Loschmidt echo and Berry phase of a quantum system coupled to an XY spin chain: Proximity to a quantum phase transition

We study the Loschmidt echo (LE) of a coupled system consisting of a central spin and its surrounding environment described by a general XY spin-chain model. The quantum dynamics of the LE is shown to be remarkably influenced by the quantum criticality of the spin chain. In particular, the decaying behavior of the LE is found to be controlled by the anisotropy parameter of the spin chain. Furthermore, we show that due to the coupling to the spin chain, the ground-state Berry phase for the central spin becomes nonanalytical and its derivative with respect to the magnetic parameter lambda in spin chain diverges along the critical line lambda=1, which suggests an alternative measurement of the quantum criticality of the spin chain.

Orbital magnetization in semiconductors

National Natural Science Foundation of China 60821061 60776061 10604010 60776063

Geometric phase of a bipartite system with Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction

The Berry phase of a bipartite system described by a Heisenberg XXZ model driven by a one-site magnetic field is investigated. The effect of the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya (DM) anisotropic interaction on the Berry phase is discussed. It is found that the DM interaction affects the Berry phase monotonously. and can also cause sudden change of the Berry phase for some weak magnetic field cases. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spin-Hall effect in the generalized honeycomb lattice with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the spin-Hall effect in a generalized honeycomb lattice, which is described by a tight-binding Hamiltonian including the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and inversion-symmetry breaking terms brought about by a uniaxial pressure. The calculated spin-Hall conductance displays a series of exact or approximate plateaus for isotropic or anisotropic hopping integral parameters, respectively. We show that these plateaus are a consequence of the various Fermi-surface topologies when tuning epsilon(F). For the isotropic case, a consistent two-band analysis, as well as a Berry-phase interpretation. are also given. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spin Hall effect on the kagome lattice with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the spin Hall effect in the kagome lattice with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The conserved spin Hall conductance sigma(s)(xy) (see text) and its two components, i.e., the conventional term sigma(s0)(xy) and the spin-torque-dipole term sigma(s tau)(xy), are numerically calculated, which show a series of plateaus as a function of the electron Fermi energy epsilon(F). A consistent two-band analysis, as well as a Berry-phase interpretation, is also given. We show that these plateaus are a consequence of various Fermi-surface topologies when tuning epsilon(F). In particular, we predict that compared to the case with the Fermi surface encircling the Gamma point in the Brillouin zone, the amplitude of the spin Hall conductance with the Fermi surface encircling the K points is twice enhanced, which makes it highly meaningful in the future to systematically carry out studies of the K-valley spintronics.

The local-field corrective effect on Rabi oscillation of ultrashort pulse excitation in semiconductor GaAs

Rabi oscillation of the thin bulk semiconductor GaAs, which takes into account the effect of the local-field correction induced by the interacting excitons, is investigated by numerically solving the semiconductor Bloch equations. It is found, for a 2 pi few-cycle pulse excitation, that two incomplete Rabi-floppings emerge due to the competition between the Rabi frequency of the incident pulse and the internal-field matrices. Furthermore, for a sub-cycle 2 pi pulse excitation a complete Rabi-flopping can occur because of the absolute phase effect. We ascribe these characteristics of the Rabi oscillation to the renormalized Rabi frequency.

Absolute phase control of spectra effects in a two-level medium driven by two-color ultrashort laser pulses

Using a omega-3 omega combination scenario, we investigate the absolute phase control of the spectra effects for ultrashort laser pulses propagating in a two-level medium. It is found that the higher spectral components can be controlled by the absolute phases. In particular, different absolute phase combinations can lead to the buildup or split of the even harmonics. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimized logarithmic phase masks used to generate defocus invariant modulation transfer function for wavefront coding system

In a previous Letter [Opt. Lett. 33, 1171 (2008)], we proposed an improved logarithmic phase mask by making modifications to the original one designed by Sherif. However, further studies in another paper [Appl. Opt. 49, 229 (2010)] show that even when the Sherif mask and the improved one are optimized, their corresponding defocused modulation transfer functions (MTFs) are still not stable with respect to focus errors. So, by further modifying their phase profiles, we design another two logarithmic phase masks that exhibit more stable defocused MTF. However, with the defocus-induced phase effect considered, we find that the performance of the two masks proposed in this Letter is better than the Sherif mask, but worse than our previously proposed phase mask, according to the Hilbert space angle. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

Effect of the nature of annealing solvent on the morphology of diblock copolymer blend thin films

The morphologies and structures for the thin film of blend systems consisting of two asymmetric polystyrene-block-polybutadiene (SB) diblock copolymers induced by annealing in the vapor of different solvents, namely, cyclohexane, benzene, and heptane, which have different selectivity or preferential affinity for a certain block, were investigated by tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results revealed that even a slight preferential affinity of good solvent for one block would strongly alter the morphology of the blend thin film.

Effect of cavitations on brittle-ductile transition of particle toughened thermoplastics

In this study, we established a correlation between cavitations volume and the brittle-ductile transition (BDT) for particle toughened thermoplastics. The brittle-ductile transition temperature (T-BD) was calculated as a function of T* and interparticle distance (ED), respectively, where T* was a parameter related to the volume of cavitations. The results showed that the smaller the cavitations volume, the higher the brittle-ductile transition temperature. The calculations correlated well with the experimental data. With respect to rubber particle, the rigid particle was too hard to be voided during deformation, thereby the TED of the blend was much higher than that of rubber particle toughened thermoplastic. This was a main reason that rubber particle could toughen thermoplastics effectively, whereas rigid particle could not.

The quantum tunnelling between two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well configuration

We examine in terms of exact solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation, the quantum tunnelling process in Bose-Einstein condensates of two interacting species trapped in a double well configuration. Based on the two series of time-dependent SU(2) gauge transformations, we diagonalize the Hamilton operator and obtain analytic time-evolution formulas of the population imbalance and the berry phase. the particle population imbalance (a(L)(+)aL - a(R)(+)a(R)) of species A between the two wells is studied analytically.

The quantum tunneling between two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well configuration

In terms of exact solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. we examine the quantum tunneling process in Bose condensates of two interacting species trapped in a double well configuration. We use the two series of time-dependent SU(2) gauge transformation to diagonalize the Hamilton operator obtain analytic time-evolution formulas of the population imbalance and the berry phase. The particle population imbalance (a(L)(+)a(L) - a(R)(+)a(R)) of species A between the two wells is studied analytically.

Evaluation of holonomic quantum computation: Adiabatic versus nonadiabatic

Based on the analytical solution to the time-dependent Schrodinger equations, we evaluate the holonomic quantum computation beyond the adiabatic limit. Besides providing rigorous confirmation of the geometrical prediction of holonomies, the present dynamical resolution offers also a practical means to study the nonadiabaticity induced effects for the universal qubit operations.

Phase Evolution and its Effect on Magnetic Properties of Nd60Al10Fe20Co10 Bulk Metallic Glass

The thermal stability of nanocrystalline clusters, the phase evolution, and their effects on magnetic Propertieswere studied for as-cast Nd60Al10Fe20Co10 alloy using differential scanning calorimetry curves, x-ray diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transition electron microscopy. Thermomagnetic curves and hysteresis loops of the bulk metallic glass were measured during the annealing process. The high thermostability of the hardmagnetic properties of the samples observed is attributed to the stability of the nanocrystalline clusters upon annealing, while the slight enhancement in the magnetization is due to the precipitation of some Nd-rich metastable phases. The mechanism of thermostability of the nanocrystalline clusters and the formation of the metastable phases are discussed.