arXiv subjects

Liang-Jian Zou

Publications and source records attributed to Liang-Jian Zou.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Orbital driven two-dome superconducting phases in multiorbital superconductors

We theoretically study the superconductivity in multiorbital superconductors based on a three-orbital tight-banding model. With appropriate values of the nearest-neighbour exchange $J_{1}^{αβ}$ and the next-nearest-neighbour exchange $J_{2}^{αβ}$, we find a two-dome structure in the $T_{c}-n$ phase diagram: one dome in the doping range $n<3.9$ where the superconducting (SC) state is mainly $s_{x^{2} y^{2}}$ component contributed by inter-orbital pairing, the other dome in the doping range $3.9<n<4.46$ where the SC state is mainly $s_{x^{2} y^{2}}+s_{x^{2}+y^{2}}$ components contributed by intra-orbital pairing. We find that the competition between different orbital pairing leads to two-dome SC phase diagrams in multiorbital superconductors, and different matrix elements of $J_{1}$ and $J_{2}$ considerably affect the boundary of two SC domes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

RKKY interaction of magnetic impurities in node-line semimetals

Motivated by the recent upsurge in research of three-dimensional topological semimetals (SMs), we theoretically study the RKKY interaction between magnetic impurities in node-line SMs with and without the chirality and obtain the analytical expressions. We find that unique toroidal Fermi surface (FS) in nodal-line SMs, distinctly different from the spheroid FS in the SMs with the point nodes, has significant influences on the RKKY interaction, leading to strong anisotropic oscillation and unique decay features. In the direction perpendicular to node-line plane, as usual, there is only one oscillation period related to the Fermi energy. In contrast, in the node-line plane, the RKKY interaction form a beating pattern and oscillates more rapidly with two distinct periods: one is coming from the Fermi energy and the other is from the radius of node-line. More importantly, inside nodal-line SMs bulk, the decay rate of RKKY interaction manifests a typical two-dimensional feature for impurities aligned along the direction perpendicular to nodal-line plane. Furthermore, the magnetic interactions in nodal-line SMs with linear and quadratic dispersions in the nodal-line plane are compared. We also discuss the possible application of the present theory on realistic NLSM ZrSiSe. Our results shed the light for application of magnetically doped node-line SMs in spintronics.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Topologically different spin disorder phases of the J1-J2 Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice

Searching for spin liquids on the honeycomb J1-J2 Heisenberg model has been attracting great attention in the past decade. In this Paper we investigate the topological properties of the J1-J2 Heisenberg model by introducing nearest-neighbour and next-nearest-neighbour bond parameters. We find that there exist two topologically different phases in the spin disordered regime 0.2 0.32, it is a pi-flux chiral spin liquid, which is topological nontrivial and gapped. These results suggest that there exist two topologically different spin disorder phases in honeycomb J1-J2 Heisenberg model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Electron Tunneling Transport and Magnetic Field Modulation through a Superconductor-Kitaev layer-Superconductor Junction

We present the electron tunneling transport and its magnetic field modulation of a superconducting (SC) Josephson junction with a barrier of single ferromagnetic (FM) Kitaev layer. We find that at H = 0, the Josephson current IS displays two peaks at K/Δ = 3.4 and 10, which stem from the resonant tunnelings between the SC gap boundaries and the spinon flat bands and between the SC gap edges and the spinon dispersive bands, respectively. With the increasing magnetic field, IS gradually decreases and abruptly drops to a platform at the critical magnetic field hc = gμBHc/Δ = 0.03K/Δ, since the applied field suppresses the spinon density of states (DOS) once upon the Kitaev layer enters the polarized FM phase. These results pave a new way to measure the spinon or Majorana fermion DOS of the Kitaev and other spin liquid materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Robust and Pristine Top ological Dirac Semimetal Phase in Pressured Two-Dimensional Black Phosphorous

Very recently, in spite of various efforts in searching for two dimensional topological Dirac semimetals (2D TDSMs) in phosphorene, there remains a lack of experimentally efficient way to activate such phase transition and the underlying mechanism for the topological phase acquisition is still controversial. Here, from first-principles calculations in combination with a band-sorting technique based on k.p theory, a layer-pressure topological phase diagram is obtained and some of the controversies are clarified. We demonstrate that, compared with tuning by external electric-fields, strain or doping by adsorption, hydrostatic pressure can be an experimentally more feasible way to activate the topological phase transition for 2D TDSM acquisition in phosphorene. More importantly, the resultant TDSM state is a pristine phase possessing a single pair of symmetry-protected Dirac cones right at the Fermi level, in startling contrast to the pressured bulk black phosphorous where only a carrier-mixed Dirac state can be obtained. We corroborate that the Dirac points are robust under external perturbation as long as the glide-plane symmetry preserves. Our findings provide a means to realize 2D pristine TDSM in a more achievable manner, which could be crucial in the realization of controllable TDSM states in phosphorene and related 2D materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Coexistence of localized and itinerant magnetism in intercalated iron-selenide (Li,Fe)OHFeSe

The electronic structure and magnetism of a new magnetic intercalation compound (Li0.8Fe0.2)OHFeSe are investigated theoretically. The electronic structure calculations predict that the Fe in the (Li,Fe)OH intercalated layer is in +2 valence state, i.e. there is electron doping to the FeSe layer, resulting in the shrinking of the Fermi surface (FS) pocket around Gamma and a strong suppression of dynamical spin susceptibility at M in comparison with the bulk FeSe compound. The ground state of the FeSe layer is a striped antiferromagnetic (SAFM) metal, while the (Li,Fe)OH layer displays a very weak localized magnetism, with an interlayer ferromagnetic (FM) coupling between the FeSe and intercalated (Li,Fe)OH layers. Moreover, the (Li,Fe)OH is more than a block layer; it is responsible for enhancing the antiferromagnetic (AFM) correlation in the FeSe layer through interlayer magnetic coupling. We propose that the magnetic spacer layer introduces a tuning mechanism for spin fluctuations associated with superconductivity in iron-based superconductors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Interplay of iron and rare-earth magnetic order in rare-earth iron pnictide superconductors under magnetic field

The magnetic properties of iron pnictide superconductors with magnetic rare-earth ions under strong magnetic field are investigated based on the cluster self-consistent field method. Starting from an effective Heisenberg model, we present the evolution of magnetic structures on magnetic field in RFeAsO (R=Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd and Tb) and RFe2As2 (R=Eu) compounds. It is found that spin-flop transition occurs in both rare-earth and iron layers under magnetic field, in good agreement with the experimental results. The interplay between rare-earth and iron spins plays a key role in the magnetic-field-driven magnetic phase transition, which suggests that the rare-earth layers can modulate the magnetic behaviors of iron layers. In addition, the factors that affect the critical magnetic field for spin-flop transition are also discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Orbital-driven two-dome superconducting phases in iron-based superconductors

Recent several experiments revealed that novel bipartite magnetic/superconducting phases widely exist in iron pnictides and chalcogenides. Nevertheless, the origin of the two-dome superconducting phases in iron-based compounds still remains unclear. Here we theoretically investigated the electronic structures, magnetic and superconducting properties of three representative iron-based systems, i.e. LaFeAsO1-xHx, LaFeAs1-xPxO and KFe2As2. We found that in addition to the degenerate in-plane anisotropic xz/yz orbitals, the quasi-degenerate in-plane isotropic orbitals drive these systems entering into the second parent phase. Moreover, the second superconducting phase is contributed by the isotropic orbitals rather than the anisotropic ones in the first superconducting phase, indicating an orbital-selective pairing state. These results imply an orbital-driven mechanism and shed light on the understanding of the two-dome magnetic/superconducting phases in iron-based compounds.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Hydrostatic pressure induced Dirac semimetal in black phosphorus

Motivated by recent experimental observation of an hydrostatic pressure induced transition from semiconductor to semimetal in black phosphorus [Chen et al. in arXiv:1504.00125], we present the first principles calculation on the pressure effect of the electronic structures of black phosphorus. It is found that the band crossover and reversal at the Z point occur around the critical pressure Pc1=1.23 Gpa, and the band inversion evolves into 4 twofold-degenerate Dirac cones around the Z point, suggesting a 3D Dirac semimetal. With further increasing pressure the Dirac cones in the Gamma-Z line move toward the Gamma point and evolve into two hole-type Fermi pockets, and those in the Z-M lines move toward the M point and evolve into 2 hole-type Fermi pockets up to P=4.0 Gpa. It demonstrates clearly that the Lifshitz transition occurs at $P_{c1}$ from semiconductor to 3D Dirac semimetal protected by the nonsymmorphic space symmetry of bulk. This suggests the bright perspective of black phosphorus for optoelectronic and electronic devices due to its easy modulation by pressure.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Localization and Orbital Selectivity in Iron-Based Superconductors with Cu Substitution

