Zeeman-Induced Gapless Superconductivity with Partial Fermi Surface

We show that an in-plane magnetic field can drive two-dimensional spin-orbit-coupled systems under superconducting proximity effect into a gapless phase where parts of the normal state Fermi surface are gapped, and the ungapped parts are reconstructed into a small Fermi surface of Bogoliubov quasiparticles at zero energy. Charge distribution, spin texture, and density of states of such "partial Fermi surface" are discussed. Material platforms for its physical realization are proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Unconventional Superconductivity and Density Waves in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

We study electronic ordering instabilities of twisted bilayer graphene with $n=2$ electrons per supercell, where correlated insulator state and superconductivity are recently observed. Motivated by the Fermi surface nesting and the proximity to Van Hove singularity, we introduce a hot-spot model to study the effect of various electron interactions systematically. Using renormalization group method, we find $d$/$p$-wave superconductivity and charge/spin density wave emerge as the two types of leading instabilities driven by Coulomb repulsion. The density wave state has a gapped energy spectrum at $n=2$ and yields a single doubly-degenerate pocket upon doping to $n>2$. The intertwinement of density wave and superconductivity and the quasiparticle spectrum in the density wave state are consistent with experimental observations.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures; updated discussion and analysis on density wave state

Enhancement of Quantum Tunneling for Excited States in Ferromagnetic Particles

A formula suitable for a quantitative evaluation of the tunneling effect in a ferromagnetic particle is derived with the help of the instanton method. The tunneling between n-th degenerate states of neighboring wells is dominated by a periodic pseudoparticle configuration. The low-lying level-splitting previously obtained with the LSZ method in field theory in which the tunneling is viewed as the transition of n bosons induced by the usual (vacuum) instanton is recovered. The observation made with our new result is that the tunneling effect increases at excited states. The results should be useful in analyzing results of experimental tests of macroscopic quantum coherence in ferromagnetic particles.Comment: 18 pages, LaTex, 1 figur

Calculation of Spin Tunneling Effects in the Presence of an Applied Magnetic Field

The tunneling splitting of the energy levels of a ferromagnetic particle in the presence of an applied magnetic field - previously derived only for the ground state with the path integral method - is obtained in a simple way from Schroedinger theory. The origin of the factors entering the result is clearly understood, in particular the effect of the asymmetry of the barriers of the potential. The method should appeal particularly to experimentalists searching for evidence of macroscopic spin tunneling.Comment: 10 pages, LaTex, 4 figures included using graphic

Quantum Tunneling of Spin Particles in Periodic Potentials with Asymmetric Twin Barriers

The tunneling effect of a periodic potential with an asymmetric twin barrier per period is calculated using the instanton method. The model is derived from the Hamiltonian of a small ferromagnetic particle in an external magnetic field using the spin-coherent-state path integral. The instantons in two neighbouring barriers differ and lead to different level shifts $\triangle\epsilon_1, \triangle\epsilon_2$. We derive with Bloch theory the energy spectrum which has formally the structure of an energy band. The spectrum depends on both level shifts. The removal of Kramer's degeneracy by an external magnetic field is discussed. In addition we find a new kind of quenching of macroscopic quantum coherence which is irrelevant to Kramer's degeneracy.Comment: 18 pages, LaTex, one figur

Vacuum induced Berry phases in single-mode Jaynes-Cummings models

Motivated by the work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 220404 (2002)] for detecting the vacuum-induced Berry phases with two-mode Jaynes-Cummings models (JCMs), we show here that, for a parameter-dependent single-mode JCM, certain atom-field states also acquire the photon-number-dependent Berry phases after the parameter slowly changed and eventually returned to its initial value. This geometric effect related to the field quantization still exists, even the filed is kept in its vacuum state. Specifically, a feasible Ramsey interference experiment with cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) system is designed to detect the vacuum-induced Berry phase.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

Quantum Phase Interference for Quantum Tunneling in Spin Systems

The point-particle-like Hamiltonian of a biaxial spin particle with external magnetic field along the hard axis is obtained in terms of the potential field description of spin systems with exact spin-coordinate correspondence. The Zeeman energy term turns out to be an effective gauge potential which leads to a nonintegrable pha se of the Euclidean Feynman propagator. The phase interference between clockwise and anticlockwise under barrier propagations is recognized explicitly as the Aharonov-Bohm effect. An additional phase which is significant for quantum phase interference is discovered with the quantum theory of spin systems besides the known phase obtained with the semiclassical treatment of spin. We also show the energ y dependence of the effect and obtain the tunneling splitting at excited states with the help of periodic instantons.Comment: 19 pages, no figure, to appear in PR