Lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) of ZnO has been demonstrated in water at 90 °C. The process starts with hydrothermal epitaxial growth of ZnO(0001) on MgAl2O4(111), followed by channel stamping of photoresist to define “growth windows”. LEO films grow in zinc‐precursor solutions at pH 10.9; sodium citrate addition controls out‐of‐plane growth. Transmission electron microscopy indicates threading dislocation reductions from ∼ 2 × 1010 to < 2 × 108 cm–2 from the window to the wing regions. Microphotoluminescence and Hall‐effect measurements indicate improved material quality. Wing tilt was observed. Double LEO demonstrates the possibility of complete dislocation reduction.

We report on TiO 2 thin films with superior photocatalytic efficiency due to an increase in its exciton carrier generation induced by the plasmonic field of the underlying silver nanoparticles. TiO 2 thin films are deposited on supported silver nanoparticles and are separated from each other by a fine-tunable thickness of SiO 2 interlayer. The TiO 2 (15 nm)/SiO 2 /Ag nanoparticle architectures with systematic variation of SiO 2 interlayer thickness of 2, 5, 10, and 20 nm show systematic increase in photocatalytic efficiency with decrease in the SiO 2 thickness. The efficiency enhancement is shown to be caused by plasmonically enhanced carrier generation, which was confirmed through photocurrent measurements and Raman spectroscopy. With a 2 nm SiO 2 interlayer that exhibited the best photocatalytic performance, a 3 times increase in photocurrent density, and a 200 times increase in Raman signal intensity of TiO 2 is found. Atomic layer deposition was employed to achieve precise film thickness control of SiO 2 and TiO 2 layers.

In this letter, the ultrafast vibrational dynamics of individual gold nanorings has been investigated by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Two acoustic vibration modes have been detected and identified. The influence of the mechanical coupling at the nanoparticle/substrate interface on the acoustic vibrations of the nano-objects is discussed. Moreover, by changing the environment of the nanoring, we provide a clear evidence of the impact of the surrounding medium on the damping of the acoustic vibrations. Such results are reported here for the first time on individual nanoparticles. This work points out a new sensing method based on the sensitivity of the acoustic vibration damping to the surrounding medium.

Using micro-Raman spectroscopy, we have studied the vibrational properties of GaN and Al0.5Ga0.5N/GaN long period superlattices (SLs) grown on Si(111). Crack-free areas of GaN layers grown on Si(111) exhibit residual tensile stress, which is evidenced by the red shift of the frequency of E2(TO) phonon. We have derived the strain cartography in GaN and Al0.5Ga0.5N/GaN long period SLs, which shows that cracking leads to strain relaxation. In addition, the AlGaN layers on GaN introduce an additional component of compressive strain into the GaN layers in these SLs. The amount of strain is quantified using micro-Raman analyses and by taking into account the elastic properties of GaN and AlGaN. By introducing a thin, low temperature InGaN interlayer, we could significantly reduce the crack density of the GaN layer.

A novel scheme of pre-surface modification of media using mixed argon-nitrogen plasma is proposed to improve the protection performance of 1.5 nm carbon overcoats (COC) on media produced by a facile pulsed DC sputtering technique. We observe stable and lower friction, higher wear resistance, higher oxidation resistance, and lower surface polarity for the media sample modified in 70%Ar + 30%N2 plasma and possessing 1.5 nm COC as compared to samples prepared using gaseous compositions of 100%Ar and 50%Ar + 50%N2 with 1.5 nm COC. Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results suggest that the surface modification process does not affect the microstructure of the grown COC. Instead, the improved tribological, corrosion-resistant and oxidation-resistant characteristics after 70%Ar + 30%N2 plasma-assisted modification can be attributed to, firstly, the enrichment in surface and interfacial bonding, leading to interfacial strength, and secondly, more effective removal of ambient oxygen from the media surface, leading to stronger adhesion of the COC with media, reduction of media corrosion and oxidation, and surface polarity. Moreover, the tribological, corrosion and surface properties of mixed Ar + N2 plasma treated media with 1.5 nm COCs are found to be comparable or better than ~2.7 nm thick conventional COC in commercial media.

Micro-light emitting diode ͑LED͒ arrays with diameters of 4 to 20 m have been fabricated and were found to be much more efficient light emitters compared to their broad-area counterparts, with up to five times enhancement in optical power densities. The possible mechanisms responsible for the improvement in performance were investigated. Strain relaxation in the microstructures as measured by Raman spectroscopy was not observed, arguing against theories of an increase in internal quantum efficiency due to a reduction of the piezoelectric field put forward by other groups. Optical microscope images show intense light emission at the periphery of the devices, as a result of light scattering off the etched sidewalls. This increases the extraction efficiency relative to broad area devices and boosts the forward optical output. In addition, spectra of the forward emitted light reveal the presence of resonant cavity modes ͓whispering gallery ͑WG͒ modes in particular͔ which appear to play a role in enhancing the optical output.

The fluorescent probes having complete spectral separation between absorption and emission spectra (large Stokes shift) are highly useful for solar concentrators and bioimaging. In bioimaging application, NIR fluorescent dyes have a greater advantage in tissue penetration depth compared to visible-emitting organic dyes or inorganic quantum dots. Here we report the design, synthesis, and characterization of an amphiphilic polymer, poly(isobutylene-alt-maleic anhyride)-functionalized near-infrared (NIR) IR-820 dye and its conjugates with iron oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for optical and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Our results demonstrate that the Stokes shift of unmodified dye can be tuned (from ~106 to 208 nm) by the functionalization of the dye with polymer and MNPs. The fabrication of bimodal probes involves (i) the synthesis of NIR fluorescent dye (IR-820 cyanine) functionalized with ethylenediamine linker in high yield, >90%, (ii) polymer conjugation to the functionalized NIR fluorescent dye, and (iii) grafting the polymer-conjugated dyes on iron oxide MNPs. The resulting uniform, small-sized (ca. 6 nm) NIR fluorescent dye-magnetic hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit a wider emissive range (800-1000 nm) and minimal cytotoxicity. Our preliminary studies demonstrate the potential utility of these NPs in bioimaging by means of direct labeling of cancerous HeLa cells via NIR fluorescence microscopy and good negative contrast enhancement in T2-weighted MR imaging of a murine model.

The authors report on the optical properties of nanocrystalline ZnO grown at 200°C by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The nanocrystalline nature of the films was confirmed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. In these films, ZnO nanocrystals with an average size of about 3–5nm were embedded in an amorphous matrix. The photoluminescence spectra from such nanostructured thin films show the near-band-edge emissions around 3.3eV. A redshift of about 8–11cm−1 is observed in the case of first-order longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon of ZnO in such nanostructures when compared to the LO phonon peak of bulk ZnO. The ultraviolet resonant Raman excitation at 77K shows multiphonon LO modes up to eighth order.