Dynamics of magnetization on the topological surface

We investigate theoretically the dynamics of magnetization coupled to the surface Dirac fermions of a three dimensional topological insulator, by deriving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation in the presence of charge current. Both the inverse spin-Galvanic effect and the Gilbert damping coefficient $\alpha$ are related to the two-dimensional diagonal conductivity $\sigma_{xx}$ of the Dirac fermion, while the Berry phase of the ferromagnetic moment to the Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}$. The spin transfer torque and the so-called $\beta$-terms are shown to be negligibly small. Anomalous behaviors in various phenomena including the ferromagnetic resonance are predicted in terms of this LLG equation.Comment: 4+ pages, 1 figur

Disorder effect on the localization/delocalization in incommensurate potential

The interplay between incommensurate (IC) and random potentials is studied in a two-dimensional symplectic model with the focus on localization/delocalization problem. With the IC potential only, there appear wavefunctions localized along the IC wavevector while extended perpendicular to it. Once the disorder potential is introduced, these turn into two-dimensional anisotropic metallic states beyond the scale of the elastic mean free path, and eventually becomes localized in both directions at a critical strength of the disorder. Implications of these results to the experimental observation of the IC-induced localization is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (7 files), RevTe

Quantum Versus Jahn-Teller Orbital Physics in YVO3_3 and LaVO3_3

We argue that the large Jahn-Teller (JT) distortions in YVO$_3$ and LaVO$_3$ should suppress the quantum orbital fluctuation. The unusual magnetic properties can be well explained based on LDA+$U$ calculations using experimental structures, in terms of the JT orbital. The observed splitting of the spin-wave dispersions for YVO$_3$ in C-type antiferromagnetic state is attributed to the inequivalent VO$_2$ layers in the crystal structure, instead of the ``orbital Peierls state''. Alternative stacking of $ab$-plane exchange couplings produces the c-axis spin-wave splitting, thus the spin system is highly three dimensional rather than quasi-one-dimensional. Similar splitting is also predicted for LaVO$_3$, although it is weak.Comment: 4 pages, 2 tables, 2 figures, (accepted by PRL

SU(2) Non-Abelian Holonomy and Dissipationless Spin Current in Semiconductors

Following our previous work [S. Murakami, N. Nagaosa, S. C. Zhang, Science 301, 1348 (2003)] on the dissipationless quantum spin current, we present an exact quantum mechanical calculation of this novel effect based on the linear response theory and the Kubo formula. We show that it is possibxle to define an exactly conserved spin current, even in the presence of the spin-orbit coupling in the Luttinger Hamiltonian of p-type semiconductors. The light- and the heavy-hole bands form two Kramers doublets, and an SU(2) non-abelian gauge field acts naturally on each of the doublets. This quantum holonomy gives rise to a monopole structure in momentum space, whose curvature tensor directly leads to the novel dissipationless spin Hall effect, i.e., a transverse spin current is generated by an electric field. The result obtained in the current work gives a quantum correction to the spin current obtained in the previous semiclassical approximation.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, added some discussions, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Spin Hall effect of conserved current: Conditions for a nonzero spin Hall current

We study the spin Hall effect taking into account the impurity scattering effect as general as possible with the focus on the definition of the spin current. The conserved bulk spin current (Shi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 076604 (2006)]) satisfying the continuity equation of spin is considered in addition to the conventional one defined by the symmetric product of the spin and velocity operators. Conditions for non-zero spin Hall current are clarified. In particular, it is found that (i) the spin Hall current is non-zero in the Rashba model with a finite-range impurity potential, and (ii) the spin Hall current vanishes in the cubic Rashba model with a $\delta$-function impurity potential.Comment: 5 pages, minor change from the previous versio

Fermion Cooper Pairing with Unequal Masses: Standard Field Theory Approach

The fermion Cooper pairing with unequal masses is investigated in a standard field theory approach. We derived the superfluid density and Meissner mass squared of the U(1) gauge field in a general two species model and found that the often used proportional relation between the two quantities is broken down when the fermion masses are unequal. In weak coupling region, the superfluid density is always negative but the Meissner mass squared becomes mostly positive when the mass ratio between the pairing fermions is large enough. We established a proper momentum configuration of the LOFF pairing with unequal masses and showed that the LOFF state is energetically favored due to the negative superfluid density. The single plane wave LOFF state is physically equivalent to an anisotropic state with a spontaneously generated superflow. The extension to finite range interaction is briefly discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, published version, erratum will appear soo

Deep Near-Infrared Observations and Identifications of Chandra Sources in the Orion Molecular Cloud 2 and 3

We conducted deep NIR imaging observations of the Orion molecular cloud 2 and 3 using QUIRC on the 88-inch telescope of the University of Hawaii. Our purposes are 1) to generate a comprehensive NIR source catalog of these star forming clouds, and 2) to identify the NIR counterpart of the Chandra X-ray sources that have no counterpart in the 2MASS catalog. Our J-, H-, and K-band observations are about 2 mag deeper than those of 2MASS, and well match the current Chandra observation. We detected 1448 NIR sources, for which we derived the position, the J-, H-, and K-band magnitude, and the 2MASS counterpart. Using this catalog, we identified the NIR counterpart for about 42% of the 2MASS-unIDed Chandra sources. The nature of these Chandra sources are discussed using their NIR colors and spatial distributions, and a dozen protostar and brown dwarf candidates are identified.Comment: 39 pages, 9 postscript figures, accepted for publication in A

Enhanced spin Hall effect by resonant skew scattering in orbital-selective Kondo effect

The enhanced spin Hall effect in Au metal due to the resonant skew scattering is studied with first-principles band structure calculations. Especially the gigantic spin Hall angle $\gamma_S \cong 0.1$ observed recently (T.Seki et al., Nature Materials {\bf 7}, 125 (2008)) is attributed to the orbital-dependent Kondo effect of Fe in the Au host metal, where the $t_{2g}$-orbitals are in the mixed-valence region while $e_g$-orbitals are in the Kondo limit. The enhanced spin-orbit interaction by the electron correlation in the $t_{2g}$-orbitals leads to the gigantic spin Hall effect. Impurities with 5d orbitals are also discussed

One-Dimensional Confinement and Enhanced Jahn-Teller Instability in LaVO3_3

Ordering and quantum fluctuations of orbital degrees of freedom are studied theoretically for LaVO$_3$ in spin-C-type antiferromagnetic state. The effective Hamiltonian for the orbital pseudospin shows strong one-dimensional anisotropy due to the negative interference among various exchange processes. This significantly enhances the instability toward lattice distortions for the realistic estimate of the Jahn-Teller coupling by first-principle LDA+$U$ calculations, instead of favoring the orbital singlet formation. This explains well the experimental results on the anisotropic optical spectra as well as the proximity of the two transition temperatures for spin and orbital orderings.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figure

Spin current and magneto-electric effect in non-collinear magnets

A new microscopic mechanism of the magneto-electric (ME) effect based on the spin supercurrent is theoretically presented for non-collinear magnets. The close analogy between the superconductors (charge current) and magnets (spin current) is drawn to derive the distribution of the spin supercurrent and the resultant electric polarization. Application to the spiral spin structure is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure