596 research outputs found
Spin tunneling properties in mesoscopic magnets: effects of a magnetic field
The tunneling of a giant spin at excited levels is studied theoretically in
mesoscopic magnets with a magnetic field at an arbitrary angle in the easy
plane. Different structures of the tunneling barriers can be generated by the
magnetocrystalline anisotropy, the magnitude and the orientation of the field.
By calculating the nonvacuum instanton solution explicitly, we obtain the
tunnel splittings and the tunneling rates for different angle ranges of the
external magnetic field ( and ). The
temperature dependences of the decay rates are clearly shown for each case. It
is found that the tunneling rate and the crossover temperature depend on the
orientation of the external magnetic field. This feature can be tested with the
use of existing experimental techniques.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Euro. Phys. J.
Field-dependent quantum nucleation of antiferromagnetic bubbles
The phenomenon of quantum nucleation is studied in a nanometer-scale
antiferromagnet with biaxial symmetry in the presence of a magnetic field at an
arbitrary angle. Within the instanton approach, we calculate the dependence of
the rate of quantum nucleation and the crossover temperature on the orientation
and strength of the field for bulk solids and two-dimensional films of
antiferromagnets, respectively. Our results show that the rate of quantum
nucleation and the crossover temperature from thermal-to-quantum transitions
depend on the orientation and strength of the field distinctly, which can be
tested with the use of existing experimental techniques.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, Final version and accepted by Eur. Phys. J
Eight-potential-well order-disorder ferroelectric model and effects of random fields
An eight-potential-well order-disorder ferroelectric model was presented and
the phase transition was studied under the mean-field approximation. It was
shown that the two-body interactions are able to account for the first-order
and the second order phase transitions. With increasing the random fields in
the system, a first-order phase transition is transformed into a second-order
phase transition, and furthermore, a second-order phase transition is
inhibited.
However, proper random fields can promote the spontaneous appearance of a
first-order phase transition by increasing the overcooled temperature. The
connections of the model with relaxors were discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Applied Physics Letter
Effects of Finite Deformed Length in Carbon Nanotubes
The effect of finite deformed length is demonstrated by squashing an armchair
(10,10) single-walled carbon nanotube with two finite tips. Only when the
deformed length is long enough, an effectual metal-semiconductor-metal
heterojunction can be formed in the metallic tube. The effect of finite
deformed length is explained by the quantum tunnelling effect. Furthermore,
some conceptual designs of nanoscale devices are proposed from the
metal-semiconductor-metal heterojunction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Resonant quantum coherence of magnetization at excited states in nanospin systems with different crystal symmetries
The quantum interference effects induced by the Wess-Zumino term, or Berry
phase are studied theoretically in resonant quantum coherence of magnetization
vector between degenerate excited states in nanometer-scale single-domain
ferromagnets in the absence of an external magnetic field. By applying the
periodic instanton method in the spin-coherent-state path integral, we evaluate
the low-lying tunnel splittings between degenerate excited states of
neighboring wells. And the low-lying energy level spectrum of m-th excited
states are obtained with the help of the Bloch theorem in one-dimensional
periodic potential.Comment: 23 pages, final version and accepted by Eur. Phys. J.
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