We predict the electrical generation and injection of domain walls into a ferromagnetic nano-wire without the need of an assisting magnetic field. Our analytical and numerical results show that above a critical current $j_{c}$ domain walls are injected into the nano-wire with a period $T \sim (j-j_{c})^{-1/2}$. Importantly, domain walls can be produced periodically even in a simple exchange ferromagnet with uniaxial anisotropy, without requiring any standard "twisting" interaction like Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya or dipole-dipole interactions. We show analytically that this process and the period exponents are universal and do not depend on the peculiarities of the microscopic Hamiltonian. Finally we give a specific proposal for an experimental realization.
We predict the electrical generation and injection of domain walls into a ferromagnetic nano-wire without the need of an assisting magnetic field. Our theory shows that above a critical current $j_{c}$ domain walls are injected into the nano-wire with a period $T\sim (j-j_{c})^{-1/2}$. In a uniaxial anisotropy geometry this process does not require Dzyaloshinskii-Moria or dipole-dipole interaction and can be done in a simple exchange ferromagnet. We also show that this process and the period exponents are universal and do not depend on the peculiarities of the microscopic Hamiltonian.
We fabricate devices in which a magnetic nanopillar spin valve makes contact to a Co/Pt bilayer thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, in order to achieve local control of domains in the Co/Pt bilayer underneath the nanopillar. The goal is to develop the ability to nucleate, detect, and annihilate magnetic skyrmions in the Co/Pt using spin-polarized currents from the nanopillar. We demonstrate the ability to distinguish the local behavior of the Co/Pt film beneath the nanopillar from the extended film and show that the two can switch independently of each other. This allows us to is…
Coherent Rashba spin precession along interacting multi-mode quantum channels is investigated, revisiting the theory of coupled Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids. We identify susceptibilities as the key-parameters to govern exponents and Rashba precession lengths. In semiconducting quantum wires spins of different transport channels are found to {\em dephase} in their respective precession angles with respect to one another, as a result of the interaction. This could explain the experimental difficulty to realize the Datta Das transistor. In single walled carbon nanotubes, on the other hand, interact…
We investigate electron quantum transport through nano-wires with one-sided surface roughness in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. Exponentially diverging localization lengths are found in the quantum-to-classical crossover regime, controlled by tunneling between regular and chaotic regions of the underlying mixed classical phase space. We show that each regular mode possesses a well-defined mode-specific localization length. We present analytic estimates of these mode localization lengths which agree well with the numerical data. The coupling between regular and chaotic regions …
Photocurrent generation is studied in a system composed of a quantum wire with side-coupled quantum rings. The current generation results from the interplay of the particular geometry of the system and the use of circularly polarized radiation. We study the energy-momentum conservation for optical transitions involving electrons moving forwards and backwards in the wire. Due to the lack of time-reversal symmetry in the radiation, the optical transitions depend on the direction of motion of the electrons, leading to a current at zero bias voltage. The photocurrent increases with the number of r…
We consider interaction effects related to a nonuniform magnetization in ferromagnetic nanowires and their possible generalization to nanorings. First we show that the electric current in a ferromagnetic nanowire with more than one domain wall induces an exchange coupling between the walls mediated by the spin-dependent interference of scattered carriers. This interaction reveals a complex behavior as a function of mutual orientations and separation of the domain walls, thus affecting the domain wall dynamics. Then we consider how the theory should be modified in the case of a magnetized quant…
We study the interaction between two closely spaced but electrically isolated quasi-one-dimensional electrical wires by a drag experiment. In this work we experimentally demonstrate the generation of current in an unbiased (drag) wire, which results from the interactions with a neighboring biased (drive) wire. The direction of the drag current depends on the length of the one-dimensional wire with respect to the position of the barrier in the drag wire. When we additionally form a potential barrier in the drive wire, the direction of the drag current is determined by the relative position of t…
We study solar cell properties of single silicon wires connected at their ends to two dissimilar metals of different work functions. Effects of wire dimensions, the work functions of the metals, and minority carrier lifetimes on short circuit current as well as open circuit voltage are studied. The most efficient photovoltaic behavior is found to occur when one metal makes a Schottky contact with the wire, and the other makes an Ohmic contact. As wire length increases, both short circuit current and open circuit voltage increase before saturation occurs. Depending on the work function differen…
Magnetization behavior of long nanowires with square cross-section under influence of strong perpendicular spin-polarized current is studied theoretically. The study is based on Landau-Lifshitz-Slonczewski phenomenology. In the no current case the wire is magnetized uniformly along its axis. For small currents the wire magnetization remains uniform but it inclines with respect to the wire axis within the plane perpendicular to the current direction. With the current increasing the inclination angle increases up to the maximum value $π/4$. Further current increase leads either to saturation or …
We have fabricated (Ga,Mn)As nanostructures in which domain walls can be pinned by sub-10 nm constrictions. Controlled by shape anisotropy, we can switch the regions on either side of the constriction to either parallel or antiparallel magnetization. All samples exhibit a positive magnetoresistance, consistent with domain-wall trapping. For metallic samples we find a magnetoresistance up to 8%, which can be understood from spin accumulation. In samples where, due to depletion at the constriction, a tunnel barrier is formed, we observe a magnetoresistance of up to 2000 %.
Placing quantum emitters close to a metallic nano-wire, an effective interaction can be achieved over distances large compared to the resonance wavelength due to the strong coupling between emitters and the surface plasmon modes of the wire. This leads to modified collective decay rates, as well as to Lamb and dipole-dipole shifts. In this paper we present a general method for calculating these level shifts which we subsequently apply to the case of a pair of atoms coupled to the guided modes of a nano-wire.
