arXiv subjects

M. de Souza

Publications and source records attributed to M. de Souza.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Encrypting Majorana Fermions-qubits as Bound States in the Continuum

We theoretically investigate a topological Kitaev chain connected to a double quantum-dot (QD) setup hybridized with metallic leads. In this system we observe the emergence of two striking phenomena: (i) a decrypted Majorana fermion (MF) qubit recorded over a single QD, which is detectable by means of conductance measurements due to the asymmetrical MF-qubit leaked state into the QDs; (ii) an encrypted qubit recorded in both QDs when the leakage is symmetrical. In such a regime, we have a cryptographylike manifestation, since the MF qubit becomes bound states in the continuum, which is not detectable in conductance experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Unveiling Majorana Quasiparticles by a Quantum Phase Transition: Proposal of a Current Switch

We propose a theoretical approach based on an interferometer composed by two quantum dots asymmetrically coupled to isolated Majorana quasiparticles (MQPs), lying on the edges of two topological Kitaev chains, respectively via couplings $(t+Δ)$ and $(Δ-t)$. This setup enables us to probe MQPs in a quite distinct way from the zero-bias peak feature. Most importantly, the system behaves as a current switch made by two distinct paths: (i) for the upper dot connected to both chains, the device perceives both MQPs as an ordinary fermion and the current crosses solely the lower dot, since current in the upper dot is prevented due to the presence of the superconducting gap; and (ii) by suppressing slightly the hybridization of the upper dot with one chain, the current is abruptly switched to flow through this dot, once a trapped electron as a bound state in the continuum (BIC) (Phys. Rev. B 93, 165116 (2016)) appears in the lower dot. Such a current switch between upper and lower dots characterizes the Quantum Phase Transition (QPT) proposed here, being the ratio $t/Δ$ the control parameter of the transition. This QPT is associated with a change from an ordinary fermionic excitation regime to a MQP in the interferometer, which enables not only the fundamental revealing of MQPs, but also yields a current switch assisted by them.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Realization of anomalous multiferroicity in free-standing graphene with magnetic adatoms

It is generally believed that free-standing graphene does not demonstrate any ferroic properties. In the present work we revise this statement and show that single graphene sheet with a pair of magnetic adatoms can be driven into ferroelectric (FE) and multiferroic (MF) phases by tuning the Dirac cones slope. The transition into the FE phase occurs gradually, but an anomalous MF phase appears abruptly by means of a Quantum Phase Transition. Our findings suggest that such features should exist in graphene recently investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (Science 352, 437 (2016)).

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Fano fingerprints of Majoranas in Kitaev dimers of superconducting adatoms

We investigate theoretically a Fano interferometer composed by STM and AFM tips close to a Kitaev dimer of superconducting adatoms, in which the adatom placed under the AFM tip, encloses a pair of Majorana fermions (MFs). For the binding energy $Δ$ of the Cooper pair delocalized into the adatoms under the tips coincident with the tunneling amplitude $t$ between them, namely $Δ$ = $t$, we find that only one MF beneath the AFM tip hybridizes with the adatom coupled to the STM tips. As a result, a gate invariance feature emerges: the Fano profile of the transmittance rises as an invariant quantity depending upon the STM tips Fermi energy, due to the symmetric swap in the gate potential of the AFM tip.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Decay of bound states in the continuum of Majorana fermions induced by vacuum fluctuations: Proposal of qubit technology

We report on a theoretical investigation of the interplay between vacuum fluctuations, Majorana quasiparticles (MQPs) and bound states in the continuum (BICs) by proposing a new venue for qubit storage.BICs emerge due to quantum interference processes as the Fano effect and, since such a mechanism is unbalanced, these states decay as regular into the continuum. Such fingerprints identify BICs in graphene as we have discussed in detail in Phys. Rev. B 92, 245107 and 045409 (2015). Here by considering two semi-infinite Kitaev chains within the topological phase, coupled to a quantum dot (QD) hybridized with leads, we show the emergence of a novel type of BICs, in which MQPs are trapped. As the MQPs of these chains far apart build a delocalized fermion and qubit, we identify that the decay of these BICs is not connected to Fano and it occurs when finite fluctuations are observed in the vacuum composed by electron pairs for this qubit. From the experimental point of view, we also show that vacuum fluctuations can be induced just by changing the chain-dot couplings from symmetric to asymmetric. Hence, we show how to perform the qubit storage within two delocalized BICs of MQPs and to access it when the vacuum fluctuates by means of a complete controllable way in quantum transport experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

The Einstein specific heat model for finite systems

The theoretical model proposed by Einstein to describe the phononic specific heat of solids as a function of temperature consists the very first application of the concept of energy quantization to describe the physical properties of a real system. Its central assumption lies in the consideration of a total energy distribution among N (in the thermodynamic limit $N \rightarrow \infty$) non-interacting oscillators vibrating at the same frequency ($ω$). Nowadays, it is well-known that most materials behave differently at the nanoscale, having thus some cases physical properties with potential technological applications. Here, a version of the Einstein's model composed of a finite number of particles/oscillators is proposed. The main findings obtained in the frame of the present work are: (i) a qualitative description of the specific heat in the limit of low-temperatures for systems with nano-metric dimensions; (ii) the observation that the corresponding chemical potential function for finite solids becomes null at finite temperatures as observed in the Bose-Einstein condensation and; (iii) emergence of a first-order like phase transition driven by varying $N$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Effect of Interdots Electronic Repulsion in the Majorana Signature for a Double Dot Interferometer

We investigate theoretically the features of the Majorana hallmark in the presence of Coulomb repulsion between two quantum dots describing a spinless Aharonov-Bohm-like interferometer, where one of the dots is strongly coupled to a Kitaev wire within the topological phase. Such a system has been originally proposed without Coulomb interaction in J. of Appl. Phys. 116, 173701 (2014). Our findings reveal that for dots in resonance, the ratio between the strength of Coulomb repulsion and the dot-wire coupling changes the width of the Majorana zero-bias peak for both Fano regimes studied, indicating thus that the electronic interdots correlation influences the Majorana state lifetime in the dot hybridized with the wire. Moreover, for the off-resonance case, the swap between the energy levels of the dots also modifies the width of the Majorana peak, which does not happen for the noninteracting case. The results obtained here can guide experimentalists that pursuit a way of revealing Majorana signatures.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Quantum phase transition triggering magnetic BICs in graphene

Graphene hosting a pair of collinear adatoms in the phantom atom configuration has pseudogap with cubic scaling on energy, $Δ\propto|\varepsilon|^{3}$ which leads to the appearance of spin-degenerate bound states in the continuum (BICs) [Phys. Rev. B 92, 045409 (2015)]. In the case when adatoms are locally coupled to a single carbon atom the pseudogap scales linearly with energy, which prevents the formation of BICs. In this Letter, we explore the effects of non-local coupling characterized by the Fano factor of interference $q_{0},$ tunable by changing the slope of the Dirac cones in the graphene band-structure. We demonstrate that three distinct regimes can be identified: i) for $q_{0} q_{c2}$ the cubic scaling of the pseudogap with energy $Δ\propto|\varepsilon|^{3}$ characteristic to the phantom atom configuration is restored and the phase with non-magnetic BICs is recovered. The phase with magnetic BICs can be described in terms of an effective intrinsic exchange field of ferromagnetic nature between the adatoms mediated by graphene monolayer. We thus propose a new type of quantum phase transition resulting from the competition between the states characterized by spin-degenerate and magnetic BICs.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Catching the Bound States in the Continuum of a Phantom Atom in Graphene

We explore theoretically the formation of bound states in the continuum (BICs) in graphene hosting two collinear adatoms situated at different sides of the sheet and at the center of the hexagonal cell, where a phantom atom of a fictitious lattice emulates the six carbons of the cell. We verify that in this configuration the local density of states (LDOS) near the Dirac points exhibits two characteristic features: i) the cubic dependence on energy instead of the linear one for graphene as found in New J. Phys. 16, 013045 (2014) and ii) formation of BICs as aftermath of a Fano destructive interference assisted by the Coulomb correlations in the adatoms. For the geometry where adatoms are collinear to carbon atoms, we report absence of BICs.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Effect of Inter-Adatoms Correlations on the Local Density of States of Graphene

We discuss theoretically the local density of states (LDOS) of a graphene sheet hosting two distant adatoms located at the center of the hexagonal cells. By putting laterally a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) tip over a carbon atom, two remarkable novel effects can be detected: i) a multilevel structure in the LDOS and ii) beating patterns in the induced LDOS. We show that both phenomena occur nearby the Dirac points and are highly anisotropic. Furthermore, we propose conductance experiments employing STM as a probe for the observation of such exotic manifestations in the LDOS of graphene induced by inter-adatoms correlations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Probing the Antisymmetric Fano Interference Assisted by a Majorana Fermion

As the Fano effect is an interference phenomenon where tunneling paths compete for the electronic transport, it becomes a probe to catch fingerprints of Majorana fermions lying on condensed matter systems. In this work we benefit of this mechanism by proposing as a route for that an Aharonov-Bohm-like interferometer composed by two quantum dots, being one of them coupled to a Majorana bound state, which is attached to one of the edges of a semi-infinite Kitaev wire within the topological phase. By changing the Fermi energy of the leads and the symmetric detuning of the levels for the dots, we show that opposing Fano regimes result in a transmittance characterized by distinct conducting and insulating regions, which are fingerprints of an isolated Majorana quasiparticle. Furthermore, we show that the maximum fluctuation of the transmittance as a function of the detuning is half for a semi-infinite wire, while it corresponds to the unity for a finite system. The setup proposed here constitutes an alternative experimental tool to detect Majorana excitations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Low temperature structural effects in the (TMTSF)$_2$PF$_6$ and AsF$_6$ Bechgaard salts

We present a detailed low-temperature investigation of the statics and dynamics of the anions and methyl groups in the organic conductors (TMTSF)$_2$PF$_6$ and (TMTSF)$_2$AsF$_6$ (TMTSF : tetramethyl-tetraselenafulvalene). The 4 K neutron scattering structure refinement of the fully deuterated (TMTSF)$_2$PF$_6$-D12 salt allows locating precisely the methyl groups at 4 K. This structure is compared to the one of the fully hydrogenated (TMTSF)$_2$PF$_6$-H12 salt previously determined at the same temperature. Surprisingly it is found that deuteration corresponds to the application of a negative pressure of 5 x 10$^2$ MPa to the H12 salt. Accurate measurements of the Bragg intensity show anomalous thermal variations at low temperature both in the deuterated PF$_6$ and AsF$_6$ salts. Two different thermal behaviors have been distinguished. Low-Bragg-angle measurements reflect the presence of low-frequency modes at characteristic energies θ$_E$ = 8.3 K and θ$_E$ = 6.7 K for the PF$_6$-D12 and AsF$_6$-D12 salts, respectively. These modes correspond to the low-temperature methyl group motion. Large-Bragg-angle measurements evidence an unexpected structural change around 55 K which probably corresponds to the linkage of the anions to the methyl groups via the formation of F...D-CD2 bonds observed in the 4 K structural refinement. Finally we show that the thermal expansion coefficient of (TMTSF)$_2$PF$_6$ is dominated by the librational motion of the PF$_6$ units. We quantitatively analyze the low-temperature variation of the lattice expansion via the contribution of Einstein oscillators, which allows us to determine for the first time the characteristic frequency of the PF6 librations: θ$_E$ = 50 K and θ$_E$ = 76 K for the PF$_6$-D12 and PF$_6$-H12 salts, respectively.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Ferromagnetism and superconductivity in P-doped CeFeAsO

We report on superconductivity in CeFeAs1-xPxO and the possible coexistence with Ce- ferromagnetism (FM) in a small homogeneity range around x = 30% with ordering temperatures of T_SC = T_C = 4K. The antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering temperature of Fe at this critical concentration is suppressed to T^N_Fe ~ 40K and does not shift to lower temperatures with further increase of the P concentration. Therefore, a quantum-critical-point scenario with T^N_Fe -> 0K which is widely discussed for the iron based superconductors can be excluded for this alloy series. Surprisingly, thermal expansion and X-ray powder diffraction indicate the absence of an orthorhombic distortion despite clear evidence for short range AFM Fe-ordering from muon-spin-rotation measurements. Furthermore, we discovered the formation of a sharp electron spin resonance signal unambiguously connected with the emergence of FM ordering.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Multiferroicity in an organic charge-transfer salt: Electric-dipole-driven magnetism

Multiferroics, showing simultaneous ordering of electrical and magnetic degrees of freedom, are remarkable materials as seen from both the academic and technological points of view. A prominent mechanism of multiferroicity is the spin-driven ferroelectricity, often found in frustrated antiferromagnets with helical spin order. There, similar to conventional ferroelectrics, the electrical dipoles arise from an off-centre displacement of ions. However, recently a different mechanism, namely purely electronic ferroelectricity, where charge order breaks inversion symmetry, has attracted considerable interest. Here we provide evidence for this exotic type of ferroelectricity, accompanied by antiferromagnetic spin order, in a two-dimensional organic charge-transfer salt, thus representing a new class of multiferroics. Quite unexpectedly for electronic ferroelectrics, dipolar and spin order arise nearly simultaneously. This can be ascribed to the loss of spin frustration induced by the ferroelectric ordering. Hence, here the spin order is driven by the ferroelectricity, in marked contrast to the spin-driven ferroelectricity in helical magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Distinct magnetic regimes through site-selective atom substitution in the frustrated quantum antiferromagnet Cs$_2$CuCl$_{4-x}$Br$_x$

