15,472 research outputs found
Non-equilibrium current and electron pumping in nanostructures
We discuss a numerical method to study electron transport in mesoscopic
devices out of equilibrium. The method is based on the solution of operator
equations of motion, using efficient Chebyshev time propagation techniques. Its
peculiar feature is the propagation of operators backwards in time. In this way
the resource consumption scales linearly with the number of states used to
represent the system. This allows us to calculate the current for
non-interacting electrons in large one-, two- and three-dimensional lead-device
configurations with time-dependent voltages or potentials. We discuss the
technical aspects of the method and present results for an electron pump device
and a disordered system, where we find transient behaviour that exists for a
very long time and may be accessible to experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the International Conference on
Magnetism (ICM) 2009 in Karlsruh
Sample-specific and Ensemble-averaged Magnetoconductance of Individual Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes
We discuss magnetotransport measurements on individual single-wall carbon
nanotubes with low contact resistance, performed as a function of temperature
and gate voltage. We find that the application of a magnetic field
perpendicular to the tube axis results in a large magnetoconductance of the
order of e^2/h at low temperature. We demonstrate that this magnetoconductance
consists of a sample-specific and of an ensemble-averaged contribution, both of
which decrease with increasing temperature. The observed behavior resembles
very closely the behavior of more conventional multi-channel mesoscopic wires,
exhibiting universal conductance fluctuations and weak localization. A
theoretical analysis of our experiments will enable to reach a deeper
understanding of phase-coherent one-dimensional electronic motion in SWNTs.Comment: Replaced with published version. Minor changes in tex
Embedding approach for dynamical mean field theory of strongly correlated heterostructures
We present an embedding approach based on localized basis functions which
permits an efficient application of the dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) to
inhomogeneous correlated materials, such as semi-infinite surfaces and
heterostructures. In this scheme, the semi-infinite substrate leads connected
to both sides of the central region of interest are represented via complex,
energy-dependent embedding potentials that incorporate one-electron as well as
many-body effects within the substrates. As a result, the number of layers
which must be treated explicitly in the layer-coupled DMFT equation is greatly
reduced. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, we present numerical
results for strongly correlated surfaces, interfaces, and heterostructures of
the single-band Hubbard model.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; typos correcte
Electron transport through an interacting region: The case of a nonorthogonal basis set
The formula derived by Meir and Wingreen [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 68}, 2512
(1992)] for the electron current through a confined, central region containing
interactions is generalized to the case of a nonorthogonal basis set. As in the
original work, the present derivation is based on the nonequilibrium Keldysh
formalism. By replacing the basis functions of the central region by the
corresponding elements of the dual basis, the lead- and central
region-subspaces become mutually orthogonal. The current formula is then
derived in the new basis, using a generalized version of second quantization
and Green's function theory to handle the nonorthogonality within each of the
regions. Finally, the appropriate nonorthogonal form of the perturbation series
for the Green's function is established for the case of electron-electron and
electron-phonon interactions in the central region.Comment: Added references. 8 pages, 1 figur
Current Induced Order Parameter Dynamics: Microscopic Theory Applied to Co/Cu/Co spin valves
Transport currents can alter alter order parameter dynamics and change steady
states in superconductors, in ferromagnets, and in hybrid systems. In this
article we present a scheme for fully microscopic evaluation of order parameter
dynamics that is intended for application to nanoscale systems. The approach
relies on time-dependent mean-field-theory, on an adiabatic approximation, and
on the use of non-equilibrium Greens function (NEGF) theory to calculate the
influence of a bias voltage across a system on its steady-state density matrix.
We apply this scheme to examine the spin-transfer torques which drive
magnetization dynamics in Co/Cu/Co spin-valve structures. Our microscopic
torques are peaked near Co/Cu interfaces, in agreement with most previous
pictures, but suprisingly act mainly on Co transition metal -orbitals rather
than on -orbitals as generally supposed.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Reducing Penguin Pollution
The most common decay used for measuring 2beta_s, the phase of Bs-Bsbar
mixing, is Bs -> J/psi phi. This decay is dominated by the colour-suppressed
tree diagram, but there are other contributions due to gluonic and electroweak
penguin diagrams. These are often referred to as "penguin pollution" (PP)
because their inclusion in the amplitude leads to a theoretical error in the
extraction of 2beta_s from the data. In the standard model (SM), it is
estimated that the PP is negligible, but there is some uncertainty as to its
exact size. Now, phi_s^{c\bar{c}s} (the measured value of 2beta_s) is small, in
agreement with the SM, but still has significant experimental errors. When
these are reduced, if one hopes to be able to see clear evidence of new physics
(NP), it is crucial to have the theoretical error under control. In this paper,
we show that, using a modification of the angular analysis currently used to
measure phi_s^{c\bar{c}s} in Bs -> J/psi phi, one can reduce the theoretical
error due to PP. Theoretical input is still required, but it is much more
modest than entirely neglecting the PP. If phi_s^{c\bar{c}s} differs from the
SM prediction, this points to NP in the mixing. There is also enough
information to test for NP in the decay. This method can be applied to all
Bs/Bsbar -> V1 V2 decays.Comment: 17 pages, latex, extensive discussion of theoretical error added,
reference added. Further revision: even more detailed discussion of
theoretical error added, as well as an explanation of why the NP strong phase
is negligibl
Mass and Scalar Cross-sections for Neutralino Dark Matter in Anomaly Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking Model
We have considered neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle
(LSP) in the framework of minimal Anomaly Mediated Supersymmetric (mAMSB)
model. We have studied variation of neutralino mass with the supersymmetric
parameters. Considering these neutralinos to be the candidates for weakly
interacting massive particle (WIMP) or cold dark matter (CDM), we have
calculated the neutralino nucleon scalar cross-sections and compared them with
DAMA-NaI neutralino direct detection search results. From this study we observe
that the mAMSB model results cannot explain the allowed region in WIMP mass and
WIMP-nucleon scalar cross-section space obtained from annual modulation
signature in DAMA-NaI experiment.Comment: 7 Pages LaTeX, 4 figures, J. Phys. G., to appea
Conductance of a quantum point contact based on spin-density-functional theory
We present full quantum mechanical conductance calculations of a quantum
point contact (QPC) performed in the framework of the density functional theory
(DFT) in the local spin-density approximation (LDA). We show that a
spin-degeneracy of the conductance channels is lifted and the total conductance
exhibits a broad plateau-like feature at 0.5*2e^{2}/h. The lifting of the
spin-degeneracy is a generic feature of all studied QPC structures (both very
short and very long ones; with the lengths in the range 40<l<500 nm). The
calculated conductance also shows a hysteresis for forward- and backward sweeps
of the gate voltage. These features in the conductance can be traced to the
formation of weakly coupled quasi-bound states (magnetic impurities) inside the
QPC (also predicted in previous DFT-based studies). A comparison of obtained
results with the experimental data shows however, that while the spin-DFT based
"first-principle" calculations exhibits the spin polarization in the QPC, the
calculated conductance clearly does not reproduce the 0.7 anomaly observed in
almost all QPCs of various geometries. We critically examine major features of
the standard DFT-based approach to the conductance calculations and argue that
its inability to reproduce the 0.7 anomaly might be related to the infamous
derivative discontinuity problem of the DFT leading to spurious
self-interaction errors not corrected in the standard LDA. Our results indicate
that the formation of the magnetic impurities in the QPC might be an artefact
of the LDA when localization of charge is expected to occur. We thus argue that
an accurate description of the QPC structure would require approaches that go
beyond the standard DFT+LDA schemes.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Possible origin of the 0.5 plateau in the ballistic conductance of quantum point contacts
A non-equilibrium Green function formalism (NEGF) is used to study the
conductance of a side-gated quantum point contact (QPC) in the presence of
lateral spin-orbit coupling (LSOC). A small difference of bias voltage between
the two side gates (SGs) leads to an inversion asymmetry in the LSOC between
the opposite edges of the channel. In single electron modeling of transport,
this triggers a spontaneous but insignificant spin polarization in the QPC.
However, the spin polarization of the QPC is enhanced substantially when the
effect of electron-electron interaction is included. The spin polarization is
strong enough to result in the occurrence of a conductance plateau at 0.5G0 (G0
= 2e2/h) in the absence of any external magnetic field. In our simulations of a
model QPC device, the 0.5 plateau is found to be quite robust and survives up
to a temperature of 40K. The spontaneous spin polarization and the resulting
magnetization of the QPC can be reversed by flipping the polarity of the source
to drain bias or the potential difference between the two SGs. These numerical
simulations are in good agreement with recent experimental results for
side-gated QPCs made from the low band gap semiconductor InAs
The Berry phase of dislocations in graphene and valley conserving decoherence
We demonstrate that dislocations in the graphene lattice give rise to
electron Berry phases equivalent to quantized values {0,1/3,-1/3} in units of
the flux quantum, but with an opposite sign for the two valleys. An elementary
scale consideration of a graphene Aharonov-Bohm ring equipped with valley
filters on both terminals, encircling a dislocation, says that in the regime
where the intervalley mean free path is large compared to the intravalley phase
coherence length, such that the valley quantum numbers can be regarded as
conserved on the relevant scale, the coherent valley-polarized currents
sensitive to the topological phases have to traverse the device many times
before both valleys contribute, and this is not possible at intermediate
temperatures where the latter length becomes of order of the device size, thus
leading to an apparent violation of the basic law of linear transport that
magnetoconductance is even in the applied flux. We discuss this discrepancy in
the Feynman path picture of dephasing, when addressing the transition from
quantum to classical dissipative transport. We also investigate this device in
the scattering matrix formalism, accounting for the effects of decoherence by
the Buttiker dephasing voltage probe type model which conserves the valleys,
where the magnetoconductance remains even in the flux, also when different
decoherence times are allowed for the individual, time reversal connected,
valleys.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures; revised text, added figure, accepted for
publication by PR
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