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Oleg P. Sushkov

Publications and source records attributed to Oleg P. Sushkov.

70 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Screening of Coulomb Impurities in Graphene

We calculate exactly the vacuum polarization charge density in the field of a subcritical Coulomb impurity, $Z|e|/r$, in graphene. Our analysis is based on the exact electron Green's function, obtained by using the operator method, and leads to results that are exact in the parameter $Zα$, where $α$ is the "fine structure constant" of graphene. Taking into account also electron-electron interactions in the Hartree approximation, we solve the problem self-consistently in the subcritical regime, where the impurity has an effective charge $Z_{eff}$, determined by the localized induced charge. We find that an impurity with bare charge Z=1 remains subcritical, $Z_{eff} α< 1/2$, for any $α$, while impurities with $Z=2,3$ and higher can become supercritical at certain values of $α$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

AC Hopping Magnetotransport Across the Spin Flop Transition in Lightly Doped La_2CuO_4

The weak ferromagnetism present in insulating La_{2}CuO_4 at low doping leads to a spin flop transition, and to transverse (interplane) hopping of holes in a strong external magnetic field. This results in a dimensional crossover 2D $\to$ 3D for the in-plane transport, which in turn leads to an increase of the hole's localization length and increased conduction. We demonstrate theoretically that as a consequence of this mechanism, a frequency-dependent jump of the in-plane ac hopping conductivity occurs at the spin flop transition. We predict the value and the frequency dependence of the jump. Experimental studies of this effect would provide important confirmation of the emerging understanding of lightly doped insulating La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Effective action of the weakly doped t-J model and spin-wave excitations in the spin-glass phase of La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4

We derive the low-energy effective field theory of the extended t-J model in the regime of light doping. The action includes a previously unknown Berry phase term, which is discussed in detail. We use this effective field theory to calculate spin-wave excitations in the disordered spin spiral state of La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 (the spin-glass phase). We predict an excitation spectrum with two distinct branches: The in-plane mode has the usual linear spin-wave dispersion and the out-of-plane mode shows non-trivial doping dependent features. We also calculate the intensities for inelastic neutron scattering in these modes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Destruction of Neel order and local spin spirals in insulating La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4

Starting from the t-J model, we derive an effective field theory describing the spin dynamics in the insulating phase of La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4, x < 0.055, at low temperature. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the destruction of Neel order is driven by the single-hole localization length kappa. A phase transition at 2% doping is consistent with the value of kappa known from the variable range hopping conductivity. The static spin structure factor obtained in our calculations is in perfect agreement with neutron scattering data over the whole range of doping. We also demonstrate that topological defects (spin vortex-antivortex pairs) are an intrinsic property of the spin-glass ground state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Spin-flop transitions and spin-wave gaps in La_2CuO_4

We study the spin-wave spectrum and the spin-flop transitions in La_2CuO_4 in a uniform magnetic field at zero temperature. Using the non-linear sigma-model, we show that a field applied along the orthorhombic b direction leads to a two-step rotation of the staggered magnetization, first in the bc and then in the ac plane, until the order parameter is completely aligned along the c axis. In contrast, for a perpendicular magnetic field, we find a conventional spin-flop transition induced by the competition between the field and the interlayer coupling. A comparison with recent measurements of the field-dependence of the in-plane spin-wave gap shows a beautiful agreement between theory and experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Local spin spirals in the Neel phase of La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4

Experimental observations of lightly doped La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4, x < 0.02, revealed remarkable magnetic properties such as the incommensurate noncollinear ordering (additional to the Neel ordering) and a tremendous doping dependence of the uniform longitudinal susceptibility. We show that the spiral solution of the t-t'-t''-J model obtained by taking into account the Coulomb trapping of holes by Sr ions describes these puzzling data perfectly well. Our solution firstly explains why the incommensurate structure is directed along the orthorhombic b-axis, and secondly allows a numerical calculation of the positions and shapes of the incommensurate neutron scattering peaks. Thirdly, we calculate the doping dependence of the spin-wave gap, and lastly, we study the longitudinal magnetic susceptibility and show that its doping dependence is due to the noncollinearity of the spin spiral.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Single-hole properties of the t-J model on the honeycomb lattice

Motivated by the possible charge ordering in the recently discovered superconductor Na_xCoO_2 yH_2O, which at filling x=1/3 would correspond to a half-filled honeycomb lattice, we investigate the single-hole dynamics of the t-J model on this lattice. Using exact diagonalization, series expansion and the self-consistent Born approximation, we calculate the quasi-particle dispersion, bandwidth and residues and compare our findings with the well established results for the square lattice. Given the similarities between both lattices, it is not surprising that we find qualitatively similar features for the honeycomb lattice, namely an almost flat band along the edge of the magnetic Brillouin zone and well defined hole pockets around the corners. However, we report a considerable disagreement between the three methods used concerning the bandwidth and discuss possible origins of this discrepancy.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Spiral Spin Order and Transport Anisotropy in Underdoped Cuprates

We discuss the spiral spin density wave model and its application to explain properties of underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$. We argue that the spiral picture is theoretically well justified in the context of the extended $t-J$ model, and then show that it can explain a number of observed features, such as the location and symmetry of the incommensurate peaks in elastic neutron scattering, as well as the in-plane resistivity anisotropy. A consistent description of the low doping region (below 10% or so) emerges from the spiral formulation, in which the holes show no tendency towards any type of charge order and the physics is purely spin driven.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Theory of Anisotropic Hopping Transport due to Spiral Correlations in the Spin-Glass Phase of Underdoped Cuprates

We study the in-plane resistivity anisotropy in the spin-glass phase of the high-$T_{c}$ cuprates, on the basis of holes moving in a spiral spin background. This picture follows from analysis of the extended $t-J$ model with Coulomb impurities. In the variable-range hopping regime the resistivity anisotropy is found to have a maximum value of around 90%, and it decreases with temperature, in excellent agreement with experiments in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$. In our approach the transport anisotropy is due to the non-collinearity of the spiral spin state, rather than an intrinsic tendency of the charges to self-organize.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Theory of incommensurate magnetic correlations across the insulator-superconductor transition in underdoped La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4

The main feature in the elastic neutron scattering of La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 is the existence of incommensurate peaks with positions that jump from 45 to 0 degrees at 5% doping. We show that the spiral state of the t-t'-t''-J model with realistic parameters describes this data perfectly. We explain why in the insulator the peak is at 45 degrees while it switches to 0 degrees precisely at the insulator-metal transition. The calculated positions of the peaks are in agreement with the data in both phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Long-range dynamics of magnetic impurities coupled to a two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We consider a two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice with weakly coupled impurities, i.e. additional spins interacting with the host magnet by a small dimensionless coupling constant g<<1. Using linear spin-wave theory, we find that the magnetization disturbance at distance r from a single impurity behaves as g/r for 1< >1/g. Surprisingly the disturbance is inversely proportional to the coupling constant! The interaction between two impurities separated by a distance r is proportional to g^2/r for 1< >1/g. Hence at large distances, the interaction is universal and independent of the coupling constant. We also find that the frequency of Rabi oscillations between two impurities is proportional to g^2 ln(gr) at 1<<r<<1/g, logarithmically enhanced compared to the spin-wave width. This leads to a new mechanism for NMR, NQR and EPR line broadening. All these astonishing results are due to the gapless spectrum of the magnetic excitations in the quantum antiferromagnet.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Stability of the spiral phase in the 2D extended t-J model

We analyze the t-t'-t''-J model at low doping by chiral perturbation theory and show that the (1,0) spiral state is stabilized by the presence of t',t'' above critical values around 0.2J, assuming t/J=3.1. We find that the (magnon mediated) hole-hole interactions have an important effect on the region of charge stability in the space of parameters t',t'', generally increasing stability, while the stability in the magnetic sector is guaranteed by the presence of spin quantum fluctuations (order from disorder effect). These conclusions are based on perturbative analysis performed up to two loops, with very good convergence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Superconducting Spiral Phase in the two-dimensional t-J model

We analyse the t-t'-t''-J model, relevant to the superconducting cuprates. By using chiral perturbation theory we have determined the ground state to be a spiral for small doping δ<< 1 near half filling. In this limit the solution does not contain any uncontrolled approximations. We evaluate the spin-wave Green's functions and address the issue of stability of the spiral state, leading to the phase diagram of the model. At t'=t''=0 the spiral state is unstable towards a local enhancement of the spiral pitch, and the nature of the true ground state remains unclear. However, for values of t' and t'' corresponding to real cuprates the (1,0) spiral state is stabilized by quantum fluctuations (``order from disorder'' effect). We show that at δ= 0.119 the spiral is commensurate with the lattice with a period of 8 lattice spacings. It is also demonstrated that spin-wave mediated superconductivity develops in the spiral state and a lower limit for the superconducting gap is derived. Even though one cannot classify the gap symmetry according to the lattice representations (s,p,d,...) since the symmetry of the lattice is spontaneously broken by the spiral, the gap always has lines of nodes along the (1,\pm 1) directions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Critical Dynamics of Singlet Excitations in a Frustrated Spin System

We construct and analyze a two-dimensional frustrated quantum spin model with plaquette order, in which the low-energy dynamics is controlled by spin singlets. At a critical value of frustration the singlet spectrum becomes gapless, indicating a quantum transition to a phase with dimer order. This T=0 transition belongs to the 3D Ising universality class, while at finite temperature a 2D Ising critical line separates the plaquette and dimerized phases. The magnetic susceptibility has an activated form throughout the phase diagram, whereas the specific heat exhibits a rich structure and a power law dependence on temperature at the quantum critical point. We argue that the novel quantum critical behavior associated with singlet criticality discussed in this work can be relevant to a wide class of quantum spin systems, such as antiferromagnets on Kagome and pyrochlore lattices, where the low-energy excitations are known to be spin singlets, as well as to the CAVO lattice and several recently discovered strongly frustrated square-lattice antiferromagnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Low-energy singlet and triplet excitations in the spin-liquid phase of the two-dimensional J1-J2 model

We analyze the stability of the spontaneously dimerized spin-liquid phase of the frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet - the J1-J2 model. The lowest triplet excitation, corresponding to breaking of a singlet bond, is found to be stable in the region 0.38 < J2/J1 < 0.62. In addition we find a stable low-energy collective singlet mode, which is closely related to the spontaneous violation of the discrete symmetry. Both modes are gapped in the quantum disordered phase and become gapless at the transition point to the Neel ordered phase (J2/J1=0.38). The spontaneous dimerization vanishes at the transition and we argue that the disappearance of dimer order is related to the vanishing of the singlet gap. We also present exact diagonalization data on a small (4x4) cluster which indeed show a structure of the spectrum, consistent with that of a system with a four-fold degenerate (spontaneously dimerized) ground state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

On the nature of the transition from the spontaneously dimerized to the Neel phase in the two-dimensional J1-J2 model

We analyze the spectrum of the 2D S=1/2 frustrated Heisenberg model near the transition from the spontaneously dimerized spin-liquid phase into the Neel ordered phase. Two excitation branches: the triplet magnon, and the collective singlet mode, both become gapless at the transition point. However we find that the length scales associated with these modes are well separated at the quantum transition. While in the quantum disordered phase the singlet excitation has finite spectral weight and reflects the existence of spontaneous dimer order, near the transition point the size of the singlet bound state grows exponentially with the correlation length, and hence the quasiparticle residue is exponentially small. Therefore the critical dynamics remains in the O(3) universality class in spite of the four gapless modes.

cond-mat.str-el↗