Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena and Topological Phase Interference Effects in Single-Domain Magnets

Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena and Topological Phase Interference Effects in Single-Domain Magnets

The tunneling of macroscopic object is one of the most fascinating phenomena in condensed matter physics. During the last decade, the problem of quantum tunneling of magnetization in nanometer-scale magnets has attracted a great deal of theoretical and experimental interest. A review of recent theoretical research of the macroscopic quantum phenomena in nanometer-scale single-domain magnets is presented in this paper. It includes macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) and coherence (MQC) in single-domain magnetic particles, the topological phase interference or spin-parity effects, and tunneling of magnetization in an arbitrarily directed magnetic field. The general formulas are shown to evaluate the tunneling rate and the tunneling level splitting for single-domain AFM particles. A nontrivial generalization of Kramers degeneracy for double-well system is provided to coherently spin tunneling for spin systems with m-fold rotational symmetry. The effects induced by the external magnetic field have been studied, where the field is along the easy, medium, hard axis, or arbitrary direction.