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We demonstrate quantum resonance ratchets created with Bose-Einstein condensates exposed to pulses of an off-resonant standing light wave. We show how some of the basic properties of the ratchets are controllable through the creation of different initial states of the system. In particular, our results prove that through an appropriate choice of initial state it is possible to reduce the extent to which the ratchet state changes with respect to time. We develop a simple theory to explain our results and indicate how ratchets might be used as part of a matter wave interferometer or quantum-random walk experiment., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures

Black phosphorus is a monoatomic semiconducting layered material that degrades exothermically in the presence of light and ambient contaminants. Its degradation dynamics remain largely unknown. Even before degradation, local-probe studies indicate non-negligible local curvature --through a non-constant height distribution-- due to the unavoidable presence of intrinsic defects. We establish that these intrinsic defects are photo-oxidation sites because they lower the chemisorption barrier of ideal black phosphorus (> 10 eV and out of visible-range light excitations) right into the visible and ultra-violet range (1.6 to 6.8 eV), thus enabling photo-induced oxidation and dissociation of oxygen dimers. A full characterization of the material's shape and of its electronic properties at the early stages of the oxidation process is presented as well. This study thus provides fundamental insights into the degradation dynamics of this novel layered material., Comment: Accepted on 07/31/2015. This document is the Submitted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Central Science, copyright [2015]

We study conductance fluctuations (CF) and the sensitivity of the conductance to the motion of a single scatterer in two-dimensional massless Dirac systems. Our extensive numerical study finds limits to the predicted universal value of CF. We find that CF are suppressed for ballistic systems near the Dirac point and approach the universal value at sufficiently strong disorder. The conductance of massless Dirac fermions is sensitive to the motion of a single scatterer. CF of order $e^2/h$ result from the motion of a single impurity by a distance comparable to the Fermi wavelength. This result applies to graphene systems with a broad range of impurity strength and concentration while the dependence on the Fermi wavelength can be explored {\em via} gate voltages. Our prediction can be tested by comparing graphene samples with varying amounts of disorder and can be used to understand interference effects in mesoscopic graphene devices., Comment: 15 Pages, 3 Figures. Related papers at this http URL

We present a method for bridging the gap between the Dirac effective field theory and atomistic simulations in graphene based on the Husimi projection, allowing us to depict phenomena in graphene at arbitrary scales. This technique takes the atomistic wavefunction as an input, and produces semiclassical pictures of quasiparticles in the two Dirac valleys. We use the Husimi tech- nique to produce maps of the scattering behavior of boundaries, giving insight into the properties of wavefunctions at energies both close to and far from the Dirac point. Boundary conditions play a significant role to the rise of Fano resonances, which we examine using the Husimi map to deepen our understanding of bond currents near resonance.

We build upon previous work that used coherent states as a measurement of the local phase space and extended the flux operator by adapting the Husimi projection to produce a vector field called the Husimi map. In this article, we extend its definition from continuous systems to lattices. This requires making several adjustments to incorporate effects such as group velocity and multiple bands. Several phenomena which uniquely occur in lattice systems, like group-velocity warping and internal Bragg diffraction, are explained and demonstrated using Husimi maps. We also show that scattering points between bands and valleys can be identified in the divergence of the Husimi map.

We develop the Husimi map for visualizing quantum wavefunctions using coherent states as a measurement of the local phase space to produce a vector field related to the probability flux. Adapted from the Husimi projection, the Husimi map is complimentary to the usual flux map, since they are identical for small coherent states. By improving our understanding of the flux operator and offering a robust and flexible alternative, we show how the Husimi projection can provide a map to the classical dynamics underlying a quantum wavefunction. We demonstrate its capabilities on bound systems with electromagnetic fields, as well as on open systems on and off resonance.

An interpretation of the probability flux is given, based on a derivation of its eigenstates and relating them to coherent state projections on a quantum wavefunction. An extended definition of the flux operator is obtained using coherent states. We present a "processed Husimi" representation, which makes decisions using many Husimi projections at each location. The processed Husimi representation reverse engineers or deconstructs the wavefunction, yielding the underlying classical ray structure. Our approach makes possible interpreting the dynamics of systems where the probability flux is uniformly zero or strongly misleading. The new technique is demonstrated by the calculation of particle flow maps of the classical dynamics underlying a quantum wavefunction., Comment: Accepted to EPL

We investigate the transport of electrons in disordered and pristine graphene devices. Fano shot noise, a standard metric to assess the mechanism for electronic transport in mesoscopic devices, has been shown to produce almost the same magnitude ($\approx 1/3$) in ballistic and diffusive graphene devices and is therefore of limited applicability. We consider a two-terminal geometry where the graphene flake is contacted by narrow metallic leads. We propose that the dependence of the conductance on the position of one of the leads, a conductance profile, can give us insight into the charge flow, which can in turn be used to analyze the transport mechanism. Moreover, we simulate scanning probe microscopy (SPM) measurements for the same devices, which can visualize the flow of charge inside the device, thus complementing the transport calculations. From our simulations, we find that both the conductance profile and SPM measurements are excellent tools to assess the transport mechanism differentiating ballistic and diffusive graphene systems., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Renamed by editorial staff as "Ballistic versus diffusive transport in graphene"

We propose an experimental scheme to study spin-orbit coupling effects in a of two-dimensional (2D) Fermi atomic gas cloud by coupling its internal electronic states (pseudospins) to radiation in a delta configuration. The induced spin-orbit coupling can be of the Dresselhaus and Rashba type with and without a Zeeman term. We show that the optically induced spin-orbit coupling can lead to a spin-dependent effective mass under appropriate condition, with one of them able to be tuned between positive and negative effective mass. As a direct observable we show that in the expansion dynamics of the atomic cloud the initial atomic cloud splits into two clouds for the positive effective mass case regime, and into four clouds for the negative effective mass regime., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

The anomalous Hall effect in a magnetic two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling is studied within the Kubo-Streda formalism in the presence of pointlike potential impurities. We find that all contributions to the anomalous Hall conductivity vanish to leading order in disorder strength when both chiral subbands are occupied. In the situation that only the majority subband is occupied, all terms are finite in the weak scattering limit and the total anomalous Hall conductivity is dominated by skew scattering. We compare our results to previous treatments and resolve some of the discrepancies present in the literature., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

We study the anomalous Hall conductivity in spin-polarized, asymmetrically confined two-dimensional electron and hole systems, focusing on skew-scattering contributions to the transport. We find that the skew scattering, principally responsible for the extrinsic contribution to the anomalous Hall effect, vanishes for the two-dimensional electron system if both chiral Rashba subbands are partially occupied, and vanishes always for the two-dimensional hole gas studied here, regardless of the band filling. Our prediction can be tested with the proposed coplanar two-dimensional electron/hole gas device and can be used as a benchmark to understand the crossover from the intrisic to the extrinsic anomalous Hall effect., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures included

We study the quantum interference effects induced by the Aharonov-Casher phase in a ring structure in a two-dimensional heavy hole (HH) system with spin-orbit interaction realizable in narrow asymmetric quantum wells. The influence of the spin-orbit interaction strength on the transport is investigated analytically. These analytical results allow us to explain the interference effects as a signature of the Aharonov-Casher Berry phases. Unlike previous studies on the electron two-dimensional Rashba systems, we find that the frequency of conductance modulations as a function of the spin-orbit strength is not constant but increases for larger spin-orbit splittings. In the limit of thin channel rings (width smaller than Fermi wavelength), we find that the spin-orbit splitting can be greatly increased due to quantization in the radial direction. We also study the influence of magnetic field considering both limits of small and large Zeeman splittings., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures