arXiv subjects

Paula Mellado

Publications and source records attributed to Paula Mellado.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Flux Jamming and Bimodal Dynamics in Bounded Spin Networks

We present a quantitative framework for predicting how kinetic barriers governing temperature dependent relaxation arise in finite square magnetic networks. By formulating a series of non homogeneous transfer matrices from the adjacency spectrum of the underlying graph, we show how local coordination shapes the energy landscape and identifies geometric regions that act as bottlenecks for flux transport. Our approach predicts bimodal kinetic behavior, in which long intervals of trapping within charge compensated manifolds are interrupted by sudden, avalanche like relaxation episodes. Representing finite systems with a Husimi tree, we find that low temperature data from forty generations collapse onto a single curve consistent with a power law scaling form, implying that boundary truncation alone can give rise to scale invariant flux arrest, analogous to athermal granular jamming. By employing transition probabilities constructed from local Boltzmann factors, this framework connects equilibrium energy landscape concepts to non equilibrium phenomena, including kinetic arrest and telegraph noise, thereby enabling the prediction and design of intermittent transport in finite, frustrated networks.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Moiré Folded Helical States at the Interfaces of Heterostructures

A minimal model of a graphene--topological-insulator heterostructure is considered, where a moiré superlattice modulates the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOC). In the spin-degenerate, spin-orbit--free limit, the reduced Brillouin zone contains flat, spin-degenerate moiré minibands, with periodicity determined by superlattice folding. The inclusion of SOC lifts the spin degeneracy and reduces the effective spectral periodicity by a factor of two. Through SOC, the moiré potential entangles spin, sublattice, and leg degrees of freedom, reshaping the miniband structure in momentum space and generating emergent helicity spectral functions. As the Rashba coupling is renormalized by the moiré pattern, it induces helicity fragmentation, in which the helicity weight is distributed across a dense manifold of moiré minibands, forming an extended network of helicity-carrying states and significantly enhancing helicity fluctuations at the bare-response level. The emergence of Dirac-like miniband crossings at finite SOC demonstrates that moiré heterostructures can support relativistic quasiparticles through band reconstruction. This model provides a microscopic mechanism by which proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling can be amplified via moiré engineering.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Chiral and Clock phases in Twisted Dipolar Clusters

We study samples and a dipolar model of magnetic rods arranged on twisted polygonal clusters in terms of the twist angle. We find that the relative twist between polygons induces noncollinear chiral phases, ranging from flux vortex closure to hedgehog like radial configurations. Chirality, quantified in terms of a bond order parameter, is an emergent property that behaves here as an Ising variable. The chiral configurations of the systems can be understood in terms of chirality and clock index order parameters, whose evolution with twist occurs through discontinuous switching of the magnetic textures. Within a fixed Ising chiral sector, the clock index, rooted in the $C_N$ invariance of the polygons, distinguishes chiral textures that share chirality. As the twist increases, it continuously shifts the preferred relative clock phase, but the N-fold anisotropy only allows discrete orientations; the competition produces a tilted N-fold energy landscape whose global minimum hops discontinuously between clock sectors. As the number of sites in the polygon grows, the resulting response displays a nonlinear crossover from rigid, Ising-like behavior to an almost $\rm U(1)$-invariant regime, governed by a twist-induced suppression of the emergent $Z_N$ clock anisotropy. Guided by symmetry considerations and the outcomes of the numerical minimization, we developed a Landau phenomenological description that is compatible with both the Ising-type chirality and the $Z_N$ clock anisotropy.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Excitonic Charge Density Waves in Moire Ladders

An incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) is a periodic modulation of charge that breaks translational symmetry incongruently with the underlying lattice. Its low-energy excitations, the phason, are collective, gapless phase fluctuations. We study a half-filled, four-band ladder model where a shift $δ= p/q$ between the legs leads to a supercell of $q$ composite cells. The moiré potential narrows minibands near the Fermi level, resulting in additional peaks in the density of states, whose separation is controlled by $δ$. The inclusion of short-range Coulomb interactions leads to an excitonic incommensurate CDW state. We identify the oscillations in its amplitude with a gapped Higgs collective mode and a lowest-energy Goldstone mode, realized by long-lived neutral phasons whose propagation velocity is governed by the shift $δ$ and the inter-leg tunneling amplitude. Our results show that even the slightest interlayer mismatches can strongly modify both charge-ordering patterns and low-energy bosonic excitations in layered materials, and suggest that the enigmatic CDW phase in the quasi-one-dimensional compound $\rm HfTe_3 $ is excitonic in nature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Sliding phasons in Moiré Ladders

An incommensurate charge density wave is a periodic modulation of charge that breaks translational symmetry at a momentum that does not coincide with the primitive lattice vectors. Its Goldstone excitation, the phason, comprises collective gapless phase fluctuations. Aiming to unveil the mechanism behind the onset of incommensurate charge order in layered materials, we study a half-filled, four-band tight-binding model on a ladder with a relative shift $δ=p/q$ between the legs, induced by the dimerization of one of them. The shift results in a moiré supercell comprising $q$ composite cells and a modulated inter-leg tunneling. The moiré potential compresses the leg bands into flat minibands near the Fermi level, resulting in additional low-energy peaks in the density of states. Including Coulomb interactions, we find an incommensurate charge-density-wave phase in which the charge modulation is out of phase between the legs. The collective excitations of this state are long-lived neutral, acoustic phasons whose speed is controlled by the moiré parameter $δ$ and the inter-leg tunneling amplitude. This model sheds light on the role of interlayer incongruities in the formation of excitonic charge-ordered phases in van der Waals and heterostructured materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Emergence of a Helical Metal in Rippled Ultrathin Topological Insulator Sb\textsubscript{2}Te\textsubscript{3} on Graphene

The integration of topological insulators (TIs) with graphene offers a pathway to engineer hybrid quantum states, yet the impact of strain at the 2D limit remains a critical open question. Here, we investigate the structural properties of ultrathin (1 quintuple layer) Sb$_2$Te$_3$ grown on single-layer graphene and, motivated by the structural modulations observed at the TI surface, explore theoretically how such nanoscale corrugations may influence the electronic behavior of the system. Using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM), we observe a periodic rippling of the heterostructure with a wavelength of ~$\sim8.7$ nm. Energetic analysis reveals that these ripples are not intrinsic but are driven by strain from the substrate during cooling. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that while the ideal flat heterostructure exhibits a hybridization gap of $\sim40$ meV, the ripple-induced structural modulation closes this gap, restoring a metallic state. This gapless phase is not a trivial metal. By combining an effective moiré ladder model with spin-resolved DFT, we find that the proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling is redistributed across a dense manifold of minibands. The resulting ``Helical Metal'' has a complex spin-texture beyond a simple Rashba splitting. Remarkably, while the flat system is effectively spinless in this ultrathin limit due to hybridization, the ripples actively restore the spin polarization. Our findings suggest that rippled TI/graphene heterostructures provide an interesting platform to develop spintronics, where geometric modulation unlocks dense helical states that are inaccessible in the pristine flat limit.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Magnetic Moiré Systems: a review

This review synthesizes recent advancements in the study of moiré magnetism. This emerging field, at the intersection of twistronics, topology, and strongly correlated systems, explores novel phenomena that arise when moiré potentials influence the magnetism of two-dimensional systems. The manuscript presents recent advances highlighting the interfacial incongruity as a novel mechanism for regulating the magnetism of two-dimensional materials and for the manifestation of various phenomena in twisted and mismatched magnetic two-dimensional interfaces. The manuscript addresses seminal and recent experimental and theoretical advances associated with both small- and large-period magnetic moiré lattices, including novel magnetic phases, low-energy and topological magnetic excitations, magnetic and electronic transport, optical properties, phase transitions, and prospective applications of these materials. Moiré magnetism signifies a promising frontier for manipulating complex quantum states in quantum matter. The ongoing advances in this field are poised to impact condensed matter physics, materials science, and quantum information science.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Quantum Fluctuations in the van der Walls material $\rm NiPS_3$

We present the magnetic excitation spectrum of the quantum magnet $\rm NiPS_3$ near the zig-zag ground state of a minimal honeycomb spin Hamiltonian that includes bilinear and biquadratic spin interactions. Our analysis, using a multi-boson generalized spin wave theory suited for spin S=1 systems, revealed two normal modes at the linear level. The one at lower energy corresponds to a single magnon mode, consistent with results from spectroscopy experiments. Without single-ion anisotropy, this mode features a Goldstone mode at the corner of the Brillouin zone. When single ion anisotropy is introduced, the zig-zag phase's global U(1) invariance is broken, resulting in a gap. The higher energy mode corresponds to two-magnon fluctuations, which appear at the harmonic level in the generalized spin wave theory. This mode forms a gapped flat band due to bilinear spin interactions and becomes dispersive when biquadratic interactions are considered. The higher energy dispersion is related to quadrupolar fluctuations, which are feasible in magnets where the order parameter fluctuates in the SU(3) space. The spectrum analysis yielded quantum corrections to the order parameter and detected instabilities in the $\rm NiPS_3$ dipolar phases. Identifying the highest energy branch in experiments could provide insight into hidden nematic orders in $\rm NiPS_3$ and other van der Waals magnets.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Chiral magnetic phases in Moire bilayers of magnetic dipoles

In magnetic insulators, the sense of rotation of the magnetization is associated with novel phases of matter and exotic transport phenomena. Aimed to find new sources of chiral magnetism rooted in intrinsic fields and geometry, twisted square bilayers of magnetic dipoles with easy plane anisotropy are studied. For no twist, each lattice settles in the zig-zag magnetic state and orders antiferromagnetically to the other layer. The moire patterns that result from the mutual rotation of the two square lattices influence such zig-zag order, giving rise to several phases that depict non-collinear magnetic textures with chiral motifs that break both time and inversion symmetry. For certain moire angles, helical and toroidal magnetic orders arise. Changing the vertical distance between layers can further manipulate these novel phases. It is shown that the dipolar interlayer interaction induces an emergent twist-dependent chiral magnetic field orthogonal to the direction of the zig-zag chains, which is responsible for the internal torques conjugated to the toroidal orders.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Spin model for the Honeycomb $\rm NiPS_3$

In the Van der Waal material $\rm NiPS_3$, Ni atoms have spin S=1 and realize a honeycomb lattice. Six sulfur atoms surround each Ni and split their d manifold into three filled and two unfilled bands. Aimed to determine the spin Hamiltonian of $\rm NiPS_3$, we study its exchange mechanisms using a two-band half-filled Hubbard model. Hopping between d orbitals is mediated by p orbitals of sulfur and gives rise to bilinear and biquadratic spin couplings in the limit of strong electronic correlations. The microscopic model exposed a ferromagnetic biquadratic spin interaction $\rm K_1$ allowing the completion of a minimal $\rm J_1-J_3-K_1$ spin Hamiltonian for $\rm NiPS_3$. In bulk, a ferromagnetic first nearest neighbor $\rm J_1$ and a more significant antiferromagnetic third nearest neighbor spin coupling $\rm J_3$ agreed with the literature, while in monolayer $\rm J_1$ is positive and very small in comparison. Using a variational scheme we found that a zig-zag antiferromagnetic order is the ground state of bulk samples. The zig-zag pattern is adjacent to commensurate and incommensurate spin spirals, which could hint at the puzzling results reported in $\rm NiPS_3$ monolayers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Magnetic Solitons due to interfacial chiral interactions

We study solitons in a zig-zag lattice of magnetic dipoles. The lattice comprises two sublattices of parallel chains with magnetic dipoles at their vertices. Due to orthogonal easy planes of rotation for dipoles belonging to different sublattices, the total dipolar energy of this system is separable into a sum of symmetric and chiral long-ranged interactions between the magnets where the last takes the form of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya coupling. For a specific range of values of the offset between sublattices, the dipoles realize an equilibrium magnetic state in the lattice plane, consisting of one chain settled in an antiferromagnetic parallel configuration and the other in a collinear ferromagnetic fashion. If the offset grows beyond this value, the internal Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya field stabilizes two Bloch domain walls at the edges of the antiferromagnetic chain. The dynamics of these solitons is studied by deriving the long-wavelength lagrangian density for the easy axis antiferromagnet. We find that the chiral couplings between sublattices give rise to an effective magnetic field that stabilizes the solitons in the antiferromagnet. When the chains displace respect to each other, an emergent Lorentz force accelerates the domain walls along the lattice.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Intrinsic chiral field as vector potential of the magnetic current in the zig-zag lattice of magnetic dipoles

Chiral magnetic insulators manifest novel phases of matter where the sense of rotation of the magnetization is associated with exotic transport phenomena. Effective control of such phases and their dynamical evolution points to the search and study of chiral fields like the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Here we combine experiments, numerics, and theory to study a zig-zag dipolar lattice as a model of an interface between magnetic in-plane layers with perpendicular magnetization. The zig-zag lattice comprises two parallel sublattices of dipoles with perpendicular easy plane of rotation. The dipolar energy of the system is exactly separable into a sum of symmetric and antisymmetric long-range exchange interactions between dipoles, where the antisymmetric coupling generates a nonlocal Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya field which stabilizes winding textures with the form of chiral solitons. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction acts as a vector potential or gauge field of the magnetic current and gives rise to emergent magnetic and electric fields that allow the manifestation of the magnetoelectric effect in the system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Topological edge states in dipolar zig-zag stripes

We study the magnon spectrum of stacked zig-zag chains of point magnetic dipoles with an easy axis. The anisotropy due to the dipolar interactions and the two-point basis of the zig-zag chain unit cell combine to give rise to topologically non-trivial magnon bands in 2D zig-zag lattices. Adjusting the distance between the two sublattice sites in the unit cell causes a band touching, which triggers the exchange of the Chern numbers of volume bands switching the sign of the thermal conductivity and the sense of motion of edges modes in zig-zag stripes. We show that these topological features survive when the range of the dipolar interactions is truncated up to the second nearest neighbors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Intrinsic topological magnons in arrays of magnetic dipoles

We study a simple magnetic system composed of periodically modulated magnetic dipoles with an easy axis. Upon adjusting the modulation amplitude alone, chains and two-dimensional stacked chains exhibit a rich magnon spectrum where frequency gaps and magnon speeds are easily manipulable. The blend of anisotropy due to dipolar interactions between magnets and geometrical modulation induces a magnetic phase with fractional Zak number in infinite chains and end states in open one-dimensional systems. In two dimensions it gives rise to topological modes at the edges of stripes. Tuning the amplitude in two-dimensional lattices causes a band touching, which triggers the exchange of the Chern numbers of the volume bands and switches the sign of the thermal conductivity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Stable and unstable trajectories in a dipolar chain

In classical mechanics, solutions can be classified according to their stability. Each of them is part of the possible trajectories of the system. However, the signatures of unstable solutions are hard to observe in an experiment, and most of the times if the experimental realization is adiabatic, they are considered just a nuisance. Here we use a small number of XY magnetic dipoles subject to an external magnetic field for studying the origin of their collective magnetic response. Using bifurcation theory we have found all the possible solutions being stable or unstable, and explored how those solutions are naturally connected by points where the symmetries of the system are lost or restored. Unstable solutions that reveal the symmetries of the system are found to be the culprit that shape hysteresis loops in this system. The complexity of the solutions for the nonlinear dynamics is analyzed using the concept of boundary basin entropy, finding that the damping time scale is critical for the emergence of fractal structures in the basins of attraction. Furthermore, we numerically found domain wall solutions that are the smallest possible realizations of transverse walls and vortex walls in magnetism. We experimentally confirmed their existence and stability showing that our system is a suitable platform to study domain wall dynamics at the macroscale.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2020

Magnetoelectric effect in dipolar clusters

We combine the anisotropy of magnetic interactions and the point symmetry of finite solids in the study of dipolar clusters as new basic units for multiferroics metamaterials. The hamiltonian of magnetic dipoles with an easy axis at the vertices of polygons and polyhedra, maps exactly into a hamiltonian with symmetric and antisymmetric exchange couplings. The last one gives rise to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya contribution responsible for the magnetic modes of the systems and their symmetry groups, which coincide with those of a particle in a crystal field with spin-orbit interaction. We find that the clusters carry spin current and that they manifest the magnetoelectric effect. We expect our results to pave the way for the rational design of magnetoelectric devices at room temperature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Time scales in the thermal dynamics of magnetic dipolar clusters

The collective behavior of thermally active structures offers clues on the emergent degrees of freedom and the physical mechanisms that determine the low energy state of a variety of systems. Here, the thermally active dynamics of magnetic dipoles at square plaquettes is modeled in terms of Brownian oscillators in contact with a heat bath. Solution of the Langevin equation for a set of interacting x-y dipoles allows the identification of the time scales and correlation length that reveal how interactions, temperature, damping and inertia may determine the frequency modes of edge and bulk magnetic mesospins in artificial dipolar systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Charge Smoothening and Band Flattening due to Hartree corrections in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Doping twisted bilayer graphene away from charge neutrality leads to an enormous buildup of charge inhomogeneities within each Moiré unit cell. Here we show, using unbiased real-space self-consistent Hartree calculations on a relaxed lattice, that Coulomb interactions smoothen this charge imbalance by changing the occupation of earlier identified `ring' orbitals in the AB/BA region and `center' orbitals at the AA region. For hole doping, this implies an increase of the energy of the states at the ${\bf Γ}$ point, leading to a further flattening of the flat bands and a pinning of the Van Hove singularity at the Fermi level. The charge smoothening will affect the subtle competition between different possible correlated phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