arXiv subjects

Gianni Blatter

Publications and source records attributed to Gianni Blatter.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Vortex Dynamics in Magic-Angle Twisted Graphene

We use a gate-defined Josephson junction (JJ) device made from twisted-layer graphene for studying vortex dynamics in two dimensions. The JJ sensor signals the presence of individual vortices in the superconducting leads nearby the junction through shifts in the Fraunhofer interference pattern of the magnetic-field-dependent critical current $I_c(B)$ across the junction. Rapid vortex fluctuations manifest as telegraph-type noise in time traces of the junction voltage $V(t)$. Measurements of $I_c(B)$ and $V(t)$ are interpreted in terms of multi-vortex processes where fast vortex fluctuations in the leads are modulated by quasi-stationary vortices trapped in the leads. The different timescales associated with these processes allow for their disentangling and quantitative analysis. Tracking the temperature dependence of the vortex-dynamical rates between $T = 7$ mK and $T = 120$ mK, we find that the creep type vortex motion is thermally activated above $T \approx 100$ mK, while the saturation of rates below $T \approx 80$ mK is suggestive of a sharp transition to macroscopic quantum tunneling of vortices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Pearl-Vortex Tunneling in Magic-Angle Twisted Graphene

Twisted graphene provides a tunable platform for studying superconductivity in two dimensions. In the presence of electric currents and magnetic fields, vortices determine the phenomenological properties of the material. Related studies usually address bulk properties averaging over ensembles of vortices. Here, we employ a gate-defined Josephson junction as a single-vortex sensor, enabling direct access to individual vortex dynamical events. Our measurements reveal that, at elevated temperatures (T > 100 mK), vortices enter the superconducting leads via classical thermal activation over energy barriers. At lower temperatures (T < 90 mK), we observe macroscopic quantum tunneling through these barriers. The data are consistent with a sharp, first-order type quantum-to-classical transition. From our measurements, we extract vortex entry and exit energy barriers on the order of a few Kelvin and estimate the barrier thickness to be approximately 100 nm, corresponding to about one tenth of the device width.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Experimental detection of vortices in magic-angle graphene

The tunability of superconducting magic-angle twisted-layer graphene films elevates this material system to a promising candidate for superconducting electronics. We implement a gate-tuned Josephson junction in a magic-angle twisted four-layer graphene film. Field-dependent measurements of the critical current show a Fraunhofer-like pattern that differs from the standard pattern with characteristics typical for a weak transverse screener. We observe sudden shifts associated with vortices jumping into and out of the leads. By tuning the leads to the edge of the superconducting dome, we observe fast switching between superconducting and normal states, an effect associated with vortex dynamics. Time-dependent measurements provide us with the vortex energy scale and an estimate for the London penetration depth, in agreement with recent kinetic inductance measurements on twisted graphene films. Our results prove the utility of our junction as a sensor for vortex detection, allowing us to extract fundamental properties of the 2D superconductor.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Superconductivity in atomically thin films: 2D critical state model

The comprehensive understanding of superconductivity is a multi-scale task that involves several levels, starting from the electronic scale determining the microscopic mechanism, going to the phenomenological scale describing vortices and the continuum-elastic scale describing vortex matter, to the macroscopic scale relevant in technological applications. The prime example for such a macro-phenomenological description is the Bean model that is hugely successful in describing the magnetic and transport properties of bulk superconducting devices. Motivated by the development of novel devices based on superconductivity in atomically thin films, such as twisted-layer graphene, here, we present a simple macro-phenomenological description of the critical state in such two-dimensional (2D) thin films. While transverse screening and demagnetization can be neglected in these systems, thereby simplifying the task in comparison with usual film- and platelet shaped samples, surface and bulk pinning are important elements to be included. We use our 2D critical state model to describe the transport and magnetic properties of 2D thin-film devices, including the phenomenon of non-reciprocal transport in devices with asymmetric boundaries and the superconducting diode effect.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Strong pinning transition with arbitrary defect potentials

