Universal properties of relaxation and diffusion in condensed matter

By and large the research communities today are not fully aware of the remarkable universality in the dynamic properties of many-body relaxation/diffusion processes manifested in experiments and simulations on condensed matter with diverse chemical compositions and physical structures. I shall demonstrate the universality first from the dynamic processes in glass-forming systems. This is reinforced by strikingly similar properties of different processes in contrasting interacting systems all having nothing to do with glass transition. The examples given here include glass-forming systems of diverse chemical compositions and physical structures, conductivity relaxation of ionic conductors(liquid, glassy, and crystalline),translation and orientation ordered phase of rigid molecule, and polymer chain dynamics. Universality is also found in the change of dynamics when dimension is reduced to nanometer size in widely different systems. The remarkable universality indicates that many-body relaxation/diffusion is governed by fundamental physics to be unveiled. One candidate is classical chaos on which the coupling model is based, Universal properties predicted by this model are in accord with diverse experiments and simulations.     

Semi-empirical calculations of the magnetic properties of condensed hydrocarbons

Coupled Hartree-Fock perturbation theory is used to calculate the non-local contribution to ¹H chemical shifts and magnetic susceptibilities of alternant benzenoid, alternant non-benzenoid and non-alternant conjugated hydrocarbons. It is shown that the agreement between theory and experiment is satisfactory. For the calculation of the coupled first-order orbitals a simplified iterative procedure is proposed.     

Torsion effects on condensed matter: like a magnetic field but not so much

In this work, we study the effects of torsion due to a uniform distribution of topological defects (screw dislocations) on free spin/carrier dynamics in elastic solids. When a particle moves in such a medium, the effect of the torsion associated to the defect distribution is analogous to that of an applied magnetic field but with subtle differences. Analogue Landau levels are present in this system but they cannot be confined to two dimensions. In the case of spinless carriers, zero modes, which do not appear in the magnetic Landau levels, show up for quantized values of the linear momentum projected on the defects axis. Particles with spin are subjected to a Zeeman-like coupling between spin and torsion, which is insensitive to charge. This suggests the possibility of spin resonance experiments without a magnetic field for charged carriers or quasiparticles without electrical charge, like triplet excitons, for instance.     

Neutron-photon studies of condensed matter

A theory of simultaneous photon absorption and inelastic neutron scattering is developed by treating the photon and neutron-matter interactions perturbatively. The leading-order mixing between the interactions shows that the neutron scattering cross-section is proportional to the dynamic structure factor (or Van Hove function) evaluated at an energy that is enhanced by the photon energy. The photon induced modification of the scattering vector is negligible. Thus, the proposed technique affords the possibility of measuring the dynamic structure factor at large energies and modest wavevectors which is a domain that is usually difficult to access because of kinematic constraints. The theory is developed in detail for some models of nuclear and magnetic systems. The results show that, in most cases, the experiments are likely to demand the use of very high intensity light sources. A particularly promising application appears to be in the study of electron plasmas since, using readily available pulsed lasers, the neutron cross-section is comparable with that for pure magnetic scattering.     

Vierbein walls in condensed matter

The effective field, which plays the part of the vierbein in general relativity, can have topologically stable surfaces, vierbein domain walls, at which the effective contravariant metric is degenerate. We consider vierbein walls separating domains with flat spacetime which are not causally connected at the classical level. The possibility of a quantum mechanical connection between the domains is discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 11, 705–710 (10 December 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Artificial graphenes: Dirac matter beyond condensed matter

After the discovery of graphene and of its many fascinating properties, there has been a growing interest for the study of “artificial graphenes”. These are totally different and novel systems that bear exciting similarities with graphene. Among them are lattices of ultracold atoms, microwave or photonic lattices, “molecular graphene” or new compounds like phosphorene. The advantage of these structures is that they serve as new playgrounds for measuring and testing physical phenomena that may not be reachable in graphene, in particular the possibility of controlling the existence of Dirac points (or Dirac cones) existing in the electronic spectrum of graphene, of performing interference experiments in reciprocal space, of probing geometrical properties of the wave functions, of manipulating edge states, etc. These cones, which describe the band structure in the vicinity of the two connected energy bands, are characterized by a topological “charge”. They can be moved in the reciprocal space by appropriate modification of external parameters (pressure, twist, sliding, stress, etc.). They can be manipulated, created or suppressed under the condition that the total topological charge be conserved. In this short review, I discuss several aspects of the scenarios of merging or emergence of Dirac points as well as the experimental investigations of these scenarios in condensed matter and beyond.     

Supersymmetric sound in condensed matter

The effect of a net conserved charge density is considered in supersymmetric relativistic field theories. If the charge is supersymmetric and if it distributes itself homogeneously, there appear both goldstino and Goldstone modes, associated with the spontaneously broken supersymmetry algebra.     

基于金刚石量子传感的纳米磁成像及凝聚态物理应用

作为凝聚态物理的重要方向,磁性的研究不仅是发展自旋电子学器件的基础,也是突破已有材料和器件功能壁垒的关键之一。磁性材料的纳米分辨率成像对认识和理解物质微观性质至关重要。金刚石中的氮—空位(NV)色心是一种对磁信号敏感的原子缺陷,经过十余年的深入研究,其已经发展为兼具高灵敏度和高空间分辨率的磁量子传感器,能够以纳米分辨率对单层磁性材料进行成像。它作为一种广谱(DC-GHz)、高灵敏度(nT/Hz^1/2)、高空间分辨率(~10 nm,理论极限~1 nm)的磁成像技术,可以对包括二维磁性材料、电流分布、电导率分布乃至单个电子自旋,少数个核自旋进行纳米磁成像。文章从NV色心微观结构和性质出发,介绍其作为量子传感进行磁信号探测和成像的原理;进一步从技术层面介绍谱仪的构成和探针制备;最后选取有代表性的工作,简要介绍 NV扫描显微镜在各方面的应用。     

Interstitialcy theory of simple condensed matter

A simple, more physical and compelling version of the Interstitialcy Theory of Simple Condensed Matter than that given previously is provided here. Also, computer simulation and direct and indirect experimental evidence is updated and reviewed. The theory is based on the properties of an interstitial in the interstitialcy, sometimes known as the dumbbell configuration. A free energy is derived, taking account of the unusually large shear susceptibility and vibrational entropy of the dumbbell to find the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of simple liquids and glasses. The connection between theory and experiment for some of the more notable properties of simple condensed matter found later is also discussed. The direct visual observation of interstitial diffusion to the surface in platinum near 20 K in irradiated thin films by Morgenstern et al. [M. Morgenstern, T. Michely, G. Comsa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1305 (1997)] is found to be sufficient compelling evidence for the interstitialcy theory.     

Non-linear phonon dispersion of condensed matter

The non-linear features of an almost uniform condensate is discussed. The appearance of non-linear waves implies non-linear phonon dispersion and the localized superfluid depletion suggests a view of multi-vortex configuration as non-linear wave trains.     

Empirical many-body potential energy functions used in computer simulations of condensed matter properties

Empirical many-body potential energy functions (EMBPEFs) are extensively used in atomistic computer simulations, especially in molecular dynamics and Monte-Carlo methods. There are several EMBPEFs used in the literature for different purposes, some of these functions are suitable for bulk and surface properties, and some of them are suitable for cluster properties. In this article the EMBPEFs used in the computer simulation applications for condensed matter properties will be reviewed.