arXiv subjects

Yang Zhao

Publications and source records attributed to Yang Zhao.

At least 469 records · Page 26Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Magnetic structure of the conductive triangular-lattice antiferromagnet PdCrO2

We performed neutron single crystal and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction experiments in order to investigate the magnetic and crystal structures of the conductive layered triangular-lattice antiferromagnet PdCrO2 with a putative spin chirality, which contributes to an unconventional anomalous Hall effect. We revealed that the ground-state magnetic structure is a commensurate and nearly-coplanar 120-degrees spin structure. The 120-degrees plane in different Cr layers seem to tilt with one another, leading to a small noncoplanarity. Such a small but finite non-coplanar stacking of the 120-degrees planes gives rise to a finite scalar spin chirality, which may be responsible for the unconventional nature of the Hall effect of PdCrO2.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Featureless quantum spin liquid, 1/3-magnetization plateau state and exotic thermodynamic properties of spin-1/2 frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on an infinite Husimi lattice

By utilizing tensor-network-based methods, we investigate the zero- and finite-temperature properties of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic (HAF) model on an infinite Husimi lattice that contains 3/2 sites per triangle. The ground state of this model is found to possess vanishing local magnetization and is featureless; the spin-spin and dimer-dimer correlation functions are verified to decay exponentially; and its ground-state energy per site is determined to be $e_0=-0.4343(1)$, which is very close to that [$e_0=-0.4386(5)$] of the intriguing kagome HAF model. The magnetization curve shows the absence of a zero-magnetization plateau, implying a gapless excitation. A $1/3$-magnetization plateau with spin up-up-down state is observed, which is selected and stabilized by quantum fluctuations. A ground state phase diagram under magnetic fields is presented. Moreover, both magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat are studied, whose low-temperature behaviors reinforce the conclusion that the HAF model on the infinite Husimi lattice owns a gapless and featureless spin liquid ground state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Spin-Boson Model with Diagonal and Off-Diagonal Coupling to Two Independent Baths: Ground-State Phase Transition in the Deep Sub-Ohmic Regime

We investigate a spin-boson model with two boson baths that are coupled to two perpendicular components of the spin by employing the density matrix renormalization group method with an optimized boson basis. It is revealed that in the deep sub-Ohmic regime there exists a novel second-order phase transition between two types of doubly degenerate states, which is reduced to one of the usual type for nonzero tunneling. In addition, it is found that expectation values of the spin components display jumps at the phase boundary in the absence of bias and tunneling.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

A Novel Carrier Waveform Inter-Displacement Modulation Method in Underwater Communication Channel

As the main way of underwater wireless communication, underwater acoustic communication is one of the focuses of ocean research. Compared with the free space wireless communication channel, the underwater acoustic channel suffers from more severe multipath effect, the less available bandwidth and the even complex noise. The underwater acoustic channel is one of the most complicated wireless communication channels. To achieve a reliable underwater acoustic communication, Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulation and Passive Time Reversal Mirror (PTRM) equalization are considered to be a suitable scheme. However, due to the serious distortion of the received signal caused by the channel, this scheme suffers from a high Bit Error Rate (BER) under the condition of the low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). To solve this problem, we proposes a Carrier Waveform Inter-Displacement (CWID) modulation method based on the Linear Frequency Modulation (LFM) PSK and PTRM scheme. The new communication scheme reduces BER by increasing the difference from the carrier waveform for different symbols. Simulation results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

cs.OH↗

arXiv2013

Intrinsic Optical Properties and Enhanced Plasmonic Response of Epitaxial Silver

Plasmonics offers an enticing platform to manipulate light at the subwavelength scale. Currently, loss represents the most serious challenge impeding its progress and broad impact towards practical technology. In this regard, silver (Ag) is by far the preferred plasmonic material at optical frequencies, having the lowest loss among all metals in this frequency range. However, large discrepancies exist among widely quoted values of optical loss in Ag due to variations in sample preparation procedures that produce uncontrollable grain boundaries and defects associated with additional loss. A natural question arises: what are the intrinsic fundamental optical properties of Ag and its ultimate possibilities in the field of plasmonics? Using atomically-smooth epitaxial Ag films, we extracted new optical constants that reflect significantly reduced loss and measured greatly enhanced propagation distance of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) beyond what was previously considered possible. By establishing a new benchmark in the ultimate optical properties of Ag, these results will have a broad impact for metamaterials and plasmonic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Sub-Ohmic spin-boson model with off-diagonal coupling: Ground state properties

We have carried out analytical and numerical studies of the spin-boson model in the sub-ohmic regime with the influence of both the diagonal and off-diagonal coupling accounted for via the Davydov D1 variational ansatz. While a second-order phase transition is known to be exhibited by this model in the presence of diagonal coupling only, we demonstrate the emergence of a discontinuous first order phase transition upon incorporation of the off-diagonal coupling. A plot of the ground state energy versus magnetization highlights the discontinuous nature of the transition between the isotropic (zero magnetization) state and nematic (finite magnetization) phases. We have also calculated the entanglement entropy and a discontinuity found at a critical coupling strength further supports the discontinuous crossover in the spin-boson model in the presence of off-diagonal coupling. It is further revealed via a canonical transformation approach that for the special case of identical exponents for the spectral densities of the diagonal and the off-diagonal coupling, there exists a continuous crossover from a single localized phase to doubly degenerate localized phase with differing magnetizations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Entanglement dynamics of a two-qubit system coupled individually to Ohmic baths

Developed originally for the Holstein polaron, the Davydov D1 ansatz is an efficient, yet extremely accurate trial state for time-dependent variation of the spin-boson model [J. Chem. Phys. 138, 084111 (2013)]. In this work, the Dirac-Frenkel time-dependent variational procedure utilizing the Davydov D1 ansatz is implemented to study entanglement dynamics of two qubits under the influence of two independent baths. The Ohmic spectral density is used without the Born-Markov approximation or the rotating-wave approximation. In the strong coupling regime finite-time disentanglement is always found to exist, while at the intermediate coupling regime, the entanglement dynamics calculated by Davydov D1 ansatz displays oscillatory behavior in addition to entanglement disappearance and revival.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Dynamics of a two-level system under the simultaneous influence of a spin bath and a boson bath

We study dynamics of a two-level system coupled simultaneously to a pair of dissimilar reservoirs, namely, a spin bath and a boson bath, which are connected via finite interbath coupling. It is found that the steady-state energy transfer in the two-level system increases with its coupling to the spin bath while optimal transfer occurs at intermediate coupling in the transient process. If the two-level system is strongly coupled to the spin bath, the population transfer is unidirectional barring minor population oscillations of minute amplitudes. If the spin bath is viewed as an atomic ensemble, robust generation of macroscopic superposition states exists against parameter variations of the two-level system and the boson bath.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Honeycomb Heisenberg Spin Ladder: Unusual Ground State and Thermodynamic Properties

The unusual ground state and thermodynamic properties of spin-1/2 two-leg honeycomb (HC) spin ladder are systematically studied by jointly utilizing various analytical and numerical methods. The HC spin ladder is found to exhibit behaviors dramatically different from those of the conventional square spin ladder. A strong relevant term nJ and a half saturation magnetization plateau that can be attributed to the formation of diluted dimer states are observed in the HC ladder, both of which are absent in the square ladder. The ground state phase diagram of the HC spin ladder is identified, and the thermodynamic properties of the specific heat and susceptibility for different couplings are thoroughly explored, where two kinds of excitations are unveiled. The distinct Wilson ratios for both spin ladders at the lower critical fields are also obtained. Our calculated result is well fitted to the experimental data of the two-leg HC spin ladder compound [Cu2L1(N3)4]n.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Coexistence of Half-Metallic Itinerant Ferromagnetism with Local-Moment Antiferromagnetism in Ba{0.60}K{0.40}Mn2As2

Magnetization, nuclear magnetic resonance, high-resolution x-ray diffraction and magnetic field-dependent neutron diffraction measurements reveal a novel magnetic ground state of Ba{0.60}K{0.40}Mn2As2 in which itinerant ferromagnetism (FM) below a Curie temperature TC = 100 K arising from the doped conduction holes coexists with collinear antiferromagnetism (AFM) of the Mn local moments that order below a Neel temperature TN = 480 K. The FM ordered moments are aligned in the tetragonal ab-plane and are orthogonal to the AFM-ordered Mn moments that are aligned along the c-axis. The magnitude and nature of the low-T FM ordered moment correspond to complete polarization of the doped-hole spins (half-metallic itinerant FM) as deduced from magnetization and ab-plane electrical resistivity measurements.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Generalized rotating-wave approximation to biased qubit-oscillator systems

The generalized rotating-wave approximation with counter-rotating interactions has been applied to a biased qubit-oscillator system. Analytical expressions are explicitly given for all eigenvalues and eigenstates. For a flux qubit coupled to superconducting oscillators, spectra calculated by our approach are in excellent agreement with experiment. Calculated energy levels for a variety of biases also agree well with those obtained via exact diagonalization for a wide range of coupling strengths. Dynamics of the qubit has also been examined, and results lend further support to the validity of the analytical approximation employed here. Our approach can be readily implemented and applied to superconducting qubit-oscillator experiments conducted currently and in the near future with a biased qubit and for all accessible coupling strengths.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

A variational surface hopping algorithm for the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model

The Davydov D1 ansatz, which assigns an individual bosonic trajectory to each spin state, is an efficient, yet extremely accurate trial state for time-dependent variation of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model [J. Chem. Phys. 138, 084111 (2013)]. A surface hopping algorithm is developed employing the Davydov D1 ansatz to study the spin dynamics with a sub-Ohmic bosonic bath. The algorithm takes into account both coherent and incoherent dynamics of the population evolution in a unified manner, and compared with semiclassical surface hopping algorithms, hopping rates calculated in this work follow more closely the Marcus formula.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2013

Uniaxial pressure effect on structural and magnetic phase transitions in NaFeAs and its comparison with as-grown and annealed BaFe$_2$As$_2$

We use neutron scattering to study the effect of uniaxial pressure on the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural ($T_s$) and paramagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic ($T_N$) phase transitions in NaFeAs and compare the outcome with similar measurements on as-grown and annealed BaFe$_2$As$_2$. In previous work on as-grown BaFe$_2$As$_2$, uniaxial pressure necessary to detwin the sample was found to induce a significant increase in zero pressure $T_N$ and $T_s$. However, we find that similar uniaxial pressure used to detwin NaFeAs and annealed BaFe$_2$As$_2$ has a very small effect on their $T_N$ and $T_s$.Since transport measurements on these samples still reveal resistivity anisotropy above $T_N$ and $T_s$, we conclude that such anisotropy cannot be due to uniaxial strain induced $T_N$ and $T_s$ shifts, but must arise from intrinsic electronic anisotropy in these materials.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Dynamics of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model: a time-dependent variational study

The Dirac-Frenkel time-dependent variation is employed to probe the dynamics of the zero temperature sub-Ohmic spin-boson model with strong friction utilizing the Davydov D1 ansatz. It is shown that initial conditions of the phonon bath have considerable influence on the dynamics. Counterintuitively, even in the very strong coupling regime, quantum coherence features still manage to survive under the polarized bath initial condition, while such features are absent under the factorized bath initial condition. In addition, a coherent-incoherent transition is found at a critical coupling strength alpha ~ 0.1 for s=0.25 under the factorized bath initial condition. We quantify how faithfully our ansatz follows the Schrödinger equation, finding that the time-dependent variational approach is robust for strong dissipation and deep sub-Ohmic baths (s<<1).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition and reentrance in an anisotropic 3-state Potts model on the generalized Kagome lattice

The unusual reentrant phenomenon is observed in the anisotropic 3-state Potts model on a gen- eralized Kagome lattice. By employing the linearized tensor renormalization group method, we find that the reentrance can appear in the region not only under a partial ordered phase as commonly known but also a phase without a local order parameter, which is uncovered to fall into the uni- versality of the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) type. The region of the reentrance depends strongly on the ratios of the next nearest couplings α = J2 /|J1 | and β = J3 /|J1 |. The phase diagrams in the plane of temperature versus β for different α are obtained. Through massive calculations, it is also revealed that the quasi-entanglement entropy can be used to accurately detect the KT transition temperature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Low-energy effective theory and two distinct critical phases in a spin-1/2 frustrated three-leg spin tube

Motivated by the crystal structures of [(CuCl2tachH)3Cl]Cl2 and Ca3Co2O6, we develop a low-energy effective theory using the bosonization technique for a spin-1/2 frustrated three-leg spin tube with trigonal prism units in two limit cases. The features obtained with the effective theory are numerically elucidated by the density matrix renormalization group method. Three different quantum phases in the ground state of the system, say, one gapped dimerized phase and two distinct gapless phases, are identified, where the two gapless phases are found to have the conformal central charge c=1 and 3/2, respectively. Spin gaps, spin and dimer correlation functions, and the entanglement entropy are obtained. In particular, it is disclosed that the critical phase with c=3/2 is the consequence of spin frustrations, which might belong to the SU(2)k=2 Wess-Zumino-Witten-Novikov universality class, and is induced by the twist term in the bosonized Hamiltonian density.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Enhancement of coherent energy transfer by disorder and temperature in light harvesting processes

We investigate the influence of static disorder and thermal excitations on excitonic energy transport in the light-harvesting apparatus of photosynthetic systems by solving the Schrödinger equation and taking into account the coherent hoppings of excitons, the rates of exciton creation and annihilation in antennas and reaction centers, and the coupling to thermally excited phonons. The antennas and reaction centers are modeled, respectively, as the sources and drains which provide the channels for creation and annihilation of excitons. Phonon modes below a maximum frequency are coupled to the excitons that are continuously created in the antennas and depleted in the reaction centers, and the phonon population in these modes obeys the Bose-Einstein distribution at a given temperature. It is found that the energy transport is not only robust against the static disorder and the thermal noise, but it can also be enhanced by increasing the randomness and temperature in most parameter regimes. Relevance of our work to the highly efficient energy transport in photosynthetic systems is discussed.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2012

Excitonic energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes in purple bacteria

Two distinct approaches, the Frenkel-Dirac time-dependent variation and the Haken-Strobl model, are adopted to study energy transfer dynamics in single-ring and double-ring light-harvesting systems in purple bacteria. It is found that inclusion of long-range dipolar interactions in the two methods results in significant increases in intra- or inter-ring exciton transfer efficiency. The dependence of exciton transfer efficiency on trapping positions on single rings of LH2 (B850) and LH1 is similar to that in toy models with nearest-neighbor coupling only. However, owing to the symmetry breaking caused by the dimerization of BChls and dipolar couplings, such dependence has been largely suppressed. In the studies of coupled-ring systems, both methods reveal interesting role of dipolar interaction in increasing energy transfer efficiency by introducing multiple intra/inter-ring transfer paths. Importantly, the time scale (~4ps) of inter-ring exciton transfer obtained from polaron dynamics is in good agreement with previous studies. In a double-ring LH2 system, dipole-induced symmetry breaking leads to global minima and local minima of the average trapping time when there is a finite value of non-zero dephasing rate, suggesting that environment plays a role in preserving quantum coherent energy transfer. In contrast, dephasing comes into play only when the perfect cylindrical symmetry in the hypothetic system is broken. This study has revealed that dipolar interaction between chromophores may play an important part in the high energy transfer efficiency in the LH2 system and many other natural photosynthetic systems.

physics.chem-ph↗