The role of bound states in time-dependent quantum transport

Charge transport through a nanoscale junction coupled to two macroscopic electrodes is investigated for the situation when bound states are present. We provide numerical evidence that bound states give rise to persistent, non-decaying current oscillations in the junction. We also show that the amplitude of these oscillations can exhibit a strong dependence on the history of the applied potential as well as on the initial equilibrium configuration. Our simulations allow for a quantitative investigation of several transient features. We also discuss the existence of different timescales and address their microscopic origin.     

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     

Non-steady-state photo-EMF in nanostructured GaN and polypyrrole within porous matrices

We report an experimental investigation of the non-steady-state photoelectromotive force in nanostructured GaN within porous glass and polypyrrole within chrysotile asbestos. The samples are illuminated by an oscillating interference pattern created by two coherent light beams and the alternating current is detected as a response of the material. Dependences of the signal amplitude versus temporal and spatial frequencies, light intensity, and temperature are studied for two wavelengths λ=442 and 532 nm. The conductivity of the GaN composite is measured: σ=(1.1–1.6)×10⁻¹⁰ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹ (λ=442 nm, I ₀=0.045–0.19 W/cm², T=293 K) and σ=(3.5–4.6)×10⁻¹⁰ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹ (λ=532 nm, I ₀=2.3 W/cm², T=249–388 K). The diffusion length of photocarriers in polypyrrole nanowires is also estimated: L _D=0.18 μm.     

Standard model and gravity from spinors

It is shown how the Lorentz and standard-model gauge groups can be unified by using algebraic spinors of the standard four-dimensional Clifford algebra, in left–right symmetric fashion. This defines a framework of unification with gravity and generates exactly a standard-model family of fermions, while a Pati–Salam unification group emerges, at the Planck scale, where (chiral) gravity decouples. We show that this low-energy broken phase emerges from the VEV of extended vierbein fields, which at this stage are assumed to be dynamically generated from a theory in the fully symmetric phase valid beyond the Planck scale (and whose consistency and dynamics is thus yet to be assessed) providing thus a geometrical and group-theoretical framework for the unification and breaking. At low energy, on the other hand, it is intriguing to find, as a remnant of this unification, new isospin-triplet spin-two particles that may naturally lie at the weak scale, providing a striking signal at the LHC.     

Magnetotransport properties of La<Subscript>0.67</Subscript>Ca<Subscript>0.33</Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> with different grain sizes

The magnetotransport and magnetoresistive (MR) properties of manganese-based La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ perovskite with different grain sizes are reported. The electrical resistivity was measured as a function of temperature in magnetic fields of 0.5 and 1 T. The insulator–metal transition temperature, T _IM, shifted to a higher temperature with the application of the magnetic field. In zero field, T _IM is almost constant (∼271 K) for all samples except for the sample with the largest grain size, where T _IM=265 K. The temperature dependence of resistivity was fitted with several equations in the metallic (ferromagnetic) region and the insulating (paramagnetic) region. The density of states at the Fermi level, N(E _F), and the activation energy of electron hopping were estimated by fitting the resistivity versus temperature curves. The ρ–T ² curves are nearly linear in the metallic regime, but the ρ–T ^2.5 curves exhibit a deviation from linearity. The variable range hopping model and small polaron hopping model fit the data well in the high-temperature region, indicating the existence of the Jahn–Teller distortion that localizes the charge carriers. MR was found to increase with an increase in the magnetic field, an effect which is attributed to the intergrain spin tunneling effect.     

Conduction switching in aluminum nitride thin films containing Al nanocrystals

Conduction switching, i.e., a sharp change in the conduction from a lower-conductance state to a higher-conductance state or vice versa in aluminum nitride thin films embedded with Al nanocrystals (nc–Al) has been observed in the ramped-voltage and ramped-current current–voltage (I–V) measurements and the time-domain current measurement as well. Each state is well defined and its I–V characteristic follows a power law. It is observed that the conductance decreases (or increases) with charging (or discharging) in the nc–Al. It is shown that the conduction switching is due to the charging and discharging in the nc–Al at certain strategic sites. With the connecting (or breaking) of some conductive tunneling paths formed by the uncharged nc–Al due to the discharging (or charging) in the nc–Al at the strategic sites, a conduction switching occurs.     

