525 research outputs found
Raman scattering in a two-dimensional electron gas: Boltzmann equation approach
The inelastic light scattering in a 2-d electron gas is studied theoretically
using the Boltzmann equation techniques. Electron-hole excitations produce the
Raman spectrum essentially different from the one predicted for the 3-d case.
In the clean limit it has the form of a strong non-symmetric resonance due to
the square root singularity at the electron-hole frequency while
in the opposite dirty limit the usual Lorentzian shape of the cross section is
reestablished. The effects of electromagnetic field are considered
self-consistently and the contribution from collective plasmon modes is found.
It is shown that unlike 3-d metals where plasmon excitations are unobservable
(because of very large required transfered frequencies), the two-dimensional
electron system gives rise to a low-frequency ()
plasmon peak. A measurement of the width of this peak can provide data on the
magnitude of the electron scattering rate.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev. B 59 (1999
Mesoscopic Spin-Hall Effect in 2D electron systems with smooth boundaries
Spin-Hall effect in ballistic 2D electron gas with Rashba-type spin-orbit
coupling and smooth edge confinement is studied. We predict that the interplay
of semiclassical electron motion and quantum dynamics of spins leads to several
distinct features in spin density along the edge that originate from
accumulation of turning points from many classical trajectories. Strong peak is
found near a point of the vanishing of electron Fermi velocity in the lower
spin-split subband. It is followed by a strip of negative spin density that
extends until the crossing of the local Fermi energy with the degeneracy point
where the two spin subbands intersect. Beyond this crossing there is a wide
region of a smooth positive spin density. The total amount of spin accumulated
in each of these features exceeds greatly the net spin across the entire edge.
The features become more pronounced for shallower boundary potentials,
controlled by gating in typical experimental setups.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, published versio
Infrared absorption and Raman scattering on coupled plasmon--phonon modes in superlattices
We consider theoretically a superlattice formed by thin conducting layers
separated spatially between insulating layers. The dispersion of two coupled
phonon-plasmon modes of the system is analyzed by using Maxwell's equations,
with the influence of retardation included. Both transmission for the finite
plate as well as absorption for the semi-infinite superlattice in the infrared
are calculated. Reflectance minima are determined by the longitudinal and
transverse phonon frequencies in the insulating layers and by the density-state
singularities of the coupled modes. We evaluate also the Raman cross section
from the semi-infinite superlattice.Comment: 20 pages,14 figure
Optical Conductivity of a Two-Dimensional Electron Liquid with Spin-Orbit Interaction
The interplay of electron-electron interactions and spin-orbit coupling leads
to a new contribution to the homogeneous optical conductivity of the electron
liquid. The latter is known to be insensitive to many-body effects for a
conventional electron system with parabolic dispersion. The parabolic spectrum
has its origin in the Galilean invariance which is broken by spin-orbit
coupling. This opens up a possibility for the optical conductivity to probe
electron-electron interactions. We analyze the interplay of interactions and
spin-orbit coupling and obtain optical conductivity beyond RPA.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; final version, fig. 3 added, minor change
Spin current and polarization in impure 2D electron systems with spin-orbit coupling
We derive the transport equations for two-dimensional electron systems with
spin-orbit interaction and short-range spin-independent disorder. In the limit
of slow spatial variations of the electron distribution we obtain coupled
diffusion equations for the electron density and spin. Using these equations we
calculate electric-field induced spin accumulation in a finite-size sample for
arbitrary ratio between spin-orbit energy splitting and elastic scattering
rate. We demonstrate that the spin-Hall conductivity vanishes in an infinite
system independent of this ratio.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; revised version according to referee's commment
Small-angle impurity scattering and the spin Hall conductivity in 2D systems
An arbitrarily small concentration of impurities can affect the spin Hall
conductivity in a two-dimensional semiconductor system. We develop a
Boltzmann-like equation that can be used for impurity scattering with arbitrary
angular dependence, and for arbitrary angular dependence of the spin-orbit
field b(k) around the Fermi surface. For a model applicable to a 2D hole system
in GaAs, if the impurity scattering is not isotropic, we find that the spin
Hall conductivity depends on the derivative of b with respect to the energy and
on deviations from a parabolic band structure, as well as on the angular
dependence of the scattering. In principle, the resulting spin Hall
conductivity can be larger or smaller than the ``intrinsic value'', and can
have opposite sign. In the limit of small angle scattering, in a model
appropriate for small hole concentrations, where the band is parabolic and b ~
k^3, the spin Hall conductivity has opposite sign from the intrinsic value, and
has larger magnitude. Our analysis assumes that the spin-orbit splitting
and the transport scattering rate tau^{-1} are both small compared to the Fermi
energy, but the method is valid for for arbitrary value of b*tau.Comment: Errors corrected, references adde
Competition between excitonic gap generation and disorder scattering in graphene
We study the disorder effect on the excitonic gap generation caused by strong
Coulomb interaction in graphene. By solving the self-consistently coupled
equations of dynamical fermion gap and disorder scattering rate ,
we found a critical line on the plane of interaction strength and
disorder strength . The phase diagram is divided into two regions: in the
region with large and small , and ; in the
other region, and for nonzero . In particular, there
is no coexistence of finite fermion gap and finite scattering rate. These
results imply a strong competition between excitonic gap generation and
disorder scattering. This conclusion does not change when an additional contact
four-fermion interaction is included. For sufficiently large , the
growing disorder may drive a quantum phase transition from an excitonic
insulator to a metal.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
Analysis of Granular Packing Structure by Scattering of THz Radiation
Scattering methods are widespread used to characterize the structure and
constituents of matter on small length scales. This motivates this introductory
text on identifying prospective approaches to scattering-based methods for
granular media. A survey to light scattering by particles and particle
ensembles is given. It is elaborated why the established scattering methods
using X-rays and visible light cannot in general be transferred to granular
media. Spectroscopic measurements using Terahertz radiation are highlighted as
they to probe the scattering properties of granular media, which are sensitive
to the packing structure. Experimental details to optimize spectrometer for
measurements on granular media are discussed. We perform transmission
measurements on static and agitated granular media using Fourier-transform
spectroscopy at the THz beamline of the BessyII storage ring. The measurements
demonstrate the potential to evaluate degrees of order in the media and to
track transient structural states in agitated bulk granular media.Comment: 12 Pages, 9 Figures, 56 Reference
Chaotic hysteresis in an adiabatically oscillating double well
We consider the motion of a damped particle in a potential oscillating slowly
between a simple and a double well. The system displays hysteresis effects
which can be of periodic or chaotic type. We explain this behaviour by
computing an analytic expression of a Poincar'e map.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 3 PS figs, uses psfig.sty. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Letters. PS file also available at
http://dpwww.epfl.ch/instituts/ipt/berglund.htm
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