Ehrenfest-time-dependent excitation gap in a chaotic Andreev billiard

A semiclassical theory is developed for the appearance of an excitation gap in a ballistic chaotic cavity connected by a point contact to a superconductor. Diffraction at the point contact is a singular perturbation in the limit variant Planck's over 2pi -->0, which opens up a gap E(gap) in the excitation spectrum. The time scale variant Planck's over 2pi /E(gap) proportional, variant alpha(-1)ln( variant Planck's over 2pi (with alpha the Lyapunov exponent) is the Ehrenfest time, the characteristic time scale of quantum chaos.     

Nonmonotonicity in the quantum-classical transition: chaos induced by quantum effects

The classical-quantum transition for chaotic systems is understood to be accompanied by the suppression of chaotic effects as the relative variant Planck's over 2pi is increased. We show evidence to the contrary in the behavior of the quantum trajectory dynamics of a dissipative quantum chaotic system, the double-well Duffing oscillator. The classical limit in the case considered has regular behavior, but as the effective variant Planck's over 2pi is increased we see chaotic behavior. This chaos then disappears deeper into the quantum regime, which means that the quantum-classical transition in this case is nonmonotonic in variant Planck's over 2pi.     

Fractional variant Planck's over 2pi scaling for quantum kicked rotors without Cantori

Previous studies of quantum delta-kicked rotors have found momentum probability distributions with a typical width (localization length L) characterized by fractional variant Planck's over 2pi scaling; i.e., L approximately variant Planck's over 2pi;{2/3} in regimes and phase-space regions close to "golden-ratio" cantori. In contrast, in typical chaotic regimes, the scaling is integer, L approximately variant Planck's over 2pi;{-1}. Here we consider a generic variant of the kicked rotor, the random-pair-kicked particle, obtained by randomizing the phases every second kick; it has no Kol'mogorov-Arnol'd-Moser mixed-phase-space structures, such as golden-ratio cantori, at all. Our unexpected finding is that, over comparable phase-space regions, it also has fractional scaling, but L approximately variant Planck's over 2pi;{-2/3}. A semiclassical analysis indicates that the variant Planck's over 2pi;{2/3} scaling here is of quantum origin and is not a signature of classical cantori.     

Parameter scaling in the decoherent quantum-classical transition for chaotic systems

The quantum to classical transition for a system depends on many parameters, including a scale length for its action, variant Planck's over 2 pi, a measure of its coupling to the environment, D, and, for chaotic systems, the classical Lyapunov exponent, lambda. We propose measuring the proximity of quantum and classical evolutions as a multivariate function of (Planck's over 2 pi,lambda,D) and searching for transformations that collapse this hypersurface into a function of a composite parameter zeta= Planck's over 2 pi alpha)lambda beta D gamma. We report results for the quantum Cat Map and Duffing oscillator, showing accurate scaling behavior over a wide parameter range, indicating that this may be used to construct universality classes for this transition.     

Observation of high-order quantum resonances in the kicked rotor

Quantum resonances in the kicked rotor are characterized by a dramatically increased energy absorption rate, in stark contrast to the momentum localization generally observed. These resonances occur when the scaled Planck's constant Planck's [over ]=r/s 4pi, for any integers r and s. However, only the variant Planck's [over ]=r2pi resonances are easily observable. We have observed high-order quantum resonances (s>2) utilizing a sample of low energy, noncondensed atoms and a pulsed optical standing wave. Resonances are observed for variant Planck's [over ]=r/16 4pi for integers r=2-6. Quantum numerical simulations suggest that our observation of high-order resonances indicate a larger coherence length (i.e., coherence between different wells) than expected from an initially thermal atomic sample.     

Proposal for a chaotic ratchet using cold atoms in optical lattices

We investigate a new type of quantum ratchet which may be realized by cold atoms in a double-well optical lattice, pulsed with unequal periods. The classical dynamics is chaotic and we find the classical diffusion rate D is asymmetric in momentum up to a finite time t(r). The quantum behavior produces a corresponding asymmetry in the momentum distribution which is "frozen-in" by dynamical localization provided the break time t(*)>or=t(r). We conclude that the cold atom ratchets require Db/ variant Planck's over 2pi approximately 1, where b is a small deviation from period-one pulses.     

