Institut Supérieur de l'Électronique et du Numérique

Depending on the size, the photoluminescence (PL) of silicon quantum dots present in porous silicon can be tuned from the near infrared to the ultraviolet when the surface is passivated with Si-H bonds. After exposure to oxygen, the PL shifts to the red by as much as 1 eV. This shift and the changes in PL intensity and decay time, show that both quantum confinement and surface passivation determine the electronic states of silicon quantum dots. A theoretical model in which new electronic states appear in the band gap of the smaller quantum dots when a $\mathrm{Si}=\mathrm{O}$ bond is formed, is in good agreement with experiments. This result clarifies the controversy regarding the PL mechanisms in porous silicon.

The luminescence in the visible range of porous silicon is analyzed in the hypothesis of quantum confinement. We calculate the electronic and optical properties of silicon crystallites and wires with sizes between 0 and 4.5 nm. The band-gap energies of such confined systems are in agreement with the photon energies observed in luminescence. We calculate the radiative recombination times of the confined excitons. We conclude that experimental nonradiative processes in porous silicon are more efficient than calculated radiative ones at T=300 K. The high photoluminescence efficiency of porous silicon is due to the small probability of finding a nonradiative recombination center in silicon nanocrystallites. Recently, it has been proposed that the low-temperature dependence of the experimental radiative decay time of the luminescence of porous silicon could be explained by the exchange splitting in the fundamental exciton. We show that the influence of the valley-orbit splitting cannot be excluded. The sharp optical-absorption edge above 3.0 eV is not proof of the molecular origin of the properties of porous silicon because silicon nanostructures present a similar absorption spectrum. We calculate the nonradiative capture of electrons or holes on silicon dangling bonds and show that it is very dependent on the confinement. We find that the presence of one dangling bond at the surface of a crystallite in porous silicon must destroy its luminescent properties above 1.1 eV but can produce a luminescence below 1.1 eV due to a radiative capture on the dangling bond.

We analyzed key individual, family, and neighborhood factors to assess competing hypotheses regarding racial/ethnic gaps in perpetrating violence. From 1995 to 2002, we collected 3 waves of data on 2974 participants aged 8 [corrected] to 25 years living in 180 Chicago neighborhoods, augmented by a separate community survey of 8782 Chicago residents. The odds of perpetrating violence were 85% higher for Blacks compared with Whites, whereas Latino-perpetrated violence was 10% lower. Yet the majority of the Black-White gap (over 60%) and the entire Latino-White gap were explained primarily by the marital status of parents, immigrant generation, and dimensions of neighborhood social context. The results imply that generic interventions to improve neighborhood conditions and support families may reduce racial gaps in violence.

Digital technologies have already become an internal part of our life. They change the way we are looking for information, how we communicate with each other, even how we behave. This transformation applies to many areas, including education. The main objective of this article is to identify prospective impact of artificial technologies to the study process and to predict possible changes in educational landscape. In presented literature review we considered four categories: customized educational content, innovative teaching methods, technology enhanced assessment, communication between student and lecturer. Having reviewed publications on the subject we present here a possible picture of how the Artificial Intelligence (AI) will reshape education landscape.

The tight-binding approximation and the recursion method are used to study the size dependence of the band gap for small CdS and ZnS crystallites (20--2500 atoms). Because of the lack of accurate experimental data, a simple model of the crystal is considered; one which has no dangling bonds and a symmetrical shape. It is then possible to have a good evaluation of the band gap, even for the largest crystallites. The optical-absorption spectra exhibit an excitonic peak; we determine the peak position from a simple evaluation of the binding energy. The results are compared with the results of other calculations based upon the effective-mass approximation and some experimental data.

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We have calculated the electronic structure of spherical silicon crystallites containing up to 2058 Si atoms. We predict a variation of the optical band gap with respect to the size of the crystallites in very good agreement with available experimental results. We also calculate the electron-hole recombination time which is of the order of 10−4–10−6 s for crystallites with diameters of 2.0–3.0 nm. We conclude that small silicon crystallites can have interesting optical properties in the visible range. These results are applied to porous silicon for which we confirm that a possible origin of the luminescence is the quantum confinement.

Information security and authentication are important challenges facing society. Recent attacks by hackers on the databases of large commercial and financial companies have demonstrated that more research and development of advanced approaches are necessary to deny unauthorized access to critical data. Free space optical technology has been investigated by many researchers in information security, encryption, and authentication. The main motivation for using optics and photonics for information security is that optical waveforms possess many complex degrees of freedom such as amplitude, phase, polarization, large bandwidth, nonlinear transformations, quantum properties of photons, and multiplexing that can be combined in many ways to make information encryption more secure and more difficult to attack. This roadmap article presents an overview of the potential, recent advances, and challenges of optical security and encryption using free space optics. The roadmap on optical security is comprised of six categories that together include 16 short sections written by authors who have made relevant contributions in this field. The first category of this roadmap describes novel encryption approaches, including secure optical sensing which summarizes double random phase encryption applications and flaws [Yamaguchi], the digital holographic encryption in free space optical technique which describes encryption using multidimensional digital holography [Nomura], simultaneous encryption of multiple signals [Prez-Cabr], asymmetric methods based on information truncation [Nishchal], and dynamic encryption of video sequences [Torroba]. Asymmetric and one-way cryptosystems are analyzed by Peng. The second category is on compression for encryption. In their respective contributions, Alfalou and Stern propose similar goals involving compressed data and compressive sensing encryption. The very important area of cryptanalysis is the topic of the third category with two sections: Sheridan reviews phase retrieval algorithms to perform different attacks, whereas Situ discusses nonlinear optical encryption techniques and the development of a rigorous optical information security theory. The fourth category with two contributions reports how encryption could be implemented at the nano-or micro-scale. Naruse discusses the use of nanostructures in security applications and Carnicer proposes encoding information in a tightly focused beam. In the fifth category, encryption based on ghost imaging using single-pixel detectors is also considered. In particular, the authors [Chen, Tajahuerce] emphasize the need for more specialized hardware and image processing algorithms. Finally, in the sixth category, Mosk and Javidi analyze in their corresponding papers how quantum imaging can benefit optical encryption systems. Sources that use few photons make encryption systems much more difficult to attack, providing a secure method for authentication. S Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop.org/JOPT/18/083001/mmedia (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal) Contents I. Encryption technologies 1. Secure optical sensing 4 2. Digital holographic encryption in free space optical technique 6 3. Simultaneous encryption and authentication of multiple signals 8 4. Amplitude-and phase-truncation based optical asymmetric cryptosystem 10 5. Optical security: dynamical processes and noise-free recovery 12

A 1 k-pixel camera chip for active terahertz video recording at room-temperature has been fully integrated in a 65-nm CMOS bulk process technology. The 32 × 32 pixel array consists of 1024 differential on-chip ring antennas coupled to NMOS direct detectors operated well-beyond their cutoff frequency based on the principle of distributed resistive self-mixing. It includes row and column select and integrate-and-dump circuitry capable of capturing terahertz videos up to 500 fps. The camera chip has been packaged together with a 41.7-dBi silicon lens (measured at 856 GHz) in a 5 × 5 × 3 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> camera module. It is designed for continuous-wave illumination (no lock-in technique required). In this video-mode the camera operates up to 500 fps. At 856 GHz it achieves a responsivity <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Rv</i> of about 115 kV/W (incl. a 5-dB VGA gain) and a total noise equivalent power (NEP <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">total</sub> ) of about 12 nW integrated over its 500-kHz video bandwidth. At a 5-kHz chopping frequency (non-video mode) a single pixel can provide a maximum responsivity <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">R</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">v</sub> of 140 kV/W (incl. a 5-dB VGA gain) and a minimum noise equivalent power ( NEP) of 100 pW/√Hz at 856 GHz. The wide-band antenna and pixel design achieves a 3-dB bandwidth of at least 790-960 GHz.

