arXiv subjects

D. L. Maslov

Publications and source records attributed to D. L. Maslov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Interaction-limited conductivity of twisted bilayer graphene revealed by giant terahertz photoresistance

Identifying the microscopic processes that limit conductivity is essential for understanding correlated and quantum-critical states in quantum materials. In twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) and other twist-controlled materials, the temperature dependence of metallic resistivity follows power-law scaling, with the exponent spanning a broad range, rendering standard transport measurements insufficient to unambiguously identify the dominant scattering processes and giving rise to competing interpretations ranging from phonon-limited transport and umklapp scattering to strange metallicity and heavy fermion renormalization. Here, we use terahertz (THz) excitation to selectively raise the electron temperature in TBG while keeping the lattice cold, enabling a direct separation of electron-electron and electron-phonon contributions to resistivity. We observe a giant THz photoresistance, reaching up to 70% in magic-angle devices, demonstrating that electronic interactions dominate transport even in regimes previously attributed to phonons, including the linear-in-temperature resistivity near the magic angle. Away from the magic angle, we observe coexisting photoresistance and robust quadratic-in-temperature resistivity at extremely low carrier densities where standard electron-electron scattering mechanisms (umklapp and Baber inter-band scattering) are kinematically forbidden. Our analysis identifies the breakdown of Galilean invariance in the Dirac-type dispersion as a possible origin of the interaction-limited conductivity, arising from inter-valley electron-electron collisions. Beyond twisted bilayer graphene, our approach establishes THz-driven hot-electron transport as a general framework for disentangling scattering mechanisms in low-density quantum materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Observation of Chiral Surface Excitons in a Topological Insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$

The protected electron states at the boundaries or on the surfaces of topological insulators (TIs) have been the subject of intense theoretical and experimental investigations. Such states are enforced by very strong spin-orbit interaction in solids composed of heavy elements. Here, we study the composite particles -- chiral excitons -- formed by the Coulomb attraction between electrons and holes residing on the surface of an archetypical three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), Bi$_2$Se$_3$. Photoluminescence (PL) emission arising due to recombination of excitons in conventional semiconductors is usually unpolarized because of scattering by phonons and other degrees of freedom during exciton thermalization. On the contrary, we observe almost perfectly polarization-preserving PL emission from chiral excitons. We demonstrate that the chiral excitons can be optically oriented with circularly polarized light in a broad range of excitation energies, even when the latter deviate from the (apparent) optical band gap by hundreds of meVs, and that the orientation remains preserved even at room temperature. Based on the dependences of the PL spectra on the energy and polarization of incident photons, we propose that chiral excitons are made from massive holes and massless (Dirac) electrons, both with chiral spin textures enforced by strong spin-orbit coupling. A theoretical model based on such proposal describes quantitatively the experimental observations. The optical orientation of composite particles, the chiral excitons, emerges as a general result of strong spin-orbit coupling in a 2D electron system. Our findings can potentially expand applications of TIs in photonics and optoelectronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Chiral Spin Mode on the Surface of a Topological Insulator

Using polarization-resolved resonant Raman spectroscopy, we explore collective spin excitations of the chiral surface states in a three dimensional topological insulator, Bi$_2$Se$_3$. We observe a sharp peak at 150 meV in the pseudovector $A_2$ symmetry channel of the Raman spectra. By comparing the data with calculations, we identify this peak as the transverse collective spin mode of surface Dirac fermions. This mode, unlike a Dirac plasmon or a surface plasmon in the charge sector of excitations, is analogous to a spin wave in a partially polarized Fermi liquid, with spin-orbit coupling playing the role of an effective magnetic field.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Tuning the Fermi level through the Dirac point of giant Rashba semiconductor BiTeI with pressure

We report measurements of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the giant Rashba semiconductor BiTeI under applied pressures up to $\sim 2\,\mathrm{GPa}$. We observe one high frequency oscillation at all pressures and one low frequency oscillation that emerges between $\sim 0.3-0.7\,\mathrm{GPa}$ indicating the appearance of a second small Fermi surface. BiTeI has a conduction band bottom that is split into two sub-bands due to the strong Rashba coupling, resulting in a `Dirac point'. Our results suggest that the chemical potential starts below the Dirac point in the conduction band at ambient pressure and moves upward, crossing it as pressure is increased. The presence of the chemical potential above this Dirac point results in two Fermi surfaces. We present a simple model that captures this effect and can be used to understand the pressure dependence of our sample parameters. These extracted parameters are in quantitative agreement with first-principles calculations and other experiments. The parameters extracted via our model support the notion that pressure brings the system closer to the predicted topological quantum phase transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Resistivity of non-Galilean-invariant Fermi- and non-Fermi liquids

While it is well-known that the electron-electron (\emph{ee}) interaction cannot affect the resistivity of a Galilean-invariant Fermi liquid (FL), the reverse statement is not necessarily true: the resistivity of a non-Galilean-invariant FL does not necessarily follow a T^2 behavior. The T^2 behavior is guaranteed only if Umklapp processes are allowed; however, if the Fermi surface (FS) is small or the electron-electron interaction is of a very long range, Umklapps are suppressed. In this case, a T^2 term can result only from a combined--but distinct from quantum-interference corrections-- effect of the electron-impurity and \emph{ee} interactions. Whether the T^2 term is present depends on 1) dimensionality (two dimensions (2D) vs three dimensions (3D)), 2) topology (simply- vs multiply-connected), and 3) shape (convex vs concave) of the FS. In particular, the T^2 term is absent for any quadratic (but not necessarily isotropic) spectrum both in 2D and 3D. The T^2 term is also absent for a convex and simply-connected but otherwise arbitrarily anisotropic FS in 2D. The origin of this nullification is approximate integrability of the electron motion on a 2D FS, where the energy and momentum conservation laws do not allow for current relaxation to leading --second--order in T/E_F (E_F is the Fermi energy). If the T^2 term is nullified by the conservation law, the first non-zero term behaves as T^4. The same applies to a quantum-critical metal in the vicinity of a Pomeranchuk instability, with a proviso that the leading (first non-zero) term in the resistivity scales as T^{\frac{D+2}{3}} (T^{\frac{D+8}{3}}). We discuss a number of situations when integrability is weakly broken, e.g., by inter-plane hopping in a quasi-2D metal or by warping of the FS as in the surface states of Bi_2Te_3 family of topological insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Effect of Electron-electron Interaction on Surface Transport in Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators

We study the effect of electron-electron interaction on the surface resistivity of three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators. In the absence of umklapp scattering, the existence of the Fermi-liquid ($T^2$) term in resistivity of a two-dimensional (2D) metal depends on the Fermi surface geometry, in particular, on whether it is convex or concave. On doping, the Fermi surface of 2D metallic surface states in 3D topological insulators of the Bi$_2$Te$_3$ family changes its shape from convex to concave due to hexagonal warping, while still being too small to allow for umklapp scattering. We show that the $T^2$ term in the resistivity is present only in the concave regime and demonstrate that the resistivity obeys a universal scaling form valid for an arbitrary 2D Fermi surface near a convex/concave transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Necessary and sufficient condition for longitudinal magnetoresistance

Since the Lorentz force is perpendicular to the magnetic field, it should not affect the motion of a charge along the field. This argument seems to imply absence of longitudinal magnetoresistance (LMR) which is, however, observed in many materials and reproduced by standard semiclassical transport theory applied to particular metals. We derive a necessary and sufficient condition on the shape of the Fermi surface for non-zero LMR. Although an anisotropic spectrum is a pre-requisite for LMR, not all types of anisotropy can give rise to the effect: a spectrum should not be separable in any sense. More precisely, the combination $k_ρv_ϕ/v_ρ$, where $k_ρ$ is the radial component of the momentum in a cylindrical system with the z-axis along the magnetic field and $v_ρ (v_ϕ$) is the radial (tangential) component of the velocity, should depend on the momentum along the field. For some lattice types, this condition is satisfied already at the level of nearest-neighbor hopping; for others, the required non-separabality occurs only if next-to-nearest-neighbor hopping is taken into account.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Graphite in the bi-layer regime: in-plane transport

An interplay between the increase in the number of carriers and the decrease in the scattering time is expected to result in a saturation of the in-plane resistivity, $ρ_{ab}$, in graphite above room temperature. Contrary to this expectation, we observe a pronounced increase in $ρ_{ab}$ in the interval between 300 and 900 K. We provide a theory of this effect based on intervalley scattering of charge carriers by high-frequency, graphene-like optical phonons.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Non-analytic spin susceptibility of a nested Fermi liquid: the case of Fe-based pnictides

We propose an explanation of the peculiar linear temperature dependence of the uniform spin susceptibility $χ(T)$ in ferropnictides. We argue that the linear in $T$ term appears due to non-analytic temperature dependence of $χ(T)$ in a two-dimensional Fermi liquid. We show that the prefactor of the $T$ term is expressed via the square of the spin-density-wave (SDW) amplitude connecting nested hole and electron pockets. Due to an incipient SDW instability, this amplitude is large, which, along with a small value of the Fermi energy, makes the $T$ dependence of $χ(T)$ strong. We demonstrate that this mechanism is in quantitative agreement with the experiment.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Boson-assisted tunneling in layered metals

A theory for boson-assisted tunneling via randomly distributed resonant states in a layered metals is developed. As particular examples, we consider the electron-phonon interaction and the interaction between localized and conduction electrons. The theory is applied to explain a non-monotonic variation of the out-plane resistivity with temperature observed in quasi-two-dimensional metals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Anomalous c-axis transport in layered metals

Transport in metals with strongly anisotropic single-particle spectrum is studied. Coherent band transport in all directions, described by the standard Boltzmann equation, is shown to withstand both elastic and inelastic scattering as long as $E_Fτ\gg 1$. A model of phonon-assisted tunneling via resonant states located in between the layers is suggested to explain a non-monotonic temperature dependence of the c-axis resistivity observed in experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Quantum Correction to Conductivity Close to Ferromagnetic Quantum Critical Point in Two Dimensions

We study the temperature dependence of the conductivity due to quantum interference processes for a two-dimensional disordered itinerant electron system close to a ferromagnetic quantum critical point. Near the quantum critical point, the cross-over between diffusive and ballistic regimes of quantum interference effects occurs at a temperature $ T^{\ast}=1/τγ(E_{F}τ)^{2}$, where $γ$ is the parameter associated with the Landau damping of the spin fluctuations, $τ$ is the impurity scattering time, and $E_{F}$ is the Fermi energy. For a generic choice of parameters, $T^{\ast}$ is smaller than the nominal crossover scale $1/τ$. In the ballistic quantum critical regime, the conductivity behaves as $T^{1/3}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Nonanalytic corrections to the specific heat of a three-dimensional Fermi liquid

We revisit the issue of the leading nonanalytic corrections to the temperature dependence of the specific heat coefficient, $γ(T)=C(T)/T,$ for a system of interacting fermions in three dimensions. We show that the leading temperature dependence of the specific heat coefficient $γ(T)-γ(0) \propto T^3 \ln T$ comes from two physically distinct processes. The first process involves a thermal excitation of a single particle-hole pair, whose components interact via a nonanalytic dynamic vertex. The second process involves an excitation of three particle-hole pairs which interact via the analytic static fixed-point vertex. We show that the single-pair contribution is expressed via the backscattering amplitude of quasiparticles at the Fermi surface. The three-pair contribution does not have a simple expression in terms of scattering in particular directions. We clarify the relation between these results and previous literature on both 3D and 2D systems, and discuss the relation between the nonanalyticities in $γ$ and those in spin susceptibilities.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Interacting fermions in two dimensions: beyond the perturbation theory

We consider a system of 2D fermions with short-range interaction. A straightforward perturbation theory is shown to be ill-defined even for an infinitesimally weak interaction, as the perturbative series for the self-energy diverges near the mass shell. We show that the divergences result from the interaction of fermions with the zero-sound collective mode. By re-summing the most divergent diagrams, we obtain a closed form of the self-energy near the mass shell. The spectral function exhibits a threshold feature at the onset of the emission of the zero-sound waves. We also show that the interaction with the zero sound does not affect a non-analytic, $T^{2}$-part of the specific heat.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Singular perturbation theory for interacting fermions in two dimensions

We consider a system of interacting fermions in two dimensions beyond the second-order perturbation theory in the interaction. It is shown that the mass-shell singularities in the self-energy, arising already at the second order of the perturbation theory, manifest a non-perturbative effect: an interaction with the zero-sound mode. Resumming the perturbation theory for a weak, short-range interaction and accounting for a finite curvature of the fermion spectrum, we eliminate the singularities and obtain the results for the quasi-particle self-energy and the spectral function to all orders in the interaction with the zero-sound mode. A threshold for emission of zero-sound waves leads a non-monotonic variation of the self-energy with energy (or momentum) near the mass shell. Consequently, the spectral function has a kink-like feature. We also study in detail a non-analytic temperature dependence of the specific heat, $C(T)\propto T^2$. It turns out that although the interaction with the collective mode results in an enhancement of the fermion self-energy, this interaction does not affect the non-analytic term in $C(T)$ due to a subtle cancellation between the contributions from the real and imaginary parts of the self-energy. For a short-range and weak interaction, this implies that the second-order perturbation theory suffices to determine the non-analytic part of $C(T)$. We also obtain a general form of the non-analytic term in $C(T)$, valid for the case of a generic Fermi liquid, \emph{i.e.}, beyond the perturbation theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Non-analytic corrections to the Fermi-liquid behavior

The issue of non-analytic corrections to the Fermi-liquid behavior is revisited. Previous studies have indicated that the corrections to the Fermi-liquid forms of the specific heat and the static spin susceptibility scale as $T^{D}$ and $T^{D-1}$, respectively (with extra logarithms for $D=1,3$). In addition, the non-uniform spin susceptibility is expected to depend on the bosonic momentum $Q$ in a non-analytic way, i.e., as $Q^{D-1}$ (again with extra logarithms for $D=1,3$). It is shown that these non-analytic corrections originate from the universal singularities in the dynamical bosonic response functions of a generic Fermi liquid. In contrast to the leading, Fermi-liquid forms which depend on the interaction averaged over the Fermi surface, the non-analytic corrections are parameterized by only two coupling constants, which are the components of the interaction potential at momentum transfers $q=0$ and $q=2k_F$. For 3D systems, a recent result of Belitz, Kirkpatrick and Vojta for the spin susceptibility is reproduced and the issue why a non-analytic momentum dependence of the non-uniform spin susceptibility ($Q^{2}\ln |Q|$) is \emph{not}paralleled by a non-analyticity in the $T-$ dependence ($T^2$) is clarified. For the case of a 2D system with a finite-range interaction, explicit forms of the corrections to the specific heat ($\propto T^2$), uniform ($\propto T$) and non-uniform ($\propto |Q|$) spin susceptibilities are obtained. It is shown that previous calculations of the temperature dependences of these quantities in 2D were incomplete. Some of the results and conclusions of this paper have recently been announced in a short communication [A. V. Chubukov and D. L. Maslov, cond-mat/0304381].

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Universal corrections to the Fermi-liquid theory

We show that the singularities in the dynamical bosonic response functions of a generic 2D Fermi liquid give rise to universal, non-analytic corrections to the Fermi-liquid theory. These corrections yield a $T^2$ term in the specific heat, $T$ terms in the effective mass and the uniform spin susceptibility $χ_s (Q=0,T)$, and $|Q|$ term in $χ_s (Q,T=0)$. The existence of these terms has been the subject of recent controversy, which is resolved in this paper. We present exact expressions for all non-analytic terms to second order in a generic interaction $U(q)$ and show that only U(0) and $U(2p_F)$ matter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Quantum magneto-oscillations in a two-dimensional Fermi liquid

Quantum magneto-oscillations provide a powerfull tool for quantifying Fermi-liquid parameters of metals. In particular, the quasiparticle effective mass and spin susceptibility are extracted from the experiment using the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula, derived under the assumption that the properties of the system in a non-zero magnetic field are determined uniquely by the zero-field Fermi-liquid state. This assumption is valid in 3D but, generally speaking, erroneous in 2D where the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula may be applied only if the oscillations are strongly damped by thermal smearing and disorder. In this work, the effects of interactions and disorder on the amplitude of magneto-oscillations in 2D are studied. It is found that the effective mass diverges logarithmically with decreasing temperature signaling a deviation from the Fermi-liquid behavior. It is also shown that the quasiparticle lifetime due to inelastic interactions does not enter the oscillation amplitude, although these interactions do renormalize the effective mass. This result provides a generalization of the Fowler-Prange theorem formulated originally for the electron-phonon interaction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