Gideon Wachtel

Long-range order and pinning of charge-density waves in competition with superconductivity

Recent experiments show that charge-density-wave correlations are prevalent in underdoped cuprate superconductors. The correlations are short ranged at weak magnetic fields but their intensity and spatial extent increase rapidly at low temperatures beyond a crossover field. Here we consider the possibility of long-range charge-density-wave order in a model of a layered system where such order competes with superconductivity. We show that in the clean limit, low-temperature long-range order is stabilized by arbitrarily weak magnetic fields. This apparent discrepancy with the experiments is resolved by the presence of disorder. Like the field, disorder nucleates halos of charge-density wave, but unlike the former it also disrupts interhalo coherence, leading to a correlation length that is always finite. Our results are compatible with various experimental trends, including the onset of longer range correlations induced by interlayer coupling above a characteristic field scale.

Electrodynamic duality and vortex unbinding in driven-dissipative condensates

We investigate the superfluid properties of two-dimensional driven Bose liquids, such as polariton condensates, using their long-wavelength description in terms of a compact Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation for the phase dynamics. We account for topological defects (vortices) in the phase field through a duality mapping between the compact KPZ equation and a theory of non-linear electrodynamics coupled to charges. Using the dual theory we derive renormalization group equations that describe vortex unbinding in these media. When the non-equilibirum drive is turned off, the KPZ non-linearity {\lambda} vanishes and the RG flow gives the usual Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition. On the other hand, with non-linearity {\lambda} > 0 vortices always unbind, even if the same system with {\lambda} = 0 is superfluid. We predict the finite size scaling behavior of the superfluid stiffness in the crossover governed by vortex unbinding showing its clear distinction from the scaling associated with the KT transition.

Path to stable quantum spin liquids in spin-orbit coupled correlated materials

The spin liquid phase is one of the prominent strongly interacting topological phases of matter whose unambiguous confirmation is yet to be reached despite intensive experimental efforts on numerous candidate materials. Recently, a new family of correlated honeycomb materials, in which strong spin-orbit coupling allows for various bond-dependent spin interactions, have been promising candidates to realize the Kitaev spin liquid. Here we study a model with bond-dependent spin interactions and show numerical evidence for the existence of an extended quantum spin liquid region, which is possibly connected to the Kitaev spin liquid state. These results are used to provide an explanation of the scattering continuum seen in neutron scattering on α-RuCl3.Frustrated magnetism: extending the landscape of honeycomb spin liquidsInteractions that interfere with the formation of a theoretically ideal Kitaev spin liquid could still stabilize other spin liquid behavior. The discovery of the exactly solvable Kitaev honeycomb model has led to an intensive search for materials that can realize its exotic Kitaev spin liquid phase. However, candidates so far have additional interactions that compete with those present in the Kitaev model. Andrei Catuneanu and co-workers from the Universities of Toronto and Tokyo combined several numerical techniques to study the effects of non-Kitaev terms and found that spin liquid behavior connected to the ideal Kitaev description could persist in a broad parameter range. Their predictions show similarities to observations in the candidate Kitaev spin liquid ruthenium trichloride, suggesting their analysis may play a role in understanding this still controversial material.

Lattice duality for the compact Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation

A comprehensive theory of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in two-dimensional superfluids in thermal equilibrium can be developed within a dual representation which maps vortices in the superfluid to charges in a Coulomb gas. In this framework, the dissociation of vortex-antivortex pairs at the critical temperature corresponds to the formation of a plasma of free charges. The physics of vortex unbinding in driven-dissipative systems such as fluids of light, on the other hand, is much less understood. Here we make a crucial step to fill this gap by deriving a transformation that maps the compact Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation, which describes the dynamics of the phase of a driven-dissipative condensate, to a dual electrodynamic theory. The latter is formulated in terms of modified Maxwell equations for the electromagnetic fields and a diffusion equation for the charges representing vortices in the KPZ equation. This mapping utilizes an adaption of the Villain approximation to a generalized Martin-Siggia-Rose functional integral representation of the compact KPZ equation on a lattice.

Pseudo-Landau levels of Bogoliubov quasiparticles in strained nodal superconductors

Motivated by theory and experiments on strain induced pseudo-Landau levels (LLs) of Dirac fermions in graphene and topological materials, we consider its extension for Bogoliubov quasiparticles (QPs) in a nodal superconductor (SC). We show, using an effective low energy description and numerical lattice calculations for a d-wave SC, that a spatial variation of the electronic hopping amplitude or a spatially varying s-wave pairing component can act as a pseudo-magnetic field for the Bogoliubov QPs, leading to the formation of pseudo-LLs. We propose realizations of this phenomenon in the cuprate SCs, via strain engineering in films or nanowires, or s-wave proximity coupling in the vicinity of a nematic instability, and discuss its signatures in tunneling experiments.

Transverse thermoelectric transport in a model of many competing order parameters

Coexisting fluctuations towards various ordered states are ubiquitous in strongly correlated electronic systems. In particular, measurements of underdoped cuprate high-temperature superconductors reveal evidence for short range charge order in parallel to large superconducting fluctuations. Here we use a non-linear sigma model to describe a system with N competing orders, and calculate its transverse thermoelectric transport coefficient in the analytically tractable limit of large N . Our results, which determine the contribution of order parameter fluctuations to the Nernst signal, are appropriate for high temperatures in the case of finite N . They are similar to previously obtained results within a model of Gaussian superconducting fluctuations.

Signatures of thermally excited vortices in a superconductor with competing orders

Experimental evidence for the existence of a fluctuating charge-density wave order in the pseudogap regime of YBa

Classical and quantum spin dynamics of the honeycomb Γ model

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Optimal inhomogeneity for pairing in Hubbard systems with next-nearest-neighbor hopping

Cu

Inhomogeneous phases in a double-exchange magnet with long range Coulomb interactions

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