The shell effect on the room temperature photoluminescence from ZnO/MgO core/shell nanowires: exciton-phonon coupling and strain.

The room temperature photoluminescence from ZnO/MgO core/shell nanowires (NWs) grown by a simple two-step vapor transport method was studied for various MgO shell widths (w). Two distinct effects induced by the MgO shell were clearly identified. The first one, related to the ZnO/MgO interface formation, is evidenced by strong enhancements of the zero-phonon and first phonon replica of the excitonic emission, which are accompanied by a total suppression of its second phonon replica. This effect can be explained by the reduction of the band bending within the ZnO NW core that follows the removal of atmospheric adsorbates and associated surface traps during the MgO growth process on one hand, and a reduced exciton-phonon coupling as a result of the mechanical stabilization of the outermost ZnO NW monolayers by the MgO shell on the other hand. The second effect is the gradual increase of the excitonic emission and decrease in the defect related emission by up to two and one orders of magnitude, respectively, when w is increased in the ∼3-17 nm range. Uniaxial strain build-up within the ZnO NW core with increasing w, as detected by x-ray diffraction measurements, and photocarrier tunneling escape from the ZnO core through the MgO shell enabled by defect-states are proposed as possible mechanisms involved in this effect. These findings are expected to be of key significance for the efficient design and fabrication of ZnO/MgO NW heterostructures and devices.

Nonlinear excitation of polariton cavity modes in ZnO single nanocombs.

Tunable second harmonic (SH) polaritons have been efficiently generated in ZnO nanocombs, when the material is excited close to half of the band-gap. The nonlinear signal couples to the nanocavity modes, and, as a result, Fabry-Pérot resonances with high Q factors of about 500 are detected. Due to the low effective volume of the confined modes, matter-light interaction is very much enhanced. This effect lowers the velocity of the SH polariton in the material by 50 times, and increases the SH confinement inside the nanocavity due to this higher refractive index. We also show that the SH phase-matching condition is achieved through LO-phonon mediation. Finally, birrefringence of the crystal produces a strong SH intensity dependence on the input polarization, with a high polarization contrast, which could be used as a mechanism for light switching in the nanoscale.

Enhanced optical properties and (Zn, Mg) interdiffusion in vapour transport grown ZnO/MgO core/shell nanowires.

ZnO/MgO (core/shell) nanowires (NWs) grown by a two-step vapour transport method under different MgO shell growth conditions are examined by x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence (PL) excitation and temperature (10-300 K) dependent PL. The excitonic-to-defect PL ratio is increased by more than two orders of magnitude in the core/shell as compared to bare ZnO NWs. Concomitantly, a strong depression of the PL thermal quenching, most particularly for the visible part of the PL spectrum, occurs. Using a semi-quantitative model, results are interpreted as a strong radiative to non-radiative lifetime ratio reduction due to defect passivation at the ZnO NW walls and photocarrier confinement within the ZnO core by the MgO shell. These beneficial effects are, however, significantly weakened when metal interdiffusion across the core/shell interface is favoured during the shell growth. Non-radiative recombination lifetime in the sample with sharp core/shell interface is described by a single activation energy of 15 meV (bound exciton release). For interdiffused cases and bare ZnO an additional activation energy of 60 meV (free exciton breakup) is observed.

ZnO nanowire co-growth on SiO2 and C by carbothermal reduction and vapour advection.

Vertically aligned ZnO nanowires (NWs) were grown on Au-nanocluster-seeded amorphous SiO(2) films by the advective transport and deposition of Zn vapours obtained from the carbothermal reaction of graphite and ZnO powders. Both the NW volume and visible-to-UV photoluminescence ratio were found to be strong functions of, and hence could be tailored by, the (ZnO+C) source-SiO(2) substrate distance. We observe C flakes on the ZnO NWs/SiO(2) substrates which exhibit short NWs that developed on both sides. The SiO(2) and C substrates/NW interfaces were studied in detail to determine growth mechanisms. NWs on Au-seeded SiO(2) were promoted by a rough ZnO seed layer whose formation was catalysed by the Au clusters. In contrast, NWs grew without any seed on C. A correlation comprising three orders of magnitude between the visible-to-UV photoluminescence intensity ratio and the NW volume is found, which results from a characteristic Zn partial pressure profile that fixes both O deficiency defect concentration and growth rate.

Optimal reconstruction of dynamical systems: a noise amplification approach.

In this work we propose an objective function to guide the search for a state space reconstruction of a dynamical system from a time series of measurements. These statistics can be evaluated on any reconstructed attractor, thereby allowing a direct comparison among different approaches: (uniform or nonuniform) delay vectors, PCA, Legendre coordinates, etc. It can also be used to select the most appropriate parameters of a reconstruction strategy. In the case of delay coordinates this translates into finding the optimal delay time and embedding dimension from the absolute minimum of the advocated cost function. Its definition is based on theoretical arguments on noise amplification, the complexity of the reconstructed attractor, and a direct measure of local stretch which constitutes an irrelevance measure. The proposed method is demonstrated on synthetic and experimental time series.