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Hongki Min

Publications and source records attributed to Hongki Min.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Supermoir\'{e} domain-resolved effective Hamiltonians and valley topology in helical multilayer graphene

Extending moir\'{e} graphene beyond twisted bilayers, helical trilayer graphene has shown topological bands and correlated states with reshaped moir\'{e} periodicity. Here we develop a theoretical framework for helical multilayer graphene to investigate its supermoir\'{e} relaxation and low-energy electronic structure. Using real-space lattice calculations, we find that relaxation reconstructs the system into locally periodic single-moir\'{e} domains, which provide the basis for a continuum description. Within each reconstructed domain, downfolding the first-shell model yields effective Hamiltonians near the Dirac points that reveal how the low-energy spectrum decomposes into folded Dirac sectors. We further evaluate the valley Chern numbers encoded in these effective Hamiltonians, obtaining domain-dependent and gate-tunable topological responses consistent with the lattice calculations. Our results establish a domain-resolved organizing principle for thicker helical graphene stacks, in which folded Dirac sectors partition the low-energy spectrum, while local stacking families determine the corresponding band character and topological response.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Gapped out-of-phase plasmon modes in alternating-twist multilayer graphene

We theoretically investigate the plasmon modes of alternating-twist multilayer graphene. In multilayer systems, interlayer coupling gives rise to distinctive plasmon modes, but calculations in moir\'e systems remain challenging due to their complex tunneling structures. Using the Kac-Murdock-Szeg\H{o} Toeplitz formalism, we derive that the in-phase mode exhibits the conventional $\sqrt{q}$ behavior, while the out-of-phase modes acquire plasmon gaps determined by specific interband transitions between Dirac cones with different velocities in the long-wavelength limit. We demonstrate that these out-of-phase modes remain undamped in the weak Coulomb-interaction limit when the twist angle exceeds a critical value ($\theta \gtrsim 2.75^\circ$ for the alternating-twist trilayer case), regardless of the carrier density as long as the low-energy effective Dirac Hamiltonian remains valid. Furthermore, we consider the effect of a perpendicular electric field, and demonstrate how plasmon modes can be tuned by a gate voltage.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Magnetoplasmons in $N$-layer structures

We provide a systematic framework to investigate the magnetoplasmons of multilayer two-dimensional electron systems by using the Kac--Murdock--Szeg\H{o} (KMS) Toeplitz matrix to consider interlayer Coulomb interactions. In the absence of interlayer tunneling, we show that the single-layer magnetoplasmon branch splits into $N$ collective modes -- one in-phase mode and $N-1$ out-of-phase modes -- and derive their asymptotic behaviors in the long-wavelength limit, as well as in the limit of large layer separation and strong magnetic fields. When interlayer tunneling is present, we clarify the magnetoplasmon dispersion, both qualitatively and quantitatively, by identifying the magnetoplasmon mode associated with each interband transition, as well as tunneling magnetoplasmons arising from interband transitions with the same Landau level index. Our study presents the hybridization between the modes governed by underlying symmetries, along with an enhanced tunneling magnetoplasmon gap exceeding the associated interband gap. The KMS-based analytic formalism thus provides a comprehensive physical understanding of magnetoplasmons in multilayer structures.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Photoinduced dc Hall current in few-layer black phosphorus with a gate-tunable Floquet gap

We theoretically explore Floquet engineering in few-layer black phosphorus (fBP) under time-periodic driving. Motivated by the ability of circularly polarized light to induce nontrivial topological states at Dirac nodes, we investigate the emergence of a photoinduced dc Hall effect in the Dirac semimetal phase of fBP. Starting from a low-energy continuum model, we derive the effective Floquet Hamiltonian and analytically calculate the Berry curvature, demonstrating the opening of a topological gap. We also perform lattice-model calculations incorporating a self-consistent Hartree method to compute Floquet band structures and dc Hall conductivity under a perpendicular electric field. Our results reveal that the dc Hall current in fBP can be effectively tuned via a periodic driving field and electrostatic gating.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Plasmons in N-layer systems

In multilayer structures, the coupling between layers gives rise to unique plasmon modes, but analytic solutions are typically available only for bilayers due to the increasing complexity as the number of layers increases. We investigate plasmons in multilayer structures, including the effects of interlayer tunneling. By introducing the Coulomb eigenvector basis for multilayer systems, which can be solved exactly using Kac-Murdock-Szeg\H{o} Toeplitz matrices, we analytically derive the long-wavelength plasmon dispersions both with and without interlayer tunneling. In the $N$-layer systems, we find that, in the absence of interlayer tunneling, the out-of-phase acoustic or charge neutral plasmon modes with linear dispersions ($\omega_\alpha\propto q/\sqrt{{1-\cos{\left(\frac{\alpha-1}{N}\pi\right)}}}$ for $\alpha = 2, 3, \cdots, N$) exist, while the in-phase classical plasmon mode exhibits its conventional dispersion ($\omega_1\propto \sqrt{q}$). When interlayer tunneling is present, the out-of-phase modes develop plasmon gaps that are governed by specific interband transitions, whereas the classical mode remains unaffected. These findings have broad applicability to general coupled-layer structures.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Unveiling three types of fermions in a nodal ring topological semimetal through magneto-optical transitions

We investigate the quasiparticles of a single nodal ring semimetal SrAs$_3$ through axis-resolved magneto-optical measurements. We observe three types of Landau levels scaling as $\varepsilon \sim \sqrt{B}$, $\varepsilon \sim B^{2/3}$, and $\varepsilon \sim B$ that correspond to Dirac, semi-Dirac, and classical fermions, respectively. Through theoretical analysis, we identify the distinct origins of these three types of fermions present within the nodal ring. In particular, semi-Dirac fermions--a novel type of fermion that can give rise to a range of unique quantum phenomena--emerge from the endpoints of the nodal ring where the energy band disperses linearly along one direction and quadratically along the perpendicular direction, a feature not achievable in nodal point or line structures. The capacity of the nodal ring to simultaneously host multiple fermion types, including semi-Dirac fermions, establishes it as a valuable platform to expand the understanding of topological semimetals.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Sliding-dependent electronic structures of alternating-twist tetralayer graphene

We study the electronic structure of alternating-twist tetralayer graphene, especially near its magic angle $\theta = 1.75^\circ$, for different AA, AB, and SP sliding geometries at their middle interface that divides two twisted bilayer graphenes. This sliding dependence is shown for the bandwidths, band gaps, and $K$-valley Chern numbers of the lowest-energy valence and conduction bands as a function of twist angle and interlayer potential difference. Our analysis reveals that the AA sliding is most favorable for narrow bands and gaps, and the AB sliding is most prone to developing finite valley Chern numbers. We further analyze the linear longitudinal optical absorptions as a function of photon energy and the absorption map in the moir\'{e} Brillouin zone for specific transition energies. A self-consistent Hartree calculation reveals that the AA system's electronic structure is the most sensitive to variations in carrier density.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Effect of trivial bands on chiral anomaly-induced longitudinal magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals

Including the effect of the trivial band near Weyl nodes, we evaluate the longitudinal magnetoconductivity (LMC) of Weyl semimetals along the magnetic field direction using the Boltzmann magnetotransport theory, and study its dependence on the magnetic field, Fermi energy, and temperature. We find that for weak internode and node-trivial band scatterings, the LMC is quadratic in the magnetic field and is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the Fermi energy at high densities due to internode scatterings, and to the square of the Fermi energy at low densities due to scatterings between a Weyl node and the trivial band. In the case of strong internode and nodetrivial band scatterings, the magnetic field-driven anisotropy induced by the phase-space volume element and the orbital magnetic moment cannot be neglected. As a result, the LMC exhibits a significantly different trend compared to that in the weak internode and node-trivial band scattering limit. Finally, we calculate the temperature dependence of the LMC in the strong inelastic scattering limit and obtain its asymptotic behaviors at low and high temperatures, respectively, demonstrating that the temperature dependence is strongly affected by the existence of the trivial band.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Sub-MeV Dark Matter Detection with Bilayer Graphene

The light dark matter mass regime has emerged as the next frontier in the direct detection experiment due to the lack of any detection signal in the higher mass range. In this paper, we propose a new detector material, a bilayer stack of graphene to detect sub-MeV dark matter. Its voltage-tunable low energy sub-eV electronic band gap makes it an excellent choice for the detector material of a light dark matter search experiment. We compute its dielectric function using the random phase approximation and estimate the projected sensitivity for sub-MeV dark matter-electron scattering and sub-eV dark matter absorption. We show that a bilayer graphene dark matter detector can have competitive sensitivity as other candidate target materials, like a superconductor, but with a tunable threshold energy in this mass regime. The dark matter scattering rate in bilayer graphene is also characterized by a daily modulation from the rotation of the Earth which may help us mitigate the backgrounds in a future experiment. We also outline a detector design concept and provide noise estimates that can be followed to setup an experiment in future.

hep-ph

Chirality and correlations in the spontaneous spin-valley polarization of rhombohedral multilayer graphene

We investigate the total energies of spontaneous spin-valley polarized states in bi-, tri-, and tetralayer rhombohedral graphene where the long-range Coulomb correlations are accounted for within the random phase approximation. Our analysis of the phase diagrams for varying carrier doping and perpendicular electric fields shows that the exchange interaction between chiral electrons is the main driver of spin-valley polarization, while the presence of Coulomb correlations brings the flavor polarization phase boundaries to carrier densities close to the complete filling of the Mexican hat shape top at the Dirac points. We find that the tendency towards spontaneous spin-valley polarization is enhanced with the chirality of the bands and therefore with increasing number of layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Optical transitions of a single nodal ring in SrAs$_3$: radially and axially resolved characterization

SrAs$_3$ is a unique nodal-line semimetal that contains only a single nodal ring in the Brillouin zone, uninterrupted by any trivial bands near the Fermi energy. We performed axis-resolved optical reflection measurements on SrAs$_3$ and observed that the optical conductivity exhibits flat absorption up to 129 meV in both the radial and axial directions, confirming the robustness of the universal power-law behavior of the nodal ring. Furthermore, in conjunction with model and first-principles calculations, the axis-resolved optical conductivity unveiled fundamental properties beyond the flat absorption, including the overlap energy of the topological bands, the spin-orbit coupling gap along the nodal ring, and the geometric properties of the nodal ring such as the average ring radius, ring ellipticity, and velocity anisotropy. In addition, our temperature-dependent measurements revealed a spectral weight transfer between intraband and interband transitions, indicating a possible violation of the optical sum rule within the measured energy range.

cond-mat.str-el

Electronic structure of biased alternating-twist multilayer graphene

We theoretically study the energy and optical absorption spectra of alternating twist multilayer graphene (ATMG) under a perpendicular electric field. We obtain analytically the low-energy effective Hamiltonian of ATMG up to pentalayer in the presence of the interlayer bias by means of first-order degenerate-state perturbation theory, and present general rules for constructing the effective Hamiltonian for an arbitrary number of layers. Our analytical results agree to an excellent degree of accuracy with the numerical calculations for twist angles $\theta \gtrsim 2.2^{\circ}$ that are larger than the typical range of magic angles. We also calculate the optical conductivity of ATMG and determine its characteristic optical spectrum, which is tunable by the interlayer bias. When the interlayer potential difference is applied between consecutive layers of ATMG, the Dirac cones at the two moir\'{e} Brillouin zone corners $\bar{K}$ and $\bar{K}'$ acquire different Fermi velocities, generally smaller than that of monolayer graphene, and the cones split proportionally in energy resulting in a step-like feature in the optical conductivity.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Nearly flat bands in twisted triple bilayer graphene

We investigate the electronic structure of alternating-twist triple Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (t3BG) as a function of interlayer coupling $\omega$, twist angle $\theta$, interlayer potential difference $\Delta$, and top-bottom bilayers sliding vector $\boldsymbol{\tau}$ for three possible configurations AB/AB/AB, AB/BA/AB, and AB/AB/BA. The parabolic low-energy band dispersions in a Bernal-stacked bilayer and gap-opening through a finite interlayer potential difference $\Delta$ allows the flattening of bands in t3BG down to $\sim 20$~meV for twist angles $\theta \lesssim 2^{\circ}$ regardless of the stacking types. The easier isolation of the flat bands and associated reduction of Coulomb screening thanks to the intrinsic gaps of bilayer graphene for finite $\Delta$ facilitate the formation of correlation-driven gaps when it is compared to the metallic phases of twisted trilayer graphene under electric fields. We obtain the stacking dependent Coulomb energy versus bandwidth $U/W \gtrsim 1$ ratios in the $\theta$ and $\Delta$ parameter space. We also present the expected $K$-valley Chern numbers for the lowest-energy nearly flat bands.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Semiclassical magnetotransport including the effects of the Berry curvature and Lorentz force

