arXiv subjects

Matthew Bunney

Publications and source records attributed to Matthew Bunney.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Chiral topological superconductivity in hole-doped Sn/Si(111)

A third monolayer of tin atoms on the semiconductor substrate Si(111) has been shown to become superconducting upon six to ten percent hole doping. Experiments have reported promising results hinting at a superconducting chiral $d$-wave order parameter. Here we examine Sn/Si(111) by combining most recent ab initio results, quasi-particle interference calculations, state-of-the-art truncated-unity functional renormalization group simulations and Bogoliubov-de Gennes analysis. We show remarkable agreement between experimental and theoretical quasi-particle interference data both in the metallic and superconducting regimes. The interacting phase diagram reveals that the superconductivity is indeed chiral $d$-wave with Chern number $C=4$. Surprisingly, magnetically ordered phases are absent, instead we find charge density wave order, as observed in related compounds, as a competing phase. Our results demonstrate that Sn/Si(111) is an outstanding candidate material for chiral topological superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Fractionalized Superconductivity Mediated by Majorana Fermions in the Kitaev-Kondo Lattice

Superconductivity usually emerges from a metallic normal state which follows the Fermi-liquid paradigm. If, in contrast, the normal state is a fractionalized non-Fermi liquid, then pairing may either eliminate fractionalization via a Higgs-type mechanism leading to a conventional superconducting state, or pairing can occur in the presence of fractionalization. Here we discuss a simple model for the latter case: Using a combination of perturbation theory and functional renormalization group, we show that the Kitaev--Kondo lattice model displays a fractionalized superconducting phase at weak Kondo coupling. This phase is characterized by Cooper pairing of conventional electronic quasiparticles, coexisting with a spin-liquid background and topological order. Depending on the sign of the Kitaev coupling, we find the pairing to be either of chiral $d$-wave or $p$-wave type for extended doping regions around the van-Hove filling. We discuss applications and extensions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Electronic structure, spin-orbit interaction and electron-phonon coupling of triangular adatom lattices on semiconductor substrates

A one-third monolayer of the heavy metals Sn and Pb deposited on semiconductor substrates can lead to a $\sqrt{3}\times\sqrt{3}$ surface reconstruction, constituting an exciting triangular lattice material platform. A long history of experiments identified charge-ordered and magnetic ground states. These discoveries were accompanied by a decades-long debate of whether electron correlations or other effects involving phonons are the driving force of the symmetry-broken states. The most recent discovery of superconductivity in boron-doped Sn/Si(111) with a $T_c$ between 5K and 9K led to a renewed excitement. Here we revisit the electronic and phononic properties of Sn and Pb adatom triangular lattices on Si(111) and SiC(0001). For all materials we compute relativistic bandstructures using DFT+$U$ where $U$ is only applied to the substrate atoms in order to adjust the band gap to match the experimental value; as a consequence, some of the resulting tight-binding parameters of the metallic surface band differ substantially compared to previous studies. Remarkably, for Pb/SiC(0001) we predict Rashba spin-orbit coupling as large as 45% of the nearest-neighbor hopping energy. In addition, we compute the phonon spectra and electron-phonon coupling constants for all materials, and for Pb/Si(111) even relativistically although the inclusion of spin-orbit coupling has surprisingly little effect on the electron-phonon coupling constant. We conclude that the resulting couplings are too weak to account for electron-phonon mediated superconductivity in any of these materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Chern number landscape of spin-orbit coupled chiral superconductors

Chiral superconductors are one of the predominant quantum electronic states of matter where topology, symmetry, and Fermiology intertwine. This is pushed to a new limit by further invoking the coupling between spin and charge degrees of freedom, which fundamentally affects the principal nature of the Cooper pair wave function. We investigate the onset of superconductivity in the Rashba-Hubbard model on the triangular lattice, which is symmetry-classified by the associated irreducible representations (irrep) of the hexagonal point group. From an instability analysis by means of the truncated-unity functional renormalization group (TU-FRG) we find the $E_2$ irrep to dominate a large fraction of phase space and to lead up to an energetically preferred gapped, chiral superconducting state. The topological phase space classification associated with the anomalous propagators obtained from TU-FRG reveals a fragmentation of the $E_2$ domain into different topological sectors with vastly differing Chern numbers. It hints at a potentially applicable high sensitivity and tunability of chiral superconductors with respect to topological edge modes and phase transitions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Van-Hove tuning of Fermi surface instabilities through compensated metallicity

Van-Hove (vH) singularities in the vicinity of the Fermi level facilitate the emergence of electronically mediated Fermi surface instabilities. This is because they provide a momentum-localized enhancement of density of states promoting selective electronic scattering channels. High-temperature topological superconductivity has been argued for in graphene at vH filling which, however, has so far proven inaccessible due to the demanded large doping from pristine half filling. We propose compensated metallicity as a path to unlock vH-driven pairing close to half filling in an electronic honeycomb lattice model. Enabled by an emergent multi-pocket fermiology, charge compensation is realized by strong breaking of chiral symmetry from intra-sublattice hybridization, while retaining vH dominated physics at the Fermi level. We conclude by proposing tangible realizations through quantum material design.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Competition of First-Order and Second-Order Topology on the Honeycomb Lattice

We investigate both first-order topology, as realized through Haldane's model, and second-order topology, implemented through an additional Kekul\'e-distortion, on the honeycomb lattice. The interplay and competition of both terms result in a phase diagram at half-filling which contains twelve distinct phases. All phases can be characterized by the first Chern number or by a quantized $\mathbb{Z}_Q$ Berry phase. Highlights include phases with high Chern numbers, a novel $\mathbb{Z}_6$ topological phase, but also coupled kagome-lattice Chern insulators. Furthermore, we explore the insulating phases at lower fillings, and find again first-order and second-order topological phases. Finally, we identify real-space structures which feature corner states not only at half but also at third and sixth fillings, in agreement with the quantized $\mathbb{Z}_Q$ Berry phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