arXiv subjects

J. Carlos Egues

Publications and source records attributed to J. Carlos Egues.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Consecutive-gap ratio distribution for crossover ensembles

The study of spectrum statistics, such as the consecutive-gap ratio distribution, has revealed many interesting properties of many-body complex systems. Here we propose a two-parameter surmise expression for such distribution to describe the crossover between the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) and Poisson statistics. This crossover is observed in the isotropic Heisenberg spin-$1/2$ chain with disordered local field, exhibiting the Many-Body Localization (MBL) transition. Inspired by the analysis of stability in dynamical systems, this crossover is presented as a flow pattern in the parameter space, with the Poisson statistics being the fixed point of the system, which represents the MBL phase. We also analyze an isotropic Heisenberg spin-$1/2$ chain with disordered local exchange coupling and a zero magnetic field. In this case, the system never achieves the MBL phase because of the spin rotation symmetry. This case is more sensitive to finite-size effects than the previous one, and thus the flow pattern resembles a two-dimensional random walk close to its fixed point. We propose a system of linearized stochastic differential equations to estimate this fixed point. We study the continuous-state Markov process that governs the probability of finding the system close to this fixed point as the disorder strength increases. In addition, we discuss the conditions under which the stationary probability distribution is given by a bivariate normal distribution.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2025

Compromise-Free Scaling of Qubit Speed and Coherence

Across leading qubit platforms, a common trade-off persists: increasing coherence comes at the cost of operational speed, reflecting the notion that protecting a qubit from its noisy surroundings also limits control over it. This speed-coherence dilemma limits qubit performance across various technologies. Here, we demonstrate a hole spin qubit in a Ge/Si core/shell nanowire that triples its Rabi frequency while simultaneously quadrupling its Hahn-echo coherence time, boosting the Q-factor by over an order of magnitude. This is enabled by the direct Rashba spin-orbit interaction, emerging from heavy-hole-light-hole mixing through strong confinement in two dimensions. Tuning a gate voltage causes this interaction to peak, providing maximum drive speed and a point where the qubit is optimally protected from charge noise, allowing speed and coherence to scale together. Our proof-of-concept shows that careful dot design can overcome a long-standing limitation, offering a new approach towards building high-performance, fault-tolerant qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Dual topological insulator with mirror symmetry protected helical edge states

Dual topological insulators (DTIs) are simultaneously protected by time-reversal and crystal symmetries, representing advantageous alternatives to conventional topological insulators. By combining ab initio calculations and the $\mathbf{k}\cdot\mathbf{p}$ approach, here, we investigate the electronic band structure of a Na$_2$CdSn triatomic layer and derive a low-energy $4\times 4$ effective model consistent with all the symmetries of this material class. We obtain the effective Hamiltonian using the Löwdin perturbation theory, the folding-down technique, and the theory of invariants and determine its parameters by fitting our analytical dispersion relations to those of ab initio calculations. We then calculate the bulk topological invariants of the system and show that the Na$_2$CdSn triatomic layer is a giant-gap (hundreds of millielectronvolts) quasi-two-dimensional DTI characterized by both spin and mirror Chern numbers $-2$. In agreement with the bulk-boundary correspondence theorem, we find that a finite-width strip of Na$_2$CdSn possesses two pairs of counterpropagating helical edge states per interface. We obtain analytical expressions for the edge state energy dispersions and wave functions, which are shown to agree with our numerical calculations. Our work opens an avenue for further studies of Na$_2$CdSn as a potential DTI candidate with room-temperature applications in areas of technological interest, such as nanoelectronics and spintronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Two-site Kitaev sweet spots evolving into topological islands

