Exotic Phenomena Research Articles

Anti-site defect-induced disorder in compensated topological magnet MnBi2-xSbxTe4

The gapped Dirac-like surface states of compensated magnetic topological insulator MnBi2-xSbxTe4 (MBST) are a promising host for exotic quantum phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect and axion insulating state. However, it has become clear that atomic defects undermine the stabilization of such quantum phases as they lead to spatial variations in the surface state gap and doping levels. The large number of possible defect configurations in MBST make studying the influence of individual defects virtually impossible. Here, we present a statistical analysis of the nanoscale effect of defects in MBST with x=0.64, by scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy. We identify (Bi,Sb)Mn anti-site defects to be the main source of the observed doping fluctuations, leading towards the formation of nanoscale charge puddles and effectively closing the transport gap. Our findings will guide further optimization of this material system via defect engineering, to enable exploitation of its promising properties.

Transmission-type photonic doping for high-efficiency epsilon-near-zero supercoupling

Supercoupling effect is an exotic and counterintuitive physical phenomenon of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) media, in which the light can be “squeezed” and tunneled through flexible channels substantially narrower than its wavelength. Theoretically, ENZ channels with infinitely small widths perform ideal supercoupling with full energy transmission and zero-phase advance. As a feasible solution to demonstrate ENZ supercoupling through a finite-width channel, photonic doping can assist the light in squeezing, but the resonant dopant introduces inevitable losses. Here, we propose an approach of transmission-type photonic doping to achieve proximate ideal ENZ supercoupling. In contrast to the conventional resonance-type photonic doping, our proposed transmission-type doping replaces high-quality-factor two-dimensional resonant doping modes with low-quality-factor one-dimensional modes, such that obviously high transmission efficiency and zero-phase advance in ENZ supercoupling is achieved and observed in experiments. Benefiting from the high-efficiency ENZ supercoupling, waveguides with near-total energy transmission can be engineered with arbitrary dimensions and shapes, serving as flexible power conduits in the paradigm of waveguide integrated circuits for future millimeter-wave and terahertz integrated circuit innovations.

Topological degeneracy breaking in synthetic frequency lattice by Floquet engineering

Abstract Synthetic frequency dimensions provide important opportunities to investigate novel topological phenomena. Previously, many theoretical proposals have been studied and relevant experiments have been performed very recently. However, all these works consider models in the weak modulation regime, where static lattice models are constructed. Here we explore a Floquet Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) model with time-dependent hoppings in the frequency dimension by dynamically modulating ring resonators ultrastrongly, and find that the topological states, originally degenerate in conventional SSH lattices, are separated in eigenenergies. There exists a series of edge states from band folding at the 0 and π energy bandgaps, which exhibit complex multi-frequency oscillations due to the inclusion of counter-rotating terms with higher order oscillation frequencies. Such a system with stronger modulations can widen the bandgap and therefore it provides an effective way to localize pulses in synthetic frequency dimensions. Our work shows a photonic platform with the synthetic dimension in exploring exotic Floquet topological phenomena and shows potential applications in optical storage and communications.

Oceans of Opportunity

Our solar system’s ocean worlds offer scientists intriguing instances of exotic phenomena and fresh prospects in the elusive search for planetary habitability.

