Optical bistability and hysteresis of hybrid metal-semiconductor nano-dimer

Optical response of an artificial composite nano-dimer comprising a semiconductor quantum dot and a metal nanosphere is analyzed theoretically. We show that internal degrees of freedom of the system can manifest bistability and optical hysteresis as functions of the incident field intensity. We argue that these effects can be observed for the real world systems, such as a CdSe quantum dot and an Au nanoparticle hybrids. These properties can be revealed by measuring the optical hysteresis of the Rayleigh scattering. We show also that the total dipole moment of the system can be switched abruptly between its two stable states by small changes in the excitation intensity. The latter promises various applications in the field of all-optical processing at nanoscale, the most underlying of them being the volatile optical memory.Comment: 6 two column pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Self-organized circular flow of classical point particles

We consider newtonian dynamics of $N$ charged particles on the circle with nearest neigbour interaction with Coulomb repulsive potential $r^{-1}$ . Also there is an external accelerating force which is nonzero only on a small part of the circle. We construct homogeneous solutions where the velocities of all particles are approximately equal and their density is approximately uniform. This gives a qualitative mathematical model for some features of the direct electric current (DC), in agreement with a suggestion by R. Feynman

Environment effects on the electric conductivity of the DNA

We present a theoretical analysis of the environment effects on charge transport in double-stranded synthetic poly(G)-poly(C) DNA molecules attached to two ideal leads. Coupling of the DNA to the environment results in two effects: (i) localization of carrier functions due to the static disorder and (ii) phonon-induced scattering of the carrier between these localized states, resulting in hopping conductivity. A nonlinear Pauli master equation for populations of localized states is used to describe the hopping transport and calculate the electric current as a function of the applied bias. We demonstrate that, although the electronic gap in the density of states shrinks as the disorder increases, the voltage gap in the $I-V$ characteristics becomes wider. Simple physical explanation of this effect is provided.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Monitoring the localization-delocalization transition within a 1D model with non-random long-range interaction

We consider a two-parameter one-dimensional Hamiltonian with uncorrelated diagonal disorder and {\it non-random} long-range inter-site interaction $J_{mn}=J/|m-n|^{\mu}$. The model is critical at $1<\mu<3/2$ and reveals the localization-delocalization transition with respect to the disorder magnitude. To detect the transition we analyze level and wave function statistics. It is demonstrated also that in the marginal case ($\mu = 3/2$) all states are localized.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Thermal broadening of the J-band in disordered linear molecular aggregates: A theoretical study

We theoretically study the temperature dependence of the J-band width in disordered linear molecular aggregates, caused by dephasing of the exciton states due to scattering on vibrations of the host matrix. In particular, we consider inelastic one- and two-phonon scattering between different exciton states (energy-relaxation-induced dephasing), as well as elastic two-phonon scattering of the excitons (pure dephasing). The exciton states follow from numerical diagonalization of a Frenkel Hamiltonian with diagonal disorder; the scattering rates between them are obtained using the Fermi Golden Rule. A Debye-like model for the one- and two-phonon spectral densities is used in the calculations. We find that, owing to the disorder, the dephasing rates of the individual exciton states are distributed over a wide range of values. We also demonstrate that the dominant channel of two-phonon scattering is not the elastic one, as is often tacitly assumed, but rather comes from a similar two-phonon inelastic scattering process. In order to study the temperature dependence of the J-band width, we simulate the absorption spectrum, accounting for the dephasing induced broadening of the exciton states. We find a power-law (T^p) temperature scaling of the effective homogeneous width, with an exponent p that depends on the shape of the spectral density of host vibrations. In particular, for a Debye model of vibrations, we find p ~ 4, which is in good agreement with experimental data on J-aggregates of pseudoisocyanine [J. Phys. Chem. A 101, 7977 (1997)].Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure