Coherent manipulation of charge qubits in double quantum dots

The coherent time evolution of electrons in double quantum dots induced by fast bias-voltage switches is studied theoretically. As it was shown experimentally, such driven double quantum dots are potential devices for controlled manipulation of charge qubits. By numerically solving a quantum master equation we obtain the energy- and time-resolved electron transfer through the device which resembles the measured data. The observed oscillations are found to depend on the level offset of the two dots during the manipulation and, most surprisingly, also the on initialization stage. By means of an analytical expression, obtained from a large-bias model, we can understand the prominent features of these oscillations seen in both the experimental data and the numerical results. These findings strengthen the common interpretation in terms of a coherent transfer of electrons between the dots.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Factors affecting pre-failure instability of sand under plane-strain conditions

Experimental data obtained from a plane-strain appara- tus are presented in this paper to show that a pre-failure instability in the form of a rapid and sustained increase in strain rate can occur for both contractive and dilative sand under fully drained conditions. However, this type of instability is different from the runaway type of instability observed under undrained conditions, and has therefore been called conditional instability. Despite the differences, the conditions for both types of instability are the same for contractive sand. There are also other factors that affect the pre-failure instability of sand ob- served in the laboratory. These include the stress ratio, void ratio, sand state, load control mode and reduction rate of the effective confining stress. In this paper, these factors are discussed and analysed using experimental data obtained from undrained instability (or creep) tests and constant shear drained (CSD) tests carried out under plane-strain conditions

Full coherent control of nuclear spins in an optically pumped single quantum dot

Highly polarized nuclear spins within a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) induce effective magnetic (Overhauser) fields of up to several Tesla acting on the electron spin or up to a few hundred mT for the hole spin. Recently this has been recognized as a resource for intrinsic control of QD-based spin quantum bits. However, only static long-lived Overhauser fields could be used. Here we demonstrate fast redirection on the microsecond time-scale of Overhauser fields of the order of 0.5 T experienced by a single electron spin in an optically pumped GaAs quantum dot. This has been achieved using full coherent control of an ensemble of 10^3-10^4 optically polarized nuclear spins by sequences of short radio-frequency (rf) pulses. These results open the way to a new class of experiments using rf techniques to achieve highly-correlated nuclear spins in quantum dots, such as adiabatic demagnetization in the rotating frame leading to sub-micro K nuclear spin temperatures, rapid adiabatic passage, and spin squeezing

Nanosecond spin lifetimes in single- and few-layer graphene-hBN heterostructures at room temperature

We present a new fabrication method of graphene spin-valve devices which yields enhanced spin and charge transport properties by improving both the electrode-to-graphene and graphene-to-substrate interface. First, we prepare Co/MgO spin injection electrodes onto Si$^{++}$/SiO$_2$. Thereafter, we mechanically transfer a graphene-hBN heterostructure onto the prepatterned electrodes. We show that room temperature spin transport in single-, bi- and trilayer graphene devices exhibit nanosecond spin lifetimes with spin diffusion lengths reaching 10$\mu$m combined with carrier mobilities exceeding 20,000 cm$^2$/Vs.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Properties of small molecular drug loading and diffusion in a fluorinated PEG hydrogel studied by ^1H molecular diffusion NMR and ^(19)F spin diffusion NMR

R_f-PEG (fluoroalkyl double-ended poly(ethylene glycol)) hydrogel is potentially useful as a drug delivery depot due to its advanced properties of sol–gel two-phase coexistence and low surface erosion. In this study, ^1H molecular diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ^(19)F spin diffusion NMR were used to probe the drug loading and diffusion properties of the R_f-PEG hydrogel for small anticancer drugs, 5-fluorouracil (FU) and its hydrophobic analog, 1,3-dimethyl-5-fluorouracil (DMFU). It was found that FU has a larger apparent diffusion coefficient than that of DMFU, and the diffusion of the latter was more hindered. The result of ^(19)F spin diffusion NMR for the corresponding freeze-dried samples indicates that a larger portion of DMFU resided in the R_f core/IPDU intermediate-layer region (where IPDU refers to isophorone diurethane, as a linker to interconnect the R_f group and the PEG chain) than that of FU while the opposite is true in the PEG–water phase. To understand the experimental data, a diffusion model was proposed to include: (1) hindered diffusion of the drug molecules in the R_f core/IPDU-intermediate-layer region; (2) relatively free diffusion of the drug molecules in the PEG-water phase (or region); and (3) diffusive exchange of the probe molecules between the above two regions. This study also shows that molecular diffusion NMR combined with spin diffusion NMR is useful in studying the drug loading and diffusion properties in hydrogels for the purpose of drug delivery applications

Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications

Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties. Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.Comment: invited review, 36 figures, 900+ references; minor stylistic changes from the published versio

The Chemical Evolution Carousel of Spiral Galaxies : Azimuthal Variations of Oxygen Abundance in NGC1365

19 pages, 13 figures. Accepted to ApJThe spatial distribution of oxygen in the interstellar medium of galaxies is the key to understanding how efficiently metals that are synthesized in massive stars can be redistributed across a galaxy. We present here a case study in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC1365 using 3D optical data obtained in the TYPHOON Program. We find systematic azimuthal variations of the HII region oxygen abundance imprinted on a negative radial gradient. The 0.2 dex azimuthal variations occur over a wide radial range of 0.3 to 0.7 R25 and peak at the two spiral arms in NGC1365. We show that the azimuthal variations can be explained by two physical processes: gas undergoes localized, sub-kpc scale self-enrichment when orbiting in the inter-arm region, and experiences efficient, kpc scale mixing-induced dilution when spiral density waves pass through. We construct a simple chemical evolution model to quantitatively test this picture and find that our toy model can reproduce the observations. This result suggests that the observed abundance variations in NGC1365 are a snapshot of the dynamical local enrichment of oxygen modulated by spiral-driven, periodic mixing and dilution.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Muon-Spin Rotation Spectra in the Mixed Phase of High-T_c Superconductors : Thermal Fluctuations and Disorder Effects

We study muon-spin rotation (muSR) spectra in the mixed phase of highly anisotropic layered superconductors, specifically Bi_2+xSr_2-xCaCu_2O_8+delta (BSCCO), by modeling the fluid and solid phases of pancake vortices using liquid-state and density functional methods. The role of thermal fluctuations in causing motional narrowing of muSR lineshapes is quantified in terms of a first-principles theory of the flux-lattice melting transition. The effects of random point pinning are investigated using a replica treatment of liquid state correlations and a replicated density functional theory. Our results indicate that motional narrowing in the pure system, although substantial, cannot account for the remarkably small linewidths obtained experimentally at relatively high fields and low temperatures. We find that satisfactory agreement with the muSR data for BSCCO in this regime can be obtained through the ansatz that this ``phase'' is characterized by frozen short-range positional correlations reflecting the structure of the liquid just above the melting transition. This proposal is consistent with recent suggestions of a ``pinned liquid'' or ``glassy'' state of pancake vortices in the presence of pinning disorder. Our results for the high-temperature liquid phase indicate that measurable linewidths may be obtained in this phase as a consequence of density inhomogeneities induced by the pinning disorder. The results presented here comprise a unified, first-principles theoretical treatment of muSR spectra in highly anisotropic layered superconductors in terms of a controlled set of approximations.Comment: 50 pages Latex file, including 10 postscript figure

Decay of Rabi oscillations induced by magnetic dipole interactions in diluted paramagnetic solids

Decay of Rabi oscillations of equivalent spins diluted in diamagnetic solid matrix and coupled by magnetic dipole interactions is studied. It is shown that these interactions result in random shifts of spin transient nutation frequencies and thus lead to the decay of the transient signal. Averaging over random spatial distribution of spins within the solid and over their spectral positions within magnetic resonance line, we obtain analytical expressions for the decay of Rabi oscillations. The rate of the decay in the case when the half-width of magnetic resonance line exceeds Rabi frequency is found to depend on the intensity of resonant microwave field and on the spin concentration. The results are compared with the literature data for E1' centers in glassy silica and [AlO4] centers in quartz.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

NMR Study of Disordered Inclusions in the Quenched Solid Helium

Phase structure of rapidly quenched solid helium samples is studied by the NMR technique. The pulse NMR method is used for measurements of spin-lattice $T_1$ and spin-spin $T_2$ relaxation times and spin diffusion coefficient $D$ for all coexisting phases. It was found that quenched samples are two-phase systems consisting of the hcp matrix and some inclusions which are characterized by $D$ and $T_2$ values close to those in liquid phase. Such liquid-like inclusions undergo a spontaneous transition to a new state with anomalously short $T_2$ times. It is found that inclusions observed in both the states disappear on careful annealing near the melting curve. It is assumed that the liquid-like inclusions transform into a new state - a glass or a crystal with a large number of dislocations. These disordered inclusions may be responsible for the anomalous phenomena observed in supersolid region.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure