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Ya-Hui Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Ya-Hui Zhang.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Type II t-J model in charge transfer regime in bilayer La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ and trilayer La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$

Recent observations of an 80 K superconductor in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ under high pressure have attracted significant attention. Recent experiments indicate that La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ may be in the charge transfer regime, challenging the previous models based purely on the Ni $d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $d_{z^2}$ orbitals. In this study, we propose a low energy model that incorporates doped holes in the oxygen $p$ orbitals. Given that the parent nickel state is in the $3d^{8}$ configuration with a spin-one moment, doped hole only screens it down to spin-half, in contrast to the Zhang-Rice singlet in cuprate. We dub the single hole state as Zhang-Rice spin-half and build an effective model which includes three spin-one states ($d^8$) and two Zhang-Rice spin-half states ($d^8 L$). At moderate pressure around $20$ GPa, the dominated oxygen orbital is an in-plane Wannier orbital with the same lattice symmetry as the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital. The resulting model reduces to the bilayer type II t-J model previously proposed in the Mott-Hubbard regime. Notably, the hopping between the in-plane $p$ orbitals of the two layers is still suppressed. Density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) simulation reveals a pairing dome with the optimal hole doping level at $x=0.4\sim0.5$, distinct from the hole doped cuprate where optimal doping occurs around $x=0.19$. Further increasing pressure initially raises the critical temperature ($T_c$) until reaching an optimal pressure beyond which the $p_z$ orbital of oxygen becomes favorable and superconductivity is diminished. This shift from in-plane $p$ orbital to $p_z$ orbital may elucidate the experimentally observed superconducting dome with varying pressure. As an extension, we also suggest a trilayer version of the type II t-J model as the minimal model for pressured La$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$, which is distinct from the models in the Mott-Hubbard regime.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Phase transitions out of quantum Hall states in moiré materials

Motivated by the recent experimental breakthroughs in observing Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall (FQAH) states in moiré materials, we propose and study various unconventional phase transitions between quantum Hall phases and Fermi liquids or charge ordered phases upon tuning the bandwidth. At a fixed rational lattice filling $ν$, we describe a quantum Ginzburg-Landau theory to describe the intertwinement between the FQAH and Charge Density Wave (CDW) orders. We use this theory to describe phase transitions between the FQAH and a CDW insulator. The critical theory for a direct second order transition resembles that of the familiar deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) but with an additional Chern-Simons term. At filling -1/2, we study the possibility of a continuous transition between the composite Fermi liquid (CFL) and the Fermi liquid (FL) building on and refining previous work by Barkeshli and McGreevy. Crucially we show that filling constraints ignored in that work ensure that translation symmetry alone is enough to enable a second order CFL-FL transition. We argue that there must be critical CDW fluctuations though neither phase has long range CDW order. We present experimental signatures the most striking of which is a universal jump of both longitudinal and Hall resistivities at the critical point. With disorder, we argue that the CDW order gets pinned and the CFL-FL evolution happens through an intermediate electrically insulating phase with mobile neutral fermions. A clean analog of this insulating phase with long range CDW order and a neutral fermi surface can potentially also exist. We also present a critical theory for the CFL to FL transition at filling -3/4. Our work opens up a new avenue to realize deconfined criticality and fractionalized phases beyond familiar Landau level physics in the moire Chern band system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Non-Abelian and Abelian descendants of vortex spin liquid: fractional quantum spin Hall effect in twisted MoTe$_2$

The recent experimental observation of a potential fractional quantum spin Hall (FQSH) state in the twisted MoTe$_2$ system has sparked theoretical explorations at total filling $ν_T=1$ of a pair of $C=\pm 1$ Chern bands from the two spins (locked to valley). One intriguing candidate is a vortex spin liquid (VSL), which can be viewed as an exciton version of composite fermi liquid (CFL). The VSL insulator is incompressible in the charge channel, while compressible in the spin channel. Here we investigate fully gapped descendants of the VSL phase at the total filling $ν_T=ν_{\uparrow}+ν_{\downarrow}=1$. At zero magnetization, a non-Abelian state with both FQSH and thermal Hall effect emerges from weak $p+ip$ pairing of the neutral Fermi surface, hosting 12 anyons (up to addition of physical electron) including two independent Ising anyons separately carrying charge and spin. Strong pairing leads to a Z$_4$ topological order with only FQSH effect. At non-zero magnetization $m=2S_z$, there is a Jain sequence of magnetic plateaus with $m=\frac{1}{p}, p \in Z$, exhibiting both half FQSH effect and spin fractional quantum Hall effect (SFQH). Our work highlights the VSL's potential as a parent state to organize numerous FQSH insulators with non-trivial inter-valley correlations at $ν_T=1$. The quantized FQSH behavior remains robust even in the presence of ferromagnetism, thanks to the spin-charge separation nature inherent in the parent VSL phase. Future experimental investigations are crucial to validate or rule out spontaneous magnetization and time reversal symmetry breaking.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Vortex spin liquid with fractional quantum spin Hall effect in moiré Chern bands

Integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effects have been widely seen in moiré systems. Recently there is even observation of a time reversal invariant fractional quantum spin hall (FQSH) state at filling $n=3$ in twisted MoTe$_2$ bilayer. We consider a pair of half-filled $C=\pm 1$ Chern band in the two valleys, similar to the well-studied quantum Hall bilayer, but now with opposite chiralities. Due to the strong inter-valley repulsion, we expect a charge gap opening with low energy physics dominated by the neutral inter-valley excitons. However, the presence of an effective `flux' frustrates exciton condensation by proliferating vortices. Here we construct a vortex liquid of excitons dubbed as vortex spin liquid (VSL), from exciton pairing of the composite fermions in the decoupled composite Fermi liquids (CFL) phase. This insulator is a quantum spin liquid with gapless spin excitations carried by the flux of an emergent U(1) gauge field. Additionally, there exist neutral and spinless Fermi surfaces formed by fermionic vortices of a nearby inter-valley-coherent (IVC) order. Unlike a conventional Mott insulator, the VSL phase also exhibits FQSH effect with gapless helical charge modes along the edge. Our work suggests a new platform to search for quantum spin liquid enriched by fractional quantum spin Hall effect. We also point out the possibility of quantum oscillations and thermal Hall effect under Zeeman field in this exotic insulator.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Strong pairing from small Fermi surface beyond weak coupling: Application to La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$

The studies of high-temperature superconductors raise a fundamental question: Can a small Fermi surface phase, which violates the Luttinger theorem, exist and give rise to superconductivity? Our work provides a positive answer through a controlled theory based on a bilayer model with strong inter-layer spin-spin coupling ($J_\perp$) but no inter-layer hopping ($t_\perp$). Then small hole doping of the rung-singlet insulator with two electrons per rung naturally leads to small hole pockets with Fermi surface volume per flavor smaller than the free fermion result by $1/2$ of the Brillouin zone(BZ). We construct a new t-J model on a bilayer square lattice, so called ESD t-J model and employ a generalized slave boson theory, which captures this small Fermi surface phase at small hole doping $x$. This metallic state is an intrinsically strongly correlated Fermi liquid beyond weak coupling theory, violating the perturbative Luttinger theorem but consistent with the Oshikawa's non-perturbative proof. We further show that it transitions into an inter-layer paired $s'$-wave superconductor at lower temperature through Feshbach resonance with a virtual Cooper pair, with a surprising doping-induced crossover from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at higher hole doping levels. This leads to a superconducting dome centered around $x=0.5$, with the normal state changing from the conventional Fermi liquid in the $x>0.5$ to the unusual small Fermi surface state in the $x<0.5$ side. Our theoretical findings including phase diagrams are also confirmed by density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) simulation in quasi one dimension. Applying our theoretical framework, we provide a plausible scenario for the recently found nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Type II t-J model and shared antiferromagnetic spin coupling from Hund's rule in superconducting La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$

Recently, a 80 K superconductor was discovered in La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ under high pressure. Density function theory (DFT) calculations identify $d_{x^2-y^2}$, $d_{z^2}$ as the active orbitals on the bilayer square lattice with a $d^{8-x}$ configuration of of Ni per site. One naive expectation is to describe this system in terms of a two-orbital t-J model. However, we emphasize the importance of Hund's coupling $J_H$ and the $x=0$ limit should be viewed as a spin-one Mott insulator. Especially, the significant Hund's coupling shares the inter-layer super-exchange $J_\perp$ of the $d_{z^2}$ orbital to the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital, an effect that cannot be captured by conventional perturbation or mean-field approaches. In this study, we first explore the limit where the $d_{z^2}$ orbital is Mott localized, dealing with a one-orbital bilayer t-J model focused on the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital. Notably, we find that strong inter-layer pairing survives up to $x=0.5$ hole doping driven by the transmitted $J_\perp$, which explains the existence of a high Tc superconductor in the experiment at this doping level. Next, we uncover the more realistic situation where the $d_{z^2}$ orbital is slightly hole-doped and cannot be simply integrated out. We take the $J_H\rightarrow +\infty$ limit and propose a type II t-J model with four \textit{spin-half} singlon ($d^7$) states and three \textit{spin-one} doublon ($d^8$) states. Employing a parton mean-field approach, we recover similar results as in the one-orbital t-J model, but now with the effect of the $J_\perp$ automatically generated. We propose future experiments to electron dope the system to further enhance $T_c$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Deconfined criticalities and dualities between chiral spin liquid, topological superconductor and charge density wave Chern insulator

We propose bi-critical and tri-critical theories between chiral spin liquid (CSL), topological superconductor (SC) and charge density wave (CDW) ordered Chern insulator with Chern number $C=2$ on square, triangular and kagome lattices. The three CDW order parameters form a manifold of $S^2$ or $S^1$ depending on whether there is easy-plane anisotropy. The skyrmion defect of the CDW order carries physical charge $2e$ and its condensation leads to a topological superconductor. The CDW-SC transitions are in the same universality classes as the celebrated deconfined quantum critical points (DQCP) between Neel order and valence bond solid order on square lattice. Both SC and CDW order can be accessed from the CSL phase through a continuous phase transition. At the CSL-SC transition, there is still CDW order fluctuations although CDW is absent in both sides. We propose three different theories for the CSL-SC transition (and CSL to easy-plane CDW transition): a $U(1)$ theory with two bosons, a $U(1)$ theory with two Dirac fermions, and an $SU(2)$ theory with two bosons. Our construction offers a derivation of the duality between these three theories as well as a promising physical realization. The $SU(2)$ theory offers a unified framework for a series of fixed points with explicit $SO(5), O(4)$ or $SO(3)\times O(2)$ symmetry. There is also a transparent duality transformation mapping SC order to easy-plane CDW order. The CSL-SC-CDW tri-critical points are invariant under this duality mapping and have an enlarged $SO(5)$ or $O(4)$ symmetry. The DQCPs between CDW and SC inherit the enlarged symmetry, emergent anomaly, and self-duality from the tri-critical point. Our analysis unifies the well-studied DQCP between symmetry breaking phases into a larger framework where they are proximate to a topologically ordered phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Symmetry-broken Chern insulators in twisted double bilayer graphene

Twisted double bilayer graphene (tDBG) has emerged as an especially rich platform for studying strongly correlated and topological states of matter. The material features moiré bands that can be continuously deformed by both perpendicular displacement field and twist angle. Here, we construct a phase diagram representing of the correlated and topological states as a function of these parameters, based on measurements on over a dozen tDBG devices encompassing the two distinct stacking configurations in which the constituent Bernal bilayer graphene sheets are rotated either slightly away from 0° or 60°. We find a hierarchy of symmetry-broken states that emerge sequentially as the twist angle approaches an apparent optimal value of $θ\approx$ 1.34°. Among them, we discover a sequence of symmetry-broken Chern insulator (SBCI) states that arise only within a narrow range of twist angles ($\approx$ 1.33° to 1.39°). We observe an associated anomalous Hall effect at zero field in all samples supporting SBCI states, indicating spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking and possible moiré unit cell enlargement at zero magnetic field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

S-wave pairing in a two-orbital t-J model on triangular lattice: possible application to Pb$_{10-x}$Cu$_x$(PO$_4$)$_6$O

Recently room temperature superconductor was claimed in Pb$_{10-x}$Cu$_x$(PO$_4$)$_6$O (also known as LK-99) with $x\in (0.9,1.1)$. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the conduction electrons are from the doped Cu atoms with valence close to $d^{9}$. Motivated by this picture, we build a two-orbital Hubbard model on a triangular lattice formed by the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals with total hole density (summed over spin and orbital) $n=1-p$. When $p=0$, the system is in a Mott insulator within this model. When $p>0$, we derive a $t-J$ model and perform a self-consistent slave boson mean field calculation. Interestingly we find a s-wave pairing in contrast to the one-orbital t-J model which favors $d+id$ pairing. S wave pairing should be more robust to disorder and may lead to high Tc superconductor with sufficiently large values of $t$ and $J$. However, the DFT calculations predict a very small value of $t$ and then the $T_c$ is expected to be small. If LK99 is really a high Tc superconductor, ingredients beyond the current model are needed. We conjecture that the doped Cu atoms may distort the original lattice and form local clusters with smaller Cu -Cu distance and thus larger values of $t$ and $J$. Within these clusters, we may locally apply our t-J model calculation and expect high Tc s-wave superconductor. Then the superconducting islands couple together, which may eventually become a global superconductor, an insulator or even an anomalous metal depending on sample details.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Ancilla wavefunctions of Mott insulator and pseudogap metal through quantum teleportation

Weak Mott regime with finite U is a wonderful region to search for quantum spin liquid, but it is challenging to write down a wavefunction capturing both spin liquid and charge fluctuations. Conventional methods using complicated Jastrow factors have difficulties when the underlying spin liquid has a non-trivial projective symmetry group (PSG). To cure this problem, here we provide a new class wavefunction for Mott insulator through quantum teleportation using ancilla qubits. We primarily focus on half filling of the fermionic Hubbard model. We will prove that a single variation parameter $Φ$ in our wavefunction tunes the Mott charge gap continuously. On a generic lattice, we show that the wavefunction at $Φ=+\infty$ recovers the familiar Gutzwiller projectived wavefunction at infinite U. The wavefunction at $Φ=\frac{U}{2}$ is equivalent to applying the inverse Schrieffer Wolff transformation at linear order of $t/U$, as expected in large but finite U regime. From a gauge theory description we can show that the wavefunction has an electronic sector decoupled from a spinon sector describing localized spin moments. The charge gap $Δ_c$ can be shown to be $2Φ$ and we conjecture that the wavefunction works well down to the regime with small charge gap on a generic lattice. We represent the wavefunction using tensor network and numerically confirm this conjecture in one dimension. Beyond the numerical power, the ancilla wavefunction also provides a new conceptual picture to understand the bandwidth tuned metal insulator transition. In this new framework, there can in principle exist a narrow region of fractional Fermi liquid (FL*) phase between the usual Fermi liquid and the Mott insulator, a scenario which is not captured by the conventional slave rotor theory and thus was usually outlooked.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Numerical signatures of ultra-local criticality in a one dimensional Kondo lattice model

Heavy fermion criticality has been a long-standing problem in condensed matter physics. Here we study a one-dimensional Kondo lattice model through numerical simulation and observe signatures of local criticality. We vary the Kondo coupling $J_K$ at fixed doping $x$. At large positive $J_K$, we confirm the expected conventional Luttinger liquid phase with $2k_F=\frac{1+x}{2}$ (in units of $2π$), an analogue of the heavy Fermi liquid (HFL) in the higher dimension. In the $J_K \leq 0$ side, our simulation finds the existence of a fractional Luttinger liquid (LL*) phase with $2k_F=\frac{x}{2}$, accompanied by a gapless spin mode originating from localized spin moments, which serves as an analogue of the fractional Fermi liquid (FL*) phase in higher dimensions. The LL* phase becomes unstable and transitions to a spin-gapped Luther-Emery (LE) liquid phase at small positive $J_K$. Then we mainly focus on the `critical regime' between the LE phase and the LL phase. Approaching the critical point from the spin-gapped LE phase, we often find that the spin gap vanishes continuously, while the spin-spin correlation length in real space stays finite and small. For a certain range of doping, in a point (or narrow region) of $J_K$, the dynamical spin structure factor obtained through the time-evolving block decimation (TEBD) simulation shows dispersion-less spin fluctuations in a finite range of momentum space above a small energy scale (around $0.035 J$) that is limited by the TEBD accuracy. All of these results are unexpected for a regular gapless phase (or critical point) described by conformal field theory (CFT). Instead, they are more consistent with exotic ultra-local criticality with an infinite dynamical exponent $z=+\infty$. Lastly, we propose to simulate the model in a bilayer optical lattice with a potential difference.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Magnetic field stabilized Wigner crystal states in a graphene moiré superlattice

Wigner crystals are predicted as the crystallization of the dilute electron gas moving in a uniform background when the electron-electron Coulomb energy dominates the kinetic energy. The Wigner crystal has previously been observed in the ultraclean two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) present on the surface of liquid helium and in semiconductor quantum wells at high magnetic field. More recently, Wigner crystals have also been reported in WS2/WSe2 moiré heterostructures. ABC-stacked trilayer graphene on boron nitride (ABC-TLG/hBN) moiré superlattices provide a unique tunable platform to explore Wigner crystal states where the electron correlation can be controlled by electric and magnetic field. Here we report the observation of magnetic field stabilized Wigner crystal states in a ABC-TLG/hBN moiré superlattice. We show that correlated insulating states emerge at multiple fractional and integer fillings corresponding to v = 1/3, 2/3, 1, 4/3, 5/3 and 2 electrons per moiré lattice site under a magnetic field. These correlated insulating states can be attributed to generalized Mott states for the integer fillings (v = 1, 2) and generalized Wigner crystal states for the fractional fillings (v = 1/3, 2/3, 4/3, 5/3). The generalized Wigner crystal states are stabilized by a vertical magnetic field, and they are strongest at one magnetic flux quantum per three moiré superlattices. The correlated insulating states at v = 2 persists up to 30 Tesla, which can be described by a Mott-Hofstadter transition at high magnetic field. The tunable Mott and Wigner crystal states in the ABC-TLG/hBN highlight the opportunities to discover new correlated quantum phases due to the interplay between the magnetic field and moiré flatbands.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Exciton and light induced ferromagnetism from doping a moiré Mott insulator

Significant efforts have been dedicated to achieving excitonic insulators. In this paper, we explore a new problem of doping excitons into a Mott insulator instead of a band insulator. Specifically, we start with a Mott insulator on a triangular moiré superlattice in a transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) layer and inject excitons by either transferring particles to a different layer or optically pumping electrons from the valence to the conduction band. In both cases, the excitons move in the presence of local spin moments inherited from the Mott insulator. When the Heisenberg spin coupling $J$ is small, the kinetic energy of the excitons decides the magnetism, akin to Nagaoka ferromagnetism in hole-doped Mott insulators. Through density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations, we demonstrate that the spin moments originating from the Mott insulator form $120^\circ$ antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic order for the two signs of the exciton hoppings over a broad range of exciton densities. Notably, the optical pump case may result in an antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition with increasing exciton density, indicating a potential mechanism for light-induced ferromagnetism. A similar exciton-induced ferromagnetism could be achieved in a moiré-monolayer system where the monolayer is electron-doped while the moiré Mott insulator is hole-doped. Our works demonstrates a new possibility to engineering magnetism through doping neutral excitons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

XY* transition and extraordinary boundary criticality from fractional exciton condensation in quantum Hall bilayer

XY* transitions represent one of the simplest examples of unconventional quantum criticality, in which fractionally charged excitations condense into a superfluid, and display novel features that combine quantum criticality and fractionalization. Nevertheless their experimental realization is challenging. Here we propose to study the XY* transition in quantum Hall bilayers at filling $(ν_1,ν_2)=(\frac{1}{3},\frac{2}{3})$ where the exciton condensate (EC) phase plays the role of the superfluid. Supported by exact diagonalization calculation, we argue that there is a continuous transition between an EC phase at small bilayer separation to a pair of decoupled fractional quantum Hall states, at large separation. The transition is driven by condensation of a fractional exciton, a bound state of Laughlin quasiparticle and quasihole, and is in the XY* universality class. The fractionalization is manifested by unusual properties including a large anomalous exponent and fractional universal conductivity, which can be conveniently measured through inter-layer tunneling and counter-flow transport, respectively. We also show that the edge is likely to realize the newly predicted extra-ordinary boundary criticality. Our work highlights the promise of quantum Hall bilayers as an ideal platform for exploring exotic bulk and boundary critical behaviors, that are amenable to immediate experimental exploration in dual-gated bilayer systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Approximate SU(4) spin models on triangular and honeycomb lattices in twisted AB-Stacked WSe$_2$ homo-bilayer

In this paper, we derive lattice models for the narrow moiré bands of the AB-stacked twisted WSe$_2$ homobilayer through continuum model and Wannier orbital construction. Previous work has shown that an approximate SU(4) Hubbard model may be realized by combining spin and layer because inter-layer tunneling is suppressed due to spin $S_z$ conservation. However, Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) was ignored in the previous analysis. Here, we show that a Rashba SOC of reasonable magnitude can induce a finite but very small inter-layer hopping in the final lattice Hubbard model. At total filling $n=1$, we derive a spin-layer model on a triangular lattice in the large-U limit where the inter-layer tunneling contributes as a sublattice-dependent transverse Ising field for the layer pseudospin. We then show that the $n=2$ Mott insulator is also captured by an approximate SU(4) spin model, but now on honeycomb lattice. We comment on the possibility of a Dirac spin liquid (DSL) and competing phases due to SU(4) anisotropy terms.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Excitonic Chern insulator and kinetic ferromagnetism in MoTe$_2$/WSe$_2$ moiré bilayer

We propose a new mechanism for quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect in the AB stacked MoTe$_2$/WSe$_2$ system. Based on the observation that the inter-layer tunneling is suppressed in the AB stacking, we consider a model with two layers coupled through the Coulomb interaction. The moiré lattices of the two layers are shifted to form a honeycomb lattice together. Initially, the system is in a layer-polarized Mott insulator at $ν_T=1$. But with a displacement field, an equal number of holes and electrons are doped into the two layers respectively and they form inter-layer exciton condensation. Through mean field theory, we find p$\pm$ip exciton condensation in a certain parameter regime, which leads to a Chern insulator with Chern number $C=\pm 1$. The valleys are polarized due to the kinetic energy instead of interaction. But the polarization in the two layers can be either the same or opposite depending on small perturbations away from a symmetric point. As a result, both valley polarized and inter-valley coherent (IVC) Chern insulator phases are possible. The latter has the same spin $S_z$ in the two layers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Doping a Mott insulator with excitons in moiré bilayer: fractional superfluid, neutral Fermi surface and Mott transition

In this paper we explore possible phases arising from doping neutral excitons into a Mott insulator in the context of moiré bilayers. We consider two moiré layers coupled together only through inter-layer repulsion and there is a U(2)$\times$ U(2) symmetry. The densities of the two layers can be tuned to be $n_t=x,n_b=1-x$ with $n_t+n_b=1$. $x=0$ limit is a layer polarized Mott insulator and small $x$ regime can be reached by doping inter-layer excitons at density $x$. Charge gap can remain finite at small $x$, as is demonstrated experimentally in the WSe$_2$-hBN-WSe$_2$/WS$_2$ system. To capture the intertwinement of the spin and exciton degree of freedom, we propose a four-flavor spin model. In addition to the obvious possibility of single exciton condensation phase, we also identified more exotic physics with fractionalization: (I) We define spin gap $Δ_t, Δ_b$ for the two layers respectively. As long as the spin gap at either layer is finite, single exciton condensation is impossible and we can only have paired exciton condensation. If both spin gaps are finite, it can be a fractional exciton superfluid with paired exciton condensation coexisting with $Z_2$ spin liquid. Numerical evidences for such a phase will be provided. (II) If the layer polarized Mott insulator at $x=0$ is in a U(1) spin liquid with spinon Fermi surface, the natural phase at $x>0$ hosts neutral Fermi surface formed by fermionic excitons. There are metallic counter-flow transport and also Friedel oscillations in layer polarization in this exotic phase. Our numerical simulation in one dimension observes an analog of this neutral Fermi surface phase. (III) There could be a metal-insulator transition (MIT) by tuning $x$ in the universality class of a bandwidth tuned MIT. We provide one theory for such a continuous Mott transition and predicted a universal drag resistivity.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Chiral and nodal superconductors in t-J model with valley contrasting flux on triangular moiré lattice

Recent experimental progresses have made it possible to simulate spin 1/2 Hubbard model on triangular lattice in moiré materials formed by transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterobilayer or homobilayer. In twisted TMD homobilayer, a vertical electric field can induce a valley contrasting flux in the hopping term. In this paper we study possible superconductors from a t-J model with valley contrasting flux $Φ$ using the slave boson mean field theory. We obtain a phase diagram with doping $x$ and $Φ$. A finite $Φ$ breaks spin rotation symmetry and the pairing symmetry is a superposition of spin singlet $d-id$ and spin triplet $p+ip$. There are two topological phase transitions when tuning $Φ$ from $0$ to $π$, with three Dirac nodes at one transition and one single Dirac node at the other transition. We also discuss the effects of van Hove singularity and a three-site correlated hopping term on the pairing strength. Lastly, we demonstrate that a small anisotropy term breaking the $C_3$ rotation can lead to a time reversal invariant nodal superconductor connected to the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ superconductor on square lattice.

cond-mat.str-el↗