arXiv subjects

C. Attaccalite

Publications and source records attributed to C. Attaccalite.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Exciton-Exciton transitions involving strongly bound excitons: an ab initio approach

In pump-probe spectroscopy, two laser pulses are employed to garner dynamical information from the sample of interest. The pump initiates the optical process by exciting a portion of the sample from the electronic ground state to an accessible electronic excited state, an exciton. Thereafter, the probe interacts with the already excited sample. The change in the absorbance after pump provides information on transitions between the excited states and their dynamics. In this work we study these exciton-exciton transitions by means of an ab initio real time propagation scheme based on dynamical Berry phase formulation. The results are then analyzed taking advantage of a Fermi-golden rule approach formulated in the excitonic basis-set and in terms of the symmetries of the excitonic states. Using bulk LiF and 2D hBN as two prototype materials, we discuss the selection rules for transitions involving strongly bound excitons, for which the hydrogen model cannot be used.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Interlayer and intralayer excitons in AlN/WS$_2$ heterostructure

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) monolayers, holding potential as good sunlight absorbers, are promising materials for next-generation optoelectronic devices. They may enable ultrathin photovoltaic(PV) devices thanks to their semiconducting character. In addition, heterocombinations of AlN and GaN sheets with MoS$_2$ monolayers have been suggested to be efficient water-splitting devices. Following these promising findings and motivated by the small lattice mismatch, we take up the idea of coupling a semiconducting WS$_2$ TMD monolayer with a AlN monolayer in a vdW heterostructure which is, as well, promising for photo-catalysis or photo-voltaic devices. We study this heterostructure by means of first principles calculations, and we show that many-body effects change the heterostructure band alignment from type II to I, demonstrating how their inclusion is compulsory for a correct prediction of the electronic and optical properties of 2D materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Many-body perturbation theory calculations using the yambo code

yambo is an open source project aimed at studying excited state properties of condensed matter systems from first principles using many-body methods. As input, yambo requires ground state electronic structure data as computed by density functional theory codes such as quantum-espresso and abinit. yambo's capabilities include the calculation of linear response quantities (both independent-particle and including electron-hole interactions), quasi-particle corrections based on the GW formalism, optical absorption, and other spectroscopic quantities. Here we describe recent developments ranging from the inclusion of important but oft-neglected physical effects such as electron-phonon interactions to the implementation of a real-time propagation scheme for simulating linear and non-linear optical properties. Improvements to numerical algorithms and the user interface are outlined. Particular emphasis is given to the new and efficient parallel structure that makes it possible to exploit modern high performance computing architectures. Finally, we demonstrate the possibility to automate workflows by interfacing with the yambopy and AiiDA software tools.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Theory of phonon-assisted luminescence in solids: application to hexagonal boron nitride

In this manuscript we study luminescence of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) by means of non-equilibrium Green's functions plus time-dependent perturbation theory. We derive a formula for light emission in solids in the limit of a weak excitation that includes perturbatively the contribution of electron-phonon coupling at the first order. This formula is applied to study luminescence in bulk hBN. This material has attracted interest due to its strong luminescence in the ultraviolet [Watanabe et al., Nature Mat. 3, 404(2004)]. The origin of this luminescence has been widely discussed, but only recently has a clear signature of phonon mediated light emission emerged in the experiments [Cassabois et al., Nature Phot. 10, 262(2016)]. By means of our new theoretical approach we provide a clear and full explanation of light emission in hBN.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Excitonic effects in third harmonic generation: the case of carbon nanotubes and nanoribbons

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of low dimensional nanostructures have attracted a large interest in the scientific community as tools to probe the strong confinement of the electrons and for possible applications in optoelectronic devices. In particular it has been shown that the linear optical response of carbon nanotubes [Science 308, 838 (2005)] and graphene nanoribbons [Nat. Comm. 5, 4253 (2014)] is dominated by bounded electron-hole pairs, the excitons. The role of excitons in linear response has been widely studied, but still little is known on their effect on nonlinear susceptibilities. Using a recently developed methodology [Phys. Rev. B 88, 235113 (2013)] based on well-established ab-initio many-body perturbation theory approaches, we find that quasiparticle shifts and excitonic effects significantly modify the third-harmonic generation in carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons. For both systems the net effect of many-body effects is to reduce the intensity of the main peak in the independent particle spectrum and redistribute the spectral weight among several excitonic resonances.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Optical properties of periodic systems within the current-current response framework: pitfalls and remedies

We compare the optical absorption of extended systems using the density-density and current-current linear response functions calculated within many-body perturbation theory. The two approaches are formally equivalent for a finite momentum $\mathbf{q}$ of the external perturbation. At $\mathbf{q}=\mathbf{0}$, however, the equivalence is maintained only if a small $q$ expansion of the density-density response function is used. Moreover, in practical calculations this equivalence can be lost if one naively extends the strategies usually employed in the density-based approach to the current-based approach. Specifically we discuss the use of a smearing parameter or of the quasiparticle lifetimes to describe the finite width of the spectral peaks and the inclusion of electron-hole interaction. In those instances we show that the incorrect definition of the velocity operator and the violation of the conductivity sum rule introduce unphysical features in the optical absorption spectra of three paradigmatic systems: silicon (semiconductor), copper (metal) and lithium fluoride (insulator). We then demonstrate how to correctly introduce lifetime effects and electron-hole interactions within the current-based approach.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Dielectrics in a time-dependent electric field: a real-time approach based on density-polarization functional theory

In the presence of a (time-dependent) macroscopic electric field the electron dynamics of dielectrics cannot be described by the time-dependent density only. We present a real-time formalism that has the density and the macroscopic polarization P as key quantities. We show that a simple local function of P already captures long-range correlation in linear and nonlinear optical response functions. Specifically, after detailing the numerical implementation, we examine the optical absorption, the second- and third-harmonic generation of bulk Si, GaAs, AlAs and CdTe at different level of approximation. We highlight links with ultranonlocal exchange-correlation functional approximations proposed within linear response time-dependent density functional theory framework.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Exploring approximations to the GW self-energy ionic gradients

The accuracy of the many-body perturbation theory GW formalism to calculate electron-phonon coupling matrix elements has been recently demonstrated in the case of a few important systems. However, the related computational costs are high and thus represent strong limitations to its widespread application. In the present study, we explore two less demanding alternatives for the calculation of electron-phonon coupling matrix elements on the many-body perturbation theory level. Namely, we test the accuracy of the static Coulomb-hole plus screened-exchange (COHSEX) approximation and further of the constant screening approach, where variations of the screened Coulomb potential W upon small changes of the atomic positions along the vibrational eigenmodes are neglected. We find this latter approximation to be the most reliable, whereas the static COHSEX ansatz leads to substantial errors. Our conclusions are validated in a few paradigmatic cases: diamond, graphene and the C60 fullerene. These findings open the way for combining the present many-body perturbation approach with efficient linear-response theories.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2013

Nonlinear optics from an ab-initio approach by means of the dynamical Berry phase: Application to second- and third-harmonic generation in semiconductors

We present an ab-initio real-time-based computational approach to study nonlinear optical properties in condensed matter systems that is especially suitable for crystalline solids and periodic nanostructures. The equations of motion and the coupling of the electrons with the external electric field are derived from the Berry-phase formulation of the dynamical polarization [Souza et al., Phys. Rev. B 69, 085106 (2004)]. Many-body effects are introduced by adding single-particle operators to the independent-particle Hamiltonian. We add a Hartree operator to account for crystal local effects and a scissor operator to correct the independent particle band structure for quasiparticle effects. We also discuss the possibility of accurately treating excitonic effects by adding a screened Hartree-Fock self-energy operator. The approach is validated by calculating the second-harmonic generation of SiC and AlAs bulk semiconductors: an excellent agreement is obtained with existing ab initio calculations from response theory in frequency domain [Luppi et al., Phys. Rev. B 82, 235201 (2010)]. We finally show applications to the second-harmonic generation of CdTe and the third-harmonic generation of Si.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Second Harmonic Generation in h-BN and MoS$_2$ monolayers: the role of electron-hole interaction

In this letter we show by means of first principle numerical simulations that electron-hole interaction significantly contributes to the second-harmonic generation spectrum of h-BN or MoS$_2$ monolayers. Specifically, it doubles the signal intensity at the excitonic resonances with respect to the contribution from independent electronic transitions. This result hints that the intensity of second-harmonic signal of those materials can be tuned by changing the dielectric screening, that controls the strength of the electron-hole interaction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Trends in condensed matter physics: is research going faster and faster?

