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# The Contribution of One-photon Annihilation at 𝜓(2𝑆) in 𝑒⁺𝑒⁻ Experiment Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (19991483) and 100 Talents Program of CAS (U-25).

## 1 Introduction

The study and understanding of the decay dynamics of the charmonium states $`J/\psi `$, $`\psi (2S)`$ and possibly $`\psi (3770)`$, is one of the most important topics in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). There have been lots of activities in experimental part of this study in recent years since BES  has collected the world largest $`\psi (2S)`$ sample during 1993-1994 and 1995 running years at the $`\psi (2S)`$ peak. Among the studies, the reconfirmation of the vector-pseudoscalar (VP) decay puzzle (also called “$`\rho \pi `$ puzzle”) between $`J/\psi `$ and $`\psi (2S)`$ decays  first observed by MARK II  and the first observation of the $`\psi (2S)`$ decay suppressions in vector-tensor (VT) modes  compared to naive perturbative QCD predictions are of great interest. Since then, many theoretical efforts have been put to figure out the possible reasons why $`J/\psi `$ and $`\psi (2S)`$ decays to some final states, especially for VP and VT modes significantly deviate from “15 % rule”, while many other decay modes agree with the predictions .

To extend the experimental study to other decay modes of $`\psi (2S)`$, to further explore the studied modes to higher sensitivity, and to match the huge sample BES has collected at the $`J/\psi `$ peak during 1999-2001 running years , BES has collected 14 M $`\psi (2S)`$ data during 2001-2002 running year . This world largest sample makes it possible to measure the $`\psi (2S)`$ decays to electromagnetic decay level, so that one can reach the sensitivity of separating the QED and QCD amplitudes in $`\psi (2S)`$ decays.

As for the study of $`\psi (3770)`$, as an attempt to solve the “$`\rho \pi `$ puzzle” in $`\psi (2S)`$ decays, it has been proposed that the suppression of the $`\psi (2S)`$ decays to some specific final states is due to the mixing between S- and D-wave charmonium states, or the $`\psi (2S)`$ is very close to $`D\overline{D}`$ threshold so that virtual process of $`\psi (2S)D\overline{D}`$ cancels lots of $`\psi (2S)`$ decay amplitudes to those suppressed channels . Furthermore, the study of the old data may indicate $`\psi (3770)`$ has a large fraction of decays into light hadrons besides $`D\overline{D}`$ modes, in contradiction to the picture that it decays to $`D\overline{D}`$ dominantly . To confirm this, the best way is to measure the $`D\overline{D}`$ and total $`\psi (3770)`$ cross sections with high precision, so that the difference between the two gives the contribution of the non-$`D\overline{D}`$ decay rate, while the other possible way is to measure the exclusive non-$`D\overline{D}`$ decay modes.

Now we know that $`J/\psi `$ and $`\psi (2S)`$ decay into hadrons, besides those with charmonium in final particles, through two interactions: the one-photon electromagnetic interaction and three-gluon strong interaction. The amplitudes of them, in general, may have a relative phase. This is also true for $`\psi (3770)`$ decaying into light hadrons.

In $`e^+e^{}`$ colliding beam experiment, $`J/\psi `$ and $`\psi (2S)`$ are produced by $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation, there is inevitable the process

$$e^+e^{}\gamma ^{}hadrons$$
(1)
produced simultaneously, which is indistinguishable from the hadron events from $`J/\psi `$ or $`\psi (2S)`$ decays. So in $`e^+e^{}`$ experiment, any final state may come from three processes: the charmonium three-gluon decays, the charmonium one-photon decays, and the virtual photon process without going through resonance (continuum process). The study of the charmonium decay dynamics is to determine the decay amplitudes of the three-gluon and the one-photon processes. In the case of the $`\psi (2S)`$, the one-photon decays has a comparable cross section with respected to the continuum process. Moreover, for some strongly suppessed modes like VP and VT, the three-gluon process may also have a comparable cross section. In this case, one has to consider three amplitudes and the relative phases between any of the two amplitudes in the analysis of the experimental data. Fortunately, there are some decay modes of the charmonium where the strong decays are forbidden, only decays through one-photon annihilation is allowed, like $`\psi (2S)`$ $`\omega \pi ^0`$, which violates the isospin, and $`\psi (2S)`$ $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, which violates the G-parity. In such situation, only two amplitudes and one relative phase are present, this substantially simplifies the study, and makes the determination of the one-photon decay amplitude possible, provided the amplitude of the continuum process being known.

The electromagnetic processes, such as $`e^+e^{}\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`e^+e^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, are similar to the process $`e^+e^{}\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ in the way that there are two Feynman diagrams : the continuum one-photon diagram and the $`\psi (2S)`$ diagram. Taking $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state as an example, two diagrams are shown in Fig. 1.

The observed experimental cross sections of these exclusive channels consist of three parts: the $`\psi (2S)`$ resonance, the continuum and their interference. However, unlike the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel which the continuum amplitude can be calculated by QED, such terms for $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ are to be determined by experiment, i.e., we need to measure the form factors of $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$.

It is important to notice that the measured cross sections at the narrow resonances are sensitive to the experimental conditions, but the three parts in the cross section depend on different aspects of the experimental details. The measured resonance cross section depends on the energy spread of the $`e^+e^{}`$ collider, but such finite energy spread does not affect the continuum term. On the other hand, the continuum term is sensitive to the invariant mass cut in event selection, while such cut hardly affects the observed resonance cross section under practical event selection criteria. These are to be discussed in detail in the following sections.

The study of the pure electromagnetic decays of the charmonium states will shed light on the understanding of the charmonium decay dynamics. Some theorists, like Suzuki , have tried to probe the interference pattern between one-photon electromagnetic process and three-gluon process of the charmonium decays in order to solve the “$`\rho \pi `$ puzzle”. For such analysis, the experimental information of those decays of pure electromagnetic processes, are of particular importance , since they supply an estimation of the electromagnetic part in the decay modes with strong interaction.

In this paper, we first study the experiment dependence of the cross sections, then give an estimation of the cross sections of the pure electromagnetic process without going through charmonium resonance based on the form factors, finally the minimum required integrated luminosity at off-peak energy point is estimated if meaningful results are expected for the decay modes interested.

## 2 Experimentally observed cross sections

### 2.1 Resonance

The cross section of the process $`e^+e^{}\psi (2S)f`$ (where $`f`$ denotes a certain kind of final state) is described by the Breit-Wigner formula

$$\sigma _{BW}(W)=\frac{12\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }_e\mathrm{\Gamma }_f}{(W^2M^2)^2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_t^2M^2},$$
(2)
where $`W`$ is the center-of-mass energy, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_e`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_f`$ are the widths of $`\psi (2S)`$ decaying into $`e^+e^{}`$ and $`f`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_t`$ and $`M`$ are the total width and mass of $`\psi (2S)`$. Taking the initial state radiative correction into consideration, the cross section becomes

$$\sigma _{r.c.}(W)=\underset{0}{\overset{x_m}{}}𝑑xF(x,s)\frac{1}{|1\mathrm{\Pi }(s(1x))|^2}\sigma _{BW}(s(1x)),$$
(3)
where $`s=W^2`$, $`x_m=1s^{}/s`$, $`\sqrt{s^{}}`$ is the experimentally required minimum invariant mass of the final state $`f`$ after losing energy due to multi-photon emission; $`F(x,s)`$ has been calculated in many references  and $`\mathrm{\Pi }(s(1x))`$ is the vacuum polarization factor. The radiative correction in the final states are usually not considered . The reasons are twofold. In the first place, the hadronic final system is very complicated and since the radiative corrections depend upon the details of how the experiment is done, it is difficult to give a general, model-independent prescription for them. The second reason is that our understanding of the hadronic problem is so crude that there is no need to worry about the electromagnetic corrections. In any case, if we find later on that it is necessary to do radiative corrections to the hadronic states for some specific problem, we can do the calculation then, because the initial state radiative corrections and final state radiative corrections can be decoupled to a large extent.

The $`e^+e^{}`$ colliders have finite energy spread. The energy spread function $`G(W,W^{})`$ is usually a Gaussian distribution :

$$G(W,W^{})=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi }\mathrm{\Delta }}e^{\frac{(WW^{})^2}{2\mathrm{\Delta }^2}},$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the standard deviation of the Gaussian distribution. It varies with the beam energy of the collider. In case of BEPC/BES, $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1.3`$ MeV at the C.M. energy of the $`\psi (2S)`$ . It is much wider than the $`\psi (2S)`$ intrinsic width of (300 $`\pm `$ 25) keV . So the experimentally measured resonance cross section is the radiatively corrected Breit-Wigner cross section folded with the energy spread function:

$$\sigma _{exp}(W)=\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑W^{}\sigma _{r.c.}(W^{})G(W^{},W),$$
(5)
where $`\sigma _{r.c.}`$ is defined by Eq.(3).

In Fig. 2, three cross sections are depicted: the Breit-Wigner cross section of Eq.(2); the cross section after radiative correction by Eq.(3), and the experimentally measured cross section by a $`e^+e^{}`$ collider with $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1.3`$ MeV. In the calculation of these cross sections, the following parameters of $`\psi (2S)`$ are used  : $`M=3.68596`$ GeV; $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_t=300`$ keV; $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_e=2.19`$ keV ***Throughout this paper, we use this set of data and $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1.3`$ MeV for numerical calculations.. From the three curves in Fig. 2, we see that the radiative correction reduces the height of the resonance. It also shifts the peak position to above the $`\psi (2S)`$ nominal mass. The reduction factor $`\rho `$ and the shift of the peak $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sqrt{s}_{max}`$ are approximately expressed by

$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_t}{M}}\right)^\beta (1+\delta ),`$ (6)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }\sqrt{s}_{max}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta \pi }{8}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_t,`$ (7)
where $`\beta `$ is defined as

$$\beta =\frac{2\alpha }{\pi }\left(\mathrm{ln}\frac{s}{m_e^2}1\right),$$

and

$$\delta =\frac{3}{4}\beta +\frac{\alpha }{\pi }\left(\frac{\pi ^2}{3}\frac{1}{2}\right)+\beta ^2\left(\frac{9}{32}\frac{\pi ^2}{12}\right).$$
(8)
At the $`\psi (2S)`$ mass, $`\beta 0.0779`$ and $`\delta 0.06`$. So for $`\psi (2S)`$, the reduction factor $`\rho 0.51`$ and the shift of the peak $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sqrt{s}_{max}9`$ keV. The energy spread further lowers down and shifts the experimentally measured $`\psi (2S)`$ peak. In the case of a collider with $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1.3`$ MeV, the maximum height of the $`\psi (2S)`$ peak becomes 640 nb, and the position of the peak is shifted by 0.14MeV above the $`\psi (2S)`$ nominal mass.

The $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel deserves special discussion here, since it is parallel to those hadronic channels in $`\psi (2S)`$ decays which only go through electromagnetic interaction, such as $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$. Since this is an exclusive channel, there is interference between the continuum and the $`\psi (2S)`$ amplitudes. Such interference can be seen clearly from the scan of the $`\psi (2S)`$, see Fig. 4. In Fig. 4, the cross sections of inclusive hadrons and $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ pairs are depicted for comparison. Here in the calculation of radiative correction, the upper limit of integration $`x_m`$ in Eq.(3) is taken to be ($`14m_\mu ^2/s`$), which means all allowed phase space for multi-photon emission is integrated. The peak of $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ curve is shifted more than that of the inclusive hadrons, to 0.81 MeV above the $`\psi (2S)`$ nominal mass.

### 2.2 One-photon continuum

In the total experimentally measured cross section, the one-photon continuum term has different features from the resonance. For the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel, this term is expressed in the Born order as

$$\sigma _{\gamma ^{}Born}(s)=\frac{4\pi \alpha ^2}{3s}.$$
(9)
After radiative correction, this term depends sensitively on the upper limit of the integration $`x_m`$ in Eq.(3). At the C.M. energy of the $`\psi (2S)`$ mass, the radiatively corrected cross section is 8.33 nb, when $`x_m=14m_\mu ^2/s`$. This value means integrating all the allowed phase space of multi-photon emission. If $`x_m=0.2`$, which means that the final $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ has the minimum invariant mass of $`\sqrt{(10.2)}M_{\psi (2S)}`$, after losing energy to multi-photon emission, then the radiatively corrected cross section is 6.25 nb. In the actual experimental situation, the invariant mass cut or its equivalence is usually imposed to remove the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ from $`J/\psi `$ decays. For the resonance term, as long as

$$x_m\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_t}{M},$$
(10)
it is insensitive to $`x_m`$. Another important feature of the continuum term is that since it is a smooth function of $`s`$, the finite energy spread of the $`e^+e^{}`$ collider does not change the measured value.

For the inclusive hadronic final states, the continuum term is expressed in the Born order as

$$\sigma _{\gamma ^{}Born}(s)=\frac{4\pi \alpha ^2}{3s}R(s),$$
(11)
where $`R(s)`$ is the $`R`$-value at C.M. energy $`\sqrt{s}`$. Since $`R(s)`$ is a slowly varying function of energy, so qualitatively it shares the same feature of this term for $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ final state. After radiative correction, it depends sensitively on the upper limit of the integration $`x_m`$ in Eq.(3), i.e., on the experimental cuts; but the finite energy spread of the $`e^+e^{}`$ collider hardly changes the measured value.

## 3 Cross sections of two exclusive electromagnetic processes

The general discussions in previous section is extended to exclusive processes. For illustrative purpose, we discuss two pure electromagnetic ones, which are similar to $`e^+e^{}\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$.

### 3.1 Resonance

In experiments, usually the branching ratio is measured by the events number of certain channel ($`N_f`$) divided by the total number of the resonance events($`N_{\psi (2S)}`$):

$$_f=\frac{N_f}{N_{\psi (2S)}}=\frac{\sigma _f}{\sigma _{\psi (2S)}},$$
(12)
where $`\sigma _f`$ is the measured cross section of the specific channel and $`\sigma _{\psi (2S)}`$ the total production cross section of $`\psi (2S)`$. With the $`\psi (2S)`$ parameters and $`e^+e^{}`$ collider energy spread used in previous section, the total cross section of $`\psi (2S)`$ is 640 nb (=$`\sigma _{\psi (2S)}`$). The decay $`\psi (2S)\omega \pi ^0`$ is reported a branching ratio of $`(3.6\pm 1.6\pm 0.6)\times 10^5`$ ; the other decay $`\psi (2S)\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ is reported a branching ratio of $`(8\pm 5)\times 10^5`$ by DASP , but a later result by BES is $`(8.4\pm 3.5_{1.3}^{+1.6})\times 10^6`$ . If we check the original references, these numbers actually mean that the BES measured cross section of $`e^+e^{}\omega \pi ^0`$ at $`\psi (2S)`$ mass is $`2\times 10^2`$nb while for $`e^+e^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ it is $`5\times 10^3`$nb.

We notice that the observed cross section of these final states are 3 to 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the total inclusive hadron cross section of the continuum process which, according to Ref. , is about 15 nb. So it could be that a substantial part of the experimentally measured cross section comes from the continuum instead of the $`\psi (2S)`$ decay. Therefore it is essential to know the production rate of $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ due to the continuum process in order to get the correct branching ratios of $`\psi (2S)`$ decays to these modes.

### 3.2 One photon continuum

Here we give an estimation of the possible magnitudes of $`e^+e^{}\gamma ^{}\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`e^+e^{}\gamma ^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ by currently available phenomenological models. These two processes are calculated by their form factors

$`\sigma _{\omega \pi }(s)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi \alpha ^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{|p|^3}{s^{3/2}}}|F_{\omega \pi }(s)|^2,`$ (13)
$`\sigma _{\pi \pi }(s)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi \alpha ^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{|p|^3}{s^{5/2}}}|F_{\pi \pi }(s)|^2,`$ (14)
where $`p`$ is the momentum of the final particles, $`F_{\omega \pi }(s)`$ and $`F_{\pi \pi }(s)`$ are the form factors for $`\omega \pi `$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ respectively. Phenomenological model  gives

$$F_{\omega \pi }(s)=F_{\omega \pi }(0)\frac{m_\rho ^2M_\rho ^{}^2}{(m_\rho ^2s)(M_\rho ^{}^2s)},$$
(15)
with

$$F_{\omega \pi }(0)=2.3\text{ GeV}\text{-1}.$$
(16)
At $`E_{cm}=3.686`$ GeV, it gives $`3.6\times 10^3`$nb at Born order. It is almost unchanged by radiative correction if $`x_m=0.2`$ in Eq.(3)The radiatively corrected cross section is $`3.9\times 10^3`$nb if $`x_m=0.3`$ and $`3.3\times 10^3`$ if $`x_m=0.1`$..

For $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, the vector dominance model (VDM)  gives :

$$F_{\pi \pi }^{VDM}(S)=\frac{m_\rho ^2}{m_\rho ^2s}.$$
(17)
At $`\psi (2S)`$ mass, it gives $`3.2\times 10^3`$nb at Born order, which is almost unchanged after radiative correction if $`x_m=0.2`$The radiatively corrected cross section is $`3.4\times 10^3`$nb if $`x_m=0.3`$ and $`3.0\times 10^3`$nb if $`x_m=0.1`$..

From above estimations, we can see that possibly some of the observed $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and a large fraction of the observed $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ events at $`\psi (2S)`$ peak may come from the continuum process instead of the $`\psi (2S)`$ decay. It should be noted that different models for the form factors give very different results at the $`\psi (2S)`$ mass region , here we only want to get a feeling about the magnitude of the continuum contribution.

For $`\psi (3770)`$, the resonance cross section is only around 8 nb; whereas the hadron cross section from the continuum is about 13 nb. To determine its branching ratio of exclusive light hadrons, we must know the continuum cross section of these final states.

### 3.3 Energy dependence of measurement

From the foregoing discussion, we know that the behavior of two terms of the cross section is rather distinctive with the energy variation: the resonance changes manifestly but the continuum part almost imperceptibly. The relative proportion of two terms of the cross section, which plays an important role in determination of branching ratio, could be rather different at different energy.

In actual experiment, the beam energy could drift away from the position of the maximum inclusive hadron cross section during a considerable long time running, which in turn leads to considerable variation of resonance cross section. Taking $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ final state as an example, if the energy drifts upwards or downwards from the $`\psi (2S)`$ peak position of the inclusive hadron by 0.5 MeV, the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ resonance cross section changes from 4.47 to 4.20 nb, or equivalently the variation is about 6%.

Furthermore, for the process whose continuum cross section is comparable with that of resonance, its interference cross section accounts for a considerable part in the total cross section, and varies violently in the vicinity of the peak position. Also for $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ final state, its interference cross section changes from $`0.14`$ nb to $`0.96`$ or 0.66 nb respectively for the energy drifted by 0.5 MeV lower or higher than the hadron peak position.

Combining the variation of the resonance and the interference, the maximum change of the resonance cross section can reach 1.1 nb, or 25% for $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel. In other words, if we use the result from $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ final state as an approximation, 25% uncertainty should be taken into account in the branching ratio estimation for the 0.5 MeV energy drift***If the energy drift is about 0.2 MeV, the uncertainty is only 9% correspondingly..

## 4 Other $`\psi (2S)`$ decay modes

In previous sections, we have discussed the pure electromagnetic processes in $`\psi (2S)`$ decays. Most other $`\psi (2S)`$ decays which strong interaction plays the leading role also have continuum amplitude contribution if the $`\psi (2S)`$ is produced in $`e^+e^{}`$ collision. Although the amplitude maybe smaller, but for those suppressed channels, like VP and VT modes, the electromagnetic decays and the continuum contribution could play an important role. For example, now the upper limit of $`\psi (2S)\rho \pi `$ branching ratio has been pushed down to $`2.9\times 10^5`$ . Under BES condition, this means that the upper limit of the cross section is $`2\times 10^2`$ nb. The coupling of this channel to virtual photon is one third of $`\omega \pi ^0`$. Using the estimate of previous sections, its continuum cross section could be $`1.2\times 10^3`$nb at $`\psi (2S)`$. If we push down further the upper limit of this decay, we need to take into account the contribution from the continuum. This is also true for the upper limit of $`\psi (2S)K^+K^{}(892)^{}+c.c.`$. Another VP decay mode, $`\psi (2S)K^0\overline{K^0}+c.c.`$, has been measured to have a branching ratio of $`(0.81\pm 0.24\pm 0.16)\times 10^4`$ . This means that BES measured cross section of this channel is $`5\times 10^2`$nb at $`\psi (2S)`$. Theoretically, the coupling of this channel to virtual photon is two thirds of $`\omega \pi ^0`$, so the estimated continuum cross section by the form factors of Eq. (15) is $`3.2\times 10^3`$nb. This has to be considered in high precision experiments of the coming generation accelerator and spectrometer, like CLEO-c and BES-III.

In order to know whether the observed suppression of VP and VT modes in $`\psi (2S)`$ decays are due to the absence of strong interaction amplitude, or the destructive interference between the electromagnetic and the strong amplitudes, or just an incidental destructive interference between these two and the continuum process in our particular experiment, we need to know their coupling to virtual photon.

## 5 Estimation of needed data taking at BES

As discussed in previous sections, in order to extract the branching ratios of $`\psi (2S)`$ to $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ from experimental data, we need the coupling of these channels to a virtual photon. This can only be done by the direct measurement of their production cross sections nearby but off $`\psi (2S)`$ resonance. The same is true for $`\psi (3770)`$ decaying into light hadrons. To satisfy the need of both $`\psi (2S)`$ and $`\psi (3770)`$ physics, the best energy to take the data should be below $`\psi (2S)`$ peak, for example, at $`E_{cm}=3.67`$ GeV. Here two factors should be considered: one is the data-taking point should not be too faraway from the peak position, so that the cross section of the continuum process is almost equal to that at the peak position; another factor is the data-taking point could not be too close to the peak position, so that the resonance cross section is small enough to be neglected. Taking the inclusive hadron final state as an example, at $`E_{cm}=3.67`$ GeV, the cross section variation of the continuum process

$$\delta _{\sigma _\gamma ^{}}=\frac{\sigma _h(E_{cm}=3.67\text{ GeV})\sigma _h(E_{cm}=3.686\text{ GeV})}{\sigma _h(E_{cm}=3.67\text{ GeV})}1.05\%.$$
(18)
At the same time, the ratio of the resonance cross section to that of the continuum process

$$R\left(\frac{\text{resonance}}{\text{continuum}}\right)_{E_{cm}=3.67\text{ GeV}}=\left(\frac{\sigma _{e^+e^{}\psi (2S)hadron}}{\sigma _{e^+e^{}\gamma ^{}hadron}}\right)_{E_{cm}=3.67\text{ GeV}}2.18\%.$$
(19)
That is to say, at $`E_{cm}=3.67`$ GeV, the variation of the continuum process cross section and the proportion of the resonance cross section are both fairly small.

Another reason to take the data below $`\psi (2S)`$ peak is that $`\psi (2S)`$ and $`\psi (3770)`$ are too close to find a suitable data-taking point between them. On one hand, $`\psi (3770)`$ is a wide resonance, the resonance effect can extend far beyond the peak position. On the other hand, the effect from the radiative tail of $`\psi (2S)`$ can reach the vicinity of the $`\psi (3770)`$ peak. For example, at one $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\psi (3770))`$ below $`\psi (3770)`$ peak, the resonance cross section is $`0.8`$ nb, which is mostly $`D\overline{D}`$; the radiative tail of $`\psi (2S)`$ is more than 3 nb; while the cross section for continuum process is about $`13`$ nb. That is to say, the radiative tail of $`\psi (2S)`$ is too large to be neglected.

Finally, we discuss quantitatively how much data are needed.

* The typical electromagnetic process, like $`\psi (2S)\omega \pi ^0`$, is measured to have a branching ratio of $`3\times 10^5`$, since the cross section by BEPC/BES at $`\psi (2S)`$ peak is 640 nb, that means the $`\omega \pi ^0`$ cross section is $`2\times 10^2`$ nb. So for every pb-1, we obtain 20 produced events.

If we use the form factor in Eq.(13) to estimate the cross section, at 3.67GeV it is $`3.8\times 10^3`$ nb with $`x_m=0.2`$ in radiative correction. If so, for every pb-1, we obtain 3.8 produced events.
* Another pure electromagnetic process $`\psi (2S)\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ is measured to have a branching ratio of $`8\times 10^6`$, corresponding cross section is about $`5\times 10^3`$ nb. For every pb-1, we obtain 5 produced events.

If we use the form factor in Eq.(14) to estimate the cross section, at 3.67GeV it is $`3.3\times 10^3`$nb with $`x_m=0.2`$ in radiative correction. If so, for every pb-1, we obtain 3.3 produced events.
* $`e^+e^{}\rho \pi `$ is one of the most interesting processes. Each of the three final states, $`\rho ^0\pi ^0`$, $`\rho ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`\rho ^{}\pi ^+`$ gets $`1/9`$ contribution as $`\omega \pi ^0`$ from pure one-photon process. So for every pb-1, we expect 6.7 produced events (which is one of the three final states). For continuum process, for every pb-1, we obtain 1.3 produced events.

From the above estimates, the integrated luminosity of the off resonance data sample need to be the same order of magnitude as on $`\psi (2S)`$ resonance.

According to the experience of BES data taking, the typical integrated luminosity at $`\psi (2S)`$ mass is about 8 nb-1 per RUN; average 25 RUNs can be taken every day, or equivalently 0.2 pb-1 per day. As an estimation, using these experiment data and form factors, the time needed for events numbers taken at the continuum of different processes can be worked out and are given in Table 1.

In order to obtain reliable signal, and taking both statistical error and data collection time into consideration, we recommend that at least 10 pb-1 data at off $`\psi (2S)`$ peak to be taken. From the above estimates, it gets the statistic to match the new sample about 20 pb-1 of $`\psi (2S)`$ taken by BES-II. It will serve the purpose to take into account the contribution from one-photon continuum in data analysis.

## 6 Summary

In this paper, we discussed extensively the properties of the observed cross section at resonance in $`e^+e^{}`$ experiment. We studied the resonance and the electromagnetic processes. We also pointed out the possible uncertainty due to actual measurement circumstance. The electromagnetic final states of $`\omega \pi ^0`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ are from two processes: one is $`\psi (2S)`$ decay and the other the continuum contribution. Using form factors, we found the continuum contribution is equivalent to the previously reported cross sections of the resonance decay. This indicates that the actual branching ratios of these electromagnetic decays might be different from the present reported values.

In order to obtain the correct results of $`\psi (2S)`$ and $`\psi (3770)`$ decay, we suggest that at least 10 pb-1 data be taken at the continuum region ($`E_{cm}=3.67`$ GeV).


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# Quantum dynamics of crystals of molecular nanomagnets inside a resonant cavity

## Abstract

It is shown that crystals of molecular nanomagnets exhibit enhanced magnetic relaxation when placed inside a resonant cavity. Strong dependence of the magnetization curve on the geometry of the cavity has been observed, providing evidence of the coherent microwave radiation by the crystals. A similar dependence has been found for a crystal placed between Fabry-Perot superconducting mirrors. These observations open the possibility of building a nanomagnetic microwave laser pumped by the magnetic field.

Many fascinating magnetic effects occur at the boundary between classical and quantum physics of the angular momentum. They have been intensively investigated, both theoretically and experimentally, over the last two decades book . The discovery of high-spin molecular nanomagnets has given a strong boost to that field. The most carefully studied nanomagnets are Mn12 and Fe8 molecular clusters. Both have spin 10, which is twenty times the spin of electron. Such a large angular momentum is almost classical. Still crystals of Mn12 and Fe8 exhibit spectacular magnetic effects related to the quantization and quantum tunneling of the angular momentum. The current great interest of physicists to these systems was ignited by the discovery of the quantum stepwise magnetization curve in Mn12-acetate four , see Fig. 1. It has the following simple explanation. The Mn12 cluster has a tetragonal symmetry Roberta . In the magnetic field $`H_z`$ applied along the tetragonal axis, it is described by the Hamiltonian

$$=DS_z^2AS_z^4g\mu _BS_zH_z+^{},$$
(1)
where $`S=10`$,$`D\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.55}`$K,$`A\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.2}\times 10^3`$K, $`g\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.94}`$, and $`^{}`$ contains small terms that do not commute with $`S_z`$. If one neglects $`^{}`$, then, in a zero field, the ground state of the cluster is double degenerate. The two energy minima correspond to the spin looking up or down along the $`Z`$-axis. They are separated by the magnetic anisotropy barrier $`U\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}65}`$K. At a non-zero field, the trivial algebra of Eq. (1) yields that the $`m`$ and $`m^{}`$ eigenvalues of $`S_z`$ come to resonance at

$$H_z=H_{mm^{}}=(m+m^{})\frac{D}{g\mu _B}\left[1+\frac{A}{D}(m^2+m_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})\right],$$
(2)
see Fig. 2. At $`H_zH_{mm^{}}`$ transitions between negative and positive $`m`$ occur due to the thermal activation over the anisotropy barrier in Fig. 2. However, at $`H_z=H_{mm^{}}`$ the transitions are combinations of thermal activation and quantum tunneling Leo ; Rolf ; CG ; Garanin91 . Thus, for $`H_z=H_{mm^{}}`$ the anisotropy barrier is effectively reduced by tunneling and the magnetic relaxation towards the direction of the field is faster than at $`H_zH_{mm^{}}`$. This picture, first established by magnetic measurements four , has been confirmed by the careful EPR study of spin levels in Mn12-acetate Barra-ESR ; Hill ; Javier ; Sushkov-ESR ; Parks-ESR ; Park-ESR ; Dressel .

The EPR experiments have demonstrated noticeable resonant absorption of electromagnetic radiation by molecular magnets. Most recently, it has been suggested that a crystal of magnetic molecules can also be a powerful source of coherent microwave radiation CG-SR . The radiation can be produced during the relaxation of the crystal towards the minimum of the magnetic energy. In this paper we provide first experimental support to this suggestion by demonstrating strong interaction between the Mn12-crystal and a microwave cavity. Our intention was to test whether placing the crystal inside a resonant cavity would result in any change in the magnetization curve. Before showing the experimental data, let us discuss why the detection of such an effect would constitute the evidence of the coherent radiation inside the cavity.

Consider a crystal of Mn12-acetate magnetized in the negative $`Z`$-direction. At $`|H_z|<<10`$T the distance $`E_1`$ between $`m=10`$ and $`m=9`$ levels in Fig. 2 is about $`14`$K. Thus, at $`T<<E_1`$, most of the molecules are occupying the $`m=10`$ level. The occupation numbers of the excited states scale as $`\mathrm{exp}(E/T)`$ where $`E`$ is the energy distance from $`m=10`$. In the absence of a very large transverse field, quantum tunneling from $`m=10`$ in Mn12 has a negligibly low probability. The thermodynamic equilibrium is achieved either through thermal activation or through thermally assisted quantum tunneling from excited states. The activation of molecules to the excited states is believed to be due to the absorption of phonons. At $`T<<E_1`$ the rate of phonon-induced transitions from $`m=10`$ to $`m=9`$ for the Hamiltonian of Eq. (1) is given by phonons

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{phonon}=\frac{\mathrm{}S\omega _1^5}{12\pi \rho c_s^5}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}\omega _1}{T}\right),$$
(3)
where $`\omega _1=E_1/\mathrm{}`$ is the frequency of the phonon ($`f_1=\omega _1/2\pi \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}300}`$GHz), $`\rho \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.8}`$g/cm3 is the mass density of the crystal, and $`c_s\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^5`$cm/s is the speed of the transverse sound. At $`2`$K Eq. (3) yields $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{phonon}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}\times 10^5`$s-1.

In order to have any effect due to the electromagnetic radiation, the absorption of photons must have the rate comparable to the rate of the absorption of phonons. This can be achieved in the EPR experiment in which the sample is placed in the ac magnetic field $`H_{ac}`$ oscillating at frequency $`f_1`$. The rate of the absorption of photons in the EPR setup is given by Abragam

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{photon}=k\frac{Sg^2\mu _B^2}{\mathrm{}^2}H_{ac}^2F(\omega ),$$
(4)
where $`k`$ is a numerical factor of order one that depends on the polarization of photons and $`F(\omega )`$ is the shape function of the resonance. In the case of the Lorentzian line of the width $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$, the shape function is given by

$$F(\omega )=\frac{1}{\pi }\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\omega }{(\mathrm{\Delta }\omega )^2+(\omega \omega _1)^2}.$$
(5)
It reduces to the Delta-function $`\delta (\omega \omega _1)`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$. At a finite width, the maximal EPR rate is achieved at $`\omega =\omega _1`$ and is given by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{photon}g\mu _BSH_{ac}^2/\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Delta }H`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }H`$ is the field width of the line, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Delta }\omega =g\mu _B\mathrm{\Delta }H`$. In Mn12, $`\mathrm{\Delta }H`$ is of order of $`400`$Oe. Consequently, at $`H_{ac}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$Oe the rate of the absorption of EPR photons becomes comparable to the phonon rate of Eq. (3) and the microwave power delivered to the Mn12 crystal can significantly alter the magnetic relaxation.

In our experiments no external ac magnetic field has been used. The crystal of Mn12-acetate was simply placed inside a resonant cavity and the magnetization curve has been measured. Let us assume for the moment that only thermal photons are available for the transitions between, e.g., $`m=10`$ and $`m=9`$ levels. The wavelength of these photons is comparable to the dimensions of the cavity. Their magnetic field can be then estimated from $`H_{ac}^2/8\pi (\mathrm{}\omega _1/V)\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{}\omega _1/T)`$, where $`V\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}\times 10^2`$cm3 is the volume of the cavity. This gives $`H_{ac}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}\times 10^8`$Oe, as compared to $`H_{ac}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$Oe needed to beat the phonon rate in the EPR experiment at $`\mathrm{\Delta }H\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}400}`$Oe. Thus at $`2`$K thermal photons inside the cavity excite Mn12 molecules at a rate that is fifteen orders of magnitude lower than the phonon rate. This is mainly due to the fact that at any temperature each cubic centimeter of a solid contains $`(c/c_s)^3\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{15}`$ times more thermal phonons than thermal photons. At $`T=2`$K our cavity would have $`10^3`$ average number of thermal photons of energy $`E_1`$. Consequently, the cavity should play absolutely no role in the magnetic relaxation unless it occasionally acquires a very large number of non-thermal photons. If all these photons have the same phase, their effect will be equivalent to the effect of the ac magnetic field in the EPR experiment and may become comparable to the effect of the phonons.

Single crystals of Mn12-acetate have been grown with the average length and diameter of about $`2`$mm and $`0.2`$mm respectively. The elongation of the crystals was along the c-axis. The conventional composition and the structure of the crystals Lis  have been established by chemical, infrared, and X-ray diffraction techniques. In addition, the dc and ac magnetometry of the crystals have been performed. The same values of the blocking temperature and resonance fields, as previously reported four ; Hernandez ; Barbara , have been found.

In constructing resonant cavities we followed the procedures described in Refs.Steve ; Martin . Five cylindrical cavities of different diameter and adjustable length were constructed using $`99.99`$% purity copper. Two diameters were used: $`1.6`$mm and $`3.2`$mm. The length of the cavity was controlled with the help of the same-purity copper rod connected to the upper surface of the cavity. The micrometric stepping motor control system was used that had the spatial resolution of $`1`$$`\mu `$m. The inner lateral and planar surfaces of the cavity were polished to a roughness of less than $`10`$$`\mu `$m to achieve the quality factor between $`Q=10^3`$ and $`Q=10^4`$. The crystals were fixed in a vertical position at the bottom of the cavities, with the c-axis axis of the crystal parallel to the cylindrical axis of the cavity. The grease of high thermal conductivity was used to attach the crystal to the bottom of the cavity. The cavity containing the crystal was immersed in a helium gas inside the MPMS SQUID magnetometer. The upper moving surface made the cavity not hermetic, thus allowing the exchange of helium with the outside reservoir. The temperature inside and outside the cavity was monitored by carbon thermometers.

Before placing crystals inside the cavities the magnetic signal from the crystals and from the cavities have been measured independently. The signal from the crystal was always two orders of magnitude greater than the paramagnetic signal from the cavity. We then proceeded to the measurements of crystals inside the cavities. The system was first saturated by a $`5`$T field applied along the c-axis of the crystal. Then the field was swept in the opposite direction at the rate $`40`$Oe/s. Very similar behavior has been found in all of the cavities. Typical demagnetization curves from Mn12-acetate crystals inside a resonant cavity are shown in Fig. 3. The dependence of the relaxation rate, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=|M(H)M_{eq}(H)|^1(dM/dH)`$ (with $`M_{eq}`$ being equilibrium magnetization), on the length of the cavity at two resonance fields is shown in Fig. 4.

In a separate set of experiments we placed the Mn12-acetate crystal between two Fabry-Perot superconducting mirrors. The mirrors were prepared using method described in Ref. mirrors . The $`200`$nm YBaCuO layers were deposited by pulsed laser deposition on a $`1`$$`\mu `$m SrTiO3 substrate. Their superconducting properties below $`90`$K were verified by magnetic measurements. The magnitude of the diamagnetic signal from the mirrors was found to be comparable to the magnitude of the signal from the crystal, but independent from the distance between the mirrors. The demagnetization curves from the Fabry-Perot setup are shown in Fig. 5. The diamagnetic signal from the superconductors was subtracted from the total signal to obtain Fig. 5B. The dependence of $`dM/dH`$ on the distance between the mirrors at $`H_z=0`$ is shown in Fig. 6.

