Search results for "Tunnelling"

Control of single-electron tunneling by surface acoustic waves.

1994

Spin current pumping in helical Luttinger liquids

2013

We study the DC spin current induced into an unbiased quantum spin Hall system through a two-point contacts setup with time dependent electron tunneling amplitudes. By means of two external gates, it is possible to drive a current with spin-preserving and spin-flipping contributions showing peculiar oscillations as a function of pumping frequency, electron-electron interaction and temperature. From its interference patterns as a function of the Fabry-Perot and Aharonov-Bohm phases, it is possible to extract information about the helical nature of the edge states and the intensity of the electron-electron interaction.

Introduction to Spintronics

2015

Spintronics was born in 1988 with the discovery of GMR provided simultaneously by A. Fert and P. Grunberg and rewarded in 2007 with the Nobel Prize in Physics. This field has since been largely exploited on the market, for example it has been at the base of every hard disk read head. Spintronics field is extremely active and interesting from both a fundamental point of view and for technological applications. Currently, with the aim at new functionalities, there is an increased activity from materials research perspective to understand and develop spintronics devices using materials with new properties like carbon nanotubes, graphene, topological insulators and molecules. This chapter will …

Temperature dependence of dynamic, tunnelling and kinetic isotope effects in formate dehydrogenase

2018

The origin of the catalytic power of enzymes has been a question of debate for a long time. In this regard, the possible contribution of protein dynamics in enzymatic catalysis has become one of the most controversial topics. In the present work, the hydride transfer step in the formate dehydrogenase (FDH EC 1.2.1.2) enzyme is studied by means of molecular dynamic (MD) simulations with quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) potentials in order to explore any correlation between dynamics, tunnelling effects and the rate constant. The temperature dependence of the kinetic isotope effects (KIEs), which is one of the few tests that can be studied by experiments and simulations to shed li…

Theoretical Tools for the Description of Strong Field Laser-Molecule Interaction

2016

In this chapter, the main theoretical tools used in the work presented in the next two chapters on the laser control of the radiationless decay in pyrazine and of the tunneling dynamics in NHD\(_2\), are introduced.

Laser control in a bifurcating region

2006

We present a complete analysis of the laser control of a model molecular system using both optimal control theory and adiabatic techniques. This molecule has a particular potential energy surface with a bifurcating region connecting three potential wells which allows a variety of processes such as isomerization, tunnelling or implementation of quantum gates on one or two qubits. The parameters of the model have been chosen so as to reproduce the main features of H3CO which is a molecule-benchmark for such dynamics. We show the feasibility of different processes and we investigate their robustness against variations of laser field. We discuss the conditions under which each method of control…

Laser Driven Tunneling Dynamics in NHD $$_2$$ 2

2016

This chapter is partly based on results and discussions published in Refs. M. Sala et al. J. Chem. Phys. 136, 194308 (2012) [1], M. Sala et al. J. Chem. Phys. 141, 164326 (2014) [2]. This material is reproduced with permission. Copyright [2012, 2014] AIP Publishing LLC.

Tunneling-charging Hamiltonian of a Cooper-pair pump

2001

General properties of the tunneling-charging Hamiltonian of a Cooper pair pump are examined with emphasis on the symmetries of the model. An efficient block-diagonalization scheme and a compatible Fourier expansion of the eigenstates is constructed and applied in order to gather information on important observables. Systematics of the adiabatic pumping with respect to all of the model parameters are obtained and the link to the geometrical Berry's phase is identified.

Electronic and mechanical characterization of self-assembled alkanethiol monolayers by scanning tunneling microscopy combined with interaction-force-…

1993

We have used scanning tunneling microscopy to study self-assembled monolayers of mercaptohexadecanol in ultrigh vacuum. In addition to tunneling, the interaction force gradient acting between tip and sample was measured. Analysis of the force-gradient data shows that the tip is in mechanical contact with the surface of the monolayer which, in turn, is elastically compressed. The lateral dimensions of the mechanical contact are substantially (approximately five times) larger than the width of the tunneling-current filament. The results suggest that the compression of the monolayer constitutes an integral part of tunneling through the molecules

Experimental demonstration of single-site addressability in a two-dimensional optical lattice

2009

We demonstrate single site addressability in a two-dimensional optical lattice with 600 nm lattice spacing. After loading a Bose-Einstein condensate in the lattice potential we use a focused electron beam to remove atoms from selected sites. The patterned structure is subsequently imaged by means of scanning electron microscopy. This technique allows us to create arbitrary patterns of mesoscopic atomic ensembles. We find that the patterns are remarkably stable against tunneling diffusion. Such micro-engineered quantum gases are a versatile resource for applications in quantum simulation, quantum optics and quantum information processing with neutral atoms.