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Taige Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Taige Wang.

50 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Spontaneous localization at a potential saddle point from edge state reconstruction in a quantum Hall point contact

Quantum point contacts (QPCs) are an essential component in mesoscopic devices. Here, we study the transmission of quantum Hall edge modes through a gate-defined QPC in monolayer graphene. We observe resonant tunneling peaks and a nonlinear conductance pattern characteristic of Coulomb-blockaded localized states. The in-plane electric polarizability reveals the states are localized at a classically-unstable electrostatic saddle point. We explain this unexpected finding within a self-consistent Thomas-Fermi model, finding that localization of a zero-dimensional state at the saddle point is favored whenever the applied confinement potential is sufficiently soft compared to the Coulomb energy. Our results provide a direct demonstration of Coulomb-driven reconstruction at the boundary of a quantum Hall system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Topology, magnetism and charge order in twisted MoTe2 at higher integer hole fillings

Twisted homobilayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) attracts an expanding experimental interest recently for exhibiting a variety of topological and magnetic states even at zero magnetic field. Most of the studies right now focus on hole filling nu_h < 1, while a rich phase diagram at higher hole filling calls for more investigation. We perform a thorough survey of possible interaction-driven phases at higher integer hole fillings. We first construct the continuum model from a first-principles calculation, and then perform a self-consistent Hartree-Fock study of the interacting ground states. We identify various valley polarized (VP) states at odd integer fillings and intervalley coherent (IVC) states at even integer fillings and discuss the energetics competition among them. We also discuss the origin and the experimental implications of the curious Chern insulator at nu_h = 2.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Direct observation of a magnetic field-induced Wigner crystal

Eugene Wigner predicted long ago that when the Coulomb interactions between electrons become much stronger than their kinetic energy, electrons crystallize into a closely packed lattice. A variety of two-dimensional systems have shown evidence for Wigner crystals; however, a spontaneously formed classical or quantum Wigner crystal (WC) has never been directly visualized. Neither the identification of the WC symmetry nor direct investigation of its melting has been accomplished. Here we use high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements to directly image a magnetic field-induced electron WC in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG), and examine its structural properties as a function of electron density, magnetic field, and temperature. At high fields and the lowest temperature, we observe a triangular lattice electron WC in the lowest Landau Level (LLL) of BLG. The WC possesses the expected lattice constant and is robust in a range of filling factors between $ν\sim$ 0.13 and $ν\sim$ 0.38 except near fillings where it competes with fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. Increasing the density or temperature results in the melting of the WC into a liquid phase that is isotropic but has a modulated structure characterized by the WC's Bragg wavevector. At low magnetic fields, the WC unexpectedly transitions into an anisotropic stripe phase, which has been commonly anticipated to form in higher LLs. Analysis of individual lattice sites reveals signatures that may be related to the quantum zero-point motion of electrons in the WC lattice.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Extracting higher central charge from a single wave function

A (2+1)D topologically ordered phase may or may not have a gappable edge, even if its chiral central charge $c_-$ is vanishing. Recently, it is discovered that a quantity regarded as a "higher" version of chiral central charge gives a further obstruction beyond $c_-$ to gapping out the edge. In this Letter, we show that the higher central charges can be characterized by the expectation value of the \textit{partial rotation} operator acting on the wavefunction of the topologically ordered state. This allows us to extract the higher central charge from a single wavefunction, which can be evaluated on a quantum computer. Our characterization of the higher central charge is analytically derived from the modular properties of edge conformal field theory, as well as the numerical results with the $ν=1/2$ bosonic Laughlin state and the non-Abelian gapped phase of the Kitaev honeycomb model, which corresponds to $\mathrm{U}(1)_2$ and Ising topological order respectively. The letter establishes a numerical method to obtain a set of obstructions to the gappable edge of (2+1)D bosonic topological order beyond $c_-$, which enables us to completely determine if a (2+1)D bosonic Abelian topological order has a gappable edge or not. We also point out that the expectation values of the partial rotation on a single wavefunction put a constraint on the low-energy spectrum of the bulk-boundary system of (2+1)D bosonic topological order, reminiscent of the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis type theorems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Energy gap of the even-denominator fractional quantum Hall state in bilayer graphene

Bernal bilayer graphene hosts even denominator fractional quantum Hall states thought to be described by a Pfaffian wave function with nonabelian quasiparticle excitations. Here we report the quantitative determination of fractional quantum Hall energy gaps in bilayer graphene using both thermally activated transport and by direct measurement of the chemical potential. We find a transport activation gap of 5.1K at B = 12T for a half-filled N=1 Landau level, consistent with density matrix renormalization group calculations for the Pfaffian state. However, the measured thermodynamic gap of 11.6K is smaller than theoretical expectations for the clean limit by approximately a factor of two. We analyze the chemical potential data near fractional filling within a simplified model of a Wigner crystal of fractional quasiparticles with long-wavelength disorder, explaining this discrepancy. Our results quantitatively establish bilayer graphene as a robust platform for probing the non-Abelian anyons expected to arise as the elementary excitations of the even-denominator state.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Theory of the microwave impedance microscopy of Chern insulators

Microwave impedance microscopy (MIM) has been utilized to directly visualize topological edge states in many quantum materials, from quantum Hall systems to topological insulators, across the GHz regime. While the microwave response for conventional metals and insulators can be accurately quantified using simple lumped-element circuits, the applicability of these classical models to more exotic quantum systems remains limited. In this work, we present a general theoretical framework of the MIM response of arbitrary quantum materials within linear response theory. As a special case, we model the microwave response of topological edge states in a Chern insulator and predict an enhanced MIM response at the crystal boundaries due to collective edge magnetoplasmon (EMP) excitations. The resonance frequency of these plasmonic modes should depend quantitatively on the topological invariant of the Chern insulator state and on the sample's circumference, which highlights their non-local, topological nature. To benchmark our analytical predictions, we experimentally probe the MIM response of quantum anomalous Hall edge states in a Cr-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 topological insulator and perform numerical simulations using a classical formulation of the EMP modes based on this realistic tip-sample geometry, both of which yield results consistent with our theoretical picture. We also show how the technique of MIM can be used to quantitatively extract the topological invariant of a Chern insulator, disentangle the signatures of topological versus trivial edge states, and shed light on the microscopic nature of dissipation along the crystal boundaries.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Universal chiral Luttinger liquid behavior in a graphene fractional quantum Hall point contact

One dimensional conductors are described by Luttinger liquid theory, which predicts a power-law suppression of the density of states near the Fermi level. The scaling exponent is non-universal in the general case, but is predicted to be quantized for the chiral edge states of the fractional quantum Hall effect. Here, we report conductance measurements across a point contact linking integer and fractional quantum Hall edge states. At weak coupling, we observe the predicted universal quadratic scaling with temperature and voltage. At strong coupling, the conductance saturates to e^2/2h, arising from perfect Andreev reflection of fractionalized quasi-particles at the point contact. We use the strong coupling physics to realize a nearly dissipationless DC voltage step-up transformer, whose gain of 3/2 arises directly from topological fractionalization of electrical charge.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Correlated metals and unconventional superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene: A renormalization group analysis

Motivated by recent experimental observations of correlated metallic phases and superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene (RTG), we perform an unbiased study of electronic ordering instabilities in hole-doped RTG. Specifically, we focus on electronic states energetically proximate to Van Hove singularities (VHSs), where a large density of states promotes different interaction-induced symmetry-breaking electronic orders. To resolve the Fermi surface near VHSs, we construct a fermionic hot-spot model and demonstrate that a perpendicular electric field can tune different nesting structures of the Fermi surface. Subsequently, we apply a renormalization group analysis to describe the low-energy phase diagrams of our model under both short-range repulsive interactions as well as realistic (long-range) Coulomb interactions. Our analysis shows instabilities towards either intervalley coherent metallic phases or superconducting phases. The dominant pairing channel depends crucially on the nature of Fermi surface nesting -- repulsive Coulomb interaction favors spin-singlet $d$-wave pairing for relatively small displacement field and spin-singlet $i$-wave pairing for larger displacement field. We argue that the phase diagram of RTG can be well-understood by modeling the realistic Coulomb interaction as the sum of repulsive density-density interaction and ferromagnetic spin-triplet intervalley coherence (IVC) Hund's coupling, while phonon-mediated electronic interactions have a negligible effect on this system, in sharp contrast to twisted graphene multilayers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Inter-valley coherent order and isospin fluctuation mediated superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene

Superconductivity was recently discovered in rhombohedral trilayer graphene (RTG) in the absence of a moiré potential. Superconductivity is observed proximate to a metallic state with reduced isospin symmetry, but it remains unknown whether this is a coincidence or a key ingredient for superconductivity. Using a Hartree-Fock analysis and constraints from experiments, we argue that the symmetry breaking is inter-valley coherent (IVC) in nature. We evaluate IVC fluctuations as a possible pairing glue, and find that they lead to chiral unconventional superconductivity when the fluctuations are strong. We further elucidate how the inter-valley Hund's coupling determines the spin-structure of the IVC ground state and breaks the degeneracy between spin-singlet and triplet superconductivity. Remarkably, if the normal state is spin-unpolarized, we find that a ferromagnetic Hund's coupling favors spin-singlet superconductivity, in agreement with experiments. Instead, if the normal state is spin-polarized, then IVC fluctuations lead to spin-triplet pairing.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Moiré surface states and enhanced superconductivity in topological insulators

Recently, moiré superlattices have been found on the surface of topological insulators (TI) due to the rotational misalignment of topmost layers. In this work, we study the effects of moiré superlattices on the topological surface states using a continuum model of Dirac electrons moving in a periodic potential. Unlike twisted bilayer graphene, moiré surface states cannot host isolated bands due to their topological nature. Instead, we find (high-order) van Hove singularities (VHS) in the moiré band structure that give rise to divergent density of states (DOS) and enhance interaction effects. Due to spin-momentum locking in moiré surface states, possible interaction channels are limited. In the presence of phonon mediated attraction, superconductivity is strongly enhanced by the power-law divergent DOS at high-order VHS. The transition temperature $T_c$ exhibits a power-law dependence on the retarded electron-phonon interaction strength $λ^*$. This enhancement is found to be robust under various perturbations from the high-order VHS.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Quantum Magnetism in Wannier-Obstructed Mott Insulators

We develop a strong coupling approach towards quantum magnetism in Mott insulators for Wannier obstructed bands. Despite the lack of Wannier orbitals, electrons can still singly occupy a set of exponentially-localized but nonorthogonal orbitals to minimize the repulsive interaction energy. We develop a systematic method to establish an effective spin model from the electron Hamiltonian using a diagrammatic approach. The nonorthogonality of the Mott basis gives rise to multiple new channels of spin-exchange (or permutation) interactions beyond Hartree-Fock and superexchange terms. We apply this approach to a Kagome lattice model of interacting electrons in Wannier obstructed bands (including both Chern bands and fragile topological bands). Due to the orbital nonorthogonality, as parameterized by the nearest neighbor orbital overlap $g$, this model exhibits stable ferromagnetism up to a finite bandwidth $W\sim U g$, where $U$ is the interaction strength. This provides an explanation for the experimentally observed robust ferromagnetism in Wannier obstructed bands. The effective spin model constructed through our approach also opens up the possibility for frustrated quantum magnetism around the ferromagnet-antiferromagnet crossover in Wannier obstructed bands.

cond-mat.str-el↗

A unique continuation property for a class of parabolic differential inequalities in a bounded domain

This article is concerned with the unique continuation property of a forward differential inequality abstracted from parabolic equations proposed on a convex domain $Ω$ prescribed with some regularity and growth conditions. Our result shows that the value of the solutions can be determined uniquely by its value on an arbitrary open subset $ω$ in $Ω$ at any given positive time $T$. We also derive the quantitative nature of this unique continuation, that is, the estimate of a $L^2(Ω)$ norm of the initial data on $Ω$, which is majorized by that of solution on the bounded open subset $ω$ at terminal moment $t = T$.

math.OC↗

Foliated fracton order in the Majorana checkerboard model

We establish the presence of foliated fracton order in the Majorana checkerboard model. In particular, we describe an entanglement renormalization group transformation which utilizes toric code layers as resources of entanglement, and furthermore discuss entanglement signatures and fractional excitations of the model. In fact, we give an exact local unitary equivalence between the Majorana checkerboard model and the semionic X-cube model augmented with decoupled fermionic modes. This mapping demonstrates that the model lies within the X-cube foliated fracton phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