arXiv subjects

C. M. Canali

Publications and source records attributed to C. M. Canali.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Magnetic Anisotropy of Isolated Cobalt Nanoplatelets

Motivated in part by experiments performed by M.H. Pan et al. (nanoletters, v.5, p 83, 2005), we have undertaken a theoretical study of the the magnetic properties of two-monolayer thick Co nanoplatelets with an equilateral triangular shape. The analysis is carried out using a microscopic Slater-Koster tight-binding model with atomic exchange and spin-orbit interactions designed to realistically capture the salient magnetic features of large nanoclusters containing up to 350 atoms. Two different truncations of the FCC lattice are studied, in which the nanoplatelet surface is aligned parallel to the FCC (111) and (001)crystal planes respectively. We find that the higher coordination number in the (111) truncated crystal is more likely to reproduce the perpendicular easy direction found in experiment. Qualitatively, the most important parameter governing the anisotropy of the model is found to be the value of the intra-atomic exchange integral J. If we set the value of J near the bulk value in order to reproduce the experimentally observed magnitude of the magnetic moments, we find both quasi-easy-planes and perpendicular easy directions. At larger values of J we find that the easy-axis of magnetization is perpendicular to the surface, and the value of the magnetic anisotropy energy per atom is larger. The possible role of hybridization with substrate surface states in the experimental systems is discussed.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2004

Landau-Zener quantum tunneling in disordered nanomagnets

We study Landau-Zener macroscopic quantum transitions in ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles containing on the order of 100 atoms. The model that we consider is described by an effective giant-spin Hamiltonian, with a coupling to a random transverse magnetic field mimicking the effect of quasiparticle excitations and structural disorder on the gap structure of the spin collective modes. We find different types of time evolutions depending on the interplay between the disorder in the transverse field and the initial conditions of the system. In the absence of disorder, if the system starts from a low-energy state, there is one main coherent quantum tunneling event where the initial-state amplitude is completely depleted in favor of a few discrete states, with nearby spin quantum numbers; when starting from the highest excited state, we observe complete inversion of the magnetization through a peculiar ``backward cascade evolution''. In the random case, the disorder-averaged transition probability for a low-energy initial state becomes a smooth distribution, which is nevertheless still sharply peaked around one of the transitions present in the disorder-free case. On the other hand, the coherent backward cascade phenomenon turns into a damped cascade with frustrated magnetic inversion.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2003

Orbital and spin contributions to the $g$-tensors in metal nanoparticles

We present a theoretical study of the mesoscopic fluctuations of $g$-tensors in a metal nanoparticle. The calculations were performed using a semi-realistic tight-binding model, which contains both spin and orbital contributions to the $g$-tensors. The results depend on the product of the spin-orbit scattering time $τ_{\textrm{\small so}}$ and the mean-level spacing $δ$, but are otherwise weakly affected by the specific shape of a {\it generic} nanoparticle. We find that the spin contribution to the $g$-tensors agrees with Random Matrix Theory (RMT) predictions. On the other hand, in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit $δτ_{\textrm{\small so}}/\hbar \to 0$, the orbital contribution depends crucially on the space character of the quasi-particle wavefunctions: it levels off at a small value for states of $d$ character but is strongly enhanced for states of $sp$ character. Our numerical results demonstrate that when orbital coupling to the field is included, RMT predictions overestimate the typical $g$-factor of orbitals that have dominant $d$-character. This finding points to a possible source of the puzzling discrepancy between theory and experiment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2003

Elementary Excitations of Ferromagnetic Metal Nanoparticles

We present a theory of the elementary spin excitations in transition metal ferromagnet nanoparticles which achieves a unified and consistent quantum description of both collective and quasiparticle physics. The theory starts by recognizing the essential role played by spin-orbit interactions in determining the energies of ferromagnetic resonances in the collective excitation spectrum and the strength of their coupling to low-energy particle-hole excitations. We argue that a crossover between Landau-damped ferromagnetic resonance and pure-state collective magnetic excitations occurs as the number of atoms in typical transition metal ferromagnet nanoparticles drops below approximately $10^4$, approximately where the single-particle level spacing, $δ$, becomes larger than, $\sqrtα E_{\rm res}$, where $E_{\rm res}$ is the ferromagnetic resonance frequency and $α$ is the Gilbert damping parameter. We illustrate our ideas by studying the properties of semi-realistic model Hamiltonians, which we solve numerically for nanoparticles containing several hundred atoms. For small nanoparticles, we find one isolated ferromagnetic resonance collective mode below the lowest particle-hole excitation energy, at $E_{\rm res} \approx 0.1$ meV. The spectral weight of this pure excitation nearly exhausts the transverse dynamical susceptibility spectral weight. As $δ$ approaches $\sqrtα E_{\rm res}$, the ferromagnetic collective excitation is more likely to couple strongly with discrete particle-hole excitations. In this regime the distinction between the two types of excitations blurs. We discuss the significance of this picture for the interpretation of recent single-electron tunneling experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2003

Chern Numbers for Spin Models of Transition Metal Nanomagnets

We argue that ferromagnetic transition metal nanoparticles with fewer than approximately 100 atoms can be described by an effective Hamiltonian with a single giant spin degree of freedom. The total spin $S$ of the effective Hamiltonian is specified by a Berry curvature Chern number that characterizes the topologically non-trivial dependence of a nanoparticle's many-electron wavefunction on magnetization orientation. The Berry curvatures and associated Chern numbers have a complex dependence on spin-orbit coupling in the nanoparticle and influence the semiclassical Landau-Liftshitz equations that describe magnetization orientation dynamics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2002

Magnetization orientation dependence of the quasiparticle spectrum and hysteresis in ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles

We use a microscopic Slater-Koster tight-binding model with short-range exchange and atomic spin-orbit interactions that realistically captures generic features of ferromagnetic metal nanoparticles to address the mesoscopic physics of magnetocrystalline anisotropy and hysteresis in nanoparticle quasiparticle excitation spectra. Our analysis is based on qualitative arguments supported by self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations for nanoparticles containing up to 260 atoms. Calculations of the total energy as a function of magnetization direction demonstrate that the magnetic anisotropy per atom fluctuates by several percents when the number of electrons in the particle changes by one, even for the largest particles we consider. Contributions of individual orbitals to the magnetic anisotropy are characterized by a broad distribution with a mean more than two orders of magnitude smaller than its variance and with no detectable correlations between anisotropy contribution and quasiparticle energy. We find that the discrete quasiparticle excitation spectrum of a nanoparticle displays a complex non-monotonic dependence on an external magnetic field, with abrupt jumps when the magnetization direction is reversed by the field, explaining recent spectroscopic studies of magnetic nanoparticles. Our results suggests the existence of a broad cross-over from a weak spin-orbit coupling to a strong spin-orbit coupling regime, occurring over the range from approximately 200- to 1000-atom nanoparticles.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

Theory of Tunneling Spectroscopy in Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles

We present a theory of the low-energy excitations of a ferromagnetic metal nanoparticle. In addition to the particle-hole excitations, which occur in a paramagnetic metal nanoparticle, we predict a branch of excitations involving the magnetization-orientation collective coordinate. Tunneling matrix elements are in general sizable for several different collective states associated with the same band configuration. We point out that the average change in ground state spin per added electron differs from non-interacting quasiparticle expectations, and that the change in the spin-polarization, due to Zeeman coupling, is strongly influenced by Coulomb blockade physics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1999

Disorder and interaction induced pairing in the addition spectra of quantum dots

We have investigated numerically the electron addition spectra in quantum dots containing a small number (N < 11) of interacting electrons, in presence of strong disorder. For a short-range Coulomb repulsion, we find regimes in which two successive electrons enter the dot at very close values of the chemical potential. In the strongly correlated regime these close additions, or pairing, are associated with electrons tunneling into distinct electron puddles within the dot. We discuss the tunneling rates at pairing, and we argue that our results are related to a phenomenon known as "bunching", recently observed experimentally.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1997

Level Curvature Distribution and the Structure of Eigenfunctions in Disordered Systems

The level curvature distribution function is studied both analytically and numerically for the case of T-breaking perturbations over the orthogonal ensemble. The leading correction to the shape of the curvature distribution beyond the random matrix theory is calculated using the nonlinear supersymmetric sigma-model and compared to numerical simulations on the Anderson model. It is predicted analytically and confirmed numerically that the sign of the correction is different for T-breaking perturbations caused by a constant vector-potential equivalent to a phase twist in the boundary conditions, and those caused by a random magnetic field. In the former case it is shown using a nonperturbative approach that quasi-localized states in weakly disordered systems can cause the curvature distribution to be nonanalytic. In $2d$ systems the distribution function $P(K)$ has a branching point at K=0 that is related to the multifractality of the wave functions and thus should be a generic feature of all critical eigenstates. A relationship between the branching power and the multifractality exponent $d_{2}$ is suggested. Evidence of the branch-cut singularity is found in numerical simulations in $2d$ systems and at the Anderson transition point in $3d$ systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1997

Ordering effect of Coulomb interaction in ballistic double-ring systems

We study a model of two concentric onedimensional rings with incommensurate areas $A_1$ and $A_2$, in a constant magnetic field. The two rings are coupled by a nonhomogeneous inter-ring tunneling amplitude, which makes the one-particle spectrum chaotic. For noninteracting particles the energy of the many-body ground state and the first excited state exhibit random fluctuations characterized by the Wigner-Dyson statistics. In contrast, we show that the electron-electron interaction orders the magnetic field dependence of these quantities, forcing them to become periodic functions, with period $ \propto 1/(A_1 + A_2)$. In such a strongly correlated system the only possible source of disorder comes from charge fluctuations, which can be controlled by a tunable inter-ring gate voltage.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1997

Coulomb correlations and coherent charge tunneling in mesoscopic coupled rings

We study the effect of a strong electron-electron (e-e) interaction in a system of two concentric one-dimensional rings with incommensurate areas A_1 and A_2, coupled by a tunnel amplitude. For noninteracting particles the magnetic moment (persistent current) m of the many-body ground state and first excited states is an irregular function of the external magnetic field. In contrast, we show that when strong e-e interactions are present the magnetic field dependence of m becomes periodic. In such a strongly correlated system disorder can only be caused by inter-ring charge fluctuations, controllable by a gate voltage. The oscillation period of m is proportional to 1/(A_1 + A_2) if fluctuations are suppressed. Coherent inter-ring tunneling doubles the period when charge fluctuations are allowed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1996

Distribution of level curvatures for the Anderson model at the localization-delocalization transition

We compute the distribution function of single-level curvatures, $P(k)$, for a tight binding model with site disorder, on a cubic lattice. In metals $P(k)$ is very close to the predictions of the random-matrix theory (RMT). In insulators $P(k)$ has a logarithmically-normal form. At the Anderson localization-delocalization transition $P(k)$ fits very well the proposed novel distribution $P(k)\propto (1+k^μ)^{3/μ}$ with $μ\approx 1.58$, which approaches the RMT result for large $k$ and is non-analytical at small $k$. We ascribe such a non-analiticity to the spatial multifractality of the critical wave functions.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Random Matrix Theory of the Energy-Level Statistics of Disordered Systems at the Anderson Transition

We consider a family of random matrix ensembles (RME) invariant under similarity transformations and described by the probability density $P({\bf H})= \exp[-{\rm Tr}V({\bf H})]$. Dyson's mean field theory (MFT) of the corresponding plasma model of eigenvalues is generalized to the case of weak confining potential, $V(ε)\sim {A\over 2}\ln ^2(ε)$. The eigenvalue statistics derived from MFT are shown to deviate substantially from the classical Wigner-Dyson statistics when $A<1$. By performing systematic Monte Carlo simulations on the plasma model, we compute all the relevant statistical properties of the RME with weak confinement. For $A_c\approx 0.4$ the distribution function of the energy-level spacings (LSDF) of this RME coincides in a large energy window with the LSDF of the three dimensional Anderson model at the metal-insulator transition. For the same $A_c$, the variance of the number of levels, $\langle n^2\rangle -\langle n\rangle^2$, in an interval containing $\langle n\rangle$ levels on average, grows linearly with $\langle n\rangle$, and its slope is equal to $0.32 \pm 0.02$, which is consistent with the value found for the Anderson model at the critical point.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Normalization Sum Rule and Spontaneous Breaking of U(N) Invariance in Random Matrix Ensembles

It is shown that the two-level correlation function $R(s,s')$ in the invariant random matrix ensembles (RME) with soft confinement exhibits a "ghost peak" at $s\approx -s'$. This lifts the sum rule prohibition for the level number variance to have a Poisson-like term ${\rm var}(n)=ηn$ that is typical of RME with broken U(N) symmetry. Thus we conclude that the U(N) invariance is broken spontaneously in the RME with soft confinement, $η$ playing the role of an order-parameter.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1994

Non-Universality in Random Matrix Ensembles with Soft Level Confinement

Two families of strongly non-Gaussian random matrix ensembles (RME) are considered. They are statistically equivalent to a one-dimensional plasma of particles interacting logarithmically and confined by the potential that has the long-range behavior $V(ε)\sim |ε|^α$ ($0<α<1$), or $V(ε)\sim \ln^{2}|ε|$. The direct Monte Carlo simulations on the effective plasma model shows that the spacing distribution function (SDF) in such RME can deviate from that of the classical Gaussian ensembles. For power-law potentials, this deviation is seen only near the origin $ε\sim 0$, while for the double-logarithmic potential the SDF shows the cross-over from the Wigner-Dyson to Poisson behavior in the bulk of the spectrum.

cond-mat↗