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Results for “spin quantization”

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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Selective enhancement of Coulomb interactions in planar Weyl fermions

We report on our study of the electron interaction effects in topological two-dimensional (2D) materials placed in a quantizing magnetic field. Taking our cue from a recent experimental report, we consider a particular case of bismuthene monolayer with a strong spin-orbit interaction which can be a Weyl semimetal when placed on a specially tuned substrate. Interestingly, we observe that in some Landau levels of this material, the interaction effects are enhanced compared to those for a conventional 2D system and graphene monolayer. Such an enhancement of electron-electron interactions in these materials is largely due to an anisotropy present in the materials. Additionally, the interaction effects can be tuned by changing the coupling to the substrate and the strongest inter-electron interactions are observed when the system is a Weyl semimetal. Furthermore, the observed enhancement of the interaction effects can therefore be an important signature of the 2D Weyl fermions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Phonon-assisted formation of an itinerant electronic density wave

Abstract Electronic instabilities drive ordering transitions in condensed matter. Despite many advances in the microscopic understanding of the ordered states, a more nuanced and profound question often remains unanswered: how do the collective excitations influence the electronic order formation? Here, we experimentally show that a phonon affects the spin density wave (SDW) formation after an SDW-quench by femtosecond laser pulses. In a thin film, the temperature-dependent SDW period is quantized, allowing us to track the out-of-equilibrium formation path of the SDW precisely. By exploiting its persistent coupling to the lattice, we probe the SDW through the transient lattice distortion, measured by femtosecond X-ray diffraction. We find that within 500 femtoseconds after a complete quench, the SDW forms with the low-temperature period, directly bypassing a thermal state with the high-temperature period. We argue that a wavevector-matched phonon launched by the quench changes the formation path of the SDW through the dynamic pinning of the order parameter.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1978

The effects of quantization on signal processing

Typically an analog signal from a space system is sampled, quantized by Analog-to-Digital (A/D) conversion, merged into a bit stream, communicated to a ground station, received by the ground station, and processed by the ground station to extract useful information for dissemination to the users. The cost of each of these steps is reduced as the number of quantization steps is reduced in the A/D converter. The number of quantization steps should be as small as possible without losing the required information content. This report deals specifically with the accuracy of averages as a function of the number of quantized samples used to compute the averages with the noise on the analog signal as a parameter. For example, the success of the Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) Demonstration depends upon temporally averaging multiple samples in an effort to reduce noise to a sufficiently low level such that temperature profile sounding is made possible. A tutorial description of this process is presented.

Montgomery, H. E.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optical imaging of flavor order in flat band graphene

Abstract Spin- and valley flavor polarization plays a central role in the many-body physics of flat band graphene, with Fermi surface reconstruction — often accompanied by quantized anomalous Hall and superconducting state — observed in a variety of experimental systems. Here we describe an optical technique that sensitively and selectively detects flavor textures via the exciton response of a proximal transition metal dichalcogenide layer. Through a systematic study of rhombohedral and rotationally faulted graphene bilayers and trilayers, we show that when the semiconducting dichalcogenide is in direct contact with the graphene, the exciton response is most sensitive to the large momentum rearrangement of the Fermi surface, providing information that is distinct from and complementary to electrical compressibility measurements. The wide-field imaging capability of optical probes allows us to obtain spatial maps of flavor order with high throughput, and with broad temperature and device compatibility. Our work helps pave the way for optical probing and imaging of flavor orders in flat band graphene systems.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2022

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory: Pulsed Field Facility Capability Overview [Slides]

High magnetic fields are a fundamental thermodynamic probe of quantum matter. Magnetic fields couple to both electons' spin and charge degrees of freedom. They can be used to manipulate the phase of the electron wavefunction and importantly provide a measure of coherence through orbital quantization. They can both probe and influence the state of a material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1993

Phase space localization for anti-de Sitter quantum mechanics and its zero curvature limit

Using techniques of geometric quantization and SO(sub 0)(3,2)-coherent states, a notion of optimal localization on phase space is defined for the quantum theory of a massive and spinning particle in anti-de Sitter space time. It is shown that this notion disappears in the zero curvature limit, providing one with a concrete example of the regularizing character of the constant (nonzero) curvature of the anti-de Sitter space time. As a byproduct a geometric characterization of masslessness is obtained.

