A dimensionality controlled metal insulator transition in epitaxial [LaNiO3 (d nm)/LaAlO3(2nm)]10 (100) superlattices (thereafter [d/2]10 SLs) is demonstrated for decreasing LaNiO3 single layer thickness from 4nm down to 1.2 nm. The [4/2]10 SL shows metallic behavior with positive resistivity temperature coefficient, while the [2/2]10 SL shows a metal-insulator transition with crossover from 3D to two-dimensional single-layer dimensionality. Strong localization appears for the [1.2/2]10 SL with the resistivity being dominated by two-dimensional variable range hopping with a localization length of about 0.035 nm.

Recently, topological conductivity has been predicted theoretically in LaNiO3(111)-based superlattices. Here we report high-quality epitaxial LaNiO3/LaAlO3 superlattices on (111)-oriented SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 single crystals. For both substrates a metal-insulator transition with decreasing number of LaNiO3 monolayers is found. While the electrical transport is dominated by twodimensional variable range hopping for superlattices grown on polar mismatched SrTiO3(111), it switches to a thermally activated single gap behavior on polar matched LaAlO3(111). The gap energy of the polar double-layer LaNiO3 superlattices can be tuned via the thickness of the insulating LaAlO3 layers.

We report on ultraviolet photodiodes with integrated optical filter based on the wurtzite (Mg,Zn)O thin films. Tuning of the bandgap of filter and active layers was realized by employing a continuous composition spread approach relying on the ablation of a single segmented target in pulsed-laser deposition. Filter and active layers of the device were deposited on opposite sides of a sapphire substrate with nearly parallel compositional gradients. Ensure that for each sample position the bandgap of the filter layer blocking the high energy radiation is higher than that of the active layer. Different oxygen pressures during the two depositions runs. The absorption edge is tuned over 360 meV and the spectral bandwidth of photodiodes is typically 100 meV and as low as 50 meV.

Multiferroic (BaTiO3-BiFeO3) × 15 multilayer heterostructures show high magnetoelectric (ME) coefficients aME up to αME up to 24 V/cm·Oe at 300 K. This value is much higher than that of a single-phase BiFeO3 reference film (αME = 4.2 V/cm·Oe). We found clear correlation of ME coefficients with increasing oxygen partial pressure during growth. ME coupling is highest for lower density of oxygen vacancy-related defects. Detailed scanning transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction microstructural investigations at 300K revealed antiphase rotations of the oxygen octahedra in the BaTiO3 single layers, which are an additional correlated defect structure of the multilayers.

Thin films are a prerequisite for application of the emergent exotic ground states in iridates that result from the interplay of strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlations. We report on pulsed laser deposition of Li2IrO3 films on ZrO2:Y (001) single crystalline substrates. X-ray diffraction confirms preferential (001) and (10-1) out-of-plane crystalline orientations with well defined in-plane orientation. Resistivity between 35 and 300K is dominated by a three-dimensional variable range hopping mechanism. The dielectric function is determined by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry and, complemented by Fourier transform infrared transmission spectroscopy, reveals a small optical gap of ≈300 meV, a splitting of the 5d-t2g manifold, and several in-gap excitations attributed to phonons and possibly magnons.

The main focus of this thesis is on the phase retrieval problem. This problem has a broad range of applications in advanced imaging systems, such as X-ray crystallography, coherent diffraction imaging, and astrophotography. Thanks to its broad applications and its mathematical elegance and sophistication, phase retrieval has attracted researchers with diverse backgrounds. Formally, phase retrieval is the problem of recovering a signal 𝔁 ∈ ℂⁿ from its phaseless linear measurements of the form |𝛼ᵢ∗𝔁| + 𝜖ᵢ where sensing vectors 𝛼ᵢ, 𝑖 = 1, 2, ..., 𝓶, are in the same vector space as 𝔁 and 𝜖ᵢ denotes the measurement noise. Finding an effective recovery method in a practical setup, analyzing the required sample complexity and convergence rate of a solution, and discussing the optimality of a proposed solution are some of the major mathematical challenges that researchers have tried to address in the last few years. In this thesis, our aim is to shed some light on some of these challenges and propose new ways to improve the imaging systems that have this problem at their core. Toward this goal, we focus on the high-dimensional setting where the ratio of the number of measurements to the ambient dimension of the signal remains bounded. This regime differs from the classical asymptotic regime in which the signal's dimension is fixed and the number of measurements is increasing. We obtain sharp results regarding the performance of the existing algorithms and the algorithms that are introduced in this thesis. To achieve this goal, we first develop a few sharp concentration inequalities. These inequalities enable us to obtain sharp bounds on the performance of our algorithms. We believe such results can be useful for researchers who work in other research areas as well. Second, we study the spectrum of some of the random matrices that play important roles in the phase retrieval problem, and use our tools to study the performance of some of the popular phase retrieval recovery schemes. Finally, we revisit the problem of structured signal recovery from phaseless measurements. We propose an iterative recovery method that can take advantage of any prior knowledge about the signal that is given as a compression code to efficiently solve the problem. We rigorously analyze the performance of our proposed method and provide extensive simulations to demonstrate its state-of-the-art performance.

Title: Microstructure and properties of multiferroic complex oxide thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition method Author: Petr Machovec Department: Department of Condensed Matter Physics Supervisor: RNDr. Milan Dopita, Ph.D., Department of Condensed Matter Physics Abstract: In the frame of this thesis, structure, microstructure, and real structure of multiferroic epitaxial layers of LuFeO3 were studied by means of X-ray reflectivity and X-ray diffraction. In theoretical part the theory of X-ray scattering on crystalline layers is described. Standard description of X-ray reflectivity on series of rough layers is presented. Moreover, a model of X-ray scattering on mosaic layer is described. For experimental part of the work three samples were prepared by pulsed laser deposition method. First sample on sapphire substrate (Al2O3), second on platinum layer deposited on sapphire substrate and third on yttrium stabilized zirconia substrate. From the X-ray reflectivity curves the parameters such as layer thickness, interface roughness, surface roughness and material density, were determined. By analysing measured reciprocal space maps, lattice parameters and mosaic model parameters, such as mean mosaic block size, mosaic block size distribution, mosaic block misorientation and residual microstrain, were...

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Insight into the effects of isothermal and non-isothermal annealing on bi-metallic thin film is important for material synthesis and application in everyday use. The effects of isothermal annealing on bi-metallic thin films has long been studied using various heating methods from a resistively heated filaments, by transferring heat via conduction, convection and irradiation. The effect of each method have been widely reported in literature. The diffusion coefficient and activation energies of the constituent atoms can calculated for each annealing method. On the other hand, the effects of non-isothermal annealing on bi-metallic thin films has not been comprehensively studied, and there are areas of this annealing regime that need further investigation. In this study a femtosecond laser with a 1064 nm central wavelength was used to anneal bi-metallic thin films of Zinc-Tin (Zn-Sn) on a substrate.

The objective of this work is the synthesis of highly functionalized hybrid organic/inorganic materials by the polycondensation of bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl]amine in the presence of surfactants. High contents of amine groups were achieved by carrying out the syntheses without an inorganic cross-linker. The silsesquioxanes obtained had a mesoporous structure. The stability of their porous system in the absence of an inorganic cross-linker was enhanced by the precursor's bridged structure. The material structures were studied by FT-IR spectroscopy, Porosimetry, X-Ray Diffraction and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering methods. A material prepared in the presence of dodecylamine as a template had a higher surface area and narrower pore size distribution while the use of sodium dodecyl sulfate resulted in the formation of mesopores with a wide size distribution. Surface amine groups in silsesquioxanes were accessible for adsorption of small molecules of acidic nature.

In this thesis the influence of deposition conditions and post-deposition annealing on the structure of ultrathin iron oxide films grown on magnesium oxide (MgO) substrates is studied. The main experimental technique used is synchrotron based x-ray diffraction (XRD) but also x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and low energy electron diffractions (LEED) are used to characterize the samples. Studying the dependency of film structure and thickness the stoichiometry and structure is changing with increasing film thickness. For large film thickness bulk like magnetite (Fe3O4) can be observed. With decreasing thickness the oxide phase is shifting towards a wüstite (FeO) phase. When changing the deposition rate and substrate temperature a strong influence on the Fe3O4 film structure is observed. With both decreasing deposition rates and substrate temperatures the occupancy of the tetrahedral sites is strongly decreasing while the octahedral sites remain almost unaffected. By post-deposition annealing under low oxygen atmosphere it is possible to increase the ordering of the tetrahedral sites. However, this is accompanied by significant diffusion of magnesium into the iron oxide film. During post-deposition annealing of a gamma-Fe2O3 film under high vacuum a reduction of the iron oxide is observed. Increasing the temperature, first, a reduction from gamma-Fe2O3 to Fe3O4 is observed. After further increasing the temperature a reduction from Fe3O4 to FeO is observed.