arXiv subjects

Inti Sodemann

Publications and source records attributed to Inti Sodemann.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A web of exact mappings from RK models to spin chains

We study Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK) dimer and spin ice models realizing $U(1)$-lattice gauge theories in a wide class of quasi-one-dimensional settings, which define a setup for the study of few quantum strings (closed electric field lines) interacting with themselves and each other. We discover a large collection of mappings of these models onto three quantum chains: the spin-1/2 XXZ chain, a spin-1 chain, and a kinetically constrained fermion chain whose configurations are best described in terms of tilings of a rectangular strip. We show that the twist of boundary conditions in the chains maps onto the transverse momentum of the electric field string, and their Drude weight to the inverse of the string mass per unit length. We numerically determine the phase diagrams for these spin chains, employing DMRG simulations and find global similarities but also many interesting new features in comparison to the full 2D problems. For example, the spin-1 chain we obtain features a continuous family of degenerate ground states at its RK point analogous to a Bloch sphere, but without an underlying microscopic global $SU(2)$ symmetry. We also argue for the existence of a (stable) Landau-forbidden gapless critical point away from the RK point in one of the models we study using bosonization and numerics. This is surprising given that the full 2D problem is generically gapped away from the RK point. The same model also displays extensively many local conserved quantities which fragment the Hilbert space, arising as a consequence of destructive resonances between the electric field lines. Our findings highlight spin-chain mappings as a potent technique for the exploration of unusual dynamics, exotic criticality, and low-energy physics in lattice gauge theories.

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arXiv2024

Charge-Neutral Electronic Excitations in Quantum Insulators

Experiments on quantum materials have uncovered many interesting quantum phases ranging from superconductivity to a variety of topological quantum matter including the recently observed fractional quantum anomalous Hall insulators. The findings have come in parallel with the development of approaches to probe the rich excitations inherent in such systems. In contrast to observing electrically charged excitations, the detection of charge-neutral electronic excitations in condensed matter remains difficult, though they are essential to understanding a large class of strongly correlated phases. Low-energy neutral excitations are especially important in characterizing unconventional phases featuring electron fractionalization, such as quantum spin liquids, spin ices, and insulators with neutral Fermi surfaces. In this perspective, we discuss searches for neutral fermionic, bosonic, or anyonic excitations in unconventional insulators, highlighting theoretical and experimental progress in probing excitonic insulators, new quantum spin liquid candidates and emergent correlated insulators based on two-dimensional layered crystals and moir\'e materials. We outline the promises and challenges in probing and utilizing quantum insulators, and discuss exciting new opportunities for future advancements offered by ideas rooted in next-generation quantum materials, devices, and experimental schemes.

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arXiv2022

Berry Phases of Vison Transport in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ Topologically Ordered States from Exact Fermion-Flux Lattice Dualities

We develop an exact map of all states and operators from 2D lattices of spins-$1/2$ into lattices of fermions and bosons with mutual semionic statistical interaction that goes beyond previous dualities of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theories because it does not rely on imposing local conservation laws and captures the motion of ``charges'' and ``fluxes'' on equal footing. This map allows to explicitly compute the Berry phases for the transport of fluxes in a large class of symmetry enriched topologically ordered states with emergent $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge fields that includes chiral, non-chiral, abelian or non-abelian, that can be perturbatively connected to models where the visons are static and the emergent fermionic spinons have a non-interacting dispersion. The numerical complexity of computing such vison phases reduces therefore to computing overlaps of ground states of free-fermion Hamiltonians. Among other results, we establish numerically the conditions under which the Majorana-carrying flux excitation in Ising-Topologically-Ordered states enriched by translations acquires $0$ or $π$ phase when moving around a single plaquette.

