Tunable negative permeability in a quantum plasmonic metamaterial

We consider the integration of quantum emitters into a negative permeability metamaterial design in order to introduce tunability as well as nonlinear behavior. The unit cell of our metamaterial is a ring of metamolecules, each consisting of a metal nanoparticle and a two-level semiconductor quantum dot (QD). Without the QDs, the ring of the unit cell is known to act as an artificial optical magnetic resonator. By adding the QDs we show that a Fano interference profile is introduced into the magnetic field scattered from the ring. This induced interference is shown to cause an appreciable effect in the collective magnetic resonance of the unit cell. We find that the interference provides a means to tune the response of the negative permeability metamaterial. The exploitation of the QD's inherent nonlinearity is proposed to modulate the metamaterial's magnetic response with a separate control field.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Signatures of the A2A^2 term in ultrastrongly-coupled oscillators

We study a bosonic matter excitation coupled to a single-mode cavity field via electric dipole. Counter-rotating and $A^2$ terms are included in the interaction model, ${\mathbf A}$ being the vector potential of the cavity field. In the ultrastrong coupling regime the vacuum of the bare modes is no longer the ground state of the Hamiltonian and contains a nonzero population of polaritons, the true normal modes of the system. If the parameters of the model satisfy the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule, we find that the two polaritons are always equally populated. We show how this prediction could be tested in a quenching experiment, by rapidly switching on the coupling and analyzing the radiation emitted by the cavity. A refinement of the model based on a microscopic minimal coupling Hamiltonian is also provided, and its consequences on our results are characterized analytically.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Variations of the Lifshitz-van der Waals force between metals immersed in liquids

We present a theoretical calculation of the Lifshitz-van der Waals force between two metallic slabs embedded in a fluid, taking into account the change of the Drude parameters of the metals when in contact with liquids of different index of refraction. For the three liquids considered in this work, water, $CCl_3F$ and $CBr_3F$ the change in the Drude parameters of the metal imply a difference of up to 15% in the determination of the force at short separations. These variations in the force is bigger for liquids with a higher index of refraction.Comment: 2 figures, 1 tabl

Experimental verification of entanglement generated in a plasmonic system

A core process in many quantum tasks is the generation of entanglement. It is being actively studied in a variety of physical settings - from simple bipartite systems to complex multipartite systems. In this work we experimentally study the generation of bipartite entanglement in a nanophotonic system. Entanglement is generated via the quantum interference of two surface plasmon polaritons in a beamsplitter structure, i.e. utilising the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect, and its presence is verified using quantum state tomography. The amount of entanglement is quantified by the concurrence and we find values of up to 0.77 +/- 0.04. Verifying entanglement in the output state from HOM interference is a nontrivial task and cannot be inferred from the visibility alone. The techniques we use to verify entanglement could be applied to other types of photonic system and therefore may be useful for the characterisation of a range of different nanophotonic quantum devices.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

The Structure of the Pairing Interaction in the 2D Hubbard Model

Dynamic cluster Monte Carlo calculations for the doped two-dimensional Hubbard model are used to study the irreducible particle-particle vertex responsible for $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing in this model. This vertex increases with increasing momentum transfer and decreases when the energy transfer exceeds a scale associated with the $Q=(\pi, \pi)$ spin susceptibility. Using an exact decomposition of this vertex into a fully irreducible two-fermion vertex and charge and magnetic exchange channels, the dominant part of the effective pairing interaction is found to come from the magnetic, spin S=1 exchange channel.Comment: Published version. 4 pages, 4 figure

Superconductivity in striped and multi-Fermi-surface Hubbard models: From the cuprates to the pnictides

Single- and multi-band Hubbard models have been found to describe many of the complex phenomena that are observed in the cuprate and iron-based high-temperature superconductors. Simulations of these models therefore provide an ideal framework to study and understand the superconducting properties of these systems and the mechanisms responsible for them. Here we review recent dynamic cluster quantum Monte Carlo simulations of these models, which provide an unbiased view of the leading correlations in the system. In particular, we discuss what these simulations tell us about superconductivity in the homogeneous 2D single-orbital Hubbard model, and how charge stripes affect this behavior. We then describe recent simulations of a bilayer Hubbard model, which provides a simple model to study the type and nature of pairing in systems with multiple Fermi surfaces such as the iron-based superconductors.Comment: Published as part of Superstripes 2011 (Rome) conference proceeding

Noise-Activated Escape from a Sloshing Potential Well

We treat the noise-activated escape from a one-dimensional potential well of an overdamped particle, to which a periodic force of fixed frequency is applied. We determine the boundary layer behavior, and the physically relevant length scales, near the oscillating well top. We show how stochastic behavior near the well top generalizes the behavior first determined by Kramers, in the case without forcing. Both the case when the forcing dies away in the weak noise limit, and the case when it does not, are examined. We also discuss the relevance of various scaling regimes to recent optical trap experiments.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, REVTeX, expanded versio

Current dependence of grain boundary magnetoresistance in La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO_3 films

We prepared epitaxial ferromagnetic manganite films on bicrystal substrates by pulsed laser ablation. Their low- and high-field magnetoresistance (MR) was measured as a function of magnetic field, temperature and current. At low temperatures hysteretic changes in resistivity up to 70% due to switching of magnetic domains at the coercitive field are observed. The strongly non-ohmic behavior of the current-voltage leads to a complete suppression of the MR effect at high bias currents with the identical current dependence at low and high magnetic fields. We discuss the data in view of tunneling and mesoscale magnetic transport models and propose an explicit dependence of the spin polarization on the applied current in the grain boundary region.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in J. Appl. Phy

Biaxial order parameter in the homologous series of orthogonal bent-core smectic liquid crystals

The fundamental parameter of the uniaxial liquid crystalline state that governs nearly all of its physical properties is the primary orientational order parameter (S) for the long axes of molecules with respect to the director. The biaxial liquid crystals (LCs) possess biaxial order parameters depending on the phase symmetry of the system. In this paper we show that in the first approximation a biaxial orthogonal smectic phase can be described by two primary order parameters: S for the long axes and C for the ordering of the short axes of molecules. The temperature dependencies of S and C are obtained by the Haller's extrapolation technique through measurements of the optical birefringence and biaxiality on a nontilted polar antiferroelectric (Sm-APA) phase of a homologous series of LCs built from the bent-core achiral molecules. For such a biaxial smectic phase both S and C, particularly the temperature dependency of the latter, are being experimentally determined. Results show that S in the orthogonal smectic phase composed of bent cores is higher than in Sm-A calamatic LCs and C is also significantly large