Transmission, reflection and localization in a random medium with absorption or gain

We study reflection and transmission of waves in a random tight-binding system with absorption or gain for weak disorder, using a scattering matrix formalism. Our aim is to discuss analytically the effects of absorption or gain on the statistics of wave transport. Treating the effects of absorption or gain exactly in the limit of no disorder, allows us to identify short- and long lengths regimes relative to absorption- or gain lengths, where the effects of absorption/gain on statistical properties are essentially different. In the long-lengths regime we find that a weak absorption or a weak gain induce identical statistical corrections in the inverse localization length, but lead to different corrections in the mean reflection coefficient. In contrast, a strong absorption or a strong gain strongly suppress the effect of disorder in identical ways (to leading order), both in the localization length and in the mean reflection coefficient.Comment: Important revisions and expansion caused by a crucial property of $\hat Q

Influence of external magnetic fields on growth of alloy nanoclusters

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations are performed to study the influence of external magnetic fields on the growth of magnetic fcc binary alloy nanoclusters with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The underlying kinetic model is designed to describe essential structural and magnetic properties of CoPt_3-type clusters grown on a weakly interacting substrate through molecular beam epitaxy. The results suggest that perpendicular magnetic anisotropy can be enhanced when the field is applied during growth. For equilibrium bulk systems a significant shift of the onset temperature for L1_2 ordering is found, in agreement with predictions from Landau theory. Stronger field induced effects can be expected for magnetic fcc-alloys undergoing L1_0 ordering.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Mean Free Path in Disordered Multichannel Tight-Binding Wires

Transport in a disordered tight-binding wire involves a collection of different mean free paths resulting from the distinct fermi points, which correspond to the various scattering channels of the wire. The generalization of Thouless' relation between the mean free path and the localization length $\xi$ permits to define an average channel mean free path,$\bar\ell$, such that $\xi\sim N\bar\ell$ in an $N$-channel system. The averaged mean free path $\bar\ell$ is expressed exactly in terms of the total reflection coefficient of the wire and compared with the mean free path defined in the maximum entropy approach

Exact transmission moments in one-dimensional weak localization and single-parameter scaling

We obtain for the first time the expressions for the mean and the variance of the transmission coefficient for an Anderson chain in the weak localization regime, using exact expansions of the complex transmission- and reflection coefficients to fourth order in the weakly disordered site energies. These results confirm the validity of single-parameter scaling theory in a domain where the higher transmission cumulants may be neglected. We compare our results with earlier results for transmission cumulants in the weak localization domain based on the phase randomization hypothesis

Conductance and localization in disordered wires: role of evanescent states

This paper extends an earlier analytical scattering matrix treatment of conductance and localization in coupled two- and three Anderson chain systems for weak disorder when evanescent states are present at the Fermi level. Such states exist typically when the interchain coupling exceeds the width of propagating energy bands associated with the various transverse eigenvalues of the coupled tight-binding systems. We calculate reflection- and transmission coefficients in cases where, besides propagating states, one or two evanescent states are available at the Fermi level for elastic scattering of electrons by the disordered systems. We observe important qualitative changes in these coefficients and in the related localization lengths due to ineffectiveness of the evanescent modes for transmission and reflection in the various scattering channels. In particular, the localization lengths are generally significantly larger than the values obtained when evanescent modes are absent. Effects associated with disorder mediated coupling between propagating and evanescent modes are shown to be suppressed by quantum interference effects, in lowest order for weak disorder

Getting the User’s Attention

CAN WE DELIVER INFORMATION the way our users want it--cheap, fast, and good? According to Stewart Bodner, associate chief librarian of the New York Public Library, that\u27s what users desire and what librarians and vendors must provide. But at least in the public library world, convenience trumps quality every time, Bodner went on to tell the audience at the annual meeting of NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) in Philadelphia this February. NFAIS brought together company representatives and librarians to brainstorm ways to redirect users away from Internet search engines and the open web and toward high-quality information

Absence of Fragmentation in Two-Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensation

We investigate the possibility that the BEC-like phenomena recently detected on two-dimensional finite trapped systems consist of fragmented condensates. We derive and diagonalize the one-body density matrix of a two-dimensional isotropically trapped Bose gas at finite temperature. For the ideal gas, the procedure reproduces the exact harmonic-oscillator eigenfunctions and the Bose distribution. We use a new collocation-minimization method to study the interacting gas in the Hartree-Fock approximation and obtain a ground-state wavefunction and condensate fraction consistent with those obtained by other methods. The populations of the next few eigenstates increase at the expense of the ground state but continue to be negligible; this supports the conclusion that two-dimensional BEC is into a single state.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur