Mott-insulating Regions Research Articles

Giant Spin-Valve Effect in Planar Spin Devices Using an Artificially Implemented Nanolength Mott-Insulator Region.

Developing technology to realize oxide-based nanoscale planar integrated circuits is in high demand for next-generation multifunctional electronics. Oxide circuits can have a variety of unique functions, including ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, multiferroicity, superconductivity, and mechanical flexibility. In particular, for spin-transistor applications, the wide tunability of the physical properties due to the presence of multiple oxide phases is valuable for precise conductivity matching between the channel and ferromagnetic electrodes. This feature is essential for realistic spin-transistor operations. Here, a substantially large magnetoresistance (MR) ratio of up to ≈140% is demonstrated for planar-type (La,Sr)MnO3 (LSMO)-based spin-valve devices. This MR ratio is 10-100 times larger than the best values obtained for semiconductor-based planar devices, which have been studied over the past three decades. This structure is prepared by implementing an artificial nanolength Mott-insulator barrier region using the phase transition of metallic LSMO. The barrier height of the Mott-insulator region is only 55 meV, which enables the large MR ratio. Furthermore, a successful current modulation, which is a fundamental functionality for spin transistors, is shown. These results open up a new avenue for realizing oxide planar circuits with unique functionalities that conventional semiconductors cannot achieve.

Fracton critical point at a higher-order topological phase transition

The theory of quantum phase transitions separating different phases with distinct symmetry patterns at zero temperature is one of the foundations of modern quantum many-body physics. Here we demonstrate that the existence of a two-dimensional topological phase transition between a higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) and a trivial Mott insulator with the same symmetry eludes this paradigm. We present a theory of this quantum critical point (QCP) driven by the fluctuations and percolation of the domain walls between a HOTI and a trivial Mott insulator region. Due to the spinon zero modes that decorate the rough corners of the domain walls, the fluctuations of the phase boundaries trigger a spinon-dipole hopping term with fracton dynamics. Hence we find that the QCP is characterized by a critical dipole liquid theory with subsystem U(1) symmetry and the breakdown of the area law entanglement entropy which exhibits a logarithmic enhancement: $Lln(L)$. Using the density matrix renormalization group method, we analyze the dipole stiffness together with the structure factor at the QCP, which provides strong evidence of a critical dipole liquid with a Bose surface, UV-IR mixing, and a dispersion relation $\ensuremath{\omega}={k}_{x}{k}_{y}.$

Metal–insulator transitions of fermionic mixtures with mass imbalance in disordered optical lattice

We study the metal–insulator transitions in the half-filled Anderson–Hubbard model with mass imbalance by the typical medium theory using the equation of motion method as an impurity solver. The nonmagnetic ground state phase diagram of the system with mass imbalance is constructed numerically. In addition to the three phases showed up in the balanced case, the phase diagram of the mass imbalanced case contains a spin-selective localized phase, where one spin component is metallic while the other spin component is insulating. We find that if one increases the mass imbalance the metal region in the phase diagram is reduced, while both Anderson and Mott insulator regions are enlarged.

Phase diagram of the half-filled Anderson-Falicov-Kimball model with Coulomb disorder

We derive the electronic phase diagram of the half-filled Anderson - Falicov-Kimball model with Gaussian distribution for impurities and box distribution for Coulomb disorder via dynamical mean field theory combined with typical medium theory. We show that the metal and the Mott insulator regions shrink as the strength of Coulomb disorder increases. The influence of the difference distributions (the box and the Gaussian) for impurities is also considered.

Benchmark study of the SF-MI phase transition of the Bose–Hubbard model with density-induced tunneling

The Bose–Hubbard model (BHM) is a standard model which describes the quantum behavior of ultracold bosons in optical lattice. When tuning the model parameters, a quantum phase transition from superfluid (SF) phase to Mott insulating (MI) phase emerges. However, an extra tunneling process – the density-induced tunneling – is usually ignored in the standard BHM. Using process-chain method, we give a thorough study of the phase diagram of the BHM with density-induced tunneling in different particle density regions and spatial dimensions. We find the density-induced tunneling process can affect the SF-MI phase boundary dramatically, by suppressing the MI region and tune the tip of the phase boundary to lower chemical potential. Our unbiased numerical study gives benchmark results of the phase diagram of the BHM with density-induced tunneling.

Numerical Study of Fermi Surface on Cuprate Using One-Band Hubbard Model: Role of Charge Density Wave in The Antiferromagnetic Mott-Insulator and Pseudogap Region

Numerical study of Fermi surface has been done using one-band Hubbard model with exact diagonalization method to study the effect of doping factor on Charge Density Wave (CDW) development in Anti ferromagnetic Mott Insulator (AFM) and pseudogap region in cuprate material. In this study the effect of CDW is characterized by Fermi Surface Nesting (FSN) vector in which it might be formed in pseudogap region. The wavelength of CDW increases when the value of disorder, which is representing the doping level in cuprate material, is increased. However, the CDW pattern will dissapear as the doping reaches the value which represented by Hubbard parameters: t = 1 eV, U = 4 eV, µ = 2 eV, and vi = -6 eV, marked by the decreasing of charge density wavelength.

Metastability and avalanche dynamics in strongly correlated gases with long-range interactions

We experimentally study the stability of a bosonic Mott insulator against the formation of a density wave induced by long-range interactions and characterize the intrinsic dynamics between these two states. The Mott insulator is created in a quantum degenerate gas of 87-Rubidium atoms, trapped in a 3D optical lattice. The gas is located inside and globally coupled to an optical cavity. This causes interactions of global range, mediated by photons dispersively scattered between a transverse lattice and the cavity. The scattering comes with an atomic density modulation, which is measured by the photon flux leaking from the cavity. We initialize the system in a Mott-insulating state and then rapidly increase the global coupling strength. We observe that the system falls into either of two distinct final states. One is characterized by a low photon flux, signaling a Mott insulator, and the other is characterized by a high photon flux, which we associate with a density wave. Ramping the global coupling slowly, we observe a hysteresis loop between the two states-a further signature of metastability. A comparison with a theoretical model confirms that the metastability originates in the competition between short- and global-range interactions. From the increasing photon flux monitored during the switching process, we find that several thousand atoms tunnel to a neighboring site on the timescale of the single-particle dynamics. We argue that a density modulation, initially forming in the compressible surface of the trapped gas, triggers an avalanche tunneling process in the Mott-insulating region.

Phase transition of ultracold atoms immersed in a Bose-Einstein-condensate vortex lattice

We investigate the quantum phases of ultracold atoms trapped in a vortex lattice using a mixture of two bosonic species (A and B), in the presence of an artificial gauge field. Heavy atoms of species B are confined in the array of vortices generated in species A, and they are described through a Bose-Hubbard model. In contrast to the optical-lattice setups, the vortex lattice has an intrinsic dynamics, given by its Tkachenko modes. Including these quantum fluctuations in the effective model for B atoms yields an extended Bose-Hubbard model, with an additional "phonon"-mediated long-range attraction. The ground-state phase diagram of this model is computed through a variational ansatz and the quantum Monte Carlo technique. When compared with the ordinary Bose-Hubbard case, the long-range interatomic attraction causes a shift and resizing of the Mott-insulator regions. Finally, we discuss the experimental feasibility of the proposed scheme, which relies on the proper choice of the atomic species and on a large control of physical parameters, like the scattering lengths and the vorticity.

Large effective three-body interaction in a double-well optical lattice

We study ultracold atoms in an optical lattice with two local minima per unit cell and show that the low-energy states of a multiband Bose-Hubbard (BH) Hamiltonian with only pairwise interactions are equivalent to an effective single-band Hamiltonian with strong three-body interactions. We focus on a double-well optical lattice with a symmetric double well along the $x$ axis and single-well structure along the perpendicular directions. Tunneling and two-body interaction energies are obtained from an exact band-structure calculation and numerically constructed Wannier functions in order to construct a BH Hamiltonian spanning the lowest two bands. Our effective Hamiltonian is constructed from the ground state of the $N$-atom Hamiltonian for each unit cell obtained within the subspace spanned by the Wannier functions of the two lowest bands. The model includes hopping between ground states of neighboring unit cells. We show that such an effective Hamiltonian has strong three-body interactions that can be easily tuned by changing the lattice parameters. Finally, relying on numerical mean-field simulations, we show that the effective Hamiltonian is an excellent approximation of the two-band BH Hamiltonian over a wide range of lattice parameters, in both the superfluid and Mott insulator regions.

Bose-Hubbard model with occupation-parity couplings

We study a Bose-Hubbard model having on-site repulsion, nearest-neighbor tunneling, and ferromagneticlike coupling between occupation parities of nearest-neighbor sites. For a uniform system in any dimension at zero tunneling, we obtain an exact phase diagram characterized by Mott-insulator (MI) and pair liquid phases and regions of phase separation of two MIs. For a general trapped system in one and two dimensions with finite tunneling, we perform quantum Monte Carlo and Gutzwiller mean-field calculations, both of which show the evolution of the system, as the parity coupling increases, from a superfluid to wedding-cake-structure MIs with their occupations jumping by 2. We also identify an exotic pair superfluid at relatively large tunneling strength. Our model ought to effectively describe recent findings in imbalanced Fermi gases in two-dimensional optical lattices and also potentially apply to an anisotropic version of bilinear-biquadratic spin systems.

Topological Edge States in the One-Dimensional Superlattice Bose-Hubbard Model

We analyze interacting ultracold bosonic atoms in a one-dimensional superlattice potential with alternating tunneling rates t1 and t2 and inversion symmetry, which is the bosonic analogue of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. A Z2 topological order parameter is introduced which is quantized for the Mott insulating (MI) phases. Depending on the ratio t1/t2 the n=1/2 MI phase is topologically nontrivial, which results in many-body edge states at open boundaries. In contrast to the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model the bosonic counterpart lacks chiral symmetry and the edge states are no longer midgap. This leads to a generalization of the bulk-edge correspondence, which we discuss in detail. The edge states can be observed in cold atom experiments by creating a step in the effective confining potential, e.g., by a second heavy atom species, which leads to an interface between two MI regions with filling n=1 and n=1/2. The shape and energy of the edge states as well as the conditions for their occupation are determined analytically in the strong coupling limit and in general by density-matrix renormalization group simulations.

Proximity effects in a topological-insulator/Mott-insulator heterostructure

We investigate proximity effects in a correlated heterostructure of a two-dimensional Mott insulator (MI) and a topological insulator (TI) by employing inhomogeneous dynamical mean-field theory. We show that the edge state of the TI induces strongly renormalized mid-gap states inside the MI region, which still have a remnant of the helical energy-spectrum. The penetration of low-energy electrons, which is controlled by the interface tunneling $V$, largely enhances the electron mass inside the MI and also splits a single Dirac-cone at edge sites into the spatially-separated two Dirac-cones in the strong $V$ region.

Spin and charge ordering in heterostructures of strongly correlated electron systems

In strongly correlated heterostructures, a non-uniform potential together with correlation effects can lead to novel electronic properties which are not realized in ordinary bulk systems. For example, it was reported experimentally and theoretically that the interface between the band insulator(BI) SrTiO3 and the Mott insulator(MI) LaTiO3 shows a metallic behavior. In this study, we consider a strongly correlated interface of BI and MI, like SrTiO3/LaTiO3, with particular emphasis on magnetic properties at the interface. To this end, we investigate the Hubbard model with long-range Coulomb interaction in the Hartree-Fock approximation. We find intriguing magnetic/charge phase transitions at the interface, which are closely related with the non-uniform potential. We elucidate that these transitions are caused by the strong coupling between charge and spin degrees of freedom near the interface. When the MI region has an antiferromagnetic (AF) order, a canted AF order can emerge around the interface, which shows a first-order metamagnetic transition under an external magnetic field. We also find that the strong spin-charge coupling stabilizes a charge order with a checkerboard pattern at the interface.

Expansion velocity of a one-dimensional, two-component Fermi gas during the sudden expansion in the ballistic regime

We show that in the sudden expansion of a spin-balanced two-component Fermi gas into an empty optical lattice induced by releasing particles from a trap, over a wide parameter regime, the radius $R_n$ of the particle cloud grows linearly in time. This allow us to define the expansion velocity $V_{ex}$ from $R_n=V_{ex}t$. The goal of this work is to clarify the dependence of the expansion velocity on the initial conditions which we establish from time-dependent density matrix renormalization group simulations, both for a box trap and a harmonic trap. As a prominent result, the presence of a Mott-insulating region leaves clear fingerprints in the expansion velocity. Our predictions can be verified in experiments with ultra-cold atoms.

Slow quench dynamics of Mott-insulating regions in a trapped Bose gas

We investigate the dynamics of Mott-insulating regions of a trapped bosonic gas as the interaction strength is changed linearly with time. The bosonic gas considered is loaded into an optical lattice and confined to a parabolic trapping potential. Two situations are addressed: the formation of Mott domains in a superfluid gas as the interaction is increased, and their melting as the interaction strength is lowered. In the first case, depending on the local filling, Mott-insulating barriers can develop and hinder the density and energy transport throughout the system. In the second case, the density and local energy adjust rapidly whereas long range correlations require longer time to settle. For both cases, we consider the time evolution of various observables: the local density and energy, and their respective currents, the local compressibility, the local excess energy, the heat and single particle correlators. The evolution of these observables is obtained using the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group technique and comparisons with time-evolutions done within the Gutzwiller approximation are provided.