Artificial Kitaev chains based on arrays of quantum dots are promising platforms for realizing Majorana Bound States (MBSs). In a two-site Kitaev chain, it is possible to find these non-Abelian zero-energy excitations at certain points in parameter space (sweet spots). These states, commonly referred to as Poor man's Majorana bound states (PMMs), are challenging to find and stabilize experimentally. In this work, we investigate the evolution of the sweet spots as we increase the number of sites of the Kitaev chain. To this end, we use the Bogoliubov-de Gennes representation to study the excitations of the system, and the scattering matrix and Green functions formalisms to calculate the zero-bias conductance. Our results show that the sweet spots evolve into a region that grows bigger and becomes gradually more protected as the number of sites $N$ increases. Due to the protection of the MBSs, we refer to this region as a topological island. We obtain similar results by considering a realistic spinful model with finite magnetic fields in a chain of normal-superconducting quantum dots. For long chains, $N \geq 20$, we show the emergence of strictly zero-energy plateaus robust against disorder. Finally, we demonstrate that the topological islands can be observed by performing conductance measurements via a quantum dot side-coupled to the Kitaev chain. Our work shows that the fine-tuning required to create and detect PMMs in a 2-site Kitaev chain is significantly relaxed as the length of the chain increases and details how PMMs evolve into MBSs. Our results are consistent with experimental reports for 2 and 3-site chains.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Nonlocality of local Andreev conductances as a probe for topological Majorana wires

We propose a protocol based only on local conductance measurements for distinguishing trivial from topological phases in realistic three-terminal superconducting nanowires coupled to normal leads, capable of hosting Majorana zero modes (MZMs). By using Green functions and the scattering matrix approach, we calculate the conductance matrix and the local density of states (LDOS) as functions of the asymmetry in the couplings to the left ($Γ_L$) and right ($Γ_R$) leads. In the trivial phase, we find that the zero-bias local conductances are distinctively affected by variations in $Γ_R$ (for fixed $Γ_L$): while $G_{LL}$ is mostly constant, $G_{RR}$ decays exponentially as $Γ_R$ is decreased. In the topological phase, surprisingly, $G_{LL}$ and $G_{RR}$ are both suppressed with $G_{LL} \sim G_{RR}$. This \textit{nonlocal} suppression of $G_{LL}$ with $Γ_R$ scales with the MZM hybridization energy $\varepsilon_m$ and arises from the emergence of a dip in the LDOS near zero energy at the left end of the wire, which affects the local Andreev reflection. We further exploit this nonlocality of the local Andreev processes and the gate-controlled suppression of the LDOS by proposing a Majorana-based transistor. Our results hold for zero and low electron temperatures $T<20$ mK. For $T = 30, 40$ mK, $G_{LL}$ and $G_{RR}$ become less correlated. As an additional nonlocal fingerprint of the topological phase at higher $T$'s, we predict modulations in our \textit{asymmetric} conductance deviation $δG^{asym}_{LL}= G_{LL}^{Γ_R = Γ_L} - G_{LL}^{Γ_R \ll Γ_L}$ that remains commensurate with the Majorana oscillations in $\varepsilon_m$ over the range $30<T< 150~\rm{mK}$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Signature of non-trivial band topology in Shubnikov--de Haas oscillations

We investigate the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) magneto-oscillations in the resistivity of two-dimensional topological insulators (TIs). Within the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang (BHZ) model for TIs in the presence of a quantizing magnetic field, we obtain analytical expressions for the SdH oscillations by combining a semiclassical approach for the resistivity and a trace formula for the density of states. We show that when the non-trivial topology is produced by inverted bands with ''Mexican-hat'' shape, SdH oscillations show an anomalous beating pattern that is {\it solely} due to the non-trivial topology of the system. These beatings are robust against, and distinct from beatings originating from spin-orbit interactions. This provides a direct way to experimentally probe the non-trivial topology of 2D TIs entirely from a bulk measurement. Furthermore, the Fourier transform of the SdH oscillations as a function of the Fermi energy and quantum capacitance models allows for extracting both the topological gap and gap at zero momentum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Efficient method to calculate energy spectra for analysing magneto-oscillations

Magneto-oscillations in two-dimensional systems with spin-orbit interaction are typically characterized by fast Shubnikov-de~Haas (SdH) oscillations and slower spin-orbit-related beatings. The characterization of the full SdH oscillatory behavior in systems with both spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman coupling requires a time consuming diagonalization of large matrices for many magnetic field values. By using the Poisson summation formula we can explicitly separate the density of states into, fast and slow oscillations, which determine the corresponding fast and slow parts of the magneto-oscillations. We introduce an efficient scheme of partial diagonalization of our Hamiltonian, where only states close to the Fermi energy are needed to obtain the SdH oscillations, thus reducing the required computational time. This allows an efficient method for fitting numerically the SdH data, using the inherent separation of the fast and slow oscillations. We compare systems with only Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and both Rashba and Dresselhaus SOI with, and without, an in-plane magnetic field. The energy spectra are characterized in terms of symmetries, which have direct and visible consequences in the magneto-oscillations. To highlight the benefits of our methodology, we use it to extract the spin-orbit parameters by fitting realistic transport data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Quantum oscillations in 2D electron gases with spin-orbit and Zeeman interactions

Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations have served as a paradigmatic experimental probe and tool for extracting key semiconductor parameters such as carrier density, effective mass, Zeeman splitting with g-factor $g^*$, quantum scattering times and spin-orbit (SO) coupling parameters. Here, we derive for the first time an analytical formulation for the SdH oscillations in 2D electron gases (2DEGs) with simultaneous Rashba, Dresselhaus, and Zeeman interactions. Our analytical and numerical calculations allow us to extract both Rashba and Dresselhaus SO coupling parameters, carrier density, quantum lifetimes, and also to understand the role of higher harmonics in the SdH oscillations. More importantly, we derive a simple condition for the vanishing of SO induced SdH beatings for all harmonics in 2DEGs: $α/β= [(1-\tilde Δ)/(1+\tilde Δ)]^{1/2}$, where $\tilde Δ$ is a material parameter given by the ratio of the Zeeman and Landau level splitting. We also predict beatings in the higher harmonics of the SdH oscillations and elucidate the inequivalence of the SdH response of Rashba-dominated ($α>β$) vs Dresselhaus-dominated ($α<β$) 2DEGs in semiconductors with substantial $g^*$. We find excellent agreement with recent available experimental data of Dettwiler ${\it et\thinspace al.}$ Phys. Rev. X $\textbf{7}$, 031010 (2017), and Beukman ${\it et\thinspace al.}$, Phys. Rev. B $\textbf{96}$, 241401 (2017).

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Phase driving hole spin qubits

The spin-orbit interaction in spin qubits enables spin-flip transitions, resulting in Rabi oscillations when an external microwave field is resonant with the qubit frequency. Here, we introduce an alternative driving mechanism of hole spin qubits, where a far-detuned oscillating field couples to the qubit phase. Phase driving at radio frequencies, orders of magnitude slower than the microwave qubit frequency, induces highly non-trivial spin dynamics, violating the Rabi resonance condition. By using a qubit integrated in a silicon fin field-effect transistor (Si FinFET), we demonstrate a controllable suppression of resonant Rabi oscillations, and their revivals at tunable sidebands. These sidebands enable alternative qubit control schemes using global fields and local far-detuned pulses, facilitating the design of dense large-scale qubit architectures with local qubit addressability. Phase driving also decouples Rabi oscillations from noise, an effect due to a gapped Floquet spectrum and can enable Floquet engineering high-fidelity gates in future quantum processors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Proximity-induced zero-energy states indistinguishable from topological edge states

When normal metals (NMs) are attached to topological insulators or topological superconductors, it is conceivable that the quantum states in these finite adjacent materials can intermix. In this case -- and because the NM usually does not possess the same symmetry as the topological material -- it is pertinent to ask whether zero-energy edge states in the topological layer are affected by the presence of the NM. To address this issue, we consider three prototype systems simulated by tight-binding models, namely a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger/NM, a Kitaev/NM, and a Chern insulator/NM. For all junctions investigated, we find that there exist trivial ``fine-tuned'' zero-energy states in the NM layer that can percolate into the topological region, thus mimicking a topological state. These zero-energy states are created by fine-tuning the NM chemical potential such that some of the NM states cross zero energy; they can occur even when the topological material is in the topologically trivial phase, and exist over a large region of the topological phase diagram. Interestingly, the true Majorana end modes of the Kitaev/NM model cannot be crossed by any NM state, as the NM metal layer in this case does not break particle-hole symmetry. On the other hand, when the chiral symmetry of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain is broken by the attached NM, crossings are allowed. In addition, even in Chern insulators that do not preserve nonspatial symmetries, but the topological edge state self-generates a symmetry eigenvalue, such a fine-tuned zero-energy state can still occur. Our results indicate that when a topological material is attached to a metallic layer, one has to be cautious as to identify true topological edge states merely from their energy spectra and wave function profiles near the interface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Many-Body Localization: Transitions in Spin Models

We study the transitions between ergodic and many-body localized phases in spin systems, subject to quenched disorder, including the Heisenberg chain and the central spin model. In both cases systems with common spin lengths $1/2$ and $1$ are investigated via exact numerical diagonalization and random matrix techniques. Particular attention is paid to the sample-to-sample variance $(Δ_sr)^2$ of the averaged consecutive-gap ratio $\langle r\rangle$ for different disorder realizations. For both types of systems and spin lengths we find a maximum in $Δ_sr$ as a function of disorder strength, accompanied by an inflection point of $\langle r\rangle$, signaling the transition from ergodicity to many-body localization. The critical disorder strength is found to be somewhat smaller than the values reported in the recent literature. Further information about the transitions can be gained from the probability distribution of expectation values within a given disorder realization.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2020

Persistent currents and spin torque caused by percolated quantum spin Hall state

Motivated by recent experiments, we investigate the quantum spin Hall state in 2D topological insulator/ferromagnetic metal planar junctions by means of a tight-binding model and linear response theory. We demonstrate that whether the edge state Dirac cone is submerged into the ferromagnetic subbands and the direction of the magnetization dramatically affect (i) how the edge state percolates into the ferromagnet, and (ii) the spin-momentum locking of the edge state. Laminar flows of room temperature persistent charge and spin currents near the interface are uncovered. In addition, the current-induced spin polarization at the edge of the 2D topological insulator is found to be dramatically enhanced near the impurities. The current-induced spin polarization in the ferromagnet is mainly polarized in the out-of-plane direction ${\hat{\bf z}}$, rendering a current-induced spin torque that is predominantly field-like $\propto {\bf S}\times{\hat{\bf z}}$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Corroborating the bulk-edge correspondence in weakly interacting 1D topological insulators

We present a Green's function formalism to investigate the topological properties of weakly interacting one-dimensional topological insulators, including the bulk-edge correspondence and the quantum criticality near topological phase transitions, and using interacting Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model as an example. From the many-body spectral function, we find that closing of the bulk gap remains a defining feature even if the topological phase transition is driven by interactions. The existence of edge state in the presence of interactions can be captured by means of a T-matrix formalism combined with Dyson's equation, and the bulk-edge correspondence is shown to be satisfied even in the presence of interactions. The critical exponent of the edge state decay length is shown to be affiliated with the same universality class as the noninteracting limit.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Closed-form weak localization magnetoconductivity in quantum wells with arbitrary Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions

We derive a closed-form expression for the weak localization (WL) corrections to the magnetoconductivity of a 2D electron system with arbitrary Rashba $α$ and Dresselhaus $β$ (linear) and $β_3$ (cubic) spin-orbit interaction couplings, in a perpendicular magnetic field geometry. In a system of reference with an in-plane $\hat{z}$ axis chosen as the high spin-symmetry direction at $α= β$, we formulate a new algorithm to calculate the three independent contributions that lead to WL. The antilocalization is counterbalanced by the term associated with the spin-relaxation along $\hat{z}$, dependent only on $α- β$. The other term is generated by two identical scattering modes characterized by spin-relaxation rates which are explicit functions of the orientation of the scattered momentum. Excellent agreement is found with data from GaAs quantum wells, where in particular our theory correctly captures the shift of the minima of the WL curves as a function of $α/β$. This suggests that the anisotropy of the effective spin relaxation rates is fundamental to understanding the effect of the SO coupling in transport.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Paradoxical extension of the edge states across the topological phase transition due to emergent approximate chiral symmetry in a quantum anomalous Hall system

We present a paradoxical finding that, in the vicinity of a topological phase transition in a quantum anomalous Hall system (Chern insulator), topology nearly always (except when the system obeys charge-conjugation symmetry) results in a significant extension of the edge-state structure beyond the minimal one required to satisfy the Chern numbers. The effect arises from the universal gapless linear-in-momentum Hamiltonian of the nodal semimetal describing the system right at the phase transition, whose form is enforced by the change of the Chern number. Its emergent approximate chiral symmetry results in an edge-state band in the vicinity of the node, in the region of momenta where such form is dominant. Upon opening the gap, this edge-state band is modified in the gap region, becoming "protected" (connected to the valence bulk band with one end and conduction band with the other) in the topologically nontrivial phase and "nonprotected" (connected to either the valence or conduction band with both ends) in the trivial phase. The edge-state band persists in the latter as long as the gap is small enough.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Zitterbewegung and bulk-edge Landau-Zener tunneling in topological insulators

We investigate the ballistic zitterbewegung dynamics and the Landau-Zener tunneling between edge and bulk states of wave packets in two-dimensional topological insulators. In bulk, we use the Ehrenfest theorem to show that an external in-plane electric field not only drifts the packet longitudinally, but also induces a transverse finite side-jump for both trivial and topological regimes. For finite ribbons of width $W$, we show that the Landau-Zener tunneling between bulk and edge states vanishes for large $W$ as their electric field-induced coupling decays with $W^{-3/2}$. This is demonstrated by expanding the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in terms of Houston states. Hence we cannot picture the quantum spin Hall states as arising from the zitterbewegung bulk trajectories `leaking' into the edge states, as proposed in Phys. Rev. B 87, 161115 (2013).

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Blurring the boundaries between topological and non-topological phenomena in dots

We investigate the electronic and transport properties of topological and trivial InAs$_{1-x}$Bi$_x$ quantum dots (QDs). By considering the rapid band gap change within valence band anticrossing theory for InAs$_{1-x}$Bi$_x$, we predicted that Bi-alloyed quantum wells become $\sim 30$meV gapped 2D topological insulators for well widths $d>6.9$nm $(x = 0.15)$ and obtain the $\boldsymbol{k.p}$ parameters of the corresponding Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang (BHZ) model. We analytically solve this model for cylindrical confinement via modified Bessel functions. For non-topological dots we find "geometrically protected" discrete helical edge-like states, i.e., Kramers pairs with spin-angular-momentum locking, in stark contrast with ordinary InAs QDs. For a conduction window with four edge states, we find that the two-terminal conductance ${\cal G}$ vs. the QD radius $R$ and the gate $V_g$ controlling its levels shows a double peak at $2e^2/h$ for both topological and trivial QDs. In contrast, when bulk and edge-state Kramers pairs coexist and are degenerate, a single-peak resonance emerges. Our results blur the boundaries between topological and non-topological phenomena for conductance measurements in small systems such as QDs. Bi-based BHZ QDs should also prove important as hosts to edge spin qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Symmetry Breaking of the Persistent Spin Helix in Quantum Transport

We exploit the high-symmetry spin state obtained for equal Rashba and linear Dresselhaus interactions to derive a closed-form expression for the weak localization magnetoconductivity -- the paradigmatic signature of spin-orbit coupling in quantum transport. The small parameter of the theory is the deviation from the symmetry state introduced by the mismatch of the linear terms and by the cubic Dresselhaus term. In this regime, we perform quantum transport experiments in GaAs quantum wells. Top and back gates allow independent tuning of the Rashba and Dresselhaus terms in order to explore the broken-symmetry regime where the formula applies. We present a reliable two-step method to extract all parameters from fits to the new expression, obtaining excellent agreement with recent experiments. This provides experimental confirmation of the new theory, and advances spin-orbit coupling towards a powerful resource in emerging quantum technologies.

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