arXiv subjects

E. Diaz

Publications and source records attributed to E. Diaz.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Floquet engineering of Dirac cones on the surface of a topological insulator

We propose to Floquet-engineer Dirac cones at the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator. We show that a large tunability of the Fermi velocity can be achieved as a function of the polarization, direction and amplitude of the driving field. Using this external control, the Dirac cones in the quasienergy spectrum may become elliptic or massive, in accordance to experimental evidences. These results help us to understand the interplay of surface states and external ac driving fields in topological insulators. In our work we use the full Hamiltonian for the three-dimensional system instead of effective surface Hamiltonians, which are usually considered in the literature. Our findings show that the Dirac cones in the quasienergy spectrum remain robust even in the presence of bulk states and, therefore, they validate the usage of effective surface Hamiltonians to explore the properties of Floquet-driven topological boundaries. Furthermore, our model allows us to introduce new out-of-plane field configurations, which cannot be accounted for by effective surface Hamiltonians.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Topologically protected states in $δ$-doped junctions with band inversion

A topological boundary can be formed at the interface between a trivial and a topological insulator. The difference in the topological index across the junction leads to robust gapless surface states. Optical studies of these states are scarce in the literature, the reason being the difficulty to isolate their response from that of the bulk. In this work, we propose to deposit a $δ$ layer of donor impurities in close proximity to a topological boundary to help detecting gapless surface states. As we will show, gapless surface states are robust against this perturbation and they enhance intraband optical transitions as measured by the oscillator strength. These results allow to understand the interplay of surface and bulk states in topological insulators.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Chiral solitons in a non-linear model of helical molecules

In this paper an effective integrable non-linear model describing the electron spin dynamics in a deformable helical molecule with weak spin-orbit coupling is presented. Non-linearity arises from the electron-lattice interaction and it enables the formation of a variety of stable solitons such as bright solitons, breathers and rogue waves, all of them presenting well defined spin projection onto the molecule axis. A thorough study of the soliton solutions is presented and discussed.

nlin.SI↗

arXiv2017

Spin dynamics in helical molecules with non-linear interactions

It is widely admitted that the helical conformation of certain chiral molecules may induce a sizable spin selectivity observed in experiments. Spin selectivity arises as a result of the interplay between a helicity-induced spin-orbit coupling and electric dipole fields in the molecule. From the theoretical point of view, different phenomena might affect the spin dynamics in helical molecules, such as quantum dephasing, dissipation and the role of metallic contacts. Previous studies neglected the local deformation of the molecule about the carrier thus far, but this assumption seems unrealistic to describe charge transport in molecular systems. We introduce an effective model describing the electron spin dynamics in a deformable helical molecule with weak spin-orbit coupling. We find that the electron-lattice interaction allows the formation of stable solitons such as bright solitons with well defined spin projection onto the molecule axis. We present a thorough study of these bright solitons and analyze their possible impact on the spin dynamics in deformable helical molecules.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Exact Bloch oscillations in optical waveguide arrays with arbitrary long-range coupling

We find the exact Bloch oscillations in zigzag arrays of curved optical waveguides under the influence of arbitrary long-range coupling. The curvature induces a linear transverse potential gradient in the equations of the light evolution. In the case of arrays with second-order coupling, steady states can be obtained as linear combinations of Bessel functions of integer index. The corresponding eigenvalues are equally spaced and form the well-known Wannier-Stark ladder, the spacing being independent of the second-order coupling. We also solve exactly the wave packet dynamics and compare it with experimental results. Accordingly we find that a broad optical pulse performs Bloch oscillations. Frequency doubling of the fundamental Bloch frequency sets up at finite values of the second-order coupling. On the contrary when a single waveguide is initially excited, a breathing mode is activated with no signature of Bloch oscillations. We present a generalization of our results to waveguide arrays subject to long-range coupling. In the general case the centroid of the wave packet shows the occurrence of multiples of the Bloch frequency up to the order of the interaction.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2017

Non-equilibrium transport through a disordered molecular nanowire

We investigate the non-equilibrium transport properties of a disordered molecular nanowire. The nanowire is regarded as a quasi-one-dimensional organic crystal composed of self-assembled molecules. One orbital and a single random energy are assigned to each molecule while the intermolecular coupling does not fluctuate. Consequently, electronic states are expected to be spatially localized. We consider the regime of strong localization, namely, the localization length is smaller than the length of the molecular wire. Electron-vibron interaction, taking place in each single molecule, is also taken into account. We investigate the interplay between disorder and electron-vibron interaction in response to either an applied electric bias or a temperature gradient. To this end, we calculate the electric and heat currents when the nanowire is connected to leads, using the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. At intermediate temperature, scattering by disorder dominates both charge and heat transport. We find that the electron-vibron interaction enhances the effect of the disorder on the transport properties due to the exponential suppression of tunneling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

J-PAS: The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey

The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) is a narrow band, very wide field Cosmological Survey to be carried out from the Javalambre Observatory in Spain with a purpose-built, dedicated 2.5m telescope and a 4.7 sq.deg. camera with 1.2Gpix. Starting in late 2015, J-PAS will observe 8500sq.deg. of Northern Sky and measure $0.003(1+z)$ photo-z for $9\times10^7$ LRG and ELG galaxies plus several million QSOs, sampling an effective volume of $\sim 14$ Gpc$^3$ up to $z=1.3$ and becoming the first radial BAO experiment to reach Stage IV. J-PAS will detect $7\times 10^5$ galaxy clusters and groups, setting constrains on Dark Energy which rival those obtained from its BAO measurements. Thanks to the superb characteristics of the site (seeing ~0.7 arcsec), J-PAS is expected to obtain a deep, sub-arcsec image of the Northern sky, which combined with its unique photo-z precision will produce one of the most powerful cosmological lensing surveys before the arrival of Euclid. J-PAS unprecedented spectral time domain information will enable a self-contained SN survey that, without the need for external spectroscopic follow-up, will detect, classify and measure $σ_z\sim 0.5\%$ redshifts for $\sim 4000$ SNeIa and $\sim 900$ core-collapse SNe. The key to the J-PAS potential is its innovative approach: a contiguous system of 54 filters with $145Å$ width, placed $100Å$ apart over a multi-degree FoV is a powerful "redshift machine", with the survey speed of a 4000 multiplexing low resolution spectrograph, but many times cheaper and much faster to build. The J-PAS camera is equivalent to a 4.7 sq.deg. "IFU" and it will produce a time-resolved, 3D image of the Northern Sky with a very wide range of Astrophysical applications in Galaxy Evolution, the nearby Universe and the study of resolved stellar populations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Spin selective transport through helical molecular systems

Highly spin selective transport of electrons through a helically shaped electrostatic potential is demonstrated in the frame of a minimal model approach. The effect is significant even in the case of weak spin-orbit coupling. Two main factors determine the selectivity, an unconventional Rashba- like spin-orbit interaction, reflecting the helical symmetry of the system, and a weakly dispersive electronic band of the helical system. The weak electronic coupling, associated with the small dispersion, leads to a low mobility of the charges in the system and allows even weak spin-orbit interactions to be effective. The results are expected to be generic for chiral molecular systems displaying low spin-orbit coupling and low conductivity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Heat transport and thermal rectification in quasi-one-dimensional systems

In this work we investigate heat conduction along a ladder-model conformed by two coupled one dimensional lattices with different anharmonicity. We study how the interchain coupling modifies the thermal properties of the isolated systems. For a large enough coupling strength, we demonstrate that a harmonic lattice interacting with an anharmonic one is able to support a linear thermal gradient when it is connected to two heat reservoirs at different temperatures. We estimate this critical coupling by applying the self-consistent phonon theory (SCPT) to the anharmonic counterpart. By exchanging the heat baths connections between the harmonic and the anharmonic chains, our results show that the coupled system reveals as a thermal rectifier.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2010

Dynamics and stability of Bose-Einstein solitons in tilted optical lattices

Bloch oscillations of Bose-Einstein condensates realize sensitive matter-wave interferometers. We investigate the dynamics and stability of bright-soliton wave packets in one-dimensional tilted optical lattices with a modulated mean-field interaction $g(t)$. By means of a time-reversal argument, we prove the stability of Bloch oscillations of breathing solitons that would be quasistatically unstable. Floquet theory shows that these breathing solitons can be more stable against certain experimental perturbations than rigid solitons or even non-interacting wave packets.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2009

Stable Bloch oscillations of cold atoms with time-dependent interaction

We investigate Bloch oscillations of interacting cold atoms in a mean-field framework. In general, atom-atom interaction causes dephasing and destroys Bloch oscillations. Here, we show that Bloch oscillations are persistent if the interaction is modulated harmonically with suitable frequency and phase. For other modulations, Bloch oscillations are rapidly damped. We explain this behavior in terms of collective coordinates whose Hamiltonian dynamics permits to predict a whole family of stable solutions. In order to describe also the unstable cases, we carry out a stability analysis for Bogoliubov excitations. Using Floquet theory, we are able to predict the unstable modes as well as their growth rate, found to be in excellent agreement with numerical simulations.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2009

Environment effects on the electric conductivity of the DNA

We present a theoretical analysis of the environment effects on charge transport in double-stranded synthetic poly(G)-poly(C) DNA molecules attached to two ideal leads. Coupling of the DNA to the environment results in two effects: (i) localization of carrier functions due to the static disorder and (ii) phonon-induced scattering of the carrier between these localized states, resulting in hopping conductivity. A nonlinear Pauli master equation for populations of localized states is used to describe the hopping transport and calculate the electric current as a function of the applied bias. We demonstrate that, although the electronic gap in the density of states shrinks as the disorder increases, the voltage gap in the $I-V$ characteristics becomes wider. Simple physical explanation of this effect is provided.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Absence of extended states in a ladder model of DNA

We consider a ladder model of DNA for describing carrier transport in a fully coherent regime through finite segments. A single orbital is associated to each base, and both interstrand and intrastrand overlaps are considered within the nearest-neighbor approximation. Conduction through the sugar-phosphate backbone is neglected. We study analytically and numerically the spatial extend of the corresponding states by means of the Landauer and Lyapunov exponents. We conclude that intrinsic-DNA correlations, arising from the natural base pairing, does not suffice to observe extended states, in contrast to previous claims.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2006

Wannier-Stark ladder in the linear absorption of a random system with scale-free disorder

We study numerically the linear optical response of a quasiparticle moving on a one-dimensional disordered lattice in the presence of a linear bias. The random site potential is assumed to be long-range-correlated with a power-law spectral density $S(k) \sim 1/k^α$, $α> 0$. This type of correlations results in a phase of extended states at the band center, provided $α$ is larger than a critical value $α_c$ [F. A. B. F. de Moura and M. L. Lyra, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{81}, 3735 (1998)]. The width of the delocalized phase can be tested by applying an external electric field: Bloch-like oscillations of a quasiparticle wave packet are governed by the two mobility edges, playing now the role of band edges [F. Dom\'ınguez-Adame \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{91}, 197402 (2003)]. We demonstrate that the frequency-domain counterpart of these oscillations, the so-called Wannier-Stark ladder, also arises in this system. When the phase of extended states emerges in the system, this ladder turns out to be a comb of doublets, for some range of disorder strength and bias. Linear optical absorption provides a tool to detect this level structure.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2005

Anomalous optical absorption in a random system with scale-free disorder

We report on an anomalous behavior of the absorption spectrum in a one-dimensional lattice with long-range-correlated diagonal disorder with a power-like spectrum in the form S(k) ~ 1/k^A. These type of correlations give rise to a phase of extended states at the band center, provided A is larger than a critical value A_c. We show that for A < A_c the absorption spectrum is single-peaked, while an additional peak arises when A > A_c, signalling the occurrence of the Anderson transition. The peak is located slightly below the low-energy mobility edge, providing a unique spectroscopic tool to monitor the latter. We present qualitative arguments explaining this anomaly.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