arXiv subjects

Ganesh Balakrishnan

Publications and source records attributed to Ganesh Balakrishnan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

AlV$_2$O$_4$ thin films via in-situ interfacial topotaxy

Conventional oxide epitaxy approaches face challenges when the oxidation conditions of constituent elements differ significantly. Here we demonstrate that V--O thin films can serve as solid-phase precursors for epitaxial AlV$_2$O$_4$, comprising a pyrochlore V$^{2.5+}$ network coexisting with AlO$_4$ tetrahedra within the spinel structure. The epitaxial AlV$_2$O$_4$/Al$_2$O$_3$ (0001) heterostructures are realized via interfacial topotactic transformation, involving V--O growth at a moderate temperature followed by in-situ ultra-high-temperature post-annealing to drive a reaction with the Al$_2$O$_3$ substrate. Transmission electron microscopy and temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction analyses reveal excellent structural characteristics that closely reproduce the known charge-ordering transition. This study presents a novel approach to realizing epitaxial structures with convoluted oxidation states where thermodynamic and kinetic barriers would otherwise limit synthesizability.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Single-crystalline high-quality beta-Ga2O3 pseudo-substrate on sapphire through sputtering for epitaxial deposition

Solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) of beta-Ga2O3 thin films by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering and then crystallized through high-temperature post-deposition annealing is employed on sapphire substrates, yielding a high-quality pseudo-substrate for subsequent buffer growth via MOCVD and LPCVD. Low roughness (<0.5 nm) and sharp single-crystalline diffraction peaks corresponding to the (-201), (-402), and (-603) reflections of beta-Ga2O3 were observed in the SPE beta-Ga2O3 film and the subsequent epitaxial buffer layer. N-doped Ga2O3 film on SPE Ga2O3 film grown by LPCVD showed step-assisted growth mode with reasonable electronic behavior with 45 cm^2/V-s mobility at a bulk carrier concentration of 1.3e17 cm^-3. These results suggest that SPE Ga2O3 is a promising pathway to advance the development of beta-Ga2O3 on foreign substrates.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

A Unified Theory of Free Energy Functionals and Applications to Diffusion

Free energy functionals of Ginzburg-Landau type lie at the heart of a broad class of continuum dynamical models, such as the Cahn-Hilliard and Swift-Hohenberg equations. Despite the wide use of such models, the assumptions embodied in the free energy functionals are frequently either poorly justified or lead to physically opaque parameters. Here, we introduce a mathematically rigorous pathway for constructing free energy functionals that generalizes beyond the constraints of Ginzburg-Landau gradient expansions. We show that the new formalism unifies existing free energetic descriptions under a single umbrella by establishing the criteria under which the generalized free energy reduces to gradient-based representations. Consequently, we derive a precise physical interpretation of the gradient energy parameter in the Cahn-Hilliard model as the product of an interaction length scale and the free energy curvature. The practical impact of our approach is demonstrated using both a model free energy function and the silicon-germanium alloy system.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Controllable finite ultra-narrow quality-factor peak in a perturbed Dirac-cone band structure of a photonic crystal slab

We show that by using a perturbed photonic Dirac-cone, one can realize ultra-narrow and finite Q-factor peak in the wavevector space, with both the peak value and the width separately tunable. We also discuss a lower bound in the minimal viable width given a peak Q-value while maintaining sufficient Q differentiation among modes. The strong angular and frequency Q-selection finds applications in optical devices where strong angle- and frequency-selection is needed.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Tabletop single-shot extreme ultraviolet Fourier transform holography of an extended object

We demonstrate single and multi-shot Fourier transform holography with the use of a tabletop extreme ultraviolet laser. The reference wave was produced by a Fresnel zone plate with a central opening that allowed the incident beam to illuminate the sample directly. The high reference wave intensity allows for larger objects to be imaged compared to mask-based lensless Fourier transform holography techniques. We obtain a spatial resolution of 169 nm from a single laser pulse and a resolution of 128 nm from an accumulation of 20 laser pulses for an object ~11x11μm 2 in size. This experiment utilized a tabletop extreme ultraviolet laser that produces a highly coherent ~1.2 ns laser pulse at 46.9 nm wavelength.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2017

Finite-temperature Coulomb Excitations in Extrinsic Dirac Structures

We have derived algebraic, analytic expressions for the chemical potential without any restriction on temperature for all types of doped, or extrinsic, gapped Dirac cone materials including gapped graphene, silicene, germanene and single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides. As an important intermediate step of our derivations, we have established a reliable piecewise-linear model for cal- culating the density-of-states in molybdenum disulfide, showing good agreement with previously obtained numerical results. For the spin- and valley-resolved band structure, we obtain an additional decrease of the chemical potential due to thermally induced doping of the upper subband at finite temperature. It has been demonstrated that since the symmetry between the electron and hole states in $MoS_2$ is broken, the chemical potential could cross the zero-energy level at sufficiently high temperature. These results allow us to investigate the collective properties, polarizability, plasmons and their damping. Emphasis is placed on low temperatures, when initial electron doping plays a crucial role. We clearly demonstrated the contribution of the initial doping to the finite-temperature collective properties of the considered materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Telecommunication band InAs quantum dots and dashes embedded in different barrier materials

We investigate the long wavelength (1.2 to 1.55 micro-m) photoluminescence of high-density InAs quantum dots and dashes, which were grown on InP substrates. We analyze the temperature dependence of the recombination and carrier distribution on the alloy composition of the barrier materials, InGaAlAs, and on the existence of a wetting layer. Carrier escape and transfer are discussed based on temperature dependent photoluminescence measurements and theoretical considerations about the heterostructures' confinement energies and band structure. We propose two different contributions to the thermal quenching, which can explain the observations for both the quantum dot and dash samples. Among these one is a unique phenomenon for high density quantum dot/dash ensembles which is related to significant inter-dot/dash coupling. With the goal ahead to use these dots and dashes for quantum optical applications on the single-dot/dash level in the telecommunication C band as well as at elevated temperatures we present first steps towards the realization of such devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