A simple electron counting model for half-Heusler surfaces.

Heusler compounds are a ripe platform for discovery and manipulation of emergent properties in topological and magnetic heterostructures. In these applications, the surfaces and interfaces are critical to performance; however, little is known about the atomic-scale structure of Heusler surfaces and interfaces or why they reconstruct. Using a combination of molecular beam epitaxy, core-level and angle-resolved photoemission, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density functional theory, we map the phase diagram and determine the atomic and electronic structures for several surface reconstructions of CoTiSb (001), a prototypical semiconducting half-Heusler. At low Sb coverage, the surface is characterized by Sb-Sb dimers and Ti vacancies, while, at high Sb coverage, an adlayer of Sb forms. The driving forces for reconstruction are charge neutrality and minimizing the number of Sb dangling bonds, which form metallic surface states within the bulk bandgap. We develop a simple electron counting model that explains the atomic and electronic structure, as benchmarked against experiments and first-principles calculations. We then apply the model to explain previous experimental observations at other half-Heusler surfaces, including the topological semimetal PtLuSb and the half-metallic ferromagnet NiMnSb. The model provides a simple framework for understanding and predicting the surface structure and properties of these novel quantum materials.

Surface-mediated tunable self-assembly of single crystal semimetallic ErSb/GaSb nanocomposite structures.

Arrays of metallic nanostructures embedded within a semiconducting matrix are of great interest for applications in plasmonics, photonic crystals, thermoelectrics, and nanoscale ohmic contacts. We report a method for growing single crystal arrays of semimetallic vertical and horizontal ErSb nanorods, nanotrees, and nanosheets embedded within a semiconducting GaSb matrix. The nanostructures form simultaneously with the matrix and have epitaxial, coherent interfaces with no evidence of stacking faults or dislocations as observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. By combining molecular beam epitaxy growth and in situ scanning tunneling microscopy, we image the growth surface one atomic layer at a time and show that the nanostructured composites form via a surface-mediated self-assembly mechanism that is controlled entirely at the growth front and is not a product of bulk diffusion or bulk segregation. These highly tunable nanocomposites show promise for direct integration into epitaxial semiconductor device structures and also provide a unique system in which to study the atomic scale mechanisms for nucleation and growth.

First experimental demonstration of a photonic band gap channel-drop filter at 240 GHz.

We have designed, fabricated, and tested a novel photonic band gap (PBG) channel-drop filter (CDF) operating at around 240 GHz. A PBG CDF is a device that allows the channeling of selected frequencies from continuous spectra into separate waveguides through select defects in a PBG structure. It is compact and configurable, and thus, it can be employed for millimeter-wave spectrometry with applications in communications, radio astronomy, and radar receivers for remote sensing and nonproliferation. In this paper we present the design, modeling, and fabrication methods used to produce a silicon-based PBG CDF, and demonstrate its ability to filter the frequency of 240 GHz with a linewidth of approximately 1 GHz and transmission of 25 dB above background.