The break-up of heavy electrons at a quantum critical point

The point at absolute zero where matter becomes unstable to new forms of order is called a quantum critical point (QCP). The quantum fluctuations between order and disorder that develop at this point induce profound transformations in the finite temperature electronic properties of the material. Magnetic fields are ideal for tuning a material as close as possible to a QCP, where the most intense effects of criticality can be studied. A previous study on the heavy-electron material YbRh2Si2 found that near a field-induced QCP electrons move ever more slowly and scatter off one another with ever increasing probability, as indicated by a divergence to infinity of the electron effective mass and scattering cross-section. But these studies could not shed light on whether these properties were an artefact of the applied field, or a more general feature of field-free QCPs. Here we report that, when germanium-doped YbRh2Si2 is tuned away from a chemically induced QCP by magnetic fields, there is a universal behaviour in the temperature dependence of the specific heat and resistivity: the characteristic kinetic energy of electrons is directly proportional to the strength of the applied field. We infer that all ballistic motion of electrons vanishes at a QCP, forming a new class of conductor in which individual electrons decay into collective current-carrying motions of the electron fluid.     

Kondo effect in an integer-spin quantum dot

The Kondo effect--a many-body phenomenon in condensed-matter physics involving the interaction between a localized spin and free electrons--was discovered in metals containing small amounts of magnetic impurities, although it is now recognized to be of fundamental importance in a wide class of correlated electron systems. In fabricated structures, the control of single, localized spins is of technological relevance for nanoscale electronics. Experiments have already demonstrated artificial realizations of isolated magnetic impurities at metallic surfaces, nanoscale magnets, controlled transitions between two-electron singlet and triplet states, and a tunable Kondo effect in semiconductor quantum dots. Here we report an unexpected Kondo effect in a few-electron quantum dot containing singlet and triplet spin states, whose energy difference can be tuned with a magnetic field. We observe the effect for an even number of electrons, when the singlet and triplet states are degenerate. The characteristic energy scale is much larger than in the ordinary spin-1/2 case.     

Kondo effect in quantum dots and molecular devices

Kondo effect is a very important many-body phenomenon in condensed mailer physics, which explains why the resistance increases as the temperature is lowered （usually 〈10 K） in dilute magnetic alloy, and why the conductance increases as temperature is decreased in quantum dots. This paper simply introduces equilihrium and nonequilibrium Kondo effects in quantum dots together with the Kondo effect in quantum dots with even number of electrons （when the singlet and triplet states are degenerate）. Furthermore, Kondn effect in single aton/molecular transistorss is introduced, which indicates a new way in study Kondo effect.     

Evidence for superfluidity of ultracold fermions in an optical lattice

The study of superfluid fermion pairs in a periodic potential has important ramifications for understanding superconductivity in crystalline materials. By using cold atomic gases, various models of condensed matter can be studied in a highly controllable environment. Weakly repulsive fermions in an optical lattice could undergo d-wave pairing at low temperatures, a possible mechanism for high temperature superconductivity in the copper oxides. The lattice potential could also strongly increase the critical temperature for s-wave superfluidity. Recent experimental advances in bulk atomic gases include the observation of fermion-pair condensates and high-temperature superfluidity. Experiments with fermions and bosonic bound pairs in optical lattices have been reported but have not yet addressed superfluid behaviour. Here we report the observation of distinct interference peaks when a condensate of fermionic atom pairs is released from an optical lattice, implying long-range order (a property of a superfluid). Conceptually, this means that s-wave pairing and coherence of fermion pairs have now been established in a lattice potential, in which the transport of atoms occurs by quantum mechanical tunnelling and not by simple propagation. These observations were made for interactions on both sides of a Feshbach resonance. For larger lattice depths, the coherence was lost in a reversible manner, possibly as a result of a transition from superfluid to insulator. Such strongly interacting fermions in an optical lattice can be used to study a new class of hamiltonians with interband and atom-molecule couplings.     

Localized 4f-electrons in the quantum critical heavy fermion ferromagnet CeRh6Ge4

Ferromagnetic quantum critical points were predicted to be prohibited in clean itinerant ferromagnetic systems,yet such a phenomenon was recently revealed in Ce...     

微波场作用下Fano效应对量子点电子态密度近藤峰的影响

讨论了一个微波场辐照下量子点电极耦合体系,当两边电极间存在非共振直接隧穿时量子．占、上电子态密度的变化情况。用非平衡格林函数方法及吴大琪假设得到了此体系能态密度在相互作用强度U有限情况下的解析表达式。数值计算的结果表明随着背景透射率及库仑相互作用能大小的变化,量子点上电子能态密度共振峰可被增强或减弱,并可能出现新的共振峰结构。     

与铁磁电极耦合的双量子点中近藤效应的研究

研究了与铁磁电极耦合的串连双量子点中的平衡和非平衡近藤效应,同时考虑了两侧电极中自旋极化的态密度为平行和反平行的情况。结果表明,每个量子点的平衡态密度在平行情况下只有一个尖峰,当有外加偏压的时候,这个尖峰将分裂为两个;在反平行情况下,每个量子点的平衡态密度有两个尖峰,分别对应与电子的两种不同自旋取向,自旋向下和向上的态密度双峰之间的距离将在外加偏压的影响下分别增大和减少。在反平行情况下,每一种自旋成份的微分电导只有一个尖峰,并且分别在费米面之上和之下;而在平行情况下,每种自旋成份的微分电导都有两个尖峰,其中自旋朝下的微分电导尖峰较高。     

Dimensional reduction at a quantum critical point

Competition between electronic ground states near a quantum critical point (QCP)--the location of a zero-temperature phase transition driven solely by quantum-mechanical fluctuations--is expected to lead to unconventional behaviour in low-dimensional systems. New electronic phases of matter have been predicted to occur in the vicinity of a QCP by two-dimensional theories, and explanations based on these ideas have been proposed for significant unsolved problems in condensed-matter physics, such as non-Fermi-liquid behaviour and high-temperature superconductivity. But the real materials to which these ideas have been applied are usually rendered three-dimensional by a finite electronic coupling between their component layers; a two-dimensional QCP has not been experimentally observed in any bulk three-dimensional system, and mechanisms for dimensional reduction have remained the subject of theoretical conjecture. Here we show evidence that the Bose-Einstein condensate of spin triplets in the three-dimensional Mott insulator BaCuSi2O6 (refs 12-16) provides an experimentally verifiable example of dimensional reduction at a QCP. The interplay of correlations on a geometrically frustrated lattice causes the individual two-dimensional layers of spin-(1/2) Cu2+ pairs (spin dimers) to become decoupled at the QCP, giving rise to a two-dimensional QCP characterized by linear power law scaling distinctly different from that of its three-dimensional counterpart. Thus the very notion of dimensionality can be said to acquire an 'emergent' nature: although the individual particles move on a three-dimensional lattice, their collective behaviour occurs in lower-dimensional space.     

Hall-effect evolution across a heavy-fermion quantum critical point

A quantum critical point (QCP) develops in a material at absolute zero when a new form of order smoothly emerges in its ground state. QCPs are of great current interest because of their singular ability to influence the finite temperature properties of materials. Recently, heavy-fermion metals have played a key role in the study of antiferromagnetic QCPs. To accommodate the heavy electrons, the Fermi surface of the heavy-fermion paramagnet is larger than that of an antiferromagnet. An important unsolved question is whether the Fermi surface transformation at the QCP develops gradually, as expected if the magnetism is of spin-density-wave (SDW) type, or suddenly, as expected if the heavy electrons are abruptly localized by magnetism. Here we report measurements of the low-temperature Hall coefficient (R(H))--a measure of the Fermi surface volume--in the heavy-fermion metal YbRh2Si2 upon field-tuning it from an antiferromagnetic to a paramagnetic state. R(H) undergoes an increasingly rapid change near the QCP as the temperature is lowered, extrapolating to a sudden jump in the zero temperature limit. We interpret these results in terms of a collapse of the large Fermi surface and of the heavy-fermion state itself precisely at the QCP.     

