29,605 research outputs found
Confinement-induced Berry phase and helicity-dependent photocurrents
The photocurrent in an optically active metal is known to contain a component
that switches sign with the helicity of the incident radiation. At low
frequencies, this current depends on the orbital Berry phase of the Bloch
electrons via the "anomalous velocity" of Karplus and Luttinger. We consider
quantum wells in which the parent material, such as GaAs, is not optically
active and the relevant Berry phase only arises as a result of quantum
confinement. Using an envelope approximation that is supported by numerical
tight-binding results, it is shown that the Berry phase contribution is
determined for realistic wells by a cubic Berry phase intrinsic to the bulk
material, the well width, and the well direction. These results for the
magnitude of the Berry-phase effect suggest that it may already have been
observed in quantum well experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
The Radial Extent and Warp of the Ionized Galactic Disk. II. A Likelihood Analysis of Radio-Wave Scattering Toward the Anticenter
We use radio-wave scattering data to constrain the distribution of ionized
gas in the outer Galaxy. Like previous models, our model for the H II disk
includes parameters for the radial scale length and scale height of the H II,
but we allow the H II disk to warp and flare. Our model also includes the
Perseus arm. We use a likelihood analysis on 11 extragalactic sources and 7
pulsars. Scattering in the Perseus arm is no more than 60% of the level
contributed by spiral arms in the inner Galaxy, equivalent to a 1 GHz
scattering diameter of 1.5 mas. Our analysis favors an unwarped, nonflaring
disk with a 1 kpc scale height, though this may reflect the non-uniform and
coarse coverage provided by the available data. The lack of a warp indicates
that VLBI observations near 1 GHz with an orbiting station having baseline
lengths of a few Earth diameters will not be affected by interstellar
scattering at Galactic latitudes |b| ~ 15 degrees. The radial scale length is
15--20 kpc, but the data cannot distinguish between a gradual decrease in the
electron density and a truncated distribution. We favor a truncated one,
because we associate the scattering with massive star formation, which is also
truncated near 20 kpc. The distribution of electron density turbulence
decreases more rapidly with Galactocentric distance than does the hydrogen
distribution. Alternate ionizing and turbulent agents---the intergalactic
ionizing flux and satellite galaxies passing through the disk---do not
contribute significantly to scattering. We cannot exclude the possibility that
a largely ionized, but quiescent disk extends to >~ 100 kpc, similar to that
for some Ly-alpha absorbers.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX2e with AASTeX aaspp4 macro, 9 figures in 9 PostScript
files, accepted for publication in Ap
Polarization dependence of x-ray absorption spectra in Na_xCoO_2
In order to shed light on the electronic structure of Na_xCoO_2, and
motivated by recent Co L-edge X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) experiments with
polarized light, we calculate the electronic spectrum of a CoO_6 cluster
including all interactions between 3d orbitals. We obtain the ground state for
two electronic occupations in the cluster that correspond nominally to all O in
the O^{-2} oxidation state, and Co^{+3} or Co^{+4}. Then, all excited states
obtained by promotion of a Co 2p electron to a 3d electron, and the
corresponding matrix elements are calculated. A fit of the observed
experimental spectra is good and points out a large Co-O covalency and cubic
crystal field effects, that result in low spin Co 3d configurations. Our
results indicate that the effective hopping between different Co atoms plays a
major role in determining the symmetry of the ground state in the lattice.
Remaining quantitative discrepancies with the XAS experiments are expected to
come from composition effects of itineracy in the ground and excited states.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Interface hole-doping in cuprate-titanate superlattices
The electronic structure of interfaces between YBaCuO and
SrTiO is studied using local spin density approximation (LSDA) with
intra-atomic Coulomb repulsion (LSDA+U). We find a metallic state in
cuprate/titanate heterostructures with the hole carriers concentrated
substantially in the CuO-layers and in the first interface TiO and SrO
planes. This effective interface doping appears due to the polarity of
interfaces, caused by the first incomplete copper oxide unit cell.
Interface-induced high pre-doping of CuO-layers is a key mechanism
controlling the superconducting properties in engineered field-effect devices
realized on the basis of cuprate/titanate superlattices.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Extended Huckel theory for bandstructure, chemistry, and transport. II. Silicon
In this second paper, we develop transferable semi-empirical parameters for
the technologically important material, silicon, using Extended Huckel Theory
(EHT) to calculate its electronic structure. The EHT-parameters areoptimized to
experimental target values of the band dispersion of bulk-silicon. We obtain a
very good quantitative match to the bandstructure characteristics such as
bandedges and effective masses, which are competitive with the values obtained
within an orthogonal-tight binding model for silicon. The
transferability of the parameters is investigated applying them to different
physical and chemical environments by calculating the bandstructure of two
reconstructed surfaces with different orientations: Si(100) (2x1) and Si(111)
(2x1). The reproduced - and -surface bands agree in part
quantitatively with DFT-GW calculations and PES/IPES experiments demonstrating
their robustness to environmental changes. We further apply the silicon
parameters to describe the 1D band dispersion of a unrelaxed rectangular
silicon nanowire (SiNW) and demonstrate the EHT-approach of surface passivation
using hydrogen. Our EHT-parameters thus provide a quantitative model of
bulk-silicon and silicon-based materials such as contacts and surfaces, which
are essential ingredients towards a quantitative quantum transport simulation
through silicon-based heterostructures.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Fermi Surface Properties of Low Concentration CeLaB: dHvA
The de Haas-van Alphen effect is used to study angular dependent extremal
areas of the Fermi Surfaces (FS) and effective masses of CeLaB alloys for between 0 and 0.05. The FS of these alloys was previously
observed to be spin polarized at low Ce concentration ( = 0.05). This work
gives the details of the initial development of the topology and spin
polarization of the FS from that of unpolarized metallic LaB to that of
spin polarized heavy Fermion CeB .Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PR
Two-Dimensional Confinement of 3d1 Electrons in LaTiO3/LaAlO3 Multilayers
We report spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements of the anisotropy of the
interband transitions parallel and perpendicular to the planes of
(LaTiO3)n(LaAlO3)5 multilayers with n = 1-3. These provide direct information
about the electronic structure of the two-dimensional (2D) 3d^1 state of the Ti
ions. In combination with LDA+U calculations, we suggest that 2D confinement in
the TiO2 slabs lifts the degeneracy of the t_{2g} states leaving only the
planar d_xy orbitals occupied. We outline that these multilayers can serve as a
model system for the study of the t_{2g} 2D Hubbard model.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Ferromagnetism in the Mott insulator Ba2NaOsO6
Results are presented of single crystal structural, thermodynamic, and
reflectivity measurements of the double-perovskite Ba2NaOsO6. These
characterize the material as a 5d^1 ferromagnetic Mott insulator with an
ordered moment of ~0.2 Bohr magnetons per formula unit and TC = 6.8(3) K. The
magnetic entropy associated with this phase transition is close to Rln2,
indicating that the quartet groundstate anticipated from consideration of the
crystal structure is split, consistent with a scenario in which the
ferromagnetism is associated with orbital ordering.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, added reference
Transfer and scattering of wave packets by a nonlinear trap
In the framework of a one-dimensional model with a tightly localized
self-attractive nonlinearity, we study the formation and transfer (dragging) of
a trapped mode by "nonlinear tweezers", as well as the scattering of coherent
linear wave packets on the stationary localized nonlinearity. The use of the
nonlinear trap for the dragging allows one to pick up and transfer the relevant
structures without grabbing surrounding "garbage". A stability border for the
dragged modes is identified by means of of analytical estimates and systematic
simulations. In the framework of the scattering problem, the shares of trapped,
reflected, and transmitted wave fields are found. Quasi-Airy stationary modes
with a divergent norm, that may be dragged by the nonlinear trap moving at a
constant acceleration, are briefly considered too.Comment: Phys. Rev. E in pres
A tight binding model for water
We demonstrate for the first time a tight binding model for water
incorporating polarizable anions. A novel aspect is that we adopt a "ground up"
approach in that properties of the monomer and dimer only are fitted.
Subsequently we make predictions of the structure and properties of hexamer
clusters, ice-XI and liquid water. A particular feature, missing in current
tight binding and semiempirical hamiltonians, is that we reproduce the almost
two-fold increase in molecular dipole moment as clusters are built up towards
the limit of bulk liquid. We concentrate on properties of liquid water which
are very well rendered in comparison with experiment and published density
functional calculations. Finally we comment on the question of the contrasting
densities of water and ice which is central to an understanding of the
subtleties of the hydrogen bond
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