Alicia Ruiz-Caridad

• PhD
• MSCA fellow at Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya

A thermal diode, which, by analogy to its electrical counterpart, rectifies heat current, is the building block for thermal circuits. To realize a thermal diode, we demonstrate thermal rectification in a GaAs telescopic nanowire system using the thermal bridge method. We measured a preferred direction of heat flux, achieving rectification values ra...

One of the most promising platforms for the realization of spin-based quantum computing are planar germanium quantum wells embedded between silicon–germanium barriers. To achieve comparably thin stacks with little surface roughness, this type of heterostructure can be grown using the so-called reverse linear grading approach, where the growth start...

The possibility to tune the functional properties of nanomaterials is key to their technological applications. Super7 lattices, i.e., periodic repetitions of two or more materials in different dimensions, are being explored for their potential as materials with tailor-made properties. Meanwhile, nanowires offer a myriad of possibilities to engineer...

The crystal and electronic structure of YMnO3 thin films at the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transition are monitored by scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) during in situ heating experiments. At the phase transition of a 14-unit-cell-thick film at ∼325∘C, we observe a clear transition from the...

Improper ferroelectrics are expected to be more robust than conventional ferroelectrics against depolarizing field effects and to exhibit a much-desired absence of critical thickness. Recent studies, however, revealed the loss of ferroelectric response in epitaxial improper ferroelectric thin films. Here, we investigate improper ferroelectric hexag...

The performance and suitability of a new electron energy filter in combination with a hybrid pixel, direct electron detector for analytical (scanning) transmission electron microscopy are demonstrated using four examples. The STEM-EELS capabilities of the CEOS Energy Filtering and Imaging Device (CEFID) were tested with focus on weak signals and hi...

Broadband on-chip light amplifier is one of the key building blocks for the development of integrated circuits for datacom and telecom applications. In this context, the article reports on the near-IR emission properties of rare-earth doped crystalline thin layers of Y 2 O 3-ZrO 2 (YSZ): Er-doped YSZ, Pr-doped YSZ and a superlattice of Er-and Pr-do...

Hybrid integration of new materials will play a key role in the next photonics revolution, unlocking the development of advanced devices with outstanding performances and innovative functionalities. Functional oxides, thanks to the richness of their physical properties are promising candidates to build active reconfigurable elements in complex circ...

Since the beginning of the 20th century with the development of telecommunications, new designs and materials were studied for the search oflow power consumption photonic devices on silicon-based platforms for applications such data-com, telecom, sensing, or quantum optics. Due to its indirect bandgap, silicon is a non-efficient light emitting mate...

Since the beginning of the 20th century with the development of telecommunications, new designs and materials were studied for the search oflow power consumption photonic devices on silicon-based platforms for applications such data-com, telecom, sensing, or quantum optics. Due to its indirect bandgap, silicon is a non-efficient light emitting mate...

By combined use of Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering, Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis, Inelastic Neutron Scattering, Density Functional Theory and Density Functional Theory Molecular Dynamics simulations, we investigate the structure, dynamics and stability of the water wetting-layer at single-walled aluminogermanate imogolite nanotubes (SW Ge-INTs): an arch...

We report on the first demonstration of high-speed optical modulation exploiting Pockels effect in strained silicon waveguides. Bandwidths larger than 20 GHz and low insertion loss have been achieved at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

Hybrid integration of unconventional optical materials is arguably a promising way to substantially extend a range of chip functionalities on traditional silicon-based platforms. Especially, functional oxides are very promising because they exhibit many attractive properties including superconductivity, piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity and optica...

On-chip optical amplifiers operating at telecom wavelengths are crucial elements for signal recovering and routing in photonic integrated circuits. In this work, we present the optical and structural properties of Er-doped yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films for the implementation of on-chip optical amplifiers in hybrid multifunctional phot...

Nonlinear all-optical technology is an ultimate route for the next-generation ultrafast signal processing of optical communication systems. New nonlinear functionalities need to be implemented in photonics, and complex oxides are considered as promising candidates due to their wide panel of attributes. In this context, yttria-stabilized zirconia (Y...

The microstructure and composition of a single crystal of the relaxor Sr0.67Ba0.33Nb2O6 have been assessed by aberration corrected TEM. Electron diffraction showed the presence of diffuse intensity and superstructure incommensurate reflections, compatible with Sr vacancies and Sr/Ba mixing at specific crystal sites respectively. Atomic resolution h...

Building blocks on silicon photonics

Interface-dominated materials such as nanocrystalline thin films have emerged as an enthralling class of materials able to engineer functional properties of transition metal oxides widely used in energy and information technologies. In particular, it has been proved that strain-induced defects in grain boundaries of manganites deeply impact their f...

Grain boundaries of strontium‐doped lanthanum manganite thin films are characterized by Albert Tarancón and co‐workers in article number 1805360, by a strong modification of both the anionic and cationic composition. The grain‐boundary local nonstoichiometry can be altered by tuning the overall cationic content in the thin films, offering a tool to...

Erbium doped YSZ for photonic devices

Interface-dominated materials such as nanocrystalline thin films have emerged as an enthralling class of materials able to engineer functional properties of transition metal oxides widely used in energy and information technologies. In particular, it has been proven that strain-induced defects in grain boundaries of manganites deeply impact their f...

The atomic structure of nanoparticles can be easily determined by transmission electron microscopy. However, obtaining atomic resolution chemical information about the individual atomic columns is a rather challenging endeavor. Here, crystalline monodispersed spinel Fe3O4/Mn3O4 core/shell nanoparticles have been thoroughly characterized in a high-r...

This article deals with the understanding of building-up mechanisms of bioactive nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite coatings by Cold Spray, revealing very promising results in contrast to more conventional techniques such as Plasma Spray. A full characterization of feedstock and coatings is provided. The agglomerated structure of the powder proved to b...

Imogolite nanotubes thus appear has model nanochannels to study the original properties of confined water molecules depending of the size of the nanocontainer and of the water-interface interactions.

Structural and chemical study of iron oxide/manganese oxide core/shell nanoparticles by means of High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF) imaging, Bright Field (BF) imaging and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) in a Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM).

SBN belongs to the tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) family of uniaxial ferroelectric relaxor materials, with a single component polarization vector pointing along the tetragonal c axis. The high dielectric constants observed and polarization controlling around the ordering temperature 'T m ' make of relaxors promising systems for applications such...

The present article is intended to study the deposition mechanisms of bioactive hydroxyapatite (HA) particles by means of Cold Gas Spraying (CGS). A comparison of the deposition on two different substrates (Ti6Al4V and Al7075T6) and different particle sizes is presented. Although this is a more specific deposition technique for ductile materials, i...

In this work, the role of the nitrogen content, the annealing temperature, and the sample morphology on the luminescence properties of Ce3+ and Tb3+ co-doped SiOxNythin films has been investigated. An increasing nitrogen atomic percentage has been incorporated in the host matrix by gradually replacing oxygen with nitrogen during fabrication while m...

Amorphous sub-nanometre Tb-doped SiOxNy/SiO2 superlattices were fabricated by means of alternating deposition of 0.7 nm thick Tb-doped SiOxNy layers and of 0.9 nm thick SiO2 barrier layers in an electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition system with in situ Tb-doping capability. High resolution transmission electron mic...