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.     

Novel spin dynamics in a Josephson junction

We address the dynamics of a single spin embedded in the tunneling barrier between two superconductors. As a consequence of pair correlations in the superconducting state, the spin displays a rich and unusual dynamics. To properly describe the time evolution of the spin we find the generalized Wess-Zumino-Witten-Novikov term in the effective action for the spin on the Keldysh contour. The superconducting correlations lead to an effective spin action which is nonlocal in time leading to unconventional precessions. Our predictions might be directly tested for macroscopic spin clusters.     

Nuclear spin dynamics in the quantum regime of a single-molecule magnet

We show that the nuclear spin dynamics in the single-molecule magnet Mn12-ac below 1 K is governed by quantum tunneling fluctuations of the cluster spins, combined with intercluster nuclear spin diffusion. We also obtain the first experimental proof that-surprisingly-even deep in the quantum regime the nuclear spins remain in good thermal contact with the lattice phonons. We propose a simple model for how T-independent tunneling fluctuations can relax the nuclear polarization to the lattice that may serve as a framework for more sophisticated theories.     

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     

Tunneling among rotation tori

We consider an integrable Hamiltonian system generated by the resonant normal form in order to study a particular mechanism of tunneling. We isolated near doublets of energy corresponding to rotation tori of the classical dynamics counterpart and the degeneracies breakdown is attributed to rotation-rotation tunneling.     

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     

Spin dynamics of high-spin fermions in optical superlattices

We investigate the spin dynamics, starting from the initial band-insulating state, of fermionic high-spin atoms in optical superlattices. Through numerical simulations and analytical calculations, we determine the time evolution behavior of the system. When the spin-changing strength and tunneling strength are comparable, the spin dynamics feature a spin-changing oscillation with the amplitude modulated by the superexchange interaction. When the double-well potential is very shallow, the spin dynamics feature a simple harmonic oscillation with the oscillation frequencies related only to the spin-changing strength, which can be properly explained with the perturbation model.     

Spin-tunneling time in a hybrid semimagnetic/semiconductor heterostructure with a single paramagnetic layer

We investigate spin-dependent tunneling times in a hybrid semimagnetic/semiconductor heterostructure with a single paramagnetic layer under the influence of both electric and magnetic fields. We find that the tunneling times for electrons strongly depend on the incident energy, the magnitude of the external fields, and on their spin orientation. The results indicate that the tunneling time for spin-up electrons can be longer than that for spin-down ones by up to several orders of magnitude. This implies that tunneling for spin-up and spin-down electrons are separated in time within the same heterostructure.     

The effect of measurement on the quantum features of a chaotic system

We investigate the quantum dynamics of a periodically kicked nonlinear spin system which exhibits regular and chaotic dynamics in the classical regime. The quantum behaviour is characterised by the evolving eigenvalue distributions for the angular momentum components and the features, including recurrences in the quantum means and the presence of quantum tunneling, are discussed. We employ the evolution operator eigenvalue distribution to prove that coherent quantum tunneling occurs between the fixed points in the regular regions of phase space. Continual quantum measurement is included in the model: the classical dynamics are unchanged but a destruction of coherences occurs in the quantum system. Recurrences in the means are destroyed and quantum tunneling is suppressed by measurement, a manifestation of the quantum Zeno effect.     

Electron and nuclear spin dynamics in antiferromagnetic molecular rings

We study theoretically the spin dynamics of antiferromagnetic molecular rings, such as the ferric wheel Fe10. For a single nuclear or impurity spin coupled to one of the electron spins of the ring, we calculate nuclear and electronic spin correlation functions and show that nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron spin resonance (ESR) techniques can be used to detect coherent tunneling of the Néel vector in these rings. The location of the NMR/ESR resonances gives the tunnel splitting and its linewidth an upper bound on the decoherence rate of the electron spin dynamics. We illustrate the experimental feasibility of our proposal with estimates for Fe10 molecules.     

Ultrametricity in three-dimensional edwards-anderson spin glasses

We perform an accurate test of ultrametricity in the aging dynamics of the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson spin glass. Our method consists in considering the evolution in parallel of two identical systems constrained to have fixed overlap. This turns out to be a particularly efficient way to study the geometrical relations between configurations at distant large times. Our findings strongly hint towards dynamical ultrametricity in spin glasses, while this is absent in simpler aging systems with domain growth dynamics. A recently developed theory of linear response in glassy systems allows us to infer that dynamical ultrametricity implies the same property at the level of equilibrium states.     

Momentum and spin filtering of electrons on the surface of a topological insulator

We study theoretically electron tunneling through planar magnetic barrier arrays on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator. Interestingly, the transmission displays a collimation behavior at some specific incident angles. This feature provides us a new way to construct a momentum and spin filter in topological insulators.     

