Anomalous Hall conductivity of clean Sr2RuO4 at finite temperatures

Building on previous work, we calculate the temperature- and frequency-dependent {\it anomalous} Hall conductivity for the putative multiband chiral superconductor \Sr using a simple microscopic two-orbital model without impurities. A Hall effect arises in this system without the application of an external magnetic field due to the time-reversal-symmetry breaking chiral superconducting state. The anomalous Hall conductivity is nonzero only when there is more than one superconducting order parameter, involving inter- as well as intra-band Cooper pairing. We find that such a multiband superconducting state gives rise to a distinctive resonance in the frequency-dependence of the Hall conductivity at a frequency close to the inter-orbital hopping energy scale that describes hopping between Ru $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals. The detection of this feature, robust to temperature and impurity effects in the superconducting phase, would thus constitute compelling evidence in favour of a multiband origin of superconductivity in \Sr, with strong superconductivity on the $\alpha$ and $\beta$ bands. The temperature dependence of the Hall conductivity and Kerr rotation angle are studied within this model at the one-loop approximation.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Invited submission, proceedings of M2S 2012. Published versio

Single-particle Excitation Spectra of C60_{60} Molecules and Monolayers

In this paper we present calculations of single-particle excitation spectra of neutral and three-electron-doped Hubbard C$_{60}$ molecules and monolayers from large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations and cluster perturbation theory. By a comparison to experimental photoemission, inverse photoemission, and angle-resolved photoemission data, we estimate the intermolecular hopping integrals and the C$_{60}$ molecular orientation angle, finding agreement with recent X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) experiments. Our results demonstrate that a simple effective Hubbard model, with intermediate coupling, $U=4t$, provides a reasonable basis for modeling the properties of C$_{60}$ compounds.Comment: 6 page

Identifying spin-triplet pairing in spin-orbit coupled multi-band superconductors

We investigate the combined effect of Hund's and spin-orbit (SO) coupling on superconductivity in multi-orbital systems. Hund's interaction leads to orbital-singlet spin-triplet superconductivity, where the Cooper pair wave function is antisymmetric under the exchange of two orbitals. We identify three d-vectors describing even-parity orbital-singlet spin-triplet pairings among t2g-orbitals, and find that the three d-vectors are mutually orthogonal to each other. SO coupling further assists pair formation, pins the orientation of the d-vector triad, and induces spin-singlet pairings with a relative phase difference of \pi/2. In the band basis the pseudospin d-vectors are aligned along the z-axis and correspond to momentum-dependent inter- and intra-band pairings. We discuss quasiparticle dispersion, magnetic response, collective modes, and experimental consequences in light of the superconductor Sr2RuO4.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

An Anderson-Fano Resonance and Shake-Up Processes in the Magneto-Photoluminescence of a Two-Dimensional Electron System

We report an anomalous doublet structure and low-energy satellite in the magneto-photoluminescence spectra of a two-dimensional electron system. The doublet structure moves to higher energy with increasing magnetic field and is most prominent at odd filling factors 5 and 3. The lower-energy satellite peak tunes to lower energy for increasing magnetic field between filling factor 6 and 2. These features occur at energies below the fundamental band of recombination originating from the lowest Landau level and display striking magnetic field and temperature dependence that indicates a many-body origin. Drawing on a recent theoretical description of Hawrylak and Potemski, we show that distinct mechanisms are responsible for each feature.Comment: 14 pages including 5 figures. To appear in the April 15th edition of Phy. Rev. B. rapid com

Observation of Collective Excitations of the Dilute 2D Electron System

We report inelastic light scattering measurements of dispersive spin and charge density excitations in dilute 2D electron systems reaching densities less than 10^{10} cm^{-2}. In the quantum Hall state at nu=2, roton critical points in the spin inter--Landau level mode show a pronounced softening as r_s is increased. Instead of a soft mode instability predicted by Hartree--Fock calculations for r_s ~ 3.3, we find evidence of multiple rotons in the dispersion of the softening spin excitations. Extrapolation of the data indicates the possibility of an instability for r_s >~ 11.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Upper limit on spontaneous supercurrents in Sr2_2RuO4_4

It is widely believed that the perovskite Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ is an unconventional superconductor with broken time reversal symmetry. It has been predicted that superconductors with broken time reversal symmetry should have spontaneously generated supercurrents at edges and domain walls. We have done careful imaging of the magnetic fields above Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ single crystals using scanning Hall bar and SQUID microscopies, and see no evidence for such spontaneously generated supercurrents. We use the results from our magnetic imaging to place upper limits on the spontaneously generated supercurrents at edges and domain walls as a function of domain size. For a single domain, this upper limit is below the predicted signal by two orders of magnitude. We speculate on the causes and implications of the lack of large spontaneous supercurrents in this very interesting superconducting system.Comment: 9 page

Single-mode approximation and effective Chern-Simons theories for quantum Hall systems

A unified description of elementary and collective excitations in quantum Hall systems is presented within the single-mode approximation (SMA) framework, with emphasis on revealing an intimate link with Chern-Simons theories. It is shown that for a wide class of quantum Hall systems the SMA in general yields, as an effective theory, a variant of the bosonic Chern-Simons theory. For single-layer systems the effective theory agrees with the standard Chern-Simons theory at long wavelengths whereas substantial deviations arise for collective excitations in bilayer systems. It is suggested, in particular, that Hall-drag experiments would be a good place to detect out-of-phase collective excitations inherent to bilayer systems. It is also shown that the intra-Landau-level modes bear a similarity in structure (though not in scale) to the inter-Landau-level modes, and its implications on the composite-fermion and composite-boson theories are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex

Skyrmions in Higher Landau Levels

We calculate the energies of quasiparticles with large numbers of reversed spins (``skyrmions'') for odd integer filling factors 2k+1, k is greater than or equals 1. We find, in contrast with the known result for filling factor equals 1 (k = 0), that these quasiparticles always have higher energy than the fully polarized ones and hence are not the low energy charged excitations, even at small Zeeman energies. It follows that skyrmions are the relevant quasiparticles only at filling factors 1, 1/3 and 1/5.Comment: 10 pages, RevTe

Proximity Effect and Josephson Coupling in the SO(5) Theory of High-Tc Superconductivity

We consider proximity effect coupling in Superconducting/Antiferromagnetic/Superconducting (S-A-S) sandwiches using the recently developed SO(5) effective theory of high temperature superconductivity. We find that, for narrow junctions, the A region acts like a strong superconductor, and that there is a critical junction thickness which depends on the effective SO(5) coupling constants and on the phase difference across the junction, at which the A region undergoes a Freedericksz-like transition to a state which is intermediate between superconductor and antiferromagnet. For thick junctions, the current-phase relation is sinusoidal, as in standard S-N-S and S-I-S junctions, but for thin junctions it shows a sharp break in slope at the Freedericksz point.Comment: 4 pages, LATEX, 5 eps fig

SU(4) Skyrmions and Activation Energy Anomaly in Bilayer Quantum Hall Systems

The bilayer QH system has four energy levels in the lowest Landau level, corresponding to the layer and spin degrees of freedom. We investigate the system in the regime where all four levels are nearly degenerate and equally active. The underlying group structure is SU(4). At $\nu =1$ the QH state is a charge-transferable state between the two layers and the SU(4) isospin coherence develops spontaneously. Quasiparticles are isospin textures to be identified with SU(4) skyrmions. The skyrmion energy consists of the Coulomb energy, the Zeeman energy and the pseudo-Zeeman energy. The Coulomb energy consists of the self-energy, the capacitance energy and the exchange energy. At the balanced point only pseudospins are excited unless the tunneling gap is too large. Then, the SU(4) skyrmion evolves continuously from the pseudospin-skyrmion limit into the spin-skyrmion limit as the system is transformed from the balanced point to the monolayer point by controlling the bias voltage. Our theoretical result explains quite well the experimental data due to Murphy et al. and Sawada et al. on the activation energy anomaly induced by applying parallel magnetic field.Comment: 22 pagets, 6 figures, the final version to be published in PR