No Arabic abstract
A combined nonequilibrium Green functions-Ehrenfest dynamics approach is developed that allows for a time-dependent study of the energy loss of a charged particle penetrating a strongly correlated system at zero and finite temperature. Numerical results are presented for finite inhomogeneous two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard models, where the many-electron dynamics in the target are treated fully quantum mechanically and the motion of the projectile is treated classically. The simulations are based on the solution of the two-time Dyson (Keldysh-Kadanoff-Baym) equations using the second-order Born, third-order and T-matrix approximations of the self-energy. As application, we consider protons and helium nuclei with a kinetic energy between 1 and 500 keV/u passing through planar fragments of the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice and, in particular, examine the influence of electron-electron correlations on the energy exchange between projectile and electron system. We investigate the time dependence of the projectiles kinetic energy (stopping power), the electron density, the double occupancy and the photoemission spectrum. Finally, we show that, for a suitable choice of the Hubbard model parameters, the results for the stopping power are in fair agreement with ab-initio simulations for particle irradiation of single-layer graphene.
We study the time-dependent neutralization of a slow highly charged ion that penetrates a hexagonal hollow-centred graphene nanoflake. To compute the ultrafast charge transfer dynamics, we apply an effective Hubbard nanocluster model and use the method of nonequilibrium Green functions (NEGF) in conjunction with an embedding self-energy scheme which allows one to follow the temporal changes of the number of electrons in the nanoflake. We perform extensive simulations of the charge transfer dynamics for a broad range of ion charge states and impact velocities. The results are used to put forward a simple semi-analytical model of the neutralization dynamics that is in very good agreement with transmission experiments, in which highly charged xenon ions pass through sheets of single-layer graphene.
We report the synthesis and characterisation of polycrystalline Na$_2$RuO$_3$, a layered material in which the Ru$^{4+}$ ($4d^4$ configuration) form a honeycomb lattice. The optimal synthesis condition was found to produce a nearly ordered Na$_2$RuO$_3$ ($C2/c$ phase), as assessed from the refinement of the time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction. Magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal a large temperature-independent Pauli paramagnetism ($chi_0 sim 1.42(2)times10^{-3}$ emu/mol Oe) with no evidence of magnetic ordering down to 1.5 K, and with an absence of dynamic magnetic correlations, as evidenced by neutron scattering spectroscopy. The intrinsic susceptibility ($chi_0$) together with the Sommerfeld coeficient of $gamma=11.7(2)$ mJ/Ru mol K$^2$ estimated from heat capacity measurements, gives an enhanced Wilson ratio of $R_Wapprox8.9(1)$, suggesting that magnetic correlations may be present in this material. While transport measurements on pressed pellets show nonmetallic behaviour, photoemission spectrocopy indicate a small but finite density of states at the Fermi energy, suggesting that the bulk material is metallic. Except for resistivity measurements, which may have been compromised by near surface and interface effects, all other probes indicate that Na$_2$RuO$_3$ is a moderately correlated electron metal. Our results thus stand in contrast to earlier reports that Na$_2$RuO$_3$ is an antiferromagnetic insulator at low temperatures.
We describe arrangements of ions capable of producing short-range attractive interactions between pairs of charged colloidal spheres in the low temperature strongly correlated limit. For particles of radius $R$ with bare charge $Z$ and comparable absorbed charge $-N$ ($N sim Z$), the correlations contribution to the spheres self-energy scales as $N^{3/2}/R$, and as $N/R$ for the interaction energy between two touching spheres. We show that the re-arrangement of charges due to polarization plays an insignificant role in the nature and magnitude of the interaction.
The search for materials with novel and unusual electronic properties is at the heart of condensed matter physics as well as the basis to develop conceptual new technologies. In this context, the correlated honeycomb transition metal oxides attract large attention for both, being a possible experimental realization of the theoretically predicted magnetic Kitaev exchange and the theoretical prospect of topological nontriviality. The Mott insulating sodium iridate is prototypical among these materials with the promising prospect to bridge the field of strongly correlated systems with topology, finally opening a path to a wide band gap material with exotic surface properties. Here, we report a profound study of the electronic properties of ultra-high-vacuum cleaved surfaces combining transport measurements with scanning tunneling techniques, showing that multiple conductive channels with differing nature are simultaneously apparent in this material. Most importantly, a V-shaped density of states and a low sheet resistance, in spite of a large defect concentration, point towards a topologically protected surface conductivity contribution. By incorporating the issue of the addressability of electronic states in the tunneling process, we develop a framework connecting previous experimental results as well as theoretical considerations.
Strongly correlated systems of fermions have a number of exciting collective properties. Among them, the creation of a lattice that is occupied by doublons, i.e. two quantum particles with opposite spins, offers interesting electronic properties. In the past a variety of methods have been proposed to control doublon formation, both, spatially and temporally. Here, a novel mechanism is proposed and verified by exact diagonalization and nonequilibrium Green functions simulations---fermionic doublon creation by the impact of energetic ions. We report the formation of a nonequilibrium steady state with homogeneous doublon distribution. The effect should be observable in strongly correlated solids in contact with a high-pressure plasma and in fermionic atoms in optical lattices.