arXiv subjects

Antonio Bianconi

Publications and source records attributed to Antonio Bianconi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

High magnetic field response of superconductivity dome in quantum artificial High Tc superlattices with variable geometry

It is known that cuprate artificial high Tc superlattices (AHTS) with period d, composed of quantum wells confining interface space charge in stoichiometric Mott insulator layers (S), with thickness L, at the interface with overdoped normal metallic cuprate layers (N) show a superconducting dome by tuning the geometric L over d ratio of the SNSN superlattice with the top predicted by quantum material design engineering quantum size effects. Here we report high-field magneto transport measurements up to 41 Tesla of AHTS across the entire superconducting dome. The results show the universal upward-concave behavior of the temperature dependent upper critical magnetic field in low Tc samples at rising edge and drop edge of the dome providing strong evidence consistent with two-band superconductivity for two-band superconductivity in agreement with multigap theory used for quantum design of the SNSN superlattices. The measured superconducting coherence length demonstrates that atomic-scale engineering controls not only the critical temperature but also the intrinsic pair size at Fano-Feshbach resonances physics paving the way toward next generation quantum devices and shedding light on unconventional superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Lattice Quantum Geometry Controlling 118 K Multigap Superconductivity in Heavily Overdoped CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+d

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction has been used to study the thermal structure evolution in CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+d (Cu1234), a superconductor which exhibits a high critical temperature (Tc 118 K), high critical current density and large upper critical magnetic field. The lattice geometry at nanoscale of this cuprate belongs to the class of natural heterostructures at atomic limit like the artificial high Tc superlattices made of interface space charge in Mott insulator units intercalated by metal units. Temperature-dependent lattice parameters reveal a distinct structural transition at TC characterized by a drop of the c-axis and in plane Cu-O negative thermal expansion below TC. These results provide clear evidence of lattice reorganization associated with the chemical potential changes due to the opening of multiple superconducting gaps. Additionally, evidence for oxygen defects rearrangement is observed at temperatures above 200 K. We construct a phase diagram correlating temperature, the c/a axis ratio, and in plane Cu-O strain, identifying regions associated with gaps opening and oxygen rearrangement. These findings provide new insights into how lattice geometry control superconductivity to inform the material design of advanced nanoscale superconducting artificial quantum heterostructures.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Nanoscale lattice heterostructure in high Tc superconductors

Low temperature superconductivity was known since 1957 to be described by BCS theory for an effective single band metals controlled by the density of states at the Fermi level, very far from band edges, the electron phonon coupling, and the energy of the boson in the pairing interaction w0, but BCS has failed to predict high temperature superconductivity in different materials above about 23 K. High temperature superconductivity above 35 K since 1986 has been a matter of materials science where manipulating the lattice complexity of high temperature superconducting ceramic oxides (HTSC) has driven material scientists to grow new HTSC quantum materials up to 138K in HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8 (Hg1223) at ambient pressure and near room temperature in pressurized hydrides. This perspective covers the major results of materials scientist in these last 39 years investigating the role of lattice inhomogeneity detected in these new quantum complex materials. We highlight the nanoscale heterogeneity in these complex materials and elucidate their special role played in the physics for HTSC. Especially, it is pointed out that the geometry of lattice and charge complex heterogeneity at nanoscale is essential and intrinsic in the mechanism of rising quantum coherence at high temperature

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Josephson coupling in Lanthanum-based cuprates superlattices

In most anisotropic compounds such as bismuth-based layered cuprate perovskites, the supercurrent across the blocking layer is of Josephson type, and a single crystal forms a natural stack of Josephson junctions. Here, we report on the evidence of Josephson-like transport in an artificial cuprate superlattice composed of 10 LaSrCuO-LaCuO repeats, creating a superlattice of junctions, where LCO is a superconducting Mott insulator and LSCO an overdoped metal, respectively. The superlattice has been designed with a long period d = L+W = 5.28 nm, with L and W the thickness of LCO and LSCO units, respectively, and is in the underdoped regime with an average doping level < δ >= 0.11. Quantum-size effects and Rashba spin-orbit coupling are controlled by L/d = 0.75, with a quasi-2D superconducting transition temperature of 41 K and a c-axis coherence length of about 1.5 nm. Measurements at very low temperatures show evidence of Josephson phase dynamics consistent with very low Josephson coupling and a phase diffusion regime, thus explaining why Josephson coupling in LSCO superlattices has been so elusive. The tuning of LSCO superlattices in the Josephson regime enriches the phase diagram of HTS.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

High-Tc superconducting dome in artificial heterostructures made of nanoscale quantum building blocks

While the search of high Tc superconductivity was driven mostly by trial and error methodology searching for novel materials, here we provide a quasi-first-principle quantum theory for engineering superconductivity in artificial high-Tc superlattices (AHTS) with period d, ranging from 5.28 down to 3 nanometers, made of superconducting quantum wells of variable thickness L. An important feature of our quantum design is the key role of the interface internal electric field giving Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the nanoscale quantum superconducting building blocks. By tuning the geometrical conformational parameter L/d around its magic ratio 2/3 we predict the superconducting dome of Tc versus doping characteristic of unconventional superconductors. Quantum size effects, controlled by L/d, change the energy width and splitting of two quantum subbands formed by the electronic space charge confined in superconducting nano-layers. The theoretical superconducting dome Tc versus charge density controlled by the Fano-Feshbach resonance between two superconducting gaps has been able to predict experimental results on cuprate AHTS by tuning the geometry of superlattices of quantum wells made of superconducting layers (S) of thickness L of modulation doped stoichiometric Mott insulator La2CuO4 with no chemical dopants, with interface space charge confined within normal metal (N) overdoped cuprate layers

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Kondo versus Fano in superconducting artificial high-Tc heterostructures

Recently, the quest for high-Tc superconductivity has evolved from the trial-and-error methodology to the growth of nanostructured artificial high-Tc superlattices (AHTS) with tailor-made superconducting functional properties by quantum design. Superlattices are composed of nanoscale superconducting units of modulation doped Mott insulator La2CuO4 with thickness L intercalated by metallic overdoped La1.55Sr0.45CuO4 and period d. Quantum design based on the multi-gap Bogoliubov theory including spin-orbit coupling (SOC). has been employed for prediction of the amplification of the critical temperature as a function of the conformational parameter L/d. At the top of the superconducting dome, at the magic ratio L/d=2/3, the heterostructures are tuned at the Fano-Feshbach resonance and the normal phase exhibits the Planckian T-linear resistivity. Here, we report experimental evidence that the Kondo proximity effect competes with the Fano-Feshbach resonance suppressing Tc on both sides of the superconducting dome. The Kondo proximity effect is expected in electrical resistance of AHTS nanoscale heterostructures following a Kondo universal scaling obtained by numerical renormalization group theory. We show the vanishing Kondo temperature TK and Kondo scattering amplitude R0K at L/d=2/3, while TK and R0K increase on the underdoped (L/d>2/3) and overdoped (L/d<2/3) side of the superconducting dome.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Emergent Fano-Feshbach resonance in two-band superconductors with an incipient quasi-flat band: Enhanced critical temperature evading particle-hole fluctuations

In superconductivity, a surge of interests in enhancing $T_{\rm c}$ is ever mounting, where a recent focus is toward multi-band superconductivity. In $T_{\rm c}$ enhancements specific to two-band cases, especially around the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover considered here, we have to be careful about how quantum fluctuations affect the many-body states, i.e., particle-hole fluctuations suppressing the pairing for attractive interactions. Here we explore how to circumvent the suppression by examining multichannel pairing interactions in two-band systems. With the Gor'kov-Melik-Barkhudarov (GMB) formalism for particle-hole fluctuations in a continuous space, we look into the case of a deep dispersive band accompanied by an incipient heavy-mass (i.e., quasi-flat) band. We find that, while the GMB corrections usually suppress $T_{\rm c}$ significantly, this in fact competes with the enhanced pairing arising from the heavy band, with the trade-off leading to a peaked structure in $T_{\rm c}$ against the band-mass ratio when the heavy band is incipient. The system then plunges into a strong-coupling regime with the GMB screening vastly suppressed. This occurs prominently when the chemical potential approaches the bound state lurking just below the heavy band, which can be viewed as a Fano-Feshbach resonance, with its width governed by the pair-exchange interaction. The diagrammatic structure comprising particle-particle and particle-hole channels is heavily entangled, so that the emergent Fano-Feshbach resonance dominates all the channels, suggesting a universal feature in multiband superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Spin-orbit coupling controlling the superconducting dome of artificial superlattices of quantum wells

