Bath-Induced Zeno Localization in Driven Many-Body Quantum Systems.

We study a quantum interacting spin system subject to an external drive and coupled to a thermal bath of vibrational modes, uncorrelated for different spins, serving as a model for dynamic nuclear polarization protocols. We show that even when the many-body eigenstates of the system are ergodic, a sufficiently strong coupling to the bath may effectively localize the spins due to many-body quantum Zeno effect. Our results provide an explanation of the breakdown of the thermal mixing regime experimentally observed above 4-5 K in these protocols.

Rashba Cavity QED: A Route Towards the Superradiant Quantum Phase Transition.

We develop a theory of cavity quantum electrodynamics for a 2D electron gas in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and perpendicular static magnetic field, coupled to spatially nonuniform multimode quantum cavity photon field. We demonstrate that the lowest polaritonic frequency of the full Hamiltonian can vanish for realistic parameters, achieving the Dicke superradiant quantum phase transition. This singular behavior originates from soft spin-flip transitions possessing a nonvanishing dipole moment at nonzero wave vectors and can be viewed as a static paramagnetic instability.

Electrical switch to the resonant magneto-phonon effect in graphene.

We report a comprehensive study of the tuning with electric fields of the resonant magneto-exciton optical phonon coupling in gated graphene. For magnetic fields around B ∼ 25 T that correspond to the range of the fundamental magneto-phonon resonance, the electron-phonon coupling can be switched on and off by tuning the position of the Fermi level in order to Pauli block the two fundamental inter-Landau level excitations. The effects of such a profound change in the electronic excitation spectrum are traced through investigations of the optical phonon response in polarization resolved magneto-Raman scattering experiments. We report on the observation of a splitting of the phonon feature with satellite peaks developing at particular values of the Landau level filling factor on the low or on the high energy side of the phonon, depending on the relative energy of the discrete electronic excitation and of the optical phonon. Shifts of the phonon energy as large as ±60 cm(-1) are observed close to the resonance. The intraband electronic excitation, the cyclotron resonance, is shown to play a relevant role in the observed spectral evolution of the phonon response.

Raman spectroscopy as a versatile tool for studying the properties of graphene.

Raman spectroscopy is an integral part of graphene research. It is used to determine the number and orientation of layers, the quality and types of edge, and the effects of perturbations, such as electric and magnetic fields, strain, doping, disorder and functional groups. This, in turn, provides insight into all sp(2)-bonded carbon allotropes, because graphene is their fundamental building block. Here we review the state of the art, future directions and open questions in Raman spectroscopy of graphene. We describe essential physical processes whose importance has only recently been recognized, such as the various types of resonance at play, and the role of quantum interference. We update all basic concepts and notations, and propose a terminology that is able to describe any result in literature. We finally highlight the potential of Raman spectroscopy for layered materials other than graphene.

Graphene mode-locked ultrafast laser.

Graphene is at the center of a significant research effort. Near-ballistic transport at room temperature and high mobility make it a potential material for nanoelectronics. Its electronic and mechanical properties are also ideal for micro- and nanomechanical systems, thin-film transistors, and transparent and conductive composites and electrodes. Here we exploit the optoelectronic properties of graphene to realize an ultrafast laser. A graphene-polymer composite is fabricated using wet-chemistry techniques. Pauli blocking following intense illumination results in saturable absorption, independent of wavelength. This is used to passively mode-lock an erbium-doped fiber laser working at 1559 nm, with a 5.24 nm spectral bandwidth and approximately 460 fs pulse duration, paving the way to graphene-based photonics.

Duplex polarons in DNA.

In earlier work we calculated the wavefunction and energy of the solvated polaron in DNA with a simple model in which the charge was taken to be on a single chain of bases at the center of the double helix. To better approximate the actual situation, we have now extended the calculations to the case in which the charge is distributed on two chains of bases, complementary to each other, one on each side of the center. The binding energy of the resulting polaron is somewhat larger than that obtained for the single-chain polaron, the result of each chain of the polaron being closer to some of the polarization charge it induces. Carrying out the calculations for a number of different sequences, we find that the polaron wavefunction is predominantly on one of the two chains, this usually being the one on which the charge was originally placed, despite the availability of lower energy sites on the other chain. This finding is in agreement with recent experiments of Schuster's group(Joy, A.; Ghosh, A. K.; Schuster, G. B. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 5346-5347). Thus, in contradiction to the ideas of many researchers, there is no transport in which a hole zigzags from one chain to the other, as has been suggested for a sequence of guanines and cytosines (GCGCGC....), for example.