Triplet-singlet relaxation in semiconductor single and double quantum dots

We study the triplet-singlet relaxation in two-electron semiconductor quantum dots. Both single dots and vertically coupled double dots are discussed. In our work, the electron-electron Coulomb interaction, which plays an important role in the electronic structure, is included. The spin mixing is caused by spin-orbit coupling which is the key to the triplet-singlet relaxation. We show that the selection rule widely used in the literature is incorrect unless near the crossing/anticrossing point in single quantum dots. The triplet/singlet relaxation in double quantum dots can be markedly changed by varying barrier height, inter-dot distance, external magnetic field and dot size.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, PRB in pres

Gate control of low-temperature spin dynamics in two-dimensional hole systems

We have investigated spin and carrier dynamics of resident holes in high-mobility two-dimensional hole systems in GaAs/Al$_{0.3}$Ga$_{0.7}$As single quantum wells at temperatures down to 400 mK. Time-resolved Faraday and Kerr rotation, as well as time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy are utilized in our study. We observe long-lived hole spin dynamics that are strongly temperature dependent, indicating that in-plane localization is crucial for hole spin coherence. By applying a gate voltage, we are able to tune the observed hole g factor by more than 50 percent. Calculations of the hole g tensor as a function of the applied bias show excellent agreement with our experimental findings.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Theory of excitons in cubic III-V semiconductor GaAs, InAs and GaN quantum dots: fine structure and spin relaxation

Exciton fine structures in cubic III-V semiconductor GaAs, InAs and GaN quantum dots are investigated systematically and the exciton spin relaxation in GaN quantum dots is calculated by first setting up the effective exciton Hamiltonian. The electron-hole exchange interaction Hamiltonian, which consists of the long- and short-range parts, is derived within the effective-mass approximation by taking into account the conduction, heavy- and light-hole bands, and especially the split-off band. The scheme applied in this work allows the description of excitons in both the strong and weak confinement regimes. The importance of treating the direct electron-hole Coulomb interaction unperturbatively is demonstrated. We show in our calculation that the light-hole and split-off bands are negligible when considering the exciton fine structure, even for GaN quantum dots, and the short-range exchange interaction is irrelevant when considering the optically active doublet splitting. We point out that the long-range exchange interaction, which is neglected in many previous works, contributes to the energy splitting between the bright and dark states, together with the short-range exchange interaction. Strong dependence of the optically active doublet splitting on the anisotropy of dot shape is reported. Large doublet splittings up to 600 $\mu$eV, and even up to several meV for small dot size with large anisotropy, is shown in GaN quantum dots. The spin relaxation between the lowest two optically active exciton states in GaN quantum dots is calculated, showing a strong dependence on the dot anisotropy. Long exciton spin relaxation time is reported in GaN quantum dots. These findings are in good agreement with the experimental results.Comment: 22+ pages, 16 figures, several typos in the published paper are corrected in re

Quantum transport in ferromagnetic Permalloy nanostructures

We studied phase coherent phenomena in mesoscopic Permalloy samples by exploring low temperature transport. Both, differential conductance as a function of bias voltage and magnetoconductance of individual wires display conductance fluctuations. Analysis of these fluctuations yields a phase coherence length of $\sim250$ nm at 25 mK as well as a $1/\sqrt{T}$ temperature dependence. To suppress conductance fluctuations by ensemble averaging we investigated low temperature transport in wire arrays and extended Permalloy films. In these samples we have measured conductance corrections which stem from electron-electron interaction (EEI) but attempts to detect signatures of weak localization were without success

Chiral Phase Transition within Effective Models with Constituent Quarks

We investigate the chiral phase transition at nonzero temperature $T$ and baryon-chemical potential $\mu_B$ within the framework of the linear sigma model and the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. For small bare quark masses we find in both models a smooth crossover transition for nonzero $T$ and $\mu_B=0$ and a first order transition for T=0 and nonzero $\mu_B$. We calculate explicitly the first order phase transition line and spinodal lines in the $(T,\mu_B)$ plane. As expected they all end in a critical point. We find that, in the linear sigma model, the sigma mass goes to zero at the critical point. This is in contrast to the NJL model, where the sigma mass, as defined in the random phase approximation, does not vanish. We also compute the adiabatic lines in the $(T,\mu_B)$ plane. Within the models studied here, the critical point does not serve as a ``focusing'' point in the adiabatic expansion.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figure

