Vortex Lattice Structural Transitions: a Ginzburg-Landau Model Approach

We analyze the rhombic to square vortex lattice phase transition in anisotropic superconductors using a variant of Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory. The mean-field phase diagram is determined to second order in the anisotropy parameter, and shows a reorientation transition of the square vortex lattice with respect to the crystal lattice. We then derive the long-wavelength elastic moduli of the lattices, and use them to show that thermal fluctuations produce a reentrant rhombic to square lattice transition line, similar to recent studies which used a nonlocal London model.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, final version with various referee suggested modifications, scheduled to appear in PR

Tunneling between bilayer quantum Hall structures in a strong magnetic field

We calculate the tunneling current in a quantum Hall bilayer system in the strong magnetic field limit. We model the bilayer electron system as two Wigner crystals coupled through interlayer Coulomb interactions, treated in the continuum limit. We generalized the Johansson and Kinaret (JK) model and were able to study the effect of the low energy out-of-phase magnetophonon modes produced as a result of tunneling events. We find the same scaling behavior of the tunneling current peak with the magnetic field as found by JK but were able to find the tunneling current scaling behavior with interlayer distance as well.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, SemiMag16 conference paper to be published in International Journal of Modern Physics

Spontaneous Spin Polarization in Quantum Wires

A number of recent experiments report spin polarization in quantum wires in the absence of magnetic fields. These observations are in apparent contradiction with the Lieb-Mattis theorem, which forbids spontaneous spin polarization in one dimension. We show that sufficiently strong interactions between electrons induce deviations from the strictly one-dimensional geometry and indeed give rise to a ferromagnetic ground state in a certain range of electron densities.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Quasiparticle mirages in the tunneling spectra of d-wave superconductors

We illustrate the importance of many-body effects in the Fourier transformed local density of states (FT-LDOS) of d-wave superconductors from a model of electrons coupled to an Einstein mode with energy Omega_0. For bias energies significantly larger than Omega_0 the quasiparticles have short lifetimes due to this coupling, and the FT-LDOS is featureless if the electron-impurity scattering is treated within the Born approximation. In this regime it is important to include boson exchange for the electron-impurity scattering which provides a `step down' in energy for the electrons and allows for long lifetimes. This many-body effect produces qualitatively different results, namely the presence of peaks in the FT-LDOS which are mirrors of the quasiparticle interference peaks which occur at bias energies smaller than ~ Omega_0. The experimental observation of these quasiparticle mirages would be an important step forward in elucidating the role of many-body effects in FT-LDOS measurements.Comment: revised text with new figures, to be published, Phys Rev

Formation of defects in multirow Wigner crystals

We study the structural properties of a quasi-one-dimensional classical Wigner crystal, confined in the transverse direction by a parabolic potential. With increasing density, the one-dimensional crystal first splits into a zigzag crystal before progressively more rows appear. While up to four rows the ground state possesses a regular structure, five-row crystals exhibit defects in a certain density regime. We identify two phases with different types of defects. Furthermore, using a simplified model, we show that beyond nine rows no stable regular structures exist.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Exchange Coupling in a One-Dimensional Wigner Crystal

We consider a long quantum wire at low electron densities. In this strong interaction regime a Wigner crystal may form, in which electrons comprise an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin chain. The coupling constant J is exponentially small, as it originates from tunneling of two neighboring electrons through the segregating potential barrier. We study this exponential dependence, properly accounting for the many-body effects and the finite width of the wire.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Magnetic penetration depth in disordered iron-based superconductors

We study the effect of disorder on the London penetration depth in iron-based superconductors. The theory is based on a two-band model with quasi-two-dimensional Fermi surfaces, which allows for the coexistence region in the phase diagram between magnetic and superconducting states in the presence of intraband and interband scattering. Within the quasiclassical approximation we derive and solve Eilenberger's equations, which include a weak external magnetic field, and provide analytical expressions for the penetration depth in the various limiting cases. A complete numerical analysis of the doping and temperature dependence of the London penetration depth reveals the crucial effect of disorder scattering, which is especially pronounced in the coexistence phase. The experimental implications of our results are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure