Pietro Camarda

Oxidation of Zn nanoparticles probed by online optical spectroscopy during nanosecond pulsed laser ablation of a Zn plate in H2O

We report online UV-Visible absorption and photoluminescence measurements carried out during and after pulsed laser ablation of a zinc plate in water, which clarify the events leading to the generation of ZnO nanoparticles. A transient Zn/ZnO core-shell structure is revealed by the coexistence of the resonance absorption peak around 5.0 eV due to Zn surface plasmon resonance and the edge at 3.5 eV of ZnO. The growth kinetics of ZnO, selectively probed by the exciton luminescence at 3.3 eV, begins only after a ∼30 s delay from the onset of laser ablation. We also detect the luminescence at 2.3 eV of ZnO oxygen vacancies, yet rising with an even longer delay (∼100 s). These results show that the oxidation of Zn nanoparticles mainly occurs out of the ablation plume region and proceeds as a sequence of two stages: the earliest oxidation is only superficial and forms a defect-free ZnO shell around a Zn core, whereas core oxidation is driven by comparatively slower diffusion of water through the ZnO shell and l...

Self-limiting and complete oxidation of silicon nanostructures produced by laser ablation in water

Oxidized Silicon nanomaterials produced by 1064 nm pulsed laser ablation in deionized water are investigated. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy allows to characterize the structural and chemical properties at a sub-nanometric scale. This analysis clarifies that laser ablation induces both self-limiting and complete oxidation processes which produce polycrystalline Si surrounded by a layer of SiO2 and amorphous fully oxidized SiO2, respectively. These nanostructures exhibit a composite luminescence spectrum which is investigated by time-resolved spectroscopy with a tunable laser excitation. The origin of the observed luminescence bands agrees with the two structural typologies: Si nanocrystals emit a μs-decaying red band; defects of SiO2 give rise to a ns-decaying UV band and two overlapping blue bands with lifetime in the ns and ms timescale.

Microwave Response of Coaxial Cavities Made of Bulk Magnesium Diboride

We report on the microwave properties of coaxial cavities built by using bulk MgB2 superconductor prepared by reactive liquid Mg infiltration technology. We have assembled a homogeneous cavity by using an outer MgB2 cylinder and an inner MgB2 rod and a hybrid cavity by using an outer copper cylinder and the same MgB2 rod as inner conductor. By the analysis of the resonance curves, in the different resonant modes, we have determined the microwave surface resistance Rs of the MgB2 materials as a function of the temperature and the frequency, in the absence of dc magnetic fields. At T=4.2 K and f ≈ 2.5 GHz, by an mw pulsed technique, we have determined the quality factor of the homogeneous cavity as a function of the input power up to a maximum level of about 40 dBm (corresponding to a maximum peak magnetic field of about 100 Oe). Contrary to what occurs in many films, Rs of the MgB2 material used does not exhibit visible variations up to an input power level of about 10 dBm and varies less than a factor of 2 on further increasing the input power of 30 dB.

Oxidation of silicon nanoparticles produced by nanosecond laser ablation in liquids

We investigated nanoparticles produced by laser ablation of silicon in water by the fundamental harmonic (1064 nm) of a ns pulsed Nd:YAG. The silicon oxidation is evidenced by IR absorption features characteristic of amorphous SiO2 (silica). This oxide is highly defective and manifests a luminescence activity under UV excitation: two emission bands at 2.7 eV and 4.4 eV are associated with the twofold coordinated silicon, =SiO••.

Enhancing the luminescence efficiency of silicon-nanocrystals by interaction with H+ ions

The emission of silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs), synthesized by pulsed laser ablation in water, was investigated on varying the pH of the solution. These samples emit μs decaying orange photoluminescence (PL) associated with radiative recombination of quantum-confined excitons. Time-resolved spectra reveal that both the PL intensity and the lifetime increase by a factor of ∼20 when the pH decreases from 10 to 1 thus indicating that the emission quantum efficiency increases by inhibiting nonradiative decay rates. Infrared (IR) absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experiments allow addressing the origin of defects on which the excitons nonradiatively recombine. The linear correlation between the PL and the growth of SiH groups demonstrates that H+ ions passivate the nonradiative defects that are located in the interlayer between the Si-NC core and the amorphous SiO2 shell.