Spin Susceptibility Research Articles

One- and two-particle properties of the weakly interacting two-dimensional Hubbard model in proximity to the van Hove singularity

We study the weak-coupling limit of the $t-t^\prime-U$ Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice using a direct perturbative approach. Aided by symbolic computational tools, we compute the longitudinal density-density correlation functions in the $\chi_{\uparrow \uparrow}$ and $\chi_{\uparrow \downarrow}$ basis from which we can obtain the dynamical spin and charge susceptibilities at arbitrary doping and temperature. We find that for non-zero $t^\prime$, the zero frequency commensurate $\mathbf{q} = (\pi, \pi)$ spin and charge excitations are each strongest at different densities and we observe a clear behavioral change that appears tied to the van Hove singularity of the non-interacting dispersion upon which the perturbative expansion is built. We find a strongly reduced compressibility in the vicinity of the van Hove singularity as well as a behavioral change in the double occupancy. For finite $t^\prime$, the observed van Hove singularity occurs away from half-filling leading us to conclude that that this reduction in compressibility is distinct from Mott insulating physics that one expects in the strong-coupling regime. We compute the full dynamical spin and charge excitations and observe distinct structure for electron and hole doped scenarios in agreement with experiments on cuprate materials. Finally, we observe a peculiar splitting in spin and charge excitations in the vicinity of the van Hove singularity, the origin of which is traced to a splitting near the bottom of the band.

Coupling the Higgs mode and ferromagnetic resonance in spin-split superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We show that the Higgs mode of superconductors can couple with spin dynamics in the presence of a static spin-splitting field and Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The Higgs-spin coupling dramatically modifies the spin susceptibility near the superconducting critical temperature and consequently enhances the spin pumping effect in a ferromagnetic insulator/superconductor bilayer system. We show that this effect can be detected by measuring the magnon transmission rate and the magnon-induced voltage generated by the inverse spin Hall effect.

Hot-lines topology and the fate of the spin resonance mode in three-dimensional unconventional superconductors

In the quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) copper- and iron-based superconductors, the onset of superconductivity is accompanied by a prominent peak in the magnetic spectrum at momenta close to the wave-vector of the nearby antiferromagnetic state. Such a peak is well described in terms of a spin resonance mode, i.e., a spin-1 exciton theoretically predicted for quasi-2D superconductors with a sign-changing gap. The same theories, however, indicate that such a resonance mode should be absent in a three-dimensional (3D) system with a spherical Fermi surface. This raises the question of the fate of the spin resonance mode in layered unconventional superconductors that are not strongly anisotropic, such as certain heavy-fermion compounds and potentially the newly discovered nickelate superconductor NdNiO$_2$. Here, we use the random-phase-approximation to calculate the dynamical spin susceptibility of 3D superconductors with a $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave gap symmetry and corrugated cylindrical-like Fermi surfaces. By varying the out-of-plane hopping anisotropy $t_z/t$, we demonstrate that the appearance of a spin resonance mode is determined by the topology of the hot lines -- i.e. lines on the Fermi surface that are connected by the magnetic wave-vector. For an in-plane antiferromagnetic wave-vector, the hot lines undergo a topological transition from open lines to closed loops at a critical $t_z/t$ value. The closed hot lines cross the nodal superconducting lines, making the spin resonance mode overdamped and incoherent. In contrast, for an out-of-plane antiferromagnetic wave-vector, the hot lines remain open and the spin resonance mode remains sharp. We discuss the experimental implications of our results for the out-of-plane dispersion of the spin resonance mode and, more generally, for inelastic neutron scattering experiments on unconventional superconductors.

