We study the coupling of localized surface plasmon (LSP) and surface-plasmon polariton (SPP) modes in a system composed of a metallic nanoparticle chain separated from a thin metallic film by a dielectric spacer. The thickness of such a spacer influences the level of interaction between LSP and SPP modes and controls the electromagnetic enhancement in this system. An enhancement with narrow res...

Photoacoustic nanometrology using coherent extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light detection is a unique and powerful tool for probing ultrathin films with a wide range of mechanical properties and thicknesses well under 100 nm. In this technique, short wavelength acoustic waves are generated through laser excitation of a nano-patterned metallic grating, and then probed by diffracting coherent EUV beam...

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films were prepared using the classical two-step process approach. In the first step, the metallic precursors were deposited on the soda-lime glass substrates by electron-beam evaporation following the Cu/In/Ga... sequence. The selenization, called the second step, was produced in a rapid thermal processor. This process performed under nitrogen atmosphere of 200 Torr at 200°C ...

We discuss the mass transport of a degenerate Fermi liquid ^{3}He film over a rough surface, and the film momentum relaxation time, in the framework of theoretical predictions. In the mesoscopic regime, the anomalous temperature dependence of the relaxation time is explained in terms of the interference between elastic boundary scattering and inelastic quasiparticle-quasiparticle scattering wit...

We discuss a new technology that promises large inexpensive mirrors. We argue that it should be possible to tilt a rotating viscous liquid by perhaps as much as a few tens of degrees. The tilted liquid parabolic surface is used as the support for a thin reflecting metallic film. We demonstrate two critical steps: that a viscous liquid mirror can be tilted and that an optical quality metallic fi...

Over the past decade, many applications were intended for filtration by membrane technology especially the thin film composite (TFC) membranes. In advanced developments of thin film membranes, an attempt was made to spread a new generation of membranes called thin film nano composite (TFN) membranes. However, in the last generation of TFNs, an ultrathin selective film of nanoparticles is coated...

We have investigated the crystallization kinetics of Cu50Zr50 metallic glass thin films using nanocalorimetry. The crystallization process is growth-controlled during heating and nucleation-controlled during cooling, resulting in different critical heating and cooling rates to suppress crystallization. Measurements over a wide range of scanning rates (13 K/s to 21,000 K/s) reveal that crystalli...

The phonon frequencies of metallic ultrathin films were studied by the resonant acoustic-phonon spectroscopy using femtosecond pump-probe method. We excite and detect the acoustic-phonon resonances in the thin films thinner than 50 nm using the femtosecond light pulses. The pump light causes the phonon vibrations through the thermal expansion at the film surface. For the ultrathin films, the st...

In P3HT:PCBM based organic solar cells we propose and demonstrate numerically plasmonic backcontact grating architectures for strong optical absorption enhanced in both transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric polarizations. Even when the active material is partially replaced by the metallic grating (without increasing the active layer film thickness), we show computationally that the light ...

Due to their small size, extremely fast response, and low cost, refractory metallic thin film thermocouples (TFTCs) are well suited for the surface temperature measurement of hot components. In this study, PtRh films with different amounts of Rhodium (10% and 13%) were deposited with direct current magnetron sputtering and annealed at different temperatures in air. The chemistry, microstructure...