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Now showing 1 - 10 of 19
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    Full-dimensional treatment of short-time vibronic dynamics in a molecular high-order-harmonic-generation process in methane
    (College Park, Md : APS, 2017) Patchkovskii, Serguei; Schuurman, Michael S.
    We present derivation and implementation of the multiconfigurational strong-field approximation with Gaussian nuclear wave packets (MC-SFA-GWP) - a version of the molecular strong-field approximation which treats all electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom, including their correlations, quantum mechanically. The technique allows realistic simulation of high-order-harmonic emission in polyatomic molecules without invoking reduced-dimensionality models for the nuclear motion or the electronic structure. We use MC-SFA-GWP to model isotope effects in high-order-harmonic-generation (HHG) spectroscopy of methane. The HHG emission in this molecule transiently involves the strongly vibronically coupled F22 electronic state of the CH4+ cation. We show that the isotopic HHG ratio in methane contains signatures of (a) field-free vibronic dynamics at the conical intersection (CI); (b) resonant features in the recombination cross sections; (c) laser-driven bound-state dynamics; as well as (d) the well-known short-time Gaussian decay of the emission. We assign the intrinsic vibronic feature (a) to a relatively long-lived (≥4 fs) vibronic wave packet of the singly excited ν4 (t2) and ν2 (e) vibrational modes, strongly coupled to the components of the F22 electronic state. We demonstrate that these physical effects differ in their dependence on the wavelength, intensity, and duration of the driving pulse, allowing them to be disentangled. We thus show that HHG spectroscopy provides a versatile tool for exploring both conical intersections and resonant features in photorecombination matrix elements in the regime not easily accessible with other techniques.
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    Electronic correlations and magnetic interactions in infinite-layer NdNiO2
    (Woodbury, NY : Inst., 2020) Katukuri, Vamshi M.; Bogdanov, Nikolay A.; Weser, Oskar; Van den Brink, Jeroen; Alavi, Ali
    The large antiferromagnetic exchange coupling in the parent high-Tc cuprate superconductors is believed to play a crucial role in pairing the superconducting carriers. The recent observation of superconductivity in hole-doped infinite-layer (IL-) NdNiO2 brings to the fore the relevance of magnetic coupling in high-Tc superconductors, particularly because no magnetic ordering is observed in the undoped IL-NdNiO2, unlike in parent copper oxides. Here, we investigate the electronic structure and the nature of magnetic exchange in IL-NdNiO2 using state-of-the-art many-body quantum chemistry methods. From a systematic comparison of the electronic and magnetic properties with isostructural cuprate IL-CaCuO2, we find that the on-site dynamical correlations are significantly stronger in IL-NdNiO2 compared to the cuprate analog. These dynamical correlations play a critical role in the magnetic exchange resulting in an unexpectedly large antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor isotropic J of 77 meV between the Ni1+ ions within the ab plane. While we find many similarities in the electronic structure between the nickelate and the cuprate, the role of electronic correlations is profoundly different in the two. We further discuss the implications of our findings in understanding the origin of superconductivity in nickelates. © 2020 authors.
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    Two-dimensional ferromagnetic extension of a topological insulator
    (College Park, MD : APS, 2023) Kagerer, P.; Fornari, C. I.; Buchberger, S.; Tschirner, T.; Veyrat, L.; Kamp, M.; Tcakaev, A. V.; Zabolotnyy, V.; Morelhão, S. L.; Geldiyev, B.; Müller, S.; Fedorov, A.; Rienks, E.; Gargiani, P.; Valvidares, M.; Folkers, L. C.; Isaeva, A.; Büchner, B.; Hinkov, V.; Claessen, R.; Bentmann, H.; Reinert, F.
    Inducing a magnetic gap at the Dirac point of the topological surface state (TSS) in a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) is a route to dissipationless charge and spin currents. Ideally, magnetic order is present only at the surface, as through proximity of a ferromagnetic (FM) layer. However, experimental evidence of such a proximity-induced Dirac mass gap is missing, likely due to an insufficient overlap of TSS and the FM subsystem. Here, we take a different approach, namely ferromagnetic extension (FME), using a thin film of the 3D TI Bi2Te3, interfaced with a monolayer of the lattice-matched van der Waals ferromagnet MnBi2Te4. Robust 2D ferromagnetism with out-of-plane anisotropy and a critical temperature of Tc≈15 K is demonstrated by x-ray magnetic dichroism and electrical transport measurements. Using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we observe the opening of a sizable magnetic gap in the 2D FM phase, while the surface remains gapless in the paramagnetic phase above Tc. Ferromagnetic extension paves the way to explore the interplay of strictly 2D magnetism and topological surface states, providing perspectives for realizing robust quantum anomalous Hall and chiral Majorana states.
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    Experimental Observation of Dirac Nodal Links in Centrosymmetric Semimetal TiB2
    (College Park, MD : American Physical Society, 2018) Liu, Z.; Lou, R.; Guo, P.; Wang, Q.; Sun, S.; Li, C.; Thirupathaiah, S.; Fedorov, A.; Shen, D.; Liu, K.; Lei, H.; Wang, S.
    The topological nodal-line semimetal state, serving as a fertile ground for various topological quantum phases, where a topological insulator, Dirac semimetal, or Weyl semimetal can be realized when the certain protecting symmetry is broken, has only been experimentally studied in very few materials. In contrast to discrete nodes, nodal lines with rich topological configurations can lead to more unusual transport phenomena. Utilizing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, here, we provide compelling evidence of nodal-line fermions in centrosymmetric semimetal TiB2 with a negligible spin-orbit coupling effect. With the band crossings just below the Fermi energy, two groups of Dirac nodal rings are clearly observed without any interference from other bands, one surrounding the Brillouin zone (BZ) corner in the horizontal mirror plane σh and the other surrounding the BZ center in the vertical mirror plane σv. The linear dispersions forming Dirac nodal rings are as wide as 2 eV. We further observe that the two groups of nodal rings link together along the Γ-K direction, composing a nodal-link configuration. The simple electronic structure with Dirac nodal links mainly constituting the Fermi surfaces suggests TiB2 as a remarkable platform for studying and applying the novel physical properties related to nodal-line fermions.
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    Autocorrected off-axis holography of two-dimensional materials
    (College Park, ML : American Physical Society, 2020) Kern, Felix; Linck, Martin; Wolf, Daniel; Alem, Nasim; Arora, Himani; Gemming, Sibylle; Erbe, Artur; Zettl, Alex; Büchner, Bernd; Lubk, Axel
    The reduced dimensionality in two-dimensional materials leads to a wealth of unusual properties, which are currently explored for both fundamental and applied sciences. In order to study the crystal structure, edge states, the formation of defects and grain boundaries, or the impact of adsorbates, high-resolution microscopy techniques are indispensable. Here we report on the development of an electron holography (EH) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, which facilitates high spatial resolution by an automatic correction of geometric aberrations. Distinguished features of EH beyond conventional TEM imaging are gap-free spatial information signal transfer and higher dose efficiency for certain spatial frequency bands as well as direct access to the projected electrostatic potential of the two-dimensional material. We demonstrate these features with the example of h-BN, for which we measure the electrostatic potential as a function of layer number down to the monolayer limit and obtain evidence for a systematic increase of the potential at the zig-zag edges.
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    Magnetic warping in topological insulators
    (College Park, MD : APS, 2022) Naselli, Gabriele; Moghaddam, Ali G.; Di Napoli, Solange; Vildosola, Verónica; Fulga, Ion Cosma; van den Brink, Jeroen; Facio, Jorge I.
    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.
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    Multiscale simulations of the electronic structure of III-nitride quantum wells with varied indium content: Connecting atomistic and continuum-based models
    (Melville, NY : American Inst. of Physics, 2021) Chaudhuri, D.; O’Donovan, M.; Streckenbach, T.; Marquardt, O.; Farrell, P.; Patra, S.K.; Koprucki, T.; Schulz, S.
    Carrier localization effects in III-N heterostructures are often studied in the frame of modified continuum-based models utilizing a single-band effective mass approximation. However, there exists no comparison between the results of a modified continuum model and atomistic calculations on the same underlying disordered energy landscape. We present a theoretical framework that establishes a connection between atomistic tight-binding theory and continuum-based electronic structure models, here a single-band effective mass approximation, and provide such a comparison for the electronic structure of (In,Ga)N quantum wells. In our approach, in principle, the effective masses are the only adjustable parameters since the confinement energy landscape is directly obtained from tight-binding theory. We find that the electronic structure calculated within effective mass approximation and the tight-binding model differ noticeably. However, at least in terms of energy eigenvalues, an improved agreement between the two methods can be achieved by adjusting the band offsets in the continuum model, enabling, therefore, a recipe for constructing a modified continuum model that gives a reasonable approximation of the tight-binding energies. Carrier localization characteristics for energetically low lying, strongly localized states differ, however, significantly from those obtained using the tight-binding model. For energetically higher lying, more delocalized states, good agreement may be achieved. Therefore, the atomistically motivated continuum-based single-band effective mass model established provides a good, computationally efficient alternative to fully atomistic investigations, at least at when targeting questions related to higher temperatures and carrier densities in (In,Ga)N systems.
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    Experimental electronic structure of In2O3 and Ga2O3
    (Bristol : IOP, 2011) Janowitz, C.; Scherer, V.; Mohamed, M.; Krapf, A.; Dwelk, H.; Manzke, R.; Galazka, Z.; Uecker, R.; Irmscher, K.; Fornari, R.; Michling, M.; Schmeißer, D.; Weber, J.R.; Varley, J.B.; Van De Walle, C.G.
    Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) pose a number of serious challenges. In addition to the pursuit of high-quality single crystals and thin films, their application has to be preceded by a thorough understanding of their peculiar electronic structure. It is of fundamental interest to understand why these materials, transparent up to the UV spectral regime, behave also as conductors. Here we investigate In2O3 and Ga2O3, two binary oxides, which show the smallest and largest optical gaps among conventional n-type TCOs. The investigations on the electronic structure were performed on high-quality n-type single crystals showing carrier densities of ∼1019 cm-3 (In2O3) and ∼1017 cm-3(Ga2O3). The subjects addressed for both materials are: the determination of the band structure along high-symmetry directions and fundamental gaps by angular resolved photoemission (ARPES). We also address the orbital character of the valence- and conduction-band regions by exploiting photoemission cross.
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    Self-organized formation of unidirectional and quasi-one-dimensional metallic Tb silicide nanowires on Si(110)
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2022) Appelfeller, Stephan; Franz, Martin; Karadag, Murat; Kubicki, Milan; Zielinski, Robert; Krivenkov, Maxim; Varykhalov, Andrei; Preobrajenski, Alexei; Dähne, Mario
    Terbium induced nanostructures on Si(110) and their growth are thoroughly characterized by low energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, core-level and valence band photoelectron spectroscopy, and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. For low Tb coverage, a wetting layer forms with its surface fraction continuously decreasing with increasing Tb coverage in favor of the formation of unidirectional Tb silicide nanowires. These nanowires show high aspect ratios for high annealing temperatures or on substrates already containing Tb in the bulk. Both wetting layer and nanowires are stable for temperatures up to 750°C. In contrast to the nanowires, the wetting layer is characterized by a band gap. Thus, the metallic nanowires, which show a quasi-one-dimensional electronic band structure, are embedded in a semiconducting surrounding of wetting layer and substrate, insulating the nanowires from each other.
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    Fermi surface nesting in several transition metal dichalcogenides
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2008) Inosov, D.S.; Zabolotnyy, V.B.; Evtushinsky, D.V.; Kordyuk, A.A.; Büchner, B.; Follath, R.; Berger, H.; Borisenko, S.V.
    By means of high-resolution angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), we have studied the fermiology of 2H transition metal dichalcogenide polytypes TaSe2, NbSe2 and Cu0.2NbS 2. The tight-binding model of the electronic structure, extracted from ARPES spectra for all three compounds, was used to calculate the Lindhard function (bare spin susceptibility), which reflects the propensity to charge density wave (CDW) instabilities observed in TaSe2 and NbSe 2. We show that though the Fermi surfaces of all three compounds possess an incommensurate nesting vector in the close vicinity of the CDW wave vector, the nesting and ordering wave vectors do not exactly coincide, and there is no direct relationship between the magnitude of the susceptibility at the nesting vector and the CDW transition temperature. The nesting vector persists across the incommensurate CDW transition in TaSe2 as a function of temperature despite the observable variations of the Fermi surface geometry in this temperature range. In Cu0.2NbS2, the nesting vector is present despite different doping levels, which leads us to expect a possible enhancement of the CDW instability with Cu intercalation in the Cu xNbS2 family of materials.