Temperature dependence of photoconductivity and persistent photoconductivity of single ZnO nanowires

Photoelectrical properties of single ZnO nanowires have been investigated using photocurrent–voltage characteristics measurements varying with excitation photon energy and temperature. It is found that persistent photoconductivity (PPC) exists, and the PPC decreases with decreasing temperature. The temperature dependence of the PPC effect indicates that thermally activated return of electrons from shallow traps is responsible for the PPC phenomenon. The photosensitivity is found to be linear with the applied voltage, and it increases with decreasing temperature. A temperature dependence of photoconductivity gain was introduced to explain the experimental results.     

Investigation of toluene LIF at high pressure and high temperature in an optical engine

Toluene laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) emission spectra were acquired in an optical engine with excitation at 248 nm. Toluene was homogeneously seeded in pure nitrogen and air which were used as intake gases. Data were acquired during the compression phase without ignition leading to simultaneous increases in temperature and pressure from 20°C and 1 bar to 500°C and 23.6 bar. Compared to LIF emission spectra at high temperature and atmospheric pressure reported in the literature, the toluene-LIF emission signal shifts to longer wavelengths when temperature and pressure increase simultaneously, whereas the spectrally integrated emission intensity is slightly affected by the pressure level.     

Formation and manipulation of discrete supramolecular azobenzene assemblies

Azobenzene derivatives were deposited onto a Au(111) surface and studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. The symmetry of the parent azobenzene was broken by introducing tert-butyl groups which are known to decouple the molecular core from the substrate, on the one end, and carboxylic acid groups which direct and stabilize the supramolecular assembly structure on the surface by intermolecular hydrogen bonding, on the other end. As a consequence of the interacting COOH groups, the molecules assemble on the surface either in extended, polymeric chains and/or in discrete, hexameric rosettes. The high stability of the rosette structure is proven experimentally by controlled lateral displacement on the surface without breaking the non-covalent interactions. Although switching attempts were not successful, the approach herein should facilitate the construction of well-defined multi-switch arrays. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Weak Gate Effect in 1,3-Benzenedithiol Molecular Device

We introduce a full interaction Hamiltonian method to the generalized quantum chemical approach and apply it to investigate the electron tunneling properties of 1,3-benzenedithiol molecular device. The weak gate effect we calculate is consistent with the experiment. The asymmetric current character mainly comes from the asymmetry of the molecule and the nonlinear responding to the gate electric field.     

Resonant effects in ballistic Josephson junctions

We study the Josephson effect in ballistic double-barrier SINIS planar junctions, consisting of bulk superconductors (S), a clean normal metal or semiconductor (N), and insulating interfaces (I) modeled as a δ-function potential-energy barriers. We solve the scattering problem based on the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations and derive a general expression for the dc Josephson current, valid for arbitrary interfacial transparency, the Fermi wave vectors mismatch, and for different effective band masses. The effect of transmission resonances on the Josephson current and on the normal conductance is analyzed for short junctions. Curvature of the temperature dependence of the critical Josephson current is related to the presence of resonances at the Fermi level and to the interfacial transparency. For thin semiconductor layers with negative effective masses of the carriers, finite interfacial transparency and large Fermi wave vectors mismatch we find that an unusual and significant enhancement of both the normal conductance and the critical Josephson current occurs at low temperatures due to the presence of an evanescent mode localized at interfaces.     

Effects of Contact Atomic Structure on Electronic Transport in Molecular Junction

Based on nonequilibrium Green＇s function and first-principles calculations, we investigate the change in molecular conductance caused by different adsorption sites with the presence of additional Au atom around the metal- molecule contact in the system that benzene sandwiched between two Au（111） leads. The motivation is the variable situations that may arise in break junction experiments. Numerical results show that the enhancement of conductance induced by the presence of additional Au is dependent on the adsorption sites of anchoring atom. When molecule is located on top site with the presence of additional Au atoms, it can increase molecular conductance remarkably and present negative differential resistance under applied bias which cannot be found in bridge and hollow sites. Furthermore, the effects of different distance between additional Au and sulfur atoms in these three adsorption sites are also discussed.     

