Gauge theory approach for diffusive and precessional spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas

We develop a gauge theory for diffusive and precessional spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas. Our approach reveals a direct connection between the absence of the equilibrium spin current and a strong anisotropy in the spin relaxation: both effects arise if spin-orbit coupling is reduced to a pure gauge SU(2) field. In this case, the spin-orbit coupling can be removed by a gauge transformation in the form of a local SU(2) spin rotation. The resulting spin dynamics is exactly described in terms of two kinetic coefficients: the spin diffusion and electron mobility. After the inverse transformation, full diffusive and precessional spin density dynamics, including the anisotropic spin relaxation, formation of stable spin structures, and spin precession induced by a macroscopic current are restored. Explicit solutions of the spin evolution equations are found for the initially uniform spin density and for stable, nonuniform structures. Our analysis demonstrates a universal relation between the spin relaxation rate and spin-diffusion coefficient.     

Microwave resonances in low-filling insulating phases of two-dimensional electron and hole systems

The conductivity of the high magnetic field insulating phases of two-dimensional electron and hole systems (2DES and 2DHS) of sufficiently low disorder exhibits a resonance at microwave frequency. We present and compare results on this resonance in a moderate disorder 2DES and in a high quality 2DHS. The 2DES exhibits the resonance even though the high- insulator is not reentrant around the fractional quantum Hall effect. The resonance in the 2DHS is much sharper than that in the 2DES, and appears to be inconsistent with the standard model of a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator in a magnetic field.     

In-plane and perpendicular magnetic fields dependence of cyclotron resonance in two-dimensional electron systems

The cyclotron resonance of two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) of GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures is investigated in a tilted magnetic field. In this study, the perpendicular (B) and in-plane (B_||) magnetic fields are changed systematically. More than two cyclotron resonances caused by B_|| are observed. Further, the enhancement of cyclotron mass by B_|| and its dependence on B and electron concentration of 2DES are also investigated in detail. These phenomena are well explained by the resonant subband Landau level coupling model.     

Absence of strict crystalline order in a two-dimensional electron system

It is shown that no long-range crystalline order is possible in a two-dimensional electron system, in spite of the long-range nature of the forces. The order is destroyed by the transverse phonons, as can be seen either by Peierls' argument or more rigorously by a modification of Mermin's argument.     

Splitting of the cyclotron resonance in two-dimensional electron systems

A large splitting of the cyclotron resonance line, observed in two different two-dimensional electron systems, remains unexplained. The splitting resembles an anti-level crossing with an unidentified mode of the semiconductor system. Here, we review our data on this splitting, and highlight some results of recent experiments.     

Dephasing in the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic fields

By means of degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM), we investigate the quantum coherence of electron–hole pairs in the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas in modulation-doped GaAs–AlGaAs quantum wells in the regime of the integer quantum-Hall effect. We observe large jumps in the decay time of the FWM signal at even Landau level filling factors. The main features of the experimental observations can be qualitatively reproduced by a model which takes into account the number of unoccupied states within the highest partially occupied Landau level. Furthermore, we observe quantum beats between up to three different Landau level transitions.     

Sensing domain wall pinning in the longitudinal magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas

We investigate the sensing of domain wall pinning in thin Co wires positioned on top of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) heterostructure by measuring the longitudinal resistance of the 2DEG as the magnetic field is swept, in an analogy to the Barkhausen effect. For comparison, we also measure the magnetoresistance of the ferromagnetic film in the same device in a subsequent sweep. Compared to the Hall measurements, the longitudinal measurement has the advantage of sensing magnetic activity over longer lengths, while compared to the measurement of the magnetoresistance in the ferromagnetic wire, it offers complementary information related to the pinning and unpinning of the domain wall, due to its sensitivity only to the out-of-plane magnetic field component.     

Optical studies of spin precession in magnetic two-dimensional electron gases

Magnetic two-dimensional electron gases are studied using time-resolved Kerr and Faraday rotation spectroscopy in the Voigt geometry. The data directly reveal both electron and Mn spin precession in modest transverse fields. Scattering by Mn ions dominates the electron spin relaxation processes in these materials, and prevents the electron gas from acquiring a long-lived spin polarization as observed in non-magnetic structures. Nonetheless, a persistent Mn spin polarization occurs which creates a oscillating magnetic field within the electron gas for hundreds of picoseconds.     

Oscillations of the magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas under microwave irradiation: Influence of the irradiation frequency

We present measurements of the magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) under continuous microwave as a function of the irradiation frequency. In a previous work by Simovič et al. [Phys. Rev. B 71 (2005) 233303], the magnetoresistance under microwave was shown to be modulated by oscillations of large amplitude that are periodic with magnetic field, their period and phase depending strongly on the electron density. Here we show that the phase and the amplitude of the microwave-induced oscillations also depend on the frequency of irradiation and the sign of the magnetic field.     

Microwave spectroscopy of electron solid and stripe phases in higher Landau levels

Our recent broadband microwave and RF spectroscopic measurements of two-dimensional electron systems at Landau level filling ν1 are reviewed. Resonances in the spectrum of diagonal conductivity in many discrete regions of ν allow us to identify and study the pinned electron solids.     

Thermopower evidence for Wigner crystallization in the insulating phase of two-dimensional GaAs bilayer hole systems

We report on low-temperature thermopower measurements of interacting GaAs bilayer hole systems in the limit of no interlayer tunneling. These systems exhibit a reentrant insulating phase near the many-body quantum Hall state (QHS) at total filling factor ν=1, when both layers have the same density. The diffusion thermopower is expected to diverge as T^-1 in the presence of an energy gap (Wigner crystal) or to vanish in the case of a disordered induced mobility gap. Our results show that, as the temperature is decreased, the diffusion thermopower exhibits a T^-1 dependence in the insulating phase around ν=1. This behavior clearly indicates the opening of an energy gap at low temperature, in agreement with the formation of a pinned Wigner solid. Finally, we report on the T-dependence of the thermopower at ν=1.     

Nonlinear optical rectification in a two-dimensional system

The optical rectification (OR) in the two-dimensional electron–hole system is investigated theoretically. An analytical expression formula of the OR coefficient is obtained via the framework of compact density matrix approach and the iterative method. The results show that the OR coefficient depends strongly on the system׳s size and the relaxation time. A more obvious OR coefficient should be found by adjusting an appropriate choice of the system parameters.     

Stable forms of two-dimensional crystals and graphene

We show that the “two-dimensional” graphene is stable due to transverse short-range displacements of carbon atoms, which may be described in a framework of Ising model with competing interactions. When temperature decreases, two transitions, high temperature disorder into order and order into low-temperature glass, arise. The graphene looks like a microscopic “washboard” with the wavelength of about 2–4 Å. Due to up–down asymmetry of the lattice distortions in graphene on substrate, a mini-bandgap arises. This leads to many new phenomena: a rectification of AC current induced by microwave or infrared radiation, the existence of self-trapping and a new type of fermionic mini-exciton-polaritons.     

Gate-controlled de Haas–van Alphen effect in an interacting two-dimensional electron system

We have measured the de Haas–van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations of a gated two-dimensional electron system formed in a modulation-doped AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction by means of a novel and highly sensitive cantilever magnetometer. We achieve a sensitivity of at a magnetic field by detecting the deflection of the cantilever using a fiber optic interferometer. The dHvA oscillation at ν=1 yields a thermodynamic energy gap that scales linearly with the applied magnetic field for . The slope corresponds to an exchange enhanced g factor g^*=3.5±0.3 originating from electron–electron interaction in the spin-polarized state of the 2DES.     

Molecular dynamics study of a two-dimensional model of squaric acid

The vibrational properties of the two-dimensional model of squaric acid are studied. Intermolecular and intramolecular interactions are taken to be either harmonic or of Lippincot-Schroeder type. Special attention is paid to the influence of the anharmonicity on the infrared active vibrations of the protons in the hydrogen bonds. The potential for the proton is chosen in such a way that in the room temperature phase the protons are found in an asymmetric position between two neighbouring oxygens. In the high temperature phase a symmetric distribution of protons is accessible indicating that a structural phase transition can occur.     

Exchange-enhanced spin-splitting in a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of the Rashba spin–orbit interaction

We present a theoretical study on how many-body effects can affect the spin-splitting of a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of the Rashba spin–orbit interaction. The standard Hartree–Fock approximation and Green's function approach are employed to calculate the energy spectrum and density of states of a spin-split two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). We find that the presence of the exchange interaction can enhance significantly the spin-splitting of a 2DEG on top of the Rashba effect. The physical reasons behind this important phenomenon are discussed.     

Magneto-oscillations in a two-dimensional electron gas: A simplified analytic formulation

We derive a simplified thermodynamical formulation for a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a uniform magnetic field, with a large Landau level width and at low temperatures. Our analytic results clearly bring out dependences of magneto-oscillations on the Landau level broadening.1. In contrast with Gaussian broadening, different Landau levels do not overlap in the case of semi-elliptic density of states (Ando and Uemura, 1974), were such a normalization constant needs not to be introduced.     

Probing dynamics of a phase transition of two-dimensional nano-domains with STM imaging and manipulation

A reversible, temperature-driven structural surface phase transition of Pb/Si(1 1 1) nano-domains is studied with a variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Finite-size effects of the transition are clearly demonstrated. Most importantly, structural fluctuations in the low-temperature phase can be induced by the direct interaction between the tip atoms and the surface atoms. The structural changes reveal dynamics in the low-temperature phase. Amazingly, the largest size of the domains that can be manipulated decreases with decreasing sample temperature.     

高电流密度圆柱状电子光学系统设计

设计了高电流密度圆柱状电子枪,并分析了枪体参数对电子注品质的影响;运用径向力平衡理论计算了聚焦磁场.三维模拟软件CSTPARTICLESTUDIO模拟显示,在枪体电极和空间电荷形成的静电场,以及聚焦磁场作用下,电子呈角向先变速后匀速螺旋状运动,其旋转半径始终与出射阴极面时的半径相同,从而在枪区和互作用通道内维持了注包络水平.模拟结果与设计理论相符.注平均电流密度达到24·4A/cm2,层流性良好,填充因子76·7%,流通率100%.