Quantum transport in nanostructures, quantum dots, molecular electronics, graphene and 2D materials.
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We study nonreciprocal current response in noncentrosymmetric crystals under time-reversal symmetry. We show that the nonreciprocal current appears in a dissipative system through interband processes. The nonreciprocal current is inversely proportional to the lifetime $τ$ and has a close relationship to the geometric quantity called the shift vector. The current mechanism is suitable for minigap systems where the energy gap and relaxation strength are comparable. We present a numerical simulation of the nonreciprocal current in the one-dimensional Rice--Mele model.
We theoretically investigate spin-dependent transport in a TMD-based vertical spin valve, taking WSe$_2$ as a representative example. Using effective Hamiltonians for the heterostructure and the Landauer formula, we derive the transmission and reflection coefficients within a transfer-matrix approach. The calculated magnetoresistance shows an oscillatory dependence on the WSe$_2$ thickness when the Fermi level is tuned near the valence-band maximum. The effects of gate voltage and exchange fields on the magnetoresistance are further analyzed. We also identify a Fabry-Pérot-like interference contribution to the magnetoresistance, which can enhance or even induce negative magnetoresistance in certain thickness regimes. Our results provide a qualitative understanding of the negative magnetoresistance observed in WSe$_2$-based spin valves and may offer useful insights for the design of tunable spintronic devices.
2604.03719In the context of chirality induced spin selectivity effect, it has been argued that a chiral molecule when adsorbed on a metal facilitates the formation of a local spin moment at the interface between the metal and molecule, given a strong spin-orbit coupling in the metal. The possibility for such spin moment formation is analyzed in terms of general arguments and effective modeling of a pertinent set-up. The conclusion from this analysis is that a strong spin-orbit coupling in the metal does not provide a sufficient mechanism to sustain a stabilized spin moment at the interface. It is, moreover, shown that an electron flux in to or out from the molecule does not provide conditions for a spin moment formation, regardless of whether the flux is spin-polarized or not.
We report the details of construction and testing of a Quantum Twisting Microscope, a recently developed scanning probe instrument that enables twist angle dependent electronic measurements on layered materials. Our implementation is based on a commercial atomic force microscope whose open geometry beneath the scan head allows integration of the rotation and translation stages required for QTM operation. We describe the complete fabrication process including tip preparation by focused ion beam deposition and graphite transfer, custom stage assembly with integrated rotation capability, and multistep alignment procedures. To validate the instrument, we perform conductance measurements between graphite layers as a function of twist angle, observing clear 60 degree periodicity consistent with the hexagonal lattice symmetry and conductance enhancements near the commensurate twist angles of 21.8 and 38.2 degrees. These results confirm the instruments ability to resolve crystallographic twist angle dependent transport features. By providing detailed construction and operational guidelines, we aim to make QTM technology accessible to research groups with standard AFM infrastructure, enabling investigations of twist angle dependent phenomena in van der Waals materials, complex oxide heterostructures and chiral systems.
Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) was recently observed in photo-excited donor-chiral bridge-acceptor molecules, but a predictive theory able to explain available experiments is still lacking. Here we show that low-energy torsional modes modulating hopping and spin-orbit coupling give rise to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction between the transferred electron and the one sitting on the donor, producing high spin polarization for perfectly realistic parameters. Our model introduces a low energy scale in the spin dynamics which explains the magnetic field dependence observed in EPR measurements and predicts a non-trivial temperature dependence, as demonstrated by numerical simulations. The present theory lays the foundations for future test-bed experiments and for the design of applications in spintronics and quantum technologies.
Electron vortices are the quintessential signature of a viscous electron fluid. For decades, their detection relied on indirect transport measurements with persistently debated interpretations. Recently, scanning magnetometry enabled direct visualization, yet these techniques demand considerable sophistication. Here we introduce a conceptually different and inherently simpler paradigm based on nanomechanics. By integrating a circular cavity into a suspended resonator, we create a vortex whose circulating current generates a magnetic moment. In an in-plane magnetic field, this moment experiences a torque, driving vibrations that directly reveal the vortex's presence and nature. We detect ballistic and hydrodynamic vortices and trace their temperature-driven crossover. Our work establishes nanomechanics as a platform for electron hydrodynamics, showing that viscosity - subtle in transport - is one of the dominant factors shaping nanoelectromechanical response.
Two-dimensional noncollinear magnetic states, such as spin-spiral magnets, offer an excellent platform for investigating fundamental phenomena, with potential for advancing stray-field-free spintronics. However, detection and characterization of noncollinear magnetic states in two-dimensional systems remain challenging, motivating the development of alternative probing methods. Here, we present a methodology for extracting the spin-spiral $\mathbf{q}$ vector from lateral electronic transport measurements. Our approach leverages the magnetic field and bias dependence of the conductance to train a supervised machine learning algorithm, which enables us to extract the $\mathbf{q}$ vectors of arbitrary spin-spiral magnets. We demonstrate that this methodology is robust to the presence of impurities in the system and noise in the conductance data. Our findings show that the conductance pattern reveals a complex dependence on the $\mathbf{q}$ vector of the spin spiral, providing a new strategy to learn magnetic structures directly from transport experiments.
One-dimensional topological superconductors accommodate a pair of Majorana zero modes at their ends. In an interferometer containing such a topological superconductor, electron transport is significantly affected by the Majorana zero modes constituting a non-local state localized near both ends of the superconductor. When the number of electrons $\mathcal{N}$ in the superconductor is constrained by a charging effect, the resonant tunneling through the non-local state is expected to result in unusual transport properties. This resonant tunneling, called electron teleportation, is not easy to describe because there is no simple method to handle the constraint on $\mathcal{N}$. Here, we propose a boundary potential method based on scattering theory for calculating the conductance of the interferometer under a given constraint on $\mathcal{N}$. This method enables us to calculate the conductance taking account of relevant charging energy and details of the system.
We predict thermoelectric and current rectification effects in hybrid junctions formed by Ising superconductors and materials hosting valley-polarized states. Both effects originate from the interplay of intrinsic Ising spin-orbit coupling, spin-splitting from an exchange or Zeeman field, and valley polarization. The resulting transport signatures provide experimentally accessible probes of valley-polarized states in van der Waals heterostructures, such as junctions of few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides and twisted bilayer or rhombohedral graphene.
We study the thermodynamics of the (2+1) dimensional Gross-Neveu model inspired from graphene. We focus on the entropy density of the Gaussian fluctuation beyond the mean field. The full in-medium, momentum-dependent evaluation reveals that the fluctuations give a substantial contribution, even comparable to that of the mean field. We argue that the back-reaction from the fluctuations to the mean field should be included, which reduces the contribution mainly coming from the Landau-damping region. To treat this self-consistently, we use the generalized version of the Beth-Uhlenbeck approach for the entropy density. Compared with the standard Beth-Uhlenbeck formulation, the generalized version suppresses the low-energy contributions while preserving the bound-state effects. The fractional entropy carried by bound excitons and free fermions reveals a sharper crossover of the degrees of freedom in the generalized version, which is consistent with Mott-transition physics in two-dimensional materials.
We find that a novel Superconductor-Insulator-2D electron gas tunnel junction (SISm) strongly and efficiently generates thermoelectricity via a nonlinear mechanism. We simulate across the parameter space of the junction, finding and discussing different regimes with features useful for thermoelectricity generation or for specific applications. The generated Seebeck potential can go up to $6.75Δ_0$ with a huge nonlinear Seebeck coefficient, and efficiency can get very close to Carnot efficiency $η=0.96η_C$, a record for a solid-state device model. Thermoelectric performance is far better than analogous junctions, with fewer fabrication challenges, as the device can be fabricated via standard methods.
We demonstrate the stray-field-mediated skyrmion stabilizing capabilities of ultrathin exchange-decoupled antisymmetric ferromagnetic bilayers based on conventional transition metal materials. Using an asymptotically exact micromagnetic model valid in the ultrathin film limit, we show that the antisymmetric tailoring of the bilayer allows the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and the dipolar interaction to act synergistically to stabilize skyrmions, in contrast to the monolayer case, in which these energies compete. To obtain optimal stability of these skyrmions against collapse and bursting -- the two fundamental processes determining skyrmion lifetime, we carry out an asymptotic analysis of the saddle point solution that separates the skyrmion from the demagnetized state. The result is an optimal stability line for compact skyrmions in the non-dimensional parameter space of the effective Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction strength and the effective film thickness. Our predictions are confirmed by extensive micromagnetic simulations of antisymmetric bilayers, using magnetic parameters of the conventional Pt/Co/AlO$_x$ systems. Our results provide a new pathway for experimental observations of 10 nm radius zero-field skyrmions with lifetimes compatible with information technology applications.
We investigate the emergence of quantum anomalous Hall conductivity in a two-dimensional $d$-wave altermagnet on a Lieb lattice under an external magnetic field. Altermagnetic order induces momentum-dependent spin splitting without net magnetization in the relativistic limit, producing distinct spin-resolved bands at the $X$ and $Y$ valleys. The phase diagram features a normal insulator and a spin Chern insulator separated by an accidental Dirac semimetal. The magnetic field breaks rotational symmetry between valleys while maintaining vanishing total magnetization, enabling independent valley contributions to topology. One valley supports Chern numbers $C=-1$ or $0$, while the other hosts $C=0$ or $+1$, governed by field strength and bandwidth. This competition yields valley-dependent topology. Berry curvature analysis reveals fully gapped phases with total Chern numbers $C=\pm1$, separated by valley-selective gap closings. We uncover a mechanism for rapid magnetic control of the quantum anomalous Hall effect near the semimetal phase and highlight key distinctions from ferro-valleytronic and quantum spin Hall systems.
