Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, colloidal tungsten oxide nanoparticles were fabricated by pulsed laser ablation of tungsten target using the first harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) in deionized water. After ablation, a 0.33 g/lit HAuCl4 aqueous solution was added into as-prepared colloidal nanoparticles. In this process, Au3+ ions were reduced to decorate gold metallic state (Au0) onto colloidal tungsten oxide nanoparticles surface. The morphology and chemical composition of the synthesized nanoparticles were studied by AFM, XRD, TEM and XPS techniques. UV-Vis analysis reveals a distinct absorption peak at ∼530 nm. This peak can be attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Au and confirms... 

In this study, tungsten oxide films were deposited by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique. The as-deposited films were annealed at 250 °C in air for 1 h. The surface morphology, microstructure, crystalline phase, and chemical composition of the films were characterized by SEM, XRD and XPS techniques. Pt nanoparticles were deposited onto the tungsten oxide films through a two-step process. First of all, a layer of PtCl2 was coated on the WO3 surface by drop-drying the PtCl2 solution onto the WO3 surface at 60 °C. Consequently, the reduction of the PtCl2 into the metallic Pt nanoparticles was performed at 200 °C. In this study, the effect of the temperature during hydrogen reduction of... 

It has been proposed that emission spectrum of random lasers with magnetically active semiconductor constituents can be made tunable by external magnetic fields. By employing the FDTD method, the spectral intensity and spatial distribution of electric field are calculated in the presence of an external magnetic field. It is numerically shown that due to the magneto-optical Voigt effect, the emission spectrum of a semiconductor-based random laser can be made tunable by adjusting the external magnetic field. The effect of magnetic field on the localization length of the laser modes is investigated. It is also shown that the spatial distribution of electric field exhibited remarkable... 

Time-dependent model is presented to simulate random lasers in the presence of an inhomogeneous gain medium. PbSe quantum dots (QDs) with an arbitrary size distribution are treated as an inhomogeneous gain medium. By introducing inhomogeneity of the PbSe QDs in polarization, rate, and Maxwell's equations, our model is constructed for a one-dimensional disordered system. By employing the finite difference time-domain method, the governing equations are numerically solved and lasing spectra and spatial distribution of the electric field are calculated. The effect of increasing the pumping rate on the laser characteristics is investigated. The results show that the number of lasing modes and... 

The morphological characteristics as well the optical properties of Ca-doped BiFeO3 films grown by pulsed-laser deposition technique have been investigated. AFM images revealed that calcium has a radical effect on the surface features of BiFeO3 films. By utilizing spectrophotometer, transmission behaviour of the films was investigated. Local IV characteristics of the films disclosed about three orders of magnitude enhancement concerning electrical conductivity through Ca doping. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results revealed that Ca can reduce the valence state of iron in the compound  

The electronic conductor-insulator transition in Ca-doped BiFeO 3 films grown by pulsed-laser deposition technique has been investigated. Nature of the transition is resolved to be Mott type through the control of band-filling. Calcium resolved to have colossal effect on enhancing the electrical conductivity of BiFeO 3, but it did not affect band gap of the mother phase perceptibly. UV-visible study yielded band gap of 2.72-2.81 eV (at 300 K) for different concentrations of calcium. Both UV-visible and photoluminescence spectra revealed sub-band gap transitions at 2.17 and 2.38 eV, of which the latter might be ascribed to the oxygen vacancies  

Tungsten oxide nanoparticles were fabricated by a pulsed laser ablation method in deionized water using the first harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser (λ = 1064 nm) at three different laser pulse energies (E1 = 160, E2 = 370 and E3 = 500 mJ/pulse), respectively. The aim is to investigate the effect of laser pulse energy on the size distribution and gasochromic property of colloidal nanoparticles. The products were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results indicated that WO 3 nanoparticles were formed. After ablation, a 0.2 g/l PdCl 2 solution was added to activate the solution against... 

Tungsten trioxide has been prepared by using P-PTA as a precursor on alumina substrates by spin coating method. Palladium introduced on WO 3 film via electrolysis deposition by using palladium chloride as catalytic precursor. The catalytic precursor was introduced on the series of films with different morphologies. X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XPS were applied to analyze structure and morphology of the fabricated thin films. Then we measured variation of samples' electrical conductivity of pure and Pd added films in air and diluted hydrogen. Addition of Pd resulted in a remarkable improvement of the hydrogen sensing properties of WO 3 by detection of... 

In this paper, we have studied the properties of SrTiO3 thin films which have been deposited on Si/Ti/Pt substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The as-deposited films were annealed at temperature of 700 °C in oxygen environment for 1 h. The surface morphology, crystalline phase and chemical composition of the films were characterized by AFM, XRD and XPS techniques, respectively. The XRD data show that phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline structure happens and also the lattice constant enhances during annealing process. This enhancement can be related to oxygen vacancies in thin films. The XPS data show partial lack of titanium atoms on the surface. The AFM analysis... 

Laser shock peening (LSP) is known as a post processing surface treatment which can improve the mechanical properties of some materials. Shock waves are generated by confining the laser-induced plasma to cause a large pressure shock wave over a significant surface area. In the present study, effects of LSP on the electrochemical corrosion and micro hardness properties of 316L stainless steel alloy were investigated by changing the laser parameters such as the laser spot size, the average number of impacts, and the laser intensity. Since laser parameters do not cover the desired region of LSP, we have to use the proper design of experiment method, in which the D-optimal design of MATLAB was... 