Thermodynamic and dynamical signatures of a quantum spin Hall insulator to superconductor transition

Thermodynamic and dynamical properties of a model of Dirac fermions with a deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) separating an interaction-generated quantum spin-Hall insulator from an s-wave superconductor [Nature Comm.~{\bf 10}, 2658 (2019)] are studied by quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Inside the deconfined quantum critical region bound by the single-particle gap, spinons and spinless charge-2e skyrmions emerge. Since the model conserves total spin and charge, and has a single length scale, these excitations lead to a characteristic linear temperature dependence of the uniform spin and charge susceptibilities. At the DQCP, the order parameter dynamic structure factors show remarkable similarities that support emergent Lorentz symmetry. Above a critical temperature, superconductivity is destroyed by the proliferation of spin-1/2 vortices.

Leading superconducting instabilities in three-dimensional models for Sr2RuO4

The superconductor Sr2RuO4 has been the subject of enormous interest over more than two decades, but until now the form of its order parameter has not been determined. Since groundbreaking NMR experiments revealed that the pairs are of dominant spin-singlet character, attention has focused on time-reversal symmetry breaking linear combinations of $s$-, $d$- and $g$-wave one-dimensional (1D) irreducible representations. However, a state of the form $d_{xz}+id_{yz}$ has also been proposed. We present a systematic study of the stability of various superconducting candidate states, assuming that pairing is driven by the fluctuation exchange mechanism, including a realistic three-dimensional Fermi surface, full treatment of both local and non-local spin-orbit couplings, and a wide range of interaction parameters $U,J,U',J'$. The leading superconducting instabilities are found to exhibit nodal even-parity $A_{1g} (s')$ or $B_{1g} (d_{x^2-y^2})$ symmetries, similar to the findings in two-dimensional models without longer-range Coulomb interaction which tends to favor $d_{xy}$ over $d_{x^2-y^2}$. Within the so-called Hund's coupling mean-field pairing scenario, the $E_g (d_{xz}/d_{yz})$ solution can be stabilized for large $J$ and specific forms of the spin-orbit coupling, but for all cases studied here the eigenvalues of other superconducting solutions are significantly larger when the full fluctuation exchange vertex is included in the pairing kernel. Additionally, we compute the spin susceptibility in relevant superconducting candidate phases and compare to recent neutron scattering and NMR Knight shift measurements.

Spin-Peierls transition of J1−J2 and extended models with ferromagnetic J1 : Sublattice dimerization and thermodynamics of zigzag chains in β−TeVO4

The spin$-1/2$ chain with ferromagnetic exchange $J_1 < 0$ between first neighbors and antiferromagnetic $J_2 > 0$ between second neighbors supports two spin-Peierls (SP) instabilities depending on the frustration $\alpha = J_2/\vert J_1\vert$. Instead of chain dimerization with two spins per unit cell, $J_1-J_2$ models with $\alpha > 0.65$ and linear spin-phonon coupling are unconditionally unstable to sublattice dimerization with four spins per unit cell. Unequal $J_1$ to neighbors to the right and left extends the model to gapped ($\gamma > 0$) chains with conditional SP transitions at $T_{SP}$ to dimerized sublattices and a weaker specific heat $C(T)$ anomaly. The spin susceptibility $\chi(T)$ and $C(T)$ are obtained in the thermodynamic limit by a combination of exact diagonalization of small systems with $\alpha > 0.65$ and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations of systems up to $N \sim 100$ spins. Both $J_1-J_2$ and $\gamma > 0$ models account quantitatively for $\chi(T)$ and $C(T)$ in the paramagnetic phase of $\beta$-TeVO$_{4}$ for $T > 8$ K, but lower $T$ indicates a gapped chain instead of a $J_1-J_2$ model as previously thought. The same parameters and $T_{SP} = 4.6$ K generate a $C(T)/T$ anomaly that reproduces the anomaly at the $4.6$ K transition of $\beta$-TeVO$_{4}$, but not the weak $\chi(T)$ signature.

