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At least 73 records · Page 4

Characterization of two electronic subsystems in cuprates through optical conductivity

Understanding the physical properties of unconventional superconductors as well as of other correlated materials presents a formidable challenge. Their unusual evolution with doping, frequency, and temperature has frequently led to non-Fermi-liquid (non-FL) interpretations. Optical conductivity is a major challenge in this context. Here, the optical spectra of two archetypal cuprates, underdoped HgBa 2 CuO 4+δ and optimally doped Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ , are interpreted based on the standard Fermi-liquid (FL) paradigm. At both dopings, perfect frequency-temperature FL scaling is found to be modified by the presence of a second, gapped electronic subsystem. Further, this non-FL component emerges as a well-defined mid-infrared spectral feature after the FL contribution, determined independently by transport, is subtracted. Temperature, frequency, and doping evolution of the MIR feature identify a gapped rather than dissipative response. In contrast, the dissipative response is found to be relevant for pnictides and ruthenates. Such an unbiased FL/non-FL separation is extended across the cuprate phase diagram, capturing all the key features of the normal state and providing a natural explanation why the superfluid density is attenuated on the overdoped side. Thus, we obtain a unified interpretation of optical responses and transport measurements in all analyzed physical regimes and all analyzed compounds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Statistical mechanics of dilute liquid mixtures of He3 in He4

The Woo-Tan-Massey quantum-mechanical theory of dilute mixtures of He-3 in liquid He-4 is extended to incorporate superfluid flow. Then statistical-mechanical principles are employed to find explicit formulas for thermodyanmic and hydrodynamic properties of mixtures, such as internal energy, free energy, entropy, pressure, chemical potential, and normal-fluid and superfluid densities. This paper is the first in a planned series that applies methods originally developed for pure liquid He-4 to dilute mixtures as a means of establishing a comprehensive theory that includes a theoretical bridge between a microscopic description of the mixtures and a hydrodynamic two-fluid model. Ultimately effects of applied electric and magnetic fields on dilute solutions are also planned to be treated.

Jackson, H. W.↗

Phase separation in the t-J model

A detailed understanding of the motion of 'holes' in an antiferromagnet is of fundamental importance for the theory of high-temperature superconductors. It is shown here that, for the t-J model, dilute holes in an antiferromagnet are unstable against phase separation into a hole-rich and a no-hole phase. When the spin-exchange interaction J exceeds a critical value Jc, the hole-rich phase has no electrons. It is proposed that, for J slightly less than Jc, the hole-rich phase is a low-density superfluid of electron pairs. Phase separation in related models is briefly discussed.

Emery, V. J.↗

Critical transport parameters for porous media subjected to counterflow

Experimental and theoretical studies have been conducted to determine critical parameters at the onset of nonlinear counterflow in He II below the lambda point of He-4. Critical temperature differences have been measured in porous media for zero net mass flow and for Darcy permeabilities in the order of magnitude range from 10 to the -10th to 10 to the -8th sq cm. The normalized critical temperature gradients, which covered the liquid temperature range of 1.5 K to the lambda temperature, are found to vary with T proportional to the ratio of the superfluid density to the normal fluid density. This liquid temperature dependence appears to be consistent with duct data which are limited at low temperature by a Reynolds number criterion.

Frederking, T. H. K.↗

Quasiparticle spectroscopy, transport, and magnetic properties of Nb films used in superconducting transmon qubits

Niobium thin films on silicon substrate used in the fabrication of superconducting qubits have been characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, electrical transport, magnetization, quasiparticle spectroscopy, and real-space real-time magneto-optical imaging. We study niobium films to provide an example of a comprehensive analytical set that may benefit superconducting circuits such as those used in quantum computers. The films show outstanding superconducting transition temperature of $T_{c}=9.35$ K and a fairly clean superconducting gap, along with superfluid density enhanced at intermediate temperatures. These observations are consistent with the recent theory of anisotropic strong-coupling superconductivity in Nb. However, the response to the magnetic field is complicated, exhibiting significantly irreversible behavior and insufficient heat conductance leading to thermo-magnetic instabilities. These may present an issue for further improvement of transmon quantum coherence. Possible mitigation strategies are discussed.

Joshi, Kamal R.↗

Effect of polarization on superfluidity in low density neutron matter

The singlet-state quasi-particle interaction in neutron matter is examined on the basis of results of a detailed evaluation of the Landau Fermi-liquid parameters for pure neutron effects, including polarization effects. This means that the interaction induced by exchange of density and spin-density excitations is taken into account. It is shown that polarization actually works to suppress the pairing matrix elements, owing to the spin dependence of the quasi-particle interaction and, ultimately, the balance of attraction, repulsion, and spin dependence in the fundamental two-neutron interaction. Since the isotropic energy gap and the condensation energy in low-density neutron-star matter are extremely sensitive functions of the pairing matrix elements, they will also be suppressed by the polarizability of the neutron medium.

Clark, J. W.↗

Thermodynamic properties of nodal superconductors close to a magnetic quantum critical point

In this work we study thermodynamic manifestations of the quantum criticality in multiband unconventional superconductors. As a guiding example we consider the scenario of magnetic quantum critical point in the model that captures superconductivity coexistence with the spin-density wave. We show that in situations when the superconducting order parameter has incidental nodes at isolated points, quantum magnetic fluctuations lead to the renormalization of the relative 𝑇-linear slope of the London penetration depth. This leads to the nonmonotonic dependence of the penetration depth as a function of doping and the concomitant peak structure across the quantum critical point. In addition, we determine contribution of magnetic fluctuations to the specific heat at the onset of the coexistence phase. Furthermore, our theoretical analysis is corroborated by making a comparison of our results with the recent experimental data from the low-temperature thermodynamic measurements at optimal composition in BaFe 2 (As 1-x P x ) 2 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Geminga neutron star: Evidence for nucleon superfluidity at very high density

A comparison of the recent age and temperature estimates of the Geminga neutron star with cooling models is presented. This star is already in the photon cooling era and it is shown that its temperature can be understood within both the slow and fast neutrino emission scenarios and consequently will not allow discrimination between these two scenarios. However in both cases agreement of the theoretical cooling curves with the observed temperature depends crucially on the presence of nucleon pairing in most, if not all, of the core.

Page, Dany↗

Nonlocal and nonadiabatic Pauli potential for time-dependent orbital-free density functional theory

Time-dependent orbital-free density functional theory is an efficient ab initio method for calculating the electronic dynamics of large systems. In comparison to standard time-dependent density functional theory, it computes only a single electronic state regardless of system size, but it requires an additional time-dependent Pauli potential term. Herein we propose a nonadiabatic and nonlocal Pauli potential whose main ingredients are the time-dependent particle and current densities. Our calculations of the optical spectra of metallic and semiconductor clusters indicate that nonlocal and nonadiabatic time-dependent orbital-free density functional theory performs accurately for metallic systems and semiquantitatively for semiconductors. This paper opens the door to wide applicability of time-dependent orbital-free density functional theory for nonequilibrium electron and electron-nuclear dynamics of complex materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Hybrid Kohn-Sham+Thomas-Fermi scheme for high-temperature density functional theory

We report density functional theory has revolutionised our understanding of dense, strongly coupled systems in the condensed-matter limit. At elevated temperatures, such as those found in warm dense matter and dense plasma, the computational cost of calculating enough states to accurately describe a thermal ensemble of electrons is a major obstacle to practical Kohn-Sham calculations. This problem has recently been tackled from a number of approaches, including a plane-wave approximation for electrons at high energy. In this work, we demonstrate how the Thomas-Fermi density of states, equivalent to a local plane-wave approximation, can yield improved results for thermodynamic quantities, electron density profiles, and interatomic forces while requiring fewer states than existing methods.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Imposing correct jellium response is key to predict the density response by orbital-free DFT

Orbital-free density functional theory constitutes a computationally highly effective tool for modeling electronic structures of systems ranging from room-temperature materials to warm dense matter. Its accuracy critically depends on the employed kinetic energy (KE) density functional, which has to be supplied as an external input. In this work we consider several nonlocal and Laplacian-level KE functionals and use an external harmonic perturbation to compute the static density response at T = 0 K in the linear and beyond-linear response regimes. We test for the satisfaction of exact conditions in the limit of uniform densities and for how approximate KE functionals reproduce the density response of realistic materials (e.g., Al and Si) against the Kohn-Sham DFT reference, which employs the exact KE. The results illustrate that several functionals violate exact conditions in the uniform electron gas (UEG) limit. We find a strong correlation between the accuracy of the KE functionals in the UEG limit and in the strongly inhomogeneous case. This empirically demonstrates the importance of imposing the limit of UEG response for uniform densities and validates the use of the Lindhard function in the formulation of kernels for nonlocal functionals. This conclusion is substantiated by additional calculations for bulk aluminum (Al) with a face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice and silicon (Si) with an fcc lattice, body-centered cubic (bcc) lattice, and semiconducting crystal diamond state. The analysis of fcc Al, and fcc as well as bcc Si data follows closely the conclusions drawn for the UEG, allowing us to extend our conclusions to realistic systems that are subject to density inhomogeneities induced by ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Frontiers in Magnetic Materials

Magnetism is crucial to many modern technologies, a driver for condensed matter physics research and one of the most remarkable and diverse properties of matter. We propose to develop understanding of novel magnetism and magnetic related behavior in materials and use this to accelerate the discovery of forefront magnetic materials. The approach is via the connection of magnetic properties to specific structures and materials. Topics that will be addressed are (1) Metallic magnetic materials with unusually low carrier concentrations and/or moments (2) Magnetism arising from unusual chemistry including 4d and 5d magnetism and (3) Materials with strong spin-fluctuations, which can lead to quantum criticality, spin-fluctuation induced superconductivity and other novel quantum behavior. These topics overlap, for example, the 4d ruthenates include ferromagnets (perovskite SrRuO 3 ), extremely high ordering temperature antiferromagnets (honeycomb lattice SrRu 2 O 6 ) and well as quantum materials with strong spin fluctuations (layered perovskite Sr 2 RuO 4 and Sr 3 Ru 2 O 7 ). We will use of density calculations to connect magnetic properties with chemistry and structure and employ phenomenological theories to extend these results to properties that are not directly given by direct first principles methods and we will conduct tests to explore the limitations of density functional approximations and new functionals.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Luther-Emery liquid and dominant singlet superconductivity in the hole-doped Haldane spin-1 chain

We investigate the pairing tendencies in the hole-doped Haldane spin-1 chain. To allow for doping, we extend the original spin chain Hamiltonian into a fermionic model involving a two-orbital Hubbard chain at intermediate or strong repulsive interaction strengths U and for degenerate orbitals. At half filling and large U, the ferromagnetic Hund's coupling, J H , generates effective spin-1 moments, with antiferromagnetic correlations between sites. Using large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculations, we accurately study the system's behavior under light hole-doping. For U = 1.6 in units of the noninteracting bandwidth and for J H /U ≳ 0.275, we find that singlet pairing dominates the long-distance physics, establishing this system as a promising platform for repulsively mediated superconductivity. We provide concrete examples of materials that could realize the physics described here. We also provide evidence that the system approaches a Luther-Emery liquid state at large system sizes, reminiscent of the behavior of doped one-orbital two-leg ladders at weak coupling, which also have superconducting tendencies. The numerically calculated central charge approaches one in the thermodynamic limit, indicating a single gapless mode as is expected for the Luther-Emery state. Exponents characterizing the power-law decays of singlet pair-pair and charge density-density correlations are determined, and found to approximately satisfy the Luther-Emery identity.

1-dimensional systems↗

Interference microscopy study of the preplasma formed on an iron target surface exposed to high-power femtosecond laser pulses

The characteristic scale of spread of the plasma formed on the surface of a bulk iron target irradiated by a femtosecond laser pulse with an intensity of 10{sup 16} W cm{sup −2} is measured by time-resolved interference microscopy using femtosecond pulses emitted by a Cr : forsterite laser system with an intensity contrast of 10{sup 7}. The chosen technique is demonstrated to be efficient in such measurements. It is shown experimentally that, as a result of laser pulse impact, the displacement of a plasma layer with a density exceeding critical does not exceed 30 nm. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Accurate localization of Kosterlitz-Thouless-type quantum phase transitions for one-dimensional spinless fermions

We investigate the charge-density wave (CDW) transition for one-dimensional spinless fermions at half band filling with nearest-neighbor electron transfer amplitude t and interaction V. The model is equivalent to the anisotropic XXZ Heisenberg model for which the Bethe Ansatz provides an exact solution. For V>V c =2t, the CDW order parameter and the single-particle gap are finite but exponentially small, as is characteristic for a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. It is notoriously difficult to locate such infinite-order phase transitions in the phase diagram using approximate analytical and numerical approaches. Second-order Hartree-Fock theory is qualitatively applicable for all interaction strengths, and predicts the CDW transition to occur at V$^{(2)}_{c,2}$≈1.5t. Second-order Hartree Fock theory is almost variational because the density of quasiparticle excitations is small. We apply the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) for periodic boundary conditions for system sizes up to 514 sites, which permits a reliable extrapolation of all physical quantities to the thermodynamic limit, apart from the critical region. We investigate the ground-state energy, the gap, the order parameter, the momentum distribution, the quasiparticle density, and the density-density correlation function to locate V c from the DMRG data. In conclusion, tracing the breakdown of the Luttinger liquid and the peak in the quasiparticle density at the band edge permits us to reproduce V c with an accuracy of one percent.

1-dimensional spin chains↗

Topological and magnetic properties of the interacting Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model

We investigate the effects of electronic correlations on the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model using the real-space density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm. We introduce a method to probe topological phase transitions in systems with strong correlations using DMRG, substantiated by an unsupervised machine learning methodology that analyzes the orbital structure of the real-space edges. Including the full multi-orbital Hubbard interaction term, we construct a phase diagram as a function of a gap parameter (m) and the Hubbard interaction strength (U) via exact DMRG simulations on N×4 cylinders. Our analysis confirms that the topological phase persists in the presence of interactions, consistent with previous studies, but it also reveals an intriguing phase transition from a paramagnetic to a stripey antiferromagnetic topological insulator. The combination of the magnetic structure factor, strength of magnetic moments, and the orbitally resolved density, provides real-space information on both topology and magnetism in a strongly correlated system.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