Emerging Two-Dimensional Conductivity at the Interface between Mott and Band Insulators.

Intriguingly, conducting perovskite interfaces between ordinary band insulators are widely explored, whereas similar interfaces with Mott insulators are still not quite understood. Here, we address the (001), (110), and (111) interfaces between the LaTiO_{3} Mott, and large band gap KTaO_{3} insulators. Based on first-principles calculations, we reveal a mechanism of interfacial conductivity, which is distinct from a formerly studied one applicable to interfaces between polar wideband insulators. Here, the key factor causing conductivity is the matching of oxygen octahedra tilting in KTaO_{3} and LaTiO_{3} which, due to a small gap in the LaTiO_{3} results in its sensitivity to the crystal structure, yields metallization of its overlayer and following charge transfer from Ti to Ta. Our findings, also applicable to other Mott insulators interfaces, shed light on the emergence of conductivity observed in LaTiO_{3}/KTaO_{3} (110) where the "polar" arguments are not applicable and on the emergence of superconductivity in these structures.

Skyrmion Echo in a System of Interacting Skyrmions.

We consider helical rotation of skyrmions confined in the potentials formed by nanodisks. Based on numerical and analytical calculations we propose the skyrmion echo phenomenon. The physical mechanism of the skyrmion echo formation is also proposed. Because of the distortion of the lattice, impurities, or pinning effect, confined skyrmions experience slightly different local fields, which leads to dephasing of the initial signal. The interaction between skyrmions also can contribute to the dephasing process. However, switching the magnetization direction in the nanodiscs (e.g., by spin transfer torque) also switches the helical rotation of the skyrmions from clockwise to anticlockwise (or vice versa), and this restores the initial signal (which is the essence of skyrmion echo).

Plasmonic Skyrmion Lattice Based on the Magnetoelectric Effect.

The physical mechanism of the plasmonic skyrmion lattice formation in a magnetic layer deposited on a metallic substrate is studied theoretically. The optical lattice is the essence of the standing interference pattern of the surface plasmon polaritons created through coherent or incoherent laser sources. The nodal points of the interference pattern play the role of lattice sites where skyrmions are confined. The confinement appears as a result of the magnetoelectric effect and the electric field associated with the plasmon waves. The proposed model is applicable to yttrium iron garnet and single-phase multiferroics and combines plasmonics and skyrmionics.

Two-dimensional electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 inteface with a potential barrier.

We present a tight binding description of electronic properties of the interface between LaAlO3 (LAO) and SrTiO3 (STO). The description assumes LAO and STO perovskites as sets of atomic layers in the x-y plane, which are weakly coupled by an interlayer hopping term along the z axis. The interface is described by an additional potential, U0, which simulates a planar defect. Physically, the interfacial potential can result from either a mechanical stress at the interface or other structural imperfections. We show that depending on the potential strength, charge carriers (electrons or holes) may form an energy band which is localized at the interface and is within the band gaps of the constitutent materials (LAO and STO). Moreover, our description predicts a valve effect at a certain critical potential strength, U0cr, when the interface potential works as a valve suppressing the interfacial conductivity. In other words, the interfacial electrons become dispersionless at U0 = U0cr, and thus cannot propagate. This critical value separates the quasielectron (U0 < U0cr) and quasihole (U0 > U0cr) regimes of the interfacial conductivity.

Nonlinear anomalous Hall effect and negative magnetoresistance in a system with random Rashba field.

We predict two spin-dependent transport phenomena in two-dimensional electron systems, which are induced by a spatially fluctuating Rashba spin-orbit interaction. When the electron gas is magnetized, the random Rashba interaction leads to the anomalous Hall effect. An example of such a system is a narrow-gap magnetic semiconductor-based symmetric quantum well. We show that the anomalous Hall conductivity reveals a strongly nonlinear dependence on the magnetization, decreasing exponentially at large spin density. We also show that electron scattering from a fluctuating Rashba field in a two-dimensional nonmagnetic electron system leads to a negative magnetoresistance arising solely due to spin-dependent effects.

Controlling shot noise in double-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions.

We demonstrate that shot noise in Fe/MgO/Fe/MgO/Fe double-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions is determined by the relative magnetic configuration of the junction and also by the asymmetry of the barriers. The proposed theoretical model, based on sequential tunneling through the system and including spin relaxation, successfully accounts for the experimental observations for bias voltages below 0.5 V, where the influence of quantum well states is negligible. A weak enhancement of conductance and shot noise, observed at some voltages (especially above 0.5 V), indicates the formation of quantum well states in the middle magnetic layer. The observed results open up new perspectives for a reliable magnetic control of the most fundamental noise in spintronic structures.

1D solitons in cubic-quintic fractional nonlinear Schrödinger model.

We examine the properties of a soliton solution of the fractional Schrö dinger equation with cubic-quintic nonlinearity. Using analytical (variational) and numerical arguments, we have shown that the substitution of the ordinary Laplacian in the Schrödinger equation by its fractional counterpart with Lévy index [Formula: see text] permits to stabilize the soliton texture in the wide range of its parameters (nonlinearity coefficients and [Formula: see text]) values. Our studies of [Formula: see text] dependence ([Formula: see text] is soliton frequency and N its norm) permit to acquire the regions of existence and stability of the fractional soliton solution. For that we use famous Vakhitov-Kolokolov (VK) criterion. The variational results are confirmed by numerical solution of a one-dimensional cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Direct numerical simulations of the linear stability problem of soliton texture gives the same soliton stability boundary as within variational method. Thus we confirm that simple variational approach combined with VK criterion gives reliable information about soliton structure and stability in our model. Our results may be relevant to both optical solitons and Bose-Einstein condensates in cold atomic gases.

Fractional quantum oscillator and disorder in the vibrational spectra.

We study the role of disorder in the vibration spectra of molecules and atoms in solids. This disorder may be described phenomenologically by a fractional generalization of ordinary quantum-mechanical oscillator problem. To be specific, this is accomplished by the introduction of a so-called fractional Laplacian (Riesz fractional derivative) to the Scrödinger equation with three-dimensional (3D) quadratic potential. To solve the obtained 3D spectral problem, we pass to the momentum space, where the problem simplifies greatly as fractional Laplacian becomes simply [Formula: see text], k is a modulus of the momentum vector and [Formula: see text] is Lévy index, characterizing the degree of disorder. In this case, [Formula: see text] corresponds to the strongest disorder, while [Formula: see text] to the weakest so that the case [Formula: see text] corresponds to "ordinary" (i.e. that without fractional derivatives) 3D quantum harmonic oscillator. Combining analytical (variational) and numerical methods, we have shown that in the fractional (disordered) 3D oscillator problem, the famous orbital momentum degeneracy is lifted so that its energy starts to depend on orbital quantum number l. These features can have a strong impact on the physical properties of many solids, ranging from multiferroics to oxide heterostructures, which, in turn, are usable in modern microelectronic devices.

Interplay of spin-orbit coupling and Coulomb interaction in ZnO-based electron system.

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is pivotal for various fundamental spin-dependent phenomena in solids and their technological applications. In semiconductors, these phenomena have been so far studied in relatively weak electron-electron interaction regimes, where the single electron picture holds. However, SOC can profoundly compete against Coulomb interaction, which could lead to the emergence of unconventional electronic phases. Since SOC depends on the electric field in the crystal including contributions of itinerant electrons, electron-electron interactions can modify this coupling. Here we demonstrate the emergence of the SOC effect in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system in a simple band structure MgZnO/ZnO semiconductor. This electron system also features strong electron-electron interaction effects. By changing the carrier density with Mg-content, we tune the SOC strength and achieve its interplay with electron-electron interaction. These systems pave a way to emergent spintronic phenomena in strong electron correlation regimes and to the formation of quasiparticles with the electron spin strongly coupled to the density.

Tunneling in double barrier junctions with "hot spots".

We investigate electronic transport in epitaxial Fe(100)/MgO/Fe/MgO/Fe double magnetic tunnel junctions with soft barrier breakdown (hot spots). Specificity of these junctions is continuous middle layer and nitrogen doping of the MgO barriers which provides soft breakdown at biases about 0.5 V. In the junctions with hot spots we observe quasiperiodic changes in the resistance as a function of bias voltage which point out formation of quantum well states in the middle Fe continuous free layer. The room-temperature oscillations have been observed in both parallel and antiparallel magnetic configurations and for both bias polarizations. A simple model of tunneling through hot spots in the double barrier magnetic junction is proposed to qualitatively explain this effect.

Correlated magnetic impurities in a superconductor: electron density profiles and robustness of superconductivity.

The insertion of magnetic impurities in a conventional superconductor leads to various effects. In this work we show that the electron density is affected by the spins (considered as classical) both locally and globally. The charge accumulation is solved self-consistently. This affects the transport properties along magnetic domain walls. Also, we show that superconductivity is more robust if the spin locations are not random but correlated.

Tunable conductance of magnetic nanowires with structured domain walls.

We show that in a magnetic nanowire with double magnetic domain walls, quantum interference results in spin-split quasistationary states localized mainly between the domain walls. Spin-flip-assisted transmission through the domain structure increases strongly when these size-quantized states are tuned on resonance with the Fermi energy, e.g., upon varying the distance between the domain walls which results in resonance-type peaks of the wire conductance. This novel phenomenon is shown to be utilizable to manipulate the spin density in the domain vicinity. The domain wall parameters are readily controllable, and the predicted effect is hence exploitable in spintronic devices.

Ferromagnetism in magnetically doped III-V semiconductors.

The origin of ferromagnetism in semimagnetic III-V materials is discussed. The indirect exchange interaction caused by virtual electron excitations from magnetic impurity acceptor levels to the valence band can explain ferromagnetism in GaAs(Mn) in both degenerate and nondegenerate samples. Formation of ferromagnetic clusters and the percolation picture of phase transition describes well all available experimental data and allows us to predict the Mn-composition dependence of transition temperature in wurtzite (Ga,In,Al)N epitaxial layers.

Topological Hall effect and Berry phase in magnetic nanostructures.

We discuss the anomalous Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas subject to a spatially varying magnetization. This topological Hall effect does not require any spin-orbit coupling and arises solely from Berry phase acquired by an electron moving in a smoothly varying magnetization. We propose an experiment with a structure containing 2D electrons or holes of diluted magnetic semiconductor subject to the stray field of a lattice of magnetic nanocylinders. The striking behavior predicted for such a system (of which all relevant parameters are well known) allows one to observe unambiguously the topological Hall effect and to distinguish it from other mechanisms.