Controlling polarization direction in epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 films through Nb (n-type) and Fe (p-type) doping

Fe (acceptor) and Nb (donor) doped epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 (PZT) films were grown on single crystal SrTiO3 substrates and their electric properties were compared to those of un-doped PZT layers deposited in similar conditions. All the films were grown from targets produced from high purity precursor oxides and the doping was in the limit of 1% atomic in both cases. The remnant polarization, the coercive field and the potential barriers at electrode interfaces are different, with lowest values for Fe doping and highest values for Nb doping, with un-doped PZT in between. The dielectric constant is larger in the doped films, while the effective density of charge carriers is of the same order of magnitude. An interesting result was obtained from piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) investigations. It was found that the as-grown Nb-doped PZT has polarization orientated upward, while the Fe-doped PZT has polarization oriented mostly downward. This difference is explained by the change in the conduction type, thus in the sign of the carriers involved in the compensation of the depolarization field during the growth. In the Nb-doped film the majority carriers are electrons, which tend to accumulate to the growing surface, leaving positively charged ions at the interface with the bottom SrRuO3 electrode, thus favouring an upward orientation of polarization. For Fe-doped film the dominant carriers are holes, thus the sign of charges is opposite at the growing surface and the bottom electrode interface, favouring downward orientation of polarization. These findings open the way to obtain p-n ferroelectric homojunctions and suggest that PFM can be used to identify the type of conduction in PZT upon the dominant direction of polarization in the as-grown films.

An ultrathin acoustic metasurface composed of an anisotropic three-component resonator

An ultrathin acoustic metasurface consisting of an anisotropic three-component resonator is proposed. The resonator can induce nondegenerate dipole resonances at the same resonant frequencies. A large phase delay can be obtained based on the resonance, which can be modulated by the direction of polarization. The anisotropic resonator can be regarded as an effective homogenous medium with an anisotropic mass density, and the phase change can also be attributed to the change of the effective material parameters. A good comparison between the results for the metasurface and its effective slab is obtained.

Optical Vortices Sharp Focusing by Silicon Ring Gratings Using High-Performance Computer Systems

The diffraction of vortex laser beams with circular polarization (with different direction of polarization rotation) by silicon ring gratings was investigated in this paper. The silicon diffractive axicons with different numerical apertures (NA) were considered as such ring gratings. The considered diffractive axicons are compared with single silicon circular protrusion (cylinder). The finite difference time domain method was used for Light propagation (3D) through the proposed silicon ring gratings and silicon cylinder. The possibility of subwavelength focusing by varying the height of the elements is demonstrated. In particular, it is numerically shown that a silicon cylinder forms a light spot with the minimum size (intensity) of the longitudinal component of the electric field FWHM is 0.32λ.

Tight focusing of circularly polarized light limited by semicircular aperture

In this work, the focusing of a circularly polarized plane wave (wavelength 532 nm) was simulated by a lens with a numerical aperture NA = 0.95. The wave front was considered flat. When integrating according to the Richards-Wolf formulas, the semicircular aperture was set by limiting the azimuthal angle from 0 to π. It was shown that when focusing light with right and left circular polarization, the focal spot turns out to be elliptical - elongated along the y axis, and, depending on the direction of polarization, its center shifts by about 0.05 μm in different directions along the x axis. It was also shown that the reverse flow region is located near the focal spot (at a distance of 0.25 μm from the center). Depending on the direction of polarization, it is located either to the right or to the left of the focal spot. Thus, the polarization state of the incident radiation can be determined from the displacement of the spot in focus.

Spatially Distinct Tectonic Zones across Oklahoma Inferred from Shear-Wave Splitting

To better understand relationships among crustal anisotropy, fracture orientations, and the stress field in Oklahoma and southern Kansas, we conduct shear-wave splitting analysis on the last 9 yr of data (2010–2019) of local earthquake observations. Rather than a predominant fast direction (ϕ), we find that most stations have a primary fast direction of polarization (ϕpri) and a secondary fast direction of polarization (ϕsec). At most stations, either the primary fast direction of polarization (ϕpri) or the secondary fast direction of polarization (ϕsec) is consistent with the closest estimated maximum horizontal stress (σHmax) orientation in the vicinity of the observation. The general agreement between fast directions of polarization (ϕ) and the maximum horizontal stress orientations (σHmax) at the regional level implies that the fast polarization directions (ϕ) are extremely sensitive to the regional stress field. However, in some regions, such as the Fairview area in western Oklahoma, we observe discrepancies between fast polarization directions (ϕ) and maximum horizontal stress orientations (σHmax), in which the fast directions are more consistent with local fault structures. Overall, the primary fast direction of polarization (ϕpri) is mostly controlled and influenced by the stress field, and the secondary fast direction of polarization (ϕsec) likely has some geologic structural control because the secondary direction is qualitatively parallel to some mapped north-striking fault zones. No significant changes in fast directions over time were detected with this technique over the 5 yr (2013–2018) of measurements, suggesting that pore pressure may not cause a significant enough or detectable change above the magnitude of the background stress field.

Quantitative analysis of self-potential anomalies: Review of case studies from various SP applications

Self-potential (SP) method is one of the most non-expensive and unsophisticated geophysical methods. However, its application limits absence of reliable interpreting methodology, first for the complex geological-environmental conditions. The typical disturbances appearing in the SP method are discussed. To exclude these noise components before the quantitative analysis, some ways for their removing (elimination) are presented. Some brief review of the available interpretation methods is presented. For the magnetic method of geophysical prospecting, special quantitative procedures applicable under complex physical-geological environments (oblique polarization, uneven terrain relief and unknown level of the normal field), have been recently developed. Earlier detected common peculiarities between the magnetic and SP fields have been extended. These common aspects make it possible to apply the advanced procedures developed in magnetic prospecting to SP method. Besides the reliable determination of the depth of anomalous targets, these methodologies enable to calculate the corrections for non-horizontal SP observations and direction of polarization vector. For classification of SP-anomalies is proposed to use a new parameter – 'self-potential moment'. These quantitative procedures (improved modifications of characteristic point, tangent techniques and areal method) have been successfully tested on SP models and employed in real situations in mining, archaeological, environmental and technogenic geophysics. The obtained results indicate practical importance of the developed methodologies.

Гибридный фотоприемник среднего инфракрасного диапазона на основе полупроводниковых квантовых ям

A hybrid mid-infrared photodetector has been implemented, in which silicon carbide (SiC) particles are used to increase the interaction of the electromagnetic field with the electronic subsystem of quantum wells. On the basis of direct measurements of infrared photoconductivity and calculations within the framework of the finite difference method in the time domain, it is shown that this approach makes it possible to increase the sensitivity of such infrared photodetector to electromagnetic radiation by reversing the direction of polarization of the electric field, including in the near zone of SiC particles.

Stability of a non-local kinetic model for cell migration with density-dependent speed

The aim of this article is to study the stability of a non-local kinetic model proposed by Loy & Preziosi (2020a) in which the cell speed is affected by the cell population density non-locally measured and weighted according to a sensing kernel in the direction of polarization and motion. We perform the analysis in a $d$-dimensional setting. We study the dispersion relation in the one-dimensional case and we show that the stability depends on two dimensionless parameters: the first one represents the stiffness of the system related to the cell turning rate, to the mean speed at equilibrium and to the sensing radius, while the second one relates to the derivative of the mean speed with respect to the density evaluated at the equilibrium. It is proved that for Dirac delta sensing kernels centered at a finite distance, corresponding to sensing limited to a given distance from the cell center, the homogeneous configuration is linearly unstable to short waves. On the other hand, for a uniform sensing kernel, corresponding to uniformly weighting the information collected up to a given distance, the most unstable wavelength is identified and consistently matches the numerical solution of the kinetic equation.

Nanostructured Color Filters: A Review of Recent Developments

Color plays an important role in human life: without it life would be dull and monochromatic. Printing color with distinct characteristics, like hue, brightness and saturation, and high resolution, are the main characteristic of image sensing devices. A flexible design of color filter is also desired for angle insensitivity and independence of direction of polarization of incident light. Furthermore, it is important that the designed filter be compatible with the image sensing devices in terms of technology and size. Therefore, color filter requires special care in its design, operation and integration. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of nanostructured color filter designs described to date and evaluate them in terms of their performance.