Formation of intermediate coupling optical polarons and bipolarons in two-dimensional systems

The formation of the optical polaron and bipolaron in two-dimensional (2D) systems is studied in the intermediate electron–phonon coupling regime. The total energies of the 2D polaron and bipolaron are calculated by using the Buimistrov–Pekar method of canonical transformations. The obtained results are compared with other existing results obtained by using the Feynman path integral method and the modified Lee–Low–Pines unitary transformation method. It is shown that the electron–phonon correlation significantly reduces the total energy of the 2D polaron in comparison with the energy of the strong coupling (adiabatic) polaron. It is found that the polaron formation in 2D systems is possible when the electron–phonon coupling constant α is greater than the critical value ${\alpha }_c?2.94$, which is much lower than a critical value of the electron–phonon coupling constant α in three-dimensional (3D) systems. The critical values of the Fröhlich coupling constant α and the ratio $\eta ={\epsilon }_{\infty }/{\epsilon }_0$ (where ${\epsilon }_{\infty }$ and ${\epsilon }_0$ are the high frequency and static dielectric constants, respectively), which determine the bipolaron stability region in 2D systems, are calculated numerically. It is interesting for application to the layered cuprate superconductors that the (bi)polarons are formed more easily in quasi-2D regions than in the bulk. It is argued that the high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductivity can exist above the bulk superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ as the persisting superfluidity of polaronic (bosonic) Cooper pairs and large bipolarons at quasi-2D grain boundaries or in the CuO₂ layers above $T_c$.     

Electronic vacuum charge for an overcritical nucleus

A “cut-off” Coulomb potential taking into account the finite size of the nucleus is finite, and a solution of the Dirac equation can be constructed for any energy, both positive and negative. In the paper we develop an exact solution of the Dirac equation for a fixed value of the total momentum j for the whole spectrum of energies, which allows us to determine the vacuum charge and its spatial distribution. We consider nuclei with different charges Z, both $Z<Z_c$ and $Z>Z_c$, where $Z=Z_c$ is the “critical” charge, at which the energy of the lowest discrete state reaches the boundary of the lower continuum $\epsilon =?m{c}^2$. Polarization of vacuum is determined, and the vacuum charge for several values of Z is found. For an undercritical nuclear charge, $Z<Z_c$, the total vacuum charge appears to be zero, while for $Z>Z_c$, the vacuum gets rearranged, and the total vacuum charge becomes equal to $?2e$. The vacuum charge distribution for $j=1/2$ for both undercritical and overcritical nuclei is calculated.     

Convective boson-fermion pairing mode in one-dimensional oscillating optical superlattice

A convective pairing mode of a boson-fermion mixture of ultracold atoms confined in an optical superlattice can be induced by the transformation between two optical superlattice configurations. This convective pairing mode only exists in discrete momentum vector zones for pairing energy gaps. The energy spectrum of gapped states is characterized by topological winding numbers. Two neighboring gapped states are bridged by an unstable chiral linear mode, which drives the boson-fermion pair into directional motion for a short period but remains static in the supersymmetric phase with time-reversal symmetry. The phase transition from a gapped mode to a gapless mode occurs at a critical temperature, whose distribution curve for chemical potential demonstrates a similar dome-like trend as that of high $T_c$ superconductor. The boson-fermion pairing may shed light on a possible mechanism of high-$T_c$ superconductivity.     

Thermospin effects in a T-shaped spin valves with spin-flip scattering

With the help of the nonequilibrium Green's function technique, we theoretically analyze the thermospin property through a typical T-shaped spin valve with spin-flip scattering in the linear regime. The influences of spin-flip coefficient of interdot λ, spin-flip coefficient of intradot η and interdot hopping coefficient $t+{\delta }_{\sigma }\mathrm{\Delta }t$ on thermospin property are discussed. As interdot hopping coefficient t is equal to energy level ε, the spectrum of $G_s$ shows Fano-like effect with ε variation. Antiresonance position of $G_s$ is almost unchanged and its width becomes narrower with ε increasing. Spin thermopower $S_s$ is close to the maximum of the peak and charge thermopower $S_c$ is equal to zero for $t=\epsilon$. As a result, the pure spin thermopower $S_s$ can be obtained, which means that a pure spin current may be produced by a temperature gradient in our system. It is found that spin figure of merit $Z{T}_s$ can reach a considerable value by adjusting key parameters of the system, such as Δt, β, α, ?. The typical T-shaped spin valve can be treated as a stable thermospin battery which allows to convert the heat energy to spin voltage, thus produces the pure spin current in the device.     

A superhard orthorhombic carbon with all six-membered-ring in sp3 bonding networks

We identify by first-principles calculations a new diamond-like carbon phase with a 16-atom orthorhombic primitive cell in $Pbcn$ (${D_{2h}}^{14}$) symmetry. This new carbon allotrope consists of all $s{p}^3$ six-membered rings like as the reported BC8, BC12 and R16 carbon, while energetically more stable than these carbon phases. Its dynamical stability has been confirmed by phonon mode analysis and molecular dynamics simulations. The calculated bulk modulus (435 GPa) and Vickers hardness (93 GPa) are comparable to that of diamond, showing as a superhard carbon material. Electronic band calculations reveal that it is an insulator with an indirect band gap of 4.35 eV. Simulated X-ray diffraction spectrum presents a complicated pattern, showing an amorphous form of diamond, reflecting its structural complexity stemming from its multiple bond lengths and bond angles, but matches well with the diffractions peaks found in the diamond-rich coatings on stainless steel substrate. These findings lay a foundation for further study of this new diamond-like carbon allotrope and its outstanding properties.     

Moment of inertia of superconductors

We find that the bulk moment of inertia per unit volume of a metal becoming superconducting increases by the amount $m_e/(\pi r_c)$, with $m_e$ the bare electron mass and $r_c=e^2/m_e{c}^2$ the classical electron radius. This is because superfluid electrons acquire an intrinsic moment of inertia $m_e{(2{\lambda }_L)}^2$, with ${\lambda }_L$ the London penetration depth. As a consequence, we predict that when a rotating long cylinder becomes superconducting its angular velocity does not change, contrary to the prediction of conventional BCS-London theory that it will rotate faster. We explain the dynamics of magnetic field generation when a rotating normal metal becomes superconducting.     

Spin switch effect in multiply connected superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid geometry

We consider a superconducting spin valve in multiply connected superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid geometry such as a superconducting ring enclosed a ferromagnetic metal, in the framework of linearized Usadel equations. We simplify our model by considering the presence of the exchange field in the superconducting ring which allows us to manipulate magnetization orientations in parallel or antiparallel configurations by switching the weaker exchange field. In such geometry the superconducting ground state is activated to higher orbital states characterized by the nonvanishing vorticity parameters L which will be the energetically favorable superconducting state in some ranges of the proximity superconductor-ferromagnet region. The competing effects caused by the exchange interactions and the orbital effect, are analyzed through the nonmonotonic dependence of the superconducting critical temperature $T_c$ on the radius $d_f$ of the ferromagnetic core. The analytic $T_c(d_f)$ formula is obtained within the single mode approach and the analysis of the spin switch effect is given.     

Topological states in the Hofstadter model on a honeycomb lattice

We provide a detailed analysis of a topological structure of a fermion spectrum in the Hofstadter model with different hopping integrals along the $x,y,z$-links ($t_x=t,t_y=t_z=1$), defined on a honeycomb lattice. We have shown that the chiral gapless edge modes are described in the framework of the generalized Kitaev chain formalism, which makes it possible to calculate the Hall conductance of subbands for different filling and an arbitrary magnetic flux ϕ. At half-filling the gap in the center of the fermion spectrum opens for $t>t_c=2^{\varphi }$, a quantum phase transition in the 2D-topological insulator state is realized at $t_c$. The phase state is characterized by zero energy Majorana states localized at the boundaries. Taking into account the on-site Coulomb repulsion U (where $U<<1$), the criterion for the stability of a topological insulator state is calculated at $t<<1$, $t\sim U$. Thus, in the case of $U>4\mathrm{\Delta }$, the topological insulator state, which is determined by chiral gapless edge modes in the gap Δ, is destroyed.     

Pressure controllable phase transition in MoTe2 by the interlayer band occupancy

High pressure can effectively control the phase transition of MoTe₂ in experiment, but the mechanism is still unclear. In this work, we show by first-principles calculations that the phase transition is suppressed and $1T^{\prime }$ phase becomes more stable under high pressure, which originates from the pressure-induced change of the interlayer band occupancies near the Fermi energy. Specifically, the interlayer states of $1T^{\prime }$ phase tend to be fully occupied under high pressure, while they keep partially occupied for the $T_d$ phase. The increase of the band occupancies makes the $1T^{\prime }$ phase more favorable in energy and prevents the structure changing from $1T^{\prime }$ to $T_d$ phase. Moreover, we also analyze the superconductivity under high pressure based on BCS theory by calculating the density of states and phonon spectra. Our results may shed some light on understanding the relationship between the interlayer band occupancy and crystal stability of MoTe₂ under high pressures.     

Molecular dynamics simulations on the effect of nanovoid on shock-induced phase transition in uranium nitride

The Angular-Dependent Potential (ADP) proposed by Tseplyaev et al. was used to study the structural behavior of uranium nitride (UN) under shock pressure by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Based on the calculations of shock velocity $U_S$ and particle velocity $U_P$, the results show that a pressure-induced phase transition of $\mathit{Fm}?3m\to R?3m$ structure in UN occurs at 35 GPa, and it agrees well with experimental results of 30–32 GPa. We also considered the effect of nanovoid on the phase transition of UN crystal from $Fm?3m$ to $R?3m$ structure. It is found that the pressure of phase transition decreases with the increasing nanovoid diameter. The phase transition takes place firstly around nanovoid, companied by the nanovoid collapsing, and then spreads to the void-free regions in the process of shock loading. Due to different stresses at different direction the spreading velocity of phase transition perpendicular to the direction of shock wave is observed to be far faster than the one parallel to the direction of shock wave.     

New findings for two new type sine hyperbolic potentials

We propose two new type sine hyperbolic potentials $V(x)=a^2{\sinh }^2?(x)?k{\tanh }^2?(x)$ and $V(x)=c^2{\sinh }^4?(x)?k{\tanh }^2?(x)$. They may become single- or double-well potentials depending on the potential parameters $a,c$ and k. We find that its exact solutions can be written as the confluent Heun functions $H_c(\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma ,\delta ,\eta ;z)$, in which the energy level E is involved inside the parameter η. The properties of the wave functions, which is strongly relevant for the potential parameters $a,c$ and k, are illustrated.