arXiv subjects

J. Lorenzana

Publications and source records attributed to J. Lorenzana.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Long-lived Higgs modes in strongly correlated condensates

We investigate order parameter fluctuations in the Hubbard model within a time-dependent Gutzwiller approach. While in the weak coupling limit we find that the amplitude fluctuations are short-lived due to a degeneracy with the energy of the edge of the quasiparticle continua (and in agreement with Hartree-Fock + RPA theory), these are shifted below the edge upon increasing the interaction. Our calculations therefore predict undamped amplitude (Higgs) oscillations of the order parameter in strongly coupled superconductors, cold atomic fermion condensates and in strongly interacting charge- and spin-density wave systems. We propose an experimental realization for the detection of the spin-type Higgs mode in undoped cuprates and related materials where, due to the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction, it can couple to an out-of plane ferromagnetic excitation which is visible via the Faraday effect.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Unexpected coexisting solid solutions in the quasi-binary Ag(II)F2/Cu(II)F2 phase diagram

High-temperature solid-state reaction between orthorhombic AgF2 and monoclinic CuF2 (y = 0.15, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) in a fluorine atmosphere resulted in coexisting solid solutions of Cu-poor orthorhombic and Cu-rich monoclinic phases with stoichiometry Ag1-xCuxF2. Based on X-ray powder diffraction analyses, the mutual solubility in the orthorhombic phase (AgF2 doped with Cu) appears to be at an upper limit of Cu concentration of 30 mol % (Ag0.7Cu0.3F2), while the monoclinic phase (CuF2 doped with Ag) can form a nearly stoichiometric Cu : Ag = 1 : 1 solid solution (Cu0.56Ag0.44F2), preserving the CuF2 crystal structure. Experimental data and DFT calculations showed that AgF2 doped with Cu and CuF2 doped with Ag solid solutions deviate from the classical Vegards law. Magnetic measurements of Ag1-xCuxF2 showed that the Neel temperature (TN) decreases with increasing Cu content in both phases. Likewise, theoretical DFT+U calculations for Ag1-xCuxF2 showed that the progressive substitution of Ag by Cu decreases the magnetic interaction strength (J2D) in both structures. Electrical conductivity measurements of Ag0.85Cu0.15F2 showed a ca. 2-fold increase in specific ionic conductivity (3.71 x 10-13 plus/minus 2.6 x 10-15 S/cm) as compared to pure AgF2 (1.85 x 10-13 plus/minus 1.2 x 10-15 S/cm), indicating the formation of a vacancy- or F adatom-free metal difluoride sample.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Adiabatic transition from a BCS superconductor to a Fermi liquid and phase dynamics

We investigate the physics of an adiabatic transition from a BCS superconductor to a Fermi liquid for an exponentially slow decreasing pairing interaction. In particular, we show that the metal keeps memory of the parent BCS state so it is possible to reverse the dynamics and go back to the original state similarly to a spin/photon echo experiment. Moreover, we study the evolution of the order parameter phase phi in transforming the BCS superconductor to a conventional metal. Since the global phase is the conjugate variable of the density we explicitly show how to use the dynamics of phi together with gauge invariance to build up the non-interacting chemical potential away from particle-hole symmetry. We further analyze the role of phi in restoring the gauge invariant current response when the non-interacting Fermi liquid is approached starting from a BCS superconductor in the presence of an external vector field.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Trimeron-phonon coupling in magnetite

Using density functional theory, we study the lattice dynamical properties of magnetite (Fe$_3$O$_4$) in the high-temperature cubic and low-temperature monoclinic phases. The calculated phonon dispersion curves and phonon density of states are compared with the available experimental data obtained by inelastic neutron, inelastic x-ray, and nuclear inelastic scattering. We find a very good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results for the monoclinic $Cc$ structure revealing the strong coupling between charge-orbital (trimeron) order and specific phonon modes. For the cubic phase, clear discrepancies arise which, remarkably, can be understood assuming that the strong trimeron-phonon coupling can be extended above the Verwey transition, with lattice dynamics influenced by the short-range trimeron order instead of the average cubic structure. Our results establish the validity of trimerons (and trimeron-phonon coupling) in explaining the physics of magnetite much beyond their original formulation.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Non-equilibrium dynamics across the BEC-BCS crossover

We investigate the quench dynamics of strongly coupled superconductors within the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation from the BCS to the BEC regime and evaluate the out-of-equilibrium transient spectral density and optical conductivity relevant for pump probe experiments. Fourier transformation of the order parameter dynamics reveals a frequency $Ω_J$ which, as in the BCS case, is controlled by the spectral gap. However, we find a crossover from the BCS dynamics to a new strong coupling regime where a characteristic frequency $Ω_U$, associated to double occupancy fluctuations controls the order parameter dynamics. The change of regime occurs close to a dynamical phase transition. Both, $Ω_J$ and $Ω_U$ give rise to a complex structure of self-driven slow Rabi oscillations which are visible in the non-equilibrium optical conductivity where also side bands appear due to the modulation of the double occupancy by superconducting amplitude oscillations. Analogous results apply to CDW and SDW systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Doping-dependent competition between superconductivity and polycrystalline charge density waves

From systematic analysis of the high pulsed magnetic field resistance data of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_{4}$ thin films, we extract an experimental phase diagram for several doping values ranging from the very underdoped to the very overdoped regimes. Our analysis highlights a competition between charge density waves and superconductivity which is ubiquitous between $x=0.08$ and $x=0.19$ and produces the previously observed double step transition. When suppressed by a strong magnetic field, superconductivity is resilient for two specific doping ranges centered around respectively $x\approx 0.09$ and $x\approx 0.19$ and the characteristic temperature for the onset of the competing charge density wave phase is found to vanish above $x = 0.19$. At $x=1/8$ the two phases are found to coexist exactly at zero magnetic field.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Formation of Incommensurate Charge Density Waves in Cuprates

Although charge density waves (CDWs) are omnipresent in cuprate high-temperature superconductors, they occur at significantly different wavevectors, confounding efforts to understand their formation mechanism. Here, we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to investigate the doping- and temperature-dependent CDW evolution in La2-xBaxCuO4 (x=0.115-0.155). We discovered that the CDW develops in two stages with decreasing temperature. A precursor CDW with quasi-commensurate wavevector emerges first at high-temperature. This doping-independent precursor CDW correlation originates from the CDW phase mode coupled with a phonon and "seeds" the low-temperature CDW with strongly doping dependent wavevector. Our observation reveals the precursor CDW and its phase mode as the building blocks of the highly intertwined electronic ground state in the cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Protected superconductivity at the boundaries of charge-density-wave domains

Solid 4He may acquire superfluid characteristics due to the frustration of the solid phase at grain boundaries. Here, we show that an analogous effect occurs in systems with competition among charge-density-waves (CDWs) and superconductivity in the presence of disorder, as cuprate or dichalcogenide superconductors. The CDWs breaks apart in domains with topologically protected filamentary superconductivity (FSC) at the interfaces. Transport experiments carried out in underdoped cuprates with the magnetic field acting as a control parameter are shown to be in excellent agreement with the theoretical expectation. At high temperature and low fields we find a transition from CDWs to fluctuating superconductivity, weakly affected by disorder, while at high field and low temperature the protected filamentary superconducting phase appears in close analogy with "glassy" supersolid phenomena in 4He.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

High-temperature charge density wave correlations in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_{4}$ without spin-charge locking

Although all superconducting cuprates display charge-ordering tendencies, their low-temperature properties are distinct, impeding efforts to understand the phenomena within a single conceptual framework. While some systems exhibit stripes of charge and spin, with a locked periodicity, others host charge density waves (CDWs) without any obviously related spin order. Here we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to follow the evolution of charge correlations in the canonical stripe ordered cuprate La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_{4}$ (LBCO~$1/8$) across its ordering transition. We find that high-temperature charge correlations are unlocked from the wavevector of the spin correlations, signaling analogies to CDW phases in various other cuprates. This indicates that stripe order at low temperatures is stabilized by the coupling of otherwise independent charge and spin density waves, with important implications for the relation between charge and spin correlations in the cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Raman phonon spectrum of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya helimagnet Ba2CuGe2O7

The Raman spectrum of Ba2CuGe2O7, a tetragonal insulator which develops Dzyaloshinsky- Moriya helical magnetism below TN = 3.2 K, has been detected at temperatures varying from 300 to 80 K in a single crystal, with the radiation polarized either in the ab plane or along the c axis of its tetragonal cell. 29 phonon lines out of the 35 allowed by the Raman selection rules for the present geometry were observed, and their vibrational frequencies were found in overall good agreement with those provided by shell-model calculations. Together with the previous report on the infrared-active phonons [A. Nucara et al., Phys. Rev. B 90, 014304 (2014)] the present study provides an exhaustive description, both experimental and theoretical, of the lattice dynamics in Ba2CuGe2O7.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Amplitude, density and current correlations of strongly disordered superconductors

We investigate the disorder dependence of the static density, amplitude and current correlations within the attractive Hubbard model supplemented with on-site disorder. It is found that strong disorder favors a decoupling of density and amplitude correlations due to the formation of superconducting islands. This emergent granularity also induces an enhancement of the density correlations on the SC islands whereas amplitude fluctuations are most pronounced in the 'insulating' regions. While density and amplitude correlations are short-ranged at strong disorder we show that current correlations have a long-range tail due to the formation of percolative current paths in agreement with the constant behavior expected from the analysis of one-dimensional models.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Electronic polymers and soft-matter-like broken symmetries in underdoped cuprates

Empirical evidence in heavy fermion, pnictide, and other systems suggests that unconventional superconductivity appears associated to some form of real-space electronic order. For the cuprates, despite several proposals, the emergence of order in the phase diagram between the commensurate antiferromagnetic state and the superconducting state is not well understood. Here we show that in this regime doped holes assemble in "electronic polymers." Within a Monte Carlo study we find, that in clean systems by lowering the temperature the polymer melt condenses first in a smectic state and then in a Wigner crystal both with the addition of inversion symmetry breaking. Disorder blurs the positional order leaving a robust inversion symmetry breaking and a nematic order, accompanied by vector chiral spin order and with the persistence of a thermodynamic transition. Such electronic phases, whose properties are reminiscent of soft-matter physics, produce charge and spin responses in good accord with experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Gutzwiller Charge Phase Diagram of Cuprates, including Electron-Phonon Coupling Effects

Besides significant electronic correlations, high-temperature superconductors also show a strong coupling of electrons to a number of lattice modes. Combined with the experimental detection of electronic inhomogeneities and ordering phenomena in many high-T_c compounds, these features raise the question as to what extent phonons are involved in the associated instabilities. Here we address this problem based on the Hubbard model including a coupling to phonons in order to capture several salient features of the phase diagram of hole-doped cuprates. Charge degrees of freedom, which are suppressed by the large Hubbard U near half-filling, are found to become active at a fairly low doping level. We find that possible charge order is mainly driven by Fermi surface nesting, with competition between a near-(pi,pi) order at low doping and antinodal nesting at higher doping, very similar to the momentum structure of magnetic fluctuations. The resulting nesting vectors are generally consistent with photoemission and tunneling observations, evidence for charge density wave (CDW) order in YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta} including Kohn anomalies, and suggestions of competition between one- and two-q-vector nesting.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Infrared phonon spectrum of the tetragonal helimagnet Ba$_2$CuGe$_2$O$_7$

The lattice dynamics of Ba$_2$CuGe$_2$O$_7$, a compound which develops Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) helical magnetism below $T_N$ = 3.2 K, has been studied by measuring the infrared reflectivity of a single crystal with the radiation polarized both in the $ab$ plane and along the $c$ axis of its tetragonal cell, from 7 K to 300 K. In this compound, where the unit cell has no inversion symmetry, fourteen $E$ phonon modes of the $ab$ plane, out of the eighteen predicted, and all the ten $B_2$ modes of the $c$ axis, have been observed. They have been assigned to the atomic motions by a comparison with shell-model calculations, which provided vibrational frequencies in good agreement with the experiment, while most calculated intensities turned to be much lower than the experimental values. This discrepancy has been tentatively explained by assuming strong electron-phonon interactions, a hypothesis supported by the failure of the $f$- sum rule if restricted to the phonon region. Indeed, we observe a remarkable increase in the oscillator strengths at $T$'s low but higher than $T_N$, which suggests that the dielectric constant of Ba$_2$CuGe$_2$O$_7$ may increase at those temperatures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Tuning order-by-disorder multiferroicity in CuO by doping

The high Curie temperature multiferroic compound, CuO, has a quasidegenerate magnetic ground state that makes it prone to manipulation by the so called ``order-by-disorder'' mechanism. First principle computations supplemented with Monte Carlo simulations and experiments show that isovalent doping allows to stabilize the multiferroic phase in non-ferroelectric regions of the pristine material phase-diagram with experiments reaching a 250% widening of the ferroelectric temperature window with 5% of Zn doping. Our results allow to validate the importance of a quasidegenerate ground state on promoting multiferroicity on CuO at high temperatures and open a path to the material engineering of new multiferroic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Optical excitation of phase modes in strongly disordered superconductors

According to the Goldstone theorem the breaking of a continuous U(1) symmetry comes along with the existence of low-energy collective modes. In the context of superconductivity these excitations are related to the phase of the superconducting (SC) order parameter and for clean systems are optically inactive. Here we show that for strongly disordered superconductors phase modes acquire a dipole moment and appear as a subgap spectral feature in the optical conductivity. This finding is obtained with both a gauge-invariant random-phase approximation scheme based on a fermionic Bogoliubov-de Gennes state as well as with a prototypical bosonic model for disordered superconductors. In the strongly disordered regime, where the system displays an effective granularity of the SC properties, the optically active dipoles are linked to the isolated SC islands, offering a new perspective for realizing microwave optical devices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Quantum critical point and superconducting dome in the pressure phase diagram of o-TaS3

We measure the electrical resistance of o-TaS3 between 1K and 300K under pressures up to 20GPa. We observe a gradual decrease of the charge density wave transition temperature with increasing pressure P following a mean-field quantum fluctuation power law with a quantum critical point at a pressure Pc = 11.5GPa. Around the quantum critical point we observe a superconducting dome with a maximum superconducting transition temperature Tc = 3.1K. Such dome is similar to superconducting domes around other types of order suggesting that the QCP is directly responsible for the enhancement of superconductivity through a universal mechanism still not well understood.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Linear-Response Dynamics from the Time-Dependent Gutzwiller Approximation

Within a Lagrangian formalism we derive the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation for general multi-band Hubbard models. Our approach explicitly incorporates the coupling between time-dependent variational parameters and a time-dependent density matrix from which we obtain dynamical correlation functions in the linear response regime. Our results are illustrated for the one-band model where we show that the interacting system can be mapped to an effective problem of fermionic quasiparticles coupled to "doublon" (double occupancy) bosonic fluctuations. The latter have an energy on the scale of the on-site Hubbard repulsion $U$ in the dilute limit but becomes soft at the Brinkman-Rice transition which is shown to be related to an emerging conservation law of doublon charge and the associated gauge invariance. Coupling with the boson mode produces structure in the charge response and we find that a similar structure appears in dynamical mean-field theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