Abstract: Using advanced Ginzburg-Landau simulations, we study the superconducting state of a thin superconducting film under a ferromagnetic layer, separated by an insulating oxide, in applied external magnetic field and electric current. The taken uniaxial ferromagnet is organized into a series of parallel domains with alternating polarization of out-of-plane magnetization, sufficiently strong to induce vortex-antivortex pairs in the underlying superconductor in absence of other magnetic field. We show the organization of such vortex-antivortex matter into rich configurations, some of which are not matching the periodicity of the ferromagnetic film. The variety of possible configurations is enhanced by applied homogeneous magnetic field, where additional vortices in the superconductor may lower the energy of the system by either annihilating the present antivortices under negative ferromagnetic domains or by lowering their own energy after positioning under positive ferromagnetic domains. As a consequence, both the vortex-antivortex reordering in increasing external field and the evolution of the energy of the system are highly nontrivial. Finally, we reveal the very interesting effects of applied dc electric current on the vortex-antivortex configurations, since resulting Lorentzian force has opposite direction for vortices and antivortices, while direction of the applied current with respect to ferromagnetic domains is of crucial importance for the interaction of the applied and the Meissner current, as well as the consequent vortex-antivortex dynamics-both of which are reflected in the anisotropic critical current of the system. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.

Abstract: A pseudomagnetic field kink can be realized along a graphene nanoribbon using strain engineering. Electron transport along this kink is governed by snake states that are characterized by a single propagation direction. Those pseudomagnetic fields point towards opposite directions in the K and K' valleys, leading to valley polarized snake states. In a graphene nanoribbon with armchair edges this effect results in a valley filter that is based only on strain engineering. We discuss how to maximize this valley filtering by adjusting the parameters that define the stress distribution along the graphene ribbon.

Abstract: We explore the electronic and the optical properties of monolayer TiS3, which shows in-plane anisotropy and is composed of a chain-like structure along one of the lattice directions. Together with its robust direct band gap, which changes very slightly with stacking order and with the thickness of the sample, the anisotropic physical properties of TiS3 make the material very attractive for various device applications. In this study, we present a detailed investigation on the effect of the crystal anisotropy on the excitons and the trions of the TiS3 monolayer. We use many-body perturbation theory to calculate the absorption spectrum of anisotropic TiS3 monolayer by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation. In parallel, we implement and use a Wannier-Mott model for the excitons that takes into account the anisotropic effective masses and Coulomb screening, which are obtained from ab initio calculations. This model is then extended for the investigation of trion states of monolayer TiS3. Our calculations indicate that the absorption spectrum of monolayer TiS3 drastically depends on the polarization of the incoming light, which excites different excitons with distinct binding energies. In addition, the binding energies of positively and the negatively charged trions are observed to be distinct and they exhibit an anisotropic probability density distribution.