arXiv subjects

Yi Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Yi Zhou.

617 records · Page 35Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

Spin-phase interference, coherent superposition, and quantum tunneling at excited levels in nano-antiferromagnets

The spin-phase interference effects are studied analytically in resonant quantum tunneling of the Néel vector between degenerate excited levels in nanometer-scale single-domain antiferromagnets in the absence of an external magnetic field. We consider a model for mesoscopic antiferromagnets with uncompensated excess spins for the more general structure of magnetic anisotropy, such as biaxial, trigonal, tetragonal and hexagonal crystal symmetry. This study provides a nontrivial generalization of the Kramers degeneracy for double-well system to coherently spin tunneling at ground states as well as low-lying excited states in AFM system with $m$-fold rotational symmetry around the $\hat{z}$ axis. The energy level spectrum and the thermodynamic properties of magnetic tunneling states are found to depend significantly on the parity of the excess spins at sufficiently low temperatures. Possible relevance to experiments is also discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Field-dependent quantum nucleation of antiferromagnetic bubbles

The phenomenon of quantum nucleation is studied in a nanometer-scale antiferromagnet with biaxial symmetry in the presence of a magnetic field at an arbitrary angle. Within the instanton approach, we calculate the dependence of the rate of quantum nucleation and the crossover temperature on the orientation and strength of the field for bulk solids and two-dimensional films of antiferromagnets, respectively. Our results show that the rate of quantum nucleation and the crossover temperature from thermal-to-quantum transitions depend on the orientation and strength of the field distinctly, which can be tested with the use of existing experimental techniques.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2000

Quantum nucleation in ferromagnets with tetragonal and hexagonal symmetries

The phenomenon of quantum nucleation is studied in a ferromagnet in the presence of a magnetic field at an arbitrary angle. We consider the magnetocrystalline anisotropy with tetragonal symmetry and that with hexagonal symmetry, respectively. By applying the instanton method in the spin-coherent-state path-integral representation, we calculate the dependence of the rate of quantum nucleation and the crossover temperature on the orientation and strength of the field for a thin film and for a bulk solid. Our results show that the rate of quantum nucleation and the crossover temperature depend on the orientation of the external magnetic field distinctly, which provides a possible experimental test for quantum nucleation in nanometer-scale ferromagnets.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2000

Phase interference of spin tunneling in an arbitrarily directed magnetic field

We present an exact analytic study on the topological phase interference effect in resonant quantum tunneling of the magnetization between degenerate excited levels for biaxial ferromagnets in an arbitrarily directed magnetic field. We show that the topological phase interference effect depends on the orientation of the field distinctly. The transition from classical to quantum behavior is also discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Wess-Zumino-Berry phase interference in spin tunneling at excited levels with a magnetic field

Macroscopic quantum coherence and spin-phase interference are studied between excited levels in single-domain ferromagnetic particles in a magnetic field along the hard anisotropy axis. The system has the general structure of magnetocrystalline anisotropy, such as biaxial, trigonal, tetragonal, and hexagonal symmetry. This study not only just yields the previous spin-phase interference results for the ground state tunneling, but also provide a generalization of the Kramers degeneracy to coherently spin tunneling at low-lying excited states. These analytical results are found to be in good agreement with the numerical diagonalization. We also discuss the transition from quantum to classical behavior and the possible relevance to experiment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