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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 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Topological magnons and topological electronic properties in metallic Kagome magnets

The primary goal of this project is to study metallic Kagome magnets that potentially host topological electronic properties and topological magnetic excitations, aiming to understand the effect of lattice geometry on topological character of magnons and electronic bands and to study the interplay between magnetism and topological electronic properties. Through this DOE-funded research program, we have unraveled novel electronic and thermoelectric properties of RMn 6 Sn 6 (R = Y, Tb, and Er) and Fe 3 Ge Kagome magnets, including anomalous Hall effect and anomalous Nernst effect, which are associated with the Berry curvature contribution from the massive Dirac gaps in the 3D momentum space. In addition, we have also revealed topological Hall effect and topological Nernst effect, and we ascribed these phenomena to the Berry curvature associated with the magnetic field-induced non-zero scalar spin chirality. These features highlight the synergic effects of the Berry phases in both momentum space and real space of Kagome magnets, which render them excellent candidates for room-temperature electronic and thermoelectric applications based on transverse transport. In addition, through this program we have also study novel thermal transport properties of quantum materials by probing the thermal Hall effect, which can provide crucial insights into nontrivial topological character and chirality of quasiparticles like magnons and magnon-polarons. This report provides an overview of some project activities related to these accomplishments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Density-independent plasmons for terahertz-stable topological metamaterials

Significance Plasmons, collective electron density oscillations in metals or doped semiconductors, provide an efficient way to couple light and matter at subwavelength scales. Usually, plasmons are carrier density ( n ) dependent, which may cause unstable functionalities of plasmons, especially for cutting-edge terahertz technology. Here, we reveal a unified mechanism for generating unusual n -independent plasmons (DIPs), where terahertz DIPs can be excited in some low-dimensional topological semimetals. Stable terahertz spectroscopy from narrowband to broadband and even a quantization can be achieved in topological metamaterials. Our study not only broadens the concept of plasmons by combining with exotic topological states but also paves a way to designing a compact device for stable terahertz applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Thermal Hall conductance and a relative topological invariant of gapped two-dimensional systems

We derive a Kubo-like formula for the thermal Hall conductance of a 2d lattice systems which is free from ambiguities associated with the definition of energy magnetization. We use it to define a relative topological invariant of gapped 2d lattice systems at zero temperature. Up to a numerical factor, it can be identified with the difference of chiral central charges for the corresponding edge modes. This establishes the bulk-boundary correspondence for the chiral central charge. Here, we also show that for any local commuting projector Hamiltonian, the relative chiral central charge vanishes, while for free fermionic systems, it is related to the zero-temperature electric Hall conductance via the Wiedemann-Franz law.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Universal tripartite entanglement signature of ungappable edge states

Gapped two-dimensional topological phases can feature ungappable edge states which are robust even in the absence of protecting symmetries. In this Letter we argue that a multipartite entanglement measure recently proposed in the context of holography, the Markov gap, provides a universal diagnostic of ungappable edge states. Defined as a difference of the reflected entropy and mutual information h(A:B)=S R (A:B)-I(A:B) between two parties, we argue that for A,B being adjacent subregions in the bulk h=$\frac{c+}{3}$ ln 2, where c + is the minimal total central charge of the boundary theory. As evidence, we prove that h=0 for string-net models and numerically verify that h=$\frac{|C|}{3}$ ln 2 for a Chern-C insulator. Our Letter establishes a unique bulk entanglement criteria for the presence of a conformal field theory on the boundary.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Two-dimensional Dirac semimetal based on the alkaline earth metal CaP 3

