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# Exponentially Localized Magnetic Fields for Single-Spin Quantum Logic Gates

## I Introduction

Among the many and varied proposals for constructing quantum computers, spintronic solid state devices occupy a special place because of the prospects of integration with the existing semiconductor technological infrastructure Awschalom:book . At the same time, superconducting devices have taken an early lead in demonstrating the viability of the building blocks of quantum computing (QC) in the solid state, with recent reports of controlled single-qubit operations and entanglement generation Vion:02-Yu:02-Berkley:03 .

In both the spintronics QC proposals, such as quantum dots Loss:98 ; Burkard:99 ; Levy:01a-Hu:01a ; Friesen:02 , donor spins in Si Kane:98-Vrijen:00-Mozyrsky:01 , electrons on helium Lyon:03 , and the superconducting QC proposals vdWal:00-Friedman:00-Blais:00-Makhlin:01 , the ability to apply highly localized and inhomogeneous magnetic fields would be a definite advantage, if it could be done without excessive technical difficulties. In fact the early proposals suggested manipulating individual spin qubits using such localized magnetic fields, e.g., by a scanning-probe tip or by coupling to an auxiliary ferromagnetic dot Loss:98 , but there are significant speed, controllability and other difficulties associated with such methods. Because of these difficulties, in particular the spintronics requirement to resolve single spins, many alternatives to the use of localized magnetic fields have been proposed in spin-based QC. These alternatives typically avoid the use of magnetic fields altogether: e.g., $`g`$-factor engineering combined with all electrical control Kato:03 , optical spin manipulation Piermarocchi:02 , or encoding into the states of several spins Bacon:99a-Kempe:00-DiVincenzo:00a ; LidarWu:01 . Other alternatives include gate teleportation, which requires controllable exchange interactions and certain two-spin measurements WuLidar:02a , and qubits encoded into antiferromagnetic spin clusters, in which case the magnetic field needs to be controlled only over the length scale of the cluster diameter Meier:02 . In the context of superconducting qubits it is also possible to avoid using localized magnetic fields by introducing an appropriate encoding LidarWuBlais:02 .

Here we revisit the possibility of applying highly localized magnetic fields. We show that a scheme inspired by magnetic mirrors for cold neutrons Vladimirskii:61 , and more recently cold atoms Opat:92 ; Sidorov:96 ; Johnson:98 ; Lau:99 ; Zabow:99  is capable of generating a magnetic field that decays exponentially fast over a length scale comparable to the spacing between nanofabricated quantum dots, and has strength and switching times that are compatible with QC given available estimates of decoherence times. Our scheme uses arrays of parallel current-carrying wires, that is readily implementable with currently available nanotechnology Melosh:03 ; Awschalom:book , and appears well suited for integration with quantum dot nanofabrication methods, as well as with superconducting flux qubits and spin-cluster qubits, where the length scales are larger. Thus we believe that QC with localized magnetic fields deserves a fresh look.

## II Exponentially localized magnetic field from an infinite wire array

In order to have a concrete application in mind we shall from now on refer to semiconductor quantum dot spin-qubits Loss:98 ; Burkard:99 ; Levy:01a-Hu:01a ; Friesen:02 . However, our results are equally applicable to other qubits that are manipulated by localized magnetic fields, such as superconducting flux qubits vdWal:00-Friedman:00-Blais:00-Makhlin:01 . The first requirement for single-spin magnetic resolution is a magnetic field profile that decays exponentially fast over length scales comparable with the inter-spin spacing. We will now show, in close analogy to results from magnetic mirrors, how to produce such an exponentially localized magnetic field. The basic design is one of an array of parallel current carrying wires, with the current direction alternating from wire to wire: see Fig. 1.

We first consider the idealized case of infinitely long wires. In this case the field can be calculated analytically (see also Vladimirskii:61 ; Opat:92 ). Let $`B_\alpha ^N`$ be the magnetic field in the $`\alpha =x,z`$ direction generated by $`N`$ infinitely long wires. We add magnetic field contributions from each wire, to get the field components from $`N`$ wire pairs:

$`B_z(x,z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _0I}{2\pi a}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{N1}{}}}\left(1\right)^n\left({\displaystyle \frac{(\frac{1}{2}+n)/2x}{\left((\frac{1}{2}+n)/2x\right)^2+z^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{(\frac{1}{2}+n)/2+x}{\left((\frac{1}{2}+n)/2+x\right)^2+z^2}}\right),`$ (1)
$`B_x(x,z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _0I}{2\pi a}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{N1}{}}}\left(1\right)^n\left({\displaystyle \frac{z}{\left((\frac{1}{2}+n)/2x\right)^2+z^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{z}{\left((\frac{1}{2}+n)/2+x\right)^2+z^2}}\right),`$ (2)
where $`I`$ is the current through each wire and $`k=2\pi /a`$ is the reciprocal array constant. This sum can be computed analytically in the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ using the residue theorem result

$$\underset{n=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}(1)^nf(n)=\pi \underset{\zeta _k}{}\frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}\pi \zeta _k}\mathrm{Res}(f,\zeta _k),$$

where $`\zeta _k`$ are the poles of $`f(\zeta )`$, yielding

$`B_x^{\mathrm{}}(x,y,z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _0I}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{sin}(kx)\mathrm{sinh}(kz)}{\mathrm{cos}(2kx)+\mathrm{cosh}(2kz)}},`$ (3)
$`B_z^{\mathrm{}}(x,y,z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _0I}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{cos}(kx)\mathrm{cosh}(kz)}{\mathrm{cos}(2kx)+\mathrm{cosh}(2kz)}}`$ (4)
$`\stackrel{x=0}{=}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _0I}{a}}\mathrm{sech}(kz)\stackrel{za}{}{\displaystyle \frac{2\mu _0I}{a}}e^{k|z|}.`$
The $`z`$-component result shows the basic point: an exponentially localized magnetic field can be generated using a wire array. The flat top of the $`\mathrm{sech}`$ profile is a useful design feature, since it implies no exponential sensitivity in the range $`za`$ Friesen:02 . The field magnitude

$$B^{\mathrm{}}=\left|𝐁^{\mathrm{}}\right|=\sqrt{2}\left[\mathrm{cos}(2kx)+\mathrm{cosh}(2kz)\right]^{1/2}$$
(5)
oscillates with period $`a`$ in the $`x`$-direction: see Fig. 2.

## III Multiple Arrays

For the purposes of QC, we should ideally be able to address each spin separately. To this end we propose to center a separate wire array on each quantum dot. Then, as long as the dots are spaced on the order of the lattice constant $`a`$, we have exponentially sensitive addressability of each dot. The introduction of multiple arrays is useful in another respect: we can adjust the magnitudes and directions of currents in different arrays so as to exactly cancel the field at all (or only some) other dots except the desired one (or ones). To see this, let $`b(z)B_z^{\mathrm{}}(z)/I=\frac{\mu _0}{a}\mathrm{sech}kz`$. The field at position $`z`$ from $`K`$ arrays of wires, with the $`j`$th array having current $`I_j`$ and intersecting the $`z`$-axis at position $`z_j`$ (typically the center of one of the dots), is:

$$B^{\{K\}}(z)=\underset{j=(K1)/2}{\overset{(K1)/2}{}}I_jb(zz_j).$$
(6)
Suppose we wish the field to have magnitude $`c_j`$ at position $`z_j`$. Formally, we need to solve:

$$B^{\{K\}}(z_j)=c_j,j[(K1)/2,(K1)/2].$$
(7)
This is a linear system of $`K`$ equations in the $`K`$ unknowns $`I_j`$, so it can always be solved in terms of the $`K`$ positions $`z_j`$. E.g., the fields with and without the correction are shown, for $`K=5`$, in Fig. 3.

## IV Finite size effects

For a finite system ($`N<\mathrm{}`$ wires, finite length and thickness, non-ideal shape, etc.), we can only expect the above results to hold to an approximation. Much of the theory of corrections to finite size effects has already been worked out in Sidorov:96 ; Zabow:99 , in the context of atomic mirrors. Since for atomic mirrors the primary concern is specular reflection, there the focus was on reducing the variation of the field magnitude in the planes parallel to the wire arrays. For us this criterion is unimportant; instead, our focus is on making the field as localized as possible along the $`z`$-axis.

The first important conclusion in the case of a finite number of wires $`N`$ is that there is a transition from exponential to quadratic (i. e., $`1/z^2`$) decay. Zabow:99  The transition takes place at the inflection point (zero second derivative) of $`B^N(z)`$; however, this is difficult to obtain analytically. To roughly estimate the transition point we compute where the field from a single pair of wires, positioned at the edge of an array of $`N`$ wires ($`y=\pm Na/4`$), generates a field of magnitude equal to that from an infinite array:

$$\frac{\mu _0I}{\pi }\frac{Na/4}{z^2+(Na/4)^2}=\frac{\mu _0I}{a}e^{2\pi z/a}.$$
(8)
Since the transition happens for $`x/aN`$ we neglect $`x/a`$ in the denominator. The solution is then

$$z_t\frac{\pi a}{20}\mathrm{ln}(\frac{\pi N}{4})$$
(9)
Numerical calculations show that Eq. (9) overestimates the position of the transition point by about a factor of $`5`$; however, after this correction is made, analytics and numerics agree well across several orders of magnitude of $`N`$.

This logarithmic dependence might appear to pose a severe scalability constraint on our method. However, this is not the case when we take into account the threshold for fault tolerant quantum error correction Steane:02 . For, it follows from the threshold result that we only need to make the ratio of the peak field (applied to the desired spin) to the residual field smaller than, say $`10^4`$. The crucial question thus becomes for what $`N`$ this can be achieved, and this brings us to the idea of “endcaps”.

As observed in Sidorov:96 ; Lau:99 ; Zabow:99 , near the center of the array the magnetic field that would be produced by the semi-infinite array of “missing” wires is the same (to first order in $`4/N`$) as that of a pair of wires carrying current $`I_{\mathrm{cap}}=I/2`$ and placed with their centers shifted by $`a/4`$ from the outermost wires in the array. Thus, to cancel this field, one can simply place two “endcap” wires carrying currents $`\pm I/2`$ at these positions. In the context of atomic mirrors this is important to improve flatness, and hence specular reflection. In Zabow:99  it was observed that flatness can be further enhanced by using an *odd* number of wires.

Some of these schemes can be used to improve *field localization*, a criterion not considered orginally. For instance, we find that the number of wires can be reduced drastically – from $`N10^4`$ to as few as $`N=22`$ wires – when endcaps are used to achieve a residual field smaller than $`10^4`$. By contrast, using an odd $`N`$ is disastrous for localization: for example, residual fields appear at the $`3\%`$ level for $`N=23`$, even including endcap correction. Higher (even) wire number increases the robustness of the cancellation against experimental uncertainty in the current and position of the endcaps: $`N=30`$ is required to maintain $`B/\mu _0I10^4`$ for a fractional current variation of $`\pm 10^3`$ and a positional uncertainty of $`\pm 2.5`$ nm, as shown in Fig. 4. Finally, we note that the corrections arising from the finite length of the wires and the short, perpendicular connecting wires, can also be compensated for by the use of judiciously placed compensating wires Zabow:99 .

## V Feasibility and implementation considerations

We now come to estimates of whether the fields and size scales required are feasible in practice. Let us first calculate the magnetic field strength required for single-qubit operations. A spin can be rotated by a relative angle $`\varphi =g\mu _BB\tau /2\mathrm{}`$ by turning on the field $`B`$ for a time $`\tau `$ (where $`g1`$ is the $`g`$-factor, and $`\mu _B`$ is the Bohr magneton). Recent estimates of dephasing times are $`50\mu \mathrm{s}`$ for electron spins in GaAs quantum dots (a calculation, assuming spectral diffusion is dominant) deSousa:03 , and a measurement of $`60`$ ms for $`T_2`$ of phosphorus donors in Si Tyryshkin:03 . If we use the more pessimistic of these numbers, and assume a fault tolerance threshold of $`10^4`$ for QC Steane:02 , we may estimate the desired operation time as $`\tau 10^4\times 50\mu `$s $`=5`$ ns for an angle $`\varphi =\pi /2`$. Thus the desired field strength is $`B=2\mathrm{}\varphi /g\mu _B\tau 7`$ mT.

To evaluate the feasibility of such a specification, we consider an array with periodicity $`a=250`$ nm, wire radius $`r=50`$ nm, $`N=32`$ wires, and length $`L_y=10\mu `$m along the $`y`$-direction. These dimensions are compatible with the $`100`$ nm length scales of quantum dots Friesen:02 . In order to reach the desired field strength of $`7`$ mT, $`I=aB_z^{\mathrm{}}/\mu _01.4`$ mA would be required. However, decoherence due to heating with such a current could be a major issue. An upper bound estimate for the required temperature $`T`$ can be given by $`TE_Z/k_B`$, where $`E_Z=g\mu _BB/2`$ is the Zeeman splitting of the spins in the applied magnetic field $`B`$. In our case, we have constrained $`B`$ by the gate time $`\tau `$, so we can write $`k_BT\pi \mathrm{}/2\tau `$, or $`T2.4`$ mK for $`\tau =5`$ ns. This is feasible with dilution refrigeration technology if the heat load is on the order of $`100`$ pW comment , comparable to the dissipation of quantum dots Friesen:02 .

For normal metal wires, such a heat load restriction is prohibitive. The power $`P`$ dissipated is $`P=j^2\rho A\mathrm{},`$ where $`j`$ is the current density, $`\mathrm{}=N(2L_y+a)`$ is the total wire length, and $`\rho `$ is the resistivity. Below $`10`$ K, oxygen-free copper can have $`\rho 3\times 10^{11}`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ m. Fickett:83  At $`P100`$ pW, $`I3.6\mu `$A, which would give $`\tau 2.0\mu `$s – nearly a thousand times slower than our original goal. Although this would be acceptably fast if the decoherence time were $`60`$ ms, as in Tyryshkin:03 , the high-purity $`\rho `$ we have used is optimistic for nanofabricated wires, and the heat generated would increase linearly with the number of qubits manipulated.

One can circumvent resistive heating by using superconductors. A wire with radius $`r\xi _0`$, where $`\xi _0`$ is the coherence length, can also avoid heating mechanisms associated with vortex movement through the superconductor. For $`r\lambda `$ or smaller, where $`\lambda `$ is the penetration depth, the critical current density is due to depairing: $`j_c=(2/3)^{3/2}B_c/(\mu _0\lambda )`$ Tinkham:book . These constraints are compatible when $`\lambda \xi _0`$, i.e., mostly type I superconductors. For Nb, $`B_{c1}=0.206`$ T, $`\lambda =52`$ nm, and $`\xi _0=39`$ nm Poole , so $`j_c=1.7\times 10^{12}`$ A/m2. Note that high-temperature superconductors typically have higher $`\lambda `$ and thus lower $`j_c`$. In any case, the critical current density of Nb is more than is required: a gate time of $`\tau =5`$ ns would require $`j0.1j_c`$.

## VI Conclusions and Extrapolations

In conclusion, our results indicate that QC with localized magnetic fields deserves renewed consideration. We have shown that a method to produce exponentially decaying magnetic fields using an array of current-carrying wires, known in the cold neutron and atom optics communities, is adaptable to solid state quantum computer implementations. Our estimates indicate that in all respects the method is technologically feasible, provided superconducting wires with sufficiently high critical current density (such as Nb) are used.

Our work is motivated by the quest to perform single-spin or flux-qubit rotations, which is a component of a universal set of quantum logic gates. The geometry shown in Fig. 1 yields a field that is localized in the $`z`$-direction; in order to perform arbitrary single-qubit rotations we need to localize the field along another, perpendicular direction. An independent field vector can be produced by a second set of interleaved arrays placed at 45 with respect to the original arrays, with current flowing along $`(𝐳+𝐲)/\sqrt{2}`$. With a judicious array placement and $`na=d/\sqrt{2}`$, for qubit spacing $`d`$ and any integer $`n`$, the field direction will be along $`𝐱`$ at all qubits (this design will need to be optimized similarly to our considerations above – an issue we do not intend to address here). The additional spatial constraints would require only a four-fold increase in $`a`$ for the same currents and wire sizes. If on the other hand, introducing a second array is undesirable, “software” solutions using recoupling and encoding techniques have been developed to still allow for universal QC LidarWu:01 . These techniques would be considerably simplified by the ability to perform single-qubit operations along one direction.

Acknowledgments. We thank Dr. Alexandre Zagoskin, Dr. Brian Statt, and Dr. John Wei for useful discussions. D.A.L.’s research is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under the QuIST program and managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFOSR), under agreement F49620-01-1-0468. D.A.L. further gratefully acknowledges the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for a Research Fellowship. J.H.T. thanks the Canada Research Chairs program for financial support.


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# A different look at the spin state of Co3+ ions in CoO5 pyramidal coordination

## Abstract

Using soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Co-$`L_{2,3}`$ and O-$`K`$ edges, we demonstrate that the Co3+ ions with the CoO5 pyramidal coordination in the layered Sr2CoO3Cl compound are unambiguously in the high spin state. Our result questions the reliability of the spin state assignments made so far for the recently synthesized layered cobalt perovskites, and calls for a re-examination of the modeling for the complex and fascinating properties of these new materials.

The class of cobalt-oxide based materials has attracted considerable interest in the last decade because of expectations that spectacular properties may be found similar to those in the manganites and cuprates. Indeed, giant magneto resistance effects have been observed in the La1-x$`A`$xCoO3 ($`A`$=Ca,Sr,Ba) perovskites Briceno95  and $`R`$BaCo2O5+x ($`R`$=Eu,Gd) layered perovskites Martin97 ; Maignan99 . Very recently, also superconductivity has been found in the NaxCoO2.$`y`$H2O material Takada03 . In fact, numerous one-, two-, and three-dimensional cobalt oxide materials have been synthesized or rediscovered in the last 5 years, with properties that include metal-insulator and ferro-ferri-antiferro-magnetic transitions with various forms of charge, orbital and spin ordering Fjellvag96 ; Aasland97 ; Kageyama97 ; Yamaura99 ; Loureiro00 ; Loureiro01 ; Vogt00 ; Suard00 ; Fauth01 ; Burley03 ; Mitchell03 ; Moritomo00 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 ; Fauth02 ; Taskin03 ; Soda03 .

A key aspect of cobalt oxides that distinguish them clearly from the manganese and copper materials, is the spin state degree of freedom of the Co3+/III ions: it can be low spin (LS, $`S`$=0), high spin (HS, $`S`$=2) and even intermediate spin (IS, $`S`$=1) Sugano . This aspect comes on top of the orbital, spin (up/down) and charge degrees of freedom that already make the manganite and cuprate systems so exciting. It is, however, also precisely this aspect that causes considerable debate in the literature. For the classic LaCoO3 compound, for instance, various early studies attributed the low temperature spin state change to be of LS-HS nature Goodenough65 , while studies in the last decade put a lot of effort to propose a LS-IS scenario instead Korotin96 ; Saitoh97 . More topical, confusion has arisen about the Co spin state in the newly synthesized layered cobalt perovskites Martin97 ; Maignan99 ; Yamaura99 ; Loureiro00 ; Loureiro01 ; Vogt00 ; Suard00 ; Fauth01 ; Burley03 ; Mitchell03 ; Moritomo00 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 ; Fauth02 ; Taskin03 ; Soda03 . In fact, all possible spin states have been claimed for each of the different Co sites present. There is even no consensus in the predictions from band structure calculations Wu00 ; Kwon00 ; Wang01 .

In this manuscript we are questioning the reliability of the spin states as obtained from magnetic, neutron and x-ray diffraction measurements for the newly synthesized layered cobalt perovskites Martin97 ; Maignan99 ; Yamaura99 ; Loureiro00 ; Loureiro01 ; Vogt00 ; Suard00 ; Fauth01 ; Burley03 ; Mitchell03 ; Moritomo00 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 ; Fauth02 ; Taskin03 ; Soda03 . We carried out a test experiment using a relatively simple model compound, namely Sr2CoO3Cl, in which there are no spin state transitions present and in which there is only one kind of Co3+ ion coordination Loureiro00 . Important is that this coordination is identical to the pyramidal CoO5 present in the heavily debated layered perovskites Martin97 ; Maignan99 ; Yamaura99 ; Loureiro00 ; Loureiro01 ; Vogt00 ; Suard00 ; Fauth01 ; Burley03 ; Mitchell03 ; Moritomo00 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 ; Fauth02 ; Taskin03 ; Soda03 . Using a spectroscopic tool, that is soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), we demonstrate that pyramidal Co3+ ions are not in the often claimed IS state but unambiguously in a HS state. This outcome suggests that the spin states and their temperature dependence in layered cobalt perovskites may be rather different in nature from those proposed in the recent literature.

Bulk polycrystalline samples of Sr2CoO3Cl were prepared by a solid state reaction route Loureiro00 . The magnetic susceptibility is measured to be very similar to the one reported by Loureiro et al. Loureiro00 . We find that up to 600 K the susceptibility does not follow a Curie-Weiss behavior, making a simple determination of the spin state impossible. Spectroscopic measurements were carried out using soft x-rays in the vicinity of the Co-$`L_{2,3}`$ ($`h\nu `$ $``$ 780-800 eV) and O-$`K`$ ($`h\nu `$ $``$ 528-535 eV) absorption edges. The experiments were performed at the Dragon beamline at the NSRRC in Taiwan, with a photon energy resolution of about 0.30 eV and 0.15 eV, respectively. Clean sample surfaces were obtained by scraping in-situ with a diamond file, in an ultra-high vacuum chamber with a pressure in the low $`10^9`$ mbar range. The Co-$`L_{2,3}`$ XAS spectra were recorded in the total electron yield mode by measuring the sample drain current, and the O-$`K`$ XAS spectra by collecting the fluorescence yield to minimize background signal and maximize bulk sensitivity. A single crystal of EuCoO3 is included as an unambiguous reference for a LS CoIII system Lorenz .

Fig. 1 shows the Co-$`L_{2,3}`$ XAS spectrum of Sr2CoO3Cl taken at room temperature. It is dominated by the Co $`2p`$ core-hole spin-orbit coupling which splits the spectrum roughly in two parts, namely the $`L_3`$ ($`h\nu 780`$ eV) and $`L_2`$ ($`h\nu 796`$ eV) white lines regions. The line shape of the spectrum depends strongly on the multiplet structure given by the Co $`3d`$-$`3d`$ and $`2p`$-$`3d`$ Coulomb and exchange interactions, as well as by the local crystal fields and the hybridization with the O $`2p`$ ligands. Unique to soft x-ray absorption is that the dipole selection rules are very effective in determining which of the $`2p^53d^{n+1}`$ final states can be reached and with what intensity, starting from a particular $`2p^63d^n`$ initial state ($`n`$=6 for Co3+) deGroot94 ; Thole97 . This makes the technique extremely sensitive to the symmetry of the initial state, i.e. the valence Chen90 , orbital Chen92 ; Park00  and spin Laan88 ; Thole88 ; Cartier92 ; Pen97  state of the ion.

Utilizing this sensitivity, we compare the Co-$`L_{2,3}`$ XAS spectrum of Sr2CoO3Cl to that of another $`3d^6`$ compound, namely FeO, reproduced from the thesis of J.-H. Park Parkthesis . This spectrum was taken at room temperature. Except for the different photon energy scale and the smaller $`2p`$ core-hole spin-orbit splitting, the FeO spectrum as shown in Fig. 1 is essentially identical with that of Sr2CoO3Cl. From this we can immediately conclude that the Co3+ ions in Sr2CoO3Cl are in the HS state, since the Fe2+ ions are also unambiguously HS.

To find further support for our conclusion, we also compare the Co-$`L_{2,3}`$ XAS spectrum of Sr2CoO3Cl with that of EuCoO3, which is known to be a LS system Lorenz . From Fig. 2 one now can clearly see large discrepancies between the spectra of the two compounds. Not only are the line shapes different, but also the ratios of the integrated intensities of the $`L_3`$ and $`L_2`$ regions: in comparison with Sr2CoO3Cl, the LS EuCoO3 has relatively less intensity at the $`L_3`$ and more at the $`L_2`$, characteristic for a spin state difference Laan88 ; Thole88 ; Cartier92 ; Pen97 . Fig. 2 thus demonstrates that Sr2CoO3Cl is definitely not a LS system.

It would have made our case even easier to prove, if we could have excluded experimentally the IS scenario for Sr2CoO3Cl by comparing the spectrum to that of a known Co3+ IS reference system. However, there is to date no consensus for such an oxide reference system. Nevertheless, the spin state can also be deduced from theoretical simulations of the experimental spectra. To this end, we use the successful configuration interaction cluster model that includes the full atomic multiplet theory and the hybridization with the O $`2p`$ ligands deGroot94 ; Thole97 ; Tanaka94 . We have carried out the calculations for a Co3+ ion in the CoO5 pyramidal cluster as present in Sr2CoO3Cl and for the ion in the CoO6 octahedral cluster found in EuCoO3. We use parameter values typical for a Co3+ system Saitoh97 . The Co $`3d`$ to O $`2p`$ transfer integrals are adapted for the various Co-O bond lengths according to Harrison’s prescription Harrison ; param . This together with the crystal field parameters determines whether the Co3+ ion is in the HS or LS state Sugano . The results are shown in Fig. 2 and one can clearly see that the calculated spectrum of the HS pyramidal CoO5 cluster reproduces very well the experimental Sr2CoO3Cl spectrum, and that the calculated LS octahedral CoO6 spectrum matches nicely the experimental EuCoO3 spectrum. This demonstrates that our spectroscopic assignments are firmly founded.

More spectroscopic evidence for the HS nature of the Co3+ in the pyramidal CoO5 coordination can be found from the O $`K`$ XAS spectrum as shown in Fig. 3. The structures from 528 to 533 eV are due to transitions from the O $`1s`$ core level to the O $`2p`$ orbitals that are mixed into the unoccupied Co $`3d`$ $`t_{2g}`$ and $`e_g`$ states. The broad structures above 533 eV are due to Sr $`4d`$, Co $`4s`$ and Cl $`3p`$ related bands. For comparison, Fig. 3 also includes the spectrum of the LS EuCoO3, and clear differences can be seen in the line shapes and energy positions of the Co $`3d`$ \- O $`2p`$ derived states. This again is indicative that Sr2CoO3Cl is not a LS system. To interpret the spectra, we also have carried out full-potential band structure calculations Wu00  for Sr2CoO3Cl in the local density approximation with correction for electron correlation effects (LDA+U) Anisimov91 . We find the ground state of the system to be an antiferromagnetic insulator with a band gap of 1.3 eV and a magnetic moment of 3.2 $`\mu _B`$. Although less than $`4\mu _B`$, this indicates that the Co is in the HS state since in an antiferromagnet the moment is reduced due to covalency. The calculated unoccupied O $`2p`$ partial density of states (DOS) are depicted in Fig. 3, and good agreement with the experimental spectrum can be observed.

It is now interesting to look with more detail into the character of the states relevant for the O $`K`$ XAS spectra. For the LS EuCoO3 with the $`3d`$ $`t_{2g}^6`$ configuration, the lowest energy structure in the spectrum at about 529.5 eV is due to transitions into the unoccupied Co $`3d`$ $`e_g`$ states. The fact that Sr2CoO3Cl has a lower energy structure thus indicates that transitions to the lower lying $`t_{2g}`$ are allowed, i.e. that the $`t_{2g}`$ states are not fully occupied. In other words, Sr2CoO3Cl is in the HS $`t_{2g}^4e_g^2`$ or IS $`t_{2g}^5e_g^1`$ state. At first sight, one might then expect a much larger spectral weight for the higher lying $`e_g`$ level, since the hybridization with the O $`2p`$ is larger for the $`e_g`$ than for the $`t_{2g}`$. However, our LDA+U calculations in which we find the HS ground state, indicate that, because of the missing apical oxygen in the CoO5 coordination, the unoccupied $`3z^2`$-$`r^2`$ level is pulled down by 1.6 eV from the $`x^2`$-$`y^2`$, and comes close to the unoccupied $`t_{2g}^2`$. Moreover, because of the large displacement (0.33 Å) of the Co ion out of the O4 basal plane of the pyramid Loureiro00 , the hybridization of the $`x^2`$-$`y^2`$ with the O $`2p`$ ligands is strongly reduced. Therefore, the dominant lower energy structure at 528.3 eV consists of the unoccupied minority $`t_{2g}^2`$ (dashed line in Fig. 3) and minority $`3z^2`$-$`r^2`$ (dashed dotted line) levels, and the shoulder at 530.4 eV of the minority $`x^2`$-$`y^2`$ (dotted line).

From the LDA+U calculations, we have found that the IS state Kwon00  is unstable with respect to HS ground state for the real crystal structure of Sr2CoO3Cl. We have also found nevertheless, that the IS state can be stabilized by artificially moving the Co ion into the O4 basal plane of the CoO5 pyramid. For the latter, however, the calculated unoccupied O $`2p`$ partial DOS does not reproduce the experimental O-$`K`$ XAS spectrum that well, as one can see from the discrepancies in the 531-532 eV range in Fig. 3. What happens is that the $`x^2`$-$`y^2`$ level is pushed up by the increased hybridization with the O $`2p`$ ligands, since the Co ion is within the O4 basal plane in this artificial crystal structure. Moreover, the up-rising majority $`x^2`$-$`y^2`$ becomes unoccupied, resulting in the IS state. Apparently, the actual large base corrugation of the CoO5 pyramid helps to stabilize the HS state Wu00 , a trend that should not be overlooked if one is to understand the real spin state of CoO5 pyramids. We find from our LDA+U calculations that the HS is more stable than the IS for out-of-basal-plane Co displacements larger than a critical value of about 0.15 Å.

Having established that the pyramidal coordinated Co3+ ions in Sr2CoO3Cl are in the HS state, we now turn our attention to other layered cobalt materials that have the same structural units. Neutron diffraction experiments on $`R`$BaCo2O5.0 ($`R`$ = rare earth) have revealed the existence of alternating Co2+ and Co3+ ions, both in pyramidal CoO5 coordination. The magnetic structure is $`G`$-type antiferro with moments of 2.7 and 4.2 $`\mu _B`$ Vogt00 , or 2.7 and 3.7 $`\mu _B`$, respectively Suard00 ; Fauth01 . For the $`R`$=Nd compound, charge ordering was not observed, but an average moment of 3.5 $`\mu _B`$ was measured Burley03 ; Mitchell03 . These studies suggested two possible scenarios for the Co3+ ions, namely either HS with spin-only moments or IS with orbital moment. Our findings based on Sr2CoO3Cl on the other hand, strongly suggest the HS state of such pyramidal Co3+ ions. Here we keep in mind that the out-of-plane Co displacements of the pyramids in $`R`$BaCo2O5.0 are larger than 0.35 Å Vogt00 ; Fauth01 ; Burley03 , i.e. much larger than the above mentioned 0.15 Å critical value. The first scenario is thus favored, with the remark that neutron diffraction techniques tend to observe smaller magnetic moments due to the Co-O covalency, which is responsible for the antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions present in these materials.

The experimental situation for the $`R`$BaCo2O5.5 system is more complicated. Neutron and x-ray diffraction measurements indicate the presence of all Co3+ ions in alternating pyramidal CoO5 and octahedral CoO6 units Burley03 ; Mitchell03 ; Moritomo00 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 ; Fauth02 ; Soda03 . The magnetic structure is most likely not a simple $`G`$-type Fauth02 ; Taskin03 , and depending on the model, values between 0.7 and 2.0 $`\mu _B`$ have been extracted for the pyramidal Co3+ Fauth02 ; Soda03 . The IS state is thus proposed, and in fact most other studies also assumes this starting point Burley03 ; Mitchell03 ; Moritomo00 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 ; Taskin03 . Nevertheless, structural data indicate that the CoO5 pyramids in these compounds have very similar Co-O bond lengths and angles as in Sr2CoO3Cl. The out-of-plane Co3+ displacements in the pyramids are larger than 0.3 Å Burley03 ; Respaud01 ; Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 , and again, much larger than the 0.15 Å critical value. We therefore infer that also in these compounds the pyramidal Co3+ must be HS, which is supported by the observation that the effective magnetic moment as extracted from the high temperature Curie-Weiss behavior indicates a HS state for all Co3+ Martin97 ; Maignan99 ; Moritomo00 . In fact, the average Co-O bond length for the CoO5 pyramids even increases at lower temperatures Kusuya01 ; Frontera02 , thereby stabilizing the HS state even more. The fact that neutron diffraction detects lower moments may indicate a complex magnetic structure as a result of a delicately balanced spin state of the octahedral Co3+ ions affecting the various exchange interactions in the compounds in which the pyramidal Co3+ remains HS.

Summarizing, we have found an overwhelming amount of evidence for the HS nature of the pyramidal coordinated Co3+ ions in Sr2CoO3Cl: (1) the Co $`L_{2,3}`$ spectrum has essentially an identical line shape as the Fe $`L_{2,3}`$ in FeO; (2) the Co $`L_{2,3}`$ spectrum can be reproduced to a great detail by model calculations with the Co ion in the HS state; (3) the O $`K`$ spectrum can be well explained by LDA+U calculations with the Co in the HS state, but not with the Co in the IS state; and (4) LDA+U calculations yield the HS ground state and no stable IS state for the real crystal structure. With other newly synthesized layered cobalt oxides having very similar pyramidal CoO5 units, we infer that those Co3+ ions must also be in the HS state, contradicting the assignments made so far. It is highly desirable to investigate the consequences for the modeling of the properties of these new materials.

We would like to thank Lucie Hamdan for her skillful technical and organizational assistance in preparing the experiment, and Daniel Khomskii for stimulating discussions. The research in Köln is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through SFB 608.


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# Motion properties of satellites around external spiral galaxies

## 1 Introduction

The currently accepted theories of galaxy formation rest on the basic idea that large objects are formed by aggregation of low mass elements. In this scenario, systems such as a massive primary with its satellite galaxies are ideal gravitationally bound environments where to investigate the mechanisms which control mass aggregation in the Universe.
Due to the limited number of satellites per system (Zaritsky et al. 1997, McKay et al. 2002, Prada et al. 2003), a statistical approach is used here, following the method of Zaritsky (Zaritsky et al. 1993): providing that the primaries are selected in a consistent way, all the satellites are considered as part of the same system, thus orbiting the same fictitious primary.
We selected a suitable sample of large isolated primary spirals with their satellites, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release and Data Release 1. The selection follows the criteria reported by Prada (Prada et al. 2003).
Here we show the preliminary results on the prograde/retrograde ratio in our sample. We also compare our results with those obtained by Zaritsky (Zaritsky et al. 1993, 1997), who uses a sample of 57 primaries with measured rotation direction and 95 satellites. Through this contribution we call this sample “ZS”. ZS primaries velocity upper limit is 7000 km/s.

## 2 The data

The kinematics data on the selected sample come both from the SDSS and from our observations. We took receding velocities, absolute magnitudes and positions for primaries and satellites from the SDSS database; the morphological types of the primaries have been taken from the Leda database and carefully checked visually from the SDSS images, or devised visually when not available in the literature.
Our sample includes 141 spirals with 200 satellites; the primaries have been selected by absolute brightness $`M_B`$ to lay in the magnitude bin \[-20.5 -19.5\], and below 11000 km/s in recessional velocity. This velocity limit was chosen because, as by definition satellites are at least two magnitudes fainter than their primaries, the satellites of our faintest primaries will never be brighter than $`M_B=17.5`$. Given the apparent B magnitude limit of SDSS (about 18.5, see Stoughton et al. 2002), $`M_B=17.5`$ is reached at 11000 km/s (h = 0.7).
Through an ongoing observational programme, we are measuring the rotation direction of the primaries of the sample. We measured the Sky Position Angle of the primaries from the SDSS images and aligned the slit along the major axes.
The side-to-side Doppler shift was measured using the H$`\alpha `$ emission line around 6650 $`\AA `$, and comparing it with sky lines. Our doppler shift detection has always been better than 10 $`\sigma `$. Some of the galaxies show no detectable H$`\alpha `$ emission, while for one object we could recover the rotation curve from the literature (ngc2841, Afanasiev & Silchenko 1999), yelding a sample of 41 primaries with a satellite population of 64 objects in total. If we want to make comparisons with ZS, then we must match its velocity limit of 7000 km/s, and then we are left with 23 primaries and 36 satellites.
Observations were carried out using the William Herschel (4.2 m) and Isaac Newton (2.5 m) telescopes at ING (La Palma), with the intermediate dispersion spectrographs ISIS and IDS. We performed a statistical analysis on the observed part of the sample, which is shown in Figure 1 $`a`$ and $`b`$, and a preliminary comparison with ZS.
For the statistical analysis, three ranges of angular separation from the primary major axis are considered: $`\pm 30^{}`$, $`\pm 45^{}`$, $`\pm 45^{}`$, plus the total of each subsample ($`\pm 90^{}`$). The choice of selecting satellites by their angular displacement from the primary major axis was made to correlate the satellite motions directly with the angular momentum of the primary.

## 3 Conclusions

Using the whole sample, we find around 56% of prograde satellites at all angular distances from the primary major axis. In the case of $`v<7000`$ km/s, we find a slightly higher porcentage (58%) (Figure 1$`a`$), while the ZS yelds 51% over the total set and 50% at small angular distances from the primary major axis.
We find that the mean velocities of retrograde satellites are nearly always much

larger than those of prograde, while the mean distances are usually comparable.
We also show a histogram of the distribution of prograde/retrograde velocities in our sample (Figure 1$`b`$), where it can be seen that the peak count is on the prograde side, but very close to zero velocity.
Through Monte Carlo simulations, we estimated that the contamination of interlopers (objects which are field galaxies, not dinamically bound to the primary, but are counted as satellites because of projection effects) is small. Interlopers must be equally distributed between prograde and retrograde, so their presence basically would “push” the prograde/retrograde ratio towards the value of 50%. We estimate this effect to be of the order of 2% for porcentages around 60% of prograde satellites.
Because we stack together systems of very different distances, we could have a problem as magnitude completeness cannot be fulfilled for all of them: some intrinsecally faint satellites would be observed in closeby systems, but not in distant systems. Through another Monte Carlo simulation, we are checking if this problem could have any effects on the prograde/retrograde ratio and the results are promising, in the sense that the ratio seems to be fairly insensitive to magnitude completeness and distance mixing. In a future paper we will address these questions in more detail.