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S. Raghu

Publications and source records attributed to S. Raghu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Origin of Spin Stripes in Bilayer Nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$

The bilayer nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ has recently emerged as a high-temperature superconductor with unusual spin stripe order in its ambient pressure phase. We propose a microscopic Hamiltonian that faithfully reflects the crystalline symmetry of this system, with the primary aim of addressing its unconventional magnetism at ambient pressure. Using state-of-the-art density matrix renormalization group calculations, we show that $(\pi/2,\pi/2)$ spin stripe order arises in our model at sizable Hund's coupling $J_H$ from a hidden quasi-one-dimensionality and persists over a range of electron concentrations. In the more symmetric high-pressure regime, our model exhibits enhanced interlayer pairing tendencies when the interlayer antiferromagnetic coupling $J_{\bot}$ becomes sufficiently large. Our results provide a microscopic origin of the diagonal spin stripes and identify Hund's coupling $J_H$ and interlayer coupling $J_{\bot}$ as key ingredients governing magnetic order and pairing tendencies in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$.

cond-mat.supr-con

High spin, low spin or gapped spins: magnetism in the bilayer nickelates

Inspired by the recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in bilayer nickelates, we investigate the role of magnetism emerging from a hypothetical insulating $d^8$ parent state. We demonstrate that due to the interplay of superexchange and Hund's coupling, the system can be in a high-spin, low-spin or spin-gapped state. The low-spin state has singlets across the bilayer in the $d_{z^2}$ orbital, with charge carriers in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital. Thus, at low energy scales, it behaves as an effective one band system when hole doped. By contrast, the high-spin state is a more robust, spin-1 antiferromagnet. Using Hartree-Fock methods, we find that for fixed interaction strength and doping, high-spin magnetism remains more robust than the low-spin counterpart. Whether this implies that the high spin state provides a stronger pairing glue, or more strongly competes with superconductivity remains an open question. Our analysis therefore underscores the importance of identifying the spin state for understanding superconductivity in nickelates.

cond-mat.str-el

Field-angle evolution of the superconducting and magnetic phases of UTe$_2$ around the $b$ axis

We experimentally determine the bounds of the magnetic-field-induced superconducting and magnetic phases near the crystalline $b$ axis of uranium ditelluride (UTe$_2$). By measuring the magnetoresistance as a function of rotation angle and field strength in magnetic fields as large as 41.5 T, we have studied these boundaries in three dimensions of magnetic field direction. The phase boundaries in all cases obey crystallographic symmetries and no additional symmetries, evidence against any symmetry-breaking quadrupolar or higher magnetic order. We find that the upper critical field of the zero-field superconducting state is well-described by an anisotropic mass model. In contrast, the angular boundaries of the $b$-axis-oriented field-reentrant superconducting phase are nearly constant as a function of field up to the metamagnetic transition, with anisotropy between the $ab$ and $bc$ planes that is comparable to the angular anisotropy of the metamagnetic transition itself. We discuss the relationship between the observed superconducting boundaries and the underlying $\mathbf{d}$ vector that represents the spin-triplet order parameter. Additionally, we report an unexplained normal-state feature in resistance and track its evolution as a function of field strength and angle.

cond-mat.supr-con

Shot noise in a phenomenological model of a marginal Fermi liquid

The strange metal is a mysterious non-Fermi liquid which shows linear-in-$T$ resistivity behavior at finite temperatures, and, as found in recent experiment, vanishingly small shot noise in the linear-in-$T$ regime. Here, we investigate the shot noise of a strange metal based on a phenomenological model of marginal Fermi liquid (MFL), where fermions couple to some collective boson mode, leading to $T$-linear scattering rate at finite $T$. It is found that in the diffusive regime where the MFL scattering length is small compared to the system size, the shot noise vanishes, and the thermal noise becomes a temperature- and voltage-independent constant. Introducing additional impurity scattering increases the shot noise, and is probably consistent with the current experiment.

cond-mat.str-el

Quantum Fluctuations and Multifractally-Enhanced Superconductivity in Disordered Thin Films

The interplay between electron-electron interactions and weak localization (or anti-localization) phenomena in two-dimensional systems can significantly enhance the superconducting transition temperature. We develop the theory of quantum fluctuations within such multifractally-enhanced superconducting states in thin films. In conditions of weak disorder, we employ the Finkel'stein nonlinear sigma model to derive an effective action for the superconducting order parameter and the quasiclassical Green's function, meticulously accounting for the influence of quantum fluctuations. This effective action, applicable for interactions of any strength, reveals the critical role of well-known collective modes in a dirty superconductor, and its saddle point analysis leads to modified Usadel and gap equations. These equations comprehensively incorporate the renormalizations stemming from the interplay between interactions and disorder, resulting in the non-trivial energy dependence of the gap function. Notably, our analysis establishes a direct relation between the self-consistent gap equation at the superconducting transition temperature and the known renormalization group equations for interaction parameters in the normal state.

cond-mat.supr-con

Entropy and de Haas-van Alphen oscillations of a three-dimensional marginal Fermi liquid

We study de Haas-van Alphen oscillations in a marginal Fermi liquid resulting from a three-dimensional metal tuned to a quantum-critical point (QCP). We show that the conventional approach based on extensions of the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula for the oscillation amplitudes becomes inapplicable when the correlation length exceeds the cyclotron radius. This breakdown is due to (i) non-analytic finite-temperature contributions to the fermion self-energy (ii) an enhancement of the oscillatory part of the self-energy by quantum fluctuations, and (iii) non-trivial dynamical scaling laws associated with the quantum critical point. We properly incorporate these effects within the Luttinger-Ward-Eliashberg framework for the thermodynamic potential by treating the fermionic and bosonic contributions on equal footing. As a result, we obtain the modified expressions for the oscillations of entropy and magnetization that remain valid in the non-Fermi liquid regime.

cond-mat.str-el

Interplay of superconductivity and localization near a 2D ferromagnetic quantum critical point

We study the superconducting instability of a two-dimensional disordered Fermi liquid weakly coupled to the soft fluctuations associated with proximity to an Ising-ferromagnetic quantum critical point. We derive interaction-induced corrections to the Usadel equation governing the superconducting gap function, and show that diffusion and localization effects drastically modify the interplay between fermionic incoherence and strong pairing interactions. In particular, we obtain the phase diagram, and demonstrate that: (i) there is an intermediate range of disorder strength where superconductivity is enhanced, eventually followed by a tendency towards the superconductor-insulator transition at stronger disorder; and (ii) diffusive particle-particle modes (so-called `Cooperons') acquire anomalous dynamical scaling $z=4$, indicating strong non-Fermi liquid behavior.

cond-mat.str-el

Sublattice Interference promotes Pair Density Wave order in Kagome Metals

Motivated by the observation of a pair density wave (PDW) in the kagome metal CsV${}_3$Sb${}_5$, we consider the fate of electrons near a p-type van Hove singularity (vHS) in the presence of local repulsive interactions. We study the effect of such interactions on Fermi surface "patches" at the vHS. We show how a feature unique to the Kagome lattice known as sublattice interference crucially affects the form of the interactions among the patches. The renormalization group (RG) flow of such interactions results in a regime where the nearest neighbor interaction $V$ exceed the onsite repulsion $U$. We identify this condition as being favorable for the formation of charge-density-wave (CDW) and PDW orders. In the weak coupling limit, we find a complex CDW order as the leading instability, which breaks time reversal symmetry. Beyond RG, we perform a Hartree-Fock study to a $V$-only model and find the pair-density-wave order indeed sets in at some intermediate coupling.

cond-mat.str-el

Pair density wave order from electron repulsion

A pair density wave (PDW) is a superconductor whose order parameter is a periodic function of space, without an accompanying spatially-uniform component. Since PDWs are not the outcome of a weak-coupling instability of a Fermi liquid, a generic pairing mechanism for PDW order has remained elusive. We describe and solve models having robust PDW phases. To access the intermediate coupling limit, we invoke large $N$ limits of Fermi liquids with repulsive BCS interactions that admit saddle point solutions. We show that the requirements for long range PDW order are that the repulsive BCS couplings must be non-monotonic in space and that their strength must exceed a threshold value. We obtain a phase diagram with both finite temperature transitions to PDW order, and a $T=0$ quantum critical point, where non-Fermi liquid behavior occurs.

cond-mat.supr-con

Interaction effects on quantum Hall transitions: dynamical scaling laws and superuniversality

We study the role of electron-electron interactions near integer and abelian fractional quantum Hall (QH) transitions using composite fermion (CF) representations. Interaction effects are encapsulated in CF theories as gauge fluctuations. Without gauge fluctuations, the CF system realizes a `dual' representation of the non-interacting QH transition. With gauge fluctuations, the system is governed by a gauged nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) with a $θ-$term. While the transition is described by a strong-coupling fixed point of the NLSM, we are nevertheless able to deduce two of its properties. With $1/r$ interactions, 1) the transition has a dynamical exponent $z=1$, and 2) all transitions are `superuniversal': fractional and integer QH transitions are in the same universality class. With short-range interactions, $z=2$ and the fate of superuniversality remains unclear.

cond-mat.str-el

Theory of superconductivity in doped quantum paraelectrics

Recent experiments on Nb-doped SrTiO$_3$ have shown that the superconducting energy gap to the transition temperature ratio maintains the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) value throughout its superconducting dome. Motivated by these and related studies, we show that the Cooper pairing mediated by a single soft transverse-optical phonon is the most natural mechanism for such a superconducting dome given experimental constraints, and present the microscopic theory for this pairing mechanism. Furthermore, we show that this mechanism is consistent with the $T^2$ resistivity in the normal state. Lastly, we discuss what physical insights SrTiO$_3$ provides for superconductivity in other quantum paraelectrics such as KTaO$_3$.

cond-mat.supr-con

Quenched randomness, thermal fluctuations and reentrant superconductivity: application to UTe$_2$

Reentrant superconductivity has been observed in the candidate spin-triplet superconductor UTe$_2$ as a function of the magnetic field applied along the hard axis. Resistivity measurements have shown, a broadened superconducting transition appears near the minimal $T_c$, highlighting the importance of superconducting fluctuations in this regime. We present a phenomenological study assuming a field-driven first-order transition between two superconducting states. We show that with quenched randomness, inhomogeneity-enhanced superconducting fluctuations near the transition could naturally account for both the reentrant superconductivity as well as the broadened superconducting transition.

cond-mat.supr-con

Majorana fermion arcs and the local density of states of UTe$_2$

$\text{UTe}_2$ is a leading candidate for chiral p-wave superconductivity, and for hosting exotic Majorana fermion quasiparticles. Motivated by recent STM experiments in this system, we study particle-hole symmetry breaking in chiral p-wave superconductors. We compute the local density of states from Majorana fermion surface states in the presence of Rashba surface spin-orbit coupling, which is expected to be sizeable in heavy-fermion materials like UTe$_2$. We show that time-reversal and surface reflection symmetry breaking lead to a natural pairing tendency towards a triplet pair density wave state, which naturally can account for broken particle-hole symmetry.

cond-mat.supr-con

Numerical Study of a Dual Representation of the Integer Quantum Hall Transition

We study the critical properties of the non-interacting integer quantum Hall to insulator transition (IQHIT) in a "dual" composite-fermion (CF) representation. A key advantage of the CF representation over electron coordinates is that at criticality, $\textit{CF states are delocalized at all}$ energies. The CF approach thus enables us to study the transition from a new vantage point. Using a lattice representation of CF mean-field theory, we compute the critical and multifractal exponents of the IQHIT. We obtain $ν= 2.56 \pm 0.02$ and $η= 0.51\pm 0.01$, both of which are consistent with the predictions of the Chalker-Coddington network model formulated in the electron representation.

cond-mat.str-el

Interaction-induced metallicity in a two-dimensional disordered non-Fermi liquid

The interplay of interactions and disorder in two-dimensional (2D) electron systems has actively been studied for decades. The paradigmatic approach involves starting with a clean Fermi liquid and perturbing the system with both disorder and interactions. We instead start with a clean non-Fermi liquid near a 2D ferromagnetic quantum critical point and consider the effects of disorder. In contrast with the disordered Fermi liquid, we find that our model does not suffer from runaway flows to strong coupling and the system has a marginally stable fixed point with perfect conduction.

cond-mat.str-el

3D Network Model for Strong Topological Insulator Transitions

We construct a three-dimensional (3D), time-reversal symmetric generalization of the Chalker-Coddington network model for the integer quantum Hall transition. The novel feature of our network model is that in addition to a weak topological insulator phase already accommodated by the network model framework in the pre-existing literature, it hosts strong topological insulator phases as well. We unambiguously demonstrate that strong topological insulator phases emerge as intermediate phases between a trivial insulator phase and a weak topological phase. Additionally, we found a non-local transformation that relates a trivial insulator phase and a weak topological phase in our network model. Remarkably, strong topological phases are mapped to themselves under this transformation. We show that upon adding sufficiently strong disorder the strong topological insulator phases undergo phase transitions into a metallic phase. We numerically determine the critical exponent of the insulator-metal transition. Our network model explicitly shows how a semi-classical percolation picture of topological phase transitions in 2D can be generalized to 3D and opens up a new venue for studying 3D topological phase transitions.

cond-mat.dis-nn

$T_c$ and Pauli limited critical field of $\text{Sr}_2\text{Ru}\text{O}_4$: uniaxial strain dependence

Variations of critical temperature $T_c$ and in-plane critical field $H_{c2}$ of $\text{Sr}_2\text{Ru}\text{O}_4$ under uniaxial stress have recently been reported. We compare the strain dependence of $T_c$ and $H_{c2}$ in various pairing channels ($d$-wave, extended s-wave and $p$-wave) with the experimental observations, by studying a three-band tight-binding model that includes effects of spin-orbit and Zeeman couplings and a separable pairing interaction. Our study helps narrow down the possibility of pairing channels. The importance of the multi-band nature of $\text{Sr}_2\text{Ru}\text{O}_4$ is also highlighted.

cond-mat.supr-con

Self-duality of the integer quantum Hall to insulator transition: composite fermion description

The integer quantum Hall to insulator transition (IQHIT) is a paradigmatic quantum critical point. Key aspects of this transition, however, remain mysterious, due to the simultaneous effects of quenched disorder and strong interactions. We study this transition using a composite fermion (CF) representation, which incorporates some of the effects of interactions. As we describe, the transition also marks a IQHIT of CFs: this suggests that the transition may exhibit `self-duality'. We show the explicit equivalence of the electron and CF Lagrangians at the critical point via the corresponding non-linear sigma models, revealing the self-dual nature of the transition. We show analytically that the resistivity tensor at the critical point is $ρ^c_{xx} = ρ^c_{xy} = \frac{h}{e^2}$, which are consistent with the expectations of self-duality, and in rough agreement with experiments.

cond-mat.str-el