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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Superconductor/Ferromagnet Heterostructures: A Platform for Superconducting Spintronics and Quantum Computation

The interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in the superconductor/ferromagnet (SC/FM) heterostructures generates many interesting physical phenomena, including spin-triplet superconductivity, superconducting order parameter oscillation, and topological superconductivity. The unique physical properties make the SC/FM heterostructure as promising platforms for future superconducting spintronics and quantum computation applications. In this article, important research progress of SC/FM heterostructures from superconducting spintronics to quantum computation is reviewed, and it is organized as follows. First, the progress of spin current carriers in SC/FM heterostructures including Bogoliubov quasiparticles, superconducting vortex, and spin-triplet Cooper pairs which might be used for long-range spin transport is discussed. Then, the π Josephson junctions and their application for constructing π qubits are described. Finally, experimental signatures of Majorana states in the SC/FM heterostructures and the theoretically proposed manipulation are briefly reviewed, which could be useful to realize fault-tolerant topological quantum computing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

On brane gaugino condensates in 10d

We analyze the structure of gaugino interactions on D7-branes from a 10d perspective. This is essential if one wants to lift the standard 4d approach to type IIB moduli stabilization to 10d. In particular, a 10d picture has recently been used to raise concerns about the KKLT proposal for constructing de Sitter vacua, and to lend support to swampland conjectures against de Sitter. However, the analyses of brane gaugino condensation so far are plagued by UV divergences and do not include local 4-fermion terms. They also fail to reproduce the 4-fermion terms required by supergravity when compactified to four dimensions. Motivated by the structure of heterotic and Hořava-Witten theories, we suggest an extension of the brane action by a particular 4-fermion operator that resolves the above problems. Crucially, the UV divergence is cancelled and the expected structure of the 4d effective action is reproduced. We believe that attempts at a 10d description of KKLT have to be reconsidered in this new light.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Comparison of response of superconductivity to impurity concentration in UBe 13 and LuBe 13

Uhlirova et al. reported superconductivity in LuBe 13 and assigned it tentatively to be BCS-type, with specific heat measurements down to 0.45 K showing the partial onset of a bulk transition. In order to check LuBe13 for unconventional behavior, as well as to further characterize the unconventional superconductivity in UBe 13 , we have prepared and characterized down to 0.40 K three arc-melted samples each of MBe 13 , M = Lu, U, using three different purities (99.999%, 99.96%, and 99.8%) of Be but with the same high purity M (Lu or U) for all three. The measurements down to 0.40 K allow the detection of the maximum in the specific heat in all three LuBe 13 samples. The resulting superconducting properties strongly depend on impurity level in UBe 13 (40% decrease in ΔC/T c , 15% decrease in T c mid ) while the three LuBe 13 samples exhibit significantly smaller changes (10% and 5% respectively) with purity. The comparison of properties at the first two levels of purity (99.999% vs 99.96%) is even more disparate: 12% decrease in T c mid in UBe 13 vs no change in LuBe 13 . Furthermore, these results are consistent with previous results that argue for unconventional superconductivity in UBe 13 and are consistent with Uhlirova et al.‘s assignment of LuBe 13 as a conventional, BCS superconductor. More generally, this example of comparing superconducting properties vs-controlled gradations in impurity levels with two compositionally and structurally “matched” superconducting compounds (one conventional and one of to-be-determined coupling behavior) offers a new method for determining unconventional behavior.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Particle–hole asymmetry and quantum confinement effects on the magneto-optical response of topological insulator thin-films

Intrinsically broken symmetries in the bulk of topological insulators (TIs) are manifested in their surface states. Despite particle–hole asymmetry in TIs, it has often been assumed that their surface states are characterized by a particle–hole symmetric Dirac energy dispersion. In this work, we demonstrate that the effect of particle–hole asymmetry is essential to correctly describe the energy spectrum and the magneto-optical response in TIs thin-films. In thin-films of TIs with a substantial degree of particle–hole symmetry breaking, such as Sb 2 Te 3 , the longitudinal optical conductivity displays absorption peaks arising from optical transitions between bulk and surface Landau levels for low photon energies. The transition energies between the bulk and surface Landau levels exhibit clearly discernable signatures from those between surface Landau levels due to their distinct magnetic field dependence. Furthermore, bulk contributions to the magneto-optical conductivity in a TI thin-film are enhanced via one type of doping while being suppressed by the other. This asymmetric dependence on the type of doping aids in revealing the particle–hole asymmetry in TI thin-films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Long range order and two-fluid behavior in heavy electron materials

The heavy electron Kondo liquid is an emergent state of condensed matter that displays universal behavior independent of material details. Properties of the heavy electron liquid are best probed by NMR Knight shift measurements, which provide a direct measure of the behavior of the heavy electron liquid that emerges below the Kondo lattice coherence temperature as the lattice of local moments hybridizes with the background conduction electrons. Because the transfer of spectral weight between the localized and itinerant electronic degrees of freedom is gradual, the Kondo liquid typically coexists with the local moment component until the material orders at low temperatures. The two-fluid formula captures this behavior in a broad range of materials in the paramagnetic state. In order to investigate two-fluid behavior and the onset and physical origin of different long range ordered ground states in heavy electron materials, we have extended Knight shift measurements to URu 2 Si 2 , CeIrIn 5 , and CeRhIn 5 . In CeRhIn 5 we find that the antiferromagnetic order is preceded by a relocalization of the Kondo liquid, providing independent evidence for a local moment origin of antiferromagnetism. In URu 2 Si 2 the hidden order is shown to emerge directly from the Kondo liquid and so is not associated with local moment physics. Lastly, our results imply that the nature of the ground state is strongly coupled with the hybridization in the Kondo lattice in agreement with phase diagram proposed by Yang and Pines.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetoquantum oscillations in the specific heat of a topological Kondo insulator

Surprisingly, magnetoquantum oscillations (MQOs) characteristic of a metal with a Fermi surface have been observed in measurements of the topological Kondo insulator SmB 6 . As these MQO have only been observed in measurements of magnetic torque (dHvA) and not in measurements of magnetoresistance (SdH), a debate has arisen as to whether the MQO are an extrinsic effect arising from rare-earth impurities, defects, and/or aluminum inclusions or an intrinsic effect revealing the existence of charge-neutral excitations. In this work, we report the first observation of MQO in the low-temperature specific heat of SmB 6 . The observed frequencies and their angular dependence for these flux-grown samples are consistent with previous results based on magnetic torque for SmB 6 but the inferred effective masses are significantly larger than previously reported. Such oscillations can only be observed if the MQO are of bulk thermodynamic origin; the measured magnetic-field dependent oscillation amplitude and effective mass allow us to rule out suggestions of an extrinsic, aluminum inclusion-based origin for the MQO.

topological materials↗
DOE OSTI2019

Dynamic spin localization and γ -magnets

Here, we explore an unusual type of quantum matter that can be realized by qubits having different physical origins. Interactions in this matter are described by essentially different coupling operators for all qubits. We show that the simplest such models, which can be realized with localized states in Dirac materials, satisfy integrability conditions that we use to describe pseudospin dynamics in a linearly time-dependent magnetic field. Generalizing to an arbitrary number of qubits, we construct a spin Hamiltonian, which we call the γ -magnet. This system does not conserve polarization of any spin and the net spin polarization. Nevertheless, for arbitrarily strong interactions, nonadiabatic dynamics, and any initial eigenstate, we find that quantum interference suppresses spin flips. This behavior resembles many-body localization but occurs in phase space of many spins rather than real space. This effect may not have a counterpart in classical physics and can be a signature of a new type of spin ordering, which is different from both disordered spin glasses and ordered phases of spin lattices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Observation of nonlinear planar Hall effect in magnetic-insulator–topological-insulator heterostructures

Interfacing topological insulators (TIs) with magnetic insulators (MIs) have been widely used to study the interaction between topological surface states and magnetism. Previous transport studies typically interpret the suppression of weak antilocalization or appearance of the anomalous Hall effect as signatures of the magnetic proximity effect (MPE) imposed to TIs. Here, in this work, we report the observation of the nonlinear planar Hall effect (NPHE) in Bi 2 ⁢Se 3 films grown on MI thulium and yttrium-iron-garnet (TmIG and YIG) substrates, which is an order of magnitude larger than that in Bi 2 ⁢Se 3 grown on nonmagnetic gadolinium-gallium-garnet (GGG) substrate. The nonlinear Hall resistance in TmIG/Bi 2 ⁢Se 3 depends linearly on the external magnetic field, while that in YIG/Bi 2 ⁢Se 3 exhibits an extra hysteresis loop around zero field. The magnitude of the NPHE is found to scale inversely with carrier density. We speculate that the observed NPHE is related to the MPE-induced exchange gap opening and out-of-plane spin textures in the TI surface states, which may be used as an alternative transport signature of the MPE in MI/TI heterostructures.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Torus geometry eigenfunctions of an interacting multi-Landau-level Hamiltonian

A short-ranged, rotationally symmetric multi-Landau-level model Hamiltonian for strongly interacting electrons in a magnetic field was proposed [A. Anand et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 136601 (2021)] with the key feature that it allows exact many-body eigenfunctions on the disk not just for quasiholes but for all charged and neutral excitations of the entire Jain sequence filling fractions. We extend this to geometries without full rotational symmetry, namely, the torus and cylinder geometries, and present their spectra. Exact diagonalization of the interaction on the torus produces the low-energy spectra at filling fraction v = n/(2⁢pn + 1) that is identical, up to a topological (2⁢pn + 1)-fold multiplicity, to that of the integer quantum Hall spectra at v = n, for the incompressible state as well as all excitations. While the ansatz eigenfunctions in the disk geometry cannot be generalized to closed geometries such as torus or sphere, we show how to extend them to cylinder geometry. Meanwhile, we show eigenfunctions for charged excitations at filling fractions between 1/3 and 2/5 can be written on the torus and the spherical geometries.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spin texture in type-II Weyl semimetal WTe 2

We determine the band structure and spin texture of WTe 2 by spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES). With the support of first-principles calculations, we reveal the existence of spin polarization of both the Fermi arc surface states and bulk Fermi pockets. Our results support WTe 2 to be a type-II Weyl semimetal candidate and provide important information to understand its extremely large and nonsaturating magnetoresistance.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Teleportation-based quantum information processing with Majorana zero modes

In this work, we present a measurement-based scheme for performing braiding operations on Majorana zero modes in mesoscopic superconductor islands and for detecting their non-Abelian statistics without moving or hybridizing them. In our scheme for “braiding without braiding”, the topological qubit encoded in any pair of well-separated Majorana zero modes is read out from the transmission phase shift in electron teleportation through the island in the Coulomb-blockade regime. Finally, we propose experimental setups to measure the teleportation phase shift via conductance in an electron interferometer or persistent current in a closed loop.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optical conductivity of multi-Weyl semimetals

Multi-Weyl semimetals are new types of Weyl semimetals which have anisotropic nonlinear energy dispersion and a topological charge larger than one, thus exhibiting a unique quantum response. Using a unified lattice model, we calculate the optical conductivity numerically in the multi-Weyl semimetal phase and in its neighboring gapped states, and obtain the characteristic frequency dependence of each phase analytically using a low-energy continuum model. The frequency dependence of longitudinal and transverse optical conductivities obeys scaling relations that are derived from the winding number of the parent multi-Weyl semimetal phase and can be used to distinguish these electronic states of matter.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Valley Stoner instability of the composite Fermi sea

We study two-component electrons in the lowest Landau level at total filling factor ν T = 1/2 with anisotropic mass tensors and principal axes rotated by π/2 as realized in aluminum arsenide (AlAs) quantum wells. Combining exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group we demonstrate that the system undergoes a quantum phase transition from a gapless state in which both flavors are equally populated to another gapless state in which all the electrons spontaneously polarize into a single flavor beyond a critical mass anisotropy of m x /m y ~7. We propose that this phase transition is a form of itinerant Stoner transition between a two-component and a single-component composite Fermi sea states and describe a set of trial wave functions which successfully capture the quantum numbers and shell filling effects in finite size systems as well as providing a physical picture for the energetics of these states. Our estimates indicate that the composite Fermi sea of AlAs is the analog of an itinerant Stoner magnet with a finite spontaneous valley polarization. Here, we pinpoint experimental evidence indicating the presence of Stoner magnetism in the Jain states surrounding ν = 1/2.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2019