Dissipation-free current transport in type II superconductors requires vortices to be pinned by defects in the underlying material. The pinning capacity of a defect is quantified by the Labusch parameter $κ\sim f_p/ξ\bar{C}$, measuring the pinning force $f_p$ relative to the elasticity $\bar{C}$ of the vortex lattice, with $ξ$ denoting the coherence length (or vortex core size) of the superconductor. The critical value $κ= 1$ separates weak from strong pinning, with a strong defect at $κ> 1$ able to pin a vortex on its own. So far, this weak-to-strong pinning transition has been studied for isotropic defect potentials, resulting in a critical exponent $μ= 2$ for the onset of the strong pinning force density $F_\mathrm{pin} \sim n_p f_p (ξ/a_0)^2(κ-1)^μ$, with $n_ p$ denoting the density of defects and $a_0$ the intervortex distance. The behavior changes dramatically when studying anisotropic defects with no special symmetries: the strong pinning then originates out of isolated points with length scales growing as $ξ(κ- 1)^{1/2}$, resulting in a different force exponent $μ= 5/2$. Our analysis of the strong pinning onset for arbitrary defect potentials $e_p(\mathbf{R})$, with $\mathbf{R}$ a planar coordinate, makes heavy use of the Hessian matrix describing its curvature and leads us to interesting geometrical structures. Both, onset and merger points are defined by local differential properties of the Hessian's determinant $D(\mathbf{R})$, specifically, its minima and saddle points. Extending our analysis to the case of a random two-dimensional pinning landscape, we discuss the topological properties of unstable and bistable regions as expressed through the Euler characteristic, with the latter related to the local differential properties of $D(\mathbf{R})$ through Morse theory.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Creep effects on the Campbell response in type II superconductors

Applying the strong pinning formalism to the mixed state of a type II superconductor, we study the effect of thermal fluctuations (or creep) on the penetration of an ac magnetic field as quantified by the so-called Campbell length $λ_\textrm{C}$. Within strong pinning theory, vortices get pinned by individual defects, with the jumps in the pinning energy ($Δe_\mathrm{pin}$) and force ($Δf_\mathrm{pin}$) between bistable pinned and free states quantifying the pinning process. We find that the evolution of the Campbell length $λ_{\rm C}(t)$ as a function of time $t$ is the result of two competing effects, the change in the force jumps $Δf_\mathrm{pin}(t)$ and a change in the trapping area $S_\mathrm{trap}(t)$ of vortices; the latter describes the area around the defect where a nearby vortex gets and remains trapped. Contrary to naive expectation, we find that during the decay of the critical state in a zero-field cooled (ZFC) experiment, the Campbell length $λ_{\rm C}(t)$ is usually nonmonotonic, first decreasing with time $t$ and then increasing for long waiting times. Field cooled (FC) experiments exhibit hysteretic effects in $λ_\textrm{C}$; relaxation then turns out to be predominantly monotonic, but its magnitude and direction depends on the specific phase of the cooling--heating cycle. Furthermore, when approaching equilibrium, the Campbell length relaxes to a finite value, different from the persistent current which vanishes at long waiting times $t$, e.g., above the irreversibility line. Finally, measuring the Campbell length $λ_\textrm{C}(t)$ for different states, zero-field cooled, field cooled, and relaxed, as a function of different waiting times $t$ and temperatures $T,$ allows to "spectroscopyse" the pinning potential of the defects.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Hessian characterization of a vortex in a maze

Recent advances in vortex imaging allow for tracing the position of individual vortices with high resolution. Pushing an isolated vortex through the sample with the help of a controlled $dc$ transport current and measuring its local $ac$ response, the pinning energy landscape could be reconstructed along the vortex trajectory [$\text{L. Embon } et\ al.$, $\text{Scientific Reports}$ $\mathbf{5}$, $7598$ $(2015)$]. This setup with linear tilts of the potential landscape reminds about the dexterity game where a ball is balanced through a maze. The controlled motion of objects through such tilted energy landscapes is fundamentally limited to those areas of the landscape developing local minima under appropriate tilt. We introduce the Hessian stability map and the Hessian character of a pinning landscape as new quantities to characterize a pinning landscape. We determine the Hessian character, the area fraction admitting stable vortex positions, for various types of pinning potentials: assemblies of cut parabolas, Lorentzian- and Gaussian-shaped traps, as well as a Gaussian random disordered energy landscape, with the latter providing a universal result of $(3-\sqrt{3})/6 \approx 21\%$ of stable area. Furthermore, we discuss various aspects of the vortex-in-a-maze experiment.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Open quantum systems beyond Fermi's golden rule: Diagrammatic expansion of the steady-state time-convolutionless master equation

Steady-state observables, such as occupation numbers and currents, are crucial experimental signatures in open quantum systems. The time-convolutionless (TCL) master equation, which is both exact and time-local, is an ideal candidate for the perturbative computation of such observables. We develop a diagrammatic approach to evaluate the steady-state TCL generator based on operators rather than superoperators. We obtain the steady-state occupation numbers, extend our formulation to the calculation of currents, and provide a simple physical interpretation of the diagrams. We further benchmark our method on a single non-interacting level coupled to Fermi reservoirs, where we recover the exact expansion to next-to-leading order. The low number of diagrams appearing in our formulation makes the extension to higher orders accessible. Combined, these properties make the steady-state time-convolutionless master equation an effective tool for the calculation of steady-state properties in open quantum systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

The role of rare events in the pinning problem

Type II superconductors exhibit a fascinating phenomenology that is determined by the dynamical properties of the vortex matter hosted by the material. A crucial element in this phenomenology is vortex pinning by material defects, e.g., immobilizing vortices at small drives and thereby guaranteeing dissipation-free current flow. Pinning models for vortices and other topological defects, such as domain walls in magnets or dislocations in crystals, come in two standard variants: i) weak collective pinning, where individual weak defects are unable to pin, while the random accumulation of many force centers within a collective pinning volume combines into an effective pin, and ii) strong pinning, where strong defects produce large vortex displacements and bistabilities that lead to pinning on the level of individual defects. The transition between strong and weak pinning is quantified by the Labusch criterion $κ\approx f_p/\bar{C}ξ= 1$, where $f_p$ and $\bar{C}$ are the force of one defect and the effective elasticity of the vortex lattice, respectively ($ξ$ is the coherence length). Here, we show that a third generic type of pinning becomes dominant when the pinning force $f_p$ enters the weak regime, the pinning by rare events. We find that within an intermediate regime $1/2 < κ< 1$, compact pairs of weak defects define strong pinning clusters that extend the mechanism of strong pinning into the weak regime. We present a detailed analysis of this cluster-pinning mechanism and show that its pinning-force density parametrically dominates over the weak pinning result. The present work is a first attempt to include correlations between defects into the discussion of strong pinning.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Spontaneous Valley Spirals in Magnetically Encapsulated Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Van der Waals heterostructures provide a rich platform for emergent physics due to their tunable hybridization of electronic orbital- and spin-degrees of freedom. Here, we show that a heterostructure formed by twisted bilayer graphene sandwiched between ferromagnetic insulators develops flat bands stemming from the interplay between twist, exchange proximity and spin-orbit coupling. We demonstrate that in this flat-band regime, the spin degree of freedom is hybridized, giving rise to an effective triangular superlattice with valley as a degenerate pseudospin degree of freedom. Incorporating electronic interactions at half-filling leads to a spontaneous valley-mixed state, i.e., a correlated state in the valley sector with geometric frustration of the valley spinor. We show that an electric interlayer bias generates an artificial valley-orbit coupling in the effective model, controlling both the valley anisotropy and the microscopic details of the correlated state, with both phenomena understood in terms of a valley-Heisenberg model with easy-plane anisotropic exchange. Our results put forward twisted graphene encapsulated between magnetic van der Waals heterostructures as platforms to explore purely valley-correlated states in graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Substrate-induced topological minibands in graphene

The honeycomb lattice sets the basic arena for numerous ideas to implement electronic, photonic, or phononic topological bands in (meta-)materials. Novel opportunities to manipulate Dirac electrons in graphene through band engineering arise from superlattice potentials as induced by a substrate such as hexagonal boron-nitride. Making use of the general form of a weak substrate potential as dictated by symmetry, we analytically derive the low-energy minibands of the superstructure, including a characteristic 1.5 Dirac cone deriving from a three-band crossing at the Brillouin zone edge. Assuming a large supercell, we focus on a single Dirac cone (or valley) and find all possible arrangements of the low-energy electron and hole bands in a complete six-dimensional parameter space. We identify the various symmetry planes in parameter space inducing gap closures and find the sectors hosting topological minibands, including also complex band crossings that generate a valley Chern number atypically larger than one. Our map provides a starting point for the systematic design of topological bands by substrate engineering.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Experimental test of strong pinning and creep in current-voltage characteristics of type II superconductors

Pinning and creep determine the current--voltage characteristic of a type II superconductor and thereby its potential for technological applications. The recent development of strong pinning theory provides us with a tool to assess a superconductor's electric properties in a quantitative way. Motivated by the observation of typical excess-current characteristics and field-scaling of critical currents, here, we analyze current--voltage characteristics measured on 2H-NbSe$_2$ and $a$-MoGe type II superconductors within the setting provided by strong pinning theory. The experimentally observed shift and rounding of the voltage-onset is consistent with the predictions of strong pinning in the presence of thermal fluctuations. We find the underlying parameters determining pinning and creep and discuss their consistency.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Rashba cavity QED: a route towards the superradiant quantum phase transition

We develop a theory of cavity quantum electrodynamics for a 2D electron gas in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and perpendicular static magnetic field, coupled to spatially nonuniform multimode quantum cavity photon fields. We demonstrate that the lowest polaritonic frequency of the full Hamiltonian can vanish for realistic parameters, achieving the Dicke superradiant quantum phase transition. This singular behaviour originates from soft spin-flip transitions possessing a non-vanishing dipole moment at non-zero wave vectors and can be viewed as a magnetostatic instability.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Strong pinning theory of thermal vortex creep in type II superconductors

We study thermal effects on pinning and creep in type-II superconductors where vortices interact with a low density $n_p$ of strong point-like defects with pinning energy $e_p$ and extension $ξ$, the vortex core size. Defects are classified as strong if the interaction between a single pin and an individual vortex leads to the appearance of bistable solutions describing pinned and free vortex configurations. Extending the strong pinning theory to account for thermal fluctuations, we provide a quantitative analysis of vortex depinning and creep. We determine the thermally activated transitions between bistable states using Kramer's rate theory and find the non-equilibrium steady-state occupation of vortex states. The latter depends on the temperature $T$ and vortex velocity $v$ and determines the current--voltage (or force--velocity) characteristic of the superconductor at finite temperatures. We find that the $T=0$ linear excess-current characteristic $v \propto (j-j_c) \, Θ(j-j_c)$ with its sharp transition at the critical current density $j_c$, keeps its overall shape but is modified in three ways due to thermal creep: a downward renormalization of $j_c$ to the thermal depinning current density $j_\mathrm{dp}(T) < j_c$, a smooth rounding of the characteristic around $j_\mathrm{dp}(T)$, and the appearance of thermally assisted flux flow (TAFF) ${v \propto j \exp(-U_0/k_{\rm \scriptscriptstyle B} T)}$ at small drive $j \ll j_c$, with the activation barrier $U_0$ defined through the energy landscape at the intersection of free and pinned branches. This characteristic emphasizes the persistence of pinning of creep at current densities beyond critical.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Thermal depinning and creep in strong pinning theory

Pinning and thermal creep determine the response of numerous systems containing superstructures, e.g., vortices in type II superconductors, domain walls in ferroics, or dislocations in metals. The combination of drive and thermal fluctuations lead to the superstructure's depinning and its velocity $v$ determines the electric, magnetic, or mechanical response. It is commonly believed that pinning and creep collapse above the critical drive $F_c$, entailing a sharp rise in the velocity $v$. We challenge this perception by studying the effects of thermal fluctuations within the framework of strong vortex pinning in type-II superconductors. In fact, we show that pinning and thermal creep persist far beyond the critical force. The resulting force-velocity characteristic largely maintains its zero-temperature shape and thermal creep manifests itself by a downward renormalisation of the critical drive. Such characteristics is in agreement with Coulomb's law of dry friction and has been often observed in experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Quantum stabilization of photonic spatial correlations

The driven, dissipative Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) provides a generic description of collective phases of interacting photons in cavity arrays. In the limit of strong optical nonlinearities (hard-core limit), the BHM maps on the dissipative, transverse-field XY model (XYM). The steady-state of the XYM can be analyzed using mean-field theory, which reveals a plethora of interesting dynamical phenomena. For example, strong hopping combined with a blue-detuned drive, leads to an instability of the homogeneous steady-state with respect to antiferromagnetic fluctuations. In this paper, we address the question whether such an antiferromagnetic instability survives in the presence of quantum correlations beyond the mean-field approximation. For that purpose, we employ a self-consistent $1/z$ expansion for the density matrix, where $z$ is the lattice coordination number, i.e., the number of nearest neighbours for each site. We show that quantum fluctuations stabilize a new homogeneous steady-state with antiferromagnetic correlations in agreement with exact numerical simulations for finite lattices. The latter manifests itself as short-ranged oscillations of the first and second-order spatial coherence functions of the photons emitted by the array.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Emergent light crystal from frustration and pump engineering

We demonstrate how pump engineering drives the emergence of frustration-induced quasi-long-range order in a low-dimensional photonic cavity array. We consider a Lieb chain of nonlinear cavities as described by the Bose-Hubbard model and featuring a photonic flat band in the single-particle spectrum. Incoherent pumping of the Lieb lattice leads to a photonic density-wave which manifests an algebraic decay of correlations with twice the period of the lattice unit cell. This work opens up new directions for the emergence of strongly-correlated phases in quantum optical frustrated systems through pump design.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Transport spectroscopy of singlet-triplet quantum dot states coupled to electronic cavities

A strong coupling between an electronic cavity and a quantum dot has been recently demonstrated [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 166603 (2015)] and described in a comprehensive theoretical framework [Phys. Rev. B 96, 235431 (2017)]. Here, we focus on the signatures that demonstrate the cavity's impact on inelastic singlet-triplet transport through the dot. We find the same transport signatures in the experiment as predicted by the model that describes the coupled dot--cavity system. Interestingly, a lowest-order treatement of the coupling to the electronic leads on top of an exact diagonalisation of the dot-cavity system is sufficient to highlight the interplay between the cavity and the higher-order inelastic singlet-triplet cotunneling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