How superconductivity emerges in the vicinity of an antiferromagnetic insulating state is a long-standing issue of strong correlation physics. We study the transition from an antiferromagnetic insulator to a superconductor by hole-doping based on a bilayer generalization of a Hubbard-like model. The projector quantum Monte-Carlo simulations are employed, which are sign-problem-free both at and away from half-filling. An anisotropic Ising antiferromagnetic Mott insulating phase occurs at half-filling, which is weakened by hole-doping. Below a critical doping value, antiferromagnetism coexists with the singlet superconductivity, which is a pairing across each rung with an extended $s$-wave symmetry. As further increasing doping, the antiferromagnetic order vanishes, leaving only a superconducting phase. These results provide important information on how superconductivity appears upon doping the parent Mott-insulating state.
Two dimensional lattices are an important stage for studying many aspects of quantum physics, in particular the topological phases. The valley Hall and anomalous Hall effects are two representative topological phenomena. Here we show that they can be unified in a strained honeycomb lattice, where the hopping strengths between neighboring sites are designed by mimicking those between the Fock states in a three-mode Jaynes-Cummings model. Such a strain induces an effective magnetic field which results in quantized Landau levels. The eigenstates in the zeroth Landau level can be represented by the eigenstates of a large pseudo-spin. We find that the valley Hall current and the chiral edge current in the Haldane model correspond to the spin precession around different axes. Our study sheds light on connection between seemingly unrelated topological phases in condensed matter physics.
Recently, several experiments on La2−xSrxCuO4 (LSCO) challenged the Fermi liquid picture for overdoped cuprates, and stimulated intensive debates [1]. In this work, we study the magnetotransport phenomena in such systems based on the Fermi liquid assumption. The Hall coefficient RH and magnetoresistivity ρxx are investigated near the van Hove singularity xVHS ≈ 0.2 across which the Fermi surface topology changes from holeto electron-like. Our main findings are: (1) RH depends on the magnetic field B and drops from positive to negative values with increasing B in the doping regime xVHS < x . 0.3; (2) ρxx grows up as B at small B and saturates at large B, while in the transition regime a “nearly linear” behavior shows up. Our results can be further tested by future magnetotransport experiments in the overdoped LSCO.
The interplay among topology, superconductivity, and magnetism promises to bring a plethora of exotic and unintuitive behaviors in emergent quantum materials. The family of Fe-chalcogenide superconductors FeTexSe1-x are directly relevant in this context due to their intrinsic topological band structure, high-temperature superconductivity, and unconventional pairing symmetry. Despite enormous promise and expectation, the local magnetic properties of FeTexSe1-x remain largely unexplored, which prevents a comprehensive understanding of their underlying material properties. Exploiting nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, here we report nanoscale quantum sensing and imaging of magnetic flux generated by exfoliated FeTexSe1-x flakes, demonstrating strong correlation between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in FeTexSe1-x. The coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism in an established topological superconductor opens up new opportunities for exploring exotic spin and charge transport phenomena in quantum materials. The demonstrated coupling between NV centers and FeTexSe1-x may also find applications in developing hybrid architectures for next-generation, solid-state-based quantum information technologies.
We present a new mechanism, the moiré effect, which leads to the appearance of dislocations in interference patterns. Remote interference dislocations in condensate of indirect excitons originate from the moiré effect and evidence exciton superfluidity.
Interference patterns provide direct measurement of coherent propagation of matter waves in quantum systems. Superfluidity in Bose–Einstein condensates of excitons can enable long-range ballistic exciton propagation and can lead to emerging long-scale interference patterns. Indirect excitons (IXs) are formed by electrons and holes in separated layers. The theory predicts that the reduced IX recombination enables IX superfluid propagation over macroscopic distances. Here, we present dislocation-like phase singularities in interference patterns produced by condensate of IXs. We analyze how exciton vortices and skyrmions should appear in the interference experiments and show that the observed interference dislocations are not associated with these phase defects. We show that the observed interference dislocations originate from the moiré effect in combined interference patterns of propagating condensate matter waves. The interference dislocations are formed by the IX matter waves ballistically propagating over macroscopic distances. The long-range ballistic IX propagation is the evidence for IX condensate superfluidity.
