Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userTopological charge density waves at half-integer filling of a moire superlattice
151
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
At partial filling of a flat band, strong electronic interactions may favor gapped states harboring emergent topology with quantized Hall conductivity. Emergent topological states have been found in partially filled Landau levels and Hofstadter bands; in both cases, a large magnetic field is required to engineer the underlying flat band. The recent observation of quantum anomalous Hall effects (QAH) in narrow band moire systems has led to the theoretical prediction that such phases may be realized even at zero magnetic field. Here we report the experimental observation of insulators with Chern number $C=1$ in the zero magnetic field limit at $ u=3/2$ and $7/2$ filling of the moire superlattice unit cell in twisted monolayer-bilayer graphene (tMBG). Our observation of Chern insulators at half-integer values of $ u$ suggests spontaneous doubling of the superlattice unit cell, in addition to spin- and valley-ferromagnetism. This is confirmed by Hartree-Fock calculations, which find a topological charge density wave ground state at half filling of the underlying $C=2$ band, in which the Berry curvature is evenly partitioned between occupied and unoccupied states. We find the translation symmetry breaking order parameter is evenly distributed across the entire folded superlattice Brillouin zone, suggesting that the system is in the flat band, strongly correlated limit. Our findings show that the interplay of quantum geometry and Coulomb interactions in moire bands allows for topological phases at fractional superlattice filling that spontaneously break time-reversal symmetry, a prerequisite in pursuit of zero magnetic field phases harboring fractional statistics as elementary excitations or bound to lattice dislocations.
rate research
Read More
The flat bands resulting from moire superlattices in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) and ABC-trilayer graphene aligned with hexagonal boron nitride (ABC-TLG/hBN) have been shown to give rise to fascinating correlated electron phenomena such as correlated insulators and superconductivity. More recently, orbital magnetism associated with correlated Chern insulators was found in this class of layered structures centered at integer multiples of n0, the density corresponding to one electron per moire superlattice unit cell. Here we report the experimental observation of ferromagnetism at fractional filling of a flat Chern band in an ABC-TLG/hBN moiresuperlattice. The ferromagnetic state exhibits prominent ferromagnetic hysteresis behavior with large anomalous Hall resistivity in a broad region of densities, centered in the valence miniband at n = -2.3 n0. This ferromagnetism depends very sensitively on the control parameters in the moire system: not only the magnitude of the anomalous Hall signal, but also the sign of the hysteretic ferromagnetic response can be modulated by tuning the carrier density and displacement field. Our discovery of electrically tunable ferromagnetism in a moire Chern band at non-integer filling highlights the opportunities for exploring new correlated ferromagnetic states in moire heterostructures.
In magic angle twisted bilayer graphene, electron-electron interactions play a central role resulting in correlated insulating states at certain integer fillings. Identifying the nature of these insulators is a central question and potentially linked to the relatively high temperature superconductivity observed in the same devices. Here we address this question using a combination of analytical strong-coupling arguments and a comprehensive Hartree-Fock numerical calculation which includes the effect of remote bands. The ground state we obtain at charge neutrality is an unusual ordered state which we call the Kramers intervalley-coherent (K-IVC) insulator. In its simplest form, the K-IVC exhibits a pattern of alternating circulating currents which triples the graphene unit cell leading to an orbital magnetization density wave. Although translation and time reversal symmetry are broken, a combined `Kramers time reversal symmetry is preserved. Our analytic arguments are built on first identifying an approximate ${rm U}(4) times {rm U}(4)$ symmetry, resulting from the remarkable properties of the tBG band structure, which helps select a low energy manifold of states, which are further split to favor the K-IVC. This low energy manifold is also found in the Hartree-Fock numerical calculation. We show that symmetry lowering perturbations can stabilize other insulators and the semi-metallic state, and discuss the ground state at half filling and a comparison with experiments.
Tight binding models like the Hubbard Hamiltonian are most often explored in the context of uniform intersite hopping $t$. The electron-electron interactions, if sufficiently large compared to this translationally invariant $t$, can give rise to ordered magnetic phases and Mott insulator transitions, especially at commensurate filling. The more complex situation of non-uniform $t$ has been studied within a number of situations, perhaps most prominently in multi-band geometries where there is a natural distinction of hopping between orbitals of different degree of overlap. In this paper we explore related questions arising from the interplay of multiple kinetic energy scales and electron-phonon interactions. Specifically, we use Determinant Quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) to solve the half-filled Holstein Hamiltonian on a `decorated honeycomb lattice, consisting of hexagons with internal hopping $t$ coupled together by $t^{,prime}$. This modulation of the hopping introduces a gap in the Dirac spectrum and affects the nature of the topological phases. We determine the range of $t/t^{,prime}$ values which support a charge density wave (CDW) phase about the Dirac point of uniform hopping $t=t^{,prime}$, as well as the critical transition temperature $T_c$. The QMC simulations are compared with the results of Mean Field Theory (MFT).
Heterostructures of mixed-valence manganites are still under intense scrutiny, due to the occurrence of exotic quantum phenomena linked to electronic correlation and interfacial composition. For instance, if two anti-ferromagnetic insulators as LaMnO$_3$ and SrMnO$_3$ are grown in a (001)-oriented superlattice, a half-metallic ferromagnet may form, provided that the thickness is sufficiently small to allow tunneling across interfaces. In this article, we employ electronic structure calculations to show that all the layers of a (111)-oriented LaMnO$_3$|SrMnO$_3$ superlattice retain a half-metallic ferromagnetic character for a much larger thickness than in its (001) counterpart. This behavior is shown to be linked to the charge transfer across the interface, favored by the octahedral connectivity between the layers. This also results in a symmetry-induced quenching of the Jahn-Teller distortions, which are replaced by breathing modes. The latter are coupled to charge and spin oscillations, whose components have a pure e g character. Most interestingly, the magnetization reaches its maximum value inside the LaMnO$_3$ region and not at the interface, which is fundamentally different from what observed for the (001) orientation. The analysis of the inter-atomic exchange coupling shows that the magnetic order arises from the double-exchange mechanism, despite competing interactions inside the SrMnO$_3$ region. Finally, the van Vleck distortions and the spin oscillations are found to be crucially affected by the variation of Hunds exchange and charge doping, which allows us to speculate that our system behaves as a Hunds metal, creating an interesting connection between manganites and nickelates.
Experimental signatures of charge density waves (CDW) in high-temperature superconductors have evoked much recent interest, yet an alternative interpretation has been theoretically raised based on electronic standing waves resulting from quasiparticles scattering off impurities or defects, also known as Friedel oscillations (FO). Indeed the two phenomena are similar and related, posing a challenge to their experimental differentiation. Here we report a resonant X-ray diffraction study of ZrTe$_3$, a model CDW material. Near the CDW transition, we observe two independent diffraction signatures that arise concomitantly, only to become clearly separated in momentum while developing very different correlation lengths in the well-ordered state. Anomalously slow dynamics of mesoscopic ordered nanoregions are further found near the transition temperature, in spite of the expected strong thermal fluctuations. These observations reveal that a spatially-modulated CDW phase emerges out of a uniform electronic fluid via a process that is promoted by self-amplifying FO, and identify a viable experimental route to distinguish CDW and FO.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