Absence of spin susceptibility decrease in a bulk organic superconductor with triangular lattice

The study of non-$s$-wave unconventional superconductivities in strongly correlated electron systems has been a central issue in condensed matter physics for more than 30 years. In such unconventional superconductivities, $d$-wave Cooper pairing with antiparallel spins has been often observed in various quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) bulk systems. Interestingly, many theories predicted that the triangular lattice causes the $d$-wave pairing to be unstable and may lead to more exotic pairing such as parallel spin (spin-triplet) pairing. Here we focus on a bulk organic triangular-lattice system in which superconductivity emerges near a nonmagnetic Mott insulating phase. We demonstrate, by using low-power nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, that the spin susceptibility of the superconducting state retains the normal state value even deep in the superconducting state. This result indicates the possibility that the material exhibits spin-triplet superconductivity. Our finding will bring insights also into understanding the 2D materials with triangular moir\'e superlattices that are considered also to show unconventional superconductivities near Mott-like insulating states.

Fragment-orbital-dependent spin fluctuations in the single-component molecular conductor [Ni(dmdt)2]

Motivated by recent nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, we calculated the spin susceptibility, Knight shift, and spin-lattice relaxation rate ($1/T_{1}T$) of the single-component molecular conductor [Ni(dmdt)$_2$] using the random phase approximation in a multi-orbital Hubbard model describing the Dirac nodal line electronic system in this compound. This Hubbard model is composed of three fragment orbitals and on-site repulsive interactions obtained using ab initio many-body perturbation theory calculations. We found fragment-orbital-dependent spin fluctuations with the momentum $\textbf{q}$=$\textbf{0}$ and an incommensurate value of the wavenumber $\textbf{q}$=$\textbf{Q}$ at which a diagonal element of the spin susceptibility is maximum. The $\textbf{q}$=$\textbf{0}$ and $\textbf{Q}$ responses become dominant at low and high temperatures, respectively, with the Fermi-pocket energy scale as the boundary. We show that $1/T_{1}T$ decreases with decreasing temperature but starts to increase at low temperature owing to the $\textbf{q}$=$\textbf{0}$ spin fluctuations, while the Knight shift keeps monotonically decreasing. These properties are due to the intra-molecular antiferromagnetic fluctuations caused by the characteristic wave functions of this Dirac nodal line system, which is described by an $n$-band ($n\geq 3$) model. We show that the fragment orbitals play important roles in the magnetic properties of [Ni(dmdt)$_2$].

Spin dynamics of the one-dimensional double chain spin- 12 antiferromagnet KNaCuP2O7

We combine a muon spin relaxation ($\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{SR}$) technique with thermodynamic measurements to explore the spin dynamics of one-dimensional (1D) $S=\frac{1}{2}$ antiferromagnetic double chain ${\mathrm{KNaCuP}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{7}$. Static magnetic susceptibility and specific heat are well described by a uniform 1D spin chain model with the intrachain interaction $J/{k}_{B}\ensuremath{\approx}55\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ and small interchain interactions. Spin excitations probed by zero-field $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{SR}$ evince that high-temperature diffusive spin transport turns into ballistic behavior with decreasing temperature below 30 K. In addition, we observe that longitudinal-field $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{SR}$ varies hardly with an external magnetic field. The field-independent dynamical spin susceptibility disagrees with diffusive or ballistic behaviors.

Hydrodynamics of interacting spinons in the magnetized spin- 12 chain with a uniform Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

We use a hydrodynamic approach to investigate dynamic spin susceptibility of the antiferromagnetic spin-$1/2$ Heisenberg chain with a uniform Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction in the presence of an external magnetic field. We find that transverse (with respect to the magnetic field) spin susceptibility harbors two (respectively, three) spin excitation modes when the magnetic field is parallel (respectively, orthogonal) to the DM axis. In all cases, the marginally irrelevant backscattering interaction between the spinons creates a finite energy splitting between optical branches of excitations at $k = 0$. Additionally, for the orthogonal geometry, the two lower spin branches exhibit avoided crossing at finite momentum which is determined by the total magnetic field (the sum of the external and internal molecular fields) acting on spinons. Our approximate analytical calculations compare well with numerical results obtained using matrix-product-state (MPS) techniques. Physical consequences of our findings for the electron spin resonance experiments are discussed in detail.

Interaction-induced quantum spin Hall insulator in the organic Dirac electron system α−(BEDT-TSeF)2I3

Focusing on the recently-discovered candidate topological insulator $\alpha$-(BEDT-TSeF)$_2$I$_3$ -- having two-dimensional charge-neutral Dirac cones in a low symmetry lattice -- we combine ab-initio and extended-Hubbard model calculations to deal with spin-orbit and non-local repulsive interactions, and find a realization of an interaction-induced quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator, similar to the one proposed in the honeycomb lattice under next-nearest neighbor repulsions. In the absence of repulsive interactions, a topological insulator appears by the spin-orbit coupling and is characterized by a nonzero spin Chern number. By considering up to next-nearest neighbor repulsions at Hartree-Fock level, the intrinsic spin-orbit gap is found to grow by orders of magnitude and a QSH insulating phase appears that has both a finite spin Chern number and order parameter. Transport coefficients and spin susceptibility are calculated and found to consistently account for most of the experimental findings, including the metal-to-insulator crossover occurring at $\sim50$ K as well as the Berry phase change from 0 to $\pi$ under hydrostatic pressure. We argue that such a QSH insulating phase does not necessitate a sizeable spin-orbit interaction to generate a large insulating gap, which is highly advantageous for the search of novel topological phases in generic materials having low symmetry lattice and/or small spin-orbit coupling.

Site-Dependent Local Spin Susceptibility and Low-Energy Excitation in a Weyl Semimetal WTe2

Site-dependent local spin susceptibility is investigated with $^{125}$Te nuclear magnetic resonance in a Weyl semimetal WTe$_2$. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1T$ shows a dependence of the square of temperature $T$ at high temperatures, followed by a constant behavior below 50 K. The temperature dependence features Weyl fermions appearing around the linearly crossing bands. The Knight shift $K$ scales to the square root of $1/T_1T$, corroborating a predominant spin contribution in low-lying excitation. The observed dependence of $K$ and $1/T_1T$ on the four Te sites shows the site-dependent electron correlation and density of states. The angular profile of the NMR spectrum gives the anisotropic hyperfine coupling tensor, consistent with $5p$ hole occupations on Te sites.

Generalized model of magnon kinetics and subgap magnetic noise

Magnetic noise spectroscopy provides a noninvasive probe of spin dynamics in magnetic materials. We consider two-dimensional magnetically ordered insulators with magnon excitations, especially those supporting long-distance magnon transport, where nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers enable the access to (nearly) ballistic transport regime of magnons. We develop a generalized theory to describe the magnon transport across a wide range of length scales. The longitudinal dynamic spin susceptibility is derived from the Boltzmann equation and extended to a Lindhard form, which is modified by both the spin-conserving magnon collisions and spin relaxation. Our result is consistent with the diffusive (ballistic) model for the length scale much larger (smaller) than the magnon mean free path, and provides a description for the intermediate regime. We also give a prediction for the NV transition rate in different magnon transport regimes.

Optical and magnetic response of ultrathin film topological insulators in tilted magnetic field

Faraday’s rotation and magnetic susceptibility of an ultrathin film of topological insulator, placed in tilted magnetic field, are studied. A Hall effect analogue is studied in terms of Faraday’s rotation. It is an isotropic response and tunable with magnetic field. Susceptibility has three contributions; spin, orbital and spin–orbital. All three contributions are calculated for magnetic field tilted at an angle θ with respect to the perpendicular axis on the plane. Spin susceptibility for low temperature varies directly with Fermi energy, orbital part show diamagnetic divergence and spin orbital contribution arises as a step function at Fermi energy.

Silver(II) route to unconventional superconductivity

The highly unusual divalent silver in silver difluoride (${\mathrm{AgF}}_{2}$) features a nearly square lattice of ${\mathrm{Ag}}^{+2}$ bridged by fluorides. As a structural and electronic analog of cuprates, its superconducting properties are yet to be examined. Our first-principles electronic structure calculations reveal a striking resemblance between ${\mathrm{AgF}}_{2}$ and the cuprates. Computed spin susceptibility shows a magnetic instability consistent with the experimentally observed antiferromagnetic transition. A linearized Eliashberg theory in the fluctuation-exchange approximation shows an unconventional singlet $d$-wave superconducting pairing for bulk ${\mathrm{AgF}}_{2}$ at an optimal electron doping. The pairing is found to strengthen with decreasing interlayer coupling, highlighting the importance of the quasi-two-dimensional nature of the crystal structure. These findings place ${\mathrm{AgF}}_{2}$ in the category of unconventional high-${T}_{\text{C}}$ superconductors, and its chemical uniqueness may help shed light on the high-${T}_{\text{C}}$ phenomena.

Role of nematicity in controlling spin fluctuations and superconducting Tc in bulk FeSe

FeSe undergoes a transition from a tetragonal to a slightly orthorhombic phase at 90\,K, and becomes a superconductor below 8\,K. The orthorhombic phase is sometimes called a nematic phase because quantum oscillation, neutron, and other measurements detect a significant asymmetry in $x$ and $y$. How nematicity affects superconductivity has recently become a matter of intense speculation. Here we employ an advanced \emph{ab-initio} Green's function description of superconductivity and show that bulk tetragonal FeSe would, in principle, superconduct with almost the same T$_{c}$ as the nematic phase. The mechanism driving the observed nematicity is not yet understood. Since the present theory underestimates nematicity, we simulate the full nematic asymmetry by artificially enhancing the orthorhombic distortion. For benchmarking, we compare theoretical spin susceptibilities against experimentally observed data over all energies and relevant momenta. When the orthorhombic distortion is adjusted to correlate with observed nematicity in spin susceptibility, the enhanced nematicity causes spectral weight redistribution in the Fe-3d$_{xz}$ and d$_{yz}$ orbitals, but it leads to at most 10-15$\%$ increment in T$_{c}$. This is because the d$_{xy}$ orbital always remains the most strongly correlated and provides most of the source of the superconducting glue. Nematicity suppresses the density of states at Fermi level; nevertheless T$_{c}$ increases, in contradiction to both BCS and BEC theories. We show how the increase is connected to the structure of the particle-particle vertex. Our results suggest while nematicity may be intrinsic property of bulk FeSe, is not the primary force driving the superconducting pairing.

Energy conductance across a mesoscopic junction in a nonequilibrium spin-boson model under the influence of telegraph noise.

A spin-boson model in the presence of a telegraph noise (TN) source is employed to calculate the energy conductance between a tunnel junction and two bosonic baths. A polaron-transformed coupling term with the bosonic baths allows for treating quantum damping to arbitrary orders of strength. However, the polaron transformation yields a dressed tunneling frequency which is assumed small and treated perturbatively as is familiar in the noninteracting blip approximation in the context of the nonequilibrium spin-boson model. While the coupling with the bosonic baths leads to decoherence in an otherwise coherent tunneling process, the TN induces a different kind of fluctuation, that is, in the asymmetry of the underlying two-level system. It is the interplay of these two different relaxation effects, one triggered by the two quantum (bosonic) baths and the other through a classical bath (creating a TN), that is investigated here in detail. The TN that mimics the classical, fluctuating environment makes a nontrivial contribution to the self-energy that helps compute the imaginary part of the spin susceptibility which, in turn, determines the energy transfer across the junction. The range of validity of the TN is clarified at the outset and its efficacy in tuning the environmental influence is pointed out. The present paper complements an earlier similar study-albeit for fermionic baths-and provides additional input in terms of the TN to a previous investigation of energy transfer between a nanojunction and bosonic reservoirs without, however, the noisy environment.

Superconducting Order Parameter in UTe2 Determined by Knight Shift Measurement

This study investigates the spin susceptibility in U-based superconductor UTe$_2$ in the superconducting (SC) state by using Knight shift measurements for a magnetic field $H$ along the $a$ axis, which is the magnetic easy axis of UTe$_2$. Although a tiny anomaly ascribed to the SC diamagnetic effect was observed just below the SC transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$, the $a$-axis Knight shift in the SC state shows no significant decrease, following the extrapolation from the normal-state temperature dependence. This indicates that the spin susceptibility is nearly unchanged below $T_{\rm c}$. Considering the previous Knight shift results for $H \parallel b$ and $H \parallel c$, the dominant SC state is determined to be $B_{\rm 3u}$ in the spin-triplet pairing, which is consistent with the spin anisotropy in the normal state. The present result shows that UTe$_2$ is a spin-triplet superconductor with spin degrees of freedom.

Identification of a state of persistent spin helix in a parallel magnetic field, and exploration of its transport properties

The tensors of conductivity and spin susceptibility of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction constants [the persistent spin helix (PSH) state] in a parallel magnetic field are calculated. Applying a parallel magnetic field to the PSH state leads to the appearance of a saddle point in the spectrum and, accordingly, to a Van Hove singularity (VHS), whose amplitude increases indefinitely as the magnetic field strength $(\mathbf{b})$ approaches to some critical value ${b}_{cr}$. The presence of a VHS in the density of states is an important factor determining the conductivity and spin susceptibility tensors. When only the lower spin subband is filled, the off-diagonal elements of the conductivity tensor are nonzero; that is, a Hall voltage arises due to the anisotropy of the Fermi surface and scattering. In the region where two spin subbands are filled, the diagonal and off-diagonal components of the spin susceptibility tensor are equal, and the off-diagonal terms of the conductivity tensor vanish. A sharp decrease in the conductivity and spin susceptibility at the beginning of the filling of the second spin subband, the ratio of the diagonal component of the spin susceptibility to the off-diagonal one, and also the number of critical points in the spectrum make it possible to establish the PSH 2DEG state.

Indirect Exchange Coupling in Carbon Nanotubes

Nanostructured magnetic composites based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and ferromagnetic nanoparticles (FNPs) are of great interest both from an applied and fundamental point of view. In particular, one of the features of CNTs with FNPs is the possibility of magnetic interaction of nanoparticles through the conducting medium of CNTs. For a detailed description of this special type of interaction, which is the indirect exchange coupling, it is necessary to establish the relationship between the macroscopic and microscopic parameters of the physical system. In nanostructured ferromagnets, these dependences are described within the framework of a random magnetization model in which the spin system and, consequently, the main macroscopic characteristics (coercivity, susceptibility, and saturation magnetization) are determined by such microscopic parameters as the exchange interaction constant, the FNP magnetization, the local magnetic anisotropy constant, and the grain size. In this paper, on the basis of the previously obtained microscopic parameters of CNT – FNP nanocomposites, the possibility of obtaining long-range magnetic correlations through the indirect exchange coupling (IEC) between FNP embedded inside a multi-wall CNT (MWCNT) is considered. A model Hamiltonian is used that takes into account the diameter, chirality, chemical potential and spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in the system. The reason for the appearance of a noticeable SOI in CNTs is the curvature of the tubes, which significantly increases the SOI compared to graphene, as well as possible defects and the presence of FNP. IEC is realized by means of p-electrons of the inner wall of the MWCNT. The propagation of the spin susceptibility along the MWCNT axis is calculated and it is shown that a long-range magnetic order is realized under the condition that the chemical potential enters the gap opened by the SOI. Coherence is realized at distances up to micrometers. The proposed approach also made it possible to estimate the energy of the exchange interaction between the FNP belonging to one CNT. The results obtained indicate the prospects for the use of CNT– FNP nanocomposites in carbon spintronics.