Cross correlations in the longitudinal relaxation of strongly coupled spins

A generalized set of magnetization modes for quantifying cross-correlation contributions to longitudinal relaxation in strongly coupled spin systems is described in this paper. Such a set of modes (called longitudinal multiple-quantum modes) is used to unravel cross-correlation information in strongly coupled systems, where the strength of the J coupling tends to obscure such effects. The applicability of such methods is demonstrated for a small molecule which exhibits some strong coupling effects even at high magnetic field strengths. The contribution of "remote" cross correlations to the longitudinal relaxation of strongly coupled spins is detailed. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization in III–V Semiconductors

We report on electron spin resonance, nuclear magnetic resonance and Overhauser shift experiments on two of the most commonly used III–V semiconductors, GaAs and InP. Localized electron centers in these semiconductors have extended wavefunctions and exhibit strong electron–nuclear hyperfine coupling with the nuclei in their vicinity. These interactions not only play a critical role in electron and nuclear spin relaxation mechanisms, but also result in transfer of spin polarization from the electron spin system to the nuclear spin system. This transfer of polarization, known as dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), may result in an enhancement of the nuclear spin polarization by several orders of magnitude under suitable conditions. We determine the critical range of doping concentration and temperature conducive to DNP effects by studying these semiconductors with varying doping concentration in a wide temperature range. We show that the electron spin system in undoped InP exhibits electric current-induced spin polarization. This is consistent with model predictions in zinc-blende semiconductors with strong spin–orbit effects.     

Anderson Localization Enhanced Spin Selective Transport of Electrons in DNA

Recent experiments revealed the unusual strong spin effects with high spin selective transmission of electrons in double-stranded DNA. We propose a new mechanism that the strong spin effects could be understood in terms of the combination of the ehiral structure, spin-orbit coupling, and especially spin-dependent Anderson localization. The presence of chiral structure and spin-orbit coupling of DNA induce weak Fermi energy splitting between two spin polarization states. The intrinsic Anderson localization in generic DNA molecules may result in remarkable enhancement of the spin selective transport. In particular, these two spin states with energy splitting have different localization lengths. Spin up/down channel may have shorter/longer localization length so that relatively less/more spin up/down electrons may tunnel through the system. In addition, the strong length dependence of spin selectivity observed in experiments can be naturally understood. Anderson localization enhanced spin selectivity effect may provide a deeper understanding of spin-selective processes in molecular spintronics and biological systems.     

Measurement of small one-bond proton-carbon residual dipolar coupling constants in partially oriented (13)C natural abundance oligosaccharide samples: analysis of heteronuclear (1)J(CH)-modulated spectra with the BIRD inversion pulse

Two 2D J-modulated HSQC-based experiments were designed for precise determination of small residual dipolar one-bond carbon-proton coupling constants in (13)C natural abundance carbohydrates. Crucial to the precision of a few hundredths of Hz achieved by these methods was the use of long modulation intervals and BIRD pulses, which acted as semiselective inversion pulses. The BIRD pulses eliminated effective evolution of all but (1)J(CH) couplings, resulting in signal modulation that can be described by simple modulation functions. A thorough analysis of such modulation functions for a typical four-spin carbohydrate spin system was performed for both experiments. The results showed that the evolution of the (1)H-(1)H and long-range (1)H-(13)C couplings during the BIRD pulses did not necessitate the introduction of more complicated modulation functions. The effects of pulse imperfections were also inspected. While weakly coupled spin systems can be analyzed by simple fitting of cross peak intensities, in strongly coupled spin systems the evolution of the density matrix needs to be considered in order to analyse data accurately. However, if strong coupling effects are modest the errors in coupling constants determined by the "weak coupling" analysis are of similar magnitudes in oriented and isotropic samples and are partially cancelled during dipolar coupling calculation. Simple criteria have been established as to when the strong coupling treatment needs to be invoked.     

(Sr,Mn)TiO3: a magnetoelectric multiglass

By close analogy with multiferroic materials with coexisting long-range electric and magnetic orders a "multiglass" scenario of two different glassy states is observed in Sr(0.98)Mn(0.02)TiO(3) ceramics. Sr-site substituted Mn2+ ions are at the origin of both a polar and a spin glass with glass temperatures T(g) approximately equal to 38 K and < or =34 K, respectively. The structural freezing triggers that of the spins, and both glassy systems show individual memory effects. Thanks to strong spin-phonon interaction within the incipient ferroelectric host crystal SrTiO3, large higher order magnetoelectric coupling occurs between both glass systems.     

ESR and longitudinal response in metals containing localized paramagnetic centers with spin<Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>>1/2

The theory describing electron spin resonance (ESR) and the longitudinal magnetization response of coupled spin systems in a metal containing both delocalized conduction electrons (“espins”) and localized paramagnetic centers (“s-spins”) is generalized to the case of arbitrary half-integer spin value,S>1/2, of the s-spins. The consideration is based on the Bloch-Hasegawa equations supplemented by taking into account the coupled evolution of the longitudinal magnetization components and the effect of weak ESR saturation by the microwave field. The ESR transversal susceptibility and longitudinal magnetization response are worked out in terms of normal modes related to the coupled s- and e-spin oscillators taking into account the ESR fine structure (FS) of the s-spins. These modes are characterized by effective (renormalized) frequencies and relaxation rates (decays) which differ from the partial ones. In the specific cases of a well-resolved FS (in the isothermal limit) and of the relaxational collapse of the FS due to strong exchange coupling between the s- and e-spins (in both the isothermal and bottlenecked limits), the analytical expressions are derived which are relevant to the modulation technique of measuring extremely fast spin-lattice relaxation times in metals.     

Interplay of Rashba spin orbit coupling and disorder in the conductance properties of a four terminal junction device

We report a thorough theoretical investigation on the quantum transport of a disordered four terminal device in the presence of Rashba spin orbit coupling (RSOC) in two dimensions. Specifically we compute the behaviour of the longitudinal (charge) conductance, spin Hall conductance and spin Hall conductance fluctuation as a function of the strength of disorder and Rashba spin orbit interaction using the Landauer Büttiker formalism via Green’s function technique. Our numerical calculations reveal that both the conductances diminish with disorder. At smaller values of the RSOC parameter, the longitudinal and spin Hall conductances increase, while both vanish in the strong RSOC limit. The spin current is more drastically affected by both disorder and RSOC than its charge counterpart. The spin Hall conductance fluctuation does not show any universality in terms of its value and it depends on both disorder as well as on the RSOC strength. Thus the spin Hall conductance fluctuation has a distinct character compared to the fluctuation in the longitudinal conductance. Further one parameter scaling theory is studied to assess the transition to a metallic regime as claimed in literature and we find no confirmation about the emergence of a metallic state induced by RSOC.     

Spin hall accumulation in ballistic nanojunctions

We propose a new scheme of spin filtering employing ballistic nanojunctions patterned in a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG). Our proposal is essentially based on the spin-orbit (SO) interaction generated by a lateral confining potential (β-SO coupling ). We demonstrate that the flow of a longitudinal unpolarized current through a ballistic T and X junction with this spin-orbit coupling will induce a spin accumulation which has opposite signs for the two lateral probes and is, therefore, the principal observable signature of the spin Hall effect in these devices.     

Ground States of Quantum Antiferromagnets in Two Dimensions

We explore the ground states and quantum phase transitions of two-dimensional, spin S=1/2, antiferromagnets by generalizing lattice models and duality transforms introduced by Sachdev and Jalabert (1990, Mod. Phys. Lett. B4, 1043). The minimal model for square lattice antiferromagnets is a lattice discretization of the quantum nonlinear sigma model, along with Berry phases which impose quantization of spin. With full SU(2) spin rotation invariance, we find a magnetically ordered ground state with Néel order at weak coupling and a confining paramagnetic ground state with bond charge (e.g., spin Peierls) order at strong coupling. We study the mechanisms by which these two states are connected in intermediate coupling. We extend the minimal model to study different routes to fractionalization and deconfinement in the ground state, and also generalize it to cases with a uniaxial anisotropy (the spin symmetry groups is then U(1)). For the latter systems, fractionalization can appear by the pairing of vortices in the staggered spin order in the easy-plane; however, we argue that this route does not survive the restoration of SU(2) spin symmetry. For SU(2) invariant systems we study a separate route to fractionalization associated with the Higgs phase of a complex boson measuring noncollinear, spiral spin correlations: we present phase diagrams displaying competition between magnetic order, bond charge order, and fractionalization, and discuss the nature of the quantum transitions between the various states. A strong check on our methods is provided by their application to S=1/2 frustrated antiferromagnets in one dimension: here, our results are in complete accord with those obtained by bosonization and by the solution of integrable models.     

Pseudogap and the Fermi surface in the t-J model

We calculate spectral functions within the t-J model as relevant to cuprates in the regime from low to optimum doping. On the basis of equations of motion for projected operators an effective spin-fermion coupling is derived. The self-energy due to short-wavelength transverse spin fluctuations is shown to lead to a modified self-consistent Born approximation, which can explain strong asymmetry between hole and electron quasiparticles. The coupling to long-wavelength longitudinal spin fluctuations governs the low-frequency behavior and results in a pseudogap behavior, which at low doping effectively truncates the Fermi surface.     