Elgradechi, Amine M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantum Spin-Valley Hall Kink States: From Concept to Materials Design

We propose a general and tunable platform to realize high-density arrays of quantum spin-valley Hall kink (QSVHK) states with spin-valley-momentum locking based on a two-dimensional hexagonal topological insulator. Through the analysis of Berry curvature and topological charge, the QSVHK states are found to be topologically protected by the valley-inversion and time-reversal symmetries. Remarkably, the conductance of QSVHK states remains quantized against both nonmagnetic short- and long-range and magnetic long-range disorder, verified by the Green-function calculations. Based on first-principles results and our fabricated samples, we show that QSVHK states, protected with a gap up to 287 meV, can be realized in bismuthene by alloy engineering, surface functionalization, or electric field, supporting nonvolatile applications of spin-valley filters, valves, and waveguides even at room temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nonlinear photoconductivities and quantum geometry of chiral multifold fermions

Here, chiral multifold fermions are quasiparticles that appear only in chiral crystals such as transition metal silicides in the cubic B20 structure (i.e., the CoSi family), and they may show exotic physical properties. Here we study the injection and shift photoconductivities and also the related geometrical quantities for several types of chiral multifold fermions, including spin-1/2 as well as pseudospin-1 and -3/2 fermions, dubbed as Kramers Weyl, triple-point, and Rarita-Schwinger-Weyl (RSW) fermions, respectively. We utilize the minimal symmorphic model to describe the triple-point fermions (TPF). We also consider the more realistic model Hamiltonian for the CoSi family including both linear and quadratic terms. We find that injection currents due to circularly polarized light are quantized as a result of the Chern numbers carried by the multifold fermions within the linear models. Surprisingly, we discover that in the TPF model, the linear shift conductivities, responsible for the shift current generation by linearly polarized light, are proportional to the pseudo spin-orbit coupling and independent of photon frequency. In contrast, for the RSW and Kramer Weyl fermions, the linear shift conductivity is linearly proportional to photon frequency. The numerical results agree with the power-counting analysis for quadratic Hamiltonians. The frequency independence of the linear shift conductivity could be attributed to the strong resonant symplectic Christoffel symbols of the flat bands. Moreover, the calculated symplectic Christoffel symbols show significant peaks at the nodes, suggesting that the shift currents are due to the strong geometrical response near the topological nodes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evidence of a room-temperature quantum spin Hall edge state in a higher-order topological insulator

Room-temperature realization of macroscopic quantum phases is one of the major pursuits in fundamental physics. The quantum spin Hall phase is a topological quantum phase that features a two-dimensional insulating bulk and a helical edge state. Here we use vector magnetic field and variable temperature based scanning tunnelling microscopy to provide micro-spectroscopic evidence for a room-temperature quantum spin Hall edge state on the surface of the higher-order topological insulator Bi 4 Br 4 . Here, we find that the atomically resolved lattice exhibits a large insulating gap of over 200 meV, and an atomically sharp monolayer step edge hosts an in-gap gapless state, suggesting topological bulk–boundary correspondence. An external magnetic field can gap the edge state, consistent with the time-reversal symmetry protection inherent in the underlying band topology. We further identify the geometrical hybridization of such edge states, which not only supports the Z 2 topology of the quantum spin Hall state but also visualizes the building blocks of the higher-order topological insulator phase. Our results further encourage the exploration of high-temperature transport quantization of the putative topological phase reported here.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Permanent Electride Magnets Induced by Quasi‐Atomic Non‐Nucleus‐Bound Electrons

Abstract Interstitial quasi‐atomic electrons (IQEs) in the quantized energy levels of positively charged cavities possess a substantial own magnetic moment and control the magnetism of crystalline electrides depending on the interaction with surrounding cations. However, weak spin‐orbit coupling and gentle exchange interaction restricted by the IQEs preclude a large magnetic anisotropic, remaining a challenge for a hard magnetism. It is reported that 2D [ Re 2 C] 2+ ·2e − electrides (Re = Er, Ho, Dy, and Tb) show the permanent magnetism in a ferrimagnetic ground state, mimicking the ferrites composed of magnetic sublattices with different spin polarizations. Magnetic interaction between Re‐spin lattice and IQE‐spin lattice in the [ Re 2 C] 2+ ·2e − electrides results in a large magnetocrystalline anisotropy and high coercivity, giving a maximum energy product of 15 MGOe. It is demonstrated that the spontaneous breaking of magnetic IQE‐sublattice through substitution with paramagnetic elements produces a crossover into an antiferromagnetic spin ordering of Re‐sublattice, implying that the magnetic sublattice of IQEs drives the permanent magnetism.

Hwang, Jeong Yun [Department of Materials Science ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Voltage-Controlled Magnetic Reversal in Orbital Chern Insulators

Chern insulator ferromagnets are characterized by a quantized anomalous Hall effect and have so far been identified experimentally in magnetically doped topological insulator thin films and in bilayer graphene moiré superlattices. We classify Chern insulator ferromagnets as either spin or orbital, depending on whether the orbital magnetization results from spontaneous spin polarization combined with spin-orbit interactions, as in the magnetically doped topological insulator case, or directly from spontaneous orbital currents, as in the moiré superlattice case. We argue that, in a given magnetic state, characterized, for example, by the sign of the anomalous Hall effect, the magnetization of an orbital Chern insulator will often have opposite signs for weak n and weak p electrostatic or chemical doping. Finally, this property enables pure electrical switching of a magnetic state in the presence of a fixed magnetic field.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Stacking disorder and thermal transport properties of α-RuCl 3

α-RuCl 3 , a well-known candidate material for Kitaev quantum spin liquid, is prone to stacking disorder due to the weak van der Waals bonding between the honeycomb layers. After a decade of intensive experimental and theoretical studies, the detailed correlation between stacking degree of freedom, structure transition, magnetic, and thermal transport properties remains unresolved. In this work, we reveal the effects of a small amount of stacking disorder inherent even in high quality α-RuCl 3 crystals. This small amount of stacking disorder results in the variation of the magnetic ordering temperature, and it suppresses the structure transition and thermal conductivity. Crystals with a minimal amount of stacking disorder have a T N > 7.4 K and exhibit a well-defined structure transition around 140 K upon cooling. For those with more stacking faults and a T N below 7 K, the structure transition occurs well below 140 K upon cooling and is incomplete, manifested by the diffuse streaks and the coexistence of both high-temperature and low-temperature phases down to the lowest measurement temperature. Both types of crystals exhibit oscillatory field-dependent thermal conductivity and a plateaulike feature in thermal Hall resistivity in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state. However, α-RuCl 3 crystals with a minimal amount of stacking disorder have a higher thermal conductivity that pushes the thermal Hall conductivity to be closer to the half-integer quantized value. Importantly, these findings demonstrate a strong correlation between layer stacking, structure transition, magnetic, and thermal transport properties, underscoring the importance of interlayer coupling in α-RuCl3 despite the weak van der Waals bonding.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Discrete Rotational Energy for Polyatomic Molecules in Direct Simulation Monte Carlo

Accurate prediction of aerothermodynamic loads in thermal non-equilibrium flows requires precise modeling of internal energy exchange. While previous direct simulation Monte Carlo frameworks have successfully implemented discrete rotational energy models for diatomic species, the treatment of polyatomic molecules has traditionally relied on continuous energy assumptions that break down at low temperatures and neglect critical high-temperature corrections. This study extends the discrete rotational energy models of Boyd and Gimelshein to fully encompass polyatomic molecules. The proposed framework implements quantized rotational energy level sampling for linear, spherical, and symmetric/asymmetric top rotors. Crucially, the model incorporates centrifugal distortion to address the limitations of the rigid-rotor assumption at hypersonic temperatures, and accounts for nuclear spin parity, which dictates the permissible rotational states and macroscopic specific heats at low temperatures. The model is verified through equilibrium sampling procedures, demonstrating agreement with theoretical quantum Boltzmann distributions and accurately reproducing thermophysical properties across a wide range of temperatures.

DSMC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ground-state order in magic-angle graphene at filling ν = - 3 : A full-scale density matrix renormalization group study

Here we investigate twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) at filling ν = -3 in the presence of realistic heterostrain. Strain amplifies the band dispersion and drives the system beyond the strong-coupling regime of previous theoretical studies. We use DMRG to conduct an unbiased, large-scale numerical calculations that include all spin and valley degrees of freedom, up to bond dimension χ = 24576. We establish a global phase diagram that unifies a number of theoretical and experimental results. Near zero strain we find an intervalley-coherent quantized anomalous Hall (QAH-IVC) state, a competitive strong-coupling order that evaded past numerical studies. A tiny strain around 0.05% drives a transition into an incommensurate Kekulé spiral (IKS) phase, supporting the mean-field prediction in [Kwan, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041063 (2021)2160-330810.1103/PhysRevX.11.041063]. Even higher strains above 0.2% favor a flavor-symmetric metallic order, which may explain metals found at ν = -3 in many experiments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Operator product expansion for radial lattice quantization of 3D ϕ 4 theory

