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Topological phase transitions between a conventional insulator and a state of matter with topological properties have been proposed and observed in mercury telluride - cadmium telluride quantum wells. We show that a topological state can be…
Changes in the metal properties, caused by periodic indents in the metal surface, have been studied within the limit of quantum theory of free electrons. It was shown that due to destructive interference of de Broglie waves, some quantum…
We apply perturbative effective mass theory as a broadly applicable theoretical model for quantum confinement (QC) in all Si and Ge nanostructures including quantum wells (QWs), wires (Q-wires) and dots (QDs). Within the limits of strong,…
We report on the spectroscopic observation of a quantized electronic fine structure near the Fermi energy in thin Fe films grown on W(110). The quantum well states are detected down to binding energies of $\sim$10 meV by angle-resolved…
Characterized by bulk Dirac or Weyl cones and surface Fermi-arc states, topological semimetals have sparked enormous research interest in recent years. The nanostructures, with large surface-to-volume ratio and easy field-effect gating,…
Dirac and Weyl nodal materials can host low-energy relativistic quasiparticles. Under strong magnetic fields, the topological properties of Dirac/Weyl materials can directly manifest through quantum Hall states. However, most Dirac/Weyl…
We consider the electromagnetic response of a topological Weyl semimetal (TWS) with a pair of Weyl nodes in the bulk and corresponding Fermi arcs in the surface Brillouin zone. We compute the frequency-dependent complex conductivities…
We theoretically analyze the surface density of states of heavy fermion materials such as CeCoIn$_5$. Recent experimental progress made it possible to locally probe the formation of heavy quasi-particles in these systems via scanning…
Quantum-well (QW) states in {\it nonmagnetic} metal layers contained in magnetic multilayers are known to be important in spin-dependent transport, but the role of QW states in {\it magnetic} layers remains elusive. Here we identify the…
Electrides, with excess anionic electrons confined in their empty space, are promising for uses in catalysis, nonlinear optics and spin-electronics. However, the application of electrides is limited by their high chemical reactivity with…
We study the structural, optical, and transport properties of sidewall quantum wires on GaAs(001) substrates. The QWRs are grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on GaAs(001) substrates prepatterned with shallow ridges. They form as a…
Thermal diodes, which allow heat transfer in a preferential direction while being blocked in a reverse direction, have numerous applications in thermal management, information processing, energy harvesting, etc. Typical materials of thermal…
A selective electrodeposition method for the fabrication of extremely thin and long metallic and magnetic wires and other nanostructures is introduced. Growth is done on the cleaved edge of a semiconductor multilayer structure incorporating…
Weyl Fermions (WFs) in the type-II Weyl Semimetal (WSM) WTe$_2$ are difficult to resolve experimentally because the Weyl bands disperse in an extremely narrow region of the (E-k) space. Here, by using DFT-assisted high-resolution $^{125}$Te…
Heat engines made of quantum-dot (QD) superlattice nanowires (SLNWs) offer promising applications in energy harvesting due to the reduction of phonon thermal conductivity. In solid state electrical generators (refrigerators), one needs to…
Quantum well states appear in metallic thin films due to the confinement of the wave function by the film interfaces. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we unexpectedly observe quantum well states in fractured single crystals…
CrN-based alloy thin films are of interest as thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting. Ab initio calculations show that dilute alloying of CrN with 3 at.% W substituting Cr, induce flat electronic bands and push the Fermi level EF…
In order to achieve quantum interference of free electrons inside a solid, we have modified the geometry of the solid so that de Broglie waves interfere destructively inside the solid. Quantum interference of de Broglie waves leads to a…
The thermal power ($PF=S^2G_e$) depends on the Seebeck coefficient ($S$) and electron conductance ($G_e$). The enhancement of $G_e$ will unavoidably suppress $S$ because they are closely related. As a consequence, the optimization of $PF$…
Large and tunable negative refractive index (NRI) via electromagnetically induced chirality is demonstrated in a semiconductor quantum wells (SQWs) nanostructure by using the reported experimental parameters. It is found: under the…