arXiv subjects

Yasuyuki Kato

Publications and source records attributed to Yasuyuki Kato.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Optical Hall response in spin-orbit coupled metals: Comparative study of magnetic cluster monopole, quadrupole, and toroidal orders

The optical Hall response is theoretically studied for spin-orbit coupled metals with ferroic orders of cluster-type magnetic multipoles. We find that different magnetic multipoles give rise to distinct spectra in the optical Hall conductivity. In the cases of monopole and quadrupole orders, the optical Hall response appears predominantly in high- and low-energy regions, which correspond to the energy scales of electron correlation and kinetic energy, respectively, while the response is dispersed and rather weak in the case of toroidal order. By decomposing the spectra into different interband contributions, we reveal selection rules stemming from the interplay between the antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling and the underlying multipoles. Our results suggest that the optical Hall measurement is useful to detect and distinguish the cluster-type magnetic multipole orders.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Phase transitions between helices, vortices, and hedgehogs driven by spatial anisotropy in chiral magnets

Superpositions of spin helices can yield topological spin textures, such as two-dimensional vortices and skyrmions, and three-dimensional hedgehogs. Their topological nature and spatial dimensionality depend on the number and relative directions of the constituent helices. This allows mutual transformation between the topological spin textures by controlling the spatial anisotropy. Here we theoretically study the effect of anisotropy in the magnetic interactions for an effective spin model for chiral magnetic metals. By variational calculations for both cases with triple and quadruple superpositions, we find that the hedgehog lattices, which are stable in the isotropic case, are deformed by the anisotropy, and eventually changed into other spin textures with reduced dimension, such as helices and vortices. We also clarify the changes of topological properties by tracing the real-space positions of magnetic monopoles and antimonopoles as well as the emergent magnetic field generated by the noncoplanar spin textures. Our results suggest possible control of the topological spin textures, e.g., by uniaxial pressure and chemical substitution in chiral materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Magnetic-field-induced tunability of spin Hamiltonians: Resonances and Efimov states in Yb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$

Universality is a powerful concept that arises from the divergence of a characteristic length scale. For condensed matter systems, this length scale is typically the correlation length, which diverges at critical points separating two different phases. Few-particle systems exhibit a simpler form of universality when the $s$-wave scattering length diverges. A prominent example of universal phenomena is the emergence of an infinite tower of three-body bound states obeying discrete scale invariance, known as the Efimov effect, which has been subject to extensive research in chemical, atomic, nuclear and particle physics. In principle, these universal phenomena can also emerge in the excitation spectrum of condensed matter systems, such as quantum magnets~[Y. Nishida, Y. Kato, and C. Batista, Nat. Phys. 9, 93 (2013)]. However, the limited tunability of the effective inter-particle interaction relative to the kinetic energy has precluded so far their observation. Here we demonstrate that a high degree of magnetic-field-induced tunability can also be achieved in quantum magnets with strong spin-orbit coupling: a two-magnon resonance condition can be achieved in Yb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ with a field of $\sim$ 13~T along the [110] direction, which leads to the formation of Efimov states in the three-magnon spectrum of this material. Raman scattering experiments can reveal the field-induced two-magnon resonance, as well as the Efimov three-magnon bound states that emerge near the resonance condition.

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arXiv2020

Thermodynamic classification of three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids

In the field of frustrated magnetism, Kitaev models provide a unique framework to study the phenomena of spin fractionalization and emergent lattice gauge theories in two and three spatial dimensions. Their ground states are quantum spin liquids, which can typically be described in terms of a Majorana band structure and an ordering of the underlying $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge structure. Here we provide a comprehensive classification of the "gauge physics" of a family of elementary three-dimensional Kitaev models, discussing how their thermodynamics and ground state order depends on the underlying lattice geometry. Using large-scale, sign-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations we show that the ground-state gauge order can generally be understood in terms of the length of elementary plaquettes -- a result which extends the applicability of Lieb's theorem to lattice geometries beyond its original scope. At finite temperatures, the proliferation of (gapped) vison excitations destroys the gauge order at a critical temperature scale, which we show to correlate with the size of vison gap for the family of three-dimensional Kitaev models. We also discuss two notable exceptions where the lattice structure gives rise to "gauge frustration" or intertwines the gauge ordering with time-reversal symmetry breaking. In a more general context, the thermodynamic gauge transitions in such 3D Kitaev models are one of the most natural settings for phase transitions beyond the standard Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm.

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arXiv2020

Tracing Monopoles and Anti-monopoles in a Magnetic Hedgehog Lattice

The magnetic hedgehog lattice (HL), which was recently discovered in the $B$20-type chiral magnet MnSi$_{1-x}$Ge$_x$, is a topological spin texture with a periodic array of magnetic monopoles and anti-monopoles. Within the continuum approximation, the monopoles and anti-monopoles are predicted to move, collide, and pair annihilate in an applied magnetic field, but it remains unclear how the lattice discretization affects their motions. Here, we study the trajectories of monopoles and anti-monopoles in a lattice system by simulated annealing with field sweep. We show that the monopoles and anti-monopoles move and repel before pair annihilations. We also clarify that their motions are closely related with the field dependence of the scalar spin chirality.

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arXiv2020

Majorana-Magnon Crossover by a Magnetic Field in the Kitaev Model: Continuous-Time Quantum Monte Carlo Study

Kitaev quantum spin liquids host Majorana fermions via the fractionalization of spins. In a magnetic field, the Majorana fermions were predicted to comprise a topological state, which has attracted great attention by the discovery of the half-quantized thermal Hall conductivity. Nevertheless, a reliable theory remains elusive for the field effect, especially at finite temperature. Here we present unbiased large-scale numerical results for the Kitaev model in a wide range of magnetic field and temperature. We find that the unconventional paramagnetic region showing fractional spin dynamics extends at finite temperature, far beyond the field range where the topological state is expected at zero temperature. Our results show the confinement-deconfinement behavior between the fractional Majorana excitations and the conventional magnons.

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arXiv2020

Magnetic hedgehog lattices in noncentrosymmetric metals

The magnetic hedgehog lattice (HL) is a noncoplanar magnetic texture with a periodic array of magnetic monopoles and anti-monopoles. Despite phenomenological and numerical studies thus far, there remain open issues on the microscopic origin, especially with respect to the recent experimental findings of two different types of HLs even at zero magnetic field. Here, we study the stability of the HLs for an effective spin model with long-range interactions arising from itinerant nature of electrons. By variational calculations and simulated annealing, we find that the HLs are stabilized in the ground state at zero magnetic field by the synergetic effect of the anti-symmetric exchange interactions generated by the spin-orbit coupling and the multiple-spin interactions generated by the spin-charge coupling. We also clarify the phase diagram in the magnetic fields, which includes topological phase transitions with pair annihilation of the monopoles and anti-monopoles depending on the field directions.

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arXiv2019

Computational design of $f$-electron Kitaev magnets: honeycomb and hyperhoneycomb compounds $A_2$PrO$_3$ ($A=$ alkali metals)

The Kitaev spin model offers an exact quantum spin liquid in the ground state, which has stimulated exploration of its material realization over the last decade. Thus far, most of the candidates are found in $4d$- and $5d$-electron compounds, in which the low-spin $d^5$ electron configuration subject to strong spin-orbit coupling comprises a Kramers doublet with the effective angular momentum $j_{\rm eff}=1/2$ and gives rise to the bond-dependent anisotropic interactions in the Kitaev model. Here we theoretically investigate other candidates in $4f$-electron compounds with the $f^1$ electron configuration on both quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb and three-dimensional hyperhoneycomb structures, $A_2$PrO$_3$ with $A$=Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs. Based on {\it ab initio} calculations, we show that the electronic structures of these compounds host a spin-orbital entangled Kramers doublet with $j_{\rm eff}=1/2$ in the $Γ_7$ state. By constructing the tight-binding Hamiltonian and performing a perturbation expansion, we find that the low-energy magnetic properties of $A_2$PrO$_3$ are well described by an effective spin model with the $J$-$K$-$Γ'$ model. The most remarkable feature is that the Kitaev interaction $K$ is antiferromagnetic, in contrast to the ferromagnetic one in the $d^5$ candidates at hand. The exchange interactions are systematically modulated by changing the $A$-site cations. As a consequence, the compounds with $A$=Li and Na may have a dominant antiferromagnetic $K$, but $J$ dominates $K$ and $Γ'$ in the cases with $A$=Rb and Cs. Also, by computing the ground states of the $J$-$K$-$Γ'$ model by using the exact diagonalization, we map out the systematic evolution of the model parameters in the phase diagram. Our results will stimulate material exploration of the antiferromagnetic Kitaev interaction in $f$-electron compounds.

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arXiv2019

Colossal enhancement of spin-chirality-related Hall effect by thermal fluctuation

The effect of thermal fluctuation on the spin-chirality-induced anomalous Hall effect in itinerant magnets is theoretically studied. Considering a triangular-lattice model as an example, we find that a multiple-spin scattering induced by the fluctuating spins increases the Hall conductivity at a finite temperature. The temperature dependence of anomalous Hall conductivity is evaluated by a combination of an unbiased Monte Carlo simulation and a perturbation theory. Our results show that the Hall conductivity can increase up to $10^3$ times the ground state value; we discuss that this is a consequence of a skew scattering contribution. This enhancement shows the thermal fluctuation significantly affects the spin-chirality-related Hall effect. Our results are potentially relevant to the thermal enhancement of anomalous Hall effect often seen in experiments.

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arXiv2019

Chiral spin liquids with crystalline $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge order in a three-dimensional Kitaev model

Chiral spin liquids (CSLs) are time-reversal symmetry breaking ground states of frustrated quantum magnets that show no long-range magnetic ordering, but instead exhibit topological order and fractional excitations. Their realization in simple and tractable microscopic models has, however, remained an open challenge for almost two decades until it was realized that Kitaev models on lattices with odd-length loops are natural hosts for such states, even in the absence of a time-reversal symmetry breaking magnetic field. Here we report on the formation of CSLs in a three-dimensional Kitaev model, which differ from their widely studied two-dimensional counterparts, namely, they exhibit a crystalline ordering of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge fluxes and thereby break some of the underlying lattice symmetries. We study the formation of these unconventional CSLs via extensive quantum Monte Carlo simulations and demonstrate that they are separated from the featureless paramagnet at high temperatures by a single first-order transition at which both time-reversal and lattice symmetries are simultaneously broken. Using variational approaches for the ground state, we explore the effect of varying the Kitaev couplings and find at least five distinct CSL phases, all of which possess crystalline ordering of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge fluxes. For some of these phases, the complementary itinerant Majorana fermions exhibit gapless band structures with topological features such as Weyl nodes or nodal lines in the bulk and Fermi arc or drumhead surface states.

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arXiv2019

Antiferromagnetic Kitaev Interactions in Polar Spin-Orbit Mott Insulators

A bond-directional anisotropic exchange interaction, called the Kitaev interaction, is a promising route to realize quantum spin liquids. The Kitaev interactions were found in Mott insulators with the strong spin-orbit coupling, in the presence of quantum interference between indirect electron transfers. Here we theoretically propose a different scenario by introducing a polar structural asymmetry that unbalances the quantum interference. We show that the imbalance activates additional exchange processes and gives rise to a dominant antiferromagnetic Kitaev interaction, in stark contrast to the conventional ferromagnetic ones. We demonstrate by ab initio calculations that polar Ru trihalides with multiple anions, $α$-RuH$_{3/2}X_{3/2}$ ($X$=Cl and Br), exhibit the antiferromagnetic Kitaev interaction whose magnitude is several times larger compared to existing candidates. Our proposal opens the way for materializing the Kitaev spin liquids in unexplored parameter regions.

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arXiv2019

Spin-current diode with a monoaxial chiral magnet

Monoaxial chiral magnets exhibit a chiral conical magnetic state in a magnetic field parallel to the chiral axis. The conical spins carry the potential for nonreciprocal transport phenomena, as they break both spatial inversion and time reversal symmetries. Here we study the spin-dependent transport in the chiral conical magnetic state, using the Landauer method based on Green's functions for a one-dimensional Kondo lattice model. We show that the system exhibits nonreciprocal spin transport, which depends on the chirality, period, cone angle, and the polarization of the spin current. In particular, we find the distinct cone angle dependence between the spin textures with long and short periods. We also show that the nonreciprocity is related with the spin states of itinerant electrons near the leads. Our results indicate that the chiral cone acts as a spin-current diode, which can be flexibly controlled by a magnetic field.

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arXiv2019

Magnetoelectric effect in band insulator-ferromagnet heterostructures

We theoretically study magnetoelectric effects in a heterostructure of a generic band insulator and a ferromagnet. In contrast to the kinetic magnetoelectric effect in metals, referred to as the Edelstein effect or the inverse spin galvanic effect, our mechanism relies on virtual interband transitions between the valence and conduction bands and therefore immune to disorder or impurity scattering. By calculating electric field-induced magnetization by the linear response theory, we reveal that the magnetoelectric effect shows up without specific parameter choices. The magnetoelectric effect qualitatively varies by changing the direction of the magnetic moment in the ferromagnet: the response is diagonal for the out-of-plane moment, whereas it is off-diagonal for the inplane moment. We also find out that in optical frequencies, the magnetoelectric signal can be drastically enhanced via interband resonant excitations. Finally, we estimate the magnitude of the magnetoelectric effect for a hybrid halide perovskite semiconductor as an example of the band insulator and compare it with other magnetoelectric materials. We underscore that our mechanism is quite general and widely expectable, only requiring the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and exchange coupling. Our result could potentially offer a promising method of Joule heating-free electric manipulation of magnetic moments in spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Magnetoelectric behavior from cluster multipoles in square cupolas: Study of Sr(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$ in comparison with Ba and Pb isostructurals

We report our combined experimental and theoretical study of magnetoelectric properties of an antiferromagnet Sr(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$, in comparison with the isostructurals Ba(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$ and Pb(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$. The family of compounds commonly possesses a low-symmetric magnetic unit called the square cupola, which is a source of magnetoelectric responses associated with the magnetic multipoles activated under simultaneous breaking of spatial inversion and time reversal symmetries. Measuring the full magnetization curves and the magnetic-field profiles of dielectric constant for Sr(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$ and comparing them with the theoretical analyses by the cluster mean-field theory, we find that the effective $S=1/2$ spin model, which was used for the previous studies for Ba(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$ and Pb(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$, well explains the experimental results by tuning the model parameters. Furthermore, elaborating the phase diagram of the model, we find that the square cupolas could host a variety of magnetic multipoles, i.e., monopole, toroidal moment, and quadrupole tensor, depending on the parameters that could be modulated by deformations of the magnetic square cupolas. Our results not only provide a microscopic understanding of the series of the square cupola compounds, but also stimulate further exploration of the magnetoelectric behavior arising from cluster multipoles harboring in low-symmetric magnetic units.

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arXiv2018

Multiple-$Q$ magnetic orders in Rashba-Dresselhaus metals

We study magnetic textures realized in noncentrosymmetric Kondo lattice models, in which localized magnetic moments weakly interact with itinerant electrons subject to Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. By virtue of state-of-the-art numerical simulations as well as variational calculations, we uncover versatile multiple-$Q$ orderings under zero magnetic field, which are found to originate in the instabilities of the Fermi surface whose spin degeneracy is lifted by the spin-orbit couplings. In the case with equally-strong Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings, which is known to realize a persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells, we discover a sextuple-$Q$ magnetic ordering with a checkerboard-like spatial pattern of the spin scalar chirality. In the presence of either Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling, we find out another multiple-$Q$ ordering, which is distinct from Skyrmion crystals discussed under the same symmetry. Our results indicate that the cooperation of the spin-charge and spin-orbit couplings brings about richer magnetic textures than those studied within effective spin models. The situations would be experimentally realized, e.g., in noncentrosymmetric heavy-fermion compounds and heterostructures of spin-orbit coupled metals and magnetic insulators.