While it is known that a resonant amplification of Tc in two-gap superconductors can be driven by using the Fano-Feshbach resonance tuning the chemical potential near a Lifshitz transition, little is known on tuning the Tc resonance by cooperative interplay of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) joint with phonon mediated (e-ph) pairing at selected k-space spots. Here we present first-principles quantum calculation of superconductivity in an artificial heterostructure of metallic quantum wells with 3 nm period where quantum size effects give two-gap superconductivity with RSOC controlled by the internal electric field at the interface between the nanoscale metallic layers intercalated by insulating spacer layers. The key results of this work show that fundamental quantum mechanics effects including RSCO at the nanoscale (Mazziotti et al Phys. Rev. B, 103, 024523, 2021) provide key tools in applied physics for quantitative material design of unconventional high temperature superconductors at ambient pressure. We discuss the superconducting domes where Tc is a function of either the Lifshitz parameter (?) measuring the distance from the topological Lifshitz transition for the appearing of a new small Fermi surface due to quantum size effects with finite spin-orbit coupling and the variable e-ph coupling g in the appearing second Fermi surface linked with the softening of the phonon energy cut off.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Scale free distribution of oxygen interstitials wires in optimum doped HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+y}$

Novel nanoscale probes are opening new venues for understanding unconventional electronic and magnetic functionalities driven by multiscale lattice complexity in doped high temperature superconducting perovskites. In this work we focus on the multiscale texture at supramolecular level of atomic oxygen interstitials (O-i) stripes in HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+y}$ at optimal doping for the highest superconducting critical temperature $T_C$=94K. We report compelling evidence for the nematic phase of oxygen-interstitial O-i atomic wires with fractal-like spatial distribution over multiple scales by using scanning micro and nano X-ray-diffraction. The scale free distribution of O-i atomic wires at optimum doping extending from micron scale down to nanoscale has been associated with the intricate filamentary network of hole rich metallic wires in the CuO$_2$ plane. The observed critical opalescence provides evidence for the proximity to a critical point controlling the emergence of high temperature superconductivity at optimum doping

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Periodic recurrent waves of Covid-19 epidemics and vaccination campaign

While understanding of periodic recurrent waves of Covid-19 epidemics would aid to combat the pandemics, quantitative analysis of data over a two years period from the outbreak, is lacking. The complexity of Covid-19 recurrent waves is related with the concurrent role of i) the containment measures enforced to mitigate the epidemics spreading ii) the rate of viral gene mutations, and iii) the variable immune response of the host implemented by vaccination. This work focuses on the effect of massive vaccination and gene variants on the recurrent waves in a representative case of countries enforcing mitigation and vaccination strategy. The spreading rate is measured by the ratio between the reproductive number Rt(t) and the doubling time Td(t) called RIC-index and the daily fatalities number. The dynamics of the Covid-19 epidemics has been studied by wavelet analysis and represented by a non-linear helicoid vortex in a 3D space where both RIC-index and fatalities change with time. The onset of periodic recurrent waves has been identified by the transition from convergent to divergent trajectories on the helicoid vortex. We report a main period of recurrent waves of 120 days and the elongation of this period after the vaccination campaign

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2022

Nanoscale inhomogeneity of charge density waves dynamics in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$NiO$_4$

While stripe phases with broken rotational symmetry of charge density appear in many complex correlated systems, the heterogeneity of spatial ordering and dynamics remains elusive. This missing info is at the heart of understanding the structure and function relation in quantum complex materials. We focus here on the spatial heterogeneity of the motion of charge density wave (CDW) at nanoscale in the archetypal case of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$NiO$_{4+y}$ perovskite at low temperature. We report compelling evidence that the unconventional increasing motion of CDW at T < 50K is related with the decreasing of its correlation length using resonant soft X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). The key result of this work is the direct visualization of nanoscale spatial inhomogeneity of CDW relaxation dynamics by scanning micro X-ray diffraction (SmXRD) showing a nanoscale landscape of percolating short range dynamic CDW puddles competing with large quasi-static CDW puddles giving rise to a novel form of nanoscale phase separation of the incommensurate stripes order landscape.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Functional Nanoscale Phase Separation and Intertwined Order in Quantum Complex Materials

Nanoscale phase separation (NPS) characterized by particular types of correlated disorder plays an important role in the functionality of high temperature superconductors (HTS). Our results show that multiscale heterogeneity is an essential ingredient of quantum functionality in complex materials. Here, the interactions developing between different structural units cause dynamical spatiotemporal conformations with correlated disorder. Thus visualizing conformations landscape is needed for understanding the physical properties of complex matter and requires advanced methodologies based on high precision X ray measurements. We discuss the dynamical correlated disorder at nanoscale and the related functionality in oxygen doped perovskite superconducting materials

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Resonant multigap superconductivity at room temperature near a Lifshitz topological transition in sulfur hydrides

The maximum critical temperature for superconductivity in pressurized hydrides appears at the top of superconducting domes in Tc versus pressure curves at a particular pressure, which is not predicted by standard superconductivity theories. The a high-order anisotropic van Hove singularity near the Fermi level observed in band structure calculations of pressurized sulfur hydride, typical of a supermetal, has been associated with the array of metallic hydrogen wires modules forming a nanoscale heterostructure at atomic limit called superstripes phase. Here we propose that pressurized sulfur hydrides behave as a heterostructure made of a nanoscale superlattice of interacting quantum wires with a multicomponent electronic structure. We present first-principles quantum calculation of a universal superconducting dome where Tc amplification in multi-gap superconductivity is driven by the Fano-Feshbach resonance due to configuration interaction between open and closed pairing channels, i.e., between multiple gaps in the BCS regime, resonating with a single gap in the BCS-BEC crossover regime. In the proposed three dimensional (3D) phase diagram the critical temperature shows a superconducting dome where Tc is a function of two variables (i) the Lifshitz parameter ($η$) measuring the separation of the chemical potential from the Lifshitz transition normalized by the inter-wires coupling and (ii) the effective electron phonon coupling (g) in the appearing new Fermi surface including phonon softening. The results will be of help for material design of room temperature superconductors at ambient pressure.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Metastable states in plateaus and multi-wave epidemic dynamics of Covid-19 spreading in Italy

The control of Covid 19 epidemics by public health policy in Italy during the first and the second epidemic waves has been driven by using reproductive number Rt(t) to identify the supercritical (percolative), the subcritical (arrested), separated by the critical regime. Here we show that to quantify the Covid-19 spreading rate with containment measures (CSRwCM) there is a need of a 3D expanded parameter space phase diagram built by the combination of Rt(t) and doubling time Td(t). In this space we identify the dynamics of the Covid-19 dynamics Italy and its administrative Regions. The supercritical regime is mathematically characterized by i) the power law of Td vs. [Rt(t)-1] and ii) the exponential behaviour of Td vs. time, either in the first and in the second wave. The novel 3D phase diagram shows clearly metastable states appearing before and after the second wave critical regime. for loosening quarantine and tracing of actives cases. The metastable states are precursors of the abrupt onset of a next nascent wave supercritical regime. This dynamic description allows epidemics predictions needed by policymakers to activate non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), a key issue for avoiding economical losses, reduce fatalities and avoid new virus variant during vaccination campaign

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2021

Multigaps superconductivity at unconventional Lifshitz transition in a 3D Rashba heterostructure at atomic limit

It is well known that the critical temperature of multi-gap superconducting 3D heterostructures at atomic limit (HAL) made of a superlattice of atomic layers with an electron spectrum made of several quantum subbands can be amplified by a shape resonance driven by the contact exchange interaction between different gaps. The $T_C$ amplification is achieved tuning the Fermi level near the singular nodal point at a Lifshitz transition for opening a neck. Recently high interest has been addressed to the breaking of inversion symmetry which leads to a linear-in-momentum spin-orbit induced spin splitting, universally referred to as Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) also in 3D layered metals. However the physics of multi-gap superconductivity near unconventional Lifshitz transitions in 3D HAL with RSOC, being in a non-BCS regime, is not known. The key result of this work getting the superconducting gaps by Bogoliubov theory and the 3D electron wave functions by solution of the Dirac equation is the feasibility of tuning multi-gap superconductivity by suitably matching the spin-orbit length with the 3D superlattice period. It is found that the presence of the RSOC amplifies both the k dependent anisotropic gap function and the critical temperature when the Fermi energy is tuned near the circular nodal line. Our results suggest a method to effectively vary the effect of RSOC on macroscopic superconductor condensates via the tuning of the superlattice modulation parameter in a way potentially relevant for spintronics functionalities in several existing experimental platforms and tunable materials needed for quantum devices for quantum computing.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Epidemic spreading in an expanded parameter space: the supercritical scaling laws and subcritical metastable phases

