Material-based high-impedance surfaces for infrared photonic technologies

Metamaterial high-impedance surfaces (HISs) are characterized by a boundary condition close to that of aperfect magnetic conductor (PMC). This property has enabled a variety of antenna systems such as low-profileantennas, electromagnetic absorbers and anti-radar systems. Here, we push forward the concept of material-basedhigh-impedance surfaces (MatHISs), where a high-impedance boundary is directly obtained from the materialproperties of doped semiconductors and polar dielectrics at infrared frequencies. Technological advantages ofMatHISs such as fabrication simplicity, large-area deployment and integrability into conformal devices suggestmultiple applications for infrared photonic technologies, including dynamical thermal emitters, optoelectronic devicesand basic research on atomically-thin materials.

High Temperature Superconductors Through the Van Hove Singularity

<p>The antibonding VHS of the high temperature superconductor Bi-2212 appears in the extreme overdoped regime, a part of the cuprate phase diagram little studied to date. Observation of this VHS motivated taking a fresh look at the cuprates using fundamentals of electronics as the foundation for understanding the physics involved in the superconductivity of these materials. In the study of the high temperature superconductors it appears important questions have been overlooked, notably the possible contribution of the gapped state and whether these materials are better considered as doped semiconductors rather than as 'poor' metals. We also find the question of the contribution of oxygen, a substance with a strong magnetic signature, to data of the oxygen-doped cuprates has been neglected. Comparison with non-oxygen doping is supportive of the view the oxygen dopant contributes noticeably to magnetic data. Through magnetic susceptibility measurements the antibonding VHS location, predicted by use of Fermi liquid theory, is well confirmed in polycrystals of the lead-doped cuprate Bi-2212. It was found that the peak in the DOS at the VHS produces no corresponding local peak in the critical temperature versus doping. Instead, the VHS appears associated with the disappearance of the superconductivity, rather than with the maximum critical temperature. We find the metal-insulator transition plays an important role. There are two of these in the cuprates, a horizontal doping dependent one and a vertical temperature dependent one. They affect each other. Noting the consequences of doping an insulator until a metallic state is reached enables a connection to be made between doping and pressure. Three requirements are identified for superconductivity to occur: 1. screening 2. pairing 3. charge mobility Each requirement may be separately satisfied in a manner whereby each can vary differently as a function of the same variable. The superconductivity of the cuprates is found to arise out of an underlying non-metallic state. As such, BCS theory, being formulated to explain superconductivity arising from metallic conduction, cannot be directly applicable. However, although HTS materials are a rich repository of both novel and familiar solid state physics, evidence does not appear to support the notion that superconductivity in the cuprates is caused by "exotic" physics. We also find cause for optimism regarding the development of new or improved superconducting materials.</p>

High Temperature Superconductors Through the Van Hove Singularity

<p>The antibonding VHS of the high temperature superconductor Bi-2212 appears in the extreme overdoped regime, a part of the cuprate phase diagram little studied to date. Observation of this VHS motivated taking a fresh look at the cuprates using fundamentals of electronics as the foundation for understanding the physics involved in the superconductivity of these materials. In the study of the high temperature superconductors it appears important questions have been overlooked, notably the possible contribution of the gapped state and whether these materials are better considered as doped semiconductors rather than as 'poor' metals. We also find the question of the contribution of oxygen, a substance with a strong magnetic signature, to data of the oxygen-doped cuprates has been neglected. Comparison with non-oxygen doping is supportive of the view the oxygen dopant contributes noticeably to magnetic data. Through magnetic susceptibility measurements the antibonding VHS location, predicted by use of Fermi liquid theory, is well confirmed in polycrystals of the lead-doped cuprate Bi-2212. It was found that the peak in the DOS at the VHS produces no corresponding local peak in the critical temperature versus doping. Instead, the VHS appears associated with the disappearance of the superconductivity, rather than with the maximum critical temperature. We find the metal-insulator transition plays an important role. There are two of these in the cuprates, a horizontal doping dependent one and a vertical temperature dependent one. They affect each other. Noting the consequences of doping an insulator until a metallic state is reached enables a connection to be made between doping and pressure. Three requirements are identified for superconductivity to occur: 1. screening 2. pairing 3. charge mobility Each requirement may be separately satisfied in a manner whereby each can vary differently as a function of the same variable. The superconductivity of the cuprates is found to arise out of an underlying non-metallic state. As such, BCS theory, being formulated to explain superconductivity arising from metallic conduction, cannot be directly applicable. However, although HTS materials are a rich repository of both novel and familiar solid state physics, evidence does not appear to support the notion that superconductivity in the cuprates is caused by "exotic" physics. We also find cause for optimism regarding the development of new or improved superconducting materials.</p>

Electronic Floquet gyro-liquid crystal

Floquet engineering uses coherent time-periodic drives to realize designer band structures on-demand, thus yielding a versatile approach for inducing a wide range of exotic quantum many-body phenomena. Here we show how this approach can be used to induce non-equilibrium correlated states with spontaneously broken symmetry in lightly doped semiconductors. In the presence of a resonant driving field, the system spontaneously develops quantum liquid crystalline order featuring strong anisotropy whose directionality rotates as a function of time. The phase transition occurs in the steady state of the system achieved due to the interplay between the coherent external drive, electron-electron interactions, and dissipative processes arising from the coupling to phonons and the electromagnetic environment. We obtain the phase diagram of the system using numerical calculations that match predictions obtained from a phenomenological treatment and discuss the conditions on the system and the external drive under which spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs. Our results demonstrate that coherent driving can be used to induce non-equilibrium quantum phases of matter with dynamical broken symmetry.

Overcoming the water oxidative limit for ultra-high-workfunction hole-doped polymers

It is widely thought that the water-oxidation reaction limits the maximum work function to about 5.25 eV for hole-doped semiconductors exposed to the ambient, constrained by the oxidation potential of air-saturated water. Here, we show that polymer organic semiconductors, when hole-doped, can show work functions up to 5.9 eV, and yet remain stable in the ambient. We further show that de-doping of the polymer is not determined by the oxidation of bulk water, as previously thought, due to its general absence, but by the counter-balancing anion and its ubiquitously hydrated complexes. The effective donor levels of these species, representing the edge of the ‘chemical’ density of states, can be depressed to about 6.0 eV below vacuum level. This can be achieved by raising the oxidation potential for hydronium generation, using large super-acid anions that are themselves also stable against oxidation. In this way, we demonstrate that poly(fluorene-alt-triarylamine) derivatives with tethered perfluoroalkyl-sulfonylimidosulfonyl anions can provide ambient solution-processability directly in the ultrahigh-workfunction hole-doped state to give films with good thermal stability. These results lay the path for design of soft materials for battery, bio-electronic and thermoelectric applications.