325 research outputs found
Localization in an Inhomogeneous Quantum Wire
We study interaction-induced localization of electrons in an inhomogeneous
quasi-one-dimensional system--a wire with two regions, one at low density and
the other high. Quantum Monte Carlo techniques are used to treat the strong
Coulomb interactions in the low density region, where localization of electrons
occurs. The nature of the transition from high to low density depends on the
density gradient--if it is steep, a barrier develops between the two regions,
causing Coulomb blockade effects. Ferromagnetic spin polarization does not
appear for any parameters studied. The picture emerging here is in good
agreement with measurements of tunneling between two wires.Comment: 4 pages; 2 new figures, substantial revisions and clarification
Incipient Wigner Localization in Circular Quantum Dots
We study the development of electron-electron correlations in circular
quantum dots as the density is decreased. We consider a wide range of both
electron number, N<=20, and electron gas parameter, r_s<18, using the diffusion
quantum Monte Carlo technique. Features associated with correlation appear to
develop very differently in quantum dots than in bulk. The main reason is that
translational symmetry is necessarily broken in a dot, leading to density
modulation and inhomogeneity. Electron-electron interactions act to enhance
this modulation ultimately leading to localization. This process appears to be
completely smooth and occurs over a wide range of density. Thus there is a
broad regime of ``incipient'' Wigner crystallization in these quantum dots. Our
specific conclusions are: (i) The density develops sharp rings while the pair
density shows both radial and angular inhomogeneity. (ii) The spin of the
ground state is consistent with Hund's (first) rule throughout our entire range
of r_s for all 4<N<20. (iii) The addition energy curve first becomes smoother
as interactions strengthen -- the mesoscopic fluctuations are damped by
correlation -- and then starts to show features characteristic of the classical
addition energy. (iv) Localization effects are stronger for a smaller number of
electrons. (v) Finally, the gap to certain spin excitations becomes small at
the strong interaction (large r_s) side of our regime.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure
Enantiospecific Detection of Chiral Nanosamples Using Photoinduced Force
We propose a high-resolution microscopy technique for enantiospecific detection of chiral samples down to sub-100-nm size based on force measurement. We delve into the differential photoinduced optical force ΔF exerted on an achiral probe in the vicinity of a chiral sample when left and right circularly polarized beams separately excite the sample-probe interactive system. We analytically prove that ΔF is entangled with the enantiomer type of the sample enabling enantiospecific detection of chiral inclusions. Moreover, we demonstrate that ΔF is linearly dependent on both the chiral response of the sample and the electric response of the tip and is inversely related to the quartic power of probe-sample distance. We provide physical insight into the transfer of optical activity from the chiral sample to the achiral tip based on a rigorous analytical approach. We support our theoretical achievements by several numerical examples highlighting the potential application of the derived analytic properties. Lastly, we demonstrate the sensitivity of our method to enantiospecify nanoscale chiral samples with chirality parameter on the order of 0.01 and discuss how the sensitivity of our proposed technique can be further improved
Nonequilibrium electron heating in inter-subband terahertz lasers
Inter-subband laser performance can be critically dependent on the nature of the electron distributions in each subband. In these first Monte Carlo device simulations of optically pumped inter-subband THz lasers, we can see that there are two main causes of electron heating: intersubband decay processes, and inter-subband energy transfer from the "hot" nonequilibrium tails of lower subbands. These processes mean that devices relying on low electron temperatures are disrupted by electron heating, to the extent that slightly populated subbands can have average energies far in excess of the that of either the lattice or other subbands. However, although these heating effects invalidate designs relying on low temperature electron distributions, we see that population inversion is still possible in the high-THz range at 77 K in both stepped and triple-well structures, and that our 11.7 THz triple-well structure even promises inversion at 300 K. © 2002 American Institute of Physics
Fano collective resonance as complex mode in a two dimensional planar metasurface of plasmonic nanoparticles
Fano resonances are features in transmissivity/reflectivity/absorption that
owe their origin to the interaction between a bright resonance and a dark
(i.e., sub-radiant) narrower resonance, and may emerge in the optical
properties of planar two-dimensional (2D) periodic arrays (metasurfaces) of
plasmonic nanoparticles. In this Letter, we provide a thorough assessment of
their nature for the general case of normal and oblique plane wave incidence,
highlighting when a Fano resonance is affected by the mutual coupling in an
array and its capability to support free modal solutions. We analyze the
representative case of a metasurface of plasmonic nanoshells at ultraviolet
frequencies and compute its absorption under TE- and TM-polarized, oblique
plane-wave incidence. In particular, we find that plasmonic metasurfaces
display two distinct types of resonances observable as absorption peaks: one is
related to the Mie, dipolar resonance of each nanoparticle; the other is due to
the forced excitation of free modes with small attenuation constant, usually
found at oblique incidence. The latter is thus an array-induced collective Fano
resonance. This realization opens up to manifold flexible designs at optical
frequencies mixing individual and collective resonances. We explain the
physical origin of such Fano resonances using the modal analysis, which allows
to calculate the free modes with complex wavenumber supported by the
metasurface. We define equivalent array dipolar polarizabilities that are
directly related to the absorption physics at oblique incidence and show a
direct dependence between array modal phase and attenuation constant and Fano
resonances. We thus provide a more complete picture of Fano resonances that may
lead to the design of filters, energy-harvesting devices, photodetectors, and
sensors at ultraviolet frequencies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Wave dynamics in a hyperbolic metamaterial excited by a two-dimensional periodic array of sources at its surface
In general, uniaxial materials exhibit ellipsoidal wave vector dispersion relations. Interestingly, under particular conditions, the material dispersion relation may turn into a hyperbola. This fact theoretically imposes no actual maximum bound on the spatial spectrum that is able to propagate within the uniaxial material leading to very interesting physical properties. Recently, there has been emphasis in the development of practical realizations of hyperbolic metamaterials (HMs) that are able to support waves with large transverse wavenumber, which would otherwise be evanescent in free space. It has been shown that homogenized models for HMs are inaccurate for very large spatial spectrum of waves because realistic HMs exhibit a large, but finite, propagating spectrum. Nonetheless, this large spatial spectrum has been shown to enhance the power emitted by impressed dipoles in proximity of the HM surface and to redistribute the radiated power mostly toward the HM (C. Guclu, et al., Phys. Rev. B., 86, 205130, 2012). These physical properties are of key importance and may lead to improvement of bandwidth and angular range of absorption when scattering is created by locating many micro or nano-scatterers at the HM surface, also supported by preliminary experimental data from other researchers. However, the analytical modeling of such structure has not yet been developed and it is of extreme importance as it would provide guidelines for future experimental developments. © 2013 IEEE
Fano collective resonance as complex mode in a two-dimensional planar metasurface of plasmonic nanoparticles
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