arXiv subjects

C. A. Balseiro

Publications and source records attributed to C. A. Balseiro.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Emergence of Bogoliubov Fermi Surfaces in hybrid Al/InAs heterostructures

We investigate the microwave electrodynamics of a proximitized two-dimensional electron gas in hybrid superconductor/semiconductor heterostructures. Using lumped-element resonators with inductor wires oriented relative to an in-plane magnetic field, we directly probe the superfluid stiffness via the kinetic inductance. As the field increases, the resonance frequency exhibits a non-monotonic and strongly anisotropic evolution that cannot be explained by orbital pair breaking alone. We show that this behavior is consistent with the emergence of Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces, which selectively suppress the supercurrent response depending on the direction of the magnetic field. Microscopic calculations of the stiffness tensor capture the observed anisotropy driven by the interplay of Zeeman and orbital Fulde-Ferrell effects. Our results establish microwave stiffness measurements as a sensitive probe of anisotropic gapless superconductivity in hybrid systems.

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arXiv2024

Charge and spin transport in nanoscopic structures with spin-orbit coupling

During the last years there has been much interest, and theoretical discussion, about the possibility to use spin-orbit coupling to control the carriers spins in two-dimensional semiconducting heterostructures. Spin polarization at the sample edges may occur as the response of systems with strong SO-coupling to an external transport current, an effect known as spin Hall effect. Here, we show that in a 2DEG with Rashba SO-coupling, spin polarization near the sample edge can develop kinematically for low electron densities. We also discuss the effect in quantum wires where lateral confinement plays an important role.

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arXiv2022

Multi-terminal Josephson junctions: a road to topological flux networks

Multi-terminal Josephson junctions were recently proposed as a versatile and tunable platform to emulate topological Bloch-like Hamiltonians in arbitrary dimensions. In this perspective article, we will give a brief overview of the subject and recognize these mesoscopic devices as realizations of topological flux networks as the ones envisioned by J. E. Avron and coworkers in their seminal works on the early days of the quantum Hall effect. We summarize the current state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental research regarding these Josephson devices, highlighting recent developments and giving an outlook on current trends.

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arXiv2022

Dynamical phases transitions in periodically driven Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer systems

We present a systematic study of the dynamical phase diagram of a periodically driven BCS system as a function of drive strength and frequency. Three different driving mechanism are considered and compared: oscillating density of states, oscillating pairing interaction and oscillating external paring field. We identify the locus in parameter space of parametric resonances and four dynamical phases: Rabi-Higgs, gapless, synchronized Higgs and time-crystal. We demonstrate that the main features of the phase diagram are quite robust to different driving protocols and discuss the order of the transitions. By mapping the BCS problem to a collection of nonlinear and interacting classical oscillators, we shed light on the origin of time-crsytalline phases and parametric resonances appearing for subgap excitations.

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arXiv2021

Emergent parametric resonances and time-crystal phases in driven BCS systems

We study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer condensate subject to a periodic drive. We demonstrate that the combined effect of drive and interactions results in emerging parametric resonances, analogous to a vertically driving pendulum. In particular, Arnold tongues appear when the driving frequency matches $2Δ_0/n$, with $n$ a natural number, and $Δ_0$ the equilibrium gap parameter. Inside the Arnold tongues we find a commensurate time-crystal condensate which retains the $U(1)$ symmetry breaking of the parent superfluid/superconducting phase and shows an additional time-translational symmetry breaking. Outside these tongues, the synchronized collective Higgs mode found in quench protocols is stabilized without the need of a strong perturbation. Our results are directly relevant to cold-atom and condensed-matter systems and do not require very long energy relaxation times to be observed.

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arXiv2021

Imaging chiral Andreev reflection in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling

In this work, we theoretically study transverse magnetic focusing in a two-dimensional electron gas with strong Rashba spin-orbit interaction when proximitized along its edge with a superconducting contact. The presence of superconducting correlations leads to the emergence of chiral Andreev edge states which -- within this weak magnetic field regime -- may be pictured as states following semiclassical skipping orbits with alternating electron-hole nature. The spin-orbit induced splitting of the Fermi surface causes these carriers to move along cyclotron orbits with different radii, allowing for their spatial spin separation. When Andreev reflection takes place at the superconducting lead, scattered carriers flip both their charge and spin, generating distinguishable features in the transport properties of the device. In particular, we report a notable enhancement of the separation between the spin-split focal points, which scales linearly with the number of Andreev scattering events at the anomalous terminal. We support our results by calculating conductance maps to arbitrary points in the sample that provide a complete image of the ballistic electron-hole cyclotron paths.

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arXiv2021

Nonequilibrium edge transport in quantum Hall based Josephson junctions

We study the transport properties of a voltage-biased Josephson junction where the BCS superconducting leads are coupled via the edges of a quantum Hall sample. In this scenario, an out of equilibrium Josephson current develops, which is numerically studied within the Floquet-Keldysh Green's function formalism. We particularly focus on the time-averaged current as a function of both the bias voltage and the magnetic flux threading the sample and analyze the resonant multiple Andreev reflection processes that lead to an enhancement of the quasiparticle transmission. We find that a full tomography of the dc current in the voltage-flux plane allows for a complete spectroscopy of the one-way edge modes and could be used as a hallmark of chiral edge mediated transport in these hybrid devices.