We report on a systematic study of the magnetic properties on single crystals of the solid solution Cs$_2$CuCl$_{4-x}$Br$_x$ (0 $\leq$ x $\leq$ 4), which include the two known end-member compounds Cs$_2$CuCl$_4$ and Cs$_2$CuBr$_4$, classified as quasi-two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets with different degrees of magnetic frustration. By comparative measurements of the magnetic susceptibility $χ$($T$) on as many as eighteen different Br concentrations, we found that the inplane and out-of-plane magnetic correlations, probed by the position and height of a maximum in the magnetic susceptibility, respectively, do not show a smooth variation with x. Instead three distinct concentration regimes can be identified, which are separated by critical concentrations x$_{c1}$ = 1 and x$_{c2}$ = 2. This unusual magnetic behavior can be explained by considering the structural peculiarities of the materials, especially the distorted Cu-halide tetrahedra, which support a site-selective replacement of Cl- by Br- ions. Consequently, the critical concentrations x$_{c1}$ (x$_{c2}$) mark particularly interesting systems, where one (two) halidesublattice positions are fully occupied.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Magnetic phase diagram of the multiferroic FeTe$_2$O$_5$Br

The low-temperature magnetic phase diagram of the multiferroic system FeTe$_2$O$_5$Br down to 300 mK and up to 9 T is presented. Short-range magnetic correlations within the crystal layers start to develop already at $\sim$50 K, i.e., far above $T_{N1} \sim$ 11.0 K, where the system undergoes a magnetic phase transition into the high-temperature incommensurate (HT-ICM) phase. Only 0.5 K lower, at $T_{N2}$, the system undergoes a second phase transition into the low-temperature incommensurate amplitude-modulated (LT-ICM) phase accompanied by a spontaneous electric polarization. When the magnetic field is applied, the transition temperatures shift depending on the field orientation. In the case of $B||b$ and $B >$ 4.5 T, the HT-ICM phase disappears along with the electric polarization in the LT-ICM phase. The field dependence of the magnetic transition temperatures is explained in the context of the magnetic susceptibility behavior. Similarities and differences between the novel amplitude-modulated and well-established helicoidal magnetoelectrics are discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Structural and magnetic transition in CeFeAsO: separated or connected?

Using an adapted Sn-flux growth technique we obtained comparatively large CeFeAsO single crystals of better quality than previously reported polycrystals or single crystals, as evidenced by much sharper anomalies at the structural and magnetic phase transitions as well as a much higher residual resistivity ratio of 12. In the magnetically ordered phase we observe a very pronounced metallic behavior of the in-plane resistivity, which excludes a Mott insulator regime at low temperature. The separation Delta_T = T_0 - T_N between structural and magnetic ordering temperatures decreases with increasing sample quality, from 18 K in the initial reports to 6 K in the present single crystals, demonstrating that this separation is not an intrinsic property of the RFeAsO systems. Our results indicate that the coupling between magnetic ordering and structural distortion is very similar in AFe2As2 and RFeAsO type of compounds, much more similar than previously thought. The implications of our experimental results give arguments both in favor and against the nematic phase model.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2010

Lattice effects and entropy release at the low-temperature phase transition in the spin-liquid candidate $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu$_{2}$(CN)$_{3}$

The spin-liquid candidate $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu$_{2}$(CN)$_{3}$ has been studied by measuring the uniaxial expansion coefficients $α_{i}$, the specific heat, and magnetic susceptibility. Special emphasis was placed on the mysterious anomaly around 6 K - a potential spin-liquid instability. Distinct and strongly anisotropic lattice effects have been observed at 6 K, clearly identifying this feature as a second-order phase transition. Owing to the large anomalies in $α_{i}$, the application of Grüneisen scaling has enabled us to determine the corresponding specific heat contribution and the entropy release. Comparison of the latter with available spin models suggests that spin degrees of freedom alone cannot account for the phase transition. Scenarios, involving charge degrees of freedom, are discussed. charge degrees of freedom, are discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