These results demonstrate that the prevalence of NAFLD in Korean adults, according to sonographic surveys, is comparable to that seen in more developed countries. From the perspective of increasing obesity, the high prevalence rates noted in the study may herald an increased burden of chronic liver disease in the Korean population.

Adiabatic shuttling of single impurity bound electrons to gate-induced surface states in semiconductors has attracted much attention in recent times, mostly in the context of solid-state quantum computer architecture. A recent transport spectroscopy experiment for the first time was able to probe the Stark shifted spectrum of a single donor in silicon buried close to a gate. Here, we present the full theoretical model involving large-scale quantum mechanical simulations that was used to compute the Stark shifted donor states in order to interpret the experimental data. Use of atomistic tight-binding technique on a domain of over a million atoms helped not only to incorporate the full band structure of the host, but also to treat realistic device geometries and donor models, and to use a large enough basis set to capture any number of donor states. The method yields a quantitative description of the symmetry transition that the donor electron undergoes from a three-dimensional Coulomb confined state to a two-dimensional ͑2D͒ surface state as the electric field is ramped up adiabatically. In the intermediate field regime, the electron resides in a superposition between the atomic donor states and the 2D surface states. In addition to determining the effect of field and donor depth on the electronic structure, the model also provides a basis to distinguish between a phosphorus and an arsenic donor based on their Stark signature. The method also captures valley-orbit splitting in both the donor well and the interface well, a quantity critical to silicon qubits. The work concludes with a detailed analysis of the effects of screening on the donor spectrum.

The dependence of the g factors of semiconductor donors on applied electric and magnetic fields is of immense importance in spin-based quantum computation and in semiconductor spintronics. The donor g-factor Stark shift is sensitive to the orientation of the electric and magnetic fields and is strongly influenced by the band-structure and spin-orbit interactions of the host. Using a multimillion atom tight-binding framework, the spin-orbit Stark parameters are computed for donors in multivalley semiconductors, silicon, and germanium.Comparison with limited experimental data shows good agreement for a donor in silicon. Results for gateinduced transition from three-dimensional to two-dimensional wave-function confinement show that the corresponding g-factor shift in Si is experimentally observable, and at modest B field, O͑1 T͒ can exceed the Stark shift of the hyperfine interaction.

A solid-state analogue of Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage can be implemented in a triple well solid-state system to coherently transport an electron across the wells with exponentially suppressed occupation in the central well at any point of time. Termed coherent tunneling adiabatic passage (CTAP), this method provides a robust way to transfer quantum information encoded in the electronic spin across a chain of quantum dots or donors. Using large scale atomistic tight-binding simulations involving over 3.5 million atoms, we verify the existence of a CTAP pathway in a realistic solid-state system: gated triple donors in silicon. Realistic gate profiles from commercial tools were combined with tight-binding methods to simulate gate control of the donor to donor tunnel barriers in the presence of cross-talk. As CTAP is an adiabatic protocol, it can be analyzed by solving the time independent problem at various stages of the pulse -justifying the use of time-independent tight-binding methods to this problem. Our results show that a three donor CTAP transfer, with inter-donor spacing of 15 nm can occur on timescales greater than 23 ps, well within experimentally accessible regimes. The method not only provides a tool to guide future CTAP experiments, but also illuminates the possibility of system engineering to enhance control and transfer times.

A singly ionized two-donor molecule in silicon is an interesting test-bed system for implementing a quantum bit using charge degrees of freedom at the atomic limit of device fabrication. The operating principles of such a device are based on wavefunction symmetries defined by charge localizations and energy gaps in the spectrum. The Stark-shifted electronic structure of a two-donor phosphorus molecule is investigated using a multi-million-atom tight-binding framework. The effects of surface (S) and barrier (B) gates are analyzed for various voltage regimes. It is found that gate control is smooth for any donor separation, although at certain donor orientations the S and B gates may alter in functionality. Effects such as interface ionization, saturation of the lowest energy gap, and sensitivity to donor and gate placements are also investigated. Excited molecular states of P(2) + are found to impose limits on the allowed donor separations and operating gate voltages for coherent operation. This work therefore outlines and analyzes the various issues that are of importance in the design and control of such donor molecular systems.