Volume 104, Nº 12 (2016)

We propose potential geometry for fabrication of the graphite sheets with atomically smooth edges. For such sheets with Bernal stacking, the electron–electron interaction and topology should cause sufficiently high density of states resulting in the high temperature of either spin ordering or superconducting pairing.

Theoretical studies are performed of planar cavity–polariton systems under resonant optical excitation. We show that if the cavity is spatially anisotropic, the polariton spin is highly sensitive to the pump polarization direction, which can be used to modulate the circular polarization of the output light. In particular, when the right- and left-circular components of the incident wave have equal intensities and mutually opposite angular momenta, the pump has strictly linear yet angle-dependent polarization and as such brings about a periodic angular variation of the polariton spin. Free motion of polaritons is the other factor determining the shape of the cavity-field distribution. Such externally driven and highly tunable spin patterns represent a counterpart of spin shaping in nonresonantly excited Bose–Einstein condensates of cavity polaritons.

The inverse Faraday effect in iron garnet films subjected to femtosecond laser pulses is experimentally investigated. It is found that the magnitude of the observed effect depends nonlinearly on the energy of the optical pump pulses, which is in contradiction with the notion that the inverse Faraday effect is linear with respect to the pump energy. Thus, for pump pulses with a central wavelength of 650 nm and an energy density of 1 mJ/cm², the deviation from a linear dependence is as large as 50%. Analysis of the experimental data demonstrates that the observed behavior is explained by the fact that the optically induced normal component of the magnetization is determined, apart from the field resulting from the inverse Faraday effect, by a decrease in the magnitude of the precessing magnetization under the influence of the femtosecond electromagnetic field.

The effect of vacancies on the robustness of zero-energy edge electronic states in zigzag-type graphene layer is studied at different concentrations and distributions of defects. All calculations are performed by using the Green’s function method and the tight-binding approximation. It is found that the arrangement of defects plays a crucial role in the destruction of the edge states. We have specified a critical distance between edge vacancies when their mutual influence becomes significant and affects markedly the density of electronic states at graphene edge.

We present direct measurements of the superconducting order parameter in nearly optimal FeSe Te single crystals with the critical temperature T_C ≈ 14 K. Using the intrinsic multiple Andreev reflection effect (IMARE) spectroscopy and measurements of the lower critical field, we directly determined two superconducting gaps, Δ_L ≈ 3.3−3.4 meV and Δ_S ≈ 1 meV, and their temperature dependences. We show that a twoband model fits well the experimental data. The estimated electron–boson coupling constants indicate a strong intraband and a moderate interband interaction.

Information on the density of states of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a 6.6-nm-thick HgTe quantum well that corresponds to a transition from the direct to inverted spectrum is obtained for the first time by means of capacitance measurements. It is found that the density of states of Dirac electrons is a linear function of the Fermi energy at E_F > 30 meV with the corresponding velocity vDF = 8.2 × 10⁵ m/s. At lower energies, this dependence deviates from the linear law, indicating a strong effect of disorder, which is associated with fluctuations of a built-in charge, on the density of states of the studied system near the Dirac point. At negative energies, a sharp increase in the density of states is observed, which is associated with the tail of the density of states of valleys of heavy holes. The described behavior is in agreement with the proposed model, which includes both the features of the real spectrum of Dirac fermions and the effect of the fluctuation potential.

The dynamics of a vortex filament in a Bose–Einstein condensate whose equilibrium density in the reference frame rotating at the angular velocity Ω is Gaussian with the quadratic form r·D̂r has been considered. It has been shown that the equation of motion of the filament in the local-induction approximation permits a class of exact solutions in the form R(β, t) = βM(t) + N(t) of a straight vortex, where β is the longitudinal parameter and is the time. The vortex slips over the surface of an ellipsoid, which follows from the conservation laws N · D̂N=C₁ and M · D̂N=C₀=0. The equation of the evolution of the tangential vector M(t) appears to be closed and has integrals of motion M ·D̂M=C₂ and (|M| − M· ĜΩ) = C, with the matrix Ĝ = 2(ÎTrD̂ − D̂)⁻¹. Crossing of the respective isosurfaces specifies trajectories in the phase space.

The ordering of a multilayer consisting of DSPC bilayers on a silica sol substrate is studied within the modelindependent approach to the reconstruction of profiles of the electron density from X-ray reflectometry data. It is found that the electroporation of bilayers in the field of anion silica nanoparticles significantly accelerates the process of their saturation with Na⁺ and H₂O, which explains both a relatively small time of formation of the structure of the multilayer of 1–7×10⁵ s and ~13% excess of the electron density in it.

Studies of phenomena accompanying the interaction of superstrong electromagnetic fields with matter, in particular, the generation of an electron–positron plasma, acceleration of electrons and ions, and the generation of hard electromagnetic radiation are briefly reviewed. The possibility of using thin films to initiate quantum electrodynamics cascades in the field of converging laser pulses is analyzed. A model is developed to describe the formation of a plasma cavity behind a laser pulse in the transversely inhomogeneous plasma and the generation of betatron radiation by electrons accelerated in this cavity. Features of the generation of gamma radiation, as well as the effect of quantum electrodynamics effects on the acceleration of ions, at the interaction of intense laser pulses with solid targets are studied.