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Register a new userTopological defects as relics of emergent continuous symmetry and Higgs condensation of disorder in ferroelectrics
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Lars Onsager and Richard Feynman envisioned that the three-dimensional (3D) superfluid-to-normal $lambda$ transition in $^{4}$He occurs through the proliferation of vortices. This process should hold for every phase transition in the same universality class. The role of topological defects in symmetry-breaking phase transitions has become a prime topic in cosmology and high-temperature superconductivity, even though direct imaging of these defects is challenging. Here we show that the U(1) continuous symmetry that emerges at the ferroelectric critical point of multiferroic hexagonal manganites leads to a similar proliferation of vortices. Moreover, the disorder field (vortices) is coupled to an emergent U(1) gauge field, which becomes massive by means of the Higgs mechanism when vortices condense (span the whole system) upon heating above the ferroelectric transition temperature. Direct imaging of the vortex network in hexagonal manganites offers unique experimental access to this dual description of the ferroelectric transition, while enabling tests of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism.
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Formation and evolution of topological defects in course of non-equilibrium symmetry breaking phase transitions is of wide interest in many areas of physics, from cosmology through condensed matter to low temperature physics. Its study in strongly coupled systems, in absence of quasiparticles, is especially challenging. We investigate breaking of U(1) symmetry and the resulting spontaneous formation of vortices in a $(2+1)$-dimensional holographic superconductor employing gauge/gravity duality, a `first-principles approach to study strongly coupled systems. Magnetic fluxons with quantized fluxes are seen emerging in the post-transition superconducting phase. As expected in type II superconductors, they are trapped in the cores of the order parameter vortices. The dependence of the density of these topological defects on the quench time, the dispersion of the typical winding numbers in the superconductor, and the vortex-vortex correlations are consistent with predictions of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism.
We use first-principles methods to study doped strong ferroelectrics (taking BaTiO$_3$ as a prototype). Here we find a strong coupling between itinerant electrons and soft polar phonons in doped BaTiO$_3$, contrary to Anderson/Blounts weakly coupled electron mechanism for ferroelectric-like metals. As a consequence, across a polar-to-centrosymmetric phase transition in doped BaTiO$_3$, the total electron-phonon coupling is increased to about 0.6 around the critical concentration, which is sufficient to induce phonon-mediated superconductivity of about 2 K. Lowering the crystal symmetry of doped BaTiO$_3$ by imposing epitaxial strain can further increase the superconducting temperature via a sizable coupling between itinerant electrons and acoustic phonons. Our work demonstrates a viable approach to modulating electron-phonon coupling and inducing phonon-mediated superconductivity in doped strong ferroelectrics and potentially in polar metals. Our results also show that the weakly coupled electron mechanism for ferroelectric-like metals is not necessarily present in doped strong ferroelectrics.
The surface orientation dependence on the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance of topological crystalline insulator (TCI) SnTe thin films is studied. Their intrinsic activities are determined by linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry measurements. It is found that SnTe (001) and (111) surfaces exhibit intrinsic activities significantly larger than the (211) surface. Density functional theory calculations reveal that pure (001) and (111) surfaces are not good electrocatalysts, while those with Sn vacancies or partially oxidized surfaces, with the latter as evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, have high activity. The calculated overall performance of the (001) and (111) surfaces with robust topological surface states (TSSs) is better than that of the lowly symmetric (211) surface with fragile or without TSSs, which is further supported by their measured weak antilocalization strength. The high HER activity of SnTe (001) and (111) is attributed to the enhanced charge transfer between H atoms and TSSs. We also address the effect of possible surface facets and the contrast of the HER activity of the available active sites among the three samples. Our study demonstrates that the TSSs and mirror symmetry of TCIs expedite their HER activity.
We discuss the origin of topological defects in phase transitions and analyze their role as a diagnostic tool in the study of the non-equilibrium dynamics of symmetry breaking. Homogeneous second order phase transitions are the focus of our attention, but the same paradigm is applied to the cross-over and inhomogeneous transitions. The discrepancy between the experimental results in 3He and 4He is discussed in the light of recent numerical studies. The possible role of the Ginzburg regime in determining the vortex line density for the case of a quench in 4He is raised and tentatively dismissed. The difference in the anticipated origin of the dominant signal in the two (3He and 4He) cases is pointed out and the resulting consequences for the subsequent decay of vorticity are noted. The possibility of a significant discrepancy between the effective field theory and (quantum) kinetic theory descriptions of the order parameter is briefly touched upon, using atomic Bose-Einstein condensates as an example.
Layered narrow band gap semiconductor Bi2Se3 is composed of heavy elements with strong spin-orbital coupling (SOC), which has been identified both as a good candidate of thermoelectric material of high thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) and a topological insulator of Z2-type with a gapless surface band in Dirac cone shape. The existence of a conjugated pi-bond system on the surface of each Bi2Se3 quintuple layer is proposed based on an extended valence bond model having valence electrons distributed in the hybridized orbitals. Supporting experimental evidences of a 2D conjugated pi-bond system on each quintuple layer of Bi2Se3 are provided by electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and electron density (ED) mapping through inverse Fourier transform of X-ray diffraction data. Quantum chemistry calculations support the pi-bond existence between partially filled 4pz orbitals of Se via side-to-side orbital overlap positively. The conjugated pi-bond system on the surface of each quintuple Bi2Se3 layer is proposed being similar to that found in graphite (graphene) and responsible for the unique 2D conduction mechanism. The van der Waals (vdW) attractive force between quintuple layers is interpreted being coming from the anti-ferroelectrically ordered effective electric dipoles which are constructed with pi-bond trimer pairs on Se-layers across the vdW gap of minimized Coulomb repulsion.
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