We theoretically investigate the emergence of Jackiw-Rebbi zero modes and their conductance signature in non-uniform topological insulator nano-wires. We modelled the non-uniform nano-wires as junction between two cylindrical nano-wires with different radius. In the limit of wire length being much larger than its radius, the surface state of the nanowire splits into one dimensional Dirac modes propagating along the axis of the cylinder owing to radial confinement. The sign of the mass gap in each of these Dirac mode is decided by angular momentum quantum number corresponding to the rotational …
The conductance of one-dimensional nano-wires of interacting electrons connected to non-interacting leads is calculated in the linear response regime. Two different approaches are used: a many-body Green function technique and a relation to the persistent current recently proposed based on results of the non-interacting case. The conductance is evaluated using the functional renormalization group method and the density matrix renormalization group algorithm. Our results give a strong indication that the idea of obtaining the conductance from the persistent current holds for interacting systems…
Superconducting triangular Nb wire networks with high normal-state resistance are fabricated by using a negative tone hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resist. Robust magnetoresistance oscillations are observed up to high magnetic fields and maintained at low temperatures, due to the eective reduction of wire dimensions. Well-defined dips appear at integral and rational values (1/2, 1/3, 1/4) of the reduced flux f = Phi/Phi_0, which is the first observation in the triangular wire networks. These results are well consistent with theoretical calculations for the reduced critical temperature as a fun…
We investigate electronic quantum transport through nano-wires with one-sided surface roughness. A magnetic field perpendicular to the scattering region is shown to lead to exponentially diverging localization lengths in the quantum-to-classical crossover regime. This effect can be quantitatively accounted for by tunneling between the regular and the chaotic components of the underlying mixed classical phase space.
We present a general formulation of spin-dependent transport through a clean one-dimensional interacting quantum wire or carbon nanotube, connected to non-collinear ferromagnets via tunnel junctions. We show that the low energy description of each junction is given by a conformally-invariant boundary condition representing *exchange coupling*, in addition to a pair of electron tunneling operators. The effects of the exchange coupling are strongly enhanced by interactions, leading to a dramatic suppression of spin accumulation. This is a direct signature of spin-charge separation in a Luttinger…
Coupling mechanical degrees of freedom with plasmonic resonances has potential applications in optomechanics, sensing, and active plasmonics. Here we demonstrate a suspended two-wire plasmonic nano-antenna acting like a nano-electrometer. The antenna wires are supported and electrically connected via thin leads without disturbing the antenna resonance. As a voltage is applied, equal charges are induced on both antenna wires. The resulting equilibrium between the repulsive Coulomb force and the restoring elastic bending force enables us to precisely control the gap size. As a result the resonan…
We study the van der Waals interaction of a metallic or narrow-gap semiconducting nanowire with a surface, in the regime of intermediate wire-surface distances $(v_{F}/c)L \ll d \ll L $ or $L \ll d \ll (c/v_{F})L $, where $L$ is the nanowire length, $d$ is the distance to the surface, and $v_{F}$ is the characteristic velocity of nanowire electrons (for a metallic wire, it is the Fermi velocity). Our approach, based on the Luttinger liquid framework, allows one to analyze the dependence of the interaction on the interplay between the nanowire length, wire-surface distance, and characteristic l…
We report on four-wave mixing in coupled photonic crystal nano-cavities on a silicon-on-insulator platform. Three photonic wire cavities are side-coupled to obtain three modes equally separated in energy. The structure is designed to be self-filtering, and we show that the pump is rejected by almost two orders of magnitudes. We study both the stimulated and the spontaneous four-wave mixing processes: owing to the small modal volume, we find that signal and idler photons are generated with a hundred-fold increase in efficiency as compared to silicon micro-ring resonators.
The acoustic phonon-mediated drag-contribution to the drag current created in the ballistic transport regime in a one-dimensional nanowire by phonons generated by a current-carrying ballistic channel in a nearby nanowire is calculated. The threshold of the phonon-mediated drag current with respect to bias or gate voltage is predicted.
The main mechanism of energy loss in capacitors with nanoscale dielectric films is leakage currents. Using the example of Al-Al2O3-Al, we show that there are two main contributions, namely the cold field emission effect and the hopping conductivity through the dielectric. Our main finding is that an application of a high electric field, ~0.6-0.7 GV/m, causes electrons to penetrate the dielectric. If the temperature is sufficiently low, such electrons become permanently trapped in the dielectric. To achieve a strong charging of the dielectric, the voltage needs to be high enough, so that a fiel…
Using bosonization we derive the dc conductance G(L,T) of an interacting quantum wire with good contacts including current relaxing backscattering and Umklapp processes. Our result yields the dependence of the conductance on length L and temperature T in the energy range where the Luttinger model is applicable. For a system where only a part of the current is protected by a conservation law we surprisingly find an unreduced ideal quantum conductance as for a fully ballistic wire. As a second application, we calculate the conductance of metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes in an energy range w…
We study current-induced domain-wall motion in a narrow ferromagnetic wire. We propose a way to move domain walls with a resonant time-dependent current which dramatically decreases the Ohmic losses in the wire and allows to drive the domain wall with higher speed without burning the wire. For any domain wall velocity we find the time-dependence of the current needed to minimize the Ohmic losses. Below a critical domain-wall velocity specified by the parameters of the wire the minimal Ohmic losses are achieved by dc current. Furthermore, we identify the wire parameters for which the losses red…
We propose a general design of a metallic double-nanowire structure which may support an equilibrium dissipationless electric current in the presence of magnetic field. The structure consists of a compact wire element of a specific shape, which is periodically extended in one spatial dimension. Topologically, each wire element is equivalent to a ring, which supports a dissipationless current in the presence of magnetic flux similarly to the persistent electric current in a normal metal nanoring. Geometrically, each wire element breaks spatial inversion symmetry so that the equilibrium electric…
