arXiv subjects

Fu-Chun Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Fu-Chun Zhang.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Localized States and Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Si-Doped InAs/GaSb Quantum Wells

We study localized in-gap states and quantum spin Hall effect in Si-doped InAs/GaSb quantum wells. We propose a model describing donor and/or acceptor impurities to describe Si dopants. This model shows in-gap bound states and wide conductance plateau with the quantized value $2e^2/h$ in light dopant concentration, consistent with recent experiments by Du et al. We predict a conductance dip structure due to backward scattering in the region where the localization length $ξ$ is comparable with the sample width $L_y$ but much smaller than the sample length $L_x$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Majorana mode in vortex core of Bi2Te3/NbSe2 topological insulator-superconductor heterostructure

Majorana fermions have been intensively studied in recent years for their importance to both fundamental science and potential applications in topological quantum computing1,2. Majorana fermions are predicted to exist in a vortex core of superconducting topological insulators3. However, they are extremely difficult to be distinguished experimentally from other quasiparticle states for the tiny energy difference between Majorana fermions and these states, which is beyond the energy resolution of most available techniques. Here, we overcome the problem by systematically investigating the spatial profile of the Majorana mode and the bound quasiparticle states within a vortex in Bi2Te3/NbSe2. While the zero bias peak in local conductance splits right off the vortex center in conventional superconductors, it splits off at a finite distance ~20nm away from the vortex center in Bi2Te3/NbSe2, primarily due to the Majorana fermion zero mode. While the Majorana mode is destroyed by reducing the distance between vortices, the zero bias peak splits as a conventional superconductor again. This work provides strong evidences of Majorana fermions and also suggests a possible route to manipulating them.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Topological Superconductor Bi2Te3/NbSe2 heterostructures

Topological superconductors (TSCs) have a full gap in the bulk and gapless surface states consisting of Majorana fermions, which have potential applications in fault-tolerant topological quantum computation. Because TSCs are very rare in nature, an alternative way to study the TSC is to artificially introduce superconductivity into the surface states of a topological insulator (TI) through proximity effect (PE)1-4. Here we report the first experimental realization of the PE induced TSC in Bi2Te3/NbSe2 thin films as demonstrated by the density of states probed using scanning tunneling microscope. We observe Abrikosov vortices and lower energy bound states on the surface of topological insulator and the dependence of superconducting coherence length on the film thickness and magnetic field, which are attributed to the superconductivity in the topological surface states. This work demonstrates the practical feasibility of fabricating a TSC with individual Majorana fermions inside superconducting vortex as predicted in theory and accomplishes the pre-requisite step towards searching for Majorana fermions in the PE induced TSCs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Momentum-Resolved Electronic Relaxation Dynamics in D-wave Superconductors

Motivated by recent development in time-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (trARPES) for d-wave superconductors, we analyze the non-equilibrium relaxation dynamics of the laser pulse excited sample within the scenario of two-temperature model. It is shown that the main features reported in the trARPES technique may be understood within this phenomenological picture. The momentum dependence of the excited quasiparticle density and the relaxation rate is associated with the dynamics of the nodal d-wave superconducting gap, and the fluence dependence of the relaxation rate is related to the recombination process of quasiparticles into Cooper pairs.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Majorana Fermion Induced Non-local Current Correlations in Spin-orbit Coupled Superconducting Wires

Recent observation of zero bias conductance peaks in semiconductor wire/superconductor heterostructures has generated great interest, and there is a hot debate on whether the observation is associated with Majorana fermions (MFs). Here we study the local and crossed Andreev reflections in a junction of two normal leads and a sandwiched superconductor-semiconductor wire with two spatially separated but strongly coupled MF end states. The conductance and Fano factors of such a device are sharply different from the topologically trivial case even in the presence of disorder, and can hence be used to identify MFs unambiguously.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Theory for charge and orbital density-wave states in manganite La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{1.5}$MnO$_4$

We investigate the high temperature phase of layered manganites, and demonstrate that the charge-orbital phase transition without magnetic order in La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{1.5}$MnO$_4$ can be understood in terms of the density wave instability. The orbital ordering is found to be induced by the nesting between segments of Fermi surface with different orbital characters. The simultaneous charge and orbital orderings are elaborated with a mean field theory. The ordered orbitals are shown to be $d_{x^2-y^2} \pm d_{3z^2-r^2}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Flat band electrons and interactions in rhombohedral trilayer graphene

Multilayer graphene systems with a rhombohedral stacking order harbor nearly flat bands in their single-particle spectrum. We propose ansatz states to describe the surface-localized states of flat band electrons. The absence of kinetic dispersion near the fermi level leaves the interaction as a dominate mechanism to govern the low energy physics of a low density electron system. We build up an effective lattice model in two interacting low-energy bands, where the full terms of the Coulomb interaction, including those long-range and off-diagonal parts, have been considered. The interaction matrix coefficients in the many-body Hamiltonian model are directly calculated for a trilayer system using orthonormal Wannier basis. We then present a flat-band projection to yield an interaction-only lattice model for flat band electrons. We find that this limited model might energetically favor a ferromagnetic quantum crystal under certain conditions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Influence of Quantum and Thermal Noise on Spin-Torque-Driven Magnetization Switching

We apply a recently developed quantum theory of spin transfer torque to study the effect of the quantum noise in spin transfer process on the magnetization switching in spin-torque-driven devices. The quantum noise induces considerable fluctuation of the switching time at zero temperature. By including the thermal noise, the temperature dependence of the expectation value and standard deviation of the switching time are obtained in the Monte Carlo simulations, and the results are fitted to an effective first passage model. We expect that the predictions here are observable in the single-shot measurement experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Single nonmagnetic impurity resonance in FeSe-based 122-type superconductors as a probe for pairing symmetry

We study the effect of a single non-magnetic impurity in A$_{y}$Fe$_{2-x}$Se$_{2}$ (A=K, Rb, or Cs) superconductors by considering various pairing states based on a three-orbital model consistent with the photoemission experiments. The local density of states on and near the impurity site has been calculated by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations self-consistently. The impurity-induced in-gap bound states are found only for attractive impurity scattering potential, as in the cases of doping of Co or Ni, which is characterized by the strong particle-hole asymmetry, in the nodeless $d_{x^2-y^2}$ wave pairing state. This property may be used to probe the pairing symmetry of FeSe-based 122-type superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Half Metallic Bilayer Graphene

Charge neutral bilayer graphene has a gapped ground state as transport experiments demonstrate. One of the plausible such ground states is layered antiferromagnetic spin density wave (LAF) state, where the spins in top and bottom layers have same magnitude with opposite directions. We propose that lightly charged bilayer graphene in an electric field perpendicular to the graphene plane may be a half metal as a consequence of the inversion and particle-hole symmetry broken in the LAF state. We show this explicitly by using a mean field theory on a 2-layer Hubbard model for the bilayer graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Correlation effects in the electronic structure of the Ni-based superconducting KNi2S2

The LDA plus Gutzwiller variational method is used to investigate the groundstate physical properties of the newly discovered superconducting KNi2S2. Five Ni-3d Wannier-orbital basis are constructed by the density-functional theory, to combine with local Coulomb interaction to describe the normal state electronic structure of Ni-based superconductor. The band structure and the mass enhanced are studied based on a multiorbital Hubbard model by using Gutzwiller approximation method. Our results indicate that the correlation effects lead to the mass enhancement of KNi2S2. Different from the band structure calculated from the LDA results, there are three energy bands across the Fermi level along the X-Z line due to the existence of the correlation effects, which induces a very complicated Fermi surface along the X-Z line. We have also investigated the variation of the quasi-particle weight factor with the hole or electron doping and found that the mass enhancement character has been maintained with the doping.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Vortex Structures in Model p-Wave Superconducting Sr2RuO4 -- Single 2-Dimensional Band v.s. Quasi-1-Dimensional Band

There have been an interesting debate on the primary source of chiral p-wave superconductivity in Sr2RuO4. We present a comparative study on the vortex structure between a single 2-dimensional (2D) band and quasi-1D band model by using Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory. The pattern of the iso-values of the local density of state around a vortex has a diamond shape in the quasi-1D model and is much more isotropic in the 2D model. The spin lattice relaxation rate well below the superconducting transition temperature is greatly enhanced in the vortex state in the 2D model but not in the quasi-1D model. These features can be tested by using scanning tunneling microscope and NMR to distinguish the models for the superconductivity in Sr2RuO4.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Spin Density Wave Fluctuations and p-wave Pairing in Sr2RuO4

Recently a debate has arisen over which of the two distinct parts of the Fermi surface of Sr2RuO4, is the active part for the chiral p-wave superconductivity. Early theories proposed p-wave pairing on the two dimensional gamma-band, while a recent proposal focuses on the one dimensional (alpha,beta) bands whose nesting pockets are the source of the strong incommensurate spin density wave (SDW) fluctuations. We apply a renormalization group theory to study quasi-one dimensional repulsive Hubbard chains and explain the form of SDW fluctuations, reconciling the absence of long range order with their nesting Fermi surface. The mutual exclusion of p-wave pairing and SDW fluctuations in repulsive Hubbard chains favors the assignment of the two dimensional gamma-band as the source of p-wave pairing.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Layer Antiferromagnetic State in Bilayer Graphene : A First-Principle Investigation

The ground state of bilayer graphene is investigated by the density functional calculations with local spin density approximation. We find a ground state with layer antiferromagnetic ordering, which has been suggested by former studies based on simplified model. The calculations prove that the layer antiferromagnetic state (LAF) is stable even if the remote hopping and nonlocal Coulomb interaction are included. The gap of the LAF state is about 1.8 meV, comparable to the experimental value. The surface magnetism in BLG is of the order of $10^{-2} μ_B /nm^2 $.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Optimal Control of Stochastic Magnetization Dynamics by Spin Current

Fluctuation-induced stochastic magnetization dynamics plays an important role in magnetic recording and writing. Here we propose that the magnetization dynamics can be optimally controlled by the spin current to minimize or maximize the Freidlin-Wentzell action functional of the system hence to increase or decrease the happening probability of the rare event. We apply this method to study thermal-driven magnetization switching problem and to demonstrate the advantage of the optimal control strategy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Dipolar Dynamics for Interacting Ultracold Fermions in a Trapped Optical Lattice

Using the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method, we calculate transport properties of an interacting Fermi gas in an optical lattice with a confining trap after a sudden displacement of the trap center. In the regime of attractive interactions, the dipolar motion after the displacement can be classified into underdamped oscillations and overdamped relaxations, depending on the interaction strength. These numerical calculations are consistent with experimental results. In the regime of repulsive interactions, we predict a revival of the oscillations of the center of mass when the interaction strength is increased. This unique feature can be considered as a dynamical signature for the emergence of a Mott plateau for an interacting trapped Fermi gas in an optical lattice.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Zn-impurity effect and interplay of $s_{\pm}$- and $s_{++}$-pairings in Fe-based superconductors

We report theoretical and experimental studies of the effect of Zn-impurity in Fe-based superconductors. Zn-impurity is expected to severely suppress sign reversed s$_\pm$ wave pairing. The experimentally observed suppression of T$_c$ under Zn-doping strongly depends on the materials and the charge carrier contents, which suggests competition of $s_{++}$ and $s_{\pm}$ pairings in Fe-base superconductors. We study a model incorporating both $s_{++}$ and $s_{\pm}$ pairing couplings by using Bogoliubov de-Gennes equation, and show that the Zn-impurity strongly suppresses $s_{\pm}$ pairing and may induce a transition from $s_{\pm}$ to $s_{++}$-wave. Our theory is consistent with various experiments on the impurity effect. We present new experimental data on the Zn-doping SmFe$_{1-x}$Zn$_x$AsO$_{0.9}$F$_{0.1}$ of T$_c=$ 50K, in further support of our proposal.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Stacking order, interaction and weak surface magnetism in layered graphene sheets

Recent transport experiments have demonstrated that the rhombohedral stacking trilayer graphene is an insulator with an intrinsic gap of 6meV and the Bernal stacking trilayer one is a metal. We propose a Hubbard model with a moderate $U$ for layered graphene sheets, and show that the model well explains the experiments of the stacking dependent energy gap. The on-site Coulomb repulsion drives the metallic phase of the non-interacting system to a weak surface antiferromagnetic insulator for the rhombohedral stacking layers, but does not alter the metallic phase for the Bernal stacking layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