Abstract: We studied theoretically the effect of time symmetric and asymmetric electromagnetic (e.m.) radiation on the phase-slip process in superconducting wires in the regime where there is no stimulation of superconductivity. We found that for large amplitudes j(ac) of the symmetric ac signal the value of the lower critical current j(c1)(j(ac)) at which the voltage vanishes in the sample oscillates as a function of j(ac). The amplitude of these oscillations decays with increasing power of the ac signal, and we explain it either by the existence of a maximal current j(c3) beyond which no phase slips can be created or by a weak heat removal from the sample. Applying an asymmetric in time signal (with zero dc current) we show that it may lead to a finite voltage in the system (i.e., ratchet effect). At high enough frequencies the rectified voltage is directly proportional to the frequency of the applied e.m. radiation. These properties resemble in many aspects the behavior of a Josephson junction under e.m. radiation. The differences are mainly connected to the effect of the transport current on the magnitude of the order parameter.

Abstract: Wigner molecules formed at high magnetic fields in circular and elliptic quantum dots are studied by exact diagonalization (ED) and unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) methods with multicenter basis of displaced lowest Landau level wave functions. The broken symmetry states with semi-classical charge density constructed from superpositions of the ED solutions are compared to the UHF results. UHF overlooks the dependence of the few-electron wave functions on the actual relative positions of electrons localized in different charge puddles and partially compensates for this neglect by an exaggerated separation of charge islands which are more strongly localized than in the exact broken-symmetry states. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Transitions between different multivortex states and transitions between multivortex states and giant vortex states are observed in mesoscopic superconducting disks using the multiple-small-tunnel-junction method. These results are compared to theoretical calculations within the framework of the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau theory. We find a good qualitative agreement between the theoretical and experimental results, when we assume that a small defect is present near the center of the experimental sample. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Exciton states in self-assembled InP/In0.49Ga0.51P quantum dots subject to magnetic fields up to 50T are calculated. Strain and band mixing are explicitly taken into account in the single-particle models of the electronic structure, while an exact diagonalization approach is adopted to compute the exciton states. Reasonably good agreement with magneto-photoluminescence measurements on InP self-assembled quantum dots is found. As a result of the polarization and angular momentum sensitive selection rules, the exciton ground state is dark. For in-plane polarized light, the magnetic field barely affects the exciton spatial localization, and consequently the exciton oscillator strength for recombination increases only slightly with increasing field. For z polarized light, a sharp increase of the oscillator strength beyond 30 T is found which is attributed to the enhanced s character of the relevant portion of the exciton wave function. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Responses of mesoscopic superconducting rings and disks to perpendicular magnetic fields are studied by using the multiple-small-tunnel-junction method, in which transport properties of several small tunnel junctions attached to the sample are measured simultaneously. This allows us for a direct experimental observation of the paramagnetic supercurrent, which is closely related to the paramagnetic Meissner effect. The results are compared with numerical results based on the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau theory.

Abstract: A semiconductor quantum dot model accounting for single exciton as well as biexciton states coupled to phonons and laser light is investigated in the limit of strong electronic confinement. For an arbitrary sequence of excitations with ultrafast pulses analytical solutions are obtained for all density-matrix elements. The results are nonperturbative with respect to both the carrier-phonon and the carrier-light coupling. Numerical results for a single pulse excitation are presented illustrating spectral features of our solution as well as pulse area and temperature dependences.