Chiral and flat-band magnetic quasiparticles in ferromagnetic and metallic kagome layers

Magnetic kagome metals are a promising platform to develop unique quantum transport and optical phenomena caused by the interplay between topological electronic bands, strong correlations, and magnetic order. This interplay may result in exotic quasiparticles that describe the coupled electronic and spin excitations on the frustrated kagome lattice. Here, we observe novel elementary magnetic excitations within the ferromagnetic Mn kagome layers in TbMn6Sn6 using inelastic neutron scattering. We observe sharp, collective acoustic magnons and identify flat-band magnons that are localized to a hexagonal plaquette due to the special geometry of the kagome layer. Surprisingly, we observe another type of elementary magnetic excitation; a chiral magnetic quasiparticle that is also localized on a hexagonal plaquette. The short lifetime of localized flat-band and chiral quasiparticles suggest that they are hybrid excitations that decay into electronic states.

Quantum metric nonlinear Hall effect in a topological antiferromagnetic heterostructure

Quantum geometry in condensed matter physics has two components: the real part quantum metric and the imaginary part Berry curvature. Whereas the effects of Berry curvature have been observed through phenomena such as the quantum Hall effect in 2D electron gases and the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in ferromagnets, quantum metric has rarely been explored. Here, we report a nonlinear Hall effect induced by quantum metric dipole by interfacing even-layered MnBi₂Te₄ with black phosphorus. The quantum metric nonlinear Hall effect switches direction upon reversing the AFM spins and exhibits distinct scaling that is independent of the scattering time. Our results open the door to discovering quantum metric responses predicted theoretically and pave the way for applications that bridge nonlinear electronics with AFM spintronics.

Bicircular Light Floquet Engineering of Magnetic Symmetry and Topology and Its Application to the Dirac Semimetal Cd_{3}As_{2}

We show that bicircular light (BCL) is a versatile way to control magnetic symmetries and topology in materials. The electric field of BCL, which is a superposition of two circularly polarized light waves with frequencies that are integer multiples of each other, traces out a rose pattern in the polarization plane that can be chosen to break selective symmetries, including spatial inversion. Using a realistic low-energy model, we theoretically demonstrate that the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal Cd_{3}As_{2} is a promising platform for BCL Floquet engineering. Without strain, BCL irradiation induces a transition to a noncentrosymmetric magnetic Weyl semimetal phase with tunable energy separation between the Weyl nodes. In the presence of strain, we predict the emergence of a magnetic topological crystalline insulator with exotic unpinned surface Dirac states that are protected by a combination of twofold rotation and time reversal (2^{'}) and can be controlled by light.

Photocurrent-driven transient symmetry breaking in the Weyl semimetal TaAs

Symmetry plays a central role in conventional and topological phases of matter, making the ability to optically drive symmetry changes a critical step in developing future technologies that rely on such control. Topological materials, like topological semimetals, are particularly sensitive to a breaking or restoring of time-reversal and crystalline symmetries, which affect both bulk and surface electronic states. While previous studies have focused on controlling symmetry via coupling to the crystal lattice, we demonstrate here an all-electronic mechanism based on photocurrent generation. Using second harmonic generation spectroscopy as a sensitive probe of symmetry changes, we observe an ultrafast breaking of time-reversal and spatial symmetries following femtosecond optical excitation in the prototypical type-I Weyl semimetal TaAs. Our results show that optically driven photocurrents can be tailored to explicitly break electronic symmetry in a generic fashion, opening up the possibility of driving phase transitions between symmetry-protected states on ultrafast timescales.

Visualizing band selective enhancement of quasiparticle lifetime in a metallic ferromagnet

Electrons navigate more easily in a background of ordered magnetic moments than around randomly oriented ones. This fundamental quantum mechanical principle is due to their Bloch wave nature and also underlies ballistic electronic motion in a perfect crystal. As a result, a paramagnetic metal that develops ferromagnetic order often experiences a sharp drop in the resistivity. Despite the universality of this phenomenon, a direct observation of the impact of ferromagnetic order on the electronic quasiparticles in a magnetic metal is still lacking. Here we demonstrate that quasiparticles experience a significant enhancement of their lifetime in the ferromagnetic state of the low-density magnetic semimetal EuCd2As2, but this occurs only in selected bands and specific energy ranges. This is a direct consequence of the magnetically induced band splitting and the multi-orbital nature of the material. Our detailed study allows to disentangle different electronic scattering mechanisms due to non-magnetic disorder and magnon exchange. Such high momentum and energy dependence quasiparticle lifetime enhancement can lead to spin selective transport and potential spintronic applications.

Discovery of a weak topological insulating state and van Hove singularity in triclinic RhBi2

Time reversal symmetric (TRS) invariant topological insulators (TIs) fullfil a paradigmatic role in the field of topological materials, standing at the origin of its development. Apart from TRS protected strong TIs, it was realized early on that more confounding weak topological insulators (WTI) exist. WTIs depend on translational symmetry and exhibit topological surface states only in certain directions making it significantly more difficult to match the experimental success of strong TIs. We here report on the discovery of a WTI state in RhBi₂ that belongs to the optimal space group P[Formula: see text], which is the only space group where symmetry indicated eigenvalues enumerate all possible invariants due to absence of additional constraining crystalline symmetries. Our ARPES, DFT calculations, and effective model reveal topological surface states with saddle points that are located in the vicinity of a Dirac point resulting in a van Hove singularity (VHS) along the (100) direction close to the Fermi energy (E_F). Due to the combination of exotic features, this material offers great potential as a material platform for novel quantum effects.

Efficient Step-Merged Quantum Imaginary Time Evolution Algorithm for Quantum Chemistry

We develop a resource-efficient step-merged quantum imaginary time evolution approach (smQITE) to solve for the ground state of a Hamiltonian on quantum computers. This heuristic method features a fixed shallow quantum circuit depth along the state evolution path. We use this algorithm to determine the binding energy curves of a set of molecules, including H₂, H₄, H₆, LiH, HF, H₂O, and BeH₂, and find highly accurate results. The required quantum resources of smQITE calculations can be further reduced by adopting the circuit form of the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) technique, such as the unitary coupled cluster ansatz. We demonstrate that smQITE achieves a similar computational accuracy as VQE at the same fixed-circuit ansatz, without requiring a generally complicated high-dimensional nonconvex optimization. Finally, smQITE calculations are carried out on Rigetti quantum processing units, demonstrating that the approach is readily applicable on current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices.

Competing Magnetic Interactions in the Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulator MnBi_{2}Te_{4}

The antiferromagnetic (AFM) compound MnBi_{2}Te_{4} is suggested to be the first realization of an AFM topological insulator. We report on inelastic neutron scattering studies of the magnetic interactions in MnBi_{2}Te_{4} that possess ferromagnetic triangular layers with AFM interlayer coupling. The spin waves display a large spin gap and pairwise exchange interactions within the triangular layer are long ranged and frustrated by large next-nearest neighbor AFM exchange. The degree of frustration suggests proximity to a variety of magnetic phases, potentially including skyrmion phases, which could be accessed in chemically tuned compounds or upon the application of symmetry-breaking fields.

Mechanical Resonances of Mobile Impurities in a One-Dimensional Quantum Fluid

We study a one-dimensional interacting quantum liquid hosting a pair of mobile impurities causing backscattering. We determine the effective retarded interaction between the two impurities mediated by the liquid. We show that for strong backscattering this interaction gives rise to resonances and antiresonances in the finite-frequency mobility of the impurity pair. At the antiresonances, the two impurities remain at rest even when driven by a (small) external force. At the resonances, their synchronous motion follows the external drive in phase and reaches maximum amplitude. Using a perturbative renormalization group analysis in quantum tunneling across the impurities, we study the range of validity of our model. We predict that these mechanical antiresonances are observable in experiments on ultracold atom gases confined to one dimension.

Designing Morphotropic Phase Composition in BiFeO3

In classical morphotropic piezoelectric materials, rhombohedral and tetragonal phase variants can energetically compete to form a mixed phase regime with improved functional properties. While the discovery of morphotropic-like phases in multiferroic BiFeO₃ films has broadened this definition, accessing these phase spaces is still typically accomplished through isovalent substitution or heteroepitaxial strain which do not allow for continuous modification of phase composition postsynthesis. Here, we show that it is possible to use low-energy helium implantation to tailor morphotropic phases of epitaxial BiFeO₃ films postsynthesis in a continuous and iterative manner. Applying this strain doping approach to morphotropic films creates a new phase space based on internal and external lattice stress that can be seen as an analogue to temperature-composition phase diagrams of classical morphotropic ferroelectric systems.

Emergent Magnetic Degeneracy in Iron Pnictides due to the Interplay between Spin-Orbit Coupling and Quantum Fluctuations

Recent experiments in iron pnictide superconductors reveal that, as the putative magnetic quantum critical point is approached, different types of magnetic order coexist over a narrow region of the phase diagram. Although these magnetic configurations share the same wave vectors, they break distinct symmetries of the lattice. Importantly, the highest superconducting transition temperature takes place close to this proliferation of near-degenerate magnetic states. In this Letter, we employ a renormalization group calculation to show that such a behavior naturally arises due to the effects of spin-orbit coupling on the quantum magnetic fluctuations. Formally, the enhanced magnetic degeneracy near the quantum critical point is manifested as a stable Gaussian fixed point with a large basin of attraction. Implications of our findings to the superconductivity of the iron pnictides are also discussed.

Terahertz-light quantum tuning of a metastable emergent phase hidden by superconductivity

'Sudden' quantum quench and prethermalization have become a cross-cutting theme for discovering emergent states of matter^1-4. Yet this remains challenging in electron matter^5-9, especially superconductors^10-14. The grand question of what is hidden underneath superconductivity (SC) ¹⁵ appears universal, but poorly understood. Here we reveal a long-lived gapless quantum phase of prethermalized quasiparticles (QPs) after a single-cycle terahertz (THz) quench of a Nb₃Sn SC gap. Its conductivity spectra is characterized by a sharp coherent peak and a vanishing scattering rate that decreases almost linearly towards zero frequency, which is most pronounced around the full depletion of the condensate and absent for a high-frequency pump. Above a critical pump threshold, such a QP phase with coherent transport and memory persists as an unusual prethermalization plateau, without relaxation to normal and SC thermal states for an order of magnitude longer than the QP recombination and thermalization times. Switching to this metastable 'quantum QP fluid' signals non-thermal quench of coupled SC and charge-density-wave (CDW)-like orders and hints quantum control beneath the SC.

Percolation via Combined Electrostatic and Chemical Doping in Complex Oxide Films

Stimulated by experimental advances in electrolyte gating methods, we investigate theoretically percolation in thin films of inhomogeneous complex oxides, such as La_{1-x}Sr_{x}CoO_{3} (LSCO), induced by a combination of bulk chemical and surface electrostatic doping. Using numerical and analytical methods, we identify two mechanisms that describe how bulk dopants reduce the amount of electrostatic surface charge required to reach percolation: (i) bulk-assisted surface percolation and (ii) surface-assisted bulk percolation. We show that the critical surface charge strongly depends on the film thickness when the film is close to the chemical percolation threshold. In particular, thin films can be driven across the percolation transition by modest surface charge densities. If percolation is associated with the onset of ferromagnetism, as in LSCO, we further demonstrate that the presence of critical magnetic clusters extending from the film surface into the bulk results in considerable enhancement of the saturation magnetization, with pronounced experimental consequences. These results should significantly guide experimental work seeking to verify gate-induced percolation transitions in such materials.

Emergent Power-Law Phase in the 2D Heisenberg Windmill Antiferromagnet: A Computational Experiment

In an extensive computational experiment, we test Polyakov's conjecture that under certain circumstances an isotropic Heisenberg model can develop algebraic spin correlations. We demonstrate the emergence of a multispin U(1) order parameter in a Heisenberg antiferromagnet on interpenetrating honeycomb and triangular lattices. The correlations of this relative phase angle are observed to decay algebraically at intermediate temperatures in an extended critical phase. Using finite-size scaling we show that both phase transitions are of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type, and at lower temperatures we find long-range Z(6) order.

Dimensional crossover and cold-atom realization of topological Mott insulators

Interacting cold-atomic gases in optical lattices offer an experimental approach to outstanding problems of many body physics. One important example is the interplay of interaction and topology which promises to generate a variety of exotic phases such as the fractionalized Chern insulator or the topological Mott insulator. Both theoretically understanding these states of matter and finding suitable systems that host them have proven to be challenging problems. Here we propose a cold-atom setup where Hubbard on-site interactions give rise to spin liquid-like phases: weak and strong topological Mott insulators. They represent the celebrated paradigm of an interacting and topological quantum state with fractionalized spinon excitations that inherit the topology of the non-interacting system. Our proposal shall help to pave the way for a controlled experimental investigation of this exotic state of matter in optical lattices. Furthermore, it allows for the investigation of a dimensional crossover from a two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulating phase to a three-dimensional strong topological insulator by tuning the hopping between the layers.

Universal Postquench Prethermalization at a Quantum Critical Point

We consider an open system near a quantum critical point that is suddenly moved towards the critical point. The bath-dominated diffusive nonequilibrium dynamics after the quench is shown to follow scaling behavior, governed by a critical exponent that emerges in addition to the known equilibrium critical exponents. We determine this exponent and show that it describes universal prethermalized coarsening dynamics of the order parameter in an intermediate time regime. Implications of this quantum critical prethermalization are: (i) a power law rise of order and correlations after an initial collapse of the equilibrium state and (ii) a crossover to thermalization that occurs arbitrarily late for sufficiently shallow quenches.

Manipulation of a two-photon pump in superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures

We investigate the photon statistics, entanglement, and squeezing of a p-n junction sandwiched between two superconducting leads and show that such an electrically driven photon pump generates correlated and entangled pairs of photons. In particular, we demonstrate that the squeezing of the fluctuations in the quadrature amplitudes of the emitted light can be manipulated by changing the relative phase of the order parameters of the superconductors. This reveals how macroscopic coherence of the superconducting state can be used to tailor the properties of a two-photon state.

Emergent critical phase and Ricci flow in a 2D frustrated Heisenberg model

We introduce a two-dimensional frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on interpenetrating honeycomb and triangular lattices. Classically the two sublattices decouple, and "order from disorder" drives them into a coplanar state. Applying Friedan's geometric approach to nonlinear sigma models, we obtain the scaling of the spin stiffnesses governed by the Ricci flow of a four-dimensional metric tensor. At low temperatures, the relative phase between the spins on the two sublattices is described by a six-state clock model with an emergent critical phase.

Time-reversal-invariant Hofstadter-Hubbard model with ultracold fermions

We consider the time-reversal-invariant Hofstadter-Hubbard model which can be realized in cold-atom experiments. In these experiments, an additional staggered potential and an artificial Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling are available. Without interactions, the system exhibits various phases such as topological and normal insulator, metal as well as semi-metal phases with two or even more Dirac cones. Using a combination of real-space dynamical mean-field theory and analytical techniques, we discuss the effect of on-site interactions and determine the corresponding phase diagram. In particular, we investigate the semi-metal to antiferromagnetic insulator transition and the stability of different topological insulator phases in the presence of strong interactions. We compute spectral functions which allow us to study the edge states of the strongly correlated topological phases.