Optical phase conjugation with less than a photon per degree of freedom

We demonstrate experimentally that optical phase conjugation can be used to focus light through strongly scattering media even when far less than a photon per optical degree of freedom is detected. We found that the best achievable intensity contrast is equal to the total number of detected photons, as long as the resolution of the system is high enough. Our results demonstrate that phase conjugation can be used even when the photon budget is extremely low, such as in high-speed focusing through dynamic media, or imaging deep inside tissue

Surface roughness and interfacial slip boundary condition for quartz crystal microbalances

The response of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is considered using a wave equation for the substrate and the Navier-Stokes equations for a finite liquid layer under a slip boundary condition. It is shown that when the slip length to shear wave penetration depth is small, the first order effect of slip is only present in the frequency response. Importantly, in this approximation the frequency response satisfies an additivity relation with a net response equal to a Kanazawa liquid term plus an additional Sauerbrey "rigid" liquid mass. For the slip length to result in an enhanced frequency decrease compared to a no-slip boundary condition, it is shown that the slip length must be negative so that the slip plane is located on the liquid side of the interface. It is argued that the physical application of such a negative slip length could be to the liquid phase response of a QCM with a completely wetted rough surface. Effectively, the model recovers the starting assumption of additivity used in the trapped mass model for the liquid phase response of a QCM having a rough surface. When applying the slip boundary condition to the rough surface problem, slip is not at a molecular level, but is a formal hydrodynamic boundary condition which relates the response of the QCM to that expected from a QCM with a smooth surface. Finally, possible interpretations of the results in terms of acoustic reflectivity are developed and the potential limitations of the additivity result should vapour trapping occur are discussed

Decoherence of coupled electron spins via nuclear spin dynamics in quantum dots

In double quantum dots, the exchange interaction between two electron spins renormalizes the excitation energy of pair-flips in the nuclear spin bath, which in turn modifies the non-Markovian bath dynamics. As the energy renormalization varies with the Overhauser field mismatch between the quantum dots, the electron singlet-triplet decoherence resulting from the bath dynamics depends on sampling of nuclear spin states from an ensemble, leading to the transition from exponential decoherence in single-sample dynamics to power-law decay under ensemble averaging. In contrast, the decoherence of a single electron spin in one dot is essentially the same for different choices of the nuclear spin configuration.Comment: 4 pages 3 figure

Random walk approach to spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling

We introduce and solve a semi-classical random walk (RW) model that describes the dynamics of spin polarization waves in zinc-blende semiconductor quantum wells. We derive the dispersion relations for these waves, including the Rashba, linear and cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions, as well as the effects of an electric field applied parallel to the spin polarization wavevector. In agreement with fully quantum mechanical calculations [Kleinert and Bryksin, Phys. Rev. B \textbf{76}, 205326 (2007)], the RW approach predicts that spin waves acquire a phase velocity in the presence of the field that crosses zero at a nonzero wavevector, $q_0$. In addition, we show that the spin-wave decay rate is independent of field at $q_0$ but increases as $(q-q_0)^2$ for $q\neq q_0$. These predictions can be tested experimentally by suitable transient spin grating experiments

Energy and Momentum Distributions of a (2+1)-dimensional black hole background

Using Einstein, Landau-Lifshitz, Papapetrou and Weinberg energy-momentum complexes we explicitly evaluate the energy and momentum distributions associated with a non-static and circularly symmetric three-dimensional spacetime. The gravitational background under study is an exact solution of the Einstein's equations in the presence of a cosmological constant and a null fluid. It can be regarded as the three-dimensional analogue of the Vaidya metric and represents a non-static spinless (2+1)-dimensional black hole with an outflux of null radiation. All four above-mentioned prescriptions give exactly the same energy and momentum distributions for the specific black hole background. Therefore, the results obtained here provide evidence in support of the claim that for a given gravitational background, different energy-momentum complexes can give identical results in three dimensions. Furthermore, in the limit of zero cosmological constant the results presented here reproduce the results obtained by Virbhadra who utilized the Landau-Lifshitz energy-momentum complex for the same (2+1)-dimensional black hole background in the absence of a cosmological constant.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, v3: references added, to appear in Int.J.Mod.Phys.

HRTEM study of a new non-stoichiometric BaTiO(3-δ) structure

BaTiO3-based multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) with Ni internal electrodes are co-fired in reducing atmospheres to avoid oxidation of the electrode. Although dielectric materials are doped by acceptor, donor and amphoteric dopants to minimize the oxygen vacancy content, there is still a large concentration of oxygen vacancies that are accommodated in the BaTiO3 active layers. In general, ABO3 perovskites demonstrates a strong ability to accommodate the oxygen vacancies and maintain a regular pseudo-cubic structure. Oxygen deficient barium titanate can be transformed to a hexagonal polymorph (h-BT) at high temperatures1,2. In this paper, we report the new modulated and long range ordered structures of non-stoichiometric BaTiO3-δ that are observed in the electrically degraded Ni-BaTiO3 MLCCs at low temperature

Description of spin transport and precession in spin-orbit coupling systems and a general equation of continuity

By generalizing the usual current density to a matrix with respect to spin variables, a general equation of continuity satisfied by the density matrix and current density matrix has been derived. This equation holds in arbitrary spin-orbit coupling systems as long as its Hamiltonian can be expressed in terms of a power series in momentum. Thereby, the expressions of the current density matrix and a torque density matrix are obtained. The current density matrix completely describes both the usual current and spin current as well; while the torque density matrix describes the spin precession caused by a total effective magnetic field, which may include a realistic and an effective one due to the spin-orbit coupling. In contrast to the conventional definition of spin current, this expression contains an additional term if the Hamiltonian includes nonlinear spin-orbit couplings. Moreover, if the degree of the full Hamiltonian $\geq3$, then the particle current must also be modified in order to satisfy the local conservation law of number.Comment: 9 page

Spin torque ferromagnetic resonance with magnetic field modulation

We demonstrate a technique of broadband spin torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) with magnetic field modulation for measurements of spin wave properties in magnetic nanostructures. This technique gives great improvement in sensitivity over the conventional ST-FMR measurements, and application of this technique to nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) reveals a rich spectrum of standing spin wave eigenmodes. Comparison of the ST-FMR measurements with micromagnetic simulations of the spin wave spectrum allows us to explain the character of low-frequency magnetic excitations in nanoscale MTJs.Comment: Also see: http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/krivorotovgroup