arXiv subjects

J. T. Devreese

Publications and source records attributed to J. T. Devreese.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Fission of multielectron bubbles in liquid helium

The stability of multielectron bubbles (MEBs) in liquid helium is investigated using the liquid-drop model for fissioning nuclei. Whereas a critical positive pressure can make the bubble unstable against fissioning, a small negative pressure suffices to introduce a restoring force preventing any small deformation of the bubble to grow. We also find that there exists an energy barrier making MEBs metastable against fissioning at zero pressure. The results obtained here overcome the difficulties associated with the Rayleigh-Plesset equation previously used to study bubble stability, and shed new light on the limits of achievable bubble geometries in recently proposed experiments devised to stabilize MEBs.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2002

Pressure Effects and Large Polarons in Layered MgB_2 Superconductor

We consider the dependence of the MgB_2 superconducting critical temperature on the pressure. Our model exploits the influence of the large polarons on the band structure of the layered MgB_2 superconductor. Namely, the hole Pekar-Froehlich polarons form quasi two-dimensional potential wells in the boron plane which shift the positions of the sigma- and pi-bands. This energy shift depends on the pressure and the Cooper pairing of the correlated sigma-electrons happens inside polaron wells. The results obtained are as follows: dT_c/dp = -α(5.2 \pm 0.9) K/GPa or dT_c/dp = -α(6.9\pm 1.1) K/GPa for a different choice of the Grueneisen parameter. Being compared with known experimental data they give us a resonable interval for the value of the Froehlich electron-phonon coupling constant: α= 0.15 - 0.45.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Nucleation of superconductivity in mesoscopic star-shaped superconductors

We study the phase transition of a star-shaped superconductor, which covers smoothly the range from zero to two dimensions with respect to the superconducting coherence length. Detailed measurements and numerical calculations show that the nucleation of superconductivity in this device is very inhomogeneous, resulting in rich structure in the superconducting transition as a function of temperature and magnetic field. The superconducting order parameter is strongly enhanced and mostly robust in regions close to multiple boundaries.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Reply to the comment by E. Menendez-Proupin on "Multi-phonon Raman scattering in semiconductor nanocrystals: Importance of non-adiabatic transitions"

In our recent paper [Phys. Rev. B 65, 075316 (2002)], the selection rules for the Raman scattering in spherical nanocrystals are analyzed. Here we show, that a physically expedient choice of the coordinate system, related to the polarization vector of the incoming or scattered light, simplifies and clarifies the analysis.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2002

On the Spherical Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

We investigate the many-body properties of a two-dimensional electron gas constrained to the surface of a sphere, a system which is physically realized in multielectron bubbles in liquid helium. A second-quantization formalism, suited for the treatment of a spherical two-dimensional electron gas (S2DEG), is introduced. Within this formalism, the dielectric response properties of the S2DEG are derived, and we identify both collective excitations and a spectrum of single-particle excitations. We find that the single-particle excitations are constrained to a well-defined region in the angular momentum - energy plane. The collective excitations differ in two important aspects from those of a flat 2DEG: on a sphere, the 'spherical plasmons' have a discrete frequency spectrum and the lowest frequency is nonzero.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2002

Stable vortex-antivortex molecules in mesoscopic superconducting triangles

A thermodynamically stable vortex-antivortex pattern has been revealed in mesoscopic type I superconducting triangles, contrary to type II superconductors where similar patterns are unstable. The stable vortex-antivortex "molecule" appears due to the interplay between two factors: a repulsive vortex-antivortex interaction in type I superconductors and the vortex confinement in the triangle.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Shape of nanosize superconducting grains: Does it influence pairing characteristics?

The Richardson exact solution for the reduced BCS Hamiltonian is applied to examine how sensitive are the pairing characteristics (condensation energy, spectroscopic gap, parity gap) to a specific configuration of single-electron energy levels in nanosize metallic grains. Using single-electron energy spectra in parallelepiped-shaped potential boxes with various volumes and aspect ratios as a model of energy levels in grains, we show that this sensitivity is extremely high. Just due to such an extreme sensitivity, the detailed shape of grains cannot be detected through the pairing characteristics, averaged over an ensemble of grains, even in the case of relatively small size dispersion within this ensemble. We analyse the effect of the pairing interaction on the excited-level spacings in superconducting grains and comment on the influence of shape-dependent fluctuations in single-electron energy spectra on the possibility to reveal this effect through tunnelling measurements.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Vortex states in a mesoscopic superconducting triangle

The set of the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equations is solved for an Al mesoscopic superconducting triangle of finite thickness. We calculate the distributions of the superconducting phase in the triangle and of the magnetic field in and near the triangle. The distribution of the superconducting phase in the triangle is studied as a function of the applied magnetic field. Possible scenarios of penetration of the magnetic field into the triangle are analyzed. We consider two different states: a single vortex state and a state in the form of a symmetric combination of three vortices and an antivortex with vorticity L_a = - 2 ("3 - 2" combination). The free energy calculations show that a single vortex penetrates the triangle through a midpoint of one side. The "3 - 2" combination turns out to be thermodynamically preferable when the vortices are close to the center of the triangle. Equilibrium is achieved when a single vortex (or each component of the "3 - 2" combination) is in the center of the triangle.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Multi-phonon Raman scattering in semiconductor nanocrystals: importance of non-adiabatic transitions

Multi-phonon Raman scattering in semiconductor nanocrystals is treated taking into account both adiabatic and non-adiabatic phonon-assisted optical transitions. Because phonons of various symmetries are involved in scattering processes, there is a considerable enhancement of intensities of multi-phonon peaks in nanocrystal Raman spectra. Cases of strong and weak band mixing are considered in detail. In the first case, fundamental scattering takes place via internal electron-hole states and is participated by s- and d-phonons, while in the second case, when the intensity of the one-phonon Raman peak is strongly influenced by the interaction of an electron and of a hole with interface imperfections (e. g., with trapped charge), p-phonons are most active. Calculations of Raman scattering spectra for CdSe and PbS nanocrystals give a good quantitative agreement with recent experimental results.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2001

The effect of pressure on statics, dynamics and stability of multielectron bubbles

The effect of pressure and negative pressure on the modes of oscillation of a multi-electron bubble in liquid helium is calculated. Already at low pressures of the order of 10-100 mbar, these effects are found to significantly modify the frequencies of oscillation of the bubble. Stabilization of the bubble is shown to occur in the presence of a small negative pressure, which expands the bubble radius. Above a threshold negative pressure, the bubble is unstable.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

Development of an eight-band theory for quantum-dot heterostructures

We derive a nonsymmetrized 8-band effective-mass Hamiltonian for quantum-dot heterostructures (QDHs) in Burt's envelope-function representation. The 8x8 radial Hamiltonian and the boundary conditions for the Schroedinger equation are obtained for spherical QDHs. Boundary conditions for symmetrized and nonsymmetrized radial Hamiltonians are compared with each other and with connection rules that are commonly used to match the wave functions found from the bulk kp Hamiltonians of two adjacent materials. Electron and hole energy spectra in three spherical QDHs: HgS/CdS, InAs/GaAs, and GaAs/AlAs are calculated as a function of the quantum dot radius within the approximate symmetrized and exact nonsymmetrized 8x8 models. The parameters of dissymmetry are shown to influence the energy levels and the wave functions of an electron and a hole and, consequently, the energies of both intraband and interband transitions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2001

Electron and hole states in quantum-dot quantum wells within a spherical 8-band model

In order to study heterostructures composed both of materials with strongly different parameters and of materials with narrow band gaps, we have developed an approach, which combines the spherical 8-band effective-mass Hamiltonian and the Burt's envelope function representation. Using this method, electron and hole states are calculated in CdS/HgS/CdS/H_2O and CdTe/HgTe/CdTe/H_2O quantum-dot quantum-well heterostructures. Radial components of the wave functions of the lowest S and P electron and hole states in typical quantum-dot quantum wells (QDQWs) are presented as a function of radius. The 6-band-hole components of the radial wave functions of an electron in the 8-band model have amplitudes comparable with the amplitude of the corresponding 2-band-electron component. This is a consequence of the coupling between the conduction and valence bands, which gives a strong nonparabolicity of the conduction band. At the same time, the 2-band-electron component of the radial wave functions of a hole in the 8-band model is small compared with the amplitudes of the corresponding 6-band-hole components. It is shown that in the CdS/HgS/CdS/H_2O QDQW holes in the lowest states are strongly localized in the well region (HgS). On the contrary, electrons in this QDQW and both electron and holes in the CdTe/HgTe/CdTe/H_2O QDQW are distributed through the entire dot. The importance of the developed theory for QDQWs is proven by the fact that in contrast to our rigorous 8-band model, there appear spurious states within the commonly used symmetrized 8-band model.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2001

Strong enhancement of superconductivity in a nanosized Pb bridge

In recent experiments with a superconducting nanosized Pb bridge formed between a scanning tunneling microscope tip and a substrate, superconductivity has been detected at magnetic fields, which are few times larger than the third (surface) critical field. We describe the observed phenomenon on the basis of a numerical solution of the Ginzburg-Landau equations in a model structure consisting of six conoids. The spatial distribution of the superconducting phase is shown to be strongly inhomogeneous, with concentration of the superconducting phase near the narrowest part (the ``neck'') of the bridge. We show that suppression of superconductivity in the bridge by applied magnetic field or by temperature first occurs near the bases and then in the neck region, what leads to a continuous superconducting-to-normal resistive transition. A position of the transition midpoint depends on temperature and, typically, is by one order of magnitude higher than the second critical field H_c2. We find that the vortex states can be realized in the bridge at low temperatures T/T_c < 0.6. The vortex states lead to a fine structure of the superconducting-to-normal resistive transition. We also analyze vortex states in the bridge, which are characterized by a varying vorticity as a function of the bridge's height.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Photoluminescence Spectra of Quantum Dots: Enhanced Efficiency of the Electron-Phonon Interaction

A theory of photoluminescence in semiconductor quantum dots is developed which relies on two key ingredients. First, it takes into account non-adiabaticity of the exciton-phonon system. Second, it includes the multimode dielectric model of LO-phonons and of the electron-phonon interaction in confined systems. The role of non-adiabaticity is shown to be of paramount importance in spherical quantum dots, where the lowest one-exciton state can be degenerate or quasi-degenerate. For various quantum dot structures, the calculated intensities of phonon satellites as a function of temperature, excitation energy and size of quantum dots are in a fair agreement with experimental data on photoluminescence.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2001

Surface-induced magnetic anisotropy for impurity spins in granular AuFe films

The theory of the surface-induced anisotropy is extended to the case of granular films of dilute magnetic alloys. Since the surface-induced blocking of a magnetic-impurity spin appears to be very sensitive to the specific polycrystalline structure, we speculate that the apparent discrepancy between the experimental results of different groups for the size dependence of the Kondo resistivity can be linked to different microstructure of the samples. We apply our model to calculate the magnetization of impurity spins in small AuFe grains and to interpret the experimental data on the anomalous Hall effect in thin Fe doped Au films.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2001

Temperature Dependence of the Cyclotron Mass in n-Type CdS

Recent cyclotron resonance experiments in n-type CdS at ultra-high magnetic fields have revealed a pronounced maximum of the electron cyclotron mass as a function of temperature. In order to interpret these data, we calculate the magneto-absorption spectra of polarons in n-CdS using the arbitrary-coupling approach. We show that in high magnetic fields the polaron effects beyond the weak-coupling approximation clearly reveal themselves in the magneto-optical absorption even at relatively small values of the Froehlich coupling constant. In particular, those effects result in a non-monotonous behaviour of the cyclotron mass as a function of temperature. We extend the theory to take into account a combined effect of several scattering mechanisms on the magneto-absorption spectra. The extended theory allows us to interpret quantitatively the experimentally observed behaviour of the cyclotron mass in CdS.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2001

Theory of bound polarons in oxide compounds

We present a multilateral theoretical study of bound polarons in oxide compounds MgO and α-Al_2O_3 (corundum). A continuum theory at arbitrary electron-phonon coupling is used for calculation of the energies of thermal dissociation, photoionization (optically induced release of an electron (hole) from the ground self-consistent state), as well as optical absorption to the non-relaxed excited states. Unlike the case of free strong-coupling polarons, where the ratio κof the photoionization energy to the thermal dissociation energy was shown to be always equal to 3, here this ratio depends on the Froehlich coupling constant αand the screened Coulomb interaction strength β. Reasonable variation of these two parameters has demonstrated that the magnitude of κremains usually in the narrow interval from 1 to 2.5. This is in agreement with atomistic calculations and experimental data for hole O^- polarons bound to the cation vacancy in MgO. The thermal dissociation energy for the ground self-consistent state and the energy of the optically induced charge transfer process (hops of a hole between O^{2-} ions) have been calculated using the quantum-chemical method INDO. Results obtained within the two approaches for hole O$^-$ polarons bound by the cation vacancies (V^-) in MgO and by the Mg^{2+} impurity (V_{Mg}) in corundum are compared to experimental data and to each other. We discuss a surprising closeness of the results obtained on the basis of independent models and their agreement with experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Note on the Path-Integral Variational Approach in the Many-Body Theory

I discuss how a variatonal approach can be extended to systems of identical particles (in particular fermions) within the path-integral treatment. The applicability of the many-body variational principle for path integrals is illustrated for different model systems, and is shown to crucially depend on whether or not a model system possesses the proper symmetry with respect to permutations of identical particles.

cond-mat.str-el↗