Single atoms in the ring lattice for quantum information processing and quantum simulation

We have demonstrated preparing and rotating single neutral rubidium atoms in an optical ring lattice generated by a spatial light modulator, inserting two atoms into a single microscopic optical potential efficiently by dynamically reshaping the optical dipole trap, trapping single atoms in a blue detuned optical bottle beam trap, and confining single atoms into the Lamb-Dicke regime by combining red and blue detuned optical potentials. In combination with the manipulation of internal states of single atoms, the study is opening a way for research in the field of quantum information processing and quantum simulation. In this paper we review the past works and discuss the prospects.     

Kondo resonance in a single-molecule transistor

When an individual molecule, nanocrystal, nanotube or lithographically defined quantum dot is attached to metallic electrodes via tunnel barriers, electron transport is dominated by single-electron charging and energy-level quantization. As the coupling to the electrodes increases, higher-order tunnelling and correlated electron motion give rise to new phenomena, including the Kondo resonance. To date, all of the studies of Kondo phenomena in quantum dots have been performed on systems where precise control over the spin degrees of freedom is difficult. Molecules incorporating transition-metal atoms provide powerful new systems in this regard, because the spin and orbital degrees of freedom can be controlled through well-defined chemistry. Here we report the observation of the Kondo effect in single-molecule transistors, where an individual divanadium molecule serves as a spin impurity. We find that the Kondo resonance can be tuned reversibly using the gate voltage to alter the charge and spin state of the molecule. The resonance persists at temperatures up to 30 K and when the energy separation between the molecular state and the Fermi level of the metal exceeds 100 meV.     

嵌入单量子点Aharonov-Bohm环中的尺寸和近藤屏蔽效应

使用单杂质的Ansderson模型, 我们从理论上研究了一个嵌入单量子点Aharonov-Bohm环系统处在近藤区时的基态性质, 并用slave-oson平均场方法求解了该模型. 我们的结果表明：在零温, 当介观环内电子平均能级间隔大于近藤关联能时, 系统内仍然存在一个被减弱了的近藤效应;系统的基态性质依赖于系统的宇称和环的大小;而尺寸效应和近藤屏蔽效应的共存导致了系统丰富的物理性质. 同时, 可以通过测量介观环中的持续电流和杂质磁化率, 达到探测近藤屏蔽云的目的.     

Locally critical quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated metals.

When a metal undergoes a continuous quantum phase transition, non-Fermi-liquid behaviour arises near the critical point. All the low-energy degrees of freedom induced by quantum criticality are usually assumed to be spatially extended, corresponding to long-wavelength fluctuations of the order parameter. But this picture has been contradicted by the results of recent experiments on a prototype system: heavy fermion metals at a zero-temperature magnetic transition. In particular, neutron scattering from CeCu6-x Aux has revealed anomalous dynamics at atomic length scales, leading to much debate as to the fate of the local moments in the quantum-critical regime. Here we report our theoretical finding of a locally critical quantum phase transition in a model of heavy fermions. The dynamics at the critical point are in agreement with experiment. We propose local criticality to be a phenomenon of general relevance to strongly correlated metals.     

强耦合极限overlap费米子形式的格点量子色动力学在有限温度化学势下的研究进展

本文对本研究小组荻中山大学学生科研基金资助以来对有限温度（T）和有限化学势（μ）下的overlap费米子形式的格点量子色动力学进行的解析研究工作作一个阶段性回顾．我们使用overlap费米子方案得到了一些有意义的成果，并提出了包括夸克一胶子等离子体理论在内的进一步研究方向。     

Hidden magnetism and quantum criticality in the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn5

With only a few exceptions that are well understood, conventional superconductivity does not coexist with long-range magnetic order (for example, ref. 1). Unconventional superconductivity, on the other hand, develops near a phase boundary separating magnetically ordered and magnetically disordered phases. A maximum in the superconducting transition temperature T(c) develops where this boundary extrapolates to zero Kelvin, suggesting that fluctuations associated with this magnetic quantum-critical point are essential for unconventional superconductivity. Invariably, though, unconventional superconductivity masks the magnetic phase boundary when T < T(c), preventing proof of a magnetic quantum-critical point. Here we report specific-heat measurements of the pressure-tuned unconventional superconductor CeRhIn5 in which we find a line of quantum-phase transitions induced inside the superconducting state by an applied magnetic field. This quantum-critical line separates a phase of coexisting antiferromagnetism and superconductivity from a purely unconventional superconducting phase, and terminates at a quantum tetracritical point where the magnetic field completely suppresses superconductivity. The T --> 0 K magnetic field-pressure phase diagram of CeRhIn5 is well described with a theoretical model developed to explain field-induced magnetism in the high-T(c) copper oxides, but in which a clear delineation of quantum-phase boundaries has not been possible. These experiments establish a common relationship among hidden magnetism, quantum criticality and unconventional superconductivity in copper oxides and heavy-electron systems such as CeRhIn5.     

磁性杂质对量子点内电子态密度Kondo峰的影响

讨论了一个耦合于量子点的磁性杂质,当两边是铁磁性导线时量子点上电子的态密度Kondo峰的变化情况。用格林函数运动方程的方法和特定的自洽方法得到了态密度的解析表达式。杂质与量子点上电子的耦合使得原本简并的电子能级分裂。数值计算结果表明当两边的铁磁导线极化反平行时,态密度的Kondo峰几乎不随着磁性杂质方位角的变化而变化。当极化平行时,会出现3个Kondo峰,并且峰之间的间隔随着杂质的方位角的增大而增大。如果选取适当极化率的铁磁导线,由导线的铁磁性引起的Kondo峰的分裂可以被杂质的耦合作用抵?消掉。?     

模5不同余平面格点的形心问题研究

对平面格点进行模5运算，建立了由25个不同剩余类格点排成5个行环、5个列环的环面格子网，称为模5环面，记为Z5^2．讨论了Z5^2上了格点之间、行之间、列之间、对角线之间的对称性，根据这些对称性得出了Z5^2上形心仍为格点的5个格点的分布情形．证明了当格点模5不同余时，任意9个格点中，必有5个格点其形心仍为格点，即公式n（5）=9成立．     

Strong dipolar effects in a quantum ferrofluid

Symmetry-breaking interactions have a crucial role in many areas of physics, ranging from classical ferrofluids to superfluid (3)He and d-wave superconductivity. For superfluid quantum gases, a variety of new physical phenomena arising from the symmetry-breaking interaction between electric or magnetic dipoles are expected. Novel quantum phases in optical lattices, such as chequerboard or supersolid phases, are predicted for dipolar bosons. Dipolar interactions can also enrich considerably the physics of quantum gases with internal degrees of freedom. Arrays of dipolar particles could be used for efficient quantum information processing. Here we report the realization of a chromium Bose-Einstein condensate with strong dipolar interactions. By using a Feshbach resonance, we reduce the usual isotropic contact interaction, such that the anisotropic magnetic dipole-dipole interaction between 52Cr atoms becomes comparable in strength. This induces a change of the aspect ratio of the atom cloud; for strong dipolar interactions, the inversion of ellipticity during expansion (the usual 'smoking gun' evidence for a Bose-Einstein condensate) can be suppressed. These effects are accounted for by taking into account the dipolar interaction in the superfluid hydrodynamic equations governing the dynamics of the gas, in the same way as classical ferrofluids can be described by including dipolar terms in the classical hydrodynamic equations. Our results are a first step in the exploration of the unique properties of quantum ferrofluids.