Vortex-antivortex Lattice Research Articles

Chern Fermi pocket, topological pair density wave, and charge-4e and charge-6e superconductivity in kagomé superconductors

The recent discovery of novel charge density wave (CDW) and pair density wave (PDW) in kagomé lattice superconductors AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) hints at unexpected time-reversal symmetry breaking correlated and topological states whose physical origin and broader implications are not understood. Here, we make conceptual advances toward a mechanism behind the striking observations and new predictions for novel macroscopic phase coherent quantum states. We show that the metallic CDW state with circulating loop currents is a doped orbital Chern insulator near van Hove filling. The emergent Chern Fermi pockets (CFPs) carry concentrated Berry curvature and orbital magnetic moment. We find that the pairing of electrons on the CFPs leads to a superconducting state with an emergent vortex-antivortex lattice and the formation of a complex triple-Q PDW. A plethora of correlated and topological states emerge, including a never-before-encountered chiral topological PDW superconductor, a loop-current pseudogap phase, and vestigial charge-4e and charge-6e superconductivity in staged melting of the vortex-antivortex lattice and hexatic liquid crystal. Our findings reveal previously unknown nature of the superconducting state of a current-carrying Chern metal, with broad implications for correlated and topological materials.

Quantum phases and dynamics of dipolar spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose–Einstein condensates with spin–orbit coupling in a double-well potential

We consider a spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose–Einstein condensate with Rashba spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and dipole–dipole interaction (DDI) in a double-well potential. For the nonrotating case, the ground state of the system is obtained by using the imaginary time propagation method, and a ground-state phase diagram is given with respect to the SOC strength and the DDI strength. It is shown that the nonrotating system sustains rich exotic ground-state phases including the ox-horn phase with hidden vortices and antivortices, density droplet phase with vortex–antivortex pairs, modulated stripe phase with vortex–antivortex chains, checkerboard phase with visible vortex–antivortex chains and hidden vortex–antivortex pairs, and the triangular vortex–antivortex lattice phase. For the rotating case, the dynamics of the system is investigated by using a phenomenological dissipation model. The effects of SOC, DDI and rotation on the unique dynamic behaviors of the rotating system and the final steady-state structures are revealed and analyzed. In particular, the rotating system supports fascinating novel spin textures and skyrmion excitations, and experiences a series of topological structure transitions such as the transitions from an interlaced skyrmion–antiskyrmion lattice pair to a skyrmion–meron lattice pair and then to a meron lattice pair.

Roton pair density wave in a strong-coupling kagome superconductor.

The transition metal kagome lattice materials host frustrated, correlated and topological quantum states of matter1-9. Recently, a new family of vanadium-based kagome metals, AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb or Cs), with topological band structures has been discovered10,11. These layered compounds are nonmagnetic and undergo charge density wave transitions before developing superconductivity at low temperatures11-19. Here we report the observation of unconventional superconductivity and a pair density wave (PDW) in CsV3Sb5 using scanning tunnelling microscope/spectroscopy and Josephson scanning tunnelling spectroscopy. We find that CsV3Sb5 exhibits a V-shaped pairing gap Δ ~ 0.5 meV and is a strong-coupling superconductor (2Δ/kBTc ~ 5) that coexists with 4a0 unidirectional and 2a0 × 2a0 charge order. Remarkably, we discover a 3Q PDW accompanied by bidirectional 4a0/3 spatial modulations of the superconducting gap, coherence peak and gap depth in the tunnelling conductance. We term this novel quantum state a roton PDW associated with an underlying vortex-antivortex lattice that can account for the observed conductance modulations. Probing the electronic states in the vortex halo in an applied magnetic field, in strong field that suppresses superconductivity and in zero field above Tc,reveals that the PDW is a primary state responsible for an emergent pseudogap and intertwined electronic order. Our findings show striking analogies and distinctions to the phenomenology of high-Tc cuprate superconductors, and provide groundwork for understanding the microscopic origin of correlated electronic states and superconductivity in vanadium-based kagome metals.

Lattice Solutions in a Ginzburg\u2013Landau Model for a Chiral Magnet

We examine micromagnetic pattern formation in chiral magnets, driven by the competition of Heisenberg exchange, Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, easy-plane anisotropy and thermodynamic Landau potentials. Based on equivariant bifurcation theory, we prove existence of lattice solutions branching off the zero magnetization state and investigate their stability. We observe in particular the stabilization of quadratic vortex–antivortex lattice configurations and instability of hexagonal skyrmion lattice configurations, and we illustrate our findings by numerical studies.

Vortex lattice in two-dimensional chiral XY ferromagnets and the inverse Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition

In this Letter we will show that, in the presence of a properly modulated Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, a $U(1)$ vortex-antivortex lattice appears at low temperatures for a wide range of the DM interaction. Even more, in the region dominated by the exchange interaction, a standard BKT transition occurs. In the opposite regime, the one dominated by the DM interaction, a kind of inverse BKT transition (iBKT) takes place. As temperature rises, the vortex-antivortex lattice starts melting by annihilation of pairs of vortex-antivortex, in a sort of "inverse" BKT transition.

Three-dimensional topological twistronics

We introduce a theoretical framework for the new concept of three-dimensional (3D) twistronics by developing a generalized Bloch band theory for 3D layered systems with a constant twist angle $\theta$ between successive layers. Our theory employs a nonsymmorphic symmetry that enables a precise definition of an effective out-of-plane crystal momentum, and also captures the in-plane moir\'e pattern formed between neighboring twisted layers. To demonstrate the novel topological physics that can be achieved through 3D twistronics, we present two examples. In the first example of chiral twisted graphite, Weyl nodes arise because of inversion-symmetry breaking, with $\theta$-tuned transitions between type-I and type-II Weyl fermions, as well as magic angles at which the in-plane velocity vanishes. In the second example of twisted Weyl semimetal, the twist in the lattice structure induces a chiral gauge field $\boldsymbol{\mathcal{A}}$ that has a vortex-antivortex lattice configuration. Line modes bound to the vortex cores of the $\boldsymbol{\mathcal{A}}$ field give rise to 3D Weyl physics in the moir\'e scale. We also discuss possible experimental realizations of 3D twistronics.

Structured light entities, chaos and nonlocal maps

Spatial chaos as a phenomenon of ultimate complexity requires the efficient numerical algorithms. For this purpose iterative low-dimensional maps have demonstrated high efficiency. Natural generalization of Feigenbaum and Ikeda maps may include convolution integrals with kernel in a form of Green function of a relevant linear physical system. It is shown that such iterative $nonlocal$ $nonlinear$ $maps$ are equivalent to ubiquitous class of nonlinear partial differential equations of Ginzburg-Landau type. With a Green functions relevant to generic optical resonators these $nonlocal$ $maps$ emulate the basic spatiotemporal phenomena as spatial solitons, vortex eigenmodes breathing via relaxation oscillations mediated by noise, vortex-vortex and vortex-antivortex lattices with periodic location of vortex cores. The smooth multimode noise addition facilitates the selection of stable entities and elimination of numerical artifacts.

Synthetic nuclear Skyrme matter in imbalanced Fermi superfluids with a multicomponent order parameter

Cooper-pair formation in a system of imbalanced fermions leads to the well-studied Fulde-Ferrell or Larkin-Ovchinnikov superfluid state. In the former case the system forms spontaneous phase gradients while in the latter case it forms a stripelike or a crystal-like density gradient. We show that in multicomponent imbalanced mixtures, the superfluid states can be very different from the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov states. The system generates gradients in both densities and phases by forming three-dimensional vortex-antivortex lattices or lattices of linked vortex loops. The solutions share some properties with the ostensibly unrelated Skyrme model of densely packed baryons and can be viewed as synthetic realization of nuclear Skyrme matter.

Topological excitations in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates with Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in a two-dimensional optical lattice

We study the ground-state configurations and spin textures of rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (RD-SOC), which are confined in a two-dimensional (2D) optical lattice plus a 2D harmonic trap. In the absence of rotation, a relatively small isotropic 2D RD-SOC leads to the generation of ghost vortices for initially miscible BECs, while it gives rise to the creation of rectangular vortex-antivortex lattices for initially immiscible BECs. As the strength of the 2D RD-SOC enhances, the visible vortices or the 2D vortex-antivortex chains are created for the former case, whereas the rectangular vortex-antivortex lattices are transformed into vortex-antivortex rings for the later case. For the initially immiscible BECs with fixed 2D RD-SOC strength, the increase of rotation frequency can result in the structural phase transition from square vortex lattice to irregular triangular vortex lattice and the system transition from initial phase separation to phase mixing. In addition, we analyze the combined effects of 1D RD-SOC and rotation on the vortex configurations of the ground states for the case of initial phase separation. The increase of 1D SOC strength, rotation frequency or both of them may result in the formation of vortex chain and phase mixing. Furthermore, the typical spin textures for both the cases of 2D RD-SOC and 1D RD-SOC are discussed. It is shown that the system favors novel spin textures and skyrmion configurations including an exotic skyrmion-half-skyrmion lattice (skyrmion-meron lattice), a complicated meron lattice, a skyrmion chain, and a Bloch domain wall.

Topological chiral superconductivity with spontaneous vortices and supercurrent in twisted bilayer graphene

We study $d$-wave superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene and reveal phenomena that arise due to the moir\'e superlattice. In the $d$-wave pairing, the relative motion (RM) of two electrons in a Cooper pair can have either $d+id$ or $d-id$ symmetry with opposite angular momenta. Due to the enlarged moir\'e superlattice, the center-of-mass motion (COMM) can also carry a finite angular momentum while preserving the moir\'e periodicity. By matching the total angular momentum, which has contributions from both the RM and the COMM, Cooper pairs with $d+id$ and $d-id$ RMs are intrinsically coupled in a way such that the COMM associated with one of the RMs has a spontaneous vortex-antivortex lattice configuration. Another phenomenon is that the chiral $d$-wave state carries spontaneous bulk circulating supercurrent. The chiral $d$-wave superconductors are gapped and also topological as characterized by an integer Chern number. Nematic $d$-wave superconductors, which could be stabilized, for example, by uniaxial strain, are gapless with point nodes.

Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and vortex-antivortex lattice melting in two-dimensional Fermi gases with p - or d -wave pairing

We present a theoretical study of the finite-temperature Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) and vortex-antivortex lattice (VAL) melting transitions in two-dimensional Fermi gases with $p$- or $d$-wave pairing. For both pairings, when the interaction is tuned from weak to strong attractions, we observe a quantum phase transition from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluidity to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of difermions. The KT and VAL transition temperatures increase during this BCS-BEC transition and approach constant values in the deep BEC region. The BCS-BEC transition is characterized by the non-analyticities of the chemical potential, the superfluid order parameter, and the sound velocities as functions of the interaction strength at both zero and finite temperatures; however, the temperature effect tends to weaken the non-analyticities comparing to the zero temperature case. The effect of mismatched Fermi surfaces on the $d$-wave pairing is also studied.

Lattices of quantized vortices in polariton superfluids

Abstract In this review, we will focus on the description of the recent studies conducted in the quest for the observation of lattices of quantized vortices in resonantly injected polariton superfluids. In particular, we will show how the implementation of optical traps for polaritons allows for the realization of vortex–antivortex lattices in confined geometries and how the development of a flexible method to inject a controlled orbital angular momentum (OAM) in such systems results in the observation of patterns of same-sign vortices.

Unconventional Bose-Einstein condensation in a system with two species of bosons in thep-orbital bands in an optical lattice

In the context of Gross-Pitaevskii theory, we investigate the unconventional Bose-Einstein condensations in the two-species mixture with $p$-wave symmetry in the second band of a bipartite optical lattice. A new imaginary-time propagation method is developed to numerically determine the $p$-orbital condensation. Different from the single-species case, the two-species boson mixture exhibits two non-equivalent complex condensates in the intraspecies-interaction-dominating regime, exhibiting the vortex-antivortex lattice configuration in the charge and spin channels, respectively. When the interspecies interaction is tuned across the SU(2) invariant point, the system undergoes a quantum phase transition toward a checkerboard-like spin density wave state with a real-valued condensate wavefunction. The influence of lattice asymmetry on the quantum phase transition is addressed. Finally, we present a phase-sensitive measurement scheme for experimentally detecting the UBEC in our model.

Stability of skyrmion lattices and symmetries of quasi-two-dimensional chiral magnets

Recently, there has been substantial interest in realizations of skyrmions, in particular in 2D systems due to increased stability resulting from reduced dimensionality. A stable skyrmion, representing the smallest realizable magnetic texture, could be an ideal element for ultra-dense magnetic memories. Here, we use the most general form of the 2D free energy with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions constructed from general symmetry considerations reflecting the underlying system. We predict that skyrmion phase is robust and it is present even when the system lacks the in-plane rotational symmetry. In fact, the lowered symmetry leads to increased stability of vortex-antivortex lattices with four-fold symmetry and in-plane spirals, in some instances even in the absence of an external magnetic field. Our results relate different hexagonal and square cell phases to the symmetries of materials used for realizations of skyrmions. This will give clear directions for experimental realizations of hexagonal and square cell phases, and will allow engineering of skyrmions with unusual properties. We also predict striking differences in gyro-dynamics induced by spin currents for isolated skyrmions and for crystals where spin currents can be induced by charge carriers or by thermal magnons. We find that under certain conditions, isolated skyrmions can move along the current without a side motion which can have implications for realizations of magnetic memories.

Route to non-Abelian quantum turbulence in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We have studied computationally the collision dynamics of spin-2 Bose--Einstein condensates initially confined in a triple-well trap. Depending on the intra- and inter-component relative phases of the initial state spinor wave function, the collision of the three condensate segments produces one of many possible vortex-antivortex lattices after which the system transitions to quantum turbulence. We find that the emerging vortex lattice structures can be described in terms of multi-wave interference. We show that the three-segment collisions can be used to systematically produce staggered vortex-antivortex honeycomb lattices of fractional-charge vortices, whose collision dynamics are known to be non-Abelian. Such condensate collider experiments could potentially be used as a controllable pathway to generating non-Abelian superfluid turbulence with networks of vortex rungs.

Enhanced gyration-signal propagation speed in one-dimensional vortex-antivortex lattices and its control by perpendicular bias field

We report on a micromagnetic simulation study of coupled core gyrations in one-dimensional (1D) alternating vortex-antivortex (V-AV) lattices formed in connected soft-magnetic-disk arrays. In such V-AV lattices, we found fundamental standing-wave gyration modes as well as significantly enhanced gyration-signal speed, as originating from combined strong exchange and dipole interactions between the neighboring vortices and antivortices. Collective core oscillations in the V-AV networks are characterized as unique two-branch bands, band gap, and width of which are remarkably variable and controllable by externally applied perpendicular fields. The gyration propagation speed for the parallel polarization ordering is much faster (>1 km/s) than that for 1D vortex-state arrays, and variable remarkably by application of perpendicular static fields. This work provides a fundamental understanding of the coupled dynamics of topological solitons as well as an additional mechanism for fast gyration-signal propagation; moreover, it offers an efficient means of significant propagation-speed enhancement that is suitable for information carrier applications in continuous thin-film nanostrips.

Publisher's Note: Interaction-shaped vortex-antivortex lattices in polariton fluids [Phys. Rev. B89, 134501 (2014)

Publisher's Note: Interaction-shaped vortex-antivortex lattices in polariton fluids [Phys. Rev. B<b>89</b>, 134501 (2014)

Phase transitions in the domain structure of ferromagnetic superconductors

Starting from the London-type model, we study the domain structures in ferromagnetic superconductors taking account of the nucleation of vortices and antivortices coupled to the magnetic texture. We predict that the coupling between domains and vortices results in the formation of two energetically favorable domain configurations: (i) a Meissner-type vortex-free configuration with strong domain shrinking and (ii) a more rare domain configuration with a dense vortex-antivortex lattice. The switching between these configurations is shown to result in the first-order phase transitions which could be observable in superconducting uranium-based compounds.

Periodic magnetic structures generated by spin–polarized currents in nanostripes

The influence of a spin-polarized current on long ferromagnetic nanostripes is studied numerically. The current flows perpendicularly to the stripe. The study is based on the Landau-Lifshitz phenomenological equation with the Slonczewski-Berger spin-torque term. The magnetization behavior is analyzed for all range of the applied currents, up to the saturation. It is shown that the saturation current is a nonmonotonic function of the stripe width. For a stripe width increasing it approaches the saturation value for an infinite film. A number of stable periodic magnetization structures are observed below the saturation. Type of the periodical structure depends on the stripe width. Besides the one-dimensional domain structure, typical for narrow wires, and the two-dimensional vortex-antivortex lattice, typical for wide films, a number of intermediate structures are observed, e.g. cross-tie and diamond state. For narrow stripes an analytical analysis is provided.

Stochastic formation of polariton condensates in two degenerate orbital states

We explore the exciton-polariton condensation in the two degenerate orbital states. In the honeycomb lattice potential, at the third band we have two degenerate vortex-antivortex lattice states at the inequivalent K and K'-points. We have observed energetically degenerate condensates within the linewidth ~ 0.3 meV, and directly measured the vortex-antivortex lattice phase order of the order parameter. We have also observed the intensity anticorrelation between polariton condensates at the K- and K'-points. We relate this intensity anticorrelation to the dynamical feature of polariton condensates induced by the stochastic relaxation from the common particle reservoir.