To investigate the influence of ion spin on the coupling between ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in type II multiferroic perovskite, we prepared the multiferroic perovskite Er0.9La0.1Cr0.8Fe0.2O3 (ELCFO) using the sol-gel method, and explored the macroscopic magnetic properties of ELCFO through M\"ossbauer spectrum and magnetic testing. The thermal magnetic curve was analyzed to examine the state and change of each ionic spin in the ELCFO system at different temperature ranges, and the role of ionic spin in the coupling between ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity was investigated. This study provides a theoretical basis for further research on multiferroic perovskites and has practical implications.
In this study, the sol-gel method synthesized the magnetic measurement and analysis of single-phase polycrystalline perovskite DyFe1-xCrxO3 (DFCO). The experimental data were fitted and calculated by a four-sublattice molecular field model. Unlike previous studies, we found that in DyFe1-xCrxO3, the spin of the A-site rare earth ion Dy3+ also changed simultaneously with the spin reorientation of the Fe3+/Cr3+ ions. The effective spin is defined as the projection of the A site's total spin on the B site's spin plane, and the curve of temperature changes is obtained after fitting. With this theory, a very accurate thermomagnetic curve is obtained by fitting. This is convincing and, at the same time, provides a reference for the development of spintronic devices in the future.
We employ a first-principles computational workflow to screen for optically accessible, high-spin point defects in wide band gap two-dimensional (2D) crystals. Starting from an initial set of 5388 point defects, comprising both intrinsic and extrinsic, single and double defects in ten previously synthesised 2D host materials, we identify 596 defects with a triplet ground state. For these defects, we calculate the defect formation energy, the hyperfine (HF) coupling, and the zero-field splitting (ZFS) tensors. For 39 triplet transitions exhibiting particularly low Huang-Rhys factors, we calculate the full photo-luminescence (PL) spectrum. Our approach reveals many new spin defects with narrow PL line shapes and emission frequencies covering a broad spectral range. Most of the defects are hosted in hexagonal BN, which we ascribe to its high stiffness, but some are also found in MgI2, MoS2, MgBr2 and CaI2. As specific examples, we propose the defects vSMoS0 and NiSMoS0 in MoS2 as interesting candidates with potential applications to magnetic field sensors and quantum information technology. All the data will be made available in the open access database QPOD.
Understanding the role of metal and oxygen in the redox process of layered 3d transition metal oxides is crucial to build high density and stable next generation Li-ion batteries. We combine hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ab-initio-based cluster model simulations to study the electronic structure of prototypical end-members LiCoO2 and CoO2. The role of cobalt and oxygen in the redox process is analyzed by optimizing the values of d-d electron repulsion and ligand-metal p-d charge transfer to the Co 2p spectra. We clarify the nature of oxidized cobalt ions by highlighting the transition from positive to negative ligand-to-metal charge transfer upon Li+ de-intercalation.
For prediction and real-time control tasks, machine-learning (ML)-based digital twins are frequently employed. However, while these models are typically accurate, they are custom-designed for individual systems, making system-to-system (S2S) transferability difficult. This occurs even when substantial similarities exist in the process dynamics across different chemical systems. To address this challenge, we developed a novel time-series-transformer (TST) framework that exploits the powerful transfer learning capabilities inherent in transformer algorithms. This was demonstrated using readily available process data obtained from different crystallizers operating under various operational scenarios. Using this extensive dataset, we trained a TST model (CrystalGPT) to exhibit remarkable S2S transferability not only across all pre-established systems, but also to an unencountered system. CrystalGPT achieved a cumulative error across all systems, which is eight times superior to that of existing ML models. Additionally, we coupled CrystalGPT with a predictive controller to reduce the variance in setpoint tracking to just 1%.
Motivated by the recent studies of intrinsic local moments and Kondo-driven phases in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, we investigate the renormalization of Kondo coupling ($J_K$) and the competing Hund's rule interaction ($J$) in the low-energy limit. Specifically, we consider a surrogate single-impurity generalized Kondo model and employ the poor man's scaling approach. The scale-dependent $J_K$ and $J$ are derived analytically within the one-loop poor man's scaling approach, and the Kondo temperature ($T_K$) and the characteristic Hund's rule coupling ($J^*$, defined by the renormalized value of $J$ at some small finite energy scale) are estimated over a wide range of filling factors. We find that $T_K$ depends strongly on the filling factors as well as the value of $J_K$. Slightly doping away from integer fillings and/or increasing $J_K$ may substantially enhance $T_K$ in the parameter regime relevant to experiments. $J^*$ is always reduced from the bare value of $J$, but the filling factor dependence is not as significant as it is for $T_K$. Our results suggest that it is essential to incorporate the renormalization of $J_K$ and $J$ in the many-body calculations, and Kondo screening should occur for a wide range of fractional fillings in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, implying the existence of Kondo-driven correlated metallic phases. We also point out that the observation of distinct phases at integer fillings in different samples may be due to the variation of $J_K$ in addition to disorder and strain in the experiments.
By directly altering microscopic interactions, pressure provides a powerful tuning knob for the exploration of condensed phases and geophysical phenomena. The megabar regime represents an exciting frontier, where recent discoveries include novel high-temperature superconductors, as well as structural and valence phase transitions. However, at such high pressures, many conventional measurement techniques fail. Here, we demonstrate the ability to perform local magnetometry inside of a diamond anvil cell with sub-micron spatial resolution at megabar pressures. Our approach utilizes a shallow layer of Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) color centers implanted directly within the anvil; crucially, we choose a crystal cut compatible with the intrinsic symmetries of the NV center to enable functionality at megabar pressures. We apply our technique to characterize a recently discovered hydride superconductor, CeH$_9$. By performing simultaneous magnetometry and electrical transport measurements, we observe the dual signatures of superconductivity: local diamagnetism characteristic of the Meissner effect and a sharp drop of the resistance to near zero. By locally mapping the Meissner effect and flux trapping, we directly image the geometry of superconducting regions, revealing significant inhomogeneities at the micron scale. Our work brings quantum sensing to the megabar frontier and enables the closed loop optimization of superhydride materials synthesis.
Using holographic duality, we present an analytically controlled theory of quantum critical points without quasiparticles, at finite disorder and finite charge density. These fixed points are obtained by perturbing a disorder-free quantum critical point with weakly Harris-relevant disorder. We analyze these fixed points both using field theoretic arguments, and by solving the bulk equations of motion in holography. We calculate the critical exponents of the IR theory, together with thermoelectric transport coefficients. Our predictions for the critical exponents of the disordered fixed point are consistent with previous work, both in holographic and non-holograpic models.
As part of a chapter for a book titled "50 years of the renormalization group", dedicated to the memory of Michael E. Fisher, edited by Amnon Aharony, Ora Entin-Wohlman, David Huse, and Leo Radzihovsky, I review a class of novel ordered states of "critical matter", that exhibit strongly fluctuating universal power-law orders, controlled by an infra-red attractive, non-Gaussian fixed point. I will illustrate how RG methods pioneered by Wilson and Fisher can be used to deduce critical phenomenology of such critical phases, resembling that of a critical point of second order phase transitions, but requiring no fine tuning.
With rapid progress in simulation of strongly interacting quantum Hamiltonians, the challenge in characterizing unknown phases becomes a bottleneck for scientific progress. We demonstrate that a Quantum-Classical hybrid approach (QuCl) of mining the projective snapshots with interpretable classical machine learning, can unveil new signatures of seemingly featureless quantum states. The Kitaev-Heisenberg model on a honeycomb lattice with bond-dependent frustrated interactions presents an ideal system to test QuCl. The model hosts a wealth of quantum spin liquid states: gapped and gapless $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin liquids, and a chiral spin liquid (CSL) phase in a small external magnetic field. Recently, various simulations have found a new intermediate gapless phase (IGP), sandwiched between the CSL and a partially polarized phase, launching a debate over its elusive nature. We reveal signatures of phases in the model by contrasting two phases pairwise using an interpretable neural network, the correlator convolutional neural network (CCNN). We train the CCNN with a labeled collection of sampled projective measurements and reveal signatures of each phase through regularization path analysis. We show that QuCl reproduces known features of established spin liquid phases and ordered phases. Most significantly, we identify a signature motif of the field-induced IGP in the spin channel perpendicular to the field direction, which we interpret as a signature of Friedel oscillations of gapless spinons forming a Fermi surface. Our predictions can guide future experimental searches for $U(1)$ spin liquids.
The Arcsine laws of Brownian motion are a collection of results describing three different statistical quantities of one-dimensional Brownian motion: the time at which the process reaches its maximum position, the total time the process spends in the positive half-space and the time at which the process crosses the origin for the last time. Remarkably the cumulative probabilities of these three observables all follows the same distribution, the Arcsine distribution. But in real systems, space is often heterogeneous, and these laws are likely to hold no longer. In this paper we explore such a scenario and study how the presence of a spatial heterogeneity alters these Arcsine laws. Specifically we consider the case of a thin permeable barrier, which is often employed to represent diffusion impeding heterogeneities in physical and biological systems such as multilayer electrodes, electrical gap junctions, cell membranes and fragmentation in the landscape for dispersing animals. Using the Feynman-Kac formalism and path decomposition techniques we are able to find the exact time-dependence of the probability distribution of the three statistical quantities of interest. We show that a permeable barrier has a large impact on these distributions at short times, but this impact is less influential as time becomes long. In particular, the presence of a barrier means that the three distributions are no longer identical with symmetry about their means being broken. We also study a closely related statistical quantity, namely, the distribution of the maximum displacement of a Brownian particle and show that it deviates significantly from the usual half-Gaussian form.
Molecular motors are nanoscale systems that convert chemical free energy to directed motion or work. We use molecular simulation to examine a family of catenane molecular motors and to analyze their performance compared to the physical limit provided by thermodynamic uncertainty relations (TURs). By varying the pair potentials and designs of the catenane motors, we find that the precision of the molecular motor currents can vary over orders of magnitude, but that precision is always observed to be far lower than the TUR limit. We further quantitatively rationalize the deviation from the TUR bound, illustrating that we can anticipate the degree to which a motor fails to saturate the TUR in terms of four physical parameters: the chemical potential driving the motor, the rate of fuel decomposition, the coupling between fuel decomposition and motor motion, and the rate of undriven motor motion. The analysis suggests that, for the catenane motors to become appreciably more efficient with respect to the TUR, it will be necessary to (i) make the fueling reaction less exergonic and (ii) couple the consumption of fuel more tightly to biased motion.
Motivated by the recent experimental realization of the half-quantized Hall effect phase in a three-dimensional (3D) semi-magnetic topological insulator [M. Mogi et al., Nature Physics 18, 390 (2022)], we propose a new scheme for realizing the half-quantized Hall effect and Axion insulator in experimentally mature 3D topological insulator heterostructures. Our approach involves optically pumping and/or magnetically doping the topological insulator surface, such as to break time reversal and gap out the Dirac cones. By toggling between left and right circularly polarized optical pumping, the sign of the half-integer Hall conductance from each of the surface Dirac cones can be controlled, such as to yield half-quantized ($0+1/2$), Axion ($-1/2+1/2=0$) and Chern ($1/2+1/2=1$) insulator phases. We substantiate our results based on detailed band structure and Berry curvature numerics on the Floquet Hamiltonian in the high-frequency limit. Our work showcases how new topological phases can be obtained through mature experimental approaches such as magnetic layer doping and circularly-polarized laser pumping, and opens up potential device applications such as a polarization chirality-controlled topological transistor.
Motivated by the need for new materials and green energy production and conversion processes, a class of mathematical models for liquid crystal elastomers integrated within a theoretical charge pump electrical circuit is considered. The charge pump generates higher voltage from a lower voltage supplied by a battery and recharges the battery by harnessing the chemical and mechanical properties of liquid crystal elastomers transitioning from the nematic to isotropic phase when illuminated or heated. For the material constitutive model, purely elastic and neoclassical-type strain energy densities, applicable to a wide range of monodomain nematic elastomers, are combined with a modified Maier-Saupe mean field model for photo-thermal responses. By varying the model parameters of the elastic and neoclassical terms, it is found that liquid crystal elastomers are more effective than rubber when used as dielectric material within a charge pump capacitor.
We present a TCAD-based simulation framework established for quantum dot spin qubits in a silicon FinFET platform with all-electrical control of the spin state. The framework works down to 1K and consists of a two-step simulation chain, from definition of the quantum dot confinement potential with DC bias voltages, to calculation of microwave response electric field at qubit locations using small-signal AC analysis. An average field polarization vector at each quantum dot is extracted via a post-processing step. We demonstrate functionality of this approach by simulation of a recently reported two-qubit device in the form of a 5-gate silicon FinFET. The impact of the number of holes in each quantum dot on the MW response E-field polarization direction is further investigated for this device. The framework is easily generalizable to study future multi-qubit large-scale systems.
Motivated by the recently reported high-temperature superconductivity in the bilayer La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ (LNO) under pressure, here we comprehensively study this system using {\it ab initio} techniques. The Ni $3d$ orbitals have a large bandwidth at ambient pressure, increasing by $\sim 22\%$ at 29.5 Gpa. Without electronic interactions, the Ni $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbitals form a bonding-antibonding molecular orbital state via the O $p_z$ inducing a ``hidden dimer'' lattice in the LNO bilayers. The Fermi surface consists of two-electron pockets with mixed $e_g$ orbitals and a hole pocket defined by the $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ orbital, suggesting a Ni two-orbital minimum model. Different from the infinite-layer nickelate, we obtained a large {\it interorbital} hopping between $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ and $d_{x^2-y^2}$ states in LNO, caused by the ligand ``bridge'' of in-plane O $p_x$ or $p_y$ orbitals connecting those two orbitals, inducing $d-p$ $\sigma$-bonding characteristics. This interorbital hopping leads to a rich magnetic phase diagram because of bond ferromagnetic tendencies via the recently discussed ``half-empty'' mechanism.
We study saturated packings produced according to random sequential adsorption (RSA) protocol built of identical rectangles deposited on a flat, continuous plane. An aspect ratio of rectangles is defined as the length-to-width ratio, $f=l/w$. The rectangles have a fixed unit area (i.e., $l \times w=1$), and therefore, their shape is defined by the value of $f$ ($l=\sqrt{f}$ and $w=1/\sqrt{f}$). The rectangles are allowed to align either vertically or horizontally with equal probability. The particles are deposited on a flat square substrate of side length $L$ (measured in units of particle length, $L \in [20, 1000]$) and periodic boundary conditions are applied along both directions. The finite-size scaling effects are characterized by a scaled anisotropy defined as $\alpha = l/L = \sqrt{f}/L$. We showed that the properties of such packings strongly depend on the value of aspect ratio $f$ and the most significant scaling effects are observed for relatively long rectangles when $l\ge L/2$ (i.e. $\alpha \ge 0.5$). It is especially visible for the mean packing fraction as a function of the scaled anisotropy $\alpha$. The kinetics of packing growth for low to moderate rectangle anisotropy is to be governed by $\ln t/t$ law, where $t$ is proportional to the number of RSA iterations, which is the same as in the case of RSA of parallel squares. We also analyzed global orientational ordering in such packings and properties of domains consisting of a set of neighboring rectangles of the same orientation, and the probability that such domain forms a percolation.
Due to their long-lived nature, vortex rings are highly promising for non-contact transportation of colloidal microparticles. However, they are complex structures, and their description using rigorous, closed-form mathematical expressions is challenging, particularly in the presence of strongly inhomogeneous colloidal suspensions. This study presents straightforward analytical approximations that reveal the dynamics of vortex rings transporting microparticles. Our results were validated using comprehensive simulations and experimental measurements.
The development of patterned multi-quantum well heterostructures in GaAs/AlGaAs waveguides has recently allowed to achieve exciton-polariton condensation in a topologically protected bound state in the continuum (BIC). Remarkably, condensation occurred above a saddle point of the polariton dispersion. A rigorous analysis of the condensation phenomenon in these systems, as well as the role of the BIC, is still missing. In the present Letter we theoretically and experimentally fill this gap, by showing that polariton confinement resulting from the negative effective mass and the photonic energy gap in the dispersion play a key role in enhancing the relaxation towards the condensed state. In fact, our results show that low-threshold polariton condensation is achieved within the effective trap created by the exciting laser spot regardless of whether the resulting confined mode is long-lived (polariton BIC) or short-lived (lossy mode). In both cases, the spatial quantization of the polariton condensate and the threshold differences associated to the corresponding state lifetime are measured and characterized. For a given negative mass, a slightly lower condensation threshold from the polariton BIC mode is found and associated to its suppressed radiative losses as compared to the lossy one.
Many variants of RNA, DNA, and even proteins can be considered semiflexible polymers, where bending stiffness, as a type of energetic penalty, competes with attractive van der Waals forces in structure formation processes. Here, we systematically investigate the effect of the bending stiffness on ground-state conformations of a generic coarse-grained model for semiflexible polymers. This model possesses multiple transition barriers. Therefore, we employ advanced generalized-ensemble Monte Carlo methods to search for the lowest-energy conformations. As the formation of distinct versatile ground-state conformations, including compact globules, rod-like bundles, and toroids, strongly depends on the strength of the bending restraint, we also performed a detailed analysis of contact and distance maps.
Recently, a series of reports showing ultra-high electrostrain (> 1 %) have appeared in several Pb-free piezoceramics. The ultrahigh electrostrain has been attributed exclusively to the defect dipoles created in these systems. We examine these claims based on another report arXiv:2208.07134 which demonstrated that the measured electric field driven strain increased dramatically simply by reducing the thickness of the ceramic discs. We prepared some representative Pb-free compositions reported to exhibit ultrahigh strain and performed electrostrain measurements. We found that these compositions do not show ultrahigh electrostrain if the thickness of the discs is above 0.3 mm (the disc diameters were in the range 10- 12 mm diameter). The ultrahigh strain values were obtained when the thickness was below 0.3 mm. We compare the electrostrain obtained from specimens designed to exhibit defect dipoles with specimens that were not designed to have defect dipoles in Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) and K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (KNN) -based lead-free systems and could obtain much higher strain levels (4- 5 %) in the defect dipole free piezoceramics in the small thickness regime. Our results do not favor the defect dipole theory as the exclusive factor for causing ultrahigh strain in piezoceramics. A new approach is called for to understand the phenomenon of ultrahigh electrostrain caused by the thickness reduction of piezoceramic discs.
In stochastic thermodynamics, significant attention has been given to studying the statistical behavior of thermodynamic quantities such as heat and work. However, fluctuations in other quantities, such as kinetic energy and internal energy, can also exhibit intriguing statistical properties. In this study, we investigate the fluctuations of kinetic energy in an underdamped Brownian particle subjected to a static magnetic field, providing insights through the examination of the characteristic function, central moments, and kinetic energy distribution.
We study the plaquette valence bond solid phase in a XXZ type spin-1/2 model in the kagome lattice. The low energy theory for this phase is a U(1) lattice gauge theory on the honeycomb lattice. We find that there is an emergent 1-form U(1) symmetry in low energy, and there is a mixed anomaly. We also show that this 1-form symmetry constraints the longitudinal dynamical structure factor and leads to the selection rule relating to the vanishing intensity along some high symmetry momentum paths (e.g. $\Gamma-M$ path). We point out that this emergent 1-form symmetry is robust against the translation symmetry preserving UV perturbation, thus the selection rule will also apply to the model which is obtained by perturbing the classical limit of our model.
Superconductivity in V-based kagome metals has recently raised great interest as they exhibit the competing ground states associated with the flat bands and topological electronic structures. Here we report the discovery of superconductivity in Ta2V3.1Si0.9 with a superconducting transition temperature Tc of 7.5 K, much higher than those in previously reported kagome metals at ambient pressure. While the V ions form a two-dimensional breathing kagome structure, the length difference between two different V-V bonds is just 0.04, making it very close to the perfect kagome structure. Our results show that Ta2V3.1Si0.9 is a moderate-coupled superconductor with a large upper critical field that is close to the Pauli limit. DFT calculations give a van-Hove-singularity band located at Fermi energy, which may explain the relatively high Tc observed in this material.
Deviation from perfect conical dispersion in Dirac materials, such as the presence of mass or tilting, enhances control and directionality of electronic transport. To identify these signatures, we analyze the thermal derivative spectra of optical reflectivity in doped massive tilted Dirac systems. The density of states and chemical potential are determined as preliminary steps to calculate the optical conductivity tensor at finite temperature using thermal convolution. Changes in reflection caused by temperature variations enable clear identification of critical frequencies in the optical response. By measuring these spectral features in the thermoderivative spectrum, energy gaps and band structure tilting can be determined. A comparison is presented between the spectra of various low-energy Dirac Hamiltonians. Our findings suggest that thermal difference spectroscopy holds promise as a valuable technique for probing interband transitions of 2D Dirac fermions
A fundamental requirement for quantum technologies is the ability to coherently control the interaction between electrons and photons. However, in many scenarios involving the interaction between light and matter, the exchange of linear or angular momentum between electrons and photons is not feasible, a condition known as the dipole-approximation limit. An example of a case beyond this limit that has remained experimentally elusive is when the interplay between chiral electrons and vortex light is considered, where the orbital angular momentum of light can be transferred to electrons. Here, we present a novel mechanism for such an orbital angular momentum transfer from optical vortex beams to electronic quantum Hall states. Specifically, we identify a robust contribution to the radial photocurrent, in an annular graphene sample within the quantum Hall regime, that depends on the vorticity of light. This phenomenon can be interpreted as an optical pumping scheme, where the angular momentum of photons is transferred to electrons, generating a radial current, and the current's direction is determined by the light's vorticity. Our findings offer fundamental insights into the optical probing and manipulation of quantum coherence, with wide-ranging implications for advancing quantum coherent optoelectronics.
Various superconducting lattices were simulated and can be treated as lattices of superconducting atoms with preimposed symmetry in 1, 2 and 3 dimensions. Hybrid Schroedinger-Ginzburg-Landau approach is based on the fact of the mathematical similarity of Ginzburg-Landau (GL) and Schroedinger formalisms. Starting from Schroedinger approach by change of term V(x)-E with term $\alpha(x)+\beta(x)|\psi(x)|^2$ we arrived at the Ginzburg-Landau equation. In the presented relaxation algorithm we use one and two dimensional ground energy solutions of Schroedinger equation and placed them as starting trial solution for GL relaxation method. In consecutive steps we increase the nonlinear term in the GL equation which results in achieving a stable approach of solution of GL equation. The obtained numerical results and used methodology form simulation platform bases for study of superconducting integrated structures that can model various superconducting devices. In general, one can model time-dependent geometry of superconducting structures.
We present the explicit expressions for the matrix product operator (MPO) representation for the local conserved quantities of the Heisenberg chain. The bond dimension of the MPO grows linearly with the locality of the charges. The MPO has more simple form than the local charges themselves, and their Catalan tree patterns naturally emerge from the matrix products. The MPO representation of local conserved quantities is generalized to the integrable $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ invariant spin chain.
We investigate the topological Hall effect (THE) in the monoaxial chiral crystal GdPt$_2$B, a recently discovered compound that exhibits putative helimagnetism below 87 K. The distinct THE was observed in GdPt2B in the magnetically ordered state. The scaling relations for anomalous and topological Hall conductivities differed from those of conventional models based on the scattering process. We further demonstrate the clear scaling behavior of the THE in a wide temperature range, which we attribute to the monoaxial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction under external magnetic fields perpendicular to the screw axis. The THE induced by the monoaxial DM interaction as well as the THE in a monoaxial chiral crystal of f-electron system are demonstrated in this study.
Size- and shape- dependent unique properties of the metal halide perovskite nanocrystals make them promising building blocks for constructing various electronic and optoelectronic devices. These unique properties together with their easy colloidal synthesis render them efficient nanoscale functional components for multiple applications ranging from light emission devices to energy conversion and storage devices. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) metal halide perovskites in the form of nanosheets (NSs) or nanoplatelets (NPls) are being intensively studied due to their promising 2D geometry which is more compatible with the conventional electronic and optoelectronic device structures where film-like components are employed. In particular, 2D perovskites exhibit unique thickness-dependent properties due to the strong quantum confinement effect, while enabling the bandgap tuning in a wide spectral range. In this review the synthesis procedures of 2D perovskite nanostructures will be summarized, while the application-related properties together with the corresponding applications will be extensively discussed. In addition, perovskite nanocrystals/2D material heterostructures will be reviewed in detail. Finally, the wide application range of the 2D perovskite-based structures developed to date, including pure perovskites and their heterostructures, will be presented while the improved synergetic properties of the multifunctional materials will be discussed in a comprehensive way.
We investigate the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ nearest-neighber Heisenberg model with the four-site ring-exchange $J_4$ and chiral interaction $J_\chi$ on the triangular lattice by using the variational Monte Carlo method. The $J_4$ term induces the quadratic band touching (QBT) quantum spin liquid (QSL) with only a $d+id$ spinon pairing (without hopping term), the nodal $d$-wave QSL and U(1) QSL with a finite spinon Fermi surface progressively. The effect of the chiral interaction $J_\chi$ can enrich the phase diagram with two interesting chiral QSLs (topological orders) with the same quantized Chern number $\mathcal{C} = \frac{1}{2}$ and ground-state degeneracy GSD = 2, namely the U(1) chiral spin liquid (CSL) and Z$_2$ $d+id$-wave QSL. The nodal $d$-wave QSL is fragile and will turn to the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL with any finite $J_\chi$ within our numerical calculation. However, in the process from QBT to the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL with the increase of $J_\chi$, an exotic crossover region is found. In this region, the previous QBT state acquires a small hopping term so that it opens a small gap at the otherwise band touching points, and leads to an energy minimum which is energetically more favorable compared to another competitive local minimum from the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL. We dub this state as the proximate QBT QSL and it gives way to the Z$_2$ $d+id$ QSL eventually. Therefore, the cooperation of the $J_4$ and $J_\chi$ terms favors mostly the Z$_2$ $d+id$-wave QSL, so that this phase occupies the largest region in the phase diagram.
We explore the magnetic properties of a two-dimensional Hubbard model on an inhomogeneous square lattice, which provides a platform for tuning the bandwidth of the flat band. In its limit, this inhomogeneous square lattice turns into a Lieb lattice, and it exhibits abundant properties due to the flat band structure at the Fermi level. By using the determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulation, we calculate the spin susceptibility, double occupancy, magnetization, spin structure factor, and effective pairing interaction of the system. It is found that the antiferromagnetic correlation is suppressed by the inhomogeneous strength and that the ferromagnetic correlation is enhanced. Both the antiferromagnetic correlation and ferromagnetic correlation are enhanced as the interaction increases. It is also found that the effective $d$-wave pairing interaction is suppressed by the increasing inhomogeneity. In addition, we also study the thermodynamic properties of the inhomogeneous square lattice, and the calculation of specific heat provide good support for our point. Our intensive numerical results provide a rich magnetic phase diagram over both the inhomogeneity and interaction.
We study the defect solutions of the Non-reciprocal Cahn-Hilliard model (NRCH). We find two kinds of defects, spirals with unit magnitude topological charge, and topologically neutral targets. These defects generate radially outward travelling waves and thus break the parity and time-reversal symmetry. For a given strength of non-reciprocity, spirals and targets with unique asymptotic wavenumber and amplitude are selected. We use large-scale simulations to show that at low non-reciprocity $\alpha$, a quenched disordered state evolves into quasi-stationary spiral networks. With increasing $\alpha$, we observe networks composed primarily of targets. Beyond a critical threshold $\alpha_c$, a disorder-order transition to from defect networks to travelling waves emerges. The transition is marked by a sharp rise in the global polar order.
Generative models based on diffusion have become the state of the art in the last few years, notably for image generation. Here, we analyse them in the high-dimensional limit, where data are formed by a very large number of variables. We use methods from statistical physics and focus on two well-controlled high-dimensional cases: a Gaussian model and the Curie-Weiss model of ferromagnetism. In the latter case, we highlight the mechanism of symmetry breaking in the inverse diffusion, and point out that, in order to reconstruct the relative asymmetry of the two low-temperature states, and thus to obtain the correct probability weights, one needs a database with a number of points much larger than the dimension of each data point. We characterize the scaling laws in the number of data and in the number of dimensions for an efficient generation.
Graphene is a powerful membrane prototype for both applications and fundamental research. Rheological phenomena including indentation, twisting, and wrinkling in deposited and suspended graphene are actively investigated to unravel the mechanical laws at the nanoscale. Most studies focused on isotropic set-ups, while realistic graphene membranes are often subject to strongly anisotropic constraints, with important consequences for the rheology, strain, indentation, and friction in engineering conditions.
Rare-earth delafossite compounds, ARCh$_2$ (A = alkali or monovalent ion, R = rare earth, Ch = chalcogen), have been proposed for a range of novel quantum phenomena. Particularly, the Tm series, ATmCh$_2$, featuring Tm ions on a triangular lattice, serves as a representative group of compounds to illustrate the interplay and competition between spin-orbit coupling, crystal fields, and exchange couplings in the presence of geometric frustration. Here we report the thermodynamic and inelastic neutron scattering studies on the newly discovered triangular-lattice magnet KTmSe$_2$. Both heat capacity and neutron diffraction reveal the absence of long-range magnetic order. Magnetic susceptibility shows strong Ising-like interactions with antiferromagnetic correlations. Furthermore, inelastic neutron scattering measurements reveal a branch of dispersive crystal field excitations. To analyze these observations, we employ both the transverse field Ising model and the full crystal field scheme, along with exchange interactions. Our results suggest a strong competition between spin exchange interactions and crystal field effects. This work is expected to offer a valuable framework for understanding low-temperature magnetism in KTmSe$_2$ and similar materials.
Due to their aperiodic nature, quasicrystals are one of the least understood phases in statistical physics. One significant complication they present in comparison to their periodic counterparts is the fact that any quasicrystal can be realized as an exponentially large number of different tilings, resulting in a significant contribution to the quasicrystal entropy. Here, we use free-energy calculations to demonstrate that it is this configurational entropy which stabilizes a dodecagonal quasicrystal in a binary mixture of hard spheres on a plane. Our calculations also allow us to quantitatively confirm that in this system all tiling realizations are essentially equally likely, with free-energy differences less than 0.0001$k_BT$ per particle -- an observation that could be the related to the observation of only random tilings in soft matter quasicrystals. Owing to the simplicity of the model and its available counterparts in colloidal experiments, we believe that this system is a excellent candidate to achieve the long-awaited quasicrystal self-assembly on the micron scale.
By interlayer sliding in van der Waals (vdW) materials, the switching electric polarization of ultrathin ferroelectric materials leads to the widely studied slidetronics. In this work, we report that such sliding can further tailor anharmonic effects and hence thermal transport properties due to the changed intrinsic coupling between atomic layers. And we propose an unprecedented concept dubbed as slidephononics, where the phonons and associated physical properties can be controlled by varying the intrinsic stacking configurations of slidetronic vdW materials. Based on the state-of-the-art first-principles calculations, it is demonstrated that the thermal conductivity of boron nitride (BN) bilayers can be significantly modulated (by up to four times) along the sliding pathways. Detailed analysis reveals that the variation of thermal conductivities can be attributed to the tunable (de-)coupling of the out-of-plane acoustic phonon branches with the other phonon modes, which is induced by the interlayer charge transfer. Such strongly modulated thermal conductivity via interlayer sliding in vdW materials paves the way to engineer thermal management materials in emerging vdW electronic devices, which would shed light on future studies of slidephononics.
We propose a paradigm of multiplexed dispersive qubit measurement performed while the qubits dephase. A Laplace transformation of the time-dependent cavity response allows to separate contributions from multiple qubits coupled to the same resonator mode, thus allowing for simultaneous single-shot read out. With realistic parameters for silicon spin qubits we find a competitive readout fidelity, while the measurement time compares favourably to conventional dispersive readout. We extend the multiplexed readout method to quantum non-demolition measurements using auxiliary qubits.
We analyzed the X-ray photoemission spectra (XPS) of carbon 1s states in graphene and oxygen-intercalated graphene grown on SiC(0001) using Bayesian spectroscopy. To realize highly accurate spectral decomposition of the XPS spectra, we proposed a framework for discovering physical constraints from the absence of prior quantified physical knowledge, in which we designed the prior probabilities based on the found constraints and the physically required conditions. This suppresses the exchange of peak components during replica exchange Monte Carlo iterations and makes possible to decompose XPS in the case where a reliable structure model or a presumable number of components is not known. As a result, we have successfully decomposed XPS of one monolayer (1ML), two monolayers (2ML), and quasi-freestanding 2ML (qfs-2ML) graphene samples deposited on SiC substrates with the meV order precision of the binding energy, in which the posterior probability distributions of the binding energies were obtained distinguishably between the different components of buffer layer even though they are observed as hump and shoulder structures because of their overlapping.
Equilibrium atomic configuration and electronic structure of the (001) surface of IV-VI semiconductors PbTe, PbSe, SnTe and SnSe, is studied using the density functional theory (DFT) methods. At surfaces of all those compounds, the displacements of ions from their perfect lattice sites reveal two features characteristic of the rock salt crystals. First, the ionic displacements occur only along the direction perpendicular to the surface, and they exhibit the rumpling effect, i.e., the vertical shifts of cations and anions differ. Second, the interlayer spacing of the first few monolayers at the surface oscillates. Our results are in good agreement with the previous X-ray experimental data and theoretical results where available. They also are consistent with the presence of two {110} mirror planes at the (001) surface of the rock salt. One the other hand, experiments preformed for the topological Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$ Se alloy indicate breaking of the mirror symmetry due to a large 0.3 {\AA} relative displacement of the cation and anion sublattices at the surface, which induces the opening of the gap of the Dirac cones. Our results for Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Se including the simulated STM images, are in contradiction with these findings, since surface reconstructions with broken symmetry are never the ground state configurations. The impact of the theoretically determined surface configurations and of the chemical disorder on the surface states is analyzed.
We performed spin-, time- and angle-resolved extreme ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (STARPES) of excitons prepared by photoexcitation of inversion-symmetric 2H-WSe$_2$ with circularly polarized light. The very short probing depth of XUV photoemission permits selective measurement of photoelectrons originating from the top-most WSe$_2$ layer, allowing for direct measurement of hidden spin polarization of bright and momentum-forbidden dark excitons. Our results reveal efficient chiroptical control of bright excitons' hidden spin polarization. Following optical photoexcitation, intervalley scattering between nonequivalent K-K' valleys leads to a decay of bright excitons' hidden spin polarization. Conversely, the ultrafast formation of momentum-forbidden dark excitons acts as a local spin polarization reservoir, which could be used for spin injection in van der Waals heterostructures involving multilayer transition metal dichalcogenides.
In recent years, Rydberg excitations in atomic quantum gases have become a successful platform to explore quantum impurity problems. A single impurity immersed in a Fermi gas leads to the formation of a polaron, a quasiparticle consisting of the impurity being dressed by the surrounding medium. With a radius of about the Fermi wavelength, the density profile of a polaron cannot be explored using in-situ optical imaging techniques. In this work, we propose a new experimental measurement technique that enables the in-situ imaging of the polaron cloud in ultracold quantum gases. The impurity atom is first excited to an interacting state which induces the formation of a polaron cloud. This is followed by the excitation of the impurity atom to a Rydberg state. Due to the mesoscopic interaction range of Rydberg excitations, which can be tuned by the principal numbers of the Rydberg state, atoms extracted from the polaron cloud form dimers with the impurity. By performing first principle calculations of the absorption spectrum based on a functional determinant approach, we show how the occupation of the dimer state can be directly observed in spectroscopy experiments and can be mapped onto the density profile of the gas particles, hence providing a direct, real-time, and in-situ measure of the polaron cloud.
We investigate the electronic and phonon properties of hydrogen sulfide (SH$_3$) under ultrahigh pressure to elucidate the origin of its high-T$_c$ superconductivity. Contrary to the prevailing belief that the metalized S-H $\sigma$ bond is responsible, our analysis, based on the anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg equation and the crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) calculation, reveals that the H-H $\sigma$-antibonding states play a dominant role in the large electron-phonon coupling that leads to the superconducting pairing in SH$_3$. Furthermore, by partially restricting the vibration of S atoms, we demonstrate that the S-H bonds provide subsidiary contributions to the pairing interaction. These findings shed light on the importance of the previously overlooked H-H $\sigma^*$ bonds in driving high-T$_c$ superconductivity in SH$_3$ and offer insights into the relationship between metallic H-H covalent antibonding and high-T$_c$ superconductivity in other hydrogen-rich materials under high pressure.
Magnetic properties of electrical steel are usually measured on Single Sheet Testers, Epstein frames or ring cores. Due to the geometric dimensions and measurement principles of these standardized setups, the fundamental microstructural influences on the magnetic behavior, e.g., deformation structures, crystal orientation or grain boundaries, are difficult to separate and quantify. In this paper, a miniaturized Single Sheet Tester is presented that allows the characterization of industrial steel sheets as well as from in size limited single, bi- and oligocrystals starting from samples with dimensions of 10x22 mm. Thereby, the measurement of global magnetic properties is coupled with microstructural analysis methods to allow the investigation of micro scale magnetic effects. An effect of grain orientation, grain boundaries and deformation structures has already been identified with the presented experimental setup. In addition, a correction function is introduced to allow quantitative comparisons between differently sized Single Sheet Testers. This approach is not limited to the presented Single Sheet Tester geometry, but applicable for the comparison of results of differently sized Single Sheet Testers. The results of the miniaturized Single Sheet Tester were validated on five industrial electrical steel grades. Furthermore, first results of differently oriented single crystals as well as measurements on grain-oriented electrical steel are shown to prove the additional value of the miniaturized Single Sheet Tester geometry.
In this study, we investigate the finite-temperature properties of the spin-1/2 $J_1-J_2$ Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice using the orthogonalized finite-temperature Lanczos method. Under a zero magnetic field, the specific heat exhibits a double-peak structure, as $|J_2|$ increases. Additionally, at approximately $J_2=0$, the magnetic entropy remains finite, even at low temperatures. The finite-temperature magnetization curve reveals the asymmetric melting behavior of the 1/3 plateau around $J_2=0$. As $|J_2|$ increases, the 1/3 plateau becomes more stable, exhibiting symmetric melting behavior. Specifically, for $J_2 > 0$, the $\bf Q=0$ up-up-down structure is stabilized, whereas for $J_2 < 0$, the $\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3}$ up-up-down structure is stabilized.
The density fluctuation spectrum is a key experimental observable that captures many of the fundamental properties of strange metals. Using momentum-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (M-EELS), we recently showed that the density response of the strange metal Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+x}$ (Bi-2212) at large momentum, $q$, exhibits a constant-in-frequency continuum reminiscent of the marginal Fermi liquid hypothesis of the late 1980s. However, reconciling this observation with infrared optics experiments, which establish a well-defined plasmon excitation at $q=0$, has been challenging. Here we report M-EELS measurements of Bi-2212 using 4$\times$ improved resolution, allowing us to reach the optical limit where direct comparison with IR optics is possible. We find that the M-EELS data are consistent with a well-defined plasmon for $q<0.04$ r.l.u.. At $q>0.04$ r.l.u., the spectra become incoherent with an MFL-like, constant-in-frequency form. We speculate that, at finite frequency, $\omega$, and nonzero $q$, some attribute of this Planckian metal randomizes the probe electron in a way that causes it to lose information about its own momentum.
The helical magnetic structures of cubic chiral systems are well-explained by the competition among Heisenberg exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, cubic anisotropy, and anisotropic exchange interaction (AEI). Recently, the role of the latter has been argued theoretically to be crucial for the low-temperature phase diagram of the cubic chiral magnet Cu$_2$OSeO$_3$, which features tilted conical and disordered skyrmion states for a specific orientation of the applied magnetic field ($\mu_0 \vec{\mathrm{H}} \parallel [001]$). In this study, we exploit transmission resonant x-ray scattering ($t-$REXS) in vector magnetic fields to directly quantify the strength of the AEI in Cu$_2$OSeO$_3$, and measure its temperature dependence. We find that the AEI continuously increases below 50\,K, resulting in a conical spiral pitch variation of $10\%$ in the (001) plane. Our results contribute to establishing the interaction space that supports tilted cone and low-temperature skyrmion state formation, facilitating the goals for both a quantitative description and eventual design of the diverse spiral states existing amongst chiral magnets.
Studying the edge states of a topological system and extracting their topological properties is of great importance in understanding and characterizing these systems. In this paper, we present a novel analytical approach for obtaining explicit expressions for the edge states in the Kane-Mele model within a ribbon geometry featuring armchair boundaries. Our approach involves a mapping procedure that transforms the system into an extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, specifically a two-leg ladder, in momentum space. Through rigorous derivation, we determine various analytical properties of the edge states, including their wave functions and energy dispersion. Additionally, we investigate the condition for topological transition by solely analyzing the edge states, and we elucidate the underlying reasons for the violation of the bulk-edge correspondence in relatively narrow ribbons. Our findings shed light on the unique characteristics of the edge states in the quantum spin Hall phase of the Kane-Mele model and provide valuable insights into the topological properties of such systems.
We formulate the hydrodynamics of active columnar phases, with two-dimensional translational order in the plane perpendicular to the columns and no elastic restoring force for relative sliding of the columns, using the general formalism of an active model H$^*$. Our predictions include: two-dimensional odd elasticity coming from three-dimensional plasmon-like oscillations of the columns in chiral polar phases with a frequency that is independent of wavenumber and non-analytic; a buckling instability coming from the generic force-dipole active stress analogous to the mechanical Helfrich-Hurault instability in passive materials; the selection of helical column undulations by apolar chiral activity.
Disorder and electron-electron interaction play essential roles in the physics of electron systems in condensed matter. In two-dimensional, quantum Hall systems, extensive studies of disorder-induced localization have led to the emergence of a scaling picture with a single extended state, characterized by a power-law divergence of the localization length in the zero-temperature limit. Experimentally, scaling has been investigated via measuring the temperature dependence of plateau-to-plateau transitions between the integer quantum Hall states (IQHSs), yielding a critical exponent $\kappa\simeq 0.42$. Here we report scaling measurements in the fractional quantum Hall state (FQHS) regime where interaction plays a dominant role. Our study is partly motivated by recent calculations, based on the composite fermion theory, that suggest identical critical exponents in both IQHS and FQHS cases to the extent that the interaction between composite fermions is negligible. The samples used in our experiments are two-dimensional electron systems confined to GaAs quantum wells of exceptionally high quality. We find that $\kappa$ varies for transitions between different FQHSs observed on the flanks of Landau level filling factor $\nu=1/2$, and has a value close to that reported for the IQHS transitions only for a limited number of transitions between high-order FQHSs with intermediate strength. We discuss possible origins of the non-universal $\kappa$ observed in our experiments.
Non-Hermitian skin effect and photonic topological edge states are of great interest in non-Hermitian physics and optics. However, the interplay between them is largly unexplored. Here, we propose and demonstrate experimentally the non-Hermitian skin effect that constructed from the nonreciprocal flow of Floquet topological edge states, which can be dubbed 'Floquet skin-topological effect'. We first show the non-Hermitian skin effect can be induced by pure loss when the one-dimensional (1D) system is periodically driven. Next, based on a two-dimensional (2D) Floquet topological photonic lattice with structured loss, we investigate the interaction between the non-Hermiticity and the topological edge states. We observe that all the one-way edge states are imposed onto specific corners, featuring both the non-Hermitian skin effect and topological edge states. Furthermore, a topological switch for the skin-topological effect is presented by utilizing the gap-closing mechanism. Our experiment paves the way of realizing non-Hermitian topological effects in nonlinear and quantum regimes.
Recently, the bulk nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ is reported to show signature of high-temperature superconductivity under high pressure above $14$GPa (H. Sun {\it et al.}, arXiv:2305.09586). We analyze the pairing mechanism and pairing symmetry in a bi-layer Hubbard model with two orbitals in the $E_g$ multiplet. In the weak to moderate interaction regime, our functional renormalization group calculations yield $S_\pm$-wave Cooper pairing with dominant $d_{3z^2-r^2}$-orbital content, triggered by spin fluctuations at wave vectors near $(0.84, 0)\pi$ and $(0.75, 0.75)\pi$, up to $C_{4v}$ symmetry. The gap function changes sign across the Fermi pockets. In the strong coupling limit, we develop a low-energy effective theory in terms of atomic one- and two-electron states in the $E_g$ multiplet. The effective theory predicts naturally local pairing (with anti-phase between the two orbitals due to the repulsive inter-orbital pair hopping) and strong singlet pairing on vertical inter-layer bond, where the super-exchange between $d_{3z^2-r^2}$-orbital is the strongest. The real-space structure is consistent with that from functional renormalization group, suggesting the robustness of such a pairing function. We also discuss a possible scenario for the weak insulating behavior under low pressures in terms of the tendency toward the formation of charge order in the strong coupling limit.
The quantum Hall bilayer (QHB) at filling factor $\nu = 1$ represents a competition of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at small distances between layers and fermionic condensation, which influence grows with distance and results in two separate Fermi liquid states of underlying quasiparticles at very large (infinite) distance. The most intriguing question is whether at intermediate distances between layers a special, distinct phase exists, or a single transition occurs, with possibility that this happens at infinite distance. Here, using a dipole representation of fermionic quasiparticles, we find a support for the latter scenario: for a large, relevant interval BEC condensation, identified as a Cooper $s$-wave pairing of dipole quasiparticles, wins over Cooper $p$-wave pairing and $s-$wave excitonic pairing of the same quasiparticles.
Universal scaling laws govern the density of topological defects generated while crossing an equilibrium phase transition. The Kibble-Zurek mechanism predicts the dependence on the quench time for slow quenches. By contrast, for fast quenches, the defect density scales universally with the amplitude of the quench. We show that universal scaling laws apply to dynamic phase transitions driven by an oscillating external field. The difference in the energy response of the system to a periodic potential field leads to energy absorption, spontaneous breaking of symmetry, and its restoration. Our results demonstrate that the universality of critical dynamics extends beyond equilibrium criticality, indicating its importance in understanding the behavior of complex, non-equilibrium systems.
In the presented research, the intergranular elastic interaction and the second-order plastic incompatibility stress in textured ferritic and austenitic steels were investigated by means of diffraction. The lattice strains were measured inside the samples by the multiple reflection method using high energy X-rays diffraction during uniaxial in situ tensile tests. Comparing experiment with various models of intergranular interaction, it was found that the Eshelby-Kr\"oner model correctly approximates the X-ray stress factors (XSFs) for different reflections hkl and scattering vector orientations. The verified XSFs were used to investigate the evolution of the first and second-order stresses in both austenitic and ferritic steels. It was shown that considering only the elastic anisotropy, the non-linearity of $\sin^2{\psi}$ plots cannot be explained by crystallographic texture. Therefore, a more advanced method based on elastic-plastic self-consistent modeling (EPSC) is required for the analysis. Using such methodology the non-linearities of $\cos^2{\phi}$ plots were explained, and the evolutions of the first and second-order stresses were determined. It was found that plastic deformation of about 1- 2% can completely exchange the state of second-order plastic incompatibility stresses.
