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O Entin-Wohlman

Publications and source records attributed to O Entin-Wohlman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Magnetically driven ferroelectric order in Ni3V2O8.

We show that long-range ferroelectric and incommensurate magnetic order appear simultaneously in a single phase transition in Ni3V2O8. The temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the spontaneous polarization show a strong coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric orders. We determine the magnetic symmetry using Landau theory for continuous phase transitions, which shows that the spin structure alone can break spatial inversion symmetry leading to ferroelectric order. This phenomenological theory explains our experimental observation that the spontaneous polarization is restricted to lie along the crystal b axis and predicts that the magnitude should be proportional to a magnetic order parameter.

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Orbital ac spin-Hall effect in the hopping regime.

The Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions are both shown to yield the low temperature spin-Hall effect for strongly localized electrons coupled to phonons. A frequency-dependent electric field E(omega) generates a spin-polarization current, normal to E, due to interference of hopping paths. At zero temperature the corresponding spin-Hall conductivity is real and is proportional to omega2. At nonzero temperatures the coupling to the phonons yields an imaginary term proportional to omega. The interference also yields persistent spin currents at thermal equilibrium, at E=0. The contributions from the Dresselhaus and Rashba interactions to the interference oppose each other.

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Competing magnetic phases on a kagomé staircase.

We present thermodynamic and neutron data on Ni3V2O8, a spin-1 system on a kagomé staircase. The extreme degeneracy of the kagomé antiferromagnet is lifted to produce two incommensurate phases at finite T--one amplitude modulated, the other helical--plus a commensurate canted antiferromagnet for T-->0. The H-T phase diagram is described by a model of competing first and second neighbor interactions with smaller anisotropic terms. Ni3V2O8 thus provides an elegant example of order from subleading interactions in a highly frustrated system.

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Persistent currents in interacting Aharonov-Bohm interferometers and their enhancement by acoustic radiation.

We consider an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer, connected to two electronic reservoirs, with a quantum dot embedded on one of its arms. We find a general expression for the persistent current at steady state, valid for the case where the electronic system is free of interactions except on the dot. The result is used to derive the modification in the persistent current brought about by coupling the quantum dot to a phonon source. The magnitude of the persistent current is found to be enhanced in an appropriate range of the intensity of the acoustic source.

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Broken unitarity and phase measurements in Aharonov-Bohm interferometers.

Aharonov-Bohm mesoscopic solid-state interferometers yield a conductance which contains a term cos(phi+beta), where phi relates to the magnetic flux. Experiments with a quantum dot on one of the interfering paths aim to relate beta to the dot's intrinsic Friedel transmission phase alpha(1). For closed systems, which conserve the electron current (unitarity), the Onsager relation requires that beta = 0 or pi. For open systems, we show that in general beta depends on the details of the broken unitarity. Although it gives information on the resonances of the dot, beta is generally not equal to alpha(1). A direct relation between beta and alpha(1) requires specific ways of opening the system, which are discussed.

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Acoustoelectric current and pumping in a ballistic quantum point contact.

The acoustoelectric current induced by a surface acoustic wave (SAW) in a ballistic quantum point contact is considered using a quantum approach. We find that the current is of the "pumping" type and is not related to drag, i.e., to the momentum transfer from the wave to the electron gas. At gate voltages corresponding to the plateaus of the quantized conductance the current is small. It is peaked at the conductance step voltages. The peak current oscillates and decays with increasing SAW wave number for short wavelengths. These results contradict previous calculations, based on the classical Boltzmann equation.

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