Quantum information geometry of driven CFTs

Driven quantum systems exhibit a large variety of interesting and sometimes exotic phenomena. Of particular interest are driven conformal field theories (CFTs) which describe quantum many-body systems at criticality. In this paper, we develop both a spacetime and a quantum information geometry perspective on driven 2d CFTs. We show that for a large class of driving protocols the theories admit an alternative but equivalent formulation in terms of a CFT defined on a spacetime with a time-dependent metric. We prove this equivalence both in the operator formulation as well as in the path integral description of the theory. A complementary quantum information geometric perspective for driven 2d CFTs employs the so-called Bogoliubov-Kubo-Mori (BKM) metric, which is the counterpart of the Fisher metric of classical information theory, and which is obtained from a perturbative expansion of relative entropy. We compute the BKM metric for the universal sector of Virasoro excitations of a thermal state, which captures a large class of driving protocols, and find it to be a useful tool to classify and characterize different types of driving. For Möbius driving by the SL(2, ℝ) subgroup, the BKM metric becomes the hyperbolic metric on the disk. We show how the non-trivial dynamics of Floquet driven CFTs is encoded in the BKM geometry via Möbius transformations. This allows us to identify ergodic and non-ergodic regimes in the driving. We also explain how holographic driven CFTs are dual to driven BTZ black holes with evolving horizons. The deformation of the black hole horizon towards and away from the asymptotic boundary provides a holographic understanding of heating and cooling in Floquet CFTs.

Low-Velocity-Favored Transition Radiation.

When a charged particle penetrates through an optical interface, photon emissions emerge-a phenomenon known as transition radiation. Being paramount to fundamental physics, transition radiation has enabled many applications from high-energy particle identification to novel light sources. A rule of thumb in transition radiation is that the radiation intensity generally decreases with the decrease of particle velocity v; as a result, low-energy particles are not favored in practice. Here, we find that there exist situations where transition radiation from particles with extremely low velocities (e.g., v/c<10^{-3}) exhibits comparable intensity as that from high-energy particles (e.g., v/c=0.999), where c is the light speed in free space. The comparable radiation intensity implies an extremely high photon extraction efficiency from low-energy particles, up to 8 orders of magnitude larger than that from high-energy particles. This exotic phenomenon of low-velocity-favored transition radiation originates from the interference of the excited Ferrell-Berreman modes in an ultrathin epsilon-near-zero slab. Our findings may provide a promising route toward the design of integrated light sources based on low-energy electrons and specialized detectors for beyond-standard-model particles.

Electro-momentum coupling tailored in piezoelectric metamaterials with resonant shunts

Local microstructural heterogeneities of elastic metamaterials give rise to non-local macroscopic cross coupling between stress–strain and momentum–velocity, known as Willis coupling. Recent advances have revealed that symmetry breaking in piezoelectric metamaterials introduces an additional macroscopic cross coupling effect, termed electro-momentum coupling, linking electrical stimulus and momentum and enabling the emergence of exotic wave phenomena characteristic of Willis materials. The electro-momentum coupling provides an extra degree of freedom for controlling elastic wave propagation in piezoelectric composites through external electrical stimuli. In this study, we present how to tune the electro-momentum coupling arising in 1D periodic piezoelectric metamaterials with broken inversion symmetry through shunting the inherent capacitance of the individual piezoelectric layers with a resistor and an inductor in series forming a resistor–inductor–capacitor circuit. Guided by the effective elastodynamic theory and homogenization method for piezoelectric metamaterials, we derived a closed-form expression of the electro-momentum coupling in shunted piezoelectric metamaterials. Moreover, we demonstrate the ability to tailor the electro-momentum coupling coefficient and control the amplitudes and phases of the forward and backward propagating waves, yielding tunable asymmetric wave responses. The results of our study hold promising implications for applications involving asymmetric wave phenomena and programmable metamaterials.

Charged biexciton polaritons sustaining strong nonlinearity in 2D semiconductor-based nanocavities

Controlling the interaction between light and matter at micro- and nano-scale can provide new opportunities for modern optics and optoelectronics. An archetypical example is polariton, a half-light-half-matter quasi particle inheriting simultaneously the robust coherence of light and the strong interaction of matter, which plays an important role in many exotic phenomena. Here, we open up a new kind of cooperative coupling between plasmon and different excitonic complexes in WS2-silver nanocavities, namely plasmon-exciton-trion-charged biexciton four coupling states. Thanks to the large Bohr radius of up to 5 nm, the charged biexciton polariton exhibits strong saturation nonlinearity, ~30 times higher than the neutral exciton polariton. Transient absorption dynamics further reveal the ultrafast many-body interaction nature, with a timescale of <100 fs. The demonstration of biexciton polariton here combines high nonlinearity, simple processing and strong scalability, permitting access for future energy-efficient optical switching and information processing.

Atomically precise vacancy-assembled quantum antidots.

Patterning antidots, which are regions of potential hills that repel electrons, into well-defined antidot lattices creates fascinating artificial periodic structures, leading to anomalous transport properties and exotic quantum phenomena in two-dimensional systems. Although nanolithography has brought conventional antidots from the semiclassical regime to the quantum regime, achieving precise control over the size of each antidot and its spatial period at the atomic scale has remained challenging. However, attaining such control opens the door to a new paradigm, enabling the creation of quantum antidots with discrete quantum hole states, which, in turn, offer a fertile platform to explore novel quantum phenomena and hot electron dynamics in previously inaccessible regimes. Here we report an atomically precise bottom-up fabrication of a series of atomic-scale quantum antidots through a thermal-induced assembly of a chalcogenide single vacancy in PtTe2. Such quantum antidots consist of highly ordered single-vacancy lattices, spaced by a single Te atom, reaching the ultimate downscaling limit of antidot lattices. Increasing the number of single vacancies in quantum antidots strengthens the cumulative repulsive potential and consequently enhances the collective interference of multiple-pocket scattered quasiparticles inside quantum antidots, creating multilevel quantum hole states with a tunable gap from the telecom to far-infrared regime. Moreover, precisely engineered quantum hole states of quantum antidots are geometry protected and thus survive on oxygen substitutional doping. Therefore, single-vacancy-assembled quantum antidots exhibit unprecedented robustness and property tunability, positioning them as highly promising candidates for advancing quantum information and photocatalysis technologies.

Defect Induced Unconventional Ferromagnetism in Au Intercalated Bi2Se3 Nanocrystals for Spintronic Applications

AbstractBreaking time‐reversal symmetry through magnetic impurities has been a useful strategy for achieving exotic physical phenomena in topological insulators for a long time. In contrast, reports on achieving ferromagnetism in topological insulators by introducing non‐magnetic elements are very scarce. The present article illustrates Au ion implantation as an alternative tool to study the structural and magnetic properties in the Bi2Se3 nanocrystals grown by the chemical vapor deposition. The as‐grown pristine Bi2Se3 exhibits triangular and hexagonal plate‐like morphology, which undergoes structural distortion with increased Au ions. The room temperature Raman spectra show defect‐induced phonon softening with ion fluence. The non‐magnetic Bi2Se3 exhibit room temperature ferromagnetic hysteresis that originates from Bi vacancies which is verified from the density functional theory (DFT)calculations. The incorporation of Au ions initially decreases the magnetic moment up to the fluence 1 × 1014 ions cm−2 and enhances at higher fluences due to the formation of Au nanoclusters. The experimental and DFT results suggest a competition between the Se “4p” states and Au “5d” states for the non‐monotonic behavior of magnetic properties. The present work on Au intercalation in Bi2Se3 can pave the way to design artificial topological insulator devices for potential technological applications for future spintronics and quantum computations.

Legal Clinic as an Exotic Phenomenon in Hungary

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Landau-Forbidden Quantum Criticality in Rydberg Quantum Simulators.

The Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theory of phase transitions precludes a continuous transition between two phases that spontaneously break distinct symmetries. However, quantum mechanical effects can intertwine the symmetries, giving rise to an exotic phenomenon called deconfined quantum criticality (DQC). In this Letter, we study the ground state phase diagram of a one-dimensional array of individually trapped neutral atoms interacting strongly via Rydberg states, and demonstrate through extensive numerical simulations that it hosts a variety of symmetry-breaking phases and their transitions including DQC. We show how an enlarged, emergent continuous symmetry arises at the DQCs, which can be experimentally observed in the joint distribution of two distinct order parameters, obtained within measurement snapshots in the standard computational basis. Our findings highlight quantum simulators of Rydberg atoms not only as promising platforms to experimentally realize such exotic phenomena, but also as unique ones allowing access to physical properties not obtainable in traditional experiments.

Phase transition of polarons in bilayer graphene nanoribbons

Stacking graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is the natural path to obtain semiconductors with exotic quantum phenomena by manipulating the interlayer coupling. Recently, a report demonstrated that, during charge transport, interlayer coupling significantly affects the phonon breathing modes. Therefore, a reliable physical description of charged carriers must explicitly address the coupling nature of the electronic and lattice phenomena. In this work, we gauge the influence of interlayer coupling (t ⊥) on the formation of charged carriers in a bilayer of an armchair graphene nanoribbon using a model Hamiltonian with electron-phonon coupling. We find different quasiparticle solutions depending on the t ⊥ magnitude. As it increases, the carrier’s charge progressively delocalizes along the layers, resulting in two interlayer polaron morphologies: the non-symmetric (0 meV <t ⊥ ≤ 45 meV) and the symmetric (t ⊥> 45 meV). These solutions also manifest in the band structure through first-order electronic phase transitions in the intragap states with a significant energy shift of about 0.3 eV. Consequently, the carrier’s mobility and effective mass are expected to be highly sensitive to t ⊥, suggesting that mechanical stress can regulate the mechanism. The findings extend to other GNR bilayers, potentially inspiring the development of novel nanoelectronics based on highly confined stacked systems.

Conversion of chirality to twisting via sequential one-dimensional and two-dimensional growth of graphene spirals.

The properties of two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals materials can be tuned through nanostructuring or controlled layer stacking, where interlayer hybridization induces exotic electronic states and transport phenomena. Here we describe a viable approach and underlying mechanism for the assisted self-assembly of twisted layer graphene. The process, which can be implemented in standard chemical vapour deposition growth, is best described by analogy to origami and kirigami with paper. It involves the controlled induction of wrinkle formation in single-layer graphene with subsequent wrinkle folding, tearing and re-growth. Inherent to the process is the formation of intertwined graphene spirals and conversion of the chiral angle of 1D wrinkles into a 2D twist angle of a 3D superlattice. The approach can be extended to other foldable 2D materials and facilitates the production of miniaturized electronic components, including capacitors, resistors, inductors and superconductors.

Quantum simulations with cold atoms: Fundamentals, advances, and outlook

Since the first proposal of quantum simulation by Richard Feynman in 1982, multiple platforms have been explored to probe the behaviour of subatomic particles, exploiting the intrinsic nature of quantum systems. As one of the most promising candidates to realise large-scale simulation, quantum simulators with ultracold gases have attracted unprecedented attention. Featuring novel detection possibilities, a high degree of controllability and the extreme physical parameter regimes that can be reached in these ‘artificial solids’, quantum simulation with ultracold atoms has progressively matured to the point that it can be used to study exotic quantum phenomena. This review presents the theoretical fundamentals and recent advances in related technology and offers comment on future directions.

Detection of two-dimensional small polarons at oxide interfaces by optical spectroscopy

Two-dimensional (2D) perovskite oxide interfaces are ideal systems to uncover diverse emergent properties, such as the arising polaronic properties from short-range charge–lattice interactions. Thus, a technique to detect this quasiparticle phenomenon at the buried interface is highly coveted. Here, we report the observation of 2D small-polarons at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 conducting interface using high-resolution spectroscopic ellipsometry. First-principles investigations show that interfacial electron–lattice coupling mediated by the longitudinal phonon mode facilitates the formation of these polarons. This study resolves the long-standing question by attributing the formation of interfacial 2D small polarons to the significant mismatch between experimentally measured interfacial carrier density and theoretical values. Our study sheds light on the complexity of broken periodic lattice-induced quasi-particle effects and its relationship with exotic phenomena at complex oxide interfaces. Meanwhile, this work establishes spectroscopic ellipsometry as a useful technique to detect and locate optical evidence of polaronic states and other emerging quantum properties at the buried interface.

Magnetic anisotropy and planar topological Hall effect in SrMn x Ir1− x O3 films

Strong Coulomb repulsion and spin–orbit coupling are known to give rise to exotic physical phenomena in transition metal oxides. Here, we report magnetic and transport characteristics of (001) oriented epitaxial SrMn x Ir1−x O3 thin films, having both 3d and 5d elements on the perovskite B sites. With the increase of Mn concentration, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) decreases gradually in accompany with the magnetic easy axis tilting away from the out-of-plane [001] direction. X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals that Mn e g electrons preferentially occupy the orbital, which produces the observed PMA in the framework of spin-orbital coupling. A planar topological Hall effect appears in SrMn x Ir1−x O3 films with x about 0.30 when the magnetic field is applied along the current, which is a result of the noncoplanar spin structure due to the competition among the PMA, the magnetic exchange interaction and the Zeeman energy. These results provide an example to show the subtle balance among complex competitions in materials with both strong correlation and spin-orbit coupling.

Giant Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, strong XXZ-type biquadratic coupling, and bimeronic excitations in the two-dimensional CrMnI6 magnet

Two-dimensional magnets have been discovered recently as a new class of quantum matter exhibiting a broad wealth of exotic phenomena, including notably various topological excitations rooted in emergent exchange couplings between the localized magnetic moments. By analyzing the anisotropies in the single-ion magnetization and two-body exchange couplings obtained from first-principles calculations, we reveal coexistence of both giant Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction and strong anisotropic XXZ-type biquadratic coupling in a recently predicted monolayer CrMnI6 magnet. The former is induced by the spontaneous in-plane inversion symmetry breaking in the bipartite system, the latter is inherently tied to the distinct high-spin state of the Mn sublattice, while the large magnitudes of both stem from the significant spin-orbit coupling. Next, we use atomistic magnetics simulations to demonstrate the vital role of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in harboring topological bimeronic excitations, and show that the biquadratic coupling favors a Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless-like transition as the system reduces its temperature from the paramagnetic phase. These findings substantially enrich our understanding of the microscopic couplings in 2D magnets, with appealing application potentials.

Exchange-Interaction-Like Behavior in Ferroelectric Bilayers.

Interlayer coupling in materials, such as exchange interactions at the interface between an antiferromagnet and a ferromagnet, can produce exotic phenomena not present in the parent materials. While such interfacial coupling in magnetic systems is widely studied, there is considerably less work on analogous electric counterparts (i.e., akin to electric "exchange-bias-like" or "exchange-spring-like" interactions between two polar materials) despite the likelihood that such effects can also engender new features associated with anisotropic electric dipole alignment. Here, electric analogs of such exchange interactions are reported, and their physical origins are explained for bilayers of in-plane polarized Pb1-x Srx TiO3 ferroelectrics. Variation of the strontium content and thickness of the layers provides for deterministic control over the switching properties of the bilayer system resulting in phenomena analogous to an exchange-spring interaction and, leveraging added control of these interactions with an electric field, the ability to realize multistate-memory function. Such observations not only hold technological promise for ferroelectrics and multiferroics but also extend the similarities between ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials to include the manifestation of exchange-interaction-like phenomena.

Probing the symmetry breaking of a light–matter system by an ancillary qubit

Hybrid quantum systems in the ultrastrong, and even more in the deep-strong, coupling regimes can exhibit exotic physical phenomena and promise new applications in quantum technologies. In these nonperturbative regimes, a qubit–resonator system has an entangled quantum vacuum with a nonzero average photon number in the resonator, where the photons are virtual and cannot be directly detected. The vacuum field, however, is able to induce the symmetry breaking of a dispersively coupled probe qubit. We experimentally observe the parity symmetry breaking of an ancillary Xmon artificial atom induced by the field of a lumped-element superconducting resonator deep-strongly coupled with a flux qubit. This result opens a way to experimentally explore the novel quantum-vacuum effects emerging in the deep-strong coupling regime.