Magnetic reconnection, a change of magnetic field connectivity, is a fundamental physical process in which magnetic energy is released explosively. It is responsible for various eruptive phenomena in the universe. However, this process is difficult to observe directly. Here, the magnetic topology associated with a solar reconnection event is studied in three dimensions (3D) using the combined perspectives of two spacecraft. The sequence of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images clearly shows that two groups of oppositely directed and non-coplanar magnetic loops gradually approach each other, forming a separator or quasi-separator and then reconnecting. The plasma near the reconnection site is subsequently heated from $sim$1 to $ge$5 MK. Shortly afterwards, warm flare loops ($sim$3 MK) appear underneath the hot plasma. Other observational signatures of reconnection, including plasma inflows and downflows, are unambiguously revealed and quantitatively measured. These observations provide direct evidence of magnetic reconnection in a 3D configuration and reveal its origin.
We investigate the superfluidity of attractive Fermi gas in a square optical lattice with spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We show that the system displays a variety of new filling-dependent features. At half filling, a quantum phase transition from a semimetal to a superfluid is found for large SOC. Close to half filling where the emerging Dirac cones governs the behaviors of the system, SOC tends to suppress the BCS superfluidity. Conversely, SOC can significantly enhance both the pairing gap and condensate fraction and lead to a new BCS-BEC crossover for small fillings. Moreover, we demonstrate that the superfluid fraction also exhibits many interesting phenomena compared with the spin-orbit coupled Fermi gas without lattice.
We systematically investigate the weakly trapped spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates with spin-orbit coupling in an external Zeeman field. We find that the mean-field ground state favors either a magnetized standing wave phase or plane wave phase when the strength of Zeeman field is below a critical value related to the strength of spin-orbit coupling. Zeeman field can induce the phase transition between standing wave and plane wave phases, and we determine the phase boundary analytically and numerically. The magnetization of these two phases responds to the external magnetic field in a very unique manner, the linear Zeeman effect magnetizes the standing wave phase along the direction of the magnetic field, but the quadratic one demagnetizes the plane wave phase. When the strength of Zeeman field surpasses the critical value, the system is completely polarized to a ferromagnetic state or polar state with zero momentum.
The temperature-dependent electron spin relaxation of positively charged excitons in a single InAs quantum dot (QD) was measured by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy at zero applied magnetic fields. The experimental results show that the electron-spin relaxation is clearly divided into two different temperature regimes: (i) T < 50 K, spin relaxation depends on the dynamical nuclear spin polarization (DNSP) and is approximately temperature-independent, as predicted by Merkulov et al. (ii) T > about 50 K, spin relaxation speeds up with increasing temperature. A model of two LO phonon scattering process coupled with hyperfine interaction is proposed to account for the accelerated electron spin relaxation at higher temperatures.
By using highly time-resolved spectroscopy with an alternative {sigma}+/{sigma} - laser pulse modulation technique, we are able to measure the fast buildup and decay times of the dynamical nuclear spin polarization (DNSP) at 5 K for a single InAs quantum dot (QD) with positively charged exciton. It is shown that the nuclear dipole-dipole interaction can efficiently depolarize DNSP with a typical time constant of 500 {mu}s in the absence of external magnetic field. By using an external field of 8 mT to suppress the nuclear dipolar interaction, the decay time turns to be mainly induced by interaction with unpaired electron and extends to about 5 ms. In addition, it is found that the time constant of hole-induced depolarization of nuclear spin is about 112 ms.
Using density functional theory we show that an applied electric field substantially improves the hydrogen storage properties of a BN sheet by polarizing the hydrogen molecules as well as the substrate. The adsorption energy of a single H2 molecule in the presence of an electric field of 0.05 a.u. is 0.48 eV compared to 0.07 eV in its absence. When one layer of H2 molecules is adsorbed, the binding energy per H2 molecule increases from 0.03 eV in the field-free case to 0.14 eV/H2 in the presence of an electric field of 0.045 a.u. The corresponding gravimetric density of 7.5 wt % is consistent with the 6 wt % system target set by DOE for 2010. Once the applied electric field is removed, the stored H2 molecules can be easily released, thus making the storage reversible.
