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At least 19 records

Identifying materials with charge–spin physics using charge–spin susceptibility computed from first principles

The authors present a quantity termed charge–spin susceptibility, which measures the charge response to spin degrees of freedom in strongly correlated materials. This quantity is simple to evaluate using both standard density functional theory and many-body electronic structure techniques, enabling comparison between different levels of theory. A benchmark on 28 layered magnetic materials shows that large values of charge–spin susceptibility correlate with unconventional ground states such as disordered magnets and unconventional superconductivity.

Rodrigues, J. N. B. (ORCID:0000000283158553)↗

Spin Physics at PHENIX

Situated at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the PHENIX experiment has for almost two decades been at the forefront of investigations into spin structure and dynamics in high-energy nuclear physics. Although decommissioned in 2016, the PHENIX collaboration has released a number of new results over the past several years that continue to inform the field. Recent longitudinal spin measurements uncover the role of gluon and sea quark polarization in the proton. Transverse spin measurements probe the transverse momentum-dependent (TMD) distributions and higher-twist multiparton correlators that are needed to fully explain partonic dynamics in the initial and final state. Additionally, the effects of heavy ions on spin have been studied by comparing transverse spin measurements between p+p and p+A collisions. These recent results and their wider implications are presented.

PHENIX↗

Spin Physics of Excitons in Colloidal Nanocrystals

We present a review of spin-dependent properties of excitons in semiconductor colloidal nanocrystals. The photoluminescences (PL) properties of neutral and charged excitons (trions) are compared. The mechanisms and the polarization of radiative recombination of a “dark” (spin-forbidden) exciton that determines the low-temperature PL of colloidal nanocrystals are discussed in detail. The radiative recombination of a dark exciton becomes possible as a result of simultaneous flips of the surface spin and electron spin in a dark exciton that leads to admixture of bright exciton states. This recombination mechanism is effective in the case of a disordered state of the spin system and is suppressed if the polaron ferromagnetic state forms. The conditions and various mechanisms of formation of the spin polaron state and possibilities of its experimental detection are discussed. The experimental and theoretical studies of magnetic field-induced circular polarization of PL in ensembles of colloidal nanocrystals are reviewed.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Machine learning-based jet and event classification at the Electron-Ion Collider with applications to hadron structure and spin physics

We explore machine learning-based jet and event identification at the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). We study the effectiveness of machine learning-based classifiers at relatively low EIC energies, focusing on (i) identifying the flavor of the jet and (ii) identifying the underlying hard process of the event. We propose applications of our machine learning-based jet identification in the key research areas at the future EIC and current Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider program, including enhancing constraints on (transverse momentum dependent) parton distribution functions, improving experimental access to transverse spin asymmetries, studying photon structure, and quantifying the modification of hadrons and jets in the cold nuclear matter environment in electron-nucleus collisions. We establish first benchmarks and contrast the estimated performance of flavor tagging at the EIC with that at the Large Hadron Collider. We perform studies relevant to aspects of detector design including particle identification, charge information, and minimum transverse momentum capabilities. Additionally, we study the impact of using full event information instead of using only information associated with the identified jet. These methods can be deployed either on suitably accurate Monte Carlo event generators, or, for several applications, directly on experimental data. We provide an outlook for ultimately connecting these machine learning-based methods with first principles calculations in quantum chromodynamics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Photophysics and Spin-Physics Studies on Persistent Upconversion Luminescence from Nonlinearly Polarizable Ferroelectric-Like Lattice Prepared by Orderly Packing Donor–Acceptor Structures under Multiphoton Excitation

The ultralong-lived upconversion luminescence with the lifetime of 0.48 s in a broad spectral range (530–650 nm) is observed in CD49 (9-(3-(5-bromopyridin-3-yl)prop-2-yn-1-yl)-9H-carbazole) crystal designed with donor–acceptor (carbazole–pyridine) structures under infrared excitation, simultaneously accompanied with second harmonic generation (SHG). This phenomenon indicates orderly packing donor–acceptor structures form a nonlinearly polarizable ferroelectric-like lattice with ultralong-lived light-emitting states, leading to much prolonged nonlinear optical behaviors. The persistent upconversion luminescence together with SHG is largely reduced when lowering crystallinity. This implies that nonlinearly polarizable ferroelectric-like lattice provides the necessary condition to generate persistent upconversion luminescence. Evidently, persistent upconversion luminescence becomes completely lacking when only using ultralong-lived light-emitting states without nonlinearly polarizable ferroelectric-like lattice, exampled by 4-(dimethylamino)benzonitrile dispersed in polyvinyl alcohol matrix. Magneto-photoluminescence shows that persistent upconversion luminescence is essentially a super-delayed fluorescence from crystalline intermolecular charge-transfer excitons formed in the nonlinearly polarizable ferroelectric-like lattice. Magnetodielectrics indicate crystalline intermolecular charge-transfer excitons are coupled with nonlinearly polarizable ferroelectric-like lattice, leading to prolonged nonlinear optical behaviors shown as persistent upconversion luminescence through super delayed fluorescence. In conclusion, therefore, crystalline intermolecular charge-transfer excitons formed in nonlinearly polarizable ferroelectric-like lattice provide an interesting platform to generate prolonged nonlinear optical behaviors toward developing persistent upconversion luminescence under multiphoton excitation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Modification of spin-ice physics in Ho 2 Ti 2 O 7 thin films

We present an extensive study on the effect of substrate orientation, strain, stoichiometry, and defects on spin-ice physics in Ho 2 Ti 2 O 7 thin films grown onto yttria-stabilized-zirconia substrates. We find that growth in different orientations produces different strain states in the films. All films exhibit similar c -axis lattice parameters for their relaxed portions, which are consistently larger than the bulk value of 10.1 Å. Transmission electron microscopy reveals antisite disorder and growth defects to be present in the films, but evidence of stuffing is not observed. The amount of disorder depends on the growth orientation, with the (110) film showing the least. Magnetization measurements at 1.8 K show the expected magnetic anisotropy and saturation magnetization values associated with a spin ice for all orientations; shape anisotropy is apparent when comparing in- and out-of-plane directions. Significantly, only the (110)-oriented films display the hallmark spin-ice plateau state in magnetization, albeit less well defined compared to the plateau observed in a single crystal. Neutron-scattering maps on the more disordered (111)-oriented films show the Q=0 phase previously observed in bulk materials, but the Q=X phase giving the plateau state remains elusive. We conclude that the spin-ice physics in thin films is modified by defects and strain, leading to a reduction in the temperature at which correlations drive the system into the spin-ice state.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Revisiting spin ice physics in the ferromagnetic Ising pyrochlore Pr 2 Sn 2 O 7

Pyrochlore materials are characterized by their hallmark network of corner-sharing rare-earth tetrahedra, which can produce a wide array of complex magnetic ground states. Ferromagnetic Ising pyrochlores often obey the “two-in-two-out” spin ice rules, which can lead to a highly degenerate spin structure. Large moment systems, such as Ho 2 Ti 2 O 7 and Dy 2 Ti 2 O 7 , tend to host a classical spin ice state with low-temperature spin freezing and emergent magnetic monopoles. Systems with smaller effective moments, such as Pr 3+ -based pyrochlores, have been proposed as excellent candidates for hosting a “quantum spin ice” characterized by entanglement and a slew of exotic quasiparticle excitations. However, experimental evidence for a quantum spin ice state has remained elusive. Here, in this work, we show that the low-temperature magnetic properties of Pr 2 Sn 2 O 7 satisfy several important criteria for continued consideration as a quantum spin ice. We find that Pr 2 Sn 2 O 7 exhibits two distinct spin-correlation time scales of τ ≥ 10 –4 and ~10 –10 s in the spin ice regime. Our comprehensive bulk characterization and neutron scattering measurements enable us to map out the magnetic field-temperature phase diagram, producing results consistent with expectations for a ferromagnetic Ising pyrochlore. We identify key hallmarks of spin ice physics and show that the application of small magnetic fields (μ 0 H c ~0.5 T) suppresses the spin ice state and induces a field-polarized, ordered spin-ice phase. Together, our work clarifies the current state of Pr 2 Sn 2 O 7 and encourages future studies aimed at exploring the potential for a quantum spin ice ground state in this system.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Universal Single-Ion Physics in Spin–Orbit-Coupled d 5 and d 4 Ions

We have identified six new 4d 4 and 4d 5 compounds with isolated RuCl 6 octahedra, with formulas (HMA) 4 RuCl 6 ·Cl ( 1 ; MA = methylamine), (HGly) 4 RuCl 6 ·Cl ( 2 ; gly = glycine), (HGly) 3 RuCl 6 ·2H 2 O ( 3 ), (NH 4 ) 2 RuCl 6 ( 4 ), (HPy) 2 RuCl 6 ( 5 ; py = pyridine), and H 2 (4,4'-bpy)RuCl 6 ( 6 ; 4,4'-bpy = 4,4'-bipyridine). We find that the temperature-dependent magnetization is well described by single-ion physics in the presence of spin–orbit coupling and negligible superexchange interactions. Further, we find that many compounds in the literature are also well described by single-ion physics, and our results demonstrate the importance of considering single-ion physics when evaluating candidate geometric frustrated magnets in the presence of spin–orbit coupling.

optics, thermal conductivity, defects, charge tran↗

Scheme for Quantum Computing Immune to Decoherence

A constructive scheme has been devised to enable mapping of any quantum computation into a spintronic circuit in which the computation is encoded in a basis that is, in principle, immune to quantum decoherence. The scheme is implemented by an algorithm that utilizes multiple physical spins to encode each logical bit in such a way that collective errors affecting all the physical spins do not disturb the logical bit. The scheme is expected to be of use to experimenters working on spintronic implementations of quantum logic. Spintronic computing devices use quantum-mechanical spins (typically, electron spins) to encode logical bits. Bits thus encoded (denoted qubits) are potentially susceptible to errors caused by noise and decoherence. The traditional model of quantum computation is based partly on the assumption that each qubit is implemented by use of a single two-state quantum system, such as an electron or other spin-1.2 particle. It can be surprisingly difficult to achieve certain gate operations . most notably, those of arbitrary 1-qubit gates . in spintronic hardware according to this model. However, ironically, certain 2-qubit interactions (in particular, spin-spin exchange interactions) can be achieved relatively easily in spintronic hardware. Therefore, it would be fortunate if it were possible to implement any 1-qubit gate by use of a spin-spin exchange interaction. While such a direct representation is not possible, it is possible to achieve an arbitrary 1-qubit gate indirectly by means of a sequence of four spin-spin exchange interactions, which could be implemented by use of four exchange gates. Accordingly, the present scheme provides for mapping any 1-qubit gate in the logical basis into an equivalent sequence of at most four spin-spin exchange interactions in the physical (encoded) basis. The complexity of the mathematical derivation of the scheme from basic quantum principles precludes a description within this article; it must suffice to report that the derivation provides explicit constructions for finding the exchange couplings in the physical basis needed to implement any arbitrary 1-qubit gate. These constructions lead to spintronic encodings of quantum logic that are more efficient than those of a previously published scheme that utilizes a universal but fixed set of gates.

Williams, Colin↗

Physics opportunities with a fixed target experiment at the LHC (AFTER@LHC)

By extracting the beam with a bent crystal or by using an internal gas target, the multi-TeV proton and lead LHC beams allow one to perform the most energetic fixed-target experiments (AFTER@LHC) and to study p+p and p+A collisions at \sqrt{s_NN}=115 GeV and Pb+p and Pb+A collisions at \sqrt{s_NN}=72 GeV. Such studies would address open questions in the domain of the nucleon and nucleus partonic structure at high-x, quark-gluon plasma and, by using longitudinally or transversally polarised targets, spin physics. In this paper, we discuss the physics opportunities of a fixed-target experiment at the LHC and we report on the possible technical implementations of a high-luminosity experiment. We finally present feasibility studies for Drell-Yan, open heavy-flavour and quarkonium production, with an emphasis on high-x and spin physics.

Hadjidakis, Cynthia↗

On the physics potential to study the gluon content of proton and deuteron at NICA SPD

The Spin Physics Detector (SPD) is a future multipurpose experiment foreseen to run at the NICA collider, which is currently under construction at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna, Russia). The physics program of the experiment is based on collisions of longitudinally and transversely polarized protons and deuterons at √s up to 27 GeV and luminosity up to 10 32 cm –2 s –1 . SPD will operate as a universal facility for the comprehensive study of the unpolarized and polarized gluon content of the nucleon, using complementary probes such as: charmonia, open-charm, and prompt-photon production processes. Furthermore, the aim of this work is to provide a thorough review of the physics objectives that can potentially be addressed at SPD, underlining related theoretical aspects and discussing relevant experimental results when available. Among different pertinent phenomena particular attention is drawn to the study of the gluon helicity, gluon Sivers and Boer-Mulders functions in the nucleon, as well as the gluon transversity distribution in the deuteron, via the measurement of single and double spin asymmetries.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