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Amir Yacoby

Publications and source records attributed to Amir Yacoby.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Probing spin order via magnon transmission across quantum Hall ferromagnet heterojunctions

Two-dimensional material platforms now host a remarkable array of exotic correlated phases, from unconventional superconductivity to fractional Chern insulators. Probing magnetic order in these systems is essential for understanding their underlying physics, yet dilute spin densities render conventional magnetic probes ineffective. Spin waves, or magnons, in quantum Hall ferromagnets (QHFM) have proven effective for probing the magnetic order in various symmetry-broken quantum Hall (QH) phases in graphene systems, but previous works have been limited to homojunction configurations within a single material. Here, we demonstrate magnon transmission across a monolayer-bilayer graphene quantum Hall ferromagnet heterojunction - the first magnon transmission across quantum Hall ferromagnet heterojunctions, using one material as a magnon source to probe magnetic order in a distinct material. Generating magnons in monolayer graphene (MLG) at $\nu$ = 1, we detect their transmission through bilayer graphene (BLG) via nonlocal voltage measurements, revealing spin order in BLG symmetry-broken quantum Hall states. The transmission exhibits hallmark magnon signatures: a sharp onset at the Zeeman energy and systematic variation with Landau level filling, including suppression at $\nu$ = 4 and 8 where spin polarization vanishes. Our findings establish heterojunction magnon transmission as a powerful, modular probe of magnetic order, opening new avenues for investigating exotic quantum states across the rapidly expanding family of two-dimensional materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Spatially Resolving the Pre-Thermal Anatomy of a Driven Bosonic Fluid

Understanding how coherently driven quantum many-body systems redistribute energy prior to thermal equilibrium remains a central challenge in many-body physics. Here, we utilize nitrogen-vacancy (NV) magnetometry to perform micron-scale spatial imaging of room-temperature magnon dynamics in a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin film. We resolve a hierarchy of discrete parametric scattering events that serve as deterministic stepping stones toward thermalization. By applying a two-tone wave-mixing protocol, we first isolate the elementary four-magnon interaction and extract its coupling strength via the spatial growth of the scattering product. We then drive the system with an intense single-frequency excitation near ferromagnetic resonance, revealing that magnon-magnon interactions trigger a spontaneous, multi-generation scattering cascade. We demonstrate that in each generation, the dominant scattering channels correspond to one of the out-scattered magnons being in the slow magnon regime, reminiscent of the enhancement of optical nonlinearities in slow light systems. We capture this dynamics quantitatively using a near field magnonics framework and extract the cascade order and nonlinear coefficients directly from power-dependent frequency shifts. By revealing the multi-stage dynamical process through which monochromatic injected magnons evolve toward equilibrium, our work establishes spatially resolved magnonics as a powerful platform for visualizing non-equilibrium many-body kinetics.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Discrete states and ballistic interference in quantum wires approaching macroscopic lengths

Increasing the size of a system showing quantum effects is a difficult task limited by decoherence, a diminishing quantum level spacing, and the effects of disorder spoiling the quantum behavior when growing in size. Systems in 1D offer very strong confinement in the transverse directions, thus generally enhancing quantum effects, but are notoriously sensitive to disorder. In this work, we present a system of 1D electrons exhibiting discrete quantum levels and fully ballistic coherent quantum interference with lengths of up to 18\,$\mu$m. Tunneling spectroscopy between two parallel quantum wires with a central gated segment shows intricate interference patterns exhibiting several different periods in magnetic field and density. An analysis over three different wire lengths and a comparison with single particle numerical simulations without any free parameters remarkably explains the full pattern including the observed periods. Therefore, these wires are essentially ideal 1D systems with aspect ratios approaching 1'000. In addition, at low bias, we also observe not only the Coulomb charging energies but can clearly resolve the discrete orbital and spin states in up to 10\,$\mu$m long wires when filling 100 electrons with the center gate. This is made visible by a state-of-the-art low temperature and low noise measurement system. The spin filling sequence is completely regular, strictly alternating spin up and down, avoiding high spin states, while the peak conductance is modulated in accordance with the previously discussed interference patterns. These striking results show that single particle Schr\"odinger quantum mechanics such as ballistic quantum interference and discrete quantum states may be observed, under the right conditions, in systems of up to 18\,$\mu$m length, thus approaching macroscopic sizes.

cond-mat.mes-hall

A Degenerate Singlet-Triplet Qubit with All-Electrical Orthogonal Control

Singlet-triplet qubits offer an attractive encoding for semiconductor quantum computing, combining ancilla-free readout, reduced sensitivity to common-mode noise, and baseband voltage control. However, the Zeeman energy difference $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$ is typically fixed by local magnetic field gradients or $g$-factor inhomogeneities, leaving the exchange interaction $J$ as the only dynamically tunable parameter. This always-on $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$ precludes orthogonal control of the qubit's rotation axes and introduces unwanted state rotations during idling. Here we demonstrate all-electrical orthogonal control of a degenerate singlet-triplet (DST) qubit formed by two hole spins in a germanium double quantum dot. Exploiting the electrically tunable anisotropic $g$-factors of the two spins, we identify a regime where both $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$ and $J$ vanish, making the $S$ and $T_0$ states degenerate at the idle point. By applying only baseband voltage pulses, we independently control both $J$ and $\Delta E_\mathrm{Z}$, enabling fully orthogonal $Z$- and $X$-axis rotations. Randomized benchmarking yields an average physical single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.53\% for a gate duration of approximately 100 ns. Finally, we electrically tune the degenerate point across a wide range of magnetic field orientations, enabling operation in a regime of enhanced coherence time and offering a route towards multi-qubit scaling under a shared global magnetic field.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Dynamical Control of Superconductivity in Superconductor-Ferromagnet Bilayers

We study a simplified model of a ferromagnetic metal proximitized by a fully-gapped $s-$wave superconductor and integrated with a microwave resonator. The low-energy excitations in the combined system consist of ferromagnetic magnons, Bogoliubov excitations of the superconductor, and cavity photons. We show here that when the magnons and photons have comparable frequencies and are subject to an external drive, the hybridized driven magnon-polaritons induce a non-equilibrium crossover from the expected proximitized nodal $p-$wave superconductor to a fully gapped $(p_x+ip_y)-$superconductor. Moreover, the characteristic crossover temperature is inversely related to the magnon-photon detuning. We compute the temperature-dependent renormalization of the cavity photon frequencies across this nodal to nodeless evolution, which modifies the kinetic inductance of the resonator, and find a number of non-trivial features tied to the non-equilibrium (i.e., driven) nature of the problem. We compare and contrast these results with a recent circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) based experiment studying a permalloy-niobium bilayer, where a non-trivial dependence of the low-temperature cavity response on the magnon-photon detuning was observed. Our results pave the way for a principled exploration of engineering novel states of matter by coupling cavity photons to electronic collective modes in correlated two-dimensional materials and interfaces.

cond-mat.supr-con

Persistent currents, whirlpools, and local Chern markers in twisted TMD Chern insulators

Recent materials advances have made it possible to fabricate twisted transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers. These systems have been shown to host integer and fractional Chern insulating states. Because of spontaneous time reversal symmetry breaking, their ground state harbors intriguing spin-polarized currents with whirlpools on the moir\'e length scale that can be measured by scanning probe methods. We first provide a quantitative analysis of these persistent currents and then show that the maximum of the amplitude of the current density in the bulk of the sample is an accurate tracker of topological order. We conclude by calculating how the quantization of the Hall conductance is affected by finite-size effects.

cond-mat.mes-hall

A nanoscale magnetic spectrum analyzer based on qubit dressed states

Magnetic field fluctuations on nanometer length scales manifest in a diverse range of phenomena -- electron and spin dynamics in materials and devices, quantum many-body systems, and molecular chemistry. Measuring these phenomena requires sensors with a challenging combination of broad spectral bandwidth, high sensitivity, and nanoscale spatial resolution. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, atom-like quantum sensors in diamond, possess the requisite sensitivity and nanoscale sensing volume, but are typically limited in bandwidth by the practical speed of the applied quantum control sequence. Here, we overcome this limitation by exposing the NV qubit to a microwave dressing field during a dynamical decoupling sequence, which both amplifies and frequency-mixes target signals at arbitrary frequencies into the detection band of the dynamical decoupling protocol. We demonstrate this approach by using NV centers to detect both coherent and noisy nanoscale spin wave dynamics in a magnetic yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) thin film over a broad frequency range. Our technique generalizes to other qubit platforms, providing a versatile framework for nanoscale spectroscopy across diverse physical and chemical systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Theory of Two-Qubit $T_2$ Spectroscopy of Quantum Many-Body Systems

Multi-qubit quantum sensors are rapidly emerging as platforms that extend the capabilities of conventional single-qubit sensing. In this work we show how suitable pulse sequences applied to a two-qubit sensor enable separate extraction of the response and noise of a probed environment within a $T_2$ spectroscopy framework. By resorting to representative examples, we demonstrate that this approach can resolve the spatio-temporal spreading of correlations in a many-body system. In particular, the resulting correlated dephasing signal captures features such as the dispersion of low-energy excitations, which manifest as light-cone-like profiles in the propagation of correlations. We further show that non-equilibrium conditions, for instance those induced by external driving, can modify this profile by producing additional fringes outside the light-cone. As a complementary application, we demonstrate that the method clearly distinguishes between different transport regimes in the system, including ballistic spreading, diffusive broadening, and the crossover between them.

quant-ph

Controlled localization of anyons in a graphene quantum Hall interferometer

Exchange statistics are a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, dictating the symmetry of identical particle wavefunctions and thereby enabling emergent phenomena of many-body quantum states. The exchange-induced unitary transformation of both abelian and non-abelian anyonic wavefunctions can be probed using electronic fractional quantum Hall (FQH) interferometers, where quasiparticles propagating along the interfering FQH edge braid with those localized within the interferometer. Here, we add a gate-controlled dot/anti-dot in the center of a bilayer graphene FQH interferometer cavity to tune the number of enclosed anyons. We observe hundreds of controlled phase slips in the diagonal conductance across the interferometer for both abelian and non-abelian states, consistent with discrete changes in the localized quasiparticle population. For abelian anyons, the observed phase slips agree with the theoretically expected value. At half filling, our results suggest the interfering edge carries charge $|e^*/e| = 1/2$ abelian excitations, whereas charge $|e^*/e| = 1/4$ putative non-abelian anyons remain localized in the interferometer cavity. Controlling the population of localized $e/4$ anyons in an interferometer marks a significant milestone towards observing their non-local exchange statistics and building a fault tolerant topological qubit based on non-abelian anyon manipulation.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Vortex-parity-controlled diode effect in Corbino topological Josephson junctions

Nonreciprocal supercurrents in Josephson junctions have recently emerged as a sensitive tool for investigating broken symmetries in superconducting quantum materials. Here, we report an even-odd Josephson diode effect (JDE) in Corbino-geometry junctions fabricated on the pristine surface of a bulk-insulating three-dimensional topological insulator (3DTI). We find that the diode polarity, which indicates the preferred direction of supercurrent flow, robustly alternates its sign depending on the parity (even or odd) of the enclosed vortex number. This behavior is absent in two key control devices: a non-topological graphene Corbino Josephson junction and a 3DTI-based linear Josephson junction. These results indicate that the polarity-tunable JDE is intrinsically linked to the unique combination of the proximitized topological superconductivity in the 3DTI surface and the Corbino device's closed-loop geometry. Our theoretical modeling attributes the observed sign change in diode polarity to the alternating sign of periodic boundary conditions in topological superconductors, supporting the interpretation that the vortex-parity-controlled JDE is a direct manifestation of the underlying Andreev bound state topology associated with the presence of non-Abelian anyons in the vortices.

cond-mat.supr-con

Edge State Selective Measurement of Quantum Hall Dispersions

Edge states reflect the key physical properties yet are difficult to probe individually, particularly when several states are present at an edge. We present momentum resolved tunneling spectroscopy between a quantum well and a quantum wire to extract the dispersions of the quantum Hall edge states. Momentum and energy selective tunneling allows to separately address the different states even if they are spatially overlapping. This delivers the edge state velocities over broad ranges of magnetic field and density, in excellent agreement with a hard-wall model. This technique provides a basis for future edge state selective spectroscopy on quantum materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Probing Time Reversal Symmetry Breaking using a Nonlinear Superconducting Ring Resonator

Time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) has been central to detecting exotic phases of matter. Here, we leverage the circuit electrodynamics capabilities of superconducting devices to propose a novel scheme based on a multimode superconducting ring resonator for sensitive probing of TRSB in quantum materials. A ring resonator enables nonlinear cross-interactions between the modes which act as an built-in amplifiers to be harnessed for enhanced sensing. Using a driven-dissipative model, we explore the nonlinear dynamics of a two-mode superconducting circuit with self- and cross-Kerr nonlinearities under conditions near the bifurcation threshold. By mapping the optimal parameter regimes, we show that even when the photon occupation numbers are subjected to different initial conditions, they can be driven into a symmetric configuration which is broken even with weak TRSB. Through full quantum analysis we demonstrate that the Kerr-nonlinear interactions up-convert the magnetic effects of material-resonator hybrid system, enhancing the probing of TRSB. Our findings highlight the utility of superconducting microwave resonators outside of quantum information processing, as a tool for probing exotic states of matter.

quant-ph

Non-Gaussian Noise Magnetometry Using Local Spin Qubits

Atomic scale qubits, as may be realized in nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, offer the opportunity to study magnetic field noise with nanometer scale spatial resolution. Using these spin qubits, one can learn a great deal about the magnetic-field noise correlations, and correspondingly the collective-mode spectra, in quantum materials and devices. However, to date these tools have been essentially restricted to studying Gaussian noise processes -- equivalent to linear-response. In this work we will show how to extend these techniques beyond the Gaussian regime and show how to unambiguously measure higher-order magnetic noise cumulants in a local, spatially resolved way. We unveil two protocols for doing this; the first uses a single spin-qubit and different dynamical decoupling sequences to extract non-Markovian and non-Gaussian spin-echo noise. The second protocol uses two-qubit coincidence measurements to study spatially non-local cumulants in the magnetic noise. We then demonstrate the utility of these protocols by considering a model of a bath of non-interacting two-level systems, as well as a model involving spatially correlated magnetic fluctuations near a second-order Ising phase transition. In both cases, we highlight how this technique can be used to measure in a real many-body system how fluctuation dynamics converge towards the central limit theorem as a function of effective bath size. We then conclude by discussing some promising applications and extensions of this method.

quant-ph

Coherent manipulation of interacting electron qubitson solid neon

Electrons trapped on solid neon surfaces serve as low-noise charge qubits with long coherence times and high operational fidelities. Such charge qubits offer full electrical control and compact device footprints, convenient for scaling up with quantum circuits. Realizing two-qubit gates on this platform is a critical step towards practical quantum information processing. In this work, we report the first experimental demonstration of coherent manipulation of multiple interacting electron-on-solid-neon (eNe) charge qubits. By exploiting the electrons naturally confined in close proximity by the surface structures of solid neon, we have achieved a direct qubit-qubit coupling strength of up to 62.5 MHz, as well as implemented cross-resonance (CR) and bSWAP two-qubit gates using global microwave drives. The natural electron confinement by solid neon mitigates the high-density-wiring challenge, simplifies the multi-qubit control, and establishes a unique path to scale up the eNe qubit platform.

quant-ph

Microwave-regime demonstration of plasmonic non-reciprocity in a flowing two-dimensional electron gas

The speed of a plasmonic wave in the presence of electron drift in a conductor depends on the wave's propagation direction, with the wave traveling along the drift (`forward wave') faster than the wave traveling against the drift (`backward wave'). Phenomena related to this plasmonic non-reciprocity -- which is relatively more pronounced in two-dimensional conductors than in bulk conductors and could lead to solid-state device applications -- have been studied in THz and optical spectral regimes. Here we demonstrate the plasmonic non-reciprocity at microwave frequencies (10 $\sim$ 50 GHz). Concretely, we conduct, at 4K, a microwave network analysis on a gated GaAs two-dimensional electron gas with electron drift (i.e., DC current), directly measuring out forward and backward wave speeds via their propagation phase delays. We resolve, for example, forward and backward wave speeds of $4.26 \times 10^{-3} \pm 8.97 \times 10^{-6}$ (normalized to the speed of light). Sufficient consistency between the electron drift speed obtained from the microwave measurement and that alternatively estimated by a DC transport theory further confirms the non-reciprocity. We conclude this paper with a discussion on how to enhance the non-reciprocity for real-world applications, where degeneracy pressure would play an important role.

cond-mat.mes-hall

On-Chip Terahertz Spectroscopy for Dual-Gated van der Waals Heterostructures at Cryogenic Temperatures

Van der Waals heterostructures have emerged as a versatile platform to study correlated and topological electron physics. Spectroscopy experiments in the THz regime are crucial, since the energy of THz photons matches that of relevant excitations and charge dynamics. However, their micron-size and complex (dual-)gated structures have challenged such measurements. Here, we demonstrate on-chip THz spectroscopy on a dual-gated bilayer graphene device at liquid helium temperature. To avoid unwanted THz absorption by metallic gates, we developed a scheme of operation by combining semiconducting gates and optically controlled gating. This allows us to measure the clean THz response of graphene without being affected by the gates. We observed the THz signatures of electric-field-induced bandgap opening at the charge neutrality. We measured Drude conductivities at varied charge densities and extracted key parameters, including effective masses and scattering rates. This work paves the way for studying novel emergent phenomena in dual-gated two-dimensional materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall

An antiferromagnetic diode effect in even-layered MnBi2Te4

In a PN junction, the separation between positive and negative charges leads to diode transport. In the past few years, the intrinsic diode transport in noncentrosymmetric polar conductors has attracted great interest, because it suggests novel nonlinear applications and provides a symmetry-sensitive probe of Fermi surface. Recently, such studies have been extended to noncentrosymmetric superconductors, realizing the superconducting diode effect. Here, we show that, even in a centrosymmetric crystal without directional charge separation, the spins of an antiferromagnet (AFM) can generate a spatial directionality, leading to an AFM diode effect. We observe large second-harmonic transport in a nonlinear electronic device enabled by the compensated AFM state of even-layered MnBi2Te4. We also report a novel electrical sum-frequency generation (SFG), which has been rarely explored in contrast to the well-known optical SFG in wide-gap insulators. We demonstrate that the AFM enables an in-plane field-effect transistor and harvesting of wireless electromagnetic energy. The electrical SFG establishes a powerful method to study nonlinear electronics built by quantum materials. The AFM diode effect paves the way for potential device concepts including AFM logic circuits, self-powered AFM spintronics, and other applications that potentially bridge nonlinear electronics with AFM spintronics.

cond-mat.str-el

Probing the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless vortex unbinding transition in two-dimensional superconductors using local noise magnetometry

The melting of quasi-long-range superconductivity in two spatial dimensions occurs through the proliferation and unbinding of vortex-antivortex pairs -- a phenomenon known as the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. Although signatures of this transition have been observed in bulk measurements, these experiments are often complicated, ambiguous, and unable to resolve the rich physics of the vortex unbinding transition. Here we show that local noise magnetometry is a sensitive, noninvasive probe that can provide direct information about the scale-dependent vortex dynamics. In particular, by resolving the distance and temperature dependence of the magnetic noise, it may be possible to experimentally study the renormalization group flow equations of the vortex gas and track the onset of vortex unbinding in situ. Specifically, we predict i) a nonmonotonic dependence of the noise on temperature and ii) the local noise is almost independent of the sample-probe distance at the BKT transition. We also show that noise magnetometry can distinguish Gaussian superconducting order-parameter fluctuations from topological vortex fluctuations and can detect the emergence of unbound vortices. The weak distance dependence at the BKT transition can also be used to distinguish it from quasiparticle background noise. Our predictions may be within experimental reach for a number of unconventional superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con