Spin susceptibilities and the theory of itinerant-electron antiferromagnetism

This article investigates the equilibrium states of antiferromagnetic itinerant-electron systems in the Hartree-Fock approximation. As a result, the spin susceptibilities are determined in the random phase approximation. The lowlying collective excitations are then obtained by finding the poles of these susceptibilities.

We start by giving a brief review of the Hartree-Fock procedure and by indicating how the susceptibilities are obtained. The density matrix approach, where the ground state is interpreted as that minimizing the energy, is used throughout. Using an effective Coulomb interaction of the Hubbard type we consider two distinct systems: a one-band system with an incommensurate spin density wave in its ground state, and a many-band simply commensurate model for f.c.c. manganese.

The first of these is such that the band structure and resulting susceptibilities can be obtained explicitly. The spin-wave energies and wave-vectors are found by a careful, small energy and momentum transfer, expansion of these susceptibilities for the case of a parabolic band. The spin-wave damping, which is shown to arise from spin-wave decay into quasiparticle quasihole pairs, is also obtained for this band structure.

For the case of f.c.c. manganese the antiferromagnetic bands are obtained from a realistic 9-band paramagnetic model by using a many-band generalization of the Hubbard interaction. The enhanced spin susceptibilities are calculated, using the tetrahedral Brillouin zone integration method, and are presented along with their associated collective excitations. The results obtained are discussed with particular reference to the many-band effects. These effects are shown to be very much dependent on the particular form of interaction used.     

Properties of a two-dimensional semimetal in a strong magnetic field

A system of two-dimensional electrons and holes ha s been investigated in a strong magnetic field, when it is sufficient to take into account only the ground Landau level. It has been shown that the interaction of electrons and holes can lead to an ordered state. In this problem, the exchange interaction in electron and hole subsystems is significant. The following two cases have been considered: (a) there are one electron and one hole valleys, and at some magnetic field strength, there exists an ordered state, as in an excitonic insulator; and (b) there exist one electron and two equivalent hole valleys (as in the experiment performed by Kvon et al. [1]), and the hole system has an ordered state of the Stoner ferromagnetic type in a specific range of magnetic field strengths. The spectra of elementary excitations of the Bose and Fermi types have been obtained. The Fermi excitations have a gap in the energy spectrum, whereas the Bose excitations in the ordered states begin with zero (to these excitations there corresponds an electric dipole moment). The self-consistent field approximation has been used, which is exact when the numbers of electrons and holes are equal to each other.     

Fermi surface and quasiparticle excitations of Sr2RhO4

The electronic structure of the layered 4d transition metal oxide Sr2RhO4 is investigated by angle resolved photoemission. We find well-defined quasiparticle excitations with a highly anisotropic dispersion, suggesting a quasi-two-dimensional Fermi-liquid-like ground state. Markedly different from the isostructural Sr2RuO4, only two bands with dominant Rh 4dxz,zy character contribute to the Fermi surface. A quantitative analysis of the photoemission quasiparticle band structure is in excellent agreement with bulk data. In contrast, it is found that state-of-the-art density functional calculations in the local density approximation differ significantly from the experimental findings.     

Quantum phase transitions in alternating spin-(1/2, 5/2) Heisenberg chains

The ground state spin-wave excitations and thermodynamic properties of two types of ferrimagnetic chains are investigated: the alternating spin-1/2 spin-5/2 chain and a similar chain with a spin-1/2 pendant attached to the spin-5/2 site. Results for magnetic susceptibility, magnetization and specific heat are obtained through the finite-temperature Lanczos method with the aim of describing the available experimental data, as well as comparison with theoretical results from the semiclassical approximation and the low-temperature susceptibility expansion derived from Takahashi's modified spin-wave theory. In particular, we study in detail the temperature versus magnetic field phase diagram of the spin-1/2 spin-5/2 chain, in which several low-temperature quantum phases are identified: the Luttinger liquid phase, the ferrimagnetic plateau and the fully polarized phase, and the respective quantum critical points and crossover lines.     

Spin-Wave Excitations and Energy Gap in Quasi-One-Dimensional Organic Polymer Ferromagnets

Based on a theory model proposed for organic ferrornagnets, the spin configuration and spinwave excitations in quasi-one-dimensional organic polymer ferromagnets are studied. The results show that: 1) Owing to the unpaired electrons at side free-radicals, the degeneracy of the spin-wave will be removed, the lower branch of the spin-wave excitations will split off into two branches, and it shows ferromagnetic characters; 2) The anisotropic interactions between the unpaired electrons at side free-radicals will make an energy gap appear between the ground state and the lowest excited state.     

Intrinsic Localized Spin-Wave Modes in an Anisotropic Ferromagnet with Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya Interaction

The existence and properties of intrinsic localized spin-wave modes in a ferromagnetic XXZ spin chain with Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction are investigated analytically in the semiclassical limit. The model Hamiltonian is quantized by introducing the Dyson-Maleev transformation and the coherent state representation is chosen as the basic representation of the system. By making use of the method of multiple scales combined with a quasidiscreteness approximation, the equation of motion for the coherent-state amplitude is reduced to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. It is shown that a bright intrinsic localized spin-wave mode whose eigenfrequency lies below the bottom of the magnon frequency band can exist in the ferromagnetic system. We also show that the system can produce a dark intrinsic localized spin-wave mode, i.e., nonpropagating kink, whose eigenfrequency is below the upper of the magnon frequency band. In addition, we find that the introduction of the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction changes wave numbers in the Brillouin-zone corresponding to the appearance of intrinsic localized spin-wave modes.     

Ultrarelativistic electron-hole pairing in graphene bilayer

We consider the ground state of an electron-hole graphene bilayer composed of two independently-doped graphene layers when a condensate of spatially separated electron-hole pairs is formed. In the weak coupling regime the pairing affects only the conduction band of the electron-doped layer and the valence band of the hole-doped layer, thus the ground state is similar to an ordinary BCS condensate. At strong coupling, an ultrarelativistic character of the electron dynamics reveals itself and the bands which are remote from Fermi surfaces (valence band of electron-doped layer and conduction band of hole-doped layer) are also affected by the pairing. Analysis of the instability of the unpaired state shows that s-wave pairing with band-diagonal condensate structure, described by two gaps, is preferable. The relative phase of the gaps is fixed, however at weak coupling this fixation diminishes allowing gapped and soliton-like excitations. The coupled self-consistent gap equations for these two gaps are solved at zero temperature in the constant-gap approximation and in the approximation of a separable potential. It is shown that, if the characteristic width of the pairing region is of the order of magnitude of the chemical potential, then the value of the gap in the spectrum is not much different from the BCS estimation. However if the pairing region is wider, then the gap value can be much larger and depends exponentially on its energy width.     

Magnetic properties of model non-carbon nanotubes with macroscopic value of ground state spin

The spin model of “ferrimagnetic” nanotube is proposed and some theoretical predictions concerning the ground state and low energy excitations of the model are given. In particular, the spin-wave structure of the exact ground state of bipartite magnets is proven. For tubes formed by weakly interacted cyclic fragments we show: first, the existence of gapless excitations with decreasing total spin; and second, gapped excitations. This leads to an intermediate plateau in field dependence of tube magnetization. Numerical calculations show the strong effect of frustrations on the magnetization of anisotropic spin tubes at low temperatures which may lead to the creation of an additional fractional magnetization plateau.     

Gapless Excitation above a Domain Wall Ground State in a Flat-Band Hubbard Model

We construct a set of exact ground states with a localized ferromagnetic domain wall and with an extended spiral structure in a deformed flat-band Hubbard model in arbitrary dimensions. We show the uniqueness of the ground state for the half-filled lowest band in a fixed magnetization subspace. The ground states with these structures are degenerate with all-spin-up or all-spin-down states under the open boundary condition. We represent a spin one-point function in terms of local electron number density, and find the domain wall structure in our model. We show the existence of gapless excitations above a domain wall ground state in dimensions higher than one. On the other hand, under the periodic boundary condition, the ground state is the all-spin-up or all-spin-down state. We show that the spin-wave excitation above the all-spin-up or -down state has an energy gap because of the anisotropy     

The dispersion of excitons,polaritons and biexcitons in direct-gap semiconductors

Excitons are the energetically lowest excitations of the electronic system in an ideal semiconductor at zero temperature. If the excitons couple to the electromagnetic field, a mixed state is formed, the quanta of which are called excitonic polaritons. Associates of two excitons, so-called biexcitons, have been observed in many semiconductors. Excitons are known for about forty years. During the first three decades, they have been investigated mainly by the classical spectroscopic methods, i.e., reflection, transmission and luminescence spectroscopy. In the last decade, several new techniques have been developed, which allow for a direct spectroscopy in momentum space. In this contribution, we review these novel techniques, both linear and nonlinear ones, and present results obtained for excitons, polaritons and biexcitons. The review is restricted to semiconductors which have their conduction band minimum and their valence band maximum at the same point of the Brillouin zone (direct-gap materials) and which have a band to band transition which is dipole allowed.     

Observation of nonconventional spin waves in composite-fermion ferromagnets

We find unexpected low energy excitations of fully spin-polarized composite-fermion ferromagnets in the fractional quantum Hall liquid, resulting from a complex interplay between a topological order manifesting through new energy levels and a magnetic order due to spin polarization. The lowest energy modes, which involve spin reversal, are remarkable in displaying unconventional negative dispersion at small momenta followed by a deep roton minimum at larger momenta. This behavior results from a nontrivial mixing of spin-wave and spin-flip modes creating a spin-flip excitonic state of composite-fermion particle-hole pairs. The striking properties of spin-flip excitons imply highly tunable mode couplings that enable fine control of topological states of itinerant two-dimensional ferromagnets.     

Parity-broken chiral spin dynamics in Ba₃NbFe₃Si₂O₁₄

The spin-wave excitations emerging from the chiral helically modulated 120° magnetic order in a langasite Ba?NbFe?Si?O?? enantiopure crystal were investigated by unpolarized and polarized inelastic neutron scattering. A dynamical fingerprint of the chiral ground state is obtained, singularized by (i) spectral weight asymmetries answerable to the structural chirality and (ii) a full chirality of the spin correlations observed over the whole energy spectrum. The intrinsic chiral nature of the spin waves' elementary excitations is shown in the absence of macroscopic time-reversal symmetry breaking.     

Optical properties of gapped graphene structure driven by electron electron interaction

We analyze the effects of on-site electronic coulomb repulsion U on the optical absorption and density of states of a graphene like structure with two different sublattice on-site energies in the context of Hubbard model. Mean field approximation has been implemented in order to find excitation spectrum of electronic system. Antiferromagnetic long range ordering has been considered as the ground state of model Hamiltonian. We find that the band gap in both optical conductivity and density of states decreases with strength of coulombic interaction. The absorption spectra of the graphene like structure as a nanoscale system exhibit the prominent peaks, mainly owing to the divergent density of states and excitonic effects.     

Polarized absorption spectra of highly oriented two-dimensional aggregates of tetrachlorobenzimidazolocarbocyanine in thin films

Reaching a control on the mesoscopic morphology and internal molecular arrangement of cyanine aggregates is an important step for realization of devices with tailor-made optical properties. Despite a wealth of research, understanding of the relationship between molecular organization, excitonic states and dynamics of aggregates is still preliminary. To this end, we have employed polarized absorption spectroscopy to investigate the relationship between internal molecular organization and excitonic states of J-aggregates in 1,1′,3,3′tetraethyl-5,5′,6,6′-tetrachlorobenzimidazolocarbocyanine (TTBC) thin films in poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA). Angular dependence of the UV–vis spectra has been measured at 11 different orientations between the electric field polarization and the macroscopic alignment axis. Aggregate spectral response consisted of an asymmetrically split Davydov pair of bands exhibiting opposite polarization: an H-band (505 nm, Lorentzian-like, polarized along the macroscopic film axis) and a J-band (594 nm, one-dimensional J-aggregate like band shape, polarized perpendicular to the macroscopic film axis). The polarized absorption observations were found to be consistent with a herringbone model for which the internal molecular arrangement, the excited state structure and dynamics have recently been detailed by us upon interpretation of isotropic absorption data in ionic aqueous solution.     

Theory of ferromagnetism in doped excitonic condensates

Nesting in a semimetal can lead to an excitonic-insulator state with spontaneous coherence between conduction and valence bands and a gap for charged excitations. We present a theory of the ferromagnetic state that occurs when the density of electrons in the conduction band and holes in the valence band differ. We find an unexpectedly rich doping-field phase diagram and an unusual collective excitation spectrum that includes two gapless collective modes. We predict regions of doping and external field in which phase-separated condensates of electrons and holes with parallel spins and opposing spins coexist.     

Spin-correlations and low lying excited states of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice

The ground state and the lowest excited states of the spin 1/2-Heisenberg model are investigated by exact diagonalization and variational Monte Carlo techniques. Our trial state represents a generalization of a wave function introduced by Hulthen, Kasteleijn and Marshall. The long range character of the spin-correlation function is in excellent agreement with exact diagonalization and also with recent neutron scattering results for La₂CuO₄. The asymptotic behavior of the spin-correlation function is found to differ from spin-wave theory. From the exact (N<=20 spins) and variational (N<=400) ground state energies we determine as asymptotic values 1.3025 and 1.288, respectively. We calculate the dispersion for the spin-wave excitations and identify an excited triplet which becomes degenerate with the ground state in the thermodynamic limit. This triplet state allows spontaneous symmetry breaking to occur atT=0 K. Quantum fluctuations reduce the sublattice magnetization to an effective value of 0.195 (3) as compared to the Néel-state value of 1/2.     

Macroscopic atom-molecule dark state and its collective excitations in fermionic systems

We show that a robust macroscopic atom-molecule dark state can exist in fermionic systems, which represents a coherent superposition between the ground molecular Bose-Einstein condensates and the atomic BCS paired state. We take advantage of the tunability offered by external laser fields, and explore this superposition for demonstrating coherent oscillations between ground molecules and atom pairs. We interpret the oscillation frequencies in terms of the collective excitations of the dark state.     

Influence of exchange fields in hybrid pairing superconductors,I: Ground states

Hybrid pairing superconductors with two bands of localized and delocalized states in the presence of uniform molecular fields and a finite displacement of the bands at the Fermi level are analyzed in mean field theory.At zero temperature, in addition to the usual BCS like ground state, agapless superconducting state withfinite spin polarization can be realized. The appearance of this state is somewhat analogous to the occurrence of the Fulde Ferrell state in a single band superconductor with an exchange field.We comment on the relevance of this model for heavy-fermion superconductors.Work performed within the research program of Sonderforschungsbereich 125 Aachen-Jülich-Köln     

Surface effect of magnetization of nanosized magnetic clusters

Based on the Monte Carlo method, magnetizations and spin-wave excitations at the surface, in the core for the clusters with different surface interaction, surface thickness and atom number are studied. It is found that, for the pure cluster, the Bloch T^3/2 law is well satisfied at low temperature (T<0.5T_C), B_s=3B_bulk and B increases drastically with the reducing atom number N; the magnetization and spin-wave excitations at the surfaces coated different exchange interaction are quite different from ones in the core. The simulated results are consistent with experimental facts, and are well discussed by the Bloch exponent law in the approximate crystalline approximation.