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arXiv2020

Quantum Hall edge states under periodic driving: a Floquet induced chirality switch

We report on the fate of the quantum Hall effect in graphene under strong laser illumination. By using Floquet theory combined with both a low energy description and full tight-binding models, we clarify the selection rules, the quasienergy band structure, as well as their connection with the two-terminal and multi-terminal conductance in a device setup as relevant for experiments. We show that the well-known dynamical gaps that appear in the Floquet spectrum at $\pm\,\hbarΩ/2$ lead to a switch-off of the quantum Hall edge transport for different edge terminations except for the armchair one, where two terms cancel out exactly. More interestingly, we show that near the Dirac point changing the laser polarization (circular right or circular left) controls the Hall conductance, by allowing to switch it on or off, or even by flipping its sign, thereby reversing the chirality of the edge states. This might lead to new avenues to fully control topologically protected transport.

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arXiv2020

Majorana fermions on the quantum Hall edge

Superconductivity and the quantum Hall effect are considered to be two cornerstones of condensed matter physics. The realization of hybrid structures where these two effects coexist has recently become an active field of research. In this work, we study a Josephson junction where a central region in the quantum Hall regime is proximitized with superconductors that can be driven to a topological phase with an external Zeeman field. In this regime, the Majorana modes that emerge at the ends of each superconducting lead couple to the chiral quantum Hall edge states. This produces distinguishable features in the Andreev levels and Fraunhofer patterns that could help in detecting not only the topological phase transition but also the spin degree of freedom of these exotic quasiparticles. The current phase relation and the spectral properties of the junction throughout the topological transition are fully described by a numerical tight-binding calculation. In pursuance of the understanding of these results, we develop a low-energy spinful model that captures the main features of the numerical transport simulations in the topological phase.

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arXiv2019

Spectral fingerprints of the non-linear dynamics of driven superconductors with dissipation

We study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a BCS superconductor in the presence of a periodic drive with a frequency $ω_d$ larger than the equilibrium superconducting gap and an external bath providing dissipation. Similar to the dissipationless case, a subset of quasiparticles, resonant with the drive, synchronizes and produces interesting non-linear phenomena. For small dissipation Rabi-Higgs oscillations [Collado et al. Phys. Rev. B 98, 214519 (2018)] can be observed as a transient effect. At long-times in contrast, dissipation leads to a steady state with a population imbalance that increases quadratically for small drives and saturates for large drives as in non-linear quantum optics. We show also that second harmonic generation is allowed for a drive which acts on the BCS coupling constant. We also compute the intensity of time- and angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) and time-resolved tunneling spectra. The excited quasiparticle population appears as a decrease (increase) in the photo-emission intensity at energy $-ω_d/2$ ($+ω_d/2$) measured from the chemical potential. The tunneling intensity shows a time-dependent depression at $\pmω_d/2$ due to the lacking of spectral density and population unbalance causing Pauli blockade. We predict that at short times, compared to the energy relaxation time, both experiments will show oscillations with the Rabi-Higgs frequency.

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arXiv2019

Impurity states and Localization in Bilayer Graphene: the Low Impurity Concentration Regime

We study the problem of non-magnetic impurities adsorbed on bilayer graphene in the diluted regime. We analyze the impurity spectral densities for various concentrations and gate fields. We also analyze the effect of the adsorbate on the local density of states (LDOS) of the different C atoms in the structure and present some evidence of strong localization for the electronic states with energies close to the Dirac point.

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arXiv2019

Fate of dynamical phases of a BCS superconductor beyond the dissipationless regimen

The BCS model of an isolated superconductor initially prepared in a nonequilibrium state, predicts the existence of interesting dynamical phenomena in the time-dependent order parameter as decaying oscillations, persistent oscillations and overdamped dynamics. To make contact with real systems remains an open challenge as one needs to introduce dissipation due to the environment in a self-consistent computation. Here, we reach this goal with the use of the Keldysh formalism to treat the effect of a thermal bath. We show that, contrary to the dissipationless case, all dynamical phases reach the equilibrium order parameter in a characteristic time that depends on the coupling with the bath. Remarkably, as time evolves, the overdamped phase shows a fast crossover where the superconducting order parameter recovers to reach a state with a well-developed long range order that tends towards equilibrium with the damped Higgs mode oscillations. Our results provide a benchmark for the description of the dynamics of real out-of-equilibrium superconductors relevant for quantum technological applications.

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arXiv2018

Population inversion and dynamical phase transitions in a driven superconductor

We consider a superconductor in which the density of states at the Fermi level or the pairing interaction is driven periodically with a frequency larger than the superconducting gap in the collisionless regime. We show by numerical and analytical computations that a subset of quasiparticle excitations enter into resonance and perform synchronous Rabi oscillations leading to cyclic population inversion with a frequency that depends on the amplitude of the drive. As a consequence a new "Rabi-Higgs" mode emerges. Turning off the drive at different times and modulating the strength allows access to all known dynamical phases of the order parameter: persistent oscillations, oscillations with damping and overdamped dynamics. We discuss physical realizations of the drive and methods to detect the dynamics.

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arXiv2018

Time-resolved Hall conductivity of pulse-driven topological quantum systems

We address the question of how the time-resolved bulk Hall response of a two dimensional honeycomb lattice develops when driving the system with a pulsed perturbation. A simple toy model that switches a valley Hall signal by breaking inversion symmetry is studied in detail for slow quasi-adiabatic ramps and sudden quenches, obtaining an oscillating dynamical response that depends strongly on doping and time-averaged values that are determined both by the out of equilibrium occupations and the Berry curvature of the final states. On the other hand, the effect of irradiating the sample with a circularly-polarized infrared pump pulse that breaks time reversal symmetry and thus ramps the system into a non-trivial topological regime is probed. Even though there is a non quantized average signal due to the break down of the Floquet adiabatical picture, some features of the photon-dressed topological bands are revealed to be present even in a few femtosecond timescale. Small frequency oscillations during the transient response evidence the emergence of dynamical Floquet gaps which are consistent with the instantaneous amplitude of the pump envelope. On the other hand, a characteristic heterodyining effect is manifested in the model. The presence of a remnant Hall response for ultra-short pulses that contain only a few cycles of the radiation field is briefly discussed.

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arXiv2018

Berry curvature tomography and realization of topological Haldane model in driven three-terminal Josephson junctions

We propose a protocol to locally detect the Berry curvature of a three terminal Josephson junction with a quantum dot based on a synchronic detection when an AC modulation is applied in the device. This local gauge invariant quantity is expressed in terms of the instantaneous Green function of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes Hamiltonian. We analyze the contribution to the Berry curvature from both the quasi-particle excitations and the Andreev bound state levels by introducing an effective low-energy model. In addition, we propose to induce topological properties in the junction by breaking time-reversal symmetry with a microwave field in the non-resonant regime. In the last case, the Floquet-Andreev levels are the ones that determine the topological structure of the junction, which is formally equivalent to a 2D-honeycomb Haldane lattice. A relation between the Floquet Berry curvature and the transconductance of the driven system is derived.

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arXiv2016

Photo-electrons unveil topological transitions in graphene-like systems

The topological structure of the wavefunctions of particles in periodic potentials is characterized by the Berry curvature $Ω_{kn}$ whose integral on the Brillouin zone is a topological invariant known as the Chern number. The bulk-boundary correspondence states that these numbers define the number of edge or surface topologically protected states. It is then of primary interest to find experimental techniques able to measure the Berry curvature. However, up to now, there are no spectroscopic experiments that proved to be capable to obtain information on $Ω_{kn}$ to distinguish different topological structures of the $\it{bulk}$ wavefunctions of semiconducting materials. Based on experimental results of the dipolar matrix elements for graphene, here we show that ARPES experiments with the appropriate x-ray energies and polarization can unambiguously detect changes of the Chern numbers in dynamically driven graphene and graphene-like materials opening new routes towards the experimental study of topological properties of condensed matter systems.

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arXiv2016

Experimental approval of the extended flat bands and gapped subbands in rhombohedral multilayer graphene

Graphene layers are known to stack in two stable configurations, namely ABA or ABC stacking, with drastically distinct electronic properties. Unlike the ABA stacking, little has been done to experimentally investigate the electronic properties of ABC graphene multilayers. Here, we report the first magneto optical study of a large ABC domain in a graphene multilayers flake, with ABC sequences exceeding 17 graphene sheets. The ABC-stacked multilayers can be fingerprinted with a characteristic electronic Raman scattering response, which persists even at room temperatures. Tracing the magnetic field evolution of the inter Landau level excitations from this domain gives strong evidence to the existence of a dispersionless electronic band near the Fermi level, characteristic of such stacking. Our findings present a simple yet powerful approach to probe ABC stacking in graphene multilayer flakes, where this highly degenerated band appears as an appealing candidate to host strongly correlated states.

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arXiv2016

Floquet bound states around defects and adatoms in graphene

Recent studies have focused on laser-induced gaps in graphene which have been shown to have a topological origin, thereby hosting robust states at the sample edges. While the focus has remained mainly on these topological chiral edge states, the Floquet bound states around defects lack a detailed study. In this paper we present such a study covering large defects of different shape and also vacancy-like defects and adatoms at the dynamical gap at $\hbarΩ/2$ ($\hbarΩ$ being the photon energy). Our results, based on analytical calculations as well as numerics for full tight-binding models, show that the bound states are chiral and appear in a number which grows with the defect size. Furthermore, while the bound states exist regardless the type of the defect's edge termination (zigzag, armchair, mixed), the spectrum is strongly dependent on it. In the case of top adatoms, the bound states quasi-energies depend on the adatoms energy. The appearance of such bound states might open the door to the presence of topological effects on the bulk transport properties of dirty graphene.

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