Ferro-orbital Order Research Articles

Orbital liquid in the eg orbital Hubbard model in d=∞ dimensions

We demonstrate that the three-dimensional $e_g$ orbital Hubbard model can be generalized to arbitrary dimension $d$, and that the form of the result is determined uniquely by the requirements that (i) the two-fold degeneracy of the $e_g$ orbital be retained, and (ii) the cubic lattice be turned into a hypercubic lattice. While the local Coulomb interaction $U$ is invariant for each basis of orthogonal orbitals, the form of the kinetic energy depends on the orbital basis and takes the most symmetric form for the so-called complex-orbital basis. Characteristically, with respect to this basis, the model has two hopping channels, one that is orbital-flavor conserving, and a second one that is orbital-flavor non-conserving. We show that the noninteracting electronic structure consists of two nondegenerate bands of plane-wave real-orbital single-particle states for which the orbital depends on the wave vector. Due to the latter feature each band is unpolarized at any filling, and has a non-Gaussian density of states at $d=\infty$. The \textit{orbital liquid} state is obtained by filling these two bands up to the same Fermi energy. We investigate the $e_g$ orbital Hubbard model in the limit $d\to\infty$, treating the on-site Coulomb interaction $U$ within the Gutzwiller approximation, thus determining the correlation energy of the orbital liquid and the (disordered) para-orbital states. (...) We show that the orbital liquid is the ground state everywhere in the $(n,U)$ phase diagram except close to half-filling at sufficiently large $U$, where ferro-orbital order with real orbitals occupied is favored. The latter feature is shown to be specific for $d=\infty$, being of mathematical nature due to the exponential tails in the density of states.

Stronger quantum fluctuation with larger spins: Emergent magnetism in the pressurized high-temperature superconductor FeSe

A counter-intuitive enhancement of quantum fluctuation with larger spins, together with a few novel physical phenomena, is discovered in studying the recently observed emergent magnetism in high-temperature superconductor FeSe under pressure. Starting with experimental crystalline structure from our high-pressure X-ray refinement, we analyze theoretically the stability of the magnetically ordered state with a realistic spin-fermion model. We find surprisingly that in comparison with the magnetically ordered Fe-pnictides, the larger spins in FeSe suffer even stronger long-range quantum fluctuation that diminishes their ordering at ambient pressure. This "fail-to-order" quantum spin liquid state then develops into an ordered state above 1GPa due to weakened fluctuation accompanying the reduction of anion height and carrier density. The ordering further benefits from the ferro-orbital order and shows the observed enhancement around 1GPa. We further clarify the controversial nature of magnetism and its interplay with nematicity in FeSe in the same unified picture for all Fe-based superconductors. In addition, the versatile itinerant carriers produce interesting correlated metal behavior in a large region of phase space. Our study establishes a generic exceptional paradigm of stronger quantum fluctuation with larger spins that complements the standard knowledge of insulating magnetism.

Hund’s coupling and electronic anisotropy in the spin-density wave state of iron pnictides

In the multiband systems, Hund’s coupling (J) plays a significant role in the spin and charge excitations. We study the dependence of electronic anisotropy on J in terms of Drude weight along different directions as well as the orbital order in the four-fold symmetry broken spin-density wave state of iron pnictides. A robust behavior of the Drude-weight anisotropy within a small window around J∼0.25U with U as intraorbital Coulomb interaction is described in terms of orbital-weight distribution along the reconstructed Fermi surfaces. We also find that the ferro-orbital order increases with J in the widely accepted regime for the latter, which is explained as a consequence of rising exchange field with an increase in magnetization.

Orbital order in a bosonic p -band triangular lattice

We present a detailed study of the Bose-Hubbard model in a $p$-band triangular lattice by focusing on the evolution of orbital order across the superfluid-Mott insulator transition. Two distinct phases are found in the superfluid regime. One of these phases adiabatically connects the weak interacting limit. This phase is characterized by the intertwining of axial $p_\pm=p_x \pm ip_y$ and in-plane $p_\theta=\cos\theta p_x+\sin\theta p_y$ orbital orders, which break the time-reversal symmetry and lattice symmetries simultaneously. In addition, the calculated Bogoliubov excitation spectrum gaps the original Dirac points in the single-particle spectrum but exhibits emergent Dirac points. The other superfluid phase in close proximity to the Mott insulator with unit boson filling shows a detwined in-plane ferro-orbital order. Finally, an orbital exchange model is constructed for the Mott insulator phase. Its classical ground state has an emergent SO$(2)$ rotational symmetry in the in-plane orbital space and therefore enjoys an infinite degeneracy, which is ultimately lifted by the orbital fluctuation via the order by disorder mechanism. Our systematic analysis suggests that the in-plane ferro-orbital order in the Mott insulator phase agrees with and likely evolves from the latter superfluid phase.

