Spin-current-induced classical and quantum effects in the dynamics of a mesoscopic magnet

The dynamics of a high-spin quantum system with magnetic anisotropy of the easy plane type under the action of spin-polarized current permeating this system is considered. The spin-polarized current (with electron spins polarized along the hard magnetic axis of the system) induces the reorientation of the magnetic moment of the system from the easy plane to the hard magnetic axis. Analytical expressions describing characteristics of the reorientation process in the limiting cases of strong and weak dissipation are obtained. Under strong dissipation conditions, the reorientation is shown to have a threshold character with “soft” (continuous) displacement of the magnetic moment from the easy plane. Under weak dissipation, the reorientation occurs as a discrete process, that is, is accompanied by magnetic moment jumps and hysteresis as the spin current increases and decreases. At a fairly low temperature and weak damping, quantum effects arise in the system. The spin current induces excitations quasi-anionic in character, Bloch oscillations of magnetic moment precession, and tunneling between different precession quantum modes. These quantum effects, in particular, manifest themselves in the system under consideration by magnetic moment jumps and magnetic susceptibility peaks.     

Effect of interminiband tunneling on complex processes in a semiconductor superlattice

Spectra of current oscillations caused by the transport of the electron domains induced by an applied voltage in a semiconductor superlattice with the absence and presence of the tilted magnetic field are numerically investigated with allowance for the interband tunneling.     

Zener tunneling between the landau levels in quasi-two-dimensional electronic Corbino disks at large filling factors

The magnetotransport characteristics of quasi-two-dimensional electronic Corbino disks based on a wide GaAs quantum well with two filled subbands of size quantization are studied. At low temperatures and high magnetic fields, the Corbino disks exhibit the oscillations of differential conductivity, which are periodic with respect to dc electric field E _dc. It is shown that the observed oscillations are related to the Zener tunneling induced by E _dc. The tunneling occurs between the filled and empty Landau levels under conditions corresponding to the absence of the Hall field.     

Tight-binding model of spin-polarized tunnelling in (Ga,Mn)As-based structures

The Landauer–Büttiker formalism combined with the tight-binding transfer matrix method is used to describe the results of recent experiments: the high tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in (Ga,Mn)As-based trilayers and highly polarized spin injection in p-(Ga,Mn)As/n-GaAs Zener diode. For both TMR and Zener spin current polarization, the calculated values agree well with those observed experimentally. The role played in the spin dependent tunneling by carrier concentration and magnetic ion content is also studied.     

Fano-type spin-flip mesoscopic transport through an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

We have investigated the mesoscopic transport properties of a quantum dot embedded Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer applied with a rotating magnetic field. The spin-flip effect is induced by the rotating magnetic field, and the tunneling current is sensitive to the spin-flip effect. The spin-flipped electrons tunneling from the direct channel and the resonant channel interfere with each other to form spin-polarized tunneling current components. The non-resonant tunneling (direct transmission) strength and the AB phase φ play important roles. When the non-resonant tunneling (background transmission) exists, the spin and charge currents form asymmetric peaks and valleys, which exhibit Fano-type line shapes by varying the source-drain bias voltage, or gate voltage. The AB oscillations of the spin and charge currents exhibit distinct dependence on the magnetic flux and direct tunneling strength.     

Nondemolition measurements of a single quantum spin using Josephson oscillations

We consider a single localized spin-1/2 between the singlet superconducting leads of a Josephson junction (e.g., a superconducting STM). For the spin subject to a dc magnetic field B parallel z, we study the spin dynamics and the possibility to measure the spin state via transport through the junction embedded in a dissipative circuit. Turning on the tunneling or a voltage bias induces oscillations of the Josephson current, with an amplitude sensitive to the initial value of the z component of the spin, S(z)=+/-1/2. At low temperatures, when effects of quasiparticles are negligible, this procedure realizes a quantum nondemolition measurement of S(z).     

Effective spin model for interband transport in a Wannier-Stark lattice system

We show that the interband dynamics in a tilted two-band Bose-Hubbard model can be reduced to an analytically accessible spin model in the case of resonant interband oscillations. This allows us to predict the revival time of these oscillations which decay and revive due to inter-particle interactions. The presented mapping onto the spin model and the so achieved reduction of complexity has interesting perspectives for future studies of many-body systems.     

Asymmetry and separation of spin tunneling time in ZnSe/Zn1-xMnxSe multilayers

We investigate characteristics of spin tunneling time in ZnSe/Ze_1-xMn_xSe multilayers under the influence of both an electric field and a magnetic field. The results indicate that the tunneling time shows complicated oscillations and significant spin separation for electrons with different spin orientations traversing semimagnetic semiconductor heterostructures. It is also shown that the tunneling time exhibits obvious asymmetry in opposite tunneling directions for electrons tunneling through asymmetric heterostructures, which mainly occurs in resonant regions. The degree of the asymmetry of the tunneling time is not only spin-polarization dependent but also external-field induced. Received 10 July 2001     

Quantum‐optical analogies using photonic structures

Engineered photonic waveguides have provided in the past decade an extremely rich laboratory tool to visualize with optical waves the classic analogues of a wide variety of coherent quantum phenomena encountered in atomic, molecular or condensed‐matter physics. As compared to quantum systems, optics offers the rather unique advantage of a direct mapping of the wave function evolution in coordinate space by simple fluorescence imaging or scanning tunneling optical microscopy techniques. In this contribution recent theoretical and experimental advances in the field of quantum‐optical analogies are reviewed. Special attention is devoted to some relevant optical analogies based on the use of curved photonic structures, including: coherent destruction of tunneling in driven bistable potentials; coherent population transfer and adiabatic passage in laser‐driven multilevel atomic systems; quantum decay control and Zeno dynamics; electronic Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling, Anderson localization and dynamic localization in crystalline potentials.     

Tunneling measurement of a single quantum spin

Measurement of the tunneling current of spin-polarized electrons via a molecule with a localized spin provides information on the orientation of that spin. We show that a strong tunneling current due to the shot noise suppresses the spin dynamics, such as the spin precession in an external magnetic field, and the relaxation due to the environment (quantum Zeno effect). A weak tunneling current preserves the spin precession with the oscillatory component of the current of the same order as the noise. We propose an experiment to observe the Zeno effect in a tunneling system and describe how the tunneling current may be used to read a qubit represented by a single spin 1/2.     

Quantum phase interference and spin-parity in Mn12 single-molecule magnets

Magnetization measurements of Mn12 molecular nanomagnets with spin ground states of S=10 and S=19/2 show resonance tunneling at avoided energy level crossings. The observed oscillations of the tunnel probability as a function of the magnetic field applied along the hard anisotropy axis are due to topological quantum phase interference of two tunnel paths of opposite windings. Spin-parity dependent tunneling is established by comparing the quantum phase interference of integer and half-integer spin systems.     

Mode conversion, Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling with light by means of the Sagnac effect

Propagation of light in a rotating optical ring resonator shows striking similarities with magnetic flux induced electron propagation in small metal rings. This correspondence leads us to predict the possibility of Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling with light in sufficiently high-Q rotating ring resonators.     

Kondo effect in a few-electron quantum ring

A small quantum ring with less than ten electrons was studied by transport spectroscopy. For strong coupling to the leads a Kondo effect is observed and used to characterize the spin structure of the system in a wide range of magnetic fields. At small magnetic fields Aharonov-Bohm oscillations influenced by Coulomb interaction appear. They exhibit phase jumps by pi at the Coulomb-blockade resonances. Inside Coulomb-blockade valleys the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations can also be studied due to the finite conductance caused by the Kondo effect. Astonishingly, the maxima of the oscillations show linear shifts with increasing magnetic field and gate voltage.     

Nonlinear dynamics of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential

We examine the nonlinear dynamical behavior of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential. Considering a condensate with large number of atoms, such that it can be described using the mean field theory, we separate the spinor dynamics from the spatial dynamics under the single-mode approximation. We limit ourselves to certain initial conditions under which the spatial mode is frozen so that we can focus on the spinor dynamics only. Identifying collective spin variables of our system, we derive the corresponding nonlinear equations of motion for them. Employing standard stability analysis, we find and characterize fixed points of the system. For a wide range of physical parameters such as tunneling strength and non-linear interactions, as well as for various initial preparations of the system, we identify qualitatively different dynamical regimes possible in the system. In particular, complete and incomplete oscillations of spin variables between quantum wells are found. We also show that by bringing some fixed points close to each other in the phase space of the system, it is possible to induce amplitude modulation to those otherwise regular tunneling oscillations.     

