arXiv subjects

Gang Su

Publications and source records attributed to Gang Su.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Carboneyane: A nodal line topological carbon with sp-sp2-sp3 chemical bonds

A structurally stable carbon allotrope with plentiful topological properties is predicted by means of first-principles calculations. This novel carbon allotrope possesses the simple space group C2/m, and contains simultaneously sp, sp2 and sp3 hybridized bonds in one structure, which is thus coined as carboneyane. The calculations on geometrical, vibrational, and electronic properties reveal that carboneyane, with good ductility and a much lower density 1.43 g/cm3, is a topological metal with a pair of nodal lines traversing the whole Brillouin zone, such that they can only be annihilated in a pair when symmetry is preserved. The symmetry and topological protections of the nodal lines as well as the associated surface states are discussed. By comparing its x-ray diffraction pattern with experimental results, we find that three peaks of carboneyane meet with the detonation soot. On account of the fluffy structure, carboneyane is shown to have potential applications in areas of storage, adsorption and electrode materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Strain-Induced Room-Temperature Ferromagnetic Semiconductors with Large Anomalous Hall Conductivity in Two-Dimensional Cr2Ge2Se6

By density functional theory calculations, we predict a stable two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic semiconductor Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Se$_6$, where the Curie temperature $T$$_c$ can be dramatically enhanced beyond room temperature by applying a few percent strain. In addition, the anomalous Hall conductivity in 2D Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Se$_6$ and Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ is predicted to be comparable to that in ferromagnetic metals of Fe and Ni, and is an order of magnitude larger than that in diluted magnetic semiconductor Ga(Mn,As). Based on superexchange interactions, the enhanced $T$$_c$ in 2D Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Se$_6$ by strain can be understood by the decreased energy difference between 3$d$ orbitals of Cr and 4$p$ orbitals of Se. Our finding highlights the microscopic mechanism to obtain the room temperature ferromagnetic semiconductors by strain.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Molecular monolayer stabilizer for multilayer 2D materials

2D van der Waals materials have rich and unique functional properties, but many are susceptible to corrosion under ambient conditions. Here we show that linear alkylamines are highly effective in protecting the optoelectronic properties of these materials such as black phosphorous (BP) and transitional metal dichalcogenides. As a representative example, n-hexylamine can be applied in the form of thin molecular monolayers on BP flakes with less-than-2nm thickness and can prolong BP's lifetime from a few hours to several weeks and even months in ambient environments. Characterizations combined with our theoretical analysis show that the thin monolayers selectively sift out water molecules, forming a drying layer to achieve the passivation of the protected 2D materials. The monolayer coating is also stable in air, hydrogen annealing, and organic solvents, but can be removed by certain organic acids.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Topological Nonlinear Anomalous Nersnt Effect in Strained Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

We theoretically analyze the non-linear anomalous Nernst effect as the second-order response of temperature gradient by using the semiclassical framework of electron dynamics. We find that a non-linear current can be generated transverse to the applied temperature gradient in time-reversal-symmetry materials with broken inversion symmetry. This effect has a quantum origin arising from the Berry curvature of states near the Fermi surface. We discuss the non-linear Nernst effect in transition metal dichalcogenides~(TMDCs) under the application of uniaxial strain. In particular, we predict that under fixed chemical potential in TMDCs, the non-linear Nernst current exhibits a transition from $\textbf{j}^\text{dip}_\text{A}\sim T^{-2}$ temperature dependence in low temperature regime to a linear $T$-dependence in high temperature.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Efficient Quantum Simulation for Thermodynamics of Infinite-size Many-body Systems in Arbitrary Dimensions

In this work we propose to simulate many-body thermodynamics of infinite-size quantum lattice models in one, two, and three dimensions, in terms of few-body models of only O(10) sites, which we coin as quantum entanglement simulators (QES's). The QES is described by a temperature-independent Hamiltonian, with the boundary interactions optimized by the tensor network methods to mimic the entanglement between the bulk and environment in a finite-size canonical ensemble. The reduced density matrix of the physical bulk then gives that of the infinite-size canonical ensemble under interest. We show that the QES can, for instance, accurately simulate varieties of many-body phenomena, including finite-temperature crossover and algebraic excitations of the one-dimensional spin liquid, the phase transitions and low-temperature physics of the two- and three-dimensional antiferromagnets, and the crossovers of the two-dimensional topological system. Our work provides an efficient way to explore the thermodynamics of intractable quantum many-body systems with easily accessible systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Reentrance of Topological Phase in Spin-1 Frustrated Heisenberg Chain

For the Haldane phase, the magnetic field usually tends to break the symmetry and drives the system into a topologically trivial phase. Here, we report a novel reentrance of the Haldane phase at zero temperature in the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on sawtooth chain. A partial Haldane phase is induced by the magnetic field, which is the combination of the Haldane state in one sublattice and a ferromagnetically ordered state in the other sublattice. Such a partial topological order is a result of the zero-temperature entropy due to quantum fluctuations caused by geometrical frustration.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Noise-tolerant Detection of $Z_N$ Topological Orders in Quantum Many-body States

Topologically ordered states are fundamentally important in theoretical physics, which are also suggested as promising candidates to build fault-tolerant quantum devices. However, it is still elusive how topological orders can be affected or detected under noises. In this work, we find a quantity, termed as the ring degeneracy $\mathcal{D}$, which is robust under pure noise to detect both trivial and intrinsic topological orders. The ring degeneracy is defined as the degeneracy of the solutions of the self-consistent equations that encode the contraction of the corresponding tensor network(TN). For the $Z_N$ orders, we find that the ring degeneracy satisfies a simple relation $\mathcal{D} = (N + 1)/2 + d$, with $d = 0$ for odd $N$ and $d = 1/2$ for even $N$. Simulations on several non-trivial states (two-dimensional Ising model, $Z_N$ topological states, and resonating valence bond states) show that the ring degeneracy can tolerate noises up to a strength associated to the gap of the TN boundary theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Exploring T-carbon for Energy Applications

Seeking for next-generation energy sources that are economic, sustainable (renewable), clean (environment-friendly), and abundant in earth is crucial when facing the challenges of energy crisis. There have been numerous studies exploring the possibility of carbon based materials to be utilized in future energy applications. In this paper, we introduce T-carbon, which is a theoretically predicted but recently experimentally synthesized carbon allotrope, as a promising material for next-generation energy applications. It is shown that T-carbon can be potentially used in thermoelectrics, hydrogen storage, lithium ion batteries, \emph{etc}. The challenges, opportunities, and possible directions for future studies of energy applications of T-carbon are also addressed. With the development of more environment-friendly technologies, the promising applications of T-carbon in energy fields would not only produce scientifically significant impact in related fields but also lead to a number of industrial and technical applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Generative Tensor Network Classification Model for Supervised Machine Learning

Tensor network (TN) has recently triggered extensive interests in developing machine-learning models in quantum many-body Hilbert space. Here we purpose a generative TN classification (GTNC) approach for supervised learning. The strategy is to train the generative TN for each class of the samples to construct the classifiers. The classification is implemented by comparing the distance in the many-body Hilbert space. The numerical experiments by GTNC show impressive performance on the MNIST and Fashion-MNIST dataset. The testing accuracy is competitive to the state-of-the-art convolutional neural network while higher than the naive Bayes classifier (a generative classifier) and support vector machine. Moreover, GTNC is more efficient than the existing TN models that are in general discriminative. By investigating the distances in the many-body Hilbert space, we find that (a) the samples are naturally clustering in such a space; and (b) bounding the bond dimensions of the TN's to finite values corresponds to removing redundant information in the image recognition. These two characters make GTNC an adaptive and universal model of excellent performance.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2019

Two-dimensional Weyl Half Semimetal and Tunable Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in Monolayer PtCl$_{3}$

We propose a new topological quantum state of matter---the two-dimensional (2D) Weyl half semimetal (WHS), which features 2D Weyl points at Fermi level belonging to a single spin channel, such that the low-energy electrons are described by fully spin-polarized 2D Weyl fermions. We predict its realization in the ground state of monolayer PtCl$_3$. We show that the material is a half metal with an in-plane magnetization, and its Fermi surface consists of a pair of fully spin-polarized Weyl points protected by a mirror symmetry, which are robust against spin-orbit coupling. Remarkably, we show that the WHS state is a critical state at the topological phase transition between two quantum anomalous Hall insulator phases with opposite Chern numbers, such that a switching between quantum anomalous Hall states can be readily achieved by rotating the magnetization direction. Our findings demonstrate that WHS offers new opportunity to control the chiral edge channels, which will be useful for designing new topological electronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Machine Learning by Unitary Tensor Network of Hierarchical Tree Structure

The resemblance between the methods used in quantum-many body physics and in machine learning has drawn considerable attention. In particular, tensor networks (TNs) and deep learning architectures bear striking similarities to the extent that TNs can be used for machine learning. Previous results used one-dimensional TNs in image recognition, showing limited scalability and flexibilities. In this work, we train two-dimensional hierarchical TNs to solve image recognition problems, using a training algorithm derived from the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz. This approach introduces mathematical connections among quantum many-body physics, quantum information theory, and machine learning. While keeping the TN unitary in the training phase, TN states are defined, which encode classes of images into quantum many-body states. We study the quantum features of the TN states, including quantum entanglement and fidelity. We find these quantities could be properties that characterize the image classes, as well as the machine learning tasks.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2018

Thermodynamics of Spin-1/2 Kagomé Heisenberg Antiferromagnet: Algebraic Paramagnetic Liquid and Finite-Temperature Phase Diagram

Quantum fluctuations from frustration can trigger quantum spin liquids (QSLs) at zero temperature. However, it is unclear how thermal fluctuations affect a QSL. We employ state-of-the-art tensor network-based methods to explore the ground state and thermodynamic properties of the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet (KHA). Its ground state is shown to be consistent with a gapless QSL by observing the absence of zero-magnetization plateau as well as the algebraic behaviors of susceptibility and specific heat at low temperatures, respectively. We show that there exists an \textit{algebraic paramagnetic liquid} (APL) that possesses both the paramagnetic properties and the algebraic behaviors inherited from the QSL. The APL is induced under the interplay between quantum fluctuations from geometrical frustration and thermal fluctuations. By studying the temperature-dependent behaviors of specific heat and magnetic susceptibility, a finite-temperature phase diagram in a magnetic field is suggested, where various phases are identified. This present study gains useful insight into the thermodynamic properties of the spin-1/2 KHA with or without a magnetic field and is helpful for relevant experimental studies.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Controlling phase diagram of finite spin-$1/2$ chains by tuning boundary interactions

Searching for simple models that possess non-trivial controlling properties is one of the central tasks in the field of quantum technologies. In this work, we construct a quantum spin-$1/2$ chain of finite size, termed as controllable spin wire (CSW), in which we have $\hat{S}^{z} \hat{S}^{z}$ (Ising) interactions with a transverse field in the bulk, and $\hat{S}^{x} \hat{S}^{z}$ and $\hat{S}^{z} \hat{S}^{z}$ couplings with a canted field on the boundaries. The Hamiltonians on the boundaries, dubbed as tuning Hamiltonians (TH's), bear the same form as the effective Hamiltonians emerging in the so-called `quantum entanglement simulator' that is originally proposed for mimicking infinite models. We show that tuning the TH's (parametrized by $α$) can trigger non-trivial controlling of the bulk properties, including the degeneracy of energy/entanglement spectra, and the response to the magnetic field $h_{bulk}$ in the bulk. A universal point dubbed as $α^s$ emerges. For $α> α^s$, the ground-state diagram versus $h_{bulk}$ consists of three `phases', which are NeéL and polarized phases, and an emergent pseudo-magnet phase, distinguished by entanglement and magnetization. For $α< α^s$, the phase diagram changes completely, with no step-like behaviors to distinguish phases. Due to its controlling properties and simplicity, the CSW could potentially serve in future the experiments for developing quantum devices.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Competing dynamics of single phosphorus dopant in graphene with electron irradiation