Interplay of spin accumulation and Coulomb blockade in double ferromagnetic junctions

Single-electron tunneling in a double junction in which a nonmagnetic metallic island is separated from two ferromagnetic electrodes by tunnel barriers, is analysed theoretically in the sequential tunneling regime and for an arbitrary intrinsic spin relaxation time on the island. It is shown that nonequilibrium spin polarization of the island results in tunnel magnetoresistance due to rotation of the electrode magnetizations from antiparallel to parallel alignment. It is also shown that discrete charging of the island gives rise to a fine structure in the voltage dependence of the island spin polarization and tunnel magnetoresistance     

Fermionic atoms in a three dimensional optical lattice: observing Fermi surfaces, dynamics, and interactions

We have studied interacting and noninteracting quantum degenerate Fermi gases in a three-dimensional optical lattice. We directly image the Fermi surface of the atoms in the lattice by turning off the optical lattice adiabatically. Because of the confining potential, gradual filling of the lattice transforms the system from a normal state into a band insulator. The dynamics of the transition from a band insulator to a normal state is studied, and the time scale is measured to be an order of magnitude larger than the tunneling time in the lattice. Using a Feshbach resonance, we increase the interaction between atoms in two different spin states and dynamically induce a coupling between the lowest energy bands. We observe a shift of this coupling with respect to the Feshbach resonance in free space which is anticipated for strongly confined atoms.     

Nonlinear dynamics of semiclassical spin in a time-dependent magnetic field

The dynamics of magnetic nanoclusters (or molecules) with a large spin in a magnetic field whose strength varies in proportion to time is analyzed. Such a field breaks the symmetry relative to rotations through 2π, as well as clockwise and counterclockwise rotations, and induces a number of new coherent quantum effects in the spin dynamics, such as the formation of a band energy spectrum with continuous spin states or the emergence of “Bloch” oscillations in spin precession and interband Zener tunneling. Bloch oscillations are manifested in experiment as equidistant identical jumps on the magnetization curve. The interband Zener tunneling gives rise to additional jumps and peaks on the susceptibility of the system.     

一维双组分玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体系的量子隧穿特性

利用双模近似方法研究了一维双组分玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体(Bose-Einstein condensates,BECs)的量子隧穿特性.从描述三维双组分BECs系统的Gross-Pitaevskii方程(GPE)出发,得到了描述一维体系的GP方程.把体系波函数写成原子数和相位指数的乘积,得到描述体系隧穿特性的费曼方程.数值求解费曼方程,研究了原子之间相互作用(双组分BECs体系原子之间的相互作用包括组分内部原子之间的相互作用和不同组分原子之间的相互作用)对隧穿特性的影响.结果显示,当原子之间的相互作用较弱时,体系发生量子隧穿现象,表现为原子数在平衡位置附近作周期振荡;随着原子之间相互作用增强,体系经历一个临界状态,进入自俘获状态,即由于原子之间相互作用的存在,在对称双势阱中演化的BECs可以呈现出原子数高度的不对称分布,好像绝大数原子被其中一个势阱俘获.从隧穿到自俘获原子之间的相互作用存在一个临界值,从而体系的能量也对应一个临界值,根据体系的哈密顿函数,就能求出相互作用临界值的表达式.     

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.     

Breakdown of the giant spin model in the magnetic relaxation of the Mn6 nanomagnets

We study the spin dynamics in two variants of the high-anisotropy Mn6 nanomagnet by inelastic neutron scattering, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and magnetometry. We show that a giant-spin picture is completely inadequate for these systems and that excited S multiplets play a key role in determining the effective energy barrier for the magnetization reversal. Moreover, we demonstrate the occurrence of tunneling processes involving pair of states having different total spin.     

Quantum dynamics of atomic magnets: cotunneling and dipolar-biased tunneling

Multispin tunneling cross relaxations in an ensemble of weakly coupled Ho3+ ions, mediated by weak anisotropic dipolar interactions, can be evidenced by ac-susceptibility measurements in a high temperature regime. Based on a four-body representation, including the rare-earth nuclear spin, two-ion tunneling mechanisms can be attributed to both dipolar-biased tunneling and cotunneling processes. The coreversal involving entangled pairs of magnetic moments is discussed with a particular emphasis, giving new evidence to elucidate the many-body quantum dynamics in dipolar spin glasses.     

Exact SU(2) symmetry and persistent spin helix in a spin-orbit coupled system

Spin-orbit coupled systems generally break the spin rotation symmetry. However, for a model with equal Rashba and Dresselhauss coupling constants, and for the [110] Dresselhauss model, a new type of SU(2) spin rotation symmetry is discovered. This symmetry is robust against spin-independent disorder and interactions and is generated by operators whose wave vector depends on the coupling strength. It renders the spin lifetime infinite at this wave vector, giving rise to a persistent spin helix. We obtain the spin fluctuation dynamics at, and away from, the symmetry point and suggest experiments to observe the persistent spin helix.