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arXiv2022

Spin dynamics of a solid-state qubit in proximity to a superconductor

A broad effort is underway to understand and harness the interaction between superconductors and spin-active color centers with an eye on the realization of hybrid quantum devices and novel imaging modalities of superconducting materials. Most work, however, overlooks the complex interplay between either system and the environment created by the color center host. Here we use an all-diamond scanning probe to investigate the spin dynamics of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center proximal to a high-critical-temperature superconducting film in the presence of a weak magnetic field. We find that the presence of the superconductor increases the NV spin coherence lifetime, a phenomenon we tentatively rationalize as a change in the electric noise due to a superconductor-induced redistribution of charge carriers near the NV site. We build on these findings to demonstrate transverse-relaxation-time-weighted imaging of the superconductor film. These results shed light on the complex surface dynamics governing the spin coherence of shallow NVs while simultaneously paving the route to new forms of noise spectroscopy and imaging of superconductors.

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arXiv2021

Rabi Regime of Current Rectification in Solids

We investigate rectified currents in response to oscillating electric fields in systems lacking inversion and time-reversal symmetries. These currents, in second-order perturbation theory, are inversely proportional to the relaxation rate, and, therefore, naively diverge in the ideal clean limit. Employing a combination of the non-equilibrium Green function technique and Floquet theory, we show that this is an artifact of perturbation theory, and that there is a well-defined periodic steady-state akin to Rabi oscillations leading to finite rectified currents in the limit of weak coupling to a thermal bath. In this Rabi regime the rectified current scales as the square root of the radiation intensity, in contrast with the linear scaling of the perturbative regime, allowing to readily diagnose it in experiments. More generally, our description provides a smooth interpolation from the ideal Periodic Gibbs Ensemble describing the Rabi oscillations of a closed system to the perturbative regime of rapid relaxation due to strong coupling to a thermal bath.

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arXiv2021

Infinite Berry Curvature of Weyl Fermi Arcs

We show that Weyl Fermi arcs are generically accompanied by a divergence of the surface Berry curvature scaling as $1/k^2$, where $k$ is the distance to a hot-line in the surface Brillouin zone that connects the projection of Weyl nodes with opposite chirality but which is distinct from the Fermi arc itself. Such surface Berry curvature appears whenever the bulk Weyl dispersion has a velocity tilt toward the surface of interest. This divergence is reflected in a variety of Berry curvature mediated effects that are readily accessible experimentally, and in particular leads to a surface Berry curvature dipole that grows linearly with the thickness of a slab of a Weyl semimetal material in the limit of long lifetime of surface states. This implies the emergence of a gigantic contribution to the non-linear Hall effect in such devices.

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arXiv2021

Theory of weak symmetry breaking of translations in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically ordered states and its relation to topological superconductivity from an exact lattice $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charge-flux attachment

We study $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically ordered states enriched by translational symmetry by employing a recently developed 2D bosonization approach that implements an exact $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charge-flux attachment in the lattice. Such states can display `weak symmetry breaking' of translations, in which both the Hamiltonian and ground state remain fully translational invariant but the symmetry is `broken' by its anyon quasi-particles, in the sense that its action maps them into a different super-selection sector. We demonstrate that this phenomenon occurs when the fermionic spinons form a weak topological superconductor in the form of a 2D stack of 1D Kitaev wires, leading to the amusing property that there is no local operator that can transport the $π$-flux quasi-particle across a single Kitaev wire of fermonic spinons without paying an energy gap in spite of the vacuum remaining fully translational invariant. We explain why this phenomenon occurs hand-in-hand with other previously identified peculiar features such as ground state degeneracy dependence on the size of the torus and the appearance of dangling boundary Majorana modes in certain $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically ordered states. Moreover, by extending the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charge-flux attachment to open lattices and cylinders, we construct a plethora of exactly solvable models providing an exact description of their dispersive Majorana gapless boundary modes. We also review the $\mathbb{Z}\times (\mathbb{Z}_2)^3$ classification of 2D BdG Hamiltonians (Class D) enriched by translational symmetry and provide arguments on its robust stability against interactions and self-averaging disorder that preserves translational symmetry.

