Recent discovery of correlated electronic phases in twisted heterostructures raised a surge of interests in studying models and materials with flat bands where the electronic excitations are nearly dispersionless in momentum space. As such, the kinetic energy is quenched and the correlations are enhanced, giving rise to a plethora of unusual magnetic, superconducting and transport behaviors. Finding materials whose energy bands are completely flat is rather challenging, yet those whose dispersion is flat only in a portion of the momentum space might be more accessible in material search. In this work, we propose a partially flat-band system on a square lattice. Using the Hubbard model, it is demonstrated that the suppression of the electronic kinetic energy in the flat portion of the band dispersion drives the system to Stoner ferromagnetism even at very weak interactions, i.e., much smaller than the bandwidth, with significantly enhanced Curie temperature. While the low-energy magnon modes are well defined collective excitations, flat magnon bands can be observed at high energies. We show that the strong interaction leads to reduction of the flat portion of the magnon band. However, tuning the chemical potential at a strong interaction regime may lead to spin density wave at finite wave vectors. Then, focusing on the non-magnetic correlated phase and using dynamical mean-field theory, we demonstrate the appearance of a flat-band induced sharp peak in the density of states in addition to the correlation-induced Mott bands. Furthermore, the large seebeck coefficient and the figure of merit of the proposed partially flat-band model, compared to symmetric regular band models, put them in the category of efficient thermoelectric materials.
For nearly a century, the Stoner model has dominated research in itinerant ferromagnetism, yet recent work on ultracold, optically trapped Fermi gases suggests that phase separation of spins occurs independent of long-range magnetic order. In this paper, we consider the breakdown of the Stoner criterion in a Landau-Fermi liquid with weak non-zero gauge field. Due to a process analogous to Kohn's theory of a metal-insulator transition, we find the stability of a Fermi liquid phase in the absence of non-quasiparticle contributions to the response is strongly dependent on Landau parameters of mix…
Spin-flip excitations in a quantum Hall electron system at fixed filling factor nu=2 are modelled and studied under conditions of a strong Coulomb interaction when the `Landau level mixing' is a dominant factor determining the excitation energy. The `one-exciton' approach used for the purely electronic excitations in question allows us to describe the Stoner transition from the unpolarized/paramgnet state to the polarized/ferromagnet one. The theoretical results are compared with the available experimental data.
CaCo$_{2-y}$As$_2$ is an unusual itinerant magnet with signatures of extreme magnetic frustration. The conditions for establishing magnetic order in such itinerant frustrated magnets, either by reducing frustration or increasing electronic correlations, is an open question. Here we use results from inelastic neutron scattering and magnetic susceptibility measurements and density functional theory calculations to show that hole doping in Ca(Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$)$_{2-y}$As$_{2}$ suppresses magnetic order by quenching the magnetic moment while maintaining the same level of magnetic frustration. The…
The interactions between electrons and antiferromagnetic magnons (AFMMs) are important for a large class of correlated materials. For example, they are the most plausible pairing glues in high-temperature superconductors, such as cuprates and iron pnictides. However, unlike electron-phonon interactions (EPIs), clear-cut observations regarding how electron-AFMM interactions (EAIs) affect the band structure are still lacking. Consequently, critical information on the EAIs, such as its strength and doping dependence, remains elusive. Here we directly observe that EAIs induces a kink structure in …
We study the spin-1 excitation spectra of the flatband ferromagnetic phases in interacting topological insulators. As a paradigm, we consider a quarter filled square lattice Hubbard model whose free part is the $π$ flux state with topologically nontrivial and nearly-flat electron bands, which can realize either the Chern or $Z_2$ Hubbard model. By using the numerical exact diagonalization method with a projection onto the nearly-flat band, we obtain the ferromagnetic spin-1 excitation spectra for both the Chern and $Z_2$ Hubbard models, consisting of spin waves and Stoner continuum. The spectr…
Stoner transitions beyond mean-field in two-dimensional electronic systems: a diagrammatic Monte Carlo study
School of Physics and Astronomy and William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学物理与天文学学院及威廉·I·芬恩理论物理研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst（马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校物理系）
Recently, a SU(4) $π$-flux Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice has been proposed to study the spin-orbit excitations of $α$-ZrCl$_3$ [Phys.~Rev.~Lett. 121.097201~(2017)]. Based on this model with a zigzag edge, we show the edge defects can induce edge flat bands that result in a SU(4) edge ferromagnetism. We develop an effective one-dimensional interaction Hamiltonian to study the corresponding SU(4) spin excitations. Remarkably, SU(4) spin excitations of the edge ferromagnet appear as a continuum covering the entire energy region rather than usual magnons. Through further entanglement entr…
A comparative study of the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in metals within the single-band Hubbard model on the face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice using both mean-field (Stoner) approximation (MFA) and dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is done. The MCE is investigated in the case of second order magnetic phase transition from ferromagnet to paramagnet. To ensure presence of itinerant ferromagnetism in the Hubbard model the special case of spectrum parameters generating giant van Hove singularity at the bottom of the band is considered, while the Fermi level $E_{\rm f}$ is in the vinicity of the b…
In this letter we consider quantum phases and the phase diagram of a Fermi Hubbard model under periodic driving that has been realized in recent cold atom experiments, in particular, when the driving frequency is resonant with the interaction energy. Due to the resonant driving, the effective Hamiltonian contains a correlated hopping term where the density occupation strongly modifies the hopping strength. Focusing on half filling, in addition to the charge and spin density wave phases, large regions of ferromagnetic phase and phase separation are discovered in the weakly interacting regime. T…
Kondo hybridization in partially filled f-electron systems conveys significant amount of electronic states sharply near the Fermi energy leading to various instabilities from superconductivity to exotic electronic orders. UGe2 is a 5f heavy fermion system, where the Kondo hybridization is interrupted by the formation of two ferromagnetic phases below a 2nd order transition Tc ~ 52 K and a crossover transition Tx ~ 32 K. These two ferromagnetic phases are concomitantly related to a spin-triplet superconductivity that only emerges and persists inside the magnetically ordered phase at high pressu…
Controlling spin wave excitations in magnetic materials underpins the burgeoning field of magnonics. Yet, little is known about how magnons interact with the conduction electrons of itinerant magnets, or how this interplay can be controlled. Via a surface-sensitive spectroscopic approach, we demonstrate a strong and highly-tuneable electron-magnon coupling at the Pd-terminated surface of the delafossite oxide PdCoO$_2$, where a polar surface charge mediates a Stoner transition to itinerant surface ferromagnetism. We show how the coupling can be enhanced 7-fold with increasing surface disorder,…
In bilayer graphene rotationally faulted to theta=1.1 degrees, interlayer tunneling and rotational misalignment conspire to create a pair of low energy flat band that have been found to host various correlated phenomena at partial filling. Most work to date has focused on the zero magnetic field phase diagram, with magnetic field (B) used as a probe of the B=0 band structure. Here, we show that twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) in a B as low as 2T hosts a cascade of ferromagnetic Chern insulators with Chern number |C|=1,2 and 3. We argue that the emergence of the Chern insulators is driven by th…
The design and synthesis of targeted functional materials have been a long-term goal for material scientists. Although a universal design strategy is difficult to generate for all types of materials, however, it is still helpful for a typical family of materials to have such design rules. Herein, we incorporated several significant chemical and physical factors regarding magnetism, such as structure type, atom distance, spin-orbit coupling, and successfully synthesized a new rare-earth-free ferromagnet, MnPt5As, for the first time. MnPt5As can be prepared by using high-temperature pellet metho…
The dominance of Coulomb interactions over kinetic energy of electrons in narrow, non-trivial moiré bands of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) gives rise to a variety of correlated phases such as correlated insulators, superconductivity, orbital ferromagnetism, Chern insulators and nematicity. Most of these phases occur at or near an integer number of carriers per moiré unit cell. Experimental demonstration of ordered states at fractional moiré band-fillings at zero applied magnetic field $B$, is a challenging pursuit. In this letter, we report the observation of states near half-inte…
Magnon-Mediated Superconductivity in a 2D Itinerant Ferromagnet with Weak Easy-plane Magnetic Anisotropy
School of Physics and Astronomy and William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学物理与天文学学院及威廉·I·法因理论物理研究所）；Donostia International Physics Center（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院量子材料国际中心）；Department of Physics, Princeton University（普林斯顿大学物理系）；IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science（伊克尔巴斯科，巴斯克科学基金会）
