Competing ferro- and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions may lead to the formation of bound magnon pairs in the high-field phase of a frustrated quantum magnet. With decreasing field, magnon pairs undergo a Bose-condensation prior to the onset of a conventional one-magnon instability. We develop an analytical approach to study the zero-temperature properties of the magnon-pair condensate, which is a bosonic analog of the BCS superconductors. Representation of the condensate wave-function in terms of the coherent bosonic states reveals the spin-nematic symmetry of the ground-state and allows one to calculate various static properties. Sharp quasiparticle excitations are found in the nematic state with a small finite gap. We also predict the existence of a long-range ordered spin-nematic phase in the frustrated chain material LiCuVO4 at high fields.
Investigating exotic magnetic materials with spintronic techniques is effective at advancing magnetism as well as spintronics. In this work, we report unusual field-induced suppression of the spin-Seebeck effect (SSE) in a quasi one-dimensional frustrated spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ magnet LiCuVO$_4$, known to exhibit spin-nematic correlation in a wide range of external magnetic field $B$. The suppression takes place above $|B| > 2$ T in spite of the $B$-linear isothermal magnetization curves in the same $B$ range. The result can be attributed to the growth of the spin-nematic correlation while increas…
We theoretically study the nonlinear magnetic resonance driven by intense laser or electromagnetic wave in a fully polarized frustrated magnet near a less-visible spin-nematic ordered phase. In general, both magnons and magnon pairs (two-magnon bound state) appear as the low-energy excitation in the saturated state of spin-nematic magnets. Their excitation energies are usually in terahertz (THz) or gigahertz range. Magnon pairs with angular momentum 2$\hbar$ can be excited by the simultaneous absorption of two photons, and such multi-photon processes occur if the applied THz laser is strong en…
In this paper we propose that electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements enable us to detect the long-range spin nematic order. We show that the frequency of the paramagnetic resonance peak in the ESR spectrum is shifted by the ferroquadrupolar order parameter together with other quantities. The ferroquadrupolar order parameter is extractable from the angular dependence of the frequency shift. In contrast, the antiferroquadrupolar order parameter is usually invisible in the frequency shift. Instead, the long-range antiferroquadrupolar order yields a characteristic resonance peak in the ESR spe…
The $S=1/2$ quantum spin ladder system with the anisotropic ferromagnetic exchange interaction on the rung under magnetic field is investigated using the numerical diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) analyses. It is found that the nematic-spin-correlation-dominant Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) appears in some high magnetic field. It is included in the TLL phase where the two-magnon bound state is realized. For some suitable parameters, after the field-induced phase transition from this two-magnon-bound TLL phase to the single-magnon TLL one, the re-entrant tra…
We study pumping of magnons to the Dirac points of magnon's Brillouin zone of a ferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice. In particular, we consider second-order Suhl process, when due to interaction between magnons, a pair of magnons is created due to absorption of two electromagnetic wave quanta. We introduce a bosonic analog of the Cooper ladder for the magnon pair, which is shown to enhance the pairing of magnons at the Dirac points. As a result of pairing of the Dirac magnons, the system becomes unstable towards formation of a magnetic state with zero or reduced magnetization - the Dirac magnon…
We study how superconducting Tc is affected as an electronic system in a tetragonal environment is tuned to a nematic quantum critical point (QCP). Including coupling of the electronic nematic variable to the relevant lattice strain restricts criticality only to certain high symmetry directions. This allows a weak-coupling treatment, even at the QCP. We develop a criterion distinguishing weak and strong Tc enhancements upon approaching the QCP. We show that negligible Tc enhancement occurs only if pairing is dominated by a non-nematic interaction away from the QCP, and simultaneously if the el…
Correlation-driven enhancement of pairing in a nematic Hund's metal
Budapest University of Technology and Economics（布达佩斯技术与经济大学）；HUN-REN-BME-BCE Quantum Technology Research Group（匈牙利研究与创新网络-布达佩斯技术与经济大学-布达佩斯理工大学量子技术研究组）；Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi (ISC-CNR)（复杂系统研究所）
Superconductivity in many strongly correlated materials appears in proximity to a density-wave or nematic order and is believed to be mediated by quantum-critical (QC) fluctuations of the corresponding order parameter. We argue that fingerprints of QC pairing can be extracted from the angular dependence of the gap $Δ(θ)$. We consider pairing by QC nematic fluctuations and show that there exist multiple pairing instabilities within the same symmetry ($s-$wave in our case), with closely spaced transition temperatures $T_{c,n}$. The corresponding $Δ_n (θ)$ change sign $8n$ times along the FS. Onl…
Frustrated spin systems can show phases with spontaneous breaking of spin-rotational symmetry without the formation of local magnetic order. We study the dynamic response of the spin-nematic phase of one-dimensional spin-1/2 systems, characterized by slow large-distance decay of quadrupolar correlations, by numerically computing one-spin and two-spin dynamical structure factors at zero temperature using time-dependent density matrix renormalization group methods. We interpret the results in terms of an effective theory of gapped magnon excitations interacting with a quasi-condensate of bound m…
We study the spin-polarized spectral properties of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov resonance states induced by magnetic impurities in 2- and 3-dimensional nematic superconductors: few layer Bi$_2$Te$_3$ grown on FeTe$_{0.55}$Se$_{0.45}$ (2-dimensional) and Cu$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ (3-dimensional). We focus on the relationship between pairing symmetry and the topograph of spin-polarized spectroscopy. We calculate the spin-polarized local density of states (SP LDOS) and the corresponding Fourier transformation using the $T$-matrix method for both the 2- and 3-dimensional materials. Various situations with different …
Due to its extremely rich phase diagram, the two-dimensional electron gas exposed to perpendicular magnetic field has been the subject of intense and sustained study. One particularly interesting problem in this system is that of the half-filled Landau level, where the Fermi sea of composite fermions, a fractional quantum Hall state arising from a pairing instability of the composite fermions, and the quantum Hall nematic were observed in the half-filled $N=0$, $N=1$, and $N \geq 2$ Landau levels, respectively. Thus different ground states developed in different half-filled Landau levels. This…
Magnetic frustration can lead to peculiar magnetic orderings that break a discrete symmetry of the lattice in addition to the fundamental magnetic symmetries (i.e., spin rotation invariance and time-reversal symmetry). In this work, we focus on frustrated quantum magnets and study the nature of the quantum phase transition between a paramagnet and a magnetically ordered state with broken threefold ($Z_3$) crystal rotation symmetry. We predict the transition to happen in two stages, giving rise to an intermediate nematic phase in which rotation symmetry is broken but the system remains magnetic…
Due to the presence of a nontrivial three-dimensional spin-orbital entanglement, Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ may be a time-reversal invariant nematic $p$-wave superconductor with coexisting in-plane and out-of-plane pairings. Here we discuss various signatures of such a state if the out-of-plane pairing component is dominant. First, the enhancement of the superconducting $T_c$ under in-plane uniaxial strains is nearly a quadratic function of the strain, because the out-of-plane pairing lacks a linear-order coupling to the strain. Second, when the strain applies along a certain in-plane direction, the nemati…
The bond-nematic state has both long-range ordering of magnetic quadrupoles and the high entanglement typical of spin liquids, and as such can be thought of as a spin liquid crystal. One of the most promising materials in which to find such a state is BaCdVO(PO$_4$)$_2$, in which a magnetically silent phase has been found between a magnetically ordered low-field phase and the high-field polarised phase. Here I study the magnetic Hamiltonian of BaCdVO(PO$_4$)$_2$, and, for the Hamiltonian-parameters determined by fits to inelastic neutron scattering experiments, show that magnons condense out o…
We show that unconventional nematic superconductors with multi-component order parameter in lattices with three-fold and six-fold rotational symmetries support a charge-$4e$ vestigial superconducting phase above $T_c$. The charge-$4e$ state, which is a condensate of four-electron bound states that preserve the rotational symmetry of the lattice, is nearly degenerate with a competing vestigial nematic state, which is non-superconducting and breaks the rotational symmetry. This robust result is the consequence of a hidden discrete symmetry in the Ginzburg-Landau theory, which permutes quantities…
We study the properties of $s$-wave superconductivity induced around a nematic quantum critical point in two-dimensional metals. The strong Landau damping and the Cooper pairing between incoherent fermions have dramatic mutual influence on each other, and hence should be treated on an equal footing. This problem is addressed by analyzing the self-consistent Dyson-Schwinger equations for the superconducting gap and Landau damping rate. We solve the equations at zero temperature without making any linearization, and show that the superconducting gap is maximized at the quantum critical point and…
We analyze the scattering rate for 2D fermions interacting via soft nematic fluctuations. The ground state is an s-wave superconductor, but other pairing channels are almost equally attractive. This strongly alters the scattering rate: At energies beyond the pairing gap $Δ$, it is renormalized by contributions from all pairing channels. At energies of order $Δ$, it is determined by the competition between scattering into a gapped continuum and dispersing nematic resonance. The outcome is a "peak-peak-dip-hump" spectrum, similar, but not identical, to the "peak-dip-hump" structure in the cuprat…
The interplay between electronic orders and superconductivity is central to the physics of unconventional superconductors, and is particularly pronounced in the iron-based superconductors. Motivated by recent experiments on FeSe, we study the superconducting pairing in its nematic phase in a multiorbital model with frustrated spin-exchange interactions. The electron correlations in the presence of the nematic order give rise to an enhanced orbital selectivity in the superconducting pairing amplitudes. This orbital-selective pairing produces a large gap anisotropy on the Fermi surface. Our resu…
We propose a paring mechanism between holes in the dilute limit of doped frustrated Mott insulators. Hole pairing arises from a hole-hole-magnon three-body bound state. This pairing mechanism has its roots on single-hole kinetic energy frustration, which favors antiferromagnetic (AFM) correlations around the hole. We demonstrate that the AFM polaron (hole-magnon bound state) produced by a single-hole propagating on a field-induced polarized background is strong enough to bind a a second hole. The effective interaction between these three-body bound states is repulsive, implying that this pairi…
Simultaneous emergence of superconductivity, inter-pocket scattering and nematic fluctuation in potassium-coated FeSe superconductor
超导性起源于电子配对。因此，费米面上的配对沟道和配对胶是理解超导体的两个关键问题。最近，在电子掺杂的FeSe超导体中发现了超过40 K的高温超导性，包括K $_x$ Fe $_{2-y}$ Se $_2$、Li $_{0.8}$ Fe $_{0.2}$ OHFeSe和单层FeSe薄膜。然而，它们的配对机制仍然存在争议。本文研究了包钾FeSe单晶电子结构的系统演化。通过在样品表面上原位蒸发钾来精确控制掺杂水平。我们发现当费米面的Lifshitz跃迁使两个电子袋之间的袋间散射打开时，超导性就出现了。在相同的掺杂浓度下，电子有序度显著降低，在较宽的掺杂范围内，电子有序度仍有较大的涨落。我们的研究结果表明，在电子掺杂的FeSe超导体的超导电性，袋间散射，和涨落之间的潜在的相关性。
To understand the interplay between nematic fluctuation and superconductivity in iron-based superconductors, we performed a systematic study of the realistic two-orbital Hubbard model by using the constrained-path quantum Monte Carlo method. Our numerical results showed that the on-site nematic interaction induces a strong enhancement of nematic fluctuations at various momentums, especially at ($π$,$π$). Simultaneously, it was found that the on-site nematic interaction suppresses the ($π$,0)/(0,$π$) antiferromagnetic order and long-range electron pairing correlations for dominant pairing chann…
In many unconventional superconductors, nematic quantum fluctuations are strongest where the critical temperature is highest, inviting the conjecture that nematicity plays an important role in the pairing mechanism. Recently, Ba$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$Ni$_2$As$_2$ has been identified as a tunable nematic system that provides an ideal testing ground for this proposition. We therefore propose several sharp empirical tests, supported by quantitative calculations in a simple model of Ba$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$Ni$_2$As$_2$. The most stringent predictions concern experiments under uniaxial strain, which has recently em…
The electronic nematic responses in Fe-based superconductors have been observed ubiquitously in various experimental probes. One novel nematic character is the d-wave {\it bond} orbital-relevant nematic charge order which was firstly proposed by symmetry analysis and then conformed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. In this paper, we present a mechanism that the driving force of the orbital-relevant nematic charge order is the reduction of the large Hubbard energy in the particle-hole charge channel by virtual hopping processes. This is one scenario from strong-coupling consideratio…
Motivated by a recent experiment on U$_{1-x}$Th$_{x}$Be$_{13}$ with $x=3\%$, we develop a theory to narrow down the possible pair symmetry to consistently describe the double transition utilizing various theoretical tools; group theory and Ginzburg-Landau theory. It is explained in terms of the two dimensional representation E$_{\rm u}$ with spin triplet. A symmetry breaking causes the degenerate $T_{\rm c}$ to split into the two. The low temperature phase is identified as the cyclic $p$ wave: $\vec {d}({\bf k})={\hat x}k_x+\varepsilon{\hat y}k_y+\varepsilon^2{\hat z}k_z$ with $\varepsilon^3=1…
The magnetization process of the $S=1$ antiferromagnetic chain with the single-ion anisotropy $D$ and the biquadratic interaction is investigated using the numerical diagonalization. Both interactions stabilize the 2-magnon Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) phase in the magnetization process. Based on several excitation gaps calculated by the numerical diagonalization, some phase diagrams of the magnetization process are presented. These phase diagrams reveal that the spin nematic dominant TLL phase appears at higher magnetizations for sufficiently large negative $D$.
Half-filled Landau levels form a zoo of strongly correlated phases. These include non-Fermi liquids (NFL), fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states, nematic phases, and FQH nematic phases. This diversity poses the question: what keeps the balance between the seemingly unrelated phases? The answer is elusive because the Halperin-Lee-Read (HLR) description that offers a natural departure point is inherent strongly coupled. But the observed nematic phases suggest nematic fluctuations play an important role. To study this possibility, we apply a recently formulated controlled double expansion approach…
FeSe has a unique ground state in which superconductivity coexists with a nematic order without long-range magnetic ordering at ambient pressure. Here, to study how the pairing interaction evolves with nematicity, we measured the thermal conductivity and specific heat of FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$, where the nematicity is suppressed by isoelectronic sulfur substitution. We find that in the whole nematic ($0\leq x \leq 0.17$) and tetragonal ($x=0.20$) regimes, the application of small magnetic field causes a steep increase of both quantities. This indicates the existence of deep minima or line nodes in …
Despite its seemingly simple composition and structure, the pairing mechanism of FeSe remains an open problem due to several striking phenomena. Among them are nematic order without magnetic order, nodeless gap and unusual inelastic neutron spectra with a broad continuum, and gap anisotropy consistent with orbital selection of unknown origin. Here we propose a microscopic description of a nematic quantum spin liquid that reproduces key features of neutron spectra. We then study how the spin fluctuations of the local moments lead to pairing within a spin-fermion model. We find the resulting sup…
The pairing mechanism in different classes of correlated materials, including iron based superconductors, is still under debate. For FeSe monolayers, uniform nematic fluctuations have been shown in a lattice Monte Carlo study to play a potentially important role. Here, using dynamical mean field theory calculations for the same model system, we obtain a similar phase diagram and provide an alternative interpretation of the superconductivity in terms of local orbital fluctuations and phase rigidity. Our study clarifies the relation between the superconducting order parameter, superfluid stiffne…
Motivated by the recent experiments suggesting the importance of nematicity in the phase diagrams of ironbased and cuprate high-Tc superconductors, we study the influence of nematicity on the collective modes inside the superconducting state in a non-equilibrium. In particular, we consider the signatures of collective modes in short-time dynamics of a system with competing nematic and s- and d-wave superconducting orders. In the rotationally symmetric state, we show that the Bardasis-Schrieffer mode, corresponding to the subdominant pairing, hybridizes with the nematic collective mode and merg…
We provide a route to generate nematic order in a spin-1/2 system. Unlike the well-known magnon-binding mechanism, our spin nematics requires neigher the frustration effect nor a spin polarization in a high field or in the vicinity of a ferromagnet, but instead appears next to the spin singlet phase. We start from a state consisting of a quantum spin-1/2 singlet dimer placed on each site of a triangular lattice, and show that inter-dimer ring exchange interactions efficiently dope the SU(2) triplets that itinerate and interact, easily driving a stable singlet state to either Bose Einstein cond…
Chiral enhancement of two-magnon bound states in an $S=1/2$ triangular-lattice magnet
Budapest University of Technology and Economics（布达佩斯技术与经济大学）；HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics（匈牙利研究网络维格纳物理研究中心固体物理与光学研究所）
The importance of antiferromagnetic fluctuations are widely acknowledged in most unconventional superconductors. In addition, cuprates and iron pnictides often exhibit unidirectional (nematic) electronic correlations, including stripe and orbital orders, whose fluctuations may also play a key role for electron pairing. However, these nematic correlations are intertwined with antiferromagnetic or charge orders, preventing us to identify the essential role of nematic fluctuations. This calls for new materials having only nematicity without competing or coexisting orders. Here we report systemati…
Using $^{31}$P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) we investigate the recently discovered presaturation phase in the highly frustrated two-dimensional spin system SrZnVO(PO$_4$)$_2$ [F. Landolt et al., Phys. Rev. B 104, 224435 (2021)]. Our data provide two pieces of evidence against the presumed spin-nematic character of this phase: i) NMR spectra reveal that it hosts a dipolar spin order and ii) the 1/$T_1$ relaxation rate data recorded above the saturation field can be fitted by the sum of a single-magnon term, exponential in the gap, and a critical second-order term, exponential in the triple …
