Hole-lattice Coupling and Photo-induced Insulator-Metal Transition in VO2_2

Photo-induced insulator-metal transition in VO$_2$ and the related transient and multi-timescale structural dynamics upon photoexcitation are explained within a unified framework. Holes created by photoexcitation weaken the V-V bonds and eventually break V-V dimers in the M$_1$ phase of VO$_2$ when the laser fluence reaches a critical value. The breaking of the V-V bonds in turn leads to an immediate electronic phase transition from an insulating to a metallic state while the crystal lattice remains monoclinic in shape. The coupling between excited electrons and the 6.0 THz phonon mode is found to be responsible for the observed zig-zag motion of V atoms upon photoexcitation and is consistent with coherent phonon experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Towards Fully Converged GW Calculations for Large Systems

Although the GW approximation is recognized as one of the most accurate theories for predicting materials excited states properties, scaling up conventional GW calculations for large systems remains a major challenge. We present a powerful and simple-to-implement method that can drastically accelerate fully converged GW calculations for large systems. We demonstrate the performance of this new method by calculating the quasiparticle band gap of MgO supercells. A speed-up factor of nearly two orders of magnitude is achieved for a system contaning 256 atoms (1024 velence electrons) with a negligibly small numerical error of $\pm 0.03$ eV.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

First-principles theory of coloration of WO3_3 upon charge insertion

We report first-principles investigations of the coloration of WO$_3$ upon charge insertion, using sodium tungsten bronze (Na$_x$WO$_3$) as a model system. Our results explain well the systematic color change of Na$_x$WO$_3$ from dark blue to violet, red-orange, and finally to golden-yellow as sodium concentration $x$ increases from 0.3 to unity. Proper accounts for both the interband and the intraband contributions to the optical response are found to be very important for a detailed understanding of the coloration mechanism in this system.Comment: 11 page

Possible Effects of Dark Energy on the Detection of Dark Matter Particles

We study in this paper the possible influence of the dark energy on the detection of the dark matter particles. In models of dark energy described by a dynamical scalar field such as the Quintessence, its interaction with the dark matter will cause the dark matter particles such as the neutralino vary as a function of space and time. Given a specific model of the Quintessence and its interaction in this paper we calculate numerically the corrections to the neutralino masses and the induced spectrum of the neutrinos from the annihilation of the neutralinos pairs in the core of the Sun. This study gives rise to a possibility of probing for dark energy in the experiments of detecting the dark matter particles.Comment: 8 pages and 1 figur

The Fermi surface of Nax_{x}CoO2_2

Doping evolution of the Fermi surface topology of Na$_x$CoO$_2$ is studied systematically. Both local density approximation (LDA) and local spin density approximation (LSDA) predict a large Fermi surface as well as small hole pockets for doping levels $x\sim$ 0.5. In contrast, the hole pockets are completely absent for all doping levels within LSDA+U. More importantly, we find no violation of Luttinger's rule in this system, contrary to a recent suggestion. The measured Fermi surface of Na$_{0.7}$CoO$_2$ can be explained by its half-metallic behavior and agrees with our LSDA+U calculations

Hole doping MgB2_2 without chemical substitution

Structures for realizing hole-doped MgB$_2$ without appealing to chemical substitutions are proposed. These structures which consist of alternating MgB$_2$ and graphene layers have small excess energy compared to bulk graphite and MgB$_2$. Density functional theory based first-principles electronic structure calculations show significant charge transfer from the MgB$_2$ layer to graphene, resulting in effectively hole-doped MgB$_2$. Substantial enhancement in the density of states at the Fermi level of the proposed structure is predicted

False Prediction of Fundamental Properties of Metals by Hybrid Functionals

The repercussions of an inaccurate account of electronic states near the Fermi level EF by hybrid functionals in predicting several important metallic properties are investigated. The diffculties in- clude a vanishing or severely suppressed density of states (DOS) at EF, significantly widened valence bandwidth, greatly enhanced electron-phonon (el-ph) deformation potentials, and an overestimate of magnetic moment in transition metals. The erroneously enhanced el-ph coupling calculated by hybrid functionals may lead to a false prediction of lattice instability. The main culprit of the problem comes from the simplistic treatment of the exchange functional rooted in the original Fock exchange energy. The use of a short-ranged Coulomb interaction alleviates some of the drawbacks but the fundamental issues remain unchanged

Carrier-Dopant Exchange Interactions in Mn-doped PbS Colloidal Quantum Dots

Carrier-dopant exchange interactions in Mn-doped PbS colloidal quantum dots were studied by circularly polarized magneto-photoluminescence. Mn substitutional doping leads to paramagnetic behavior down to 5 K. While undoped quantum dots show negative circular polarization, Mn doping changes its sign to positive. A circular polarization value of 40% was achieved at T=7 K and B=7 tesla. The results are interpreted in terms of Zeeman splitting of the band edge states in the presence of carrier-dopant exchange interactions that are qualitatively different from the s,p-d exchange interactions in II-VI systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; To appear in Applied Physics Letters 101 (2012

Weak antilocalization in Cd3As2 thin films

Recently, it has been theoretically predicted that Cd3As2 is a three dimensional Dirac material, a new topological phase discovered after topological insulators, which exhibits a linear energy dispersion in the bulk with massless Dirac fermions. Here, we report on the low-temperature magnetoresistance measurements on a ~50nm-thick Cd3As2 film. The weak antilocalization under perpendicular magnetic field is discussed based on the two-dimensional Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka (HLN) theory. The electron-electron interaction is addressed as the source of the dephasing based on the temperature-dependent scaling behavior. The weak antilocalization can be also observed while the magnetic field is parallel to the electric field due to the strong interaction between the different conductance channels in this quasi-two-dimensional film

Remarkable band gap renormalization via dimensionality of the layered material C3B

Layer-dependent electronic and structural properties of emerging graphitic carbon boron compound C3B are investigated using both density functional theory and the GW approximation. We discover that, in contrast to a moderate quasiparticle band gap of 2.55 eV for monolayer C3B, the calculated quasiparticle band gap of perfectly stacked bulk phase C3B is as small as 0.17 eV. Therefore, our results suggest that layered material C3B exhibits a remarkably large band gap renormalization of over 2.3 eV due to the interlayer coupling and screening effects, providing a single material with an extraordinary band gap tunability. The quasiparticle band gap of monolayer C3B is also over 1.0 eV larger than that of C3N, a closely related two-dimensional semiconductor. Detailed inspections of the near-edge electronic states reveal that the conduction and valence band edges of C3B are formed by out-of-plane and in-plane electronic states, respectively, suggesting an interesting possibility of tuning the band edges of such layered material separately by modulating the in-plane and out-of-plane interactions.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure