Related papers: Structure and Phase Transitions of Metastable Hexa…
Few-layer flakes of hexagonal boron nitride were prepared by ultrasonication of bulk crystals and agglomerated to form thin films. The transmission and reflection spectra of the thin films were measured. The spectral dependences of the…
The metastable orthorhombic phase of hafnia is generally obtained in polycrystalline films, whereas in epitaxial films, its formation has been much less investigated. We have grown Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films by pulsed laser deposition, and the…
Single crystal epitaxial thin films of UN and U$_2$N$_3$ have been grown for the first time by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. These films provide ideal samples for fundamental research into the potential accident tolerant fuel, UN, and…
Insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) films with precisely controlled thickness are ideal dielectric components to modulate various interfaces in electronic devices. To achieve this, high-quality hBN with controlled atomic configurations…
As titanium is a highly utilized metal for structural light-weighting, its phases, transformation pathways (transition states), and structures have scientific and industrial importance. Impurities, pressure, and temperature control the…
Two single crystal phases of tantalum nitride were stabilized on c-plane sapphire using molecular beam epitaxy. The phases were identified to be $\delta$-TaN with a rocksalt cubic structure and $\gamma$-Ta$_2$N with a hexagonal structure.…
We report the formation of cubic phase, under ambient conditions, in thin films of Zirconia synthesized by electron beam evaporation technique. The stabilization of the cubic phase was achieved without the use of chemical stabilizers and/or…
Organisms in nature can alter the short-range order of an amorphous precursor phase, thereby controlling the resulting crystalline structure. This phenomenon inspired an investigation of the effect of modifying the short-range order within…
The structure and microstrucutre of fully-strained BiCrO3 thin films have been investigated by X-rays diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, at room temperature. Interestingly, three structural variants are simultaneously…
Uranium ditelluride (UTe$_2$) has attracted recent interest due to its unique superconducting properties, which include the potential for a topological odd-parity superconducting state. Recently, ac-calorimetry measurements under pressure…
The traditional picture of solid-solid phase transformations assumes an ordered parent phase transforms into an ordered daughter phase via a single unique pathway. Zirconium and its prototypical phase transition from hexagonal close-packed…
We investigate the phase behavior of a single-component system in 3 dimensions with spherically-symmetric, pairwise-additive, soft-core interactions with an attractive well at a long distance, a repulsive soft-core shoulder at an…
Recent advances in high-throughput experimentation for combinatorial studies have accelerated the discovery and analysis of materials across a wide range of compositions and synthesis conditions. However, many of the more powerful…
Transition metal aluminum nitrides are a technologically important class of multifunctional ceramics, however, the HfAlN system remains largely unexplored. We investigate phase stability, nanostructure design, and mechanical behavior of…
A metal-oxide film can be used as a hydrogen-isotope permeation barrier in the fuel circulation system for nuclear fusion. We fabricated Er$_2$O$_3$ thin film on a type 316L stainless-steel substrate by using a metal-organic chemical vapor…
Nonlinear light sources are central to a myriad of applications, driving a quest for their miniaturisation down to the nanoscale. In this quest, nonlinear metasurfaces hold a great promise, as they enhance nonlinear effects through their…
We have investigated the nanoscale switching properties of strain-engineered BiFeO3 thin films deposited on LaAlO3 substrates using a combination of scanning probe techniques. Polarized Raman spectral analysis indicate that the…
Very thick, ~ 40 $\mu$m, clean, and highly textured MgB2 film was effectively grown on an Al2O3 substrate. The fabrication technique is by the hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) using B2H6 gas and Mg ingot as the sources. The…
A thin liquid film covered with an insoluble surfactant in the vicinity of a first-order phase transition is discussed. Within the lubrication approximation we derive two coupled equations to describe the height profile of the film and the…
Polar skyrmions are topologically stable, swirling polarization textures with particle-like characteristics, which hold promise for next-generation, nanoscale logic and memory. While understanding of how to create ordered polar skyrmion…