Pressure-induced change of the Fermi surface topology in Al-based solid solutions

An ab initio study of the electronic structure and the Fermi surface is carried out for random Al-Si and Al-Ge solid solutions. At a 10 at. % Si content, a topological transition of the neck-formation type is revealed, which can account for the experimentally observed peculiarities of the transport properties of the Al-Si system. A similar transition is also found in the Al-Ge system, and the appearance of the anomalous transport coefficients at Ge concentrations of about 10 at. % is predicted. In addition, it is shown that the increase in the concentration of the dopants gives rise to nesting of the Fermi surface sheets (superposition of electron-hole pockets). This peculiarity of the Fermi surface can be responsible for the enhancement of the superconductivity and the instability of the crystal structure observed in the Al_1?xSi_x and Al_1?xGe_x solid solutions.     

On the topology of the Fermi surface in dense neutron matter

The model of dense neutron matter has been considered, where the topological rearrangement of the ground state of the system of Landau quasiparticles, which is associated with the appearance of the second sheet of the Fermi surface, occurs through two different scenarios. The rearrangement scenario depends on the relation between the wave vector q _c of critical spin-isospin fluctuations and the Fermi momentum p _F. Rearrangement at q _c < p _F occurs continuously with vanishing of the topological rigidity, whereas rearrangement at q _c > p _F occurs with the stepwise appearance of a bubble with a radius of about 0.5p _F in the filled Fermi sphere.     

Fermi surface topology of Ca1.5Sr0.5RuO4 determined by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

We report angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy results of the Fermi surface of Ca1.5Sr0.5RuO4, which is at the boundary of magnetic/orbital instability in the phase diagram of the Ca-substituted Sr ruthenates. Three t(2g) energy bands and the corresponding Fermi surface sheets are observed, which are also present in the Ca-free Sr2RuO4. We find that while the Fermi surface topology of the alpha,beta (d(yz,zx)) sheets remains almost the same in these two materials, the gamma (d(xy)) sheet exhibits a holelike Fermi surface in Ca1.5Sr0.5RuO4 in contrast to being electronlike in Sr2RuO4. Our observation of all three volume conserving Fermi surface sheets clearly demonstrates the absence of orbital-selective Mott transition, which was proposed theoretically to explain the unusual transport and magnetic properties in Ca1.5Sr0.5RuO4.     

Topological change of the Fermi surface in low-density Rashba gases: application to superconductivity

In this Letter we show how, for small values of the Fermi energy compared to the spin-orbit splitting of Rashba type, a topological change of the Fermi surface leads to an effective reduction of the dimensionality in the electronic density of states in the low charge density regime. We investigate its consequences on the onset of the superconducting instability. We show that the superconducting critical temperature is significantly tuned in this regime by the spin-orbit coupling. We suggest that materials with strong spin-orbit coupling are good candidates for enhanced superconductivity.     

BCS theory of driven superconductivity

We study the impact of a time-dependent external driving of the lattice phonons in a minimal model of a BCS superconductor. Upon evaluating the driving-induced vertex corrections of the phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction, we show that parametric phonon driving can be used to elevate the critical temperature T_c, while a dipolar phonon drive has no effect. We provide simple analytic expressions for the enhancement factor of T_c. Furthermore, a mean-field analysis of a nonlinear phonon-phonon interaction also shows that phonon anharmonicities further amplify T_c. Our results hold universally for the large class of normal BCS superconductors.     

Topology of the Fermi surface and the coexistence of orbital antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in cuprates

It has been shown that the strong coupling model taking into account a rise in the spin antiferromagnetic insulating state explains the doping dependence of the topology and shape of the Fermi contour of superconducting cuprates. Hole pockets with shadow bands in the second Brillouin zone form the Fermi contour with perfect ordinary and mirror nesting, which ensures the coexistence of orbital antiferromagnetism and superconductivity with a large pair momentum for T < T_C. The weak pseudogap region (T_* < T < T*) corresponds to the orbital antiferromagnetic ordering, which coexists with the incoherent state of superconducting pairs with large momenta in the strong pseudogap region (T_C < T < T_*).     

Relation between magnetooptical effects and the topology of the Fermi surface of ferromagnetic metals

The anomalous magnetooptical effects in transition metals are related to the structure of the Fermi surface. The anisotropy parameters for the scattering of carriers by impurity centers is derived. The anisotropy parameter is calculated for the real and imaginary parts of the anomalous complex conductivity of iron for multiply connected, spin-down cylindrical surfaces around point H of the subband, for the single spin-down electron surface around point of the subband, and for the large spin-up hole surface around point H of the subband.Translated from Izvestiya VUZ. Fizika, No. 5, pp. 23–28, May, 1971.The author thanks professor E. I. Kondorskii.     

Fermi Acceleration in driven relativistic billiards

We show numerical experiments of driven billiards using special relativity. We have the remarkable fact that for the relativistic driven circular and annular concentric billiards, depending on initial conditions and parameters, we observe Fermi Acceleration, absent in the Newtonian case. The velocity for these cases tends to the speed of light very quickly. We find that for the annular eccentric billiard the initial velocity grows for a much longer time than the concentric annular billiard until it asymptotically reach c.     

The “pair” Fermi contour and high-temperature superconductivity

Superconducting pairing of holes with a large (on the order of doubled Fermi) total pair momentum and small relative motion momenta is considered taking into account the quasi-two-dimensional electronic structure of high-T _c cuprates with clearly defined nesting of the Fermi contour situated in an extended neighborhood of the saddle point of the electronic dispersion law (the momentum space region with a hyperbolic metric) and the arising of a spatially inhomogeneous (stripe) structure as a result of the redistribution of current carriers (holes) that restores regions with antiferromagnetic ordering. The superconducting energy gap and condensation energy were determined, and their dependences on the doping level were qualitatively studied. The energy gap was shown to exist in some hole concentration region limited on both sides. The superconducting state with a positive condensation energy appears in a narrower range of doping within this region. The reason for the arising of the superconducting state at a repulsive screened Coulomb interaction between holes is largely the redistribution of hole pairs in the momentum space related to the special features of the hyperbolic metric, which is responsible for the formation of the “pair” Fermi contour, and the renormalization of the kinetic energy of holes when the chemical potential changes because of the condensation of pairs. Hole pairs of the type under consideration exist not only in the condensate but also in the form of quasi-stationary states with very weak decay at temperatures substantially exceeding the superconducting transition temperature. The pseudogap region of the phase diagram of high-T _c cuprates is related to such states. The pairing mechanism under consideration allows not only the principal characteristics of the phase diagram but also key experimental data on high-T _c cuprate materials to be qualitatively explained.     

Flow field topology of transient mixing driven by buoyancy

Transient mixing driven by buoyancy occurs through the birth of a symmetric Rayleigh-Taylor morphology (RTM) structure for large length scales. Beyond its critical bifurcation the RTM structure exhibits self-similarity and occurs on smaller and smaller length scales. The dynamics of the RTM structure, its nonlinear growth and internal collision, show that its genesis occurs from an explosive bifurcation which leads to the overlap of resonance regions in phase space. This event shows the coexistence of regular and chaotic regions in phase space which is corroborated with the existence of horseshoe maps. A measure of local chaos given by the topological entropy indicates that as the system evolves there is growth of uncertainty. Breakdown of the dissipative RTM structure occurs during the transition from explosive to catastrophic bifurcation; this event gives rise to annihilation of the separatrices which drives overlap of resonance regions. The global bifurcation of explosive and catastrophic events in phase space for the large length scale of the RTM structure serves as a template for which mixing occurs on smaller and smaller length scales.     

Fermi surface reconstruction by dynamic magnetic fluctuations

We demonstrate that nearly critical quantum magnetic fluctuations in strongly correlated electron systems can change the Fermi surface topology and also lead to spin charge separation in two dimensions. To demonstrate these effects, we consider a small number of holes injected into the bilayer antiferromagnet. The system has a quantum critical point (QCP) which separates magnetically ordered and disordered phases. We demonstrate that in the physically interesting regime, there is a magnetically driven Lifshitz point (LP) inside the magnetically disordered phase. At the LP, the topology of the hole Fermi surface is changed. We also demonstrate that in this regime, the hole spin and charge necessarily separate when approaching the QCP. The considered model sheds light on generic problems concerning the physics of the cuprates.     

Fermi surface topology and the upper critical field in two-band superconductors: application to MgB2

Recent measurements of the anisotropy of the upper critical field B(c2) on MgB2 single crystals have shown a puzzling strong temperature dependence. Here, we present a calculation of the upper critical field based on a detailed modeling of band structure calculations that takes into account both the unusual Fermi surface topology and the two gap nature of the superconducting order parameter. Our results show that the strong temperature dependence of the B(c2) anisotropy can be understood as an interplay of the dominating gap on the sigma band, which possesses a small c-axis component of the Fermi velocity, with the induced superconductivity on the pi-band possessing a large c-axis component of the Fermi velocity. We provide analytic formulas for the anisotropy ratio at T=0 and T=T(c) and quantitatively predict the distortion of the vortex lattice based on our calculations.     

Fermi surface of LaAg

Electronic structure, especially the Fermi surface, is calculated for the intermetallic rare-earth compound LaAg, known to show the structural phase transition when In is substituted for Ag, by a self-consistent fully-relativistic APW method with the exchange-correlation potential in a local-density approximation. The Fermi surface is found to consist of large hole and electron sheets as well as small hole and electron sheets. This result confirms well the theoretical prediction by Niksch et al. (1987). These Fermi surface sheets are found to explain the experimental results for the de Haas-van Alphen effect by Niksch et al. (1987) and Motoki et al. (1995) reasonably well. But, the frequency branches originating from the large hole sheet have been observed only partially. Local curvature of the large hole sheet is investigated as a possible origin of the disappearance of these frequency branches.     

Fermi surface parameters of graphite by band calculations

Energy bands near the Fermi surface of graphite are calculated by a new method suitable for layer-type crystals. Theoretical values for the band parameters in the Slonczewski-Weiss band model are obtained, and they are in good agreement with experimental ones.     

Topological phase transitions driven by next-nearest-neighbor hopping in noncentrosymmetric cold Fermi gases

We investigate the topological phase marked by the Thouless–Kohmoto–Nightingale–Nijs(TKNN) number and the phase transitions driven by the next nearest neighbor(NNN) hopping in noncentrosymmetric cold Fermi gases, both spinsinglet pairing and spin-triplet pairing are considered. There exists a critical t'c for the NNN hopping, at which the quantum phase transition occurs, and the system changes from an Abelian(non-Abelian) phase to a non-Abelian(Abelian) one. By numerically diagonalizing the Hamiltonian in the real space, the energy spectra with edge states for different topological phases and the Majorana zero modes are discussed. Although the spin-triplet pairing does not contribute to the gap closing and the phase diagram, it induces gapless states in the presence of a magnetic field, and the TKNN number in this region is still zero.     

Fermi resonance on surface polaritons

Fermi resonance on surface polaritons appears when a band of two-particle states of some optical surface phonons lies in the range of the surface polariton frequency variation. It is shown that in this case the dispersion law for surface polaritons has a number of peculiarities, which may well be observable experimentally.     

Fermi surface of NaxCoO2

Doping evolution of the Fermi surface topology of Na(x)CoO(2) is studied systematically. Both local density approximation (LDA) and local spin density approximation (LSDA) predict a large Fermi surface as well as small hole pockets for doping levels x approximately 0.5. In contrast, the hole pockets are completely absent for all doping levels within LSDA+U. More importantly, we find no violation of Luttinger's rule in this system. The measured Fermi surface of Na(0.7)CoO(2) can be explained by its half-metallic behavior and agrees with our LSDA+U calculations.