188 research outputs found
Circularly polarized light emission in scanning tunneling microscopy of magnetic systems
Light is produced when a scanning tunneling microscope is used to probe a
metal surface. Recent experiments on cobalt utilizing a tungsten tip found that
the light is circularly polarized; the sense of circular polarization depends
on the direction of the sample magnetization, and the degree of polarization is
of order 10 %. This raises the possibility of constructing a magnetic
microscope with very good spatial resolution. We present a theory of this
effect for iron and cobalt and find a degree of polarization of order 0.1 %.
This is in disagreement with the experiments on cobalt as well as previous
theoretical work which found order of magnitude agreement with the experimental
results. However, a recent experiment on iron showed 0.0 2 %. We predict
that the use of a silver tip would increase the degree of circular polarization
for a range of photon energies.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, (To appear in Phys. Rev. B, February 2000
Theory of a magnetic microscope with nanometer resolution
We propose a theory for a type of apertureless scanning near field microscopy
that is intended to allow the measurement of magnetism on a nanometer length
scale. A scanning probe, for example a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip,
is used to scan a magnetic substrate while a laser is focused on it. The
electric field between the tip and substrate is enhanced in such a way that the
circular polarization due to the Kerr effect, which is normally of order 0.1%
is increased by up to two orders of magnitude for the case of a Ag or W tip and
an Fe sample. Apart from this there is a large background of circular
polarization which is non-magnetic in origin. This circular polarization is
produced by light scattered from the STM tip and substrate. A detailed retarded
calculation for this light-in-light-out experiment is presented.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure
Coherent and sequential photoassisted tunneling through a semiconductor double barrier structure
We have studied the problem of coherent and sequential tunneling through a
double barrier structure, assisted by light considered to be present All over
the structure, i,e emitter, well and collector as in the experimental evidence.
By means of a canonical transformation and in the framework of the time
dependent perturbation theory, we have calculated the transmission coefficient
and the electronic resonant current. Our calculations have been compared with
experimental results turning out to be in good agreement. Also the effect on
the coherent tunneling of a magnetic field parallel to the current in the
presence of light, has been considered.Comment: Revtex3.0, 8figures uuencoded compressed tar-fil
Absorption Enhancement in Lossy Transition Metal Elements of Plasmonic Nanosandwiches
Combination of catalytically active transition metals and surface plasmons offers a promising way to drive chemical reactions by converting incident visible light into energetic electron-hole pairs acting as a mediator. In such a reaction enhancement scheme, the conversion efficiency is dependent on light absorption in the metal. Hence, increasing absorption in the plasmonic structure is expected to increase generation of electron-hole pairs and, consequently, the reaction rate. Furthermore, the abundance of energetic electrons might facilitate new reaction pathways. In this work we discuss optical properties of homo- and heterometallic plasmonic nanosandwiches consisting of two parallel disks made of gold and palladium. We show how near-field coupling between the sandwich elements can be used to enhance absorption in one of them. The limits of this enhancement are investigated using finite-difference time-domain simulations. Physical insight is gained through a simple coupled dipole analysis of the nanostructure. For small palladium disks (compared to the gold disk), total absorption enhancement integrated over the near visible solar AM 1.5 spectrum is 8-fold, while for large palladium disks, similar in size to the gold one, it exceeds three
Electromagnetic absorption mechanisms in metal nanospheres: Bulk and surface effects in radiofrequency-terahertz heating of nanoparticles
The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 109.12 (2011): 124306
and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/109/12/10.1063/1.3600222We report on the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by metallic nanoparticles in the radio and far infrared frequency range, and subsequent heating of nanoparticle solutions. A recent series of papers has measured considerable radio frequency (RF) heating of gold nanoparticle solutions. In this work, we show that claims of RF heating by metallic nanoparticles are not supported by theory. We analyze several mechanisms by which nonmagnetic metallic nanoparticles can absorb low frequency radiation, including both classical and quantum effects. We conclude that none of these absorption mechanisms, nor any combination of them, can increase temperatures at the rates recently reported. A recent experiment supports this finding.Support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación Grant No. FIS2008-04209 and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (metamaterial Grant No. SSF RMA08-0109) is acknowledged
Coherent resonant tunneling in ac fields
We have analyzed the tunneling transmission probability and electronic
current density through resonant heterostructures in the presence of an
external electromagnetic field. In this work, we compare two different models
for a double barrier : In the first case the effect of the external field is
taken into account by spatially dependent AC voltages and in the second one the
electromagnetic field is described in terms of a photon field that irradiates
homogeneously the whole sample. While in the first description the tunneling
takes place mainly through photo sidebands in the case of homogeneous
illumination the main effective tunneling channels correspond to the coupling
between different electronic states due to photon absorption and emission. The
difference of tunneling mechanisms between these configurations is strongly
reflected in the transmission and current density which present very different
features in both cases. In order to analyze these effects we have obtained,
within the Transfer Hamiltonian framework, a general expression for the
transition probability for coherent resonant tunneling in terms of the Green's
function of the system.Comment: 16 pages,Figures available upon request,to appear in Phys.Rev B (15
April 1996
On the interpretation of spin-polarized electron energy loss spectra
We study the origin of the structure in the spin-polarized electron energy
loss spectroscopy (SPEELS) spectra of ferromagnetic crystals. Our study is
based on a 3d tight-binding Fe model, with constant onsite Coulomb repulsion U
between electrons of opposite spin. We find it is not the total density of
Stoner states as a function of energy loss which determines the response of the
system in the Stoner region, as usually thought, but the densities of Stoner
states for only a few interband transitions. Which transitions are important
depends ultimately on how strongly umklapp processes couple the corresponding
bands. This allows us to show, in particular, that the Stoner peak in SPEELS
spectra does not necessarily indicate the value of the exchange splitting
energy. Thus, the common assumption that this peak allows us to estimate the
magnetic moment through its correlation with exchange splitting should be
reconsidered, both in bulk and surface studies. Furthermore, we are able to
show that the above mechanism is one of the main causes for the typical
broadness of experimental spectra. Finally, our model predicts that optical
spin waves should be excited in SPEELS experiments.Comment: 11 pages, 7 eps figures, REVTeX fil
Light emission from a scanning tunneling microscope: Fully retarded calculation
The light emission rate from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) scanning a
noble metal surface is calculated taking retardation effects into account. As
in our previous, non-retarded theory [Johansson, Monreal, and Apell, Phys. Rev.
B 42, 9210 (1990)], the STM tip is modeled by a sphere, and the dielectric
properties of tip and sample are described by experimentally measured
dielectric functions. The calculations are based on exact diffraction theory
through the vector equivalent of the Kirchoff integral. The present results are
qualitatively similar to those of the non-retarded calculations. The light
emission spectra have pronounced resonance peaks due to the formation of a
tip-induced plasmon mode localized to the cavity between the tip and the
sample. At a quantitative level, the effects of retardation are rather small as
long as the sample material is Au or Cu, and the tip consists of W or Ir.
However, for Ag samples, in which the resistive losses are smaller, the
inclusion of retardation effects in the calculation leads to larger changes:
the resonance energy decreases by 0.2-0.3 eV, and the resonance broadens. These
changes improve the agreement with experiment. For a Ag sample and an Ir tip,
the quantum efficiency is 10 emitted photons in the visible
frequency range per tunneling electron. A study of the energy dissipation into
the tip and sample shows that in total about 1 % of the electrons undergo
inelastic processes while tunneling.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures (1 ps, 9 tex, automatically included); To appear
in Phys. Rev. B (15 October 1998
Quantum surface-response of metals revealed by acoustic graphene plasmons
A quantitative understanding of the electromagnetic response of materials is essential for the precise engineering of maximal, versatile, and controllable light-matter interactions. Material surfaces, in particular, are prominent platforms for enhancing electromagnetic interactions and for tailoring chemical processes. However, at the deep nanoscale, the electromagnetic response of electron systems is significantly impacted by quantum surface-response at material interfaces, which is challenging to probe using standard optical techniques. Here, we show how ultraconfined acoustic graphene plasmons in graphene-dielectric-metal structures can be used to probe the quantum surface-response functions of nearby metals, here encoded through the so-called Feibelman d-parameters. Based on our theoretical formalism, we introduce a concrete proposal for experimentally inferring the low-frequency quantum response of metals from quantum shifts of the acoustic graphene plasmons dispersion, and demonstrate that the high field confinement of acoustic graphene plasmons can resolve intrinsically quantum mechanical electronic length-scales with subnanometer resolution. Our findings reveal a promising scheme to probe the quantum response of metals, and further suggest the utilization of acoustic graphene plasmons as plasmon rulers with angstrom-scale accuracy. Knowledge of the quantum response of materials is essential for designing light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. Here, the authors report a theory for understanding the impact of metallic quantum response on acoustic graphene plasmons and how such response could be inferred from measurements.N.A.M. is a VILLUM Investigator supported by VILLUM FONDEN (Grant No. 16498) and Independent Research Fund Denmark (Grant No. 7026-00117B). The Center for Nano Optics is financially supported by the University of Southern Denmark (SDU 2020 funding). The Center for Nanostructured Graphene (CNG) is sponsored by the Danish National Research Foundation (Project No. DNRF103). This work was partly supported by the Army Research Office through the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies under Contract No. W911NF-18-2-0048. N.M.R.P. acknowledges support from the European Commission through the project "Graphene-Driven Revolutions in ICT and Beyond" (No. 881603, Core 3), COMPETE 2020, PORTUGAL 2020, FEDER and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through project POCI-01-0145-FEDER028114 and through the framework of the Strategic Financing UID/FIS/04650/2019. F.H. L.K. acknowledges financial support from the Government of Catalonia through the SGR grant and from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-20150522), support by Fundacio Cellex Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA program, and the MINECO grants Plan Nacional (FIS2016-81044-P) and the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) 2017 SGR 1656. Furthermore, the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 program under the Graphene Flagship Grant Agreements No. 785219 (Core 2) and no. 881603 (Core 3), and the Quantum Flagship Grant No. 820378. This work was also supported by the ERC TOPONANOP (Grant No. 726001)
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