One novel arena for designing superconductors with high $T_C$ is the flat-band systems. A basic idea is that flat bands, arising from quantum mechanical interference, give unique opportunities for enhancing $T_C$ with (i) many pair-scattering channels between the dispersive and flat bands, and (ii) an even more interesting situation when the flat band is topological and highly entangled. Here we compare two routes, which comprise a multi-band system with a flat band coexisting with dispersive ones, and a one-band case with a portion of the band being flat. Superconductivity can be induced in both cases when the flat band or portion is "incipient" (close to, but away from, the Fermi energy). Differences are, for the multi-band case, we can exploit large entanglement associated with topological states, while for the one-band case a transition between different (d and p) wave pairings can arise. These hint at some future directions.
We study electron correlation driven superconductivity on a decorated honeycomb lattice (DHL), which has a low-energy flat band. On doping, we find singlet superconductivity with extended-s, extended-d and f-wave symmetry mediated by magnetic exchange. f-wave singlet pairing is enabled by the lattice decoration. The critical temperature is predicted to be significantly higher than on similar lattices lacking flat bands. We discuss how high-temperature superconductivity could be realized in the DHL materials such as Rb3TT. 2 H2O and Mo3S7(dmit)3.
The discovery of superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene has triggered a resurgence of interest in flat-band superconductivity. Here, we investigate the square-octagon lattice, which also exhibits two perfectly flat bands when next-nearest neighbour hopping or an external magnetic field are added to the system. We calculate the superconducting phase diagram in the presence of on-site attractive interactions and find two superconducting domes, as observed in several types of unconventional superconductors. The critical temperature shows a linear dependence on the coupling constant, sugges…
The phenomenon of flat bands pinned to the Fermi surface is analyzed on the basis of the Landau-Pitaevskii relation, which is applicable to electron systems of solids. It is shown that the gross properties of normal states of high-$T_c$ superconductors, frequently called strange metals, are adequately explained within the flat-band scenario. Most notably, we demonstrate that in electron systems moving in a two-dimensional Brillouin zone, superconductivity may exist in domains of the Lifshitz phase diagram lying far from lines of critical antiferromagnetic fluctuations, even if the effective el…
Some features of high-temperature superconductivity on flat bands
Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Center ”Kurchatov Institute”（鲍里斯·康斯坦丁诺夫命名的彼得堡核物理研究所（国家研究中心库尔恰托夫研究所））；Clark Atlanta University（克拉克亚特兰大大学）
We show that chiral (nearly) flat band superconductivity can develop and host novel Majorana fermions at a time-reversal pair of symmetry-protected three-band crossing points. Based on symmetry analysis, mean-field study, and superfluid stiffness calculation, we determine and analyze the irreducible pairing channels with flat band pairings in the low-energy spin-$1$ fermion theory. Flat band pairing can enhance superconductivity dramatically, where the critical temperature scales linearly in the interaction strength. While fully gapped flat band pairing states develop in the single-component p…
We study a two-dimensional model of an isolated narrow topological band at partial filling with local attractive interactions. Numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo calculations show that the ground state is a superconductor with a critical temperature that scales nearly linearly with the interaction strength. We also find a broad pseudogap regime at temperatures above the superconducting phase that exhibits strong pairing fluctuations and a tendency towards electronic phase separation; introducing a small nearest neighbor attraction suppresses superconductivity entirely and results in phase s…
For the first time, basing both on experimental facts and our theoretical consideration, we show that Fermi systems with flat bands should be tuned with the superconducting state. Experimental measurements on magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene of the Fermi velocity $V_F$ as a function of the temperature $T_c$ of superconduction phase transition have revealed $V_F\propto T_c\propto 1/N_s(0)$, where $N_s(0)$ is the density of states at the Fermi level. We show that the high-$T_c$ compounds $\rm Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+x}$ exhibit the same behavior. Such observation is a challenge to theories of hig…
We show that the topologically protected flat band emerging on a surface of a nodal fermionic system promotes the surface superconductivity due to an infinitely large density of states associated with the flat band. The critical temperature depends linearly on the pairing interaction and can be thus considerably higher than the exponentially small bulk critical temperature. We discuss an example of surface superconductivity in multilayered graphene with rhombohedral stacking.
Although evidence of inter-valley attraction-mediated by phonon or topological fluctuations is accumulating, the origin of superconductivity in the flat-band quantum moiré materials remains an open question. Here, instead of attempting to pinpoint the origin of the superconductivity, we aim at identifying universal properties of moiré flat bands that shall emerge in the presence of inter-valley attractions. We show that by matching the interaction strength of inter-valley attraction with intra-valley repulsion, the flat-band limit becomes exactly solvable. Away from the flat-band limit, the sy…
We use unbiased numerical methods to study the onset of pair superfluidity in a system that displays flat bands in the noninteracting regime. This is achieved by using a known example of flat band systems, namely the Creutz lattice, where we investigate the role of local attractive interactions in the $U < 0$ Hubbard model. Going beyond the standard approach used in these systems where weak interactions are considered, we map the superfluid behavior for a wide range of interaction strengths and exhibit a crossover between BCS and tightly bound bosonic fermion pairs. We further contrast these r…
We explore superconductivity in strongly interacting electrons on a decorated honeycomb lattice (DHL). An easy-plane ferromagnetic interaction arises from spin-orbit coupling in the Mott insulating phase, which favors a triplet resonance valence bond spin liquid state. Hole doping leads to partial occupation of a flat band and to triplet superconductivity. The order parameter is highly sensitive to the doping level and the interaction parameters, with $p+ip$, $f$ and $p+f$ superconductivity found, as the flat band leads to instabilities in multiple channels. Typically, first order transitions …
In a flat band superconductor, bosonic excitations can disperse while unpaired electrons are immobile. To study this strongly interacting system, we construct a family of multi-band Hubbard models with exact eta-pairing ground states in all space groups. We analytically compute their many-body excitations and find that the Cooper pair bound states and density excitations obey an effective single-particle Hamiltonian written in terms of the non-interacting wavefunctions. These bound states possess a unique zero-energy excitation whose quadratic dispersion is determined by the minimal quantum me…
Strong Correlations and Superconductivity in the Supermoiré Lattice
Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院物理研究所）；Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin（柏林自由大学复杂量子系统达勒姆中心及物理系）；Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science（国立材料科学研究所功能材料研究中心）；International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science（国立材料科学研究所国际纳米材料架构中心）；National High Magnetic Field Laboratory（国家高磁场实验室）；Department of Physics, Florida State University（佛罗里达州立大学物理系）；Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院量子科学与工程中心）
The effective attractive interaction between electrons, mediated by electron-phonon coupling, is a well-established mechanism of conventional superconductivity. In metals exhibiting a Fermi surface, the critical temperature of superconductivity is exponentially smaller than the characteristic phonon energy. Therefore such superconductors are found only at temperatures below a few Kelvin. Systems with flat energy bands have been suggested to cure the problem and provide a route to room-temperature superconductivity, but previous studies are limited to only BCS models with an effective attractiv…
A critical result in superconductivity is that flat bands, though dispersionless, can still host nonzero superfluid weight due to quantum geometry. We show that the derivation of the mean field superfluid weight in previous literature is incomplete, which can lead to severe quantitative and even qualitative errors. We derive the complete equations and demonstrate that the minimal quantum metric -- the metric with minimum trace -- is related to the superfluid weight in isolated flat bands. We complement this result with an exact calculation of the Cooper pair mass in attractive Hubbard models w…
Superconductivity with transition temperature $T_c=1.7$ K has been reported in bilayer graphene [1,2]. The main factors, which may shed light on the mechanism of the formation of this superconductivity, are the following. Superconductivity is observed in bilayer graphene, when the two layers are twisted, and the maximum of $T_c$ takes place at the "magic angle" of twist, at which the electronic band structure becomes nearly flat. The same factors have been suggested [3] to explain the experiments in graphite [4-8], which reported high-T superconductivity in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (…
Fermion systems with flat bands can boost superconductivity by enhancing the density of states at the Fermi level. We use quasiexact numerical methods to show that repulsive interactions between spinless fermions in a one-dimensional (1D) flat-band system, the Creutz ladder, give a finite pairing energy that increases with repulsion, though charge quasi-order (QO) remains dominant. Adding an attractive component shifts the balance in favor of superconductivity and the interplay of two flat bands further yields a remarkable enhancement of superconductivity, well outside of known paradigms for 1…
Topological flat bands, valley polarization, and interband superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene with proximitized spin-orbit couplings
We consider a class of strongly correlated Fermi systems that exhibit an interaction-induced flat band pinned to the Fermi surface, and generalize the Landau strategy to accommodate a flat band and apply the more comprehensive theory to electron systems of solids. The non-Fermi-liquid behavior that emerges is compared with relevant experimental data on heavy-fermion metals and electron-doped high-$T_c$ compounds. We elucidate how heavy-fermion metals have extremely low superconducting transition temperature $T_c$, its maximum reached in the heavy-fermion metal CeCoIn$_5$ does not exceed 2.3 K,…
Motivated by recent experiments realizing correlated phenomena and superconductivity in 2D van der Waals devices, we consider the general problem of whether correlation effects may be enhanced by modifying band structure while keeping a fixed weak interaction strength. Using determinantal quantum Monte Carlo, we study the 2D Hubbard model for two different band structures: a regular nearest-neighbor tight-binding model, and a partially flat band structure containing a non-dispersing region, with identical total non-interacting bandwidth $W$. For both repulsive and attractive weak interactions …
Superconductivity is traditionally viewed as a low-temperature phenomenon. Within the BCS theory this is understood to result from the fact that the pairing of electrons takes place only close to the usually two-dimensional Fermi surface residing at a finite chemical potential. Because of this, the critical temperature is exponentially suppressed compared to the microscopic energy scales. On the other hand, pairing electrons around a dispersionless (flat) energy band leads to very strong superconductivity, with a mean-field critical temperature linearly proportional to the microscopic coupling…
We consider superconducting properties of a two-dimensional Dirac material such as graphene under strain that produces a flat band spectrum in the normal state. We show that in the superconducting state, such a model results in a highly increased critical temperature compared to the case without the strain, inhomogenous order parameter with two-peak shaped local density of states and yet a large and almost uniform and isotropic supercurrent. This model could be realized in strained graphene or ultracold atom systems and could be responsible for unusually strong superconductivity observed in so…
In flat bands, superconductivity can lead to surprising transport effects. The superfluid "mobility", in the form of the superfluid weight $D_s$, does not draw from the curvature of the band but has a purely band-geometric origin. In a mean-field description, a non-zero Chern number or fragile topology sets a lower bound for $D_s$, which, via the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism, might explain the relatively high superconducting transition temperature measured in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG). For fragile topology, relevant for the bilayer system, the fate of this bound…
The basic features of multi-band superconductivity and its implications are derived. In particular, it is shown that enhancements of the superconducting transition temperature take place due to interband interactions. In addition, isotope effects differ substantially from the typical BCS scheme as soon as polaronic coupling effects are present. Special cases of the model are polaronic coupling in one band as realized e.g., in cuprates, coexistence of a flat band and a steep band like in MgB2, crossovers between extreme cases. The advantages of the multiband approach as compared to the single b…
To explore whether a flat-band system can accommodate superconductivity, we consider repulsively interacting fermions on the diamond chain, a simplest quasi-one-dimensional system that contains a flat band. Exact diagonalization and the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) are used to show that we have a significant binding energy of a Cooper pair with a long-tailed pair-pair correlation in real space when the total band filling is slightly below $1/3$, where the dispersive band interacts with the flat band that is empty but close to $E_F$. Pairs selectively formed across the outer site…
A bipartite lattice with chiral symmetry is known to host zero energy flat bands if the numbers of the two sublattices are different. We demonstrate that this mechanism of producing flat bands can be realized on graphene by introducing periodic vacancies. Using first-principle calculations, we elaborate that even though the pristine graphene does not exactly preserve chiral symmetry, this mechanism applied to holey graphene still produces single or multiple bands as narrow as ~0.5eV near the Fermi surface throughout the entire Brillouin zone. Moreover, this mechanism can combine with vacancy-e…
The supercurrent for the surface superconductivity of a flat-band multilayered rhombohedral graphene is calculated. Despite the absence of dispersion of the excitation spectrum, the supercurrent is finite. The critical current is proportional to the zero-temperature superconducting gap, i.e., to the superconducting critical temperature and to the size of the flat band in the momentum space.
Superconducting electron systems of solids hosting flat bands are studied, with a view to improved understanding of the fundamental physics giving rise to high-temperature superconductivity. We present a modified form of the set of Gor'kov equations of BCS theory that incorporates a Mott-like gap in the single-particle spectrum. Such a quantity is emergent in systems with flat bands having interactions repulsive in the Cooper channel, provided particle-hole symmetry is broken. The equations so obtained are applied to the elucidation of features of the two-gap structure of single-particle spect…
Topological crystalline insulators in IV-VI compounds host novel topological surface states consisting of multi-valley massless Dirac fermions at low energy. Here we show that strain generically acts as an effective gauge field on these Dirac fermions and creates pseudo-Landau orbitals without breaking time-reversal symmetry. We predict the realization of this phenomenon in IV-VI semiconductor heterostructures, due to a naturally occurring misfit dislocation array at the interface that produces a periodically varying strain field. Remarkably, the zero-energy Landau orbitals form a flat band in…
Flat electronic bands can accommodate a plethora of interaction driven quantum phases, since kinetic energy is quenched therein and electronic interactions therefore prevail. Twisted bilayer graphene, near so-called the "magic angles", features \emph{slow} Dirac fermions close to the charge-neutrality point that persist up to high-energies. Starting from a continuum model of slow, but strongly interacting Dirac fermions, we show that with increasing chemical doping away from the charge-neutrality point, a time-reversal symmetry breaking, valley pseudo-spin-triplet, topological $p+ip$ supercond…