We study an inhomogeneous three-orbital Hubbard model for the Cu-substituted iron pnictides using an extended real-space Green's function method combined with density functional calculations. We find that the onsite interactions of the Cu ions are the principal determinant of whether an electron dopant or a hole dopant is caused by the Cu substitution. It is found that the Cu substitution could lead to a hole doping when its onsite interactions are smaller than a critical value, as opposed to an electron doping when the interactions of Cu ions are larger than the critical value, which may explain why the effects of Cu substitution on the carrier density are entirely different in NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As and Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$)$_2$As$_2$. We also find that the effect of a doping-induced disorder is considerable in the Cu-substituted iron pnictides, and its cooperative effect with electron correlations contributes to the orbital-selective insulating phases in NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As and Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$)$_2$As$_2$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Nematic state stabilized by off-site Coulomb interaction in iron-based superconductors

Using a variational Monte Carlo method, we investigate the nematic state in iron-base superconductors based on a three-band Hubbard model. Our results demonstrate that the nematic state, formed by introducing an anisotropic hopping order into the projected wave function, can arise in the underdoped regime when a realistic off-site Coulomb interaction $V$ is considered. {\color {red} We demonstrate that the off-site Coulomb interaction $V$, which is neglected so far in the analysis of iron-base superconductors, make a dominant contribution to the stabilization of nematic state. We calculate the doping dependencies of the anisotropic properties such as the unequal occupation of $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals, anisotropies of kinetic energy and spin correlations, and show that they are all suppressed upon electron doping, which are consistent with the intrinsic anisotropies observed by optical spectrum measurement and ARPES experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Orbital density wave order and electronic correlation driven insulating 1T-TaS2 monolayer

We present the orbital resolved electronic properties of structurally distorted 1T-TaS2 monolayers. After optimizing the crystal structures, we obtain the lattice parameters and atomic positions in the star-of-David structure, and show the low-temperature band structures of distorted bulk are consistent with recent angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) data. We further clearly demonstrate that $5d$ electrons of Ta form ordered orbital-density-wave (ODW) state with dominant $5d_{3{z}^2-{r}^2}$ character in central Ta, driving the one-dimensional metallic state in paramagnetic bulk and half-filled insulator in monolayer. Meanwhile, the star-of-David distortion in monolayers favors charge density wave and the flat band stabilizes ferromagnetic density wave of Ta spins with the same wavevector of ODW 4/13 b_1+1/13 b2. We propose that $1$T-TaS$_{2}$ monolayer may pave a new way to study the exciton physics, exciton-polaron coupling, and potential applications for its exciton luminescence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Coexistence of localized and itinerant magnetism in newly discovered iron-selenide superconductor LiFeO2Fe2Se2

The electronic structure and magnetism of LiFeO$_{2}$Fe$_{2}$Se$_{2}$ are investigated using the first-principle calculations. The ground state is N$\acute{e}$el antiferromagnetic (AFM) Mott insulating state for Fe1 with localized magnetism in LiFeO$_{2}$ layer and striped AFM metallic state for Fe2 with itinerant magnetism in Fe$_{2}$Se$_{2}$ layer, accompanied with a weak interlayer AFM coupling between Fe1 and Fe2 ions, resulting in a coexistence of localized and itinerant magnetism. Moreover, the layered LiFeO$_{2}$ is found to be more than an insulating block layer but responsible for enhanced AFM correlation in Fe$_{2}$Se$_{2}$ layer through the interlayer magnetic coupling. The interplay between the magnetisms of Fe1 and Fe2 introduces a control mechanism for spin fluctuations associated with superconductivity in iron-based superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

A site-selective antiferromagnetic ground state in layered pnictide-oxide BaTi2As2O

The electronic and magnetic properties of BaTi$_{2}$As$_{2}$O have been investigated using both the first-principles and analytical methods. The full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave calculations show that the most stable state is a site-selective antiferromagnetic (AFM) metal with a $\text{2}\times \text{1}\times \text{1}$ magnetic unit cell containing two nonmagnetic Ti atoms and two other Ti atoms with antiparallel moments. Further analysis to Fermi surface and spin susceptibility shows that the site-selective AFM ground state is driven by the Fermi surface nesting and the Coulomb correlation. Meanwhile, the charge density distribution remains uniform, suggesting that the phase transition at $200$ K in experiment is a spin-density-wave (SDW) transition.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Ground-state and finite-temperature properties of spin liquid phase in the J1-J2 honeycomb model

In this paper we analyze the groundstate and finite-temperature properties of a frustrated Heisenberg $J_1-J_2$ model on a honeycomb lattice by employing the Schwinger boson technique. The phase diagram and spin gap as functions of ${J}_{2}/{J}_{1}$ are presented, showing that the exotic spin liquid phase lies in $0.21<{J}_{2}/{J}_{1} <0.43$. The temperature and magnetic-field dependences of specific heat, magnetic susceptibility and Knight shift are also presented. We find the spin liquid state is robust with respect to external magnetic field. These results provide clear information characterizing unusual properties of the exotic spin liquid phase for further experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Interlayer magnetic frustration driven quantum spin disorder in honeycomb compound In$_{3}$Cu$_{2}$VO$_{9}$

We present electronic and magnetic properties of a honeycomb compound In$_{3}$Cu$_{2}$VO$_{9}$ in this paper. We find that the parent phase is a charge transfer insulator with an energy gap of about 1.5 eV. Singly occupied d$_{3z^{2}-r^{2}}$ electrons of copper ions contribute an $S$ = 1/2 spin, while vanadium ions show nonmagnetism. Oxygen 2$p$ orbitals hybridizing with a small fraction of Cu 3$d$ orbitals dominate the density of states near $E_{F}$. The planar nearest-neighbor, next-nearest-neighbor and interplane superexchange couplings of Cu spins are $J_{1}$ $\approx$ 16.2 meV, $J_{2}$ $\approx$ 0.3 meV and $J_{z}$ $\approx$ 1.2 meV, suggesting a low-dimensional antiferromagnet \cite{Sondhi10}. We propose that the magnetic frustration along the c-axis leads to a quantum spin disorder in In$_{3}$Cu$_{2}$VO$_{9}$, in accordance with the recent experiments. {abstract}

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Spontaneous Fermi surface deformation in the three-band Hubbard model: A variational Monte Carlo study

We perform a variational Monte Carlo study on spontaneous d-wave form Fermi surface deformation ($d$FSD) within the three-band Hubbard model. It is found that the variational energy of a projected Fermi sea is lowered by introducing an anisotropy between the hopping integrals along the x and y directions. Our results show that the $d$FSD state has the strongest tendency at half-filling in the absence of magnetism, and disappears as the hole concentration increases to $n_h\approx 1.15$. This is qualitatively in agreement with the mean field analysis and the exact diagonalization calculation for the one-band models, and provides a qualitative explanation to the "intra-unit-cell" electronic nematicity revealed by the scanning tunneling microscopy. An analysis of the dependence of $d$FSD on the parameters of the three-band model indicates that the copper on-site Coulomb interaction, the nearest-neighbor copper-oxygen repulsion, and the charge-transfer energy have a remarkable positive effect on $d$FSD.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Band-filling and correlation controlling electronic properties and magnetism in K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$: A slave boson study

In this paper we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$ materials at different band fillings utilizing the multi-orbital Kotliar-Ruckenstein's slave-boson mean field approach. We find that at three-quarter filling, corresponding to KFe$_{2}$Se$_{2}$, the ground state is a paramagnetic bad metal. Through band renormalization analysis and comparison with the angle-resolved photoemission spectra data, we identify that KFe$_{2}$Se$_{2}$ is also an intermediate correlated system, similar to iron-pnictide systems. At two-third filling, corresponding to the Fe$^{2+}$-based systems, the ground state is a striped antiferromagnetic (SAFM) metal with spin density wave gap partially opened near the Fermi level. In comparison, at half filling case, corresponding to the Fe$^{3+}$-based compounds, besides SAFM, a $N\acute{e}el$ antiferromagnetic metallic ground state without orbital ordering is observed in the intermediate correlation range, and an orbital selective Mott phase (OSMP) accompanied with an intermediate-spin to high-spin transition is also found. These results demonstrate that the band filling and correlation control the electronic state, Fermi surface topology and magnetism in K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