315,523 research outputs found
Phenomenological model for symmetry breaking in chaotic system
We assume that the energy spectrum of a chaotic system undergoing symmetry
breaking transitions can be represented as a superposition of independent level
sequences, one increasing on the expense of the others. The relation between
the fractional level densities of the sequences and the symmetry breaking
interaction is deduced by comparing the asymptotic expression of the
level-number variance with the corresponding expression obtained using the
perturbation theory. This relation is supported by a comparison with previous
numerical calculations. The predictions of the model for the
nearest-neighbor-spacing distribution and the spectral rigidity are in
agreement with the results of an acoustic resonance experiment.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review
Spin relaxation due to the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism in intrinsic and -type GaAs quantum wells from a fully microscopic approach
We study the electron spin relaxation in intrinsic and -type (001) GaAs
quantum wells by constructing and numerically solving the kinetic spin Bloch
equations. All the relevant scatterings are explicitly included, especially the
spin-flip electron-heavy hole exchange scattering which leads to the
Bir-Aronov-Pikus spin relaxation. We show that, due to the neglection of the
nonlinear terms in the electron-heavy hole exchange scattering in the
Fermi-golden-rule approach, the spin relaxation due to the Bir-Aronov-Pikus
mechanism is greatly exaggerated at moderately high electron density and low
temperature in the literature. We compare the spin relaxation time due to the
Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism with that due to the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism
which is also calculated from the kinetic spin Bloch equations with all the
scatterings, especially the spin-conserving electron-electron and
electron-heavy hole scatterings, included. We find that, in intrinsic quantum
wells, the effect from the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism is much smaller than that
from the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism at low temperature, and it is smaller by no
more than one order of magnitude at high temperature. In -type quantum
wells, the spin relaxation due to the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism is also much
smaller than the one due to the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism at low temperature
and becomes comparable to each other at higher temperature when the hole
density and the width of the quantum well are large enough. We claim that
unlike in the bulk samples, the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism hardly dominates the
spin relaxation in two-dimensional samples.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. B 77, 2008, in pres
Spin relaxation due to random Rashba spin-orbit coupling in GaAs (110) quantum wells
We investigate the spin relaxation due to the random Rashba spin-orbit
coupling in symmetric GaAs (110) quantum wells from the fully microscopic
kinetic spin Bloch equation approach. All relevant scatterings, such as the
electron-impurity, electron--longitudinal-optical-phonon,
electron--acoustic-phonon, as well as electron-electron Coulomb scatterings are
explicitly included. It is shown that our calculation reproduces the
experimental data by M\"uller {\em et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 101}, 206601
(2008)] for a reasonable choice of parameter values. We also predict that the
temperature dependence of spin relaxation time presents a peak in the case with
low impurity density, which originates from the electron-electron Coulomb
scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, EPL in pres
Half-metallicity in NiMnSb: a Variational Cluster Approach with ab-initio parameters
Electron correlation effects in the half-metallic ferromagnet NiMnSb are
investigated within a combined density functional and many-body approach.
Starting from a realistic multi-orbital Hubbard-model including Mn and Ni-d
orbitals, the many-body problem is addressed via the Variational Cluster
Approach. The density of states obtained in the calculation shows a strong
spectral weight transfer towards the Fermi level in the occupied conducting
majority spin channel with respect to the uncorrelated case, as well as states
with vanishing quasiparticle weight in the minority spin gap. Although the two
features produce competing effects, the overall outcome is a strong reduction
of the spin polarisation at the Fermi level with respect to the uncorrelated
case. This result emphasizes the importance of correlation in this material.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Superlubricity - a new perspective on an established paradigm
Superlubricity is a frictionless tribological state sometimes occurring in
nanoscale material junctions. It is often associated with incommensurate
surface lattice structures appearing at the interface. Here, by using the
recently introduced registry index concept which quantifies the registry
mismatch in layered materials, we prove the existence of a direct relation
between interlayer commensurability and wearless friction in layered materials.
We show that our simple and intuitive model is able to capture, down to fine
details, the experimentally measured frictional behavior of a hexagonal
graphene flake sliding on-top of the surface of graphite. We further predict
that superlubricity is expected to occur in hexagonal boron nitride as well
with tribological characteristics very similar to those observed for the
graphitic system. The success of our method in predicting experimental results
along with its exceptional computational efficiency opens the way for modeling
large-scale material interfaces way beyond the reach of standard simulation
techniques.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure
Spin orbit coupling in bulk ZnO and GaN
Using group theory and Kane-like model together with the
L\"owdining partition method, we derive the expressions of spin-orbit coupling
of electrons and holes, including the linear- Rashba term due to the
intrinsic structure inversion asymmetry and the cubic- Dresselhaus term due
to the bulk inversion asymmetry in wurtzite semiconductors. The coefficients of
the electron and hole Dresselhaus terms of ZnO and GaN in wurtzite structure
and GaN in zinc-blende structure are calculated using the nearest-neighbor
and tight-binding models separately.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to be published in J. Appl. Phy
Oscillations of the superconducting critical current in Nb-Cu-Ni-Cu-Nb junctions
We report on experimental studies of superconductor-ferromagnet layered
structures. Strong oscillations of the critical supercurrent were observed with
the thickness variation of the ferromagnet. Using known microscopic parameters
of Ni, we found reasonable agreement between the period of oscillations and the
decay of the measured critical current, and theoretical calculations.Comment: 5 page
Scattering Theory of Current-Induced Spin Polarization
We construct a novel scattering theory to investigate magnetoelectrically
induced spin polarizations. Local spin polarizations generated by electric
currents passing through a spin-orbit coupled mesoscopic system are measured by
an external probe. The electrochemical and spin-dependent chemical potentials
on the probe are controllable and tuned to values ensuring that neither charge
nor spin current flow between the system and the probe, on time-average. For
the relevant case of a single-channel probe, we find that the resulting
potentials are exactly independent of the transparency of the contact between
the probe and the system. Assuming that spin relaxation processes are absent in
the probe, we therefore identify the local spin-dependent potentials in the
sample at the probe position, and hence the local current-induced spin
polarization, with the spin-dependent potentials in the probe itself. The
statistics of these local chemical potentials is calculated within random
matrix theory. While they vanish on spatial and mesoscopic average, they
exhibit large fluctuations, and we show that single systems typically have spin
polarizations exceeding all known current-induced spin polarizations by a
parametrically large factor. Our theory allows to calculate quantum
correlations between spin polarizations inside the sample and spin currents
flowing out of it. We show that these large polarizations correlate only weakly
with spin currents in external leads, and that only a fraction of them can be
converted into a spin current in the linear regime of transport, which is
consistent with the mesoscopic universality of spin conductance fluctuations.
We numerically confirm the theory.Comment: Final version; a tunnel barrier between the probe and the dot is
considered. To appear in 'Nanotechnology' in the special issue on "Quantum
Science and Technology at the Nanoscale
Imprint of Gravitational Lensing by Population III Stars in Gamma Ray Burst Light Curves
We propose a novel method to extract the imprint of gravitational lensing by
Pop III stars in the light curves of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). Significant
portions of GRBs can originate in hypernovae of Pop III stars and be
gravitationally lensed by foreground Pop III stars or their remnants. If the
lens mass is on the order of and the lens redshift is
greater than 10, the time delay between two lensed images of a GRB is s and the image separation is as. Although it is difficult to
resolve the two lensed images spatially with current facilities, the light
curves of two images are superimposed with a delay of s. GRB light
curves usually exhibit noticeable variability, where each spike is less than
1s. If a GRB is lensed, all spikes are superimposed with the same time delay.
Hence, if the autocorrelation of light curve with changing time interval is
calculated, it should show the resonance at the time delay of lensed images.
Applying this autocorrelation method to GRB light curves which are archived as
the {\it BATSE} catalogue, we demonstrate that more than half light curves can
show the recognizable resonance, if they are lensed. Furthermore, in 1821 GRBs
we actually find one candidate of GRB lensed by a Pop III star, which may be
located at redshift 20-200. The present method is quite straightforward and
therefore provides an effective tool to search for Pop III stars at redshift
greater than 10. Using this method, we may find more candidates of GRBs lensed
by Pop III stars in the data by the {\it Swift} satellite.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Kinetic investigation on extrinsic spin Hall effect induced by skew scattering
The kinetics of the extrinsic spin Hall conductivity induced by the skew
scattering is performed from the fully microscopic kinetic spin Bloch equation
approach in GaAs symmetric quantum well. In the steady state, the
extrinsic spin Hall current/conductivity vanishes for the linear-
dependent spin-orbit coupling and is very small for the cubic-
dependent spin-orbit coupling. The spin precession induced by the
Dresselhaus/Rashba spin-orbit coupling plays a very important role in the
vanishment of the extrinsic spin Hall conductivity in the steady state. An
in-plane spin polarization is induced by the skew scattering, with the help of
the spin-orbit coupling. This spin polarization is very different from the
current-induced spin polarization.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to be published in JPC
- …