arXiv subjects

Jon Lafuente-Bartolome

Publications and source records attributed to Jon Lafuente-Bartolome.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Polarons from first principles

This article reviews recent theoretical developments in the ab initio study of polarons in materials. The polaron is an emergent quasiparticle that arises from the interaction between electrons and phonons in solids, and consists of an electron or a hole accompanied by a distortion of the crystal lattice. Recent advances in experiments, theory, and computation have made it possible to investigate these quasiparticles with unprecedented detail, reigniting the interest in this classic problem of condensed matter physics. Recent theoretical and computational advances include ab initio calculations of polaron spectral functions, wavefunctions, lattice distortions, and transport and optical properties. These developments provide new insight into polaron physics, but they have evolved somewhat independently from the earlier effective Hamiltonian approaches that laid the foundation of the field. This article aims to bridge these complementary perspectives by placing them within a single unified conceptual framework. To this end, we start by reviewing effective Hamiltonians of historical significance in polaron theory, ab initio techniques based on density functional theory, and many-body first-principles approaches to polarons. After this survey, we outline a general field-theoretic framework that bridges between these diverse approaches to polaron physics. For completeness, we also review recent progress in the study of exciton polarons and self-trapped excitons and their relations to polarons. Beyond the methodology, we discuss recent applications to several classes of materials that attracted attention in the context of polaron physics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Watching Polarons Form in Real Time

Polaron formation in pump-probe experiments is an inherently non-equilibrium phenomenon, driven by the ultrafast coupled dynamics of electrons and phonons, and culminating in the emergence of a localized quasiparticle state. In this work, we present a first-principles quantum-kinetic theory of polaron formation that captures the real-time evolution of electronic and lattice degrees of freedom in presence of electron-phonon coupling. We implement this framework to investigate the ultrafast polaron formation in the prototypical polar insulator MgO. This approach allows us to determine the characteristic timescales of polaron localization and to identify its distinctive dynamical fingerprint. Our results establish clear and experimentally accessible criteria for identifying polaron formation in pump-probe experiments.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Symmetry-protected topological polarons

Emergent quasiparticles in solids often exhibit unique topological properties as a result of the complex interplay between charge, orbital, spin and lattice degrees of freedom. Among these quasiparticles, the polaron occupies a special place as the first known manifestation of the interaction between a fermion and a boson field. While polarons have been investigated for almost a century, whether these quasiparticles exhibit topological properties and why remain open questions. Here, we establish the universal symmetry principles governing the topology of polar textures in large polarons. Using a group-theoretic analysis, we identify four distinct classes of polar textures in time-reversal-invariant systems, and we show that they carry integer topological charges. We validate this classfication by performing state-of-the-art first-principles calculations of materials representative of each class. For these materials, we compute the fingerprints of polaron topology in Huang diffuse scattering, and propose ultrafast electron and X-ray scattering experiments to detect these quasiparticles.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Comparison between first-principles supercell calculations of polarons and the ab initio polaron equations

Polarons are composite quasiparticles formed by excess charges and the accompanying lattice distortions in solids, and play a critical role in transport, optical, and catalytic properties of semiconductors and insulators. The standard approach for calculating polarons from first principles relies on density functional theory and periodic supercells. An alternative approach consists of recasting the calculation of polaron wavefunction, lattice distortion, and energy as a coupled nonlinear eigenvalue problem, using the band structure, phonon dispersions, and the electron-phonon matrix elements as obtained from density functional perturbation theory. Here, we revisit the formal connection between these two approaches, with an emphasis on the handling of self-interaction correction, and we establish a compact formal link between them. We perform a quantitative comparison of these methods for the case of small polarons in the prototypical insulators TiO2, MgO, and LiF. We find that the polaron wavefunctions and lattice distortions obtained from these methods are nearly indistinguishable in all cases, and the formation energies are in good (TiO2) to fair (MgO) agreement. We show that the residual deviations can be ascribed to the neglect of higher-order electron-phonon couplings in the density functional perturbation theory approach.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Topological polarons in halide perovskites

Halide perovskites emerged as a revolutionary family of high-quality semiconductors for solar energy harvesting and energy-efficient lighting. There is mounting evidence that the exceptional optoelectronic properties of these materials could stem from unconventional electron-phonon couplings, and it has been suggested that the formation of polarons and self-trapped excitons could be key to understanding such properties. By performing first-principles simulations with unprecedented detail across the length scales, here we show that halide perovskites harbor a uniquely rich variety of polaronic species, including small polarons, large polarons, and charge density waves, and we explain a variety of experimental observations. We find that these emergent quasiparticles support topologically nontrivial phonon fields with quantized topological charge, making them the first non-magnetic analog of the helical Bloch points found in magnetic skyrmion lattices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Theory of excitonic polarons: From models to first-principles calculations

Excitons are neutral excitations that are composed of electrons and holes bound together by their attractive Coulomb interaction. The electron and the hole forming the exciton also interact with the underlying atomic lattice, and this interaction can lead to a trapping potential that favors exciton localization. The quasi-particle thus formed by the exciton and the surrounding lattice distortion is called excitonic polaron. Excitonic polarons have long been thought to exist in a variety of materials, and are often invoked to explain the Stokes shift between the optical absorption edge and the photo-luminescence peak. However, quantitative ab initio calculations of these effects are exceedingly rare. In this manuscript, we present a theory of excitonic polarons that is amenable to first-principles calculations. We first apply this theory to model Hamiltonians for Wannier excitons experiencing Fröhlich or Holstein electron-phonon couplings. We find that, in the case of Fröhlich interactions, excitonic polarons only form when there is a significant difference between electron and hole effective masses. Then, we apply this theory to calculating excitonic polarons in lithium fluoride ab initio. The key advantage of the present approach is that it does not require supercells, therefore it can be used to study a variety of materials hosting either small or large excitonic polarons. This work constitutes the first step toward a complete ab initio many-body theory of excitonic polarons in real materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Excitonic polarons and self-trapped excitons from first-principles exciton-phonon couplings

Excitons consist of electrons and holes held together by their attractive Coulomb interaction. Although excitons are neutral excitations, spatial fluctuations in their charge density couple with the ions of the crystal lattice. This coupling can lower the exciton energy and lead to the formation of a localized excitonic polaron, or even a self-trapped exciton in the presence of strong exciton-phonon interactions. Here, we develop a theoretical and computational approach to compute excitonic polarons and self-trapped excitons from first principles. Our methodology combines the many-body Bethe-Salpeter approach with density-functional perturbation theory, and does not require explicit supercell calculations. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate our method for a compound of the halide perovskite family.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Electron-phonon physics from first principles using the EPW code

EPW is an open-source software for $\textit{ab initio}$ calculations of electron-phonon interactions and related materials properties. The code combines density functional perturbation theory and maximally-localized Wannier functions to efficiently compute electron-phonon coupling matrix elements on ultra-fine Brillouin zone grids. This data is employed for predictive calculations of temperature-dependent properties and phonon-assisted quantum processes in bulk solids and low-dimensional materials. Here, we report on significant new developments in the code that occurred during the period 2016-2022, namely: a transport module for the calculation of charge carrier mobility and conductivity under electric and magnetic fields within the $\textit{ab initio}$ Boltzmann transport equation; a superconductivity module for the calculation of critical temperature and gap structure in phonon-mediated superconductors within the $\textit{ab initio}$ anisotropic multi-band Eliashberg theory; an optics module for calculations of phonon-assisted indirect transitions; a module for the calculation of small and large polarons without supercells using the $\textit{ab initio}$ polaron equations; and a module for calculating electron-phonon couplings, band structure renormalization, and temperature-dependent optical spectra using the special displacement method. For each capability, we outline the methodology and implementation, and provide example calculations. We describe recent code refactoring to prepare EPW for exascale architectures, we discuss efficient parallelization strategies, and report on extreme parallel scaling tests.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Ab initio self-consistent many-body theory of polarons at all couplings

We present a theoretical framework to describe polarons from first principles within a many-body Green's function formalism. Starting from a general electron-phonon Hamiltonian, we derive a self-consistent Dyson equation in which the phonon-mediated self-energy is composed by two distinct terms. One term is the Fan-Migdal self-energy and describes dynamic electron-phonon processes, the other term is a new contribution to the self-energy originating from the static displacements of the atomic nuclei in the polaronic ground state. The lowest-order approximation to the present theory yields the standard many-body perturbation theory approach to electron-phonon interactions in the limit of large polarons, and the ab initio polaron equations introduced in [Sio et al., Phys. Rev. B 99, 235139 (2019); Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 246403 (2019)] in the limit of small polarons. A practical recipe to implement the present unifying formalism in first-principles calculations is outlined. We apply our method to the Fröhlich model, and obtain remarkably accurate polaron energies at all couplings, in line with Feynman's polaron theory and diagrammatic Monte Carlo calculations. We also recover the well-known results of Fröhlich and Pekar at weak and strong coupling, respectively. The present approach enables predictive many-body calculations of polarons in real materials at all couplings.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Unified approach to polarons and phonon-induced band structure renormalization

Ab initio calculations of the phonon-induced band structure renormalization are currently based on the perturbative Allen-Heine theory and its many-body generalizations. These approaches are unsuitable to describe materials where electrons form localized polarons. Here, we develop a self-consistent, many-body Green's function theory of band structure renormalization that incorporates localization and self-trapping. We show that the present approach reduces to the Allen-Heine theory in the weak-coupling limit, and to total energy calculations of self-trapped polarons in the strong-coupling limit. To demonstrate this methodology, we reproduce the path-integral results of Feynman and diagrammatic Monte Carlo calculations for the Fröhlich model at all couplings, and we calculate the zero point renormalization of the band gap of an ionic insulator including polaronic effects.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Fully anisotropic superconductivity with few Helmholtz Fermi-surface harmonics

We present an alternative representation for the anisotropic Eliashberg equations of superconductivity, whose numerical solution yields an efficiency gain of several orders of magnitude with respect to the conventional representation in momentum space. Our method is a practical realization of a long-sought approach, whose essence is a linear transformation from regular ${\bf k}$ space to a set of orthonormal functions defined as the solutions of the Helmholtz equation on the Fermi surface. In this way, all the anisotropy of the problem can be described by a handful of coefficients with built-in symmetry. We perform benchmark calculations on the gap anisotropy of MgB$_2$, and reproduce previous results at a remarkably reduced computational cost. Furthermore, we apply our methodology to efficiently determine the transition temperature of the compressed YH$_6$ hydride, obtaining very good agreement with recent experimental measurements. The simplification introduced by our method enables the high-throughput exploration of superconducting materials without having to resort to the isotropic approximation, and opens up possibilities towards first principles calculations of more advanced theories of superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Symmetric Helmholtz Fermi-surface harmonics for an optimal representation of anisotropic quantities on the Fermi surface: Application to the electron-phonon problem

We outline a numerical procedure to incorporate the crystal symmetries in the Helmholtz Fermi-surface harmonics basis set, which are the solutions of the Helmholtz equation defined on the Fermi surface. This improvement allows for an optimal representation of anisotropic quantities defined on the Fermi surface in terms of few symmetric elements of the set. We demonstrate the general validity of our approach by identifying the fully symmetric Helmholtz Fermi-surface harmonics subset for several representative systems with different crystal structures, namely, FCC-Cu, HEX-MgB$_2$, and BCC-YH$_6$. Furthermore, we illustrate the potential of the method applied to the electron-phonon problem, showing that the anisotropic electron-phonon mass-enhancement parameter $λ_{\bf k}$ can be represented to high accuracy by a handful of coefficients. This works as an effective filter, paving the way for a reduction of several orders of magnitude in the computation of superconductivity, impurity problems, or any other Fermi surface dependent property of metals from first principles.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Emergence of large non-adiabatic effects induced by the electron-phonon interaction on the complex vibrational quasi-particle spectrum of the doped monolayer MoS$_{2}$

We present a comprehensive first-principles analysis of the non-adiabatic effects due to the electron-phonon interaction on the vibrational spectrum of the electron-doped monolayer MoS$_{2}$. Deep changes in the Fermi surface upon doping cause the linewidth broadening of the normal modes governing the spin-conserving inter-valley electronic scattering, which become unstable with the population of all the spin-split conduction valleys. We find that the non-adiabatic spectral effects modify dramatically the adiabatic dispersion of the long-wavelength optical phonon modes, responsible for intra-valley scattering, as soon as inequivalent valleys get populated. These results are illustrated by means of a simple analytical model. Finally, we explain the emergence of an intricate dynamical structure for the strongly interacting out-of-plane polarized A 0 1 optical vibrational mode spectrum by means of a multiple-phonon quasi-particle picture defined in the full complex frequency plane, showing that this intriguing spectral structure originates from the splitting of the original adiabatic branch induced by the electron-phonon coupling.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Long living carriers in a strong electron-phonon interacting two-dimensional doped semiconductor

Carrier doping by the electric field effect has emerged recently as an ideal route for monitoring many-body physics in two-dimensional (2D) materials where the Fermi level is tuned in a way that -- indirectly -- the strength of the interactions can also be scanned. The possibility of systematic doping in combination with high resolution photoemission has allowed to uncover a genuinely many-body electron spectrum in single-layer MoS2 transition metal dichalcogenide, resolving three clear quasi-particle states, where only one state should be expected if the electron-phonon interaction vanished. Our analysis combines first-principles and consistent complex plane analytic approaches and brings into light the presence and the physical origin of two gaps and the three quasi-particle bands which are unambiguously present in the photoemission spectrum. One of these states, though being strongly interacting with the accompanying virtual phonon cloud, presents a notably long lifetime which is an appealing property when trying to understand and take advantage of many-body interactions to modulate the transport properties.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Relativistic response and novel spin-charge plasmon at the Tl/Si(111) surface

We present a comprehensive \textit{ab initio} analysis of the spin-charge correlations at the Tl/Si(111) surface, where the spin-orbit interaction is so strong that a detailed treatment of the non-collinear electron spin appears decisive for the correct description of the response properties. The relativistic limit enforces a unified treatment of the spin and charge densities as a four-vector, and the response function acquires then a 4$\times$4 tensor structure. Our all-electron implementation allows to resolve the real space structure of the possible collective modes, and demonstrates the emergence of a novel collective excitation combining transverse-spin and ordinary charge oscillations of a similar order of magnitude, whose spin character is strongly enhanced as we approach the $q$$\rightarrow$0 momentum limit.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