Single-particle Density Of States Research Articles

Density of States in the 3D System with Semimetallic Nodal-Loop and Insulating Gapped Phase

We investigate a single-particle density of states in the three-dimensional system described by effective two-band Hamiltonian, which describes a ground state in two distant electronic phases: the semimetalic nodal-loop phase and the insulating gapped phase. An analysis of valence bands and Fermi surfaces in both phases indicates that the density of states crucially depends on the parameter in the Hamiltonian of the system that controls a topological alternation of the Fermi surface. The signature of that alternation is expected to play an important role in all quantities closely related to the density of electronic states, such as charge transport and the optical conductivity of the system for example.

Interaction mediated electron transport within the many-body tunnelling Hamiltonian

For a non-superconducting system and in the spirit of the transfer or tunnelling Hamiltonian formalism, an expression for the electronic tunnelling current through an insulating barrier is calculated, explicitly taking into account the effects of electron-electron interactions that can persist across the barrier. In the presence of a single tunnelling barrier, the exact Hamiltonian is projected onto the subspaces of the ‘left’ and ‘right’ conducting leads. In the weak-tunnelling limit, the well-known tunnelling Hamiltonian is recovered, along with an additional term. This additional term originates from the projection of the electron-electron interaction onto each subspace and corresponds to a correlated or interaction-mediated tunnelling. It is shown that the tunnelling current in this approximation is related to—in addition to the single-particle density of states—the two-particle spin-spin and density-density susceptibilities. The signatures of these terms have been observed in scanning tunnelling microscope experiments on atomic spin chains.

Fission hindrances in transfermium nuclei

Very heavy nuclei owe their stability against spontaneous fission to quantum shell effects, which depend on the local density of single-particle states. The height but also the width and the structure of the barrier in multi-dimensional deformation space determine the fission half-lives. Other effects come into play, such as the conservation of quantum numbers and superfluidity or stiffness of the system in the fission process. This is why odd nuclei have longer fission partial half-lives with respect to their even neighbours and also why multi-quasi-particle states, such as high-K states, are thought to be more stable against fission than the ground state. We will report here on two different fission studies carried out with the GABRIELA detector array at the focal plane of the recoil separator SHELS. The first study concerns the fission properties of 253Rf, the most neutron deficient Rf isotope known to date. The second study focusses on a new measurement of the fission hindrance of the known 8- isomer in 254No.

Tunneling Spectroscopy of Two-Dimensional Materials Based on Via Contacts.

We introduce a novel planar tunneling architecture for van der Waals heterostructures based on via contacts, namely, metallic contacts embedded into through-holes in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). We use the via-based tunneling method to study the single-particle density of states of two different two-dimensional (2D) materials, NbSe2 and graphene. In NbSe2 devices, we characterize the barrier strength and interface disorder for barrier thicknesses of 0, 1, and 2 layers of hBN and study the dependence on the tunnel-contact area down to (44 ± 14)2 nm2. For 0-layer hBN devices, we demonstrate a crossover from diffusive to point contacts in the small-contact-area limit. In graphene, we show that reducing the tunnel barrier thickness and area can suppress effects due to phonon-assisted tunneling and defects in the hBN barrier. This via-based architecture overcomes limitations of other planar tunneling designs and produces high-quality, ultraclean tunneling structures from a variety of 2D materials.

Strongly correlated zero-bias anomaly in double quantum dot measurements

Experiments in doped transition metal oxides often show suppression in the single-particle density of states at the Fermi level, but disorder-induced zero-bias anomalies in strongly correlated systems remain poorly understood. Numerical studies of the Anderson-Hubbard model have identified a zero-bias anomaly that is unique to strongly correlated materials, with a width proportional to the intersite hopping amplitude t [S. Chiesa, P. B. Chakraborty, W. E. Pickett, and R. T. Scalettar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 086401 (2008)]. In ensembles of two-site systems, a zero-bias anomaly with the same parameter dependence also occurs, suggesting a similar physical origin [R. Wortis and W. A. Atkinson, Phys. Rev. B 82, 073107 (2010)]. We describe how this kinetic-energy-driven zero-bias anomaly in ensembles of two-site systems may be seen in a mesoscopic realization based on double quantum dots. Moreover, the double-quantum-dot measurements provide access not only to the ensemble-average density of states but also to the details of the transitions which give rise to the zero-bias anomaly.

