arXiv subjects

Markus Aichhorn

Publications and source records attributed to Markus Aichhorn.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Theoretical prediction of antiferromagnetism in layered perovskite Sr$_2$TcO$_4$

We theoretically investigate magnetic properties of Sr$_2$TcO$_4$, a 4d transition-metal layered perovskite of the K$_2$NiF$_4$-type with half-filled t$_{2g}$ states. The effect of local Coulomb repulsion between the t$_{2g}$ orbitals is included within the density-functional theory (DFT)+U and DFT+dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) methods. The DFT+DMFT predicts paramagnetic Sr$_2$TcO$_4$ to be close to the Mott insulator-to-metal transition, similarly to the cubic compound SrTcO$_3$. The inter-site exchange interactions computed within the DFT+DMFT framework point to a strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the neighboring Tc sites within the layer. We then evaluate the Néel temperature $T_N$ within a classical Monte Carlo approach including dipolar interactions, which stabilize the magnetic order in the frustrated K$_2$NiF$_4$ lattice structure. Our approach is applied to a set of layered and cubic perovskites. The obtained $T_N$ are in fair agreement with experiment. Within the same approach we predict $T_N$ of Sr$_2$TcO$_4$ to be in the 500-600K range.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

La$_2$O$_3$Fe$_2$Se$_2$, a Mott insulator on the brink of orbital-selective metalization

La$_2$O$_3$Fe$_2$Se$_2$ can be explained in terms of Mott localization in sharp contrast with the metallic behavior of FeSe and other parent parent compounds of iron superconductors. We demonstrate that the key ingredient that makes La$_2$O$_3$Fe$_2$Se$_2$ a Mott insulator, rather than a correlated metal dominated by the Hund's coupling is the enhanced crystal-field splitting, accompanied by a smaller orbital-resolved kinetic energy. The strong deviation from orbital degeneracy introduced by the crystal-field splitting also pushes this materials close to an orbital-selective Mott transition. We predict that either doping or uniaxial external pressure can drive the material into an orbital-selective Mott state, where only one or few orbitals are metallized while the others remain insulating.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Effect of the iron valence in the two types of layers in LiFeO$_2$Fe$_2$Se$_2$

We perform electronic structure calculations for the recently synthesized iron-based superconductor LiFeO$_2$Fe$_2$Se$_2$. In contrast to other iron-based superconductors, this material comprises two different iron atoms in 3$d^5$ and 3$d^6$ configurations. In band theory, both contribute to the low-energy electronic structure. Spin-polarized density functional theory calculations predict an antiferromagnetic metallic ground state with different moments on the two Fe sites. However, several other almost degenerate magnetic configurations exist. Due to their different valences, the two iron atoms behave very differently when local quantum correlations are included through the dynamical mean-field theory. The contributions from the half-filled 3$d^5$ atoms in the LiFeO$_2$ layer are suppressed and the 3$d^6$ states from the FeSe layer restore the standard iron-based superconductor fermiology.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Accurate bare susceptibilities from full-potential $\textit{ab initio}$ calculations

Electronic susceptibilities are a very popular tool to study electronic and magnetic properties of materials, both in experiment and theory. Unfortunately, the numerical evaluation of even the bare susceptibility, which depends on the computation of matrix elements and sums over energy bands, is very work-intensive and therefore various approximations have been introduced to speed up the calculations. We present a reliable and efficient implementation to compute static as well as dynamic bare susceptibilities based on full-potential density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Based on the exact results we will assess the accuracy of replacing the matrix elements with a constant and the impact of truncating the sum over the energy bands. Results will be given for representative and topical materials, such as Cr, a classical transition metal, as well as for FeSe and LaFeAsO, examples of iron-based superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Effective model for electronic properties of the quasi one-dimensional purple bronze Li0.9Mo6O17 based on ab-initio calculations

We investigate the electronic structure of the strongly anisotropic, quasi low dimensional purple bronze Li0.9Mo6O17. Building on all-electron ab-initio band structure calculations we obtain an effective model in terms of four maximally localized Wannier orbitals, which turn out to be far from atomic like. We find two half-filled orbitals arranged in chains running along one crystallographic direction, and two full orbitals in perpendicular directions, respectively. The possibility to reduce this model to only two orbitals forming two chains per unit cell with inter-chain coupling is discussed. Transport properties of these models show high anisotropy, reproducing trends of the experimentally determined values for the dc conductivity. We also consider basic effects of electron-electron interactions using the (extended) Variational Cluster Approach and Dynamical Mean Field Theory. We find good agreement with experimental photo emission data upon adding moderate on-site interaction of the order of the band width to the ab-initio derived tight-binding Hamiltonian. The obtained models provide a profound basis for further investigations on low-energy Luttinger liquid properties or to study electronic correlations within computational many-body theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Indirect evidence for strong coupling superconductivity in FeSe under pressure from first-principle calculations

Whether the pairing mechanism for superconductivity in iron-based superconductors is of itinerant or local character is a question still debated on. In order to investigate the influence of Fermi surface nesting, we calculate from first-principles the static susceptibility of FeSe under applied pressures, both hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic. We show that the electronic band structures are highly sensitive to the way pressure is applied and confront our theoretical results with conclusions drawn from experiments. Given that the critical temperature of FeSe is quite universal as function of pressure, this is clear evidence that in FeSe the evolution of Fermi surface nesting cannot account for the evolution of the critical temperature with pressure. Hence we argue that the pairing in iron-chalcogenide compounds should be of strong-coupling spin fluctuation origin.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Dynamical cluster approximation within an augmented plane-wave framework: Spectral properties of SrVO$_3$

We present a combination of local density approximation (LDA) with the dynamical cluster approximation (LDA+DCA) in the framework of the full-potential linear augmented plane-wave method, and compare our LDA+DCA results for SrVO$_3$ to LDA with the dynamical mean field theory (LDA+DMFT) calculations as well as experimental observations on SrVO$_3$. We find a qualitative agreement of the momentum resolved spectral function with angle-resolved photoemission spectra (ARPES) and former LDA+DMFT results. As a correction to LDA+DMFT, we observe more pronounced coherent peaks below the Fermi level, as indicated by ARPES experiments. In addition, we resolve the spectral functions in the ${\bf K}_{0}=(0,0,0)$ and ${\bf K}_{1}=(π,π,π)$ sectors of DCA, where band insulating and metallic phases coexist. Our approach can be applied to correlated compounds where not only local quantum fluctuations but also spatial fluctuations are important.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Variational cluster approach to the single impurity Anderson model

We study the single impurity Anderson model by means of cluster perturbation theory and the variational cluster approach (VCA). An expression for the VCA grand potential for a system in a non interacting bath is presented. Results for the single-particle dynamics in different parameter regimes are shown to be in good agreement with established renormalization group results. We aim at a broad and comprehensive overview of the capabilities and shortcomings of the methods. We address the question to what extent the elusive low energy properties of the model are reproducible within the framework of VCA. These are furthermore benchmarked against continuous time quantum Monte Carlo calculations. We also discuss results obtained by an alternative, i.e. self consistent formulation of VCA, which was introduced recently in the context of non equilibrium systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Importance of electronic correlations for structural and magnetic properties of the iron pnictide superconductor LaFeAsO

We present calculations of structural and magnetic properties of the iron-pnictide superconductor LaFeAsO including electron-electron correlations. For this purpose we apply a fully charge self-consistent combination of Density-Functional Theory with the Dynamical Mean-Field theory, allowing for the calculation of total energies. We find that the inclusion of correlation effects gives a good agreement of the Arsenic z position with experimental data even in the paramagnetic (high-temperature) phase. Going to low temperatures, we study the formation of the ordered moment in the striped spin-density-wave phase, yielding an ordered moment of about 0.60, again in good agreement with experiments. This shows that the inclusion of correlation effects improves both structural and magnetic properties of LaFeAsO at the same time.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Hallmark of strong electronic correlations in LaNiO$_3$: photoemission kink and broadening of fully occupied bands

Recent angular-resolved photoemission experiments on LaNiO$_3$ reported a renormalization of the Fermi velocity of $e_g$ quasiparticles, a kink in their dispersion at $ -0.2$ eV and a large broadening and weakened dispersion of the occupied $t_{2g}$ states. We show here that all these features result from electronic correlations and are quantitatively reproduced by calculations combining density-functional theory and dynamical mean-field theory. The importance and general relevance of correlation effects in filled bands coupled by inter-orbital interactions to a partially-filled band are pointed out.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Reduced effective spin-orbital degeneracy and spin-orbital ordering in paramagnetic transition metal oxides: Sr2IrO4 vs. Sr2RhO4

We discuss the notions of spin-orbital polarization and ordering in paramagnetic materials, and address their consequences in transition metal oxides. Extending the combined density functional and dynamical mean field theory scheme to the case of materials with large spin-orbit interactions, we investigate the electronic excitations of the paramagnetic phases of Sr2IrO4 and Sr2RhO4. We show that the interplay of spin-orbit interactions, structural distortions and Coulomb interactions suppresses spin-orbital fluctuations. As a result, the room temperature phase of Sr2IrO4 is a paramagnetic spin-orbitally ordered Mott insulator. In Sr2RhO4, the effective spin-orbital degeneracy is reduced, but the material remains metallic, due to both, smaller spin-orbit and smaller Coulomb interactions. We find excellent agreement of our ab-initio calculations for Sr2RhO4 with angle-resolved photoemission, and make predictions for spectra of the paramagnetic phase of Sr2IrO4.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

The coherence-incoherence crossover and the mass-renormalization puzzles in Sr2RuO4

We calculate the electronic structure of Sr2RuO4, treating correlations in the framework of dynamical mean-field theory. The approach successfully reproduces several experimental results and explains the key properties of this material: the anisotropic mass renormalization of quasiparticles and the crossover into an incoherent regime at a low temperature. While the orbital differentiation originates from the proximity of the van Hove singularity, strong correlations are caused by the Hund's coupling. The generality of this mechanism for other correlated materials is pointed out.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Theoretical evidence for strong correlations and incoherent metallic state in FeSe

The role of electronic Coulomb correlations in iron-based superconductors is an important open question. We provide theoretical evidence for strong correlation effects in the FeSe compound, based on dynamical mean field calculations. A lower Hubbard band is found in the spectral properties. Moreover, together with significant orbital-dependent mass enhancements, we find that the normal state is a bad metal over an extended temperature range, implying a non-Fermi liquid. Predictions for angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy are made.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Dynamical Mean-Field Theory within an Augmented Plane-Wave Framework: Assessing Electronic Correlations in the Iron Pnictide LaFeAsO

We present an approach that combines the local density approximation (LDA) and the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) in the framework of the full-potential linear augmented plane waves (FLAPW) method. Wannier-like functions for the correlated shell are constructed by projecting local orbitals onto a set of Bloch eigenstates located within a certain energy window. The screened Coulomb interaction and Hund's coupling are calculated from a first-principle constrained RPA scheme. We apply this LDA+DMFT implementation, in conjunction with continuous-time quantum Monte-Carlo, to study the electronic correlations in LaFeAsO. Our findings support the physical picture of a metal with intermediate correlations. The average value of the mass renormalization of the Fe 3d bands is about 1.6, in reasonable agreement with the picture inferred from photoemission experiments. The discrepancies between different LDA+DMFT calculations (all technically correct) which have been reported in the literature are shown to have two causes: i) the specific value of the interaction parameters used in these calculations and ii) the degree of localization of the Wannier orbitals chosen to represent the Fe 3d states, to which many-body terms are applied. The latter is a fundamental issue in the application of many-body calculations, such as DMFT, in a realistic setting. We provide strong evidence that the DMFT approximation is more accurate and more straightforward to implement when well-localized orbitals are constructed from a large energy window encompassing Fe-3d, As-4p and O-2p, and point out several difficulties associated with the use of extended Wannier functions associated with the low-energy iron bands. Some of these issues have important physical consequences, regarding in particular the sensitivity to the Hund's coupling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Quantum Fluctuations, Temperature and Detuning Effects in Solid-Light Systems

The superfluid to Mott insulator transition in cavity polariton arrays is analyzed using the variational cluster approach, taking into account quantum fluctuations exactly on finite length scales. Phase diagrams in one and two dimensions exhibit important non-mean-field features. Single-particle excitation spectra in the Mott phase are dominated by particle and hole bands separated by a Mott gap. In contrast to Bose-Hubbard models, detuning allows for changing the nature of the bosonic particles from quasi-localized excitons to polaritons to weakly interacting photons. The Mott state with density one exists up to temperatures $T/g\gtrsim0.03$, implying experimentally accessible temperatures for realistic cavity couplings $g$.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Correlated band structure and the ground-state phase diagram in high-Tc cuprates

We review results obtained with a recently proposed variational cluster approach (VCA) for the competition between d-wave superconductivity (dSC) and antiferromagnetism (AF) in the high-Tc cuprates. Comparing the single-particle spectra of a two-dimensional Hubbard model with quantum Monte-Carlo (QMC) and experimental data, we verify that the VCA correctly treats the low-energy excitations. The cluster calculations reproduce the overall ground-state phase diagram of the high-temperature superconductors both for electron- and hole-doping. In particular, they include salient features such as the enhanced robustness of the AF state in case of electron doping. For electron- but also for hole-doping, we clearly identify a tendency to phase separation into a mixed AF-dSC phase at low and a pure dSC-phase at high doping.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Single-particle spectral function of the Holstein-Hubbard bipolaron

The one-electron spectral function of the Holstein-Hubbard bipolaron in one dimension is studied using cluster perturbation theory together with the Lanczos method. In contrast to other approaches, this allows one to calculate the spectrum at continuous wave vectors and thereby to study, for the first time, the dispersion and the spectral weight of quasiparticle features. The formation of polarons and bipolarons, and their manifestation in the spectral properties of the system, is studied for the cases of intermediate and large phonon frequencies, with and without Coulomb interaction. A good agreement is found with the most accurate calculations of the bipolaron dispersion available, over a large range of the electron-phonon coupling strength. Additionally, pronounced deviations of the bipolaron dispersion from a simple tight-binding band are found, which can be attributed to next-nearest-neighbor hopping processes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Spectral function of electron-phonon models by cluster perturbation theory

Cluster perturbation theory in combination with the Lanczos method is used to compute the one-electron spectral function of the Holstein polaron in one and two dimensions. It is shown that the method allows reliable calculations using relatively small clusters, and at the same time significantly reduces finite-size effects. Results are compared with exact data and the relation to existing work is discussed. We also use a strong-coupling perturbation theory--equivalent to the Hubbard I approximation--to calculate the spectral function of the quarter-filled Holstein model of spinless fermions, starting from the exact atomic-limit Green function. The results agree well with previous calculations within the many-body coherent potential approximation.

cond-mat.str-el↗