arXiv subjects

Asle Sudbø

Publications and source records attributed to Asle Sudbø.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Derivation of a Ginzburg-Landau free energy density containing mixed gradient terms of a $p+ip$ superconductor with spin-orbit coupling

A Ginzburg-Landau free energy for a superconducting chiral p-wave order parameter is derived from a two-dimensional tight binding lattice model with weak spin-orbit coupling included as a general symmetry-breaking field. Superconductivity is accounted for by a BCS-type nearest neighbor opposite-spin interaction where we project the potential onto the $p$-wave irreducible representation of the square lattice symmetry group and assume this to be the dominating order. The resulting free energy contains kinetic terms that mix components of the order parameter as well as directional gradients --- so called mixed gradient terms --- as a virtue of the symmetry of the order parameter. Spin-orbit coupling and electron-hole anisotropy lead to additional contributions to the coefficients of these terms, increasing the number of necessary phenomenological parameters by one compared to previous work, and leading to an increase in the coefficient measuring Fermi surface anisotropy for Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the continuum limit.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

p-wave superconductivity in weakly repulsive 2D Hubbard model with Zeeman splitting and weak Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We study the superconducting order in a two-dimensional square lattice Hubbard model with weak repulsive interactions, subject to a Zeeman field and weak Rashba spin-orbit interactions. Diagonalizing the non-interacting Hamiltonian leads to two separate bands, and by deriving an effective low-energy interaction we find the mean field gap equations for the superconducting order parameter on the bands. Solving the gap equations just below the critical temperature, we find that superconductivity is caused by Kohn-Luttinger type interaction, while the pairing symmetry of the bands are indirectly affected by the spin-orbit coupling. The dominating attractive momentum channel of the Kohn-Luttinger term depends on the filling fraction $n$ of the system, and it is therefore possible to change the momentum dependence of the order parameter by tuning $n$. Moreover, $n$ also determines which band has the highest critical temperature. Rotating the magnetic field changes the momentum dependence from states that for small momenta reduce to a chiral $p_x \pm i p_y$ type state for out-of-plane fields, to a nodal p-wave type state for purely in-plane fields.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Topological staggered field-electric effect with bipartite magnets

We study the interface physics of bipartite magnetic materials deposited on a topological insulator. This comprises antiferromagnets as well as ferrimagnets and ferromagnets with multiple magnetic moments per unit cell. If an energy gap is induced in the Dirac states on the topological surface, a topological magnetoelectric effect has been predicted. Here, we show that this effect can act in opposite directions on the two components of the magnet in certain parameter regions. Consequently, an electric field will mainly generate a staggered field rather than a net magnetization in the plane. This is relevant for the current attempts to detect the magnetoelectric effect experimentally, as well as for possible applications. We take a field-theoretic approach that includes the quantum fluctuations of both the Dirac fermions on the topological surface as well as the fermions in the surface layer of the magnet in an analytically solvable model. The effective Lagrangian and the Landau-Lifshitz equation describing the interfacial magnetization dynamics are derived.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Lattices of double-quanta vortices and chirality inversion in $p_x+ip_y$ superconductors

We investigate the magnetization processes of a standard Ginzburg-Landau model for chiral p-wave superconducting states in an applied magnetic field. We find that the phase diagram is dominated by triangular lattices of doubly quantized vortices. Only in close vicinity to the upper critical field, the lattice starts to dissociate into a structure of single-quanta vortices. The degeneracy between states with opposite chirality is broken in a nonzero field. If the magnetization starts with an energetically unfavorable chirality, the process of chirality-inversion induced by the external magnetic field results in the formation of a sequence of metastable states with characteristic magnetic signatures that can be probed by standard experimental techniques.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Current-loops, phase transitions, and the Higgs mechanism in Josephson-coupled multi-component superconductors

The $N$-component London $\mathrm{U}(1)$ superconductor is expressed in terms of integer-valued supercurrents. We show that the inclusion of inter-band Josephson couplings introduces monopoles in the current fields, which convert the phase transitions of the charge-neutral sector to crossovers. The monopoles only couple to the neutral sector, and leave the phase transition of the charged sector intact. The remnant non-critical fluctuations in the neutral sector influence the one remaining phase transition in the charged sector, and may alter this phase transition from a $3DXY$ inverted phase transition into a first-order phase transition depending on what the values of the gauge-charge and the inter-component Josephson coupling are. This preemptive effect becomes more pronounced with increasing number of components $N$, since the number of charge-neutral fluctuating modes that can influence the charged sector increases with $N$. We also calculate the gauge-field correlator, and by extension the Higgs mass, in terms of current-current correlators. We show that the onset of the Higgs-mass of the photon (Meissner-effect) is given in terms of a current-loop blowout associated with going into the superconducting state as the temperature of the system is lowered.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Competing interactions in population-imbalanced two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

We consider a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate with and without synthetic "spin-orbit" interactions in two dimensions. Density- and phase-fluctuations of the condensate are included, allowing us to study the impact of thermal fluctuations and density-density interactions on the physics originating with spin-orbit interactions. In the absence of spin-orbit interactions, we find that inter-component density interactions deplete the minority condensate. The thermally driven phase transition is driven by coupled density and phase-fluctuations, but is nevertheless shown to be a phase-transition in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class with close to universal amplitude ratios irrespective of whether both the minority- and majority condensates exist in the ground state, or only one condensate exists. In the presence of spin-orbit interactions we observe three separate phases, depending on the strength of the spin-orbit coupling and inter-component density-density interactions: a phase-modulated phase with uniform amplitudes for small intercomponent interactions, a completely imbalanced, effectively single-component, condensate for intermediate spin-orbit coupling strength and suficciently large inter-component interactions, and a phase-modulated \textit{and} amplitude-modulated phase for sufficiently large values of both the spin-orbit coupling and the inter-component density-density interactions. The phase which is modulated by a single $\bv q$-vector only is observed to transition into an isoptropic liquid through a strong de-pinning transition with periodic boundary conditions, which weakens with open boundaries.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Non-local topological magnetoelectric effect by Coulomb interaction at a topological insulator-ferromagnet interface

The interface between a topological insulator and a ferromagnetic insulator exhibits an interesting interplay of topological Dirac electrons and magnetism. As has been shown recently, the breaking of time-reversal invariance by magnetic order generates a Chern-Simons term in the action, that in turn leads to a Berry phase and a magnetoelectric effect of topological origin. Here, we consider the system in the presence of long-range Coulomb interaction between the Dirac electrons, and find that the magnetoelectric effect of the fluctuating electric field becomes non-local. We derive a Landau-Lifshitz equation for the fluctuation-induced magnetization dynamics and the Euler-Lagrange equation of the Coulomb field by explicit one-loop calculations. Via the Coulomb interaction, divergences in the in-plane magnetization affect the magnetization dynamics over large distances in a topologically protected way.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Immiscibile two-component Bose Einstein condensates beyond mean-field approximation: phase transitions and rotational response

We consider a two-component immiscible Bose-Einstein condensate with dominating intra-species repulsive density-density interactions. In the ground-state phase of such a system only one condensates is present. This can be viewed as a spontaneous breakdown of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. We study the phase diagram of the system at finite temperature beyond mean-field approximation. In the absence of rotation, we show that the system undergoes a first order phase transition from this ground state to a miscible two-component normal fluid as temperature is increased. In the presence of rotation, the system features a competition between vortex-vortex interaction and short range density-density interactions. This leads to a rotation-driven "mixing" phase transition in a spatially inhomogeneous state with additional broken $\mathrm{U}(1)$ symmetry. Thermal fluctuations in this state lead to nematic two-component sheets of vortex liquids. At sufficiently strong inter-component interaction, we find that the superfluid and $\mathbb{Z}_2$ phase transitions split. This results in the formation of an intermediate state which breaks only $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. It represents two phase separated normal fluids with density imbalance.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Fluctuation effects in phase-frustrated multiband superconductors

We compare the phase-diagrams of an effective theory of a three-dimensional multi-band superconductor obtained within standard and cluster mean-field theories, and in large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. In three dimensions, mean field theory fails in locating correctly the positions of the phase transitions, as well as the character of the transitions between the different states. A cluster mean-field calculations taking into account order-parameter fluctuations in a local environment improves the results considerably for the case of extreme type-II superconductors where gauge-field fluctuations are negligible. The large fluctuations in the multi-component superconducting order parameter originate with strong frustration due to interband Josephson-couplings. A novel chiral metallic phase found in previous works using large scale Monte-Carlo computations, is not obtained either within the single-site mean-field theory or the improved cluster mean-field theory of order parameter fluctuations. In three-dimensional superconductors, this unusual metallic phase originates with gauge-field fluctuations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Properties of the Virial Expansion and Equation of State of Ideal Quantum Gases in Arbitrary Dimensions

The virial expansion of ideal quantum gases reveals some interesting and amusing properties when considered as a function of dimensionality $d$. In particular, the convergence radius $ρ_c(d)$ of the expansion is particulary large at {\em exactly\/} $d=3$ dimensions, $ρ_c(3) = 7.1068\ldots \times \lim_{d\to3} ρ_c(d)$. The same phenomenon occurs in a few other special (non-integer) dimensions. We explain the origin of these facts, and discuss more generally the structure of singularities governing the asymptotic behavior of the ideal gas virial expansion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Fluctuation effects in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates with broken $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ and $\mathrm{U}(1)\times \mathrm{U}(1)$ symmetries in the presence of intercomponent density-density interactions

Thermal fluctuations and melting transitions for rotating single-component superfluids have been intensively studied and are well understood. In contrast, the thermal effects on vortex states for two-component superfluids with density-density interaction, which have a much richer variety of vortex ground states, have been much less studied. Here, we investigate the thermal effects on vortex matter in superfluids with $\mathrm{U(1)}\times \mathrm{U(1)}$ broken symmetries and intercomponent density-density interactions, as well as the case with a larger $\mathrm{SU(2)}$ broken symmetry obtainable from the $\mathrm{U(1)}\times \mathrm{U(1)}$-symmetric case by tuning scattering lengths. In the former case we find that, in addition to first-order melting transitions, the system exhibits thermally driven phase transitions between square and hexagonal lattices. Our main result, however, concerns the case where the condensate exhibits $\mathrm{SU(2)}$-symmetry, and where vortices are not topological. At finite temperature, the system exhibits effects which do not have a counter-part in single component systems. Namely, it has a state where thermally averaged quantities show no regular vortex lattice, yet the system retains superfluid coherence along the axis of rotation. In such a state, the thermal fluctuations result in transitions between different (nearly)-degenerate vortex states without undergoing a melting transition. Our results apply to multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates, and we suggest how to experimentally detect some of these unusual effects in such systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Tilting of the magnetic field in Majorana nanowires: critical angle and zero-energy differential conductance

Semiconductor nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling and proximity-induced s-wave superconductivity in an external magnetic field have been the most promising settings for approaches towards experimental evidence of topological Majorana zero-modes. We investigate the effect of tilting the magnetic field relative to the spin-orbit coupling direction in a simple continuum model and provide an analytical derivation of the critical angle, at which the topological states disappear. We also obtain the differential conductance characteristic of a junction with a normal wire for different tilting angles and propose the qualitative change of the dependence of the zero-energy differential conductance on the tunnel barrier strength at the critical angle as a new criterion for establishing the topological nature of the observed signal.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Time reversal symmetry breakdown in normal and superconducting states in frustrated three-band systems

We discuss the phase diagram and phase transitions in $U(1)\times \groupZ{2}$ three-band superconductors with broken time reversal symmetry. We find that beyond mean field approximation and for sufficiently strong frustration of interband interactions there appears an unusual metallic state precursory to a superconducting phase transition. In that state, the system is not superconducting. Nonetheless, it features a spontaneously broken $\groupZ{2}$ time reversal symmetry. By contrast, for weak frustration of interband coupling the energy of a domain wall between different $\groupZ{2}$ states is low and thus fluctuations restore broken time reversal symmetry in the superconducting state at low temperatures.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Phase transitions and anomalous normal state in superconductors with broken time reversal symmetry

Using Monte Carlo simulations, we explore the phase diagram and the phase transitions in $\groupUZ$ $n$-band superconductors with spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry (also termed $s+is$ superconductors), focusing on the three-band case. In the limit of infinite penetration length, the system under consideration can, for a certain parameter regime, have a single first order phase transition from a $\groupUZ$ broken state to a normal state due to a nontrivial interplay between $\groupU$ vortices and $\groupZ$ domain walls. This regime may also apply to multicomponent superfluids. For other parameters, when the free energy of the domain walls is low, the system undergoes a restoration of broken $\groupZ$ time reversal symmetry at temperatures lower than the temperature of the superconducting phase transition.{We show that inclusion of fluctuations can strongly suppress the temperature of the $\groupZ$-transition when frustration is weak. The main result of our paper is that} for relatively short magnetic field penetration lengths, the system has a superconducting phase transition at a temperature lower than the temperature of the restoration of the broken $\groupZ$ symmetry. Thus, there appears a new phase which is $\groupU$-symmetric, but breaks $\groupZ$ time reversal symmetry, an anomalous dissipative (metallic) state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Josephson-frustrated superconductors in a magnetic field

We study the effect of an externally imposed rotation or magnetic field on frustrated multiband superconductors/superfluids. The frustration originates with multiple superconducting bands crossing the Fermi surface in conjunction with interband Josephson-couplings with a positive sign. These couplings tend to frustrate the phases of the various components of the superconducting order parameter. This in turn leads to an effective description in terms of a $\groupUZ$-symmetric system, where essentially only the $\groupU$-sector couples to the gauge-field representing the rotation or magnetic field. By imposing a large enough net vorticity on the system at low temperatures, one may therefore reveal a resistive vortex liquid state which will feature an unusual additional phase transition in the $\groupZ$-sector. At low enough vorticity there is a corresponding vortex-lattice phase featuring a $\groupZ$ phase transition. We argue that this Ising transition phase should be readily observable in experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Berry phases, current lattices, and suppression of phase transitions in a lattice gauge theory of quantum antiferromagnets

We consider a lattice model of two complex scalar matter fields $z_{a}, a=1,2$ under a CP1 constraint $\abs{z_1}^2+\abs{z_2}^2=1$, minimally coupled to a compact gauge field, with an additional Berry phase term. This model has been the point of origin for a large body of works addressing novel paradigms for quantum criticality, in particular spin-quark (spinon) deconfinement in S=1/2 quantum antiferromagnets. We map the model exactly to a link-current model, which permits the use of classical worm algorithms to study the model in large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on lattices of size L^3, up to L=360. We show that the addition of a Berry phase term to the lattice $\CP$-model suppresses the phase transition in the $\groupO{3}$ universality class of the $\CP$-model. The link-current formulation of the model is useful in identifying the mechanism by which the phase transition is suppressed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Anomalous domain wall velocity and Walker breakdown in hybrid systems with anisotropic exchange

It has recently been proposed that spin-transfer torques in magnetic systems with anisotropic exchange can be strongly enhanced, reducing the characteristic current density with up to four orders of magnitude compared to conventional setups. Motivated by this, we analytically solve the equations of motion in a collective-coordinate framework for this type of anisotropic exchange system, to investigate the domain wall dynamics in detail. In particular, we obtain analytical expressions for the maximum attainable domain wall velocity of such a setup and also for the occurrence of Walker breakdown. Surprisingly, we find that, in contrast to the standard case with domain wall motion driven by the nonadiabatic torque, the maximum velocity obtained via the anisotropic exchange torque is completely independent of the nonadiabaticity parameter beta, in spite of the torque itself being very large for small beta. Moreover, the Walker breakdown threshold has an opposite dependence on beta in these two cases; i.e., for the anisotropic exchange torque scenario, the threshold value decreases monotonically with beta. These findings are of importance to any practical application of the proposed giant spin-transfer torque in anisotropic exchange systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Freezing of an unconventional two-dimensional plasma

We study an unconventional two-dimensional, two-component classical plasma on a sphere, with emphasis on detecting signatures of melting transitions. This system is relevant to Ising-type quantum Hall states, and is unconventional in the sense that it features particles interacting via two different two-dimensional Coulomb interactions. One species of particles in the plasma carries charge of both types (Q_1,Q_2), while the other species carries only charge of the second type (0,-Q_2). We find signatures of a freezing transition at Q_1^2 approximately 140. This means that the species with charge of both types will form a Wigner crystal, whereas the species with charge of the second type also shows signatures of being a Wigner crystal, due to the attractive inter-component interaction of the second type. Moreover, there is also a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at Q_2^2 approximately 4, at which the two species of particles bind to form molecules that are neutral with respect to the second Coulomb interaction. These two transitions appear to be independent of each other, giving a rectangular phase diagram. As a special case, Q_2=0 describes the (conventional) two-dimensional one-component plasma. Our study is consistent with previous studies of this plasma, and sheds new light on the freezing transition of this system.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