Interband Interaction Research Articles

Mode Coupling in Plasmonic Heterodimers Probed with Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy.

While plasmonic antennas composed of building blocks made of the same material have been thoroughly studied, recent investigations have highlighted the unique opportunities enabled by making compositionally asymmetric plasmonic systems. So far, mainly heterostructures composed of nanospheres and nanodiscs have been investigated, revealing opportunities for the design of Fano resonant nanostructures, directional scattering, sensing and catalytic applications. In this article, an improved fabrication method is reported that enables precise tuning of the heterodimer geometry, with interparticle distances made down to a few nanometers between Au-Ag and Au-Al nanoparticles. A wide range of mode energy detuning and coupling conditions are observed by near field hyperspectral imaging performed with electron energy loss spectroscopy, supported by full wave analysis numerical simulations. These results provide direct insights into the mode hybridization of plasmonic heterodimers, pointing out the influence of each dimer constituent in the overall electromagnetic response. By relating the coupling of nondipolar modes and plasmon-interband interaction with the dimer geometry, this work facilitates the development of plasmonic heterostructures with tailored responses, beyond the possibilities offered by homodimers.

Spin-Triplet Pairing Induced by Spin-Singlet Interactions in Noncentrosymmetric Superconductors

In noncentrosymmetric superconductors, we examine the effect of the difference between the intraband and interband interactions, which becomes more important when the band splitting increases. We define the difference ΔVμ between their coupling constants, i.e., that between the intraband and interband hopping energies of intraband Cooper pairs. Here, the subscript μ of ΔVμ indicates that the interactions scatter the spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairs when μ = 0 and μ = 1,2,3, respectively. It is shown that the strong antisymmetric spin–orbit interaction reverses the target spin parity of the interaction: it converts the spin-singlet and spin-triplet interactions represented by ΔV0 and ΔVμ>0 into effective spin-triplet and spin-singlet pairing interactions, respectively. Hence, for example, triplet pairing can be induced solely by the singlet interaction ΔV0. We name the pairing symmetry of the system after that of the intraband Cooper pair wave function, but with an odd-parity phase factor excluded. The ...

Quantum Phase Transition: Intra and Inter-Band Interaction on D- Wave Superconductivity

There are compounds whose structures support superconductivity at high temperatures. They have intra and inter-band interactions which occur within their bands. However there has been no hybrid Hamiltonian developed so far for a lattice structure that can support conduction by both D-waves and other waves on the same Fermi surface. These waves interact or change from one type to another on the same Fermi surface as they travel. The occurrences of interactions within and across bands with different waves lead to variations in transition temperature and resistance. To address these effects, theories that have been developed consider only S-wave and do not adequately account for the differences when compared with experimental observations. Therefore there was a need to advance efforts towards formulation of a theory that would explain differences in the characteristics of compounds that have D-waves and other waves on the same Fermi surface. In advancing these efforts a hybrid system has been developed that takes into consideration intra and inter-band interactions that have introduced new interaction dimensions. These efforts have helped in the understanding of how to achieve a high transition temperature superconductor, which a two band hybrid Hamiltonian has been determined for a Fermi surface with varying fermions density and hybridization terms. It is from it that thermodynamic properties have been obtained by use of the Green’s function. Where the correlation function has been substituted in the second quantized Hamiltonian form and the energy gap derived. This enabled us to calculate the thermodynamic potential and energy density. These properties have helped not only in the understanding of multi-component type II superconductors, but more so in the development of high transition temperature superconductors needed for magnetic resonance imaging, high speed data transmission and energy transfers. In this research, inter-band interaction has been considered on a new dimension. Consequently a new Hamiltonian has been formulated and thermodynamic properties derived using the Green’s function. These properties show the possibility of attaining high transition temperature superconductivity.

Direct evidence of two superconducting gaps in FeSe0.5Te0.5: SnS-Andreev spectroscopy and the lower critical field

We present direct measurements of the superconducting order parameter in nearly optimal FeSe$_{0.5}$Te$_{0.5}$ single crystals with critical temperature $T_C \approx 14$ K. Using intrinsic multiple Andreev reflection effect (IMARE) spectroscopy and measurements of lower critical field, we directly determined two superconducting gaps, $\Delta_L \approx 3.3 - 3.4$ meV and $\Delta_S \approx 1$ meV, and their temperature dependences. We show that a two-band model fits well the experimental data. The estimated electron-boson coupling constants indicate a strong intraband and a moderate interband interaction.

Enhancement of the d-wave pairing correlations by charge and spin ordering in the spin-one-half Falicov-Kimball model with Hund and Hubbard coupling

The projector quantum Monte Carlo method is used to examine the effects of the spin-independent Ufd as well as spin-dependent Jz Coulomb interaction between the localized f and itinerant d electrons on the stability of various types of charge/spin ordering and superconducting correlations in the spin-one-half Falicov-Kimball model with Hund and Hubbard coupling. The model is studied for a wide range of f- and d-electron concentrations and it is found that the interband interactions Ufd and Jz stabilize three basic types of charge/spin ordering, namely, i) the axial striped phases, ii) the regular n-molecular phases and iii) the phase-separated states. It is shown that the d-wave pairing correlations are enhanced within the axial striped and phase-separated states, but not in the regular phases. Moreover, it was found that the antiferromagnetic spin arrangement within the chains further enhances the d-wave paring correlations, while the ferromagnetic one has a fully opposite effect.

Interband interaction between bulk and surface resonance bands of a Pb-adsorbed Ge(001) surface

We investigated the valence band structure of a Pb-adsorbed Ge(001) surface by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. Three Ge bands, G1, G2, and G3, were observed in a Ge(001) 2 × 1 clean surface. In addition to these three bands, a fourth band (R band) is found on the surface with 2 ML of Pb. The R band continuously appeared even when the surface superstructure was changed. The position of the R band does not depend on Pb coverage. These results indicate that the R band derives from Ge subsurface states, known as surface resonance states. Furthermore, the effective mass of G3 is significantly reduced when the R band exists. We found that this reduction of G3 effective mass was explained by the interaction of the G3 and R bands. Consequently, the surface resonance band is considered to penetrate into the Ge subsurface region affecting the Ge bulk states. We determine the hybridization energy to be 0.068 eV by fitting the observed bands.

The origin of the condensation energy scaling of iron-based superconductors

The relation between the condensation energy (CE) and Tc of a phase transition reveals a fundamental nature of the transition. In view of this, the recent experimental observation of the non-BCS scaling relation of the CE vs. with about forty different samples of the Fe-based superconductors (Xing J. et al., Phys. Rev. B, 89 (2014) 140503) was intriguing and strongly hinted at a non-BCS pairing mechanism. In this paper, we have studied the CE and Tc of the multiband BCS model and found that the observed anomalous scaling relation is well reproduced by the two-band BCS model paired by a dominant repulsive interband interaction . Our result implies that this seemingly non-BCS–like scaling behavior of , on the contrary to the common expectations, is in fact a strong experimental evidence that the pairing mechanism of the Fe-based superconductors is genuinely a BCS mechanism, meaning that the Cooper pairs are formed by the itinerant carriers glued by a pairing interaction.

Magnetism and superconductivity in a quasi-2D anisotropic system doped with charge carriers

The theory of multiband superconducting systems with variable density of charge carriers is analyzed. The possibility of emergence of nonphonon high-temperature superconductivity due to the predominance of electron–electron interband interactions over intraband interactions, as well as due to the fact that the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of multiband systems in the superconducting phase differ qualitatively from those of single-band systems, is indicated. Phase transitions in a quasi-2D anisotropic medium upon a change in the carrier concentration, i.e., a transition from the commensurate to the incommensurate state of the spin density wave, are analyzed. Such a transition is observed when the Umklapp processes in the lattice structure are taken into account. These processes facilitate a deviation of wavevector Q of the spin density wave from 2k F , as well as a displacement of the bandgap relative to the Fermi surface. This leads to the generation of free charge carriers and the possibility of superconductivity. It is shown that superconductivity accompanies the magnetism. The conditions for the coexistence of these two phenomena are determined.

Electron mobility of a two-dimensional electron gas at the interface ofSrTiO3andLaAlO3

We calculate the mobility of a two-dimensional electron gas residing at the interface of LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ following a three band Boltzmann approach at low temperature, where carrier-charged impurity scattering process is assumed to be dominant. We explain the anisotropic characteristic of the dielectric function, which is a consequence of elliptical bands close to Fermi surface. The screening effect, which weakens the long-range Coulomb interaction of the electron-impurity is considered within the random phase approximation. Working at carrier densities high enough to neglect the spin-orbit induced splitting of the bands, we find that the mobility varies inversely with the cubic power of the carrier density ($n_{2D}^{-3}$) in good agreement with the experimental results. We also investigate the role of variable dielectric constant of SrTiO$_{3}$, the multiband nature of the system and interband interactions in exploring this result.

Multiband superconductivity with competing intra- and interband pair channels

In multiband superconductivity interband interaction channels creating the pairs of intraband [Formula: see text] and interband [Formula: see text] compositions can appear. Simultaneous functioning of these channels is investigated here. A three-band model where two similar bands [Formula: see text] interact with the itinerant-band has been proposed. The mean field Hamiltonian incorporates three order parameters [Formula: see text]; [Formula: see text]; [Formula: see text] genetically associated with dispersive bands. Calculated quasiparticle energies and operator averages lead to a coupled nonlinear equation system for the order parameters. Illustrative calculations versus temperature have been made for overlapping bands. At fixed parameters, the basic system has two independent solutions. The free energy has a complicated structure of extremal points. The interaction of channels with intra- and interband points is seen. These channels compete in general. From the point where the gap, type parameters associated with one channel become zero, the other continues as the first channel was logged out. The general behaviour of order parameters distribution is very sensible to [Formula: see text]. Events of critical nature appear. Weakening of [Formula: see text] stimulates the formation of closed bubbles built up by the same type parameters from different parallel solutions.

Growth kinetics and complex characterization of PECVD SiOxNy dielectric films

This paper is devoted to the study of patterns of dielectric film growth depending on the parameters of the plasma chemical deposition process. The study has revealed the influence of the basic reagents’ content on the changes in surface morphology, breakdown voltage and stoichiometry (transition to the intermediate oxidation states of silicon) of dielectric films. Furthermore, an exponential pattern of the change in the films’ growth rate has been registered. When increasing the N/Si ratio, a nonlinear dependence of the change in the dielectric films’ band gap has been recorded. When increasing the SiH4/N2O ratio, a shift of the peak positions of the interband interactions relative to the band gap boundaries has been detected. The dataset on breakdown voltage and band structure suggests a certain optimum of barrier properties of SiOxNy dielectric films at the basic reagents’ ratio close to 0.3–0.4.

Anomalous scaling of ΔC versus Tc in the Fe-based superconductors: the -wave pairing state model

The strong power law behavior of the specific heat jump versus Tc, first observed by Bud’ko et al (2009 Phys. Rev. B 79 220516), has been confirmed with several families of the Fe-based superconducting compounds with various dopings. We have tested a minimal two band BCS model to understand this anomalous behavior and showed that this non-BCS relation between versus Tc is a generic property of the multiband superconducting state paired by a dominant interband interaction () reflecting the relation near Tc, as in the -wave pairing state. We also found that this versus Tc power law can continuously change from the ideal BNC scaling to a considerable deviation by a moderate variation of the impurity scattering rate (non-pair-breaking). As a result, our model provides a consistent explanation why the electron-doped Fe-based superconductors follow the ideal BNC scaling very well while the hole-doped systems often show varying degree of deviations.

Specific Heat of Ba0.59K0.41Fe2As2, an Fe-Pnictide Superconductor with Tc = 36.9 K, and a New Method for Identifying the Electron Contribution

We report measurements of the specific heat of Ba$_{0.59}$K$_{0.41}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$, an Fe-pnictide superconductor with $T_c$ = 36.9 K, for which there are suggestions of an unusual electron pairing mechanism. We use a new method of analysis of the data to derive the parameters characteristic of the electron contribution. It is based on comparisons of ${\alpha}$-model expressions for the electron contribution with the total measured specific heat, which give the electron contribution directly. It obviates the need in the conventional analyses for an independent, necessarily approximate, determination of the lattice contribution, which is subtracted from the total specific heat to obtain the electron contribution. It eliminates the uncertainties and errors in the electron contribution that follow from the approximations in the determination of the lattice contribution. Our values of the parameters characteristic of the electron contribution differ significantly from those obtained in conventional analyses of specific-heat data for five similar hole-doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ superconductors, which also differ significantly among themselves. They show that the electron density of states is comprised of contributions from two electron bands with superconducting-state energy gaps that differ by a factor 3.8, with 77$\%$ coming from the band with the larger gap. The variation of the specific heat with magnetic field is consistent with extended $s$-wave pairing, one of the theoretical predictions. The relation between the densities of states and the energy gaps in the two bands is not consistent with a theoretical model based on interband interactions alone. Comparison of the normal-state density of states with band-structure calculations shows an extraordinarily large effective mass enhancement, for which there is no precedent in similar materials and no theoretical explanation.

Effect of interband interactions on the pressure dependence on transition temperature of MgB2

A two-band BCS model with interactions, both phonon and non-phonon induced interactions, were employed to investigate the pressure dependence on superconducting transition temperature of two-band superconductor. We derived the transition temperature and its pressure dependence within Bogoliubov--Valatin formalism for magnesium diboride superconductor. We examined the influence of interband interactions on transition temperature at varying pressure and analyzed the relevance of this calculation in magnesium diboride, MgB2.

Fermi points and topological quantum phase transitions in a multi-band superconductor

The importance of models with an exact solution for the study of materials with non-trivial topological properties has been extensively demonstrated. The Kitaev model plays a guiding role in the search for Majorana modes in condensed matter systems. Also, the sp-chain with an anti-symmetric mixing among the s and p bands is a paradigmatic example of a topological insulator with well understood properties. Interestingly, these models share the same universality class for their topological quantum phase transitions. In this work we study a two-band model of spinless fermions with attractive inter-band interactions. We obtain its zero temperature phase diagram, which presents a rich variety of phases including a Weyl superconductor and a topological insulator. The transition from the topological to the trivial superconducting phase has critical exponents different from those of Kitaev’s model.

Induced [formula omitted]-wave superconductivity without spin–orbit interactions

The study of Majorana fermions is of great importance for the implementation of a quantum computer. These modes are topologically protected and very stable. It is now well known that a p-wave superconducting wire can sustain, in its topological non-trivial phase, Majorana quasi-particles at its ends. Since this type of superconductor is not found in nature, many methods have been devised to implement it. Most of them rely on the spin–orbit interaction. In this paper we study the superconducting properties of a two-band system in the presence of antisymmetric hybridization. We consider inter-band attractive interactions and also an attractive interaction in one of the bands. We show that superconducting fluctuations with p-wave character are induced in the non-interacting band due to the combined effects of inter-band coupling and hybridization. In the case of a wire, this type of induced superconductivity gives rise to four Majorana modes at its ends. The long range correlation between the different charge states of these modes offers new possibilities for the implementation of protected q-bits.

Current-induced massless mode of the interband phase difference in two-band superconductors

There is a current-induced massless mode of an interband phase difference in two-band superconductors. For a thin wire, the externally applied current always invokes a finite interband phase difference when the end of the wire is terminated by a natural boundary condition, i.e., where the total current is specified but the other parameters are left as free and a finite interband phase difference is allowed. This condition can be realized by the normal state region formed by the shrinking of a cross section of the wire where the critical current density is lower than that of the other region of the wire. The interband interaction in the wire cannot completely prevent the emergence of the interband phase difference, though it reduces it somewhat. Instead, boundary conditions determine the presence of the interband phase difference. By reverting the normal state into the superconducting state at the shrunken region by decreasing the current, we may trap a rotation of integral multiples of 2π radians of the interband phase difference in the wire. After switching off the current, this rotation of integral multiples of 2π radians, which continuously spreads over the whole wire, is separated into several interband phase difference solitons (i-solitons), where one i-soliton locally generates a 2π interband phase difference.

The Intra- and Interband Phonon-Electron Potentials in a Two-Band Model of Interacting Lattice Fermions

A new two-band polaronic Hamiltonian is derived from a generalized periodic Anderson model. The generalization consists in the completion of the periodic Anderson model with intra- and inter-band local phonon-electron interactions. The derivation is achieved by making use of two canonical transformations which enable us to remove these phonon-electron potentials from the initial Hamiltonian. This decoupling procedure leads to the appearance of new terms such as a pair-exchange potential, anisotropic Kondo-lattice terms, and a density-dependent hybridization. The final Hamiltonian describes a complicated interplay between different tendencies in the investigated system. Superconductivity can compete with the Kondo effect or magnetism as well. A simplified scenario in which the effect of the single-particle hybridization on superconductivity is investigated. It is shown that this factor is very efficient as a pair-breaker.

Hole intersubband transitions in wurtzite and zinc-blende strained AlGaN/GaN quantum wells and its interband interaction dependence

Valence intersubband transitions of the wurtzite (WZ) strained AlGaN/GaN quantum wells are examined theoretically and compared with those of the zinc-blende (ZB) ones. In particular, the effect of the interband interaction between conduction (CB) and valence (VB) bands has been taken into account explicitly. We have used the 8-bands k.p model for both WZ and ZB structures to calculate subband energies and wavefunctions of Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 N/GaN quantum wells (QWs). The results indicate that, the prominent transitions for both ZB and WZ QWs were found to be essentially related to the heavy- and light-hole subbands. For the x-polarization, we have shown that it is necessary to take into account explicitly the interband interaction between CB and VB. Finally, we can predict that WZ QWs are more convenient than ZB QWs in most applications involving intersubband transitions, especially for the z-polarized light.

Enhancement of the critical temperature of d-wave superconductors by odd-parity electronic mixing

We study the dependence of the critical temperature of a two-band d-wave superconductor on the intensity of an odd parity hybridization between these bands. We consider a two-dimensional (2D) system in the presence of an attractive inter-band interaction. The odd-parity k-dependent hybridization is appropriate to describe mixing of electronic states arising from orbitals with angular momenta that differ by an odd number, such as, sp, pd or df bands. We show that increasing the strength of the odd-parity hybridization enhances superconductivity and also changes the nature of superconductivity from a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) type of pairing to a Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) characteristic of a strong coupling regime, even for weak-couplings. This crossover can also be driven by increasing the binding energy, that appears in the two-body interaction of these 2D systems. Finally, we investigate the effect of the variation in the carrier density on the superconducting phase diagram.