Coulomb-assisted nonlocal electron transport between two pairs of Majorana bound states in a superconducting island

We investigate the nonlocal transport modulated by Coulomb interactions in devices comprising two interacting Majorana wires,where both nanowires are in proximity to a mesoscopic superconducting(SC)island.Each Majorana bound state(MBS)is coupled to one lead via a quantum dot with resonant levels.In this device,the nonlocal correlations can be induced in the absence of Majorana energy splitting.We find that the negative differential conductance and giant current noise cross correlation could be induced,due to the interplay between nonlocality of MBSs and dynamical Coulomb blockade effect.This feature may provide a signature for the existence of the MBSs.

Comparison of the reaction of polar mesosphere winter echoes and polar mesosphere summer echoes to high-frequency heating in terms of modulated characteristics

In this work,for the first time,we have analyzed and compared the responses of polar mesosphere winter echoes(PMWE)and their summer counterpart,polar mesosphere summer echoes(PMSE),to high-frequency(HF)heating in terms of modulated characteristics(i.e.,backscatter intensity reduction,recovery,and overshoot).Both PMWE and PMSE observations were from the same site(Tromsφ,Norway;69.6°N,19.2°E)and radar(EISCAT[European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association]very high frequency,224 MHz).The heating patterns of both PMWE and PMSE were found to be similar;however,PMSE was more greatly affected by HF heating.Polar mesosphere summer echoes showed recovery and overshoot more frequently than did PMWE.In addition,the mean recovery and overshoot of PMSE were greater than those of PMWE.The associated electron temperature enhancement was estimated for both PMWE and PMSE and showed that,compared with PMWE,the electron temperature enhancement was more significant in PMSE.The strong heating effects on PMSE may be due to the considerable increase in electron temperature.

First-principles study of stability of point defects and their effects on electronic properties of GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice

When the GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice-based devices are used under irradiation environments, point defects may be created and ultimately deteriorate their electronic and transport properties. Thus, understanding the properties of point defects like vacancies and interstitials is essential for the successful application of semiconductor materials. In the present study, first-principles calculations are carried out to explore the stability of point defects in GaAs/Al_(0.5)Ga_(0.5)As superlattice and their effects on electronic properties. The results show that the interstitial defects and Frenkel pair defects are relatively difficult to form, while the antisite defects are favorably created generally. Besides, the existence of point defects generally modifies the electronic structure of GaAs/Al_(0.5)Ga_(0.5)As superlattice significantly, and most of the defective SL structures possess metallic characteristics. Considering the stability of point defects and carrier mobility of defective states,we propose an effective strategy that AlAs, GaAs, and AlGaantisite defects are introduced to improve the hole or electron mobility of GaAs/Al_(0.5)Ga_(0.5)As superlattice. The obtained results will contribute to the understanding of the radiation damage effects of the GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice, and provide a guidance for designing highly stable and durable semiconductor superlattice-based electronics and optoelectronics for extreme environment applications.

Unconventional strategies to break through the efficiency of light-driven water splitting:A review

Semiconductor-based solar-driven water splitting technology is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach for the production of clean fuels.The overall solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of semiconductorbased photo(electro)catalysts is jointly determined by factors,such as light absorption efficiency of the photo(electro)catalysts,internal separation efficiency of charge carriers,and injection efficiency of surface charges.However,the traditional improvement strategies,such as morphology control,functional layer modification,and band alignment engineering,still have certain limitations in enhancing the conversion efficiency of the photo(electro)catalytic water splitting.Recently,unconventional enhancement strategies based on surface plasmonic effects,piezoelectric effects,thermoelectric effects,and magnetic effects have provided unique pathways for improving the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of photo(electro)catalysts.Therefore,this review outlines the fundamental concepts of these physical effects and elucidates their intrinsic mechanisms in enhancing the efficiency of photo(electro)catalysts for water splitting process through practical application examples.Ultimately,the future development of unconventional strategies for enhancing photo(electro)catalytic water splitting is envisioned.

Investigation of PMSE echoes characteristics using the discontinuous EISCAT UHF observation and its relation with space environment

The observations of Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE) were carried out using the sporadic data of EISCAT UHF radar during the summer season from 2004 to 2015. There were 25 h of PMSE echoes with EISCAT UHF radar. PMSE echoes were mostly observed only during the early morning and fore-noon time. Moreover, the PMSE echoes are positively correlated with Lymanα radiation, but the correlation is non-significant. The occurrence of PMSE echoes in the early morning and fore-noon time and there positive correlation with Lymanαradiation suggests that solar radiations might be one important factor for PMSE echoes in this study. Very weak positive, but statistically non-significant correlation is found between PMSE occurrence rate and the local geomagneticK-indices. It is found that there is a matching between the variation in the occurrence rate of PMSE and noctilucent clouds (NLC) up to some extent and they are positively correlated. This positive correlation might support the earlier proposed idea about the role of ice particle size in producing PMSE echoes at higher frequencies.

First-principles investigation of the significant anisotropy and ultrahigh thermoelectric efficiency of a novel two-dimensional Ga_(2)I_(2)S_(2) at room temperature

Two-dimensional(2D)thermoelectric(TE)materials have been widely developed;however,some 2D materials exhibit isotropic phonon,electron transport properties,and poor TE performance,which limit their application scope.Thus,exploring excellent anisotropic and ultrahigh-performance TE materials are very warranted.Herein,we first investigate the phonon thermal and TE properties of a novel 2D-connectivity ternary compound named Ga2I2S2.This paper comprehensively studies the phonon dispersion,phonon anharmonicity,lattice thermal conductivity,electronic structure,carrier mobility,Seebeck coefficient,electrical conductivity,and the dimensionless figure of merit(ZT)versus carrier concentration for 2D Ga_(2)I_(2)S_(2).We conclude that the in-plane lattice thermal conductivities of Ga_(2)I_(2)S_(2) at room temperature(300 K)are found to be 1.55 W mK^(−1) in the X-axis direction(xx-direction)and 3.82 W mK^(−1)in the Y-axis direction(yy-direction),which means its anisotropy ratio reaches 1.46.Simultaneously,the TE performance of p-type and n-type doping 2D Ga2I2S2 also shows significant anisotropy,giving rise to the ZT peak values of p-type doping in xx-and yy-directions being 0.81 and 1.99,respectively,and those of n-type doping reach ultrahigh values of 7.12 and 2.89 at 300 K,which are obviously higher than the reported values for p-type and n-type doping ternary compound Sn2BiX(ZT∼1.70 and∼2.45 at 300 K)(2020 Nano Energy 67104283).This work demonstrates that 2D Ga_(2)I_(2)S_(2) has high anisotropic TE conversion efficiency and can also be used as a new potential room-temperature TE material.

Improved Prediction and Understanding of Glass-Forming Ability Based on Random Forest Algorithm

As an ideal material,bulk metallic glass(MG)has a wide range of applications because of its unique properties such as structural,functional and biomedical materials.However,it is difficult to predict the glass-forming ability(GFA)even given the criteria in theory and this problem greatly limits the application of bulk MG in industrial field.In this work,the proposed model uses the random forest classification method which is one of machine learning methods to solve the GFA prediction for binary metallic alloys.Compared with the previous SVM algorithm models of all features combinations,this new model is successfully constructed based on the random forest classification method with a new combination of features and it obtains better prediction results.Simultaneously,it further shows the degree of feature parameters influence on GFA.Finally,a normalized evaluation indicator of binary alloy for machine learning model performance is put forward for the first time.The result shows that the application of machine learning in MGs is valuable.

Effects of helium irradiation dose and temperature on the damage evolution of Ti3SiC2 ceramic

The effects of 400 keV helium ion irradiation dose and temperature on the microstructure of the Ti3SiC2 ceramic were systematically investigated by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy.The helium irradiation experiments were performed at both room temperature(RT) and 500℃ with a fluence up to 2.0 × 1017 He+/cm2 that resulted in a maximum damage of 9.6 displacements per atom.Our results demonstrate that He irradiations produce a large number of nanometer defects in Ti3SiC2 lattice and then cause the dissociation of Ti3SiC2 to TiC nano-grains with the increasing He fluence.Irradiation induced cell volume swelling of Ti3SiC2 at RT is slightly higher than that at 500℃, suggesting that Ti3SiC2 is more suitable for use in a high temperature environment.The temperature dependence of cell parameter evolution and the aggregation of He bubbles in Ti3SiC2 are different from those in Ti3AlC2.The formation of defects and He bubbles at the projected depth would induce the degradation of mechanical performance.

Surface defects,stress evolution,and laser damage enhancement mechanism of fused silica under oxygen-enriched condition

Oxygen ions(O;)were implanted into fused silica at a fixed fluence of 1×10^(17) ions/cm^(2) with different ion energies ranging from 10 ke V to 60 ke V.The surface roughness,optical properties,mechanical properties and laser damage performance of fused silica were investigated to understand the effect of oxygen ion implantation on laser damage resistance of fused silica.The ion implantation accompanied with sputtering effect can passivate the sub-/surface defects to reduce the surface roughness and improve the surface quality slightly.The implanted oxygen ions can combine with the structural defects(ODCs and E′centers)to reduce the defect densities and compensate the loss of oxygen in fused silica surface under laser irradiation.Furthermore,oxygen ion implantation can reduce the Si-O-Si bond angle and densify the surface structure,thus introducing compressive stress in the surface to strengthen the surface of fused silica.Therefore,the laser induced damage threshold of fused silica increases and the damage growth coefficient decreases when ion energy up to30 ke V.However,at higher ion energy,the sputtering effect is weakened and implantation becomes dominant,which leads to the surface roughness increase slightly.In addition,excessive energy aggravates the breaking of Si-O bonds.At the same time,the density of structural defects increases and the compressive stress decreases.These will degrade the laser laser-damage resistance of fused silica.The results indicate that oxygen ion implantation with appropriate ion energy is helpful to improve the damage resistance capability of fused silica components.

Backlund transformations, consistent Riccati expansion solvability, and soliton-cnoidal interaction wave solutions of Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation

The famous Kadomtsev-Petviashvili(KP)equation is a classical equation in soliton theory.A B?cklund transformation between the KP equation and the Schwarzian KP equation is demonstrated by means of the truncated Painlevéexpansion in this paper.One-parameter group transformations and one-parameter subgroup-invariant solutions for the extended KP equation are obtained.The consistent Riccati expansion(CRE)solvability of the KP equation is proved.Some interaction structures between soliton-cnoidal waves are obtained by CRE and several evolution graphs and density graphs are plotted.

Consistent Riccati expansion solvability,symmetries,and analytic solutions of a forced variable-coefficient extended Korteveg-de Vries equation in fluid dynamics of internal solitary waves

We study a forced variable-coefficient extended Korteweg-de Vries(KdV)equation in fluid dynamics with respect to internal solitary wave.Bäcklund transformations of the forced variable-coefficient extended KdV equation are demonstrated with the help of truncated Painlevéexpansion.When the variable coefficients are time-periodic,the wave function evolves periodically over time.Symmetry calculation shows that the forced variable-coefficient extended KdV equation is invariant under the Galilean transformations and the scaling transformations.One-parameter group transformations and one-parameter subgroup invariant solutions are presented.Cnoidal wave solutions and solitary wave solutions of the forced variable-coefficient extended KdV equation are obtained by means of function expansion method.The consistent Riccati expansion(CRE)solvability of the forced variable-coefficient extended KdV equation is proved by means of CRE.Interaction phenomenon between cnoidal waves and solitary waves can be observed.Besides,the interaction waveform changes with the parameters.When the variable parameters are functions of time,the interaction waveform will be not regular and smooth.

Molecular Dynamics Analysis of the Effect of Laser and Defects on the Micro-Structure of Fused Silica

In this work, the classic molecular dynamics simulations are employed to investigate the atomic structural modification of fused silica with defects as laser irradiation. The dynamics evolution of the atomic structure of fused silica is modeled during energy deposition. The structure parameters such as pair distribution functions(PDFs), bond angle distributions(BADs), and the coordination number are given. The calculated results reveal that fused silica undergoes significant changes in terms of Si-O, Si-Si, and O-O bond lengths, Si-O-Si and O-Si-O bond angles, and the Si and O coordination numbers during laser irradiation. The effects of different surface defects on the microstructure of fused silica are discussed too. The simulation results of molecular dynamics may help to understand the role of defects in the radiation effect of fused silica.