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arXiv2021

The universal shear conductivity of Fermi liquids and spinon Fermi surface states and its detection via spin qubit noise magnetometry

We demonstrate a remarkable property of metallic Fermi liquids: the transverse conductivity assumes a universal value in the quasi-static ($ω\rightarrow 0$) limit for wavevectors $q$ in the regime $l_{\rm mfp}^{-1} \ll q \ll p_{\rm F}$, where $l_{\rm mfp}$ is the mean free path and $p_{\rm F}$ is the Fermi momentum. This value is $(e^2/h) \mathcal{R}_{\rm FS}/q$ in two dimensions (2D), where $\mathcal{R}_{\rm FS}$ measures the local radius of curvature of the Fermi surface in momentum space. Even more surprisingly, we find that U(1) spin liquids with a spinon Fermi surface have the same universal transverse conductivity. This means such spin liquids behave effectively as metals in this regime, even though they appear insulating in standard transport experiments. Moreover, we show that transverse current fluctuations result in a universal low-frequency magnetic noise that can be directly probed by a spin qubit, such as a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, placed at a distance $z$ above of the 2D metal or spin liquid. Specifically the magnetic noise is given by $Cω\mathcal{P}_{\rm FS}/z$, where $\mathcal{P}_{\rm FS}$ is the perimeter of the Fermi surface in momentum space and $C$ is a combination of fundamental constants of nature. Therefore these observables are controlled purely by the geometry of the Fermi surface and are independent of kinematic details of the quasi-particles, such as their effective mass and interactions. This behavior can be used as a new technique to measure the size of the Fermi surface of metals and as a smoking gun probe to pinpoint the presence of the elusive spinon Fermi surface in two-dimensional systems. We estimate that this universal regime is within reach of current nitrogen-vacancy center spectroscopic techniques for several spinon Fermi surface candidate materials.

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arXiv2021

Competing correlated states around the zero field Wigner crystallization transition of electrons in two-dimensions

The competition between kinetic energy and Coulomb interactions in electronic systems can lead to complex many-body ground states with competing superconducting, charge density wave, and magnetic orders. Here we study the low temperature phases of a strongly interacting zinc-oxide-based high mobility two dimensional electron system that displays a tunable metal-insulator transition. Through a comprehensive analysis of the dependence of electronic transport on temperature, carrier density, in-plane and perpendicular magnetic fields, and voltage bias, we provide evidence for the existence of competing correlated metallic and insulating states with varying degrees of spin polarization. Our system features an unprecedented level of agreement with the state-of-the-art Quantum Monte Carlo phase diagram of the ideal jellium model, including a Wigner crystallization transition at a value of the interaction parameter $r_s\sim 30$ and the absence of a pure Stoner transition. In-plane field dependence of transport reveals a new low temperature state with partial spin polarization separating the spin unpolarized metal and the Wigner crystal, which we examine against possible theoretical scenarios such as an anti-ferromagnetic crystal, Coulomb induced micro-emulsions, and disorder driven puddle formation.

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arXiv2021

Competition of Spinon Fermi Surface and Heavy Fermi Liquids states from the Periodic Anderson to the Hubbard model

We study a model of correlated electrons coupled by tunnelling to a layer of itinerant metallic electrons, which allows to interpolate from a frustrated limit favorable to spin liquid states to a Kondo-lattice limit favorable to interlayer coherent heavy metallic states. We study the competition of the spinon fermi surface state and the interlayer coherent heavy Kondo metal that appears with increasing tunnelling. Employing a slave rotor mean-field approach, we obtain a phase diagram and describe two regimes where the spin liquid state is destroyed by weak interlayer tunnelling, (i) the Kondo limit in which the correlated electrons can be viewed as localized spin moments and (ii) near the Mott metal-insulator-transition where the spinon Fermi surface transitions continuously into a Fermi liquid. We study the shape of LDOS spectra of the putative spin liquid layer in the heavy Fermi liquid phase and describe the temperature dependence of its width arising from quasiparticle interactions and disorder effects throughout this phase diagram, in an effort to understand recent STM experiments of the candidate spin liquid 1T-TaSe$_2$ residing on metallic 1H-TaSe$_2$. Comparison of the shape and temperature dependence of the theoretical and experimental LDOS suggest that this system is either close to the localized Kondo limit, or in an intermediate coupling regime where the Kondo coupling and the Heisenberg exchange interaction are comparable.

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arXiv2020

Anatomy of Z2 fluxes in anyon Fermi liquids and Bose condensates

We study in detail the properties of pi-fluxes embedded in a state with a finite density of anyons that form either a Fermi liquid or a Bose-Einstein condensate. By employing a recently developed exact lattice bosonization in 2D, we demonstrate that such pi-flux remains a fully deconfined quasiparticle with a finite energy cost in a Fermi liquid of emergent fermions coupled to a Z2 gauge field. This pi-flux is accompanied by a screening cloud of fermions, which in the case of a Fermi gas with a parabolic dispersion binds exactly 1/8 of a fermionic hole. In addition there is a long-ranged power-law oscillatory disturbance of the liquid surrounding the pi-flux akin to Friedel oscillations. These results carry over directly to the pi-flux excitations in orthogonal metals. In sharp contrast, when the pi-flux is surrounded by a Bose-Einstein condensate of particles coupled to a Z2 gauge field, it binds a superfluid half-vortex, becoming a marginally confined excitation with a logarithmic energy cost divergence.

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arXiv2020

Widely Tunable Quantum Phase Transition from Moore-Read to Composite Fermi Liquid in Bilayer Graphene

We develop a proposal to realise a widely tunable and clean quantum phase transition in bilayer graphene between two paradigmatic fractionalized phases of matter: the Moore-Read fractional quantum Hall state and the composite Fermi liquid metal. This transition can be realized at total fillings $ν=\pm 3+1/2$ and the critical point can be controllably accessed by tuning either the interlayer electric bias or the perpendicular magnetic field values over a wide range of parameters. We study the transition numerically within a model that contains all leading single particle corrections to the band-structure of bilayer graphene and includes the fluctuations between the $n=0$ and $n=1$ cyclotron orbitals of its zeroth Landau level to delineate the most favorable region of parameters to experimentally access this unconventional critical point. We also find evidence for a new anisotropic gapless phase stabilized near the level crossing of $n=0/1$ orbits.

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arXiv2020

Quantum Paracrystalline Shear Modes of the Electron Liquid

Unlike classical fluids, a quantum Fermi liquid can support a long-lived and propagating shear sound wave at arbitrarily small wave vectors and frequencies, reminiscent of the transverse sound in crystals, despite lacking any form of long-range crystalline order. This mode is expected to be present in moderately interacting metals where the quasiparticle mass is renormalized to be more than twice the bare mass in two dimensions (2D), but it has remained undetected because it is hard to excite since it does not involve charge density fluctuations, in contrast to the conventional plasma mode. In this work we propose a strategy to excite and detect this unconventional mode in clean metallic channels. We show that the shear sound is responsible for the appearance of sharp dips in the ac conductance of narrow channels at resonant frequencies matching its dispersion. The liquid resonates while minimizing its dissipation in an analogous fashion to a sliding crystal. Ultra-clean 2D materials that can be tuned towards the Wigner crystallization transition such as silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors, MgZnO/ZnO, p-GaAs, and AlAs quantum wells are promising platforms to experimentally discover the shear sound.

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arXiv2020

Local Probes for Quantum Hall Ferroelectrics and Nematics

Two-dimensional multi-valley electronic systems in which the dispersion of individual pockets has low symmetry give rise to quantum Hall ferroelectric and nematic states in the presence of strong quantising magnetic fields. We investigate local signatures of these states arising near impurities that can be probed via Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy (STM) spectroscopy. For quantum Hall ferroelectrics, we demonstrate a direct relation between the dipole moment measured at impurity bound states and the ideal bulk dipole moment obtained from the modern theory of polarisation. We also study the many-body problem with a single impurity via exact diagonalization and find that near strong impurities non-trivial excitonic state can form with specific features that can be easily identified via STM spectroscopy.

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arXiv2020

Excitonic Laughlin States in Ideal Topological Insulator Flat Bands and Possible Presence in Moiré Superlattice Materials

We investigate few- and many-body states in half-filled maximally symmetric topological insulator flat bands realized by two degenerate Landau levels which experience opposite magnetic fields. This serves as a toy model of flat bands in moiré materials in which valleys have Chern numbers $C= \pm 1$. We argue that although the spontaneously polarized Ising Chern magnet is a natural ground state for repulsive Coulomb interactions, it can be in reasonable energetic competition with correlated states which can be viewed as Laughlin states of excitons when short distance corrections to the interaction are included. This is because charge neutral excitons in these bands behave effectively as charged particles in ordinary Landau levels. In particular, the Ising Chern magnet is no longer the ground state once the strength of a short range intra-valley repulsion is about $30\%$ larger than the inter-valley repulsion. Remarkably, these excitonic Laughlin states feature valley number fractionalization but no charge fractionalization and a quantized charge Hall conductivity identical to the Ising magnet, $σ_{xy}= \pm e^2/h$, and thus cannot be distinguished from it by ordinary charge transport measurements. The most compact excitonic Laughlin state that can be constructed in these bands is an analogue of $ν=1/4$ bosonic Laughlin state and has no valley polarization even though it spontaneously breaks time reversal symmetry with a charge Hall conductivity $σ_{xy}= \pm e^2/h$.

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arXiv2020

Bosonization of the $\mathbf{Q}=0$ continuum of Dirac Fermions

We develop a bosonization formalism that captures non-perturbatively the interaction effects on the $\mathbf{Q}=0$ continuum of excitations of nodal fermions above one dimension. Our approach is a natural extension of the classic bosonization scheme for higher dimensional Fermi surfaces to include the $\mathbf{Q}=0$ neutral excitations that would be absent in a single-band system. The problem is reduced to solving a boson bilinear Hamiltonian. We establish a rigorous microscopic footing for this approach by showing that the solution of such boson bilinear Hamiltonian is exactly equivalent to performing the infinite sum of Feynman diagrams associated with the Kadanoff-Baym particle-hole propagator that arises from the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation to the single particle Green's function. We apply this machinery to compute the interaction corrections to the optical conductivity of 2D Dirac Fermions with Coulomb interactions reproducing the results of perturbative renormalization group at weak coupling and extending them to the strong coupling regime.

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arXiv2019

Symmetry and Quantum Kinetics of the Non-linear Hall Effect

We argue that the static non-linear Hall conductivity can always be represented as a vector in two-dimensions and as a pseudo-tensor in three-dimensions independent of its microscopic origin. In a single band model with a constant relaxation rate this vector or tensor is proportional to the Berry curvature dipole \cite{Sodemann_2015}. Here, we develop a quantum Boltzmann formalism to second order in electric fields. We find that in addition to the Berry Curvature Dipole term, there exist additional disorder mediated corrections to the non-linear Hall tensor that have the same scaling in impurity scattering rate. These can be thought of as the non-linear counterparts to the side-jump and skew-scattering corrections to the Hall conductivity in the linear regime. We illustrate our formalism by computing the different contributions to the non-linear Hall conductivity of two-dimensional tilted Dirac fermions.

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arXiv2019

Cyclotron resonance inside the Mott gap: a fingerprint of emergent neutral fermions

A major obstacle to identify exotic quantum phases of matter featuring spin-charge separation above one-dimension is the lack of tailored probes allowing to establish their presence in correlated materials. Here we propose an optoelectronic response that could allow to pinpoint the presence of certain spin-charge separated states with emergent neutral gapless fermions in two and three-dimensional materials. We show that even though these states behave like insulators under static electric fields, they can display clear cyclotron resonance peaks in their light absorption spectrum under static magnetic fields, but typically the principal Kohn mode will be missing in comparison to ordinary metals. This distinctive phenomena could be tested in materials such as triangular lattice organics, three-dimensional mixed valence insulators YbB$_{12}$ and SmB$_6$, and transition metal dichalcogenides 1T-TaS$_2$ and 1T-TaSe$_2$.

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