Visual observation of Zener tunneling

We experimentally investigate photonic Zener tunneling between the bands of a waveguide array by directly monitoring the propagating light inside this structure. For strong transverse index gradients we observe Zener breakdown as regular outbursts of radiation escaping from the Bloch oscillations. Tunneling to higher order photonic bands and Bloch oscillations in different bands have been detected.     

Topological quenching of spin tunneling in Fe8-tacn molecules

A Berry phase in the path integral for spin gives rise to an interference effect in the tunneling of a biaxially symmetric spin Hamiltonian. As the magnetic field applied along a hard axis is varied, the tunnel splitting between the two lowest energy states oscillates, with field values where it is completely quenched. This Hamiltonian is realized in Fe₈-tacn molecules, where these oscillations have just now been seen and provide, in fact, strong evidence for tunneling below 0.36 K in the first place.     

Berry-phase oscillations of the Kondo effect in single-molecule magnets

We show that it is possible to topologically induce or quench the Kondo resonance in the conductance of a single-molecule magnet (S>1/2) strongly coupled to metallic leads. This can be achieved by applying a magnetic field perpendicular to the molecule easy axis and works for both full- and half-integer spin cases. The effect is caused by the Berry-phase interference between two quantum tunneling paths of the molecule's spin. We have calculated the renormalized Berry-phase oscillations of the Kondo peaks as a function of the transverse magnetic field as well as the conductance of the molecule by means of the poor man's scaling method. We propose to use a new variety of the single-molecule magnet Ni4 for the experimental observation of this phenomenon.     

The influence of resonance IR laser radiation on magnetoabsorption in quantum wires

The coefficient of interband absorption of a weak electromagnetic wave by quantum wires in a transverse magnetic field and an intense laser radiation field is calculated. It is shown that, if the laser radiation frequency is equal either to the size quantization frequency (dimensional infrared resonance) or to a hybrid frequency (magnetoinfrared resonance), laser illumination can determine the shape of absorption oscillations. In particular, it is shown that the second magnetoabsorption peak is split into two peaks, the half-widths of which and the distance between which depend on the intensity of resonance laser radiation. The influence of the polarization of IR radiation on the interband absorption in quantum wires is discussed. The dynamics of the frequency dependence of the optical absorption coefficient with increasing intensity of resonance laser radiation is studied.     

扫描磁场中玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系的奇异自旋隧穿

用平均场的方法,研究了线性扫描磁场中自旋-1玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系的自旋隧穿.集中考虑⁸⁷Rb这种典型的碱金属原子凝聚体,根据外磁场扫描率的不同,研究了它的隧穿动力学.在慢扫描(即绝热条件)和快扫描条件下,体系无隧穿现象.对中等大小的扫描率,发现隧穿现象,且这个隧穿动力学对磁场扫描率非常的敏感,表现为看似混沌的隧穿区的存在.然而,把这个看似混沌的区域放大,发现在扫描率精度为10^-8T/s的量级上,隧穿率对磁场扫描率的关系实际是有规律的类周期结构.此外,还发现,实 关键词： 玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚 自旋 隧穿     

扫描磁场中玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系的奇异自旋隧穿

用平均场的方法，研究了线性扫描磁场中自旋-1玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系的自旋隧穿.集中考虑⁸⁷Rb这种典型的碱金属原子凝聚体，根据外磁场扫描率的不同，研究了它的隧穿动力学.在慢扫描(即绝热条件)和快扫描条件下，体系无隧穿现象.对中等大小的扫描率，发现隧穿现象，且这个隧穿动力学对磁场扫描率非常的敏感，表现为看似混沌的隧穿区的存在.然而，把这个看似混沌的区域放大，发现在扫描率精度为10^-8T/s的量级上，隧穿率对磁场扫描率的关系实际是有规律的类周期结构.此外，还发现，实