Designer Topological Insulators in Superlattices

Gapless Dirac surface states are protected at the interface of topological and normal band insulators. In a binary superlattice bearing such interfaces, we establish that valley-dependent dimerization of symmetry-unrelated Dirac surface states can be exploited to induce topological quantum phase transitions. This mechanism leads to a rich phase diagram that allows us to design strong, weak, and crystalline topological insulators. Our ab initio simulations further demonstrate this mechanism in [111] and [110] superlattices of calcium and tin tellurides.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Giant and tunable valley degeneracy splitting in MoTe2

Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides possess a pair of degenerate helical valleys in the band structure that exhibit fascinating optical valley polarization. Optical valley polarization, however, is limited by carrier lifetimes of these materials. Lifting the valley degeneracy is therefore an attractive route for achieving valley polarization. It is very challenging to achieve appreciable valley degeneracy splitting with applied magnetic field. We propose a strategy to create giant splitting of the valley degeneracy by proximity-induced Zeeman effect. As a demonstration, our first principles calculations of monolayer MoTe$_2$ on a EuO substrate show that valley splitting over 300 meV can be generated. The proximity coupling also makes interband transition energies valley dependent, enabling valley selection by optical frequency tuning in addition to circular polarization. The valley splitting in the heterostructure is also continuously tunable by rotating substrate magnetization. The giant and tunable valley splitting adds a readily accessible dimension to the valley-spin physics with rich and interesting experimental consequences, and offers a practical avenue for exploring device paradigms based on the intrinsic degrees of freedom of electrons.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Coupling the valley degree of freedom to antiferromagnetic order

Conventional electronics are based invariably on the intrinsic degrees of freedom of an electron, namely, its charge and spin. The exploration of novel electronic degrees of freedom has important implications in both basic quantum physics and advanced information technology. Valley as a new electronic degree of freedom has received considerable attention in recent years. In this paper, we develop the theory of spin and valley physics of an antiferromagnetic honeycomb lattice. We show that by coupling the valley degree of freedom to antiferromagnetic order, there is an emergent electronic degree of freedom characterized by the product of spin and valley indices, which leads to spin-valley dependent optical selection rule and Berry curvature-induced topological quantum transport. These properties will enable optical polarization in the spin-valley space, and electrical detection/manipulation through the induced spin, valley and charge fluxes. The domain walls of an antiferromagnetic honeycomb lattice harbors valley-protected edge states that support spin-dependent transport. Finally, we employ first principles calculations to show that the proposed optoelectronic properties can be realized in antiferromagnetic manganese chalcogenophosphates (MnPX_3, X = S, Se) in monolayer form.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

A review on one dimensional perovskite nanocrystals for piezoelectric applications

AbstractIn recent years, one-dimensional piezoelectric nanomaterials have become a research topic of interest because of their special morphology and excellent piezoelectric properties. This article presents a short review on one dimensional perovskite piezoelectric materials in different systems including Pb(Zr,Ti)O3, BaTiO3 and (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN). We emphasize KNN as a promising lead-free piezoelectric compound with a high Curie temperature and high piezoelectric properties and describe its synthesis and characterization. In particular, details are presented for nanoscale piezoelectricity characterization of a single KNN nanocrystal by piezoresponse force microscopy. Finally, this review describes recent progress in applications based on one dimensional piezoelectric nanostructures with a focus on energy harvesting composite materials

Mixing among the neutral Higgs bosons and rare B decays in the CP violating MSSM

Considering corrections from two-loop Feynman diagrams which involve gluino at large $\tan\beta$, we analyze the effects of possible CP phases on the rare B decays: $\bar{B}_{_{s}} \to l^+l^-$ and $\bar{B}\to Kl^+l^-$ in the CP violating minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. It is shown that the results of exact two loop calculations obviously differ from that including one-loop contributions plus threshold radiative corrections. The numerical analysis indicates that the possibly large CP phases strongly affect the theoretical estimation of the branching ratios, and this results coincide with the conclusion of some other works appearing in recent literature.Comment: revtex, 53 pages, including 19 figure

Quantum State Transfer Characterized by Mode Entanglement

We study the quantum state transfer (QST) of a class of tight-bonding Bloch electron systems with mirror symmetry by considering the mode entanglement. Some rigorous results are obtained to reveal the intrinsic relationship between the fidelity of QST and the mirror mode concurrence (MMC), which is defined to measure the mode entanglement with a certain spatial symmetry and is just the overlap of a proper wave function with its mirror image. A complementarity is discovered as the maximum fidelity is accompanied by a minimum of MMC. And at the instant, which is just half of the characteristic time required to accomplish a perfect QST, the MMC can reach its maximum value one. A large class of perfect QST models with a certain spectrum structure are discovered to support our analytical results.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. to appear in PR