Eur. Phys. J. D 43, 225-228 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2007-00098-4

Magnetism in artificial lattices

¹ Mathematical Physics, LTH, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden
² NanoScience Center, Department of Physics, University of Jyväkylä, 40351 Jyväkylä, Finland

Corresponding author: ^a kimmo.karkkainen@matfys.lth.se

Received: 24 July 2006
Revised: 18 October 2006
Published online: 24 May 2007

Abstract

We compare magnetism in two artificial lattice structures, a quantum dot array formed in a two-dimensional electron gas and an optical lattice loaded with repulsive, contact-interacting fermionic atoms. When the tunneling between the lattice sites is strong, both lattices are non-magnetic. With reduced tunneling in the tight-binding limit, the shell-filling of the single-site quantum wells combined with Hund's rule determines the magnetism. This leads to a systematic magnetic phase diagram with non-magnetic, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases.