arXiv subjects

U. Zülicke

Publications and source records attributed to U. Zülicke.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Longitudinal magnetoconductivity and magnetodielectric effect in bilayer graphene

It was recently shown that a finite imbalance between electron densities in the $\mathbf{K}$ and $\mathbf{K}'$ valleys of bilayer graphene induces a magnetoelectric coupling. Here we explore ramifications of this electronically tunable magnetoelectric effect for the optical conductivity and dielectric permittivity of this material. Our results augment current understanding of longitudinal magnetoresistance and magnetocapacitance in unconventional materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Quantum capacitance of an HgTe quantum well as an indicator of the topological phase

Varying the quantum-well width in an HgTe/CdTe heterostructure allows to realize normal and inverted semiconducting band structures, making it a prototypical system to study two-dimensional (2D) topological-insulator behavior. We have calculated the zero-temperature thermodynamic density of states $D_\mathrm{T}$ for the electron-doped situation in both regimes, treating interactions within the Hartree-Fock approximation. A distinctively different behavior for the density dependence of $D_\mathrm{T}$ is revealed in the inverted and normal cases, making it possible to detect the system's topological order through measurement of macroscopic observables such as the quantum capacitance or electronic compressibility. Our results establish the 2D electron system in HgTe quantum wells as unique in terms of its collective electronic properties.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Spin susceptibility of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

We have obtained analytical expressions for the q-dependent static spin susceptibility of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, considering both the electron-doped and hole-doped cases. Our results are applied to calculate spin-related physical observables of monolayer MoS2, focusing especially on in-plane/out-of-plane anisotropies. We find that the hole-mediated RKKY exchange interaction for in-plane impurity-spin components decays with the power law $R^{-5/2}$ as a function of distance $R$, which deviates from the $R^{-2}$ power law normally exhibited by a two-dimensional Fermi liquid. In contrast, the out-of-plane spin response shows the familiar $R^{-2}$ long-range behavior. We also use the spin susceptibility to define a collective g-factor for hole-doped MoS2 systems and discuss its density-dependent anisotropy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Superconductivity in the ferromagnetic semiconductor SmN

The discovery of materials that simultaneously host different phases of matter has often initially confounded, but ultimately enhanced, our basic understanding of the coexisting types of order. The associated intellectual challenges, together with the promise of greater versatility for potential applications, have made such systems a focus of modern materials science. In particular, great efforts have recently been devoted to making semiconductors ferromagnetic and metallic ferromagnets superconducting. Here we report the unprecedented observation of a heavily donor-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor, SmN, becoming superconducting with ferromagnetism remaining intact. The extremely large exchange splitting of the conduction and valence bands in this material necessitates that the superconducting order hosted by SmN is of an unconventional triplet type, most likely exhibiting p-wave symmetry. Short range spin fluctuations, which are thought to be the cause of pairing interactions in currently known triplet superconductors, are quenched in SmN, suggesting its superconductivity to be the result of phonon- or Coulomb-mediated pairing mechanisms. This scenario is further supported by the inferred heavy mass of superconducting charge carriers. The unique near-zero magnetisation associated with the ferromagnetic state in SmN further aids its coexistence with superconductivity. Presenting this novel material system where semiconducting, ferromagnetic and superconducting properties are combined provides a versatile new laboratory for studying quantum phases of matter. Moreover it is a major step towards identifying materials that merge superconductivity and spintronics, urgently needed to enable the design of electronic devices with superior functionality.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Reservoir interactions of a vortex in a trapped 3D Bose-Einstein condensate

We simulate the dissipative evolution of a vortex in a trapped finite-temperature dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensate using first-principles open-systems theory. Simulations of the complete stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation for a partially condensed Bose gas containing a single quantum vortex show that the transfer of condensate energy to the incoherent thermal component without population transfer provides an important channel for vortex decay. For the lower temperatures considered, this effect is significantly larger that the population transfer process underpinning the standard theory of vortex decay, and is the dominant determinant of the vortex lifetime. A comparison with the Zaremba-Nikuni-Griffin kinetic (two-fluid) theory further elucidates the role of the particle transfer interaction, and suggests the need for experimental testing of reservoir interaction theory. The dominance of this particular energetic decay mechanism for this open quantum system should be testable with current experimental setups, and its observation would have broad implications for the dynamics of atomic matter waves and experimental studies of dissipative phenomena.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Anomalous Spin Response and Virtual-Carrier-Mediated Magnetism in a Topological Insulator

We present a comprehensive theoretical study of the static spin response in HgTe quantum wells, revealing distinctive behavior for the topologically nontrivial inverted structure. Most strikingly, the q=0 (long-wave-length) spin susceptibility of the undoped topological-insulator system is constant and equal to the value found for the gapless Dirac-like structure, whereas the same quantity shows the typical decrease with increasing band gap in the normal-insulator regime. We discuss ramifications for the ordering of localized magnetic moments present in the quantum well, both in the insulating and electron-doped situations. The spin response of edge states is also considered, and we extract effective Lande g-factors for the bulk and edge electrons. The variety of counter-intuitive spin-response properties revealed in our study arises from the system's versatility in accessing situations where the charge-carrier dynamics can be governed by ordinary Schrodinger-type physics, mimics the behavior of chiral Dirac fermions, or reflects the material's symmetry-protected topological order.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Electromagnetic coupling of spins and pseudospins in bilayer graphene

We present a detailed theoretical study of bilayer-graphene's electronic properties in the presence of electric and magnetic fields. Using group-theoretical methods, we derive an invariant expansion of the Hamiltonian for electron states near the K point of the Brillouin zone. In contrast to known materials, including single-layer graphene, any possible coupling of physical quantities to components of the external electric (magnetic) field has a counterpart where the analogous component of the magnetic (electric) field couples to exactly the same combination of quantities. For example, a purely electric spin splitting appears as the magneto-electric analogue of the familiar magnetic Zeeman spin splitting. The measurable thermodynamic response induced by magnetic and electric fields is thus completely symmetric. The Pauli magnetization induced by a magnetic field takes exactly the same functional form as the polarization induced by an electric field. Our findings thus reveal unconventional behavior of spin and pseudospin degrees of freedom in their coupling to external fields. We explain how these counterintuitive couplings are consistent with fundamental principles such as time reversal symmetry. For example, only a magnetic field can give rise to a macroscopic spin polarization, whereas only a perpendicular electric field can induce a macroscopic polarization of the sublattice-related pseudospin degree of freedom characterizing the intravalley orbital motion in bilayer graphene. These rules enforced by symmetry for the matter-field interactions clarify the nature of spins versus pseudospins. We also provide numerical values of prefactors for relevant coupling terms. While our theoretical arguments use bilayer graphene as an example, they are generally valid for any material with similar symmetries.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Neutral edge modes in a superconductor -- topological-insulator hybrid structure in a perpendicular magnetic field

We study the low-energy edge states of a superconductor -- 3D topological-insulator hybrid structure (NS junction) in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. The hybridization of electron-like and hole-like Landau levels due to Andreev reflection gives rise to chiral edge states within each Landau level. We show that by changing the chemical potential of the superconductor, this junction can be placed in a regime where the sign of the effective charge of the edge state within the zeroth Landau level changes more than once resulting in neutral edge modes with a finite value of the guiding-center coordinate. We find that the appearance of these neutral edge modes is related to the level repulsion between the zeroth and the first Landau levels in the spectra. We also find that these neutral edge modes come in pairs, one in the zeroth Landau level and its corresponding pair in the first.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Signatures of tunable Majorana-fermion edge states

Chiral Majorana-fermion modes are shown to emerge as edge excitations in a superconductor--topological-insulator hybrid structure that is subject to a magnetic field. The velocity of this mode is tunable by changing the magnetic-field magnitude and/or the superconductor's chemical potential. We discuss how quantum-transport measurements can yield experimental signatures of these modes. A normal lead coupled to the Majorana-fermion edge state through electron tunneling induces resonant Andreev reflections from the lead to the grounded superconductor, resulting in a distinctive pattern of differential-conductance peaks.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Majorana fermions from Landau quantization in a superconductor--topological-insulator hybrid structure

We show that the interplay of cyclotron motion and Andreev reflection experienced by massless-Dirac-like charge carriers in topological-insulator surface states generates a Majorana-particle excitation. Based on an envelope-function description of the Dirac-Andreev edge states, we discuss the kinematic properties of the Majorana mode and find them to be possible to be tuned by changing the superconductor's chemical potential and/or the magnitude of the perpendicular magnetic field. Our proposal opens up new possibilities for studying Majorana fermions in a controllable setup.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Soliton Magnetization Dynamics in Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates

Ring-trapped Bose-Einstein condensates subject to spin-orbit coupling support localized dark soliton excitations that show periodic density dynamics in real space. In addition to the density feature, solitons also carry a localized pseudo-spin magnetization that exhibits a rich and tunable dynamics. Analytic results for Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling and spin-invariant interactions predict a conserved magnitude and precessional motion for the soliton magnetization that allows for the simulation of spin-related geometric phases recently seen in electronic transport measurements.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Tracking the energies of one-dimensional subband edges in quantum point contacts using dc conductance measurements

The semiconductor quantum point contact has long been a focal point for studies of one-dimensional electron transport. Their electrical properties are typically studied using ac conductance methods, but recent work has shown that the dc conductance can be used to obtain additional information, with a density-dependent Landé effective g-factor recently reported [T.-M. Chen et al, Phys. Rev. B 79, 081301 (2009)]. We discuss previous dc conductance measurements of quantum point contacts, demonstrating how valuable additional information can be extracted from the data. We provide a comprehensive and general framework for dc conductance measurements that provides a path to improving the accuracy of existing data and obtaining useful additional data. A key aspect is that dc conductance measurements can be used to map the energy of the 1D subband edges directly, giving new insight into the physics that takes place as the spin-split 1D subbands populate. Through a re-analysis of the data obtained by Chen et al, we obtain two findings. The first is that the 2-down subband edge closely tracks the source chemical potential when it first begins populating before dropping more rapidly in energy. The second is that the 2-up subband populates more rapidly as the subband edge approaches the drain potential. This second finding suggests that the spin-gap may stop opening, or even begin to close again, as the 2-up subband continues populating, consistent with recent theoretical calculations and experimental studies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Invariant expansion for the trigonal band structure of graphene

We present a symmetry analysis of the trigonal band structure in graphene, elucidating the transformational properties of the underlying basis functions and the crucial role of time-reversal invariance. Group theory is used to derive an invariant expansion of the Hamiltonian for electron states near the K points of the graphene Brillouin zone. Besides yielding the characteristic k-linear dispersion and higher-order corrections to it, this approach enables the systematic incorporation of all terms arising from external electric and magnetic fields, strain, and spin-orbit coupling up to any desired order. Several new contributions are found, in addition to reproducing results obtained previously within tight-binding calculations. Physical ramifications of these new terms are discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Time reversal of pseudo-spin 1/2 degrees of freedom

We show that pseudo-spin 1/2 degrees of freedom can be categorized in two types according to their behavior under time reversal. One type exhibits the properties of ordinary spin whose three Cartesian components are all odd under time reversal. For the second type, only one of the components is odd while the other two are even. We discuss several physical examples for this second type of pseudo-spin and highlight observable consequences that can be used to distinguish it from ordinary spin.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Spin transport and bipolaron density in organic polymers

We present a theory for spin-polarized transport through a generic organic polymer connected to ferromagnetic leads with arbitrary angle theta between their magnetization directions, taking into account the polaron and bipolaron states as effective charge and spin carriers. Within a diffusive description of polaron-bipolaron transport including polaron-bipolaron conversion, we find that the bipolaron density depends on the angle theta. This is remarkable, given the fact that bipolarons are spinless quasiparticles, and opens a new way to probe spin accumulation in organic polymers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Rotational Fluxons of Bose-Einstein Condensates in Coplanar Double-Ring Traps

Rotational analogs to magnetic fluxons in conventional Josephson junctions are predicted to emerge in the ground state of rotating tunnel-coupled annular Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Such topological condensate-phase structures can be manipulated by external potentials. We determine conditions for observing macroscopic quantum tunneling of a fluxon. Rotational fluxons in double-ring BECs can be created, manipulated, and controlled by external potential in different ways than possible in the solid state system, thus rendering them a promising new candidate system for studying and utilizing quantum properties of collective many-particle degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Hole spin relaxation in $p$-type GaAs quantum wires

We investigate the spin relaxation of $p$-type GaAs quantum wires by numerically solving the fully microscopic kinetic spin Bloch equations. We find that the quantum-wire size influences the spin relaxation time effectively by modulating the energy spectrum and the heavy-hole--light-hole mixing of wire states. The effects of quantum-wire size, temperature, hole density, and initial polarization are investigated in detail. We show that, depending on the situation, the spin relaxation time can either increase or decrease with hole density. Due to the different subband structure and effects arising from spin-orbit coupling, many spin-relaxation properties are quite different from those of holes in the bulk or in quantum wells, and the inter-subband scattering makes a marked contribution to the spin relaxation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Lande-like formula for the g factors of hole-nanowire subband edges

We have analyzed theoretically the Zeeman splitting of hole-quantum-wire subband edges. As is typical for any bound state, their g factor depends on both an intrinsic g factor of the material and an additional contribution arising from a finite bound-state orbital angular momentum. We discuss the quantum-confinement-induced interplay between bulk-material and orbital effects, which is nontrivial due to the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. A compact analytical formula is provided that elucidates this interplay and can be useful for predicting Zeeman splitting in generic hole-wire geometries.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