arXiv subjects

Feng Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Feng Liu.

At least 775 records · Page 43Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Eccentricity is not the only source of elliptic flow fluctuations

Sources of event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are investigated in a multiphase transport model. Besides the well-known initial eccentricity fluctuations, several other sources of dynamical fluctuations are identified. One is fluctuations in initial parton configurations at a given eccentricity. Second is quantum fluctuations in parton interactions during system evolution. Third is fluctuations caused by hadronization and final-state hadronic scatterings. The magnitudes of these fluctuations are investigated relative to eccentricity fluctuations and average flow magnitude. The fluctuations from the latter two sources are found to be negative. The results may have important implications to the interpretation of elliptic flow data.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2013

Organic Topological Insulators in Organometallic Lattices

Topological insulators (TIs) are a recently discovered class of materials having insulating bulk electronic states but conducting boundary states distinguished by nontrivial topology. So far, several generations of TIs have been theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed, all based on inorganic materials. Here, based on first-principles calculations, we predict a family of two-dimensional organic TIs made of organometallic lattices. Designed by assembling molecular building blocks of triphenyl-metal compounds with strong spin-orbit coupling into a hexagonal lattice, this new classes of organic TIs are shown to exhibit nontrivial topological edge states that are robust against significant lattice strain. We envision that organic TIs will greatly broaden the scientific and technological impact of TIs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in 2D Organic Topological Insulators

Quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) is a fundamental transport phenomenon in the field of condensed-matter physics. Without external magnetic field, spontaneous magnetization combined with spin-orbit coupling give rise to a quantized Hall conductivity. So far, a number of theoretical proposals have been made to realize the QAHE, but all based on inorganic materials. Here, using first-principles calculations, we predict a family of 2D organic topological insulators (OTIs) for realizing the QAHE. Designed by assembling molecular building blocks of triphenyl-transition-metal compounds into a hexagonal lattice, this new classes of organic materials are shown to have a nonzero Chern number and exhibit a gapless chiral edge state within the Dirac gap.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Spin-enhanced organic bulk heterojunction photovoltaic solar cells

Recently, much effort has been devoted to improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic solar cells based on blends of donors and acceptors molecules in bulk heterojunction architecture. One of the major losses in organic photovoltaic devices has been recombination of polaron pairs at the donor/acceptor domain interfaces. Here, we present a novel method to suppress polaron pair recombination at the donor/acceptor domain interfaces and thus improve the organic photovoltaic solar cell efficiency, by doping the device active layer with spin 1/2 radical galvinoxyl. At an optimal doping level of 3 wt%, the efficiency of a standard poly(3-hexylthiophene)/1-(3-(methoxycarbonyl)propyl)-1-1-phenyl)(6,6)C61 solar cell improves by 18%. A spin-flip mechanism is proposed and supported by magneto-photocurrent measurements, as well as by density functional theory calculations in which polaron pair recombination rate is suppressed by resonant exchange interaction between the spin 1/2 radicals and charged acceptors, which convert the polaron pair spin state from singlet to triplet.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Quasiparticle Dynamics in Reshaped Helical Dirac Cone of Topological Insulators

Topological insulators (TIs) and graphene present two unique classes of materials which are characterized by spin polarized (helical) and non-polarized Dirac-cone band structures, respectively. The importance of many-body interactions that renormalize the linear bands near Dirac point in graphene has been well recognized and attracted much recent attention. However, renormalization of the helical Dirac point has not been observed in TIs. Here, we report the experimental observation of the renormalized quasi-particle spectrum with a skewed Dirac cone in a single Bi bilayer grown on Bi2Te3 substrate, from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. First-principles band calculations indicate that the quasi-particle spectra are likely associated with the hybridization between the extrinsic substrate-induced Dirac states of Bi bilayer and the intrinsic surface Dirac states of Bi2Te3 film at close energy proximity. Without such hybridization, only single-particle Dirac spectra are observed in a single Bi bilayer grown on Bi2Se3, where the extrinsic Dirac states Bi bilayer and the intrinsic Dirac states of Bi2Se3 are well separated in energy. The possible origins of many-body interactions are discussed. Our findings provide a means to manipulate topological surface states.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Creation of Helical Dirac Fermions by Interfacing Two Gapped Systems of Ordinary Fermions

Topological insulators (TIs) are a unique class of materials characterized by a surface (edge) Dirac cone state of helical Dirac fermions in the middle of bulk (surface) gap. When the thickness (width) of TIs is reduced, however, interaction between the surface (edge) states will open a gap removing the Dirac cone. Using density function theory calculation, we demonstrate the creation of helical Dirac fermions from interfacing two gapped TI films, a single bilayer Bi grown on a single quintuple layer Bi2Se3 or Bi2Te3. The theoretical prediction is directly confirmed by experiment. We further show that the extrinsic helical Dirac fermions consists of predominantly Bi bilayer states, which are created by a giant Rashba effect due to interfacial charge transfer. Our findings provide a promising new method to create novel TI materials by interface engineering.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Flat Chern Band in a Two-Dimensional Organometallic Framework