We report the effect of the geometric parameters on transparency and conductivity in a metallic nanowire mesh as a transparent electrode. Today, indium tin oxide and fluorine-doped tin oxide are used as the transparent electrode for displays and solar cells. Still, there is a definite need for their replacement due to drawbacks such as brittleness, scarcity, and adverse environmental effects. Metallic nanowire mesh is likely the best replacement option, but the main issue is how to find the optimal structure and how to get the best performance. Since the interaction of light with nanowire mesh is complicated, there is no straightforward rule with a simple analytical solution. We developed a... 

In this study WO x films were deposited by laser ablation of ultra-pure (5N) tungsten trioxide targets onto SiO2 or silicon substrates at 250°C temperature, 100 mTorr oxygen partial pressure and 1×10-5 Torr vacuum. Surface chemical states and compositions of the deposits were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that deposits in oxygen partial pressure contain W6+ with x ∼ 3.1, while vacuum-deposited films have different W states with various percentage distributions as W4+>W5+>W 6+>W0, and x ∼ 1. We used fast electrical resistance measurement as a probe to study the deposition process. Film resistance as a function of deposition time in vacuum revealed some... 

Modified tungsten oxide films by vanadium oxide provide neutrally coloring electrochromic electrodes for smart windows technology. In this study W-V-O mixed oxide films were fabricated by Nd:YAG pulsed laser deposition (PLD), λ=1064 nm, from mixed pressed powders of (WO3)1-x(V2O5)x, x=0, 0.09, 0.17, 0.23, 0.29 and 0.33, at 13.3 Pa oxygen partial pressure and 200 °C temperature on glass substrates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed V5+, V4+, W6+ and W5+ surface oxide states, where the ratio of W5+/W6+ enhances by the amount of vanadium in the films. Surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical properties by transmission-reflection spectra.... 

Tungsten oxide thin films on glass substrates were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition under different experimental conditions for gasochromic applications. Palladium clusters were overlaid on the film surface by the electroless plating method. Hydrogen gasochromic investigation revealed that desirable samples are amorphous deposited films in oxygen partial pressure. The maximum colouration velocity of deposited films at 13.3 Pa oxygen partial pressure and 25 °C, 150 °C and 300 °C substrate temperatures are 0.010 s-1, 0.027 s-1 and 0.030 s-1, respectively, while at 300 °C substrate temperature by increasing the oxygen partial pressure to 66.7 Pa the maximum colouration velocity enhances to... 

The effects of liquid environment on nucleation, growth and aggregation of gold nanoparticles were studied. Gold nanoparticles were prepared by pulsed laser ablation in deionised water with various concentrations of ethanol and also in pure ethanol. UV/visible extinction and TEM observations were employed for characterization of optical properties and particle sizes respectively. Preparation in water results in smaller size, shorter wavelength of maximum extinction and stable solution with an average size of 6 nm. Nanoparticles in solution with low concentration ethanol up to 20 vol% are very similar to those prepared in water. In the mixture of deionised water and 40 up to 80 vol% ethanol,... 

We studied the effects of the surrounding liquid environment on the size and optical properties of silver nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser operated at 1.064 nm. The silver targets used were kept in acetone, water and ethanol. TEM observations and optical extinction were employed for characterization of particle size, shape and optical properties, respectively. Nano silver in acetone showed a narrow size distribution with a mean size of 5 nm and the colloidal solution was stable. In deionised water a rather narrow size distribution with a mean size of 13 nm was observed and nanoparticles were precipitated slowly after about two weeks. In ethanol, a broadening... 

We compare Cu/M/SiO2 (M=Cr,V and Ta) multilayers that were deposited on Si substrates. Sample resistance measurements were carried out during annealing in 80% N2+20% H2, N2 and Ar environments. Resistivity measurements, SEM observations, RBS and AES spectroscopies from annealed samples showed good diffusion barrier properties for Cr and V but rather poor properties for Ta buffer layers. This is due to the amorphous nature of Cr films and formation of a continuous Cu overlayer. SEM observation also showed granular structure for Cu/V and Cu/Ta with grain sizes of about 500 and 1000 Å respectively. However, shallow nitrogen implantation in Cu/V samples and DC biasing for Cu/Ta layers during... 

We propose an exactly solvable waveguide lattice incorporating an inhomogeneous coupling coefficient. This structure provides classical analogs to the squeezed number and squeezed coherent intensity distribution in quantum optics where the propagation length plays the role of a squeezed amplitude. The intensity pattern is obtained in a closed form for an arbitrary distribution of the initial beam profile. We have also investigated the phase transition to the spatial Bloch-like oscillations by adding a linear gradient to the propagation constant of each waveguide (α). Our analytical results show that the Bloch-like oscillations appear above a critical value for the linear gradient of the... 

In this paper, the effects of the long-range correlated diagonal disordered optical waveguide arrays in the presence and absence of the positive Kerr nonlinearity are analyzed numerically. The calculated inverse localization length shows that the long-range correlation in a disordered system causes a decrease in the transverse localization in linear optical waveguide arrays. In the presence of positive Kerr nonlinearity, the inverse localization length is increased by increasing the nonlinear parameters in long-range correlated disordered systems in comparison with the uniform distribution disordered systems. This means that the long range correlation causes an enhancement of transverse... 

Electrical properties and electronic structure of Bi1-xCa xFe1-yMnyO3-δ grown by pulsed-laser deposition on BaTiO3/SiO2/Si substrate were investigated. Results showed that Ca has drastic effect on symmetry of crystal and electrical poperties of BiFeO3. On the other hand, Mn revealed to have more radical effect on optical properties and energy gap of the compound. XPS results represented that although Ca tend to decrease Fe valence state, Mn tends to stabilize it at 3+ (at least in this concentrations). UV-visible study yielded bandgap of 2.51-2.81 eV (at 300 K) for different concentrations of Ca and Mn. UV-visible spectra also revealed sub-bandgap defect transitions at 2.2 and 2.4 eV....