Self-interaction in the von Kármán cosmic string street configuration

We study the problem of electromagnetic self-interaction of line sources in the presence of an array of parallel cosmic strings akin to the von Kármán vortex street configuration. Keeping in mind possible applications in condensed matter physics we consider also a mixed array where both deficit angle and excess angle cosmic strings appear. We obtain explicit expressions for both the electric and magnetic self-energies for the cases studied and demonstrate that these results reproduce the known self-energies in the single-string limit.     

Late-time acceleration and phantom divide line crossing with?non-minimal coupling and Lorentz-invariance violation

We consider two alternative dark-energy models: a Lorentz-invariance preserving model with a non-minimally coupled scalar field and a Lorentz-invariance violating model with a minimally coupled scalar field. We study accelerated expansion and the dynamics of the equation of state parameter in these scenarios. While a minimally coupled scalar field does not have the capability to be a successful dark-energy candidate with line crossing of the cosmological constant, a non-minimally coupled scalar field in the presence of Lorentz invariance or a minimally coupled scalar field with Lorentz-invariance violation have this capability. In the latter case, accelerated expansion and phantom divide line crossing are the results of the interactive nature of this Lorentz-violating scenario.     

Structural and dehydriding properties of Ca(BH<Subscript>4</Subscript>)<Subscript>2</Subscript>

We have investigated the structural and dehydriding properties of Ca(BH₄)₂. It was found that Ca(BH₄)₂ undergoes a structural phase transformation from an orthorhombic low-temperature (LT) modification into a tetragonal high-temperature (HT) modification between 433 K and 523 K. The amount of hydrogen desorbed from Ca(BH₄)₂ during the pressure–composition (p–c) isotherm measurement was 5.9 mass%. This hydrogen desorption is caused by the partial dehydrogenation of Ca(BH₄)₂ accompanied by the formation of CaH₂ and orthorhombic intermediate phases.     

Conductance through analytic constrictions

We study the dependence of the intrinsic conductance of a nanocontact on its shape by using the recursion-transfer-matrix method. Hour-glass, torus, and spherical shapes are defined through analytic potentials, the latter two serving as rough models for ring-like and spherical molecules, respectively. The sensitivity of the conductance to geometric details is analyzed and discussed. Strong resonance effects are found for a spherical contact weakly coupled to electron reservoirs.     

Non-ℤ<Subscript>2</Subscript> symmetric braneworlds in scalar tensorial gravity

We obtain, via the Gauss–Codazzi formalism, the expression of the effective Einstein–Brans–Dicke projected equations in a non-ℤ₂ symmetric braneworld scenario which presents hybrid compactification. It is shown that the functional form of such equations resembles the one in the Einstein case, except for the fact that they bring about extra information in the context of exotic compactifications.     

Spin currents and magnetoresistance of graphene-based magnetic junctions

Using the tight-binding approximation and the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach, we investigate the coherent spin-dependent transport in planar magnetic junctions consisting of two ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes separated by a graphene flake (GF) with zigzag or armchair interfaces. It is found that the electron conduction strongly depends on the geometry of contact between the GF and the FM electrodes. In the case of zigzag interfaces, the junction demonstrates a spin-valve effect with high magnetoresistance (MR) ratios and shows negative differential resistance features for a single spin channel at positive gate voltage. In the case of armchair interfaces, the current-voltage characteristics behave linearly at low bias voltages and hence, both spin channels are in on state with low MR ratios.     

Power factor of very thin thermoelectric layers of different thickness prepared by laser ablation

Room temperature conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient of thin layers prepared by laser ablation from Bi₂Te₃ target were explored. The power factor was calculated for samples prepared at substrate temperature of 360°C with the density of the laser beam 5 J cm⁻² and at substrate temperature of 410°C with the density of the laser beam 2 J cm⁻² during the deposition. Oscillations of the conductivity and the power factor with the layer thickness were observed at room temperature. The oscillations of conductivity were also verified at the temperature of 77 K. The period of oscillations depends on the preparation conditions. This behavior has been theoretically explained by the quantum size effect in the layers containing different phases and in addition, it was demonstrated by the X-ray Diffraction measurement. The behavior of the power factor of the layers is compared to the behavior of the figure of merit of the layers published earlier.