We use neutron scattering to study the spin and lattice structure on single crystals of SrFe2As2, the parent compound of the FeAs based superconductor (Sr,K)Fe2As2. We find that SrFe2As2 exhibits an abrupt structural phase transitions at 220K, where the structure changes from tetragonal with lattice parameters c > a = b to orthorhombic with c > a > b. At almost the same temperature, Fe spins in SrFe2As2 develop a collinear antiferromagnetic structure along the orthorhombic a-axis with spin direction parallel to this a-axis. These results are consistent with earlier work on the RFeAsO (R = rare earth elements) families of materials and on BaFe2As2, and therefore suggest that static antiferromagnetic order is ubiquitous for the parent compound of these FeAs-based high-transition temperature superconductors.
Deformation of the superconductor crystal lattice caused by Abrikosov vortices is formulated as a response of the elastic crystal lattice to electrostatic forces. It is shown that the lattice compression is linearly proportional to the electrostatic potential known as the Bernoulli potential. Eventual consequences of the crystal lattice deformation on the effective vortex mass are discussed.
We report the observation of two dielectric transitions at 110K and 60K in the microwave response of non-superconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6.0} crystals. The transitions are characterized by a change in polarizability and presence of loss peaks, associated with overdamped dielectric modes. An explanation is presented in terms of changes in polarizability of the apical O atoms in the Ba-O layer, affected by lattice softening at 110K, due to change in buckling of the Cu-O layer. The onset of another mode at 60K strongly suggests an additional local lattice change at this temperature. Thus microwav…
Reported here are salient features of soliton-mediated electron transport in anharmonic crystal lattices.After recalling how an electron-soliton bound state (solectron) can be formed we comment on consequences like electron surfing on a sound wave and balistic transport, possible percolation in 2d lattices, and a novel form of electron pairing with strongly correlated electrons both in real space and momentum space.
The phase diagram of a system of electrons hopping on a square lattice and interacting through long-range Coulomb forces is studied as a function of density and interaction strength. The presence of a lattice strongly enhances the stability of the Wigner crystal phase as compared to the case of the two-dimensional electron gas.
The stability of a magnetic skyrmion crystal in a centrosymmetric orthorhombic lattice system is numerically investigated. By performing the simulated annealing for an effective spin model with the momentum-resolved interaction on a uniaxially distorted triangular lattice, we find that the skyrmion crystal is robustly realized when dominant interaction channels consist of the double-$Q$ structure in momentum space. Moreover, we show that an anti-type skyrmion crystal with the opposite skyrmion number is obtained by tuning the sign of the bond-dependent anisotropic exchange interaction that ori…
Lattice Wigner crystal states stabilized by long-range Coulomb interactions have recently been realized in two-dimensional moiré materials. We employ large-scale unrestricted Hartree-Fock techniques to unveil the magnetic phase diagrams of honeycomb lattice Wigner crystals. For the three lattice filling factors with the largest charge gaps, n = 2/3, 1/2, 1/3, the magnetic phase diagrams contain multiple phases, including ones with non-collinear and non-coplanar spin arrangements. We discuss magnetization evolution with external magnetic field, which has potential as an experimental signature o…
Measurements of 89Y nuclear spin-lattice relaxation in SrY2O4:Ho3+ crystals for the magnetic field B parallel to the crystal c axis show that 89Y at T < 20 K relaxes due to fluctuating magnetic field created only by Ho13+ transitions between the ground and the first excited Zeeman sublevels of the 5I8 multiplet.
We have investigated the time dependence of remanent magnetostriction in a (La,Pr)$_{1.2}$Sr$_{1.8}$Mn$_{2}$O$_{7}$ single crystal, in order to examine the slow dynamics of lattice distortion in bilayered manganites. A competition between double exchange and Jahn-Teller type orbital-lattice interactions results in the observed lattice profile following a stretched exponential function. This finding suggests that spatial growth of the local lattice distortions coupled with e$_{g}$-electron orbital strongly correlates with the appearance of the field-induced CMR effect.
The emergence of a magnetic skyrmion crystal in a nonsymmorphic lattice system with the screw symmetry is numerically investigated. By performing the simulated annealing for a layered spin model with the isotropic exchange interaction and the antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and then constructing a low-temperature phase diagram, we reveal that the skyrmion crystal is stabilized in both zero and nonzero fields even without the threefold rotational symmetry in the two-dimensional plane. We show that a competition between the ferromagnetic interlayer exchange interaction and the l…
Motivated by intertwined crystal symmetries and topological phases, we study the possible realization of topological insulator in nonsymmorphic crystals at integer fillings. In particular, we consider spin orbit coupled electronic systems of two-dimensional crystal Shastry-Sutherland lattice at integer filling where the gapless line degeneracy is protected by glide reflection symmetry. Based on a simple tight-binding model, we investigate how the topological insulating phase is stabilized by breaking nonsymmorphic symmetries but in the presence of time reversal symmetry and inversion symmetry.…
We theoretically study spin and charge excitations of skyrmion crystals stabilized by conduction-electron-mediated magnetic interactions via spin-charge coupling in a centrosymmetric Kondo-lattice model by large-scale spin-dynamics simulations combined with the kernel polynomial method. We reveal clear segregation of spin and charge excitation channels and nonreciprocal nature of the spin excitations governed by the Fermi-surface geometry, which are unique to the skyrmion crystals in centrosymmetric itinerant hosts and can be a source of novel physical phenomena.
The stability and melting transition of a single layer and a bilayer crystal consisting of charged particles interacting through a Coulomb or a screened Coulomb potential is studied using the Monte-Carlo technique. A new melting criterion is formulated which we show to be universal for bilayer as well as for single layer crystals in the case of (screened) Coulomb, Lennard--Jones and 1/r^{12} repulsive inter-particle interactions. The melting temperature for the five different lattice structures of the bilayer Wigner crystal is obtained, and a phase diagram is constructed as a function of the i…
In quantum spin liquid states, the fractionalized spinon excitations can carry fractional crystal symmetry quantum numbers, and this symmetry fractionalization distinguishes different topologically ordered spin liquid states. In this work we propose a simple way to detect signatures of such crystal symmetry fractionalizations from the crystal symmetry representations of the ground state wave function. We demonstrate our method on projected $\mathbb Z_2$ spin liquid wave functions on the kagome lattice, and show that it can be used to classify generic wave functions. Particularly our method can…
We investigate the thermodynamic properties of the ytterbium-based triangular lattice compound Ba3Yb(BO3)3. The results demonstrate the absence of any long-range ordering down to 56 mK. Analysis of the magnetization, susceptibility and specific heat measurements suggests that Ba3Yb(BO3)3 may realize a S = 1/2 quantum dipole lattice, in which the dominant interaction is the long range dipole-dipole coupling on the geometrically frustrated triangular lattice, and exchange interactions are subdominant or negligible.
In the limit of large nearest--neighbor and on--site Coulomb repulsions, the Hubbard model on the planar pyrochlore lattice maps, near quarter-filling, onto a doped quantum fully packed loop model. The phase diagram exhibits at quarter filling a novel quantum state of matter, the Resonating Singlet-Pair Crystal, an insulating phase breaking lattice symmetry. Properties of a few doped holes are investigated. In contrast to the doped quantum antiferromagnet, phase separation is restricted to very small hopping leaving an extended``window'' for superconducting pairing. However the later is more f…
We synthesize and study single crystals of the layered honeycomb lattice Mott insulators Na2RuO3 and Li2RuO3 with magnetic Ru4+(4d4) ions. The newly found Na2RuO3 features a nearly ideal honeycomb lattice and orders antiferromagnetically at 30 K. Single-crystals of Li2RuO3 adopt a honeycomb lattice with either C2/m or more distorted P21/m below 300 K, depending on detailed synthesis conditions. We find that Li2RuO3 in both structures hosts a well-defined magnetic state, in contrast to the singlet ground state found in polycrystalline Li2RuO3. A phase diagram generated based on our results unco…
We present experimental evidence of incoherent Kondo scattering as the source of resistivity minima in bulk polycrystalline and nanocrystalline Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$. The temperature dependence of thermopower shows a positive maximum at high temperature followed by a negative minimum at low temperature, with the sign inversion occurring at a much higher temperature than $T_K$. Moreover, we observe little correlation between TK and intersite coupling strength given by $θ_{CW}$. We describe the temperature dependence of thermopower and resistivity within the framework of crystal field excitation in …
We show that two added, excess electrons with opposite spins in one-dimensional crystal lattices with quartic anharmonicity may form a bisolectron, which is a localized bound state of the paired electrons to a soliton-like lattice deformation. It is also shown that when the Coulomb repulsion is included, the wave function of the bisolectron has two maxima, and such a state is stable in lattices with strong enough electron-(phonon/soliton) lattice coupling. Furthermore the energy of the bisolectron is shown to be lower than the energy of the state with two separate, independent electrons, as ev…
We study the ground states of cold atoms in the tight-binding bands built from p-orbitals on a two dimensional honeycomb optical lattice. The band structure includes two completely flat bands. Exact many-body ground states with on-site repulsion can be found at low particle densities, for both fermions and bosons. We find crystalline order at n=1/6 with a $\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3}$ structure breaking a number of discrete lattice symmetries. In fermionic systems, if the repulsion is strong enough, we find the bonding strength becomes \emph{dimerized} at n=1/2. Experimental signatures of crystal…
The quantum-classical crossover from the Fermi liquid towards the Wigner solid is numerically revisited, considering small square lattice models where electrons interact via a Coulomb $U/r$ potential. The studies of models without disorder and spin and including disorder and spin show that the electron solid is formed in two stages, giving rise to an intriguing solid-liquid regime at intermediate couplings
Relationship among Wigner crystal, charge order and Mott insulator is studied by the path-integral renormalization group method for two-dimensional lattices with long-range Coulomb interaction. In contrast to Hartree-Fock results, the solid stability drastically increases with lattice commensurability. The transition to liquid occurs at the electron gas parameter $r_s \sim 2$ for the filling $n=1/2$ showing large reduction from $r_s \sim 35$ in the continuum limit. Correct account of quantum fluctuations are crucial to understand charge-order stability generally observed only at simple fractio…
We show that symmetry of the crystal lattice of exchange magnets (containing only 3d magneto-active elements) does not change at the Curie point; only the magnetic symmetry of the crystal is decreasing in the transition point. In the non-exchange magnets (containing only rare-earth magneto-active elements), on the contrary, both the magnetic and crystal-chemical symmetry decrease at the Curie point. There is isotropic magnetic phase in exchange magnets; and their magnetic symmetry is described by color groups of magnetic symmetry of P-type. Non-exchange magnets do not have isotropic phase; the…
Motivated by recent experiments on the itinerant helimagnet MnSi, we study general properties of helical spin crystals - magnetic structures obtained by superposing distinct spin spirals. An effective Landau description of helical spin crystals is introduced and simple rules for stabilizing various spin crystal structures over single spirals are established. Curious properties of the magnetic structures so obtained, such as symmetry stabilized topological textures and missing Bragg reflections are pointed out. The response of helical spin crystals to crystalline anisotropy, magnetic field and …
We investigate the effect of mass anisotropy on the Wigner crystallization transition in a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas. The static and dynamical properties of a 2D Wigner crystal have been calculated for arbitrary 2D Bravais lattices in the presence of anisotropic mass, as may be obtainable in Si MOSFETs with (110) surface. By studying the stability of all possible lattices, we find significant change in the crystal structure and melting density of the electron lattice with the lowest ground state energy.
A Wigner crystal structure of the electronic ground state is induced by strong Coulomb interactions at low temperature in clean or disordered two-dimensional (2d) samples. For fermions on a mesoscopic disordered 2d lattice, being closed to a torus, we study the persistent current in the regime of strong interaction at zero temperature. We perform a perturbation expansion starting from the Wigner crystal limit which yields power laws for the dependence of the persistent current on the interaction strength. The sign of the persistent current in the strong interaction limit is independent of the …
The origin of many quantum-material phenomena is intimately related to the presence of flat electronic bands. In quantum simulation, such bands have been realized through line-graph lattices, a class of lattices known to exhibit flat bands. Based on that work, we conduct a high-throughput screening for line-graph lattices among the crystalline structures of the Materials Flatband Database and report on new candidates for line-graph materials and lattice models. In particular, we find materials with line-graph-lattice structures beyond the two most commonly known examples, the kagomé and pyroch…