Inter- and intra-observer agreement of BI-RADS-based subjective visual estimation of amount of fibroglandular breast tissue with magnetic resonance imaging: comparison to automated quantitative assessment.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the inter-/intra-observer agreement of BI-RADS-based subjective visual estimation of the amount of fibroglandular tissue (FGT) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to investigate whether FGT assessment benefits from an automated, observer-independent, quantitative MRI measurement by comparing both approaches. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty women with no imaging abnormalities (BI-RADS 1 and 2) were included in this institutional review board (IRB)-approved prospective study. All women underwent un-enhanced breast MRI. Four radiologists independently assessed FGT with MRI by subjective visual estimation according to BI-RADS. Automated observer-independent quantitative measurement of FGT with MRI was performed using a previously described measurement system. Inter-/intra-observer agreements of qualitative and quantitative FGT measurements were assessed using Cohen's kappa (k). RESULTS: Inexperienced readers achieved moderate inter-/intra-observer agreement and experienced readers a substantial inter- and perfect intra-observer agreement for subjective visual estimation of FGT. Practice and experience reduced observer-dependency. Automated observer-independent quantitative measurement of FGT was successfully performed and revealed only fair to moderate agreement (k = 0.209-0.497) with subjective visual estimations of FGT. CONCLUSION: Subjective visual estimation of FGT with MRI shows moderate intra-/inter-observer agreement, which can be improved by practice and experience. Automated observer-independent quantitative measurements of FGT are necessary to allow a standardized risk evaluation. KEY POINTS: • Subjective FGT estimation with MRI shows moderate intra-/inter-observer agreement in inexperienced readers. • Inter-observer agreement can be improved by practice and experience. • Automated observer-independent quantitative measurements can provide reliable and standardized assessment of FGT with MRI

Baryon Structure and the Chiral Symmetry of QCD

Beyond the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking scale light and strange baryons should be considered as systems of three constituent quarks with an effective confining interaction and a chiral interaction that is mediated by the octet of Goldstone bosons (pseudoscalar mesons) between the constituent quarks.Comment: Lecture given at the 35. Universit\"atswochen f\"ur Kern- und Teilchenphysik, Schladming, Austria, March 1996 (Perturbative and Nonperturbative Aspects of Quantum Field Theory, ed. by H. Latal and W. Schweiger, Springer 1996). Paper (23 pages) with 2 figures and the required macro lamuphy

On Size and Shape of the Average Meson Fields in the Semibosonized Nambu & Jona-Lasinio Model

We consider a two-flavor Nambu \& Jona-Lasinio model in Hartree approximation involving scalar-isoscalar and pseudoscalar-isovector quark-quark interactions. Average meson fields are defined by minimizing the effective Euklidean action. The fermionic part of the action, which contains the full Dirac sea, is regularized within Schwinger's proper-time scheme. The meson fields are restricted to the chiral circle and to hedgehog configurations. The only parameter of the model is the constituent quark mass $M$ which simultaneously controls the regularization. We evaluate meson and quark fields self-consistently in dependence on the constituent quark mass. It is shown that the self-consistent fields do practically not depend on the constituent quark mass. This allows us to define a properly parameterized reference field which for physically relevant constituent masses can be used as a good approximation to the exactly calculated one. The reference field is chosen to have correct behaviour for small and large radii. To test the agreement between self-consistent and reference fields we calculate several observables like nucleon energy, mean square radius, axial-vector constant and delta-nucleon mass splitting in dependence on the constituent quark mass. The agreement is found to be very well. Figures available on request.Comment: 12 pages (LATEX), 3 figures available on request, report FZR 93-1

Manifestation of Quantum Chaos in Electronic Band Structures

We use semiconductors as an example to show that quantum chaos manifests itself in the energy spectrum of crystals. We analyze the {\it ab initio} band structure of silicon and the tight-binding spectrum of the alloy $Al_xGa_{1-x}As$, and show that some of their statistical properties obey the universal predictions of quantum chaos derived from the theory of random matrices. Also, the Bloch momenta are interpreted as external, tunable, parameters, acting on the reduced (unit cell) Hamiltonian, in close analogy to Aharonov-Bohm fluxes threading a torus. They are used in the investigation of the parametric autocorrelator of crystal velocities. We find that our results are in good agreement with the universal curves recently proposed by Simons and coworkers.Comment: 15 pages with 6 Postscript figures included, RevTex-3, CMT-ERM/940

Two-Channel Kondo Physics from Tunnelling Impurities with Triangular Symmetry

Tunnelling impurities in metals have been known for some time to have the potential for exhibiting Kondo-like physics. However previous models based on an impurity hopping between two equivalent positions have run into trouble due to the existence of relevant operators that drive the system away from the non-Fermi-liquid Kondo fixed point. In the case of an impurity hopping among positions with higher symmetry, such as triangular symmetry, it is shown here that the non-Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperatures can be generic. Using various bosonization techniques, the fixed point is shown to be {\em stable}. However, unlike the conventional two-channel Kondo (2CK) model, it has {\em four} leading irrelevant operators, implying that while the form of the singular temperature dependence of physical quantities is similar to the 2CK model, there will not be simple universal amplitude ratios. The phase diagram of this system is analyzed and a critical manifold is found to separate the non-Fermi-liquid from a conventional Fermi liquid fixed point. Generalization to higher symmetries, such as cubic, and the possibility of physical realizations with dynamic Jahn-Teller impurities is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, RevTex format, submitted to Phys. Rev.