Effects of classical stochastic webs on the quantum dynamics of cold atomic gases in a moving optical lattice

We introduce and investigate a system that uses temporal resonance-induced phase-space pathways to create strong coupling between an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate and a traveling optical lattice potential. We show that these pathways thread both the classical and quantum phase space of the atom cloud, even when the optical lattice potential is arbitrarily weak. The topology of the pathways, which form weblike patterns, can by controlled by changing the amplitude and period of the optical lattice. In turn, this control can be used to increase and limit the BEC’s center-of-mass kinetic energy to prespecified values. Surprisingly, the strength of the atom-lattice interaction and resulting BEC heating of the center-of-mass motion is enhanced by the repulsive interatomic interactions

Graphene-hexagonal boron nitride resonant tunneling diodes as high-frequency oscillators

We assess the potential of two-terminal graphene-hexagonal boron nitride-graphene resonant tunneling diodes as high-frequency oscillators, using self-consistent quantum transport and electrostatic simulations to determine the time-dependent response of the diodes in a resonant circuit. We quantify how the frequency and power of the current oscillations depend on the diode and circuit parameters including the doping of the graphene electrodes, device geometry, alignment of the graphene lattices, and the circuit impedances. Our results indicate that current oscillations with frequencies of up to several hundred GHz should be achievable

Bifurcations and chaos in semiconductor superlattices with a tilted magnetic field

We study the effects of dissipation on electron transport in a semiconductor superlattice with an applied bias voltage and a magnetic field that is tilted relative to the superlattice axis. In previous work, we showed that, although the applied fields are stationary, they act like a terahertz plane wave, which strongly couples the Bloch and cyclotron motion of electrons within the lowest miniband. As a consequence, the electrons exhibit a unique type of Hamiltonian chaos, which creates an intricate mesh of conduction channels (a stochastic web) in phase space, leading to a large resonant increase in the current flow at critical values of the applied voltage. This phase-space patterning provides a sensitive mechanism for controlling electrical resistance. In this paper, we investigate the effects of dissipation on the electron dynamics by modifying the semiclassical equations of motion to include a linear damping term. We demonstrate that, even in the presence of dissipation, deterministic chaos plays an important role in the electron transport process. We identify mechanisms for the onset of chaos and explore the associated sequence of bifurcations in the electron trajectories. When the Bloch and cyclotron frequencies are commensurate, complex multistability phenomena occur in the system. In particular, for fixed values of the control parameters several distinct stable regimes can coexist, each corresponding to different initial conditions. We show that this multistability has clear, experimentally observable, signatures in the electron transport characteristics

Using acoustic waves to induce high-frequency current oscillations in superlattices

We show that gigahertz acoustic waves in semiconductor superlattices can induce terahertz (THz) electron dynamics that depend critically on the wave amplitude. Below the threshold amplitude, the acoustic wave drags electrons through the superlattice with a peak drift velocity overshooting that produced by a static electric field. In this regime, single electrons perform drifting orbits with THz frequency components. When the wave amplitude exceeds the critical threshold, an abrupt onset of Bloch-type oscillations causes negative differential velocity. The acoustic wave also affects the collective behavior of the electrons by causing the formation of localized electron accumulation and depletion regions, which propagate through the superlattice, thereby producing self-sustained current oscillations even for very small wave amplitudes. We show that the underlying single-electron dynamics, in particular, the transition between the acoustic wave dragging and Bloch oscillation regimes, strongly influence the spatial distribution of the electrons and the form of the current oscillations. In particular, the amplitude of the current oscillations depends nonmonotonically on the strength of the acoustic wave, reflecting the variation in the single-electron drift velocity

Scanning Fourier Spectroscopy: A microwave analog study to image transmission paths in quantum dots

We use a microwave cavity to investigate the influence of a movable absorbing center on the wave function of an open quantum dot. Our study shows that the absorber acts as a position-selective probe, which may be used to suppress those wave function states that exhibit an enhancement of their probability density near the region where the impurity is located. For an experimental probe of this wave function selection, we develop a technique that we refer to as scanning Fourier spectroscopy, which allows us to identify, and map out, the structure of the classical trajectories that are important for transmission through the cavity.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Semiconductor charge transport driven by a picosecond strain pulse

We demonstrate that a picosecond strain pulse can be used to drive an electric current through both thin-film epilayer and heterostructure semiconductor crystals in the absence of an external electric field. By measuring the transient current pulses, we are able to clearly distinguish the effects of the coherent and incoherent components of the acoustic packet. The properties of the strain induced signal suggest a technique for exciting picosecond current pulses, which may be used to probe semiconductor devices

Superfluid flow above the critical velocity

Superfluidity and superconductivity have been widely studied since the last century in many different contexts ranging from nuclear matter to atomic quantum gases. The rigidity of these systems with respect to external perturbations results in frictionless motion for superfluids and resistance-free electric current flow in superconductors. This peculiar behaviour is lost when external perturbations overcome a critical threshold, i.e. above a critical magnetic field or a critical current for superconductors. In superfluids, such as liquid helium or ultracold gases, the corresponding quantities are a critical rotation rate and a critical velocity respectively. Enhancing the critical values is of great fundamental and practical value. Here we demonstrate that superfluidity can be completely restored for specific, arbitrarily large flow velocities above the critical velocity through quantum interference-induced resonances providing a nonlinear counterpart of the Ramsauer-Townsend effect occurring in ordinary quantum mechanics. We illustrate the robustness of this phenomenon through a thorough analysis in one dimension and prove its generality by showing the persistence of the effect in non-trivial 2d systems. This has far reaching consequences for the fundamental understanding of superfluidity and superconductivity and opens up new application possibilities in quantum metrology, e.g. in rotation sensing

Microwave generation in synchronized semiconductor superlattices

We study high-frequency generation in a system of electromagnetically coupled semiconductor superlattices fabricated on the same doped substrate. Applying a bias voltage to a single superlattice generates high-frequency current oscillations. We demonstrate that within a certain range of the applied voltage, the current oscillations within the superlattices can be self-synchronized, which leads to a dramatic rise in the generated microwave power. These results, which are in good agreement with our numerical model, open a promising practical route towards the design of high-power miniature microwave generators

Optimal Inverse Design of Magnetic Field Profiles in a Magnetically Shielded Cylinder

Magnetic shields that use both active and passive components to enable the generation of a tailored low-field environment are required for many applications in science, engineering, and medical imaging. Until now, accurate field nulling, or field generation, has only been possible over a small fraction of the overall volume of the shield. This is due to the interaction between the active field-generating components and the surrounding high-permeability passive shielding material. In this paper, we formulate the interaction between an arbitrary static current flow on a cylinder and an exterior closed high-permeability cylinder. We modify the Green’s function for the magnetic vector potential and match boundary conditions on the shield’s interior surface to calculate the total magnetic field generated by the system. We cast this formulation into an inverse optimization problem to design active–passive magnetic field shaping systems that accurately generate any physical static magnetic field in the interior of a closed cylindrical passive shield. We illustrate this method by designing hybrid systems that generate a range of magnetic field profiles to high accuracy over large interior volumes, and simulate them in real-world shields whose passive components have finite permeability, thickness, and axial entry holes. Our optimization procedure can be adapted to design active–passive magnetic field shaping systems that accurately generate any physical user-specified static magnetic field in the interior of a closed cylindrical shield of any length, enabling the development and miniaturization of systems that require accurate magnetic shielding and control

Quantum Arnol'd Diffusion in a Simple Nonlinear System

We study the fingerprint of the Arnol'd diffusion in a quantum system of two coupled nonlinear oscillators with a two-frequency external force. In the classical description, this peculiar diffusion is due to the onset of a weak chaos in a narrow stochastic layer near the separatrix of the coupling resonance. We have found that global dependence of the quantum diffusion coefficient on model parameters mimics, to some extent, the classical data. However, the quantum diffusion happens to be slower that the classical one. Another result is the dynamical localization that leads to a saturation of the diffusion after some characteristic time. We show that this effect has the same nature as for the studied earlier dynamical localization in the presence of global chaos. The quantum Arnol'd diffusion represents a new type of quantum dynamics and can be observed, for example, in 2D semiconductor structures (quantum billiards) perturbed by time-periodic external fields.Comment: RevTex, 11 pages including 12 ps-figure