arXiv subjects

Hans Tornatzky

Publications and source records attributed to Hans Tornatzky.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Complete Raman Tensor Determination in Birefringent $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ by Single-Stage Hyperspectral Analysis of Polarization Angle-Resolved Raman Spectra

The low symmetry of the monoclinic phase of Ga$_2$O$_3$ leads to pronounced optical anisotropy and, consequently, to birefringence, which strongly affects the Raman response. Because Raman scattering is fundamentally sensitive to the polarizability of a material, this anisotropy must be carefully accounted for in order to extract quantitative information - an effort that has only recently been shown to be feasible in such media. Here, we report Raman measurements from all three principal crystal planes $(100)$, $(010)$, and $(001)$, as well as from the $(\overline{2}01)$-plane of a $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ single crystal. By combining polarization angle-resolved Raman spectroscopy (PARRS) with a newly developed fitting procedure and explicitly accounting for birefringence, we achieve full spectral separation and quantitatively determine the energies and relative Raman tensor elements of all 15 Raman-active modes.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Al$\mathrm{_{1-x}}$Sc$\mathrm{_{x}}$N Nanowires: Towards Group-III Nitride Piezoelectric Nanogenerators with Enhanced Response

We study the molecular beam epitaxy of self-assembled Al$\mathrm{_{1-x}}$Sc$\mathrm{_{x}}$N nanowires on conductive TiN layers and demonstrate their application in piezoelectric nanogenerators. Wurtzite Al$\mathrm{_{1-x}}$Sc$\mathrm{_{x}}$N nanowires with uniform Sc incorporation are grown across a wide composition range (0<x<0.35). At substrate temperatures below 700 $^\circ{}$C, these nanowires exhibit an inversely tapered morphology, whereas higher temperatures favor the nucleation of additional branches due to a phase separation of Al$\mathrm{_{1-x}}$Sc$\mathrm{_{x}}$N into wurtzite AlN and rock-salt ScN. Phase-pure Al$\mathrm{_{1-x}}$Sc$\mathrm{_{x}}$N nanowires are integrated into vertical nanogenerators, where the metallic TiN substrate serves as bottom electrode. The fabricated polymer-nanowire composite devices achieve effective piezoelectric charge coefficients of up to 8.5 pC N$^{-1}$ at x=0.32, thus exceeding the piezoelectric response of bulk AlN by nearly a factor of two. Although the charge response remains lower compared to Al$\mathrm{_{1-x}}$Sc$\mathrm{_{x}}$N thin films, the reduced effective dielectric permittivity of the nanowire-polymer composites compensates the reduction in piezoelectric charge coefficient, eventually yielding a higher voltage response and comparable energy harvesting efficiency. Finally, effective medium modeling reveals that the device architecture is the primary factor limiting performance, providing general design principles for highly efficient nanowire-based piezoelectric energy harvesters.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Lattice dynamics and complete polarization analysis of Raman-active modes in LaInO$_3$

In this study, we present a comprehensive analysis of the Raman active phonon modes in orthorhombic LaInO$_3$ based on a combination of polarization-angle resolved Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. By using backscattering from multiple crystallographic surface orientations and employing a full symmetry analysis, we identify and assign most of the Raman-active $Γ$-point phonons to their irreducible representations of the D$_{\rm{2h}}$ point group. A multidimensional hyperspectral fitting procedure allows us to extract the relative Raman tensor elements from the angular dependence of the scattering intensities, even for strongly overlapping modes. First-principles calculations yield the phonon dispersion along high-symmetry directions, the phonon densities of states, and atomic displacement patterns, which are found to be in good agreement with the experimental mode frequencies.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Microscopic Origin of Temperature-Dependent Anisotropic Heat Transport in Ultrawide-Bandgap Rutile GeO2

