Negative partial density of states in mesoscopic systems

Since the experimental observation of quantum mechanical scattering phase shift in mesoscopic systems, several aspects of it have not yet been understood. The experimental observations have also accentuated many theoretical problems related to Friedel sum rule and negativity of partial density of states. We address these problems using the concepts of Argand diagram and Burgers circuit. We can prove the possibility of negative partial density of states in mesoscopic systems. Such a conclusive and general evidence cannot be given in one, two or three dimensions. We can show a general connection between phase drops and exactness of semi classical Friedel sum rule. We also show Argand diagram for a scattering matrix element can be of few classes based on their topology and all observations can be classified accordingly.     

Bound states in the continuum in metal—dielectric photonic crystal with a birefringent defect

By using the difference of the band structure for the TE and TM waves in the metal—dielectric photonic crystals beyond the light cone and the birefringence of the anisotropic crystal, a one-dimensional photonic system is constructed to realize the bound states in the continuum (BICs). In addition to the BICs arising from the polarization incompatibility, the Friedrich—Wintgen BICs are also achieved when the leaking TM wave is eliminated due to the destructive interference of its ordinary and extraordinary wave components in the anisotropic crystal. A modified scheme favorable for practical application is also proposed. This scheme for BICs may help to suppress the radiation loss in the metal—dielectric photonic crystal systems.     

Quantum phase transitions and vortex dynamics in superconducting networks

Josephson-junction arrays are ideal model systems to study a variety of phenomena such as phase transitions, frustration effects, vortex dynamics and chaos. In this review, we focus on the quantum dynamical properties of low-capacitance Josephson-junction arrays. The two characteristic energy scales in these systems are the Josephson energy, associated with the tunneling of Cooper pairs between neighboring islands, and the charging energy, which is the energy needed to add an extra electron charge to a neutral island. The phenomena described in this review stem from the competition between single-electron effects with the Josephson effect. They give rise to (quantum) superconductor–insulator phase transitions that occur when the ratio between the coupling constants is varied or when the external fields are varied. We describe the dependence of the various control parameters on the phase diagram and the transport properties close to the quantum critical points. On the superconducting side of the transition, vortices are the topological excitations. In low-capacitance junction arrays these vortices behave as massive particles that exhibit quantum behavior. We review the various quantum–vortex experiments and theoretical treatments of their quantum dynamics.     

Nanoscale superconducting quantum bits

Various physical systems were proposed for quantum information processing. Among those nanoscale devices appear most promising for integration in electronic circuits and large-scale applications. We discuss Josephson junction circuits in two regimes where they can be used for quantum computing. These systems combine intrinsic coherence of the superconducting state with control possibilities of single-charge circuits. In the regime where the typical charging energy dominates over the Josephson coupling, the low-temperature dynamics is limited to two states differing by a Cooper-pair charge on a superconducting island. In the opposite regime of prevailing Josephson energy, the phase (or flux) degree of freedom can be used to store and process quantum information. Under suitable conditions the system reduces to two states with different flux configurations. Several qubits can be joined together into a register. The quantum state of a qubit register can be manipulated by voltage and magnetic field pulses. The qubits are inevitably coupled to the environment. However, estimates of the phase coherence time show that many elementary quantum logic operations can be performed before the phase coherence is lost. In addition to manipulations, the final state of the qubits has to be read out. This quantum measurement process can be accomplished using a single-electron transistor for charge Josephson qubits, and a d.c.-SQUID for flux qubits. Recent successful experiments with superconducting qubits demonstrate for the first time quantum coherence in macroscopic systems.     

Purely quadratic dispersion of surface plasmon in Ag/Ni(111): the influence of electron confinement

Surface plasmon dispersion in nanoscale thin Ag films deposited onto the Ni(111) surface was investigated by angle‐resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy. We found that the dispersion curve contains only the quadratic term. The vanishing of the linear term was ascribed to the presence in the film of Ag 5sp‐related quantum well states. Screening effects enhanced by electron confinement in Ag quantum well states push the position of the centroid of the induced charge of the surface plasmon less inside the interface compared to other Ag systems, rendering null the linear coefficient of the dispersion curve. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Space charge in nanostructure resonances

In quantum ballistic propagation of electrons through a variety of nanostructures, resonance in the energy-dependent transmission and reflection probabilities generically is associated with (1) a quasi-level with a decay lifetime, and (2) a bulge in electron density within the structure. It can be shown that, to a good approximation, a simple formula in all cases connects the density of states for the latter to the energy dependence of the phase angles of the eigen values of the S-matrix governing the propagation. For both the Lorentzian resonances (normal or inverted) and for the Fano-type resonances, as a consequence of this eigen value formula, the space charge due to filled states over the energy range of a resonance is just equal (for each spin state) to one electron charge. The Coulomb interaction within this space charge is known to ‘distort’ the electrical characteristics of resonant nanostructures. In these systems, however, the exchange effect should effectively cancel the interaction between states with parallel spins, leaving only the anti-parallel spin contribution.     

