arXiv subjects

Rong Yu

Publications and source records attributed to Rong Yu.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

A Mott insulator continuously connected to iron pnictide superconductors

Iron-based superconductivity develops near an antiferromagnetic order and out of a bad metal normal state, which has been interpreted as originating from a proximate Mott transition. Whether an actual Mott insulator can be realized in the phase diagram of the iron pnictides remains an open question. Here we use transport, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and neutron scattering to demonstrate that NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As near $x\approx 0.5$ exhibits real space Fe and Cu ordering, and are antiferromagnetic insulators with the insulating behavior persisting above the Néel temperature, indicative of a Mott insulator. Upon decreasing $x$ from $0.5$, the antiferromagnetic ordered moment continuously decreases, yielding to superconductivity around $x=0.05$. Our discovery of a Mott insulating state in NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As thus makes it the only known Fe-based material in which superconductivity can be smoothly connected to the Mott insulating state, highlighting the important role of electron correlations in the high-$T_{\rm c}$ superconductivity.

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arXiv2016

Pressure Induced Stripe-order Antiferromagnetism and First-order Phase Transition in FeSe

To elucidate the magnetic structure and the origin of the nematicity in FeSe, we perform a high-pressure $^{77}$Se NMR study on FeSe single crystals. We find a suppression of the structural transition temperature with pressure up to about 2 GPa from the anisotropy of the Knight shift. Above 2 GPa, a stripe-order antiferromagnetism that breaks the spatial four-fold rotational symmetry is determined by the NMR spectra under different field orientations and with temperatures down to 50 mK. The magnetic phase transition is revealed to be first-order type, implying the existence of a concomitant structural transition via a spin-lattice coupling. Stripe-type spin fluctuations are observed at high temperatures, and remain strong with pressure. These results provide clear evidences for strong coupling between nematicity and magnetism in FeSe, and therefore support a universal scenario of magnetic driven nematicity in iron-based superconductors.

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arXiv2016

Semiclassical ground-state phase diagram and multi-Q phase of a spin-orbit coupled model on triangular lattice

Motivated by recent experiments on the frustrated quantum magnetic compound YbMgGaO4, we study an effective spin model on triangular lattice taking into account the effects of the spin-orbit coupling. We determine the classical ground-state phase diagram of this model, which includes a 120 degree Neel and two collinear antiferromagnetic phases. In the vicinity of the phase boundary between the Neel and collinear phases, we identify three intermediate non-collinear antiferromagnetic phases. In each of them the magnetic moments are ordered at multiple incommensurate wave vector Q values. We further study the effects of quantum fluctuations in this model via a linear spin-wave theory. We find that the spin excitation gap of the non-collinear multi-Q antiferromagnetic state is finite but can be vanishingly small, and this state is unstable to a spin liquid phase under strong quantum fluctuations in some large J_{z+-} regime.

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arXiv2016

Quantum phase transition and destruction of Kondo effect in pressurized SmB6

SmB6 is a promising candidate material that promises to elucidate the connection between strong correlations and topological electronic states, which is a major challenge in condensed matter physics. The electron correlations are responsible for the development of multiple gaps in SmB6, whose elucidation is sorely needed. Here we do so by studying the evolutions of the gaps and other corresponding behaviors under pressure. Our measurements of the valence, Hall effect and electrical resistivity clearly identify the gap which is associated with the bulk Kondo hybridization and, moreover, uncover a pressure-induced quantum phase transition from the putative topological Kondo insulating state to a Fermi-liquid state at ~4 GPa. We provide the evidences for the transition by a jump of inverse Hall coefficient, a diverging tendency of the electron-electron scattering coefficient and, thereby, a destruction of the Kondo entanglement in the ground state. These effects take place in a mixed-valence background. Our results raise the new prospect for studying topological electronic states in quantum critical materials settings.

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arXiv2016

High Temperature Superconductivity in Iron Pnictides and Chalcogenides

Superconductivity develops in metals upon the formation of a coherent macroscopic quantum state of electron pairs. Iron pnictides and chalcogenides are materials that have high superconducting transition temperatures. In this Review, we describe the advances in the field that have led to higher superconducting transition temperatures in iron-based superconductors and the wide range of materials that form them. We summarize both the essential aspects of the normal state and the mechanism for superconductivity. We emphasize the degree of electron-electron correlations and their manifestation in properties of the normal state. We examine the nature of magnetism, analyse its role in driving the electronic nematicity, and discuss quantum criticality at the border of magnetism in the phase diagram. Finally, we review the amplitude and structure of the superconducting pairing, and survey the potential settings for optimizing superconductivity.

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arXiv2015

Glide reflection symmetry, Brillouin zone folding and superconducting pairing for the $P4/nmm$ space group

Motivated by the studies of the superconducting pairing states in the iron-based superconductors, we analyze the effects of Brillouin zone folding procedure from a space group symmetry perspective for a general class of materials with the $P4/nmm$ space group. The Brillouin zone folding amounts to working with an effective one-Fe unit cell, instead of the crystallographic two-Fe unit cell. We show that the folding procedure can be justified by the validity of a glide reflection symmetry throughout the crystallographic Brillouin zone and by the existence of a minimal double degeneracy along the edges of the latter. We also demonstrate how the folding procedure fails when a local spin-orbit coupling is included although the latter does not break any of the space group symmetries of the bare Hamiltonian. In light of these general symmetry considerations, we further discuss the implications of the glide reflection symmetry for the superconducting pairing in an effective multi-orbital $t-J_{1}-J_{2}$ model. We find that the $P4/nmm$ space group symmetry allows only pairing states with even parity under the glide reflection and zero total momentum.

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arXiv2015

Spin wave approach to the two-magnon Raman scattering in an J1x-J1y-J2-Jc antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model

We study the two-magnon non-resonant Raman scattering in the (pi,pi) and (pi,0) ordered antiferromagnetic phases of a J1x-J1y-J2-Jc Heisenberg model on the tetragonal lattice within the framework of the spin-wave theory. We discuss the effects of various tuning factors to the two-magnon Raman spectra. We find that both the magnetic frustration J2/J1 and the interlayer exchange coupling Jc may significantly affect the spectra in both the B1g and A1g' channels in the (pi,pi) Neel ordered phase. Moreover, we find a splitting of the two-magnon peak in the (pi,0) antiferromagnetic phase. We further discuss the implications of our results to the BaMnBi2 and iron pnictide systems.

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arXiv2015

Quantum criticality in AFe2As2 with A = K, Rb, and Cs suppresses superconductivity

Superconductors close to quantum phase transitions often exhibit a simultaneous increase of electronic correlations and superconducting transition temperatures. Typical examples are given by the recently discovered iron-based superconductors. We investigated the band-specific quasiparticle masses of AFe2As2 single crystals with A = K, Rb, and Cs and determined their pressure dependence. The evolution of electronic correlations could be tracked as a function of volume and hole doping. The results indicate that with increasing alkali-metal ion radius a quantum critical point is approached. The critical fluctuations responsible for the enhancement of the quasiparticle masses appear to suppress the superconductivity.

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arXiv2015

Global Phase Diagram and Momentum Distribution of Single-Particle Excitations in Kondo insulators

Kondo insulators are emerging as a simplified setting to study both magnetic and metal-to-insulator quantum phase transitions. Here, we study a half-filled Kondo lattice model defined on a magnetically frustrated Shastry-Sutherland geometry. We determine a "global" phase diagram that features a variety of zero-temperature phases; these include Kondo-destroyed antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic metallic phases in addition to the Kondo-insulator phase. Our result provides the theoretical basis for understanding how applying pressure to a Kondo insulator can close its hybridization gap, liberate the local-moment spins from the conduction electrons, and lead to a magnetically correlated metal. We also study the momentum distribution of the single-particle excitations in the Kondo insulating state, and illustrate how Fermi-surface-like features emerge as a precursor to the actual Fermi surfaces of the Kondo-destroyed metals. We discuss the implications of our results for Kondo insulators including SmB$_6$.

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arXiv2015

Antiferroquadrupolar and Ising-Nematic Orders of a Frustrated Bilinear-Biquadratic Heisenberg Model and Implications for the Magnetism of FeSe

Motivated by the properties of the iron chalcogenides, we study the phase diagram of a generalized Heisenberg model with frustrated bilinear-biquadratic interactions on a square lattice. We identify zero-temperature phases with antiferroquadrupolar and Ising-nematic orders. The effects of quantum fluctuations and interlayer couplings are analyzed. We propose the Ising-nematic order as underlying the structural phase transition observed in the normal state of FeSe, and discuss the role of the Goldstone modes of the antiferroquadrupolar order for the dipolar magnetic fluctuations in this system. Our results provide a considerably broadened perspective on the overall magnetic phase diagram of the iron chalcogenides and pnictides, and are amenable to tests by new experiments.

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arXiv2015

Observation of universal strong orbital-dependent correlation effects in iron chalcogenides

Establishing the appropriate theoretical framework for unconventional superconductivity in the iron-based materials requires correct understanding of both the electron correlation strength and the role of Fermi surfaces. This fundamental issue becomes especially relevant with the discovery of the iron chalcogenide (FeCh) superconductors, the only iron-based family in proximity to an insulating phase. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to measure three representative FeCh superconductors, FeTe0.56Se0.44, K0.76Fe1.72Se2, and monolayer FeSe film grown on SrTiO3. We show that, these FeChs are all in a strongly correlated regime at low temperatures, with an orbital-selective strong renormalization in the dxy bands despite having drastically different Fermi-surface topologies. Furthermore, raising temperature brings all three compounds from a metallic superconducting state to a phase where the dxy orbital loses all spectral weight while other orbitals remain itinerant. These observations establish that FeChs display universal orbital-selective strong correlation behaviors that are insensitive to the Fermi surface topology, and are close to an orbital-selective Mott phase (OSMP), hence placing strong constraints for theoretical understanding of iron-based superconductors.

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arXiv2015

Orbital selectivity and emergent superconducting state from quasi-degenerate $s-$ and $d-$wave pairing channels in iron-based superconductors

A major puzzle about the nature of the iron-based superconductivity appears in the case of the alkaline iron selenides. Compared to the iron pnictides, these systems have only electron Fermi pockets (i.e. no hole Fermi pockets) but comparable superconducting transition temperatures. The challenge lies in reconciling the two basic experimental features of their superconducting state: a node-less gap and the existence of a resonance in the spin excitation spectrum. We propose a mechanism based on reconstructing two quasi-degenerate pairing states, one in an $s$-wave $A_{1g}$ channel that is fully gapped, and the other in a $d$-wave $B_{1g}$ channel whose pairing function changes sign across the electron Fermi pockets at the Brillouin-zone boundary. The resulting intermediate pairing state, which we call an orbital-selective $s \times τ_3$ state, incorporates both of the above two properties. When the leading spin-singlet pairing is in the $d_{xz}, d_{yz}$ orbital subspace, this state retains the $s$-wave form factor but has a $B_{1g}$ symmetry due to an internal $τ_3$ structure in the orbital space. Within a five-orbital $t-J_{1}-J_{2}$ model with orbital-selective exchange couplings, we show that the proposed pairing state is energetically competitive over a finite range of control parameters. We calculate the dynamical spin susceptibility in the orbital-selective $s \times τ_3$ superconducting state and show that a spin resonance arises and has the characteristics of observed by inelastic neutron experiments in the alkaline iron selenides. More generally, the formation of the orbital-selective $s \times τ_3$ state represents a novel means of relieving the quasi-degeneracy between $s-$ and $d-$wave pairing states, which is a hitherto unsuspected alternative to the conventional route of linearly superposing the two into a time-reversal symmetry breaking $s+id$ state.

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arXiv2015

Experimental Observation of Incoherent-Coherent Crossover and Orbital Dependent Band Renormalization in Iron Chalcogenide Superconductors

The level of electronic correlation has been one of the key questions in understanding the nature of superconductivity. Among the iron-based superconductors, the iron chalcogenide family exhibits the strongest electron correlations. To gauge the correlation strength, we performed systematic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study on the iron chalcogenide series Fe$_{1+y}$Se$_x$Te$_{1-x}$ (0$<$x$<$0.59), a model system with the simplest structure. Our measurement reveals an incoherent to coherent crossover in the electronic structure as the selenium ratio increases and the system evolves from the weakly localized to more itinerant state. Furthermore, we found that the effective mass of bands dominated by the d$_{xy}$ orbital character significantly decreases with increasing selenium ratio, as compared to the d$_{xz}$/d$_{yz}$ orbital-dominated bands. The orbital dependent change in the correlation level agrees with theoretical calculations on the band structure renormalization, and may help to understand the onset of superconductivity in Fe$_{1+y}$Se$_x$Te$_{1-x}$.

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arXiv2015

Neutron spin resonance as a probe of superconducting gap anisotropy in partially detwinned electron underdoped NaFe$_{0.985}$Co$_{0.015}$As

We use inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to study the spin excitations in partially detwinned NaFe$_{0.985}$Co$_{0.015}$As which has coexisting static antiferromagnetic (AF) order and superconductivity ($T_c=15$ K, $T_N=30$ K). In previous INS work on a twinned sample, spin excitations form a dispersive sharp resonance near $E_{r1}=3.25$ meV and a broad dispersionless mode at $E_{r1}=6$ meV at the AF ordering wave vector ${\bf Q}_{\rm AF}={\bf Q}_1=(1,0)$ and its twinned domain ${\bf Q}_2=(0,1)$. For partially detwinned NaFe$_{0.985}$Co$_{0.015}$As with the static AF order mostly occurring at ${\bf Q}_{\rm AF}=(1,0)$, we still find a double resonance at both wave vectors with similar intensity. Since ${\bf Q}_1=(1,0)$ characterizes the explicit breaking of the spin rotational symmetry associated with the AF order, these results indicate that the double resonance cannot be due to the static and fluctuating AF orders, but originate from the superconducting gap anisotropy.

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arXiv2014

Quantum Phases of the Shastry-Sutherland Kondo Lattice: Implications for the Global Phase Diagram of Heavy Fermion Metals

Considerable recent theoretical and experimental efforts have been devoted to the study of quantum criticality and novel phases of antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion metals. In particular, quantum phase transitions have been discovered in the compound Yb$_2$Pt$_2$Pb. These developments have motivated us to study the competition between the RKKY and Kondo interactions on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice. We determine the zero-temperature phase diagram as a function of magnetic frustration and Kondo coupling within a slave-fermion approach. Pertinent phases include the Shastry-Sutherland valence bond solid and heavy Fermi liquid. In the presence of antiferromagnetic order, our zero-temperature phase diagram is remarkably similar to the global phase diagram proposed earlier based on general grounds. We discuss the implications of our results for the experiments on Yb$_2$Pt$_2$Pb and other geometrically frustrated heavy fermion compounds.

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arXiv2014

Power Allocation and Transmitter Switching for Broadcasting with Multiple Energy Harvesting Transmitters

With the advancement of battery technology, energy harvesting communication systems attracted great research attention in recent years. However, energy harvesting communication systems with multiple transmitters and multiple receivers have not been considered yet. In this paper, the problem of broadcasting in a communication system with multiple energy harvesting transmitters and multiple receivers is studied. First, regarding the transmitters as a 'hole transmitter' [1], the optimal total transmission power is obtained and the optimal power allocation policy in [2] is extended to our system setup, with the aim of minimizing the transmission completion time. Then, a simpler power allocation policy is developed to allocate the optimal total transmission power to the data transmissions. As transmitter switching can provide flexibility and robustness to an energy harvesting communication system, especially when a transmitter is broken or the energy harvested by a transmitter is insufficient, a transmitter switching policy is further developed to choose a suitable transmitter to work whenever necessary. The results show that the proposed power allocation policy performs close to the optimal one and outperforms some heuristic ones in terms of transmission completion time. Besides, the proposed transmitter switching policy outperforms some heuristic ones in terms of number of switches.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2014

A Semiblind Two-Way Training Method for Discriminatory Channel Estimation in MIMO Systems

Discriminatory channel estimation (DCE) is a recently developed strategy to enlarge the performance difference between a legitimate receiver (LR) and an unauthorized receiver (UR) in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless system. Specifically, it makes use of properly designed training signals to degrade channel estimation at the UR which in turn limits the UR's eavesdropping capability during data transmission. In this paper, we propose a new two-way training scheme for DCE through exploiting a whitening-rotation (WR) based semiblind method. To characterize the performance of DCE, a closed-form expression of the normalized mean squared error (NMSE) of the channel estimation is derived for both the LR and the UR. Furthermore, the developed analytical results on NMSE are utilized to perform optimal power allocation between the training signal and artificial noise (AN). The advantages of our proposed DCE scheme are two folds: 1) compared to the existing DCE scheme based on the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) channel estimator, the proposed scheme adopts a semiblind approach and achieves better DCE performance; 2) the proposed scheme is robust against active eavesdropping with the pilot contamination attack, whereas the existing scheme fails under such an attack.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2014

The role of 245 phase in alkaline iron selenide superconductors revealed by high pressure studies

Here we show that a pressure of about 8 GPa suppresses both the vacancy order and the insulating phase, and a further increase of the pressure to about 18 GPa induces a second transition or crossover. No superconductivity has been found in compressed insulating 245 phase. The metallic phase in the intermediate pressure range has a distinct behavior in the transport property, which is also observed in the superconducting sample. We interpret this intermediate metal as an orbital selective Mott phase (OSMP). Our results suggest that the OSMP provides the physical pathway connecting the insulating and superconducting phases of these iron selenide materials.

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