Condensed Matter

Mermin-Wagner-Coleman theorem predicts no long-range magnetic order at finite temperature in the two-dimensional (2D) isotropic systems, but a quasi-long-range order with a divergent correlation length at the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition for planar magnets. As a representative of two-dimensional planar antiferromagnets, single-layer CoPS3 carries the promise of monolayer antiferromagnetic platforms for the ultimately thin spintronics. Here, with the aid of magnetostriction which is sensitive to the local magnetic order, we observe the signatured phonon mode splitting of below TKT in monolayer CoPS3, revealing the presence of quasi-long-range ordering in XY-type antiferromagnet. Moreover, the ratio (J'/J) between the interlayer and intralayer interactions, which characterizes the 2D behaviors, is evaluated to be around 0.03 for the first time. Our results provide an efficient method to detect the quasi-long-range antiferromagnetic ordering in the two-dimensional magnets down to monolayer limit.

Electrons confined in silicon quantum dots exhibit orbital, spin, and valley degrees of freedom. The valley degree of freedom originates from the bulk bandstructure of silicon, which has six degenerate electronic minima. The degeneracy can be lifted in silicon quantum wells due to strain and electronic confinement, but the "valley splitting" of the two lowest lying valleys is known to be sensitive to atomic-scale disorder. Large valley splittings are desirable to have a well-defined spin qubit. In addition, an understanding of the inter-valley tunnel coupling that couples different valleys in adjacent quantum dots is extremely important, as the resulting gaps in the energy level diagram may affect the fidelity of charge and spin transfer protocols in silicon quantum dot arrays. Here we use microwave spectroscopy to probe spatial variations in the valley splitting, and the intra- and inter-valley tunnel couplings ( t ij and t ??ij ) that couple dots i and j in a triple quantum dot (TQD). We uncover large spatial variations in the ratio of inter-valley to intra-valley tunnel couplings t ??12 / t 12 =0.90 and t ??23 / t 23 =0.56 . By tuning the interdot tunnel barrier we also show that t ??ij scales linearly with t ij , as expected from theory. The results indicate strong interactions between different valley states on neighboring dots, which we attribute to local inhomogeneities in the silicon quantum well.

Starting from the Luttinger model for the band structure of GaAs, we derive an effective theory that describes the coupling of the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) system with photons in resonant Raman scattering experiments. Our theory is applicable in the regime when the energy of the photons ? 0 is close to the energy gap E G , but | ? 0 ??E G | is much larger than the energy scales of the quantum Hall problem. In the literature, it is often assumed that Raman scattering measures the dynamic structure factor S(?,k) of the FQH. However, in this paper, we find that the light scattering spectrum measured in the experiments are proportional to the spectral densities of a pair of operators which we identified with the spin-2 components of the kinetic part of the stress tensor. In contrast with the dynamic structure factor, these spectral densities do not vanish in the long-wavelength limit k?? . We show that Raman scattering with circularly polarized light can measure the spin of the magnetoroton excitation in the FQH system. We give an explicit expression for the kinetic stress tensor that works on any Landau level and which can be used for numerical calculations of the spectral densities that enter the Raman scattering amplitudes. We propose that Raman scattering provides a way to probe the bulk of the ν=5/2 quantum Hall state to determine its nature.

Molecular motor gliding motility assays based on myosin/actin or kinesin/microtubules are of interest for nanotechnology applications ranging from cargo-trafficking in lab-on-a-chip devices to novel biocomputation strategies. Prototype systems are typically monitored by expensive and bulky fluorescence microscopy systems and the development of integrated, direct electric detection of single filaments would strongly benefit applications and scale-up. We present estimates for the viability of such a detector by calculating the electrostatic potential change generated at a carbon nanotube transistor by a motile actin filament or microtubule under realistic gliding assay conditions. We combine this with detection limits based on previous state-of-the-art experiments using carbon nanotube transistors to detect catalysis by a bound lysozyme molecule and melting of a bound short-strand DNA molecule. Our results show that detection should be possible for both actin and microtubules using existing low ionic strength buffers given good device design, e.g., by raising the transistor slightly above the guiding channel floor. We perform studies as a function of buffer ionic strength, height of the transistor above the guiding channel floor, presence/absence of the casein surface passivation layer for microtubule assays and the linear charge density of the actin filaments/microtubules. We show that detection of microtubules is a more likely prospect given their smaller height of travel above the surface, higher negative charge density and the casein passivation, and may possibly be achieved with the nanoscale transistor sitting directly on the guiding channel floor.

Within a new paradigm for communications on the nanoscale, high-frequency surface acoustic waves are becoming effective data carrier and encoder. On-chip communications require acoustic wave propagation along nano-corrugated surfaces which strongly scatter traditional Rayleigh waves. Here we propose the delivery of information using subsurface acoustic waves with hypersound frequencies ~20 GHz, which is a nanoscale analogue of subsurface sound waves in the ocean. A bunch of subsurface hypersound modes is generated by pulsed optical excitation in a multilayer semiconductor structure with a metallic nanograting on top. The guided hypersound modes propagate coherently beneath the nanograting, retaining the surface imprinted information, on a distance of more than 50 {\mu}m which essentially exceeds the propagation length of Rayleigh waves. The concept is suitable for interfacing single photon emitters, such as buried quantum dots, carrying coherent spin excitations in magnonic devices, and encoding the signals for optical communications at the nanoscale.

