Spin Density Wave Instability Research Articles

Competing spin fluctuations in Sr2RuO4 and their tuning through epitaxial strain

In this study, we report the magnetic energy landscape of Sr2RuO4 employing the generalized Bloch approach within density functional theory. We identify the two dominant magnetic instabilities, ferromagnetic and spin-density-wave, together with other predominant instabilities. We show that epitaxial strain can change the overall magnetic tendency of the system, and tune the relative weight of the various magnetic instabilities in the system. Especially, the balance between spin-density wave and ferromagnetic instabilities can be controlled by the strain, and, eventually can lead to the new magnetic phases as well as superconducting phases with possibly altered pairing channels. Our findings are compared with previous theoretical models and experimental reports for the various magnetic features of the system and offer a first-principles explanation to them.

Quantum spin liquid in an RKKY-coupled two-impurity Kondo system

We consider a 2-impurity Kondo system with spin-exchange coupling within the conduction band. Our numerical renormalization group calculations show that for strong intraband spin correlations the competition of these correlations with Kondo spin screening stabilizes a metallic spin-liquid phase of the localized spins without geometric frustration. For weak Kondo coupling the spin liquid and the Kondo singlet phase are separated by two quantum phase transitions and an intermediate RKKY spin-dimer phase, while beyond a critical coupling they are connected by a crossover. The results suggest how a quantum spin liquid may be realized in heavy-fermion systems near a spin-density wave instability.

Tunable electronic and magnetic phases in layered ruthenates: Strained SrRuO3−SrTiO3 heterostructures

Layered ruthenates are a unique class of systems which manifests a variety of electronic and magnetic features emerged from competing energy scales. At the heart of such features lies the multi-orbital physics, especially, the orbital-selective behavior. Here, we propose that the SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructure is a highly tunable platform to obtain the various emergent properties. Employing the density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory, we thoroughly investigate the orbital-dependent physics of the system and identify the competing magnetic fluctuations. We show that the epitaxial strain drives the system towards multi-orbital or orbital selective Mott phases from the Hund metal regime. At the same time, the two different types of static magnetism are stabilized, ferromagnetism and checkerboard antiferromagnetism, from the competition with the spin-density wave instability.

Ising and XY paramagnons in two-dimensional 2H−NbSe2

Paramagnons are the collective modes that govern the spin response of nearly magnetic conductors. In some cases they mediate electron pairing leading to superconductivity. This scenario may occur in 2H-NbSe$_2$ monolayers, that feature spin-valley coupling on account of spin-orbit interactions and their lack of inversion symmetry. Here we explore spin anisotropy of paramagnons both for non-centrosymmetric Kane-Mele-Hubbard models for 2H-NbSe$_2$ monolayers described with a DFT-derived tight-binding model. In the infinite wavelength limit we find spatially uniform paramagnons with energies around $1$~meV that feature a colossal off-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, with quenched transversal spin response. At finite wave vectors, longitudinal and transverse channels reverse roles: XY fluctuations dominate within a significant portion of the Brillouin zone. Our results show that 2H-NbSe$_2$ is close to a Coulomb-driven in-plane (XY) spin density wave instability.

A brief review of the physical properties of charge density wave superconductor LaPt2Si2

The study of materials with multiple phases, such as superconductivity (SC) coexisting with charge density wave (CDW) or spin density wave (SDW) instability, attracts considerable interest from the condensed matter research community. The CDW superconductors started drawing in heaps of attention soon after the discovery of CDW instability in high-T c cuprates, where understanding the underlying superconducting mechanism of the latter may turn out to be path-breaking for the discovery of room temperature SC. Understanding the pairing mechanism of high-T c superconductors necessitates less complex systems and this makes searching for CDW superconductors all the more important. Such systems avoid the additional complexity in contrast to the well-sought after Fe-based superconductors, which show more competing orders like SDW, nematicity and SC. RPt2Si2 (R = La, Pr, Eu) is a recently discovered series of materials, members of which crystallizes in CaBe2Ge2 type structure which has a close resemblance to the ThCr2Si2 type structure commonly found in pnictide-122 superconductors. This review is focused on LaPt2Si2, which undergoes a structural transition from high-temperature tetragonal to low-temperature orthorhombic structure, accompanied by a CDW transition around 112 K, which is then followed by a superconducting transition below 1.8 K. We discuss the physical properties of single crystal and polycrystalline LaPt2Si2 samples. Additionally, we present the results of transport and ac susceptibility measurements under external hydrostatic pressure to map out the temperature-pressure phase diagram of LaPt2Si2.

Visualizing the out-of-plane electronic dispersions in an intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide

Layered transition metal dichalcogenides have rich phase diagram and they feature two dimensionality on numerous physical properties. Co1/3NbS2 is one of the newest members of this family where Co atoms are intercalated into the Van der Waals gaps between NbS2 layers. We study the three-dimensional electronic band structure of Co1/3NbS2 using both surface and bulk sensitive angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We show that the electronic bands do not fit into the rigid-band-shift picture after the Co intercalation. Instead, Co1/3NbS2 displays a different orbital character near the Fermi level compared to the pristine NbS2 compound and has a clear band dispersion in kz direction despite its layered structure. Our photoemission study demonstrates the out-of-plane electronic correlations introduced by the Co intercalation, thus offering a new perspective on this compound. Finally, we propose how Fermi level tuning could lead to exotic phases such as spin density wave instability.

Generalized dynamical mean-field theory of two-sublattice systems with long-range interactions and its application to study charge and spin correlations in graphene

We investigate magnetic and charge correlations in graphene by using the formulation of extended dynamical mean-field theory (E-DMFT) for two-sublattice systems. First, we map the average non-local interaction onto the effective static interaction between different sublattices, which is treated together with the local interaction within an effective "two-orbital" local model. The remaining part of the non-local interaction is considered by introducing an effective retarded interaction within the E-DMFT approach. The non-local susceptibilities in charge and spin channel are further evaluated in the ladder approximation. We verify the applicability of the proposed method to describe the effect of uniformly screened long-range Coulomb potential $\propto 1/r$, as well as screened realistic long-range electron interaction [T. O. Wehling et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 236805 (2011)] in graphene. We show that the developed approach describes a competition of semimetal, spin density wave (SDW), and charge-density-wave (CDW) correlations. The obtained phase diagram is in a good agreement with recent results of functional renormalization group (fRG) for finite large graphene nanoflakes and scaling analysis of quantum Monte Carlo data on finite clusters. Similarly to the previously obtained results within the fRG approach, the realistic screening of Coulomb interaction by $\sigma$ bands causes moderate (strong) enhancement of critical long-range interaction strength, needed for the SDW (CDW) instability, compared to the results for the uniformly screened Coulomb potential.

Magnetic, charge, and transport properties of graphene nanoflakes

We investigate magnetic, charge and transport properties of hexagonal graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) connected to two metallic leads by using the functional renormalization group (fRG) method. The interplay between the on-site and long-range interactions leads to a competition of semimetal (SM), spin density wave (SDW), and charge-density-wave (CDW) phases. The ground-state phase diagrams are presented for the GNF systems with screened realistic long-range electron interaction [T. O. Wehling, et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 236805 (2011)], as well as uniformly screened long-range Coulomb potential $\propto 1/r$. We demonstrate that the realistic screening of Coulomb interaction by $\sigma$ bands causes moderate (strong) enhancement of critical long-range interaction strength, needed for the SDW (CDW) instability, compared to the results for the uniformly screened Coulomb potential. This enhancement gives rise to a wide region of stability of the SM phase for realistic interaction, such that freely suspended GNFs are far from both SM-SDW and SM-CDW phase-transition boundaries and correspond to the SM phase. Close relation between the linear conductance and the magnetic or charge states of the systems is discussed. A comparison of the results with those of other studies on GNFs systems and infinite graphene sheet is presented.

Spin correlations and spin-density wave phase in a finite-temperature quasi-one-dimensional electron gas

In this paper, we theoretically investigate the effect of temperature on spin correlations in an unpolarized quasi-one-dimensional electron gas (Q1DEG). The correlations are treated dynamically within quantum version of the self-consistent mean-field approach of Singwi et al Numerical results for the ↑↑ and ↑↓ components of static structure factor and pair-correlation function, and the wave vector dependent static spin and charge susceptibilities are presented over a wide range of temperature T and electron coupling r s . We find that the recently reported (2020 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter. 32 335403) non-monotonic T-dependence of the contact pair-correlation function g(r = 0; T) is driven primarily by an interplay between ↑↓ correlations and thermal effects. At a given temperature, the dynamics of both ↑↑ and ↑↓ correlations is found to become significant with increasing coupling r s , manifesting unambiguously as pronounced peak at 3.5k F (periodic oscillations) in the corresponding components of the structure factor (pair-correlation function). Analysis of static spin and charge susceptibilities reveals that an imbalance between ↑↑ and ↑↓ correlations may induce a transition to a spin-density wave (SDW) phase of wave vector ∼3.5k F above a critical coupling for a sufficiently high T, while to a long-wavelength SDW phase at a low T. Higher the temperature, higher is the predicted critical coupling for the SDW phase. Interestingly, transition to the SDW phase is found to precede the recently predicted Wigner crystal instability in the finite-T Q1DEG. Further, if one starts with partially spin-polarized electrons, the SDW instability is found to shift to somewhat higher τ and r s . In addition, we have presented results for the free exchange-correlation energy, free correlation energy, and excess kinetic energy for the unpolarized and fully spin-polarized phases of the finite-T Q1DEG. Wherever interesting, we have compared our results with the predictions of the static version of the mean-field approach.

1D metallic states at 2D transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductor heterojunctions

Two-dimensional (2D) lateral heterojunctions between different transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been realized in recent years. Homogeneous semiconducting TMDC layers are characterized by a topological invariant, their in-plane electric polarization. It suggests the possibility of one-dimensional (1D) metallic states at heterojunctions where the value of the invariant changes. We study such lateral 2D TMDC junctions by means of first-principles calculations and show that 1D metallic states emerge even in cases where the different materials are joined epitaxially. We find that the metallicity does not depend on structural details, but, as the invariant is protected by spatial symmetry only, it can be upset by breaking the symmetry. Indeed, 1D charge- and spin-density wave instabilities appear spontaneously, making 2D TMDC heterojunctions ideal systems for studying 1D systems.

Fermi surface electron–hole instability of the (TMTSF)2PF6 Bechgaard salt revealed by the first-principles Lindhard response function

We report the first-principles DFT calculation of the electron–hole Lindhard response function of the (TMTSF)2PF6 Bechgaard salt using the real triclinic low-temperature structure. The Lindhard response is found to change considerably with temperature. Near the 2kF spin density wave (SDW) instability it has the shape of a broad triangular plateau as a result of the multiple nesting associated with the warped quasi-one-dimensional Fermi surface. The evolution of the 2kF broad maximum as well as the effect of pressure and deuteration is calculated and analyzed. The thermal dependence of the electron–hole coherence length deduced from these calculations compares very well with the experimental thermal evolution of the 2kF bond order wave correlation length. The existence of a triangular plateau of maxima in the low-temperature electron–hole Lindhard response of (TMTSF)2PF6 should favor a substantial mixing of q-dependent fluctuations which can have important consequences in understanding the phase diagram of the 2kF SDW ground state, the mechanism of superconductivity and the magneto-transport of this paradigmatic quasi-one-dimensional material. The first-principles DFT Lindhard response provides a very accurate and unbiased approach to the low-temperature instabilities of (TMTSF)2PF6 which can take into account in a simple way 3D effects and subtle structural variations, thus providing a very valuable tool in understanding the remarkable physics of molecular conductors.

Kohn-Luttinger Superconductivity in Twisted Bilayer Graphene.

We show that the recently observed superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) can be explained as a consequence of the Kohn-Luttinger (KL) instability which leads to an effective attraction between electrons with originally repulsive interaction. Usually, the KL instability takes place at extremely low energy scales, but in TBG, a doubling and subsequent strong coupling of the van Hove singularities (vHS) in the electronic spectrum occurs as the magic angle is approached, leading to extended saddle points in the highest valence band with almost perfect nesting between states belonging to different valleys. The highly anisotropic screening induces an effective attraction in a p-wave channel with odd parity under the exchange of the two disjoined patches of the Fermi line. We also predict the appearance of a spin-density wave instability, adjacent to the superconducting phase, and the opening of a gap in the electronic spectrum from the condensation of spins with wave vector corresponding to the nesting vector close to the vHS.

Pairing and chiral spin density wave instabilities on the honeycomb lattice: A comparative quantum Monte Carlo study

Using finite-temperature determinantal quantum Monte Carlo calculations, we re-examine the pairing susceptibilities in the Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice, focusing on doping levels onto and away from the van Hove singularity (VHS) filling. For this purpose, electronic densities of $0.75$ (at the hole-doping VHS) and $0.4$ (well below the VHS) are considered in detail, where due to a severe sign problem at strong coupling strengths, we focus on the weak interaction region of the Hubbard model Hamiltonian. From analyzing the temperature dependence of pairing susceptibilities in various symmetry channels, we find the singlet $d$+$id$-wave to be the dominant pairing channel both at and away from the VHS filling. We furthermore investigate the electronic susceptibility to a specific chiral spin density wave (SDW) order, which we find to be similarly relevant at the VHS, while it extenuates upon doping away from the VHS filling.

Evidence for negative thermal expansion in the superconducting precursor phase SmFeAsO

The fluorine-doped rare-earth iron oxypnictide series SmFeAsO1−xFx (0 0.10) was investigated with high resolution powder x-ray scattering. In agreement with previous studies (Margadonna et al 2009 Phys. Rev. B. 79 014503), the parent compound SmFeAsO exhibits a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural distortion at = 130 K which is rapidly suppressed by 0.10 deep within the superconducting dome. The change in unit cell symmetry is followed by a previously unreported magnetoelastic distortion at 120 K. The temperature dependence of the thermal expansion coefficient reveals a rich phase diagram for SmFeAsO: (i) a global minimum at 125 K corresponds to the opening of a spin-density wave instability as measured by pump-probe femtosecond spectroscopy (Mertelj et al 2010 Phys. Rev. B 81 224504) whilst (ii) a global maximum at 110 K corresponds to magnetic ordering of the Sm and Fe sublattices as measured by magnetic x-ray scattering (Nandi et al 2011 Phys. Rev. B 84 055419). At much lower temperatures than , SmFeAsO exhibits a significant negative thermal expansion on the order of −40 ppm · K−1 in contrast to the behaviour of other rare-earth oxypnictides such as PrFeAsO (Kimber et al 2008 Phys. Rev. B 78 140503) and the actinide oxypnictide NpFeAsO (Klimczuk et al 2012 Phys. Rev. B 85 174506) where the onset of 0 only appears in the vicinity of magnetic ordering. Correlating this feature with the temperature and doping dependence of the resistivity and the unit cell parameters, we interpret the negative thermal expansion as being indicative of the possible condensation of itinerant electrons accompanying the opening of a SDW gap, consistent with transport measurements (Tropeano et al 2009 Supercond. Sci. Technol. 22 034004).

Impurity-induced magnetic droplet in unconventional superconductors near a magnetic instability: Application to Nd-doped CeCoIn5

Beside the spin density wave (SDW) order inside the superconducting phase in $\mathrm{CeCoIn_5}$ at high magnetic fields, recent neutron scattering measurements have found Bragg peaks in $5\%$ Nd doped $\mathrm{CeCoIn_5}$ at low fields. The intensity of Bragg peaks in low fields is suppressed by increasing field. Based on the phenomenological and microscopic modeling, we show that for the Pauli limited $d$-wave superconductors in the vicinity of SDW instability relevant for $\mathrm{CeCoIn_5}$, magnetic impurities locally induce droplets of SDW order. Because of the strong anisotropy in the momentum space in the spin fluctuations guaranteed by the $d$-wave pairing symmetry, sharp peaks in spin structure factor at $\mathbf{Q}$s are produced by the impurities, even when the droplets of SDW do not order. At zero field, the Nd impurity spins are along the $c$ axis due to the coupling to the conduction electrons with an easy $c$ axis, besides their own crystal field effect. The in-plane magnetic field cants the impurity moments toward the $ab$ plane, which suppress the droplets of SDW order. At high fields, the long-range SDW inside the superconducting phase is stabilized as a consequence of magnon condensation. Our results are consistent with the recent neutron scattering and thermal conductivity measurements.

Competing magnetic orders in the superconducting state of heavy-fermion CeRhIn5

Applied pressure drives the heavy-fermion antiferromagnet CeRhIn5 toward a quantum critical point that becomes hidden by a dome of unconventional superconductivity. Magnetic fields suppress this superconducting dome, unveiling the quantum phase transition of local character. Here, we show that [Formula: see text] magnetic substitution at the Ce site in CeRhIn5, either by Nd or Gd, induces a zero-field magnetic instability inside the superconducting state. This magnetic state not only should have a different ordering vector than the high-field local-moment magnetic state, but it also competes with the latter, suggesting that a spin-density-wave phase is stabilized in zero field by Nd and Gd impurities, similarly to the case of Ce0.95Nd0.05CoIn5 Supported by model calculations, we attribute this spin-density wave instability to a magnetic-impurity-driven condensation of the spin excitons that form inside the unconventional superconducting state.

Quantum critical point revisited by dynamical mean-field theory

Dynamical mean field theory is used to study the quantum critical point (QCP) in the doped Hubbard model on a square lattice. The QCP is characterized by a universal scaling form of the self energy and a spin density wave instability at an incommensurate wave vector. The scaling form unifies the low energy kink and the high energy waterfall feature in the spectral function, while the spin dynamics includes both the critical incommensurate and high energy antiferromagnetic paramagnons. We use the frequency dependent four-point correlation function of spin operators to calculate the momentum dependent correction to the electron self energy. Our results reveal a substantial difference with the calculations based on the Spin-Fermion model which indicates that the frequency dependence of the the quasiparitcle-paramagnon vertices is an important factor.

Non-Fermi surface nesting driven commensurate magnetic ordering in Fe-doped Sr2RuO4

Sr$_2$RuO$_4$, an unconventional superconductor, is known to possess an incommensurate spin density wave instability driven by Fermi surface nesting. Here we report a static spin density wave ordering with a commensurate propagation vector $q_c$ = (0.25 0.25 0) in Fe-doped Sr$_2$RuO$_4$, despite the magnetic fluctuations persisting at the incommensurate wave vectors $q_{ic}$ = (0.3 0.3 L) as in the parent compound. The latter feature is corroborated by the first principles calculations, which show that Fe substitution barely changes the nesting vector of the Fermi surface. These results suggest that in addition to the known incommensurate magnetic instability, Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ is also in proximity to a commensurate magnetic tendency that can be stabilized via Fe doping.

Density wave instabilities and surface state evolution in interacting Weyl semimetals

We investigate the interplay of many-body and band structure effects of interacting Weyl semimetals (WSM). Attractive and repulsive Hubbard interactions are studied within a model for a time-reversal-breaking WSM with tetragonal symmetry, where we can approach the limit of weakly coupled planes and coupled chains by varying the hopping amplitudes. Using a slab geometry, we employ the variational cluster approach to describe the evolution of WSM Fermi arc surface states as a function of interaction strength. We find spin and charge density wave instabilities which can gap out Weyl nodes. We identify scenarios where the bulk Weyl nodes are gapped while the Fermi arcs still persist, hence realizing a quantum anomalous Hall state.

Bilayer honeycomb lattice with ultracold atoms: Multiple Fermi surfaces and incommensurate spin density wave instability

We propose an experimental setup using ultracold atoms to implement a bilayer honeycomb lattice with Bernal stacking. In presence of a potential bias between the layers and at low densities, Fermions placed in this lattice form an annular Fermi sea. The presence of two Fermi surfaces leads to interesting patterns in Friedel oscillations and RKKY interactions in presence of impurities. Furthermore, a repulsive fermion-fermion interaction leads to a Stoner instability towards an incommensurate spin-density-wave order with a wave vector equal to the thickness of the Fermi sea. The instability occurs at a critical interaction strength which goes down with the density of the fermions. We find that the instability survives interaction renormalization due to vertex corrections and discuss how this can be seen in experiments. We also track the renormalization group flows of the different couplings between the fermionic degrees of freedom, and find that there are no perturbative instabilities, and that Stoner instability is the strongest instability which occurs at a critical threshold value of the interaction. The critical interaction goes to zero as the chemical potential is tuned towards the band bottom.