Anisotropy of spin splitting and spin relaxation in lateral quantum dots

Inelastic spin relaxation and spin splitting epsilon(s) in lateral quantum dots are studied in the regime of strong in-plane magnetic field. Because of both the g-factor energy dependence and spin-orbit coupling, epsilon(s) demonstrates a substantial nonlinear magnetic field dependence similar to that observed by Hanson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 196802 (2003)]. It also varies with the in-plane orientation of the magnetic field due to crystalline anisotropy of the spin-orbit coupling. The spin relaxation rate is also anisotropic, the anisotropy increasing with the field. When the magnetic length is less than the "thickness" of the GaAs dot, the relaxation can be an order of magnitude faster for B ||[100] than for B || [110].     

Temperature dependence of the surface anisotropy of Fe ultrathin films on Cu(001)

We report an experimental approach to separate temperature dependent reversible and irreversible contributions to the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Fe films grown at low temperatures on Cu(001) substrates. The surface anisotropy K(S)(T) is found to decrease linearly with temperature, causing a thermally induced spin reorientation into the plane. The irreversible shift of the spin reorientation transition and the coercivity of the iron films are directly correlated to the increasing Fe island size during annealing. The increased coercivity is discussed in terms of domain wall energy inhomogeneities provided by the islands.     

Kondo-transport spectroscopy of single molecule magnets

We demonstrate that in a single molecule magnet strongly coupled to electrodes the Kondo effect involves all magnetic excitations. This Kondo effect is induced by the quantum tunneling of the magnetic moment. Importantly, the Kondo temperature TK can be much larger than the magnetic splittings. We find a strong modulation of the Kondo effect as a function of the transverse anisotropy parameter or a longitudinal magnetic field. Both for integer and half-integer spin this can be used for an accurate transport spectroscopy of the magnetic states in low magnetic fields on the order of the easy-axis anisotropy parameter. We set up a relationship between the Kondo effects for successive integer and half-integer spins.     

On the influence of two coexisting species of susceptibility-producing structures on the R21 relaxation rate

PurposeTissue microstructure can influence quantitative magnetic resonance imaging such as relaxation rate measurements. Consequently, relaxation rate mapping can provide useful information on tissue microstructure. In this work, the theory on relaxation mechanisms of the change of the relaxation rate ∆R₂^⁎ in the presence of spherical susceptibility sources in a spin bearing medium is validated in simulations and phantom experiments for the coexistence of two species of susceptibility sources.MethodsThe influence of coexisting spherical perturbers with magnetic susceptibilitys of different signs was evaluated in Monte Carlo simulations including diffusion effects in the surrounding medium. Simulations were compared with relaxometry measurements at 1.5 Tesla and at 3 Tesla. The phantoms used to validate the simulations were built from agarose gel containing calcium carbonate and tungsten carbide particles of different size and concentration.ResultsThe Monte Carlo simulations showed, that the change in relaxation rate only depends on the overall amount of susceptibility producing structures in the simulation volume and no difference was found, if mixtures of positive and negative particles were simulated. Phantom measurements within the static dephasing regime showed linear additivity of the effects from positive and negative susceptibility sources that were present within the same voxel.ConclusionsIn summary, both the simulations and the phantom measurements showed that changes in the relaxation rate ΔR₂^⁎ add up linearly for spherical particles with different susceptibilities within the same voxel if the conditions for the static dephasing regime are fulfilled. If particles with different susceptibilities have both different sizes and violate the conditions of the static dephasing regime, effects on relaxation rates might no longer be linear.     

Spin thermal conductivity of the haldane chain compound Y(2)BaNiO(5)

We have measured the thermal conductivity of the spin S=1 chain compound Y(2)BaNiO(5). Analyzing the anisotropy of the thermal transport allows us to identify a definite spin-mediated thermal conductivity kappa(s) along the chain direction. The calculated spin-related energy diffusion constant D(E)(T) shows a broad peak around 120 K. Close to room temperature, D(E)(T) approaches the theoretically predicted high-temperature value, while scattering of spin excitations by magnetic impurities seems to be the major limiting factor of kappa(s) at low temperature.     

Coherent spin dynamics of different density high mobility two-dimensional electron gas in a GaAs quantum well

We have addressed the dependence of quasi-two-dimensional electron spin dephasing time on the electron gas density in a 17-nm GaAs quantum well using the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. A superlinear increase in the electron dephasing time with decreasing electron density has been found. The degree of electron spin relaxation anisotropy has been measured and the dependence of spin-orbit splitting on electron gas density has been determined.     

Anomalous spin dephasing in (110) GaAs quantum wells: anisotropy and intersubband effects

A strong anisotropy of electron spin decoherence is observed in GaAs/(AlGa)As quantum wells grown on a (110) oriented substrate. The spin lifetime of spins perpendicular to the growth direction is about one order of magnitude shorter compared to spins along [110]. The spin lifetimes of both spin orientations decrease monotonically above temperatures of 80 and 120 K, respectively. The decrease is very surprising for spins along the [110] direction and cannot be explained by the usual Dyakonov-Perel dephasing mechanism. A novel spin dephasing mechanism is put forward that is based on scattering of electrons between different quantum well subbands.     

Symmetry and spin dephasing in (110)-grown quantum wells

Symmetry and spin dephasing in (110)-grown GaAs quantum wells (QWs) are investigated applying magnetic field induced photogalvanic effect and time-resolved Kerr rotation. We show that magnetic field induced photogalvanic effect provides a tool to probe the symmetry of (110)-grown quantum wells. The photocurrent is only observed for asymmetric structures but vanishes for symmetric QWs. Applying Kerr rotation we prove that in the latter case the spin relaxation time is maximal; therefore, these structures set the upper limit of spin dephasing in GaAs QWs. We also demonstrate that structure inversion asymmetry can be controllably tuned to zero by variation of delta-doping layer positions.     

Aharonov-Bohm effect as a probe of interaction between magnetic impurities

We study the effects of the RKKY interaction between magnetic impurities on the mesoscopic conductance fluctuations of a metal ring with dilute magnetic impurities. At sufficiently low temperatures and strong magnetic fields, the loss of electron coherence occurs mainly due to the scattering off rare pairs of strongly coupled magnetic impurities. We establish a relation between the dephasing rate and the distribution function of the exchange interaction within such pairs. In the case of the RKKY exchange interaction, this rate exhibits 1/B(2) behavior in strong magnetic fields. We demonstrate that the Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillations may be used as a probe of the distribution function of the exchange interaction between magnetic impurities in metals.     

微晶的磁性

在穆斯堡尔谱学的实验结果基础上讨论了微晶的磁性。微晶的尺寸小于10um时,穆斯堡尔谱将受到磁化方向起伏,即超顺磁弛豫与集体磁激发的影响。这些效应可用来确定颗粒体积与磁各向异性常数二者之积。测量铁磁、亚铁磁颗粒穆斯堡尔谱随外磁场的变化可以确定颗粒的体积。当铁、钴、镍以及Fe_3O_4颗粒表面化学吸附不同的分子时,微晶的磁晶各向异性常数将随之改变。细颗粒的穆斯堡尔谱亦给出了表面层原子磁性的信息。α-Fe颗粒表面层原子的超精细场大于块状样品的值。FeCo合金颗粒的表面是富铁层。α-Fe_2O_3的Morin转变温度与Fe_3O_4的Verwey温度均发现随颗粒尺寸减小而降低。α-FeOOH微晶密堆积体的研究表明,这些微晶间的磁耦合显著地影响穆斯堡尔谱。     

Ordering in Heisenberg spin glasses

For five different Heisenberg spin glass systems, torque experiments were performed in applied magnetic fields up to 4 T. The Dzyaloshinski-Moriya random anisotropy strengths, the in-field torque onset temperatures, and the torque relaxation were measured. Critical exponents were estimated independently using a standard protocol. The data are strong evidence for a true spin glass ordered state which survives under high applied magnetic fields; they can be interpreted consistently in terms of a chiral ordering model with replica symmetry breaking as proposed by Kawamura and co-workers.     

High-temperature slow relaxation of the magnetization in Ni10 magnetic molecules

We investigate a family of molecular crystals containing noninteracting Ni10 magnetic molecules. We find slow relaxation of the magnetization below a temperature as high as 17 K and we show that this behavior is not associated with an anisotropy energy barrier. Ni10 has a characteristic magnetic energy spectrum structured in dense bands, the lowest of which makes the crystal opaque to phonons of energy below about 1 meV. We ascribe the nonequilibrium behavior to the resulting resonant trapping of these low-energy phonons. Trapping breaks up spin relaxation paths leading to a novel kind of slow magnetic dynamics which occurs in the lack of anisotropy, magnetic interactions and quenched disorder.     

Scaling of the low-temperature dephasing rate in Kondo systems

We present phase coherence time measurements in quasi-one-dimensional Ag wires doped with Fe Kondo impurities of different concentrations n_{s}. Because of the relatively high Kondo temperature T_{K} approximately 4.3 K of this system, we are able to explore a temperature range from above T_{K} down to below 0.01T_{K}. We show that the magnetic contribution to the dephasing rate gamma_{m} per impurity is described by a single, universal curve when plotted as a function of T/T_{K}. For T>0.1T_{K}, the dephasing rate is remarkably well described by recent numerical results for spin S=1/2 impurities. At lower temperature, we observe deviations from this theory. Based on a comparison with theoretical calculations for S>1/2, we discuss possible explanations for the observed deviations.     

Size and thickness effect on magnetic structures of maghemite hollow magnetic nanoparticles

The effect of surface anisotropy on the magnetic ground state of hollow maghemite nanoparticles is investigated using atomistic Monte Carlo simulation. The computer modeling is carried on hollow nanostructures as a function of size and shell thickness. It is found that the large contribution of the surface anisotropy imposes a “throttled” spin structure where the moments located at the outer surface tend to orient normal to the surface while those located at the inner surface appear to be more aligned. For increasing values of surface anisotropy in the frame of a radial model, the magnetic moments become radially oriented either inward or outward giving rise to a “hedgehog” configuration with nearly zero net magnetization. We also show the effect of the size of hollow nanoparticle on the spin behavior where the spin non-collinearity increases (for fixed value of surface anisotropy) as the diameter of the hollow nanoparticle increases due to the significant increase in surface-to-volume ratio, the thickness being constant. Moreover, the thickness of the hollow nanoparticle shell influences the spin configuration and thus the relation between surface anisotropy and the size or the thickness of the hollow nanoparticle is established.     

Dynamics of water in and around proteins characterized by 1H-spin-lattice relaxometry

Nuclear magnetic spin-lattice relaxation rate constants measured as a function of the magnetic field strength over wide ranges of Larmor frequency map the noise spectrum that drives spin relaxation. For water in and around protein systems, the spin relaxation reports on the average local translational mobility at the interface which is reduced by approximately factor of three from the bulk and there is anisotropy induced in the motions caused by the excluded volume created by the presence of the protein. Water also penetrates the protein and relatively few bound water sites provide a strong coupling between the protein dynamics and the water-proton-spin relaxation.     

75As NMR studies of superconducting LaFeAsO0.9F0.1

We have performed 75As nuclear magnetic resonance measurements on aligned powders of the new LaFeAsO0.9F0.1 superconductor. In the normal state, we find a strong temperature dependence of the spin shift and Korringa behavior of the spin lattice relaxation rate. In the superconducting state, we find evidence for line nodes in the superconducting gap and spin-singlet pairing. Our measurements reveal a strong anisotropy of the spin lattice relaxation rate, which suggests that superconducting vortices contribute to the relaxation rate when the field is parallel to the c axis but not for the perpendicular direction.     

Relaxation of a quadrupolar nucleus in a strong magnetic field

Longitudinal relaxation of spin systems (S = 1, 3/2, 3) containing isolated quadrupolar nuclei are studied. The characteristic features of the relaxation behavior are identified in strong magnetic fields in the presence of chemical shift anisotropy. Two mechanisms are established that favor involvement of high rank multipoles in the relaxation process: an autocorrelation mechanism and a cross correlation mechanism. Multipoles of odd rank are involved in the relaxation of nuclei with spin S > 1 as a result of the autocorrelation mechanism (in this case, due to quadrupole interactions). The cross correlation mechanism, due to correlations between the chemical shift anisotropy and the quadrupole interactions, favors the appearance of multipoles of even rank. Expressions are presented for the multipole cross relaxation and longitudinal relaxation rates for spin systems with S = 1, 3/2, 3. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 1, pp. 18–25, January–February, 2006.     

Magnetic excitations in solids

This article presents a review of low to moderate frequency magnetic excitations, termed magnons or spin waves, in magnetically ordered materials. The emphasis is on intuitive behavior rather than analytical theory. Topics include spin waves, magnetostatic modes, dipole-exchange modes, surface anisotropy, dispersion properties, nonlinear effects, and relaxation. These phenomena are illustrated with experimental examples based on magnon light scattering results as well as conventional microwave techniques.