We study the heat-induced magnetization dynamics in a toy model of a ferrimagnetic alloy, which includes localized spins antiferromagnetically coupled to an itinerant carrier system with a Stoner gap. We determine the one-particle spin-density matrix
including exchange scattering between localized and itinerant bands as well as scattering with phonons. While a transient ferromagnetic-like state can always be achieved by a sufficiently strong excitation, this transient ferromagnetic-like state only leads to magnetization switching for model parameters that also yield a compensation point in the equilibrium M(T) curve.
We present a microscopic calculation of magnetization damping for a magnetic toy model. The magnetic system consists of itinerant carriers coupled antiferromagnetically to a dispersionless band of localized spins, and the magnetization damping is due
to coupling of the itinerant carriers to a phonon bath in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Using a mean-field approximation for the kinetic exchange model and assuming the spin-orbit coupling to be of the Rashba form, we derive Boltzmann scattering integrals for the distributions and spin coherences in the case of an antiferromagnetic exchange splitting, including a careful analysis of the connection between lifetime broadening and the magnetic gap. For the Elliott-Yafet type itinerant spin dynamics we extract dephasing and magnetization times T_1 and T_2 from initial conditions corresponding to a tilt of the magnetization vector, and draw a comparison to phenomenological equations such as the Landau-Lifshitz or the Gilbert damping. We also analyze magnetization precession and damping for this system including an anisotropy field and find a carrier mediated dephasing of the localized spin via the mean-field coupling.
The slowdown of optical pulses due to quantum-coherence effects is investigated theoretically for an active material consisting of InGaAs-based double quantum-dot molecules. These are designed to exhibit a long lived coherence between two electronic
levels, which is an essential part of a quantum coherence scheme that makes use of electromagnetically-induced transparency effects to achieve group velocity slowdown. We apply a many-particle approach based on realistic semiconductor parameters that allows us to calculate the quantum-dot material dynamics including microscopic carrier scattering and polarisation dephasing dynamics. The group-velocity reduction is characterized in the frequency domain by a quasi-equilibrium slow-down factor and in the time domain by the probe-pulse slowdown obtained from a calculation of the spatio-temporal material dynamics coupled to the propagating optical field. The group-velocity slowdown in the quantum-dot molecule is shown to be substantially higher than what is achievable from similar transitions in typical InGaAs-based single quantum dots. The dependences of slowdown and shape of the propagating probe pulses on lattice temperature and drive intensities are investigated.
For the 3d ferromagnets iron, cobalt and nickel we compute the spin-dependent inelastic electronic lifetimes due to carrier-carrier Coulomb interaction including spin-orbit coupling. We find that the spin-dependent density-of-states at the Fermi ener
gy does not, in general, determine the spin dependence of the lifetimes because of the effective spin-flip transitions allowed by the spin mixing. The majority and minority electron lifetimes computed including spin-orbit coupling for these three 3-d ferromagnets do not differ by more than a factor of 2, and agree with experimental results.
We present an ab initio calculation of the k and spin-resolved electronic lifetimes in the half-metallic Heusler compounds Co(2)MnSi and Co(2)FeSi. We determine the spin-flip and spin-conserving contributions to the lifetimes and study in detail the
behavior of the lifetimes around states that are strongly spin-mixed by spin-orbit coupling. We find that, for non-degenerate bands, the spin mixing alone does not determine the energy dependence of the (spin-flip) lifetimes. Qualitatively, the lifetimes reflect the lineup of electron and hole bands. We predict that different excitation conditions lead to drastically different spin-flip dynamics of excited electrons and may even give rise to an enhancement of the non-equilibrium spin polarization.
We report on three-dimensional optical trapping of single ions in an optical lattice formed by two counter-propagating laser beams. We characterize the trapping parameters of the standing wave using the ion as a sensor stored in a hybrid trap consist
ing of a radio-frequency (rf), a dc, and the optical potential. When loading ions directly from the rf into the standing-wave trap, we observe a dominant heating rate. Monte Carlo simulations confirm rf-induced parametric excitations within the deep optical lattice as the main source. We demonstrate a way around this effect by an alternative transfer protocol which involves an intermediate step of optical confinement in a single-beam trap avoiding the temporal overlap of the standing wave and the rf field. Implications arise for hybrid (rf/optical) and pure optical traps as platforms for ultra-cold chemistry experiments exploring atom--ion collisions or quantum simulation experiments with ions, or combinations of ions and atoms.
Spin and charge-current dynamics after ultrafast spin-polarized excitation in a normal metal are studied theoretically using a wave-diffusion theory. It is shown analytically how this macroscopic approach correctly describes the ballistic and diffusi
ve properties of spin and charge transport, but also applies to the intermediate regime between these two limits. Using the wave-diffusion equations we numerically analyze spin and charge dynamics after ultrafast excitation of spin polarized carriers in thin gold films. Assuming slightly spin-dependent momentum relaxation times, we find that a unified treatment of diffusive and ballistic transport yields robust signatures in the spin and charge dynamics, which are in qualitative agreement with recent experimental results [Phys. Rev. Lett 107, 076601 (2011)]. The influence of boundary effects on the temporal signatures of spin transport is also studied.
