L. Chotorlishvili

Quantum Otto heat engine based on a multiferroic chain working substance

We study a quantum Otto engine operating on the basis of a helical spin-1/2 multiferroic chain with strongly coupled magnetic and ferroelectric order parameters. The presence of a finite spin chirality in the working substance enables steering of the cycle by an external electric field that couples to the electric polarization. We observe a direct connection between the chirality, the entanglement and the efficiency of the engine. An electric-field dependent threshold temperature is identified, above which the pair correlations in the system, as quantified by the thermal entanglement, diminish. In contrast to the pair correlations, the collective many-body thermal entanglement is less sensitive to the electric field, and in the high temperature limit converges to a constant value. We also discuss the correlations between the threshold temperature of the pair entanglement, the spin chirality and the minimum of the fidelities in relation to the electric and magnetic fields. The efficiency of the quantum Otto cycle shows a saturation plateau with increasing electric field amplitude.

Fokker-Planck approach to the theory of the magnon-driven spin Seebeck effect

Following the theoretical approach by Xiao et al [Phys. Rev. B 81, 214418 (2010)] to the spin Seebeck effect, we calculate the mean value of the total spin current flowing through a normalmetal/ ferromagnet interface. The spin current emitted from the ferromagnet to the normal metal is evaluated in the framework of the Fokker-Planck approach for the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. We show that the total spin current depends not only on the temperature difference between the electron and the magnon baths, but also on the external magnetic field and magnetic anisotropy. Apart from this, the spin current is shown to saturate with increasing magnon temperature, and the saturation temperature increases with increasing magnetic field and/or magnetic anisotropy.

Superadiabatic quantum heat engine with a multiferroic working medium

A quantum thermodynamic cycle with a chiral multiferroic working substance such as LiCu_{2}O_{2} is presented. Shortcuts to adiabaticity are employed to achieve an efficient, finite-time quantum thermodynamic cycle, which is found to depend on the spin ordering. The emergent electric polarization associated with the chiral spin order, i.e., the magnetoelectric coupling, renders possible steering of the spin order by an external electric field and hence renders possible an electric-field control of the cycle. Due to the intrinsic coupling between the spin and the electric polarization, the cycle performs an electromagnetic work. We determine this works mean-square fluctuations, the irreversible work, and the output power of the cycle. We observe that the work mean-square fluctuations are increased with the duration of the adiabatic strokes, while the irreversible work and the output power of the cycle show a nonmonotonic behavior. In particular, the irreversible work vanishes at the end of the quantum adiabatic strokes. This fact confirms that the cycle is reversible. Our theoretical findings evidence the existence of a system inherent maximal output power. By implementing a Lindblad master equation we quantify the role of thermal relaxations on the cycle efficiency. We also discuss the role of entanglement encoded in the noncollinear spin order as a resource to affect the quantum thermodynamic cycle.

Longitudinal spin current induced by a temperature gradient in a ferromagnetic insulator

Based on the solution of the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation discretized for a ferromagnetic chain subject to a uniform temperature gradient, we present a detailed numerical study of the spin dynamics with a focus particularly on finite-size effects. We calculate and analyze the net longitudinal spin current for various temperature gradients, chain lengths, and external static magnetic fields. In addition, we model an interface formed by a nonuniformly magnetized finite-size ferromagnetic insulator and a normal metal and inspect the effects of enhanced Gilbert damping on the formation of the space-dependent spin current within the chain. A particular aim of this study is the inspection of the spin Seebeck effect beyond the linear response regime. We find that within our model the microscopic mechanism of the spin Seebeck current is the magnon accumulation effect quantified in terms of the exchange spin torque. According to our results, this effect drives the spin Seebeck current even in the absence of a deviation between the magnon and phonon temperature profiles. Our theoretical findings are in line with the recently observed experimental results by M. Agrawal et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 107204 (2013).

Entanglement between nitrogen vacancy spins in diamond controlled by a nanomechanical resonator

We suggest a new type of nano-electromechanical resonator, the functionality of which is based on a magnetic field induced deflection of an appropriate cantilever that oscillates between nitrogen vacancy (NV) spins in daimond. Specifically, we consider a Si(100) cantilever coated with a thin magnetic Ni film. Magnetoelastic stress and magnetic-field induced torque are utilized to induce a controlled cantilever deflection. It is shown that, depending on the value of the system parameters, the induced asymmetry of the cantilever deflection substantially modifies the characteristics of the system. In particular, the coupling strength between the NV spins and the degree of entanglement can be controlled through magnetoelastic stress and magnetic-field induced torque effects. Our theoretical proposal can be implemented experimentally with the potential of increasing several times the coupling strength between the NV spins as compared to the maximal coupling strength reported before in P. Rabl, et al. Phys. Rev. B 79, 041302(R) (2009).

On the superparamagnetic size limit of nanoparticles on a ferroelectric substrate

When decreasing the size of nanoscale magnetic particles, their magnetization becomes vulnerable to thermal fluctuations as the superparamagnetic limit approaches, thus hindering applications relying on a stable magnetization. Here, we theoretically investigate how a magnetoelectric coupling to a ferroelectric substrate modifies the superparamagnetic limit, with a special focus on the possible realization of substantially smaller multiferroic clusters with thermally stable magnetization. For an estimate of cluster size we perform calculations for iron nanoparticles multiferroically coupled to a BaTiO3 substrate. Our numerical results indicate that steering the polarization of BaTiO3 with electric fields affects the magnetism of the deposited magnetic clusters. The work provides a suggestion on how the strength of the magnetoelectric coupling might be extracted from telegraph noise experiments.

Swift thermal steering of domain walls in ferromagnetic MnBi stripes

We predict a fast domain wall (DW) motion induced by a thermal gradient across a nanoscopic ferromagnetic stripe of MnBi. The driving mechanism is an exchange torque fueled by magnon accumulation at the DWs. Depending on the thickness of the sample, both hot-to-cold and cold-to-hot DW motion directions are possible. The finding unveils an energy efficient way to manipulate DWs as an essential element in magnetic information processing such as racetrack memory.

Pulse and quench induced dynamical phase transition in a chiral multiferroic spin chain

Quantum dynamics of magnetic order in a chiral multiferroic chain is studied. We consider two different scenarios: ultrashort terahertz excitations or a sudden electric field quench. Performing analytical and numerical exact diagonalization calculations, we trace the pulse induced spin dynamics and extract quantities that are relevant to quantum information processing. In particular, we analyze the dynamics of the system chirality, the von Neumann entropy, and the pairwise and many-body entanglement. If the characteristic frequencies of the generated states are noncommensurate, then a partial loss of pair concurrence occurs. Increasing the system size, this effect becomes even more pronounced. Many-particle entanglement and chirality are robust and persist in the incommensurate phase. To analyze the dynamical quantum transitions for the quenched and pulsed dynamics we combined the Weierstrass factorization technique for entire functions and the Lanczos exact diagonalization method. For a small system we obtained analytical results including the rate function of the Loschmidt echo. Exact numerical calculations for a system up to 40 spins confirm phase transition. Quench-induced dynamical transitions have been extensively studied recently. Here we show that related dynamical transitions can be achieved and controlled by appropriate electric field pulses.

Creation and amplification of electromagnon solitons by electric field in nanostructured multiferroics

We develop a theoretical description of electromagnon solitons in a coupled ferroelectric-ferromagnetic heterostructure. The solitons are considered in the weakly nonlinear limit as a modulation of plane waves corresponding to two electriclike and magneticlike branches in the spectrum. Emphasis is put on magneticlike envelope solitons that can be created by an alternating electric field. It is shown also that the magnetic pulses can be amplified by an electric field with a frequency close to the band edge of the magnetic branch.

Thermally induced magnonic spin current, thermomagnonic torques, and domain-wall dynamics in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

Thermally activated domain-wall (DW) motion in magnetic insulators has been considered theoretically, with a particular focus on the role of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) and thermomagnonic torques. The thermally assisted DW motion is a consequence of the magnonic spin current due to the applied thermal bias. In addition to the exchange magnonic spin current and the exchange adiabatic and the entropic spin transfer torques, we also consider the DMI-induced magnonic spin current, thermomagnonic DMI fieldlike torque, and the DMI entropic torque. Analytical estimations are supported by numerical calculations. We found that the DMI has a substantial influence on the size and the geometry of DWs, and that the DWs become oriented parallel to the long axis of the nanostrip. Increasing the temperature smoothes the DWs. Moreover, the thermally induced magnonic current generates a torque on the DWs, which is responsible for their motion. From our analysis it follows that for a large enough DMI the influence of DMI-induced fieldlike torque is much stronger than that of the DMI and the exchange entropic torques. By manipulating the strength of the DMI constant, one can control the speed of the DW motion, and the direction of the DW motion can be switched, as well. We also found that DMI not only contributes to the total magnonic current, but also it modifies the exchange magnonic spin current, and this modification depends on the orientation of the steady-state magnetization. The observed phenomenon can be utilized in spin caloritronics devices, for example in the DMI based thermal diodes. By switching the magnetization direction, one can rectify the total magnonic spin current.