Spin Effects in Bose-Glass Phases

We study the mechanism of formation of Bose glass (BG) phases in the spin-1 Bose Hubbard model when diagonal disorder is introduced. To this aim, we analyze first the phase diagram in the zero-hopping limit, there disorder induces superposition between Mott insulator (MI) phases with different filling numbers. Then BG appears as a compressible but still insulating phase. The phase diagram for finite hopping is also calculated with the Gutzwiller approximation. The bosons' spin degree of freedom introduces another scattering channel in the two-body interaction modifying the stability of MI regions with respect to the action of disorder. This leads to some peculiar phenomena such as the creation of BG of singlets, for very strong spin correlation, or the disappearance of BG phase in some particular cases where fluctuations are not able to mix different MI regions.

Disordered spinor Bose-Hubbard model

We study the zero-temperature phase diagram of the disordered spin-$1$ Bose-Hubbard model in a two-dimensional square lattice. To this aim, we use a mean-field Gutzwiller ansatz and a probabilistic mean-field perturbation theory. The spin interaction induces two different regimes, corresponding to a ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order. In the ferromagnetic case, the introduction of disorder reproduces analogous features of the disordered scalar Bose-Hubbard model, consisting in the formation of a Bose glass phase between Mott insulator lobes. In the antiferromagnetic regime, the phase diagram differs more from the scalar case. Disorder in the chemical potential can lead to the disappearance of Mott insulator lobes with an odd-integer filling factor and, for sufficiently strong spin coupling, to Bose glass of singlets between even-filling Mott insulator lobes. Disorder in the spinor coupling parameter results in the appearance of a Bose glass phase only between the $n$ and the $n+1$ lobes for $n$ odd. Disorder in the scalar Hubbard interaction inhibits Mott insulator regions for occupation larger than a critical value.

Inelastic light scattering to probe strongly correlated bosons in optical lattices

We have used inelastic light scattering to study correlated phases of an array of one-dimensional interacting Bose gases. In the linear response regime, the observed spectra are proportional to the dynamic structure factor. In particular we have investigated the superfluid to Mott insulator crossover loading the one-dimensional gases in an optical lattice and monitoring the appearance of an energy gap due to finite particle-hole excitation energy. We attribute the low frequency side of the spectra to the presence of some superfluid and normal phase fraction between the Mott insulator regions with different fillings produced in the inhomogeneous systems. In the Mott phase we also investigated excitations to higher excited bands of the optical lattice, the spectra obtained in this case being connected to the single particle spectral function. In one-dimensional systems the effect of thermal fluctuations and interactions is enhanced by the reduced dimensionality showing up in the dynamic structure factor. We measured the dynamic structure factor of an array of one-dimensional bosonic gases pointing out the effect of temperature-induced phase fluctuations in reducing the coherence length of the system.

Dark solitons near the Mott-insulator–superfluid phase transition

Dark solitons of ultracold bosons in the vicinity of the Mott-insulator--superfluid phase transition are studied. Making use of the Gutzwiller ansatz we have found antisymmetric eigenstates corresponding to standing solitons, as well as propagating solitons created by phase imprinting. Near the phase boundary, superfluidity has either a particle or a hole character depending on the system parameters, which greatly affects the characteristics of both types of solitons. Within the insulating Mott regions, soliton solutions are prohibited by lack of phase coherence between the lattice sites. Linear and modulational stability show that the soliton solutions are sensitive to small perturbations and, therefore, unstable. In general, their lifetimes differ for on-site and off-site modes. For the on-site modes, there are small areas between the Mott-insulator regions where the lifetime is very large, and in particular much larger than that for the off-site modes.

Fermion-mediated long-range interactions of bosons in the one-dimensional Bose-Fermi-Hubbard model

The ground-state phase diagram of mixtures of spin polarized fermions and bosons in a 1D periodic lattice is discussed in the limit of large fermion hopping and half filling of the fermions. Numerical simulations performed with the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) show besides bosonic Mott insulating (MI), superfluid (SF), and charge density-wave phases (CDW) a novel phase with spatial separation of MI and CDW regions. We derive an effective bosonic theory which allows for a complete understanding and quantitative prediction of the bosonic phase diagram. In particular the origin of CDW phase and the MI-CDW phase separation is revealed as the interplay between fermion-induced mean-field potential and long range interaction with alternating sign.