Using an evolutionary algorithm in combination with first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we identify a two-dimensional (2D) CaP 3 monolayer as a new Dirac semimetal due to inversion and nonsymmorphic spatial symmetries of the structure. This new topological material, composed of light elements, exhibits high structural stability (higher than the phase known in the literature), which is confirmed by thermodynamic and kinetic stability analysis. Moreover, it satisfies the electron filling criteria, so that its Dirac state is located near the Fermi level. The existence of the Dirac state predicted by the theoretical symmetry analysis is also confirmed by first-principles electronic band structure calculations. We find that the energy position of the Dirac state can be tuned by strain, while the Dirac state is unstable against an external electric field since it breaks the spatial inversion symmetry. In conclusion, our findings should be instrumental in the development of 2D Dirac fermions based on light elements for their application in nanoelectronic devices and topological electronics.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2020

Superuniversality from disorder at two-dimensional topological phase transitions

We investigate the effects of quenched randomness on topological quantum phase transitions in strongly interacting two-dimensional systems. We focus first on transitions driven by the condensation of a subset of fractionalized quasiparticles (“anyons”) identified with “electric charge” excitations of a phase with intrinsic topological order. All other anyons have nontrivial mutual statistics with the condensed subset and hence become confined at the anyon condensation transition. Furthermore, using a combination of microscopically exact duality transformations and asymptotically exact real-space renormalization group techniques applied to these two-dimensional disordered gauge theories, we argue that the resulting critical scaling behavior is “superuniversal” across a wide range of such condensation transitions and is controlled by the same infinite-randomness fixed point as that of the 2D random transverse-field Ising model. We validate this claim using large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations that allow us to extract zero-temperature critical exponents and correlation functions in (2+1)D disordered interacting systems. We discuss generalizations of these results to a large class of ground-state and excited-state topological transitions in systems with intrinsic topological order as well as those where topological order is either protected or enriched by global symmetries. When the underlying topological order and the symmetry group are Abelian, our results provide prototypes for topological phase transitions between distinct many-body localized phases.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Quantum anomalous Hall effect in perfectly compensated collinear antiferromagnetic thin films

Here, we show that the quantum anomalous Hall effect almost always occurs in magnetic topological insulator thin films whenever the top and bottom surface layer magnetizations are parallel at some temperature, independent of the interior layer magnetization configuration. Using this criterion, we identify structures that have a quantum anomalous Hall effect even though they have collinear magnetic structures with no net magnetization, and discuss strategies for realizing these interesting magnetic states experimentally.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Superconductivity by alloying the topological insulator SnBi 2 Te 4

Alloying indium into the topological insulator SnBi 2 Te 4 induces bulk superconductivity with critical temperatures T c up to 1.85 K and upper critical fields up to about 14 kOe. This is confirmed by electrical resistivity, heat capacity, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The heat capacity shows a discontinuity at T c and temperature dependence below T c consistent with weak coupling BCS theory, and suggests a superconducting gap near 0.25 meV. The superconductivity is type-II and the topological surface states have been verified by photoemission. Here, a simple picture suggests analogies with the isostructural magnetic topological insulator MnBi 2 Te 4 , in which a natural heterostructure hosts complementary properties on different sublattices, and motivates new interest in this large family of compounds. The existence of both topological surface states and superconductivity in Sn 1-x In x Bi 2 Te 4 identifies these materials as promising candidates for the study of topological superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Exact Landau Level Description of Geometry and Interaction in a Flatband

Flatbands appear in many condensed matter systems, including the two-dimensional electron gas in a high magnetic field, correlated materials, and moiré heterostructures. They are characterized by intrinsic geometric properties such as the Berry curvature and Fubini-Study metric. The influence of the band geometry on electron-electron interaction is difficult to understand analytically because the geometry is in general nonuniform in momentum space. In this work, we study the topological flatband of Chern number C = 1 with a momentum-dependent but positive definite Berry curvature that fluctuates in sync with Fubini-Study metric. We derive an exact correspondence between such ideal flatbands and Landau levels and show that the band geometry fluctuation gives rise to a new type of interaction in the corresponding Landau levels that depends on the center of mass of two particles. We characterize such interactions by generalizing the usual Haldane pseudopotentials. This mapping gives exact zero-energy ground states for short-ranged repulsive generalized pseudopotentials in flatbands, in analogy to fractional quantum Hall systems. Driving the center-of-mass interactions beyond the repulsive regime leads to a dramatic reconstruction of the ground states towards gapless phases. The generalized pseudopotential could be a useful basis for future numerical studies.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Unconventional Photocurrents from Surface Fermi Arcs in Topological Chiral Semimetals

The nonlinear optical responses from topological semimetals are crucial in both understanding the fundamental properties of quantum materials and designing next-generation light sensors or solar cells. However, previous work focused on the optical effects from bulk states only, disregarding the responses from topological surface states. Here, we propose a new surface-only photocurrent response from chiral Fermi arcs. Using the ideal topological chiral semimetal RhSi as a representative, we quantitatively compute the photogalvanic currents from Fermi arcs on different surfaces. By rigorous crystal symmetry analysis, we demonstrate that Fermi arc photogalvanic currents can be perpendicular to the bulk injection currents regardless of the choice of materials surface. We then generalize this finding to other cubic chiral space groups and predict material candidates. Our theory reveals a powerful notion where common crystalline symmetry can be used to completely disentangle bulk and surface optical responses in many conducting material families.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Monolayer Superconductivity and Tunable Topological Electronic Structure at the Fe(Te,Se)/Bi 2 Te 3 Interface

The interface between 2D topological Dirac states and an s-wave superconductor is expected to support Majorana-bound states (MBS) that can be used for quantum computing applications. Realizing these novel states of matter and their applications requires control over superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling to achieve spin-momentum-locked topological interface states (TIS) which are simultaneously superconducting. While signatures of MBS have been observed in the magnetic vortex cores of bulk FeTe 0.55 Se 0.45 , inhomogeneity and disorder from doping make these signatures unclear and inconsistent between vortices. In this work, superconductivity is reported in monolayer (ML) FeTe 1–y Se y (Fe(Te,Se)) grown on Bi 2 Te 3 by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Spin and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SARPES) directly resolve the interfacial spin and electronic structure of Fe(Te,Se)/Bi 2 Te 3 heterostructures. For y = 0.25, the Fe(Te,Se) electronic structure is found to overlap with the Bi 2 Te 3 TIS and the desired spin-momentum locking is not observed. In contrast, for y = 0.1, reduced inhomogeneity measured by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and a smaller Fe(Te,Se) Fermi surface with clear spin-momentum locking in the topological states are found. Hence, it is demonstrated that the Fe(Te,Se)/Bi 2 Te 3 system is a highly tunable platform for realizing MBS where reduced doping can improve characteristics important for Majorana interrogation and potential applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Emergent Z 2 Gauge Theories and Topological Excitations in Rydberg Atom Arrays

Strongly interacting arrays of Rydberg atoms provide versatile platforms for exploring exotic many-body phases and dynamics of correlated quantum systems. Motivated by recent experimental advances, we show that the combination of Rydberg interactions and appropriate lattice geometries naturally leads to emergent Z 2 gauge theories endowed with matter fields. Based on this mapping, we describe how Rydberg platforms could realize two distinct classes of topological Z 2 quantum spin liquids, which differ in their patterns of translational symmetry fractionalization. Additionally, we also discuss the natures of the fractionalized excitations of these Z 2 spin liquid states using both fermionic and bosonic parton theories and illustrate their rich interplay with proximate solid phases.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Graviton chirality and topological order in the half-filled Landau level

The fractional quantum Hall state at the Landau level filling factor 5/2 is extremely interesting because it is likely the first non-Abelian state, but its precise nature remains unclear after decades of study. Here we demonstrate this can be resolved by studying the chirality of its graviton excitations, using circularly polarized Raman scattering. We discuss the advantage of this bulk probe over the existing edge probes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Discovering Classical Spin Liquids by Topological Search of High Symmetry Nets

Spin liquids are a paradigmatic example of a nontrivial state of matter. The search for new spin liquids is a key interdisciplinary challenge. Geometrical frustration-where the geometry of the net that the spins occupy precludes the generation of a simple ordered state-is a particularly fruitful way to generate these intrinsically disordered states. Prior focus has been on a handful of high symmetry nets. There are, however, many three-dimensional nets, each of which has the potential to form unique states. In this paper, we investigate the high symmetry nets-those which are both vertex- and edge-transitive-for the simplest possible interaction sets: nearest-neighbor couplings of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg and Ising spins. While the well-known crs (pyrochlore) net is the only nearest-neighbor Heisenberg antiferromagnet which does not order, we identify two new frustrated nets (lcx and thp) possessing finite temperature Heisenberg spin-liquid states with strongly suppressed magnetic ordering and noncollinear ground states. With Ising spins, we identify three new classical spin liquids that do not order down to T/J = 0.01. We highlight materials that contain these high symmetry nets, and which could, if substituted with appropriate magnetic ions, potentially host these unusual states. Our systematic survey will guide searches for novel magnetic phases.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Observation of multiple nodal lines in SmSbTe

Having been a ground for various topological fermionic phases, the family of ZrSiS-type 111 materials has been under experimental and theoretical investigations. Within this family of materials, the subfamily LnSbTe (Ln = lanthanide elements) is gaining interest in recent times as the strong correlation effects and magnetism arising from the 4f electrons of the lanthanides can provide an important platform to study the link between topology, magnetism, and correlation. In this Letter, we report the systematic study of the electronic structure of SmSbTe—a member of the Ln SbTe subfamily—by utilizing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in conjunction with first-principles calculations, transport, and magnetic measurements. Our experimental results identify multiple Dirac nodes forming the nodal lines along the Γ–X and Z–R directions in the bulk Brillouin zone (BZ) as predicted by our theoretical calculations. Additionally, a surface Dirac-like state is also observed at the X point of the surface BZ. Our study highlights SmSbTe as a promising candidate to understand the topological electronic structure of LnSbTe materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bulk dissipation in the quantum anomalous Hall effect

Even at the lowest accessible temperatures, measurements of the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect have indicated the presence of parasitic dissipative conduction channels. There is no consensus whether parasitic conduction is related to processes in the bulk or along the edges. Here, we approach this problem by comparing transport measurements of Hall bar and Corbino geometry devices fabricated from Cr-doped (BiSb) 2 Te 3 . We identify bulk conduction as the dominant source of dissipation at all values of temperature and in-plane electric field. Furthermore, we observe identical breakdown phenomenology in both geometries, indicating that breakdown of the QAH phase is a bulk process. The methodology developed in this study could be used to identify dissipative conduction mechanisms in new QAH materials, ultimately guiding material development towards realization of the QAH effect at higher temperatures

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effect of surface disorder on the chiral surface states of a three-dimensional quantum Hall system

We investigate the effect of surface disorder on the chiral surface states of a three-dimensional quantum Hall system. Utilizing a transfer-matrix method, we find that the localization length of the surface state along the magnetic field decreases with the surface disorder strength in the weak disorder regime but increases anomalously in the strong disorder regime. In the strong disorder regime, the surface states mainly locate at the first inward layer to avoid the strong disorder in the outmost layer. The anomalous increase of the localization length can be explained by an effective model, which maps the strong disorder on the surface layer to the weak disorder on the first inward layer. Our work demonstrates that surface disorder can be an effective way to control the transport behavior of the surface states along the magnetic field. We also investigate the effect of surface disorder on the full distribution of conductances P(g) of the surface states in the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) regime for various surface disorder strengths. In particular, we find that P(g) is Gaussian in the quasi-1D metal regime and log-normal in the quasi-1D insulator regime. In the crossover regime, P(g) exhibits highly nontrivial forms, whose shapes coincide with the results obtained from the Dorokhov-Mello-Pereyra-Kumar equation of a weakly disordered quasi-1D wire in the absence of time-reversal symmetry. Our results suggest that P(g) is fully determined by the average conductance, independent of the details of the system, in agreement with the single-parameter scaling hypothesis.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