Friedel theorem for one dimensional relativistic spin-1/2 systems

The Friedel sum rule is generalized to relativistic systems of spin-1/2 particles in one dimension. The change of the total energy due to the presence of an impurity is studied. The relation of the sum rule with the relativistic Levinson theorem is presented. Density oscillations in such systems are discussed. Since the Friedel theorem has been of major importance in understanding the impurity scattering in materials, the present results may be useful to explain some phenomena in one dimensional atomic chain, quantum wire, and fermionic many body systems.     

Interaction versus dimerization in one-dimensional Fermi systems

In order to study the effect of interaction and lattice distortion on quantum coherence in one-dimensional Fermi systems, we calculate the ground state energy and the phase sensitivity of a ring of interacting spinless fermions on a dimerized lattice. Our numerical DMRG studies, in which we keep up to 1000 states for systems of about 100 sites, are supplemented by analytical considerations using bosonization techniques. We find a delocalized phase for an attractive interaction, which differs from that obtained for random lattice distortions. The extension of this delocalized phase depends strongly on the dimerization induced modification of the interaction. Taking into account the harmonic lattice energy, we find a dimerized ground state for a repulsive interaction only. The dimerization is suppressed at half filling, when the correlation gap becomes large. Received: 11 February 1998 / Revised: 1st April 1998 / Accepted: 30 April 1998     

Nonlinear quantum shock waves in fractional quantum Hall edge states

Using the Calogero model as an example, we show that the transport in interacting nondissipative electronic systems is essentially nonlinear and unstable. Nonlinear effects are due to the curvature of the electronic spectrum near the Fermi energy. As is typical for nonlinear systems, a propagating semiclassical wave packet develops a shock wave at a finite time. A wave packet collapses into oscillatory features which further evolve into regularly structured localized pulses carrying a fractionally quantized charge. The Calogero model can be used to describe fractional quantum Hall edge states. We discuss perspectives of observation of quantum shock waves and a direct measurement of the fractional charge in fractional quantum Hall edge states.     

Crossing of specific heat curves in some correlated fermion systems

Specific heat versus temperature curves for various pressures, or magnetic fields (or some other external control parameter) have been seen to cross at a point or in a very small range of temperatures in many correlated fermion systems. We show that this behavior is related to the possibility of existence of a quantum critical point. Vicinity to a quantum critical point in these systems leads to a crossover from quantum to classical fluctuation regime at some temperature . The temperature at which the curves cross turns out to be near this crossover temperature. We have discussed the case of the normal phase of liquid Helium three and the heavy fermion systems CeAl₃ and UBe₁₃ in detail within the spin fluctuation theory, a theory which inherently contains a low energy scale which can be identified with . When the crossover scale is a homogeneous function of these control parameters there is always crossing at a point. We also mention other theories exhibiting a low energy scale near a quantum critical point and discuss this phenomenon in those theories. Received 25 June 1999     

ON THE ELIMINATION OF PHASE ANGLE UNCERTAINTY IN SOME PROBLEMS OF RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM MECHANICS

In some quantum mechanical problems involving singular states usually exists phase angle uncertainty. Recently in the investigation of the scattering of a Dirac particle with the charge Ze and a fixed magnetic monopole, Kazama, Yang and Goldharber [2] introduced some extra magnetic moments in order to eliminate the phase angle uncertainty. In this paper, instead of introducing any extra magnetic moment we use the adjusted framework of quantum mechanics suggested in [3], the criterion of orthogonality and the variation principle of energy (indefinite phase as a variation parameter) to determine the phase angle, the scattering cross section and the bound states uniquely. These principles for the determination of the solution have been tested for its correctness, because the result is consistent with the solution of reference [2]. By using these principles the problems of scattering and bound states of systems consisting of a charged magnetic monopole and a charged Dirac particle, as well as the monopole pair are exactly solved.     

Excited state quantum phase transitions in many-body systems

Phenomena analogous to ground state quantum phase transitions have recently been noted to occur among states throughout the excitation spectra of certain many-body models. These excited state phase transitions are manifested as simultaneous singularities in the eigenvalue spectrum (including the gap or level density), order parameters, and wave function properties. In this article, the characteristics of excited state quantum phase transitions are investigated. The finite-size scaling behavior is determined at the mean-field level. It is found that excited state quantum phase transitions are universal to two-level bosonic and fermionic models with pairing interactions.     

Density of states and Friedel sum rule in one- and quasi-one-dimensional wires

We analyze the relation between the density of states obtained from the energy derivative of the Friedel phase and that obtained from the Green's function of one- and quasi-one-dimensional wires with a double δ-potential. In the case of repulsive δ-potentials (in both one- and quasi-one-dimension), we show that the local Friedel sum rule is valid when a correction term is included. Various properties of the one-dimensional local density of states are also discussed. In the case of attractive δ-potentials in a quasi-one-dimensional wire, it is well known that the transmission probability may exhibit a Fano resonance (due to a zero-pole pair). In this case, we show that the local Friedel sum rule is valid provided that the tail of the quasibound state is taken into account by the integrated local density of states. In addition, we show that the density of states in a Fano resonance always has a Lorentz shape with peak position at the resonance energy regardless of the (Fano) asymmetry parameter.     

Bell-CHSH function approach to quantum phase transitions in matrix product systems

Recently, nonlocality and Bell inequalities have been used to investigate quantum phase transitions (QPTs) in low-dimensional quantum systems. Nonlocality can be detected by the Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (Bell-CHSH) function. In this work, we extend the study of the Bell-CHSH function (BCF) to QPTs in matrix product systems (MPSs). In these kinds of QPTs, the ground-state energy remains analytical in the vicinity of the QPT points, and they are usually called MPS-QPTs. For several typical models, our results show that the BCF can signal MPS-QPTs very well. In addition, we find the BCF can capture signal of QPTs in unentangled states and classical states, for which other measures of quantum correlation (quantum entanglement and quantum discord) fail. Furthermore, we find that in these MPSs, there exists some kind of quantum correlation which cannot be characterized by entanglement, or by nonlocality.     

Behaviours of the excited states 1s^2np along lithium isoelectronic sequence from Z=11 to 20

Based on the obtained energy values of 1s^2np （n≤ 9） states for lithium-like systems from Z=11 to 20 （by the authors of this paper： Hu M H and Wang Z W 2004 Chin. Phys. 13 662）, this paper determines the quantum defects, as slowly varying function of energy, of this Rydberg series. Using them as input, it can predict the energies of any highly excited states below the ionization threshold for this series a~cording to the quantum defect theory. The regularities of variation for quantum defects of the series along this isoelectronic sequence are physically analysed and discussed. The screening parameters, which are equal to the effective screening charge of the core-electrons, are also obtained.     

Unexpected behavior in a two-path electron interferometer

We report the observation of an unpredictable behavior of a simple, two-path, electron interferometer. Utilizing an electronic analog of the well-known optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer, with current carrying edge channels in the quantum Hall effect regime, we measured high contrast Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations. Surprisingly, the amplitude of the oscillations varied with energy in a lobe fashion, namely, with distinct maxima and zeros (namely, no AB oscillations) in between. Moreover, the phase of the AB oscillations was constant throughout each lobe period but slipped abruptly by pi at each zero. The periodicity of the lobes defines a new energy scale, which may be a general characteristic of quantum coherence of interfering electrons.     

Numerical study of localization in quantum spin hall state of HgTe/CdTe system

HgTe/CdTe quantum well has served as a new material in realizing the quantum spin Hall state. We investigate the localization and scaling behavior of electronic states in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells through the scaling analysis. A phase diagram where the boundary separating the localized and extended states is plotted in the parameter space which is spanned with disorder strength and Fermi energy. We also discuss the implications of these results on the behavior of topological insulator.     

Z2 topological order and the quantum spin Hall effect

The quantum spin Hall (QSH) phase is a time reversal invariant electronic state with a bulk electronic band gap that supports the transport of charge and spin in gapless edge states. We show that this phase is associated with a novel Z2 topological invariant, which distinguishes it from an ordinary insulator. The Z2 classification, which is defined for time reversal invariant Hamiltonians, is analogous to the Chern number classification of the quantum Hall effect. We establish the Z2 order of the QSH phase in the two band model of graphene and propose a generalization of the formalism applicable to multiband and interacting systems.     

Bound states in the continuum in two-dimensional serial structures

We investigate the occurrence of bound states in the continuum (BICs) in serial structures of quantum dots coupled to an external waveguide, when some characteristic length of the system is changed. By resorting to a multichannel scattering-matrix approach, we show that BICs do actually occur in two-dimensional serial structures, and that they are a robust effect. When a BIC is produced in a two-dot system, BICs also occur for several coupled dots. We also show that the complex dependence of the conductance upon the geometry of the multi-dot system allows for a simple picture in terms of the resonance pole motion in the multi-sheeted Riemann energy surface. Finally, we show that in correspondence to zero-width states for the open system one has a multiplet of degenerate eigenenergies for the associated closed serial system, thereby generalizing results previously obtained for single dots and two-dot structures.