This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.

In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.

Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.

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Description
A distinct characteristic of ferroelectric materials is the existence of a reversible spontaneous polarization with the application of an electric field. The relevant properties ferroelectric lithium niobate surfaces include a low density of defects and external screening of the bound polarization charge. These properties result in unique surface electric field

A distinct characteristic of ferroelectric materials is the existence of a reversible spontaneous polarization with the application of an electric field. The relevant properties ferroelectric lithium niobate surfaces include a low density of defects and external screening of the bound polarization charge. These properties result in unique surface electric field distribution with a strong electric field in the vicinity of domain boundaries, while away from the boundaries, the field decreases rapidly. In this work, ferroelectric lithium niobate (LN) is used as a template to direct the assembly of metallic nanostructures via photo-induced reduction and a substrate for deposition of ZnO semiconducting thin films via plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD). To understand the mechanism the photo-induced deposition process the following effects were considered: the illumination photon energy and intensity, the polarization screening mechanism of the lithium niobate template and the chemical concentration. Depending on the UV wavelength, variation of Ag deposition rate and boundary nanowire formation are observed and attributed to the unique surface electric field distribution of the polarity patterned template and the penetration depth of UV light. Oxygen implantation is employed to transition the surface from external screening to internal screening, which results in depressed boundary nanowire formation. The ratio of the photon flux and Ag ion flux to the surface determine the deposition pattern. Domain boundary deposition is enhanced with a high photon/Ag ion flux ratio while domain boundary deposition is depressed with a low photon/Ag ion flux ratio. These results also support the photo-induced deposition model where the process is limited by carrier generation, and the cation reduction occurs at the surface. These findings will provide a foundational understanding to employ ferroelectric templates for assembly and patterning of inorganic, organic, biological, and integrated structures. ZnO films deposited on positive and negative domain surfaces of LN demonstrate different I-V curve behavior at different temperatures. At room temperature, ZnO deposited on positive domains exhibits almost two orders of magnitude greater conductance than on negative domains. The conductance of ZnO on positive domains decreases with increasing temperature while the conductance of ZnO on negative domains increases with increasing temperature. The observations are interpreted in terms of the downward or upward band bending at the ZnO/LN interface which is induced by the ferroelectric polarization charge. Possible application of this effect in non-volatile memory devices is proposed for future work.
ContributorsSun, Yang (Author) / Nemanich, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Bennett, Peter (Committee member) / Sukharev, Maxim (Committee member) / Ros, Robert (Committee member) / McCartney, Martha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Description
The study of subwavelength behavior of light and nanoscale lasing has broad

potential applications in various forms of computation i.e. optical and quantum, as well as

in energy engineering. Although this field has been under active research, there has been

little work done on describing the behaviors of threshold and

The study of subwavelength behavior of light and nanoscale lasing has broad

potential applications in various forms of computation i.e. optical and quantum, as well as

in energy engineering. Although this field has been under active research, there has been

little work done on describing the behaviors of threshold and saturation. Particularly, how

the gain-molecule behavior affects the lasing behavior has yet to be investigated.

In this work, the interaction of surface-plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) and molecules is

observed in lasing. Various phenomenologies are observed related to the appearance of the

threshold and saturation regions. The lasing profile, as a visual delimiter of lasing threshold

and saturation, is introduced and used to study various parametrical dependencies of lasing,

including the number-density of molecules, the molecular thickness and the frequency

detuning between the molecular transition frequency and the SPP resonant frequency. The

molecular population distributions are studied in terminal and dynamical methods and are

found to contain unexpected and theoretically challenging properties. Using an average

dynamical analysis, the simulated spontaneous emission cascade can be clearly seen.

Finally, theoretical derivations of simple 1D strands of dipoles are presented in both

the exact and mean-field approximation, within the density matrix formalism. Some

preliminary findings are presented, detailing the observed behaviors of some simple

systems.
ContributorsBrewer, Andre J (Author) / Sukharev, Maxim (Thesis advisor) / Rivera, Daniel E (Thesis advisor) / Menéndez, Jose (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
In the developing field of nonlinear plasmonics, it is important to understand the nonlinear responses of the metallic nanostructures. In the present thesis, rigorous electrodynamical simulations based on the fully vectorial three-dimensional nonlinear hydrodynamic Drude model describing metal coupled to Maxwell's equations are performed to investigate linear and nonlinear responses

In the developing field of nonlinear plasmonics, it is important to understand the nonlinear responses of the metallic nanostructures. In the present thesis, rigorous electrodynamical simulations based on the fully vectorial three-dimensional nonlinear hydrodynamic Drude model describing metal coupled to Maxwell's equations are performed to investigate linear and nonlinear responses of the plasmonic materials and their coupling with quantum emitters.The first part of this thesis is devoted to analyzing properties of the localized surface plasmon resonances of metallic nanostructures and their nonlinear optical responses. The behavior of the second harmonic is investigated as a function of various physical parameters at different plasmonic interfaces, revealing highly complex dynamics. By collaborating with several research teams, simulations are proven to be in close agreement with experiments, both quantitative and qualitative. The second part of the thesis explores the strong coupling regime and its influence on the second harmonic generation. Considering plasmonic systems of molecules and periodic nanohole arrays on equal footing in the nonlinear regime is done for the first time. The results obtained are supported by a simple analytical model.
ContributorsDrobnyh, Elena (Author) / Sukharev, Maxim (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Kevin (Committee member) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Mujica, Vladimiro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Description
Recent improvements in energy resolution for electron energy-loss spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM-EELS) allow novel effects in the low-loss region of the electron energy-loss spectrum to be observed. This dissertation explores what new information can be obtained with the combination of meV EELS energy resolution and atomic

Recent improvements in energy resolution for electron energy-loss spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM-EELS) allow novel effects in the low-loss region of the electron energy-loss spectrum to be observed. This dissertation explores what new information can be obtained with the combination of meV EELS energy resolution and atomic spatial resolution in the STEM. To set up this up, I review nanoparticle shape effects in the electrostatic approximation and compare the “classical” and “quantum” approaches to EELS simulation. Past the electrostatic approximation, the imaging of waveguide-type modes is modeled in ribbons and cylinders (in “classical" and “quantum" approaches, respectively), showing how the spatial variations of such modes can now be imaged using EELS. Then, returning to the electrostatic approximation, I present microscopic applications of low-loss STEM-EELS. I develop a “classical” model coupling the surface plasmons of a sharp metallic nanoparticle to the dipolar vibrations of an adsorbate molecule, which allows expected molecular signal enhancements to be quantified and the resultant Fano-type asymmetric spectral line shapes to be explained, and I present “quantum” modelling for the charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) and neutral silicon-vacancy (SiV0) color centers in diamond, including cross-sections and spectral maps from density functional theory. These results are summarized before concluding.

Many of these results have been previously published in Physical Review B. The main results of Ch. 2 and Ch. 4 were packaged as “Enhanced vibrational electron energy-loss spectroscopy of adsorbate molecules” (99, 104110), and much of Ch. 5 appeared as “Prospects for detecting individual defect centers using spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy” (100, 134103). The results from Ch. 3 are being prepared for a forthcoming article in the Journal of Chemical Physics.
ContributorsKordahl, David Daniel (Author) / Dwyer, Christian (Thesis advisor) / Rez, Peter (Committee member) / Spence, John C.H. (Committee member) / Sukharev, Maxim (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020