The magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is one of the most important building blocks of spintronic logic and memory components for beyond-CMOS computation and communication. Although switching of MTJs without magnetic field has been achieved by charge and spin current injection, the operation speed is limited fundamentally by the spin-precession time to many picoseconds. We report the demonstration of ultrafast all-optical switching of an MTJ using single subpicosecond infrared laser pulses. This optically switchable MTJ uses ferrimagnetic Gd(Fe,Co) as the free layer and its switching is read out by measuring its tunneling magnetoresistance with a $\mathrm{\Delta }R/R$ ratio of 0.6%. A switching repetition rate at MHz has been demonstrated, but the fundamental upper limit should be higher than tens of GHz rate. This result represents an important step toward integrated optospintronic devices that combines spintronics and photonics technologies to enable ultrafast conversion between fundamental information carriers of electron spins and photons.

We present a model study of an alternative implementation of a two-port Hall-effect microwave gyrator. Our setup involves three electrodes, one of which acts as a common ground for the others. Based on the capacitive-coupling model of Viola and DiVincenzo, we analyze the performance of the device and we predict that ideal gyration can be achieved at specific frequencies. Interestingly, the impedance of the three-terminal gyrator can be made arbitrarily small for certain coupling strengths, so that no auxiliary impedance matching is required. Although the bandwidth of the device shrinks as the impedance decreases, it can be improved by reducing the magnetic field; it can be realistically increased up to 150 MHz at $50\mathrm{\Omega }$ by working at the filling factor $\nu =10$. We also examine the effects of the parasitic capacitive coupling between electrodes and we find that, although, in general, they strongly influence the response of device, their effect is negligible at low impedance. Finally, we analyze an interferometric implementation of a circulator, which incorporates the gyrator in a Mach-Zender–like construction. Perfect circulation in both directions can be achieved, depending on frequency and on the details of the interferometer.

Whispering-gallery mode (WGM) resonators are an important platform for linear, nonlinear, and quantum optical experiments. In such experiments, independent control of in-coupling and out-coupling rates to different modes can lead to higher conversion efficiencies and greater flexibility in the generation of nonclassical states based on parametric down-conversion. In this work, we introduce a scheme that enables selective out-coupling of WGMs belonging to a specific polarization family, while the orthogonally polarized modes remain largely unperturbed. Our technique utilizes material birefringence in both the resonator and the coupler such that a negative (positive) birefringence allows for polarization-selective coupling to TE (TM) WGMs. We formulate a refined coupling condition suitable for describing the case where the refractive indices of the resonator and the coupler are almost the same, from which we derive a criterion for polarization-selective coupling. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate our proposed method using a lithium niobate disk resonator coupled to a lithium niobate prism, where we show a 22-dB suppression of coupling to TM modes relative to TE modes.

We report on the design and implementation of a field-programmable Josephson amplifier (FPJA)—a compact and lossless superconducting circuit that can be programmed in situ by a set of microwave drives to perform reciprocal and nonreciprocal frequency conversion and amplification. In this work, we demonstrate four modes of operation: frequency conversion (transmission of $-0.5$ dB, reflection of $-30$ dB), circulation (transmission of $-0.5$ dB, reflection of $-30$ dB, isolation of 30 dB), phase-preserving amplification (gain $>20\mathrm{dB}$, one photon of added noise) and directional phase-preserving amplification (reflection of $-10$ dB, forward gain of 18 dB, reverse isolation of 8 dB, one photon of added noise). The system exhibits quantitative agreement with the theoretical prediction. Based on a gradiometric superconducting quantum-interference device with $\mathrm{Nb}/\mathrm{Al}\text{−}\mathrm{Al}{\mathrm{O}}_x/\mathrm{Nb}$ Josephson junctions, the FPJA is first-order insensitive to flux noise and can be operated without magnetic shielding at low temperature. Owing to its flexible design and compatibility with existing superconducting fabrication techniques, the FPJA offers a straightforward route toward on-chip integration with superconducting quantum circuits such as qubits and microwave optomechanical systems.

Low-frequency high-precision laser interferometry is subject to excess laser-frequency-noise coupling via arm-length differences which is commonly mitigated by locking the frequency to a stable reference system. This approach is crucial to achieve picometer-level sensitivities in the 0.1-mHz to 1-Hz regime, where laser-frequency noise is usually high and couples into the measurement phase via arm-length mismatches in the interferometers. Here we describe the results achieved by frequency stabilizing an external cavity diode laser to a quasimonolithic unequal arm-length Mach-Zehnder interferometer readout at midfringe via balanced detection. We find this stabilization scheme to be an elegant solution combining a minimal number of optical components, no additional laser modulations, and relatively low-frequency-noise levels. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer is designed and constructed to minimize the influence of thermal couplings and to reduce undesired stray light using the optical simulation tool ifocad. We achieve frequency-noise levels below $100\mathrm{Hz}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ at 1 Hz and are able to demonstrate the LISA frequency prestabilization requirement of $300\mathrm{Hz}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ down to frequencies of 100 mHz by beating the stabilized laser with an iodine-locked reference.

Chip-scale optical microresonators with integrated planar optical waveguides are useful building blocks for linear, nonlinear, and quantum-optical photonic devices alike. Loss reduction through improving fabrication processes results in several integrated microresonator platforms attaining quality ($Q$) factors of several millions. Beyond the improvement of the quality factor, the ability to operate the microresonator with high coupling ideality in the overcoupled regime is of central importance. In this regime, the dominant source of loss constitutes the coupling to a single desired output channel, which is particularly important not only for quantum-optical applications such as the generation of squeezed light and correlated photon pairs but also for linear and nonlinear photonics. However, to date, the coupling ideality in integrated photonic microresonators is not well understood, in particular, design-dependent losses and their impact on the regime of high ideality. Here we investigate design-dependent parasitic losses described by the coupling ideality of the commonly employed microresonator design consisting of a microring-resonator waveguide side coupled to a straight bus waveguide, a system which is not properly described by the conventional input-output theory of open systems due to the presence of higher-order modes. By systematic characterization of multimode high-$Q$ silicon nitride microresonator devices, we show that this design can suffer from low coupling ideality. By performing 3D simulations, we identify the coupling to higher-order bus waveguide modes as the dominant origin of parasitic losses which lead to the low coupling ideality. Using suitably designed bus waveguides, parasitic losses are mitigated with a nearly unity ideality and strong overcoupling (i.e., a ratio of external coupling to internal resonator loss rate $>9$) are demonstrated. Moreover, we find that different resonator modes can exchange power through the coupler, which, therefore, constitutes a mechanism that induces modal coupling, a phenomenon known to distort resonator dispersion properties. Our results demonstrate the potential for significant performance improvements of integrated planar microresonators for applications in quantum optics and nonlinear photonics achievable by optimized coupler designs.

Heavy transition-metal oxides are widely studied for key applications in electronics and energy technologies. In cutting-edge organic-light-emitting-diode (OLED) devices, there remain scientific challenges to achieve an efficient transfer of charges between electrodes and the organic layer. Recently, polymorphic ${\mathrm{MoO}}_3$ has been actively investigated to exploit its unique high work-function values, especially for its use in the electrode buffer layer to effectively transfer the charges in OLED devices. However, no systematic fundamental studies of its electronic structure are available. Thus, in this study, we use first-principles density-functional theory to investigate both the crystal structure and the electronic structure of the ${\mathrm{MoO}}_3$ polymorphs, and we conclude with a simple perspective to screen the best candidate for OLED applications via a hole transport-barrier descriptor.

We present an optical measurement method using a femtosecond laser for nonintrusive measurements of electric field strength and orientation in virtually any gas or gas mixture via second-harmonic generation. This simple method takes advantage of the asymmetry in polarizability induced by an applied electric field, which enables the otherwise forbidden second-harmonic generation in any centrosymmetric or homogeneous media. The use of a femtosecond laser source permits high intensities without avalanche breakdown and leads to the measurement of electric field strength down to approximately $100\mathrm{V}/\mathrm{cm}$ in air with submillimeter spatial resolution governed by the confocal parameter and femtosecond temporal resolution governed by the laser-pulse duration.

Switching of magnetization via spin-orbit torque provides an efficient alternative for nonvolatile memory and logic devices. However, to achieve deterministic switching of perpendicular magnetization, an external magnetic field collinear with the current is usually required, which makes these devices inappropriate for practical applications. In this work, we examine the current-induced magnetization switching in a perpendicularly magnetized exchange-biased $\mathrm{Pt}/\mathrm{CoFe}/\mathrm{IrMn}$ system. A magnetic field annealing technique is used to introduce in-plane exchange biases, which are quantitatively characterized. Under proper conditions, field-free current-driven switching is achieved. We study the Joule heating effect, and we show how it can decrease the in-plane exchange bias and degrade the field-free switching. Furthermore, we discuss that the exchange-bias training effect can have similar effects.

We report on the electronic properties of turbostratic graphitic microdisks, rotationally stacked systems of graphene layers, where interlayer twisting leads to electronic decoupling resulting in charge-transport properties that retain the two dimensionality of graphene, despite the presence of a large number of layers. A key fingerprint of this reduced dimensionality is the effect of weak charge-carrier localization that we observe at low temperatures. The disks’ resistivity measured as a function of magnetic field changes its shape from parabolic at room temperature to linear at a temperature of 2.7 K indicating further this type of two-dimensional transport. Compared to Bernal stacked graphite, turbostratic graphene is mechanically much more robust, and it exhibits almost negligible variations of the electrical properties between samples. We demonstrate a reproducible resistivity of $(3.52\pm 0.11)\times {10}^{-6}\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{m}$, which is a particularly low value for graphitic systems. Combined with large charge-carrier mobilities demonstrated at low temperatures of up to $7\times {10}^4{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{V}\mathrm{s}$, typical for carbon-based crystalline conductors, such disks are highly interesting from a scientific point of view and, in particular, for applications where robust electronic properties are required.

We report on the implementation of quantum frequency conversion between infrared and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths by using single-stage up-conversion in a periodically poled potassium-titanyl-phosphate waveguide. Because of the monolithic waveguide design, we manage to transfer a telecommunication-band input photon to the wavelength of the ionic dipole transition of ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}$ at 369.5 nm. The external (internal) conversion efficiency is around 5% (10%). The high-energy pump used in this converter introduces a spontaneous parametric down-conversion process, which is a cause for noise in the UV mode. Using this process, we show that the converter preserves nonclassical correlations in the up-conversion process, rendering this miniaturized interface a source for quantum states of light in the UV.

Artificial molecular walkers beyond burnt-bridge designs are complex nanomachines that potentially replicate biological walkers in mechanisms and functionalities. Improving the man-made walkers up to performance for widespread applications remains difficult, largely because their biomimetic design principles involve entangled kinetic and mechanical effects to complicate the link between a walker’s construction and ultimate performance. Here, a synergic mechanical-kinetic model is developed for a recently reported DNA bipedal walker, which is based on a modular design principle, potentially enabling many directional walkers driven by a length-switching engine. The model reproduces the experimental data of the walker, and identifies its performance-limiting factors. The model also captures features common to the underlying design principle, including counterintuitive performance-construction relations that are explained by detailed balance, entropy production, and bias cancellation. While indicating a low directional fidelity for the present walker, the model suggests the possibility of improving the fidelity above 90% by a more powerful engine, which may be an improved version of the present engine or an entirely new engine motif, thanks to the flexible design principle. The model is readily adaptable to aid these experimental developments towards high-performance molecular walkers.

We present a method for magnetic-resonance force microscopy (MRFM) with ultralow dissipation, by using the higher modes of the mechanical detector as a radio-frequency (rf) source. This method allows MRFM on samples without the need to be close to a conventional electrically driven rf source. Furthermore, since conventional electrically driven rf sources require currents that give dissipation, our method enables nuclear-magnetic-resonance experiments at ultralow temperatures. Removing the need for an on-chip rf source is an important step towards an MRFM which can be widely used in condensed matter physics.

We show that the large elastostatic and electrostatic energies associated with the supertetragonal spontaneous strain and polarization of a semiconducting ferroelectric $(1-x)\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_3-(x){\mathrm{PbTiO}}_3$ forces the ground state to switch to the rhombohedral ($R$) ferroelectric phase on reduction of crystallite size. The continuity of the pinned tetragonal domain walls, however, prevents a direct tetragonal-to-rhombohedral transformation as the size is gradually reduced by physical means at room temperature. The trapped metastable tetragonal phase in the small crystallites is found to show significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity as compared to its stable tetragonal- or rhombohedral-phase counterparts. Our study suggests that the size effect in multidomain ferroelectrics can be exploited as an effective strategy for the manipulation of functional properties.

Piezoelectric materials are often used in energy harvesting devices that convert the waste mechanical energy into effective electrical energy. Polymer-based piezoelectric composites appear to be promising candidates for use in these devices, as they offer a number of advantages, such as sufficient flexibility and environmental compatibility. However, a major drawback associated with these composites may be that their effective electromechanical properties are usually weaker than those of the piezoelectric constituents used in them. In this paper, we propose a class of polymeric-based piezoelectric composites with a laminated mesostructure that offer improved electromechanical properties over unidirectional piezofiber composites and can even possess stronger electromechanical properties than their piezoelectric constituents for certain modes of operation. We present examples of enhanced properties of these composites including effective piezoelectric charge and voltage coefficients, as well as effective electromechanical coupling factors for two-dimensional operation modes. We conduct an optimization to identify the optimal microstructure for the highest values of the coupling coefficients within this class of composites. Our findings demonstrate the potential in designing piezoelectric composites with a hierarchical structure to achieve significantly amplified electromechanical properties for energy harvesting applications.

Heterojunction bipolar transistors are used to measure vertical hole transport in narrow-band-gap $\mathrm{InAs}/{\mathrm{InAs}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Sb}}_x$ type-II superlattices (T2SLs). Vertical hole mobilities (${\mu }_h$) are reported and found to decrease rapidly from $360{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{V}\mathrm{s}$ at 120 K to approximately $2{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{V}\mathrm{s}$ at 30 K, providing evidence that holes are confined to localized states near the T2SL valence-miniband edge at low temperatures. Four distinct transport regimes are identified: (1) pure miniband transport, (2) miniband transport degraded by temporary capture of holes in localized states, (3) hopping transport between localized states in a mobility edge, and (4) hopping transport through defect states near the T2SL valence-miniband edge. Region (2) is found to have a thermal activation energy of ${ϵ}_2=36\mathrm{meV}$ corresponding to the energy range of a mobility edge. Region (3) is found to have a thermal activation energy of ${ϵ}_3=16\mathrm{meV}$ corresponding to the hopping transport activation energy. This description of vertical hole transport is analogous to electronic transport observed in disordered amorphous semiconductors displaying Anderson localization. For the T2SL, we postulate that localized states are created by disorder in the group-V alloy of the ${\mathrm{InAs}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Sb}}_x$ hole well causing fluctuations in the T2SL valence-band energy.