Ultrawide-bandgap rutile GeO2 is emerging as a promising semiconductor for power electronics, where efficient heat dissipation is essential to suppress self-heating and ensure device reliability. However, the temperature dependence and microscopic origin of its anisotropic heat transport have remained experimentally unresolved. Here, temperature-dependent time-domain thermoreflectance measurements combined with first-principles phonon transport calculations are used to quantify the thermal conductivity of single-crystal rutile GeO2 from 80 to 350 K along [001] and [110]. At 295 K, the thermal conductivity reaches 47.5 W m^-1 K^-1 along [001] and 32.5 W m^-1 K^-1 along [110], corresponding to an anisotropy ratio of 1.46, in good agreement with theory. Rather than following a simple T^(-1) law, the thermal conductivity exhibits an approximate T^(-1.4) dependence, indicating additional scattering beyond purely three-phonon-limited transport. Mode-resolved analysis reveals that the room-temperature anisotropy originates from the combined effect of larger phonon group velocities along [001] and direction-dependent phonon lifetimes. Upon cooling, depopulation of high-frequency phonons progressively suppresses their contribution to heat transport and reduces the anisotropy. The temperature-dependent thermal boundary conductance of Al/rutile GeO2 interfaces is further resolved, and the scaled conductance indicates predominantly elastic interfacial transport. These findings establish the microscopic basis of bulk and interfacial heat transport in rutile GeO2 and position this material as a promising thermally robust platform for ultrawide-bandgap electronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Sonication-assisted liquid phase exfoliation of two-dimensional CrTe$_3$ under inert conditions

Liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) has been used for the successful fabrication of nanosheets from a large number of van der Waals materials. While this allows to study fundamental changes of material properties' associated with reduced dimensions, it also changes the chemistry of many materials due to a significant increase of the effective surface area, often accompanied with enhanced reactivity and accelerated oxidation. To prevent material decomposition, LPE and processing in inert atmosphere have been developed, which enables the preparation of pristine nanomaterials, and to systematically study compositional changes over time for different storage conditions. Here, we demonstrate the inert exfoliation of the oxidation-sensitive van der Waals crystal, CrTe$_3$. The pristine nanomaterial was purified and size-selected by centrifugation, nanosheet dimensions in the fractions quantified by atomic force microscopy and studied by Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and photo spectroscopic measurements. We find a dependence of the relative intensities of the CrTe$_3$ Raman modes on the propagation direction of the incident light, which prevents a correlation of the Raman spectral profile to the nanosheet dimensions. XPS and EDX reveal that the contribution of surface oxides to the spectra is reduced after exfoliation compared to the bulk material. Further, the decomposition mechanism of the nanosheets was studied by time-dependent extinction measurements after water titration experiments to initially dry solvents, which suggest that water plays a significant role in the material decomposition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

In-situ study and modeling of the reaction kinetics during molecular beam epitaxy of GeO2 and its etching by Ge

Rutile GeO2 has been predicted to be an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor suitable for future power electronics devices while quartz-like GeO2 shows piezoelectric properties. To explore these crystalline phases for application and fundamental materials investigations, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a well-suited thin film growth technique. In this study, we investigate the reaction kinetics of GeO2 during plasma-assisted MBE using elemental Ge and plasma-activated oxygen fluxes. The growth rate as a function of oxygen flux is measured in-situ by laser reflectometry at different growth temperatures. A flux of the suboxide GeO desorbing off the growth surface is identified and quantified in-situ by the line-of-sight quadrupole mass spectrometry. Our measurements reveal that the suboxide formation and desorption limits the growth rate under metal-rich or high temperature growth conditions, and leads to etching of the grown GeO2 layer under Ge flux in the absence of oxygen. The quantitative results fit the sub-compound mediated reaction model, indicating the intermediate formation of the suboxide at the growth front. This model is further utilized to delineate the GeO2-growth window in terms of oxygen-flux and substrate temperature. Our study can serve as a guidance for the thin film synthesis of GeO2 and defect-free mesa etching in future GeO2-device processing.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta/CoFeB/MgO on full coverage monolayer MoS2 and first principle study of its electronic structure

Perpendicularly magnetized spin injector with high Curie temperature is a prerequisite for developing spin optoelectronic devices on 2D materials working at room temperature (RT) with zero applied magnetic field. Here, we report the growth of Ta/CoFeB/MgO structures with a large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) on full coverage monolayer (ML) MoS2. A large perpendicular interface anisotropy energy of 0.975mJ/m2 has been obtained at the CoFeB/MgO interface, comparable to that observed in magnetic tunnel junction systems. It is found that the insertion of MgO between the ferromagnetic metal (FM) and the 2D material can effectively prevent the diffusion of the FM atoms into the 2D material. Moreover, the MoS2 ML favors a MgO(001) texture and plays a critical role to establish the large PMA. First principle calculations on a similar Fe/MgO/MoS2 structure reveal that the MgO thickness can modify the MoS2 band structure, from an indirect bandgap with 7ML-MgO to a direct bandgap with 3ML-MgO. Proximity effect induced by Fe results in a splitting of 10meV in the valence band at the Γ point for the 3ML-MgO structure while it is negligible for the 7ML-MgO structure. These results pave the way to develop RT spin optoelectronic devices on 2D transition-metal dichalcogenide materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Spin/Valley pumping of resident electrons in WSe2 and WS2 monolayers

Monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides are ideal materials to control both spin and valley degrees of freedom either electrically or optically. Nevertheless, optical excitation mostly generates excitons species with inherently short lifetime and spin/valley relaxation time. Here we demonstrate a very efficient spin/valley optical pumping of resident electrons in n-doped WSe2 and WS2 monolayers. We observe that, using a continuous wave laser and appropriate doping and excitation densities, negative trion doublet lines exhibit circular polarization of opposite sign and the photoluminescence intensity of the triplet trion is more than four times larger with circular excitation than with linear excitation. We interpret our results as a consequence of a large dynamic polarization of resident electrons using circular light.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Isotopic study of Raman active phonon modes in $β$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$

Holding promising applications in power electronics, the wide band gap material gallium oxide has emerged as a vital alternative to materials like GaN and SiC. The detailed study of phonon modes in $β$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ provides insights into fundamental material properties such as crystal structure and orientation and can contribute to the identification of dopants and point defects. We investigate the Raman active phonon modes of $β$-Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ in two different oxygen isotope compositions ($^{16}$O,$^{18}$O) by experiment and theory: By carrying out polarized micro-Raman spectroscopy measurements on the (010) and ($\bar{2}$01) planes, we determine the frequencies of all 15 Raman active phonons for both isotopologues. The measured frequencies are compared with the results of density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations. In both cases, we observe a shift of Raman frequencies towards lower energies upon substitution of $^{16}$O with $^{18}$O. By quantifying the relative frequency shifts of the individual Raman modes, we identify the atomistic origin of all modes (Ga-Ga, Ga-O or O-O) and present the first experimental confirmation of the theoretically calculated energy contributions of O lattice sites to Raman modes. We find that oxygen substitution on the O$_{\mathrm{II}}$ site leads to an elevated relative frequency shift compared to O$_{\mathrm{I}}$ and O$_{\mathrm{III}}$ sites. This study presents a blueprint for the future identification of different point defects in Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ by Raman spectroscopy.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Resonance profiles of valley polarization in single-layer MoS$_2$ and MoSe$_2$

In this letter we present photoluminescence measurements with different excitation energies on single-layer MoS$_2$ and MoSe$_2$ in order to examine the resonance behavior of the conservation of circular polarization in these transition metal dichalcogenides. We find that the circular polarization of the emitted light is conserved to 100% in MoS$_2$ and 84% / 79% (A/A$^-$ peaks) in MoSe$_2$ close to resonance. The values for MoSe$_2$ surpass any previously reported value. However, in contrast to previous predictions, the degree of circular polarization decreases clearly at energies less than the two-phonon longitudinal acoustic phonon energy above the resonance. Our findings indicate that at least two competing processes underly the depolarization of the emission in single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Phonon dispersion of MoS$_2$

Transition metal dichalcogenides like MoS$_2$, MoSe$_2$, WS$_2$, and WSe$_2$ have attracted enormous interest during recent years. They are van-der-Waals crystals with highly anisotropic properties, which allows exfoliation of individual layers. Their remarkable physical properties make them promising for applications in optoelectronic, spintronic, and valleytronic devices. Phonons are fundamental to many of the underlying physical processes, like carrier and spin relaxation or exciton dynamics. However, experimental data of the complete phonon dispersion relations in these materials is missing. Here we present the phonon dispersion of bulk MoS$_2$ in the high-symmetry directions of the Brillouin zone, determined by inelastic X-ray scattering. Our results underline the two-dimensional nature of MoS$_2$. Supported by first-principles calculations, we determine the phonon displacement patterns, symmetry properties, and scattering intensities. The results will be the basis for future experimental and theoretical work regarding electron-phonon interactions, intervalley scattering, as well as phonons in related 2D materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