arXiv subjects

F. Piéchon

Publications and source records attributed to F. Piéchon.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Paramagnetic singularities of the orbital magnetism in graphene with a moiré potential

The recent detection of the singular diamagnetism of Dirac electrons in a single graphene layer paved a new way of probing 2D quantum materials through the measurement of equilibrium orbital currents which cannot be accessed in usual transport experiments. Among the theoretical predictions is an intriguing orbital paramagnetism at saddle points of the dispersion relation. Here we present magnetisation measurements in graphene monolayers aligned on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)crystals. Beside the sharp diamagnetic McClure response at the Dirac point, we detect extra diamagnetic singularities at the satellite Dirac points (sDP) of the moiré lattice. Surrounding these diamagnetic satellite peaks, we also observe paramagnetic peaks located at the chemical potential of the saddle points of the Graphene moiré band structure and relate them to the presence of van Hove logarithmic singularities in the density of states. These findings reveal the long ago predicted anomalous paramagnetic orbital response in 2D systems when the Fermi energy is tuned to the vicinity of saddle points.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Orbital embedding and topology of one-dimensional two-band insulators

The topological invariants of band insulators are usually assumed to depend only on the connectivity between orbitals and not on their intra-cell position (orbital embedding), which is a separate piece of information in the tight-binding description. For example, in two dimensions, the orbital embedding is known to change the Berry curvature but not the Chern number. Here, we consider one-dimensional inversion-symmetric insulators classified by a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological invariant $\vartheta=0$ or $π$, related to the Zak phase, and show that $\vartheta$ crucially depends on orbital embedding. We study three two-band models with bond, site or mixed inversion: the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model (SSH), the charge density wave model (CDW) and the Shockley model. The SSH (resp. CDW) model is found to have a unique phase with $\vartheta=0$ (resp. $π$). However, the Shockley model features a topological phase transition between $\vartheta=0$ and $π$. The key difference is whether the two orbitals per unit cell are at the same or different positions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Landau levels, response functions and magnetic oscillations from a generalized Onsager relation

A generalized semiclassical quantization condition for cyclotron orbits was recently proposed by Gao and Niu \cite{Gao}, that goes beyond the Onsager relation \cite{Onsager}. In addition to the integrated density of states, it formally involves magnetic response functions of all orders in the magnetic field. In particular, up to second order, it requires the knowledge of the spontaneous magnetization and the magnetic susceptibility, as was early anticipated by Roth \cite{Roth}. We study three applications of this relation focusing on two-dimensional electrons. First, we obtain magnetic response functions from Landau levels. Second we obtain Landau levels from response functions. Third we study magnetic oscillations in metals and propose a proper way to analyze Landau plots (i.e. the oscillation index $n$ as a function of the inverse magnetic field $1/B$) in order to extract quantities such as a zero-field phase-shift. Whereas the frequency of $1/B$-oscillations depends on the zero-field energy spectrum, the zero-field phase-shift depends on the geometry of the cell-periodic Bloch states via two contributions: the Berry phase and the average orbital magnetic moment on the Fermi surface. We also quantify deviations from linearity in Landau plots (i.e. aperiodic magnetic oscillations), as recently measured in surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators and emphasized by Wright and McKenzie \cite{Wright}.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Tunable orbital susceptibility in $α$-${\cal T}_3$ tight-binding models

We study the importance of interband effects on the orbital susceptibility of three bands $α$-${\cal T}_3$ tight-binding models. The particularity of these models is that the coupling between the three energy bands (which is encoded in the wavefunctions properties) can be tuned (by a parameter $α$) without any modification of the energy spectrum. Using the gauge-invariant perturbative formalism that we have recently developped, we obtain a generic formula of the orbital susceptibility of $α$-${\cal T}_3$ tight-binding models. Considering then three characteristic examples that exhibit either Dirac, semi-Dirac or quadratic band touching, we show that by varying the parameter $α$ and thus the wavefunctions interband couplings, it is possible to drive a transition from a diamagnetic to a paramagnetic peak of the orbital susceptibility at the band touching. In the presence of a gap separating the dispersive bands, we show that the susceptibility inside the gap exhibits a similar dia to paramagnetic transition.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Orbital magnetism of coupled bands models

We develop a gauge-independent perturbation theory for the grand potential of itinerant electrons in two-dimensional tight-binding models in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. At first order in the field, we recover the result of the so-called {\it modern theory of orbital magnetization} and, at second order, deduce a new general formula for the orbital susceptibility. In the special case of two coupled bands, we relate the susceptibility to geometrical quantities such as the Berry curvature. Our results are applied to several two-band -- either gapless or gapped -- systems. We point out some surprising features in the orbital susceptibility -- such as in-gap diamagnetism or parabolic band edge paramagnetism -- coming from interband coupling. From that we draw general conclusions on the orbital magnetism of itinerant electrons in multi-band tight-binding models.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Measure of Diracness in two-dimensional semiconductors

We analyze the low-energy properties of two-dimensional direct-gap semiconductors, such as for example the transition-metal dichalcogenides MoS$_2$, WS$_2$, and their diselenide analogues MoSe$_2$, WSe$_2$, etc., which are currently intensively investigated. In general, their electrons have a mixed character -- they can be massive Dirac fermions as well as simple Schrödinger particles. We propose a measure (Diracness) for the degree of mixing between the two characters and discuss how this quantity can in principle be extracted experimentally, within magneto-transport measurements, and numerically via ab initio calculations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

From dia- to paramagnetic orbital susceptibility of Dirac cones

We study the orbital susceptibility of coupled energy bands with a pair of Dirac points, as in graphene. We show that different systems having the same zero-field energy spectrum exhibit strong differences in their orbital magnetic response at zero energy, ranging from diamagnetism (graphene) to paramagnetism (dice lattice). A lattice model is introduced which interpolates continuously between these two limits. This striking behavior is related to a Berry phase varying continuously from pi to 0. These predictions could be tested with cold atoms in an optical lattice

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Emergence of Dirac Electron Pair in Charge Ordered State of Organic Conductor $α$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$

We re-examine the band structure of the stripe charge ordered state of $α$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$ under pressure by using an extended Hubbard model within the Hartree mean-field theory. By increasing pressure, we find a topological transition from a conventional insulator with a single-minimum in the dispersion relation at the M-point in the Brillouin zone, towards a new phase which exhibits a double-minimum. This transition is characterized by the appearance of a pair of Dirac electrons with a finite mass. Using the Luttinger-Kohn representation at the M-point, it is shown that such a variation of the band structure can be described by an effective $2 \times 2$ low energy Hamiltonian with a single driving parameter. The topological nature of this transition is confirmed by the calculation of the Berry curvature which vanishes in the conventional phase and has a double peak structure with opposite signs in the new phase. We compare the structure of this transition with a simpler situation which occurs in two-component systems, like boron-nitride.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Extended coherence time on the clock transition of optically trapped Rubidium

Optically trapped ensembles are of crucial importance for frequency measurements and quantum memories, but generally suffer from strong dephasing due to inhomogeneous density and light shifts. We demonstrate a drastic increase of the coherence time to 21 s on the magnetic field insensitive clock transition of Rb-87 by applying the recently discovered spin self-rephasing. This result confirms the general nature of this new mechanism and thus shows its applicability in atom clocks and quantum memories. A systematic investigation of all relevant frequency shifts and noise contributions yields a stability of 2.4E-11 x tau^(-1/2), where tau is the integration time in seconds. Based on a set of technical improvements, the presented frequency standard is predicted to rival the stability of microwave fountain clocks in a potentially much more compact setup.

quant-ph↗