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At least 1,297 records · Page 72

Simulating transient heat transfer in graphene at finite Knudsen number via the Boltzmann transport equation and molecular dynamics

The phonon Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) with the relaxation time approximation (RTA) scattering model is used to calculate transient temperature profiles in graphene, and the results are compared to analogous molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. For the BTE calculations, the phonon dispersion relation and frequency-dependent scattering rates are obtained from a combination of MD data and semi-empirical power-law expressions for the normal and Umklapp phonon lifetimes. The dimensions and initial temperature conditions of graphene are varied to study the size and temperature dependence of thermal transport physics at the mesoscopic scale. Good quantitative agreement to within 5% is found between the BTE and MD results, over a wide range of temperatures and lengthscales of the temperature variation in the graphene sheet. Small differences are attributed to the inaccuracy of the RTA as applied to graphene, and to neglecting four-phonon scattering in the BTE simulations. The present results may further understanding in applications such as the transient heating of nanoelectronics.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Electron thermalization and relaxation in laser-heated nickel by few-femtosecond core-level transient absorption spectroscopy

Direct measurements of photoexcited carrier dynamics in nickel are made using few-femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) transient absorption spectroscopy at the nickel M 2,3 edge. It is observed that the core-level absorption line shape of photoexcited nickel can be described by a Gaussian broadening (σ) and a red shift (ω s ) of the ground-state absorption spectrum. Theory predicts and the experimental results verify that after initial rapid carrier thermalization, the electron temperature increase (ΔT ) is linearly proportional to the Gaussian broadening factor σ, providing quantitative real-time tracking of the relaxation of the electron temperature. Measurements reveal an electron cooling time for 50 nm thick polycrystalline nickel films of 640 ± 80 fs. With hot thermalized carriers, the spectral red shift exhibits a power-law relationship with the change in electron temperature of ω s ∝ ΔT 1.5 . Rapid electron thermalization via carrier-carrier scattering accompanies and follows the nominal 4-fs photoexcitation pulse until the carriers reach a quasithermal equilibrium. Entwined with a <6 fs instrument response function, carrier thermalization times ranging from 34 fs to 13 fs are estimated from experimental data acquired at different pump fluences and it is observed that the electron thermalization time decreases with increasing pump fluence. Here, the study provides an initial example of measuring electron temperature and thermalization in metals in real time with XUV light, and it lays a foundation for further investigation of photoinduced phase transitions and carrier transport in metals with core-level absorption spectroscopy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Quantum magnetism on small-world networks

While classical spin systems in random networks have been intensively studied, much less is known about quantum magnets in random graphs. In this work, we investigate interacting quantum spins on small-world networks, building on mean-field theory and extensive quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Starting from one-dimensional (1D) rings, we consider two situations: All-to-all interacting and long-range interactions randomly added. The effective infinite dimension of the lattice leads to a magnetic ordering at finite temperature Tc with mean-field criticality. Nevertheless, in contrast to the classical case, we find two distinct power-law behaviors for Tc versus the average strength of the extra couplings. This is controlled by a competition between a characteristic length scale of the random graph and the thermal correlation length of the underlying 1D system, thus challenging mean-field theories. We also investigate the fate of a gapped 1D spin chain against the small-world effect.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Spin dynamics of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a kagome bilayer

We research the spin dynamics of a classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet with nearest-neighbor interactions on a quasi-two-dimensional kagome bilayer. This geometrically frustrated lattice consists of two kagome layers connected by a triangular-lattice linking layer. By combining Monte Carlo with precessional spin dynamics simulations, we compute the dynamical structure factor of the classical spin liquid in the kagome bilayer and investigate the thermal and dilution effects. While the low-frequency and long-wavelength dynamics of the cooperative paramagnetic phase is dominated by spin diffusion, weak magnon excitations persist at higher energies, giving rise to the half-moon pattern in the dynamical structure factor. In the presence of spin vacancies, the dynamical properties of the diluted system can be understood within the two-population picture. The spin diffusion of the “correlated” spin clusters is mainly driven by the zero-energy weather-vane modes, giving rise to an autocorrelation function that decays exponentially with time. On the other hand, the diffusive dynamics of the quasifree “orphan” spins leads to a distinctive longer-time power-law tail in the autocorrelation function. We discuss the implications of our work for the glassy behaviors observed in the archetypal frustrated magnet SrCr 9p Ga 12-9 pO 19 (SCGO).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Spin superfluidity in noncollinear antiferromagnets

We explore the spin superfluid transport in exchange interaction dominated three-sublattice antiferromagnets. The system in the long-wavelength regime is described by an $SO(3)$ invariant field theory. Additional corrections from Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions or anisotropies can break the symmetry; however, the system still approximately holds a $U(1)$-rotation symmetry. Thus, the power-law spatial decay signature of spin superfluidity is identified in a nonlocal-measurement setup where the spin injection is described by the generalized spin-mixing conductance. Finally, we suggest iron jarosites as promising material candidates for realizing our proposal.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Nature of the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic transition in Y 1- x La x TiO 3

In this work, we explore the magnetically ordered ground state of the isovalently substituted Mott insulator Y 1- x La x TiO 3 for x≤ 0.3 via single-crystal growth, magnetometry, neutron diffraction, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, muon spin rotation, and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We find that the decrease in the magnetic transition temperature on approaching the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase boundary at the La concentration xc ≈ 0.3 is accompanied by a strong suppression of both bulk and local ordered magnetic moments, along with a volume wise separation into magnetically ordered and paramagnetic regions. The thermal phase transition does not show conventional second-order behavior since neither a clear signature of dynamic critical behavior nor a power-law divergence of the magnetic correlation length is found for the studied substitution range; this finding becomes increasingly obvious with increasing La substitution. We find no evidence for a spin-glass phase. Finally, from SANS and magnetometry measurements, we discern a crossover from easy-axis to easy-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy with increasing La substitution. These results indicate complex changes in magnetic structure upon approaching the phase boundary.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Phenomenological model of the third-harmonic magnetic response due to superconducting fluctuations: Application to Sr 2 RuO 4

Here, we employ the phenomenological Lawrence-Doniach model to compute the contributions of the superconducting fluctuations to the third-harmonic magnetic response, denoted here by $\bar{M_3}$, which can be measured in a precise way using ac magnetic fields and lock-in techniques. We show that, in an intermediate temperature regime, this quantity behaves as the third-order nonlinear susceptibility, which shows a power-law dependence with the reduced temperature ε = $\frac{T-T_c}{T_c}$ as ε -5/2 . Very close to T c , however, $\bar{M_3}$ saturates due to the nonzero amplitude of the ac field. We compare our theoretical results with experimental data for three conventional superconductors—lead, niobium, and vanadium—and for the unconventional superconductor Sr 2 RuO 4 (SRO). We find good agreement between theory and experiment for the elemental superconductors, although the theoretical values for the critical field systematically deviate from the experimental ones. In the case of SRO, however, the phenomenological model completely fails to describe the data, as the third-harmonic response remains sizable over a much wider reduced temperature range compared to Pb, Nb, and V. We show that an inhomogeneous distribution of T c across the sample can partially account for this discrepancy, since regions with a locally higher T c contribute to the fluctuation $\bar{M_3}$ significantly more than regions with the “nominal” T c of the clean system. However, the exponential temperature dependence of $\bar{M_3}$ first reported by Pelc et al. [Nat. Commun. 10, 2729 (2019)] is not captured by the model with inhomogeneity. We conclude that, while inhomogeneity is an important ingredient to understand the superconducting fluctuations of SRO and other perovskite superconductors, additional effects may be at play, such as non-Gaussian fluctuations or rare-region effects.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Superconductivity of incoherent electrons in the Yukawa Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model

We study a model of N fermions in a quantum dot, coupled to M bosons by a disorder-induced complex Yukawa coupling [Yukawa Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model], in order to explore the interplay between non-Fermi liquid and superconductivity in a strongly coupled, (quantum-)critical environment. We analyze the phase diagram of the model for an arbitrary complex interaction and arbitrary ratio of N/M, with special focus on the two regimes of non-Fermi-liquid behavior: an SYK-like behavior with a power-law frequency dependence of the fermionic self-energy and an impuritylike behavior with frequency independent self-energy. We show that the crossover between the two can be reached by varying either the strength of the fermion-boson coupling or the ratio M/N. We next argue that in both regimes the system is unstable to superconductivity if the strength of time-reversal-symmetry-breaking disorder is below a certain threshold. We show how the corresponding onset temperatures vary between the two regimes. We argue that the superconducting state is highly unconventional with an infinite set of minima of the condensation energy at T = 0, corresponding to topologically different gap functions. We discuss in detail similarities and differences between this model and the model of dispersion-full fermions tuned to a metallic quantum-critical point, with an effective singular dynamical interaction V(Ω) ∝ 1/|Ω| γ (the γ model).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Behavior of thermally quenched topological defects in quasicrystal artificial spin ices

We report that understanding the formation of topological defects in connected magnetic nanowires such as in artificial spin ices (ASIs) is critical to controlling their behavior. Moreover, emergent frustration behavior of these defects can be expected due to complex underlying lattice geometry of the ASIs. We have explored in situ thermalization and quenching of quasicrystalline ASIs, which exhibit additional frustration due to aperiodicity from near the Curie temperature, and we observe the formation of two sets of topological vortex defects: within the magnetic bars and within the vertices at which the bars meet. By varying the laser fluence, we show that the number of defects in the vertices varies as the quenching rate changes following a power law relation, which we interpret as being related to the ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic phase transition. Conversely, the defects formed within the bars are metastable states related to the spontaneous magnetization reversal of the magnetic bars and are therefore strongly dependent on underlying lattice geometry. These results provide insight into the emergence and control of topological defects in confined frustrated magnetic systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Fidelity and entanglement entropy for infinite-order phase transitions

Here, we study the fidelity and the entanglement entropy for the ground states of quantum systems that have infinite-order quantum phase transitions. In particular, we consider the quantum O(2) model with a spin-S truncation, where there is an infinite-order Gaussian (IOG) transition for S = 1 and there are Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions for S ≥ 2. We show that the height of the peak in the fidelity susceptibility (χ F ) converges to a finite thermodynamic value as a power law of 1 / L for the IOG transition and as 1 / ln (L) for BKT transitions. The peak position of χ F resides inside the gapped phase for both the IOG transition and BKT transitions. On the other hand, the derivative of the block entanglement entropy with respect to the coupling constant $S^{'}_{vN}$ has a peak height that diverges as ln 2 (L) for S = 1 and ln 3 (L) for S ≥ 2 and can be used to locate both kinds of transitions accurately. We include higher-order corrections for finite-size scalings and obtain the value of the central charge consistent with c = 1 predicted by conformal field theory. The crossing point of χ F between different system sizes is at the IOG point for S = 1 but is inside the gapped phase for S ≥ 2, while those of $S^{'}_{vN}$ are at the phase-transition points for all S truncations. Our work elaborates on how to use the finite-size scaling of χ F or $S^{'}_{vN}$ to detect infinite-order quantum phase transitions and discusses the efficiency and accuracy of the two methods.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Intermediate scattering potential strength in electron-irradiated YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ from London penetration depth measurements

Temperature-dependent London penetration depth, λ(T), of a high quality optimally-doped YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ single crystal was measured using tunnel-diode-resonator technique. Controlled artificial disorder was induced by low-temperature 20 K irradiation by 2.5 MeV electrons at two large doses of 3.8 x 10 19 and 5.3 x 10 19 electrons per cm 2 . The irradiation caused significant suppression of the superconductor's critical temperature, T c , from 94.6 K to 90.0 K, and to 78.7 K, respectively. The low-temperature behavior of λ(T) evolves from a T-linear in pristine state to a T 2 behavior after irradiation, expected for a line-nodal d-wave superconductor. However, the original theory that explained such behavior assumed a unitary limit of the scattering potential, whereas usually in normal metals and semiconductors, Born scattering is sufficient to describe the experiment. To estimate the scattering potential strength, we calculated the superfluid density, ρ s (t = T/T c ) = λ 2 (0)/λ 2 (T), varying the amount and strength of non-magnetic scattering using a self-consistent t-matrix theory. Fitting the obtained curves to a power law, ρ s = 1 - Rt n , and to a polynomial, ρ s = 1 - At - Bt 2 , and comparing the coefficients n in one set and A and B in another with the experimental values, we estimate the phase shift to be around 70 and 65°, respectively. We correlate this result with the evolution of the density of states with nonmagnetic disorder.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Quantum spin liquids bootstrapped from Ising criticality in Rydberg arrays

Arrays of Rydberg atoms constitute a highly tunable, strongly interacting venue for the pursuit of exotic states of matter. We develop a strategy for accessing a family of fractionalized phases known as quantum spin liquids in two-dimensional Rydberg arrays. We specifically use effective field theory methods to study arrays assembled from Rydberg chains tuned to an Ising phase transition that famously hosts emergent fermions propagating within each chain. This highly entangled starting point allows us to naturally access spin liquids familiar from Kitaev's honeycomb model—albeit from an entirely different framework. In particular, we argue that finite-range repulsive Rydberg interactions, which frustrate nearby symmetry-breaking orders, can enable coherent propagation of emergent fermions between the chains in which they were born. Delocalization of emergent fermions across the full two-dimensional Rydberg array yields a gapless Z 2 spin liquid with a single massless Dirac cone. Here, the Rydberg occupation numbers exhibit universal power-law correlations that provide a straightforward experimental diagnostic of this phase. We further show that explicitly breaking symmetries perturbs the gapless spin liquid into gapped, topologically ordered descendants: Breaking lattice symmetries generates toric-code topological order, whereas introducing Floquet-mediated chirality generates non-Abelian Ising topological order. In the toric-code phase, we analytically construct microscopic incarnations of non-Abelian defects, which can be created and transported by dynamically controlling the atom positions in the array. Our work suggests that appropriately tuned Rydberg arrays provide a cold-atoms counterpart of solid-state “Kitaev materials” and, more generally, it spotlights a different angle for pursuing experimental platforms for Abelian and non-Abelian fractionalization.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nonlinear dynamics, avalanches, and noise for driven Wigner crystals

Here we consider the driven dynamics of Wigner crystals interacting with random disorder. Using numerical simulations, we find a rich variety of transport phenomena as a function of charge density, drive, and pinning strength. For weak pinning, the system forms a defect-free crystal that depins elastically. When the pinning is stronger, a pinned glass phase appears that depins into a filamentary flow state, transitions at higher drives into a disordered flow phase, and finally forms a moving smectic. Within the filamentary flow phase, the conduction curves can show switching dynamics as well as negative differential conductivity in which switching events cause some flow channels to be blocked. The velocity noise in the filamentary flow regime exhibits narrow band characteristics due to the one-dimensional nature of the motion, while the moving smectic has narrow band velocity noise with a washboard frequency. In the disordered flow state, the noise power reaches a peak value and the noise has a 1/$\mathcal{f}$ character. Our transport results are consistent with recent experimental transport studies in systems where Wigner crystal states are believed to be occurring. Below the conduction threshold, we find that avalanches with a power-law size distribution appear when there are sudden local rearrangements of charges from one pinned configuration to another.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Exploring the Dirac nature of RbBi 2

