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Orbital and spin contributions to the g tensors in metal nanoparticles

Cehovin, Aleksander LU ; Canali, Carlo LU and MacDonald, AH (2004) In Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) 69(4).
Abstract
We present a theoretical study of the mesoscopic fluctuations of g tensors in a metal nanoparticle. The calculations were performed using a semirealistic tight-binding model, which contains both spin and orbital contribution to the g tensors. The results depend on the product of the spin-orbit scattering time tau(so) and the mean-level spacing delta, but are otherwise weakly affected by the specific shape of a generic nanoparticle. We find that the spin contribution to the g tensors agrees with random matrix theory (RMT) predictions. On the other hand, in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit deltatau(so)/h-->0, the orbital contribution depends crucially on the space character of the quasiparticle wave functions: it levels off at a small... (More)
We present a theoretical study of the mesoscopic fluctuations of g tensors in a metal nanoparticle. The calculations were performed using a semirealistic tight-binding model, which contains both spin and orbital contribution to the g tensors. The results depend on the product of the spin-orbit scattering time tau(so) and the mean-level spacing delta, but are otherwise weakly affected by the specific shape of a generic nanoparticle. We find that the spin contribution to the g tensors agrees with random matrix theory (RMT) predictions. On the other hand, in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit deltatau(so)/h-->0, the orbital contribution depends crucially on the space character of the quasiparticle wave functions: it levels off at a small value for states of d character but is strongly enhanced for states of sp character. Our numerical results demonstrate that when orbital coupling to the field is included, RMT predictions overestimate the typical g factor of orbitals that have dominant d-character. This finding points to a possible source of the puzzling discrepancy between theory and experiment. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
volume
69
issue
4
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • wos:000189075200082
  • scopus:1542313975
ISSN
1098-0121
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.69.045411
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bfcd066d-d3aa-4ee3-ba0a-c2587475fbf4 (old id 286954)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:10:54
date last changed
2022-01-28 17:55:25
@article{bfcd066d-d3aa-4ee3-ba0a-c2587475fbf4,
  abstract     = {{We present a theoretical study of the mesoscopic fluctuations of g tensors in a metal nanoparticle. The calculations were performed using a semirealistic tight-binding model, which contains both spin and orbital contribution to the g tensors. The results depend on the product of the spin-orbit scattering time tau(so) and the mean-level spacing delta, but are otherwise weakly affected by the specific shape of a generic nanoparticle. We find that the spin contribution to the g tensors agrees with random matrix theory (RMT) predictions. On the other hand, in the strong spin-orbit coupling limit deltatau(so)/h-->0, the orbital contribution depends crucially on the space character of the quasiparticle wave functions: it levels off at a small value for states of d character but is strongly enhanced for states of sp character. Our numerical results demonstrate that when orbital coupling to the field is included, RMT predictions overestimate the typical g factor of orbitals that have dominant d-character. This finding points to a possible source of the puzzling discrepancy between theory and experiment.}},
  author       = {{Cehovin, Aleksander and Canali, Carlo and MacDonald, AH}},
  issn         = {{1098-0121}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)}},
  title        = {{Orbital and spin contributions to the g tensors in metal nanoparticles}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.69.045411}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevB.69.045411}},
  volume       = {{69}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}