Transient response of photoexcited electrons: negative and oscillating current

Time-dependent current of the electrons excited in the conduction band after ultrafast interband photogeneration is studied theoretically. The transient photocurrent is calculated for the nonlinear regime of response to a stationary electric field. The response demonstrates transient absolute negative conductivity when the electrons are excited slightly below the optical phonon energy, while the periodic oscillations of the electric current appear after formation of the streaming distribution. The quenching of these peculiarities by the elastic scattering of electrons is also considered.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Transient magnetoconductivity of photoexcited electrons

Transient magnetotransport of two-dimensional electrons with partially-inverted distribution excited by an ultrashort optical pulse is studied theoretically. The time-dependent photoconductivity is calculated for GaAs-based quantum wells by taking into account the relaxation of electron distribution caused by non-elastic electron-phonon interaction and the retardation of the response due to momentum relaxation and due to a finite capacitance of the sample. We predict large-amplitude transient oscillations of the current density and Hall field (Hall oscillations) with frequencies corresponding to magnetoplasmon range, which are initiated by the instability owing to the absolute negative conductivity effect.Comment: 21 pages, 6 fig

Effect of radiation on transport in graphene

We study transport properties of graphene-based p-n junctions irradiated by an electromagnetic field (EF). The resonant interaction of propagating quasiparticles with an external monochromatic radiation opens dynamical gaps in their spectrum, resulting in a strong modification of current-voltage characteristics of the junctions. The values of the gaps are proportional to the amplitude of EF. We find that the transmission of the quasiparticles in the junctions is determined by the tunneling through the gaps, and can be fully suppressed when applying a sufficiently large radiation power. However, EF can not only suppress the current but also generate it. We demonstrate that if the height of the potential barrier exceeds a half of the photon energy, the directed current (photocurrent) flows through the junction without any dc bias voltage applied. Such a photocurrent arises as a result of inelastic quasiparticle tunneling assisted by one- or two-photon absorption. We calculate current-voltage characteristics of diverse graphene based junctions and estimate their parameters necessary for the experimental observation of the photocurrent and transmission suppression.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figure

Re-entrance and entanglement in the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model

Re-entrance is a novel feature where the phase boundaries of a system exhibit a succession of transitions between two phases A and B, like A-B-A-B, when just one parameter is varied monotonically. This type of re-entrance is displayed by the 1D Bose Hubbard model between its Mott insulator (MI) and superfluid phase as the hopping amplitude is increased from zero. Here we analyse this counter-intuitive phenomenon directly in the thermodynamic limit by utilizing the infinite time-evolving block decimation algorithm to variationally minimize an infinite matrix product state (MPS) parameterized by a matrix size chi. Exploiting the direct restriction on the half-chain entanglement imposed by fixing chi, we determined that re-entrance in the MI lobes only emerges in this approximate when chi >= 8. This entanglement threshold is found to be coincident with the ability an infinite MPS to be simultaneously particle-number symmetric and capture the kinetic energy carried by particle-hole excitations above the MI. Focussing on the tip of the MI lobe we then applied, for the first time, a general finite-entanglement scaling analysis of the infinite order Kosterlitz-Thouless critical point located there. By analysing chi's up to a very moderate chi = 70 we obtained an estimate of the KT transition as t_KT = 0.30 +/- 0.01, demonstrating the how a finite-entanglement approach can provide not only qualitative insight but also quantitatively accurate predictions.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Formation of a "Cluster Molecule" (C20)2 and its thermal stability

The possible formation of a "cluster molecule" (C20)2 from two single C20 fullerenes is studied by the tight-binding method. Several (C20)2 isomers in which C20 fullerenes are bound by strong covalent forces and retain their identity are found; actually, these C20 fullerenes play the role of "atoms" in the "cluster molecule". The so-called open-[2+2] isomer has a minimum energy. Its formation path and thermal stability at T = 2000 - 4000 K are analyzed in detail. This isomer loses its molecular structure due to either the decay of one of C20 fullerenes or the coalescence of two C20 fullerenes into a C40 cluster. The energy barriers for the metastable open-[2+2] configuration are calculated to be U = 2 - 5 eV.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Decay and fusion as two different mechanisms of stability loss for the (C_20)_2 cluster dimer

The thermal stability of the (C_20)_2 cluster dimer consisting of two C_20 fullerenes is examined using a tight-binding approach. Molecular dynamics simulations of the (C_20)_2 dimer at temperatures T = 2000 - 3500 K show that the finite lifetime \tau of this metastable system is determined by two fundamentally different processes, the decay of one of the C_20 fullerenes and the fusion of two C_20 fullerenes into the C_40 cluster. The activation energies for these processes Ea = 3.4 and 2.7 eV, respectively, as well as their frequency factors, have been determined by analyzing the dependence of \tau on T.Comment: Slightly modified version of the paper to appear in JETP Let

Metastable quasi-one-dimensional ensembles of nitrogen clusters N_8

By means of ab initio and tight-binding calculations it is shown that metastable nitrogen clusters N_8 (boats) can form quasi-one-dimensional ensembles in which the nearest clusters N_8 are bound to each other by covalent bonds. Those ensembles are characterized by rather high energy barriers (~ 0.3 eV) that prevent the fission of the ensembles into isolated N_8 clusters and/or N_2 molecules.Comment: 3 pages, 4 ps figure

Exact Quantum Monte Carlo Process for the Statistics of Discrete Systems

We introduce an exact Monte Carlo approach to the statistics of discrete quantum systems which does not rely on the standard fragmentation of the imaginary time, or any small parameter. The method deals with discrete objects, kinks, representing virtual transitions at different moments of time. The global statistics of kinks is reproduced by explicit local procedures, the key one being based on the exact solution for the biased two-level system.Comment: 4 pages, latex, no figures, English translation of the paper

Prismane C_8: A New Form of Carbon?

Our numerical calculations on small carbon clusters point to the existence of a metastable three-dimensional eight-atom cluster C$_8$ which has a shape of a six-atom triangular prism with two excess atoms above and below its bases. We gave this cluster the name "prismane". The binding energy of the prismane equals to 5.1 eV/atom, i.e., is 0.45 eV/atom lower than the binding energy of the stable one-dimensional eight-atom cluster and 2.3 eV/atom lower than the binding energy of the bulk graphite or diamond. Molecular dynamics simulations give evidence for a rather high stability of the prismane, the activation energy for a prismane decay being about 0.8 eV. The prismane lifetime increases rapidly as the temperature decreases indicating a possibility of experimental observation of this cluster.Comment: 5 pages (revtex), 3 figures (eps