Enhancement of the effective mass at high magnetic fields in CeRhIn 5

The Kondo-lattice compound CeRhIn 5 displays a field-induced Fermi surface reconstruction at B*≈ 30 T, which occurs within the antiferromagnetic state, prior to the quantum critical point at B c0 ≈ 50 T. Here, in order to investigate the nature of the Fermi surface change, we measured the magnetostriction, specific heat, and magnetic torque of CeRhIn 5 across a wide range of magnetic fields. Our observations uncover the field-induced itineracy of the 4 f electrons, where above B onset ≈ 17 T there is a significant enhancement of the Sommerfeld coefficient, and spin-dependent effective cyclotron masses determined from quantum oscillations. Upon crossing B onset , the temperature dependence of the specific heat also shows distinctly different behavior from that at low fields. Finally, our results indicate that the Kondo coupling is remarkably robust upon increasing the magnetic field. This is ascribed to the delocalization of the 4 f electrons at the Fermi surface reconstruction at B*.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Chiral magnetic photocurrent in Dirac and Weyl materials

Circularly polarized light (CPL) can induce an asymmetry between the number of left- and right-handed chiral quasiparticles in Dirac and Weyl semimetals. Here, we show that if the photoresponse of the material is dominated by chiral quasiparticles, the total chiral charge induced in the material by CPL can be evaluated in a model-independent way through the chiral anomaly. In the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the incident CPL, this allows us to predict the linear density of the induced photocurrent resulting from the chiral magnetic effect. The predicted effect should exist in any kind of Dirac or Weyl materials, with both symmetric and asymmetric band structure. An estimate of the resulting chiral magnetic photocurrent in a typical Dirac semimetal irradiated by an infrared laser of intensity ≃5×10 6 W/m 2 and a wavelength of λ≃10μm in an external magnetic field B≃2T yields a current J≃50nA in the laser spot of size ≃50μm. Here, this current scales linearly with the magnetic field and wavelength, opening up possibilities for applications in photonics, optoelectronics, and THz sensing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Majorana lattices from the quantized Hall limit of a proximitized spin-orbit coupled electron gas

Motivated by recent experiments demonstrating intricate quantum Hall physics on the surface of elemental bismuth, we consider proximity coupling an 𝑠-wave superconductor to a two-dimensional electron gas with strong Rashba spin-orbit interactions in the presence of a strong perpendicular magnetic field. We focus on the high-field limit so that the superconductivity can be treated as a perturbation to the low-lying Landau levels. In the clean case, wherein the superconducting order parameter takes the form of an Abrikosov vortex lattice, we show that a lattice of hybridized Majorana modes emerges near the plateau transition of the lowest Landau level. However, unless magnetic-symmetry-violating perturbations are present, the system always has an even number of chiral Majorana edge modes and thus is strictly speaking Abelian in nature, in agreement with previous work on related setups. Interestingly, however, a weak topological superconducting phase can very naturally be stabilized near the plateau transition for the square vortex lattice. Furthermore, the relevance of our findings to potential near-term experiments on proximitized materials such as bismuth will be discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Landau-Level Mixing and Particle-Hole Symmetry Breaking for Spin Transitions in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

Here, the spin transitions in the fractional quantum Hall effect provide a direct measure of the tiny energy differences between differently spin-polarized states, and thereby serve as an extremely sen- sitive test of the quantitative accuracy of the theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect, and, in particular, of the role of Landau-level mixing in lifting the particle-hole symmetry. We report on an accurate quantitative study of this physics, evaluating the effect of Landau-level mixing in a nonperturbative manner using a fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo method. We find excellent agree- ment between our calculated critical Zeeman energies and the experimentally measured values. In particular, we find, as also do experiments, that the critical Zeeman energies for fractional quantum Hall states at filling factors ν = 2–n/(2n±1) are significantly higher than those for ν = n/(2n±1), a quantitative signature of the lifting of particle-hole symmetry due to Landau-level mixing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect at ν = 2 + 6 / 13 : The Parton Paradigm for the Second Landau Level

Here, the unexpected appearance of a fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) plateau at ν = 2 + 6/13 offers a clue into the physical mechanism of the FQHE in the second Landau level (SLL). Here we propose a “ $\bar{3}$ $\bar{2}$111” parton wave function, which is topologically distinct from the 6/13 state in the lowest Landau level. We demonstrate the $\bar{3}$ $\bar{2}$111 state to be a good candidate for the ν = 2 + 6/13 FQHE, and make predictions for experimentally measurable properties that can reveal the nature of this state. Furthermore, we propose that the “n$\bar{2}$111” family of parton states naturally describes many observed SLL FQHE plateaus.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