Strong electron correlation and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) provide two non-trivial threads to condensed matter physics. When these two strands of physics come together, a plethora of quantum phenomena with novel topological order have been predicted to emerge in the correlated SOC regime. In this work, we examine the combined influence of electron correlation and SOC on a 2-dimensional (2D) electronic system at the atomic interface between magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) and a tungsten diselenide (WSe2) crystal. In such structure, strong electron correlation within the moire flatband stabilizes correlated insulating states at both quarter and half filling, whereas SOC transforms these Mott-like insulators into ferromagnets, evidenced by robust anomalous Hall effect with hysteretic switching behavior. The coupling between spin and valley degrees of freedom is unambiguously demonstrated as the magnetic order is shown to be tunable with an in-plane magnetic field, or a perpendicular electric field. In addition, we examine the influence of SOC on the isospin order and stability of superconductivity. Our findings establish an efficient experimental knob to engineer topological properties of moire band in twisted bilayer graphene and related systems.

Quantifying the temperature of microdevices is critical for probing nanoscale energy transport.Such quantification is often accomplished by integrating resistance thermometers into microdevices. However, such thermometers frequently become structurally unstable and fail due to thermal stresses at elevated temperatures. Here, we show that custom-fabricated scanning thermal probes (STPs) with a sharp tip and an integrated heater/thermometer can accurately measure the temperature of microdevices held at elevated temperatures. This measurement is accomplished by introducing a modulated heat input to the STP after contacting the microdevice with the STP's tip, and characterizing the DC and AC components of the STP's temperature.From these measured temperature components, the tip-to-sample thermal resistance and the microdevice surface temperature are deduced via a simple lumped-capacitance model. The advances presented here can greatly facilitate temperature measurements of a variety of heated microdevices.

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect in diamond is an efficient quantum sensor of randomly fluctuating signals via relaxometry measurements. In particular, the longitudinal spin relaxation of the NV defect accelerates in the presence of magnetic noise with a spectral component at its electron spin resonance frequency. We look into this effect quantitatively by applying a calibrated and tunable magnetic noise on a single NV defect. We show that an increase of the longitudinal spin relaxation rate translates into a reduction of the photoluminescence (PL) signal emitted under continuous optical illumination, which can be explained using a simplified three-level model of the NV defect. This PL quenching mechanism offers a simple, all-optical method to detect magnetic noise sources at the nanoscale.

Majorana zero modes can appear at the wire ends of a 1D topological superconductor and manifest themselves as a quantized zero-bias conductance peak in the tunneling spectroscopy of normal-superconductor junctions. However, in superconductor-semiconductor hybrid nanowires, zero-bias conductance peaks may arise owing to topologically trivial mechanisms as well, mimicking the Majorana-induced topological peak in many aspects. In this work, we systematically investigate the characteristics of zero-bias conductance peaks for topological Majorana bound states, trivial quasi-Majorana bound states and low-energy Andreev bound states arising from smooth potential variations, and disorder-induced subgap bound states. Our focus is on the conductance peak value (i.e., equal to, greater than, or less than 2 e 2 /h ), as well as the robustness (plateau- or spike-like) against the tuning parameters (e.g., the magnetic field and tunneling gate voltage) for zero-bias peaks arising from the different mechanisms. We find that for Majoranas and quasi-Majoranas, the zero-bias peak values are no more than 2 e 2 /h , and a quantized conductance plateau forms generically as a function of parameters. By contrast, for conductance peaks due to low-energy Andreev bound states or disorder-induced bound states, the peak values may exceed 2 e 2 /h , and a conductance plateau is rarely observed unless through careful postselection and fine-tuning. Our findings should shed light on the interpretation of experimental measurements on the tunneling spectroscopy of normal-superconductor junctions of hybrid Majorana nanowires.

Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers, optically-active atomic defects in diamond, have attracted tremendous interest for quantum sensing, network, and computing applications due to their excellent quantum coherence and remarkable versatility in a real, ambient environment. Taking advantage of these strengths, we report on NV-based local sensing of the electrically driven insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) in a proximal Mott insulator. We studied the resistive switching properties of both pristine and ion-irradiated VO2 thin film devices by performing optically detected NV electron spin resonance measurements. These measurements probe the local temperature and magnetic field in electrically biased VO2 devices, which are in agreement with the global transport measurement results. In pristine devices, the electrically-driven IMT proceeds through Joule heating up to the transition temperature while in ion-irradiated devices, the transition occurs non-thermally, well below the transition temperature. Our results provide the first direct evidence for non-thermal electrically induced IMT in a Mott insulator, highlighting the significant opportunities offered by NV quantum sensors in exploring nanoscale thermal and electrical behaviors in Mott materials.