arXiv subjects

Krzysztof Wohlfeld

Publications and source records attributed to Krzysztof Wohlfeld.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Influence of Magnetism and Correlation on the Spectral Properties of Doped Mott Insulators

Unravelling the nature of doping-induced transition between a Mott insulator and a weakly correlated metal is crucial to understanding novel emergent phases in strongly correlated materials. For this purpose, we study the evolution of spectral properties upon doping Mott insulating states, by utilizing the cluster perturbation theory on the Hubbard and t-J-like models. Specifically, a quasi-free dispersion crossing the Fermi level develops with small doping, and it eventually evolves into the most dominant feature at high doping levels. Although this dispersion is related to the free electron hopping, our study shows that this spectral feature is in fact influenced inherently by both electron-electron correlation and spin exchange interaction: the correlation destroys coherence, while the coupling between spin and mobile charge restores it in the photoemission spectrum. Due to the persistent impact of correlations and spin physics, the onset of gaps or the high-energy anomaly in the spectral functions can be expected in doped Mott insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Correlation induced electron-hole asymmetry in quasi-2D iridates

We determine the motion of a charge (hole or electron) added to the Mott insulating, antiferromagnetic (AF) ground-state of quasi-2D iridates such as Ba 2 IrO 4 or Sr 2 IrO 4 . We show that correlation effects, calculated within the self-consistent Born approximation, render the hole and electron case very different. An added electron forms a spin-polaron, which closely resembles the well-known cuprates, but the situation of a removed electron is far more complex. Many-body 5d 4 configurations form which can be singlet and triplets of total angular momentum J and strongly affect the hole motion between AF sublattices. This not only has important ramifications for the interpretation of (inverse-)photoemission experiments of quasi-2D iridates but also demonstrates that the correlation physics in electron- and hole-doped iridates is fundamentally different.

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arXiv2016

Phase diagram and spin correlations of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model: Importance of quantum effects

We explore the phase diagram of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model with nearest neighbor interactions on the honeycomb lattice using the exact diagonalization of finite systems combined with the cluster mean field approximation, and supplemented by the insights from the linear spin-wave and second--order perturbation theories. This study confirms that by varying the balance between the Heisenberg and Kitaev term, frustrated exchange interactions stabilize in this model four phases with magnetic long range order: Néel phase, ferromagnetic phase, and two other phases with coexisting antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic bonds, zigzag and stripy phases. They are separated by two disordered quantum spin-liquid phases, and the one with ferromagnetic Kitaev interactions has a substantially broader range of stability as the neighboring competing ordered phases, ferromagnetic and stripy, have very weak quantum fluctuations. Focusing on the quantum spin-liquid phases, we study spatial spin correlations and dynamic spin structure factor of the model by the exact diagonalization technique, and discuss the evolution of gapped low-energy spin response across the quantum phase transitions between the disordered spin liquid and magnetic phases with long range order.

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arXiv2016

Jahn-Teller effect in systems with strong on-site spin-orbit coupling

When strong spin-orbit coupling removes orbital degeneracy, it would at the same time appear to render the Jahn-Teller mechanism ineffective. We discuss such a situation, the t_2g manifold of iridates, and show that, while the Jahn-Teller effect does indeed not affect the j_eff=1/2 antiferromagnetically ordered ground state, it leads to distinctive signatures in the j_eff=3/2 spin-orbit exciton. It allows for a hopping of the spin-orbit exciton between the nearest neighbor sites without producing defects in the j_eff=1/2 antiferromagnet. This arises because the lattice-driven Jahn-Teller mechanism only couples to the orbital degree of freedom, but is not sensitive to the phase of the wave function that defines isospin j_z. This contrasts sharply with purely electronic propagation, which conserves isospin, and presence of Jahn-Teller coupling can explain some of the peculiar features of measured resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra of Sr_2IrO_4.

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arXiv2015

Using RIXS to uncover elementary charge and spin excitations in correlated materials

Despite significant progress in resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments on cuprates at the Cu L-edge, a theoretical understanding of the cross-section remains incomplete in terms of elementary excitations and the connection to both charge and spin structure factors. Here we use state-of-the-art, unbiased numerical calculations to study the low energy excitations probed by RIXS in undoped and doped Hubbard model relevant to the cuprates. The results highlight the importance of scattering geometry, in particular both the incident and scattered x-ray photon polarization, and demonstrate that on a qualitative level the RIXS spectral shape in the cross-polarized channel approximates that of the spin dynamical structure factor. However, in the parallel-polarized channel the complexity of the RIXS process beyond a simple two-particle response complicates the analysis, and demonstrates that approximations and expansions which attempt to relate RIXS to less complex correlation functions can not reproduce the full diversity of RIXS spectral features.

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arXiv2015

Origin of Strong Dispersion in Hubbard Insulators

Using cluster perturbation theory, we explain the origin of the strongly dispersive feature found at high binding energy in the spectral function of the Hubbard model. By comparing the Hubbard and $t\small{-}J\small{-} 3s$ model spectra, we show that this dispersion does not originate from either coupling to spin fluctuations ($\propto\! J$) or the free hopping ($\propto\! t$). Instead, it should be attributed to a long-range, correlated hopping $\propto\! t^2/U$, which allows an effectively free motion of the hole within the same antiferromagnetic sublattice. This origin explains both the formation of the high energy anomaly in the single-particle spectrum and the sensitivity of the high binding energy dispersion to the next-nearest-neighbor hopping $t^\prime$.

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arXiv2015

Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering as a Probe of the Phase and Excitations of the Order Parameter of Superconductors

The capability to probe the dispersion of elementary spin, charge, orbital, and lattice excitations has positioned resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the forefront of photon science. Here we develop the scattering theory for RIXS on superconductors, calculating its momentum-dependent scattering amplitude. Considering superconductors with different pairing symmetries, we show that the low-energy scattering is strongly affected by the superconducting gap and coherence factors. This establishes RIXS as a tool to disentangle pairing symmetries and to probe the elementary excitations of unconventional superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Spin chain in magnetic field: limitations of the large-N mean-field theory

Motivated by the recent success in describing the spin and orbital spectrum of a spin-orbital chain using a large-N mean-field approximation [Phys. Rev. B 91, 165102 (2015)], we apply the same formalism to the case of a spin chain in the external magnetic field. It occurs that in this case, which corresponds to N=2 in the approximation, the large-N mean-field theory cannot qualitatively reproduce the spin excitation spectra at high magnetic fields, which polarize more than 50% of the spins in the magnetic ground state. This, rather counterintuitively, shows that the physics of a spin chain can under some circumstances be regarded as more complex than the physics of a spin-orbital chain.

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arXiv2015

Fractionalization, entanglement, and separation: understanding the collective excitations in a spin-orbital chain

Using a combined analytical and numerical approach, we study the collective spin and orbital excitations in a spin-orbital chain under a crystal field. Irrespective of the crystal field strength, these excitations can be universally described by fractionalized fermions. The fractionalization phenomenon persists and contrasts strikingly with the case of a spin chain, where fractionalized spinons cannot be individually observed but confined to form magnons in a strong magnetic field. In the spin-orbital chain, each of the fractional quasiparticles carries both spin and orbital quantum numbers, and the two variables are always entangled in the collective excitations. Our result further shows that the recently reported separation phenomenon occurs when crystal fields fully polarize the orbital degrees of freedom. In this case, however, the spinon and orbiton dynamics are decoupled solely because of a redefinition of the spin and orbital quantum numbers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Orbital control of effective dimensionality: from spin-orbital fractionalization to confinement in the anisotropic ladder system CaCu2O3

Fractionalization of an electronic quasiparticle into spin, charge and orbital parts is a fundamental and characteristic property of interacting electrons in one dimension. However, real materials are never strictly one-dimensional and the fractionalization phenomena are hard to observe. Here we studied the spin and orbital excitations of the anisotropic ladder material CaCu2O3, whose electronic structure is not one-dimensional. Combining high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiments with theoretical model calculations we show that: (i) spin-orbital fractionalization occurs in CaCu2O3 along the leg direction x through the xz orbital channel as in a 1D system; and (ii) no fractionalization is observed for the xy orbital, which extends in both leg and rung direction, contrary to a 1D system. We conclude that the directional character of the orbital hopping can select different degrees of dimensionality. Using additional model calculations, we show that spin-orbital separation is generally far more robust than the spin-charge separation. This is not only due to the already mentioned selection realized by the orbital hopping, but also due to the fact that spinons are faster than the orbitons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Microscopic origin of spin-orbital separation in Sr2CuO3

Recently performed resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiment (RIXS) at the copper L3 edge in the quasi-1D Mott insulator Sr2CuO3 has revealed a significant dispersion of a single orbital excitation (orbiton). This large and unexpected orbiton dispersion has been explained using the concept of spin-orbital fractionalization in which orbiton, which is intrinsically coupled to the spinon in this material, liberates itself from the spinon due to the strictly 1D nature of its motion. Here we investigate this mechanism in detail by: (i) deriving the microscopic spin-orbital superexchange model from the charge transfer model for the CuO3 chains in Sr2CuO3, (ii) mapping the orbiton motion in the obtained spin-orbital model into a problem of a single hole moving in an effective half-filled antiferromagnetic chain t-J model, and (iii) solving the latter model using the exact diagonalization and obtaining the orbiton spectral function. Finally, the RIXS cross section is calculated based on the obtained orbiton spectral function and compared with the RIXS experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Unraveling Orbital Correlations via Magnetic Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering

Although orbital degrees of freedom are a factor of fundamental importance in strongly correlated transition metal compounds, orbital correlations and dynamics remain very difficult to access, in particular by neutron scattering. Via a direct calculation of scattering amplitudes we show that instead magnetic resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) does reveal orbital correlations. In contrast to neutron scattering, the intensity of the magnetic excitations in RIXS depends very sensitively on both the symmetry of the orbitals that spins occupy, and on photon polarizations. We show in detail how this effect allows magnetic RIXS to distinguish between alternating orbital ordered and ferro-orbital (or orbital liquid) states.

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arXiv2011

Dispersion of orbital excitations in 2D quantum antiferromagnets

We map the problem of the orbital excitation (orbiton) in a 2D antiferromagnetic and ferroorbital ground state onto a problem of a hole in 2D antiferromagnet. The orbiton turns out to be coupled to magnons and can only be mobile on a strongly renormalized scale by dressing with magnetic excitations. We show that this leads to a dispersion relation reflecting the two-site unit cell of the antiferromagnetic background, in contrast to the predictions based on a mean-field approximation and linear orbital-wave theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Intrinsic coupling of orbital excitations to spin fluctuations in Mott insulators

We show how the general and basic asymmetry between two fundamental degrees of freedom present in strongly correlated oxides, spin and orbital, has very profound repercussions on the elementary spin and orbital excitations. Whereas the magnons remain largely unaffected, orbitons become inherently coupled with spin fluctuations in spin-orbital models with antiferromagnetic and ferroorbital ordered ground states. The composite orbiton-magnon modes that emerge fractionalize again in one dimension, giving rise to spin-orbital separation in the peculiar regime where spinons are faster than orbitons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Spin-orbital physics for p orbitals in alkali RO_2 hyperoxides --- generalization of the Goodenough-Kanamori rules

We derive a realistic spin-orbital model at finite Hund's exchange for alkali hyperoxides. We find that, due to the geometric frustration of the oxygen lattice, spin and orbital waves destabilize both spin and p-orbital order in almost all potential ground states. We show that the orbital order induced by the lattice overrules the one favoured by superexchange and that this, together with the large interorbital hopping, leads to generalized Goodenough-Kanamori rules. They (i) lift the geometric frustration of the lattice, and (ii) explain the observed layered C-type antiferromagnetic order in alkali hyperoxides. This is confirmed by a spin-wave dispersion with no soft-mode behavior presented here as a prediction for future experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Charge Density Wave in Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$

Recent experimental results [A. Rusydi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 016403 (2006)] revealed the stability of a peculiar charge density wave (CDW) with odd period (three or five) in the coupled Cu$_2$O$_5$ spin ladders in Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$, while the CDW with even period is unstable. Here we resolve this contradiction by solving the effective t-J model for the two coupled chains supplemented by the intersite interaction term V. Crucial to this finding is the novel interaction term V (responsible for the interladder repulsion between nearest neighbor holes), which is derived from the on-site Hubbard-like repulsion between electrons on the same oxygen sites but within two distinct orbitals which belong to two neighboring Cu$_2$O$_5$ ladders in the charge transfer model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

t-J model of coupled Cu$_2$O$_5$ ladders in Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$

Starting from the proper charge transfer model for Cu$_2$O$_5$ coupled ladders in Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ we derive the low energy Hamiltonian for this system. It occurs that the widely used ladder t-J model is not sufficient and has to be supplemented by the Coulomb repulsion term between holes in the neighboring ladders. Furthermore, we show how a simple mean-field solution of the derived t-J model may explain the onset of the charge density wave with the odd period in Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Spin, Orbital, and Spin-Orbital Polarons in Transition Metal Oxides

I give a brief overview of a polaron formation in three distinct transition metal oxides: (i) spin polaron when a hole is added to the antiferromagnetic (AF) ordered plane in La$_2$CuO$_4$, (ii) orbital polaron when a hole is added to the alternating orbital (AO) ordered plane in LaMnO$_3$, and (iii) spin-orbital polaron when a hole is added to the AF and AO ordered plane in LaVO$_3$. Comparison of the distinct features of the above polarons can shed some light on the basic differences between the experimental phase diagrams of the lightly doped transition metal oxides La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$, La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$, and La$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$VO$_3$.

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