19 research outputs found
Effect of spin-orbit interaction on the critical temperature of an ideal Bose gas
We consider Bose-Einstein condensation of an ideal bose gas with an equal
mixture of `Rashba' and `Dresselhaus' spin-orbit interactions and study its
effect on the critical temperature.
In uniform bose gas a `cusp' and a sharp drop in the critical temperature
occurs due to the change in the density of states at a critical Raman coupling
where the degeneracy of the ground states is lifted. Relative drop in the
critical temperature depends on the diluteness of the gas as well as on the
spin-orbit coupling strength. In the presence of a harmonic trap, the cusp in
the critical temperature smoothened out and a minimum appears. Both the drop in
the critical temperature and lifting of `quasi-degeneracy' of the ground states
exhibit crossover phenomena which is controlled by the trap frequency. By
considering a 'Dicke' like model we extend our calculation to bosons with large
spin and observe a similar minimum in the critical temperature near the
critical Raman frequency, which becomes deeper for larger spin. Finally in the
limit of infinite spin, the critical temperature vanishes at the critical
frequency, which is a manifestation of Dicke type quantum phase transition.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Unconventional spin Hall effects in nonmagnetic solids
Direct and inverse spin Hall effects lie at the heart of novel applications
that utilize spins of electrons as information carriers, allowing generation of
spin currents and detecting them via the electric voltage. In the standard
arrangement, applied electric field induces transverse spin current with
perpendicular spin polarization. Although conventional spin Hall effects are
commonly used in spin-orbit torques or spin Hall magnetoresistance experiments,
the possibilities to configure electronic devices according to specific needs
are quite limited. Here, we investigate unconventional spin Hall effects that
have the same origin as conventional ones, but manifest only in low-symmetry
crystals where spin polarization, spin current and charge current are not
enforced to be orthogonal. Based on the symmetry analysis for all 230 space
groups, we have identified crystal structures that could exhibit unusual
configurations of charge-to-spin conversion. The most relevant geometries have
been explored in more detail; in particular, we have analyzed the collinear
components yielding transverse charge and spin current with spin polarization
parallel to one of them, as well as the longitudinal ones, where charge and
spin currents are parallel. In addition, we have demonstrated that
unconventional spin Hall effect can be induced by controllable breaking the
crystal symmetries by an external electric field, which opens a perspective for
external tuning of spin injection and detection by electric fields. The results
have been confirmed by density functional theory calculations performed for
various materials relevant for spintronics. We are convinced that our findings
will stimulate further computational and experimental studies of unconventional
spin Hall effects
Collinear Rashba-Edelstein effect in non-magnetic chiral materials
Efficient generation and manipulation of spin signals in a given material
without invoking external magnetism remain one of the challenges in
spintronics. The spin Hall effect (SHE) and Rashba-Edelstein effect (REE) are
well-known mechanisms to electrically generate spin accumulation in materials
with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), but the exact role of the strength and
type of SOC, especially in crystals with low symmetry, has yet to be explained.
In this study, we investigate REE in two different families of non-magnetic
chiral materials, elemental semiconductors (Te and Se) and semimetallic
disilicides (TaSi and NbSi), using an approach based on density
functional theory (DFT). By analyzing spin textures across the full Brillouin
zones and comparing them with REE magnitudes calculated as a function of
chemical potential, we link specific features in the electronic structure with
the efficiency of the induced spin accumulation. Our findings show that
magnitudes of REE can be increased by: (i) the presence of purely radial
(Weyl-type) spin texture manifesting as the parallel spin-momentum locking,
(ii) high spin polarization of bands along one specific crystallographic
direction, (iii) low band velocities. By comparing materials possessing the
same crystal structures, but different strengths of SOC, we conclude that
larger SOC may indirectly contribute to the enhancement of REE. It yields
greater spin-splitting of bands along specific crystallographic directions,
which prevents canceling the contributions from the oppositely spin-polarized
bands over wider energy regions and helps maintain larger REE magnitudes. We
believe that these results will be useful for designing spintronics devices and
may aid further computational studies searching for efficient REE in materials
with different symmetries and SOC strengths
Analogs of Rashba-Edelstein effect from density functional theory
Studies of structure-property relationships in spintronics are essential for
the design of materials that can fill specific roles in devices. For example,
materials with low symmetry allow unconventional configurations of
charge-to-spin conversion which can be used to generate efficient spin-orbit
torques. Here, we explore the relationship between crystal symmetry and
geometry of the Rashba-Edelstein effect (REE) that causes spin accumulation in
response to an applied electric current. Based on a symmetry analysis performed
for 230 crystallographic space groups, we identify classes of materials that
can host conventional or collinear REE. Although transverse spin accumulation
is commonly associated with the so-called 'Rashba materials', we show that the
presence of specific spin texture does not easily translate to the
configuration of REE. More specifically, bulk crystals may simultaneously host
different types of spin-orbit fields, depending on the crystallographic point
group and the symmetry of the specific -vector, which, averaged over the
Brillouin zone, determine the direction and magnitude of the induced spin
accumulation. To explore the connection between crystal symmetry, spin texture,
and the magnitude of REE, we perform first-principles calculations for
representative materials with different symmetries. We believe that our results
will be helpful for further computational and experimental studies, as well as
the design of spintronics devices.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Out-of-plane interface dipoles and anti-hysteresis in graphene-strontium titanate hybrid transistor
The out-of-plane electric polarization at the surface of SrTiO3 (STO), an archetypal perovskite oxide, may stabilize new electronic states and/or host novel device functionality. This is particularly significant in proximity to atomically thin membranes, such as graphene, although a quantitative understanding of the polarization across graphene-STO interface remains experimentally elusive. Here, we report direct observation and measurement of a large intrinsic out-of-plane polarization at the interface of singlelayer graphene and TiO2-terminated STO (100) crystal. Using a unique temperature dependence of anti-hysteretic gate-transfer characteristics in dual-gated graphene-on-STO field-effect transistors, we estimate the polarization to be as large as approximate to 12 mu Ccm(-2), which is also supported by the density functional theory calculations and low-frequency noise measurements. The anti-hysteretic transfer characteristics is quantitatively shown to arise from an interplay of band bending at the STO surface and electrostatic potential due to interface polarization, which may be a generic feature in hybrid electronic devices from two-dimensional materials and perovskite oxides
Fusion of Video and Doppler Radar for Traffic Surveillance
Current Continuous Wave (CW) Doppler radar speed measurement systems lack the ability to distinguish multiple targets. Most systems can only identify the strongest (closest) target or the fastest target.
This dissertation is related to a fusion algorithm for a VIdeo-Doppler-radAR (Vidar) traffic surveillance system. The Vidar systems uses a robust matching algorithm which iteratively matches the information from a video camera and multiple Doppler radars corresponding to the same moving vehicle, and a stochastic algorithm which fuses the matched information from the video camera and Doppler radars to derive the vehicle velocity and angle information.
We use two heterogeneous sensors of very different modalities, the first a high resolution (1024x768 pixels) video camera operating at 30 Hz with a 1/3 sony CCD fitted with a narrow field-of-view lens and the other a CW Doppler radar operating in the unlicensed Ka band (35 GHz) with a maximum detection range of 3000 ft. First, a high resolution Time-Frequency representation of the radar signal is obtained by employing the method of Time-Frequency reassignment. Then, the angle information obtained from the video camera is fused with the information from the Doppler radar to produce a velocity and angle track of the targets within the surveillance region
Ferroelectric control of charge-to-spin conversion in WTe2
Ferroelectric materials hold great potential for alternative memories and computing, but several challenges need to be overcome before bringing the ideas to applications. In this context, the recently discovered link between electric polarization and spin textures in some classes of ferroelectrics expands the perspectives of the design of devices that could simultaneously benefit from ferroelectric and spintronic properties. Here, we explore the concept of nonvolatile ferroelectric control of charge-to-spin conversion in semimetallic WTe2, which may provide a way for nondestructive readout of the polar state. Based on the first-principles simulations, we show that the Rashba-Edelstein effect (REE) that converts electric currents into spin accumulation switches its sign upon the reversal of the electric polarization. The numerical values of REE, calculated for the first time for both bulk and bilayer WTe2, demonstrate that the conversion is sizable, and may remain large even at room temperature. The ferroelectric control of spin transport in nonmagnetic materials provides functionalities similar to multiferroics and allows the design of memories or logic-in-memory devices that combine ferroelectric writing of information at low power with the spin-orbit readout of state