Diffuse transport and spin accumulation in a Rashba two-dimensional electron gas

The Rashba Hamiltonian describes the splitting of the conduction band as a result of spin-orbit coupling in the presence of an asymmetric confinement potential and is commonly used to model the electronic structure of confined narrow-gap semiconductors. Due to the mixing of spin states some care has to be exercised in the calculation of transport properties. We derive the diffusive conductance tensor for a disordered two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction and show that the applied bias induces a spin accumulation, but that the electric current is not spin-polarized.Comment: REVTeX4 format, 5 page

Quasiparticles governing the zero-temperature dynamics of the 1D spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a magnetic field

The T=0 dynamical properties of the one-dimensional (1D) $s=1/2$ Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a uniform magnetic field are studied via Bethe ansatz for cyclic chains of $N$ sites. The ground state at magnetization $0<M_z<N/2$, which can be interpreted as a state with $2M_z$ spinons or as a state of $M_z$ magnons, is reconfigured here as the vacuum for a different species of quasiparticles, the {\em psinons} and {\em antipsinons}. We investigate three kinds of quantum fluctuations, namely the spin fluctuations parallel and perpendicular to the direction of the applied magnetic field and the dimer fluctuations. The dynamically dominant excitation spectra are found to be sets of collective excitations composed of two quasiparticles excited from the psinon vacuum in different configurations. The Bethe ansatz provides a framework for (i) the characterization of the new quasiparticles in relation to the more familiar spinons and magnons, (ii) the calculation of spectral boundaries and densities of states for each continuum, (iii) the calculation of transition rates between the ground state and the dynamically dominant collective excitations, (iv) the prediction of lineshapes for dynamic structure factors relevant for experiments performed on a variety of quasi-1D antiferromagnetic compounds, including KCuF$_3$, Cu(C$_4$H$_4$N$_2)(NO_3)_2$, and CuGeO$_3$.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

Coupled Ladders in a Magnetic Field

We investigate the phase transitions in two-leg ladders systems in the incommensurate phase, for which the gap is destroyed by a magnetic field ($h_{c1}< h$) and the ladder is not yet totally saturated ($h < h_{c2}$). We compute quantitatively the correlation functions as a function of the magnetic field for an isolated strong coupling ladder $J_\perp \gg J_\parallel$ and use it to study the phase transition occuring in a three dimensional array of antiferromagnetically coupled ladders. The three dimensional ordering is in the universality class of Bose condensation of hard core bosons. We compute the critical temperature $T_c(h)$ as well as various physical quantities such as the NMR relaxations rate. $T_c$ has an unusual camel-like shape with a local minimum at $h=(h_{c1}+h_{c2})/2$ and behaves as $T_c \sim (h-h_{c1})^{2/3}$ for $h\sim h_{c1}$. We discuss the experimental consequences for compounds such as Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4Comment: 11 pages; some misprints corrected + one reference added; to appear in PR

Coherent spin valve phenomena and electrical spin injection in ferromagnetic/semiconductor/ferromagnetic junctions

Coherent quantum transport in ferromagnetic/ semiconductor/ ferromagnetic junctions is studied theoretically within the Landauer framework of ballistic transport. We show that quantum coherence can have unexpected implications for spin injection and that some intuitive spintronic concepts which are founded in semi-classical physics no longer apply: A quantum spin-valve (QSV) effect occurs even in the absence of a net spin polarized current flowing through the device, unlike in the classical regime. The converse effect also arises, i.e. a zero spin-valve signal for a non-vanishing spin-current. We introduce new criteria useful for analyzing quantum and classical spin transport phenomena and the relationships between them. The effects on QSV behavior of spin-dependent electron transmission at the interfaces, interface Schottky barriers, Rashba spin-orbit coupling and temperature, are systematically investigated. While the signature of the QSV is found to be sensitive to temperature, interestingly, that of its converse is not. We argue that the QSV phenomenon can have important implications for the interpretation of spin-injection in quantum spintronic experiments with spin-valve geometries.Comment: 15 pages including 11 figures. To appear in PR

Basic obstacle for electrical spin-injection from a ferromagnetic metal into a diffusive semiconductor

We have calculated the spin-polarization effects of a current in a two dimensional electron gas which is contacted by two ferromagnetic metals. In the purely diffusive regime, the current may indeed be spin-polarized. However, for a typical device geometry the degree of spin-polarization of the current is limited to less than 0.1%, only. The change in device resistance for parallel and antiparallel magnetization of the contacts is up to quadratically smaller, and will thus be difficult to detect.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, 3 figures (eps), Definition of spin pilarization changed to standard definition in GMR, some straight forward algebra removed. To appear as PRB Rap. Comm. August 15t

High-field magnetization study of the S = 1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain [PM Cu(NO3_3)2_2(H2_2O)2_2]n_n with a field-induced gap

We present a high-field magnetization study of the $S$ = 1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain [PM Cu(NO$_3$)$_2$(H$_2$O)$_2$]$_n$. For this material, as result of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and a staggered $g$ tensor, the ground state is characterized by an anisotropic field-induced spin excitation gap and a staggered magnetization. Our data reveal the qualitatively different behavior in the directions of maximum and zero spin excitation gap. The data are analyzed via exact diagonalization of a linear spin chain with up to 20 sites and on basis of the Bethe ansatz equations, respectively. For both directions we find very good agreement between experimental data and theoretical calculations. We extract the magnetic coupling strength $J/k_B$ along the chain direction to 36.3(5) K and determine the field dependence of the staggered magnetization component $m_s$.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures (minor changes to manuscript and figures

Lineshape predictions via Bethe ansatz for the one-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a magnetic field

The spin fluctuations parallel to the external magnetic field in the ground state of the one-dimensional (1D) s=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet are dominated by a two-parameter set of collective excitations. In a cyclic chain of N sites and magnetization 0<M_z<N/2, the ground state, which contains 2M_z spinons, is reconfigured as the physical vacuum for a different species of quasi-particles, identifiable in the framework of the coordinate Bethe ansatz by characteristic configurations of Bethe quantum numbers. The dynamically dominant excitations are found to be scattering states of two such quasi-particles. For N -> \infty, these collective excitations form a continuum in (q,\omega)-space with an incommensurate soft mode. Their matrix elements in the dynamic spin structure factor S_{zz}(q,\omega) are calculated directly from the Bethe wave functions for finite N. The resulting lineshape predictions for N -> \infty complement the exact results previously derived via algebraic analysis for the exact 2-spinon part of S_{zz}(q,\omega) in the zero-field limit. They are directly relevant for the interpretation of neutron scattering data measured in nonzero field on quasi-1D antiferromagnetic compounds.Comment: 10 page

The Magnetic Spin Ladder (C_{5}H_{12}N)_{2}CuBr_{4}: High Field Magnetization and Scaling Near Quantum Criticality

The magnetization, $M(H \leq 30$ T, 0.7 K $\leq T \leq 300$ K), from single crystals and powder samples of (C$_{5}$H$_{12}$N)$_{2}$CuBr$_{4}$ has been used to identify this system as an $S=1/2$ Heisenberg two-leg ladder in the strong coupling limit, $J_{\perp} = 13.3$ K and $J_{\parallel} = 3.8$ K, with $H_{c1} = 6.6$ T and $H_{c2} = 14.6$ T. An inflection point in $M(H, T = 0.7$ K) at half-saturation, $M_{s}/2$, is described by an effective \emph{XXZ} chain. The data exhibit universal scaling behavior in the vicinity of $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, indicating the system is near a quantum critical point.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Lattice Instability in the Spin-Ladder System under Magnetic Field

We study theoretically the lattice instability in the spin gap systems under magnetic field. With the magnetic field larger than a critical value h_{c1}, the spin gap is collapsed and the magnetization arises. We found that the lattice distortion occurs in the spin-ladder at an incommensurate wavevector corresponding to the magnetization, while it does not occur in the Haldane system. At low temperatures the magnetization curve shows a first order phase transition with this lattice distortion.Comment: 10 pages, REVTEX, 2 figures(ps file), minor change

Quantum Transport in Nonuniform Magnetic Fields: Aharonov-Bohm Ring as a Spin Switch

We study the spin-dependent magneto conductance in mesoscopic rings subject to an inhomogeneous in-plane magnetic field. We show that the polarization direction of transmitted spin-polarized electrons can be controlled via an additional magnetic flux such that spin flips are induced at half a flux quantum. This quantum interference effect is independent of the strength of the nonuniform field applied. We give an analytical explanation for one-dimensional rings and numerical results for corresponding ballistic microstructures.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Physical Review Letter