Condensed Matter

We report on measurements of dissipation and frequency noise at millikelvin temperatures of nanomechanical devices covered with aluminum. A clear excess damping is observed after switching the metallic layer from superconducting to the normal state with a magnetic field. Beyond the standard model of internal tunneling systems coupled to the phonon bath, here we consider the relaxation to the conduction electrons together with the nature of the mechanical dispersion laws for stressed/unstressed devices. With these key ingredients, a model describing the relaxation of two-level systems inside the structure due to interactions with electrons and phonons with well separated timescales captures the data. In addition, we measure an excess 1/f-type frequency noise in the normal state, which further emphasizes the impact of conduction electrons.

Magnetic microscopy that combines nanoscale spatial resolution with picosecond scale temporal resolution uniquely enables direct observation of the spatiotemporal magnetic phenomena that are relevant to future high-speed, high-density magnetic storage and logic technologies. Magnetic microscopes that combine these metrics has been limited to facility-level instruments. To address this gap in lab-accessible spatiotemporal imaging, we develop a time-resolved near-field magnetic microscope based on magneto-thermal interactions. We demonstrate both magnetization and current density imaging modalities, each with spatial resolution that far surpasses the optical diffraction limit. In addition, we study the near-field and time-resolved characteristics of our signal and find that our instrument possesses a spatial resolution on the scale of 100 nm and a temporal resolution below 100 ps. Our results demonstrate an accessible and comparatively low-cost approach to nanoscale spatiotemporal magnetic microscopy in a table-top form to aid the science and technology of dynamic magnetic devices with complex spin textures.

Structural, electronic, and chemical nanoscale modifications of transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers alter their optical properties, including the generation of single photon emitters. A key missing element for complete control is a direct spatial correlation of optical response to nanoscale modifications, due to the large gap in spatial resolution between optical spectroscopy and nanometer resolved techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy or scanning tunneling microscopy. Here, we bridge this gap by obtaining nanometer resolved optical properties using electron spectroscopy, specifically electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) for absorption and cathodoluminescence (CL) for emission, which were directly correlated to chemical and structural information. In an h-BN/WS 2 /h-BN heterostructure, we observe local modulation of the trion (X ??) emission due to tens of nanometer wide dielectric patches, while the exciton, X A , does not follow the same modulation. Trion emission also increases in regions where charge accumulation occurs, close to the carbon film supporting the heterostructures. Finally, localized exciton emission (L) detection is not correlated to strain variations above 1 % , suggesting point defects might be involved in their formations.

This review focuses on the investigation and enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of semiconducting nanowires (NWs). NWs are nanostructures with typical diameters between few to hundreds of nm and length of few to several microns, exhibiting a high surface-to-volume ratio. Nowadays an extraordinary control over their growth has been achieved, enabling also the integration of different types of heterostructures, which can lead to the engineering of the functional properties of the NWs. In this review, we discuss all concepts which have been presented and achieved so far for the improvements of the thermoelectric performances of semiconducting NWs. Furthermore, we present a brief survey of the experimental methods which enable the investigation of the thermoelectric properties of these nanostructures.

Using the standard fluctuational electrodynamics framework, we analytically calculate the radiative heat current between two thin metallic layers, separated by a vacuum gap. We analyse different contributions to the heat current (travelling or evanescent waves, transverse electric or magnetic polarization) and reveal the crucial qualitative role played by the dc conductivity of the metals as compared to the speed of light. For poorly conducting metals, the heat current may be dominated by evanescent waves even when the separation between the layers greatly exceeds the thermal photon wavelength, and the coupling is of electrostatic nature. For well-conducting metals, the evanescent contribution dominates at separations smaller than the thermal wavelength and is mainly due to magnetostatic coupling, in agreement with earlier works on bulk metals.

The near-field electromagnetic interaction between nanoscale objects produces enhanced radiative heat transfer that can greatly surpass the limits established by far-field black-body radiation. Here, we present a theoretical framework to describe the temporal dynamics of the radiative heat transfer in ensembles of nanostructures, which is based on the use of an eigenmode expansion of the equations that govern this process. Using this formalism, we identify the fundamental principles that determine the thermalization of collections of nanostructures, revealing general but often unintuitive dynamics. Our results provide an elegant and precise approach to efficiently analyze the temporal dynamics of the near-field radiative heat transfer in systems containing a large number of nanoparticles.

The efficiencies of photonic devices are primarily governed by radiative quantum efficiency, which is a property given by the light emitting material. Quantitative characterization for carbon nanotubes, however, has been difficult despite being a prominent material for nanoscale photonics. Here we determine the radiative quantum efficiency of bright excitons in carbon nanotubes by modifying the exciton dynamics through cavity quantum electrodynamical effects. Silicon photonic crystal nanobeam cavities are used to induce the Purcell effect on individual carbon nanotubes. Spectral and temporal behavior of the cavity enhancement is characterized by photoluminescence microscopy, and the fraction of the radiative decay process is evaluated. We find that the radiative quantum efficiency is near unity for bright excitons in carbon nanotubes at room temperature.

The spintronic properties of curved nanostructures derived from two-dimensional topological insulators (2DTI's) are explored theoretically with density functional theory-based (DFT) calculations and tight-binding models. We show that curved geometries make it possible to manipulate electron spins in ways that are not available for planar 2DTI devices. We predict that, unlike planar 2DTI devices, curved 2DTI-related nanostructures can function as highly effective {\em two}-terminal spin filters even in the absence of magnetic fields. We construct a generalization to curved geometries of our previous tight binding model of the wide band gap planar 2DTI bismuthene on SiC. The resulting model, applied to an ideal dome geometry with a free edge, is shown to exhibit quantum spin Hall physics, including spin polarized edge states. The model predicts nearly perfect spin filtering by the dome for a particular two-terminal geometry in the absence of magnetic fields. Our DFT calculations predict a Bi 105 Si 105 H 15 dome of bismuthene with adsorbed silicon and hydrogen atoms to be stable. Our tight binding model, adjusted to match density of states given by DFT calculations, predicts that the Bi 105 Si 105 H 15 dome should exhibit quantum spin Hall physics and very effective spin filtering in a two-terminal arrangement.

Across all scales of the physical world, dynamical systems can often be usefully represented as abstract networks that encode the system's units and inter-unit interactions. Understanding how physical rules shape the topological structure of those networks can clarify a system's function and enhance our ability to design, guide, or control its behavior. In the emerging area of quantum network science, a key challenge lies in distinguishing between the topological properties that reflect a system's underlying physics and those that reflect the assumptions of the employed conceptual model. To elucidate and address this challenge, we study networks that represent non-equilibrium quantum-electronic transport through quantum antidot devices -- an example of an open, mesoscopic quantum system. The network representations correspond to two different models of internal antidot states: a single-particle, non-interacting model and an effective model for collective excitations including Coulomb interactions. In these networks, nodes represent accessible energy states and edges represent allowed transitions. We find that both models reflect spin conservation rules in the network topology through bipartiteness and the presence of only even-length cycles. The models diverge, however, in the minimum length of cycle basis elements, in a manner that depends on whether electrons are considered to be distinguishable. Furthermore, the two models reflect spin-conserving relaxation effects differently, as evident in both the degree distribution and the cycle-basis length distribution. Collectively, these observations serve to elucidate the relationship between network structure and physical constraints in quantum-mechanical models. More generally, our approach underscores the utility of network science in understanding the dynamics and control of quantum systems.

Here, we introduce and apply non-Abelian tensor Berry connections to topological phases in multi-band systems. These gauge connections behave as non-Abelian antisymmetric tensor gauge fields in momentum space and naturally generalize Abelian tensor Berry connections and ordinary non-Abelian (vector) Berry connections. We build these novel gauge fields from momentum-space Higgs fields, which emerge from the degenerate band structure of degenerate-band models. Firstly, we show that the conventional topological invariants of two-dimensional topological insulators and three-dimensional Dirac semimetals can be derived from the winding number associated to the Higgs field. Secondly, through the non-Abelian tensor Berry connections we construct higher-dimensional Berry-Zak phases and show their role in the topological characterization of several gapped and gapless systems, ranging from two-dimensional Euler insulators to four-dimensional Dirac semimetals. Importantly, through our new theoretical formalism, we identify and characterize a novel class of models that support space-time inversion and chiral symmetries. Our work provides an unifying framework for different multi-band topological systems and sheds new light on the emergence of non-Abelian gauge fields in condensed matter physics, with direct implications on the search for novel topological phases in solid-state and synthetic systems.