Photocatalytic activity is determined by the transport property of photoexcited carriers from the interior to the surface of photocatalysts. Because the carrier dynamics is influenced by a space charge layer (SCL) in the subsurface region, an understanding of the effect of the potential barrier of the SCL on the carrier behavior is essential. Here we have investigated the relaxation time of the photoexcited carriers on single-crystal anatase and rutile TiO2 surfaces by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and found that carrier recombination, taking a nanosecond time scale at room temperature, is strongly influenced by the barrier height of the SCL. Under the flat-band condition, which is realized in nanometer-sized photocatalysts, the carriers have a longer lifetime on the anatase surface than the rutile one, naturally explaining the higher photocatalytic activity for anatase than rutile.

Molybdenum (Mo) doped vanadium dioxide thin films were synthesized using a Mo striped vanadium (V) target during pulsed laser ablation process. The film structure was characterized by high resolution x-ray diffraction, x-ray rocking curve and Rutherford backscattering/channeling measurements. The results show that the full width at half magnitude of the x-ray rocking curve is as narrow as 0.0074°, comparable to that of the (0001) sapphire substrate, 0.0042°, in this study. The ratio of the aligned-to-random backscattered yield reaches 5%, implying that the growth is that of the single crystalline epitaxy. The result of angular scans for both V and Mo atomic channelings reveals that Mo atoms successfully take sites of the V sublattice as a substitutional dopant. It has been noted that the degradation of the phase transition properties of the film upon doping is closely related to the conductivity in the semiconductor phase.

The European XFEL delivers up to 27000 intense (>1012 photons) pulses per second, of ultrashort (≤50 fs) and transversely coherent X-ray radiation, at a maximum repetition rate of 4.5 MHz. Its unique X-ray beam parameters enable groundbreaking experiments in matter at extreme conditions at the High Energy Density (HED) scientific instrument. The performance of the HED instrument during its first two years of operation, its scientific remit, as well as ongoing installations towards full operation are presented. Scientific goals of HED include the investigation of extreme states of matter created by intense laser pulses, diamond anvil cells, or pulsed magnets, and ultrafast X-ray methods that allow their diagnosis using self-amplified spontaneous emission between 5 and 25 keV, coupled with X-ray monochromators and optional seeded beam operation. The HED instrument provides two target chambers, X-ray spectrometers for emission and scattering, X-ray detectors, and a timing tool to correct for residual timing jitter between laser and X-ray pulses.

The catalytic decomposition processes of PH 3 on heated tungsten surfaces were studied to clarify the mechanisms governing phosphorus doping into silicon substrates. Mass spectrometric measurements show that PH 3 can be decomposed by more than 50% over 2000 K. H, P, PH, and PH 2 radicals were identified by laser spectroscopic techniques. Absolute density measurements of these radical species, as well as their PH 3 flow rate dependence, show that the major products on the catalyst surfaces are P and H atoms, while PH and PH 2 are produced in secondary processes in the gas phase. In other words, catalytic decomposition, unlike plasma decomposition processes, can be a clean source of P atoms, which can be the only major dopant precursors. In the presence of an excess amount of H 2 , the apparent decomposition efficiency is small. This can be explained by rapid cyclic reactions including decomposition, deposition, and etching to reproduce PH 3 .

We demonstrate a nondestructive characterization of buried interfaces in metal/wide-bandgap semiconductor contacts by using scanning internal photoemission microscopy. For Ni/n-SiC contacts annealed at temperatures above 400 °C, a reduction of the Schottky barrier height owing to partial interfacial reaction was visualized. In Au/Ni/n-GaN contacts, upon annealing at 400 °C, thermal degradation from a scratch on the dot was observed. Forward current–voltage curves were reproduced by lowering the Schottky barrier height and the area of the reacted regions by using this method. The present imaging method exploits its nondestructive highly sensitive extinction for characterizing the contacts formed on wide-gap materials.