Intrinsic Rashba coupling due to hydrogen bonding in DNA.

We present an analytical model for the role of hydrogen bonding on the spin-orbit coupling of a model DNA molecule. Here, we analyze in detail the electric fields due to the polarization of the hydrogen bond on the DNA base pairs and derive, within a tight binding analytical band folding approach, an intrinsic Rashba coupling which should dictate the order of the spin active effects in the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect. The coupling found is ten times larger than the intrinsic coupling estimated previously and points out to the predominant role of hydrogen bonding in addition to chirality in the case of biological molecules. We expect similar dominant effects in oligopeptides, where the chiral structure is supported by hydrogen-bonding and bears on orbital carrying transport electrons.

Monte Carlo study of anisotropic scaling generated by disorder.

We analyze the critical properties of the three-dimensional Ising model with linear parallel extended defects. Such a form of disorder produces two distinct correlation lengths, a parallel correlation length ξ(∥) in the direction along defects and a perpendicular correlation length ξ(⊥) in the direction perpendicular to the lines. Both ξ(∥) and ξ(⊥) diverge algebraically in the vicinity of the critical point, but the corresponding critical exponents ν(∥) and ν(⊥) take different values. This property is specific for anisotropic scaling and the ratio ν(∥)/ν(⊥) defines the anisotropy exponent θ. Until now, estimates of quantitative characteristics of the critical behavior for such systems have been obtained only within the renormalization group approach. We report a study of the anisotropic scaling in this system via Monte Carlo simulation of the three-dimensional system with Ising spins and nonmagnetic impurities arranged into randomly distributed parallel lines. Several independent estimates for the anisotropy exponent θ of the system are obtained, as well as an estimate of the susceptibility exponent γ. Our results corroborate the renormalization group predictions obtained earlier.

Softening of first-order transition in three-dimensions by quenched disorder.

We study by extensive Monte Carlo simulations the effect of random bond dilution on the phase transition of the three-dimensional four-state Potts model that is known to exhibit a strong first-order transition in the pure case. The phase diagram in the dilution-temperature plane is determined from the peaks of the susceptibility for sufficiently large system sizes. In the strongly disordered regime, numerical evidence for softening to a second-order transition induced by randomness is given. Here a large-scale finite-size scaling analysis, made difficult due to strong crossover effects presumably caused by the percolation fixed point, is performed.

Magnetic critical behavior of two-dimensional random-bond Potts ferromagnets in confined geometries.

We present a numerical study of two-dimensional random-bond Potts ferromagnets. The model is studied both below and above the critical value Qc=4, which discriminates between second- and first-order transitions in the pure system. Two geometries are considered, namely cylinders and square-shaped systems, and the critical behavior is investigated through conformal invariance techniques that were recently shown to be valid, even in the randomness-induced second-order phase transition regime Q>4. In the cylinder geometry, connectivity transfer matrix calculations provide a simple test to find the range of disorder amplitudes that is characteristic of the disordered fixed point. The scaling dimensions then follow from the exponential decay of correlations along the strip. Monte Carlo simulations of spin systems on the other hand are generally performed on systems of rectangular shape on the square lattice, but the data are then perturbed by strong surface effects. The conformal mapping of a semi-infinite system inside a square enables us to take into account boundary effects explicitly and leads to an accurate determination of the scaling dimensions. The techniques are applied to different values of Q in the range 3-64.

Size effect on magnetism of Fe thin films in Fe/Ir superlattices.

In ferromagnetic thin films, the Curie temperature variation with the thickness is always considered as continuous when the thickness is varied from n to n+1 atomic planes. We show that it is not the case for Fe in Fe/Ir superlattices. For an integer number of atomic planes, a unique magnetic transition is observed by susceptibility measurements, whereas two magnetic transitions are observed for fractional numbers of planes. This behavior is attributed to successive transitions of areas with n and n+1 atomic planes, for which the T(c)'s are not the same. Indeed, the magnetic correlation length is presumably shorter than the average size of the terraces. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to support this explanation.