As the smallest exceptional Lie group and the automorphism group of the non-associative algebra of octonions, G$_2$ is often employed for describing exotic symmetry structures. We prove a G$_2$ symmetry in a Hubbard-like model with spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ fermions in a bipartite lattice, which lies in the intersection of two SO(7) algebras connected by the structure constants of octonions. Depending on the representations of the order parameters, the G$_2$ symmetry can be spontaneously broken into either an SU(3) one associated with an $S^6$ Goldstone manifold, or, into an SU(2)$\times$U(1) with a Grassmannian Goldstone manifold $\mbox{Gr}_5^+(\mathbb{R}^7)$. In the quantum disordered states, quantum fluctuations generate the effective SU(3) and SU(2)$\times$U(1) gauge theories for low energy fermions.
In this paper, we study the itinerant ferromagnetic phase in multi-component fermionic systems with symplectic (Sp(4), or isomorphically SO(5)) symmetry. Two different microscopic models have been considered and an effective field theory has been proposed to study the critical behavior of the nonmagnetism-magnetism phase transition. It has been shown that such systems exhibit intriguing ferromagnetism and critical behavior that different from those in spin-$\frac 12$ fermionic systems, or in high-spin systems with SU(N) symmetry. An extension of our results to higher spin systems with Sp(2N) symmetry has also been discussed.
Majorana fermions are often proposed to be realized by singling out one Fermi surface without spin degeneracy via spin-orbit coupling, and then imposing boundaries or defects. In this work, we take a different route starting with two degenerate Fermi surfaces without spin-orbit coupling, and show that by the method of “kink on boundary,” the dispersive chiral Majorana fermions can be realized in superconducting systems with p ± is pairings. The surfaces of these systems develop spontaneous magnetizations whose directions are determined by the boundary orientations and the phase difference between the pand s-component gap functions. Along the magnetic domain walls on the surface, there exist chiral Majorana fermions propagating unidirectionally, which can be conveniently dragged and controlled by external magnetic fields. Furthermore, the surface magnetization is shown to be a magnetoelectric effect based on a Ginzburg-Landau free-energy analysis. We also discuss how to use the proximity effects to realize chiral Majorana fermions by performing the kink on boundary method.
The symmetries of superconducting gap functions remain an important question of iron-based superconductivity. Motivated by the recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopic measurements on iron-chalcogenide superconductors, we investigate the influence of pairing symmetries on the topological surface state. If the surface Dirac cone becomes gapped in the superconducting phase, it implies magnetization induced from time-reversal symmetry breaking pairing via spin-orbit coupling. Based on the crystalline symmetry constraints on the Ginzburg-Landau free energy, the gap function symmetries are among the possibilities of $A_{1g(u)}\pm iA_{2g(u)}$, $B_{1g(u)}\pm iB_{2g(u)}$, or, $E_{g(u)}\pm i E_{g(u)}$. This time-reversal symmetry breaking effect can exist in the normal state very close to $T_c$ with the relative phase between two gap functions locked at $\pm \frac{\pi}{2}$. The coupling between magnetization and superconducting gap functions is calculated based on a three-orbital model for the band structure of iron-chalcogenides. This study provides the connection between the gap function symmetries and topological properties of the surface state.
As the smallest exceptional Lie group and the automorphism group of the non-associative algebra octonions, G_2 is often employed for describing exotic symmetry structures. We construct G_2 symmetry in a self-dual Hubbard-type model with 4-component fermions in a bipartite lattice, which lies in the intersection of two SO(7) algebras connected by the structure constants of octonions. Depending on the representations of the order parameters, the G_2 symmetry can be spontaneously broken into either an SU(3) one associated with an S^6 sphere Goldstone manifold, or, into SU(2)× U(1) with a Grassmannian Goldstone manifold. In the quantum disordered states, quantum fluctuations generate the effective SU(3) and SU(2)× U(1) gauge theories for low energy fermions.