${\mathrm{NaSbS}}_2$ is a semiconductor that was recently shown to have remarkable efficacy as a solar absorber indicating efficient charge collection even in material containing defects. We report first-principles calculations of properties that show (1) an indirect gap only slightly smaller than the direct gap, which may impede the recombination of photoexcited carriers, (2) highly anisotropic electronic and optical properties reflecting a layered crystal structure, (3) a pushed-up valence-band maximum due to repulsion from the Sb $5s$ states, and (4) cross-gap hybridization between the S $p$—derived valence bands and the Sb $5p$ states. This latter feature leads to enhanced Born effective charges that can provide local screening and, therefore, defect tolerance. These features are discussed in relation to the performance of the compound as a semiconductor with efficient charge collection.

We study the generation of microwave electronic signals by pumping a (311) GaAs Schottky diode with compressive and shear acoustic phonons, generated by the femtosecond optical excitation of an Al film transducer and mode conversion at the Al-GaAs interface. They propagate through the substrate and arrive at the Schottky device on the opposite surface, where they induce a microwave electronic signal. The arrival time, the amplitude, and the polarity of the signals depend on the phonon mode. A theoretical analysis is made of the polarity of the experimental signals. This analysis includes the piezoelectric and deformation potential mechanisms of electron-phonon interaction in a Schottky contact and shows that the piezoelectric mechanism is dominant for both transverse and longitudinal modes with frequencies below 250 and 70 GHz, respectively.

We present a first-principles study of the formation and structure of microvoids in device-quality models of hydrogenated amorphous silicon ($a\text{−}\mathrm{Si}:\mathrm{H}$). Using a combination of classical metadynamics and first-principles density-functional calculations, which is capable of generating large $a\text{−}\mathrm{Si}:\mathrm{H}$ models with a linear size of several nanometers and a realistic hydrogen distribution, we examine the morphology and compute the number density of microvoids at low and high concentrations of hydrogen. The results of our calculations are compared with experimental data from small-angle x-ray scattering and hydrogen and implanted-helium effusion measurements. Our study suggests that the number density of microvoids is of the order of $(7–8)\times {10}^{18}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ for device-quality models with (8–10)-at. % H, and which increases to $(1–3)\times {10}^{19}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ with an increase of hydrogen content to 18 at. %. We find the morphology of the microvoids to be highly complex with a radius of gyration varying from 2.7 to 5.0 Å for very large models. The spatial distributions of microvoids at low and high concentrations are strongly influenced by the presence of isolated and interconnected voids, respectively, which are consistent with the results from hydrogen and implanted-helium effusion measurements. The simulation methodology and results presented here have direct applications in large-scale modeling of $a\text{−}\mathrm{Si}:\mathrm{H}/c\text{−}\mathrm{Si}$ heterojunctions with intrinsic thin-layer technology for the development of next-generation silicon solar cells and resistive switching mechanisms in ultra-low-power nonvolatile memory devices, such as chalcogenide- or oxide-based conductive bridging random-access-memory devices.

Metamaterials with artificially designed architectures are increasingly considered as new paradigmatic material systems with unusual physical properties. Here, we report a class of architected lattice metamaterials with mechanically tunable negative Poisson’s ratios and vibration-mitigation capability. The proposed lattice metamaterials are built by replacing regular straight beams with sinusoidally shaped ones, which are highly stretchable under uniaxial tension. Our experimental and numerical results indicate that the proposed lattices exhibit extreme Poisson’s-ratio variations between $-0.7$ and 0.5 over large tensile deformations up to 50%. This large variation of Poisson’s-ratio values is attributed to the deformation pattern switching from bending to stretching within the sinusoidally shaped beams. The interplay between the multiscale (ligament and cell) architecture and wave propagation also enables remarkable broadband vibration-mitigation capability of the lattice metamaterials, which can be dynamically tuned by an external mechanical stimulus. The material design strategy provides insights into the development of classes of architected metamaterials with potential applications including energy absorption, tunable acoustics, vibration control, responsive devices, soft robotics, and stretchable electronics.