Electronic Properties of Topological Materials: Optical Excitations in Moebius Conjugated Polymers

Electronic structures and optical excitations in Moebius conjugated polymers are studied theoretically. Periodic and Moebius boundary conditions are applied to the tight binding model of poly(para-phenylene), taking exciton effects into account. We discuss that oligomers with a few structural units are more effective than polymers for observations of effects of discrete wave numbers that are shifted by the change in boundary condition. Next, calculations of optical absorption spectra are reported. Certain components of optical absorption for an electric field perpendicular to the polymer axis mix with absorption spectra for an electric field parallel to the polymer axis. Therefore, the polarization dependences of an electric field of light enable us to detect whether conjugated polymers have the Moebius boundary.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., Vol. 74 No. 2 (February, 2005), Letter sectio

Room-temperature ballistic transport in narrow graphene strips

We investigate electron-phonon couplings, scattering rates, and mean free paths in zigzag-edge graphene strips with widths of the order of 10 nm. Our calculations for these graphene nanostrips show both the expected similarity with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and the suppression of the electron-phonon scattering due to a Dirichlet boundary condition that prohibits one major backscattering channel present in SWNTs. Low-energy acoustic phonon scattering is exponentially small at room temperature due to the large phonon wave vector required for backscattering. We find within our model that the electron-phonon mean free path is proportional to the width of the nanostrip and is approximately 70 $\mu$m for an 11-nm-wide nanostrip.Comment: 5 pages and 5 figure

Strong coupling of the cyclotron motion of surface electrons on liquid helium to a microwave cavity

The strong coupling regime is observed in a system of two-dimensional electrons whose cyclotron motion is coupled to an electro-magnetic mode in a Fabry-Perot cavity resonator. The Rabi splitting of eigenfrequencies of coupled motion is observed both in the cavity reflection spectrum and ac current of electrons, the latter probed by measuring their bolometric photoresponse. Despite the fact that similar observations of the Rabi splitting in many-particle systems have been described as a quantum-mechanical effect, we show that the observed splitting can be explained completely by a model based on the classical electrodynamics

Phenomenology of the superconducting state in Sr2RuO4

The symmetry of the superconducting phase of Sr2RuO4 is identified as the odd-parity pairing state d(k)=\hat{z}(k_x \pm i k_y) based on recent experiments. The experimental evidence for the so-called orbital dependent superconductivity leads to a single-band description of superconductivity based on spin fluctuation mechanism. It is shown that the state \hat{z}(k_x \pm i k_y) can be stabilized by the spin fluctuation feedback mechanism analogous to the A-phase in 3He and by spin-orbit coupling effects.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Proc. of the conference "Anomalous Complex Superconductors" (Crete, 1998

Rates and determinants of antibiotics and probiotics prescription to children in Asia-Pacific countries

Antibiotic therapy may have important side effects. Guidelines recommend the administration of specific probiotics to reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD). The rates and determinants of antibiotics and co-prescription of probiotics in children remain poorly known in Asia-Pacific countries, which are very heterogenous in terms of economic development, health care organization and health policies. A survey among general practitioners (GPs) and paediatricians was performed in seven countries of the Asia-Pacific area (Australia, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Singapore, and South Korea). Physicians completed an online questionnaire that explored their current habits and the determinants for prescribing antibiotics and probiotics. For the 731 physicians who completed the questionnaire (390 paediatricians and 341 GPs), 37% of all consultations for a child led to the prescription of antibiotics (ranging from 17% in Australia to 47% in India). A large majority of physicians (84%) agreed that antibiotics disrupted gut microbiota and considered probiotics an effective intervention to prevent AAD (68%). However, only 33% co-prescribed probiotics with antibiotics (ranging from 13% in Japan to 60% in South Korea). The main reasons for prescribing probiotics were previous episodes of AAD (61%), presence of diarrhoea (55%), prolonged antibiotic treatment (54%) or amoxicillin-clavulanic acid therapy (54%). Although current local guidelines recommend the use of selected probiotics in children receiving antibiotics in Asia-Pacific area, the rates of antibiotics and probiotics prescription significantly vary among countries and are deeply affected by country-related cultural and organisational issues

Spin triplet superconductivity with line nodes in Sr2RuO4

Several possible odd-parity states are listed up group-theoretically and examined in light of recent experiments on Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Those include some of the $f$-wave pairing states, {\mib d}({\mib k})\propto{\hat{\mib z}} k_xk_y(k_x + {\rm i}k_y) and {\hat{\mib z}} (k_x^2-k_y^2)(k_x + {\rm i}k_y) and other {\hat{\mib z}} (k_x + {\rm i}k_y)\cos ck_z ($c$ is the $c$-axis lattice constant) as most plausible candidates. These are time-reversal symmetry broken states and have line nodes running either vertically (the former two) or horizontally (the latter), consistent with experiments. Characterizations of these states and other possibilities are given.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

Photogeneration Dynamics of a Soliton Pair in Polyacetylene

Dynamical process of the formation of a soliton pair from a photogenerated electron-hole pair in polyacetylene is studied numerically by adopting the SSH Hamiltonian. A weak local disorder is introduced in order to trigger the formation. Starting from an initial configuration with an electron at the bottom of the conduction band and a hole at the top of the valence band, separated by the Peierls gap, the time dependent Schr${\rm \ddot{o}}$ndinger equation for the electron wave functions and the equation of motion for the lattice displacements are solved numerically. After several uniform oscillations of the lattice system at the early stage, a large distortion corresponding to a pair of a soliton and an anti-soliton develops from a point which is determined by the location and type of the disorder. In some cases, two solitons run in opposite directions, leaving breather like oscillations behind, and in other cases they form a bound state emitting acoustic lattice vibrational modes.Comment: 16 pages 7 figure

Tomography of pairing symmetry from magnetotunneling spectroscopy -- a case study for quasi-1D organic superconductors

We propose that anisotropic $p$-, $d$-, or $f$-wave pairing symmetries can be distinguished from a tunneling spectroscopy in the presence of magnetic fields, which is exemplified here for a model organic superconductor ${(TMTSF)}_{2}X$. The shape of the Fermi surface (quasi-one-dimensional in this example) affects sensitively the pairing symmetry, which in turn affects the shape (U or V) of the gap along with the presence/absence of the zero-bias peak in the tunneling in a subtle manner. Yet, an application of a magnetic field enables us to identify the symmetry, which is interpreted as an effect of the Doppler shift in Andreev bound states.Comment: 4 papegs, 4 figure

Josephson Effect between Condensates with Different Internal Structures

A general formula for Josephson current in a wide class of hybrid junctions between different internal structures is derived on the basis of the Andreev picture. The formula extends existing formulae and also enables us to analyze novel B-phase/A-phase/B-phase (BAB) junctions in superfluid helium three systems, which are accessible to experiments. It is predicted that BAB junctions will exhibit two types of current-phase relations associated with different internal symmetries. A ``pseudo-magnetic interface effect'' inherent in the system is also revealed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure