Spin remagnetization excitations in semiconductors with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling

Spin remagnetization modes in paramagnetic materials with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interaction are studied by analytically solving the kinetic equations for the spin-density matrix. These eigenmodes, which are induced by an in-plane electric field, lead to a rotation of the spin magnetic moment. The specific character of the spin remagnetization modes depends on the details of the excitation mechanism. By applying the approach to another system, namely to a model for graphene, pseudospin excitations are identified.     

Gap opening in the zeroth Landau level in gapped graphene: pseudo-Zeeman splitting in an angular magnetic field

We present a theoretical study of gap opening in the zeroth Landau level in gapped graphene as a result of pseudo-Zeeman interaction. The applied magnetic field couples with the valley pseudospin degree of freedom of the charge carriers leading to the pseudo-Zeeman interaction. To investigate its role in transport at the charge neutrality point (CNP), we study the integer quantum Hall effect in gapped graphene in an angular magnetic field in the presence of pseudo-Zeeman interaction. Analytical expressions are derived for the Hall conductivity using the Kubo-Greenwood formula. We also determine the longitudinal conductivity for elastic impurity scattering in the first Born approximation. We show that pseudo-Zeeman splitting leads to a minimum in the collisional conductivity at high magnetic fields and a zero plateau in the Hall conductivity. Evidence for activated transport at CNP is found from the temperature dependence of the collisional conductivity.     

Chirality-assisted electronic cloaking of confined States in bilayer graphene

We show that the strong coupling of pseudospin orientation and charge carrier motion in bilayer graphene has a drastic effect on transport properties of ballistic p-n-p junctions. Electronic states with zero momentum parallel to the barrier are confined under it for one pseudospin orientation, whereas states with the opposite pseudospin tunnel through the junction totally uninfluenced by the presence of confined states. We demonstrate that the junction acts as a cloak for confined states, making them nearly invisible to electrons in the outer regions over a range of incidence angles. This behavior is manifested in the two-terminal conductance as transmission resonances with non-Lorentzian, singular peak shapes. The response of these phenomena to a weak magnetic field or electric-field-induced interlayer gap can serve as an experimental fingerprint of electronic cloaking.     

SU(4) Kondo effect in carbon nanotubes

We investigate theoretically the nonequilibrium transport properties of carbon nanotube quantum dots. Owing to the two-dimensional band structure of graphene, a double orbital degeneracy plays the role of a pseudospin, which is entangled with the spin. Quantum fluctuations between these 4 degrees of freedom result in an SU(4) Kondo effect at low temperatures. This exotic Kondo effect manifests as a four-peak splitting in the nonlinear conductance when an axial magnetic field is applied.     

Pseudospin in optical and transport properties of graphene

We show that the pseudospin, being an additional degree of freedom for carriers in graphene, can be efficiently controlled by means of the electron-electron interactions which, in turn, can be manipulated by changing the substrate. In particular, an out-of-plane pseudospin component can occur leading to a zero-field Hall current as well as to polarization-sensitive interband optical absorption.     

The effect of spin-orbit interaction on optical conductivity in graphene

We present a systematic investigation of the effect of spin-orbit interaction on optical conductivity in monolayer graphene. Our key findings are: (i) level splitting at various crystal symmetry points caused by true spin as well as pseudospin of the electrons gives rise to a resonant current response; (ii) under heavy doping, the spin-orbit interaction leads to a re-entrance of finite conductivity at very low frequency which was strictly forbidden in the absence of spin-orbit coupling; (iii) deformation of band structure and the topological properties of trigonal warping are analytically identified in a low-energy conical-like approximation.     

Valley-contrasting physics in graphene: magnetic moment and topological transport

We investigate physical properties that can be used to distinguish the valley degree of freedom in systems where inversion symmetry is broken, using graphene systems as examples. We show that the pseudospin associated with the valley index of carriers has an intrinsic magnetic moment, in close analogy with the Bohr magneton for the electron spin. There is also a valley dependent Berry phase effect that can result in a valley contrasting Hall transport, with carriers in different valleys turning into opposite directions transverse to an in-plane electric field. These effects can be used to generate and detect valley polarization by magnetic and electric means, forming the basis for the valley-based electronics applications.     

Size quantization in planar graphene-based heterostructures: Pseudospin splitting,interface states,and excitons

A planar quantum-well device made of a gapless graphene nanoribbon with edges in contact with gapped graphene sheets is examined. The size-quantization spectrum of charge carriers in an asymmetric quantum well is shown to exhibit a pseudospin splitting. Interface states of a new type arise from the crossing of dispersion curves of gapless and gapped graphene materials. The exciton spectrum is calculated for a planar graphene quantum well. The effect of an external electric field on the exciton spectrum is analyzed.     

Effective Hamiltonian of silicene in the presence of electric and magnetic fields

An effective Hamiltonian of silicene in the neighborhood of Dirac points in the presence of electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the plane of the film is constructed on the basis of symmetry analysis. Numerical coefficients of various terms in the Hamiltonian are obtained by the tight binding method in the basis sp ³ d ⁵ s* with regard to the interaction with one nearest neighbor. This method was developed in the previous paper [1] in the case of a sublattice displacement of 0.44 Å, which corresponds to the theoretical value of displacement obtained from first principles for a free film of silicene. The effect of the displacement of sublattices on the orientation of spin and pseudospin in silicene is analyzed. The Hamiltonian obtained allows one to consider spin and electron transport for charge carriers with energy less than 0.5 eV. The orbital motion of electrons in an external magnetic field perpendicular to the film is analyzed in detail.     

Proximity Effect of Epitaxial Iron Phthalocyanine Molecules on High-Quality Graphene Devices

Depositing magnetic insulators on graphene has been a promising route to introduce magnetism via exchange proximity interaction in graphene for future spintronics applications.Molecule-based magnets may offer unique opportunities because of their synthesis versatility.Here,we investigate the magnetic proximity effect of epitaxial iron phthalocyanine(FePc) molecules on high-quality monolayer and bilayer graphene devices on hexagonal boron nitride substrates by probing the local and nonlocal transport.Although the FePc molecules introduce large hole doping effects combined with mobility degradation,the magnetic proximity gives rise to a canted antiferromagnetic state under a magnetic field in the monolayer graphene.On bilayer graphene and FePc heterostructure devices,the nonlocal transport reveals a pronounced Zeeman spin-Hall effect.Further analysis of the scattering mechanism in the bilayer shows a dominated long-range scattering.Our findings in graphene/organic magnetic insulator heterostructure provide a new insight for use of molecule-based magnets in two-dimensional spintronic devices.     

Odd-integer quantum Hall effect in graphene: interaction and disorder effects

We study the competition between the long-range Coulomb interaction, disorder scattering, and lattice effects in the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) in graphene. By direct transport calculations, both nu=1 and nu=3 IQHE states are revealed in the lowest two Dirac Landau levels. However, the critical disorder strength above which the nu=3 IQHE is destroyed is much smaller than that for the nu=1 IQHE, which may explain the absence of a nu=3 plateau in recent experiments. While the excitation spectrum in the IQHE phase is gapless within numerical finite-size analysis, we do find and determine a mobility gap, which characterizes the energy scale of the stability of the IQHE. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the nu=1 IQHE state is a Dirac valley and sublattice polarized Ising pseudospin ferromagnet, while the nu=3 state is an xy plane polarized pseudospin ferromagnet.     

Electrostriction soliton as a cluster model in the high-temperature phase of a hydrogen-containing ferroelectric

The polarization clusters observed experimentally in the high-temperature phase of ferroelectrics are interpreted as solitons in the microscopic pseudospin formalism. These solitons are the result of modulation of the pseudospin interaction constant by acoustic vibrations, which represents an electrostriction interaction from the phenomenological point of view. The influence of higher-order nonlinearities present in the pseudospin subsystem and the damping of acoustic modes on a soliton is analyzed. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 713–715 (April 1998)     

Leggett’s modes in magnetic systems with Jahn–Teller distortion

Leggett’s mode is a collective excitation corresponding to the oscillation of the relative phase of the order parameters in a two band superconductor, with frequency proportional to interband coupling. We report on the existence of modes, similar to Leggett’s mode, in magnetic systems with Jahn–Teller distortion. The minimal Kugel–Khomskii model, which describes simultaneously both the spin and the orbital order, is studied. The dynamical degrees of freedom are spin-s$s$ operators of localized spins and pseudospin-τ$\tau$ operators, which respond to the orbital degeneracy and satisfy the similar commutation relation with those of the spin operators. In the case of “G-type antiferro” spin and pseudospin order the system possesses two antiferromagnetic magnons with equal spin-wave velocities and two Leggett’s modes with equal gaps proportional to the square root of the spin–pseudospin interaction constant. In the case of “ferro” spin and pseudospin order the system possesses one ferromagnetic magnon and one Leggett’s mode with gap proportional to the spin–pseudospin interaction constant. We conclude that Leggett’s modes, in the spectrum of the magnetic systems with Jahn–Teller distortion, are generic features of these systems.     