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arXiv2018

Magnetic Structural Unit with Convex Geometry: a Building Block Hosting an Exchange-striction-driven Magnetoelectric Coupling

We perform a combined experimental and theoretical study of a magnetic-field ($B$) induced evolution of magnetic and ferroelectric properties in an antiferromagnetic material Pb(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$, whose structure is characterized by a staggered array of Cu$_4$O$_{12}$ magnetic units with convex geometry known as square cupola. Our experiments show a $B$-induced phase transition from a previously reported low-$B$ linear magnetoelectric phase to a new high-$B$ magnetoelectric phase, which accompanies a 90$^\circ$ flop of electric polarization and gigantic magnetodielectric effect. Moreover, we observe a $B$-induced sign reversal of ferroelectric polarization in the high-$B$ phase. Our model and first-principles calculations reveal that the observed complex magnetoelectric behavior is well explained in terms of a $B$-dependent electric polarization generated in each Cu$_4$O$_{12}$ unit by the so-called exchange striction mechanism. The present study demonstrates that the materials design based on the magnetic structural unit with convex geometry deserves to be explored for developing strong magnetoelectric couplings.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Antiferromagnetic Kitaev Interaction in $f$-Electron Based Honeycomb Magnets

We theoretically propose a family of $f$-electron based magnets that realizes Kitaev-type bond-dependent anisotropic interactions. Based on {\it ab initio} calculations, we show that $A_2$PrO$_3$ ($A$: alkali metals) crystalize in a triclinic structure with honeycomb layers of edge-sharing PrO$_6$ octahedra. Each Pr$^{4+}$ cation has a $4f$ electron in the $Γ_7$ doublet, which comprises a spin-orbital entangled Kramers pair with the effective moment $J_{\rm eff}=1/2$. By using the Wannier orbitals from the {\it ab initio} calculations, we find that the effective interactions between the $J_{\rm eff}=1/2$ moments are predominantly of {\it antiferromagnetic} Kitaev type for light alkali metals $A$=Li and Na, in stark contrast to the ferromagnetic ones in $4d$- and $5d$-electron based materials. Our finding would provide a playground for the Kitaev spin liquids that is hard to be accessed by the candidates ever discovered.

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arXiv2018

Global constraints on $Z_2$ fluxes in two different anisotropic limits of a hypernonagon Kitaev model

The Kitaev model is an exactly-soluble quantum spin model, whose ground state provides a canonical example of a quantum spin liquid. Spin excitations from the ground state are fractionalized into emergent matter fermions and $Z_2$ fluxes. The $Z_2$ flux excitation is pointlike in two dimensions, while it comprises a closed loop in three dimensions because of the local constraint for each closed volume. In addition, the fluxes obey global constraints involving (semi)macroscopic number of fluxes. We here investigate such global constraints in the Kitaev model on a three-dimensional lattice composed of nine-site elementary loops, dubbed the hypernonagon lattice, whose ground state is a chiral spin liquid. We consider two different anisotropic limits of the hypernonagon Kitaev model where the low-energy effective models are described solely by the $Z_2$ fluxes. We show that there are two kinds of global constraints in the model defined on a three-dimensional torus, namely, surface and volume constraints: the surface constraint is imposed on the even-odd parity of the total number of fluxes threading a two-dimensional slice of the system, while the volume constraint is for the even-odd parity of the number of the fluxes through specific plaquettes whose total number is proportional to the system volume. In the two anisotropic limits, therefore, the elementary excitation of $Z_2$ fluxes occurs in a pair of closed loops so as to satisfy both two global constraints as well as the local constraints.

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