In this paper we study research trends in condensed matter physics. Trends are analyzed by means of the the number of publications in the different sub-fields as function of the years. We found that many research topics have a similar behavior with an initial fast growth and a next slower exponential decay. We derived a simple model to describe this behavior and built up some predictions for future trends.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2011

A real-time approach to the optical properties of solids and nano-structures: the time-dependent Bethe-Salpeter equation

Many-body effects are known to play a crucial role in the electronic and optical properties of solids and nano-structures. Nevertheless the majority of theoretical and numerical approaches able to capture the influence of Coulomb correlations are restricted to the linear response regime. In this work we introduce a novel approach based on a real-time solution of the electronic dynamics.The proposed approach reduces to the well-known Bethe-Salpeter equation in the linear limit regime and it makes possible, at the same time, to investigate correlation effects in nonlinear phenomena. We show the flexibility and numerical stability of the proposed approach by calculating the dielectric constants and the effect of a strong pulse excitation in bulk {\it h}-BN.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Charge-transfer excitations in molecular donor-acceptor complexes within the many-body Bethe-Salpeter approach

We study within the perturbative many-body $GW$ and Bethe-Salpeter approach the low lying singlet charge-transfer excitations in molecular donor-acceptor complexes associating benzene, naphtalene and anthracene derivatives with the tetracyanoethylene acceptor. Our calculations demonstrate that such techniques can reproduce the experimental data with a mean average error of 0.1-0.15 eV for the present set of dimers, in excellent agreement with the best time-dependent density functional studies with optimized range-separated functionals. The present results pave the way to the study of photoinduced charge transfer processes in photovoltaic devices with a parameter-free \textit{ab initio} approach showing equivalent accuracy for finite and extended systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Coupling of excitons and defect states in boron-nitride nanostructures

The signature of defects in the optical spectra of hexagonal boron nitride (BN) is investigated using many body perturbation theory. A single BN-sheet serves as a model for different layered BN- nanostructures and crystals. In the sheet we embed prototypical defects such as a substitutional impurity, isolated Boron and Nitrogen vacancies, and the di-vacancy. Transitions between the deep defect levels and extended states produce characteristic excitation bands that should be responsible for the emission band around 4 eV, observed in luminescence experiments. In addition, defect bound excitons occur that are consistently treated in our ab initio approach along with the "free" exciton. For defects in strong concentration, the co-existence of both bound and free excitons adds sub-structure to the main exciton peak and provides an explanation for the corresponding feature in cathodo and photo-luminescence spectra.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Graphite intercalation compound KC$_8$ revisited: a key to graphene

Electrons in isolated graphene layers are a two-dimensional gas of massless Dirac Fermions. In realistic devices, however, the electronic properties are modified by elastic deformations, interlayer coupling and substrate interaction. Here we unravel the electronic structure of doped graphene, revisiting the stage one graphite intercalation compound KC$_8$ using angle--resolved photoemission spectroscopy and ab--initio calculations. The full experimental dispersion is in excellent agreement to calculations of doped graphene once electron correlations are included on the $GW$ level. This highlights that KC$_8$ has negligible interlayer coupling. Therefore Dirac Fermion behaviour is preserved and we directly determine the full experimental Dirac cone of doped graphene. In addition we prove that superconductivity in KC$_8$ is mediated by electron--phonon coupling to an iTO phonon, yielding a strong kink in the quasiparticle dispersion at 166 meV. These results are key for understanding, both, the unique electronic properties of graphene and superconductivity in KC$_8$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Phonon surface mapping of graphite: disentangling quasi--degenerate phonon dispersions

The two-dimensional mapping of the phonon dispersions around the $K$ point of graphite by inelastic x-ray scattering is provided. The present work resolves the longstanding issue related to the correct assignment of transverse and longitudinal phonon branches at $K$. We observe an almost degeneracy of the three TO, LA and LO derived phonon branches and a strong phonon trigonal warping. Correlation effects renormalize the Kohn anomaly of the TO mode, which exhibits a trigonal warping effect opposite to that of the electronic band structure. We determined the electron--phonon coupling constant to be 166$\rm(eV/Å)^2$ in excellent agreement to $GW$ calculations. These results are fundamental for understanding angle-resolved photoemission, double--resonance Raman and transport measurements of graphene based systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

The Resonating-Valence-Bond Ground State of Li Nanoclusters

We have performed Diffusion Quantum Monte Carlo simulations of Li clusters showing that Resonating-Valence-Bond (RVB) pairing correlations between electrons provide a substantial contribution to the cohesive energy. The RVB effects are identified in terms of electron transfers from s- to p-like character, constituting a possible explanation for the breakdown of the Fermi liquid picture observed in recent high resolution Compton scattering experiments for bulk Li.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Ab-initio band structure of doped graphene

We present an \emph{ab-initio} study of the graphene quasi-particle band structure as function of the doping in G_0 W_0 approximation. We show that the LDA Fermi velocity is substantially renormalized and this renormalization rapidly decreases as function of the doping. We found, in agreement with previous papers, that close to the Dirac point the linear dispersion of the bands is broken but this behaviour disappears with a small doping. We discuss our results in the light of recent experiments on graphene and intercalate graphite.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