The Application of Operator Formalism for Describing Experiments in Multipole Spin Systems under Multipulse Actions

An operator formalism is developed which allows multi-pulse actions on scalar-coupled spin systems with quadrupole nuclei to be analyzed. The formulas describing the evolution of angular-momentum operators under the action of a spin-spin interaction Hamiltonian are derived. The calculation of an NMR-spectrum for scalar-coupled multipole spin systems of the AX (A = 1/2, X = 1, 3/2) and AMX (M = 1, X = 1) types is presented and the polarization transfer processes under multi-pulse action are examined as examples of application of the operator formalism. A series of pulse sequences is proposed which allows individual longitudinal spin orders to be observed.     

Assessment of bilayer silicene to probe as quantum spin and valley Hall effect

Silicene takes precedence over graphene due to its buckling type structure and strong spin orbit coupling. Motivated by these properties, we study the silicene bilayer in the presence of applied perpendicular electric field and intrinsic spin orbit coupling to probe as quantum spin/valley Hall effect. Using analytical approach, we calculate the spin Chern-number of bilayer silicene and then compare it with monolayer silicene. We reveal that bilayer silicene hosts double spin Chern-number as compared to single layer silicene and therefore accordingly has twice as many edge states in contrast to single layer silicene. In addition, we investigate the combined effect of intrinsic spin orbit coupling and the external electric field, we find that bilayer silicene, likewise single layer silicene, goes through a phase transitions from a quantum spin Hall state to a quantum valley Hall state when the strength of the applied electric field exceeds the intrinsic spin orbit coupling strength. We believe that the results and outcomes obtained for bilayer silicene are experimentally more accessible as compared to bilayer graphene, because of strong SO coupling in bilayer silicene.     

Unconventional anisotropic superexchange in alpha'-NaV2O5

The strong line broadening observed in electron spin resonance on NaV2O5 is found to originate from an unusual type of the symmetric anisotropic exchange interaction with simultaneous spin-orbit coupling on both sites. The microscopically derived anisotropic exchange constant is almost 2 orders of magnitude larger than the one obtained from conventional estimations. Based on this result we systematically evaluate the anisotropy of the ESR linewidth in terms of the symmetric anisotropic exchange only, and we find microscopic evidence for precursor effects of the charge ordering already below 150 K.     

Role of the spin anisotropy of the interchain interaction in weakly coupled antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains

In quasi-one-dimensional(q1D) quantum antiferromagnets, the complicated interplay of intrachain and interchain exchange couplings may give rise to rich phenomena. Motivated by recent progress on field-induced phase transitions in the q1D antiferromagnetic(AFM) compound YbAlO_3, we study the phase diagram of spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains with Ising anisotropic interchain couplings under a longitudinal magnetic field via large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations,and investigate the role of the spin anisotropy of the interchain coupling on the ground state of the system. We find that the Ising anisotropy of the interchain coupling can significantly enhance the longitudinal spin correlations and drive the system to an incommensurate AFM phase at intermediate magnetic fields, which is understood as a longitudinal spin density wave(LSDW). With increasing field, the ground state changes to a canted AFM order with transverse spin correlations. We further provide a global phase diagram showing how the competition between the LSDW and the canted AFM states is tuned by the Ising anisotropy of the interchain coupling.     

Thermodynamics of a dilute XX chain in a field

Gapless phases in ground states of low-dimensional quantum spin systems are rather ubiquitous. Their peculiarity is a remarkable sensitivity to external perturbations due to permanent criticality of such phases manifested by a slow (power-low) decay of pair correlations and the divergence of the corresponding susceptibility. A strong influence of various defects on the properties of the system in such a phase can then be expected. Here, we consider the influence of vacancies on the thermodynamics of the simplest quantum model with a gapless phase, the isotropic spin-1/2 XX chain. The existence of the exact solution of this model gives a unique opportunity to describe in detail the dramatic effect of dilution on the gapless phase—the appearance of an infinite series of quantum phase transitions resulting from level crossing under the variation of a longitudinal magnetic field. We calculate the jumps in the field dependences of the ground-state longitudinal magnetization, susceptibility, entropy, and specific heat appearing at these transitions and show that they result in a highly nonlinear temperature dependence of these parameters at low T. Also, the effect of enhancement of the magnetization and longitudinal correlations in the dilute chain is established. The changes of the pair spin correlators under dilution are also analyzed. The universality of the mechanism of the quantum transition generation suggests that similar effects of dilution can also be expected in gapless phases of other low-dimensional quantum spin systems.     