The Controllability of Quantum Correlation under Geometry and Entropy Discords

Quantum correlation plays a critical role in the maintenance of quantum information processing and nanometer device design.In the past two decades,several quantitative methods had been proposed to study the quantum correlation of certain open quantum systems,including the geometry and entropy style discord methods.However,there are differences among these quantification methods,which promote a deep understanding of the quantum correlation.In this paper,a novel time-dependent three environmental open system model is established to study the quantum correlation.This system model interacts with two independent spin-environments(two spin-environments are connected to the other spin-environment)respectively.We have calculated and compared the changing properties of the quantum correlation under three kinds of geometry and two entropy discords,especially for the freezing phenomenon.At the same time,some original and novel changing behaviors of the quantum correlation under different timedependent parameters are studied,which is helpful to achieve the optimal revival of the quantum discord and the similar serrated form of the freezing phenomenon.Finally,it shows the controllability of the freezing correlation and the robustness of these methods by adjusting time-dependent parameters.This work provides a new way to control the quantum correlation and design nanospintronic devices.

Effect of ions on conductivity and permittivity in the Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes region

For the first time,the effect of ions on complex conductivity and permittivity of dusty plasma at Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes(PMSE)altitude is analyzed.Because of ions higher mass and smaller thermal velocity,generally,their effects are not considered in the study of electromagnetic properties of dusty plasmas.In this study,we modified the equations of conductivity and permittivity by adding the effect of ions.In the PMSE altitude region between 80 and 90 km,a local reduction in electron density(i.e.,an electron biteout),is produced by electron absorption onto dust particles.The bite-out condition contains high dust density and smaller electron density.From simulation results in comparatively strong bite-out conditions,we found that the ion effects on conductivity become significant with smaller dust size,lower electron temperature,and lower neutral density.For comparatively weak bite-out conditions,the ion effects on conductivity become significant with larger dust size,higher electron temperature,and higher neutral density.On the other hand,for different dust sizes,electron temperatures and neutral density,the ion effects on complex permittivity become significant only in very strong bite-out conditions.Based on these simulation results,we conclude that,in the absence of electron bite-out conditions,the effect of ions on complex conductivity and permittivity is not significant and can be ignored.However,during bite-out conditions,the effect of ions becomes significant and cannot be ignored because it significantly changes the conductivity and permittivity of dusty plasmas.

A Comprehensive Review of Wearable Applications and Material Construction

Wearable electronic systems are able to monitor and measure multiple biophysical, biochemical signals to help researchers develop further understandings of human health and correlation between human performance and diseases. Driven by increasing demand for need in sports training, health monitoring and disease diagnose, bio-integrated systems are developing at a significant speed based on recent advances in material science, structure design and chemical techniques. A wide range of wearable systems are created and feature unique measuring targets, methods and soft, transparent, stretchable characters. This review summarizes the recent advances in wearable electronic technologies that also include material science, chemical science and electronic engineering. The introduction to basic wearable fundamentals covers subsequent consideration for materials, system integration and promising platforms. Detailed classification towards their functions of physical, chemical detection is also mentioned. Strategies to achieve stretchability and promising material, AgNW, are fully discussed. This paper concludes with consideration of main challenging obstacles in this emerging filed and promises in materials that possess excellent potentials for predicted progress.

Recent advances in the electrochemistry of layered post-transition metal chalcogenide nanomaterials for hydrogen evolution reaction

Layered two-dimensional(2 D)materials have received tremendous attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties when downsized to single or few layers.Several types of layered materials,especially transition metal dichalcogenides(TMDs)have been demonstrated to be good electrode materials due to their interesting physical and chemical properties.Apart from TMDs,post-transition metal chalcogenides(PTMCs)recently have emerged as a family of important semiconducting materials for electrochemical studies.PTMCs are layered materials which are composed of post-transition metals raging from main group IIIA to group VA(Ga,In,Ge,Sn,Sb and Bi)and group VI chalcogen atoms(S,selenium(Se)and tellurium(Te)).Although a large number of literatures have reviewed the electrochemical and electrocatalytic applications of TMDs,less attention has been focused on PTMCs.In this review,we focus our attention on PTMCs with the aim to provide a summary to describe their fundamental electrochemical properties and electrocatalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).The characteristic chemical compositions and crystal structures of PTMCs are firstly discussed,which are different from TMDs.Then,inherent electrochemistry of PTMCs is discussed to unveil the well-defined redox behaviors of PTMCs,which could potentially affect their efficiency when applied as electrode materials.Following,we focus our attention on electrocatalytic activity of PTMCs towards HER including novel synthetic strategies developed for the optimization of their HER activity.This review ends with the perspectives for the future research direction in the field of PTMC based electrocatalysts.

