Hydrodynamic couplings of colloidal ellipsoids diffusing in channels

The hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) of two colloidal spheres characterized by the translation–translation (T–T) couplings have been studied under various confinements, but little is known regarding the HIs of anisotropic particles and rotational motions, which are common in nature and industry. Here, we study the T–T, rotation–rotation (R–R) and translation–rotation (T–R) hydrodynamic couplings of two colloidal ellipsoids sediment on the bottoms of channels in experiment, theory and simulation. We find that the degree of confinement and the particle shape anisotropy are critical tuning factors resulting in anomalous hydrodynamic and diffusive behaviours. The negative R–R coupling reflects the tendency of opposite rotations of two neighbouring ellipsoids. The positive T–R coupling reflects that an ellipsoid rotates away from the channel axis as another ellipsoid approaches. As the channel width increases, the positive T–T coupling changes to an abnormal negative coupling, indicating that the single-file diffusion can exist even in wide channels. By contrast, only positive T–T couplings were observed for spheres in channels. The T–T coupling increases with the aspect ratio p. The R–R coupling is the maximum at a moderate p ~ 2.8. The T–R coupling is the maximum at a moderate degree of confinement. The spatial range of HIs is longer than that of spheres and increases with p. We propose a simple model which reproduces some coupling phenomena between two ellipsoids, and it is further confirmed by low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamic simulation. These findings shed new light on anisotropic particle diffusion in porous media, transport through membranes, microfluidics and microrheology.

Mildly flavoring domain walls in Sp(N) SQCD

We consider supersymmetric domain walls of four-dimensional $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 Sp(N) SQCD with F = N + 1 and F = N + 2 flavors.First, we study numerically the differential equations defining the walls, classifying the solutions. When F = N + 2, in the special case of the parity-invariant walls, the naive analysis does not provide all the expected solutions. We show that an infinitesimal deformation of the differential equations sheds some light on this issue.Second, we discuss the 3d$$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 Chern-Simons-matter theories that should describe the effective dynamics on the walls. These proposals pass various tests, including dualities and matching of the vacua of the massive 3d theory with the 4d analysis. However, for F = N +2, the semiclassical analysis of the vacua is only partially successful, suggesting that yet-to-be-understood strong coupling phenomena are into play in our 3d$$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 gauge theories.

Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida-type interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures

The manipulation of magnetization with interfacial modification using various spin-orbit coupling phenomena has been recently revisited due to its scientific and technological potential for next-generation memory devices. Herein, we experimentally and theoretically demonstrate the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction characteristics penetrating through a MgO dielectric layer inserted between the Pt and CoFeSiB. The inserted MgO layer seems to function as a chiral exchange interaction mediator of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction from the heavy metal atoms to ferromagnet ones. The potential physical mechanism of the anti-symmetric exchange is based on the tunneling-like behavior of conduction electrons through the semi-conductor-like ultrathin MgO. Such behavior can be correlated with the oscillations of the indirect exchange coupling of the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida type. From the theoretical demonstration, we could provide approximate estimation and show qualitative trends peculiar to the system under investigation.

Mechanisms of electron-phonon coupling unraveled in momentum and time: The case of soft phonons in TiSe2

The complex coupling between charge carriers and phonons is responsible for diverse phenomena in condensed matter. We apply ultrafast electron diffuse scattering to unravel electron-phonon coupling phenomena in 1T-TiSe2 in both momentum and time. We are able to distinguish effects due to the real part of the many-body bare electronic susceptibility, R[χ0(q)], from those due to the electron-phonon coupling vertex, gq, by following the response of semimetallic (normal-phase) 1T-TiSe2 to the selective photo-doping of carriers into the electron pocket at the Fermi level. Quasi-impulsive and wave vector–specific renormalization of soft zone-boundary phonon frequencies (stiffening) is observed, followed by wave vector–independent electron-phonon equilibration. These results unravel the underlying mechanisms driving the phonon softening that is associated with the charge density wave transition at lower temperatures.

Complex plasmon-exciton dynamics revealed through quantum dot light emission in a nanocavity

Plasmonic cavities can confine electromagnetic radiation to deep sub-wavelength regimes. This facilitates strong coupling phenomena to be observed at the limit of individual quantum emitters. Here, we report an extensive set of measurements of plasmonic cavities hosting one to a few semiconductor quantum dots. Scattering spectra show Rabi splitting, demonstrating that these devices are close to the strong coupling regime. Using Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry, we observe non-classical emission, allowing us to directly determine the number of emitters in each device. Surprising features in photoluminescence spectra point to the contribution of multiple excited states. Using model simulations based on an extended Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian, we find that the involvement of a dark state of the quantum dots explains the experimental findings. The coupling of quantum emitters to plasmonic cavities thus exposes complex relaxation pathways and emerges as an unconventional means to control dynamics of quantum states.

Direct imaging of interlayer-coupled symmetric and antisymmetric plasmon modes in graphene/hBN/graphene heterostructures

Much of the richness and variety of physics today are based on coupling phenomena where multiple interacting systems hybridize into new ones with completely distinct attributes. Recent development in building...