Entropy and electronic orders of the three-orbital Hubbard model with antiferromagnetic Hund coupling

An antiferromagnetic Hund coupling in multiorbital Hubbard systems induces orbital freezing and an associated superconducting instability, as well as unique composite orders in the case of an odd number of orbitals. While the rich phase diagram of the half-filled three-orbital model has recently been explored in detail, the properties of the doped system remain to be clarified. Here, we complement the previous studies by computing the entropy of the half-filled model, which exhibits an increase in the orbital-frozen region, and a suppression in the composite ordered phase. The doping dependent phase diagram shows that the composite ordered state can be stabilized in the doped Mott regime, if conventional electronic orders are suppressed by frustration. While antiferro orbital order dominates the filling range $2\lesssim n \le 3$, and ferro orbital order the strongly interacting region for $1\lesssim n < 2$, we find superconductivity with a remarkably high $T_c$ around $n=1.5$ (quarter filling). Also in the doped system, there is a close connection between the orbital freezing crossover and superconductivity.

Doping effects on electronic states in electron-doped FeSe: Impact of self-energy and vertex corrections

The pairing glue of high-$T_{\rm c}$ superconductivity in heavily electron-doped (e-doped) FeSe, in which hole-pockets are absent, has been an important unsolved problem. Here, we focus on a heavily e-doped bulk superconductor Li$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$OHFeSe ($T_{\rm c} \sim 40$K). We construct a multiorbital model beyond the rigid band approximation and analyze the spin and orbital fluctuations by taking both vertex corrections (VCs) and self-energy into consideration. Without e-doping ($x=0$), the ferro-orbital order without magnetism in FeSe is reproduced by the VCs.The orbital order quickly disappears when the hole-pocket vanishes at $x \sim 0.03$. With increasing $x$ further, the spin fluctuations remain small, whereas orbital fluctuations gradually increase with $x$ due to the VCs. The negative feedback due to the self-energy is crucial to explain experimental phase diagram. Thanks to both vertex and self-energy corrections, the orbital-fluctuation-mediated $s_{++}$-wave state appears for a wide doping range, consistent with experiments.

Orbital Mott transition in two dimensional pyrochlore lattice

We study orbital Mott transition in two dimensional pyrochlore lattice, using a two orbital Hubbard model with only inter-orbital electronic hopping. We use a real space Monte Carlo based approach to study the model at finite temperature, and establish temperature-interaction phase diagram that highlights the Mott transition, orbital ordering, and spectral trends, and possible window of pseudogap. Due to only inter-orbital hopping, the Mott insulator ‘generates’ ferro exchange resulting in ferro-orbital ordering, with Tcorr/t peaked at ≈0.2 around U/t ≈ 6. The optical conductivity shows unusual two peak feature due to two dimensional pyrochlore lattice.

Spin-Orbital-Intertwined Nematic State in FeSe

The importance of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect in Fe-based superconductors (FeSCs) has recently been under hot debate. Considering the Hund's coupling-induced electronic correlation, the understanding of the role of SOC in FeSCs is not trivial and is still elusive. Here, through a comprehensive study of 77Se and 57Fe nuclear magnetic resonance, a nontrivial SOC effect is revealed in the nematic state of FeSe. First, the orbital-dependent spin susceptibility, determined by the anisotropy of the 57Fe Knight shift, indicates a predominant role from the 3dxy orbital, which suggests the coexistence of local and itinerant spin degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) in the FeSe. Then, we reconfirm that the orbital reconstruction below the nematic transition temperature (Tnem ~ 90 K) happens not only on the 3dxz and 3dyz orbitals but also on the 3dxy orbital, which is beyond a trivial ferro-orbital order picture. Moreover, our results also indicate the development of a coherent coupling between the local and itinerant spin d.o.f. below Tnem, which is ascribed to a Hund's coupling-induced electronic crossover on the 3dxy orbital. Finally, due to a nontrivial SOC effect, sizable in-plane anisotropy of the spin susceptibility emerges in the nematic state, suggesting a spin-orbital-intertwined nematicity rather than simply spin- or orbital-driven nematicity}. The present work not only reveals a nontrivial SOC effect in the nematic state but also sheds light on the mechanism of nematic transition in FeSe.

Magnetic structure and spin-flop transition in the A -site columnar-ordered quadruple perovskite TmMn3O6

We present the magnetic structure of $\mathrm{TmMn_3O_6}$, solved via neutron powder diffraction - the first such study of any $R\mathrm{Mn_3O_6}$ A-site columnar-ordered quadruple perovskite to be reported. We demonstrate that long range magnetic order develops below 74 K, and at 28 K a spin-flop transition occurs driven by $f$-$d$ exchange and rare earth single ion anisotropy. In both magnetic phases the magnetic structure may be described as a collinear ferrimagnet, contrary to conventional theories of magnetic order in the manganite perovskites. Instead, we show that these magnetic structures can be understood to arise due to ferro-orbital order, the A, A$'$ and A$''$ site point symmetry, $mm2$, and the dominance of A-B exchange over both A-A and B-B exchange, which together are unique to the $R\mathrm{Mn_3O_6}$ perovskites.

Orbital Selectivity Enhanced by Nematic Order in FeSe.

Motivated by the recent low-temperature experiments on bulk FeSe, we study the electron correlation effects in a multiorbital model for this compound in the nematic phase using the U(1) slave-spin theory. We find that a finite nematic order helps to stabilize an orbital selective Mott phase. Moreover, we propose that when the d- and s-wave bond nematic orders are combined with the ferro-orbital order, there exists a surprisingly large orbital selectivity between the xz and yz orbitals even though the associated band splitting is relatively small. Our results explain the seemingly unusual observation of strong orbital selectivity in the nematic phase of FeSe, uncover new clues on the nature of the nematic order, and set the stage to elucidate the interplay between superconductivity and nematicity in iron-based superconductors.

Local electronic and magnetic properties of ferro-orbital-ordered FeV2O4

Local magnetic structures of spinel-type FeV2O4 were investigated using X-ray absorption and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopies for V and Fe sites and Mössbauer spectroscopy for Fe sites. XMCD spectra reveal that the Fe2+ (d6) and V3+ (d2) states are coupled antiferromagnetically. From the analyses of XMCD spectra using magneto-optical sum rules, we deduced that small but finite orbital magnetic moments remain in the V 3d states, which accounts for the ferro-orbital ordering in the V sites of FeV2O4 with both the complex and real orbital states coexisting accompanied by the distortion of Fe sites. X-ray absorption fine structure spectra supports the deduction that the Fe2+ and V3+ states remain unchanged during the structural phase transitions. Mössbauer spectra also suggest that the Jahn–Teller distortion in Fe sites can be a driving force in ferro-orbital ordering.

Uniaxial strain control of spin-polarization in multicomponent nematic order of BaFe2As2

The iron-based high temperature superconductors exhibit a rich phase diagram reflecting a complex interplay between spin, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom. The nematic state observed in these compounds epitomizes this complexity, by entangling a real-space anisotropy in the spin fluctuation spectrum with ferro-orbital order and an orthorhombic lattice distortion. A subtle and less-explored facet of the interplay between these degrees of freedom arises from the sizable spin-orbit coupling present in these systems, which translates anisotropies in real space into anisotropies in spin space. We present nuclear magnetic resonance studies, which reveal that the magnetic fluctuation spectrum in the paramagnetic phase of BaFe2As2 acquires an anisotropic response in spin-space upon application of a tetragonal symmetry-breaking strain field. Our results unveil an internal spin structure of the nematic order parameter, indicating that electronic nematic materials may offer a route to magneto-mechanical control.

Fermi Surface, Pressure-Induced Antiferromagnetic Order, and Superconductivity in FeSe

The pressure dependence of the structural ($T_s$), antiferromagnetic ($T_m$), and superconducting ($T_c$) transition temperatures in FeSe is investigated on the basis of the 16-band $d$-$p$ model. At ambient pressure, a shallow hole pocket disappears due to the correlation effect, as observed in the angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and quantum oscillation (QO) experiments, resulting in the suppression of the antiferromagnetic order, in contrast to the other iron pnictides. The orbital-polarization interaction between the Fe $d$ orbital and Se $p$ orbital is found to drive the ferro-orbital order responsible for the structural transition without accompanying the antiferromagnetic order. The pressure dependence of the Fermi surfaces is derived from the first-principles calculation and is found to well account for the opposite pressure dependences of $T_s$ and $T_m$, around which the enhanced orbital and magnetic fluctuations cause the double-dome structure of the eigenvalue $\lambda$ in the Eliashberg equation, as consistent with that of $T_c$ in FeSe.

Phase stability and large in-plane resistivity anisotropy in the 112-type iron-based superconductor Ca1−xLaxFeAs2

The recently discovered high-T$_c$ superconductor Ca$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$FeAs$_{2}$ is a unique compound not only because of its low symmetry crystal structure, but also because of its electronic structure which hosts Dirac-like metallic bands resulting from (spacer) zig-zag As chains. We present a comprehensive first principles theoretical study of the electronic and crystal structures of Ca$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$FeAs$_{2}$. After discussing the connection between the crystal structure of the 112 family, which Ca$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$FeAs$_{2}$ is a member of, with the other known structures of Fe pnictide superconductors, we check the thermodynamic phase stability of CaFeAs$_{2}$, and similar hyphothetical compounds SrFeAs$_{2}$ and BaFeAs$_{2}$ which, we find, are slightly higher in energy. We calculate the optical conductivity of Ca$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$FeAs$_{2}$ using the DFT + DMFT method, and predict a large in-plane resistivity anisotropy in the normal phase, which does not originate from electronic nematicity, but is enhanced by the electronic correlations. In particular, we predict a 0.34 eV peak in the $yy$ component of the optical conductivity of the 30\% La doped compound, which correponds to coherent interband transitions within a fast-dispersing band arising from the zig-zag As-chains which are unique to this compound. We also study the Landau free energy for Ca$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$FeAs$_{2}$ including the order parameter relevant for the nematic transition and find that the free energy does not have any extra terms that could induce ferro-orbital order. This explains why the presence of As chains does not broaden the nematic transition in Ca$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$FeAs$_{2}$.

Superconductivity and nematic fluctuations in a model of doped FeSe monolayers: Determinant quantum Monte Carlo study

In contrast to bulk FeSe, which exhibits nematic order and low temperature superconductivity, atomic layers of FeSe reverse the situation, having high temperature superconductivity appearing alongside a suppression of nematic order. To investigate this phenomenon, we study a minimal electronic model of FeSe, with interactions that enhance nematic fluctuations. This model is sign problem free, and is simulated using determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC). We developed a DQMC algorithm with parallel tempering, which proves to be an efficient source of global updates and allows us to access the region of strong interactions. Over a wide range of intermediate couplings, we observe superconductivity with an extended s-wave order parameter, along with enhanced, but short ranged, $q=(0,0)$ ferro-orbital (nematic) order. These results are consistent with approximate weak coupling treatments that predict that nematic fluctuations lead to superconducting pairing. Surprisingly, in the parameter range under study, we do not observe nematic long range order. Instead, at stronger coupling an unusual insulating phase with $q=(\pi,\pi)$ antiferro-orbital order appears, which is missed by weak coupling approximations.

Distinctive orbital anisotropy observed in the nematic state of a FeSe thin film

Nematic state, where the system is translationally invariant but breaks the rotational symmetry, has drawn great attentions recently due to experimental observations of such a state in both cuprates and iron-based superconductors. The mechanism of nematicity that is likely tied to the pairing mechanism of high-Tc, however, still remains controversial. Here, we studied the electronic structure of multilayer FeSe film by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We found that the FeSe film enters the nematic state around 125 K, while the electronic signature of long range magnetic order has not been observed down to 20K indicating the non-magnetic origin of the nematicity. The band reconstruction in the nematic state is characterized by the splitting of the dxz and dyz bands. More intriguingly, such energy splitting is strong momentum dependent with the largest band splitting of ~80meV at the zone corner. The simple on-site ferro-orbital ordering is insufficient to reproduce the nontrivial momentum dependence of the band reconstruction. Instead, our results suggest that the nearest-neighbor hopping of dxz and dyz is highly anisotropic in the nematic state, the origin of which holds the key in understanding the nematicity in iron-based superconductors.

Antiferromagnetic and xy ferro-orbital order in insulating SrRuO3 thin films with SrO termination

By means of first-principles calculations we study the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of SrRuO3 surface for the SrO termination. We find that the RuO6 octahedra and the structure of the SrO layers at the surface are strongly modified as well as the Ru–O–Ru bond angles. We find in the thin films a dxy ferro-orbital order. The dxy orbital becomes the lowest in energy as in other quasitwodimensional ruthenates. Such structural rearrangement, together with a band reduction, leads to a modification of the magnetic properties. We compare the Jahn–Teller effect between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases. We show that an insulating G-type antiferromagnetic phase takes place in SrRuO3 thin films, substituting the metallic phase experimentally found in every bulk Sr-ruthenates. The single layer SrRuO3 presents many similarities with the Ca2RuO4 low temperature phase, these similarities disappear with a larger number of layers. A study of the ground state of the as function of the number of layers is presented, the competition between bandwidth and Coulomb repulsion determines the ground state. We propose the disorder as responsible for the exchange bias effect observed.

Orbital ordering inFe1−xMnxV2O4: A first-principles study

Long range orbital order has been investigated in Fe$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$V$_2$O$_4$ as a function of doping (x) using first principles density functional theory calculations including the effects of Coulomb correlation and spin-orbit interaction within GGA+U and GGA+U+SO approximations. Through a detailed analysis of corresponding Wannier orbital projections of the Vanadium d bands, we have clearly established that for x$\le$0.6, the orbital order at V sites consists of a linear superposition of d$_{xz}$ and d$_{yz}$ orbitals of the type d$_{xz}\pm$d$_{yz}$. Within each ab-plane a ferro-orbital ordering of either d$_{xz}$+d$_{yz}$ or d$_{xz}$-d$_{yz}$ is observed which alternates in successive ab-planes along the c-direction. On the contrary, for x$>$0.6, it is the d$_{xz}$ or d$_{yz}$ orbital which orders at V sites in successive ab-planes along c-direction (so called A-type ordering). At Fe sites, we observe an orbital ordering of d$_{x^2-y^2}$ orbitals for x$\le$0.6 and d$_{z^2}$ orbitals for x$>$0.6. Effect of spin-orbit interaction on orbital ordering is found to be not significant in the entire range of doping studied.

Nematicity and in-plane anisotropy of superconductivity inβ−FeSedetected bySe77nuclear magnetic resonance

The recent study of $^{77}$Se nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in a $\beta$-FeSe single crystal proposed that ferro-orbital order breaks the $90^\circ$ $C_4$ rotational symmetry, driving nematic ordering. Here, we report an NMR study of the impact of small strains generated by gluing on nematic state and spin fluctuations. We observe that the local strains strongly affect the nematic transition, considerably enhancing its onset temperature. On the contrary, no effect on low-energy spin fluctuations was found. Furthermore we investigate the interplay of the nematic phase and superconductivity. Our study demonstrates that the twinned nematic domains respond unequivalently to superconductivity, evidencing the twofold $C_2$ symmetry of superconductivity in this material. The obtained results are well understood in terms of the proposed ferro-orbital order.

Interatomic Coulomb interaction and electron nematic bond order in FeSe

Despite having the simplest atomic structure, bulk FeSe has an observed electronic structure with the largest deviation from the band theory predictions among all Fe-based superconductors and exhibits a low temperature nematic electronic state without intervening magnetic order. We show that the Fe-Fe interatomic Coulomb repulsion $V$ offers a natural explanation for the puzzling electron correlation effects in FeSe superconductors. It produces a strongly renormalized low-energy band structure where the van Hove singularity sits remarkably close to Fermi level in the high-temperature electron liquid phase as observed experimentally. This proximity enables the quantum fluctuations in $V$ to induce a rotational symmetry breaking electronic bond order in the $d$-wave channel. We argue that this emergent low-temperature $d$-wave bond nematic state, different from the commonly discussed ferro-orbital order and spin-nematicity, has been observed recently by several angle resolved photoemission experiments detecting the lifting of the band degeneracies at high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. We present a symmetry analysis of the space group and identify the hidden antiunitary $T$-symmetry that protects the band degeneracy and the electronic order/interaction that can break the symmetry and lift the degeneracy. We show that the $d$-wave nematic bond order, together with the spin-orbit coupling, provide a unique explanation of the temperature dependence, momentum space anisotropy, and domain effects observed experimentally. We discuss the implications of our findings on the structural transition, the absence of magnetic order, and the intricate competition between nematicity and superconductivity in FeSe superconductors.