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\"Over the last 25 years, dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) has emerged as one of the most powerful new developments in many-body physics. Written by one of the key researchers in the field, this book presents the first comprehensive treatment of this ever-developing topic. Transport in Mutlilayered Nanostructures is varied and modern in its scope, and: Develops the formalism of many-body Green's functions using the equation-of-motion approach Applies DMFT to study transport in multilayered nanostructures, which is likely to be one of the most prominent applications of nanotechnology in the coming years Develops formalism first for the bulk and then for the inhomogeneous multilayered systems Describes in great detail the science behind the metal-insulator transition, electronic charge reconstruction, strongly correlated contributions to capacitance, and superconductivity Includes complete derivations and emphasizes how to carry out numerical calculations, including discussions of parallel programming algorithms Provides descriptions of the crossover from tunneling to thermally activated transport, of the properties of Josephson junctions with barriers tuned near the metal-insulator transition of thermoelectric coolers and power generators and of nonequilibrium extensions to determine current-voltage characteristics as applications of the theory A series of over 40 problems help develop the skills to allow readers to reach the level of being able to contribute to research. This book is suitable for an advanced graduate course in DMFT, and for individualized study by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and advanced researchers wishing to enter the field\"-- Provided by publisher.

This novel book is the first comprehensive text on dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), which has emerged over the past two decades as one of the most powerful new developments in many-body physics. Written by one of the key researchers in the field, the volume develops the formalism of many-body Green's functions using the equation of motion approach, which requires an undergraduate solid state physics course and a graduate quantum mechanics course as prerequisites. The DMFT is applied to study transport in multilayered nanostructures, which is likely to be one of the most prominent applications of nanotechnology in the coming years. The text is modern in scope focusing on exact numerical methods rather than the perturbation theory. Formalism is developed first for the bulk and then for the inhomogeneous multilayered systems. The science behind the metal-insulator transition, electronic charge reconstruction, and superconductivity are thoroughly described. The book covers complete derivations and emphasizes how to carry out numerical calculations, including discussions of parallel programing algorithms. Detailed descriptions of the crossover from tunneling to thermally activated transport, of the properties of Josephson junctions with barriers tuned near the metal-insulator transition, and of thermoelectric coolers and power generators are provided as applications of the theory.

We propose a boundary-element-based method for crack problems in multilayered elastic medium that consists of a set of individually homogeneous strata. The method divides the medium along the slit-like crack surface so that the effects of the elements placed along one crack surface become distinguishable from those placed along the other surface. As a result, the direct method that cannot be directly applied for crack problems turns out to be applicable. After that, we derive a recursive formula that obtains a “stiffness matrix” for each layer by exploiting the chain-like structure of the system, enabling a sequential computation to solve the displacements on the crack surface in each layer “consecutively” in a descending order from the very top layer to the very bottom one. In our method, the final system of equations only contains the unknown displacements on the crack surface, ensuring the efficiency of the method. The numerical examples demonstrate better accuracy and broader applicability of our method compared to the displacement discontinuity method and more-acceptable efficiency of our method compared to the conventional direct method.

Quasicrystals (QCs) are sensitive to the piezoelectric (PE) effect. This paper studies static deformation of a multilayered one-dimensional (1D) hexagonal QC plate with the PE effect. The exact closed-form solutions of the extended displacement and traction for a homogeneous piezoelectric quasicrystal (PQC) plate are derived from an eigensystem. The general solutions for multilayered PQC plates are then obtained using the propagator matrix method when mechanical and electrical loads are applied on the top surface of the plate. Numerical examples for several sandwich plates made up of PQC, PE, and QC materials are provided to show the effect of stacking sequence on phonon, phason, and electric fields under mechanical and electrical loads, which is useful in designing new composites for engineering structures.

A computational method is proposed for the analysis and prediction of instability (wrinkling or necking) of multilayered compressible plates and sheets made by metals or polymers under plane strain conditions. In previous works, a basic assumption (or a physical argument) that has been frequently made is that materials are incompressible to simplify mathematical derivations. To account for the compressibility of metals and polymers (the lower Poisson’s ratio leads to the more compressible material), we propose a combined semi-numerical algorithm and finite element method for instability analysis. Our proposed algorithm is herein verified by comparing its predictions with published results in literature for thin films with polymer/metal substrates and for polymer/metal systems. The new combined method is then used to predict the effects of compressibility on instability behaviors. Results suggest potential utility for compressibility in the design of multilayered structures.

We present a new laser protective lens based on a multilayered notch filter design with low residual stress and low surface roughness. An18-layer notch filter was prepared by electron beam evaporation with an ion-assisted deposition technique, which was composed of SiO2 and Nb2O5 with a center wavelength of 532 nm. The optical transmittance, residual stress, surface roughness, and surface morphology were measured by a UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer, Twyman–Green interferometer, scanning probe microscope, Linnik microscopic interferometer, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The transmittance of the notch filters at center wavelength is 0.2%, and the average transmittance of the transmission band is about 70%. The residual stress of the notch filter is −0.298 GPa, and the root mean square surface roughness is 1.88 nm. The experimental results show that the optical transmittance meets the design requirements.

This dissertation focuses on the formation of organic thin films on gold surfaces and synthesis of oligosaccharides. Chapter one, is a brief introduction on the utility of thin films, as well as ways to characterize thin films, as well as, a report on the attempt to form organic thin films on Au(111) surfaces using photoredox catalysis.Glycoconjugates on cell surfaces serve as important mediators of intercellular recognition, adhesion, and viral infection. Due to the significant role that glycoconjugates play on the surface of cells, oligosaccharide synthesis is of great interest. Chapter two, is an extensive review of oligosaccharide synthesis, its importance, and glycosylation methods. There are several methods to form complex oligosaccharides; however, chapter three focuses on the orthogonal synthesis of a trisaccharide using temperature control.The main challenge in the synthesis of biologically relevant oligosaccharides is the development of stereoselective glycosylation reactions. Methods to form the 1,2-trans glycosidic linkages (beta) have been developed with the help of neighboring group participation of acyl protecting groups in the C2 position. However, protocols for selective synthesis of 1,2-cis glycosidic linkages (alpha) has proven to be difficult due to low yields and poor selectivity. To circumvent these difficulties, protecting group manipulation has been employed to form 1,2-cis glycosidic linkages through a SN2-like mechanism. Electron withdrawing groups have shown to play an important role in aiding in the formation of 1,2-cis linkages. Thus, in chapter four, methods to selectively form 1,2-cis linkages using thioglycosides and acetimidates armed with varying electron withdrawing groups is discussed.Chapter five focuses on the application of oligosaccharide synthesis with the development of a glycoconjugate vaccine for Acinetobacter baumannii. A. baumannii is a common cause of infections associated with ICU residence, traumatic injury, mechanical ventilation, and neurosurgery. Vaccine development is an important preventative measure due to the increasing antibiotic resistance of A. baumannii strains. The proposed vaccine consists of a pentasaccharide portion of an A. baumannii lipooligosaccharide to be conjugated to a carrier molecule. Progress toward the synthesis of the pentasaccharide portion of the proposed glycoconjugate vaccine is discussed in this chapter.

Summary This paper investigates surface instability of a functionally graded and layered elastic film interacting with another flat rigid body [or interacting with another functionally graded and layered elastic film (or simply-supported elastic plate)] through surface van der Waals forces under plane strain conditions. The shear modulus in each functionally graded layer is assumed to be exponentially varied in the thickness direction. A homogeneous elastic layer, which is the focus of this research, can be considered as a special case of the functionally graded layer by taking the magnitude of the gradient parameter to be very small. The solution for any functionally graded layer is obtained in terms of the pseudo-Stroh formalism; then the solution for the multilayered system is derived based on the transfer-matrix method. As a result the displacement and traction vectors at the top surface of the layered film (or plate) can be expressed in terms of those at the bottom surface of the layered film (or plate). We can thus obtain simple relationships between the surface normal traction and surface deflection. Expressions for the interaction coefficient as a function of the wave number of the instability mode are therefore obtained. The critical value of the interaction coefficient for surface instability and the associated instability mode can be determined easily by identifying the minimum of the interaction coefficient. An advantage of the present method lies in that it is very convenient to address a film (or a plate) with an arbitrary number of layers. The correctness of the present approach is verified by comparison with known results. The results show that it is possible to find N distinct surface instability modes for an N -layered elastic film interacting with another flat rigid body; and that it is also possible to find that there are at most N 1 + N 2 distinct surface instability modes for an N 1 -layered elastic film interacting with another N 2 -layered elastic film. When a multilayered elastic film interacts with a simply-supported multilayered elastic plate, the film-plate system will exhibit the instability mode of the film or that of the plate depending on the stability strength of the plate versus that of the film.

The aim of this master thesis was to develop robust, easily prepared multifunctional shell@core gold nanostructures to serve as a basis for customization into a specific biological sensor. The stability and optical properties of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), namely the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), makes them excellent candidates for the development of SPR-based biosensors. In this work, the preparation and functionalization of the gold nanoparticles was first optimized, on the basis of the previous work. Next, multilayered thin-films embedding these gold nanostructures were prepared.Au NPs (15  4 nm) were synthetized by the Turkevich method, and their surface was coated via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) assisted encapsulating emulsion polymerization (REEP). The preparation of two types of nanostructures was explored: i) non-functionalized nanostructures were successfully prepared using the macroRAFT (MR) agent P(PEGA40)-TTC) adsorbed onto Au NPs, followed the growth of a hydrophobic block using a 10:1 (w/w) mixture of methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate from MR@Au NPs; and ii) functionalized nanostructures were prepared using a MR agent functionalized with a bio-receptor (biotin) and a fluorophore (fluorescein isothiocyanate - FITC). Attempts to grow a hydrophobic block from the multifunctional MR@Au NPs were carried out to enhance the optical response by increasing the distance between the core and fluorophore. Yet, the synthetic strategy followed to prepare this type of multifunctional nanostructures needs to be revised.The size and stability of gold nanostructures were characterized by UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, STEM (scanning transmission electron microscopy), DLS (dynamic light scattering) and Zeta potential measurements. The chemical and structural characterization of polymers was carried out by 1HNMR (proton nuclear magnetic resonance), infrared spectroscopies and gel permeation chromatography – size exclusion chromatography (GPC-SEC). Then, biosensing tests were performed on the multifunctional shell@core nanostructures synthetized to assess their optical response towards a specific bioanalyte - avidin. However, these tests were inconclusive due to the limitations of the synthetic strategy followed to prepare the Au nanostructures.Parallel to the synthetic work described above, the preparation of thin films via electrostatic interactions using the Layer-by-Layer (LbL) method was studied, using poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and carboxylic acid terminated non-functionalized Au nanostructures. Various parameters were studied such as molecular weight, deposition time, pH and ionic strength, as well as the number of layers. The final goal was to deposit the biotin-FITC-functionalized gold nanostructure as last layer. The optimized procedure for LbL deposition of the encapsulated Au NPs was fully accomplished, in view of the fact that the biosensing tests were inconclusive, this last step was not carried out.