International audienceWhile Virtual Reality applications are increasingly attracting the attention of developers and business analysts, the behaviour of users watching 360-degree (i.e. omnidirectional) videos has not been thoroughly studied yet. This paper introduces a dataset of head movements of users watching 360-degree videos on a Head-Mounted Display (HMD). The dataset includes data collected from 59 users watching five 70 s-long 360-degree videos on the Razer OSVR HDK2 HMD. The selected videos span a wide range of 360-degree content for which different viewer's involvement, thus navigation patterns, could be expected. We describe the open-source software developed to produce the dataset and present the test material and viewing conditions considered during the data acquisition. Finally, we show some examples of statistics that can be extracted from the collected data, for a content-dependent analysis of users' navigation patterns. The source code of the software used to collect the data has been made publicly available, together with the entire dataset, to enable the community to extend the dataset

The spectra of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in self-assembled silver nanoparticles (NPs), prepared by solid-state dewetting of thin films, are discussed in terms of their structural properties. We summarize the dependences of size and shape of NPs on the fabrication conditions with a proposed structural-phase diagram. It was found that the surface coverage distribution and the mean surface coverage (SC) size were the most appropriate statistical parameters to describe the correlation between the morphology and the optical properties of the nanostructures. The results are interpreted with theoretical predictions based on Mie theory. The broadband scattering efficiency of LSPRs in the nanostructures is discussed towards application as plasmon-enhanced back reflectors in thin-film solar cells.

ZnO nanorods (NRs) grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) are among the most promising semiconducting nanostructures currently investigated for a variety of applications. Still, contrasting experimental results appear in literature on the microscopic mechanisms leading to high aspect-ratio and vertically aligned ZnO NRs. Here, we report on CBD of ZnO NRs by using Zn nitrate salt and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA), evidencing a double role of HMTA in the NRs growth mechanism. Beyond the well-established pH buffering activity, HMTA is shown to introduce a strong steric hindrance effect biasing the growth along the c-axis and ensuring the vertical arrangement. This twofold function of HMTA should be taken into account for avoiding detrimental phenomena such as merging or suppression of NRs, which occur at low HMTA concentration.

A novel type of plasmonic light trapping structure is presented in this paper, composed of metal nanoparticles synthesized in colloidal solution and self-assembled in uniform long-range arrays using a wet-coating method. The high monodispersion in size and spherical shape of the gold colloids used in this work allows a precise match between their measured optical properties and electromagnetic simulations performed with Mie theory, and enables the full exploitation of their collective resonant plasmonic behavior for light-scattering applications. The colloidal arrays are integrated in plasmonic back reflector (PBR) structures aimed for light trapping in thin film solar cells. The PBRs exhibit high diffuse reflectance (up to 75%) in the red and near-infrared spectrum, which can pronouncedly enhance the near-bandgap photocurrent generated by the cells. Furthermore, the colloidal PBRs are fabricated by low-temperature (<120 °C) processes that allow their implementation, as a final step of the cell construction, in typical commercial thin film devices generally fabricated in a superstrate configuration.

The photon absorption in Si quantum dots (QDs) embedded in SiO2 has been systematically investigated by varying several parameters of the QD synthesis. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or magnetron cosputtering (MS) have been used to deposit, upon quartz substrates, single layer, or multilayer structures of Si-rich- SiO2 (SRO) with different Si content (43-46 at. %). SRO samples have been annealed for 1 h in the 450-1250 °C range and characterized by optical absorption measurements, photoluminescence analysis, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and x-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. After annealing up to 900 °C SRO films grown by MS show a higher absorption coefficient and a lower optical bandgap (∼2.0 eV) in comparison with that of PECVD samples, due to the lower density of Si-Si bonds and to the presence of nitrogen in PECVD materials. By increasing the Si content a reduction in the optical bandgap has been recorded, pointing out the role of Si-Si bonds density in the absorption process in small amorphous Si QDs. Both the photon absorption probability and energy threshold in amorphous Si QDs are higher than in bulk amorphous Si, evidencing a quantum confinement effect. For temperatures higher than 900 °C both the materials show an increase in the optical bandgap due to the amorphous-crystalline transition of the Si QDs. Fixed the SRO stoichiometry, no difference in the optical bandgap trend of multilayer or single layer structures is evidenced. These data can be profitably used to better implement Si QDs for future PV technologies. © 2009 American Institute of Physics