Effects of Arbitrarily Directed Field on Spin Phase Oscillations in Biaxial Molecular Magnets

Quantum phase interference and spin-parity effects are studied in biaxial molecular magnets in a magnetic field at an arbitrarily directed angle.The calculations of the ground-state tunnel splitting are performed on the basis of the instanton technique in the spin-coherent-state path-integral representation,and complemented by exactly numerical diagonalization.Both the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin exponent and the pre-exponential factor are obtained for the entire region of the direction of the field.Our results show that the tunnel splitting oscillates with the field for the small field angle,while for the large field angle the oscillation is completely suppressed.This distinct angular dependence,together with the dependence of the tunnel splitting on the field strength,provides an independent test for spin-parity effects in biaxial molexular magnets.The analytical results for the molecular Fes magnet are found to be in good agreement with the numerical simulations,which suggests that even the molecular magnet with total spin S=10 is large enough to be treated as a giant spin system.     

Dephasing of quantum tunnelling in molecular nanomagnets

Dephasing mechanism of quantum tunnelling in molecular magnets has been studied by means of the spin-coherentstate path integral in a mean field approximation. It is found that the fluctuating uncompensated transverse field from the dipolar-dipolar interaction between molecular magnets contributes a random phase to the quantum interference phase. The resulting transition rate is determined by the average tunnel splitting over the random phase. Such a dephasing process leads to the suppression of quenching due to the quantum phase interference, and to the steps due to odd resonances in hysteresis loop survived, which is in good agreement with experimental observations in molecular nanomagnets Fes and Mn12.     

A charge-current switch manipulated by the macroscopic quantum coherence of a single-molecule magnet

We report a theoretical analysis of electron transport through a quantum dot with an embedded biaxial single-molecule magnet, which is coupled to ferromagnetic electrodes of parallel and antiparallel magnet-configurations. For the antiparallel configuration of complete polarization it is shown that the originally prohibited electron transport can be opened up by the macroscopic quantum coherence of the molecular magnet, which provides a spin-flipping mechanism. The charge-current and differential conductance are controllable by variation of the magnitude and orientation of an external magnetic field, which in turn manipulates the macroscopic quantum coherence of the molecular magnet. Moreover, the transport can be switched off at particular values of the magnetic field, where the tunnel splitting is quenched by the quantum phase interference of tunnel paths.The transport current and differential conductance as functions of the electrode-polarization and magnetic field are extensively studied, which may be useful in practical applications. A new transport channel is found in the completely polarized parallel-configuration induced by the tunnel splitting of molecular magnet and resonance-peak splits of the conductance are observed in non-completely polarized configurations. 75.50.Xx Molecular magnets     

Macroscopic quantum coherence of the Neel vector in antiferromagnetic system without Kramers' degeneracy

At low temperatures the Neel vector in a small antiferromagnetic particle can possess quantum coherence between the classically degenerate minima. In some cases, the topological term in the magnetic action can lead to destructive interference between the symmetry-related trajectories for the half-integer excess spin antiferromagnetic particle. By studying a macroscopic quantum coherence problem of the Neel vector with biaxial crystal symmetry and a weak magnetic field applied along the hard axis, we find that the quenching of tunnel splitting could take place in the system without Kramers' degeneracy. Both the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin exponent and the pre-exponential factors are found exactly for the tunnel splitting. Results show that the tunnel splitting oscillates with the weak applied magnetic field for both the integer and half-integer excess spin antiferromagnetic particles, and vanishes at certain values of the field. All the calculations are performed based on the two sublattices model and the instanton method in spin-coherent-state path integral. Received: 24 July 1997 / Accepted: 30 September 1997     

Calorimetric and spectroscopic study of quasi-one-dimensional Haldane magnets (Y1 ? xNdx)2BaNiO5 (x = 1, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25)

The temperature dependences of the heat capacity and optical transmission spectra of quasi-one-dimensional Haldane magnets (Y_{1 − x} Nd _x )₂BaNiO₅ (x = 1, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25) have been studied. All the compounds studied undergoes antiferromagnetic ordering. In the ordered state, the internal magnetic field produces splitting of the ground-state Kramers doublet of Nd³⁺ ion. The temperature dependences of the magnitude of splitting, as determined from spectroscopic data, were used to calculate the Schottky anomaly on the heat capacity curve. Nonequivalent centers related to neodymium ions have been found in compounds with x = 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25.     

Magnon squeezing in an antiferromagnet: reducing the spin noise below the standard quantum limit

We report the first experimental demonstration of quantum squeezing of a collective spin-wave excitation (magnon) using femtosecond optical pulses to generate correlations involving pairs of spins in an antiferromagnetic insulator MnF2. In the squeezed state, the fluctuations of the magnetization of a crystallographic unit cell vary periodically in time and are reduced below that of the ground-state quantum noise.     