Impurity bands in magnetic superconductors with spin density wave

Magnetic superconductors define a broad class of strongly correlated materials in which superconductivity may coexist with either localized or itinerant long-range magnetic order. In this work we consider a multiband model of a disordered magnetic superconductor which realizes coexistence of unconventional superconductivity and a spin-density-wave. We derive an exact T-matrix and compute a single particle density of states in this system. In a purely superconducting state the interband scattering potential leads to an appearance of the localized Yu–Shiba–Rusinov bound states. Our main finding is that in the fairly broad swath of the coexistence region superconductivity remains fully gapped despite the presence of the impurity bands. We also discuss the effects of spatial inhomogeneities on the density of states in strongly contaminated superconductors.

DC and optical signatures of the reconstructed Fermi surface for electrons with parabolic band

We study the main intra-band and inter-band transport properties at zero temperature of free electron-like system undergoing a topological reconstruction of the Fermi surface for the two-dimensional and three-dimensional case. The calculated intra-band properties include the single-particle density of states, the total and the effective concentrations of electrons and the thermopower. As for the inter-band case, the real part of the conductivity has been calculated within the vanishing inter-band relaxation approximation as a function of the incident photon energy. Within this approach, it is shown that the optical conductivity has a nonvanishing component parallel to the reconstruction wave vector and the shape which depends on the value of the Fermi energy. Each dimensionality has its particular features in the transport quantities presented in the paper, which are discussed and compared with those in the free electron scenario. Finally, we identify the signature of the topological reconstruction of the Fermi surface in the intra-band and inter-band transport functions.

In-gap band in the one-dimensional two-orbital Kanamori-Hubbard model with interorbital Coulomb interaction

We study the electronic spectral properties at zero temperature of the one-dimensional (1D) version of the degenerate two-orbital Kanamori Hubbard model (KHM), one of the well established frameworks to study transition metal compounds, using state-of-the-art numerical techniques based on the Density Matrix Renormalization Group. While the system is Mott insulating for the half-filled case, as expected for an interacting 1D system, we find interesting and rich structures in the single-particle density of states (DOS) for the hole-doped system. In particular, we find the existence of in-gap states which are pulled down to lower energies from the upper Hubbard band (UHB) with increasing the inter-orbital Coulomb interaction $V$. We analyze the composition of the DOS by projecting it onto different local excitations and we observe that for large dopings these in-gap excitations are formed mainly by inter-orbital holon-doublon (HD) states and their energies follow approximately the HD states in the atomic limit. We observe that the Hund interaction $J$ increases the width of the in-gap band, as expected from the two-particle fluctuations in the Hamiltonian. The observation of a finite density of states within the gap between the Hubbard bands for this extended 1D model indicates that these systems present a rich excitation spectra which could help us understand the microscopic physics behind multi-orbital compounds.

Green’s function approach to the Bose–Hubbard model with disorder

We analyse the distinction between the three different ground states presented by a system of spinless bosons with short-range interactions submitted to a random potential using the disordered Bose–Hubbard model. The criteria for identifying the superfluid, the Mott-insulator, and the Bose-glass phases at finite temperatures are discussed for small values of the kinetic energy associated with the tunnelling of particles between potential wells. Field theoretical considerations are applied in order to construct a diagrammatic hopping expansion to the finite-temperature Green’s function. By performing a summation of subsets of diagrams we are able to find the condition to the long-range correlations which leads to the phase boundary between superfluid and insulating phases. The perturbative expression to the local correlations allows us to calculate an approximation to the single-particle density of states of low-energy excitations in the presence of small hopping, which characterizes unambiguously the distinction between the Mott-insulator and the Bose-glass phases. We obtain the phase diagram for bounded on-site disorder. It is demonstrated that our analysis is capable of going beyond the mean-field theory results for the classification of these different ground states.

Evidence of zero-point fluctuation of vortices in a very weakly pinned a -MoGe thin film

In a Type II superconductor, the vortex core behaves like a normal metal. Consequently, the single-particle density of states in the vortex core of a conventional Type II superconductor remains either flat or (for very clean single crystals) exhibits a peak at zero bias due to the formation of Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon bound state inside the core. Here we report an unusual observation from scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements in a weakly pinned thin film of the conventional s-wave superconductor a-MoGe, namely, that a soft gap in the local density of states continues to exist even at the center of the vortex core. We ascribe this observation to rapid fluctuation of vortices about their mean position that blurs the boundary between the gapless normal core and the gapped superconducting region outside. Analyzing the data as a function of magnetic field we show that the variation of fluctuation amplitude as a function of magnetic field is consistent with quantum zero-point motion of vortices.

Hidden Pseudogap and Excitation Spectra in a Strongly Coupled Two-Band Superfluid/Superconductor

We investigate single-particle excitation properties in the normal state of a two-band superconductor or superfluid throughout the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose–Einstein-condensation (BEC) crossover, within the many-body T-matrix approximation for multichannel pairing fluctuations. We address the single-particle density of states and the spectral functions consisting of two contributions associated with a weakly interacting deep band and a strongly interacting shallow band, relevant for iron-based multiband superconductors and multicomponent fermionic superfluids. We show how the pseudogap state in the shallow band is hidden by the deep band contribution throughout the two-band BCS-BEC crossover. Our results could explain the missing pseudogap in recent scanning tunneling microscopy experiments in FeSe superconductors.

Polaronic effect of a metal layer on variable range hopping

We investigate the effect of a metal plate on the variable range hopping (VRH) conductivity of a two dimensional electron-glass (EG) system. The VRH conductivity is known to have a stretched exponential dependence on temperature, with an exponent $p$ that depends on the shape of the EG's single particle density of states (DOS). For constant DOS $p=1/3$ and for linear DOS $p=1/2$, also known as Mott's and Efros-Shklovskii's VRH respectively. The presence of the plate causes two effects on the EG system, static and dynamic. The well known static effect accounts for the additional screening of the Coulomb repulsion in the EG and for the partial filling of the Coulomb gap in the DOS. This in turn causes an increase of the conductivity at very low temperatures. Here we investigate the complementary dynamical effect, which is related to the polaronic phenomena. Our main result is the dynamical suppression of the standard phonon assisted hopping and, thus, suppression of the conductivity in a much wider range of temperatures as compared to the low temperature static effect. The relation to experiments is discussed.

Mott transition of fermions in anisotropic ruby lattice

<sec>In this work, the Hubbard model is adopted to describe fermions with on-site repulsive interaction and the nearest-neighbor hopping in anisotropic ruby lattice. The combination of cluster dynamical mean field theory and continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo algorithm is used to solve the theoretical model.</sec> <sec>It is widely accepted that the density of states and the double occupancy are two important quantities for determining the phase transition of two-dimensional strongly correlated system. Therefore, based on the self-consistent calculation, using the maximum entropy method to calculate the single particle density of states and double occupancy of fermions in anisotropic ruby lattice. Here in this work, there are 6 sites in a cluster.</sec> <sec>The influences of temperature, interaction and anisotropic parameter on metal-insulator phase transition of fermions in anisotropic ruby lattice are discussed based on the calculations of single particle density of state and double occupancy. Finally, the metal-Mott insulator phase diagram which shows the competition between temperature and on-site repulsive interaction in the phase transition of fermions in anisotropic ruby lattice is presented. The results shows that the system is in metallic state for the regime of weak interaction and low temperature, and the Mott insulator appears in the regime of strong interaction and high temperature. The metallic state and Mott insulating one are separated by the second-order transition line in the phase diagram.</sec>

Dynamically induced doublon repulsion in the Fermi-Hubbard model probed by a single-particle density of states

We investigate the possibility to control dynamically the interactions between repulsively bound pairs of fermions (doublons) in correlated systems with off-resonant ac fields. We introduce an effective Hamiltonian that describes the physics of doublons up to the second-order in the high-frequency limit. It unveils that the doublon interaction, which is attractive in equilibrium, can be completely suppressed and then switched to repulsive by varying the power of the ac field. We show that the signature of the dynamical repulsion between doublons can be found in the single-fermion density of states averaged in time. Our results are further supported by nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory simulations for the half-filled Fermi-Hubbard model.

Landau-Fermi liquids without quasiparticles

Landau-Fermi liquid theory is conventionally believed to hold whenever the interacting single-particle density of states develops a $\delta$-like component at the Fermi surface, which is associated with quasiparticles. Here we show that a microscopic justification can be actually achieved under more general circumstances, even in case coherent quasiparticles are totally missing and the interacting single-particle density of states vanishes at the chemical potential as consequence of a pole singularity in the self-energy.

Fermion Condensation: Theory and Experiment

Fundamentals of fermion-condensation physics are outlined. Fermion condensation is a phase transition occurring in a strongly correlated Fermi system upon a topological reconstruction of the Landau ground state and leading to the formation of a fermion condensate that possesses the dispersionless single-particle spectrum $$\epsilon({\mathbf{p}})=0$$ in the momentum-space region adjacent to the Fermi surface and, accordingly, an anomalously enhanced density of single-particle states. A original method is developed for solving the set of nonlinear integral equations of fermion-condensation theory. This method makes it possible to analyze the problem of quantum chaos in strongly interacting multifermion systems. The computational technique used is demonstrated by applying it to superdense quark–gluon plasma, where the structure of exchange quark–quark interaction is well known. In electron systems featuring a fermion condensate, the magnitude of the gap appearing in the single-particle spectrum owing to Cooper pairing is shown to be much larger than that in Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory. This explains both a high superconducting-transition temperature $$T_{c}$$ and, with allowance for $$C_{4}$$ crystal-lattice symmetry, the $$D$$ -wave pairing-gap structure observed in cuprates. It is found that, in addition to the BCS gap $$\Delta$$ , the spectrum of single-particle excitations of superconducting systems where a fermion condensate is present develops a nonsuperconducting gap $$\Upsilon$$ that owes its existence to the interaction of condensate particles with normal quasiparticles residing outside the condensate region in momentum space. The question of whether these results are pertinent to the two-gap structure recently unearthed in the excitation spectrum of cuprates upon analyzing ARPES data is addressed.

Giant microwave absorption in [formula omitted]- and [formula omitted]- wave superconductors

We discuss a new mechanism of microwave absorption in s- and d-wave superconductors, which arises in the presence of a dc supercurrent in the system. It produces a contribution to the ac conductivity that is proportional to the inelastic quasiparticle relaxation time. This contribution also determines the supercurrent dependence of the conductivity. It may significantly exceed the conventional contribution because in typical superconductors the inelastic relaxation time is several orders of magnitude longer than the elastic one. We show that the aforementioned contribution to the conductivity may be expressed in terms of the single particle density of states in superconductors in the presence of a dc supercurrent. Our results may enable determination of the inelastic relaxation time in superconductors from microwave absorption measurements.

Ferromagnetism in theSU(n)Hubbard model with a nearly flat band

We present rigorous results for the SU($n$) Fermi-Hubbard model on the railroad-trestle lattice. We first study the model with a flat band at the bottom of the single-particle spectrum and prove that the ground states exhibit SU($n$) ferromagnetism when the total fermion number is the same as the number of unit cells. We then perturb the model by adding extra hopping terms and make the flat band dispersive. Under the same filling condition, it is proved that the ground states of the perturbed model remain SU($n$) ferromagnetic when the bottom band is nearly flat. This is the first rigorous example of the ferromagnetism in nonsingular SU($n$) Hubbard models in which both the single-particle density of states and the on-site repulsive interaction are finite.

Probing the electronic structure of graphene near and far from the Fermi level via planar tunneling spectroscopy

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) has yielded significant insight into the electronic structure of graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials. STS directly measures a fundamental and directly calculable quantity: single particle density of states (SPDOS). Due to experimental setup limitations, however, STS has been unable to explore 2D materials in ultrahigh magnetic fields where electron-electron interactions can drastically change the SPDOS. Recent developments in the assembly of heterostructures composed of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride have enabled a device-based alternative to potentially overcome these roadblocks. Thus far, however, these nascent efforts are incomplete in analyzing and understanding tunneling spectra and have yet to explore graphene at high magnetic fields. Here, we report an experiment at magnetic fields up to 18 T, which uses graphene tunneling field effect transistors (TFETs) to establish a clear benchmark for the measurement and analysis of graphene planar tunneling spectroscopy. We acquire gate tunable tunneling spectra of graphene and then use these data and electrostatic arguments to develop a systematic analysis scheme. This analysis reveals that TFET devices directly probe electronic structure features near and far from the Fermi level. In particular, our study yields identification of the Dirac point and numerous Landau levels as they fill and empty with charge via the application of a gate voltage. Our work demonstrates that TFET devices are a viable platform for directly probing the electronic structure of graphene and other 2D materials in high magnetic fields, where exotic electronic states emerge.

Dissipative and Hall Viscosity of a Disordered 2D Electron Gas

Hydrodynamic charge transport is at the center of recent research efforts. Of particular interest is the nondissipative Hall viscosity, which conveys topological information in clean gapped systems. The prevalence of disorder in the real world calls for a study of its effect on viscosity. Here we address this question, both analytically and numerically, in the context of disordered noninteracting 2D electrons. Analytically, we employ the self-consistent Born approximation, explicitly taking into account the modification of the single-particle density of states and the elastic transport time due to the Landau quantization. The reported results interpolate smoothly between the limiting cases of a weak (strong) magnetic field and strong (weak) disorder. In the regime of a weak magnetic field our results describe the quantum (Shubnikov-de Haas type) oscillations of the dissipative and Hall viscosity. For strong magnetic fields we characterize the effects of the disorder-induced broadening of the Landau levels on the viscosity coefficients. This is supplemented by numerical calculations for a few filled Landau levels. Our results show that the Hall viscosity is surprisingly robust to disorder.