Hybrid sub-gridding ADE–FDTD method of modeling periodic metallic nanoparticle arrays

In this paper, a modified sub-gridding scheme that hybridizes the conventional finite-difference time-domain（FDTD）method and the unconditionally stable locally one-dimensional（LOD） FDTD is developed for analyzing the periodic metallic nanoparticle arrays. The dispersion of the metal, caused by the evanescent wave propagating along the metal-dielectric interface, is expressed by the Drude model and solved with a generalized auxiliary differential equation（ADE） technique.In the sub-gridding scheme, the ADE–FDTD is applied to the global coarse grids while the ADE–LOD–FDTD is applied to the local fine grids. The time step sizes in the fine-grid region and coarse-grid region can be synchronized, and thus obviating the temporal interpolation of the fields in the time-marching process. Numerical examples about extraordinary optical transmission through the periodic metallic nanoparticle array are provided to show the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.

Research on the Freezing Phenomenon of Quantum Correlation by Machine Learning

Quantum correlation shows a fascinating nature of quantum mechanics and plays an important role in some physics topics,especially in the field of quantum information.Quantum correlations of the composite system can be quantified by resorting to geometric or entropy methods,and all these quantification methods exhibit the peculiar freezing phenomenon.The challenge is to find the characteristics of the quantum states that generate the freezing phenomenon,rather than only study the conditions which generate this phenomenon under a certain quantum system.In essence,this is a classification problem.Machine learning has become an effective method for researchers to study classification and feature generation.In this work,we prove that the machine learning can solve the problem of X form quantum states,which is a problem of physical significance.Subsequently,we apply the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise(DBSCAN)algorithm and the decision tree to divide quantum states into two different groups.Our goal is to classify the quantum correlations of quantum states into two classes:one is the quantum correlation with freezing phenomenon for both Rènyi discord(α=2)and the geometric discord(Bures distance),the other is the quantum correlation of non-freezing phenomenon.The results demonstrate that the machine learning method has reasonable performance in quantum correlation research.

On the radar frequency dependence of polar mesosphere summer echoes

Polar mesosphere summer echoes(PMSEs)are very strong radar echoes in the polar mesopause in local summer.Here we present the frequency dependence of the volume reflectivity and the effect of energetic particle precipitation on modulated PMSEs by using PMSEs observations carried out by European Incoherent SCATter(EISCAT)heating equipment simultaneously with very high frequency(VHF)radar and ultra high frequency(UHF)radar on 12 July 2007.According to the experimental observations,the PMSEs occurrence rate at VHF was much higher than that at UHF,and the altitude of the PMSEs maximum observed at VHF was higher than that at UHF.Overlapping regions were observed by VHF radar between high energetic particle precipitation and the PMSEs.In addition,highfrequency heating had a very limited impact on PMSEs when the UHF electron density was enhanced because of energetic particle precipitation.In addition,an updated qualitative method was used to study the relationship between volume reflectivity and frequency.The volume reflectivity was found to be inversely proportional to the fourth power of radar frequency.The theoretical and experimental results provide a definitive data foundation for further analysis and investigation of the physical mechanism of PMSEs.

A Universal Atomic Substitution Conversion Strategy Towards Synthesis of Large‑Size Ultrathin Nonlayered Two‑Dimensional Materials

Nonlayered two-dimensional(2D)materials have attracted increasing attention,due to novel physical properties,unique surface structure,and high compatibility with microfabrication technique.However,owing to the inherent strong covalent bonds,the direct synthesis of 2D planar structure from nonlayered materials,especially for the realization of large-size ultrathin 2D nonlayered materials,is still a huge challenge.Here,a general atomic substitution conversion strategy is proposed to synthesize large-size,ultrathin nonlayered 2D materials.Taking nonlayered CdS as a typical example,large-size ultrathin nonlayered CdS single-crystalline flakes are successfully achieved via a facile low-temperature chemical sulfurization method,where pre-grown layered CdI2 flakes are employed as the precursor via a simple hot plate assisted vertical vapor deposition method.The size and thickness of CdS flakes can be controlled by the CdI2 precursor.The growth mechanism is ascribed to the chemical substitution reaction from I to S atoms between CdI2 and CdS,which has been evidenced by experiments and theoretical calculations.The atomic substitution conversion strategy demonstrates that the existing 2D layered materials can serve as the precursor for difficult-to-synthesize nonlayered 2D materials,providing a bridge between layered and nonlayered materials,meanwhile realizing the fabrication of large-size ultrathin nonlayered 2D materials.