The non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE) is a significant phenomenon observed in non-Hermitian systems under open boundary conditions, where the extensive bulk eigenstates tend to accumulate at the lattice edges. In this article, we investigate how an electric field affects the localization properties in a non-Hermitian mosaic Stark lattice, exploring the interplay between the Stark localization, mobility edge (ME), and the NHSE induced by nonreciprocity. We analytically obtain the Lyapunov exponent and the phase transition points as well as numerically calculate the density distributions and the spectral winding number. We reveal that in the nonreciprocal Stark lattice with the mosaic periodic parameter $\kappa=1$, there exists a critical electric field strength that describes the transition of the existence-nonexistence of NHSE and is inversely proportional to the lattice size. This transition is consistent with the real-complex transition and topological transition characterized by spectral winding number under periodic boundary conditions. In the strong fields, the Wannier-Stark ladder is recovered, and the Stark localization is sufficient to suppress the NHSE. When the mosaic period $\kappa=2$, we show that the system manifests an exact non-Hermitian ME and the skin states are still existing in the strong fields, in contrast to the gigantic field can restrain the NHSE in the $\kappa=1$ case. Moreover, we further study the expansion dynamics of an initially localized state and dynamically probe the existence of the NHSE and the non-Hermitian ME. These results could help us to control the NHSE and the non-Hermitian ME by using electric fields in the disorder-free systems.
This is our reply to "Comment on 'Nontrivial Quantum Geometry and the Strength of Electron-Phonon Coupling', arXiv:2305.02340, J. Yu, C. J. Ciccarino, R. Bianco, I. Errea, P. Narang, B. A. Bernevig" by Prof. Pickett, which focuses on the MgB$_2$ part of our work. We show that the entirety of the criticism in Prof. Pickett's comment pertaining to our work (arXiv:2305.02340) is invalid.
We present a general theory of the magnetic susceptibility of insulators that can be extended to treat spatially varying and finite frequency fields. While there are existing results in the literature for the zero frequency response that appear to be in disagreement with each other, we show that the apparent differences between them vanish with the use of various sum rules, and that our result is in agreement with them. Although our strategy is based on the use of Wannier functions, we show that our result can be written in a ``gauge invariant" form involving Bloch functions. We can write it as the sum of terms that involve the diagonal elements of the Berry connection, and this decomposition is particularly useful in considering the limit of isolated molecules. But these contributions can be repackaged to give a form independent of those diagonal elements, which is thus generally more suitable for numerical computation. We consider an h-BN model to demonstrate the practical considerations in building a model and making calculations within this formalism.
A novel generalized mean field approximation, called the Small-Coupling Dynamic Cavity (SCDC) method, for Bayesian epidemic inference and risk assessment is presented. The method is developed within a fully Bayesian framework and accounts for non-causal effects generated by the presence of observations. It is based on a graphical model representation of the epidemic stochastic process and utilizes dynamic cavity equations to derive a set of self-consistent equations for probability marginals defined on the edges of the contact graph. By performing a small-coupling expansion, a pair of time-dependent cavity messages is obtained, which capture the probability of individual infection and the conditioning power of observations. In its efficient formulation, the computational cost per iteration of the SCDC algorithm is linear in the duration of the epidemic dynamics and in the number of contacts. The SCDC method is derived for the Susceptible-Infected (SI) model and straightforwardly applicable to other Markovian epidemic processes, including recurrent ones. It exhibits high accuracy in assessing individual risk on par with Belief Propagation techniques and outperforming heuristic methods based on individual-based mean-field approximations. Although convergence issues may arise due to long-range correlations in contact graphs, the estimated marginal probabilities remain sufficiently accurate for reliable risk estimation. Future work includes extending the method to non-Markovian recurrent epidemic models and investigating the role of second-order terms in the small coupling expansion of the observation-reweighted Dynamic Cavity equations.
Time-reversal symmetry (TRS) is pivotal for materials optical, magnetic, topological, and transport properties. Chiral phonons, characterized by atoms rotating unidirectionally around their equilibrium positions, generate dynamic lattice structures that break TRS. Here we report that coherent chiral phonons, driven by circularly polarized terahertz light pulses, can polarize the paramagnetic spins in CeF3 like a quasi-static magnetic field on the order of 1 Tesla. Through time-resolved Faraday rotation and Kerr ellipticity, we found the transient magnetization is only excited by pulses resonant with phonons, proportional to the angular momentum of the phonons, and growing with magnetic susceptibility at cryogenic temperatures, as expected from the spin-phonon coupling model. The time-dependent effective magnetic field quantitatively agrees with that calculated from phonon dynamics. Our results may open a new route to directly investigate mode-specific spin-phonon interaction in ultrafast magnetism, energy-efficient spintronics, and non-equilibrium phases of matter with broken TRS.
A detailed interpretation of scanning tunneling spectra obtained on unconventional superconductors enables one to gain information on the pairing boson. Decisive for this approach are inelastic tunneling events. Due to the lack of momentum conservation in tunneling from or to the sharp tip, those are enhanced in the geometry of a scanning tunneling microscope compared to planar tunnel junctions. This work extends the method of obtaining the bosonic excitation spectrum by deconvolution from tunneling spectra to nodal $d$-wave superconductors. In particular, scanning tunneling spectra of slightly underdoped $\mathrm{Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta}}$ with a $T_c$ of $82\,\mathrm{K}$ and optimally doped $\mathrm{YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x}}$ with a $T_c$ of $92\,\mathrm{K}$ reveal a resonance mode in their bosonic excitation spectrum at $\Omega_\mathrm{res} \approx 63\,\mathrm{meV}$ and $\Omega_\mathrm{res} \approx 61\,\mathrm{meV}$ respectively. In both cases, the overall shape of the bosonic excitation spectrum is indicative of predominant spin scattering with a resonant mode at $\Omega_\mathrm{res}<2\Delta$ and overdamped spin fluctuations for energies larger than $2\Delta$. To perform the deconvolution of the experimental data, we implemented an efficient iterative algorithm that significantly enhances the reliability of our analysis.
We study thermalization dynamics in a fermion-phonon variant of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model coupled to an external cold thermal bath of harmonic oscillators. We find that quantum critical fermions thermalize more efficiently than phonons, in sharp contrast to the behavior in the Fermi liquid regime. In addition, after a short prethermal stage, the system acquires a quasi-thermal distribution given by a time-dependent effective temperature, reminiscent of "hydrodynamic" relaxation. All physical observables relax at the same rate which scales with the final temperature through an exponent that depends universally on the low energy spectrum of the system and the bath. Such relaxation rate is derived using a hydrodynamic approximation in full agreement with the numerical solution of a set quantum kinetic equations derived from the Keldysh formalism for non-equilibrium Green's functions. Our results suggest the applicability of the hydrodynamic picture in the description of the late time dynamics of open quantum systems despite the absence of conserved quantities in regimes dominated by conserving collisions.
Quantum chemistry is envisioned as an early and disruptive application where quantum computers would provide a genuine advantage with respect to purely classical approaches. In this work, we propose two criteria for evaluating the potential of the two leading quantum approaches for this class of problems. The first criterion applies to the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) algorithm and sets an upper bound to the level of noise that can be tolerated in quantum hardware as a function of the target precision and problem size. We find a crippling effect of noise with an overall scaling of the precision that is generically less favourable than in the corresponding classical algorithms. This is due to the studied molecule being unrelated to the hardware dynamics, hence its noise; conversely the hardware noise populates states of arbitrary energy of the studied molecule. The second criterion applies to the Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE) algorithm that is often presented as the go-to replacement of VQE upon availability of (noiseless) fault-tolerant quantum computers. QPE suffers from the phenomenon known as the orthogonality catastrophe that generically leads to an exponentially small success probability when the size of the problem grows. Our criterion allows one to estimate quantitatively the importance of this phenomenon from the knowledge of the variance of the energy of the input state used in the calculation.
We investigate operator growth in quantum systems with two-dimensional Schr\"odinger group symmetry by studying the Krylov complexity. While feasible for semi-simple Lie algebras, cases such as the Schr\"odinger algebra which is characterized by a semi-direct sum structure are complicated. We propose to compute Krylov complexity for this algebra in a natural orthonormal basis, which produces a pentadiagonal structure of the time evolution operator, contrasting the usual tridiagonal Lanczos algorithm outcome. The resulting complexity behaves as expected. We advocate that this approach can provide insights to other non-semisimple algebras.