In topological semimetals and insulators, negative longitudinal magnetoresistance and angle-dependent planar Hall effect have been reported arising from the Berry curvature. Using the Boltzmann transport theory, we present a closed-form expression for the nonequilibrium distribution function which includes both the effects of the Berry curvature and Lorentz force. Using this formulation, we obtain analytical expressions for conductivity and resistivity tensors in Weyl semimetals demonstrating a non-monotonic field dependence arising from the competition between the two effects.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Diffusive density response of electrons in anisotropic multiband systems

We explicitly calculate the density-density response function with conserving vertex corrections for anisotropic multiband systems in the presence of impurities including long-range disorder. The direction-dependence of the vertex corrections is correctly considered to obtain the diffusion constant which is given by the combination of the componentwise transport relaxation times and velocities on the Fermi surface. We also investigate the diffusive density response of various anisotropic systems, propose some empirical rules for the corresponding diffusion constant, and demonstrate that it is crucial to consider the component-dependence of the transport relaxation times to correctly interpret the transport properties of anisotropic systems, especially various topological materials with a different power-law dispersion in each direction.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Semiclassical Boltzmann magnetotransport theory in anisotropic systems with a nonvanishing Berry curvature

Understanding the transport behavior of an electronic system under the influence of a magnetic field remains a key subject in condensed matter physics. Particularly in topological materials, their nonvanishing Berry curvature can lead to many interesting phenomena in magnetotransport owing to the coupling between the magnetic field and Berry curvature. By fully incorporating both the field-driven anisotropy and inherent anisotropy in the band dispersion, we study the semiclassical Boltzmann magnetotransport theory in topological materials with a nonvanishing Berry curvature. We show that as a solution to the Boltzmann transport equation the effective mean-free-path vector is given by the integral equation, including the effective velocity arising from the coupling between the magnetic field, Berry curvature and mobility. We also calculate the conductivity of Weyl semimetals with an isotropic energy dispersion, and find that the coupling between the magnetic field and Berry curvature induces anisotropy in the relaxation time, showing a substantial deviation from the result obtained assuming a constant relaxation time.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Topological multiband s-wave superconductivity in coupled multifold fermions

We study three-dimensional time-reversal-invariant topological superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric materials such as RhSi, CoSi, and AlPt which host coupled multifold nodes energetically split by the spin-orbit coupling at the same time-reversal-invariant momentum (TRIM). The topological superconductivity arises from the $s_{+} \oplus s_{-}$ gap function, which is $\boldsymbol{k}$ independent, but with opposite signs for the two nodes split at the same TRIM. We consider various electron-electron interactions in the tight-binding model for RhSi and find that the topological superconducting phase supporting a surface Majorana cone and topological nodal rings is favored in a wide range of interaction parameters.

cond-mat.supr-con

Tunable quantum interference effect on magnetoconductivity in few-layer black phosphorus

In this study, we develop a systematic weak localization/antilocalization theory fully considering the anisotropy and Berry phase of the system, and apply it to various phases of few-layer black phosphorus (BP), which has a highly anisotropic electronic structure with an electronic gap size tunable even to a negative value. The derivation of a Cooperon ansatz for the Bethe-Salpeter equation in a general anisotropic system is presented, revealing the existence of various quantum interference effects in different phases of few-layer BP, including a crossover from weak localization to antilocalization. We also predict that the magnetoconductivity at the semi-Dirac transition point will exhibit a nontrivial power-law dependence on the magnetic field, while following the conventional logarithmic field-dependence of 2D systems in the insulator and Dirac semimetal phases. Notably, the ratio between the magnetoconductivity and Boltzmann conductivity turns out to be independent of the direction, even in strongly anisotropic systems. Finally, we discuss the tunability of the quantum corrections of few-layer BP in terms of the symmetry class of the system.

cond-mat.mes-hall