arXiv subjects

Mohammad Saeed Bahramy

Publications and source records attributed to Mohammad Saeed Bahramy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Geometric Ginzburg-Landau theory of charge ordering and commensurability

The concept of quantum geometry has recently led to reinvigorated insights in a wide range of fields including physical responses, superconductivity, and optical transitions, with effects most pronounced in systems with nearly flat dispersion. Here, we show that it plays an essential role in charge density wave formation (CDW) -- an important physical phenomenon that is responsible for driving various sharp changes in material transport properties including metal-insulator transitions. We derive an effective Ginzburg-Landau theory including uncharted contributions and, as a highlight, discover a general criterion for both CDW formation and commensurability transitions where underlying electron-phonon interactions manifest purely as electronic quantum geometric enhancements/suppressions. We benchmark our framework in a class of transition-metal dichalcogenides and resolve a longstanding puzzle where well-established purely kinetic CDW criteria fail in describing the correct ordering wavevector. Besides rendering robust criteria and fundamental insights that are immediately relevant to several experimental charge ordering systems, our theory can also be applied directly to other phonon-mediated phases such as superconductivity, and can be used as an important tool to explore the interplay between various such states. More generally, our framework provides a recipe for investigating the role of quantum geometry in phase transitions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Non-Fermi-liquid behaviour of electrons coupled to gauge phonons

We identify overdamped gauge phonons as a new microscopic route to non-Fermi-liquid behaviour in Dirac materials. These phonons couple to electronic currents rather than densities, thereby realising a lattice analogue of transverse gauge-field mechanisms without requiring proximity to a quantum critical point. By computing the electronic self-energy with a phonon propagator dressed by electron-phonon interactions, we show that the low-energy behaviour is controlled by the orbital susceptibility chi and a dimensionless damping parameter alpha. In the overdamped regime, alpha >> 1, quasiparticles display strong deviations from Fermi-liquid theory. For chi > 0, Fermi-liquid behaviour persists only in a parametrically narrow infrared window before crossing over to non-Fermi-liquid scaling. For chi < 0, the Fermi-liquid regime is replaced by marginal-Fermi-liquid behaviour at the lowest energies, followed by a crossover to non-Fermi-liquid scaling. These results establish strain-induced gauge phonons as a promising source of anomalous metallic behaviour in systems such as twisted bilayer graphene.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Strain Tuning of Orbital-Driven Giant Magnetoresistance in van der Waals ferrimagnet Mn$_3$Si$_2$Te$_6$

Strain engineering of magnetotransport offers a powerful strategy for uncovering emergent electronic and domain phenomena in quantum magnetic materials, while providing a promising pathway toward next-generation mechanically programmable spintronic technologies. Van der Waals magnets are particularly attractive in this context because their high crystallinity and mechanical flexibility allow exceptionally large, precisely controllable strain, enabling access to strain-induced functionalities unattainable in conventional solids. Here, we report systematic strain control of the van der Waals magnet Mn$_3$Si$_2$Te$_6$, which exhibits an unconventional colossal magnetoresistance whose microscopic origin remains under debate. We demonstrate in situ large-strain modulation of the electrical resistance in bulk crystals and show that the effect can be consistently explained by strain-tunable chiral orbital-current domains. Furthermore, measurements on exfoliated flake devices containing a single chiral domain reveal direct strain control of the electronic structure affected by orbital magnetic moment, establishing a unified microscopic mechanism for the unconventional colossal magnetoresistance. These results identify strain as an exceptionally effective control parameter for tailoring electronic and magnetic states in van der Waals magnets and provide a conceptual framework for realizing spin-straintronic functionalities based on orbital degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Universal Multifractality at the Topological Anderson Insulator Transition

Disorder is ubiquitous in quantum materials, and its interplay with topology can generate phases absent in the clean limit. Using the Haldane model as a minimal setting, we show that disorder not only shifts topological boundaries but also stabilizes a topological Anderson insulator (TAI) between trivial and Chern insulating regimes. Employing the local Chern marker as a real-space topological probe, we map the full phase diagram and demonstrate that the TAI forms a finite domain bounded by trivial and Anderson insulators. Multifractal analysis of low-energy eigenstates at the boundary reveals universal critical spectra, independent of whether disorder generates or destroys topology. These results place topology, localization, and criticality within a unified framework and provide clear benchmarks for real-space diagnostics of disordered topological phases.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Magnetic resonance and microwave resistance modulation in van der Waals colossal-magnetoresistance material

Colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) is a fascinating quantum phenomenon that continues to draw significant interest in condensed matter physics. Mn3Si2Te6 has emerged as a prototypical CMR material, notable for its puzzling magnetoresistance behavior and pronounced directional anisotropy. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms driving CMR in Mn3Si2Te6 remain elusive [1-4]. In this work, we explore the magnetic resonance of Mn3Si2Te6 and observe a reduced g-factor for magnetic fields applied along the crystalline c-axis compared to the ab-plane, indicating a substantial orbital magnetization contribution along the c-axis. Furthermore, we detect resistance modulation under resonance conditions, suggesting that CMR in Mn3Si2Te6 is sensitive to the out-of-the plane spin polarization. These findings shed new light on the role of orbital magnetic moment in Mn3Si2Te6, offering a deeper understanding of the interplay between spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom of electrons in this system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Field-driven band asymmetry and non-reciprocal transport in a helimagnet

Helimagnets exhibit noncollinear spin arrangements characterized by a periodic helical modulation, giving rise to emergent chiral properties. These materials have attracted significant interest due to their potential applications in spintronics, particularly for robust information storage and the realization of topological spin textures such as skyrmions. In this work, we focus on Yoshimori-type helimagnets, where competing exchange interactions mediated by conduction electrons stabilize helical spin structures without requiring Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We introduce a minimal model describing the electronic structure of a one-dimensional helimagnet in the presence of an external magnetic field and investigate its impact on non-reciprocal transport. We demonstrate how band asymmetry emerges in the conical phase induced by the external field, leading to a nonzero second-order electronic conductivity and injection photoconductivity. Our results provide insight into the interplay between the real space magnetic texture and electronic properties, paving the way for future studies on chirality-driven transport phenomena in centrosymmetric helimagnets.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Composite Topological Weyl Nodal lines

Nodal lines are one-dimensional topological features of semi-metal band structures along which two bands are degenerate as a result of non-accidental symmetry-protected crossings, and behave topologically as $k$-space vortices in the Berry connection. Here, we present a new class of tilted nodal lines, protected by mirror symmetry, formed from the intersection of three band crossings at a set of critical points. One crossing is gapped out, fusing the remaining two crossings at the shifted critical points to form composite nodal lines. We demonstrate these composite nodal lines are capable of supporting fundamentally different Berry curvature textures than the typical two-band case, despite having a simple ring topology. In addition, we present a realistic model based on cubic, forced-ferromagnetic, EuTiO$_3$, where the spin and orbital degrees of freedom are plentiful enough to allow the material realization of such composite nodal lines. In this system, the composite nature of the nodal line results in a spin Hall conductivity with a non-monotonic dependence on carrier concentration.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Band-asymmetry-driven nonreciprocal electronic transport in a helimagnetic semimetal α-EuP$_3$

Chiral magnetic textures give rise to unconventional magnetotransport phenomena such as the topological Hall effect and nonreciprocal electronic transport. While the correspondence between real-space magnetic topology/symmetry and such transport phenomena has been well established, a microscopic understanding based on the spin-dependent band structure in momentum space remains elusive. Here we demonstrate how a chiral magnetic structure in real space introduces an asymmetry in the electronic band structure and triggers a nonreciprocal electronic transport in a centrosymmetric helimagnet α-EuP$_3$. The magnetic structure of α-EuP$_3$ is highly tunable by a magnetic field and closely coupled to its semi-metallic electronic band structure, enabling a systematic study across chiral and achiral magnetic phases on the correspondence between nonreciprocal transport and electronic band asymmetry. Our findings reveal how a microscopic change in the magnetic configuration of charge carriers can lead to nonreciprocal electronic transport, paving the way for designing chiral magnets with desirable properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Hidden spin-orbital texture at the $\barΓ$-located valence band maximum of a transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductor

Finding stimuli capable of driving an imbalance of spin-polarised electrons within a solid is the central challenge in the development of spintronic devices. However, without the aid of magnetism, routes towards this goal are highly constrained with only a few suitable pairings of compounds and driving mechanisms found to date. Here, through spin- and angle-resolved photoemission along with density functional theory, we establish how the $p$-derived bulk valence bands of semiconducting 1T-HfSe$_2$ possess a local, ground-state spin texture spatially confined within each Se-sublayer due to strong sublayer-localised electric dipoles orientated along the $c$-axis. This hidden spin-polarisation manifests in a `coupled spin-orbital texture' with in-equivalent contributions from the constituent $p$-orbitals. While the overall spin-orbital texture for each Se sublayer is in strict adherence to time-reversal symmetry (TRS), spin-orbital mixing terms with net polarisations at time-reversal invariant momenta are locally maintained. These apparent TRS-breaking contributions dominate, and can be selectively tuned between with a choice of linear light polarisation, facilitating the observation of pronounced spin-polarisations at the Brillouin zone centre for all $k_z$. We discuss the implications for the generation of spin-polarised populations from 1T-structured transition metal dichalcogenides using a fixed energy, linearly polarised light source.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Magnetic generation and switching of topological quantum phases in a trivial semimetal $α{\mathrm{-EuP}}_3$

Topological materials have drawn increasing attention owing to their rich quantum properties, as highlighted by a large intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in Weyl and nodal-line semimetals. However, the practical applications for topological electronics have been hampered by the difficulty in the external control of the band topology. Here we demonstrate a magnetic-field-induced switching of band topology in $α{\mathrm{-EuP}}_3$, a magnetic semimetal with a layered crystal structure derived from black phosphorus. When the magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the single mirror plane of the monoclinic structure, a giant AHE signal abruptly emerges at a certain threshold magnetization value, giving rise to a prominently large anomalous Hall angle of $\left|Θ_{\mathrm{AHE}}\right| \sim 20^{\circ}$. When the magnetic field is applied along the inter-layer direction, which breaks the mirror symmetry, the system shows a pronounced negative longitudinal magnetoresistance. On the basis of electronic structure calculations and symmetry considerations, these anomalous magneto-transport properties can be considered as manifestations of two distinct topological phases: topological nodal-line and Weyl semimetals, respectively. Notably, the nodal-line structure is composed of bands with the same spin character and spans a wide energy range around the Fermi level. These topological phases are stabilized via the exchange coupling between localized Eu-4$f$ moments and mobile carriers conducting through the phosphorus layers. Our findings provide a realistic solution for external manipulation of band topology, enriching the functional aspects of topological materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Patterns and driving forces of dimensionality-dependent charge density waves in 2H-type transition metal dichalcogenides

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have become a fertile playground for the exploration and manipulation of novel collective electronic states. Recent experiments have unveiled a variety of robust 2D orders in highly-crystalline materials ranging from magnetism to ferroelectricity and from superconductivity to charge density wave (CDW) instability. The latter, in particular, appears in diverse patterns even within the same family of materials with isoelectronic species. Furthermore, how they evolve with dimensionality has so far remained elusive. Here we propose a general framework that provides a unfied picture of CDW ordering in the 2H polytype of four isoelectronic transition metal dichalcogenides 2H-MX$_2$ (M=Nb, Ta and X=S, Se). We first show experimentally that whilst NbSe$_2$ exhibits a strongly enhanced CDW order in the 2D limit, the opposite trend exists for TaSe$_2$ and TaS$_2$, with CDW being entirely absent in NbS$_2$ from its bulk to the monolayer. Such distinct behaviours are then demonstrated to be the result of a subtle, yet profound, competition between three factors: ionic charge transfer, electron-phonon coupling, and the spreading extension of the electronic wave functions. Despite its simplicity, our approach can, in essence, be applied to other quasi-2D materials to account for their CDW response at different thicknesses, thereby shedding new light on this intriguing quantum phenomenon and its underlying mechanisms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Giant enhancement of cryogenic thermopower by polar structural instability in the pressurized semimetal MoTe2

We found that a high mobility semimetal 1T'-MoTe2 shows a significant pressure-dependent change in the cryogenic thermopower in the vicinity of the critical pressure, where the polar structural transition disappears. With the application of a high pressure of 0.75 GPa, while the resistivity becomes as low as 10 μΩcm, thermopower reached the maximum value of 60 μVK-1 at 25 K, leading to a giant thermoelectric power factor of 300 μWK-2cm-1. Based on semiquantitative analyses, the origin of this behavior is discussed in terms of inelastic electron-phonon scattering enhanced by the softening of zone center phonon modes associated with the polar structural instability.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Disorder induced multifractal superconductivity in monolayer niobium dichalcogenides

The interplay between disorder and superconductivity is a subtle and fascinating phenomenon in quantum many body physics. The conventional superconductors are insensitive to dilute nonmagnetic impurities, known as the Anderson's theorem. Destruction of superconductivity and even superconductor-insulator transitions occur in the regime of strong disorder. Hence disorder-enhanced superconductivity is rare and has only been observed in some alloys or granular states. Because of the entanglement of various effects, the mechanism of enhancement is still under debate. Here we report well-controlled disorder effect in the recently discovered monolayer NbSe$_2$ superconductor. The superconducting transition temperatures of NbSe$_2$ monolayers are substantially increased by disorder. Realistic theoretical modeling shows that the unusual enhancement possibly arises from the multifractality of electron wave functions. This work provides the first experimental evidence of the multifractal superconducting state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Superconductivity protected by spin-valley locking in ion-gated MoS2

Symmetry-breaking has been known to play a key role in noncentrosymmetric superconductors with strong spin-orbit-interaction (SOI). The studies, however, have been so far mainly focused on a particular type of SOI, known as Rashba SOI, whereby the electron spin is locked to its momentum at a right-angle, thereby leading to an in-planar helical spin texture. Here we discuss electric-field-induced superconductivity in molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), which exhibits a fundamentally different type of intrinsic SOI manifested by an out-of-plane Zeeman-type spin polarization of energy valleys. We find an upper critical field of approximately 52 T at 1.5 K, which indicates an enhancement of the Pauli limit by a factor of four as compared to that in centrosymmetric conventional superconductors. Using realistic tight-binding calculations, we reveal that this unusual behaviour is due to an inter-valley pairing that is symmetrically protected by Zeeman-type spin-valley locking against external magnetic fields. Our study sheds a new light on the interplay of inversion asymmetry with SOI in confined geometries, and its unprecedented role in superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Rich structural phase diagram and thermoelectric properties of layered tellurides Mo1-xNbxTe2

MoTe2 is a rare transition-metal ditelluride having two kinds of layered polytypes, hexagonal structure with trigonal prismatic Mo coordination and monoclinic structure with octahedral Mo coordination. The monoclinic distortion in the latter is caused by anisotropic metal-metal bonding. In this work, we have examined the Nb doping effect on both polytypes of MoTe2 and clarified a structural phase diagram for Mo1-xNbxTe2 containing four kinds of polytypes. A rhombohedral polytype crystallizing in polar space group has been newly identified as a high-temperature metastable phase at slightly Nb-rich composition. Considering the results of thermoelectric measurements and the first principles calculations, the Nb ion seemingly acts as a hole dopant in the rigid band scheme. On the other hand, the significant interlayer contraction upon the Nb doping, associated with the Te p-p hybridization, is confirmed especially for the monoclinic phase, which implies a shift of the p-band energy level. The origin of the metal-metal bonding in the monoclinic structure is discussed in terms of the d electron counting and the Te p-p hybridization.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Giant thermoelectric effect in graphene-based topological insulators with nanopores

Designing thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit $ZT=S^2 G T/κ$ requires fulfilling three often irreconcilable conditions, i.e., the high electrical conductance $G$, small thermal conductance $κ$ and high Seebeck coefficient $S$. Nanostructuring is one of the promising ways to achieve this goal as it can substantially suppress lattice contribution to $κ$. However, it may also unfavorably influence the electronic transport in an uncontrollable way. Here we theoretically demonstrate that this issue can be ideally solved by fabricating graphene nanoribbons with heavy adatoms and nanopores. These systems, acting as a two-dimensional topological insulator with robust helical edge states carrying electrical current, yield a highly optimized power factor $S^2G$ per helical conducting channel. Concurrently, their array of nanopores impedes the lattice thermal conduction through the bulk. Using quantum transport simulations coupled with first-principles electronic and phononic band structure calculations, the thermoelectric figure of merit is found to reach its maximum $ZT \simeq 3$ at $T \simeq 40$ K. This paves a way to design high-$ZT$ materials by exploiting the nontrivial topology of electronic states through nanostructuring.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Theory of topological quantum phase transitions in 3D noncentrosymmetric systems

We have constructed a general theory describing the topological quantum phase transitions in 3D systems with broken inversion symmetry. While the consideration of the system's codimension generally predicts the appearance of a stable metallic phase between the normal and topological insulators, it is shown that a direct topological phase transition between two insulators is also possible when an accidental band crossing (ABC) occurs along directions with high crystalline symmetry. At the quantum critical point (QCP), the energy dispersion becomes quadratic along one direction while the dispersions along the other two orthogonal directions are linear, which manifests the zero chirality of the band touching point (BTP). Due to the anisotropic dispersion at QCP, various thermodynamic and transport properties show unusual temperature dependence and anisotropic behaviors.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Topological protection of bound states against the hybridization

Topological invariants are conventionally known to be responsible for protection of extended states against disorder. A prominent example is the presence of topologically protected extended-states in two-dimensional (2D) quantum Hall systems as well as on the surface of three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators. Distinct from such cases, here we introduce a new concept, that is, the topological protection of bound states against hybridization. This situation is shown to be realizable in a 2D quantum Hall insulator put on a 3D trivial insulator. In such a configuration, there exist topologically protected bound states, localized along the normal direction of 2D plane, in spite of hybridization with the continuum of extended states. The one-dimensional edge states are also localized along the same direction as long as their energies are within the band gap. This finding demonstrates the dual role of topological invariants, as they can also protect bound states against hybridization in a continuum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