arXiv subjects

Roberto C. Myers

Publications and source records attributed to Roberto C. Myers.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Scalable Nernst Thermoelectric Power using a Coiled Galfenol Wire

The Nernst thermopower usually is considered far too weak in most metals for waste heat recovery. However, its transverse orientation gives it an advantage over the Seebeck effect on non-flat surfaces. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the scalable generation of a Nernst voltage in an air-cooled metal wire coiled around a hot cylinder. In this geometry, a radial temperature gradient generates an azimuthal electric field in the coil. A Galfenol (Fe$_{0.85}$Ga$_{0.15}$) wire is wrapped around a cartridge heater, and the voltage drop across the wire is measured as a function of axial magnetic field. As expected, the Nernst voltage scales linearly with the length of the wire. Based on heat conduction and fluid dynamic equations, finite-element method is used to calculate the temperature gradient across the Galfenol wire and determine the Nernst coefficient. A giant Nernst coefficient of -2.6 $μ$V/KT at room temperature is estimated, in agreement with measurements on bulk Galfenol. We expect that the giant Nernst effect in Galfenol arises from its magnetostriction, presumably through enhanced magnon-phonon coupling. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of a transverse thermoelectric generator capable of scalable output power from non-flat heat sources.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Thermally Driven Long Range Magnon Spin Currents in Yttrium Iron Garnet due to Intrinsic Spin Seebeck Effect

The longitudinal spin Seebeck effect refers to the generation of a spin current when heat flows across a normal metal/magnetic insulator interface. Until recently, most explanations of the spin Seebeck effect use the interfacial temperature difference as the conversion mechanism between heat and spin fluxes. However, recent theoretical and experimental works claim that a magnon spin current is generated in the bulk of a magnetic insulator even in the absence of an interface. This is the so-called intrinsic spin Seebeck effect. Here, by utilizing a non-local spin Seebeck geometry, we provide additional evidence that the total magnon spin current in the ferrimagnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) actually contains two distinct terms: one proportional to the gradient in the magnon chemical potential (pure magnon spin diffusion), and a second proportional to the gradient in magnon temperature ($\nabla T_m$). We observe two characteristic decay lengths for magnon spin currents in YIG with distinct temperature dependences: a temperature independent decay length of ~ 10 $μ$m consistent with earlier measurements of pure ($\nabla T_m = 0$) magnon spin diffusion, and a longer decay length ranging from about 20 $μ$m around 250 K and exceeding 80 $μ$m at 10 K. The coupled spin-heat transport processes are modeled using a finite element method revealing that the longer range magnon spin current is attributable to the intrinsic spin Seebeck effect ($\nabla T_m \neq 0$), whose length scale increases at lower temperatures in agreement with our experimental data.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of 2D-layered Gallium Selenide on GaN substrates

Large area epitaxy of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with high material quality is a crucial step in realizing novel device applications based on 2D materials. In this work, we report high-quality, crystalline, large-area gallium selenide (GaSe) films grown on bulk substrates such as c-plane sapphire and gallium nitride (GaN) using a valved cracker source for Se. (002)-oriented GaSe with random in-plane orientation of domains was grown on sapphire and GaN substrates at a substrate temperature of 350-450 C with complete surface coverage and smooth surface morphology. Higher growth temperature (575 C) resulted in the formation of single-crystalline ε-GaSe triangular domains with six-fold symmetry confirmed by in-situ reflection high electron energy diffraction (RHEED) and off-axis x-ray diffraction (XRD). A two-step growth method involving high temperature nucleation of single crystalline domains and low temperature growth to enhance coalescence was adopted to obtain continuous (002)-oriented GaSe with an epitaxial relationship with the substrate. While six-fold symmetry was maintained in the two step growth, β-GaSe phase was observed in addition to the dominant ε-GaSe in cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy images. This work demonstrates the potential of growing high quality 2D-layered materials using molecular beam epitaxy and can be extended to the growth of other transition metal chalcogenides.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Long range pure magnon spin diffusion observed in a non-local spin-Seebeck geometry

The spin diffusion length for thermally excited magnon spins is measured by utilizing a non-local spin-Seebeck effect measurement. In a bulk single crystal of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) a focused laser thermally excites magnon spins. The spins diffuse laterally and are sampled using a Pt inverse spin Hall effect detector. Thermal transport modeling and temperature dependent measurements demonstrate the absence of spurious temperature gradients beneath the Pt detector and confirm the non-local nature of the experimental geometry. Remarkably, we find that thermally excited magnon spins in YIG travel over 120 $μ$m at 23 K, indicating that they are robust against inelastic scattering. The spin diffusion length is found to be at least 47 $μ$m and as high as 73 $μ$m at 23 K in YIG, while at room temperature it drops to less than 10 $μ$m. Based on this long spin diffusion length, we envision the development of thermally powered spintronic devices based on electrically insulating, but spin conducting materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Anisotropic defect-induced ferromagnetism and transport in Gd-doped GaN two-dimensional electron gasses

Here we report on the effect of rare earth Gd-doping on the magnetic properties and magnetotransport of GaN two-dimensional electron gasses (2DEGs). Samples are grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and consist of AlN/GaN heterostructures where Gd is delta-doped within a polarization-induced 2DEG. Ferromagnetism is observed in these Gd-doped 2DEGs with a Curie temperature above room temperature and an anisotropic spontaneous magnetization preferring an out-of-plane (c-axis) orientation. At magnetic fields up to 50 kOe, the magnetization remains smaller for in-plane configuration than for out-of-plane, which is indicative of exchange coupled spins locked along the polar c-axis. The sample with the lowest Gd concentration (2.3 $\times$ $10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$) exhibits a saturation magnetization of 41.1 $μ_B/Gd^{3+}$ at 5 K revealing that the Gd ion spins (7 $μ_B$) alone do not account for the magnetization. Surprisingly, control samples grown without any Gd display inconsistent magnetic properties; in some control samples weak ferromagnetism is observed and in others paramagnetism. The ferromagnetic 2DEGs do not exhibit the anomalous Hall effect; the Hall resistance varies non-linearly with the magnetic field, but does not track the magnetization indicating the lack of coupling between the ferromagnetic phase and the conduction band electrons within the 2DEG.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Tunnel Junction Enhanced Nanowire Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes

Polarization engineered interband tunnel junctions (TJs) are integrated in nanowire ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs). A ~6V reduction in turn-on voltage is achieved by the integration of tunnel junction at the base of polarization doped nanowire UV LEDs. Moreover, efficient hole injection into the nanowire LEDs leads to suppressed efficiency droop in TJ integrated nanowire LEDs. The combination of both reduced bias voltage and increased hole injection increases the wall plug efficiency in these devices. More than 100 microwatts of UV emission at ~310 nm is measured with external quantum efficiency in the range of 4 - 6 m%. The realization of tunnel junction within the nanowire LEDs opens a pathway towards the monolithic integration of cascaded multi-junction nanowire LEDs on silicon.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Semiconductor Nanowire Light Emitting Diodes Grown on Metal: A Direction towards Large Scale Fabrication of Nanowire Devices

Bottom up nanowires are attractive for realizing semiconductor devices with extreme heterostructures because strain relaxation through the nanowire sidewalls allows the combination of highly lattice mismatched materials without creating dislocations. The resulting nanowires are used to fabricate light emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, solar cells and sensors. However, expensive single crystalline substrates are commonly used as substrates for nanowire heterostructures as well as for epitaxial devices, which limits the manufacturability of nanowire devices. Here, we demonstrate nanowire LEDs directly grown and electrically integrated on metal. Optical and structural measurements reveal high-quality, vertically-aligned GaN nanowires on molybdenum and titanium films. Transmission electron microscopy confirms the composition variation in the polarization-graded AlGaN nanowire LEDs. Blue to green electroluminescence is observed from InGaN quantum well active regions, while GaN active regions exhibit ultraviolet emission. These results demonstrate a pathway for large-scale fabrication of solid state lighting and optoelectronics on metal foils or sheets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

The effect of the magnon dispersion on the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect in yttrium iron garnets (YIG)

We study the temperature dependence of the longitudinal spin-Seebeck effect (LSSE) in a yttrium iron garnet Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) / Pt system for samples of different thicknesses. In this system, the thermal spin torque is magnon-driven. The LSSE signal peaks at a specific temperature that depends on the YIG sample thickness. We also observe freeze-out of the LSSE signal at high magnetic fields, which we attribute to the opening of an energy gap in the magnon dispersion. We observe partial freeze-out of the LSSE signal even at room temperature, where kBT is much larger than the gap. This suggests that a subset of the magnon population with an energy below kB x TC (TC about 40 K) contribute disproportionately to the LSSE; at temperatures below TC, we label these magnons subthermal magnons. The T-dependence of the LSSE at temperatures below the maximum is interpreted in terms of a new empirical model that ascribes most of the temperature dependence to that of the thermally driven magnon flux.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Tuning the polarization-induced free hole density in nanowires graded from GaN to AlN

We report a systematic study of p-type polarization induced doping in graded AlGaN nanowire light emitting diodes grown on silicon wafers by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The composition gradient in the p-type base is varied in a set of samples from 0.7 %Al/nm to 4.95 %Al/nm corresponding to negative bound polarization charge densities of 2.2x10^18 cm^-3 to 1.6x10^19 cm^-3. Capacitance measurements and energy band modeling reveal that for gradients greater than or equal to 1.30 %Al/nm, the deep donor concentration is negligible and free hole concentrations roughly equal to the bound polarization charge density are achieved up to 1.6x10^19 cm^-3 at a gradient of 4.95 %Al/nm. Accurate grading lengths in the p- and n-side of the pn-junction are extracted from scanning transmission electron microscopy images and are used to support energy band calculation and capacitance modeling. These results demonstrate the robust nature of p-type polarization doping in nanowires and put an upper bound on the magnitude of deep donor compensation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Atomically Sharp 318nm Gd:AlGaN Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes on Si with Low Threshold Voltage

Self assembled AlGaN polarization-induced nanowire light emitting diodes (PINLEDs) with Gd-doped AlN active regions are prepared by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Si substrates. Atomically sharp electroluminescence (EL) from Gd intra-f-shell electronic transitions at 313 nm and 318 nm are observed under forward biases above 5V. The intensity of the Gd 4f EL scales linearly with current density and increases at lower temperature. The low electric field excitation of Gd 4f EL in PINLEDs is contrasted with high field excitation in Gd:AlGaN MIS nanowire devices (metal/Gd:AlN/polarization induced n-AlGaN) where it is concluded that PINLED devices offer over a three fold enhancement in 4f EL intensity at a given device bias.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