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Here, we present comprehensive phononic and charge density wave properties (CDW) of rare-earth van der Waals tritellurides through temperature dependent angle-resolved Raman spectroscopy measurements. All the possible rare-earth tritellurides (RTe 3 ) ranging from R = La–Nd, Sm, Gd–Tm were synthesized through a chemical vapor transport technique to achieve high quality crystals with excellent CDW characteristics. Raman spectroscopy studies successfully identify the emergence of the CDW state and transition temperature (T CDW ), which offers a non-destructive method to identify their CDW response with micron spatial resolution. Temperature dependent Raman measurements further correlate how the atomic mass of metal cations and the resulting chemical pressure influence its CDW properties and offer detailed insight into the strength of CDW amplitude mode-phonon coupling during the CDW transition. Angle-resolved Raman measurements offer the first insights into the CDW-phonon symmetry interplay by monitoring the change in the symmetry of phonon mode across the CDW transition. Overall results introduce the library of RTe 3 CDW materials and establish their characteristics through the non-destructive angle-resolved Raman spectroscopy technique.

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts are thought to be associated with the core-collapse of massive, rapidly spinning stars and the formation of black holes. However, efficient angular momentum transport in stellar interiors, currently supported by asteroseismic and gravitational-wave constraints, leads to predominantly slowly-spinning stellar cores. Here, we report on binary stellar evolution and population synthesis calculations, showing that tidal interactions in close binaries not only can explain the observed subpopulation of spinning, merging binary black holes but also lead to long gamma-ray bursts at the time of black-hole formation. Given our model calibration against the distribution of isotropic-equivalent energies of luminous long gamma-ray bursts, we find that ≈10% of the GWTC-2 reported binary black holes had a luminous long gamma-ray burst associated with their formation, with GW190517 and GW190719 having a probability of ≈85% and ≈60%, respectively, being among them. Moreover, given an assumption about their average beaming fraction, our model predicts the rate density of long gamma-ray bursts, as a function of redshift, originating from this channel. For a constant beaming fraction f B  ∼ 0.05 our model predicts a rate density comparable to the observed one, throughout the redshift range, while, at redshift z  ∈ [0, 2.5], a tentative comparison with the metallicitymore »distribution of observed LGRB host galaxies implies that between 20% to 85% of the observed long gamma-ray bursts may originate from progenitors of merging binary black holes. The proposed link between a potentially significant fraction of observed, luminous long gamma-ray bursts and the progenitors of spinning binary black-hole mergers allows us to probe the latter well outside the horizon of current-generation gravitational wave observatories, and out to cosmological distances.« less

Abstract Interlayer excitons in layered materials constitute a novel platform to study many-body phenomena arising from long-range interactions between quantum particles. Long-lived excitons are required to achieve high particle densities, to mediate thermalisation, and to allow for spatially and temporally correlated phases. Additionally, the ability to confine them in periodic arrays is key to building a solid-state analogue to atoms in optical lattices. Here, we demonstrate interlayer excitons with lifetime approaching 0.2 ms in a layered-material heterostructure made from WS 2 and WSe 2 monolayers. We show that interlayer excitons can be localised in an array using a nano-patterned substrate. These confined excitons exhibit microsecond-lifetime, enhanced emission rate, and optical selection rules inherited from the host material. The combination of a permanent dipole, deterministic spatial confinement and long lifetime places interlayer excitons in a regime that satisfies one of the requirements for simulating quantum Ising models in optically resolvable lattices.

The ion implantation of H⁺and D⁺into Ga₂O₃produces several O–H and O–D centers that have been investigated by vibrational spectroscopy. These defects include the dominant V_Ga(1)-2H and V_Ga(1)-2D centers studied previously along with additional defects that can be converted into this structure by thermal annealing. The polarization dependence of the spectra has also been analyzed to determine the directions of the transition moments of the defects and to provide information about defect structure. Our experimental results show that the implantation of H⁺(or D⁺) into Ga₂O₃produces two classes of defects with different polarization properties. Theory finds that these O–H (or O–D) centers are based on two shifted configurations of a Ga(1) vacancy that trap H (or D) atom(s). The interaction of V_Ga(1)-nD centers with other defects in the implanted samples has also been investigated to help explain the number of O–D lines seen and their reactions upon annealing. Hydrogenated divacancy V_Ga(1)-V_Ocenters have been considered as an example.