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At least 1,585 records · Page 88
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Stability of fractional Chern insulators with a non-Landau level continuum limit

The stability of fractional Chern insulators is widely believed to be predicted by the resemblance of their single-particle spectra to Landau levels. Here we investigate the scope of this geometric stability hypothesis by analyzing the stability of a set of fractional Chern insulators that explicitly do not have a Landau level continuum limit. By computing the many-body spectra of Laughlin states in a generalized Hofstadter model, we analyze the relationship between single-particle metrics, such as trace inequality saturation, and many-body metrics, such as the magnitude of the many-body and entanglement gaps. We show numerically that the geometric stability hypothesis holds for Chern bands that are not continuously connected to Landau levels, as well as conventional Chern bands, albeit often requiring larger system sizes to converge for these configurations.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fractional AC Josephson effect in a topological insulator proximitized by a self-formed superconductor

A lateral Josephson junction in which the surface of a 3D topological insulator serves as the weak link should support topologically protected excitations related to Majorana fermions. The resulting 4π-periodic current-phase relationship could be detected under high-frequency excitation by the suppression of odd Shapiro steps. Here, in this study, we demonstrate such devices through the self-formation of a Pd-Te superconducting layer from a telluride topological insulator, and observe suppressed first and third Shapiro steps. Other devices, including those where the Pd-Te layer is bolstered by an additional Al layer, show no suppression of Shapiro steps, a difference supported by simulations. Though we rule out the known trivial causes of suppressed Shapiro steps in our devices, we nevertheless argue that corroborating measurements and disorder-aware theoretical descriptions of these systems are needed before confidently claiming the observation of Majorana states.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Detection of chiral spin fluctuations driven by frustration in Mott insulators

Topologically ordered states, such as chiral spin liquids, have been proposed as candidates that host fraction alized excitations. However, detecting chiral character or proximity to these nontrivial states remains a challenge. Resonant Raman scattering can be a powerful tool for detecting chiral fluctuations, as the 𝐴 2⁢𝑔 channel probes excitations with broken time-reversal symmetry and local chiral order. Here, we use exact diagonalization to characterize the resonant 𝐴 2⁢𝑔 channel, alongside two-magnon scattering in 𝐵 1⁢𝑔 and 𝐸 𝑔 channels, for the Hubbard model on lattices with increasing levels of geometric spin frustration, where tuning the incident energy near the Mott gap reveals strong chiral spin excitation intensity. In conclusion, increased spin frustration in the Mott insulator results in an overall softening of the Raman 𝐴 2⁢𝑔 response, indicating a tendency toward low energy chiral-chiral fluctuations in Mott insulators with magnetic frustration and proximity to chiral spin liquid states that can potentially be tuned by external perturbations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Second harmonic generation in topological insulators under quantizing magnetic fields

We theoretically investigate the second harmonic generation (SHG) of topological insulator surface states in a perpendicular magnetic field. Our theory is based on the microscopic expression of the second-order magneto-optical conductivity developed from the density matrix formalism, taking into account hexagonal warping effects on the surface states' band structure. Using numerically exact Landau-level energies and wave functions including hexagonal warping, we calculate the spectrum of SHG conductivities under normal incidence for different values of magnetic field and chemical potential. The imaginary parts of the SHG conductivities show prominent resonant peaks corresponding to one-photon and two-photon inter-Landau-level transitions. Treating the hexagonal warping term perturbatively, these transitions are clarified analytically within a perturbation theory from which approximate selection rules for the allowable optical transitions for SHG are determined. Furthermore, our results show extremely high SHG susceptibility that is easily tunable by magnetic field and doping level for topological surface states in the far-infrared regime, exceeding that of many conventional nonlinear materials. This work highlights the key role of hexagonal warping effects in generating second-order optical responses and provides insights into the nonlinear magneto-optical properties of the topological insulators.

Landau levels↗
DOE OSTI2025

Detecting axion dynamics on the surface of magnetic topological insulators

Axions, initially proposed to solve the strong CP problem, have recently gained attention in condensed matter physics, particularly in topological insulators. However, detecting axion dynamics has proven challenging, with no experimental confirmations to date. In this paper, we identify the surface of magnetic topological insulators as an ideal platform for observing axion dynamics. The vanishing bulk gap at the surface allows for order O(1) variations in the axion field, making the detection of axionlike phenomena more feasible. In contrast, these phenomena are strongly suppressed in the bulk due to the small magnetic exchange gap. We investigate two-photon decay as a signature of axion dynamics and calculate the branching ratio using a perturbative approach. Our findings reveal that the photon flux emitted from the surface is in plane and orders of magnitude larger than that from the bulk, making it detectable with modern microwave technology. We also discuss potential material platforms for detecting axion two-photon decay and strategies to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio.

