No Arabic abstract
The spin relaxation time in solids is determined by several competing energy scales and processes and distinct methods are called for to analyze the various regimes. We present a stochastic model for the spin dynamics in solids which is equivalent to solving the spin Boltzmann equation and takes the relevant processes into account on equal footing. The calculations reveal yet unknown parts of the spin-relaxation phase diagram, where strong spin-dephasing occurs in addition to spin-relaxation. Spin-relaxation times are obtained for this regime by introducing the numerical Loschmidt echo. This allows us to construct a generic approximate formula for the spin-relaxation time, $tau_{text{s}}$, for the entire phase diagram, involving the quasiparticle scattering rate, $Gamma$, spin-orbit coupling strength, $mathcal{L}$, and a magnetic term, $Delta_{text{Z}}$ due to the Zeeman effect. The generic expression reads as $hbar/tau_{text{s}}approx Gammacdot mathcal{L}^2 /(Gamma^2+mathcal{L}^2+Delta_{text{Z}}^2)$.
We derive the exact insulator ground states of the projected Hamiltonian of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) flat bands with Coulomb interactions in various limits, and study the perturbations away from these limits. We define the (first) chiral limit where the AA stacking hopping is zero, and a flat limit with exactly flat bands. In the chiral-flat limit, the TBG Hamiltonian has a U(4)$times$U(4) symmetry, and we find that the exact ground states at integer filling $-4le ule 4$ relative to charge neutrality are Chern insulators of Chern numbers $ u_C=4-| u|,2-| u|,cdots,| u|-4$, all of which are degenerate. This confirms recent experiments where Chern insulators are found to be competitive low-energy states of TBG. When the chiral-flat limit is reduced to the nonchiral-flat limit which has a U(4) symmetry, we find $ u=0,pm2$ has exact ground states of Chern number $0$, while $ u=pm1,pm3$ has perturbative ground states of Chern number $ u_C=pm1$, which are U(4) ferromagnetic. In the chiral-nonflat limit with a different U(4) symmetry, different Chern number states are degenerate up to second order perturbations. In the realistic nonchiral-nonflat case, we find that the perturbative insulator states with Chern number $ u_C=0$ ($0<| u_C|<4-| u|$) at integer fillings $ u$ are fully (partially) intervalley coherent, while the insulator states with Chern number $| u_C|=4-| u|$ are valley polarized. However, for $0<| u_C|le4-| u|$, the fully intervalley coherent states are highly competitive (0.005meV/electron higher). At nonzero magnetic field $|B|>0$, a first-order phase transition for $ u=pm1,pm2$ from Chern number $ u_C=text{sgn}( u B)(2-| u|)$ to $ u_C=text{sgn}( u B)(4-| u|)$ is expected, which agrees with recent experimental observations. Lastly, the TBG Hamiltonian reduces into an extended Hubbard model in the stabilizer code limit.
We present low-temperature and high-field magnetotransport data on SrTiO3-LaAlO3 interfaces. The resistance shows hysteresis in magnetic field and a logarithmic relaxation as a function of time. Oscillations in the magnetoresistance are observed, showing a square root periodicity in the applied magnetic field, both in large-area unstructured samples as well as in a structured sample. An explanation in terms of a commensurability condition of edge states in a highly mobile two-dimensional electron gas between substrate step edges is suggested.
The Loschmidt echo, defined as the overlap between quantum wave function evolved with different Hamiltonians, quantifies the sensitivity of quantum dynamics to perturbations and is often used as a probe of quantum chaos. In this work we consider the behavior of the Loschmidt echo in the many body localized phase, which is characterized by emergent local integrals of motion, and provides a generic example of non-ergodic dynamics. We demonstrate that the fluctuations of the Loschmidt echo decay as a power law in time in the many-body localized phase, in contrast to the exponential decay in few-body ergodic systems. We consider the spin-echo generalization of the Loschmidt echo, and argue that the corresponding correlation function saturates to a finite value in localized systems. Slow, power-law decay of fluctuations of such spin-echo-type overlap is related to the operator spreading and is present only in the many-body localized phase, but not in a non-interacting Anderson insulator. While most of the previously considered probes of dephasing dynamics could be understood by approximating physical spin operators with local integrals of motion, the Loschmidt echo and its generalizations crucially depend on the full expansion of the physical operators via local integrals of motion operators, as well as operators which flip local integrals of motion. Hence, these probes allow to get insights into the relation between physical operators and local integrals of motion, and access the operator spreading in the many-body localized phase.
Using symmetry breaking strain to tune the valley occupation of a two-dimensional (2D) electron system in an AlAs quantum well, together with an applied in-plane magnetic field to tune the spin polarization, we independently control the systems valley and spin degrees of freedom and map out a spin-valley phase diagram for the 2D metal-insulator transition. The insulating phase occurs in the quadrant where the system is both spin- and valley-polarized. This observation establishes the equivalent roles of spin and valley degrees of freedom in the 2D metal-insulator transition.
Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a model system that has been used to understand closely-occurring multiband electronic (Mott) and structural (Peierls) transitions for over half a century due to continued scientific and technological interests. Among the many techniques used to study VO2, the most frequently used involve electromagnetic radiation as a probe. Understanding of the distinct physical information provided by different probing radiations is incomplete, mostly owing to the complicated nature of the phase transitions. Here we use transmission of spatially averaged infrared ({lambda}=1500 nm) and visible ({lambda}=500 nm) radiations followed by spectroscopy and nanoscale imaging using x-rays ({lambda}=2.25-2.38 nm) to probe the same VO2 sample while controlling the ambient temperature across its hysteretic phase transitions and monitoring its electrical resistance. We directly observed nanoscale puddles of distinct electronic and structural compositions during the transition. The two main results are that, during both heating and cooling, the transition of infrared and visible transmission occur at significantly lower temperatures than the Mott transition; and the electronic (Mott) transition occurs before the structural (Peierls) transition in temperature. We use our data to provide insights into possible microphysical origins of the different transition characteristics. We highlight that it is important to understand these effects because small changes in the nature of the probe can yield quantitatively, and even qualitatively, different results when applied to a non-trivial multiband phase transition. Our results guide more judicious use of probe type and interpretation of the resulting data.