Related papers: Atomistic understanding of two-dimensional monatom…
The electronic and optical properties of low-dimensional semiconductors are typically quite different from those of their bulk counterparts. Yet, the optical gap of two-dimensional copper antimony disulfide (CuSbS$_2$) does not dramatically…
Space group theory is pivotal in the design of nanophotonics devices, enabling the characterization of periodic optical structures such as photonic crystals. The aim of this study is to extend the application of nonsymmorphic space groups…
Optical phase change materials (O-PCMs), a unique group of materials featuring drastic optical property contrast upon solid-state phase transition, have found widespread adoption in photonic switches and routers, reconfigurable meta-optics,…
We report on non equilibrium field effect in insulating amorphous NbSi thin films having different Nb contents and thicknesses. The hallmark of an electron glass, namely the logarithmic growth of a memory dip in conductance versus gate…
In nanocrystalline Nb films, the superconducting Tc decreases with a reduction in the average particle size below 20nm. We correlate the decrease in Tc with a reduction in the superconducting energy gap measured by point contact…
Atomically thin 2-dimensional heterostructures are a promising, novel class of materials with groundbreaking properties. The possiblity of choosing the many constituent components and their proportions allows optimizing these materials to…
Optoelectronic devices based on graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are the focus of wide research interest. The characterization these emerging atomically thin materials and…
We have investigated the structures and electronic properties of ultra-thin Bi(110) films grown on an s-wave superconductor substrate using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Remarkably, our experimental results…
Exotic manipulation of the flow of photons in nanoengineered semiconductor materials with an aperiodic distribution of nanostructures plays a key role in efficiency-enhanced and industrially viable broadband photonic technologies. Through a…
We report absorption and photoluminescence spectra of Si and SnO$_2$ polycrystalline nanofilms in the UV-Vis-NIR range, featuring discrete bands resulting from transverse quantum confinement. The film thickness ranged 3.9 nm to 12.2 nm,…
Many promising building blocks of future electronic technology - including non-stoichiometric compounds, strongly correlated oxides, and strained or patterned films - are inhomogeneous on the nanometer length scale. Exploiting the…
Photonic integrated circuits currently use platform intrinsic thermo-optic and electro-optic effects to implement dynamic functions such as switching, modulation and other processing. Currently, there is a drive to implement field…
In this thesis, we have studied the evolution of superconductivity in amorphous Molybdenum Germanium ($\textit{a}$-MoGe) thin films. The work can be broken down into two parts. In the first part, we investigate the effect of decreasing…
Antiferroelectrics have received blooming interests because of a wide range of potential applications in energy storage, solid-state cooling, thermal switch, transducer, actuation, and memory devices. Many of those applications are the most…
Dilute concentrations of antimony (Sb) incorporation into GaN induce strong band-gap bowing and tunable room-temperature photoluminescence from the UV to the green spectral regions. However, the atomistic details of the incorporation of Sb…
The observation and electrical manipulation of infrared surface plasmons in graphene have triggered a search for similar photonic capabilities in other atomically thin materials that enable electrical modulation of light at visible and…
We report a detailed study of surface and interface properties of pulsed-laser deposited NiMnSb films on Si (100) substrate as a function of film thickness. As the thickness of films is reduced below 35 nm formation of a porous layer is…
Exploring new topological materials with large topological nontrivial bandgaps and simple composition is attractive for both theoretical investigation and experimental realization. Recently alpha tin ({\alpha}-Sn) has been predicted to be…
Indium antimonide (InSb) is a fundamental material for infrared radiation detectors based on interband transitions. Its narrow bandgap enables detection of infrared radiation within the $3-5 \mu m$ atmospheric window, while its high quantum…
In superconductivity, electrons exhibit unique macroscopic collective quantum behavior that is the key for many modern quantum technologies. This electron behavior stems vastly from coupling to a correlated motion of atoms in the material,…