Physisorption of an electron in deep surface potentials off a dielectric surface

We study phonon-mediated adsorption and desorption of an electron at dielectric surfaces with deep polarization-induced surface potentials where multi-phonon transitions are responsible for electron energy relaxation. Focusing on multi-phonon processes due to the nonlinearity of the coupling between the external electron and the acoustic bulk phonon triggering the transitions between surface states, we calculate electron desorption times for graphite, MgO, CaO, (\text{Al}_2\text{O}_3), and (\text{SiO}_2) and electron sticking coefficients for (\text{Al}_2\text{O}_3), CaO, and (\text{SiO}_2). To reveal the kinetic stages of electron physisorption, we moreover study the time evolution of the image state occupancy and the energy-resolved desorption flux. Depending on the potential depth and the surface temperature we identify two generic scenarios: (i)adsorption via trapping in shallow image states followed by relaxation to the lowest image state and desorption from that state via a cascade through the second strongly bound image state in not too deep potentials and (ii)adsorption via trapping in shallow image states but followed by a relaxation bottleneck retarding the transition to the lowest image state and desorption from that state via a one step process to the continuum in deep potentials.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Luttinger parameters and momentum distribution function for the half-filled spinless fermion Holstein model: A DMRG approach

We reexamine the nature of the metallic phase of the one-dimensional half-filled Holstein model of spinless fermions. To this end we determine the Tomonaga-Luttinger-liquid correlation parameter $K_\rho$ by large-scale density-matrix renormalisation-group (DMRG) calculations, exploiting (i) the leading-order scaling relations between the ground-state energy and the single-particle excitation gap and (ii) the static charge structure factor in the long-wavelength limit. While both approaches give almost identical results for intermediate-to-large phonon frequencies, we find contrasting behaviour in the adiabatic regime: (i) $K_\rho>1$ (attractive) versus (ii) $K_\rho<1$ (repulsive). The latter result for the correlation exponent is corroborated by data obtained for the momentum distribution function $n(k)$, which puts the existence of an attractive metallic state in the spinless fermion Holstein model into question. We conclude that the scaling relation must be modified in the presence of electron-phonon interactions with noticeable retardation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, revised versio

Strongly entangled light from planar microcavities

The emission of entangled light from planar semiconductor microcavities is studied and the entanglement properties are analyzed and quantified. Phase-matching of the intra-cavity scattering dynamics for multiple pump beams or pulses, together with the coupling to external radiation, leads to the emission of a manifold of entangled photon pairs. A decomposition of the emitted photons into two parties leads to a strong entanglement of the resulting bipartite system. For the quantification of the entanglement, the Schmidt number of the system is determined by the construction of Schmidt number witnesses. It is analyzed to which extend the resources of the originally strongly entangled light field are diminished by dephasing in propagation channels.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, extended versio

Optical conductivity of polaronic charge carriers

The optical conductivity of charge carriers coupled to quantum phonons is studied in the framework of the one-dimensional spinless Holstein model. For one electron, variational diagonalisation yields exact results in the thermodynamic limit, whereas at finite carrier density analytical approximations based on previous work on single-particle spectral functions are obtained. Particular emphasis is put on deviations from weak-coupling, small-polaron or one-electron theories occurring at intermediate coupling and/or finite carrier density. The analytical results are in surprisingly good agreement with exact data, and exhibit the characteristic polaronic excitations observed in experiments on manganites.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

Dominant particle-hole contributions to the phonon dynamics in the spinless one-dimensional Holstein model

In the spinless Holstein model at half-filling the coupling of electrons to phonons is responsible for a phase transition from a metallic state at small coupling to a Peierls distorted insulated state when the electron-phonon coupling exceeds a critical value. For the adiabatic case of small phonon frequencies, the transition is accompanied by a phonon softening at the Brillouin zone boundary whereas a hardening of the phonon mode occurs in the anti-adiabatic case. The phonon dynamics studied in this letter do not only reveal the expected renormalization of the phonon modes but also show remarkable additional contributions due to electronic particle-hole excitations.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures and 1 table included; v2: discussion of Luttinger liquid parameters adde

Phase separation in the Edwards model

The nature of charge transport within a correlated background medium can be described by spinless fermions coupled to bosons in the model introduced by Edwards. Combining numerical density matrix renormalization group and analytical projector-based renormalization methods we explore the ground-state phase diagram of the Edwards model in one dimension. Below a critical boson frequency any long-range order disappears and the system becomes metallic. If the charge carriers are coupled to slow quantum bosons the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid is attractive and finally makes room for a phase separated state, just as in the t-J model. The phase boundary separating repulsive from the attractive Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid is determined from long-wavelength charge correlations, whereas fermion segregation is indicated by a vanishing inverse compressibility. On approaching phase separation the photoemission spectra develop strong anomalies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, final versio

Optical absorption and single-particle excitations in the 2D Holstein t-J model

To discuss the interplay of electronic and lattice degrees of freedom in systems with strong Coulomb correlations we have performed an extensive numerical study of the two-dimensional Holstein t-J model. The model describes the interaction of holes, doped in a quantum antiferromagnet, with a dispersionsless optical phonon mode. We apply finite-lattice Lanczos diagonalization, combined with a well-controlled phonon Hilbert space truncation, to the Hamiltonian. The focus is on the dynamical properties. In particular we have evaluated the single-particle spectral function and the optical conductivity for characteristic hole-phonon couplings, spin exchange interactions and phonon frequencies. The results are used to analyze the formation of hole polarons in great detail. Links with experiments on layered perovskites are made. Supplementary we compare the Chebyshev recursion and maximum entropy algorithms, used for calculating spectral functions, with standard Lanczos methods.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Polarons and bipolarons in strongly interacting electron-phonon systems

The Holstein Hubbard and Holstein t--J models are studied for a wide range of phonon frequencies, electron--electron and electron--phonon interaction strengths on finite lattices with up to ten sites by means of direct Lanczos diagonalization. Previously the necessary truncation of the phononic Hilbert space caused serious limitations to either very small systems (four or even two sites) or to weak electron--phonon coupling, in particular in the adiabatic regime. Using parallel computers we were able to investigate the transition from `large' to `small' polarons in detail. By resolving the low--lying eigenstates of the Hamiltonian and by calculating the spectral function we can identify a polaron band in the strong--coupling case, whose dispersion deviates from the free--particle dispersion at low and intermediate phonon frequencies. For two electrons (holes) we establish the existence of bipolaronic states and discuss the formation of a bipolaron band. For the 2D Holstein t--J model we demonstrate that the formation of hole--polarons is favoured by strong Coulomb correlations. Analyzing the hole--hole correlation functions we find that hole binding is enhanced as a dynamical effect of the electron--phonon interaction.Comment: 23 pages (Revtex) with 13 figures (ps, uuencoded

Formation of clusters in the ground state of the t−Jt-J model on a two leg ladder

We investigate the ground state properties of the $t-J$ model on a two leg ladder with anisotropic couplings ($t,\alpha=J/t$) along rungs and ($t',\alpha'=J'/t'$) along legs. We have implemented a cluster approach based on 4-site plaqettes. In the strong asymmetric cases $\alpha/\alpha'\ll 1$ and $\alpha'/\alpha\ll 1$ the ground state energy is well described by plaquette clusters with charges $Q=2,4$. The interaction between the clusters favours the condensation of plaquettes with maximal charge -- a signal for phase separation. The dominance of Q=2 plaquettes explains the emergence of tightly bound hole pairs. We have presented the numerical results of exact diagonalization to support our cluster approach.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, RevTex

Electron surface layer at the interface of a plasma and a dielectric wall

We study the potential and the charge distribution across the interface of a plasma and a dielectric wall. For this purpose, the charge bound to the wall is modelled as a quasi-stationary electron surface layer which satisfies Poisson's equation and minimizes the grand canonical potential of the wall-thermalized excess electrons constituting the wall charge. Based on an effective model for a graded interface taking into account the image potential and the offset of the conduction band to the potential just outside the dielectric, we specifically calculate the potential and the electron distribution for magnesium oxide, silicon dioxide and sapphire surfaces in contact with a helium discharge. Depending on the electron affinity of the surface, we find two vastly different behaviors. For negative electron affinity, electrons do not penetrate into the wall and an external surface charge is formed in the image potential, while for positive electron affinity, electrons penetrate into the wall and a space charge layer develops in the interior of the dielectric. We also investigate how the electron surface layer merges with the bulk of the dielectric.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted versio