Electronic quasiparticles and evolution of Fermi level spin states in thin magnetic layers

Here we report on high-resolution photoemission of iron layers grown on a W(1 1 0) substrate. The evolution of the substrate states upon sub-monolayer adsorption of Fe atoms leads to a shift in surface state binding energy. For thicker (1 1 0) films, sharp metallic surface states are obtained. Their dispersion displays the signature of quasiparticle renormalization due to dressing with excitations. The energy scale is characteristic for the spin wave spectrum in iron, thereby giving evidence of electron-magnon coupling. Furthermore, it is found that quantum well states occur as a function of layer thickness. These modify the spin density of states at the Fermi level in the ferromagnetic film.     

Effects of quasiparticle redistribution on the surface impedance of superconductors

Calculations of surface impedance of a thin film superconductor indicate a significant decrease, with increasing microwave power, due to quasiparticle redistribution. An expression for the microwave-to-film coupling is derived. The distribution function is solved self-consistently to avoid a singularity.     

Off-diagonal s-d coupling and red shift of absorption spectra in magnetic semiconductors

Using the method of moments, it is argued that the strong coupling s-d model gives an appreciably enhanced red shift of the quasiparticle density of states with temperature due to even a weak off-diagonal s-d coupling contribution as compared to the case with only a diagonal coupling. The result is used to interpret the red shift in chromium chalcogenide spinels.     

Surface bound states and spin currents in noncentrosymmetric superconductors

We investigate the ground state properties of a noncentrosymmetric superconductor near a surface. We determine the spectrum of Andreev bound states due to surface-induced mixing of bands with opposite spin helicities for a Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling. We find that the order parameter suppression qualitatively changes the bound state spectrum. The spin structure of Andreev states leads to a spin supercurrent along the interface, which is strongly enhanced compared to the normal state spin current. Particle and hole coherence amplitudes show Faraday-like rotations of the spin along quasiparticle trajectories.     

Fermi surface and quasiparticle dynamics of Na0.7CoO2 investigated by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We present the first angle-resolved photoemission study of Na0.7CoO2, the host material of the superconducting NaxCoO2.nH(2)O series. Our results show a hole-type Fermi surface, a strongly renormalized quasiparticle band, a small Fermi velocity, and a large Hubbard U. The quasiparticle band crosses the Fermi level from M toward Gamma suggesting a negative sign of effective single-particle hopping t(eff) (about 10 meV) which is on the order of magnetic exchange coupling J in this system. Quasiparticles are well defined only in the T-linear resistivity (non-Fermi-liquid) regime. Unusually small single-particle hopping and unconventional quasiparticle dynamics may have implications for understanding the phase of matter realized in this new class of a strongly interacting quantum system.     

effects of rattling phonons on the dynamics of quasiparticle excitation in the beta-pyrochlore KOs(2)O(6) Superconductor

Microwave penetration depth lambda and surface resistance at 27 GHz are measured in high quality crystals of KOs(2)O(6). Firm evidence for fully gapped superconductivity is provided from lambda(T). Below the second transition at T(p) approximately 8 K, the superfluid density shows a steplike change with a suppression of effective critical temperature T(c). Concurrently, the extracted quasiparticle scattering time shows a steep enhancement, indicating a strong coupling between the anomalous rattling motion of K ions and quasiparticles. The results imply that the rattling phonons help to enhance superconductivity, and that K sites freeze to an ordered state with long quasiparticle mean free path below T(p).     

Synergistic polaron formation in the Hubbard-Holstein model at small doping

We study the effect of dynamical Holstein phonons on the physics of the Hubbard model at small doping using the dynamical cluster approximation on a 2x2 cluster. Nonlocal antiferromagnetic correlations are found to significantly enhance the electron-phonon coupling, resulting in polaron formation for moderate coupling strengths. At finite doping, the electron-phonon coupling is found to strongly enhance the nonlocal spin correlations, indicating a synergistic interplay between the electron-phonon coupling and antiferromagnetic correlations. Although it enhances the pairing interaction, the electron-phonon coupling is found to decrease the superconducting transition temperature, due to the reduction in the quasiparticle fraction.     

