arXiv subjects

Yoshiki Imai

Publications and source records attributed to Yoshiki Imai.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Possible Pairing Symmetry of BaPtAs$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x}$ with an Ordered Honeycomb Network

We investigate the possible pairing symmetry of superconducting $\rm{BaPtAs}_{1-\it{x}}\rm{Sb}_{\it{x}}$ solid solution with an ordered-honeycomb network of Pt and pnictogens. A spontaneous internal magnetic field below the superconducting transition temperature is observed in BaPtSb ($x = 1$) via the muon-spin relaxation measurement. We then pursue a scenario where the pairing symmetry is changed from a time-reversal symmetry-breaking (TRSB) state to another one by changing the Sb-concentration utilizing the effective tight-binding model obtained from the first principles calculations for $x = 0$ and $x = 1$, at which we see a significant difference in the shape of the dominant Fermi surfaces. We find that the chiral $d$-wave state with TRSB is most stable at $x = 1$, whereas the nodal $f$-wave or the conventional $s$-wave states without TRSB are competitive at $x = 0$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Study on Susceptibilities of Superconductors BaPtSb and BaPtAs with Honeycomb Structure

The low-energy electronic properties of the new superconductors BaPtSb and BaPtAs with an ordered honeycomb network are investigated in the normal phase, where the former compound is a candidate for time-reversal symmetry-breaking superconductors. By means of the first-principles calculation, we show that there exist two-dimensional cylinder-like Fermi surfaces around the kz axis and one outer spherelike Fermi surface around the K and K' points in both compounds, which are mainly composed of Pt 5d and Sb 5p/As 4p electrons. We construct low-energy effective models, which are well described by using three bands consisting of two Pt 5d orbitals and one Sb 5p/As 4p orbital. By evaluating susceptibilities using effective models, we find that dominant contributions to those susceptibilities result from the outer spherelike Fermi surface. Whereas out-of-plane fluctuations are enhanced in both compounds in the higher-temperature region, in-plane fluctuations become dominant in the very low-temperature region in BaPtSb owing to a better nesting condition in the k_z=0 plane from the outer spherelike Fermi surface. These fluctuations yield instabilities to ordered states, such as superconductivity, and might be associated with the occurrence of the superconducting state with time-reversal symmetry breaking in BaPtSb.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Phenomenology of the chiral $d$-wave state in the hexagonal pnictide superconductor SrPtAs

The pairing symmetry of the hexagonal pnictide superconductor SrPtAs is discussed with taking into account its multiband structure. The topological chiral $d$-wave state with time-reversal-symmetry breaking has been anticipated from the spontaneous magnetization observed by the muon-spin-relaxation experiment. We point out in this paper that the recent experimental reports on the nuclear-spin-lattice relaxation rate $T_1^{-1}$ and superfluid density $n_s(T)$, which seemingly support the conventional $s$-wave pairing, are also consistent with the chiral $d$-wave state. The compatibility of the gap and multiband structures is crucial in this argument. We propose that the measurement of the bulk quasiparticle density of states would be useful for the distinction between two pairing states.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Thermal Hall Conductivity in Superconducting Phase on Kagome Lattice

Motivated by a previous "$sd^2$-graphene" study, the pairing symmetry in the superconducting state and the thermal Hall conductivity are investigated by a self-consistent Bogoliubov--de Gennes approach on the kagome lattice with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling near van Hove fillings. While the topologically trivial state with broken time-reversal symmetry appears in the absence of spin-orbit coupling, the highest flat band becomes dispersive with a hexagonal symmetry due to spin-orbit coupling, which leads to a topological superconducting state. Since the thermal Hall conductivity in the low-temperature limit is associated with the topological property of time-reversal symmetry breaking superconductors, we study its temperature dependence near van Hove fillings. In particular, the pairing symmetry in the highest flat band is sensitive to the amplitudes of spin-orbit coupling and the attractive interaction, which is reflected remarkably in the thermal Hall conductivity. The obtained result may enable us to investigate the stable superconducting state on the kagome lattice.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Spontaneous thermal Hall effect in three-dimensional chiral superconductors with gap nodes

Generic chiral superconductors with three-dimensional electronic structure have nodal gaps and are not strictly topological. Nevertheless, they exhibit a spontaneous thermal Hall effect (THE), i.e. a transverse temperature gradient in response to a heat current even in the absence of an external magnetic field. While in some cases this THE can be quantized analogous to the Quantum Hall effect, this is not the case for nodal superconductors in general. In this study we determine the spontaneous THE for tight binding models with tetragonal and hexagonal crystal symmetry with chiral $p$- and d-wave superconducting phase. At the zero-temperature limit, the thermal Hall conductivity $ κ_{xy} $ provides information on the structure of the gap function on the Fermi surface and the Andreev bound states on the surface. The temperature dependence at very low temperatures is determined by the types of gap nodes, point or line nodes, leading to characteristic power law behaviors in the temperature, as known for other quantities such as specific heat or London penetration depth. The generic behavior is discussed on simple models analytically, while the analysis of the tight-binding models is given numerically.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Surface magnetism in a chiral d-wave superconductor with hexagonal symmetry

Surface properties are examined in a chiral d-wave superconductor with hexagonal symmetry, whose one-body Hamiltonian possesses the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling identical to the one characterizing the topological nature of the Kane-Mele honeycomb insulator. In the normal state spin-orbit coupling gives rise to spontaneous surface spin currents, whereas in the superconducting state there exist besides the spin currents also charge surface currents, due to the chiral pairing symmetry. Interestingly, the combination of these two currents results in a surface spin polarization, whose spatial dependence is markedly different on the zigzag and armchair surfaces. We discuss various potential candidate materials, such as SrPtAs, which may exhibit these surface properties.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Thermal Hall conductivity in the spin-triplet superconductor with broken time-reversal symmetry

Motivated by the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4, the thermal Hall conductivity is investigated for several pairing symmetries with broken time-reversal symmetry. In the chiral p-wave phase with a fully opened quasiparticle excitation gap, the temperature dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity has a temperature linear term associated with the topological property directly, and an exponential term, which shows a drastic change around the Lifshitz transition. Examining f-wave states as alternative candidates with $\bm d=Δ_0\hat{z}(k_x^2-k_y^2)(k_x\pm ik_y)$ and $\bm d=Δ_0\hat{z}k_xk_y(k_x\pm ik_y)$ with gapless quasiparticle excitations, we study the temperature dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity, where for the former state the thermal Hall conductivity has a quadratic dependence on temperature, originating from the linear dispersions, in addition to linear and exponential behavior. The obtained result may enable us to distinguish between the chiral p-wave and f-wave states in Sr2RuO4.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Thermal Hall conductivity and topological transition in a chiral p-wave superconductor for Sr2RuO4

The interplay between the thermal transport property and the topological aspect is investigated in a spin-triplet chiral p-wave superconductor Sr2RuO4 with the strong two-dimensionality. We show the thermal Hall conductivity is well described by the temperature linear term and the exponential term in the low temperature region. While the former term is proportional to the so-called Chern number directly, the latter is associated with the superconducting gap amplitude of the gamma band. We also demonstrate that the coefficient of the exponential term changes the sign around Lifshitz transition. Our obtained result may enable us access easily the physical quantities and the topological property of Sr2RuO4 in detail.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Effect of the RuO6 octahedron rotation at the Sr2RuO4 surface on topological property

We investigate the rotation effect of the RuO$_6$ octahedron around the $c$ axis on the topological and transport properties near the surface of the spin-triplet superconductor Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. While the Fermi level of bulk Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ is near the Lifshitz transition, the RuO$_6$ rotation realized near the surface leads to the change of the Fermi surface topology. The edge current resulting from the time-reversal symmetry breaking in the chiral $p$-wave phase with fully opened excitation gap is less affected around Lifshitz transition. The topological property and the edge state are sensitive to the rotation angle and the amplitude of the nearest neighbor interaction, and the superconducting gap is strongly reduced in the larger next nearest neighbor interaction region. Although the edge state in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ is topologically protected, it is not robust to the disorder such as impurity or defect.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Topological and edge state properties of a three-band model for Sr2RuO4

Modeling the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4 through a three-orbital tight-binding model we investigate topological properties and edge states assuming chiral p-wave pairing. In concordance with experiments the three Fermi surfaces consist of two electron-like and one hole-like one corresponding to the alpha-, beta- and gamma-band on the level of a two-dimensional system. The quasi-particle spectra and other physical quantities of the superconducting phase are calculated by means of a self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes approach for a ribbon shaped system. While a full quasiparticle excitation gap is realized in the bulk system, at the edges gapless states appear some of which have linear and others nearly flat dispersion around zero energy. This study shows the interplay between spin-orbit coupling induced spin currents, chiral edge currents and correlation driven surface magnetism. The topological nature of the chiral p-wave state manifests itself in the gamma-band characterized by an integer Chern number. As the gamma-band is close to a Lifshitz transition in Sr2RuO4, changing the sign of the Chern number, the topological nature may be rather fragile.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Properties of edge states in spin-triplet two-band superconductor

Motivated by Sr2RuO4 the magnetic properties of edge states in a two-band spin-triplet superconductor with electron- and hole-like Fermi surfaces are investigated assuming chiral p-wave pairing symmetry. The two bands correspond to the alpha-beta-bands of Sr2RuO4 and are modeled within a tight-binding model including inter-orbital hybridization and spin-orbit coupling effects. Including superconductivity the quasiparticle spectrum is determined by means of a self-consistent Bogolyubov-de Gennes calculation. While a full quasiparticle excitation gap appears in the bulk, gapless states form at the edges which produce spontaneous spin and/or charge currents. The spin current is the result of the specific band structure while the charge current originates from the superconducting condensate. Together they induce a small spin polarization at the edge. Furthermore onsite Coulomb repulsion is included to show that the edge states are unstable against the formation of a Stoner-like spin polarization of the edge states. Through spin-orbit coupling the current- and the correlation-induced magnetism are coupled to the orientation of the chirality of the superconducting condensate. We speculate that this type of phenomenon could yield a compensation of the magnetic fields induced by currents and also explain the negative result in the recent experimental search for chiral edge currents.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Specific Heat-Coefficient of YbAl3 Studied by Combined Nearly Free Electron Conduction Band Hybridized with Localized f Electrons with Correlation Effect

Based on the recently proposed band model, the electronic specific heat of moderately heavy electron compound YbAl$_3$ are investigated. The band term of the Hamiltonian consists of three parts; conduction electrons described by the nearly free electron method, localized 4f electrons of Yb ions and the hybridization term between these electrons. Extracting several bands near the Fermi level, we reconstruct the low-energy effective Hamiltonian in order to consider the correlation effect, which is studied by using the self-consistent second order perturbation theory combined with local approximation. The temperature dependence of the specific heat $c_{\rm v}(T)$ is calculated as a function of temperature $T$ from the numerical derivative of the internal energy. Sommerfeld coefficient $γ$ is also calculated from the direct formula. The overall structure of $c_{\rm v}(T)/T$ is in quantitative agreement with the experimental results, which have the characteristic two-peak structures. They originate from the correlation effect and the structure of the non-interacting density of states, respectively. We show that our effective Hamiltonian yielding the realistic band structure may describe quantitatively heavy electron compounds with conduction bands composed of s- or p- electrons.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Theory for Magnetic Anisotropy of Field-Induced Insulator-to-Metal Transition in Cubic Kondo Insulator YbB_{12}

Magnetization and energy gap of Kondo insulator YbB_{12} are calculated theoretically based on the previously proposed tight-binding model composed of Yb 5d$ε$ and 4f $Γ_8$ orbitals. It is found that magnetization curves are almost isotropic, naturally expected from the cubic symmetry, but that the gap-closing field has an anisotropy: the gap closes faster for the field in (100) direction than in (110) and (111) directions, in accord with the experiments. This is qualitatively understood by considering the maximal eigenvalues of the total angular momentum operators projected on each direction of the magnetic field. But the numerical calculation based on the band model yields better agreement with the experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Absence of Hybridization Gap in Heavy Electron Systems and Analysis of YbAl3 in terms of Nearly Free Electron Conduction Band

In the analysis of the heavy electron systems, theoretical models with c-f hybridization gap are often used. We point out that such a gap does not exist and the simple picture with the hybridization gap is misleading in the metallic systems, and present a correct picture by explicitly constructing an effective band model of YbAl_3. Hamiltonian consists of a nearly free electron model for conduction bands which hybridize with localized f-electrons, and includes only a few parameters. Density of states, Sommerfeld coefficient, f-electron number and optical conductivity are calculated and compared with the band calculations and the experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Anomalous magnetic phase diagram in low-carrier two-band systems and possible application to CeOs4Sb12

Magnetic properties under the external field are investigated in low-carrier two-band systems, which may explain the nontrivial phase boundary found in temperature vs. magnetic field diagram discovered in some materials, such as filled-skutterudite compound CeOs$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$. Analysis is made both for the periodic Anderson model with the small-dispersive $f$ band and the simplified two parabolic band model in the vicinity of the Fermi level. The magnetic susceptibilities are calculated by using the random phase approximation. It is shown that the maximum value of the magnetic susceptibility perpendicular to the external field is enhanced and yields the anomalous phase boundary. By applying the magnetic field, the phase boundary shifts to higher temperature region in the insulating state with a small band gap. On the other hand, the similar phase boundary also appears in the semi-metallic states, in which the structure of the density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi level and the finite temperature effect are essential.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Ground State Properties and Optical Conductivity of the Transition Metal Oxide ${\rm Sr_{2}VO_{4}}$

Combining first-principles calculations with a technique for many-body problems, we investigate properties of the transition metal oxide ${\rm Sr_{2}VO_{4}}$ from the microscopic point of view. By using the local density approximation (LDA), the high-energy band structure is obtained, while screened Coulomb interactions are derived from the constrained LDA and the GW method. The renormalization of the kinetic energy is determined from the GW method. By these downfolding procedures, an effective Hamiltonian at low energies is derived. Applying the path integral renormalization group method to this Hamiltonian, we obtain ground state properties such as the magnetic and orbital orders. Obtained results are consistent with experiments within available data. We find that ${\rm Sr_{2}VO_{4}}$ is close to the metal-insulator transition. Furthermore, because of the coexistence and competition of ferromagnetic and antiferromgnetic exchange interactions in this system, an antiferromagnetic and orbital-ordered state with a nontrivial and large unit cell structure is predicted in the ground state. The calculated optical conductivity shows characteristic shoulder structure in agreement with the experimental results. This suggests an orbital selective reduction of the Mott gap.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Anomalous Metal-Insulator Transition in Filled Skutterudite CeOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$

Anomalous metal-insulator transition observed in filled skutterudite CeOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$ is investigated by constructing the effective tight-binding model with the Coulomb repulsion between f electrons. By using the mean field approximation, magnetic susceptibilities are calculated and the phase diagram is obtained. When the band structure has a semimetallic character with small electron and hole pockets at $Γ$ and H points, a spin density wave transition with the ordering vector $\mathbf{Q}=(1,0,0)$ occurs due to the nesting property of the Fermi surfaces. Magnetic field enhances this phase in accord with the experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Electronic Structure of Strongly Correlated Systems Emerging from Combining Path-Integral Renormalization Group with Density Functional Approach

A new scheme of first-principles computation for strongly correlated electron systems is proposed. This scheme starts from the local-density approximation (LDA) at high-energy band structure, while the low-energy effective Hamiltonian is constructed by a downfolding procedure using combinations of the constrained LDA and the GW method. Thus obtained low-energy Hamiltonian is solved by the path-integral renormalization-group method, where spatial and dynamical fluctuations are fully considered. An application to Sr$_2$VO$_4$ shows that the scheme is powerful in agreement with experimental results. It further predicts a nontrivial orbital-stripe order.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