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Jin-Yang Li

Publications and source records attributed to Jin-Yang Li.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Valley- and Spin-Dependent Electronic and Transport Properties of Two-Dimensional Altermagnetic Titanium-Based Chalcogenide Halides

Altermagnets (AMs) combine fully compensated magnetization with momentum-dependent spin splitting, yet intrinsic altermagnetic materials exhibiting exceptional valley characteristics remain scarce. Here, we identify monolayer titanium-based chalcogenide halides, Ti$_2X_2Y$ ($X$ = F, Cl, Br, I; $Y$ = O, S, Se, Te), as a new family of two-dimensional altermagnetic valley materials. These monolayers exhibit robust $d$-wave altermagnetic order, semiconducting band gaps, and pronounced spin-polarized valley characteristics. We show that uniaxial strain breaks the valley degeneracy, inducing giant valley polarization together with a tunable piezomagnetic response. An in-plane electric field generates noncollinear spin currents, while spin--orbit coupling gives rise to the anomalous Hall effect, valley-selective linear dichroism, and the magneto-optical Kerr effect. These findings establish Ti$_2X_2Y$ monolayers as a versatile platform for exploring spin- and valley-dependent electronic, optical, and transport phenomena in two-dimensional altermagnets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Electric-Field-induced Two-Dimensional Fully Compensated Ferrimagnetism and Emergent Transport Phenomena

The recent discovery of altermagnetism has demonstrated that spin-split electronic band structures can emerge in magnetic systems with zero net magnetization. In contrast, fully compensated ferrimagnetic (fFIM) systems remain far less explored, despite exhibiting similar characteristics such as vanishing magnetization and spin-split bands. Here, based on first-principles calculations combined with theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that monolayer CoS and CoSe can be driven into fFIM states by an external electric field. These materials possess collinear antiferromagnetic ground states with out-of-plane Néel vectors, and their electronic bands are spin degenerate due to $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry. When an out-of-plane electric field is applied, $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry is broken, inducing fFIM states with pronounced spin splitting. Moreover, we show that the resulting fFIM states host fully spin-polarized currents, anomalous Hall effects, and magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects. Our results establish monolayer CoS and CoSe as promising platforms for electric-field-controlled fFIM states and spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Valley-dependent electronic properties in two-dimensional altermagnetic iron-based transition metal chalcogenides

Altermagnets represent a newly identified third class of collinear magnets and have recently emerged as a focal point in condensed matter physics. In this work, through first-principles calculations and theoretical analysis, we identify monolayer Fe$_2$MoX$_4$ (X = S, Se, Te) and Fe$_2$WTe$_4$, a class of iron-based transition metal chalcogenides, as promising altermagnetic materials. These systems are found to be semiconductors exhibiting spin splitting in their nonrelativistic band structures, indicative of intrinsic altermagnetic ordering. Remarkably, their valence bands feature a pair of valleys at the time-reversal-invariant momenta X and Y points. Unlike conventional valley systems, these valleys are related by crystal symmetries rather than time-reversal symmetry. We investigate valley-dependent physical phenomena in these materials, including Berry curvature and optical circular dichroism, revealing strong valley-contrasting behavior. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of uniaxial strain and show that it effectively lifts the valley degeneracy, resulting in pronounced valley polarization. Under hole doping, this strain-induced asymmetry gives rise to a piezomagnetic response. We also explore the generation of anisotropic noncollinear spin currents in these systems, expanding the scope of their spin-related functionalities. Our findings unveil rich valley physics in monolayer Fe$_2$MoX$_4$ (X = S, Se, Te) and Fe$_2$WTe$_4$, highlighting their significant potential for applications in valleytronics, spintronics, and multifunctional nanoelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Chiral Topological Phononic Quasiparticles in Enantiomeric Crystals SrSi$_2$ and BaSi$_2$

Chiral crystals have recently garnered significant interest in condensed matter physics due to their unique electronic and optical properties. In this paper, we explore the connection between the chirality of crystal structures and the chirality of topological quasiparticles. We specifically predict and analyze several chiral enantiomeric materials, such as SrSi$_2$ and BaSi$_2$, which crystallize in the chiral space groups $P4{_3}32$ and $P4{_1}32$. Based on first-principles calculations and theoretical analysis, we reveal that the phonon spectra of these materials host various topological phononic quasiparticles, including charge-2 triple points, charge-2 Dirac points, charge-2 Weyl points, and charge-1 Weyl points. Our paper shows that in these enantiomeric materials, the opposite chirality of the crystal structure results in topological quasiparticles with opposite chiral topological charges and distinct topological surface states. Our paper elucidates the intrinsic relationship between the chirality of crystal structures and the chirality of topological quasiparticles, providing promising theoretical guidance and material platform for investigating the physical properties of chiral crystals.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Strain-induced valley polarization, topological states, and piezomagnetism in two-dimensional altermagnetic V$_2$Te$_2$O, V$_2$STeO, V$_2$SSeO, and V$_2$S$_2$O

Altermagnets (AM) are a recently discovered third class of collinear magnets, and have been attracting significant interest in the field of condensed matter physics. Here, based on first-principles calculations and theoretical analysis, we propose four two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials--monolayer V$_2$Te$_2$O, V$_2$STeO, V$_2$SSeO, and V$_2$S$_2$O--as candidates for altermagnetic materials. We show that these materials are semiconductors with spin-splitting in their nonrelativistic band structures. Furthermore, in the band structure, there are a pair of Dirac-type valleys located at the time-reversal invariant momenta (TRIM) X and Y points. These two valleys are connected by crystal symmetry instead of time-reversal symmetry. We investigate the strain effect on the band structure and find that uniaxial strain can induce valley polarization, topological states in these monolayer materials. Moreover, piezomagnetism can be realized upon finite doping. Our result reveals interesting valley physics in monolayer V$_2$Te$_2$O, V$_2$STeO, V$_2$SSeO, and V$_2$S$_2$O, suggesting their great potential for valleytronics, spintronics, and multifunctional nanoelectronics applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

New aspect of chiral and axial breaking in QCD

Violation of the $U(1)$ axial symmetry in QCD is stricter than the chiral $SU(2)$ breaking, simply because of the presence of the quantum axial anomaly. If the QCD gauge coupling is sent to zero, the strength of the $U(1)$ axial breaking coincides with that of the chiral $SU(2)$ breaking, which we shall in short call an axial-chiral coincidence. This coincidence is trivial since QCD then becomes a non-interacting theory. Actually, there exists another limit in the QCD parameter space, where an axial-chiral coincidence occurs even with nonzero QCD gauge coupling, that can be dubbed a nontrivial coincidence: it is the case with the massive light quarks $(m_l\neq 0)$ and the massless strange quark ($m_s=0$), due to the flavor-singlet nature of the topological susceptibility. This coincidence is robust and tied to the anomalous chiral Ward-Takahashi identity, which is operative even at hot QCD. This implies that the chiral $SU(2)$ symmetry is restored simultaneously with the $U(1)$ axial symmetry at high temperatures. This simultaneous restoration is independent of $m_l (\neq 0)$, hence is irrespective to the order of the chiral phase transition. In this paper, we discuss how the real-life QCD can be evolved from the nontrivial chiral-axial coincidence limit, by working on a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with the $U(1)$ axial anomaly contribution properly incorporated. It is shown that at high temperatures the large differences between the restorations of the chiral $SU(2)$ symmetry and the $U(1)$ axial symmetry for two light quarks and a sufficiently large current mass for the strange quark is induced by a significant interference of the topological susceptibility. Thus the deviation from the nontrivial coincidence, which is monitored by the strange quark mass controlling the topological susceptibility, provides a new way of understanding the chiral $SU(2)$ and $U(1)$ axial breaking in QCD.

hep-ph

Doping induced multiferroicity and quantum anomalous Hall effect in $α$-In$_2$Se$_3$ thin films

In flat-band materials, the strong Coulomb interaction between electrons can lead to exotic physical phenomena. Recently, $α$-In$_2$Se$_3$ thin films were found to possess ferroelectricity and flat bands. In this work, using first-principles calculations, we find that for the monolayer, there is a Weyl point at $Γ$ in the flat band, where the inclusion of the spin-orbit coupling opens a gap. Shifting the Fermi level into the spin-orbit gap gives rise to nontrivial band topology, which is preserved for the bilayer regardless of the interlayer polarization couplings. We further calculate the Chern number and edge states for both the monolayer and bilayer, for which the results suggest that they become quantum anomalous Hall insulators under appropriate dopings. Moreover, we find that the doping-induced magnetism for In$_2$Se$_3$ bilayer is strongly dependent on the interlayer polarization coupling. Therefore, doping the flat bands in In$_2$Se$_3$ bilayer can also yield multiferroicity, where the magnetism is electrically tunable as the system transforms between different polarization states. Our study thus reveals that multiferroicity and nontrivial band topology can be unified into one material for designing multifunctional electronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

QCD knows new quarks

We find that a big gap between indicators for the breaking strengths of the global chiral SU(2) and U(1) axial symmetries in QCD of the Standard Model (SM) can be interpreted as a new fine-tuning problem. This may thus imply calling for a class of Beyond the SM, which turns out to favor having a new chiral symmetry and the associated massless new quark insensitive to the chiral SU(2) symmetry for the lightest up and down quarks, so that the fine-tuning is relaxed. Our statistical estimate shows that QCD of the SM is by more than 300 standard deviations off the desired parameter space, which is free from the fine-tuning, and the significance will be greater as the lattice measurements on the QCD hadron observables get more accurate. As one viable candidate, we introduce a dark QCD model with massless new quarks, which can survive current experimental, cosmological, and astrophysical limits, and also leave various phenomenological and cosmological consequences, to be probed in the future. This is a new indication from QCD, which gives a new avenue to deeper understand QCD, and provides a new guideline to consider going beyond the SM.

hep-ph

Multiple types of unconventional quasiparticles in the chiral crystal CsBe$_2$F$_5$

Unconventional topological quasiparticles have recently garnered significant attention in the realm of condensed matter physics. Here, based on first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we reveal the coexistence of multiple types of interesting unconventional topological quasiparticles in the phonon spectrum of the chiral crystal CsBe$_2$F$_5$. Specifically, we identified eight entangled phonon bands in CsBe$_2$F$_5$, which give rise to various unconventional topological quasiparticles, including the spin-1 Weyl point, the charge-2 Dirac point, the nodal surface, and the hourglass nodal loop. We demonstrate that these unconventional topological quasiparticles are protected by crystal symmetry. We show that there are two large Fermi arcs connecting projections of the bulk spin-1 Weyl point and charge-2 Dirac point on the (001) surface and across the entire surface Brillouin zone. Our work not only elucidates the intriguing topological properties of chiral crystals but also provides an excellent material platform for exploring the fascinating physics associated with multiple types of unconventional topological quasiparticles.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

QCD preheating: New frontier of baryogenesis

We find that QCD can create the cosmological matter abundance via out-of-equilibrium processes during the QCD phase transition, that is what we call the QCD preheating, where the dynamic transition of the QCD vacuum characterized by the quark condensate takes place instantaneously. This mechanism works when the Universe undergoes subsequent supercooled QCD transition. We also find that the QCD preheating can work to create the baryon asymmetry of the Universe if there is the new physics communicated with QCD. These are new pictures of the thermal history around the QCD-phase transition epoch, and thus the dynamic aspect of the QCD vacuum opens a new frontier to explore low-scale matter generation such as baryogenesis. Pursuing the QCD reheating era would also help deeply understanding the subatomic-scale physics in the thermal history of the Universe.

hep-ph

New interpretation of chiral phase transition: Violation of trilemma in QCD

We find that the chiral phase transition (chiral crossover) in QCD at physical point is triggered by big imbalance among three fundamental quantities essential for the QCD vacuum structure: susceptibility functions for the chiral symmetry, axial symmetry, and the topological charge. The balance, dobbed the QCD trilemma, is unavoidably violated when one of the magnitudes among them is highly dominated, or suppressed. Based on a three-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, we explicitly evaluate the amount of violation of the QCD trilemma at physical point, and show that the violation takes place not only at vacuum, but even in a whole temperature regime including the chiral crossover epoch. This work confirms and extends the suggestion recently reported from lattice QCD with 2 flavors on dominance of the axial and topological susceptibilities left in the chiral susceptibility at high temperatures. It turns out that the imbalance is essentially due to the flavor symmetry violation of the lightest three flavors, and the flavor breaking specifically brings enhancement of the axial anomaly contribution in the chiral order parameter, while the the strength of the axial breaking and the transition rate of the topological charge are fairly insensitive to the flavor symmetry. The violation of QCD trilemma and its flavor dependence can be tested by lattice simulations with 2 + 1 flavors in the future, and would also give a new guiding principle to explore the flavor dependence of the chiral phase transition, such as the Columbia plot, including possible extension with external fields.

hep-ph