Diagrammatic weak-coupling expansion for the magneto-polaron energy

The problem of a Pekar-Fröhlich polaron in a magnetic field is considered for weak electron-phonon interaction. A diagrammatic technique for zero temperature is developed. Previously obtained results for two dimensions are reproduced. For three dimensions the polaron ground-state energy and the longitudinal effective mass are derived in the first orders of the electron-phonon coupling constant for non-zero values of a magnetic field. In a strong magnetic field the bulk polaron is shown to be equivalent to a one-dimensional polaron with a renormalized electron-phonon coupling constant. This leads to exact results in the strong-coupling limit.     

Measurement of Small One-Bond Proton–Carbon Residual Dipolar Coupling Constants in Partially Oriented C Natural Abundance Oligosaccharide Samples: Analysis of Heteronuclear JCH-Modulated Spectra with the BIRD Inversion Pulse

Two 2D J-modulated HSQC-based experiments were designed for precise determination of small residual dipolar one-bond carbon–proton coupling constants in ¹³C natural abundance carbohydrates. Crucial to the precision of a few hundredths of Hz achieved by these methods was the use of long modulation intervals and BIRD pulses, which acted as semiselective inversion pulses. The BIRD pulses eliminated effective evolution of all but ¹J_CH couplings, resulting in signal modulation that can be described by simple modulation functions. A thorough analysis of such modulation functions for a typical four-spin carbohydrate spin system was performed for both experiments. The results showed that the evolution of the ¹H–¹H and long-range ¹H–¹³C couplings during the BIRD pulses did not necessitate the introduction of more complicated modulation functions. The effects of pulse imperfections were also inspected. While weakly coupled spin systems can be analyzed by simple fitting of cross peak intensities, in strongly coupled spin systems the evolution of the density matrix needs to be considered in order to analyse data accurately. However, if strong coupling effects are modest the errors in coupling constants determined by the “weak coupling” analysis are of similar magnitudes in oriented and isotropic samples and are partially cancelled during dipolar coupling calculation. Simple criteria have been established as to when the strong coupling treatment needs to be invoked.     

Spin dependence of the parity non-conserving neutron-nucleus interaction

We show that the spin dependence of the parity violating amplitudes can provide a clue to the precise origin of the large parity non-conserving effects observed in neutron scattering on nuclei. The polarization asymmetries for longitudinal and transverse polarization of the incoming neutrons allow the separation of these spin amplitudes. In the mechanism of parity admixing of the virtually excited compound nucleus states, the spin dependence of the weak amplitudes is determined by the spin dependence of the strong interaction amplitudes for the elastic channel of the decay of the p-wave resonance     

Analytical solution of 1D Ising-like systems modified by weak long range interaction

It is well-known that 1D systems with only nearest neighbour interaction exhibit no phase transition. It is shown that the presence of a small long range interaction treated by the mean field approximation in addition to strong nearest neighbour interaction gives rise to hysteresis curves of large width. This situation is believed to exist in spin crossover systems where by the deformation of the spin changing molecules, an elastic coupling leads to a long range interaction, and strong bonding between the molecules in a chain compound leads to large values for nearest neighbour interaction constants. For this interaction scheme an analytical solution has been derived and the interplay between these two types of interaction is discussed on the basis of experimental data of the chain compound which exhibits a very large hysteresis of 50 K above RT at 370 K. The width and shape of the hysteresis loop depend on the balance between long and short range interaction. For short range interaction energies much larger than the transition temperature the hysteresis width is determined by the long range interaction alone. Received 26 November 1998     

Longitudinal response of the spin system of a metal to modulated EPR saturation at arbitrary modulation frequency and detuning of the saturating field

The theory of the longitudinal (with respect to an external magnetic field) response of a combined spin system of localized paramagnetic centers (s subsystem) and free charge carriers (e subsystem) of a solid semiconductor to modulated saturation of EPR is developed. In contrast to relevant studies made earlier, the general case is considered of an arbitrary modulation frequency and arbitrary detuning of the saturating microwave field with respect to the central EPR frequency. A theoretical approach is used in which normal modes are considered in analyzing coupled oscillations of the spin magnetizations of the s and e subsystems. It is shown that, in the case of relaxation coupling between the subsystems, the longitudinal response recorded at the modulation frequency can be represented as the sum of the responses of the normal modes, each of which is described by a universal resonance lineshape that is different, in general, from the Lorentzian lineshape characteristic of EPR signals. In the extreme cases of weak and strong coupling, simple analytical formulas are derived. The results presented form a theoretical basis for applying the method of modulated longitudinal response for measuring very short longitudinal spin relaxation times in semiconductors with paramagnetic impurities. As an example, experimental data are presented for activated carbon containing stable free radicals.