Gao, Zhi-Qiang↗
DOE OSTI2011

Direct probe of Mott-Hubbard to charge-transfer insulator transition and electronic structure evolution in transition-metal systems

We report the most direct experimental verification of Mott-Hubbard and charge-transfer insulators through x-ray emission spectroscopy in transition-metal (TM) fluorides. The p-d hybridization features in the spectra allow a straightforward energy alignment of the anion-2p and metal-3d valence states, which visually shows the difference between the two types of insulators. Furthermore, in parallel with the theoretical Zaanen-Sawatzky-Allen diagram, a complete experimental systematics of the 3d Coulomb interaction and the 2p-3d charge-transfer energy is reported and could serve as a universal experimental trend for other TM systems including oxides.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Structural evolution across the insulator-metal transition in oxygen-deficient BaTiO 3-δ studied using neutron total scattering and Rietveld analysis

Oxygen-deficient BaTiO 3-δ exhibits an insulator-metal transition with increasing δ. We performed neutron total scattering measurements to study structural evolution across an insulator-metal transition in BaTiO 3-δ . Despite its significant impact on resistivity, slight oxygen reduction (δ=0.09) caused only a small disturbance on the local doublet splitting of Ti-O bond. This finding implies that local polarization is well preserved under marginal electric conduction. In the highly oxygen-deficient metallic state (δ=0.25), however, doublet splitting of the Ti-O bond became smeared. The smearing of the local Ti-O doublet is complemented with long-range structural analysis and demonstrates that the metallic conduction in the highly oxygen-reduced BaTiO 3-δ is due to the appearance of nonferroelectric cubic lattice.

Jeong, I.-K.↗
DOE OSTI2011

Insulating state of ultrathin epitaxial LaNiO{sub 3} thin films detected by hard x-ray photoemission

In order to understand the influence of strain and film thickness on the electronic structure of thin films of strongly correlated oxides, we have applied hard x-ray photoemission (HXPS) at 6 keV, soft x-ray photoemission (XPS) at 1.5 keV, and transmission electron microscopy to epitaxial LaNiO{sub 3} films deposited on two substrates: LaAlO{sub 3} (compressive strain) and (LaAlO{sub 3}){sub 0.3}(Sr{sub 2}AlTaO{sub 6}){sub 0.7} (tensile strain). Using inelastic attenuation lengths in LaNiO{sub 3} determined from the HXPS data, we have decomposed valence-band spectra into layer-specific contributions. This decomposition is validated by comparing with the results of first-principles calculations using a hybrid functional. The resultant thin-film LaNiO{sub 3} densities of states exhibit significant differences in spectral weights for the thinnest LaNiO{sub 3} films. A gap opening consistent with a metal-to-insulator transition is observed for the thinnest 2.7 nm LaNiO{sub 3} film on an (LaAlO{sub 3}){sub 0.3}(Sr{sub 2}AlTaO{sub 6}){sub 0.7} substrate, with a similar gap opening also being observed in complementary soft x-ray photoemission at 1.5 keV for a thinner 1.4 nm film on an LaAlO{sub 3} substrate. A metal-to-insulator transition in very thin nm-scale films of LaNiO{sub 3} is thus suggested as a general phenomenon.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2012

Reversible tuning of the surface state in a pseudobinary Bi2(Te-Se)3 topological insulator

We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study a nontrivial surface state in a pseudobinary Bi2Te2.8Se0.2 topological insulator. We show that, unlike previously studied binaries, this is an intrinsic topological insulator with the conduction bulk band residing well above the chemical potential. Our data indicate that under a good vacuum condition there are no significant aging effects for more than two weeks after cleaving. We also demonstrate that the shift of the Kramers point at low temperature is caused by UV-assisted absorption of molecular hydrogen. Our findings pave the way for applications of these materials in devices and present an easy scheme to tune their properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Cation Intermixing And Electronic Deviations At The Insulating LaCrO3/SrTiO3(001) Interface

