Large Polarons as Key Quasiparticles in SrTiO_{3} and SrTiO_{3}-Based Heterostructures.

Despite its simple structure and low degree of electronic correlation, SrTiO_{3} (STO) features collective phenomena linked to charge transport and, ultimately, superconductivity, that are not yet fully explained. Thus, a better insight into the nature of the quasiparticles shaping the electronic and conduction properties of STO is needed. We studied the low-energy excitations of bulk STO and of the LaAlO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) by Ti L_{3} edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering.

Structural, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of a Few Nanometer-Thick Superconducting NdBaCuO Films.

Epitaxial films of high critical temperature ( T c ) cuprate superconductors preserve their transport properties even when their thickness is reduced to a few nanometers. However, when approaching the single crystalline unit cell (u.c.

Experimental Determination of Momentum-Resolved Electron-Phonon Coupling.

We provide a novel experimental method to quantitatively estimate the electron-phonon coupling and its momentum dependence from resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra based on the detuning of the incident photon energy away from an absorption resonance. We apply it to the cuprate parent compound NdBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6} and find that the electronic coupling to the oxygen half-breathing phonon branch is strongest at the Brillouin zone boundary, where it amounts to ∼0.17  eV, in agreement with previous studies.

Eumelanin Graphene-Like Integration: The Impact on Physical Properties and Electrical Conductivity.

The recent development of eumelanin pigment-based blends integrating "classical" organic conducting materials is expanding the scope of eumelanin in bioelectronics. Beyond the achievement of high conductivity level, another major goal lays in the knowledge and feasible control of structure/properties relationship. We systematically investigated different hybrid materials prepared by polymerization of the eumelanin precursor 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) in presence of various amounts of graphene-like layers.

Post-Deposition Wetting and Instabilities in Organic Thin Films by Supersonic Molecular Beam Deposition.

We discuss the formation and post-deposition instability of nanodrop-like structures in thin films of PDIF-CN2 (a perylene derivative) deposited via supersonic molecular beam deposition technique on highly hydrophobic substrates at room temperature. The role of the deposition rate on the characteristic lengths of the organic nanodrops has been investigated by a systematic analysis of atomic force microscope images of the thin films and through the use of the height-height correlation function. The nanodrops appear to be a metastable configuration for the freshly-deposited films.