arXiv subjects

Martin Claassen

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Claassen.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Angle-Resolved Pair Photoemission Theory for Correlated Electrons

In this paper we consider the possibility and conditions for pair photoemission whereby two incident photons emit pairs of electrons from a candidate material as a novel method to measure and visualize electronic correlations. As opposed to double photoemission - where a single photon precipitates the ejection of a pair electrons via a subsequent electron energy loss scattering process - we show that pair photoemission need not be limited to interference between initial photoelectrons and valence electrons, and moreover, can occur without the energy penalty of two work functions. This enables detection of pairs of electrons at high energy resolution that may be correlated in the same quantum many-body states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Witnessing nonequilibrium entanglement dynamics in a strongly correlated fermionic chain

Many-body entanglement in condensed matter systems can be diagnosed from equilibrium response functions through the use of entanglement witnesses and operator-specific quantum bounds. Here, we investigate the applicability of this approach for detecting entangled states in quantum systems driven out of equilibrium. We use a multipartite entanglement witness, the quantum Fisher information, to study the dynamics of a paradigmatic fermion chain undergoing a time-dependent change of the Coulomb interaction. Our results show that the quantum Fisher information is able to witness distinct signatures of multipartite entanglement both near and far from equilibrium that are robust against decoherence. We discuss implications of these findings for probing entanglement in light-driven quantum materials with time-resolved optical and x-ray scattering methods.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Quantum-Geometric Light-Matter Coupling in Correlated Quantum Materials

Irradiation with light provides a powerful tool to interrogate, control or induce new quantum states of matter out of equilibrium, however a microscopic understanding of light-matter coupling in interacting electron systems remains a profound challenge. Here, we show that light grants a new quantum-geometric handle to steer and probe correlated quantum materials, whereby photons can couple directly to the shape and center of the maximally-localized Wannier functions that comprise the material's interacting bands, dressing both electronic motion and electronic interactions with light. Notably, this effect is generic to any material and purely geometric in origin, but dominates emergent optical responses in correlated electron systems with poorly localized or obstructed Wannier functions. Spectroscopic consequences are first illustrated for a paradigmatic strongly interacting model with a tunable Wannier obstruction. We then present ramifications for non-equilibrium control of moiré heterostructures and find that subjecting magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene to weak THz radiation can conspire with a fragile topological obstruction to profoundly alter the material's competing interactions and tune across boundaries to competing phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Cavity-renormalized quantum criticality in a honeycomb bilayer antiferromagnet

Strong light-matter interactions as realized in an optical cavity provide a tantalizing opportunity to control the properties of condensed matter systems. Inspired by experimental advances in cavity quantum electrodynamics and the fabrication and control of two-dimensional magnets, we investigate the fate of a quantum critical antiferromagnet coupled to an optical cavity field. Using unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the scaling behavior of the magnetic structure factor and other observables. While the position and universality class are not changed by a single cavity mode, the critical fluctuations themselves obtain a sizable enhancement, scaling with a fractional exponent that defies expectations based on simple perturbation theory. The scaling exponent can be understood using a generic scaling argument, based on which we predict that the effect may be even stronger in other universality classes. Our microscopic model is based on realistic parameters for two-dimensional magnetic quantum materials and the effect may be within the range of experimental detection.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Controlling the magnetic state of the proximate quantum spin liquid $α$-RuCl$_3$ with an optical cavity

Harnessing the enhanced light-matter coupling and quantum vacuum fluctuations resulting from mode volume compression in optical cavities is a promising route towards functionalizing quantum materials and realizing exotic states of matter. Here, we extend cavity quantum electrodynamical materials engineering to correlated magnetic systems, by demonstrating that a Fabry-Pérot cavity can be used to control the magnetic state of the proximate quantum spin liquid $α$-RuCl$_3$. Depending on specific cavity properties such as the mode frequency, photon occupation, and strength of the light-matter coupling, any of the magnetic phases supported by the extended Kitaev model can be stabilized. In particular, in the THz regime, we show that the cavity vacuum fluctuations alone are sufficient to bring $α$-RuCl$_3$ from a zigzag antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic state. By external pumping of the cavity in the few photon limit, it is further possible to push the system into the antiferromagnetic Kitaev quantum spin liquid state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Dissipation Induced Flat Bands

Flat bands are an ideal environment to realize unconventional electronic phases. Here, we show that fermionic systems with dissipation governed by a Bloch Lindbladian can realize dispersionless bands for sufficiently strong coupling to an appropriately engineered bath. These flat bands emerge in a "dark space" of the system-environment coupling and are long-lived by virtue of symmetry protection from dissipation. We exhibit the robustness of this mechanism for general one and two band models with and without spin, and discuss conditions for their experimental realization such as in a 2D material on a superconducting substrate.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Ultrafast Spin Dynamics and Photoinduced Insulator-to-Metal Transition in $α$-$RuCl_3$

Laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization is a phenomenon of utmost interest and attracts significant attention because it enables potential applications in ultrafast optoelectronics and spintronics. As a spin-orbit coupling assisted magnetic insulator, $α$-$RuCl_3$ provides an attractive platform to explore the physics of electronic correlations and related unconventional magnetism. Using time-dependent density functional theory, we explore the ultrafast laser-induced dynamics of the electronic and magnetic structures in $α$-$RuCl_3$. Our study unveils that laser pulses can introduce ultrafast demagnetizations in $α$-$RuCl_3$, accompanied by an out-of-equilibrium insulator-to-metal transition in a few tens of femtoseconds. The spin response significantly depends on the laser wavelength and polarization on account of the electron correlations, band renormalizations and charge redistributions. These findings provide physical insights into the coupling between the electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom in $α$-$RuCl_3$ and shed light on suppressing the long-range magnetic orders and reaching a proximate spin liquid phase for two-dimensional magnets on an ultrafast timescale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Light-Induced Control of Magnetic Phases in Kitaev Quantum Magnets

Leveraging coherent light-matter interaction in solids is a promising new direction towards control and functionalization of quantum materials, to potentially realize regimes inaccessible in equilibrium and stabilize new or useful states of matter. We show how driving the strongly spin-orbit coupled proximal Kitaev magnet $α$-RuCl$_3$ with circularly-polarized light can give rise to a novel ligand-mediated magneto-electric effect that both photo-induces a large dynamical effective magnetic field and dramatically alters the interplay of competing isotropic and anisotropic exchange interactions. We propose that tailored light pulses can nudge the material towards the elusive Kitaev quantum spin liquid as well as probe competing magnetic instabilities far from equilibrium, and predict that the transient competition of magnetic exchange processes can be readily observed via pump-probe spectroscopy.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Topological Multipartite Entanglement in a Fermi Liquid

We show that the topology of the Fermi sea of a $D$-dimensional Fermi gas is reflected in the multipartite entanglement characterizing $D+1$ regions that meet at a point. For odd $D$ we introduce the multipartite mutual information, and show that it exhibits a $\log^D L$ divergence as a function of system size $L$ with a universal coefficient that is proportional to the Euler characteristic $χ_F$ of the Fermi sea. This provides a generalization, for a Fermi gas, of the well-known result for $D=1$ that expresses the $\log L$ divergence of the bipartite entanglement entropy in terms of the central charge $c$ characterizing a conformal field theory. For even $D$ we introduce a charge-weighted entanglement entropy that is manifestly odd under a particle-hole transformation. We show that the corresponding charge-weighted mutual information exhibits a similar $\log^D L$ divergence proportional to $χ_F$. Our analysis relates the universal behavior of the multipartite mutual information in the absence of interactions to the $D+1$'th order equal-time density correlation function, which we show exhibits a universal behavior in the long wavelength limit proportional to $χ_F$. Our analytic results are based on the replica method. In addition we perform a numerical study of the charge-weighted mutual information for $D=2$ that confirms several aspects of the analytic theory. Finally, we consider the effect of interactions perturbatively within the replica theory. We show that for $D=3$ the $\log^3 L$ divergence of the topological mutual information is not perturbed by weak short-ranged interactions, though for $D=2$ the charge-weighted mutual information is perturbed. Thus, for $D=3$ the multipartite mutual information provides a robust classification that distinguishes distinct topological Fermi liquid phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Moiré Engineering of Nonsymmorphic Symmetries and Hourglass Superconductors

Moiré heterostructures hold the promise to provide platforms to tailor strongly correlated and topological states of matter. Here, we theoretically propose the emergence of an effective, rectangular moiré lattice in twisted bilayers of SnS with nonsymmorphic symmetry. Based on first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that strong intrinsic spin-orbit interactions render this tunable platform a moiré semimetal that hosts 2D hourglass fermions protected by time-reversal symmetry $\mathcal{T}$ and the nonsymmorphic screw rotation symmetry $\widetilde{\mathcal{C}}_{2y}$. We show that topological Fermi arcs connecting pairs of Weyl nodal points in the hourglass dispersion are preserved for weak electron-electron interactions, particularly in regions of superconducting order that emerge in the phase diagram of interaction strength and filling. Our work established moiré engineering as an inroad into the realm of correlated topological semimetals and may motivate further topology related researches in moiré heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Moiré Engineering of Spin-Orbit Coupling in Twisted Platinum Diselenide

We study the electronic structure and correlated phases of twisted bilayers of platinum diselenide using large-scale ab initio simulations combined with the functional renormalization group. PtSe$_2$ is a group-X transition metal dichalcogenide, which hosts emergent flat bands at small twist angles in the twisted bilayer. Remarkably, we find that moiré engineering can be used to tune the strength of Rashba spin-orbit interactions, altering the electronic behavior in a novel manner. We reveal that an effective triangular lattice with a twist-controlled ratio between kinetic and spin-orbit coupling scales can be realized. Even dominant spin-orbit coupling can be accessed in this way and we discuss consequences for the interaction driven phase diagram, which features pronounced exotic superconducting and entangled spin-charge density waves.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Sign-Free Determinant Quantum Monte Carlo Study of Excitonic Density Orders in a Two-Orbital Hubbard-Kanamori Model

While excitonic instabilities in multiorbital systems recently have come under scrutiny in a variety of transition-metal compounds, understanding emergence of these instabilities from strong electronic interactions has remained a challenge. Here, we present a sign-problem-free determinant quantum Monte Carlo study of excitonic density orders in a half-filled two-orbital Hubbard-Kanamori model with broken orbital degeneracy, which accounts for the role of Hund's coupling in transition-metal compounds. For strong inverted (negative) Hund's exchange, we find numerical evidence for the emergence of excitonic density order, with competition between anti-ferro-orbital order and $\mathbf{Q} = (π,π)$ excitonic density order as a function of orbital splitting and Hund's coupling. While inverted Hund's coupling stabilizes a spin-singlet excitonic density phase for weak orbital splitting, positive Hund's coupling favors a spin-triplet excitonic density phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Ultra-Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling and Topological Moiré Engineering in Twisted ZrS2 Bilayers

We predict that twisted bilayers of 1T-ZrS$_2$ realize a novel and tunable platform to engineer two-dimensional topological quantum phases dominated by strong spin-orbit interactions. At small twist angles, ZrS$_2$ heterostructures give rise to an emergent and twist-controlled moiré Kagomé lattice, combining geometric frustration and strong spin-orbit coupling to give rise to a moiré quantum spin Hall insulator with highly controllable and nearly-dispersionless bands. We devise a generic pseudo-spin theory for group-IV transition metal dichalcogenides that relies on the two-component character of the valence band maximum of the 1T structure at $Γ$, and study the emergence of a robust quantum anomalous Hall phase as well as possible fractional Chern insulating states from strong Coulomb repulsion at fractional fillings of the topological moiré Kagomé bands. Our results establish group-IV transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers as a novel moiré platform to realize strongly-correlated topological phases in a twist-tunable setting.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Engineering Three Dimensional Moiré Flat Bands

We demonstrate that the concept of moiré flat bands can be generalized to achieve electronic band engineering in all three spatial dimensions. For many two dimensional van der Waals materials, twisting two adjacent layers with respect to each other leads to flat electronic bands in the two corresponding spatial directions -- a notion sometimes referred to as twistronics as it enables a wealth of physical phenomena. Within this two dimensional plane, large moiré patterns of nanometer size form. The basic concept we propose here is to stack multiple twisted layers on top of each other in a predefined pattern. If the pattern is chosen such that with respect to the stacking direction of layers, the large spatial moiré features are spatially shifted from one twisted layer to the next, the system exhibits twist angle controlled flat bands in all of the three spatial directions. With this, our proposal extends the use of twistronic to three dimensions. We exemplify the general concept by considering graphitic systems, boron nitride and WSe$_2$ as candidate materials, but the approach is applicable to any two-dimensional van der Waals material. For hexagonal boron nitride we develope an ab initio fitted tight binding model that captures the corresponding three dimensional low-energy electronic structure. We outline that interesting three dimensional correlated phases of matter can be induced and controlled following this route, including quantum magnets and unconventional superconducting states.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Flow Renormalization and Emergent Prethermal Regimes of Periodically-Driven Quantum Systems

We develop a flow renormalization approach for periodically-driven quantum systems, which reveals prethermal dynamical regimes and associated timescales via direct correspondence between real time and flow time behavior. In this formalism, the dynamical problem is recast in terms of coupling constants of the theory flowing towards an attractive fixed point that represents the thermal Floquet Hamiltonian at long times, while narrowly avoiding a series of unstable fixed points which determine distinct prethermal regimes at intermediate times. We study a class of relevant perturbations that trigger the onset of heating and thermalization, and demonstrate that the renormalization flow has an elegant representation in terms of a flow of matrix product operators. Our results permit microscopic calculations of the emergence of distinct dynamical regimes directly in the thermodynamic limit in an efficient manner, establishing a new computational tool for driven non-equilibrium systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Moiré heterostructures as a condensed matter quantum simulator

Twisted van der Waals heterostructures have latterly received prominent attention for their many remarkable experimental properties, and the promise that they hold for realising elusive states of matter in the laboratory. We propose that these systems can, in fact, be used as a robust quantum simulation platform that enables the study of strongly correlated physics and topology in quantum materials. Among the features that make these materials a versatile toolbox are the tunability of their properties through readily accessible external parameters such as gating, straining, packing and twist angle; the feasibility to realize and control a large number of fundamental many-body quantum models relevant in the field of condensed-matter physics; and finally, the availability of experimental readout protocols that directly map their rich phase diagrams in and out of equilibrium. This general framework makes it possible to robustly realize and functionalize new phases of matter in a modular fashion, thus broadening the landscape of accessible physics and holding promise for future technological applications.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Optical Manipulation of Domains in Chiral Topological Superconductors

Optical control of chirality in chiral superconductors bears potential for future topological quantum computing applications. When a chiral domain is written and erased by a laser spot, the Majorana modes around the domain can be manipulated on ultrafast time scales. Here we study topological superconductors with two chiral order parameters coupled via light fields by a time-dependent real-space Ginzburg-Landau approach. Continuous optical driving, or the application of supercurrent, hybridizes the two chiral order parameters, allowing one to induce and control the superconducting state beyond what is possible in equilibrium. We show that superconductivity can even be enhanced if the mutual coupling between two order parameters is sufficiently strong. Furthermore, we demonstrate that short optical pulses with spot size larger than a critical one can overcome a counteracting diffusion effect and write, erase, or move chiral domains. Surprisingly, these domains are found to be stable, which might enable optically programmable quantum computers in the future.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Light-induced topological magnons in two-dimensional van der Waals magnets

Driving a two-dimensional Mott insulator with circularly polarized light breaks time-reversal and inversion symmetry, which induces an optically-tunable synthetic scalar spin chirality interaction in the effective low-energy spin Hamiltonian. Here, we show that this mechanism can stabilize topological magnon excitations in honeycomb ferromagnets and in optical lattices. We find that the irradiated quantum magnet is described by a Haldane model for magnons that hosts topologically-protected edge modes. We study the evolution of the magnon spectrum in the Floquet regime and via time propagation of the magnon Hamiltonian for a slowly varying pulse envelope. Compared to similar but conceptually distinct driving schemes based on the Aharanov-Casher effect, the dimensionless light-matter coupling parameter $λ= eEa/\hbarω$ at fixed electric field strength is enhanced by a factor $\sim 10^5$. This increase of the coupling parameter allows to induce a topological gap of the order of $Δ\approx 2$ meV with realistic laser pulses, bringing an experimental realization of light-induced topological magnon edge states within reach.

cond-mat.str-el↗