Questions M2

Introduction to Nanomagnetism
Introduction to Nano-optics

Year 2020.

Joaquín Fernández Rossier

Question 1.
• Discuss briefly the relation between angular momentum and magnetic moment for
electrons and for nuclei.

A magnetic field is created by the electron when this orbit around the nuclei. Therefore, we can say
that the magnetic moment can be describe as:

With this, we can say that the angular momentum and the magnetic moments are related.

• Discuss briefly why the electronic magnetic moment is much higher than the nuclear
magnetic moment.

The magnetic moment is inversely proportional to the mass of the particle, as shown before, and
being the nuclei an order of magnitude heavier than the electrons we can expect that the magnetic
moment of the nuclei is much smaller.
Question 2.
Discuss the relation between open-shell configurations and the magnetic behavior of molecules.

Molecules with open-shell configuration presents paramagnetism. The spin of the unpair electron
can align with a magnetic field applied to the molecule. Meanwhile, in a close-shell configuration all
the electrons are pair and because of the Pauli exclusion principle they will be with their spins
opposite to each other and therefore, the magnetic dipole moment of the pair electron is cancelled.

Question 3.
Discuss the relation between spin-relaxation and remanence in the M(H) curve for molecular
crystals.

In a system with two different ground states and an electron in one of them a magnetic field is
applied. The electron will have some magnetic moment. In absence of the magnetic field, the system
will have the same magnetic moment. With no magnetic field applied, even when the energy of the
two ground states are the same, the electron cannot move due to the energy needed to change the
spin direction. Now, applying a opposite magnetic field, the system has enough energy to make the
jump and change the direction of the spin. Again, in absence of magnetic field the electron is fix in his
position.
This behavior at zero magnetic field is called remanence.

Question 4.
Discuss the origin of the relation between the size of a semiconducting quantum dot and the
wavelength of its light emission spectrum.

Quantum confinement effects take over when get to the nano-scale. In quantum dots, the size of the
particle approaches the size of the electron-hole distance known as the Bohr radius. For a 3D
spherical particle, we consider the energy of an infinite potential well to describe the band gap
energy.
This is the band gap energy of a box, Eg in the band-gap without taking into account the quantization
of the system, h is planck's constant, m_c is the effective mass of a point charge in the conduction
band, m_v is the effective mass of a point charge in the valence band and the L are the sides of the
box. If the particle increases in size, the band gap energy decreases. Therefore, as size varies in QDs,
the energy changes because the exciton in the QDs behaves like a "particle in a box."

Question 5.
In a transport experiment the band-gap of a semiconductor is determined to be 2.0 eV. However, the
photoluminescence spectrum has a peak at 1.5 eV. Discuss how this relates to the concept of exciton.

An exciton is a virtual particle formed by an electron and an absence of one (hole). The energy of an
electron and a hole separately are higher than the energy of the exciton. This is due to the attraction
between the pair electron-hole in the exciton by Coulomb force.

The photon emitted in the recombination has a lower energy (1.5 ev) than the energy needed to
promote the electron (2.0 eV) in the first place and the difference in energy is the exciton binding
energy.
Question 6.
Derive the plasmon frequency for a three-dimensional conductor, using a model where electrons
move rigidly on top of a homogeneous background of positive charge.

For a fixed homogeneous background of positive charge, we place a mobile electron gas on top.

We obtain a system with all the charges compensated. The sum of negative and positive charges
is zero, it is neutral.

Now we suppose that the electron gas moves rigidly to one side. This will leave the fixed
background missing electrons and extra electrons in the other side.
We obtain something similar to a plain of positive charges parallel to a plain of negative charge,
a capacitor. An electric field will be inside, proportional to the density of charges. With this we
can obtain the force.

Using the classical harmonic oscillator equation, we can relate the force with the frequency. Also,
we can relate the electric field to the density of charges of a material in bulk.

Finally, we obtain a formula that relates the frequency of the plasmon using the charge and mass
of the electron and the density of electrons per volume.

A LA FORMULA FINAL LE FALTA EPSILON 0. LA CORRECTA SERÍA:

2
𝑒2𝜌
𝜔 =
𝑚𝜖0