Field-induced charge transport at the surface of pentacene single crystals: a method to study charge dynamics of 2D electron systems in organic crystals

A method has been developed to inject mobile charges at the surface of organic molecular crystals, and the DC transport of field-induced holes has been measured at the surface of pentacene single crystals. To minimize damage to the soft and fragile surface, the crystals are attached to a pre-fabricated substrate which incorporates a gate dielectric (SiO_2) and four probe pads. The surface mobility of the pentacene crystals ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 cm^2/Vs and is nearly temperature-independent above ~150 K, while it becomes thermally activated at lower temperatures when the induced charges become localized. Ruling out the influence of electric contacts and crystal grain boundaries, the results contribute to the microscopic understanding of trapping and detrapping mechanisms in organic molecular crystals.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to J. Appl. Phy

Glass phases of flux lattices in layered superconductors

We study a flux lattice which is parallel to superconducting layers, allowing for dislocations and for disorder of both short wavelength and long wavelength. We find that the long wavelength disorder has a significant effect on the phase diagram -- it produces a first order transition within the Bragg glass phase and leads to melting at strong disorder. This then allows a Friedel scenario of 2D superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 eps figure, Revte

Antiferromagnetic domain walls in lightly doped layered cuprates

Recent ESR data shows rotation of the antiferromagnetic (AF) easy axis in lightly doped layered cuprates upon lowering the temperature. We account for the ESR data and show that it has significant implications on spin and charge ordering according to the following scenario: In the high temperature phase AF domain walls coincide with (110) twin boundaries of an orthorhombic phase. A magnetic field leads to annihilation of neighboring domain walls resulting in antiphase boundaries. The latter are spin carriers, form ferromagnetic lines and may become charged in the doped system. However, hole ordering at low temperatures favors the (100) orientation, inducing a pi/4 rotation in the AF easy axis. The latter phase has twin boundaries and AF domain walls in (100) planes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (1 eps). v2: no change in content, Tex shadow problem cleare

Zero temperature geometric spin dephasing on a ring in presence of an Ohmic environment

We study zero temperature spin dynamics of a particle confined to a ring in presence of spin orbit coupling and Ohmic electromagnetic fluctuations. We show that the dynamics of the angular position $\theta(t)$ are decoupled from the spin dynamics and that the latter is mapped to certain correlations of a spinless particle. We find that the spin correlations in the $z$ direction (perpendicular to the ring) are finite at long times, i.e. do not dephase. The parallel (in plane) components for spin \half do not dephase at weak dissipation but they probably decay as a power law with time at strong dissipation.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to EP

Single vortex fluctuations in a superconducting chip as generating dephasing and spin flips in cold atom traps

We study trapping of a cold atom by a single vortex line in an extreme type II superconducting chip, allowing for pinning and friction. We evaluate the atom's spin flip rate and its dephasing due to the vortex fluctuations in equilibrium and find that they decay rapidly when the distance to the vortex exceeds the magnetic penetration length. We find that there are special spin orientations, depending on the spin location relative to the vortex, at which spin dephasing is considerably reduced while perpendicular directions have a reduced spin flip rate. We also show that the vortex must be perpendicular to the surface for a general shape vortex.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Second magnetization peak in flux lattices: the decoupling scenario

The second peak phenomena of flux lattices in layered superconductors is described in terms of a disorder induced layer decoupling transition. For weak disorder the tilt mudulus undergoes an apparent discontinuity which leads to an enhanced critical current and reduced domain size in the decoupled phase. The Josephson plasma frequency is reduced by decoupling and by Josephson glass pinning; in the liquid phase it varies as 1/[BT(T+T_0)] where T is temperature, B is field and T_0 is the disorder dependent temperature of the multicritical point.Comment: 5 pages, 1 eps figure, Revtex. Minor changes, new reference

Decoherence of a particle in a ring

We consider a particle coupled to a dissipative environment and derive a perturbative formula for the dephasing rate based on the purity of the reduced probability matrix. We apply this formula to the problem of a particle on a ring, that interacts with a dirty metal environment. At low but finite temperatures we find a dephasing rate $\propto T^{3/2}$, and identify dephasing lengths for large and for small rings. These findings shed light on recent Monte Carlo data regarding the effective mass of the particle. At zero temperature we find that spatial fluctuations suppress the possibility of having a power law decay of coherence.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, proofed version to be published in EP

Phase Fluctuations and Vortex Lattice Melting in Triplet Quasi-One-Dimensional Superconductors at High Magnetic Fields

Assuming that the order parameter corresponds to an equal spin triplet pairing symmetry state, we calculate the effect of phase fluctuations in quasi-one-dimensional superconductors at high magnetic fields applied along the y (b') axis. We show that phase fluctuations can destroy the theoretically predicted triplet reentrant superconducting state, and that they are responsible for melting the magnetic field induced Josephson vortex lattice above a magnetic field dependent melting temperature Tm.Comment: 4 pages (double column), 1 eps figur

Decoupling and decommensuration in layered superconductors with columnar defects

We consider layered superconductors with a flux lattice perpendicular to the layers and random columnar defects parallel to the magnetic field B. We show that the decoupling transition temperature Td, at which the Josephson coupling vanishes, is enhanced by columnar defects by an amount ~B^2 relative to Td. Decoupling by increasing field can be followed by a reentrant recoupling transition for strong disorder. We also consider a commensurate component of the columnar density and show that its pinning potential is renormalized to zero above a critical long wavelength disorder. This decommnesuration transition may account for a recently observed kink in the melting line.Comment: 5 pages, Revte