Weakly coupled s=1/2s = 1/2 quantum spin singlets in Ba3_{3}Cr2_{2}O8_{8}

Using single crystal inelastic neutron scattering with and without application of an external magnetic field and powder neutron diffraction, we have characterized magnetic interactions in Ba$_3$Cr$_2$O$_8$. Even without field, we found that there exist three singlet-to-triplet excitation modes in $(h,h,l)$ scattering plane. Our complete analysis shows that the three modes are due to spatially anisotropic interdimer interactions that are induced by local distortions of the tetrahedron of oxygens surrounding the Jahn-Teller active Cr$^{5+} (3d^1)$. The strong intradimer coupling of $J_0 = 2.38(2)$ meV and weak interdimer interactions ($|J_{\rm inter}| \leq 0.52(2)$ meV) makes Ba$_3$Cr$_2$O$_8$ a good model system for weakly-coupled $s = 1/2$ quantum spin dimers

Hermitian conjugate measurement

We propose a new class of probabilistic reversing operations on the state of a system that was disturbed by a weak measurement. It can approximately recover the original state from the disturbed state especially with an additional information gain using the Hermitian conjugate of the measurement operator. We illustrate the general scheme by considering a quantum measurement consisting of spin systems with an experimentally feasible interaction and show that the reversing operation simultaneously increases both the fidelity to the original state and the information gain with such a high probability of success that their average values increase simultaneously.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures; a paragraph is added in the introductio

Topological Winding and Unwinding in Metastable Bose-Einstein Condensates

Topological winding and unwinding in a quasi-one-dimensional metastable Bose-Einstein condensate are shown to be manipulated by changing the strength of interaction or the frequency of rotation. Exact diagonalization analysis reveals that quasidegenerate states emerge spontaneously near the transition point, allowing a smooth crossover between topologically distinct states. On a mean-field level, the transition is accompanied by formation of grey solitons, or density notches, which serve as an experimental signature of this phenomenon.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Magnetic field-induced phase transitions in a weakly coupled s = 1/2 quantum spin dimer system Ba3_{3}Cr2_{2}O8_{8}

By using bulk magnetization, electron spin resonance (ESR), heat capacity, and neutron scattering techniques, we characterize the thermodynamic and quantum phase diagrams of Ba$_3$Cr$_2$O$_8$. Our ESR measurements indicate that the low field paramagnetic ground state is a mixed state of the singlet and the S$_z$ = 0 triplet for $H \perp c$. This suggests the presence of an intra-dimer Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interaction with a DM vector perpendicular to the c-axis

Growth of ZnO nanostructures on Si by means of plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition

Crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures have been grown on Si substrates by means of Plasma Based Ion Implantation and Deposition (PIII&D) at temperature of about 300 0C and in the presence of an argon glow discharge. In the process a crucible filled with small pieces of metallic zinc plays the role of the anode of the discharge itself, being polarized by positive DC voltage of about 400V. Electrons produced by thermionic emission by an oxide cathode (Ba, Sr, Ca)O impact this crucible, causing its heating and vaporization of Zn. Partial ionization of Zn atoms takes place due to collisions with plasma particles. High negative voltage pulses (7 kv/40μs/250Hz) applied to the sample holder cause the implantation of metallic zinc into Si surface, while Zn deposition happens between pulses. After annealing at 700 0C, strong UV and various visible photoluminescence bands are observed at room temperature, as well as the presence of ZnO nanoparticles. The coated surface was characterized in detail using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. XRD indicated the presence of only ZnO peaks after annealing. The composition analysis by EDS revealed distinct Zn/O stoichiometry relation depending on the conditions of the process. AFM images showed the formation of columns in the nanoscale range. Topography viewed by SEM showed the formation of structures similar to cactus with nanothorns. Depth analysis performed by XPS indicated an increase of concentration of metallic Zn with increasing depth and the exclusive presence of ZnO for outer regions. PIII&D allowed to growing nanostructures of ZnO on Si without the need of a buffer layer

A class of Heisenberg models with the orthogonal dimer ground states

Extensions of the Shastry-Sutherland model are possible in various ways. In particular, it is possible to construct a natural model in three dimensions which has the exact dimer ground state. Recently found spin gap system SrCu_2(BO_3)_2 has this structure. The exchange constants between the layers is expected to be smaller than the intra-layer couplings. However, the exactness of the dimer state for the three dimensional structure is important to understand why magnetic properties of SrCu_2(BO_3)_2 are described well by the two dimensional model.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Hyperbolic Deformation Applied to S = 1 Spin Chains - Scaling Relation in Excitation Energy -

We investigate excitation energies of hyperbolically deformed S = 1 spin chains, which are specified by the local energy scale f_j^{~} = \cosh j \lambda, where j is the lattice index and \lambda is the deformation parameter. The elementary excitation is well described by a quasiparticle hopping model, which is also expressed in the form of hyperbolic deformation. It is possible to estimate the excitation gap \Delta in the uniform limit \lambda \rightarrow 0, by means of a finite size scaling with respect to the system size N and the deformation parameter \lambda.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure