The magnon dispersion in the charge, orbital and spin ordered phase in La(0.5)Sr(1.5)MnO(4) has been studied by means of inelastic neutron scattering. We find an excellent agreement with a magnetic interaction model basing on the CE-type superstructu
re. The magnetic excitations are dominated by ferromagnetic exchange parameters revealing a nearly-one dimensional character at high energies. The nearest neighbor ferromagnetic interaction in La(0.5)Sr(1.5)MnO(4) is significantly larger than the one in the metallic ferromagnetically ordered manganites. The large ferromagnetic interaction in the charge/orbital ordered phase appears to be essential for the capability of manganites to switch between metallic and insulating phases.
We analyze the influence of classical Gaussian noise on Landau-Zener transitions during a two-level crossing in a time-dependent regular external field. Transition probabilities and coherence factors become random due to the noise. We calculate their
two-time correlation functions, which describe the response of this two-level system to a weak external pulse signal. The spectrum and intensity of the magnetic response are derived. Although fluctuations are of the same order of magnitude as averages, the results is obtained in an analytic form.
We investigate a one-dimensional electron liquid with two point scatterers of different strength. In the presence of electron interactions, the nonlinear conductance is shown to depend on the current direction. The resulting asymmetry of the transpor
t characteristic gives rise to a ratchet effect, i.e., the rectification of a dc current for an applied ac voltage. In the case of strong repulsive interactions, the ratchet current grows in a wide voltage interval with decreasing ac voltage. In the regime of weak interaction the current-voltage curve exhibits oscillatory behavior. Our results apply to single-band quantum wires and to tunneling between quantum Hall edges.
A review is given on the theory of vortex-glass phases in impure type-II superconductors in an external field. We begin with a brief discussion of the effects of thermal fluctuations on the spontaneously broken U(1) and translation symmetries, on the
global phase diagram and on the critical behaviour. Introducing disorder we restrict ourselves to the experimentally most relevant case of weak uncorrelated randomness which is known to destroy the long-ranged translational order of the Abrikosov lattice in three dimensions. Elucidating possible residual glassy ordered phases, we distinguish betwee positional and phase-coherent vortex glasses. The discussion of elastic vortex glasses, in two and three dimensions occupy the main part of our review. In particular, in three dimensions there exists an elastic vortex-glass phase which still shows quasi-long-range translational order: the `Bragg glass. It is shown that this phase is stable with respect to the formation of dislocations for intermediate fields. Preliminary results suggest that the Bragg-glass phase may not show phase-coherent vortex-glass order. The latter is expected to occur in systems with weak disorder only in higher dimensions. We further demonstrate that the linear resistivity vanishes in the vortex-glass phase. The vortex-glass transition is studied in detail for a superconducting film in a parallel field. Finally, we review some recent developments concerning driven vortex-line lattices moving in a random environment.
We study the evolution of an elastic string into the pinned state at driving forces slightly below the depinning threshold force $F_c$. We quantify the temporal evolution of the string by an {it activity function} $A(t)$ representing the fraction of
active nodes at time $t$ and find three distinct dynamic regimes. There is an initial stage of fast decay of the activity; in the second, intermediate, regime, an exponential decay of activity is observed; and, eventually, the fast collapse of the string towards its final pinned state results in an decay in the activity with $Am sim (t_p-t)^{psi}$, where $t_p$ is the pinning time in the finite system involved.
