We report on the effect of Mg doping on the properties of GaN nanowires grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The most significant feature is the presence of triple-twin domains, the density of which increases with increasing Mg concentration. The resulting high concentration of misplaced atoms gives rise to local changes in the crystal structure equivalent to the insertion of three non-relaxed zinc-blende (ZB) atomic cells, which result in quantum wells along the wurtzite (WZ) nanowire growth axis. High resolution electron energy loss spectra were obtained exactly on the twinned (zinc-blende) and wurtzite planes. These atomically resolved measurements, which allow us to identify modifications in the local density of states, revealed changes in the band to band electronic transition energy from 3.4 eV for wurtzite to 3.2 eV in the twinned lattice regions. These results are in good agreement with specific ab initio atomistic simulations and demonstrate that the redshift observed in previous photoluminescence analyses is directly related to the presence of these zinc-blende domains, opening up new possibilities for band-structure engineering.

GaInN/GaN light-emitting diodes free of piezoelectric polarization were prepared on standard electronic-grade Si(100) substrates. Micro-stripes of GaN and GaInN/GaN quantum wells in the cubic crystal structure were grown on intersecting {111} planes of microscale V-grooved Si in metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy, covering over 50% of the wafer surface area. Crystal phases were identified in electron back-scattering diffraction. A cross-sectional analysis reveals a cubic structure virtually free of line defects. Electroluminescence over 20 to 100 μA is found fixed at 487 nm (peak), 516 nm (dominant). Such structures therefore should allow higher efficiency, wavelength-stable light emitters throughout the visible spectrum.

The potential for environmental heterogeneity to generate spatial structuring of genotypes in seedplant populations that occupy patchy habitats has been demonstrated by several studies, but little is known about the population structure of pteridophytes occupying patchy environments. In this study we have examined the genetic structure of isolated populations of the rock fern Asplenium csikii, an ecological specialist, growing almost exclusively on perpendicular walls of natural rock outcrops. All genetic variation observed in this taxon was partitioned between localities; no allozyme variation was found within a site and each site was colonized by a single multilocus phenotype (MLP). In total, ®ve di erent MLPs were recorded from the nine localities, with two MLPs present at more than one site. Previous examination of population structure and genetic diversity in another rock fern, A. rutamuraria, showed that the genetic diversity increases through multiple colonization over time. However, we cannot ®nd any such correlation for A. csikii. All populations are genetically uniform, despite the probably considerable age of the populations and sites. Earlier studies concluded that the ample production of wind-borne propagules would lead to multiple colonization of sites and that reproductive features, such as single-spore colonization and subsequent intragametophytic sel®ng, would lead to very little genetic structuring of fern populations. In contrast to this prediction, it appears that ecological specialization and the scarcity of the narrowly de®ned niche contribute strongly to the pronounced partitioning of genetic variability observed in populations of A. csikii.

The incorporation of In on the non-polar, piezoelectric-free (001) facet of cubic (c-) GaN epitaxially grown over a Si(001) substrate by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy is reported. Relying on a hexagonal (h-) to c-phase transformation during epitaxy on an 800 nm-wide, Si(111)-faceted v-groove patterned into the substrate, the GaN epilayer at cross sectional view retains a triangular c-phase inside a chevron-shaped h-phase that results in a top surface bounded by a (001) facet parallel to Si(001) at the center and (11¯01) facets at both edges. A stack of five, ∼3 nm-thick, InxGa1−xN/GaN quantum wells (QWs) was deposited on the double-phased top surface. The c-phase region up to the QWs keeps extremely small misfit (∼0.002) to the fully relaxed h-GaN underneath it and is in tensile stress implying undefected by the h-c phase interface. The In incorporation on a strained non-polar (001) of c-GaN is comparable with that on totally relaxed semi-polar (11¯01) of h-GaN without noticeable adatom migration across the phase boundary, and sufficient to provide the room-temperature green emission at 496 nm from the c-InxGa1−xN/GaN QWs on Si(001) in photoluminescence.