By combining exotic band dispersion with nontrivial band topology, an interesting type of band structure, namely the flat chern band (FCB), has recently been proposed to spawn high-temperature fractional quantum hall states. Despite the proposal of several theoretical lattice models, however, it remains a doubt whether such a "romance of flatland" could exist in a real material. Here, we present a first-principles design of a two-dimensional (2D) Indium-Phenylene Organometallic Framework (IPOF) that realizes a nearly FCB right around the Fermi level by combining lattice geometry, spin-orbit coupling and ferromagnetism. An effective four-band model is constructed to reproduce the first-principles results. Our design in addition provides a general strategy to synthesize topologically nontrivial materials in virtue of organic chemistry and nanotechnology.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Electronic Strengthening of Graphene by Charge Doping

Graphene is known as the strongest 2D material in nature, yet we show that moderate charge doping of either electrons or holes can further enhance its ideal strength by up to ~17%, based on first principles calculations. This unusual electronic enhancement, versus conventional structural enhancement, of material's strength is achieved by an intriguing physical mechanism of charge doping counteracting on strain induced enhancement of Kohn anomaly, which leads to an overall stiffening of zone boundary K1 phonon mode whose softening under strain is responsible for graphene failure. Electrons and holes work in the same way due to the high electron-hole symmetry around the Dirac point of graphene, while over doping may weaken the graphene by softening other phonon modes. Our findings uncover another fascinating property of graphene with broad implications in graphene-based electromechanical devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Event-plane decorrelation over pseudo-rapidity and its effect on azimuthal anisotropy measurement in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Within A Multi-Phase Transport model, we investigate decorrelation of event planes over pseudorapidity and its effect on azimuthal anisotropy measurements in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The decorrelation increases with increasing η gap between particles used to reconstruct the event planes. The third harmonic event planes are found even anticorrelated between forward and backward rapidities, the source of which may root in the opposite orientation of the collision geometry triangularities. The decorrelation may call into question the anisotropic flow measurements with pseudorapidity gap designed to reduce nonflow contributions, hence the hydrodynamic properties of the quark-gluon plasma extracted from those measurements.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2012

Quantum Manifestation of Elastic Constants in Nanostructures

Generally, there are two distinct effects in modifying the properties of low-dimensional nanostructures: surface effect (SS) due to increased surface-volume ratio and quantum size effect (QSE) due to quantum confinement in reduced dimension. The SS has been widely shown to affect the elastic constants and mechanical properties of nanostructures. Here, using Pb nanofilm and graphene nanoribbon as model systems, we demonstrate the QSE on the elastic constants of nanostructures by first-principles calculations. We show that generally QSE is dominant in affecting the elastic constants of metallic nanostructures while SS is more pronounced in semiconductor and insulator nanostructures. Our findings have broad implications in quantum aspects of nanomechanics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Interplay between Quantum Size Effect and Strain Effect on Growth of Nanoscale Metal Thin Film

We develop a theoretical framework to investigate the interplay between quantum size effect (QSE) and strain effect on the stability of metal nanofilms. The QSE and strain effect are shown to be coupled through the concept of "quantum electronic stress. First-principles calculations reveal large quantum oscillations in the surface stress of metal nanofilms as a function of film thickness. This adds extrinsically additional strain-coupled quantum oscillations to surface energy of strained metal nanofilms. Our theory enables a quantitative estimation of the amount of strain in experimental samples, and suggests strain be an important factor contributing to the discrepancies between the existing theories and experiments.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Directed flow of transported and non-transported protons in Au+Au collisions from UrQMD model

The directed flow of inclusive, transported and non-transported (including produced) protons, as well as antiprotons, has been studied in the framework of Ultra-Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics approach (UrQMD model) for Au+Au collisions at\surdsNN =7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4 and 200 GeV. The rapidity, centrality and energy dependence of directed flow for various proton groups are presented. It is found that the integrated directed flow decreases monotonically as a function of collision energy for\surdsNN =11.5 GeV and beyond. However, the sign-change of directed flow of inclusive protons, seen in experimental data as a function of centrality and collision energy, can be explained by the competing effect of directed flow between transported and non-transported protons. Similarly the difference in directed flow between protons and antiprotons can be explained. Our study offers a conventional explanation on the cause of the v1 sign-change other than the antiflow component of protons alone which is argued to be linked to a phase transition.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2012