At its critical point, the three-dimensional lattice Ising model is described by a conformal field theory (CFT), the 3D Ising CFT. Instead of carrying out simulations on Euclidean lattices, we use the quantum finite elements method to implement radially quantized critical ϕ 4 theory on simplicial lattices approaching R × S 2 . Computing the four-point function of identical scalars, we demonstrate the power of radial quantization by the accurate determination of the scaling dimensions Δ ε and Δ T as well as ratios of the operator product expansion coefficients f σ σ ε and f σ σ T of the first spin-0 and spin-2 primary operators ε and T of the 3D Ising CFT. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Generalized symmetry in dynamical gravity

We explore generalized symmetry in the context of nonlinear dynamical gravity. Our basic strategy is to transcribe known results from Yang-Mills theory directly to gravity via the tetrad formalism, which recasts general relativity as a gauge theory of the local Lorentz group. By analogy, we deduce that gravity exhibits a one-form symmetry implemented by an operator U α labeled by a center element α of the Lorentz group and associated with a certain area measured in Planck units. The corresponding charged line operator W ρ is the holonomy in a spin representation ρ, which is the gravitational analog of a Wilson loop. The topological linking of U α and W ρ has an elegant physical interpretation from classical gravitation: the former materializes an exotic chiral cosmic string defect whose quantized conical deficit angle is measured by the latter. We verify this claim explicitly in an AdS-Schwarzschild black hole background. Notably, our conclusions imply that the standard model exhibits a new symmetry of nature at scales below the lightest neutrino mass. More generally, the absence of global symmetries in quantum gravity suggests that the gravitational one-form symmetry is either gauged or explicitly broken. The latter mandates the existence of fermions. Finally, we comment on generalizations to magnetic higher-form or higher-group gravitational symmetries.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

On the canonical formulation of gauge field theories and Poincaré transformations

We address the Hamiltonian formulation of classical gauge field theories while putting forward results some of which are not entirely new, though they do not appear to be well known. We refer in particular to the fact that neither the canonical energy momentum vector ( P μ ) nor the gauge invariant energy momentum vector ( P inv μ ) do generate space-time translations of the gauge field by means of the Poisson brackets: In a general gauge, one has to consider the so-called kinematical energy momentum vector and, in a specific gauge (like the radiation gauge in electrodynamics), one has to consider the Dirac brackets rather than the Poisson brackets. Similar arguments apply to rotations and to Lorentz boosts and are of direct relevance to the “nucleon spin crisis” since the spin of the proton involves a contribution which is due to the angular momentum vector of gluons and thereby requires a proper treatment of the latter. We conclude with some comments on the relationships between the different approaches to quantization (canonical quantization based on the classical Hamiltonian formulation, Gupta-Bleuler, path integrals, BRST, covariant canonical approaches).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Orchestrating Spontaneous Emission With Metasurfaces: Recent Advances in Engineering Thermal, Luminescent, and Quantum Emissions

Metasurfaces have emerged as powerful tools for controlling spontaneous emission, offering unprecedented control over light-matter interactions at sub-wavelength scales. While metasurfaces are traditionally utilized for shaping coherent electromagnetic waves, they have recently extended their capabilities to control incoherent or spontaneous emission. This examines review how metasurfaces can enhance and precisely control properties of thermal, luminescent, and quantum emission. In thermal emission, metasurfaces enable control over spatial, temporal, and spin coherence, offering new possibilities for applications such as energy harvesting, radiative cooling and heat assisted ranging and detection. For luminescent emission, metasurfaces significantly improve emission rates, quantum efficiency, and directionality, driving innovations in lighting and display technologies. For controlling quantized spontaneous emission, metasurfaces are instrumental in enhancing single-photon sources and enabling novel functionalities in quantum states through photon-pair generation, which is vital for quantum communication, meteorology, and computing. Here, despite these advancements several challenges to increase the operational bandwidths, accelerate and develop simulation strategies, and fabrication complexities persist. Emerging trends are also discussed, such as dynamic metasurfaces and their integration with nanophotonic platforms, which could further expand the capabilities of light-emitting metasurfaces.

Luminescence↗