We theoretically introduce a quasi-1D magnetic heterostructure of alternating 2D topological and normal insulator strips. Its low-energy physics is governed by a hybrid Hamiltonian intertwining the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger and Shockley models, with spin-momentum locking and local Zeeman splitting. Symmetry analysis places it in class AIII, characterized by chiral symmetry and a $\mathbb{Z}$ topological invariant. Computing the winding number from the block-off-diagonal structure of the Hamiltonian reveals topological phases characterized by invariants $ν= 0$, $1$, and $2$. Furthermore, a single magnetic defect acts as a sensitive local probe, whose in-gap spectrum provides a spectroscopic fingerprint to distinguish topological phases. Extending the platform to a multilayer geometry uncovers a nonsymmorphic projective symmetry that gives rise to Möbius band topology, with the Brillouin zone compactifying into a Klein bottle. Our work establishes a platform for higher-order topology via heterostructure design and magnetic patterning.
We study the interplay between long-range electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions in electrostatically doped two-dimensional semiconductors, including interlayer couplings in van der Waals heterostructures. We evaluate the effects of those interactions on transport properties by writing dynamically coupled Boltzmann equations for the electrons and for the electrodynamically active excitations. We develop a theory with a general validity, and apply it both to simplified parabolic models, and to the realistic BN-encapsulated graphene system which we present in an accompanying paper [arXiv:2604.00678]. We show that dynamical screening effects are of fundamental importance in order to correctly describe the electronic transport properties of two-dimensional materials, and in particular the scattering from polar phonons, whether those come from the semiconductor itself or the surrounding layers.
Based on the process tensor framework, we extend the time-evolving matrix product operator (TEMPO) method to solve bosonic quantum impurity problems (QIPs) with off-diagonal system-bath coupling. Our method is a most generic extension of TEMPO, which applies for any QIPs as long as the bath is noninteracting and the system is linearly coupled to the bath. It naturally contains all the current developments of TEMPO in more restricted settings. As an application, we study the real-time dynamics of a spin that is coupled to a sub-ohmic bath via the Jaynes-Cummings-type system-bath coupling, and compare it against that of the standard spin-boson model. Our results show that the commonly used secular approximation could easily fail in presence of a structural bath. Our method provides a unified framework to understand different variants of TEMPO and directly suggests a fermionic generalization which has not been explored so far, it could also be straightforwardly used as an impurity solver in the bosonic dynamical mean field theory.
We propose a novel superconducting quantum circuit that should be robust against both relaxation and dephasing over a wide and experimentally accessible parameter range. The circuit consists of a parallel arrangement of a large inductance, a small capacitor, and a well-transmitting Josephson weak link. Protection against relaxation arises from the hybridization between the fermionic degree of freedom associated with Andreev levels in the weak link and the bosonic electromagnetic mode of the LC circuit, hence its name: FerBo. Furthermore, as in the fluxonium qubit, delocalization of the wavefunctions in phase space provides resilience against dephasing.
Utility-scale quantum computing requires the integration and operation of a large-scale qubit register. Semiconductor spin qubits are a primary candidate for this, due to the prospects of building integrated hybrid quantum-classical architectures. However, scaling spin-qubit systems while preserving performance and control has remained a challenge. Here, we demonstrate the operation of an 18-qubit array in germanium based on an extendable 2xN architecture. We achieve simultaneous initialization, control, and readout across the entire array, enabled by parallel operation of modular unit cells. Across the array, we achieve average and median single-qubit gate fidelities of 99.8% and 99.9%, respectively. Finally, we characterize the nearest-neighbor exchange couplings throughout the device and implement high-quality controlled-Z gates to generate a three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. These results demonstrate that spin-qubit arrays can be scaled while maintaining high-fidelity operation and establish a modular, extendable architecture for planar semiconductor quantum processors.
We investigated the nonreciprocal spin-wave properties, including the frequency shift, of a helical equilibrium state in a versatile CoFeB/NiFe bilayer. Through an extension of the dynamic matrix formalism (developed in this work) to an arbitrary non-collinear configuration along a heterostructured multilayered system thickness, we explained the frequency shift via differences in the dynamic dipolar and interlayer exchange interactions arising from the distinct spin-wave mode profiles across the bilayer thickness for counterpropagating modes at the same wave vector. In contrast to recent literature wherein the frequency shift is attributed solely to the dipolar interaction, our results and explanations hereby presented involve a starring role of the interlayer exchange interaction not accounted in current literature. Furthermore, we also found a combination of large frequency shift values and sub-100 nm spin wave wavelengths that can be tuned or even enhanced with the twisting degree of the helical magnetization state by the application of the external field, and with the thickness of the NiFe sublayer, which might be highly relevant for magnonic applications. We validated our model and the physical mechanism that explains the frequency shift using recent simulations and experimental results.
This work investigates the origin of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) scaling in the phase dynamics of one-dimensional and two-dimensional polariton condensates. We demonstrate that the key mechanism leading to the observed power laws for the first-order correlation function $g^{(1)}$ is the fluctuation of the population of Goldstone modes, which arise due to the spontaneous breaking of $U(1)$ symmetry. Numerical simulations and analytical theory confirm that the critical exponents describing the KPZ universality class directly follow from the dynamics of Goldstone excitations. Our results establish a direct connection between the microscopic parameters of arrays of exciton-polariton condensates and the coherent properties of the light they emit.