Ballistic transport in one-dimensional loops with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

We discuss the combined effect of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions in polygonal loops formed by quantum wires, when the electron are injected in a node and collected at the opposite one. The conditions that allow perfect localization are found. Furthermore, we investigate the suppression of the Al'tshuler--Aronov--Spivak oscillations that appear, in presence of a magnetic flux, when the electrons are injected and collected at the same node. Finally, we point out that a recent realization of a ballistic spin interferometer can be used to obtain a reliable estimate of the magnitude ratio of the two spin-orbit interactions.\bigskipComment: 6 figure

Ground state features of the Frohlich model

Following the ideas behind the Feynman approach, a variational wave function is proposed for the Fr\"ohlich model. It is shown that it provides, for any value of the electron-phonon coupling constant, an estimate of the polaron ground state energy better than the Feynman method based on path integrals. The mean number of phonons, the average electronic kinetic and interaction energies, the ground state spectral weight and the electron-lattice correlation function are calculated and successfully compared with the best available results.Comment: 6 figure

Effects of electron coupling to intra- and inter-molecular vibrational modes on the transport properties of single crystal organic semiconductors

Electron coupling to intra- and inter-molecular vibrational modes is investigated in models appropriate to single crystal organic semiconductors, such as oligoacenes. Focus is on spectral and transport properties of these systems beyond perturbative approaches. The interplay between different couplings strongly affects the temperature band renormalization that is the result of a subtle equilibrium between opposite tendencies: band narrowing due to interaction with local modes, band widening due to electron coupling to non local modes. The model provides an accurate description of the mobility as function of temperature: indeed, it has the correct order of magnitude, at low temperatures, it scales as a power-law $T^{-\delta}$ with the exponent $\delta$ larger than unity, and, at high temperatures, shows an hopping behavior with a small activation energy.Comment: 3 Figures, Submitte

Spectral, optical and transport properties of the adiabatic anisotropic Holstein model: Application to slightly doped organic semiconductors

Spectral, optical and transport properties of an anisotropic three-dimensional Holstein model are studied within the adiabatic approximation. The parameter regime is appropriate for organic semiconductors used in single crystal based field effect transistors. Different approaches have been used to solve the model: self-consistent Born approximation valid for weak electron-phonon coupling, coherent potential approximation exact for infinite dimensions, and numerical diagonalization for finite lattices. With increasing temperature, the width of the spectral functions gets larger and larger making the approximation of quasi-particle less accurate. On the contrary, their peak positions are never strongly renormalized in comparison with the bare ones. As expected, the density of states is characterized by an exponential tail corresponding to localized states at low temperature. For weak electron-lattice coupling, the optical conductivity follows a Drude behavior, while, for intermediate electron-lattice coupling, a temperature dependent peak is present at low frequency. For high temperatures and low particle densities, the mobility always exhibits a power-law behavior as function of temperature. With decreasing the particle density, at low temperature, the mobility shows a transition from metallic to insulating behavior. Results are discussed in connection with available experimental data.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Electronic transport within a quasi two-dimensional model for rubrene single-crystal field effect transistors

Spectral and transport properties of the quasi two-dimensional adiabatic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model are studied adjusting the parameters in order to model rubrene single-crystal field effect transistors with small but finite density of injected charge carriers. We show that, with increasing temperature $T$, the chemical potential moves into the tail of the density of states corresponding to localized states, but this is not enough to drive the system into an insulating state. The mobility along different crystallographic directions is calculated including vertex corrections which give rise to a transport lifetime one order of magnitude smaller than spectral lifetime of the states involved in the transport mechanism. With increasing temperature, the transport properties reach the Ioffe-Regel limit which is ascribed to less and less appreciable contribution of itinerant states to the conduction process. The model provides features of the mobility in close agreement with experiments: right order of magnitude, scaling as a power law $T^{-\gamma}$, with $\gamma$ close or larger than two, and correct anisotropy ratio between different in-plane directions. Due to a realistic high dimensional model, the results are not biased by uncontrolled approximations.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Submitte

Effects of the electron-phonon coupling near and within the insulating Mott phase

The role of the electron-phonon interaction in the Holstein-Hubbard model is investigated in the metallic phase close to the Mott transition and in the insulating Mott phase. The model is studied by means of a variational slave boson technique. At half-filling, mean-field static quantities are in good agreement with the results obtained by numerical techniques. By taking into account gaussian fluctuations, an analytic expression of the spectral density is derived in the Mott insulating phase showing that an increase of the electron-phonon coupling leads to a sensitive reduction of the Mott gap through a reduced effective repulsion. The relation of the results with recent experimental observations in strongly correlated systems is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Effects of electron-phonon coupling range on the polaron formation

The polaron features due to electron-phonon interactions with different coupling ranges are investigated by adopting a variational approach. The ground-state energy, the spectral weight, the average kinetic energy, the mean number of phonons, and the electron-lattice correlation function are discussed for the system with coupling to local and nearest neighbor lattice displacements comparing the results with the long range case. For large values of the coupling with nearest neighbor sites, most physical quantities show a strong resemblance with those obtained for the long range electron-phonon interaction. Moreover, for intermediate values of interaction strength, the correlation function between electron and nearest neighbor lattice displacements is characterized by an upturn as function of the electron-phonon coupling constant.Comment: 5 pages and 4 figure

Rashba quantum wire: exact solution and ballistic transport

The effect of Rashba spin-orbit interaction in quantum wires with hard-wall boundaries is discussed. The exact wave function and eigenvalue equation are worked out pointing out the mixing between the spin and spatial parts. The spectral properties are also studied within the perturbation theory with respect to the strength of the spin-orbit interaction and diagonalization procedure. A comparison is done with the results of a simple model, the two-band model, that takes account only of the first two sub-bands of the wire. Finally, the transport properties within the ballistic regime are analytically calculated for the two-band model and through a tight-binding Green function for the entire system. Single and double interfaces separating regions with different strengths of spin-orbit interaction are analyzed injecting carriers into the first and the second sub-band. It is shown that in the case of a single interface the spin polarization in the Rashba region is different from zero, and in the case of two interfaces the spin polarization shows oscillations due to spin selective bound states

Multiple double-exchange mechanism by Mn2+^{2+}-doping in manganite compounds

Double-exchange mechanisms in RE$_{1-x}$AE$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$ manganites (where RE is a trivalent rare-earth ion and AE is a divalent alkali-earth ion) relies on the strong exchange interaction between two Mn$^{3+}$ and Mn$^{4+}$ ions through interfiling oxygen 2p states. Nevertheless, the role of RE and AE ions has ever been considered "silent" with respect to the DE conducting mechanisms. Here we show that a new path for DE-mechanism is indeed possible by partially replacing the RE-AE elements by Mn$^{2+}$-ions, in La-deficient La$_{x}$MnO$_{3-\delta}$ thin films. X-ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrated the relevant presence of Mn$^{2+}$ ions, which is unambiguously proved to be substituted at La-site by Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering. Mn$^{2+}$ is proved to be directly correlated to the enhanced magneto-transport properties because of an additional hopping mechanism trough interfiling Mn$^{2+}$-ions, theoretically confirmed by calculations within the effective single band model. The very idea to use Mn$^{2+}$ both as a doping element and an ions electronically involved in the conduction mechanism, has never been foreseen, revealing a new phenomena in transport properties of manganites. More important, such a strategy might be also pursed in other strongly correlated materials.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure