We analyze the ground state of the two-dimensional quantum system of electrons confined in a parabolic potential with the system size around 100. We map the system onto a classical system on the basis of the classical-map hypernetted-chain (CHNC) method which has been proven to work in the integral-equation-based analyses of uniform unbounded systems and then apply classical numerical simulations. We find that the confined system undergoes the transition to the spin polarized state with the decrease of the average density and the corresponding critical value is as low as rs ∼ 0.3 in terms of the usual rs parameter estimated for the average density. As the ground state for given value of the rs parameter, our data give the critical value for the transition around 20 which is consistent with the known possibility. The advantage of our method is a direct applicability to geometrically complex systems which are difficult to analyze by integral equations. The application to the structure like quantum dots reported here is the first example of such applications.
We analyze the ground state of the two-dimensional quantum system of electrons confined in a parabolic potential with the system size around 100. We map the system onto a classical system on the basis of the classical-map hypernetted-chain (CHNC) method which has been proven to work in the integral-equation-based analyses of uniform unbounded systems and then apply classical numerical simulations. We find that the confined system undergoes the transition to the spin polarized state with the decrease of the average density and the corresponding critical value is as low as rs ∼ 0.3 in terms of the usual rs parameter estimated for the average density. As the ground state for given value of the rs parameter, our data give the critical value for the transition around 20 which is consistent with the known possibility. The advantage of our method is a direct applicability to geometrically complex systems which are difficult to analyze by integral equations. The application to the structure like quantum dots reported here is the first example of such applications.
Two-dimensional electron liquid (2D EL) at full Fermi degeneracy is revisited, giving special attention to the spin-polarization effects. First, we extend the recently proposed classical-map hypernetted-chain (CHNC) technique to the 2D EL, while preserving the simplicity of the original proposal. An efficient implementation of CHNC is given utilizing Lado's quadrature expressions for the isotropic Fourier transforms. Our results indicate that the paramagnetic phase stays to be the ground state until the Wigner crystallization density, even though the energy separation with the ferromagnetic and other partially polarized states become minute. We analyze compressibility and spin stiffness variations with respect to density and spin polarization, the latter being overlooked until now. Spin-dependent static structure factor and pair-distribution functions are computed; agreement with the available quantum Monte Carlo data persists even in the strong-coupling regime of the 2D EL.
Based on the mapping introduced by the classical-map hypernetted-chain (CHNC) method, classical numerical simulations, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics, have been applied to the twodimensional electron fluid and the results are compared with those of quantum Monte Carlo simulations hitherto reported. It is shown that polarization properties of the ground state obtained by the diffusion Monte Carlo method are reproduced within the accuracy of quantum simulations by both of two mapping functions for the quantum temperature which have been proposed within the CHNC method. These results may serve as the basis of numerical simulations based on the CHNC method which are applicable to finite non-periodic systems like quantum dots and systems at finite temperatures.
Alexander Shashkin Institute of Solid State Physics, Chernogolovka, Moscow District 142432, Russia Sergey Kravchenko Physics Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, U.S.A. Two-dimensional (2D) electron systems are realized when the electrons are free to move in a plane but their motion perpendicular to the plane is quantized in a confining potential well. Quantum phase transitions realized experimentally in such systems so far include metal-insulator transitions in perpendicular magnetic fields, metal-insulator transition in zero magnetic field, and a possible transition to a Wigner crystal. The first transition is governed by the externally controlled electron density or magnetic field, while the other two are governed by the electron density. At low electron densities in 2D systems, the strongly-interacting limit is reached because the kinetic energy is overwhelmed by the energy of electron-electron interactions. The interaction strength is characterized by the ratio between the Coulomb energy and the Fermi energy, r∗s = Eee/EF . Assuming that the effective electron mass is equal to the band mass, the interaction parameter r∗s in the single-valley case reduces to the Wigner-Seitz radius, rs = 1/(πns)1/2aB, and therefore increases as the electron density, ns, decreases (here aB is the Bohr radius in the semiconductor). Possible candidates for the ground state of the system include a Wigner crystal characterized by spatial and spin ordering [1], a ferromagnetic Fermi liquid with spontaneous spin ordering [2], a paramagnetic Fermi liquid [3], etc. In the strongly-interacting limit (rs 1), no analytical theory has been developed to date. According to numerical simulations [4], Wigner crystallization is expected in a very dilute regime, when rs reaches approximately 35. Refined numerical simulations [5] have predicted that prior to the crystallization, in the range of the interaction parameter 25 ≤ rs ≤ 35, the ground state of the system is a strongly correlated ferromagnetic Fermi liquid. At higher electron densities, rs ∼ 1, the electron liquid is expected to be paramagnetic, with the effective mass, m, and Lande´ g factor renormalized by interactions. Apart from the ferromagnetic Fermi liquid, other intermediate phases between the Wigner crystal and the paramagnetic Fermi liquid may also exist.
Abstract The Hamiltonian and wavefunctions of two-dimensional two-electron quantum dots (2D2eQD) in parabolic confinement are determined. The ground and excited state energies are calculated solving the Schrödinger equation analytically and numerically. To determine the energy eigen-value of the system variational method is employed due to the large coupling constant λ ≈ 1.1 \lambda \approx 1.1 . The trial wavefunctions are developed for both ground and excited states. The ground state wave function is a para state and the excited state wavefunctions belong to both para and ortho states based on the symmetry and antisymmetry of spatial wavefunctions. Using the obtained energy eigen-values at the two states, the first- and third-order nonlinear absorption coefficient and refractive index are analytically obtained with the help of density matrix formalism and iterative procedure.
An interacting electron liquid in two (2D) and three (3D) dimensions may undergo a paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic quantum spin polarization transition at zero applied magnetic field, driven entirely by exchange interactions, as the system density (n) is decreased. This is known as Bloch ferromagnetism. We show theoretically that the application of an external magnetic field (B), which directly spin polarizes the system through Zeeman spin splitting, has an interesting effect on Bloch ferromagnetism if the applied field and carrier density are both decreased (from some initial applied high magnetic field at a high carrier density) in a power-law manner, $B\ensuremath{\sim}{n}^{p}$. For p<pc, with pc=1(2/3) in 2(3)D, the system remains either fully spin polarized or undergoes a single transition from a partially spin-polarized (with two Fermi surfaces corresponding to spin up and down electrons) to a fully spin-polarized state (with a single Fermi surface of one spin) as the density and field decrease, depending on whether the starting point is partially spin polarized or fully spin polarized. However, for p>pc, the system may undergo two transitions if starting from the fully spin-polarized state: first, a weak second-order transition at high density and field from the field-induced fully polarized phase to the partially polarized phase; and then, at a lower field and density, a reentrant first-order transition back to the fully spin-polarized phase again with a single Fermi surface.
The nature of the ground state of a few-electron system in a parabolic twodimensional (2D) quantum dot (QD) is theoretically investigated on the basis of a variational many-body approach within a second quantized formulation. The resulting analytical expressions lead to various phase transitions: maximum density droplet, Wigner phase, etc., in a broad range of magnetic fields. It is observed that in the case of relatively strong QD confinement and weak magnetic fields, a rotationally symmetric spin-singlet state is the ground state of the system. However, in a strong magnetic field and for the same QD confinement, a broken-symmetry spinsinglet state appears to be energetically favoured over the symmetric spin-singlet state. The method developed is generalized for the investigation of possible novel phases for electron-hole interacting systems.