The interface between polar perovskite LaCrO3 (LCO) and non-polar SrTiO3(001) (STO), grown by molecular beam epitaxy, is examined using a combination of electron microscopy, spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. The LCO/STO(001) interface is insulating, a potential counter example for the claim that polar/nonpolar perovskite interfaces should be conductive by virtue of an electronic reconstruction to alleviate the polar discontinuity. The A-site cations of these ABO3 perovskites are found to diffuse across the interface to a greater extent than the B-site cations, based on high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The B-site cation valences are shown to be partially reduced near the interface by analysis of EELS near-edge structures. The location and direction of these electronic modifications do not intuitively compensate the charge imbalance imposed by uneven cation inter-diffusion, and yet both the film and interface are insulating. These results highlight the importance of both the physical and electronic structure of such complex interfaces in determining their characteristics. Furthermore, the extent of inter-diffusion is shown to increase with increasing LCO film thickness, suggesting a potential mechanism behind the critical thickness for interfacial conductivity in other polar/non-polar oxide systems, and a fundamental limitation on the formation of abrupt interfaces in LCO/STO(001).

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2013

Metal-insulator transition in antiferromagnetic Ba 1 - x K x Mn 2 As 2 ( 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4 ) single crystals studied by 55 Mn and 75 As NMR

The magnetic structure and metal-insulator transition in antiferromagnetic (AFM) BaMn 2 As 2 and Ba 1-x K x Mn 2 As 2 single crystals have been investigated by 55 Mn and 75 As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. In the parent AFM insulator BaMn 2 As 2 with a Néel temperature TN=625 K, we observed a 55 Mn zero-field NMR (ZFNMR) spectrum and confirmed the G-type AFM structure from the field dependence of the 55 Mn spectra and 75 As NMR spectra below TN. In hole-doped crystals with x>0.01, similar 55 Mn ZFNMR spectra were observed and the AFM state was revealed to be robust up to x=0.4 with the ordered moment nearly independent of x. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates (1/T 1 ) for both nuclei in the doped samples follow the Korringa relation T 1 T=const, indicating a metallic state. This confirms the coexistence of AFM ordered localized Mn spins and conduction carriers from a microscopic point of view. From the x dependence of (T 1 T) -1/2 for both nuclei, we conclude that this transition is caused by vanishing of the hole concentration as the transition is approached from the metallic side.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Symmetry breaking and Landau quantization in topological crystalline insulators

In the recently discovered topological crystalline insulators SnTe and Pb 1–x Sn x (Te, Se), crystal symmetry and electronic topology intertwine to create topological surface states with many interesting features including Lifshitz transition, Van-Hove singularity, and fermion mass generation. These surface states are protected by mirror symmetry with respect to the (110) plane. In this work we present a comprehensive study of the effects of different mirror-symmetry-breaking perturbations on the (001) surface band structure. Pristine (001) surface states have four branches of Dirac fermions at low energy. We show that ferroelectric-type structural distortion generates a mass and gaps out some or all of these Dirac points, while strain shifts Dirac points in the Brillouin zone. An in-plane magnetic field leaves the surface state gapless, but introduces asymmetry between Dirac points. Finally, an out-of-plane magnetic field leads to discrete Landau levels. We show that the Landau level spectrum has an unusual pattern of degeneracy and interesting features due to the unique underlying band structure. Furthermore this suggests that Landau level spectroscopy can detect and distinguish between different mechanisms of symmetry breaking in topological crystalline insulators.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Topological insulating phases of non-Abelian anyonic chains

Boundary conformal field theory is brought to bear on the study of topological insulating phases of non- Abelian anyonic chains. These phases display protected anyonic end modes. We consider spin-1/2 su(2)t chains at any level k, focusing on the most prominent examples: the case k = 2 describes Ising anyons (equivalent to Majorana fermions) and k = 3 corresponds to Fibonacci anyons. The method we develop is quite general and rests on a deep connection between boundary conformal field theory and topological symmetry. This method tightly constrains the nature of the topological insulating phases of these chains for general k. Emergent anyons which arise at domain walls are shown to have the same braiding properties as the physical quasiparticles. This suggests a "solid-stat.e" topological quantum computation scheme in which emergent anyons are braided by tuning the couplings of non-Abelian quasiparticles in a fixed network.

DeGottardi, Wade↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magnetic and metal-insulator transitions in coupled spin-fermion systems

We use quantum Monte Carlo to determine the magnetic and transport properties of coupled square lattice spin and fermionic planes as a model for a metal-insulator interface. Specifically, layers of Ising spins with an intra-layer exchange constant J interact with the electronic spins of several adjoining metallic sheets via a coupling JH. When the chemical potential cuts across the band center, that is, at half-filling, the Neel temperature of antiferromagnetic (J > 0) Ising spins is enhanced by the coupling to the metal, while in the ferromagnetic case (J < 0) the metallic degrees of freedom reduce the ordering temperature. In the former case, a gap opens in the fermionic spectrum, driving insulating behavior, and the electron spins also order. This induced antiferromagnetism penetrates more weakly as the distance from the interface increases, and also exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on JH. For doped lattices an interesting charge disproportionation occurs where electrons move to the interface layer to maintain half-filling there.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Evidence for a new excitation at the interface between a high- T c superconductor and a topological insulator

In this research, high-temperature superconductors exhibit a wide variety of novel excitations. If contacted with a topological insulator, the lifting of spin rotation symmetry in the surface states can lead to the emergence of unconventional superconductivity and novel particles. In pursuit of this possibility, we fabricated high critical-temperature (T c ~ 85 K) superconductor/topological insulator (Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊ δ /Bi₂Te₂Se) junctions. Below 75 K, a zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) emerges in the differential conductance spectra of this junction. The magnitude of the ZBCP is suppressed at the same rate for magnetic fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the junction. Furthermore, it can still be observed and does not split up to at least 8.5 T. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the excitation we observe appears to fall outside the known paradigms for a ZBCP.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Two-dimensional superconductor-insulator quantum phase transitions in an electron-doped cuprate

Here, we use an ionic liquid-assisted electric-field effect to tune the carrier density in an electron-doped cuprate ultrathin film and cause a two-dimensional superconductor-insulator transition (SIT). The low upper critical field in this system allows us to perform magnetic-field (B)-induced SIT in the liquid-gated superconducting film. Finite-size scaling analysis indicates that SITs induced both by electric and by magnetic fields are quantum phase transitions and the transitions are governed by percolation effects-quantum mechanical in the former and classical in the latter cases. Compared to the hole-doped cuprates, the SITs in the electron-doped system occur at critical sheet resistances (R c ) much lower than the pair quantum resistance R Q = h/(2e) 2 = 6.45 kΩ, suggesting the possible existence of fermionic excitations at finite temperatures at the insulating phase near the SITs.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Resonant magneto-optic Kerr effect in the magnetic topological insulator Cr:(Sb x ,Bi 1–x ) 2 Te 3

Here, we report measurements of the polar Kerr effect, proportional to the out-of-plane component of the magnetization, in thin films of the magnetically doped topological insulator (Cr 0.12 Bi 0.26 Sb 0.62 ) 2 Te 3 . Measurements of the complex Kerr angle ΘK were performed as a function of photon energy in the range 0.8eV < ℏω < 3.0eV. We observed a peak in the real part of Θ K (ω) and zero crossing in the imaginary part that we attribute to a resonant interaction with a spin-orbit avoided crossing located ≈ 1.6 eV above the Fermi energy. The resonant enhancement allows measurement of the temperature and magnetic field dependence of Θ K in the ultrathin film limit, d ≥ 2 quintuple layers (QL). We find a sharp transition to zero remanent magnetization at 6 K for d < 8 QL, consistent with theories of the dependence of impurity spin interactions on film thickness and their location relative to topological insulator surfaces.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spin injection and spin transport in paramagnetic insulators

We investigate the spin injection and the spin transport in paramagnetic insulators described by simple Heisenberg interactions using auxiliary particle methods. Some of these methods allow access to both paramagnetic states above magnetic transition temperatures and magnetic states at low temperatures. It is predicted that the spin injection at an interface with a normal metal is rather insensitive to temperatures above the magnetic transition temperature. On the other hand below the transition temperature, it decreases monotonically and disappears at zero temperature. We also analyze the bulk spin conductance. We show that the conductance becomes zero at zero temperature as predicted by linear spin wave theory but increases with temperature and is maximized around the magnetic transition temperature. These findings suggest that the compromise between the two effects determines the optimal temperature for spintronics applications utilizing magnetic insulators.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