Spin transverse force and quantum transverse transport

We present a brief review on spin transverse force, which exerts on the spin as the electron is moving in an electric field. This force, analogue to the Lorentz force on electron charge, is perpendicular to the electric field and spin current carried by the electron. The force stems from the spin-orbit coupling of electrons as a relativistic quantum effect, and could be used to understand the Zitterbewegung of electron wave packet and the quantum transverse transport of electron in a heuristic way.Comment: 4 pages, manuscript of invited talk on IAS Workshop on Spintronics at Nanyang Techological University, Singapore, 200

Spin transverse force and intrinsic quantum transverse transport

The spin-orbit coupling may generate spin transverse force on moving electron spin, which gives a heuristic picture for the quantum transverse transport of electron. A relation between the spin and anomalous Hall conductance and spin force was established, and applied to several systems. It was predicted that the sign change of anomalous Hall conductance can occur in diluted magnetic semiconductors of narrow band and can be applied to identify intrinsic mechanism experimentally

Theory of magnetoelectric photocurrent generated by direct interband transitions in semiconductor quantum well

A linearly polarized light normally incident on a semiconductor quantum well with spin-orbit coupling may generate pure spin current via direct interband optical transition. An electric photocurrent can be extracted from the pure spin current when an in-plane magnetic field is applied, which has been recently observed in the InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well [Dai et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 246601 (2010)]. Here we present a theoretical study of this magnetoelectric photocurrent effect associated with the interband transition. By employing the density matrix formalism, we show that the photoexcited carrier density has an anisotropic distribution in k space, strongly dependent on the orientation of the electron wavevector and the polarization of the light. This anisotropy provides an intuitive picture of the observed dependence of the photocurrent on the magnetic field and the polarization of the light. We also show that the ratio of the pure spin photocurrent to the magnetoelectric photocurrent is approximately equal to the ratio of the kinetic energy to the Zeeman energy, which enables us to estimate the magnitude of the pure spin photocurrent. The photocurrent density calculated with the help of an anisotropic Rashba model and the Kohn-Luttinger model can produce all three terms in the fitting formula for measured current, with comparable order of magnitude, but discrepancies are still present and further investigation is needed.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

Crossover from Majorana edge to end states in quasi-one-dimensional p-wave superconductors

In a recent work [Potter and Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 227003 (2010)], it was demonstrated by means of numerical diagonalization that the Majorana end states can be localized at opposite ends of a sample of an ideal spinless p-wave superconductor with the strip geometry beyond the strict one-dimensional limit. Here we reexamine this issue, and study the topological quantum phase transition in the same system. We give the phase diagrams of the presence of Majorana end modes by using of $Z_{2}$ topological index. It is found that the topological property of a strip geometry will change in an oscillatory way with respect of the sample width.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Spin-bias driven magnetization reversal and nondestructive detection in a single molecular magnet

The magnetization reversal in a single molecular magnet (SMM) weakly coupled to an electrode with spin-dependent splitting of chemical potentials (spin bias) is theoretically investigated by means of the rate equation. A microscopic mechanism for the reversal is demonstrated by the avalanche dynamics at the reversal point. The magnetization as a function of the spin bias shows hysteresis loops tunable by the gate voltage and varying with temperature. The nondestructive measurement to the orientation of giant spin in SMM is presented by measuring the fully polarized electric current in the response to a small spin bias. For Mn$_{12}$ac molecule, its small transverse anisotropy only slightly violates the results above. The situation when there is an angle between the easy axis of the SMM and the spin quantization direction of the electrode is also studied.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Exposure of the Hidden Anti-Ferromagnetism in Paramagnetic CdSe:Mn Nanocrystals

We present theoretical and experimental investigations of the magnetism of paramagnetic semiconductor CdSe:Mn nanocrystals and propose an efficient approach to the exposure and analysis of the underlying anti-ferromagnetic interactions between magnetic ions therein. A key advance made here is the build-up of an analysis method with the exploitation of group theory technique that allows us to distinguish the anti-ferromagnetic interactions between aggregative Mn2+ ions from the overall pronounced paramagnetism of magnetic ion doped semiconductor nanocrystals. By using the method, we clearly reveal and identify the signatures of anti-ferromagnetism from the measured temperature dependent magnetisms, and furthermore determine the average number of Mn2+ ions and the fraction of aggregative ones in the measured CdSe:Mn nanocrystals.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure