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At least 559 records · Page 31

Relaxation of the degenerate one-dimensional Fermi gas

In this work, we study how a system of one-dimensional spin-1/2 fermions at temperatures well below the Fermi energy approaches thermal equilibrium. The interactions between fermions are assumed to be weak and are accounted for within the perturbation theory. In the absence of an external magnetic field, spin degeneracy strongly affects relaxation of the Fermi gas. For sufficiently short-range interactions, the rate of relaxation scales linearly with temperature. Focusing on the case of the system near equilibrium, we linearize the collision integral and find the exact solution of the resulting relaxation problem. Furthermore, we discuss the application of our results to the evaluation of the transport coefficients of the one-dimensional Fermi gas.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Flexoinduced ferroelectricity in low-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

We developed a Landau-type theory for the description of polar phenomena in low-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), specifically exploring the flexoelectric origin of the polarization induced by a spontaneous bending and by inversion symmetry breaking due to the interactions with substrate. We consider the appearance of the spontaneous out-of-plane polarization due to the flexoelectric coupling with the strain gradient of the spontaneous surface rippling and surface-induced piezoelectricity. Additionally, performed calculations proved that the out-of-plane spontaneous polarization, originating from the flexoelectric effect in a rippled TMD, is bistable and reversible by a nonuniform electric field. In contrast, the spontaneous polarization induced by a misfit strain and symmetry-sensitive surface-induced piezoelectric coupling, cannot be reversed by an external electric field. Special attention is paid to the spectral analysis of the linear dielectric susceptibility and gain factor, which enhancement is critically important for the observation of the polar phenomena in low-dimensional TMDs by the surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Magnetic order and disorder in a quasi-two-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet with randomized exchange

In this work, we present an investigation of the effect of randomizing exchange coupling strengths in the S = 1 / 2 square lattice quasi-two-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet (QHAF) ( QuinH ) 2 Cu ( Cl x Br 1 - x ) 4 · 2 H 2 O (QuinH = Quinolinium, C 9 H 8 N + ), with 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 . Pulsed-field magnetization measurements allow us to estimate an effective in-plane exchange strength J in a regime where exchange fosters short-range order, while the temperature T N at which long-range order (LRO) occurs is found using muon-spin relaxation, allowing us to construct a phase diagram for the series. We evaluate the effectiveness of disorder in suppressing T N and the ordered moment size, and we find an extended disordered phase in the region 0.4 ≲ x ≲ 0.8 where no magnetic order occurs. The observed critical substitution levels are accounted for by an energetics-based competition between different local magnetic orders. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally that the ground-state disorder is driven by quantum effects of the exchange randomness, which is a feature that has been predicted theoretically and has implications for other disordered quasi-two-dimensional QHAFs.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

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↗

Anomalous thermoelectricity at the two-dimensional structural transition of SnSe monolayers

The thermoelectric figure of merit ZT comprises electronic and vibrational contributions that drastically change across phase transitions, and the most common theoretical ab initio approach to thermoelectricity fails to describe the evolution of ZT across finite-temperature structural transitions in its entirety. Furthermore, while the thermoelectric behavior of bulk SnSe has been extensively studied, SnSe monolayers have been experimentally realized only recently, and the existent prediction of thermoelectricity on this two-dimensional material is unreliable because it misses its structural transition altogether. SnSe monolayers (and similar GeS, GeSe, GeTe, SnS, and SnTe monolayers) experience a temperature-induced two-dimensional Pnm2 1 → P4/nmm structural transition precipitated by the softening of vibrational modes, and we describe their thermoelectric properties across the phase transition, using molecular dynamics data to inform both electronic and vibrational coefficients directly and within the same footing. Similar to recent experimental observations pointing to an overestimated ZT past the transition temperature in bulk SnSe, we find a smaller ZT on SnSe monolayers when compared to its value predicted by the standard paradigm, due to the dramatic changes in the electrical conductivity and lattice thermal conductivity as the structural transition ensues. Here, the process described here lends a strong focus to both the vibrational and electronic evolutions throughout the structural transition, and it applies to thermoelectric materials undergoing thermally driven solid-to-solid structural phase transitions in one, two, and three dimensions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation on a subspace: Approximations and consequences for low-dimensional materials

It is well known that the ambient environment can dramatically renormalize the quasiparticle gap and exciton binding energies in low-dimensional materials, but the effect of the environment on the energy splitting of the spin-singlet and spin-triplet exciton states is less understood. A prominent effect is the renormalization of the exciton binding energy and optical strength (and hence the optical spectrum) through additional screening of the direct Coulomb term describing the attractive electron-hole interaction in the kernel of the Bethe-Salpeter equation. The repulsive exchange interaction responsible for the singlet-triplet splitting, on the other hand, is unscreened within formal many-body perturbation theory. However, Benedict argued that in practical calculations restricted to a subspace of the full Hilbert space, the exchange interaction should be appropriately screened by states outside of the subspace, the so-called S approximation [L. X. Benedict, Phys. Rev. B 66, 193105 (2002)PRBMDO0163-182910.1103/PhysRevB.66.193105]. Here, we systematically explore the accuracy of the S approximation for different confined systems, including a molecule and heterostructures of semiconducting and metallic layered materials. We show that the S approximation is actually exact in the limit of small exciton binding energies (i.e., small direct term) and can be used to significantly accelerate convergence of the exciton energies with respect to the number of empty states, provided that a particular effective screening consistent with the conventional Tamm-Dancoff approximation is employed. We further find that the singlet-triplet splitting in the energy of the excitons is largely unaffected by the external dielectric environment for most quasi-two-dimensional materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

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↗

Magnetoelastic coupling, negative thermal expansion, and two-dimensional magnetic excitations in FeAs

We present a temperature-dependent investigation of the local structure and magnetic dynamics of the FeAs binary. The magnetic susceptibility χ (T) result shows an anomalous broad feature up to 550 K, with χ continuing to increase above the Néel antiferromagnetic ordering temperature (T N =70K), peaking at ~250 K, then decreasing gently above. It is remarkable that this peak susceptibility temperature corresponds to the onset of anisotropic negative thermal expansion in both the a and c axes, suggesting that magnetic interactions are affecting the structure even well above the Néel point. A systematic investigation into local bonding correlations, from time-of-flight neutron pair distribution function analyses, shows the octahedral volume around each Fe site growing monotonically while adjacent octahedra tilt toward one another before relaxing away past this peak in the anomalous magnetic susceptibility. We use inelastic-neutron scattering to map spin-wave excitations in FeAs at temperatures above and below the T N . We find magnetic excitations near T N to be very different from the excitations in the ground state at 1.5 K. Spin waves measured at 1.5 K are three dimensional (3D), however, in the vicinity of the magnetic transition, the magnetic fluctuations clearly indicate two-dimensional (2D) character in this intrinsically 3D crystal structure. Unlike the undoped 2D parents of iron-arsenide superconductors, where the magnetic correlations are considerably weaker along the c axis than in the ab plane, inelastic neutron scattering here shows that the spin fluctuations in the 3D FeAs binary are nearly 2D in the bc plane at 90 K. These results demonstrate the importance of short-range correlations in understanding the magnetic properties of transition-metal binaries, and suggest how 2D excitations, even in a 3D structure, can potentially become a breeding ground for unconventional superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Multigap electron-phonon superconductivity in the quasi-one-dimensional pnictide K 2 Mo 3 As 3

In this work, we show, using density functional calculations, that quasi-one-dimensional K 2 Mo 3 As 3 , which is closely related to K 2 Cr 3 As 3 and has very similar superconducting properties, is not close to magnetism and has conventional s wave electron-phonon superconductivity. This superconductivity is of multigap character due to different coupling on different Fermi surface sheets. This is discussed in relation to the properties of this family of quasi-one-dimensional pnictide superconductors. The results show that this family of superconductors provides a unique opportunity for studying the interplay of spin fluctuations and electron-phonon superconductivity in transition metal pnictides, and offer a path for sorting out the different proposed superconducting scenarios in this fascinating family of pnictide superconductors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Quasi-one-dimensional uniform spin- 1 2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet KNaCuP 2 O 7 probed by P 31 and Na 23 NMR

Here we present the structural and magnetic properties of KNaCuP 2 O 7 investigated via x-ray diffraction, magnetization, specific heat, and P 31 and Na 23 NMR measurements and complementary electronic structure calculations. The temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility and P 31 NMR shift could be modeled very well by the uniform spin- 1 2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain model with a nearest-neighbor interaction J / k B ≃ 58.7 K . The corresponding mapping using first-principles electronic structure calculations leads to J DFT / k B ≃ 59 K with negligibly small interchain couplings, further confirming that the system is indeed a one-dimensional uniform spin- 1 2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The diverging trend of NMR spin-lattice relaxation rates ( 1 / T 1 31 and 1 / T 1 23 ) implies the onset of a magnetic long-range ordering at around T N ≃ 1 K . From the value of T N , the average interchain coupling is estimated to be J ' / k B ≃ 0.28 K . Moreover, the NMR spin-lattice relaxation rates show the dominant contributions from uniform ( q = 0 ) and staggered ( q = ± π / a ) spin fluctuations in the high- and low-temperature regimes, respectively, mimicking one-dimensionality of the spin lattice. We have also demonstrated that 1 / T 1 31 in high temperatures varies linearly with 1 / H , reflecting the effect of spin diffusion on the dynamic susceptibility. The temperature-dependent unit cell volume could be described well using the Debye approximation with a Debye temperature of Θ D ≃ 294 K , consistent with the heat capacity data.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Physical properties of the quasi-two-dimensional square lattice antiferromagnet Ba 2 FeSi 2 O 7

In this work, we report magnetization (χ, M ), magnetic specific heat ( C M ), and neutron powder diffraction results on a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) S = 2 square lattice antiferromagnet Ba 2 FeSi 2 O 7 consisting of FeO 4 tetrahedrons with highly compressive tetragonal distortion (27%). Despite of the quasi-2D lattice structure, both χ and C M present three-dimensional magnetic long-range ordering below the Néel temperature T N = 5.2 K . Neutron diffraction data show a collinear Q m = (1,0,1/2) antiferromagnetic (AFM) structure below T N but the ordered moment aligned in the a b plane is suppressed by 26% from the ionic spin S = 2 value ( 4 μ B ). Both the AFM structure and the suppressed moments are well explained by using Monte Carlo simulations with a large single-ion in-plane anisotropy D = 1 .4 meV and a rather small Heisenberg exchange J intra = 0 .15 meV in the plane. The characteristic 2D spin fluctuations are recognized in the magnetic entropy release and diffuse scattering above T N . This new quasi-2D magnetic system also displays unusual nonmonotonic dependence of T N as a function of magnetic field H .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Probing the effect of magnetic field on charge order in the quasi-two-dimensional Mott insulator κ - (ET) 2 Hg(SCN) 2 Cl

Molecular-based quasi-two-dimensional charge-ordered Mott insulators can possess both spin S = 1/2 and an electric dipole degree of freedom residing on each (BEDT - TTF) 2 lattice site. There exists a theoretical proposal for a magnetoelectric effect in such a material, which can manifest itself as a sensitivity of charge distribution on (BEDT - TTF) 2 dimers to the magnetic field. Here in this work, we used Raman scattering spectroscopy in the magnetic field up to 31 T applied perpendicular to the two-dimensional triangular lattice planes to probe a magnetoelectric effect in $\kappa$ - (ET) 2 H g (SCN) 2 Cl. This is a model compound, which shows charge order and antiferromagnetic correlations at temperatures below 30 K. We discuss possible reasons for the absence of an observable magnetoelectric effect in the probed temperature and magnetic field ranges.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Prediction of orbital-selective Mott phases and block magnetic states in the quasi-one-dimensional iron chain Ce 2 O 2 FeSe 2 under hole and electron doping

The recent detailed study of quasi-one-dimensional iron-based ladders, with the 3d iron electronic density n=6, has unveiled surprises, such as orbital-selective phases. However, similar studies for n=6 iron chains are still rare. Here a three-orbital electronic Hubbard model was constructed to study the magnetic and electronic properties of the quasi-one-dimensional n=6 iron chain Ce 2 O 2 FeSe 2 , with focus on the effect of doping. Specifically, introducing the Hubbard U and Hund J H couplings and studying the model via the density matrix renormalization group, we report the ground-state phase diagram varying the electronic density away from n=6. For the realistic Hund coupling J H /U=1/4, several electronic phases were obtained, including a metal, orbital-selective Mott, and Mott insulating phases. Doping away from the parent phase, the competition of many tendencies leads to a variety of magnetic states, such as ferromagnetism, as well as several antiferromagnetic and magnetic “block” phases. In the hole-doping region, two different interesting orbital-selective Mott phases were found: OSMP1 (with one localized orbital and two itinerant orbitals) and OSMP2 (with two localized orbitals and one itinerant orbital). Moreover, charge disproportionation phenomena were found in special doping regions. We argue that our predictions can be tested by simple modifications in the original chemical formula of Ce 2 O 2 FeSe 2 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Dimensional crossover and symmetry transformation of charge density waves in VSe 2

Collective phenomena in solids can be sensitive to the dimensionality of the system; a case of special interest is VSe 2 , which shows a (√7×√3) charge density wave (CDW) in the single layer with threefold symmetry in the normal phase spontaneously broken, in contrast to the (4×4) in-plane CDW in the bulk. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) from VSe 2 ranging from a single layer to the bulk reveals the evolution of the electronic structure including the Fermi surface contours and the CDW gap. At a thickness of two layers, the ARPES maps are already nearly bulklike, but the transition temperature T C for the (4×4) CDW is much higher than the bulk value of 110 K. These results can be understood as due to dimensional crossover of phonon instability driven by a competition of nesting vectors. Here, in this letter, we provide key insights into the CDW mechanisms and offer a perspective in the search and control of emergent phases in quantum materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Electronic states dressed by an out-of-plane supermodulation in the quasi-two-dimensional kagome superconductor CsV 3 Sb 5

CsV 3 Sb 5 has attracted much recent attention as the first quasi-two-dimensional (2D) kagome superconductor. While the kagome layers are 2D in nature, increasing evidence has pointed to the importance of out-of-plane correlation in this material. However, it remains unclear whether such correlation can change the fundamental electronic structure of the quasi-2D system. Here, we reveal this missing piece of information, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, complemented by scanning tunneling microscope measurements. The three-dimensional electronic structures in the high-temperature state are revealed, which agree well with density-functional theory calculations. Electron energy bands are observed in the low-temperature state that exhibit additional periodicities along the out-of-plane momentum. Furthermore, these results reveal a direct response to the out-of-plane electronic supermodulation in the single-particle spectral function of CsV 3 Sb 5 , thus establishing an electronic platform to examine emergent phenomena beyond 2D limit in kagome superconductors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Hot-lines topology and the fate of the spin resonance mode in three-dimensional unconventional superconductors

In the quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) copper- and iron-based superconductors, the onset of superconductivity is accompanied by a prominent peak in the magnetic spectrum at momenta close to the wave-vector of the nearby antiferromagnetic state. Such a peak is well described in terms of a spin resonance mode, i.e., a spin-1 exciton theoretically predicted for quasi-2D superconductors with a sign-changing gap. The same theories, however, indicate that such a resonance mode should be absent in a three-dimensional (3D) system with a spherical Fermi surface. This raises the question of the fate of the spin resonance mode in layered unconventional superconductors that are not strongly anisotropic, such as certain heavy-fermion compounds and potentially the newly discovered nickelate superconductor NdNiO 2 . Here, we use the random phase approximation to calculate the dynamical spin susceptibility of 3D superconductors with a d x 2 –y 2 -wave gap symmetry and corrugated cylindrical-like Fermi surfaces. By varying the out-of-plane hopping anisotropy t z /t, we demonstrate that the appearance of a spin resonance mode is determined by the topology of the hot lines, i.e., lines on the Fermi surface that are connected by the magnetic wave vector. For an in-plane antiferromagnetic wave vector, the hot lines undergo a topological transition from open lines to closed loops at a critical t z /t value. The closed hot lines cross the nodal superconducting lines, making the spin resonance mode overdamped and incoherent. In contrast, for an out-of-plane antiferromagnetic wave vector, the hot lines remain open and the spin resonance mode remains sharp. We discuss the experimental implications of our results for the out-of-plane dispersion of the spin resonance mode and, more generally, for inelastic neutron scattering experiments on unconventional superconductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Three-dimensional structure of hybrid magnetic skyrmions determined by neutron scattering

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected chiral spin textures which present opportunities for next-generation magnetic data storage and logic information technologies. The topology of these structures originates in the geometric configuration of the magnetic spins, more generally described as the structure. While the skyrmion structure is most often depicted using a two-dimensional projection of the three-dimensional (3D) structure, recent works have emphasized the role of all three dimensions in determining the topology and their response to external stimuli. Here, grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering and polarized neutron reflectometry are used to determine the 3D structure of hybrid skyrmions. The structure of the hybrid skyrmions, which includes a combination of Néel-like and Bloch-like components along their length, is expected to significantly contribute to their notable stability, which includes ambient conditions. To interpret the neutron scattering data, micromagnetic simulations of the hybrid skyrmions were performed, and the corresponding diffraction patterns were determined using a Born approximation transformation. The converged magnetic profile reveals the magnetic structure along with the skyrmion depth profile, including the thickness of the Bloch and Néel segments and the diameter of the core.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Two-dimensional isometric tensor networks on an infinite strip

The exact contraction of a generic two-dimensional (2D) tensor network state (TNS) is known to be exponentially hard, making simulation of 2D systems difficult. The recently introduced class of isometric TNS (isoTNS) represents a subset of TNS that allows for efficient simulation of such systems on finite square lattices. The isoTNS ansatz requires the identification of an “orthogonality column” of tensors, within which one-dimensional matrix product state (MPS) methods can be used for calculation of observables and optimization of tensors. Here we extend isoTNS to infinitely long strip geometries and introduce an infinite version of the Moses Move algorithm for moving the orthogonality column around the network. Using this algorithm, we iteratively transform an infinite MPS representation of a 2D quantum state into a strip isoTNS and investigate the entanglement properties of the resulting state. In addition, we demonstrate that the local observables can be evaluated efficiently. Lastly, we introduce an infinite time-evolving block decimation algorithm (iTEBD 2 ) and use it to approximate the ground state of the 2D transverse field Ising model on lattices of infinite strip geometry.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