Ultrasensitive 3He magnetometer for measurements of high magnetic fields

We describe a ³He magnetometer capable to measure high magnetic fields (B> 0.1 T) with a relative accuracy of better than 10^-12. Our approach is based on the measurement of the free induction decay of gaseous, nuclear spin polarized ³He following a resonant radio frequency pulse excitation. The measurement sensitivity can be attributed to the long coherent spin precession time T₂ ^? being of order minutes which is achieved for spherical sample cells in the regime of “motional narrowing” where the disturbing influence of field inhomogeneities is strongly suppressed. The ³He gas is spin polarized in situ using a new, non-standard variant of the metastability exchange optical pumping. We show that miniaturization helps to increase T₂ ^? further and that the measurement sensitivity is not significantly affected by temporal field fluctuations of order 10^-4.     

Superfluid 3He in a Nematic Aerogel

Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics - In nematic aerogels, their constituent fibers are oriented along the same direction. In liquid 3He filling such aerogels, the scattering of Fermi...     

Superfluid 3He in Squeezed Nematic Aerogel

We present results of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments in superfluid ³He in two samples of nematic aerogel consisting of nearly parallel mullite strands. The samples were cut from the same piece of the aerogel, but one of them was squeezed by 30% in the direction transverse to the strands. In both samples, the superfluid transition of ³He occurred into the polar phase, where no qualitative difference between NMR properties of ³He in these samples was found. The difference, however, has appeared on further cooling, after the transition to the polar-distorted A phase (PdA phase) with the orbital part of the order parameter in the 2D Larkin–Imry–Ma (LIM) state. In the squeezed sample, the 2D LIM state is anisotropic, which results in changes in the NMR, which can be used as an additional marker of the PdA phase and have allowed us to measure the value of the anisotropy.

     

Oscillating Nematic Aerogel in Superfluid 3He

JETP Letters - We present experiments on nematic aerogel oscillating in superfluid 3He. This aerogel consists of nearly parallel mullite strands and is attached to a vibrating wire moving along the...     

Spin-lattice relaxation in solid 3He in weak magnetic fields

Spin-lattice relaxation times T ₁ were measured for solid ³He at temperatures of 0.22 to 0.73 K in a 44-Oe magnetic field. An increase in T ₁ at temperatures higher than approximately 0.4 K was related to switching on the vacancy mechanism of atomic mobility in the crystal. At a melting curve minimum, in the region of predominance of exchange motions of atoms in the crystal, measurements of T ₁ were performed in magnetic fields of 2 to 71 Oe. The data obtained in fields higher than 5 Oe were in agreement with the Cowan-Fardis theory.     

Graphene in high magnetic fields

Carbon-based nano-materials, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, represent a fascinating research area aiming at exploring their remarkable physical and electronic properties. These materials not only constitute a playground for physicists, they are also very promising for practical applications and are envisioned as elementary bricks of the future of the nano-electronics. As for graphene, its potential already lies in the domain of opto-electronics where its unique electronic and optical properties can be fully exploited. Indeed, recent technological advances have demonstrated its effectiveness in the fabrication of solar cells and ultra-fast lasers, as well as touch-screens and sensitive photo-detectors. Although the photo-voltaic technology is now dominated by silicon-based devices, the use of graphene could very well provide higher efficiency. However, before the applied research to take place, one must first demonstrates the operativeness of carbon-based nano-materials, and this is where the fundamental research comes into play. In this context, the use of magnetic field has been proven extremely useful for addressing their fundamental properties as it provides an external and adjustable parameter which drastically modifies their electronic band structure. In order to induce some significant changes, very high magnetic fields are required and can be provided using both DC and pulsed technology, depending of the experimental constraints. In this article, we review some of the challenging experiments on single nano-objects performed in high magnetic and low temperature. We shall mainly focus on the high-field magneto-optical and magneto-transport experiments which provided comprehensive understanding of the peculiar Landau level quantization of the Dirac-type charge carriers in graphene and thin graphite.     

Iron-based superconductors in high magnetic fields

Here we review measurements of the normal and superconducting state properties of iron-based superconductors using high magnetic fields. We discuss the various physical mechanisms that limit superconductivity in high fields, and the information on the superconducting state that can be extracted from the upper critical field, but also how thermal fluctuations affect its determination by resistivity and specific heat measurements. We also discuss measurements of the normal state electronic structure focusing on measurement of quantum oscillations, particularly the de Haas–van Alphen effect. These results have determined very accurately, the topology of the Fermi surface and the quasi-particle masses in a number of different iron-based superconductors, from the 1111, 122 and 111 families.     

Heavy fermions in high magnetic fields

Heavy fermion materials are prototypical strongly correlated electron systems, where the strong electron–electron interactions lead to a wide range of novel phenomena and emergent phases of matter. Due to the low energy scales, the relative strengths of the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida(RKKY) and Kondo interactions can often be readily tuned by non-thermal control parameters such as pressure, doping, or applied magnetic fields, which can give rise to quantum criticality and unconventional superconductivity. Here we provide a brief overview of research into heavy fermion materials in high magnetic fields, focussing on three main areas. Firstly we review the use of magnetic fields as a tuning parameter,and in particular the ability to realize different varieties of quantum critical behaviors. We then discuss the properties of heavy fermion superconductors in magnetic fields, where experiments in applied fields can reveal the nature of the order parameter, and induce new novel phenomena. Finally we report recent studies of topological Kondo systems, including topological Kondo insulators and Kondo–Weyl semimetals. Here experiments in magnetic fields can be used to probe the topologically non-trivial Fermi surface, as well as related field-induced phenomena such as the chiral anomaly and topological Hall effect.     

Layered superconductors in high magnetic fields

We investigate the possible occurrance of partially depaired states in superconducting intercalated layered systems. Those states are discussed as a possible explanation of the high critical fields found in some of these materials. It is shown that the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit does not apply to those states mentioned above and that the maximum field compatible with superconductivity is a sensitive function of the shape of the Fermi surface. Mean free path and spin-orbit effects on the partially depaired state are investigated. An experiment is proposed to decide between the partially depaired state and a large spin-orbit scattering rate as possible explanations for the large critical fields.     

Single-dot spectroscopy in high magnetic fields

We report on photoluminescence measurements from a single InAs/GaAs quantum dot in magnetic fields up to 28 T. Mesa-patterned structure has been used to limit the number of investigated dots. Three pairs of Zeeman-split emission lines with the same effective g*-factor and diamagnetic shift have been observed. The attribution of the lines to recombination of a neutral exciton, a biexciton, and a charged exciton is discussed.     

Heavy fermions in high magnetic fields

A qualitative picture of the metamagnetic transition in the Anderson lattice model of heavy fermion Ce compounds is described and a strong coupling spin fluctuation theory of the high field state is presented. The field dependence of the minority spin quasiparticle mass is calculated and the onset of the metamagnetic transition with decreasing field is discussed. The theory of the high field state is extended to include Landau levels and the oscillatory behaviour of the spin self-energy as a function of the inverse applied field is investigated. For the heavy fermion model considered such oscillations of the self-energy lead to significant modifications in the standard theory of the de Haas - van Alphen effect. The possible relevance to anomalous experimental results on CeRu₂Si₂ is discussed.