Programmable quantum emitter formation in silicon.

Silicon-based quantum emitters are candidates for large-scale qubit integration due to their single-photon emission properties and potential for spin-photon interfaces with long spin coherence times. Here, we demonstrate local writing and erasing of selected light-emitting defects using femtosecond laser pulses in combination with hydrogen-based defect activation and passivation at a single center level. By choosing forming gas (N2/H2) during thermal annealing of carbon-implanted silicon, we can select the formation of a series of hydrogen and carbon-related quantum emitters, including T and Ci centers while passivating the more common G-centers. The Ci center is a telecom S-band emitter with promising optical and spin properties that consists of a single interstitial carbon atom in the silicon lattice. Density functional theory calculations show that the Ci center brightness is enhanced by several orders of magnitude in the presence of hydrogen. Fs-laser pulses locally affect the passivation or activation of quantum emitters with hydrogen for programmable formation of selected quantum emitters.

Engineering new limits to magnetostriction through metastability in iron-gallium alloys.

Magnetostrictive materials transduce magnetic and mechanical energies and when combined with piezoelectric elements, evoke magnetoelectric transduction for high-sensitivity magnetic field sensors and energy-efficient beyond-CMOS technologies. The dearth of ductile, rare-earth-free materials with high magnetostrictive coefficients motivates the discovery of superior materials. Fe1-xGax alloys are amongst the highest performing rare-earth-free magnetostrictive materials; however, magnetostriction becomes sharply suppressed beyond x = 19% due to the formation of a parasitic ordered intermetallic phase. Here, we harness epitaxy to extend the stability of the BCC Fe1-xGax alloy to gallium compositions as high as x = 30% and in so doing dramatically boost the magnetostriction by as much as 10x relative to the bulk and 2x larger than canonical rare-earth based magnetostrictors. A Fe1-xGax - [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3]0.7-[PbTiO3]0.3 (PMN-PT) composite magnetoelectric shows robust 90° electrical switching of magnetic anisotropy and a converse magnetoelectric coefficient of 2.0 × 10-5 s m-1. When optimally scaled, this high coefficient implies stable switching at ~80 aJ per bit.

Local negative permittivity and topological phase transition in polar skyrmions.

Topological solitons such as magnetic skyrmions have drawn attention as stable quasi-particle-like objects. The recent discovery of polar vortices and skyrmions in ferroelectric oxide superlattices has opened up new vistas to explore topology, emergent phenomena and approaches for manipulating such features with electric fields. Using macroscopic dielectric measurements, coupled with direct scanning convergent beam electron diffraction imaging on the atomic scale, theoretical phase-field simulations and second-principles calculations, we demonstrate that polar skyrmions in (PbTiO3)n/(SrTiO3)n superlattices are distinguished by a sheath of negative permittivity at the periphery of each skyrmion. This enhances the effective dielectric permittivity compared with the individual SrTiO3 and PbTiO3 layers. Moreover, the response of these topologically protected structures to electric field and temperature shows a reversible phase transition from the skyrmion state to a trivial uniform ferroelectric state, accompanied by large tunability of the dielectric permittivity. Pulsed switching measurements show a time-dependent evolution and recovery of the skyrmion state (and macroscopic dielectric response). The interrelationship between topological and dielectric properties presents an opportunity to simultaneously manipulate both by a single, and easily controlled, stimulus, the applied electric field.

Tunable Magnetoelastic Effects in Voltage-Controlled Exchange-Coupled Composite Multiferroic Microstructures.

The magnetoelectric properties of exchange-coupled Ni/CoFeB-based composite multiferroic microstructures are investigated. The strength and sign of the magnetoelastic effect are found to be strongly correlated with the ratio between the thicknesses of two magnetostrictive materials. In cases where the thickness ratio deviates significantly from one, the magnetoelastic behavior of the multiferroic microstructures is dominated by the thicker layer, which contributes more strongly to the observed magnetoelastic effect. More symmetric structures with a thickness ratio equal to one show an emergent interfacial behavior which cannot be accounted for simply by summing up the magnetoelastic effects occurring in the two constituent layers. This aspect is clearly visible in the case of ultrathin bilayers, where the exchange coupling drastically affects the magnetic behavior of the Ni layer, making the Ni/CoFeB bilayer a promising next-generation synthetic magnetic system entirely. This study demonstrates the richness and high tunability of composite multiferroic systems based on coupled magnetic bilayers compared to their single magnetic layer counterparts. Furthermore, because of the compatibility of CoFeB with present magnetic tunnel junction-based spintronic technologies, the reported findings are expected to be of great interest for the development of ultralow-power magnetoelectric memory devices.

Large resistivity modulation in mixed-phase metallic systems.

In numerous systems, giant physical responses have been discovered when two phases coexist; for example, near a phase transition. An intermetallic FeRh system undergoes a first-order antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition above room temperature and shows two-phase coexistence near the transition. Here we have investigated the effect of an electric field to FeRh/PMN-PT heterostructures and report 8% change in the electrical resistivity of FeRh films. Such a 'giant' electroresistance (GER) response is striking in metallic systems, in which external electric fields are screened, and thus only weakly influence the carrier concentrations and mobilities. We show that our FeRh films comprise coexisting ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases with different resistivities and the origin of the GER effect is the strain-mediated change in their relative proportions. The observed behaviour is reminiscent of colossal magnetoresistance in perovskite manganites and illustrates the role of mixed-phase coexistence in achieving large changes in physical properties with low-energy external perturbation.

All-electrical nuclear spin polarization of donors in silicon.

We demonstrate an all-electrical donor nuclear spin polarization method in silicon by exploiting the tunable interaction of donor bound electrons with a two-dimensional electron gas, and achieve over two orders of magnitude nuclear hyperpolarization at T=5 K and B=12 T with an in-plane magnetic field. We also show an intricate dependence of nuclear polarization effects on the orientation of the magnetic field, and both hyperpolarization and antipolarization can be controllably achieved in the quantum Hall regime. Our results demonstrate that donor nuclear spin qubits can be initialized through local gate control of electrical currents without the need for optical excitation, enabling the implementation of nuclear spin qubit initialization in dense multiqubit arrays.

Mapping local charge recombination heterogeneity by multidimensional nanospectroscopic imaging.

As materials functionality becomes more dependent on local physical and electronic properties, the importance of optically probing matter with true nanoscale spatial resolution has increased. In this work, we mapped the influence of local trap states within individual nanowires on carrier recombination with deeply subwavelength resolution. This is achieved using multidimensional nanospectroscopic imaging based on a nano-optical device. Placed at the end of a scan probe, the device delivers optimal near-field properties, including highly efficient far-field to near-field coupling, ultralarge field enhancement, nearly background-free imaging, independence from sample requirements, and broadband operation. We performed ~40-nanometer-resolution hyperspectral imaging of indium phosphide nanowires via excitation and collection through the probes, revealing optoelectronic structure along individual nanowires that is not accessible with other methods.

Electrically detected magnetic resonance of neutral donors interacting with a two-dimensional electron gas.

We have measured the electrically detected magnetic resonance of donor-doped silicon field-effect transistors in resonant X- (9.7 GHz) and W-band (94 GHz) microwave cavities. The two-dimensional electron gas resonance signal increases by 2 orders of magnitude from X to W band, while the donor resonance signals are enhanced by over 1 order of magnitude. Bolometric effects and spin-dependent scattering are inconsistent with the observations. We propose that polarization transfer from the donor to the two-dimensional electron gas is the main mechanism giving rise to the spin resonance signals.

Electrically detected magnetic resonance in a W-band microwave cavity.

We describe a low-temperature sample probe for the electrical detection of magnetic resonance in a resonant W-band (94 GHz) microwave cavity. The advantages of this approach are demonstrated by experiments on silicon field-effect transistors. A comparison with conventional low-frequency measurements at X-band (9.7 GHz) on the same devices reveals an up to 100-fold enhancement of the signal intensity. In addition, resonance lines that are unresolved at X-band are clearly separated in the W-band measurements. Electrically detected magnetic resonance at high magnetic fields and high microwave frequencies is therefore a very sensitive technique for studying electron spins with an enhanced spectral resolution and sensitivity.

Chemical Raman enhancement of organic adsorbates on metal surfaces.

Using first-principles theory and experiments, chemical contributions to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for a well-studied organic molecule, benzene thiol, chemisorbed on planar Au(111) surfaces are explained and quantified. Density functional theory calculations of the static Raman tensor demonstrate a strong mode-dependent modification of benzene thiol Raman spectra by Au substrates. Raman active modes with the largest enhancements result from stronger contributions from Au to their electron-vibron coupling, as quantified through a deformation potential. A straightforward and general analysis is introduced to extract chemical enhancement from experiments for specific vibrational modes; measured values are in excellent agreement with our calculations.

Switching a magnetic vortex by interlayer coupling in epitaxially grown Co/Cu/Py/Cu(001) trilayer disks.

Epitaxial Py/Cu/Co/Cu(001) trilayers were patterned into micron sized disks and imaged using element-specific photoemission electron microscopy. By varying the Cu spacer layer thickness, we study how the coupling between the two magnetic layers influences the formation of magnetic vortex states. We find that while the Py and Co disks form magnetic vortex domains when the interlayer coupling is ferromagnetic, the magnetic vortex domains of the Py and Co disks break into anti-parallel aligned multidomains when the interlayer coupling is antiferromagnetic. We explain this result in terms of magnetic flux closure between the Py and Co layers for the antiferromagnetic coupling case.

Integration of scanning probes and ion beams.

We report the integration of a scanning force microscope with ion beams. The scanning probe images surface structures non-invasively and aligns the ion beam to regions of interest. The ion beam is transported through a hole in the scanning probe tip. Piezoresistive force sensors allow placement of micromachined cantilevers close to the ion beam lens. Scanning probe imaging and alignment is demonstrated in a vacuum chamber coupled to the ion beam line. Dot arrays are formed by ion implantation in resist layers on silicon samples with dot diameters limited by the hole size in the probe tips of a few hundred nm.

Fabrication of large number density platinum nanowire arrays by size reduction lithography and nanoimprint lithography.

Large number density Pt nanowires with typical dimensions of 12 microm x 20 nm x 5 nm (length x width x height) are fabricated on planar oxide supports. First sub-20 nm single crystalline silicon nanowires are fabricated by size reduction lithography, and then the Si nanowire pattern is replicated to produce a large number of Pt nanowires by nanoimprint lithography. The width and height of the Pt nanowires are uniform and are controlled with nanometer precision. The nanowire number density is 4 x 10(4) cm(-1), resulting in a Pt surface area larger than 2 cm(2) on a 5 x 5 cm(2) oxide substrate. Bimodal nanowires with different width have been generated by using a Pt shadow deposition technique. Using this technique, alternating 10 and 19 nm wide nanowires are produced.

Extreme-ultraviolet lensless Fourier-transform holography.

We demonstrate 100-nm-resolution holographic aerial image monitoring based on lensless Fourier-transform holography at extreme-UV (EUV) wavelengths, using synchrotron-based illumination. This method can be used to monitor the coherent imaging performance of EUV lithographic optical systems. The system has been implemented in the EUV phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer recently developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Here we introduce the idea of the holographic aerial image-recording technique and present imaging performance characterization results for a 10x Schwarzschild objective, a prototype EUV lithographic optic. The results are compared with simulations, and good agreement is obtained. Various object patterns, including phase-shift-enhanced patterns, have been studied. Finally, the application of the holographic aerial image-recording technique to EUV multilayer mask-blank defect characterization is discussed.

Fourier-transform method of phase-shift determination.

A new phase-shifting interferometry analysis technique has been developed to overcome the errors introduced by nonlinear, irregular, or unknown phase-step increments. In the presence of a spatial carrier frequency, by observation of the phase of the first-order maximum in the Fourier domain, the global phase-step positions can be measured, phase-shifting elements can be calibrated, and the accuracy of phase-shifting analysis can be improved. Furthermore, reliance on the calibration accuracy of transducers used in phase-shifting interferometry can be reduced; and phase-retrieval errors (e.g., fringe print-through) introduced by uncalibrated fluctuations in the phase-shifting phase increments can be alleviated. The method operates deterministically and does not rely on iterative global error minimization. Relative to other techniques, the number of recorded interferograms required for analysis can be reduced.

At-wavelength, system-level flare characterization of extreme-ultraviolet optical systems.

The extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer (PS/PDI) has recently been developed to provide high-accuracy wave-front characterization critical to the development of EUV lithography systems. Here we describe an enhanced implementation of the PS/PDI that significantly extends its measurement bandwidth. The enhanced PS/PDI is capable of simultaneously characterizing both wave front and flare. PS/PDI-based flare characterization of two recently fabricated EUV 10x-reduction lithographic optical systems is presented.

Transmission phase gratings for EUV interferometry.

The performance of the recently developed EUV phase-shifting point diffraction interferometer (PS/PDI) depends heavily on the characteristics of the grating beamsplitter used in the implementation. Ideally, such a grating should provide throughput of better than 25% and diffraction efficiency, defined as the ratio of the first-diffracted-order power to the zero-order power, variable in the range from approximately 10 to 500. The optimal method for achieving these goals is by way of a phase grating. Also, PS/PDI system implementation issues favor the use of transmission gratings over reflection gratings. Here, the design, fabrication, and characterization of a recently developed transmission phase grating developed for use in EUV interferometry is described.

Extreme-ultraviolet phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer: a wave-front metrology tool with subangstrom reference-wave accuracy.

The phase-shifting point-diffraction interferometer (PS/PDI) was recently developed and implemented at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to characterize extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) projection optical systems for lithography. Here we quantitatively characterize the accuracy and precision of the PS/PDI. Experimental measurements are compared with theoretical results. Two major classes of errors affect the accuracy of the interferometer: systematic effects arising from measurement geometry and systematic and random errors due to an imperfect reference wave. To characterize these effects, and hence to calibrate the interferometer, a null test is used. This null test also serves as a measure of the accuracy of the interferometer. We show the EUV PS/PDI, as currently implemented, to have a systematic error-limited reference-wave accuracy of 0.0028 waves (lambda/357 or 0.038 nm at lambda = 13.5 nm) within a numerical aperture of 0.082.

Near-field propagation of terahertz pulses from a large-aperture antenna.

The near-field propagation behavior of terahertz (THz) pulses generated by a planar large-aperture photoconducting THz transmitter has been characterized. A simulation model based on Huygens-Fresnel diffraction theory has been developed that permits accurate prediction of the spatiotemporal profiles of the THz beam everywhere and gives excellent agreement with experimental measurements. Two key conclusions emerge from this research, namely, the realization that for practical laboratory setups one is always working in the near-field regime and that the proper temporal shape of the THz field at the antenna is one that rises rapidly but decays slowly.