Enhanced thermoelectric properties of p-type polycrystalline SnSe by regulating the anisotropic crystal growth and Sn vacancy

Thermoelectric selenides have attracted more and more attentions recently.Herein,p-type Sn Se polycrystalline bulk materials with good thermoelectric properties are presented.By using the SnSe2 nanostructures synthesized via a wetchemistry route as the precursor,polycrystalline Sn Se bulk materials were successfully obtained by a combined heattreating process under reducing atmosphere and following spark plasma sintering procedure.As a reference,the Sn Se nanostructures synthesized via a wet-chemistry route were also fabricated into polycrystalline bulk materials through the same process.The thermoelectric properties of the Sn Se polycrystalline transformed from SnSe2 nanostructures indicate that the increasing of heattreating temperature could effectively decrease the electrical resistivity,whereas the decrease in Seebeck coefficient is nearly invisible.As a result,the maximum power factor is enhanced from 5.06×10^-4W/m·K^2 to 8.08×10^-4W/m·K^2 at 612℃.On the other hand,the reference sample,which was obtained by using Sn Se nanostructures as the precursor,displays very poor power factor of only 1.30×10^-4W/m·K^2 at 537℃.The x-ray diffraction（XRD）,scanning electron microscope（SEM）,x-ray fluorescence（XRF）,and Hall effect characterizations suggest that the anisotropic crystal growth and existing Sn vacancy might be responsible for the enhanced electrical transport in the polycrystalline Sn Se prepared by using SnSe2 precursor.On the other hand,the impact of heat-treating temperature on thermal conductivity is not obvious.Owing to the boosting of power factor,a high z T value of 1.07 at 612℃ is achieved.This study provides a new method to synthesize polycrystalline Sn Se and pave a way to improve the thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline bulk materials with similar layered structure.

Spontaneous emission from a microwave-driven four-level atom in an anisotropic photonic crystal

The spontaneous emission from a microwave-driven four-level atom embedded in an anisotropic photonic crystal is studied. Due to the modified density of state(DOS) in the anisotropic photonic band gap(PBG) and the coherent control induced by the coupling fields, spontaneous emission can be significantly enhanced when the position of the spontaneous emission peak gets close to the band gap edge. As a result of the closed-loop interaction between the fields and the atom,the spontaneous emission depends on the dynamically induced Autler–Townes splitting and its position relative to the PBG.Interesting phenomena, such as spectral-line suppression, enhancement and narrowing, and fluorescence quenching, appear in the spontaneous emission spectra, which are modulated by amplitudes and phases of the coherently driven fields and the effect of PBG. This theoretical study can provide us with more efficient methods to manipulate the atomic spontaneous emission.

ELLIPSOMETRY MEASUREMENT ON ANISOTROPIC FILM AND CRYSTAL

In this paper, a method of light intensity mode ellipsometry for optical constant measurement on anisotropic films and crystals is studied. Softwares for this method have also been developed Based on the theories and correspond softwares, experiments are carried out carefully for anisotropic film and bulk samples with optical axis parallel to their surface as well as optical axis perpendicular to the surface. Moreover, the discrepancy between measured data and calculated results are also analyzed. The measurement system developed in this paper is powerful to measure optical parameter of anisotropic film and bulk samples.

Self-collimation in photonic crystals with anisotropic constituents

In a photonic crystal composed of anisotropic constituents we quantify the range of input angles and the degree of collimation of the beam inside the crystal. The optical properties of a photobleached 4- dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium-tosylate （DAST） crystal are used in our model to demonstrate the efficacy of the self-collimation features.

Complex band structures of 1D anisotropic graphene photonic crystal

The complex band structures of a 1D anisotropic graphene photonic crystal are investigated, and the dispersion relations are confirmed using the transfer matrix method and simulation of commercial software. It is found that the result of using effective medium theory can fit the derived dispersion curves in the low wave vector.Transmission, absorption, and reflection at oblique incident angles are studied for the structure, respectively.Omni-gaps exist for angles as high as 80° for two polarizations. Physical mechanisms of the tunable dispersion and transmission are explained by the permittivity of graphene and the effective permittivity of the multilayerstructure.

Realization of absolute negative refraction index by a photonic crystal using anisotropic dielectric material

A method to realize absolute negative refraction index -1 with a two-dimensional （2D） photonic crystal is presented by introducing dielectric anisotropy in the photonic crystal material. The band structures of E-polarization mode and H-polarization mode can be adjusted by changing the parameters of materials. Thus the two modes with different polarizations have the same negative refraction index -1 for the same frequency. The results are demonstrated by numerical simulation based on the finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） method.

Tadpole-shaped Au nano-particles fabricated by laser fragmentation of Au nano-spheres in liquid

Tadpole-shaped Au nano-particles with controllable tails are successfully fabricated by simply using laser fragmentation of separated Au nano-spheres in liquid. The optimum laser power densities（1.5–3 GW∕cm-2） can enable part of the individual Au nano-sphere to be re-melted, released, and ultra-rapidly recondensed/crystallized on the outside of the original region. We find that the length of the tail in a tadpole-shaped Au nano-particle significantly increases from about 10 to 25 nm by increasing the laser power density. Benefiting from the unique structural features, the localized surface plasmon resonance（LSPR） absorption spectra of the tadpole-shaped Au nano-particles become broader by increasing the tail length. Moreover, the LSPR absorption band also exhibits a noticeable red shift from about 520 to 650 nm. Our results provide a convenient and valuable strategy to fabricated novel anisotropic-shaped nano-structures with fascinating properties.