Optimal Condition for Strong Terahertz Radiation from Intrinsic Josephson Junctions

In order to enhance the radiation power in terahertz band based on the intrinsic Josephson junctions of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ single crystal, we investigate a long cylindrical sample embedded in a dielectric material. Tuning the dielectric constant, the radiation power has a maximum which is achieved when it equals the dissipation caused by Josephson plasma. This yields the optimal dielectric constant of wrapping material in terms of the properties of BSCCO single crystal. The maximal radiation power is found proportional to the product of the typical superconducting current squared and the typical normal resistance, or the gap energy squared divided by the typical normal resistance, which offers a guideline for choosing superconductor as a source of strong radiation. By introducing an anti-reflection layer, we can build a compact device with the BSCCO cylinder and two wrapping dielectric layers with finite thicknesses.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Pressure-induced structural transition of ZnO nanocrystals studied with molecular dynamics

We have studied the pressure-induced structural transition of ZnO nanocrystals using constant pressure molecular dynamics simulations for finite system. We have observed the transition from the fourfold coordination wurtzite to the sixfold coordination rocksalt structure, and the process of transition is strongly dependent on the morphology of the nanocrystals. It is found that the perfect faceted ZnO nanocrystals undergo wurtzite to rocksalt transition with a perfect fivefold h-MgO structure as the intermediate status. But for the faceted ones without perfect surface structure, as the number of the atoms removed from the (001) and (00-1) surface edge increases, the local morphology will become more similar to spherical. The nanocrystal will receive equal stress from every direction and it will be more difficult to compress the structure along only c axis as the perfect faceted ZnO nanocrystal. In this situation, only partial structure experiences intermediate fivefold coordination structure or even no intermediate fivefold coordination structure exists dependent on the surface disorder level.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Topo-electronic transitions in Sb(111) nanofilm: the interplay between quantum confinement and surface effect

When the dimension of a solid structure is reduced, there will be two emerging effects, quantum confinement and surface effect, which dominate at nanoscale. Based on first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that due to an intriguing interplay between these two dominating effects, the topological and electronic (topo-electronic) properties of Sb (111) nanofilms undergo a series of transitions as a function of the reducing film thickness: transforming from a topological semimetal to a topological insulator at 7.8 nm (22 bilayer), then to a quantum spin hall (QSH) phase at 2.7 nm (8 bilayer), and finally to a normal (topological trivial) semiconductor at 1.0 nm (3 bilayer). Our theoretical findings for the first time identify the existence of the QSH in the Sb (111) nanofilms within a narrow range of thickness and suggest that the Sb (111) nanofilms provide an ideal test bed for experimental study of topo-electronic phase transitions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Study of triangular flow $v_3$ in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions with a multiphase transport model

We studied the relation between the initial geometry anisotropy and the anisotropic flow in a multiphase transport model (AMPT) for both Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. It is found that unlike the elliptic flow $v_2$, little centrality dependence of the triangular flow $v_3$ is observed. After removing the initial geometry effect, $v_3/ε_3$ increases with the transverse particle density, which is similar to $v_2/ε_2$. The transverse momentum ($p_T$) dependence of $v_3$ from identified particles is qualitatively similar to the $p_T$ dependence of $v_2$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2011

Quantum Stress: Density Functional Theory Formulation and Physical Manifestation

The concept of "quantum stress (QS)" is introduced and formulated within density functional theory (DFT), to elucidate extrinsic electronic effects on the stress state of solids and thin films in the absence of lattice strain. A formal expression of QS (σ^Q) is derived in relation to deformation potential of electronic states (Ξ) and variation of electron density (Δn), σ^Q = ΞΔn, as a quantum analog of classical Hook's law. Two distinct QS manifestations are demonstrated quantitatively by DFT calculations: (1) in the form of bulk stress induced by charge carriers; and (2) in the form of surface stress induced by quantum confinement. Implications of QS in some physical phenomena are discussed to underlie its importance.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2011

Ellipsometry with an undetermined polarization state

We show that, under the right conditions, one can make highly accurate polarization-based measurements without knowing the absolute polarization state of the probing light field. It is shown that light, passed through a randomly varying birefringent material has a well-defined orbit on the Poincare sphere, which we term a generalized polarization state, that is preserved. Changes to the generalized polarization state can then be used in place of the absolute polarization states that make up the generalized state, to measure the change in polarization due to a sample under investigation. We illustrate the usefulness of this analysis approach by demonstrating fiber-based ellipsometry, where the polarization state of the probe light is unknown, and, yet, the ellipsometric angles of the investigated sample ($Ψ$ and $Δ$) are obtained with an accuracy comparable to that of conventional ellipsometry instruments by measuring changes to the generalized polarization state.

physics.optics↗