Characteristics of topological semimetals such as a nonsaturating magnetoresistance (MR), a field-induced metal to semiconducting crossover and a robust resistivity plateau are observed under a magnetic field in type-I RbBi 2 bulk superconductor with $\mathrm{T}$ c = 4.15 K. The MR exhibits a notable 3500% increase at 2 K and 9 T and the resistivity follows a power law temperature dependence, while the MR ∝ $\mathrm{H}$ 1.26 , indicating weak carrier compensation. Further, first principles calculations provided insights into the dynamical stability of the cubic structure at 0 K. Both hole and electron pockets are observed at the Fermi surface. The electron-phonon interaction constant indicates weak coupling strength (<1) that leads to a maximum predicted $\mathrm{T}$ c of 2.852 K. Just below the Fermi level, E F , the electronic band structure consists of linear band crossings at the $\mathrm{X}$ points in the Brillouin zone (BZ) corresponding to massless, symmetry-protected Dirac fermions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Multipartite entanglement in the one-dimensional spin- 1 2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Multipartite entanglement refers to the simultaneous entanglement between multiple subsystems of a many-body quantum system. While multipartite entanglement can be difficult to quantify analytically, it is known that it can be witnessed through the quantum Fisher information (QFI), a quantity that can also be related to dynamical Kubo response functions. In this work, we first show that the finite temperature QFI can generally be expressed in terms of a static structure factor of the system, plus a correction that vanishes as T→0. This implies that the static structure factor witnesses multipartite entanglement near quantum critical points at temperatures below a characteristic energy scale of the system. Therefore, in systems with a known static structure factor, we can deduce finite temperature scaling of multipartite entanglement and low temperature entanglement depth without knowledge of the full dynamical response function of the system. This is particularly useful to study 1D quantum critical systems in which sub-power-law divergences can dominate entanglement growth, where the conventional scaling theory of the QFI breaks down. Furthermore, the 1D spin- 1 2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model is an important example of such a system, and we show that multipartite entanglement in the Heisenberg chain diverges nontrivially as ~ln(1/T) 3/2 . We verify these predictions with calculations of the QFI using conformal field theory and matrix product state simulations. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for experiments to probe entanglement in quantum materials, comparing to neutron scattering data in KCuF 3 , a material well described by the Heisenberg chain.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Pair density wave in the doped three-band Hubbard model on two-leg square cylinders

A pair density wave (PDW) is a superconducting (SC) state with a spatially modulated order parameter. Although much is known about the properties of the PDW state, its realization in microscopic models with divergent susceptibility has been challenging. Here, in this work, we report a density-matrix renormalization group study of a three-band Hubbard model (also known as the Emery model) for cuprates on long two-leg square cylinders. Upon light doping, we find that the ground state of the system is consistent with that of a PDW state with mutually commensurate and power-law SC, charge (CDW), and spin (SDW) density wave correlations. The SC correlations are dominant between neighboring Cu sites with d-wave pairing symmetry. Interestingly, we find that the near-neighbor interactions, especially the near-neighbor attractive V pd interaction between neighboring Cu and oxygen sites, can notably enhance the SC correlations while simultaneously suppressing the CDW correlations. For a modestly strong attractive V pd , the SC correlations become quasi-long-ranged with a divergent PDW susceptibility.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Characterizing random-singlet state in two-dimensional frustrated quantum magnets and implications for the double perovskite Sr 2 CuTe 1 – x W x O 6

Motivated by the experimental observation of a nonmagnetic phase in compounds with frustration and disorder, we study the ground state of a spin-1/2 square-lattice Heisenberg model with randomly distributed nearest-neighbor J 1 and next-nearest-neighbor J 2 couplings. By using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculation on a cylinder system with a circumference of up to ten lattice sites, we identify a disordered phase between the Néel and stripe magnetic phase with growing J 2 /J 1 in the presence of strong bond randomness. The vanished spin-freezing parameter indicates the absence of spin-glass order. The large-scale DMRG results unveil the size-scaling behaviors of the spin-freezing parameter, the power-law decay of the average spin correlation, and the exponential decay of the typical spin correlation, which all agree with the corresponding behavior in the one-dimensional random-singlet (RS) state and characterize the RS nature of this disordered phase. The DMRG simulation also provides insights and opportunities for characterizing a class of nonmagnetic states in two-dimensional frustrated magnets with disorder. Here, we also compare with existing experiments and suggest more measurements for understanding the spin-liquid-like behaviors in the double perovskite Sr 2 CuTe 1–x W x O 6 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Electric-field-tunable band gap in commensurate twisted bilayer graphene

Bernal bilayer graphene exhibits a band gap that is tunable through the infrared with an electric field. In this study, we show that sublattice odd commensurate twisted bilayer graphene (C-TBG) exhibits a band gap that is tunable through the terahertz with an electric field. We show that from the perspective of terahertz optics the sublattice odd and even forms of C-TBG are “inflated” versions of Bernal and AA-stacked bilayer graphene, respectively, with energy scales reduced by a factor of 110 for the 21.79° commensurate unit cell. This lower energy scale is accompanied by a correspondingly smaller gate voltage, which means that the strong-field regime is more easily accessible than in the Bernal case. Finally, we show that the interlayer coherence energy is a directly accessible experimental quantity through the position of a power-law divergence in the optical conductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