Atomic-level structural changes in materials are important but challenging to study. Here, we demonstrate the dynamics and the possibility of manipulating a phosphorus dopant atom in graphene using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The mechanisms of various processes are explored and compared with those of other dopant species by first-principles calculations. This work paves the way for designing a more precise and optimized protocol for atomic engineering.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Emergent spin-1 trimerized valence bond crystal in the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the star lattice

We explore the frustrated spin-$1/2$ Heisenberg model on the star lattice with antiferromagnetic (AF) couplings inside each triangle and ferromagnetic (FM) inter-triangle couplings ($J_e<0$), and calculate its magnetic and thermodynamic properties. We show that the FM couplings do not sabotage the magnetic disordering of the ground state due to the frustration from the AF interactions inside each triangle, but trigger a fully gapped inversion-symmetry-breaking trimerized valence bond crystal (TVBC) with emergent spin-1 degrees of freedom. We discover that with strengthening $J_e$, the system scales exponentially, either with or without a magnetic field $h$: the order parameter, the five critical fields that separate the $J_e$-$h$ ground-state phase diagram into six phases, and the excitation gap obtained by low-temperature specific heat, all depend exponentially on $J_e$. We calculate the temperature dependence of the specific heat, which can be directly compared with future experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Competition between the inter-valley scattering and the intra-valley scattering on magnetoconductivity induced by screened Coulomb disorder in Weyl semimetals

Recent experiments on Weyl semimetals reveal that charged impurities may play an important role. We use a screened Coulomb disorder to model the charged impurities, and study the magneto-transport in a two-node Weyl semimetal. It is found that when the external magnetic field is applied parallel to the electric field, the calculated longitudinal magnetoconductivity shows positive in the magnetic field, which is just the negative longitudinal magnetoresistivity (LMR) observed in experiments. When the two fields are perpendicular to each other, the transverse magnetoconductivities are measured. It is found that the longitudinal (transverse) magnetoconductivity is suppressed (enhanced) sensitively with increasing the screening length. This feature makes it hardly to observe the negative LMR in Weyl semimetals experimentally owing to a small screening length. Our findings gain insight into further understanding on recently actively debated magneto-transport behaviors in Weyl semimetals. Furthermore we studied the relative weight of the inter-valley scattering and the intra-valley scattering. It shows that the former is as important as the latter and even dominates in the case of strong magnetic fields and small screening length. We emphasize that the discussions on inter-valley scattering is out of the realm of one-node model which has been studied.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

CH3NH3PbI3/GeSe bilayer heterojunction solar cell with high performance

Perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cells have made significant advances recently. In this paper, we propose a bilayer heterojunction solar cell comprised of a perovskite layer combining with a IV-VI group semiconductor layer, which can give a conversion efficiency even higher than the conventional perovskite solar cell. Such a scheme uses a property that the semiconductor layer with a direct band gap can be better in absorption of long wavelength light and is complementary to the perovskite layer. We studied the semiconducting layers such as GeSe, SnSe, GeS, and SnS, respectively, and found that GeSe is the best, where the optical absorption efficiency in the perovskite/GeSe solar cell is dramatically increased. It turns out that the short circuit current density is enhanced 100% and the power conversion efficiency is promoted 42.7% (to a high value of 23.77%) larger than that in a solar cell with only single perovskite layer. The power conversion efficiency can be further promoted so long as the fill factor and open-circuit voltage are improved. This strategy opens a new way on developing the solar cells with high performance and practical applications.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2017

A spincaloritronic battery

The thermoelectric performance of a topological energy converter is analyzed. The H-shaped device is based on a combination of transverse topological effects involving the spin: the inverse spin Hall effect and the spin Nernst effect. The device can convert a temperature drop in one arm into an electric power output in the other arm. Analytical expressions for the output voltage, the figure-of-merit (ZT) and energy converting efficiency are reported. We show that the output voltage and the ZT can be tuned by the geometry of the device and the physical properties of the material. Importantly, contrary to a conventional thermoelectric device, here a low electric conductivity may in fact enhance the ZT value, thereby opening a path to new strategies in optimizing the figure-of-merit.

physics.app-ph↗