Spin and the honeycomb lattice: lessons from graphene

A model of electrons hopping from atom to atom in graphene's honeycomb lattice gives low-energy electronic excitations that obey a relation formally identical to a 2+1 dimensional Dirac equation. Graphene's spin equivalent, "pseudospin," arises from the degeneracy introduced by the honeycomb lattice's two inequivalent atomic sites per unit cell. Previously it has been thought that the usual electron spin and the pseudospin indexing the graphene sublattice state are merely analogues. Here we show that the pseudospin is also a real angular momentum. This identification explains the suppression of electron backscattering in carbon nanotubes and the angular dependence of light absorption by graphene. Furthermore, it demonstrates that half-integer spin like that carried by the quarks and leptons can derive from hidden substructure, not of the particles themselves, but rather of the space in which these particles live.     

Electrical control of exchange bias mediated by graphene

The role of graphene in mediating the exchange interaction is theoretically investigated when placed between two ferromagnetic dielectric materials. The calculation based on a tight-binding model illustrates that the magnetic interactions at the interfaces affect not only the graphene band structure but also the thermodynamic potential of the system, leading to an effective exchange bias between magnetic layers. The analysis indicates a strong dependence of the exchange bias on the properties of the mediating layer, revealing an efficient mechanism of electrical control even at room temperature.     

On the theory of electronic states of the “epitaxial graphene-quantum-well film” system

The problem of an epitaxial graphene formed on a thin metal film in an external magnetic field has been considered. It has been shown that the problem can be solved using the Green’s function method within the Kadanoff-Baym formalism. Analytical expressions for the transferred charge as a function of the magnetic field and the thickness of the film have been obtained.     

Observation of collapse of pseudospin order in bilayer quantum Hall ferromagnets

The Hartree-Fock paradigm of bilayer quantum Hall states with finite tunneling at filling factor nu=1 has full pseudospin ferromagnetic order with all the electrons in the lowest symmetric Landau level. Inelastic light scattering measurements of low energy spin excitations reveal major departures from the paradigm at relatively large tunneling gaps. The results indicate the emergence of a novel correlated quantum Hall state at nu=1 characterized by reduced pseudospin order. Marked anomalies occur in spin excitations when pseudospin polarization collapses by application of in-plane magnetic fields.     

Oscillations of the Degree of Circular Polarization in the Optical Spin Hall Effect

The optical spin Hall effect appears when elastically scattered exciton polaritons couple to an effective magnetic field inside of quantum wells in semiconductor microcavities. Theory predicts an oscillation of the pseudospin of the exciton polaritons in time. Here, we present a detailed analysis of momentum space dynamics of the exciton polariton pseudospin. Compared to what is predicted by theory, we find a higher modulation of the temporal oscillations of the pseudospin. We attribute the higher modulation to additional components of the effective magnetic field which have been neglected in the foundational theory of the optical spin Hall effect. Adjusting the model by adding non-linear polariton-polariton interactions, we find a good agreement in between the experimental results and simulations.     

The effects of electron–phonon interaction on anisotropic RKKY interaction in graphene nanoribbon

We study the Ruderman–Kittle–Kasuya–Yosida (RKKY) interaction in doped armchair graphene nanoribbon. The effects of both external magnetic field and electron-Holstein phonon on RKKY interaction have been addressed. RKKY interaction as a function of distance between localized moments has been analyzed. It has been shown that a magnetic field along the z-axis mediates an anisotropic interaction which corresponds to a XXZ model interaction between two magnetic moments. In order to calculate the exchange interaction along arbitrary direction between two magnetic moments, we should obtain both transverse and longitudinal static spin susceptibilities of armchair graphene nanoribbon in the presence of electron-phonon coupling and magnetic field. The spin susceptibility components are calculated using the spin dependent Green’s function approach for Holstein model Hamiltonian. The effects of spin polarization on the dependence of exchange interaction on distance between moments are investigated via calculating correlation function of spin density operators. Our results show the influences of magnetic field on the spatial behavior of in-plane and longitudinal RKKY interactions are different in the presence of magnetic field.     

Solitons in pseudo one-dimensional hydrogen bonded ferroelectrics

It is shown that solitary-like excitations exist in the kinetic Ising model modified by the pseudospin-phonon interaction, at least in a particular case when the group, i.e. soliton velocity is equivalent to the phase velocity of constituent waves. The solitary waves arise due to both the tunneling mechanism and pseudospin (proton) correlations, directly and through the heavy ions. The dynamics of some prefered array of hydrogen bonds as well as of the H-bonded ferroelectric as a whole is briefly discussed.