Local restructuring of metallic nanorod arrays and the fabrication of metallodielectric microstructures using direct femtosecond laser writing technologies have been studied. Femtosecond laser ablation has demonstrated the possibility to create sharp boundaries down to a single nanorod on the nanorod array. Polymer structures on the nanorods can be used to control the resonance wavelengths and ...

An all-dielectric coaxial waveguide that can overcome problems of polarization rotation and pulse broadening in the transmission of optical light is presented here. It consists of a coaxial waveguiding region with a low index of refraction, bounded by two cylindrical, dielectric, multilayer, omnidirectional reflecting mirrors. The waveguide can be designed to support a single mode whose propert...

We present experimental results of the transmission magnitude and phase change of terahertz pulses through thin metallic films patterned with subwavelength hole arrays on silicon wafers. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurements reveal a sharp phase peak centered on the surface plasmon resonance. Correspondingly, and consistent with the Kramers-Kronig relations, the measured transmission ...

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on several Tl filled skutterudites (Tl0.5Co3.5Fe0.5Sb12, Tl0.8Co3FeSb12, and Tl0.8Co4Sb11Sn) all show a sharp peak in the vibrational density of states at 57+/-2 K, which is absent in the unfilled skutterudite CoSb3. Heat capacity measurements on Tl0.8Co4Sb11Sn as compared to CoSb3 are consistent with the presence of a localized vibrational mode associa...

Hepatic abscesses caused by ingested foreign bodies have been reported in the medical literature but represent very uncommon events. Extra-luminal migration of sawing needles and pins is the most common cause of perforation of the gastrointestinal tract associated with liver infections. Other non-metallic sharp objects such as animal bones and toothpicks have been described but are less frequen...

Despite significant atomic-scale heterogeneity, bulk metallic glasses well below their glass transition temperature exhibit a surprisingly robust elastic regime and a sharp elastic-to-plastic transition. Here it is shown that, when the number of available structural transformations scales exponentially with system size, a simple thermal-activation model is able to describe these features, where...

We investigate low-temperature transport properties of thin TiN superconducting films in the vicinity of the disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition. In a zero magnetic field, we find an extremely sharp separation between superconducting and insulating phases, evidencing a direct superconductor-insulator transition without an intermediate metallic phase. At moderate temperatures, in...

The pressure-induced phase transition in amorphous silicon ~a-Si! is studied using ab initio constantpressure molecular-dynamic simulations. Crystalline silicon ~c-Si! shows a phase transformation from diamond-to-simple hexagonal at 29.5 GPa, whereas a-Si presents an irreversible sharp transition to an amorphous metallic phase at 16.25 GPa. The transition pressure of a-Si is also calculated fro...

We propose and analyze a scheme to interface individual neutral atoms with nanoscale solid-state systems. The interface is enabled by optically trapping the atom via the strong near-field generated by a sharp metallic nanotip. We show that under realistic conditions, a neutral atom can be trapped with position uncertainties of just a few nanometers, and within tens of nanometers of other surfac...

In this study, patterned microindents are generated on the surface of NiTi shape memory alloy by laser shock assisted direct imprinting (LSADI). During LSADI, the plasma pressure generated by the laser pulse punches the mask into the target material and thus generates patterned indents. It has been demonstrated that thermally controllable surface pattern can be generated on NiTi surface through...