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Jayaraj, Anooja

Publications and source records attributed to Jayaraj, Anooja.

Long-range current-induced spin accumulation in chiral crystals

Abstract Chiral materials, similarly to human hands, have distinguishable right-handed and left-handed enantiomers which may behave differently in response to external stimuli. Here, we use for the first time an approach based on the density functional theory (DFT)+PAOFLOW calculations to quantitatively estimate the so-called collinear Rashba–Edelstein effect (REE) that generates spin accumulation parallel to charge current and can manifest as chirality-dependent charge-to-spin conversion in chiral crystals. Importantly, we reveal that the spin accumulation induced in the bulk by an electric current is intrinsically protected by the quasi-persistent spin helix arising from the crystal symmetries present in chiral systems with the Weyl spin–orbit coupling. In contrast to conventional REE, spin transport can be preserved over large distances, in agreement with the recent observations for some chiral materials. This allows, for example, the generation of spin currents from spin accumulation, opening novel routes for the design of solid-state spintronics devices.

Roy, Arunesh↗

Quasi-two-dimensional Fermi surface of superconducting line-nodal metal CaSb 2

We report on the Fermi surfaces and superconducting parameters of CaSb 2 single crystals (superconducting below T c ~1.8K) grown by the self-flux method. The frequency of de Haas–van Alphen and Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations evidences a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) Fermi surface, consistent with one of the Fermi surfaces forming Dirac lines predicted by first-principles calculations. Measurements in the superconducting state reveal that CaSb 2 is close to a type-I superconductor with the Ginzburg-Landau parameter of around unity. The temperature dependence of the upper critical field H c2 is well described by a model considering two superconducting bands, and the enhancement of the effective mass estimated from H c2 (0K) is consistent with the quasi-2D band observed by the quantum oscillations. Our results indicate that a quasi-2D band forming Dirac lines contributes to the superconductivity in CaSb 2 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Quantum algorithm for electronic band structures with local tight-binding orbitals

While the main thrust of quantum computing research in materials science is to accurately measure the classically intractable electron correlation effects due to Coulomb repulsion, designing optimal quantum algorithms for simpler problems with well-understood solutions is a useful tactic to advance our quantum “toolbox”. With this in mind, we consider the quantum calculation of a periodic system’s single-electron band structure over a path through reciprocal space. Previous efforts have used the Variational Quantum Eigensolver algorithm to solve the energy of each band, which involves numerically optimizing the parameters of a variational quantum circuit to minimize a cost function, constructed as the expectation value of a Hamiltonian operator. Traditionally, a unique Hamiltonian operator is constructed for each k-point, so that many cost functions, each with their own parameter space, must be optimized to generate a single band. Similarly, calculating higher bands than the first has traditionally involved modifying the cost function with additional overlap terms to ensure higher-energy eigenstates are orthogonal to those of lower bands. In this paper, we adopt a direct space approach, using a novel hybrid first/second-quantized qubit mapping which allows us to construct a single Hamiltonian, and a single cost-function, suitable for solving the entire electronic band structure. In contrast to previous approaches, the k-point and the band index are selected by additional parameters in our quantum circuit, rather than through modifications to the cost function. The result is a technically and conceptually simpler approach to band structure calculations on a quantum computer. Moreover, we expect that the tools developed herein will motivate new strategies for tackling highly-correlated materials beyond the grasp of classical computing.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Relaxation time approximations in PAOFLOW 2.0

Abstract Regardless of its success, the constant relaxation time approximation has limited validity. Temperature and energy dependent effects are important to match experimental trends even in simple situations. We present the implementation of relaxation time approximation models in the calculation of Boltzmann transport in 2.0 and apply those to model band-structures. In addition, using a self-consistent fitting of the model parameters to experimental conductivity data, we provide a flexible tool to extract scattering rates with high accuracy. We illustrate the approximations using simple models and then apply the method to GaAs, Si, $$\hbox {Mg}_3\hbox {Sb}_2$$ Mg 3 Sb 2 , and $$\hbox {CoSb}_3$$ CoSb 3 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