In this note, we present some results on the classification of quantum cellular automata (QCA) in 1D under strong equivalence rather than stable equivalence. Under strong equivalence, we only allow adding ancillas carrying the original on-site representation of the symmetry, while under stable equivalence, we allow adding ancillas carrying any representation of the symmetry. The former may be more realistic, because in physical systems especially in AMO/quantum computing contexts, we would not expect additional spins carrying arbitrary representations of the symmetry to be present. Ref.~\onlinecite{mpu} proposed two kinds of symmetry-protected indices (SPIs) for QCA with discrete symmetries under strong equivalence. In this note, we show that the more refined of these SPIs still only has a one-to-one correspondence to equivalence classes of $\mathbb{Z}_N$ symmetric QCA when $N$ is prime. We show a counter-example for $N=4$. We show that QCA with $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry under strong equivalence, for a given on-site representation, are classified by $\mathbb{Z}^{pq}$ where $p$ is the number of prime factors of the on-site Hilbert space dimension and $q$ is the number of prime factors of the trace of the nontrivial on-site $\mathbb{Z}_2$ element. Finally, we show that the GNVW index has a formulation in terms of a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ SPI in a doubled system, and we provide a direct connection between the SPI formulation of the GNVW index and a second Renyi version of the mutual information formula for the GNVW index.
Background: The inner crust of neutron stars consists of a Coulomb lattice of neutron-rich nuclei, immersed in a sea of superfluid neutrons with background relativistic electron gas. A proper quantum mechanical treatment for such a system under a periodic potential is the band theory of solids. The effect of band structure on the effective mass of dripped neutrons, the so-called \textit{entrainment effect}, is currently in a debatable situation, and it has been highly desired to develop a nuclear band theory taking into account neutron superfluidity in a fully self-consistent manner. Purpose: The main purpose of the present work is twofold: 1) to develop a formalism of the time-dependent self-consistent band theory, taking full account of nuclear superfluidity, based on time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) extended for superfluid systems, and 2) to quantify the effects of band structure and superfluidity on crustal properties, applying the formalism to the slab phase of nuclear matter in the $\beta$ equilibrium. Results: Static calculations have been performed for a range of baryon (nucleon) number density ($n_b=0.04$--0.07 fm$^{-3}$) under the $\beta$-equilibrium condition with and without superfluidity, for various inter-slab spacings. From a dynamic response to an external potential, we extract the collective mass of a slab and that of protons immersed in neutron superfluid. From the results, we find that the collective mass of a slab is substantially reduced by 57.5--82.5\% for $n_b=0.04$--0.07 fm$^{-3}$, which corresponds to an enhancement of conduction neutron number density and, thus, to a reduction of the neutron effective mass, which we call the anti-entrainment effect. We discuss novel phenomena associated with superfluidity, quasiparticle resonances in the inner crust, which are absent in normal systems. *shortened due to the arXiv word limit.
Particle beams focused to micrometer-sized spots play a crucial role in forefront research using low-energy positrons. Their expedient and wide application, however, requires highly-resolved, fast beam diagnostics. We have developed two different methods to modify a commercial imaging sensor to make it sensitive to low-energy positrons. The first method consists in removing the micro-lens array and Bayer filter from the sensor surface and depositing a phosphor layer in their place. This procedure results in a detector capable of imaging positron beams with energies down to a few tens of eV, or an intensity as low as 35 particles/s/mm2 when the beam energy exceeds 10keV. The second approach omits the phosphor deposition; with the resulting device we succeeded in detecting single positrons with energies upwards of 6 keV and efficiency up to 93%. The achieved spatial resolution of 0.97 micrometers is unprecedented for real-time positron detectors.
A systematic derivation provides extended series of correlation inequalities in quantum systems. Each order in truncated Taylor expansion of the spectral representation for the Duhamel correlation function gives its lower and upper bounds. The obtained bound on the Duhamel function and the square root interpolation method enable us to derive a variational solution of specific free energy in the transverse field Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model.
The algorithms used to train neural networks, like stochastic gradient descent (SGD), have close parallels to natural processes that navigate a high-dimensional parameter space -- for example protein folding or evolution. Our study uses a Fokker-Planck approach, adapted from statistical physics, to explore these parallels in a single, unified framework. We focus in particular on the stationary state of the system in the long-time limit, which in conventional SGD is out of equilibrium, exhibiting persistent currents in the space of network parameters. As in its physical analogues, the current is associated with an entropy production rate for any given training trajectory. The stationary distribution of these rates obeys the integral and detailed fluctuation theorems -- nonequilibrium generalizations of the second law of thermodynamics. We validate these relations in two numerical examples, a nonlinear regression network and MNIST digit classification. While the fluctuation theorems are universal, there are other aspects of the stationary state that are highly sensitive to the training details. Surprisingly, the effective loss landscape and diffusion matrix that determine the shape of the stationary distribution vary depending on the simple choice of minibatching done with or without replacement. We can take advantage of this nonequilibrium sensitivity to engineer an equilibrium stationary state for a particular application: sampling from a posterior distribution of network weights in Bayesian machine learning. We propose a new variation of stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics (SGLD) that harnesses without replacement minibatching. In an example system where the posterior is exactly known, this SGWORLD algorithm outperforms SGLD, converging to the posterior orders of magnitude faster as a function of the learning rate.
Phase-separated biomolecular condensates exhibit a wide range of dynamical properties, which depend on the sequences of the constituent proteins and RNAs. However, it is unclear to what extent condensate dynamics can be tuned without also changing the thermodynamic properties that govern phase separation. Using coarse-grained simulations of intrinsically disordered proteins, we show that the dynamics and thermodynamics of homopolymer condensates are strongly correlated, with increased condensate stability being coincident with low mobilities and high viscosities. We then apply an "active learning" strategy to identify heteropolymer sequences that break this correlation. This data-driven approach and accompanying analysis reveal how heterogeneous amino-acid compositions and non-uniform sequence patterning map to a range of independently tunable dynamical and thermodynamic properties of biomolecular condensates.
The control over light propagation and localization in photonic crystals offers wide applications from sensing and on-chip routing to lasing and quantum light-matter interfaces. While in electronic crystals magnetic fields can be used to induce a multitude of unique phenomena, the uncharged nature of photons necessitates alternative approaches to bring about similar control over photons at the nanoscale. Here, we experimentally realize pseudomagnetic fields in two-dimensional photonic crystals through engineered strain of the lattice. Analogous to strained graphene, this induces flat-band Landau levels at discrete energies. We study the spatial and spectral properties of these states in silicon photonic crystals at telecom wavelengths with far-field spectroscopy. Moreover, taking advantage of the photonic crystal's design freedom, we realize domains of opposite pseudomagnetic field and observe topological edge states at their interface. We reveal that the strain-induced states can achieve remarkably high quality factors despite being phase-matched to the radiation continuum. Together with the high density of states and high degeneracy associated with flat bands, this provides powerful prospects for enhancing light-matter interactions, and demonstrates a design principle to govern both on-chip and radiating light fields.
We propose and analyze an approach to realize quantum computation and simulation using fermionic particles under quantum gas microscopes. Our work is inspired by a recent experimental demonstration of large-scale quantum registers, where tightly localized fermion pairs are used to encode qubits exhibiting long coherence time and robustness against laser intensity noise. We describe how to engineer the SWAP gate and high-fidelity controlled-phase gates by adjusting the fermion hopping as well as Feshbach interaction strengths. Combined with previously demonstrated single-qubit rotations, these gates establish the computational universality of the system. Furthermore, we show that 2D quantum Ising Hamiltonians with tunable transverse and longitudinal fields can be efficient simulated by modulating Feshbach interaction strengths. We present a sample-efficient protocol to characterize engineered gates and Hamiltonian dynamics based on an improved classical shadow process tomography that requires minimal experimental controls. Our work opens up new opportunities to harness existing ultracold quantum gases for quantum information sciences.