Search results for "nanoscale"
showing 10 items of 752 documents
Spin-orbit torque-driven magnetization switching and thermal effects studied in Ta\CoFeB\MgO nanowires
2014
We demonstrate magnetization switching in out-of-plane magnetized Ta\CoFeB\MgO nanowires by current pulse injection along the nanowires, both with and without a constant and uniform magnetic field collinear to the current direction. We deduce that an effective torque arising from spin-orbit effects in the multilayer drives the switching mechanism. While the generation of a component of the magnetization along the current direction is crucial for the switching to occur, we observe that even without a longitudinal field thermally generated magnetization fluctuations can lead to switching. Analysis using a generalized N\'eel-Brown model enables key parameters of the thermally induced spin-orbi…
Ferromagnetic gyroscopes for tests of fundamental physics
2020
A ferromagnetic gyroscope (FG) is a ferromagnet whose angular momentum is dominated by electron spin polarization and that will precess under the action of an external torque, such as that due to a magnetic field. Here we model and analyze FG dynamics and sensitivity, focusing on practical schemes for experimental realization. In the case of a freely floating FG, we model the transition from dynamics dominated by libration in relatively high externally applied magnetic fields, to those dominated by precession at relatively low applied fields. Measurement of the libration frequency enables in situ measurement of the magnetic field and a technique to reduce the field below the threshold for w…
First-principles nonequilibrium Green's-function approach to transient photoabsorption: Application to atoms
2015
We put forward a first-principle NonEquilibrium Green's Function (NEGF) approach to calculate the transient photoabsorption spectrum of optically thin samples. The method can deal with pump fields of arbitrary strength, frequency and duration as well as for overlapping and nonoverlapping pump and probe pulses. The electron-electron repulsion is accounted for by the correlation self-energy, and the resulting numerical scheme deals with matrices that scale quadratically with the system size. Two recent experiments, the first on helium and the second on krypton, are addressed. For the first experiment we explain the bending of the Autler-Townes absorption peaks with increasing the pump-probe d…
Ab initio angle- and energy-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with time-dependent density-functional theory
2012
We present a time-dependent density-functional method able to describe the photoelectron spectrum of atoms and molecules when excited by laser pulses. This computationally feasible scheme is based on a geometrical partitioning that efficiently gives access to photoelectron spectroscopy in time-dependent density-functional calculations. By using a geometrical approach, we provide a simple description of momentum-resolved photoemission including multiphoton effects. The approach is validated by comparison with results in the literature and exact calculations. Furthermore, we present numerical photoelectron angular distributions for randomly oriented nitrogen molecules in a short near-infrared…
Unraveling materials Berry curvature and Chern numbers from real-time evolution of Bloch states
2019
Materials can be classified by the topological character of their electronic structure and, in this perspective, global attributes immune to local deformations have been discussed in terms of Berry curvature and Chern numbers. Except for instructional simple models, linear response theories have been ubiquitously employed in calculations of topological properties of real materials. Here we propose a completely different and versatile approach to get the topological characteristics of materials by calculating physical observables from the real-time evolving Bloch states: the cell-averaged current density reveals the anomalous velocities whose integration leads to the conductivity quantum. Re…
Spin qubits with electrically gated polyoxometalate molecules
2007
Spin qubits offer one of the most promising routes to the implementation of quantum computers. Very recent results in semiconductor quantum dots show that electrically-controlled gating schemes are particularly well-suited for the realization of a universal set of quantum logical gates. Scalability to a larger number of qubits, however, remains an issue for such semiconductor quantum dots. In contrast, a chemical bottom-up approach allows one to produce identical units in which localized spins represent the qubits. Molecular magnetism has produced a wide range of systems with tailored properties, but molecules permitting electrical gating have been lacking. Here we propose to use the polyox…
Quantum interference and the time-dependent radiation of nanojunctions
2021
Using the recently developed time-dependent Landauer-B\"uttiker formalism and Jefimenko's retarded solutions to the Maxwell equations, we show how to compute the time-dependent electromagnetic field produced by the charge and current densities in nanojunctions out of equilibrium. We then apply this formalism to a benzene ring junction, and show that geometry-dependent quantum interference effects can be used to control the magnetic field in the vicinity of the molecule. Then, treating the molecular junction as a quantum emitter, we demonstrate clear signatures of the local molecular geometry in the non-local radiated power.
Counting statistics for electron capture in a dynamic quantum dot
2012
We report non-invasive single-charge detection of the full probability distribution $P_n$ of the initialization of a quantum dot with $n$ electrons for rapid decoupling from an electron reservoir. We analyze the data in the context of a model for sequential tunneling pinch-off, which has generic solutions corresponding to two opposing mechanisms. One limit considers sequential "freeze out" of an adiabatically evolving grand canonical distribution, the other one is an athermal limit equivalent to the solution of a generalized decay cascade model. We identify the athermal capturing mechanism in our sample, testifying to the high precision of our combined theoretical and experimental methods. …
Computer simulation studies of finite-size broadening of solid–liquid interfaces: from hard spheres to nickel
2009
Using Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations interfacial properties of crystal-fluid interfaces are investigated for the hard sphere system and the one-component metallic system Ni (the latter modeled by a potential of the embedded atom type). Different local order parameters are considered to obtain order parameter profiles for systems where the crystal phase is in coexistence with the fluid phase, separated by interfaces with (100) orientation of the crystal. From these profiles, the mean-squared interfacial width w^2 is extracted as a function of system size. We rationalize the prediction of capillary wave theory that w^2 diverges logarithmically with the lateral size o…
Observation of topological gravity-capillary waves in a water wave crystal
2019
The discovery of topological phases of matter, initially driven by theoretical advances in quantum condensed matter physics, has been recently extended to classical wave systems, reaching out to a wealth of novel potential applications in signal manipulation and energy concentration. Despite the fact that many realistic wave media (metals at optical frequencies, polymers at ultrasonic frequencies) are inherently dispersive, topological wave transport in photonic and phononic crystals has so far been limited to ideal situations and proof-of-concept experiments involving dispersionless media. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of topological edge states in a classical water …