Electronic structure of SmOFeAs

The electronic structure of SmOFeAs, a parent compound of iron arsenic superconductors, is measured by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Due to the surface contribution, the measured electronic structure deviates strongly from the calculations. One of the bulk bands is identified by photon energy dependence measurements. Moreover, the appearance of sharp quasiparticle peaks at low temperatures implies the drastic reduction of the scattering rate. No energy gap is observed at Fermi level, indicating that the Fermi surface nesting is irrelevant in the spin density wave formation.     

Optical Conductivity of Graphene Sheet Including Electron-Phonon Interaction

Using an expression of optical conductivity,based on the linear response theory,the Green's function technique and within the Holstein Hamiltonian model,the effect of electron-phonon interaction on the optical conductivity of graphene plane is studied.It is found that the electron-phonon coupling increases the optical conductivity of graphene sheet in the low frequency region due to decreasing quasiparticle weight of electron excitation while the optical conductivity reduces in the high frequency region.The latter is due to role of electrical field's frequency.     

Theory of half-metal/superconductor heterostructures

We investigate the Josephson coupling between two singlet superconductors separated by a half-metallic magnet. The mechanism behind the coupling is provided by the rotation of the quasiparticle spin in the superconductor during reflection events at the interface with the half metal. Spin rotation induces triplet correlations in the superconductor which, in the presence of surface spin-flip scattering, results in an indirect Josephson effect between the superconductors. We present a theory appropriate for studying this phenomenon and calculate physical properties for a superconductor/half-metal/superconductor heterostructure.     

Quasiparticle interference of C2-symmetric surface states in a LaOFeAs parent compound

We present scanning tunneling microscopy studies of the LaOFeAs parent compound of iron pnictide superconductors. High resolution spectroscopic imaging reveals strong standing wave patterns induced by quasiparticle interference of two-dimensional surface states. Fourier analysis shows that the distribution of scattering wave vectors exhibits pronounced twofold (C(2)) symmetry, strongly reminiscent of the nematic electronic state found in CaFe(1.94)Co(0.06)As(2). The implications of these results to the electronic structure of the pnictide parent states will be discussed.     

Quasiparticle relaxation in optically excited high-Q superconducting resonators

The quasiparticle relaxation time in superconducting films has been measured as a function of temperature using the response of the complex conductivity to photon flux. For tantalum and aluminum, chosen for their difference in electron-phonon coupling strength, we find that at high temperatures the relaxation time increases with decreasing temperature, as expected for electron-phonon interaction. At low temperatures we find in both superconducting materials a saturation of the relaxation time, suggesting the presence of a second relaxation channel not due to electron-phonon interaction.     

Hidden Fermi Surface in K<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Fe<Subscript>2–<Emphasis Type="Italic">y</Emphasis></Subscript>Se<Subscript>2</Subscript>: LDA + DMFT Study

In this paper we provide theoretical LDA + DMFT support of recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) observation of the so-called hidden hole-like band and corresponding hidden Fermi surface sheet near Γ-point in the K_0.62Fe_1.7Se₂ compound. To some extent, this is a solution to the long-standing riddle of Fermi surface absence around Γ-point in the K_xFe_2–ySe₂ class of iron chalcogenide superconductors. In accordance with the experimental data, Fermi surface was found near the Γ-point within LDA + DMFT calculations. Based on the LDA + DMFT analysis in this paper it is shown that the largest of the experimental Fermi surface sheets is actually formed by a hybrid Fe-3d ( xy, xz, yz )quasiparticle band. It is also shown that the Fermi surface is not a simple circle as DFT-LDA predicts, but has (according to the LDA + DMFT) a more complicated “propeller”-like structure due to correlations and multiorbital nature of the K_xFe_2–ySe₂ materials. While the smallest experimental Fermi surface around Γ-point is in some sense fictitious, since it is formed by the summation of the intensities of the spectral function associated with “propeller” loupes and is not connected to any of quasiparticle bands.     

Are cobaltates conventional? An ARPES viewpoint

Recently discovered class of cobaltate superconductors (Na_0.3CoO₂·nH₂O) is a novel realization of interacting quantum electron system in a triangular network with low-energy degrees of freedom. We employ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study the quasiparticle parameters in the parent superconductors. Results reveal a large hole-like Fermi surface generated by the crossing of heavy quasiparticles. The measured quasiparticle parameters collectively suggest two orders of magnitude departure from the conventional weak coupling (such as Al) Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer electron dynamics paradigm and unveils cobaltates as a rather hidden class of relatively high temperature superconductors. These parameters also form the basis for a microscopic Hamiltonian of the system.     

Semi-decoupled bands in the even Hg isotopes

The odd-parity yrast states of the isotopes ^190–200Hg are studied in a model of two quasiparticles coupled to an oblate rotor and interacting by a surface delta interaction. The experimental energy spectra and the enhancement of E2 transition probabilities are well explained by the model. The pure Coriolis coupling problem (i.e., the problem obtained when the residual interaction is suppressed) is investigated in detail. It is shown that the main effect of the Coriolis force is to decouple the high-spin quasiparticle originating in the neutron $\text{1}\text{i}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>13</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ subshell from the system of the rotor and the low-spin quasiparticle. We study the coupling of a particle to an axially symmetric rotor, which has an intrinsic spin along its symmetry axis, and derive a good approximate solution to the problem.     

Complex quasiparticle band structure induced by electron-phonon interaction: band splitting in the 1x1H/W110 surface

We show that the self-consistent solution of the complex Dyson equation for the electron-phonon (EP) problem introduces many body effects which are often observed in photoemission experiments. The formalism is applied to the H covered W(110) surface, using first-principles results for the electronic and vibrational structure. We demonstrate that the measured spin-polarized surface band splitting [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2925 (2000)10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2925; 89, 216802 (2002)] can be traced back to different quasiparticle (QP) states induced by EP coupling. Despite the breakdown of the single QP picture, the spectral functions are very well represented by the predicted multiple QP structure.     

Doping dependence of the coupling of electrons to bosonic modes in the single-layer high-temperature Bi2Sr2CuO6 superconductor

A recent highlight in the study of high-T(c) superconductors is the observation of band renormalization or self-energy effects on the quasiparticles. This is seen in the form of kinks in the quasiparticle dispersions as measured by photoemission and interpreted as signatures of collective bosonic modes coupling to the electrons. Here we compare for the first time the self-energies in an optimally doped and strongly overdoped, nonsuperconducting single-layer Bi-cuprate (Bi2Sr2CuO6). In addition to the appearance of a strong overall weakening, we also find that the weight of the self-energy in the overdoped system shifts to higher energies. We present evidence that this is related to a change in the coupling to c-axis phonons due to the rapid change of the c-axis screening in this doping range.     

Dynamical role of anyonic excitation statistics in rapidly rotating bose gases

We show that for rotating harmonically trapped Bose gases in a fractional quantum Hall state, the anyonic excitation statistics in the rotating gas can effectively play a dynamical role. For particular values of the two-dimensional coupling constant g=-2pih2(2k-1)/m, where k is a positive integer, the system becomes a noninteracting gas of anyons, with exactly obtainable solutions satisfying Bogomol'nyi self-dual order parameter equations. Attractive Bose gases under rapid rotation thus can be stabilized in the thermodynamic limit due to the anyonic statistics of their quasiparticle excitations.     

Boson description of collective states: (II). Description of odd vibrational nuclei

By addition of the so-called ideal quasiparticle to the boson space one can represent the odd fermion states in that product space. In such a way one finds various representations of the fermion operators in terms of the boson operators and ideal quasiparticles. From these boson expansions of the fermion operators a finite one is selected by considering non-unitary transformations. Thus, the direct generalization, of the Dyson representation for even systems is given for the case of odd systems. The Hamiltonian can be divided into three parts: the boson term which describes the vibrational motion of the even core, the unperturbed motion of the quasiparticle, and the interaction between the quasiparticle and the bosons. This interaction consists of two terms, one of which agrees with the term used by Kisslinger and Sorensen ²), which is usually called the dynamical interaction, and the additional term is due to the antisymmetrization between the extra particle and the even core. The latter term can be identified as kinematical interaction which is responsible for the anomalous coupling states. For example, it is demonstrated that this term produces qualitatively the same splitting of the one-phonon multiplet as was obtained by Kuriyama et al. ³) for the j-shell. Furthermore, it is shown for the more complicated case of ¹¹⁷Sn that the effect of this additional interaction between phonons and quasiparticle is important when many shells to the states in the odd nucleus are taken into account.