So far most of the analysis of coronavirus 2020 epidemic data has been focusing on a short-time window and consequently a quantitative test of statistical physical laws of Coronavirus Epidemics with Containment Measures (CEwCM) is currently lacking. Here we report a quantitative analysis of CEwCM over 230 days, covering the full-time lapse of the first epidemic wave. We use a 3D phase diagram tracking the simultaneous evolution of the doubling time Td(t) and reproductive number Rt(t) showing that this expanded parameter space is needed for biological physics of CEwCP. We have verified that in the supercritical [Rt(t)>1, Td(t)<40 days] regime i) the curve Z(t) of total infected cases follows the growth rate called Ostwald law; ii) the doubling time follows the exponential law Td(t)=A exp((t-t0)/s) as a function of time and iii) the power law Td(t)=C(Rt(t)-1)^-n is verified with the exponent n depending on the definition of Rt(t). The log-log plots Td(t) versus (Rt-1) of the second 2020 epidemic wave unveil in the subcritical regime [Td(t)>100 days] arrested metastable phases with Rt>1 where Td(t) was kept constant followed by its explosion and its containment following the same power law as in the first wave

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2020

Efficiency of Covid-19 Mobile Contact Tracing Containment by Measuring Time Dependent Doubling Time

The Covid-19 epidemic of the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome SARS - CoV-2) has been spreading around the world. While different containment policies using non-pharmaceutical interventions have been applied, their efficiency are not known quantitatively. We show that the doubling time Td(t) with the success s factor, the characteristic time of the exponential growth of Td(t) in the arrested regime, is a reliable tool for early predictions of epidemic spread time evolution and it provides a quantitative measure of the success of different containment measures. The efficiency of the containment policy Lockdown case Finding mobile Tracing (LFT) using mandatory mobile contact tracing is much higher than the Lockdown Stop and Go (LSG) policy proposed by the Imperial College team in London. A very low s factor was reached by LFT policy giving the shortest time width of the dome of positive case curve and the lowest number of fatalities. The LFT policy has been able to reduce by a factor 100 the number of fatalities in the first 100 days of the Covid-19 epidemic, to reduce the time width of the Covid-19 pandemic dome by a factor 2.5 and to rapidly stop new outbreaks avoiding the second wave

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2020

Superconductivity in Quantum Complex Matter: the Superstripes Landscape

While in XX century the theory of superconductivity has focused on a homogeneous metal with a rigid lattice which can be reduced to a single effective conduction band in the dirty limit. Today in the XXI century, the physics of superconductivity is focusing on complexity of quantum matter where novel quantum functionalities with lattice inhomogeneity at nanoscale (between 1 nm and 100 nm) and at mesoscopic scale (in the range 100-10000 nm), where the electronic structure need to be described by multiple Fermi surfaces and multiple gaps in the superconducting phase in the clean limit. The present issue of Journal of superconductivity and Novel magnetism collects papers presented at the International Conference Superstripes 2019 which was held on June 23-29, 2019, in Ischia Island, Italy. The series of Stripes conference started on Dec 8 1996 and it has contributed to scientific advances in the new physics of superconductivity in quantum complex systems in these last 23 years where polarons, strain, multigap superconductivity, exchange interaction between condensates, granular superconductivity and percolation play a key role. The articles collected in this issue cover hot topics of the new quantum physics of complex matter including the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity, complex magnetic orders and orbital physics in strongly correlated materials which have been growing rapidly in these last two years opening new perspectives also in mesoscopic quantum engineering.

cond-mat.supr-con↗