A eletrodinâmica escalar generalizada de Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau, uma análise funcional de sua dinâmica quântica covariante e o equilíbrio termodinâmico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Modeling and analysis of thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency in nanostructures.

116 p.

Spin Hall effect due to intersubband-induced spin-orbit interaction in symmetric quantum wells

We investigate the intrinsic spin Hall effect in two-dimensional electron gases in quantum wells with two subbands, where a new intersubband-induced spin-orbit coupling is operative. The bulk spin Hall conductivity sigma(z)(xy) is calculated in the ballistic limit within the standard Kubo formalism in the presence of a magnetic field B and is found to remain finite in the B=0 limit, as long as only the lowest subband is occupied. Our calculated sigma(z)(xy) exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior and can change its sign as the Fermi energy (the carrier areal density n(2D)) is varied between the subband edges. We determine the magnitude of sigma(z)(xy) for realistic InSb quantum wells by performing a self-consistent calculation of the intersubband-induced spin-orbit coupling.

Control of the persistent currents in two interacting quantum rings through the Coulomb interaction and interring tunneling

The persistent current in two vertically coupled quantum rings containing few electrons is studied. We find that the Coulomb interaction between the rings in the absence of tunneling affects the persistent current in each ring and the ground-state configurations. Quantum tunneling between the rings alters significantly the ground state and the persistent current in the system.

Intersubband-induced spin-orbit interaction in quantum wells

Recently, we have found an additional spin-orbit (SO) interaction in quantum wells with two subbands [Bernardes , Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 076603 (2007)]. This new SO term is nonzero even in symmetric geometries, as it arises from the intersubband coupling between confined states of distinct parities, and its strength is comparable to that of the ordinary Rashba. Starting from the 8x8 Kane model, here we present a detailed derivation of this new SO Hamiltonian and the corresponding SO coupling. In addition, within the self-consistent Hartree approximation, we calculate the strength of this new SO coupling for realistic symmetric modulation-doped wells with two subbands. We consider gated structures with either a constant areal electron density or a constant chemical potential. In the parameter range studied, both models give similar results. By considering the effects of an external applied bias, which breaks the structural inversion symmetry of the wells, we also calculate the strength of the resulting induced Rashba couplings within each subband. Interestingly, we find that for double wells the Rashba couplings for the first and second subbands interchange signs abruptly across the zero bias, while the intersubband SO coupling exhibits a resonant behavior near this symmetric configuration. For completeness we also determine the strength of the Dresselhaus couplings and find them essentially constant as function of the applied bias.

Anomalous Rashba spin-orbit interaction in InAs/GaSb quantum wells

We theoretically investigate the Rashba spin-orbit interaction in InAs/GaSb quantum wells (QWs). We find that the Rashba spin-splitting (RSS) sensitively depends on the thickness of the InAs layer. The RSS exhibits nonlinear behavior for narrow InAs/GaSb QWs and the oscillating feature for wide InAs/GaSb QWs. The nonlinear and oscillating behaviors arise from the weakened and enhanced interband coupling. The RSS also show asymmetric features respect to the direction of the external electric field. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

(85)Rb Bose-Einstein condensate with tunable interaction: A quantum many body approach

We present a quantum many body approach with van der Waal type of interaction to achieve (85)Rb Bose-Einstein condensate with tunable interaction which has been produced by magnetic field induced Feshbach resonance in the JILA experiment. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of confinement on the electron-phonon interaction in Al(0.18)Ga(0.82)As/GaAs quantum wells

Photoluminescence measurements at different temperatures have been performed to investigate the effects of confinement on the electron-phonon interaction in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs). A series of samples with different well widths in the range from 150 up to 750 A was analyzed. Using a fitting procedure based on the Passler-p model to describe the temperature dependence of the exciton recombination energy, we determined a fit parameter which is related to the strength of the electron-phonon interaction. On the basis of the behavior of this fit parameter as a function of the well width thickness of the samples investigated, we verified that effects of confinement on the exciton recombination energy are still present in QWs with well widths as large as 450 angstrom. Our findings also show that the electron-phonon interaction is three times stronger in GaAs bulk material than in Al(0.18)Ga(0.82)As/GaAs QWs.

Comment on Effect of spin-orbit interaction on the plasma excitations in a quantum wire

We comment on the recent results [Phys. Rev. B 70, 235314 (2004)] showing the dispersion relations of single-particle and collective excitations in quantum wires in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). We claim that those calculations performed in the absence of SOI, and used as a strong reference to the interacting case, are unlikely to be correct. We show the correct omega-q plane of the system in the absence of Rashba SOI.

Quantum exchange interaction of spherically symmetric plasmoids

We study nano-sized spherically symmetric plasma structures which are radial nonlinear oscillations of electrons in plasma. The effective interaction of these plasmoids via quantum exchange forces between ions is described. We calculate the energy of this interaction for the case of a dense plasma. The conditions when the exchange interaction is attractive are examined and it is shown that separate plasmoids can form a single object. The application of our results to the theoretical description of stable atmospheric plasma structures is considered. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rashba spin-orbit interaction in a superlattice of quantum wires

In this work, we study the effects of a longitudinal periodic potential on a parabolic quantum wire defined in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit interaction. For an infinite wire superlattice we find, by direct diagonalization, that the energy gaps are shifted away from the usual Bragg planes due to the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. Interestingly, our results show that the location of the band gaps in energy can be controlled via the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. We have also calculated the charge conductance through a periodic potential of a finite length via the nonequilibrium Green's function method combined with the Landauer formalism. We find dips in the conductance that correspond well to the energy gaps of the infinite wire superlattice. From the infinite wire energy dispersion, we derive an equation relating the location of the conductance dips as a function of the (gate controllable) Fermi energy to the Rashba spin-orbit coupling strength. We propose that the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction can be extracted via a charge conductance measurement.

Exchange interaction in chirally coupled quantum dots

We present transport measurements on a system of two lateral quantum dots in a perpendicular magnetic field. Due to edge channel formation in an open conducting region, the quantum dots are chirally coupled. When both quantum dots are tuned into the Kondo regime simultaneously, we observe a change in the temperature dependence of the differential conductance. This is explained by the RKKY exchange interaction between the two dots. As a function of bias the differential conductance shows a splitting of the Kondo resonance which changes in the presence of RKKY interaction.

Interaction-free measurements by quantum Zeno stabilization of ultracold atoms

Quantum mechanics predicts that our physical reality is influenced by events that can potentially happen but factually do not occur. Interaction-free measurements (IFMs) exploit this counterintuitive influence to detect the presence of an object without requiring any interaction with it. Here we propose and realize an IFM concept based on an unstable many-particle system. In our experiments, we employ an ultracold gas in an unstable spin configuration, which can undergo a rapid decay. The object-realized by a laser beam-prevents this decay because of the indirect quantum Zeno effect and thus, its presence can be detected without interacting with a single atom. Contrary to existing proposals, our IFM does not require single-particle sources and is only weakly affected by losses and decoherence. We demonstrate confidence levels of 90%, well beyond previous optical experiments.

Classical and quantum approaches to the interaction of light and matter at the nanoscale

168 p.