Magnetic interaction between coupled quantum dots

We study the magnetic coupling in artificial molecules composed of two and four laterally coupled quantum dots. The electronic ground-state configurations of such systems are determined by applying current spin density functional theory which allows to include effects of magnetic fields. While the ground-state of a two-dot molecule with strong enough inter-dot coupling tends to be antiferromagnetic with respect to the spins of the single dot components, we find that a square lattice of four dots has a ferromagnetic ground state. Received 17 February 1999 and Received in final form 1 June 1999     

Quantum phase transitions of spin chiral nanotubes

Recently many interesting magnetic nanostructures have been fabricated and much attention is arising on the rich magnetic properties that originate in the quantum effects eminent in the nanoscale world. One of the peculiar aspects of the quantum effects is the spin excitation gap. In the spin-1/2 low-dimensional systems, the spin gap often appears when the lattice dimerization or the frustration in the spin–spin interaction are introduced. In the present study, we investigate the ground-state property of the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic spin chiral nanotubes with the spatial modulation in the spin–spin interaction. The ground-state phase diagrams of them are determined by observing the behavior of the expectation value of the Lieb–Schultz–Mattis slow-twist operator calculated by the quantum Monte Carlo method with the continuous-time loop algorithm. We discuss the relation between the characteristic of the topology of the phase diagram and the chiral vector of the nanotubes.     

Nuclear ground states dressed with rf photons in Mössbauer–Zeeman 57Fe spectroscopy

We have applied the “dressed” state concept, developed in quantum electronics, to the situation in which spin 1/2 ground-state nuclear levels are coupled by rf photons. In particular, we have studied Mössbauer spectroscopy when there is Zeeman splitting of the nuclear levels and a further interaction due to an applied rf-radiation field when the rf frequency is in the neighborhood of the ground-state splitting. The dressed-state approach treats the coupling of the ground nuclear Zeeman levels, due to a radio frequency field, by considering the total system made up of: nucleus, static magnetic field, and rf field as one global quantum system. The energy levels and corresponding eigenstates of the system are calculated as a function of the rf frequency and the magnitude of the rf magnetic flux density. Mössbauer spectra are calculated for the ⁵⁷Fe case in which the source is subjected to both the static and radiation fields while the absorber nuclear levels are unsplit.

     

Spin-1 pyrochlore antiferromagnets: Theory,model, and materials’ survey

Pyrochlore magnets can be a unique platform to demonstrate numerous important concepts and applications of frustrated magnetic physics in modern condensed matter physics. Most works on pyrochlore magnets deal with the interacting spin-1/2 local moments, while much less works have studied the spin-1 systems. We here review the physics with interacting spin-1 local moments on the pyrochlore lattice to illustrate the potentially interesting physics associated with spin-1 magnets. The generic pyrochlore spin-1 model includes the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interaction, the Dzyaloshinskii– Moriya interaction and the single-ion spin anisotropy. The global phase diagram of this generic spin model is reviewed, and the relation between different quantum phases in the phase diagram is clarified. The critical properties of the transition from the parent quantum paramagnet to the proximate orders are discussed. The presence of quantum order by disorder in the parts of the ordered phases is analyzed. The elementary excitations with respect to the ground states are further reviewed, and the topological natures of these excitations are carefully addressed. The materials’ relevance of the spin-1 pyrochlore magnets are finally reviewed. This review may provide insights about the interesting spin-1 local moments on frustrated systems.     

Entanglement in the supermolecular dimer [Mn4]2

This paper investigates the entanglement in the supermolecular dimer [Mn4]2 consisting of a pair of single molecular magnets with antiferromagnetic exchange-coupllng J. The conventional yon Neumann entropy as a function of the exchange-coupling is calculated explicitly for all eigenstates with the quantum number range from M = M1 ＋ M2 = -9 to 0. It is shown that the yon Neumann entropy is not a monotonic function of the coupling strength. However, it is significant that the entropy of entanglement has the maximum values and the minimum values for most eigenstates, which is extremely useful in the quantum computing. It also presents the time-evolution of entanglement from various initial states. The results are useful in the design of devices based on the entanglement of two molecular magnets.     

Magnon bands in twisted bilayer honeycomb quantum magnets

We study the magnon bands of twisted bilayer honeycomb quantum magnets using linear spin wave theory. Although the interlayer coupling can be ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic, we keep the intralayer one ferromagnetic to avoid possible frustration. For the interlayer ferromagnetic case, we find the magnon bands have similar features with the corresponding electronic energy spectrums. Although the linear dispersions near the Dirac points are preserved in the magnon bands of twisted bilayer magnets, their slopes are reduced with the decrease of the twist angles. On the other hand, the interlayer antiferromagnetic couplings generate quite different magnon spectra. The two single-layered magnon spectra are usually decoupled due to the opposite orientations of the spins in the two layers. We also develop a low-energy continuous theory for very small twist angles, which has been verified to fit well with the exact tight-binding calculations. Our results may be experimentally observed due to the rapid progress in two-dimensional magnetic materials.     

Observation of quantum coherence in mesoscopic molecular magnets

By applying a transverse magnetic field B( perpendicular) of sufficient strength to the uniaxial molecular magnets Fe8 and Mn12, the tunneling splitting Delta(t) of their S = +/-10 magnetic ground states can be made large compared to perturbations such as hyperfine and dipolar interactions. We present evidence for such a Delta(t) from magnetic specific heat data below 1 K that is consistent with coherent quantum mechanical tunneling in a "mesoscopic" system under such conditions.     

Spin tunnelling in mesoscopic systems

We study spin tunnelling in molecular magnets as an instance of a mesoscopic phenomenon, with special emphasis on the molecule Fe₈. We show that the tunnel splitting between various pairs of Zeeman levels in this molecule oscillates as a function of applied magnetic field, vanishing completely at special points in the space of magnetic fields, known as diabolical points. This phenomena is explained in terms of two approaches, one based on spin-coherent-state path integrals, and the other on a generalization of the phase integral (or WKB) method to difference equations. Explicit formulas for the diabolical points are obtained for a model Hamiltonian.     

Kondo effect in a many-electron quantum ring

The Kondo effect is investigated in a many-electron quantum ring as a function of the magnetic field. For fields applied perpendicular to the plane of the ring a modulation of the Kondo effect with the Aharonov-Bohm period is observed. This effect is discussed in terms of the energy spectrum of the ring and the parametrically changing tunnel coupling. In addition, we use gate voltages to modify the ground-state spin of the ring. The observed splitting of the Kondo-related zero-bias anomaly in this configuration is tuned with an in-plane magnetic field.     

弱磁场下三阱光学超晶格中自旋为1的超冷原子特性研究

双阱光学超晶格中的超冷原子是近期冷原子物理领域的研究热点. 本文推广提出了实现三阱光学超晶格的方案, 并采用精确对角化的方法分别研究了弱磁场下对称三阱 光学超晶格中铁磁性和反铁磁性的自旋为1的原子系统的基态, 发现二者的相图很不相同: 反铁磁性原子对应的相图中没有沿磁场方向总自旋磁量子数为±2的基态, 而铁磁性原子对应的相图中可能有. 在负的二次塞曼能量区域, 铁磁性原子的相图中只有完全极化态. 分析了可控参数影响基态的物理本质. 由于这些量子自旋态可以通过调节外磁场和光势垒的高度非常简便而精确地控制, 适合用来研究自旋纠缠. 关键词： 三阱光学超晶格 自旋为1的原子 弱磁场     

Spontaneous distortion in the spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg model on decorated planar lattices with a magnetoelastic coupling

Magnetoelastic properties of the spin-1/2 Ising-Heisenberg model on doubly decorated planar lattices partially amenable to lattice vibrations are examined within the framework of the harmonic approximation and decoration-iteration transformation. It is shown that the magnetoelastic coupling may lead to a spontaneous distortion of the vibrating decorating atoms and the mutual interplay between quantum spin fluctuations and local lattice deformations enhances typical quantum features like the quantum reduction of the magnetization in the ground state of the quantum antiferromagnetic phase, while it does not affect the ground-state behaviour of the classical ferromagnetic phase. It also turns out that the spontaneous distortion is responsible for a much more pronounced reduction of the critical temperature in the quantum antiferromagnetic phase than in the classical ferromagnetic phase.     

Ground-State and Thermal Entanglement in Three-Spin Heisenberg-XXZ Chain with Three-Spin Interaction

The entanglement properties of a three-spin X X Z Heisenberg chain with three-spin interaction are studied by means of concurrence of pairwise entanglement. We show that ground-state pairwise entanglement, pairwise thermal entanglement, or quantum phase transition is not present in antiferromagnetic spin chain. For the ferromagnetic case, quantum phase transition takes place at △ = 1 for anisotropic interaction and at some values of three-spin coupling strength, and pairwise thermal entanglement increases when the value of J/T increases and with anisotropic interaction and three-spin interaction decrease. In addition, we find that increasing the anisotropic interaction and the three-spin interaction will decrease critical temperature.     

Ground-State and Thermal Entanglement in Three-Spin Heisenberg-XXZ Chain with Three-Spin Interaction

The entanglement properties of a three-spin X X Z Heisenberg chain with three-spin interaction are studied by means of concurrence of pairwise entanglement. We show that ground-state pairwise entanglement, pairwise thermal entanglement, or quantum phase transition is not present in antiferromagnetic spin chain. For the ferromagnetic case, quantum phase transition takes place at A = 1 for anisotropic interaction and at some values of three-spin coupling strength, and pairwise thermal entanglement increases when the value of J/T increases and with anisotropic interaction and three-spin interaction decrease. In addition, we find that increasing the anisotropic interaction and the three-spin interaction will decrease critical temperature.