We describe information which has been obtained on point defects detected in various types of GaAs materials using electron paramagnetic resonance as well as electrical and optical techniques. From a comparison of their characteristics and those of simple intrinsic defects (As and Ga interstitials, vacancies and antisites) it is concluded that native defects are not simple intrinsic defects, with the exception of the antisites, but complexes formed by the interaction of such defects between themselves or with impurities. Particular emphasis is given to the As antisite complexed with an As interstitial, the so-called EL2 defect which plays a major role in the electrical properties of bulk materials. Differential thermal analysis, positron annihilation, and x-ray diffraction demonstrate that bulk materials contain a large concentration of vacancy-related defects and As precipitates located along dislocations which play the role of gettering centers. Presumably, bulk materials also contain other As clusters of various sizes although only the smallest ones (EL2) have been detected. All these As clusters are sources of As interstitials which play an important role in thermal treatments. As to semi-insulating materials, their electrical properties result mainly from the compensation between the double donor, called EL2, associated with the As antisite and the double acceptor ascribed to the Ga antisite.

Prosumer concept and digitilization offer the exciting potential of microgrid transactive energy systems at distribution level for reducing transmission losses, decreasing electric infrastructure expenditure, improving reliability, enhancing local energy use, and minimizing customers' electricity bills. Distributed energy resources, demand response, distributed ledger technologies, and local energy markets are integral parts of transaction energy system for emergence of decentralized smart grid system. Hence, this paper discusses transactive energy concept and proposes seven functional layers architecture for designing transactive energy system. The proposed architecture is compared with practical case study of Brooklyn microgrid. Moreover, this paper reviews the existing architectures and explains the widely known distributed ledger technologies (blockchain, directed acyclic graph, hashgraph, holochain, and tempo) alongwith their advantages and challenges. The local energy market concept is presented and critically analyzed for energy trade within a transactive energy system. This paper also reviews the potential and challenges of peer-to-peer and community-based energy markets. Proposed architecture and analytical review of distributed ledger technologies and local energy markets pave the way for advanced research and industrialization of transactive energy systems.

This paper considers the control of a group of autonomous mobile robots. A coordinated control scheme based on a leader-follower approach is developed to achieve formation maneuvers. First and second order sliding-mode controllers are proposed for asymptotically stabilizing the vehicles to a time-varying desired formation. The latter controller, based on the relative motion states, eliminates the need for measurement or estimation of the leader velocity. It enables formation stabilization using a vision system carried by the followers and ensures the collision avoidance from the initial time instance. Experimental investigation has been conducted using a test bench made of three nonholonomic mobile robots in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

We present semiempirical tight-binding and ab initio local density calculations demonstrating the (meta)stability of self-trapped excitons at the surface of silicon nanocrystallites. These are obtained for dimer bonds passivated, for instance, by hydrogen atoms or by silicon oxide. Light emission from these trapped excitons is predicted in the infrared or in the near visible. We are thus led to the interpretation that part of the luminescence is due to such surface states while optical absorption is characteristic of quantum confinement effects. These conclusions should extend to other semiconductor crystallites.

The electronic structure of Ge nanocrystals is studied using a sp3 tight binding description. Analytical laws for the confinement energies, valid over the whole range of sizes, are derived. We validate our results with ab initio calculations in the local density approximation for smaller clusters. Comparing to experimental data, we conclude that, similar to the case of silicon: (a) the blue-green photoluminescence (PL) of Ge nanocrystals comes from defects in the oxide and (b) the size dependent PL in the near infrared probably involves a deep trap in the gap of the nanocrystals. We predict that the radiative lifetimes remain long in spite of the small difference (0.14 eV) between direct and indirect gaps of bulk Ge.

We have developed a new quantum theory for phonon-assisted tunnel emission of electrons from deep semiconductor levels. Linear coupling of a deep level with lattice-phonon modes is assumed and a perturbation approach is used to calculate the tunnel ionization rate. For a single-phonon mode, the resulting phonon-assisted tunneling rate is first derived with the use of the Condon approximation and is found to be a function of the phonon linear coupling constant $S$ and of the phonon energy $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\omega}$. A non-Condon approach is then used and results in an expression almost identical to the "Condon" one, except that the coupling constant $S$ is replaced by a modified effective value. The limit of validity of the Condon treatment is then clearly deduced. The new quantum model readily lends itself to generalization such as coupling to multiple phonon modes. Experimental results are presented and confirm the validity of the model.

In the early stages of highly mismatched heteroepitaxy, self-assembled dots appear as soon as the coverage exceeds a critical value. It is shown that this phenomenon is determined by the preliminary growth of 2D platelets which act as precursors for the formation of 3D coherent islands. The argumentation is based on a total energy calculation using a valence force field approach for the elastic part, the surface contribution being added separately. The proposed mechanism provides an explanation for the fairly good calibration of the observed 3D islands.

Self-assembled monolayers of long chain alkanes deposited on silicon wafers using an optimally designed procedure exhibit very large energy barriers ( $\ensuremath{\sim}4.5$ eV) to carrier tunneling. The dc conductivity is found to be $\ensuremath{\sim}4.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}$ S/cm, close to that of bulk polyethylene, and independent of monolayer thickness. This demonstrates that the tunneling contribution to the overall conductivity can be made negligible when the organic structure is densely packed and highly ordered. Distinctly higher conductivity values are observed with disordered monolayers.

Carbon-based quantum particles, especially spherical carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and nanosheets like graphene quantum dots (GQDs), are an emerging class of quantum dots with unique properties owing to their quantum confinement effect. Many reviews appeared recently in the literature highlighting their optical properties, structures, and applications. These papers cover a broad spectrum of carbon-based nanoparticles, excluding a more detailed discussion about some important aspects related to the definition of carbon-based particles and the correlation of optical and electrochemical aspects in relation to sensing and biomedical applications. A large part of this review is devoted to these aspects. It aims, in particular, to act as a bridge between optical and electrochemical aspects of carbon-based quantum particles, both of which are associated with the electronic nature of carbon-based quantum particles. A special focus will be on their use in electroanalysis, notably their benefits in redox, and in electrochemical analysis with emphasis on their application as sensors. Electroanalysis is an easy and cost-effective means of providing qualitative and quantitative information of a specific analyte in solution in a time scale of some minutes. The integration of carbon-based quantum particles into these detection schemes as well as their incorporation into composite nanomaterials have largely improved detection limits with possibilities for their integration in aspects ranging from point-of-care devices to personalized medicine. This review will focus on some of these aspects while also covering the nanomedical aspects of carbon-based quantum particles, ultimately correlated for such developments.

The effect of quantum confinement in PbSe quantum wells and dots is studied using tight binding calculations. Compared to zinc-blende semiconductors, unusual physical properties are predicted for rock salt PbSe nanostructures. The energy gap increases as the inverse of the size both for wells and dots. For PbSe nanocrystals, the luminescence lifetime, the confinement energy, and the intraband optical properties are in good agreement with experiments. The high quantum yield observed experimentally can be explained by the absence of surface dangling bonds in these systems. The origin of the second peak measured in the absorption spectra is discussed, whereas S-P interband transitions exhibit very small oscillator strength. The full frequency-dependent dielectric function $ϵ(\ensuremath{\omega})$ is calculated for PbSe quantum wells. Its imaginary part ${ϵ}_{2}(\ensuremath{\omega})$ is strongly anisotropic and shows large variations with respect to its bulk value even far from the gap region.

Multilevel inverters, for their distinctive performance, have been widely used in high voltage and high-power applications in recent years. As power electronics equipment reliability is very important and to ensure multilevel inverter systems stable operation, it is important to detect and locate faults as quickly as possible. In this context and to improve fault diagnosis accuracy and efficiency of a cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter system (CHMLIS), a fault diagnosis strategy based on the principle component analysis and the multiclass relevance vector machine (PCA-mRVM), is elaborated and proposed in this paper. First, CHMLIS output voltage signals are selected as input fault classification characteristic signals. Then, a fast Fourier transform is used to preprocess these signals. PCA is used to extract fault signals features and to reduce samples dimensions. Finally, an mRVM model is used to classify faulty samples. Compared to traditional approaches, the proposed PCA-mRVM strategy not only achieves higher model sparsity and shorter diagnosis time, but also provides probabilistic outputs for every class membership. Experimental tests are carried out to highlight the proposed PCA-mRVM diagnosis performances.