Skyrmion-skyrmion interaction in a magnetic film.

Interaction of two skyrmions stabilized by the ferromagnetic exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), and external magnetic field has been studied numerically on a 2D lattice of size large compared to the separation, d, between the skyrmions. We show that two skyrmions of the same chirality (determined by the symmetry of the crystal) repel. In accordance with earlier analytical results, their long-range pair interaction falls out with the separation as exp(-d/δ H ), where δ H is the magnetic screening length, independent of the DMI. The prefactor in this expression depends on the DMI that drives the repulsion. The latter results in the spiral motion of the two skyrmions around each other, with the separation between them growing logarithmically with time. When two skyrmions of the total topological charge Q = 2 are pushed close to each other, the discreteness of the atomic lattice makes them collapse into one skyrmion of charge Q = 1 below a critical separation. Experiment is proposed that would allow one to measure the interaction between two skyrmions by holding them in positions with two magnetic tips. Our findings should be of value for designing topologically protected magnetic memory based upon skyrmions.

Topological Order Generated by a Random Field in a 2D Exchange Model.

We study a 2D exchange model with a weak static random field on lattices containing over 10^{8} spins. Ferromagnetic correlations persist on the Imry-Ma scale inversely proportional to the random-field strength and decay exponentially at greater distances. We find that the average energy of the correlated area is close to the ground-state energy of a Skyrmion, while the topological charge of the area is close to ±1. The correlation function of the topological charge density changes sign at a distance determined by the ferromagnetic correlation length, while its Fourier transform exhibits a maximum. These findings suggest that static randomness transforms a 2D ferromagnetic state into a Skyrmion-anti-Skyrmion glass.

Evidence for quantization of mechanical rotation of magnetic nanoparticles.

We report evidence of the quantization of the rotational motion of solid particles containing thousands of atoms. A system of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles confined inside polymeric cavities has been studied. The particles have been characterized by the x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, plasma mass spectroscopy, ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), and magnetization measurements. Magnetic and FMR data confirm the presence of particles that are free to rotate inside the cavities. Equidistant, temperature-independent jumps in the dependence of the microwave absorption on the magnetic field have been detected. This observation is in accordance with the expectation that orbital motion splits the low-field absorption line into multiple lines.

Instanton glass generated by noise in a Josephson-junction array.

We compute the correlation function of a superconducting order parameter in a continuous model of a two-dimensional Josephson-junction array in the presence of a weak Gaussian noise. When the Josephson coupling is large compared to the charging energy, the correlations in the Euclidian space decay exponentially at low temperatures regardless of the strength of the noise. We interpret such a state as a collective Cooper-pair insulator and argue that it resembles properties of disordered superconducting films.

Magnetic molecule on a microcantilever: quantum magnetomechanical oscillations.

We study the quantum dynamics of a system consisting of a magnetic molecule placed on a microcantilever. The amplitude and frequencies of the coupled magnetomechanical oscillations are computed. Parameter-free theory shows that the existing experimental techniques permit observation of the driven coupled oscillations of the spin and the cantilever, as well as of the splitting of the mechanical modes of the cantilever caused by spin tunneling.

Self-organized patterns of macroscopic quantum tunneling in molecular magnets.

We study low temperature resonant spin tunneling in molecular magnets induced by a field sweep with account of dipole-dipole interactions. Numerical simulations uncovered formation of self-organized patterns of the magnetization and of the ensuing dipolar field that provide resonant conditions inside a finite volume of the crystal. This effect is robust with respect to disorder and should be relevant to the dynamics of the magnetization steps observed in molecular magnets.

Rabi spin oscillations generated by ultrasound in solids.

It is shown that ultrasound in the gigahertz range can generate space-time Rabi oscillations between spin states of molecular magnets. We compute dynamics of the magnetization generated by surface acoustic waves and discuss conditions under which this novel quantum effect can be observed.

Electromagnetic radiation from vortex flow in Type-II superconductors.

We show that a moving vortex lattice, as it comes to a crystal edge, radiates into a free space the harmonics of the washboard frequency, omega(0)=2pi v/a, up to a superconducting gap, Delta/variant Planck's over 2pi. Here v is the velocity of the vortex lattice and a is the intervortex spacing. We compute radiation power and show that this effect can be used for the generation of terahertz radiation and for characterization of moving vortex lattices.

Propagation of avalanches in Mn12-acetate: magnetic deflagration.

Local time-resolved measurements of fast reversal of the magnetization of single crystals of Mn12-acetate indicate that the magnetization avalanche spreads as a narrow interface that propagates through the crystal at a constant velocity that is roughly 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the speed of sound. We argue that this phenomenon is closely analogous to the propagation of a flame front (deflagration) through a flammable chemical substance.

Field dependence of the electron spin relaxation in quantum dots.

The interaction of the electron spin with local elastic twists due to transverse phonons is studied. The universal dependence of the spin-relaxation rate on the strength and direction of the magnetic field is obtained in terms of the electron gyromagnetic tensor and macroscopic elastic constants of the solid. The theory contains no unknown parameters and it can be easily tested in experiment. At high magnetic field it provides a parameter-free lower bound on the electron spin relaxation in quantum dots.

Phonon superradiance and phonon laser effect in nanomagnets.

We show that the theory of spin-phonon processes in paramagnetic solids must take into account the coherent generation of phonons by the magnetic centers. This effect should drastically enhance spin-phonon rates in nanoscale paramagnets and in crystals of molecular nanomagnets.

Inertial mass of the Abrikosov vortex.

We show that a large contribution to the inertial mass of the Abrikosov vortex comes from transversal displacements of the crystal lattice. The corresponding part of the mass per unit length of the vortex line is M(l)=(m(2)(e)c(2)/64 pi alpha(2)mu lambda(4)(L))ln((lambda(L)/xi), where m(e) is the bare electron mass, c is the speed of light, alpha=e(2)/Planck's over 2 pi c approximately 1/137 is the fine structure constant, mu is the shear modulus of the solid, lambda(L) is the London penetration length, and xi is the coherence length. In conventional superconductors, this mass can be comparable to or even greater than the vortex core mass computed by Suhl [Phys. Rev. Lett. 14, 226 (1965)]].

Superradiance from crystals of molecular nanomagnets.

We show that crystals of molecular nanomagnets can exhibit giant magnetic relaxation due to the Dicke superradiance of electromagnetic waves. Rigorous theory is presented that combines superradiance with the Landau-Zener effect.

Reflectivity and microwave absorption in crystals with alternating intrinsic Josephson junctions.

We compute the frequency and magnetic field dependencies of the reflectivity R(omega) in layered superconductors with two alternating intrinsic Josephson junctions with different critical current densities and quasiparticle conductivities for the electric field polarized along the c axis. The parameter alpha describing the electronic compressibility of the layers and the charge coupling of neighboring junctions was extracted for the SmLa1-xSr xCuO (4-delta) superconductor from two independent optical measurements, the fit of the loss function L(omega) at zero magnetic field and the magnetic field dependence of the peak positions in L(omega). The experiments are consistent with a free electron value for alpha.