arXiv subjects

Mohit Randeria

Publications and source records attributed to Mohit Randeria.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Probing the pairing symmetry of moir\'e graphene superconductors

The pairing symmetry of magic-angle moir\'e graphene is a fundamental question that remains unresolved. Combining experimental and theoretical inputs, we constrain the superconducting order parameters that can emerge from the incommensurate Kekul\'e spiral (IKS) normal state on the hole-doped side of $\nu = -2$. Imposing the additional experimental constraint of nodal superconductivity, we are left with the task of distinguishing between singlet or triplet pairing, and of determining the d-vector in the latter case. We propose definitive tests to identify the pairing symmetry based on two classes of experiments using the response of the superconducting state to Zeeman field orientation. The first set of predictions is for spectroscopic and thermodynamic measurements sensitive to low-energy excitations near the nodes. The second set is for phase-sensitive measurements of topologically protected Andreev bound states near boundaries, whose spectroscopy is shown to provide a smoking gun signature of the pairing symmetry.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Understanding insulating ferromagnetism in LaCoO3 films under tensile strain

LaCoO3 thin films grown under epitaxial tensile strain exhibit a robust ferromagnetic insulating state that is absent in the bulk. Despite many studies, both experimental and computational, the microscopic origin of this phenomenon is not well understood. In this work, density functional theory calculations are used to systematically investigate the magnetic ground state of stoichiometric LaCoO3 under epitaxial strain equivalent to that imposed by a SrTiO3 substrate. The results identify a ferromagnetic insulating ground state characterized by a unique ordered array of high-spin (HS) and low-spin (LS) Co3+ ions. The spin state ordering is best described as 2 x 2 columns that consist of alternating HS and LS Co3+ ions, separated by planes of LS Co3+ ions. This leads to HS-LS-LS repeating sequence of Co3+ ions in both pseudocubic [100] and [010] directions. Analysis of the electronic structure confirms the presence of an insulating gap. Evaluation of the superexchange interactions reveal ferromagnetic interactions between HS Co3+ ions via 90 degree paths, and antiferromagnetic interactions via 180 degree paths, both of which are facilitated by empty sigma* (eg) orbitals on the diamagnetic LS Co3+ ions. The strength and number of 90 degree ferromagnetic interactions are sufficient to overcome the competing 180 degree antiferromagnetic interactions stabilizing a ferromagnetic insulating state.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Enhancement of Curie Temperature in Ferromagnetic Insulator-Topological Insulator Heterostructures

We theoretically analyze the topological insulator (TI) surface state mediated interactions between local moments in a proximate 2D ferromagnetic insulator (FMI) motivated by recent experiments that show a significant increase in the Curie temperature Tc of FMI-TI heterostructures. Such interactions have been investigated earlier with a focus on dilute magnetic dopants in TIs. Our problem involves a dense set of moments for which we find that the short range Bloembergen-Rowland interaction, arising from virtual particle-hole transitions between the valence and conduction bands, dominates over the oscillatory Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction. We show that the Tc enhancement is proportional to the Van Vleck susceptibility and that the spin-momentum locking of surface states leads to out-of-plane ferromagnetic order in the FMI. We investigate how the hybridization between top and bottom surfaces in a thin TI film impacts Tc enhancement, and show how our results can help understand recent experiments on atomically thin Cr2Te3-(Bi,Sb)2Te3.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Andreev versus Tunneling Spectroscopy of Unconventional Flat Band Superconductors

STM experiments in the tunneling and Andreev regimes on graphene-based moire superconductors (SC) show two distinct energy scales whose origin is mysterious. We express the conductance of a normal-SC interface in terms of Green's functions, which allows us to sharpen the issues in two ways. First, we show that the two distinct energy scales cannot be understood in terms of a pseudogap in tunneling and a superconducting gap in the Andreev spectra. Second, the large Fermi velocity vF mismatch between the STM tip and the at band SC renormalizes a transparent interface towards the tunneling regime, and the ballistic Andreev regime cannot be realized in moire SCs. We also discuss self energy corrections to vF that determines the conductance. Finally, we offer a resolution to these problems by modeling the Andreev experiment as a circular metallic disc embedded in an unconventional SC. We show that with strong vF mismatch the low bias conductance is dominated by Andreev bound states induced by the tip at the interface with the unconventional SC. The ABS give rise to the low energy scale seen in Andreev experiments, smaller than the SC gap in tunneling spectroscopy.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Anomalous and Topological Hall Effects with Phase-Space Berry Curvatures: Electric, Thermal, and Thermoelectric Transport in Magnets

We develop a theory for the electrical and thermal transverse linear response functions such as the Hall, Nernst and thermal Hall effects in magnetic materials that harbor topological spin textures like skyrmions. In addition to the ordinary transverse response that arises from the Lorentz force due to the external magnetic field, there is an anomalous and a topological response. The intrinsic anomalous response derives from the momentum space Berry curvature arising from the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in a system with a nonzero magnetization, while the topological response arises from real space Berry curvature related to the the topological charge density of the spin texture. To take into account all these effects on an equal footing, we develop a semiclassical theory that incorporates all phase-space Berry curvatures. We show within a controlled, semiclassical approach that all conductivities -- electrical, thermoelectric, and thermal Hall -- can be written as the sum of three contributions: ordinary, anomalous and topological, when the conduction electron SOC is weaker than the exchange coupling to the spin texture. All other contributions, including those arising from mixed real-momentum space Berry curvature, are negligible in the regime where our calculations are controlled. We derive various general relations that remain valid at low temperatures including the Weidemann-Franz relation between the electrical and thermal conductivities and the Mott relation between the thermoelectric and electrical conductivities. We also discuss how an in-plane Hall response arises in three-dimensional materials with sufficiently low symmetry. Finally, the Hall response is qualitatively different when the conduction electron SOC is stronger than the exchange coupling to the spin texture, where we find that the anomalous term dominates and the topological term vanishes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Emergent Ferromagnetism at LaFeO3/SrTiO3 Interface Arising from Strain-induced Spin-State Transition

Creating new interfacial magnetic states with desired functionalities is attractive for fundamental studies and spintronics applications. The emergence of interfacial magnetic phases demands the fabrication of pristine interfaces and the characterization and understanding of atomic structure as well as electronic, magnetic, and orbital degrees of freedom at the interface. Here, we report a novel interfacial insulating ferromagnetic order in antiferromagnetic LaFeO3 grown on SrTiO3, characterized by a combination of electron microscopy and spectroscopy, magnetometry, and density functional theory. The epitaxial strain drives a spin-state disproportionation in the interfacial layer of LaFeO3, which leads to a checkerboard arrangement of low- and high-spin Fe3+ ions inside smaller and larger FeO6 octahedra, respectively. Ferromagnetism at the interface arises from superexchange interactions between the low- and high-spin Fe3+. The detailed understanding of creation of emergent magnetism illustrates the potential of designing and controlling orbital degrees of freedom at the interface to realize novel phases and functionalities for future spin-electronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Pairing Symmetry and Fermion Projective Symmetry Groups

The Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory is very successful in describing the pairing symmetry, a fundamental characterization of the broken symmetries in a paired superfluid or superconductor. However, GL theory does not describe fermionic excitations such as Bogoliubov quasiparticles or Andreev bound states that are directly related to topological properties of the superconductor. In this work, we show that the symmetries of the fermionic excitations are captured by a Projective Symmetry Group (PSG), which is a group extension of the bosonic symmetry group in the superconducting state. We further establish a correspondence between the pairing symmetry and the fermion PSG. When the normal and superconducting states share the same spin rotational symmetry, there is a simpler correspondence between the pairing symmetry and the fermion PSG, which we enumerate for all 32 crystalline point groups. We also discuss the general framework for computing PSGs when the spin rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken in the superconducting state. This PSG formalism leads to experimental consequences, and as an example, we show how a given pairing symmetry dictates the classification of topological superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Enhanced Ferromagnetism in Monolayer Cr2Te3 via Topological Insulator Coupling

Exchange-coupled interfaces are pivotal in exploiting two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetism. Due to the extraordinary correlations among charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom, layered magnetic transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) bode well for exotic topological phenomena. Here we report the realization of wafer-scale Cr2Te3 down to monolayer (ML) on insulating SrTiO3(111) and/or Al2O3(001) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. Robust ferromagnetism persists in the 2D limit. In particular, the Curie temperature TC of 2 ML Cr2Te3 increases from 100 K to ~ 120 K when proximitized to topological insulator (TI) (Bi,Sb)2Te3, with substantially boosted magnetization as observed via polarized neutron reflectometry. Our experiments and theory strongly indicate that the Bloembergen-Rowland interaction is likely universal underlying TC enhancement in TI-coupled magnetic heterostructures. The topological-surface-enhanced magnetism in 2D TMC enables further exchange coupling physics and quantum hybrid studies, including paving the way to realize interface-modulated topological electronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Autoencoder-based analytic continuation method for strongly correlated quantum systems

The single particle Green's function provides valuable information on the momentum and energy-resolved spectral properties for a strongly correlated system. In large-scale numerical calculations using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC), dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), including cluster-DMFT, one usually obtains the Green's function in imaginary-time $G(\tau)$. The process of inverting a Laplace transform to obtain the spectral function $A(\omega)$ in real-frequency is an ill-posed problem and forms the core of the analytic continuation problem. In this Letter, we propose to use a completely unsupervised autoencoder-type neural network to solve the analytic continuation problem. We introduce an encoder-decoder approach that, together with only minor physical assumptions, can extract a high-quality frequency response from the imaginary time domain. With a deeply tunable architecture, this method can, in principle, locate sharp features of spectral functions that might normally be lost using already well-established methods, such as maximum entropy (MaxEnt) methods. We demonstrate the strength of the autoencoder approach by applying it to QMC results of $G(\tau)$ for a single-band Hubbard model. The proposed method is general and can also be applied to other ill-posed inverse problems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Room-Temperature Magnetic Skyrmions in Pt/Co/Cu Multilayers

Magnetic skyrmions are promising for next-generation information storage and processing owing to their potential advantages in data storage density, robustness, and energy efficiency. The magnetic multilayers consisting of Pt, Co, and a third metal element $X$ provide an ideal platform to study the skyrmions due to their highly tunable magnetic properties. Here, we report the observation of room-temperature bubble-like Néel skyrmions in epitaxial Pt/Co/Cu multilayers in samples with multidomain states in zero field. The magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry are applied to investigate the shapes of the hysteresis loops, the magnetic anisotropy, and the saturation magnetization. By tuning the Co thickness and the number of periods, we achieve perpendicular and in-plane magnetized states and multidomain states that are identified by a wasp-waisted hysteresis loop. Skyrmions are directly imaged by magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM). The development of room-temperature skyrmions in Pt/Co/Cu multilayers may lead to advances in skyrmion-related research and applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

An Atomically Tailored Chiral Magnet with Small Skyrmions at Room Temperature

Creating materials that do not exist in nature can lead to breakthroughs in science and technology. Magnetic skyrmions are topological excitations that have attracted great attention recently for their potential applications in low power, ultrahigh density memory. A major challenge has been to find materials that meet the dual requirement of small skyrmions stable at room temperature. Here we meet both these goals by developing epitaxial FeGe films with excess Fe using atomic layer molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) far from thermal equilibrium. Our novel atomic layer design permits the incorporation of 20% excess Fe while maintaining a non-centrosymmetric crystal structure supported by theoretical calculations and necessary for stabilizing skyrmions. We show that the Curie temperature is well above room temperature, and that the skyrmions probed by topological Hall effect have sizes down to 15 nm as imaged by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (LTEM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Our results illustrate new avenues for creating artificial materials tailored at the atomic scale that can impact nanotechnology.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Theory of Topological Nernst and Thermoelectric Transport in Chiral Magnets

We calculate the thermoelectric transport of spin-orbit coupled conduction electrons in the presence of topological spin textures. We show, within a controlled, semiclassical approach that includes all phase space Berry curvatures, that the Nernst effect has two contributions in addition to the usual effect proportional to a magnetic field. These are an anomalous contribution governed by the momentum-space Berry curvature and proportional to net magnetization, and a topological contribution determined by the real-space Berry curvature and proportional to the topological charge density, which is non-zero in skyrmion phases. We derive a generalized Mott relation expressing the thermoelectric tensor as the chemical potential derivative of the conductivity tensor and show how the Sondheimer cancellation in the Nernst effect is evaded in chiral magnets.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Ultrafast laser-driven dynamics in metal-insulator interface

The nearly free electron metal next to a localized Mott insulating state has been recently proposed as a way to probe Kondo lattice physics and to gain insight into how the two extremes of localized and delocalized electron states interact (Sunko, et al, Science advances 6, 2020). Although high harmonic generation has been used extensively to investigate the gas phase, its extension to solids is relatively recent, and has not yet been applied to interfaces. Here, we investigate the field-induced dielectric break-down at the Mott-insulator/metal interface using high harmonic generation, emitted when the interface is subjected to an ultrafast laser pulse. We show that the intensity of high harmonic emission correlates closely with doublon production and the corresponding loss of short-range anti-ferromagnetic order. For strong interlayer coupling, the harmonic intensity is defined by a phase transition between states that do not exist in a pure Mott insulator case. For weak interlayer coupling, the threshold for dielectric breakdown is considerably lowered due to the presence of a metallic layer. This suggests that interlayer coupling can be used as an additional knob to control magnetic insulator break-down, with implications for using Mott insulators as memristors in neuromorphic circuits.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Quantum Oscillations in the Magnetisation and Density of States of Insulators

The observation of $1/B$-periodic behavior in Kondo insulators SmB$_6$ and YbB$_{12}$ challenges the conventional wisdom that quantum oscillations (QO) necessarily arise from Fermi surfaces in metals. We revisit recently proposed theories for this phenomena, focusing on a minimal model of an insulator with a hybridization gap between two opposite-parity light and heavy mass bands with an inverted band structure. We show that there are characteristic differences between the QO frequencies in the magnetization and the low-energy density of states (LE-DOS) of these insulators, in marked contrast with metals where all observables exhibit oscillations at the same frequency. The magnetization oscillations are shown to arise from all occupied Landau levels and exhibit the same frequency as the unhybridized case. The LE-DOS oscillations arise from gap-edge states in a disorder-free system and exhibit a beat pattern between two distinct frequencies at low temperature. Disorder induced in-gap states lead to an additional contribution to the DOS at the unhybridized frequency. The temperature dependence of the magnetization and DOS oscillations are qualitatively different and both show marked deviations from the Lifshitz-Kosevich form. We also compute transport to ensure that we are probing a regime with insulating upturns in the dc resistivity.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Unified Theory of the Anomalous and Topological Hall Effects with Phase Space Berry Curvatures

Hall experiments in chiral magnets are often analyzed as the sum of an anomalous Hall effect, dominated by momentum-space Berry curvature, and a topological Hall effect, arising from the real-space Berry curvature in the presence of skyrmions, in addition to the ordinary Hall resistivity. This raises the questions of how one can incorporate, on an equal footing, the effects of the anomalous velocity and the real space winding of the magnetization, and when such a decomposition of the resistivity is justified. We provide definitive answers to these questions by including the effects of all phase-space Berry curvatures in a semi-classical approach and by solving the Boltzmann equation in a weak spin-orbit coupling regime when the magnetization texture varies slowly on the scale of the mean free path. We show that the Hall resistivity is then just the sum of the anomalous and topological contributions, with negligible corrections from Berry curvature-independent and mixed curvature terms. We also use an exact Kubo formalism to numerically investigate the opposite limit of infinite mean path, and show that the results are similar to the semi-classical results.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Enhancing Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Garnet Ferrimagnet by Interfacing with Few-Layer WTe2

Engineering magnetic anisotropy in a ferro- or ferrimagnetic (FM) thin film is crucial in spintronic device. One way to modify the magnetic anisotropy is through the surface of the FM thin film. Here, we report the emergence of a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) induced by interfacial interactions in a heterostructure comprised of a garnet ferrimagnet, Y3Fe5O12 (YIG), and the low-symmetry, high spin orbit coupling (SOC) transition metal dichalcogenide, WTe2. At the same time, we also observed an enhancement in Gilbert damping in the WTe2 covered YIG area. Both the magnitude of interface-induced PMA and the Gilbert damping enhancement have no observable WTe2 thickness dependence down to single quadruple-layer, indicating that the interfacial interaction plays a critical role. The ability of WTe2 to enhance the PMA in FM thin film, combined with its previously reported capability to generate out-of-plane damping like spin torque, makes it desirable for magnetic memory applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Evidence for Flat Band Dirac Superconductor Originating from Quantum Geometry

In a flat band superconductor, the charge carriers' group velocity vF is extremely slow, quenching their kinetic energy. The emergence of superconductivity thus appears paradoxical, as conventional BCS theory implies a vanishing coherence length, superfluid stiffness, and critical current. Here, using twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG), we explore the profound effect of vanishingly small vF in a Dirac superconducting flat band system Using Schwinger-limited non-linear transport studies, we demonstrate an extremely slow vF ~ 1000 m/s for filling fraction nu between -1/2 and -3/4 of the moire superlattice. In the superconducting state, the same velocity limit constitutes a new limiting mechanism for the critical current, analogous to a relativistic superfluid. Importantly, our measurement of superfluid stiffness, which controls the superconductor's electrodynamic response, shows that it is not dominated by the kinetic energy, but instead by the interaction-driven superconducting gap, consistent with recent theories on a quantum geometric contribution. We find evidence for small pairs, characteristic of the BCS to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover, with an unprecedented ratio of the superconducting transition temperature to the Fermi temperature exceeding unity, and discuss how this arises for very strong coupling superconductivity in ultra-flat Dirac bands.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Optical Spectral Weight, Phase Stiffness and Tc Bounds for Trivial and Topological Flat Band Superconductors

We present exact results that give insight into how interactions lead to transport and superconductivity in a flat band where the electrons have no kinetic energy. We obtain bounds for the optical spectral weight for flat band superconductors, that lead to upper bounds for the superfluid stiffness and the 2D $T_c$. We focus on on-site attraction $|U|$ on the Lieb lattice with trivial flat bands and on the $π$-flux model with topological flat bands. For trivial flat bands, the low-energy optical spectral weight $\widetilde{D}_\text{low} \leq \widetilde{n} |U| Ω/2$ with $\widetilde{n} = \min\left(n,2-n\right)$, where $n$ is the flat band density and $Ω$ the Marzari-Vanderbilt spread of the Wannier functions (WFs). We also obtain a lower bound involving the quantum metric. For topological flat bands, with an obstruction to localized WFs respecting all symmetries, we again obtain an upper bound for $D_{\rm low}$ linear in $|U|$. We discuss the insights obtained from our bounds by comparing them with mean-field and quantum Monte-Carlo results.

cond-mat.supr-con↗