The development of non-equilibrium group IV nanoscale alloys is critical to achieving new functionalities, such as the formation of a direct bandgap in a conventional indirect bandgap elemental semiconductor. Here, we describe the fabrication of uniform diameter, direct bandgap Ge1−xSnx alloy nanowires, with a Sn incorporation up to 9.2 at.%, far in excess of the equilibrium solubility of Sn in bulk Ge, through a conventional catalytic bottom-up growth paradigm using noble metal and metal alloy catalysts. Metal alloy catalysts permitted a greater inclusion of Sn in Ge nanowires compared with conventional Au catalysts, when used during vapour–liquid–solid growth. The addition of an annealing step close to the Ge-Sn eutectic temperature (230 °C) during cool-down, further facilitated the excessive dissolution of Sn in the nanowires. Sn was distributed throughout the Ge nanowire lattice with no metallic Sn segregation or precipitation at the surface or within the bulk of the nanowires. The non-equilibrium incorporation of Sn into the Ge nanowires can be understood in terms of a kinetic trapping model for impurity incorporation at the triple-phase boundary during growth.

Manganese-incorporated ZnS (MnxZn1-xS) nanorods were synthesized by a simple solvothermal process. Synthesized nanorods were single crystalline. Manganese incorporation in the ZnS lattice induces a phase transformation from hexagonal wurtzite to cubic zinc blende structure. The diameter of the nanorods increased with the increase of Mn concentration. Intense orange luminescence at approximately 585 nm was observed for the nanorods. Six-line hyperfine splitting was observed in the EPR spectra for lower Mn concentrations, whereas broad Lorentzian-shaped EPR spectra were obtained for higher Mn concentrations because of the Mn-Mn cluster formation at higher Mn concentrations.

Mesoscopic charge pumping, a transport mechanism that relies on the explicit time-dependence of some properties of a nanoscale conductor, was envisaged theoretically a few decades ago(1-4). So far, nanoscale pumps have been realized only in systems exhibiting strong Coulombic effects(5-12), whereas evidence for pumping in the absence of Coulomb blockade has been elusive. A pioneering experiment by Switkes et al.(13) evidenced the difficulty of modulating in time the properties of an open mesoscopic conductor at cryogenic temperatures without generating undesired bias voltages due to stray capacitances(14,15). One possible solution to this problem is to use the a. c. Josephson effect to induce periodically time-dependent Andreev reflection amplitudes in a hybrid normal-superconducting system(16). Here we report the experimental detection of charge flow in an unbiased InAs nanowire embedded in a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). In this system, quantum pumping may occur via the cyclic modulation of the phase of the order parameter of different superconducting electrodes. The symmetry of the current with respect to the enclosed magnetic flux(17,18) and bias SQUID current is a discriminating signature of pumping. Currents exceeding 20 pA are measured at 250 mK, and exhibit symmetries compatible with quantum pumping

Nanowire networks are promising memristive architectures for neuromorphic applications due to their connectivity and neurosynaptic-like behaviours. Here, we demonstrate a self-similar scaling of the conductance of networks and the junctions that comprise them. We show this behavior is an emergent property of any junction-dominated network. A particular class of junctions naturally leads to the emergence of conductance plateaus and a “winner-takes-all” conducting path that spans the entire network, and which we show corresponds to the lowest-energy connectivity path. The memory stored in the conductance state is distributed across the network but encoded in specific connectivity pathways, similar to that found in biological systems. These results are expected to have important implications for development of neuromorphic devices based on reservoir computing.

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