Morphology of Copper Nanofoams for Radiation Hydrodynamics and Fusion Applications Investigated by 3D Ptychotomography.

The performance of metal and polymer foams used in inertial confinement fusion (ICF), inertial fusion energy (IFE), and high-energy-density (HED) experiments is currently limited by our understanding of their nanostructure and its variation in bulk material. We utilized an X-ray-free electron laser (XFEL) together with lensless X-ray imaging techniques to probe the 3D morphology of copper foams at nanoscale resolution (28 nm). The observed morphology of the thin shells is more varied than expected from previous characterizations, with a large number of them distorted, merged, or open, and a targeted mass density 14% less than calculated.

Metasurface Broadband Solar Absorber.

We demonstrate a broadband, polarization independent, wide-angle absorber based on a metallic metasurface architecture, which accomplishes greater than 90% absorptance in the visible and near-infrared range of the solar spectrum, and exhibits low absorptivity (emissivity) at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths. The complex unit cell of the metasurface solar absorber consists of eight pairs of gold nano-resonators that are separated from a gold ground plane by a thin silicon dioxide spacer. Our experimental measurements reveal high-performance absorption over a wide range of incidence angles for both s- and p-polarizations.

Ultrafast carrier dynamics in an InAs/InGaAs quantum dots-in-a-well heterostructure.

Ultrafast differential transmission spectroscopy is used to explore temperature-dependent carrier dynamics in an InAs/InGaAs quantum dots-in-a-well heterostructure. Electron-hole pairs are optically injected into the three dimensional GaAs barriers, after which we monitor carrier relaxation into the two dimensional InGaAs quantum wells and the zero dimensional InAs quantum dots by tuning the probe photon energy. We find that carrier capture and relaxation are dominated by Auger carrier-carrier scattering at low temperatures, with thermal emission playing an increasing role with temperature.