The experimental data clearly demonstrate the dependence of the magnetic relaxation in Mn12-acetate crystals on the geometry of the cavity. We have verified that this phenomenon appears only in cavities of high quality factor. Could it be due to effects unrelated to the electromagnetic properties of the cavity? The first thing that comes to mind is that in the confined geometry the cooling of the crystals by the flow of helium could be not perfect. The rate of thermally assisted quantum tunneling in Mn12 depends on temperature exponentially Hernandez . Thus, fluctuations in the hermetic properties of the cavity could, in principle, result in a significant change of the relaxation rate. For that reason we carefully monitored temperature inside the cavity. The temperature variation was found not to exceed $`0.3`$%. Such small fluctuations of temperature cannot account for any measurable change in the relaxation rate. All data on the dependence of the rate on the length of the cavity and the magnetic field were reproducible within a $`6`$% experimental error. Strong dependence of the relaxation rate on the geometry of the confinement was also observed in a Mn12-acetate crystal placed between superconducting mirrors, that is, when the helium gas circulated freely around the crystal. We, therefore, concluded that the observed phenomenon had nothing to do with thermal effects and was, in fact, due to the microwave properties of the cavity.

As has been discussed above, in order to affect the magnetic relaxation of a Mn12 crystal, the number of coherent photons in the cavity must be very large compared to the number of thermal photons. There is only one source of these photons, it is the crystal itself. To change the orientation of the magnetic moment, the molecule must first go up the staircase of spin levels and then go down (see Fig. 2). Thus, the magnetic relaxation in the crystal creates massive inversed population of the energy levels. These excited states decay via emission of phonons or photons. Without a cavity, the corresponding magnetic-dipole photon transitions would have a negligible probability compared to the probability of phonon transitions. Consequently, the relaxation towards thermal equilibrium would occur via the emission of phonons. Inside the cavity, however, a maser effect can take place if some of the frequencies of the emitted photons coincide with resonances of the cavity. The photon emitted by one molecule remains in the cavity and stimulates the emission of photons by other molecules. The shortest wavelength, $`\lambda `$, of a photon corresponds to the transition from $`m=9`$ to $`m=10`$. For Mn12 at $`H=0`$ it is about $`1`$mm. The wavelengths of photons emitted in other transitions are longer. Consequently, for a crystal of size $`2`$mm, the phase of the emitted photons is the same for a macroscopically large number of molecules, $`N=N_{SR}(\lambda /2)^3`$. In that case the emission of photons by different molecules becomes correlated and the superradiance may occur CG-SR ; SR : The rate of the emission of a photon increases by a factor $`N_{SR}`$. This effect is much stronger for photons than for phonons because the wavelength of photons is $`(c/c_s)`$ times the wavelength of phonons of the same energy. Thus, the $`(c_s/c)^3`$ smallness of the phase space of photons in comparison with the phase space of phonons is compensated by the $`(c/c_s)^3`$ times greater $`N_{SR}`$ for photons as compared to phonons. Crystals used in our experiments contained about $`1.6\times 10^{16}`$ Mn12 molecules, so that each magnetization step in Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 involved more than $`10^{15}`$ molecules. For $`Q\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}\times 10^3`$ the $`300`$-Ghz photons stay inside the cavity during $`t\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}`$ns. The reabsorption of the radiation by the crystal requires $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{photon}t>1`$. According to Eq. (4), our picture is self-consistent if during the $`10`$s field sweep across the tunneling resonance of width $`\mathrm{\Delta }H\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}400}`$Oe the cavity was affecting the magnetic relaxation through $`10^3(\mathrm{\Delta }H/\mathrm{\Delta }h)`$ microbursts of superradiance of duration $`10`$ns or less, each burst involving $`10^{12}(\mathrm{\Delta }h/\mathrm{\Delta }H)`$ molecules whose resonances were distributed within $`\mathrm{\Delta }h<1`$Oe.

The effect of $`10^{12}(\mathrm{\Delta }h/\mathrm{\Delta }H)`$ coherent photons inside the cavity would be similar to the effect of the $`1`$Oe ac magnetic field in the EPR experiment. That is, the absorption of the photons increases the population of the levels with $`m>10`$ in Fig. 2 as compared to their thermal population. Contrary to the EPR experiment, however, in our case the photons absorbed in the left well in Fig. 2 must be the same photons that are emitted in the right well. One can think about this process as the recycling of the emitted photons by the crystal after the number of photons in the cavity reaches the critical value. To affect the magnetic relaxation, one of the frequencies, $`\omega `$, of the emitted photons should satisfy two conditions. The first condition is that $`\mathrm{}\omega `$ coincides with one of the distances between the spin levels in the metastable well (the left staircase in Fig. 2). It is fulfilled for certain values of the field $`H_z=H_r`$ which are uniquely determined by the spin Hamiltonian. If $`A`$ in Eq. (1) was zero, the fields $`H_r`$ would coincide with $`H_{mm^{}}(A=0)=H_n=nD/g\mu _B`$. Because of $`A\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$, however, $`H_r`$ are different from $`H_{mm^{}}`$ of Eq. (2), except for $`H_z=0`$. Nevertheless, due to the fact that $`A<<D`$, the fields $`H_r`$ must group around $`H_n`$. The second condition is that the resonant frequency corresponding to $`H_z=H_r`$ also coincides with one of the resonances of the cavity. It is achieved by manipulating the length of the cylindrical cavity or the distance between superconducting mirrors in the Fabry-Perot setup.

Strong support to the above picture comes from the fact that the main period of oscillations of the relaxation rate on the distance between superconducting mirrors, (see Fig. 6) is about $`0.5`$mm, which is one-half of the wavelength of the $`300`$Ghz photons responsible for the transitions between $`m=10`$ and $`m=9`$ levels. This resonance is the most important one because almost all molecules initially occupy the $`m=10`$ state. Exciting these molecules to the $`m=9`$ level alone changes the effective energy barrier by $`E_1\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}14}`$K, thus increasing the relaxation rate by a factor $`\mathrm{exp}(E_1/T)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^3`$. For cavities, the length-dependence of the relaxation rate is more complicated. Photons emitted in the magnetic dipole transitions should be in resonance with the TM modes of the cavity. The latter, for a cavity of radius $`R`$ and length $`L`$, satisfy

$$\omega _{mnp}^2=\frac{c^2\kappa _{mn}^2}{R^2}+\frac{\pi ^2c^2p^2}{L^2},$$
(6)
where $`p=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$ and $`x=\kappa _{mn}`$ is the n-th zero of the Bessel function $`J_m(x)`$. Matching the spectrum of the spin levels of Mn12-acetate with the spectrum of the cavity should be the way to explain the dependence of the magnetic relaxation on the length of the cavity. We have not succeeded in that task so far. Both spectra are rather dense. Their comparison is complicated by the distribution of energy levels due to dipolar and hyperfine fields, crystal imperfections, etc.

The main message that we want to disseminate is that the magnetic relaxation of molecular nanomagnets inside a resonant cavity differs from the magnetic relaxation outside the cavity. It seems impossible to understand this effect without invoking the superradiance. Our findings open the possibility of building a microwave laser pumped by the magnetic field. Measurements of microwave radiation from cavities containing crystals of molecular nanomagnets should be the next step in this direction.

We thank F. Sánchez and M. Varela for help in preparation of Fabry-Perot superconducting mirrors. The financial support from the EU is gratefully acknowledged. The work of E.M.C. has been supported by the U.S. NSF Grant No. 9978882.


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# Sub-wavelength resolution of optical fields probed by single trapped ions: Interference, phase modulation, and which-way information

## I Introduction

In several recent experiments, single trapped ions have been used to map optical fields, and a resolution considerably below the wavelength has been reported Eschner2001 ; Guthoehrlein2001 ; Mundt2002 . In the first of these experiments Eschner2001 , a part of the resonance fluorescence of a single Ba+ ion was back-reflected onto the ion with a distant mirror, and the resulting emission was found to be modulated upon variation of the ion-mirror distance. In the second experiment Guthoehrlein2001 , a single Ca+ ion was placed inside an optical cavity, and light coupled into the cavity was resonantly scattered. When the ion was shifted along the cavity axis, periodic variation of the emission was observed. In the most recent experiment Mundt2002 , the setup was similar but here the cavity was resonant with an electric-quadrupole transition in Ca+. This transition was coherently driven by light coupled into the cavity, and the excitation probability was found to be strongly modulated with the position of the ion in the cavity mode.

All these studies are based on the interaction of a single atom with an optical standing wave. While in the two Ca+ experiments a standing wave of resonant light forms inside the optical cavity, in the Ba+ experiment part of the electromagnetic mode structure (or vacuum field) around the ion is transformed into a standing wave by the back-reflecting mirror.

Sub-wavelength resolution is achieved because the position of the ion relative to the mirror(s) is well-controlled and the ion’s spatial wavefunction is confined to a region much smaller than the optical wavelength $`\lambda `$ (400 to 800 nm). This strong confinement is due to the trapping potential of a Paul-type ion trap, which to very good approximation can be considered harmonic with typical oscillation frequencies $`\mathrm{\Omega }_t`$ from 1 to several MHz and a spatial extension of the lowest energy eigenstate around 10 nm. Laser cooling can prepare ions in thermal states with low average quantum numbers. Preparation of the motional ground state with high purity has also been achieved by means of sideband laser cooling Diedrich1989 ; Monroe1995 ; Roos1999 . In the cases considered here, the ions were Doppler-cooled, i.e. their motional energy $`E_{th}`$ was comparable to the linewidth of the cooling transition which in all cases is about 20 MHz. Since the spatial extension scales with $`\sqrt{\overline{n}}`$, where $`\overline{n}=E_{th}/\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }_t`$ is the thermal energy in units of trap quanta, a resolution between about 10 and 50 nm was achieved.

With this resolution, local variations of an optical field can be detected by shifting the single ion through the field structure. Therefore this technique received the name optical nanoscope Guthoehrlein2001 . Similar sub-wavelength mapping techniques are used in microscopy Braun1998 , and they have also been demonstrated with single molecules instead of ions Michaelis1999 .

While the typical length scale of an optical field is its wavelength, smaller structures can emerge, e.g., in diffraction patterns, as high-order modes of optical resonators, or in general when several partial waves are superimposed and interfere. A standing wave is a comparatively simple structure, formed by superposition of two counterpropagating travelling waves of equal amplitude and polarization. It is nevertheless a highly instructive case because the observation of a standing-wave structure is connected to the interference between two processes pertaining to the two travelling waves. The resolution with which the structure is detected determines the visibility of the observed interference fringes. In turn, the observed visibility is a measure for the resolution and hence for the spatial extension of the ion as well as for its thermal energy.

On the other hand, a limited visibility in an interference measurement may be a signature for the presence of which-way information which in principle can be extracted from the system. In our cases, the which-way information must be stored in the motional degrees of freedom of the ion, because it is the motion in the trap which determines the spatial size and shape of the wave packet of the ion.

The purpose of this paper is to present and compare these various physical pictures and to show how thermal motion of the ion, resolution, visibility of interference fringes, and which-way information are related. We will apply these ideas to analyse the three mentioned experiments and compare the experimental results. We will give classical and quantum descriptions of the situations and show that, although their interpretations look rather different, they are equally valid and lead to the same conclusions.

We focus here on the connection between ion motion, interference, and resolution of the field structure. The question how the presence of a distant mirror affects the internal dynamics of the ion has been discussed with a quantum model in Ref. Dorner2002 .

## II Interference and visibility

First let us explain how in the three cases the observation of the standing wave can be interpreted as an interference between two processes. In the first experiment, a laser excites the ion from one side, and photons scattered under 90 are detected, see Fig. 1a. A mirror is placed on the opposite side (at $`90^{}`$), such that photons scattered into that direction are back-reflected and also sent into the detector. Clearly the two pathways into the detector are indistinguishable and interfere, which is observed as a modulation of the detector signal (photon count rate) vs. the distance between mirror and ion Eschner2001 . In the second experiment, where light from a cavity mode is scattered by an ion Guthoehrlein2001 , two scattering amplitudes corresponding to the two counterpropagating waves contribute to the detection of a photon, see Fig. 1b. Depending on the ion’s position between the cavity mirrors, these amplitudes are superimposed in or out of phase, thus interfering constructively or destructively. The same explanation holds for the cavity-induced quadrupole excitation Mundt2002 , only that here the two excitation pathways into the long-lived upper state interfere, rather than two scattering amplitudes.

A point-like probe would be able to map the interference fringes with perfect visibility, but with a real atom the visibility will always be smaller. In the qualitative discussion above, we have already used one of the possible physical pictures for this visibility reduction: The spatial wave packet of the ion probing the optical field structure acts as an apparatus function with which the ideal signal (of a point-like probe) has to be convoluted to find the experimental signal. This particular ”spatial” picture applies most intuitively to the cavity experiments. Taking a ”temporal” view, the two processes which interfere on the detector may indeed have happened (at the ion) with a delay between them, during which the ion has moved. This is certainly true for the mirror experiment where one partial wave is delayed by the time it takes to the mirror and back, about 1.7 ns. The visibility will be reduced because the two interfering pathways do not find the ion in exactly the same state. There is also a ”spectral” explanation for visibility reduction: The ion oscillates in the trap so that, depending on the momentary Doppler shift, it sees (or scatters) the two travelling waves with different spectra. Only the overlapping spectral components can interfere.

Finally, there is a which-way interpretation. It takes into account that a scattered or absorbed photon has a mechanical effect on the ion. On average, every scattering event will leave one photon recoil in the atom, such that its motional state may change in the course of the process. This recoil, however, encodes with which of the two travelling waves the ion has interacted, and inasmuch as this information is stored in the ion, the visibility of the interference will be diminished.

We will now develop these different pictures in detail and compare the conclusions to which they lead.

## III Ion as apparatus function

When we treat the wave packet of the ion as an effective apparatus function, the observed signal is calculated as follows. Let $`x`$ denote the spatial coordinate along the optical axis. The ideal signal from a point-like atom probing the standing wave would be

$$S_{ideal}(x)=2\overline{S}\mathrm{cos}^2(kx)=\overline{S}\left(1+\mathrm{cos}(2kx)\right),$$
(1)
where $`\overline{S}`$ is the average signal and $`k=2\pi /\lambda `$ is the wave vector of the light. Now let $`\rho (xx_0)`$ be the probability to find the ion at position $`x`$ when the trap center is at $`x_0`$. Then the observed signal as a function of the trap position $`x_0`$ is

$$S(x_0)=\overline{S}\left(1+V\mathrm{cos}(2kx_0)\right),$$
(2)
where

$$V=_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑x\rho (x)\mathrm{cos}(2kx)$$
(3)
is the visibility of the interference fringes, in agreement with the standard definition $`V=(S_{max}S_{min})/(S_{max}+S_{min})`$. We have used that $`\rho `$ is a symmetric function, which is certainly true for a harmonic trap. In fact, as we will show later, in all cases which we treat here $`\rho `$ is a Gaussian,

$$\rho (x)=\frac{1}{\sigma \sqrt{2\pi }}\mathrm{exp}(\frac{x^2}{2\sigma ^2})$$
(4)
with rms spatial extension $`\sigma =\sqrt{_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑xx^2\rho (x)}`$. In this case the visibility according to Eq. (3) is

$$V=\mathrm{exp}(2(k\sigma )^2).$$
(5)
Relation (5) is used to determine the resolution from a measured visibility. The derived value of $`\sigma `$ will be an upper limit for the true rms spatial extension of the ion, as other broadening effects may be present in the experiment. The values for the three experiments, as calculated from the measured visibility values $`V=`$ 72% Eschner2001 , 40% Guthoehrlein2001 , and 96.3% Mundt2002 , are 32 nm, 43 nm, and 16 nm, respectively. It should be noted that in Ref. Eschner2001  the actual wave packet size is estimated to be 21 nm EschnerErr , and the reduced visibility is partly due to optical aberrations. It should also be mentioned that the larger number given in Ref. Guthoehrlein2001 , 60 nm, is based on a different definition (by a factor $`\sqrt{2}`$) of the spatial extension Lange2002  and is consistent with our result.

## IV Doppler effect

In the case of the ion in front of a mirror, another description is particularly intuitive which accounts for the time-dependent Doppler effect of the ion oscillating in the trap. This view highlights the role of both the delay between the two partial waves before they reach the detector, and of the spectral effect of the ion’s motion.

First we assume the ion to be oscillating classically with frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_t`$ and amplitude $`x_c`$, i.e. its momentary position is $`x(t)=x_0+x_c\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Omega }_tt)`$. The oscillation modulates the phases of the two partial waves $`E_\pm `$ emitted towards the detector (one directly, the other via the mirror) according to

$$E_\pm (t)=E_0\text{e}^{i(kx_0\pm kx_c\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Omega }_tt)\omega t)}.$$
(6)
These two fields reach the detector with a phase delay $`e^{2ikL}`$ between them, where $`L`$ is the distance between trap center and mirror. The resulting detector signal is

$$S_c=|E_0|^2|\text{e}^{ikx_c\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Omega }_tt)}+\text{e}^{2ikL}\text{e}^{ikx_c\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Omega }_tt)}|^2,$$
(7)
where $``$ denotes time averaging over many periods of the trap oscillation. Such an integration time $`T\mathrm{\Omega }_t^1`$ is used in all the experiments discussed and will be assumed throughout our considerations. From Eq. (7) we get the visibility reduction due to sinusoidal oscillation

$$S_c=\overline{S}\left(1+J_0(kx_c)\mathrm{cos}(2kL)\right),$$
(8)
where $`J_0`$ is the zero-order Bessel function.

A laser-cooled ion is not oscillating classically but in a thermal state, i.e. its oscillation amplitude $`x_c`$ follows a thermal probability distribution. This distribution is derived from the Boltzmann distribution for the ion’s energy and is given by

$$P(x_c)dx_c=\frac{x_c}{\sigma ^2}\mathrm{exp}(\frac{x_c^2}{2\sigma ^2})dx_c,$$
(9)
where $`\sigma `$ is the rms spatial extension as before, related to the thermal energy by $`E_{th}=M\mathrm{\Omega }_t^2\sigma ^2`$ with ion mass $`M`$. Combining Eqs. (8) and (9) we get for the detector signal

$$S(L)=\overline{S}\left(1+\mathrm{exp}(2(k\sigma )^2)\mathrm{cos}(2kL)\right)$$
(10)
in agreement with the previous result, Eq. (5). One finds the same result when one evaluates first the spatial probability distribution for the classical oscillator, $`P_c(x)=(\pi \sqrt{x_c^2x^2})^1`$ and integrates it with distribution (9), which yields the Gaussian of Eq. (4).

The picture of a Doppler effect is equally valid for the light scattering from a cavity mode. In this case the phase delay $`e^{2ikL}`$ between the two partial waves in Eq. (7) is replaced by the relative phase between the two counterpropagating waves in the cavity, which varies as $`e^{2ikx_0}`$ with the position $`x_0`$ of the trap center in the standing wave ($`x_0=0`$ is set to an antinode). In the same manner it applies to the cavity-induced excitation. There Eq. (7) is interpreted as the excitation probability when atomic saturation effects are neglected, c.f. Ref. Mundt2002 .

Thus the phase modulation through the Doppler effect and the spatial apparatus function are in fact only different pictures for the same situation, yielding in all cases the same results for the visibility and the resolution.

## V Which-way information

The relation between fringe visibility and which-way information in an interference experiment is at the core of wave-particle duality. It has been the subject of several general studies Englert1996 , and it was recently studied in experiments with atom interferometers Duerr1998 ; Bertet2001 .

With a trapped ion probing an optical field, the encoding of which-way information happens through the recoil of an absorbed or an emitted photon. To illustrate this, we will use the example of Fig. 1b where an ion scatters cavity light; later in this section we will show that the same description applies to the other two experiments.

First assume that before scattering the ion is at rest. Depending on the travelling wave from which a photon is absorbed, the photon recoil will leave the ion oscillating with a certain initial momentum, i.e. a certain phase. It is this phase which carries the which-way information. The second part of the scattering process, the emission of the photon into the detector, will always leave the same recoil kick and not introduce any further distinguishability.

Now if every absorbed photon kicked the atom, the two final states pertaining to the two travelling waves would always be different, and there would be no interference. This is the extreme case of a very shallow trap ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_t0`$), where the two possible recoil momenta accelerate the ion to opposite sides, such that the two processes could be distinguished with certainty. Because of the trapping potential, however, a certain fraction of all absorption processes will leave the motional state unchanged. This is the so-called Lamb-Dicke effect Dicke1953 , an important concept in laser cooling of trapped atoms Stenholm1986 . It is this fraction of scattering events which creates the interference.

In more detail, the recoil of the two travelling waves is transferred to the ion’s motional state by the spatial part of the respective electric field operators, $`\text{e}^{\pm ikx}`$ RWA . An initial energy eigenstate $`|n`$ is thereby transformed into a superposition of states according to

$$|n\text{e}^{\pm ikx}|n.$$
(11)
The overlap $`n|\text{e}^{2ikx}|n`$ of these two possible final states is expected to determine the visibility of the interference.

Using Eq. (11), the rate at which an ion would scatter photons from one single travelling wave into the detector is given by Itano1998

$$S_{RW}=S_{rest}\underset{n}{}P(n)\underset{k}{}|k|\text{e}^{\pm ikx}|n|^2,$$
(12)
where $`S_{rest}`$ is the scattering rate for an ion at rest, and $`P(n)=\overline{n}^n/(\overline{n}+1)^{n+1}`$ is a Boltzmann distribution over the harmonic oscillator states Stationary . For a standing wave, the matrix element in Eq. (12) is replaced by $`k|2\mathrm{cos}(k(xx_0))|n`$, where $`x_0`$ is the position of the ion relative to an antinode as before. This yields for the scattering rate from the standing wave, as a function of the ion’s position,

$$S(x_0)=2S_{rest}\left(1+\underset{n}{}P(n)n|\mathrm{cos}(2k(xx_0))|n\right).$$
(13)
Since the spatial eigenfunctions $`|n`$ have definite parity, and using $`2S_{rest}=\overline{S}`$, we get the interference signal

$$S(x_0)=\overline{S}\left(1+V\mathrm{cos}(2kx_0)\right),$$
(14)
where the visibility is given by

$$V=\underset{n}{}P(n)n|\mathrm{cos}(2kx)|n.$$
(15)
Since $`n|\mathrm{cos}(2kx)|n=n|\text{e}^{2ikx}|n`$, we find that the visibility of the interference fringes is indeed equal to the (thermally averaged) overlap of the two possible final states $`\text{e}^{\pm ikx}|n`$ of the individual processes, just as the which-way interpretation suggests Classical .

The same arguments are readily applied to the other two experiments: In the case of Fig. 1c, the photon recoil enters in exactly the same way, only the signal $`S(x_0)`$ describes the position-dependent transition probability into the upper state. In the case displayed in Fig. 1a, it is the recoil of the emitted photons which encodes the which-way information according to their direction of emission, while absorption always happens from the same travelling-wave laser beam and has no further effect.

Finally, we can evaluate Eq. (15) using the properties of the harmonic oscillator eigenfunctions Abramovitz , and we find

$$V=\mathrm{exp}(2(k\sigma )^2)$$
(16)
where $`\sigma `$ is again the rms spatial extension of the ion, now calculated from the thermal distribution over the quantum states, $`\sigma ^2=_nP(n)n|x^2|n=(2\overline{n}+1)0|x^2|0`$.

Result (16) is in perfect agreement with Eq. (5) for the classical apparatus function and Eq. (10) for the time-dependent Doppler effect. This confirms that the which-way interpretation which accounts for the photon recoil is indeed an equally valid physical picture for the situation in the three experiments and that it leads to the same conclusions.

Eq. (15), in analogy with Eq. (3), can also be read as the Fourier transform of the thermal wave packet,

$$V=_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑x\left(\underset{n}{}P(n)|\psi _n(x)|^2\right)\mathrm{cos}(2kx),$$
(17)
where $`\psi _n(x)=x|n`$ is the spatial representation of the $`n^{\text{th}}`$ harmonic oscillator eigenfunction. Comparison with Eq. (16) confirms that the thermal spatial probability distribution is a Gaussian, as we assumed earlier.

We would like to note that the dependence of the visibility on the extension of the motional wave function, Eq. (16), implies a limited visibility also for an atom in the motional ground state. This should be experimentally observable, e.g. in the case of Fig. 1c, when the probing of the cavity field is combined with ground state cooling techniques. The dependence of the visibility on the ground state extension for different trapping strength would illustrate nicely the quantum limit of confinement of an atom, and it would be another fundamental demonstration of Bohr’s moving slit experiment, similar to the work of Ref. Bertet2001 .

## VI Conclusions

We have presented several physical pictures for the probing of an optical field structure by a single trapped atom, and investigated the factors that limit the spatial resolution. We used three recent experiments as examples, where a standing wave structure was detected by a single trapped ion.

The detection of a standing wave involves the interference between the two absorption or scattering processes pertaining to the two travelling waves, therefore the spatial resolution is connected to the visibility of the interference fringes. We have given several different explanations how a limitation of the visibility arises: The spatial probability distribution of the trapped atom can be regarded to act as an apparatus function with which the ideal, full-contrast signal is convoluted. The ion’s oscillation in the trap can also be considered to create periodically phase-modulated light fields, of which only the unshifted components interfere. Finally, the possible modification of the ion’s motional state by the photon recoil of the two travelling waves can be considered to encode which-way information in the ion.

These seemingly different pictures lead to identical conclusions regarding their effect on the visibility, which shows that they are indeed only different interpretations of the same physical situation.

Our study is not at all limited to a standing wave. This simple case only helps to highlight the relations of more general validity, between phase modulation, spatial probability distribution, and in particular the interpretation of the photon recoil as which-way information.

Acknowledgements. The author wishes to thank Giovanna Morigi and Rainer Blatt for clarifiying discussions and very helpful comments. This work was partially supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, project SFB15).


text:
# Dependence of Curie Temperature on the Thickness of Epitaxial (Ga,Mn)As Film

## Abstract

We present the magnetotransport properties of very thin (5 to 15 nm) single (Ga,Mn)As layers grown by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. A lower (Ga,Mn)As thickness limit of 5 nm for the ferromagnetic phase and the dependence of the Curie temperature on (Ga,Mn)As thickness are determined from electrical transport measurements. The Curie temperature is determined to be 97 K for the thinnest ferromagnetic sample and is found to decrease for increasing layer thickness. A carrier density of 7.1$`\times `$1020 cm-3 for the 5 nm thick (Ga,Mn)As layer is determined from Hall measurements. Differences between magnetotransport properties of thick and thin (Ga,Mn)As layers are observed and discussed.

Since the discovery of ferromagnetism in III-V diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) a ; b , they have been proposed to be good candidates for model devices in the rapidly expanding field of Spintronics c . (Ga,Mn)As is a ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor and it is by now well established that ferromagnetism in this compound is induced by exchange interactions between localised Mn magnetic moments and valence band holes d ; e . The highest Curie temperature of para- to ferromagnetic phase transition (Tc) obtained so far for (Ga,Mn)As was known to be 110 K f , however slightly higher values, close to 130 K have been reported recently by two different groups g ; h .

As shown by many groups the electric and magnetic properties of (Ga,Mn)As are strongly dependent on the growth conditions i ; j  and post-growth annealing procedures k ; l ; m ; n , since in the case of (Ga,Mn)As with the same Mn content, both factors are affecting concentration and/or distribution of compensating donor-like defects such as Mn interstitials p ; r  and As antisites s ; t .

GaAs/(Ga,Mn)As Superlattices (SL) are promising candidates for enhancing Tc due to the strong confinement of holes in the magnetic layers in these structures u . In this context, the lower thickness limit of the magnetic layer is interesting. In the studies of SL with magnetic (Ga,Mn)As layers separated by nonmagnetic AlGaAs or InGaAs spacers, the ferromagnetic phase is seen to disappear when the thickness of the magnetic layers is below 5 nm j ; v ; x . Our recent investigations show that the paramagnetic- to ferromagnetic phase transition occur for (Ga,Mn)As layers as thin as 4 - 8 ML (1.1 - 2.3 nm) in (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs SL y ; aa .

The Curie temperature dependence on the thickness of single (Ga,Mn)As layers has previously been studied by F. Matsukura *et al.* bb . The studied samples had thicknesses in the range between 10-1000 nm, showing a decreasing Tc for increasing layer thickness, but no investigations on the lower limit for the ferromagnetic phase to appear is reported.

Theoretical results concerning ferromagnetism in (Ga,Mn)As quantum well structures cc ; dd  predict dependence of Curie temperature on (Ga,Mn)As well width as well as the limit of thickness for the FM phase to occur to be about 2.5 nm. According to the theoretical results of M. A. Boselli *et al.* cc  the FM phase transition temperature in a (Ga,Mn)As quantum well is decreasing with increasing well width. It’s therefore interesting to investigate the low thickness limit for the FM phase to occur in (Ga,Mn)As in view of increasing Tc beyond the present limit of 110 K f  and 130 K g ; h .

Recently the FM phase transition has been detected by transmission magnetic circular dichroism measurements for (Ga,Mn)As layers as thin as 2 nm ee , however to our knowledge no results of transport or magnetization measurements have been published for single (Ga,Mn)As layers thinner than 10 nm.

In this letter we report that the experimental thickness for FM phase in single Ga0.95Mn0.05As layer estimated from magnetotransport measurements is equal to 5 nm and the corresponding Curie temperature is Tc=97 K. Tc is found to decrease with increasing film thickness. A carrier density of 7.1$`\times `$1020 cm-3 is determined from Hall-measurements for the 5 nm thick layer at T=300 mK.

We have studied four samples grown by MBE under the same conditions and with the following growth sequence: 200 nm standard high temperature GaAs buffer layer and 20 nm low temperature (LT) GaAs is grown on semi-insulating epi-ready GaAs(100) wafers followed by a Ga0.95Mn0.05As layer with thicknesses of 3, 5, 10 and 15 nm respectively. The (Ga,Mn)As layers are then capped by a 3 nm thick low temperature GaAs layer. The samples are made in a 100 $`\mu `$m wide Hallbar geometry defined by standard UV-lithography and wet chemical etching. Au/Zn/Au contacts are deposited, followed by annealing at 240 ºC for one hour in a nitrogen atmosphere in order to create ohmic contacts and to reach the optimum Tc l ; m ; n . All the data presented is obtained by standard dc-measurements.

Figure 1 shows the sheet resistance of the four samples as a function of temperature, in zero magnetic field. The 3 nm sample shows an insulating behavior while the thicker samples have so-called metallic behavior, with a local maximum in the resistance. This local maximum is common in magnetic metals and semiconductors and is in the region of the transition temperature between the para- and ferromagnetic phase d ; l ; m ; y . The maxima in the sheet resistance for the samples with thickness of 5, 10 and 15 nm are indicated by the vertical lines and occur at around T=121 K, 117 K and 109 K respectively, indicating that the Curie temperature decreases with increasing film thickness. This is in agrement with the results by F. Matsukura *et al.* bb . These data indicate a very high Curie temperature compared with other thin films bb ; cc  and SL structures j ; m ; y ; aa . The sheet resistance of the 5, 10 and 15 nm thick samples decreases with increasing layer thickness as expected, giving a resistivity of approximately 3.5 m$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at T=300 K.

An estimate of the Curie temperature has been obtained by Hall measurements in magnetic fields up to 2 T. The sheet- and Hall resistance as a function of applied perpendicular magnetic field at different temperatures, is presented in figure 2 for the 5 nm thick Ga0.95Mn0.05As thin film. The sheet resistance exhibit the same behavior as seen in thick (Ga,Mn)As films f . The overall negative magnetoresistance can be understood as a reduction of random spin-flip scattering due to the alignment of spins by the applied magnetic field. This has been described for thick (Ga,Mn)As samples, at temperatures above Tc, by the spin disorder formula, as a decrease in scattering of charge carriers by spin-fluctuations via the exchange coupling with increasing magnetic field f . At temperatures below the Curie temperature a positive magnetoresistance appears at low magnetic fields. The easy axis of magnetization is in the plane of the thin film. The positive magnetoresistance is believed to be caused by the turning of the magnetization direction from the spontaneous in-plane direction to the perpendicular direction by the applied magnetic field f , causing an increased spin-disorder. This behavior of the magnetoresistance is seen in all the FM thin films.

The Hall resistance is dominated by the anomalous Hall effect, which may be written as:

$$R_H=\frac{R_o}{d}B+\frac{R_S}{d}M$$
(1)
$`R_o`$ is the ordinary Hall coefficient and depends on the carrier density, $`R_S`$ is the anomalous Hall coefficient and $`M`$ is the magnetization of the sample parallel to the applied magnetic field $`B`$. $`d`$ is the thickness of the (Ga,Mn)As film. As can be seen in figure 2b, the Hall resistance at 2 T increases with decreasing temperature. At 70 K it starts to decrease again. This behavior is seen in all the FM thin films. The Hall resistance measured at 10 K is shown as an inset in figure 2b for both sweep directions of the magnetic field. There is a broad bump at positive magnetic fields independent of sweep direction and a smaller anomaly that depends on sweep direction. The broad bump does not appear in the thicker samples and the origin of this may be due to a mixture of longitudinal and transverse resistances. The smaller anomaly is only present when the magnetic field is swept from zero and out and appears before the magnetization is turned out of plane.

For thick (Ga,Mn)As layers, $`R_S`$ has been shown to be given by $`R_S/d=cR_{sheet}`$ (Skew scattering) b ; f . $`c`$ is a constant. Recent experiments shows that an additional term due to side-jump scattering can be of importance g . Since the Anomalous Hall effect is dominant in this low magnetic field range, it is not possible to determine the carrier density. The temperature at which the sample magnetization is finite at zero applied magnetic field, can be found from extrapolation of a so-called Arrott plot assuming skew scattering f . The Arrott plot for the 5 nm sample is shown in figure 3a, where $`(R_H/R_{sheet})^2`$ is plotted as a function of $`B/(R_H/R_{sheet})`$. The sample magnetization squared is proportional to the value of intersection of the $`(R_H/R_{sheet})^2`$ axis by the back-extrapolated linear part from high magnetic fields. From this, a Curie temperature of 97 K is determined. It should be noted that this is a low estimate of the Curie temperature since a more accurate extrapolation can be obtained by applying a higher magnetic field. The Curie temperature of the three samples determined from Hall measurements is shown in figure 1, together with the results obtained from the maximum in the sheet resistance as a function of temperature. The discrepancy between the results from the two methods is enhanced by the fact that Tc determined by Hall measurement is a lower estimate, as mentioned above, but it is also clear that the maximum in sheet resistance as a function of temperature is not a good estimate of the Curie temperature in these thin films. There is some uncertainty as to Tc for the 10 nm thick sample, since the sample changed during Hall measurement.

The value of $`R_{Hall}/R_{sheet}`$ at the intersection from the Arrott plot is shown in figure 3b as a function of temperature for the 5 nm thick thin film. A maximum in $`R_{Hall}/R_{sheet}`$ is seen to occur between 60-70 K, below which the magnetization starts to drop in accordance with the drop in the Hall resistance as discussed earlier. Such behavior is not seen in thick (Ga,Mn)As films, but the relative drop in magnetization with decreasing temperature decreases with increasing (Ga,Mn)As thickness, thus indicating that this may be a thin film property. Since the anomalous Hall term is not a direct measure of magnetization, other types of measurements are needed to understand this behavior in more detail.

A carrier density of 7.1$`\times `$1020 cm-3 has been determined from Hall measurements in a magnetic field up to 12 T for the 5 nm thick thin film at T=300 mK, by fitting the data to eq. (1). The magneto- and Hall resistance is shown in figure 4. Beside the positive magnetoresistance at low magnetic fields a second maximum appears at 4 T. So far we do not know to what physical mechanism we can attribute this behavior, which is not seen in thick (Ga,Mn)As films. Due to large negative magnetoresistance, high magnetic fields are usually required in order to determine the carrier density, but in this case, the negative magnetoresistance is less that 1$`\%`$ and it is possible to obtain a linear fit from about 6 T to equation (1), assuming Skew scattering and using $`cM`$ as a fitting parameter. See figure 4. The density of magnetic ions for 5$`\%`$ Mn is about 1.1 nm-3. The carrier density corresponds to an acceptor efficiency of 65$`\%`$, which is high compared to what is seen in thick (Ga,Mn)As films, where the carrier density is obtained in the same way.

The RKKY approach by Boselli *et al.* cc , though using an acceptor efficiency of 25$`\%`$, shows a decrease in Curie temperature with increasing quantum well width. This is due to the increasing competition between ferro- and antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, resulting in a non-collinear spin phase. Antiferromagnetic exchange may play a role in these thin films, since the mean free path is determined to be 0.5 nm using an effective mass of 0.5mo, m0 being the electron rest mass, and the period of the RKKY oscillations is given by $`\pi /k_f`$=1.14 nm for the 5 nm thick film. F. Matsukura *et al.* bb  relate their observed increase in Curie temperature with decreasing (Ga,Mn)As layer thickness, to the observed dependence of magnetic anisotropy on the thickness of the layer. The Curie temperature also depends on the carrier density e , but this has yet to be investigated for these thin films.

In summary we have investigated the magnetotransport properties of very thin (Ga,Mn)As layers containing 5$`\%`$ Mn in the thickness range of 3 nm to 15 nm and found the thickness limit of 5 nm for ferromagnetic phase transition in single (Ga,Mn)As layer embedded in LT GaAs. Thinner (Ga,Mn)As films were highly resistive and show no evidence of a para- to ferromagnetic phase transition, but the thickness limit for the FM phase in single (Ga,Mn)As may be lower than reported here. The Curie temperature for the ferromagnetic layers is seen to decrease with increasing layer thickness. Significant differences between the magnetotransport properties of thick and thin (Ga,Mn)As films have been observed. Due to the very low negative magnetoresistance at 300 mK and magnetic fields in the range of 0 - 12 T we could estimate the density of holes in 5 nm thick (Ga,Mn)As film with 5$`\%`$ Mn to be as high as 7.1$`\times `$1020 cm-3, which means 65$`\%`$ doping efficiency of Mn acceptors.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR), the Swedish Research Council for Engineering Sciences (TFR), the Nanometer Structure Consortium in Lund, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), the Danish Research Council of Engineering Sciences (STVF framework programme ”Nanomagnetism”), and the Danish Science Research Council (SNF framework programme ”Mesoscopic Physics”). The samples are partly prepared at the III-V NANOLAB.