Critical Josephson current through a bistable single-molecule junction

We compute the critical Josephson current through a single-molecule junction. As a model for a molecule with a bistable conformational degree of freedom, we study an interacting single-level quantum dot coupled to a two-level system and weakly connected to two superconducting electrodes. We perform a lowest-order perturbative calculation of the critical current and show that it can significantly change due to the two-level system. In particular, the \pi-junction behavior, generally present for strong interactions, can be completely suppressed.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor changes, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Cold Attractive Spin Polarized Fermi Lattice Gases and the Doped Positive U Hubbard Model

Experiments on polarized fermion gases performed by trapping ultracold atoms in optical lattices, allow the study of an attractive Hubbard model for which the strength of the on site interaction is tuned by means of a Feshbach resonance. Using a well-known particle-hole transformation we discuss how results obtained for this system can be reinterpreted in the context of a doped repulsive Hubbard model. In particular we show that the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state corresponds to the striped state of the two-dimensional doped positive U Hubbard model. We then use the results of numerical studies of the striped state to relate the periodicity of the FFLO state to the spin polarization. We also comment on the relationship of the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ superconducting phase of the doped 2D repulsive Hubbard model to a d-wave spin density wave state for the attractive case.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Electronic Structures and Optical Properties of Partially and Fully Fluorinated Graphene

In this letter we study the electronic structures and optical properties of partially and fully fluorinated graphene by a combination of abinitio G0W0 calculations and large-scale multi-orbital tight-binding simulations. We find that for partially fluorinated graphene, the appearance of paired fluorine atoms is more favorable than unpaired atoms. We also show that different types of structural disorder, such as carbon vacancies, fluorine vacancies, fluorine vacancy-clusters and fluorine armchair- and zigzag-clusters, will introduce different types of midgap states and extra excitations within the optical gap. Furthermore we argue that the local formation of $sp^3$ bonds upon fluorination can be distinguished from other disorder inducing mechanisms which do not destroy the $sp^2$ hybrid orbitals by measuring the polarization rotation of passing polarized light.Comment: Final version appeared in Phys. Rev. Let

Junctions of multiple quantum wires with different Luttinger parameters

Within the framework of boundary conformal field theory, we evaluate the conductance of stable fixed points of junctions of two and three quantum wires with different Luttinger parameters. For two wires, the physical properties are governed by a single effective Luttinger parameters for each of the charge and spin sectors. We present numerical density-matrix-renormalization-group calculations of the conductance of a junction of two chains of interacting spinless fermions with different interaction strengths, obtained using a recently developed method [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 226803 (2010)]. The numerical results show very good agreement with the analytical predictions. For three spinless wires, i.e., a Y junction, we analytically determine the full phase diagram, and compute all fixed-point conductances as a function of the three Luttinger parameters.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Impurities in S=1/2 Heisenberg Antiferromagnetic Chains: Consequences for Neutron Scattering and Knight Shift

Non-magnetic impurities in an S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain are studied using boundary conformal field theory techniques and finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We calculate the static structure function, S_imp(k), measured in neutron scattering and the local susceptibility, chi_i measured in Knight shift experiments. S_imp(k) becomes quite large near the antiferromagnetic wave-vector, and exhibits much stronger temperature dependence than the bulk structure function. \chi_i has a large component which alternates and increases as a function of distance from the impurity.Comment: 8 pages (revtex) + one postscript file with 6 figures. A complete postscript file with all figures + text (10pages) is available from http://fy.chalmers.se/~eggert/struct.ps or by request from [email protected] Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Coupling of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of highly divergent emission in broad-area square vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

The polarization of highly divergent modes of broad-area square vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is shown to be only marginally affected by material anisotropies but determined by an interplay of the polarization properties of the Bragg cavity mirrors and of the transverse boundary conditions. This leads to a locking of the polarization direction to the boundaries and its indeterminacy for wave vectors oriented along the diagonal. We point out a non-Poissonian character of nearest-neighbor frequency spacing distribution and the impossibility of single-wave number solutions

Analytical stripe phase solution for the Hubbard model

The self-consistent solution for the spin-charge solitonic superstructure in quasi-one-dimensional electron system is obtained in the framework of the Hubbard model as a function of a hole doping. Effects of interchain interactions on the ground state are discussed. Results are used for the interpretation of the observed stripe phases in doped antiferromagnets.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex file, no figure