exhibits enhanced emission rate compared to the nano-patch antenna. Furthermore, we compare the directivity and radiation efficiency of both nanoantennas. From these characteristics, we obtained information aboutmore » the “material efficiency” and the coupling mismatch efficiency between a dipole emitter and the nanoantenna. These quantities provide a more intuitive insight than the Purcell factor or localized density of states, opening new perspectives in nanoantenna design for ultra-directive light emission.« less

Mitochondria-targeted cationic porphyrin-triphenylamine hybrids for enhanced two-photon photodynamic therapy.

PubMed

Hammerer, Fabien; Poyer, Florent; Fourmois, Laura; Chen, Su; Garcia, Guillaume; Teulade-Fichou, Marie-Paule; Maillard, Philippe; Mahuteau-Betzer, Florence

2018-01-01

The proof of concept for two-photon activated photodynamic therapy has already been achieved for cancer treatment but the efficiency of this approach still heavily relies on the availability of photosensitizers combining high two-photon absorption and biocompatibility. In this line we recently reported on a series of porphyrin-triphenylamine hybrids which exhibit high singlet oxygen production quantum yield as well as high two-photon absorption cross-sections but with a very poor cellular internalization. We present herein new photosensitizers of the same porphyrin-triphenylamine hybrid series but bearing cationic charges which led to strongly enhanced water solubility and thus cellular penetration. In addition the new compounds have been found localized in mitochondria that are preferential target organelles for photodynamic therapy. Altogether the strongly improved properties of the new series combined with their specific mitochondrial localization lead to a significantly enhanced two-photon activated photodynamic therapy efficiency. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Graphene/Si solar cells employing triethylenetetramine dopant and polymethylmethacrylate antireflection layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Dong Hee; Jang, Chan Wook; Lee, Ha Seung; Seo, Sang Woo; Kim, Sung; Choi, Suk-Ho

2018-03-01

We report the use of triethylenetetramine (TETA) as a dopant of graphene transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) for Si heterojunction solar cells. The molar concentration (nD) of TETA is varied from 0.05 to 0.3 mM to optimize the graphene TCEs. The TETA-doped graphene/Si Schottky solar cells show a maximum power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.32% at nD = 0.2 mM, resulting from the enhanced electrical and optical properties, as proved from the nD-dependent behaviors of sheet resistance, transmittance, reflectance, series resistance, and external quantum efficiency. In addition, polymethylmethacrylate is employed as an antireflection layer to enhance the light-trapping effect on graphene/Si solar cells, resulting in further enhancement of the maximum PCE from 4.32 to 5.48%. The loss of the PCE is only within 2% of its original value during 10 days in air.

High efficiency and enhanced ESD properties of UV LEDs by inserting p-GaN/p-AlGaN superlattice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Yong; Li, PeiXian; Yang, Zhuo; Hao, Yue; Wang, XiaoBo

2014-05-01

Significantly improved electrostatic discharge (ESD) properties of InGaN/GaN-based UV light-emitting diode (LED) with inserting p-GaN/p-AlGaN superlattice (p-SLs) layers (instead of p-AlGaN single layer) between multiple quantum wells and Mg-doped GaN layer are reported. The pass yield of the LEDs increased from 73.53% to 93.81% under negative 2000 V ESD pulses. In addition, the light output power (LOP) and efficiency droop at high injection current were also improved. The mechanism of the enhanced ESD properties was then investigated. After excluding the effect of capacitance modulation, high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements demonstrated that the dominant mechanism of the enhanced ESD properties is the material quality improved by p-SLs, which indicated less leakage paths, rather than the current spreading improved by p-SLs.

High efficiency coherent optical memory with warm rubidium vapour

PubMed Central

Hosseini, M.; Sparkes, B.M.; Campbell, G.; Lam, P.K.; Buchler, B.C.

2011-01-01

By harnessing aspects of quantum mechanics, communication and information processing could be radically transformed. Promising forms of quantum information technology include optical quantum cryptographic systems and computing using photons for quantum logic operations. As with current information processing systems, some form of memory will be required. Quantum repeaters, which are required for long distance quantum key distribution, require quantum optical memory as do deterministic logic gates for optical quantum computing. Here, we present results from a coherent optical memory based on warm rubidium vapour and show 87% efficient recall of light pulses, the highest efficiency measured to date for any coherent optical memory suitable for quantum information applications. We also show storage and recall of up to 20 pulses from our system. These results show that simple warm atomic vapour systems have clear potential as a platform for quantum memory. PMID:21285952

High efficiency coherent optical memory with warm rubidium vapour.

PubMed

Hosseini, M; Sparkes, B M; Campbell, G; Lam, P K; Buchler, B C

2011-02-01

By harnessing aspects of quantum mechanics, communication and information processing could be radically transformed. Promising forms of quantum information technology include optical quantum cryptographic systems and computing using photons for quantum logic operations. As with current information processing systems, some form of memory will be required. Quantum repeaters, which are required for long distance quantum key distribution, require quantum optical memory as do deterministic logic gates for optical quantum computing. Here, we present results from a coherent optical memory based on warm rubidium vapour and show 87% efficient recall of light pulses, the highest efficiency measured to date for any coherent optical memory suitable for quantum information applications. We also show storage and recall of up to 20 pulses from our system. These results show that simple warm atomic vapour systems have clear potential as a platform for quantum memory.

Optomechanical Control of Quantum Yield in Trans-Cis Ultrafast Photoisomerization of a Retinal Chromophore Model.

PubMed

Valentini, Alessio; Rivero, Daniel; Zapata, Felipe; García-Iriepa, Cristina; Marazzi, Marco; Palmeiro, Raúl; Fdez Galván, Ignacio; Sampedro, Diego; Olivucci, Massimo; Frutos, Luis Manuel

2017-03-27

The quantum yield of a photochemical reaction is one of the most fundamental quantities in photochemistry, as it measures the efficiency of the transduction of light energy into chemical energy. Nature has evolved photoreceptors in which the reactivity of a chromophore is enhanced by its molecular environment to achieve high quantum yields. The retinal chromophore sterically constrained inside rhodopsin proteins represents an outstanding example of such a control. In a more general framework, mechanical forces acting on a molecular system can strongly modify its reactivity. Herein, we show that the exertion of tensile forces on a simplified retinal chromophore model provokes a substantial and regular increase in the trans-to-cis photoisomerization quantum yield in a counterintuitive way, as these extension forces facilitate the formation of the more compressed cis photoisomer. A rationale for the mechanochemical effect on this photoisomerization mechanism is also proposed. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Polariton-Assisted Singlet Fission in Acene Aggregates.

PubMed

Martínez-Martínez, Luis A; Du, Matthew; F Ribeiro, Raphael; Kéna-Cohen, Stéphane; Yuen-Zhou, Joel

2018-04-19

Singlet fission is an important candidate to increase energy conversion efficiency in organic photovoltaics by providing a pathway to increase the quantum yield of excitons per photon absorbed in select materials. We investigate the dependence of exciton quantum yield for acenes in the strong light-matter interaction (polariton) regime, where the materials are embedded in optical microcavities. Starting from an open-quantum-systems approach, we build a kinetic model for time-evolution of species of interest in the presence of singlet quenchers and show that polaritons can decrease or increase exciton quantum yields compared to the cavity-free case. In particular, we find that hexacene, under the conditions of our model, can feature a higher yield than cavity-free pentacene when assisted by polaritonic effects. Similarly, we show that pentacene yield can be increased when assisted by polariton states. Finally, we address how various relaxation processes between bright and dark states in lossy microcavities affect polariton photochemistry. Our results also provide insights on how to choose microcavities to enhance similarly related chemical processes.

Nanoscale optical positioning of single quantum dots for bright and pure single-photon emission

PubMed Central

Sapienza, Luca; Davanço, Marcelo; Badolato, Antonio; Srinivasan, Kartik

2015-01-01

Self-assembled, epitaxially grown InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) are promising semiconductor quantum emitters that can be integrated on a chip for a variety of photonic quantum information science applications. However, self-assembled growth results in an essentially random in-plane spatial distribution of QDs, presenting a challenge in creating devices that exploit the strong interaction of single QDs with highly confined optical modes. Here, we present a photoluminescence imaging approach for locating single QDs with respect to alignment features with an average position uncertainty <30 nm (<10 nm when using a solid-immersion lens), which represents an enabling technology for the creation of optimized single QD devices. To that end, we create QD single-photon sources, based on a circular Bragg grating geometry, that simultaneously exhibit high collection efficiency (48%±5% into a 0.4 numerical aperture lens, close to the theoretically predicted value of 50%), low multiphoton probability (g(2)(0) <1%), and a significant Purcell enhancement factor (≈3). PMID:26211442

A gold hybrid structure as optical coupler for quantum well infrared photodetector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ding, Jiayi; Li, Qian; Jing, Youliang

2014-08-28

A hybrid structure consisting of a square lattice of gold disk arrays and an overlaying gold film is proposed as an optical coupler for a backside-illuminated quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP). Finite difference time-domain method is used to numerically simulate the reflection spectra and the field distributions of the hybrid structure combined with the QWIP device. The results show that the electric field component perpendicular to the quantum well is strongly enhanced when the plasmonic resonant wavelength of the hybrid structure coincides with the response one of the quantum well infrared photodetector regardless of the polarization of the incident light.more » The effect of the diameter and thickness of an individual gold disk on the resonant wavelength is also investigated, which indicates that the localized surface plasmon also plays a role in the light coupling with the hybrid structure. The coupling efficiency can exceed 50 if the structural parameters of the gold disk arrays are well optimized.« less

Optimal antibunching in passive photonic devices based on coupled nonlinear resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferretti, S.; Savona, V.; Gerace, D.

2013-02-01

We propose the use of weakly nonlinear passive materials for prospective applications in integrated quantum photonics. It is shown that strong enhancement of native optical nonlinearities by electromagnetic field confinement in photonic crystal resonators can lead to single-photon generation only exploiting the quantum interference of two coupled modes and the effect of photon blockade under resonant coherent driving. For realistic system parameters in state of the art microcavities, the efficiency of such a single-photon source is theoretically characterized by means of the second-order correlation function at zero-time delay as the main figure of merit, where major sources of loss and decoherence are taken into account within a standard master equation treatment. These results could stimulate the realization of integrated quantum photonic devices based on non-resonant material media, fully integrable with current semiconductor technology and matching the relevant telecom band operational wavelengths, as an alternative to single-photon nonlinear devices based on cavity quantum electrodynamics with artificial atoms or single atomic-like emitters.

Manipulating Nonlinear Emission and Cooperative Effect of CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots by Coupling to a Silver Nanorod Complex Cavity

PubMed Central

Nan, Fan; Cheng, Zi-Qiang; Wang, Ya-Lan; Zhang, Qing; Zhou, Li; Yang, Zhong-Jian; Zhong, Yu-Ting; Liang, Shan; Xiong, Qihua; Wang, Qu-Quan

2014-01-01

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots have three-dimensional confined excitons with large optical oscillator strength and gain. The surface plasmons of metallic nanostructures offer an efficient tool to enhance exciton-exciton coupling and excitation energy transfer at appropriate geometric arrangement. Here, we report plasmon-mediated cooperative emissions of approximately one monolayer of ensemble CdSe/ZnS quantum dots coupled with silver nanorod complex cavities at room temperature. Power-dependent spectral shifting, narrowing, modulation, and amplification are demonstrated by adjusting longitudinal surface plasmon resonance of silver nanorods, reflectivity and phase shift of silver nanostructured film, and mode spacing of the complex cavity. The underlying physical mechanism of the nonlinear excitation energy transfer and nonlinear emissions are further investigated and discussed by using time-resolved photoluminescence and finite-difference time-domain numerical simulations. Our results suggest effective strategies to design active plasmonic complex cavities for cooperative emission nanodevices based on semiconductor quantum dots. PMID:24787617

Single-step fabrication of quantum funnels via centrifugal colloidal casting of nanoparticle films

PubMed Central

Kim, Jin Young; Adinolfi, Valerio; Sutherland, Brandon R.; Voznyy, Oleksandr; Kwon, S. Joon; Kim, Tae Wu; Kim, Jeongho; Ihee, Hyotcherl; Kemp, Kyle; Adachi, Michael; Yuan, Mingjian; Kramer, Illan; Zhitomirsky, David; Hoogland, Sjoerd; Sargent, Edward H.

2015-01-01

Centrifugal casting of composites and ceramics has been widely employed to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of functional materials. This powerful method has yet to be deployed in the context of nanoparticles—yet size–effect tuning of quantum dots is among their most distinctive and application-relevant features. Here we report the first gradient nanoparticle films to be constructed in a single step. By creating a stable colloid of nanoparticles that are capped with electronic-conduction-compatible ligands we were able to leverage centrifugal casting for thin-films devices. This new method, termed centrifugal colloidal casting, is demonstrated to form films in a bandgap-ordered manner with efficient carrier funnelling towards the lowest energy layer. We constructed the first quantum-gradient photodiode to be formed in a single deposition step and, as a result of the gradient-enhanced electric field, experimentally measured the highest normalized detectivity of any colloidal quantum dot photodetector. PMID:26165185

Effects of nanoscale vacuum gap on photon-enhanced thermionic emission devices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Yuan; Liao, Tianjun; Zhang, Yanchao

2016-01-28

A new model of the photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) device with a nanoscale vacuum gap is established by introducing the quantum tunneling effect and the image force correction. Analytic expressions for both the thermionic emission and tunneling currents are derived. The electron concentration and the temperature of the cathode are determined by the particle conservation and energy balance equations. The effects of the operating voltage on the maximum potential barrier, cathode temperature, electron concentration and equilibrium electron concentration of the conduction band, and efficiency of the PETE device are discussed in detail for different given values of the vacuum gapmore » length. The influence of the band gap of the cathode and flux concentration on the efficiency is further analyzed. The maximum efficiency of the PETE and the corresponding optimum values of the band gap and the operating voltage are determined. The results obtained here show that the efficiency of the PETE device can be significantly improved by employing a nanoscale vacuum gap.« less

Exciton multiplication from first principles.

PubMed

Jaeger, Heather M; Hyeon-Deuk, Kim; Prezhdo, Oleg V

2013-06-18

Third-generation photovolatics require demanding cost and power conversion efficiency standards, which may be achieved through efficient exciton multiplication. Therefore, generating more than one electron-hole pair from the absorption of a single photon has vast ramifications on solar power conversion technology. Unlike their bulk counterparts, irradiated semiconductor quantum dots exhibit efficient exciton multiplication, due to confinement-enhanced Coulomb interactions and slower nonradiative losses. The exact characterization of the complicated photoexcited processes within quantum-dot photovoltaics is a work in progress. In this Account, we focus on the photophysics of nanocrystals and investigate three constituent processes of exciton multiplication, including photoexcitation, phonon-induced dephasing, and impact ionization. We quantify the role of each process in exciton multiplication through ab initio computation and analysis of many-electron wave functions. The probability of observing a multiple exciton in a photoexcited state is proportional to the magnitude of electron correlation, where correlated electrons can be simultaneously promoted across the band gap. Energies of multiple excitons are determined directly from the excited state wave functions, defining the threshold for multiple exciton generation. This threshold is strongly perturbed in the presence of surface defects, dopants, and ionization. Within a few femtoseconds following photoexcitation, the quantum state loses coherence through interactions with the vibrating atomic lattice. The phase relationship between single excitons and multiple excitons dissipates first, followed by multiple exciton fission. Single excitons are coupled to multiple excitons through Coulomb and electron-phonon interactions, and as a consequence, single excitons convert to multiple excitons and vice versa. Here, exciton multiplication depends on the initial energy and coupling magnitude and competes with electron-phonon energy relaxation. Multiple excitons are generated through impact ionization within picoseconds. The basis of exciton multiplication in quantum dots is the collective result of photoexcitation, dephasing, and nonadiabatic evolution. Each process is characterized by a distinct time-scale, and the overall multiple exciton generation dynamics is complete by about 10 ps. Without relying on semiempirical parameters, we computed quantum mechanical probabilities of multiple excitons for small model systems. Because exciton correlations and coherences are microscopic, quantum properties, results for small model systems can be extrapolated to larger, realistic quantum dots.

[Definition of quantum efficiency of X-ray detectors].

PubMed

Zelikman, M I

2001-01-01

Different definitions available in the literature on the quantum efficiency of X-ray detectors are presented and compared. The relationship of this parameter to spatial frequencies for quantum accounting receivers and energy accumulating ones is analyzed. A procedure is proposed for evaluating the quantum efficiency of the detectors in the area of zero spatial frequencies, which is rather simple and requires no special testing equipment.

New iridium dopants forg white phosphorescent devices: enhancement of efficiency and color stability by an energy-harvesting layer.

PubMed

Chou, Ho-Hsiu; Li, Yi-Kai; Chen, Yu-Han; Chang, Ching-Chih; Liao, Chuang-Yi; Cheng, Chien-Hong

2013-07-10

A new light blue complex (fmoppy)2Ir(tfpypz) [bis(4'-fluoro-6'-methoxylphenyl pyridinato)-iridium(III)-3-(trifluoromethyl)-5-(pyridin-2-yl)-1,2,4-triazolate] and a new orange complex (dpiq)2Ir(acac) [bis(3,4-diphenylisoquinoline)-iridium(III)-acetylacetonate] were synthesized. These two complexes were used as the dopants for the fabrication of two-element white phosphorescent devices. Via the introduction of a thin energy-harvesting layer (EHL) to harvest the extra energy and exciton from the emission zone, highly efficient two-element white devices with excellent color stability were created. One of the best devices shows yellow-white color emission with an extremely high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 21.5% and a current efficiency of 68.8 cd/A. The other device gave a pure white emission with an external quantum efficiency of 19.2% and a current efficiency of 53.2 cd/A. At a high brightness of 1000 cd/m(2), the EQE still remains as high as 18.9 and 17.2%. With a brightness of 1000-10000 cd/m(2), the CIE coordinates of these two devices shift by only (0.02, ≤0.01). The white phosphorescent devices with the EHL showed much higher efficiency and better color stability than the one without the EHL.

Quantum dots/silica/polymer nanocomposite films with high visible light transmission and UV shielding properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mumin, Md Abdul; Xu, William Z.; Charpentier, Paul A.

2015-08-01

The dispersion of light-absorbing inorganic nanomaterials in transparent plastics such as poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (PEVA) is of enormous current interest in emerging solar materials, including photovoltaic (PV) modules and commercial greenhouse films. Nanocrystalline semiconductor or quantum dots (QDs) have the potential to absorb UV light and selectively emit visible light, which can control plant growth in greenhouses or enhance PV panel efficiencies. This work provides a new and simple approach for loading mesoporous silica-encapsulated QDs into PEVA. Highly luminescent CdS and CdS-ZnS core-shell QDs with 5 nm size were synthesized using a modified facile approach based on pyrolysis of the single-molecule precursors and capping the CdS QDs with a thin layer of ZnS. To make both the bare and core-shell structure QDs more resistant against photochemical reactions, a mesoporous silica layer was grown on the QDs through a reverse microemulsion technique based on hydrophobic interactions. By careful experimental tuning, this encapsulation technique enhanced the quantum yield (˜65%) and photostability compared to the bare QDs. Both the encapsulated bare and core-shell QDs were then melt-mixed with EVA pellets using a mini twin-screw extruder and pressed into thin films with controlled thickness. The results demonstrated for the first time that mesoporous silica not only enhanced the quantum yield and photostability of the QDs but also improved the compatibility and dispersibility of QDs throughout the PEVA films. The novel light selective films show high visible light transmission (˜90%) and decreased UV transmission (˜75%).

Quantum dots/silica/polymer nanocomposite films with high visible light transmission and UV shielding properties.

PubMed

Mumin, Md Abdul; Xu, William Z; Charpentier, Paul A

2015-08-07

The dispersion of light-absorbing inorganic nanomaterials in transparent plastics such as poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (PEVA) is of enormous current interest in emerging solar materials, including photovoltaic (PV) modules and commercial greenhouse films. Nanocrystalline semiconductor or quantum dots (QDs) have the potential to absorb UV light and selectively emit visible light, which can control plant growth in greenhouses or enhance PV panel efficiencies. This work provides a new and simple approach for loading mesoporous silica-encapsulated QDs into PEVA. Highly luminescent CdS and CdS-ZnS core-shell QDs with 5 nm size were synthesized using a modified facile approach based on pyrolysis of the single-molecule precursors and capping the CdS QDs with a thin layer of ZnS. To make both the bare and core-shell structure QDs more resistant against photochemical reactions, a mesoporous silica layer was grown on the QDs through a reverse microemulsion technique based on hydrophobic interactions. By careful experimental tuning, this encapsulation technique enhanced the quantum yield (∼65%) and photostability compared to the bare QDs. Both the encapsulated bare and core-shell QDs were then melt-mixed with EVA pellets using a mini twin-screw extruder and pressed into thin films with controlled thickness. The results demonstrated for the first time that mesoporous silica not only enhanced the quantum yield and photostability of the QDs but also improved the compatibility and dispersibility of QDs throughout the PEVA films. The novel light selective films show high visible light transmission (∼90%) and decreased UV transmission (∼75%).

Enhanced conversion efficiency in Si solar cells employing photoluminescent down-shifting CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots.

PubMed

Lopez-Delgado, R; Zhou, Y; Zazueta-Raynaud, A; Zhao, H; Pelayo, J E; Vomiero, A; Álvarez-Ramos, M E; Rosei, F; Ayon, A

2017-10-26

Silicon solar cells have captured a large portion of the total market of photovoltaic devices mostly due to their relatively high efficiency. However, Silicon exhibits limitations in ultraviolet absorption because high-energy photons are absorbed at the surface of the solar cell, in the heavily doped region, and the photo-generated electron-hole pairs need to diffuse into the junction region, resulting in significant carrier recombination. One of the alternatives to improve the absorption range involves the use of down-shifting nano-structures able to interact with the aforementioned high energy photons. Here, as a proof of concept, we use downshifting CdSe/CdS quantum dots to improve the performance of a silicon solar cell. The incorporation of these nanostructures triggered improvements in the short circuit current density (J sc , from 32.5 to 37.0 mA/cm 2 ). This improvement led to a ∼13% increase in the power conversion efficiency (PCE), from 12.0 to 13.5%. Our results demonstrate that the application of down-shifting materials is a viable strategy to improve the efficiency of Silicon solar cells with mass-compatible techniques that could serve to promote their widespread utilization.

Delayed Slater determinant update algorithms for high efficiency quantum Monte Carlo

DOE PAGES

McDaniel, Tyler; D’Azevedo, Ed F.; Li, Ying Wai; ...

2017-11-07

Within ab initio Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, the leading numerical cost for large systems is the computation of the values of the Slater determinants in the trial wavefunction. Each Monte Carlo step requires finding the determinant of a dense matrix. This is most commonly iteratively evaluated using a rank-1 Sherman-Morrison updating scheme to avoid repeated explicit calculation of the inverse. The overall computational cost is therefore formally cubic in the number of electrons or matrix size. To improve the numerical efficiency of this procedure, we propose a novel multiple rank delayed update scheme. This strategy enables probability evaluation with applicationmore » of accepted moves to the matrices delayed until after a predetermined number of moves, K. The accepted events are then applied to the matrices en bloc with enhanced arithmetic intensity and computational efficiency via matrix-matrix operations instead of matrix-vector operations. Here this procedure does not change the underlying Monte Carlo sampling or its statistical efficiency. For calculations on large systems and algorithms such as diffusion Monte Carlo where the acceptance ratio is high, order of magnitude improvements in the update time can be obtained on both multi- core CPUs and GPUs.« less

Delayed Slater determinant update algorithms for high efficiency quantum Monte Carlo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McDaniel, Tyler; D’Azevedo, Ed F.; Li, Ying Wai

Within ab initio Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, the leading numerical cost for large systems is the computation of the values of the Slater determinants in the trial wavefunction. Each Monte Carlo step requires finding the determinant of a dense matrix. This is most commonly iteratively evaluated using a rank-1 Sherman-Morrison updating scheme to avoid repeated explicit calculation of the inverse. The overall computational cost is therefore formally cubic in the number of electrons or matrix size. To improve the numerical efficiency of this procedure, we propose a novel multiple rank delayed update scheme. This strategy enables probability evaluation with applicationmore » of accepted moves to the matrices delayed until after a predetermined number of moves, K. The accepted events are then applied to the matrices en bloc with enhanced arithmetic intensity and computational efficiency via matrix-matrix operations instead of matrix-vector operations. Here this procedure does not change the underlying Monte Carlo sampling or its statistical efficiency. For calculations on large systems and algorithms such as diffusion Monte Carlo where the acceptance ratio is high, order of magnitude improvements in the update time can be obtained on both multi- core CPUs and GPUs.« less

Delayed Slater determinant update algorithms for high efficiency quantum Monte Carlo.

PubMed

McDaniel, T; D'Azevedo, E F; Li, Y W; Wong, K; Kent, P R C

2017-11-07

Within ab initio Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, the leading numerical cost for large systems is the computation of the values of the Slater determinants in the trial wavefunction. Each Monte Carlo step requires finding the determinant of a dense matrix. This is most commonly iteratively evaluated using a rank-1 Sherman-Morrison updating scheme to avoid repeated explicit calculation of the inverse. The overall computational cost is, therefore, formally cubic in the number of electrons or matrix size. To improve the numerical efficiency of this procedure, we propose a novel multiple rank delayed update scheme. This strategy enables probability evaluation with an application of accepted moves to the matrices delayed until after a predetermined number of moves, K. The accepted events are then applied to the matrices en bloc with enhanced arithmetic intensity and computational efficiency via matrix-matrix operations instead of matrix-vector operations. This procedure does not change the underlying Monte Carlo sampling or its statistical efficiency. For calculations on large systems and algorithms such as diffusion Monte Carlo, where the acceptance ratio is high, order of magnitude improvements in the update time can be obtained on both multi-core central processing units and graphical processing units.

Delayed Slater determinant update algorithms for high efficiency quantum Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDaniel, T.; D'Azevedo, E. F.; Li, Y. W.; Wong, K.; Kent, P. R. C.

2017-11-01

Within ab initio Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, the leading numerical cost for large systems is the computation of the values of the Slater determinants in the trial wavefunction. Each Monte Carlo step requires finding the determinant of a dense matrix. This is most commonly iteratively evaluated using a rank-1 Sherman-Morrison updating scheme to avoid repeated explicit calculation of the inverse. The overall computational cost is, therefore, formally cubic in the number of electrons or matrix size. To improve the numerical efficiency of this procedure, we propose a novel multiple rank delayed update scheme. This strategy enables probability evaluation with an application of accepted moves to the matrices delayed until after a predetermined number of moves, K. The accepted events are then applied to the matrices en bloc with enhanced arithmetic intensity and computational efficiency via matrix-matrix operations instead of matrix-vector operations. This procedure does not change the underlying Monte Carlo sampling or its statistical efficiency. For calculations on large systems and algorithms such as diffusion Monte Carlo, where the acceptance ratio is high, order of magnitude improvements in the update time can be obtained on both multi-core central processing units and graphical processing units.

An efficient quantum algorithm for spectral estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steffens, Adrian; Rebentrost, Patrick; Marvian, Iman; Eisert, Jens; Lloyd, Seth

2017-03-01

We develop an efficient quantum implementation of an important signal processing algorithm for line spectral estimation: the matrix pencil method, which determines the frequencies and damping factors of signals consisting of finite sums of exponentially damped sinusoids. Our algorithm provides a quantum speedup in a natural regime where the sampling rate is much higher than the number of sinusoid components. Along the way, we develop techniques that are expected to be useful for other quantum algorithms as well—consecutive phase estimations to efficiently make products of asymmetric low rank matrices classically accessible and an alternative method to efficiently exponentiate non-Hermitian matrices. Our algorithm features an efficient quantum-classical division of labor: the time-critical steps are implemented in quantum superposition, while an interjacent step, requiring much fewer parameters, can operate classically. We show that frequencies and damping factors can be obtained in time logarithmic in the number of sampling points, exponentially faster than known classical algorithms.

Numerical simulation of quantum efficiency and surface recombination in HgCdTe IR photon-trapping structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, Jonathan; Bellotti, Enrico

2013-06-01

We have investigated the quantum effiency in HgCdTe photovoltaic pixel arrays employing a photon-trapping structure realized with a periodic array of pillars intended to provide broadband operation. We have found that the quantum efficiency depends heavily on the passivation of the pillar surface. Pillars passivated with anodicoxide have a large fixed positive charge on the pillar surface. We use our three-dimensional numerical simulation model to study the effect of surface charge and surface recombination velocity on the exterior of the pillars. We then evaluate the quantum efficiency of this structure subject to different surface conditions. We have found that by themselves, the surface charge and surface recombination are detrimental to the quantum efficiency but the quantum efficiency is recovered when both phenomena are present. We will discuss the effects of these phenomena and the trade offs that exist between the two.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marocico, Cristian A.; Zhang, Xia; Bradley, A. Louise, E-mail: bradlel@tcd.ie

We present in this contribution a comprehensive investigation of the effect of the size of gold nanospheres on the decay and energy transfer rates of quantum systems placed close to these nanospheres. These phenomena have been investigated before, theoretically and experimentally, but no comprehensive study of the influence of the nanoparticle size on important dependences of the decay and energy transfer rates, such as the dependence on the donor-acceptor spectral overlap and the relative positions of the donor, acceptor, and nanoparticle, exists. As such, different accounts of the energy transfer mechanism have been presented in the literature. We perform anmore » investigation of the energy transfer mechanisms between emitters and gold nanospheres and between donor-acceptor pairs in the presence of the gold nanospheres using a Green’s tensor formalism, experimentally verified in our lab. We find that the energy transfer rate to small nanospheres is greatly enhanced, leading to a strong quenching of the emission of the emitter. When the nanosphere size is increased, it acts as an antenna, increasing the emission of the emitter. We also investigate the emission wavelength and intrinsic quantum yield dependence of the energy transfer to the nanosphere. As evidenced from the literature, the energy transfer process between the quantum system and the nanosphere can have a complicated distance dependence, with a r{sup −6} regime, characteristic of the Förster energy transfer mechanism, but also exhibiting other distance dependences. In the case of a donor-acceptor pair of quantum systems in the presence of a gold nanosphere, when the donor couples strongly to the nanosphere, acting as an enhanced dipole; the donor-acceptor energy transfer rate then follows a Förster trend, with an increased Förster radius. The coupling of the acceptor to the nanosphere has a different distance dependence. The angular dependence of the energy transfer efficiency between donor and acceptor exhibits a strong focusing effect and the same enhanced donor-dipole character in different angular arrangements. The spectral overlap of the donor emission and acceptor absorption spectra shows that the energy transfer follows the near-field scattering efficiency, with a red-shift from the localized surface plasmon peak for small sphere sizes.« less

Type II GaSb quantum ring solar cells under concentrated sunlight.

PubMed

Tsai, Che-Pin; Hsu, Shun-Chieh; Lin, Shih-Yen; Chang, Ching-Wen; Tu, Li-Wei; Chen, Kun-Cheng; Lay, Tsong-Sheng; Lin, Chien-chung

2014-03-10

A type II GaSb quantum ring solar cell is fabricated and measured under the concentrated sunlight. The external quantum efficiency confirms the extended absorption from the quantum rings at long wavelength coinciding with the photoluminescence results. The short-circuit current of the quantum ring devices is 5.1% to 9.9% more than the GaAs reference's under various concentrations. While the quantum ring solar cell does not exceed its GaAs counterpart in efficiency under one-sun, the recovery of the open-circuit voltages at higher concentration helps to reverse the situation. A slightly higher efficiency (10.31% vs. 10.29%) is reported for the quantum ring device against the GaAs one.

Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Photovoltaics: Translating Fundamental Nanostructure Research to Enhanced Solar Conversion Efficiency

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-18

quantum dots composed of a photopolymerizable outer corona constituting methacrylate and an inner siloxane layer, with a view making them photo...nanostructures. The inherent properties of photopolymerizable QDs such as their stability, PL, and ease of solution processability, make them suitable...Thiophenes are important compounds that are used as building blocks in many chemical synthesis. The thiophene oligomers and thiophene-based

Microchannel Plate Imaging Detectors for the Ultraviolet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siegmund, O. H. W.; Gummin, M. A.; Stock, J.; Marsh, D.

1992-01-01

There has been significant progress over the last few years in the development of technologies for microchannel plate imaging detectors in the Ultraviolet (UV). Areas where significant developments have occurred include enhancements of quantum detection efficiency through improved photocathodes, advances in microchannel plate performance characteristics, and development of high performance image readout techniques. The current developments in these areas are summarized, with their applications in astrophysical instrumentation.

Stacked Metal Silicide/Silicon Far-Infrared Detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maserjian, Joseph

1988-01-01

Selective doping of silicon in proposed metal silicide/silicon Schottky-barrier infrared photodetector increases maximum detectable wavelength. Stacking layers to form multiple Schottky barriers increases quantum efficiency of detector. Detectors of new type enhance capabilities of far-infrared imaging arrays. Grows by molecular-beam epitaxy on silicon waferscontaining very-large-scale integrated circuits. Imaging arrays of detectors made in monolithic units with image-preprocessing circuitry.