Quantum dynamics of strongly correlated systems is a challenging problem. Although the low energy fractional excitations of one dimensional integrable models are often well-understood, exploring quantum dynamics in these systems remains challenging in the gapless regime, especially at intermediate and high energies. Based on the algebraic Bethe ansatz formalism, we study spin dynamics in a representative one dimensional strongly correlated model, {\it i.e. }, the antiferromagnetic spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ XXZ chain with the Ising anisotropy, via the form-factor formulae. Various excitations at different energy scales are identified crucial to the dynamic spin structure factors under the guidance of sum rules. At small magnetic polarizations, gapless excitations dominate the low energy spin dynamics arising from the magnetic-field-induced incommensurability. In contrast, spin dynamics at intermediate and high energies is characterized by the two- and three-string states, which are multi-particle excitations based on the commensurate N\'eel ordered background. Our work is helpful for experimental studies on spin dynamics in both condensed matter and cold atom systems beyond the low energy effective Luttinger liquid theory. Based on an intuitive physical picture, we speculate that the dynamic feature at high energies due to the multi-particle anti-bound state excitations can be generalized to non-integrable spin systems.
Phase singularities in quantum states play a significant role both in the state properties and in the transition between the states. For instance, a transition to two-dimensional superfluid state is governed by pairing of vortices and, in turn, unpaired vortices can cause dissipations for particle fluxes. Vortices and other phase defects can be revealed by characteristic features in interference patterns produced by the quantum system. We present dislocation-like phase singularities in interference patterns in a condensate of indirect excitons measured by shift-interferometry. We show that the observed dislocations in interference patterns are not associated with conventional phase defects: neither with vortices, nor with polarization vortices, nor with half-vortices, nor with skyrmions, nor with half-skyrmions. We present the origin of these new phase singularities in condensate interference patterns: the observed interference dislocations originate from converging of the condensate matter waves propagating from different sources.
We perform large scale projector determinant quantum Monte-Carlo simulations to study the insulating states of the half-filled SU(6) Hubbard model on the square lattice. The transition from the antiferromagnetic state to the valence bond solid state occurs as increasing the Hubbard $U$. In contrast, in the SU(2) and SU(4) cases antiferromagnetism persists throughout the entire interaction range. In the SU(6) case, antiferromagnetism starts to develop in the weak interacting regime based on the Slater mechanism of Fermi surface nesting. As $U$ passes a crossover value $U^*/t\approx 9$, the single-particle gap scales linearly with $U$, marking the onset of Mott physics. In the Mott regime, antiferromagnetism becomes to be suppressed as $U$ increases, and vanishes after $U$ passes the critical value $U_{\rm AF,c}/t=13.3\pm 0.05$. The critical exponents are obtained via critical scalings as $\nu_{\rm AF}=0.60\pm 0.02$ and $\eta_{\rm AF}=0.44\pm 0.03$. As $U$ further increases, the valence bond solid ordering appears exhibiting the anomalous dimension $\eta_{\rm VBS}=0.98\pm 0.01$.
The recently discovered superconductivity in Nd$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$NiO$_2$ provides a new opportunity for studying strongly correlated unconventional superconductivity. The single-hole Ni$^+$ ($3d^9$) configuration in the parent compound NdNiO$_2$ is similar to that of Cu$^{2+}$ in cuprates. We suggest that after doping, the intra-orbital spin-singlet and inter-orbital spin-triplet double-hole (doublon) configurations of Ni$^{2+}$ are competing, and we construct a two-band Hubbard model by including both the $3d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $3d_{xy}$-orbitals. The effective spin-orbital super-exchange model in the undoped case is a variant of the $SU(4)$ Kugel-Khomskii model augmented by symmetry breaking terms. Upon doping, the effective exchange interactions between spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ single-holes, spin-1 (triplet) doublons, and singlet doublons are derived. Possible superconducting pairing symmetries are classified in accordance to the $D_{4h}$ crystalline symmetry, and their connections to the superexchange interactions are analyzed.
Interaction effects are often amplified in flat bands due to the divergent density of states, which gives rise to a variety of exotic many-body phenomena, such as ferromagnetism and Wigner crystallization. Up to date, the realization of flat bands in realistic experimental systems are still challenging. Here, we propose a type of carbon materials dubbed graphene/graphyne based on the density functional calculations. They provide a controllable realization of flat bands, and hence, a playground for exploring strong correlation physics within the carbon family. The single layer carbon structures show good mechanical stability, and their electronic structures exhibit a robust flat band right below the Fermi level. Upon hole doping, the flat band splits into two spin-polarized ones developing flat-band ferromagnetism. The spin splitting strength becomes strongest reaching 769 meV when the flat band is half-filled. As the filling equals 1/6, Wigner crystallization appears in which the electrons form localized closed circles spontaneously breaking translation symmetry. A possible experimental synthesis of Kagome graphene is proposed.