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Intercalant-mediated Kitaev exchange in Ag3LiIr2O6
The recently synthesized Ag3LiIr2O6 has been proposed as a Kitaev magnet in proximity to the quantum spin liquid phase. We explore its microscopic Hamiltonian and magnetic ground state using many-body quantum chemistry methods and exact diagonalization techniques. Our calculations establish a dominant bond dependent ferromagnetic Kitaev exchange between Ir sites and find that the inclusion of Ag 4d orbitals in the configuration interaction calculations strikingly enhances the Kitaev exchange. Furthermore, using exact diagonalization of the nearest-neighbor fully anisotropic J−K−Γ Hamiltonian, we obtain the magnetic phase diagram as a function of further neighbor couplings. We find that the antiferromagnetic off-diagonal coupling stabilizes long range order, but the structure factor calculations suggest that the material is very close to the quantum spin liquid phase and the ordered state can easily collapse into a liquid by small perturbations such as structural distortion or bond disorder.
Thermalization by a synthetic horizon
Synthetic horizons in models for quantum matter provide an alternative route to explore fundamental questions of modern gravitational theory. Here we apply these concepts to the problem of emergence of thermal quantum states in the presence of a horizon, by studying ground-state thermalization due to instantaneous horizon creation in a gravitational setting and its condensed matter analog. By a sudden quench to position-dependent hopping amplitudes in a one-dimensional lattice model, we establish the emergence of a thermal state accompanying the formation of a synthetic horizon. The resulting temperature for long chains is shown to be identical to the corresponding Unruh temperature, provided that the postquench Hamiltonian matches the entanglement Hamiltonian of the prequench system. Based on detailed analysis of the outgoing radiation we formulate the conditions required for the synthetic horizon to behave as a purely thermal source, paving a way to explore this interplay of quantum-mechanical and gravitational aspects experimentally.
Strong effects of uniaxial pressure and short-range correlations in Cr2Ge2Te6
Cr2Ge2Te6 is a quasi-two-dimensional semiconducting van der Waals ferromagnet down to the bilayer with great potential for technological applications. Engineering the critical temperature to achieve room-temperature applications is one of the critical next steps on this path. Here, we report high-resolution capacitance dilatometry studies on Cr2Ge2Te6 single crystals which directly prove significant magnetoelastic coupling and provide quantitative values of the large uniaxial pressure effects on long-range magnetic order (∂TC/∂pc=24.7 K/GPa and ∂TC/∂pab=−15.6 K/GPa) derived from thermodynamic relations. Moderate in-plane strain is thus sufficient to strongly enhance ferromagnetism in Cr2Ge2Te6 up to room temperature. Moreover, unambiguous signs of short-range magnetic order up to 200 K are found.
Absence of induced magnetic monopoles in Maxwellian magnetoelectrics
The electromagnetic response of topological insulators is governed by axion electrodynamics, which features a topological magnetoelectric term in the Maxwell equations. As a consequence magnetic fields become the source of electric fields and vice versa, a phenomenon that is general for any material exhibiting a linear magnetoelectric effect. Axion electrodynamics has been associated with the possibility to create magnetic monopoles, in particular, by an electrical charge that is screened above the surface of a magnetoelectric material. Here we explicitly solve for the electromagnetic fields in this geometry and show that while vortexlike magnetic screening fields are generated by the electrical charge their divergence is identically zero at every point in space, which implies an absence of induced magnetic monopoles. Nevertheless magnetic image charges can be made explicit in the problem, and even if no bound state with electric charges yielding a dyon arises, a dyonlike angular momentum follows from our analysis. Because of its dependence on the dielectric constant this angular momentum is not quantized, which is consistent with a general argument that precludes magnetic monopoles to be generated in Maxwell magnetoelectrics. We also solve for topologically protected zero modes in the Dirac equation induced by the point charge. Since the induced topological defect on the topological insulator's surface carries an electric charge as a result of the axion term, these zero modes are not self-conjugated.
Magnetic warping in topological insulators
We analyze the electronic structure of topological surface states in the family of magnetic topological insulators MnBi2nTe3n+1. We show that, at natural-cleavage surfaces, the Dirac cone warping changes its symmetry from hexagonal to trigonal at the magnetic ordering temperature. In particular, an energy splitting develops between the surface states of the same band index but opposite surface momenta upon formation of the long-range magnetic order. As a consequence, measurements of such energy splittings constitute a simple protocol to detect the magnetic ordering via the surface electronic structure, alternative to the detection of the surface magnetic gap. Interestingly, while the latter signals a nonzero surface magnetization, the trigonal warping predicted here is, in addition, sensitive to the direction of the surface magnetic flux. Our results may be particularly useful when the Dirac point is buried in the projection of the bulk states, caused by certain terminations of the crystal or in hole-doped systems, since in both situations the surface magnetic gap itself is not accessible in photoemission experiments.
Extended high-harmonic spectra through a cascade resonance in confined quantum systems
The study of high-harmonic generation in confined quantum systems is vital to establishing a complete physical picture of harmonic generation from atoms and molecules to bulk solids. Based on a multilevel approach, we demonstrate how intraband resonances significantly influence the harmonic spectra via charge pumping to the higher subbands and thus redefine the cutoff laws. As a proof of principle, we consider the interaction of graphene nanoribbons, with zigzag as well as armchair terminations, and resonant fields polarized along the cross-ribbon direction. Here, this effect is particularly prominent due to many nearly equiseparated energy levels. In such a scenario, a cascade resonance effect can take place in high-harmonic generation when the field strength is above a critical threshold, which is completely different from the harmonic generation mechanism of atoms, molecules, and bulk solids. We further discuss the implications not only for other systems in a nanoribbon geometry, but also systems where only a few subbands (energy levels) meet this frequency-matching condition by considering a generalized multilevel Hamiltonian. Our study highlights that cascade resonance has a fundamentally distinct influence on the laws of harmonic generation, specifically the cutoff laws based on laser duration, field strength, and wavelength, thus unraveling additional insights in solid-state high-harmonic generation.