arXiv subjects

Peter Schwab

Publications and source records attributed to Peter Schwab.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2014

Driving spin and charge in quantum wells by surface acoustic waves

Recent experiments have shown the potential of surface acoustic waves as a mean for transporting charge and spin in quantum wells. In particular, they have proven highly effective for the coherent transport of spin-polarized wave packets, suggesting their potential in spintronics applications. Motivated by these experimental observations, we have theoretically studied the spin and charge dynamics in a quantum well under surface acoustic waves. We show that the dynamics acquires a simple and transparent form in a reference frame co-moving with the surface acoustic wave. Our results, e.g., the calculated spin relaxation and precession lengths, are in excellent agreement with recent experimental observations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Exact time-dependent density functional theory for impurity models

We employ the density matrix renormalization group to construct the exact time-dependent exchange correlation potential for an impurity model with an applied transport voltage. Even for short-ranged interaction we find an infinitely long-ranged exchange correlation potential which is built up {instantly} after switching on the voltage. Our result demonstrates the fundamental difficulties of transport calculations based on time-dependent density functional theory. While formally the approach works, important information can be missing in the ground-state functionals and may be hidden in the usually unknown non-equilibrium functionals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms to the spin Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas

In order to describe correctly the interplay of extrinsic and intrinsic spin-orbit mechanisms to the spin Hall effect, it is necessary to consider different sources of spin relaxation. We take into account the spin relaxation time $τ_{DP}$ due to the Dyakonov-Perel mechanism as well as the Elliot-Yafet spin-relaxation time $τ_s$ due to the spin-orbit scattering from impurities. The total spin Hall conductivity depends crucially on the ratio $τ_s /τ_{DP}$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Current Density Functional Theory for one-dimensional fermions

The frequency-dependent response of a one-dimensional fermion system is investigated using Current Density Functional Theory (CDFT) within the local approximation (LDA). DFT-LDA, and in particular CDFT-LDA, reproduces very well the dispersion of the collective excitations. Unsurprisingly, however, the approximation fails for details of the dynamic response for large wavevectors. In particular, we introduce CDFT for the one-dimensional spinless fermion model with nearest-neighbor interaction, and use CDFT-LDA plus exact (Bethe ansatz) results for the groundstate energy as function of particle density and boundary phase to determine the linear response. The successes and failures of this approach are discussed in detail.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Successes and failures of Bethe Ansatz Density Functional Theory

The response of a one-dimensional fermion system is investigated using Density Functional Theory (DFT) within the Local Density Approximation (LDA), and compared with exact results. It is shown that DFT-LDA reproduces surprisingly well some of the characteristic features of the Luttinger liquid, namely the vanishing spectral weight of low energy particle-hole excitations, as well as the dispersion of the collective charge excitations. On the other hand, the approximation fails, even qualitatively, for quantities for which backscattering is important, i.e., those quantities which are crucial for an accurate description of transport. In particular, the Drude weight in the presence of a single impurity is discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Quasiclassical approach and spin-orbit coupling

We discuss the quasiclassical Green function method for a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of spin-orbit coupling, with emphasis on the meaning of the $ξ$-integration procedure. As an application of our approach, we demonstrate how the spin-Hall conductivity, in the presence of spin-flip scattering, can be easily obtained from the spin-density continuity equation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Spin relaxation in narrow wires of a two-dimensional electron gas

How does an initially homogeneous spin-polarization in a confined two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling evolve in time? How does the relaxation time depend on system size? We study these questions for systems of a size that is much larger than the Fermi wavelength, but comparable and even shorter than the spin relaxation length. Depending on the confinement spin-relaxation may become faster or slower than in the bulk. An initially homogeneously polarized spin system evolves into a spiral pattern.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Quasiclassical approach to the spin-Hall effect in the two-dimensional electron gas

We study the spin-charge coupled transport in a two-dimensional electron system using the method of quasiclassical ($ξ$-integrated) Green's functions. In particular we derive the Eilenberger equation in the presence of a generic spin-orbit field. The method allows us to study spin and charge transport from ballistic to diffusive regimes and continuity equations for spin and charge are automatically incorporated. In the clean limit we establish the connection between the spin-Hall conductivity and the Berry phase in momentum space. For finite systems we solve the Eilenberger equation numerically for the special case of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a two-terminal geometry. In particular, we calculate explicitly the spin-Hall induced spin polarization in the corners, predicted by Mishchenko et al. [13]. Furthermore we find universal spin currents in the short-time dynamics after switching on the voltage across the sample, and calculate the corresponding spin-Hall polarization at the edges. Where available, we find perfect agreement with analytical results.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2004

Spin-Hall effect in a disordered 2D electron-system

We calculate the spin-Hall conductivity for a two-dimensional electron gas within the self-consistent Born approximation, varying the strength and type of disorder. In the weak disorder limit we find both analytically and numerically a vanishing spin-Hall conductivity even when we allow a momentum dependent scattering. Separating the reactive from the disspative current response, we find the universal value $σ^R_{sH} = e/8 π$ for the reactive response, which cancels however with the dissipative part $σ^D_{sH} = -e/8 π$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2004

Electronic thermal conductivity of disordered metals

We calculate the thermal conductivity of interacting electrons in disordered metals. In our analysis we point out that the interaction affects thermal transport through two distinct mechanims, associated with quantum interference corrections and energy exchange of the quasi particles with the electromagnetic environment, respectively. The latter is seen to lead to a violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law. Our theory predicts a strong enhancement of the Lorenz ratio $κ/σT$ over the value which is predicted by the Wiedemann-Franz law, when the electrons encounter a large environmental impedance.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1999

Low-Temperature Dephasing in Disordered Conductors: the Effect of ``1/f'' Fluctuations

Electronic quantum effects in disordered conductors are controlled by the dephasing rate of conduction electrons. This rate is expected to vanish with the temperature. We consider the very intriguing recently reported apparent saturation of this dephasing rate in several systems at very low temperatures. We show that the ``standard model'' of a conductor with static defects can {\em not} have such an effect. However, allowing some dynamics of the defects may produce it.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1998

Specific Heat Anomaly and Adiabatic Hysteresis in Disordered Electron Systems in a Magnetic Field

We consider the thermodynamic behavior of a disordered interacting electron system in two dimensions. We show that the corrections to the thermodynamic potential in the weakly localized regime give rise to a non monotonic behavior of the specific heat both in temperature and magnetic field. From this effect we predict the appearance of adiabatic hysteresis in the magnetoconductance. Our results can be interpreted as precursor effect of formation of local moments in disordered electron systems. We also comment on the relevance of our analysis in three dimensional systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