Anomalous Suppression Research Articles

Suppression of bubbles in unstable active liquids via fast evaporation.

A common intuition in thermodynamics is that bubbles can spontaneously grow in unstable liquids, which will be detrimental to a variety of physical and chemical processes, such as evaporation-induced self-assembly and electrocatalysis. Here, we show that this common intuition can be significantly reversed by demonstrating a suppression of bubbles in unstable active liquids induced by fast evaporation, which is in contrast to the bubble growth in passive liquids. Such anomalous bubble suppression can be attributed to an activity-induced inversion of pressure difference between bubbles and their surrounding liquid. Moreover, this pressure flip depends on the activity as well as the thermodynamics of passive liquids, and it can generate different kinetic pathways that allow controlling the bubble dynamics in unstable liquids. Our results establish a foundation for promoting applications of unstable active liquids in various physical and chemical processes.

Anomalous Purcell decay of strongly driven inhomogeneous emitters coupled to a cavity

We perform resonant fluorescence lifetime measurements on a nanocavity-coupled erbium ensemble as a function of cavity-laser detuning and pump power. Our measurements reveal an anomalous three-fold suppression of the ensemble Purcell factor at zero cavity detuning and high pump fluence. We capture qualitative aspects of this decay rate suppression using a Tavis–Cummings model of non-interacting spins coupled to a common cavity.

Low field anomaly in the critical current of Ba1− x K x Fe2As2 tapes

Ba1−x K x Fe2As2 superconductors have strong potential for magnet applications through their very high upper critical field, relatively high superconducting transition temperature and manufacturability through the powder-in-tube (PIT) route. However, the critical current density in PIT tapes is still low compared to the incumbent technologies, so a greater understanding of the limiting factors is required. We have measured the in-field critical currents (I c) of stainless steel and silver double-sheathed monofilament Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 superconductor tapes at elevated temperatures from 15 K to 35 K. At 20 K, the critical current density is up to 140 kA cm−2 in low (optimal) field and 22 kA cm−2 in 8 T. In the low-field region we observe an anomalous and sharp suppression of I c centred at the zero field. This feature is non-hysteretic for lower temperatures and perpendicular fields, but becomes hysteretic for higher temperatures in perpendicular fields and for all temperatures in parallel fields. The low-field suppression is also reflected in the n-values which can otherwise be very high, in excess of 100 in the optimal field. Magnetic-field hysteresis of I c is generally attributed to flux exclusion/flux trapping in granular superconductors and this is likely to be the case also in the present conductors. The low-field I c anomaly also likely has its origin in planar granularity, while magnetic phases in grains or grain boundaries may also play a role.

Unveiling the temperature-dependent thermoelectric properties of the undoped and Na-doped monolayer SnSe allotropes: a comparative study

Motivated by the excellent thermoelectric (TE) performance of bulk SnSe, extensive attention has been drawn to the TE properties of the monolayer SnSe. To uncover the fundamental mechanism of manipulating the TE performance of the SnSe monolayer, we perform a systematic study on the TE properties of five monolayer SnSe allotropes such as α-, β-, γ-, δ-, and ε-SnSe based on the density functional theory and the non-equilibrium Green’s functions. By comparing the TE properties of the Na-doped SnSe allotropes with the undoped ones, the influences of the Na doping and the temperature on the TE properties are deeply investigated. It is shown that the figure of merit ZT will increase as the temperature increases, which is the same for almost all the Na-doped and undoped cases. The Na doping can enhance or suppress the ZT in different SnSe allotropes at different temperatures, implying the presence of the anomalous suppression of the ZT. The Na doping induced ZT suppression may be caused basically by the sharp decrease of the power factor and the weak decrease of the electronic thermal conductance, rather than by the decrease of the phononic thermal conductance. We hope this work will be able to enrich the understanding of the manipulation of TE properties by means of dimensions, structurization, doping, and temperature.

Microscopic theory for hyperuniformity in two-dimensional chiral active fluid

Some nonequilibrium systems exhibit anomalous suppression of the large-scale density fluctuations, so-called hyperuniformity. Recently, hyperuniformity was found numerically in a simple model of chiral active fluids (Lei et al 2019 Sci. Adv. 5 eaau7423). We revisit this phenomenon and put forward a microscopic theory to explain it. An effective fluctuating hydrodynamic equation is derived for a simple particle model of chiral active matter. We show that the linear analysis of the obtained hydrodynamic equation captures hyperuniformity. Our theory yields hyperuniformity characterized by the same exponents as the numerical observation, but the agreement with the numerical data is qualitative. We also argue that the hydrodynamic equation for the effective particle representation, in which each rotating trajectory is regarded as an effective particle, has the same form as the macroscopic description of the random organization model with the center of mass conservation.

Anomalous suppression of photoinduced in-gap weight in the optical conductivity of a two-leg Hubbard ladder

Anomalous suppression of photoinduced in-gap weight in the optical conductivity of a two-leg Hubbard ladder

Investigating the magnetoelastic properties in FeSn and Fe3Sn2 flat band metals

Topological quantum magnets FeSn and Fe$_{3}$Sn$_{2}$ were studied using neutron scattering and first-principles calculations. Both materials are metallic but host dispersionless flat bands with Dirac nodes at the $K$ point in reciprocal space. The local structure determined from the pair density function analysis of the neutron diffraction data provided no evidence for electron localization in both compounds, consistent with their metallic nature. At the same time, in FeSn, an anomalous suppression in the $c$-axis lattice constant coupled with changes in the phonon spectra were observed across T$_{N}$ indicating the presence of magneto-elastic coupling and spin-phonon interactions. In addition, it was observed that spin waves persisted well above T$_{N}$, suggesting that the in-plane ferromagnetic spin correlations survive at high temperatures. In contrast, no lattice anomaly was observed in Fe$_{3}$Sn$_{2}$. The inelastic signal could be mostly accounted for by phonons, determined from density functional theory, showing typical softening on warming.

Theory for Heterogeneous Electron Transfer Kinetics on Nanocorrugated Atomic Stepped Metal Electrodes

We develop a novel mean-field theoretical approach for the outer-sphere heterogeneous electron transfer (OS-HET) rate constant at an atomically stepped nanocorrugated metal surface. Theory accounts for the contributions from the nature of the metal, local curvature of the nanocorrugated atomic step, the density of atomic steps and kinks, dipolar solvents, and the frontier molecular orbital of electroactive molecules. Our theoretical approach develops a novel model for the free energy of activation obtained using the alignment of the Fermi energy level in the metal with one of the frontier molecular orbitals of the electroactive species. The activation free energy is obtained as a product of a modified work function (WF) and the fractional electronic charge of activation for the alignment of levels. Metal surface local curvatures at atomic steps are modeled as a hyperbolic tangent functional with a random nanocorrugated step edge. The influence of step density and edge fluctuations (or kinks) on the activation free energy is included through the surface average mean curvature and the mean-square gradient dependent modified WF. The theoretical results highlight the step density-dependent nonmonotonic variation in WF, fractional electronic charge, and activation free energy. The increase in step density shifts the Fermi energy level toward LUMO and away from HOMO energy levels. This causes the reduced (for the LUMO) and enhanced (for the HOMO) activation free energy for ET kinetics compared to the basal plane. The dichotomy in the OS-HET kinetics at the atomically stepped metal results in anomalous enhancement and suppression for the LUMO and HOMO, respectively. The strong influence of kinks along the step edge on the HET rate constant is predicted up to 6 decades (compared to the basal surface of Pt metal). Finally, theory shows agreement with the reported experimental data of WF and exchange current density for single crystal Pt electrodes.

Dynamic correlations in the conserved Manna sandpile.

We study dynamic correlations for current and mass, as well as the associated power spectra, in the one-dimensional conserved Manna sandpile. We show that, in the thermodynamic limit, the variance of cumulative bond current up to time T grows subdiffusively as T^{1/2-μ} with the exponent μ≥0 depending on the density regimes considered and, likewise, the power spectra of current and mass at low frequency f varies as f^{1/2+μ} and f^{-3/2+μ}, respectively. Our theory predicts that, far from criticality, μ=0 and, near criticality, μ=(β+1)/2ν_{⊥}z>0 with β,ν_{⊥}, and z being the order parameter, correlation length, and dynamic exponents, respectively. The anomalous suppression of fluctuations near criticality signifies a "dynamic hyperuniformity," characterized by a set of fluctuation relations, in which current, mass, and tagged-particle displacement fluctuations are shown to have a precise quantitative relationship with the density-dependent activity (or its derivative). In particular, the relation, D_{s}(ρ[over ¯])=a(ρ[over ¯])/ρ[over ¯], between the self-diffusion coefficient D_{s}(ρ[over ¯]), activity a(ρ[over ¯]) and density ρ[over ¯] explains a previous simulation observation [Eur. Phys. J. B 72, 441 (2009)10.1140/epjb/e2009-00367-0] that, near criticality, the self-diffusion coefficient in the Manna sandpile has the same scaling behavior as the activity.

Temperature Dependence of Yb Valence in an Au–Al–Yb Intermediate-Valence Quasicrystal Investigated by Yb <i>L</i><sub>3</sub>-Edge X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure Spectroscopy

In this paper, we investigate the temperature dependence of Yb valence in an Au–Al–Yb intermediate-valence quasicrystal by Yb L3-edge synchrotron X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy. The Yb valence of 2.61+ at room temperature decreases monotonically as the temperature decreases, indicating that the Yb ionic radius increases as the temperature decreases and is consistent with the anomalous suppression of the thermal shrinkage of this quasicrystal by cooling, as previously reported. The Yb valence changes by −0.053 on cooling from 298 to 2 K, and its change is more gradual on the high-temperature side than on the low-temperature side with the boundary around 200 K. Additionally, the effect of the changes in the Yb valence on the volume is quantitatively examined. The ratio of the volume changes due to the change in Yb valence per Yb atom, ΔVYb, to the amount of change in Yb valence, Δν, which is expressed as ΔVYb/Δν, was evaluated. The value of ΔVYb/Δν was estimated to be −2.8 Å3/unit Yb valence/Yb atom, whose value was close to that evaluated for YbInCu4.

Extraordinary disordered hyperuniform multifunctional composites

A variety of performance demands are being placed on material systems, including desirable mechanical, thermal, electrical, optical, acoustic and flow properties. The purpose of the present article is to review the emerging field of disordered hyperuniform composites and their novel multifunctional characteristics. Disordered hyperuniform media are exotic amorphous states of matter that are characterized by an anomalous suppression of large-scale volume-fraction fluctuations compared to those in “garden-variety” disordered materials. Such unusual composites can have advantages over their periodic counterparts, such as unique or nearly optimal, direction-independent physical properties and robustness against defects. It will be shown that disordered hyperuniform composites and porous media can be endowed with a broad spectrum of extraordinary physical properties, including photonic, phononic, transport, chemical and mechanical characteristics that are only beginning to be discovered.

Trion-trion annihilation in monolayer WS2

Strong Coulomb interaction in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides can facilitate nontrivial many-body effects among excitonic complexes. Many-body effects like exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA) have been widely explored in this material system. However, a similar effect for charged excitons (or trions), that is, trion-trion annihilation (TTA), is expected to be relatively suppressed due to repulsive like-charges, and has not been hitherto observed in such layered semiconductors. By a gate-dependent tuning of the spectral overlap between the trion and the charged biexciton through an "anti-crossing"-like behaviour in monolayer WS$_2$, here we present an experimental observation of an anomalous suppression of the trion emission intensity with an increase in gate voltage. The results strongly correlate with time-resolved measurements, and are inferred as a direct evidence of a nontrivial TTA resulting from non-radiative Auger recombination of a bright trion, and the corresponding energy resonantly promoting a dark trion to a charged biexciton state. The extracted Auger coefficient for the process is found to be tunable ten-fold through a gate-dependent tuning of the spectral overlap.

Investigation of Tsunami Waves in a Wave Flume: Experiment, Theory, Numerical Modeling

To protect the coastal areas of the seas and oceans from the destructive force of tsunami waves, coastal and surface barriers are usually built. However, for high waves, these barriers turn into underwater barriers through which tsunami waves pass practically without losing their energy. In this paper, we study a new principle of suppression of the energy of tsunami waves by underwater barriers. The problems of experimental and numerical modeling of the processes of generation, propagation, and interaction of gravity wave of the tsunami type with underwater barriers are considered. It is shown that, under certain conditions near the underwater barriers, large-scale vortex structures occur that accumulate a significant part of the energy of the incident wave. Here, if the barriers parameter h/(H + A) = 0.84 ÷ 0.85 (h—height of the barriers, A—amplitude of incident wave on a barrier, H—depth of the reservoir), then the vortex structures accumulate up to 50% of the wave energy incident on the barrier. A theoretical model explaining the effect of anomalous vortex suppression of tsunami wave energy by underwater barriers has been developed. Theoretical calculations and results of numerical modeling based on the Navier–Stokes Equations are consistent with experimental studies in a hydrodynamic wave flume.

Quantum-geometry-induced intrinsic optical anomaly in multiorbital superconductors

Bloch electrons in multiorbital systems carry nontrivial quantum geometric information characteristic of their orbital composition as a function of their wave vector. When such electrons form Cooper pairs, the resultant superconducting state naturally inherits aspects of the quantum geometry. In this paper, we study how this geometric character is revealed in the intrinsic optical response of the superconducting state. In particular, due to the superconducting gap opening, interband optical transitions involving states around the Fermi level are forbidden. This generally leads to an anomalous suppression of the optical conductivity at frequencies matching the band separation -- which could be significantly higher than the superconducting gap energy. We discuss how the predicted anomaly may have already emerged in two earlier measurements on an iron-based superconductor. When interband Cooper pairing is present, intraband optical transitions may be allowed and finite conductivity emerges at low frequencies right above the gap edge. These conductivities depend crucially on the off-diagonal elements of the velocity matrix in the band representation, i.e. the interband velocity -- which is related to the non-Abelian Berry connection of the Bloch states.

Geometrical properties of mechanically annealed systems near the jamming transition.

Geometrical properties of two-dimensional mixtures near the jamming transition point are numerically investigated using harmonic particles under mechanical training. The configurations generated by the quasi-static compression and oscillatory shear deformations exhibit anomalous suppression of the density fluctuations, known as hyperuniformity, below and above the jamming transition. For the jammed system trained by compression above the transition point, the hyperuniformity exponent increases. For the system below the transition point under oscillatory shear, the hyperuniformity exponent also increases until the shear amplitude reaches the threshold value. The threshold value matches with the transition point from the point-reversible phase where the particles experience no collision to the loop-reversible phase where the particles' displacements are non-affine during a shear cycle before coming back to an original position. The results demonstrated in this paper are explained in terms of neither of universal criticality of the jamming transition nor the nonequilibrium phase transitions.

Validation of Structural Grounds for Anomalous Molecular Mobility in Ionic Liquid Glasses.

Ionic liquid (IL) glasses have recently drawn much interest as unusual media with unique physicochemical properties. In particular, anomalous suppression of molecular mobility in imidazolium IL glasses vs. increasing temperature was evidenced by pulse Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Although such behavior has been proven to originate from dynamics of alkyl chains of IL cations, the role of electron spin relaxation induced by surrounding protons still remains unclear. In this work we synthesized two deuterated imidazolium-based ILs to reduce electron–nuclear couplings between radical probe and alkyl chains of IL, and investigated molecular mobility in these glasses. The obtained trends were found closely similar for deuterated and protonated analogs, thus excluding the relaxation-induced artifacts and reliably demonstrating structural grounds of the observed anomalies in heterogeneous IL glasses.

Overcoming anomalous suppression of m-plane AlGaN growth by molecular-beam epitaxy using indium as a surfactant

Anomalous growth rate reduction and associated composition divergence with increasing aluminum flux in m-plane AlGaN grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy at low temperature (565 °C) are observed and investigated. We find that the AlGaN growth rate under conventional gallium-rich conditions decreases rapidly with increasing aluminum flux, contrary to expectations. Moreover, the aluminum fraction of these layers increases super-linearly with aluminum flux, indicating substantial nitrogen and gallium loss from the crystal surface. Indium surfactant assisted epitaxy (ISAE) is found to mitigate this effect significantly. ISAE AlGaN layers do not exhibit a significant decrease in the growth rate with increasing aluminum flux, and their aluminum compositions increase linearly with aluminum flux. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images reveal the presence of high-aluminum composition defects within the conventionally grown AlGaN layers, which are significantly reduced in ISAE AlGaN layers. Spatial correlation of these defects with local areas of reduced growth rate observed in an (In)Al0.30Ga0.70N/In0.16Ga0.84N multiple quantum well (MQW) structure suggests that these phenomena have a causal relationship. We attribute the growth rate reduction to the loss of nitrogen and gallium due to site-blocking effects of aluminum adatoms. TEM imaging indicates that high-quality, virtually defect-free (In)Al0.24Ga0.76N/In0.16Ga0.84N MQWs can be grown at 565 °C with negligible indium incorporation into the barriers.

Long-Range Phase Order in Two Dimensions under Shear Flow.

We theoretically and numerically investigate a two-dimensional O(2) model where an order parameter is convected by shear flow. We show that a long-range phase order emerges in two dimensions as a result of anomalous suppression of phase fluctuations by the shear flow. Furthermore, we use the finite-size scaling theory to demonstrate that a phase transition to the long-range ordered state from the disordered state is second order. At a transition point far from equilibrium, the critical exponents turn out to be close to the mean-field value for equilibrium systems.

Ubiquitous suppression of the nodal coherent spectral weight in Bi-based cuprates

High-temperature superconducting cuprates exhibit an intriguing phenomenology for the low-energy elementary excitations. In particular, an unconventional temperature dependence of the coherent spectral weight (CSW) has been observed in the superconducting phase by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), both at the antinode where the d-wave paring gap is maximum, as well as along the gapless nodal direction. Here, we combine equilibrium and time-resolved ARPES to track the temperature dependent meltdown of the nodal CSW in Bi-based cuprates with unprecedented sensitivity. We find the nodal suppression of CSW upon increasing temperature to be ubiquitous across single- and double-layer Bi cuprates, and uncorrelated to superconducting and pseudogap onset temperatures. We quantitatively model both the lineshape of the nodal spectral features and the anomalous suppression of CSW within the Fermi-Liquid framework, establishing the key role played by the normal state electrodynamics in the description of nodal quasiparticles in superconducting cuprates.

Local number variances and hyperuniformity of the Heisenberg family of determinantal point processes

The bulk scaling limit of eigenvalue distribution on the complex plane of the complex Ginibre random matrices provides a determinantal point process (DPP). This point process is a typical example of disordered hyperuniform system characterized by an anomalous suppression of large-scale density fluctuations. As extensions of the Ginibre DPP, we consider a family of DPPs defined on the D-dimensional complex spaces , , in which the Ginibre DPP is realized when D = 1. This one-parameter family () of DPPs is called the Heisenberg family, since the correlation kernels are identified with the Szegő kernels for the reduced Heisenberg group. For each D, using the modified Bessel functions, an exact and useful expression is shown for the local number variance of points included in a ball with radius R in . We prove that any DPP in the Heisenberg family is in the hyperuniform state of class I, in the sense that the number variance behaves as R 2D−1 as R → ∞. Our exact results provide asymptotic expansions of the number variances in large R.