Dynamics of quantum noise in a tunnel junction under ac excitation

We report the first measurement of the dynamical response of shot noise (measured at frequency omega) of a tunnel junction to an ac excitation at frequency omega0. The experiment is performed in the quantum regime, variant Planck's over 2piomega approximately variant Planck's over 2piomega0>kBT at very low temperature T=35 mK and high frequency omega0/2pi=6.2 GHz. We observe that the noise responds in phase with the excitation, but not adiabatically. The results are in very good agreement with a prediction based on a new current-current correlator.     

Return of collective rotation in 157Er and 158Er at ultrahigh spin

A new frontier of discrete-line gamma-ray spectroscopy at ultrahigh spin has been opened in the rare-earth nuclei (157,158) Er. Four rotational structures, displaying high moments of inertia, have been identified, which extend up to spin approximately 65 variant Planck's over 2pi and bypass the band-terminating states in these nuclei which occur at approximately 45 variant Planck's over 2pi. Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky calculations suggest that these structures arise from well-deformed triaxial configurations that lie in a valley of favored shell energy which also includes the triaxial strongly deformed bands in (161-167) Lu.     

Expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of disorder

Expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is studied in the presence of a random potential. The expansion is controlled by a single parameter, (microtau(eff)/variant Planck's over 2pi), where micro is the chemical potential, prior to the release of the BEC from the trap, and tau(eff) is a transport relaxation time which characterizes the strength of the disorder. Repulsive interactions (nonlinearity) facilitate transport and can lead to diffusive spreading of the condensate which, in the absence of interactions, would have remained localized in the vicinity of its initial location.     

On dynamical zeta function

The dynamical zeta function is usually defined as an infinite (and divergent) product over all primitive periodic orbits. It is possible to show that as variant Planck's over 2pi -->0 it can be represented as det(1-T), where the operator T(q,q') defines the semiclassical Poincare map. Here, certain consequences of this representation for chaotic systems are discussed. In particular, it is shown that the zeta function can be expressed through a subset of specially selected orbits, the error of this approximation being small as variant Planck's over 2pi -->0. Assuming that the chosen Poincare surface of section is divided into small cells of phase-space area of 2pi variant Planck's over 2pi, these trajectories are uniquely characterized by the requirement that they never go twice through the same cell.     

Influence of high magnetic fields on the superconducting transition of one-dimensional Nb and MoGe nanowires

The effects of a strong magnetic field on superconducting Nb and MoGe nanowires with diameter approximately 10 nm have been studied. We have found that the Langer-Ambegaokar-McCumber-Halperin (LAMH) theory of thermally activated phase slips is applicable in a wide range of magnetic fields and describes well the temperature dependence of the wire resistance, over 11 orders of magnitude. The field dependence of the critical temperature, T(c), extracted from the LAMH fits is in good quantitative agreement with the theory of pair-breaking perturbations that takes into account both spin and orbital contributions. The extracted spin-orbit scattering time agrees with an estimate tau(s.o.) approximately tau(variant Planck's over 2pic/Ze(2))(4), where tau is the elastic scattering time and Z is the atomic number.     

Spectral properties of dissipative chaotic quantum maps

I examine spectral properties of a dissipative chaotic quantum map with the help of a recently discovered semiclassical trace formula. I show that in the presence of a small amount of dissipation the traces of any finite power of the propagator of the reduced density matrix, and traces of its classical counterpart, the Frobenius-Perron operator, are identical in the limit of variant Planck's over 2pi -->0. Numerically I find that even for finite variant Planck's over 2pi the agreement can be very good. This holds in particular if the classical phase space contains a strange attractor, as long as one stays clear of bifurcations. Traces of the quantum propagator for iterations of the map agree well with the corresponding traces of the Frobenius-Perron operator if the classical dynamics is dominated by a strong point attractor. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.     

Intrinsic spin Hall effect in platinum: first-principles calculations

Spin Hall effect (SHE) is studied with first-principles relativistic band calculations for platinum, which is one of the most important materials for metallic SHE and spintronics. We find that intrinsic spin Hall conductivity (SHC) is as large as approximately 2000(variant Planck's over 2 pi/e)(Omega cm)(-1) at low temperature and decreases down to approximately 200(variant Planck's over 2 pi/e)(Omega cm)(-1) at room temperature. It is due to the resonant contribution from the spin-orbit splitting of the doubly degenerated d bands at high-symmetry L and X points near the Fermi level. By modeling these near degeneracies by an effective Hamiltonian, we show that SHC has a peak near the Fermi energy and that the vertex correction due to impurity scattering vanishes. We therefore argue that the large SHE observed experimentally in platinum is of intrinsic nature.     

Antibunched photons emitted by a quantum point contact out of equilibrium

Motivated by the experimental search for "GHz nonclassical light," we identify the conditions under which current fluctuations in a narrow constriction generate sub-Poissonian radiation. Antibunched electrons generically produce bunched photons, because the same photon mode can be populated by electrons decaying independently from a range of initial energies. Photon antibunching becomes possible at frequencies close to the applied voltage V x e/variant Planck's over 2pi, when the initial energy range of a decaying electron is restricted. The condition for photon antibunching in a narrow frequency interval below eV/variant Planck's over 2pi reads [SigmanTn(1-Tn)]2<2Sigman[Tn(1-Tn)]2, with Tn an eigenvalue of the transmission matrix. This condition is satisfied in a quantum point contact, where only a single Tn differs from 0 or 1. The photon statistics is then a superposition of binomial distributions.     

Magnetoresistance of a 2D electron gas caused by electron interactions in the transition from the diffusive to the ballistic regime

On a high-mobility 2D electron gas we have observed, in strong magnetic fields (omega(c)tau>1), a parabolic negative magnetoresistance caused by electron-electron interactions in the regime of k(B)Ttau/ variant Planck's over 2pi approximately 1, which is the transition from the diffusive to the ballistic regime. From the temperature dependence of this magnetoresistance the interaction correction to the conductivity deltasigma(ee)(xx)(T) is obtained in the situation of a long-range fluctuation potential and strong magnetic field. The results are compared with predictions of the new theory of interaction-induced magnetoresistance.     

Decay of the Loschmidt echo for quantum states with sub-planck-scale structures

Quantum states extended over a large volume in phase space have oscillations from quantum interferences in their Wigner distribution on scales smaller than variant Planck's over 2pi [W. H. Zurek, Nature (London) 412, 712 (2001)]]. We investigate the influence of those sub-Planck-scale structures on the sensitivity to an external perturbation of the state's time evolution. While we do find an accelerated decay of the Loschmidt Echo for an extended state in comparison to a localized wave packet, the acceleration is described entirely by the classical Lyapunov exponent and hence cannot originate from quantum interference.     

Phase-sensitive noise in quantum dots under periodic perturbation

We evaluate the ensemble averaged noise in a chaotic quantum dot subject to dc bias and a periodic perturbation of frequency Omega. The noise displays cusps at bias V(n)=n variant Planck's over 2 pi Omega/e that survive the average, even when the period of the perturbation is far shorter than the dwell time in the dot. These features are sensitive to the phase of the time-dependent scattering amplitudes of electrons to pass through the system, and thus provide a novel signature of phase-coherent transport that persists into the nonadiabatic limit.     

Diamagnetic persistent current in diffusive normal-metal rings

We have measured a diamagnetic persistent current with flux periodicities of both h/e and h/2e in an array of thirty diffusive mesoscopic gold rings. At the lowest temperatures, the magnitudes of the currents per ring corresponding to the h/e- and h/2e-periodic responses are both comparable to the Thouless energy E(c) identical with Planck's over 2pi/tau(D), where tau(D) is the diffusion time. Taken in conjunction with earlier experiments, our results strongly challenge the conventional theories of persistent current. We consider a new approach associated with the saturation of the phase coherence time tau(phi).     

Superfluid-insulator transitions of the fermi gas with near-unitary interactions in a periodic potential

We consider spin-1/2 fermions of mass m with interactions near the unitary limit. In an applied periodic potential of amplitude V and period a_{L}, and with a density of an even integer number of fermions per unit cell, there is a second-order quantum phase transition between superfluid and insulating ground states at a critical V=V_{c}. We compute the universal ratio V_{c}ma_{L};{2}/variant Planck's over 2pi;{2} at N=infinity in a model with Sp(2N) spin symmetry. The insulator interpolates between a band insulator of fermions and a Mott insulator of fermion pairs. We discuss implications for recent experiments.     

Tests of the gravitational inverse-square law below the dark-energy length scale

We conducted three torsion-balance experiments to test the gravitational inverse-square law at separations between 9.53 mm and 55 microm, probing distances less than the dark-energy length scale lambda(d)=[4 -root](variant Planck's over 2pic/rho(d) approximately 85 microm. We find with 95% confidence that the inverse-square law holds (|alpha|相似文献