arXiv subjects

Hailong Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Hailong Wang.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Effects of Non-Hermiticity on Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Defect States

We study the emergence and disappearance of defect states in the complex Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (cSSH) model, a non-Hermitian one-dimensional lattice model containing gain and loss on alternating sites. Previous studies of this model have focused on the existence of a non-Hermitian defect state that is localized to the interface between two cSSH domains, and is continuable to the topologically protected defect state of the Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. For large gain/loss magnitudes, we find that these defect states can disappear into the continuum, or undergo pairwise spontaneous breaking of a composite sublattice/time-reversal symmetry. The symmetry-breaking transition gives rise to a pair of defect states continuable to non-topologically-protected defect states of the SSH model. We discuss the phase diagram for the defect states, and its implications for non-Hermitian defect states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Non-Hermitian dynamics of slowly-varying Hamiltonians

We develop a theoretical description of non-Hermitian time evolution that accounts for the break- down of the adiabatic theorem. We obtain closed-form expressions for the time-dependent state amplitudes, involving the complex eigen-energies as well as inter-band Berry connections calculated using basis sets from appropriately-chosen Schur decompositions. Using a two-level system as an example, we show that our theory accurately captures the phenomenon of "sudden transitions", where the system state abruptly jumps from one eigenstate to another.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Dynamical quantum phase transitions in non-Hermitian lattices

In closed quantum systems, a dynamical phase transition is identified by nonanalytic behaviors of the return probability as a function of time. In this work, we study the nonunitary dynamics following quenches across exceptional points in a non-Hermitian lattice realized by optical resonators. Dynamical quantum phase transitions with topological signatures are found when an isolated exceptional point is crossed during the quench. A topological winding number defined by a real, noncyclic geometric phase is introduced, whose value features quantized jumps at critical times of these phase transitions and remains constant elsewhere, mimicking the plateau transitions in quantum Hall effects. This work provides a simple framework to study dynamical and topological responses in non-Hermitian systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Exceptional Points in a Non-Hermitian Topological Pump

We investigate the effects of non-Hermiticity on topological pumping, and uncover a connection between a topological edge invariant based on topological pumping and the winding numbers of exceptional points. In Hermitian lattices, it is known that the topologically nontrivial regime of the topological pump only arises in the infinite-system limit. In finite non-Hermitian lattices, however, topologically nontrivial behavior can also appear. We show that this can be understood in terms of the effects of encircling a pair of exceptional points during a pumping cycle. This phenomenon is observed experimentally, in a non-Hermitian microwave network containing variable gain amplifiers.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2017

Light Absorption in Arctic Sea Ice: Chlorophyll and Black Carbon

Arctic sea ice extent has declined continuously for the past decade, owing partially to light absorption by black carbon (BC) and other impurities deposited on snow and the underlying pack. We present simulations for the contemporary period showing that the optical depth contributed by Arctic ice algal chlorophyll may be comparable during Boreal Spring to the corresponding values attributable to BC. The largest chlorophyll attenuation is obtained in the bottom layer, which supports pigment concentrations of about 300 to 1000 mg/m3 in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. However, chlorophyll concentrations for the ice interior in regions north of 75° N and across the Canadian Archipelago are less than 0.1 micro g/m3. Freeboard and infiltration communities lead to intermediate levels of light removal. Since BC works its way downward from the atmospheric interface, there will be regions where it appropriates photosynthetic capability. Where ice thicknesses permit significant penetration through the pack column the ice algae may be crucial absorbers. We propose a continuous increase in relative chlorophyll activity and attenuation in the future, as biological activity becomes stronger in thin ice toward the center of the Arctic basin. A shift in relative importance of the two absorber types could occur as total BC mixing ratios are reduced because of environmental advocacy.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2016

Surface state dominated spin-charge current conversion in topological insulator/ferromagnetic insulator heterostructures

We report the observation of ferromagnetic resonance-driven spin pumping signals at room temperature in three-dimensional topological insulator thin films -- Bi2Se3 and (Bi,Sb)2Te3 -- deposited by molecular beam epitaxy on yttrium iron garnet thin films. By systematically varying the Bi2Se3 film thickness, we show that the spin-charge conversion efficiency, characterized by the inverse Rashba-Edelstein effect length (lambda_IREE), increases dramatically as the film thickness is increased from 2 quintuple layers, saturating above 6 quintuple layers. This suggests a dominant role of surface states in spin and charge interconversion in topological insulator/ferromagnet heterostructures. Our conclusion is further corroborated by studying a series of YIG/(BiSb)2Te3 heterostructures. Finally, we use the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth broadening and the inverse Rashba-Edelstein signals to determine the effective interfacial spin mixing conductance and lambda_IREE.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Cantilever detected ferromagnetic resonance in thin Fe$_{50}$Ni$_{50}$, Co$_2$FeAl$_{0.5}$Si$_{0.5}$ and Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$ films using a double modulation technique

In this work we introduce a new method of a ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) detection from thin, nm-size, films. Our setup is based on the commercial piezo-cantilever, used for atomic force microscopy. It has an option to rotate the sample in the magnetic field and it operates up to the high microwave frequencies of 160 GHz. Using our cantilever based FMR spectrometer we have investigated a set of samples, namely quasi-bulk and 84 nm film Co$_2$FeAl$_{0.5}$Si$_{0.5}$ samples, 16 nm Fe$_{50}$Ni$_{50}$ film and 150 nm Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$ film. The high frequency ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) response from an extremely thin Fe$_{50}$Ni$_{50}$ film we have fitted with the conventional model for the magnetization dynamics. The cantilever detected FMR experiments on Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$ film reveal an inability of the conventional model to fit frequency and angular dependences with the same set of parameters, which suggests that one has to take into account much more complicated nature of the magnetization precession in the Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$ at low temperatures and high frequencies. Moreover, the complicated dynamics of the magnetization apparent in all investigated samples is suggested by a drastic increase of the linewidths with increasing microwave frequency, and by an emergence of the second line with an opposite angular dependence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Floquet Weyl Phases in a Three Dimensional Network Model

We study the topological properties of 3D Floquet bandstructures, which are defined using unitary evolution matrices rather than Hamiltonians. Previously, 2D bandstructures of this sort have been shown to exhibit anomalous topological behaviors, such as topologically-nontrivial zero-Chern-number phases. We show that the bandstructure of a 3D network model can exhibit Weyl phases, which feature "Fermi arc" surface states like those found in Weyl semimetals. Tuning the network's coupling parameters can induce transitions between Weyl phases and various topologically distinct gapped phases. We identify a connection between the topology of the gapped phases and the topology of Weyl point trajectories in k-space. The model is feasible to realize in custom electromagnetic networks, where the Weyl point trajectories can be probed by scattering parameter measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Spin Transport in Antiferromagnetic Insulators Mediated by Magnetic Correlations

We report a systematic study of spin transport in antiferromagnetic (AF) insulators having a wide range of ordering temperatures. Spin current is dynamically injected from Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) into various AF insulators in Pt/insulator/YIG trilayers. Robust, long-distance spin transport in the AF insulators is observed, which shows strong correlation with the AF ordering temperatures. We find a striking linear relationship between the spin decay length in the AFs and the damping enhancement in YIG, suggesting the critical role of magnetic correlations in the AF insulators as well as at the AF/YIG interfaces for spin transport in magnetic insulators.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Antiferromagnonic Spin Transport from Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ into NiO

We observe highly efficient dynamic spin injection from Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ (YIG) into NiO, an antiferromagnetic (AF) insulator, via strong coupling, and robust spin propagation in NiO up to 100-nm thickness mediated by its AF spin correlations. Strikingly, the insertion of a thin NiO layer between YIG and Pt significantly enhances the spin currents driven into Pt, suggesting exceptionally high spin transfer efficiency at both YIG/NiO and NiO/Pt interfaces. This offers a powerful platform for studying AF spin pumping and AF dynamics as well as for exploration of spin manipulation in tailored structures comprising metallic and insulating ferromagnets, antiferromagnets and nonmagnetic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Interband Coherence Induced Correction to Adiabatic Pumping in Periodically Driven Systems

Periodic driving can create topological phases of matter absent in static systems. In terms of the displacement of the position expectation value of a time-evolving wavepacket in a closed system, a type of adiabatic dynamics in periodically driven systems is studied for general initial states possessing coherence between different Floquet bands. Under one symmetry assumption, the displacement of the wavepacket center over one adiabatic cycle is found to be comprised by two components independent of the time scale of the adiabatic cycle: a weighted integral of the Berry curvature summed over all Floquet bands, plus an interband coherence induced correction. The found correction is beyond a naive application of the quantum adiabatic theorem but survives in the adiabatic limit due to interband coherence. Our theoretical results are hence of general interest towards an improved understanding of the quantum adiabatic theorem. Our theory is checked using a periodically driven superlattice model with nontrivial topological phases. In addition to probing topological phase transitions, the adiabatic dynamics studied in this work is now also anticipated to be useful in manifesting coherence and decoherence effects in the representation of Floquet bands.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Experimental and Numerical Understanding of Localized Spin Wave Mode Behavior in Broadly Tunable Spatially Complex Magnetic Configurations

Spin wave modes confined in a ferromagnetic film by the spatially inhomogeneous magnetic field generated by a scanned micromagnetic tip of a ferromagnetic resonance force microscope (FMRFM) enable microscopic imaging of the internal fields and spin dynamics in nanoscale magnetic devices. Here we report a detailed study of spin wave modes in a thin ferromagnetic film localized by magnetic field configurations frequently encountered in FMRFM experiments, including geometries in which the probe magnetic moment is both parallel and antiparallel to the applied uniform magnetic field. We demonstrate that characteristics of the localized modes, such as resonance field and confinement radius, can be broadly tuned by controlling the orientation of the applied field relative to the film plane. Micromagnetic simulations accurately reproduce our FMRFM spectra allowing quantitative understanding of the localized modes. Our results reveal a general method of generating tightly confined spin wave modes in various geometries with excellent spatial resolution that significantly facilitates the broad application of FMRFM. This paves the way to imaging of magnetic properties and spin wave dynamics in a variety of contexts for uncovering new physics of nanoscale spin excitations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Quantum networks generation based on four-wave mixing

We present a scheme to realize versatile quantum networks by cascading several four-wave mixing (FWM) processes in warm rubidium vapors. FWM is an efficient $χ^{(3)}$ nonlinear process, already used as a resource for multimode quantum state generation and which has been proved to be a promising candidate for applications to quantum information processing. We analyze theoretically the multimode output of cascaded FWM systems, derive its independent squeezed modes and show how, with phase controlled homodyne detection and digital post-processing, they can be turned into a versatile source of continuous variable cluster states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Y3Fe5O12 Spin Pumping for Quantitative Understanding of Pure Spin Transport and Spin Hall Effect in a Broad Range of Materials

Using Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) thin films grown by our sputtering technique, we study dynamic spin transport in nonmagnetic (NM), ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AF) materials by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spin pumping. From both inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) and damping enhancement, we determine the spin mixing conductance and spin Hall angle in many metals. Surprisingly, we observe robust spin conduction in AF insulators excited by an adjacent YIG at resonance. This demonstrates that YIG spin pumping is a powerful and versatile tool for understanding spin Hall physics, spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and magnetization dynamics in a broad range of materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Surprisingly large inverse spin Hall effect and systematic variation of spin-orbit coupling with d-orbital filling in 3d transition metals

It is generally believed that spin-orbit coupling (SOC) follows Z4 (atomic number) dependence and becomes significant only in heavy elements. Consequently, SOC in 3d transition metals should be negligible given their small Z. Using dynamic spin pumping of Y3Fe5O12-based structures, we uncover a systematic evolution of spin Hall angle with d-orbital filling in a series of 3d metals, reminiscent of behavior observed in 5d metals. In particular, Cr and Ni show very large spin Hall angle (half of that for Pt), indicating that d-orbital filling rather than Z plays a dominant role in spin Hall effect (SHE) in 3d metals. This result enriches our understanding of SHE and broadens the scope of materials available for exploring the rich phenomena enabled by SOC as well as presenting a guidepost for testing theoretical models of spin-orbit coupling in transition metals.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Shaping van der Waals nanoribbons via torsional constraints: Scrolls, folds and supercoils

Interplay between structure and function in atomically thin crystalline nanoribbons is sensitive to their conformations yet the ability to prescribe them is a formidable challenge. Here, we report a novel paradigm for controlled nucleation and growth of scrolled and folded shapes in finite-length nanoribbons. All-atom computations on graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and experiments on macroscale magnetic thin films reveal that decreasing the end distance of torsionally constrained ribbons below their contour length leads to formation of these shapes. The energy partitioning between twisted and bent shapes is modified in favor of these densely packed soft conformations due to the non-local van Der Waals interactions in these 2D crystals; they subvert the formation of supercoils that are seen in their natural counterparts such as DNA and filamentous proteins. The conformational phase diagram is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The facile route can be readily extended for tailoring the soft conformations of crystalline nanoscale ribbons, and more general self-interacting filaments

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Long Range Force Transmission in Fibrous Matrices Enabled by Tension-Driven Alignment of Fibers

Cells can sense and respond to mechanical signals over relatively long distances across fibrous extracellular matrices. Here, we explore all of the key factors that influence long range force transmission in cell-populated collagen matrices: alignment of collagen fibers, responses to applied force, strain stiffening properties of the aligned fibers, aspect ratios of the cells, and the polarization of cellular contraction. A constitutive law accounting for mechanically-driven collagen fiber reorientation is proposed. We systematically investigate the range of collagen fiber alignment using both finite element simulations and analytical calculations. Our results show that tension-driven collagen fiber alignment plays a crucial role in force transmission. Small critical stretch for fiber alignment, large fiber stiffness and fiber strain hardening behavior enable long-range interaction. Furthermore, the range of collagen fiber alignment for elliptical cells with polarized contraction is much larger than that for spherical cells with diagonal contraction. A phase diagram showing the range of force transmission as a function of cell shape and polarization and matrix properties is presented. Our results are in good agreement with recent experiments, and highlight the factors that influence long-range force transmission, in particular tension-driven alignment of fibers. Our work has important relevance to biological processes including development, cancer metastasis and wound healing, suggesting conditions whereby cells communicate over long distances.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2014

Damping of Confined Modes in a Ferromagnetic Thin Insulating Film: Angular Momentum Transfer Across a Nanoscale Field-defined Interface

We observe a dependence of the damping of a confined mode of precessing ferromagnetic magnetization on the size of the mode. The micron-scale mode is created within an extended, unpatterned YIG film by means of the intense local dipolar field of a micromagnetic tip. We find that damping of the confined mode scales like the surface-to-volume ratio of the mode, indicating an interfacial damping effect (similar to spin pumping) due to the transfer of angular momentum from the confined mode to the spin sink of ferromagnetic material in the surrounding film. Though unexpected for insulating systems, the measured intralayer spin-mixing conductance $g_{\uparrow \downarrow} = 5.3 \times 10^{19} {\rm m}^{-2}$ demonstrates efficient intralayer angular momentum transfer.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