Correlation between two distant quasiparticles in separate superconducting islands mediated by a single spin.

Controlled coupling between distant particles is a key requirement for the implementation of quantum information technologies. A promising platform are hybrid systems of semiconducting quantum dots coupled to superconducting islands, where the tunability of the dots is combined with the macroscopic coherence of the islands to produce states with non-local correlations, e.g.

Spectroscopy of Spin-Split Andreev Levels in a Quantum Dot with Superconducting Leads.

We use a hybrid superconductor-semiconductor transmon device to perform spectroscopy of a quantum dot Josephson junction tuned to be in a spin-1/2 ground state with an unpaired quasiparticle. Because of spin-orbit coupling, we resolve two flux-sensitive branches in the transmon spectrum, depending on the spin of the quasiparticle. A finite magnetic field shifts the two branches in energy, favoring one spin state and resulting in the anomalous Josephson effect.

Spin-orbital Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in single Kondo molecular magnet.

Studies of single-spin objects are essential for designing emergent quantum states. We investigate a molecular magnet TbPc interacting with a superconducting Pb(111) substrate, which hosts unprecedented Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) subgap states, dubbed spin-orbital YSR states. Upon adsorption of the molecule on Pb, the degeneracy of its lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) is lifted, and the lower LUMO forms a radical spin via charge transfer.

Excitations in a superconducting Coulombic energy gap.

Cooper pairing and Coulomb repulsion are antagonists, producing distinct energy gaps in superconductors and Mott insulators. When a superconductor exchanges unpaired electrons with a quantum dot, its gap is populated by a pair of electron-hole symmetric Yu-Shiba-Rusinov excitations between doublet and singlet many-body states. The fate of these excitations in the presence of a strong Coulomb repulsion in the superconductor is unknown, but of importance in applications such as topological superconducting qubits and multi-channel impurity models.

Universal Magnetic Oscillations of dc Conductivity in the Incoherent Regime of Correlated Systems.

Using the dynamical mean field theory we investigate the magnetic field dependence of dc conductivity in the Hubbard model on the square lattice, fully taking into account the orbital effects of the field introduced via the Peierls substitution. In addition to the conventional Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations, associated with the coherent cyclotron motion of quasiparticles and the presence of a well-defined Fermi surface, we find an additional oscillatory component with a higher frequency that corresponds to the total area of the Brillouin zone. These paradigm-breaking oscillations appear at elevated temperature.

Iron phthalocyanine on Au(111) is a "non-Landau" Fermi liquid.

The paradigm of Landau's Fermi liquid theory has been challenged with the finding of a strongly interacting Fermi liquid that cannot be adiabatically connected to a non-interacting system. A spin-1 two-channel Kondo impurity with anisotropy D has a quantum phase transition between two topologically different Fermi liquids with a peak (dip) in the Fermi level for D < D (D > D). Extending this theory to general multi-orbital problems with finite magnetic field, we reinterpret in a unified and consistent fashion several experimental studies of iron phthalocyanine molecules on Au(111) that were previously described in disconnected and conflicting ways.

Correlation of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States and Kondo Resonances in Artificial Spin Arrays on an s-Wave Superconductor.

Mutually interacting magnetic atoms coupled to a superconductor have gained enormous interest due to their potential for the realization of topological superconductivity. Individual magnetic impurities produce states within the superconducting energy gap known as Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states. Here, using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, we artificially craft spin arrays consisting of an Fe adatom interacting with an assembly of interstitial Fe atoms (IFA) on a superconducting oxygen-reconstructed Ta(100) surface and show that the magnetic interaction between the adatom and the IFA assembly can be tuned by adjusting the number of IFAs in the assembly.

Coupled Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States Induced by a Many-Body Molecular Spin on a Superconductor.

A magnetic impurity on a superconductor induces Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) bound states, detected by tunneling spectroscopy as long-lived quasiparticle excitations inside the superconducting gap. Coupled YSR states constitute basic elements to engineer artificial superconducting states, but their substrate-mediated interactions are generally weak. In this Letter, we report that intramolecular (Hund's-like) exchange interactions produce coupled YSR states across a molecular platform.

Conductivity in the Square Lattice Hubbard Model at High Temperatures: Importance of Vertex Corrections.

Recent experiments on cold atoms in optical lattices allow for a quantitative comparison of the measurements to the conductivity calculations in the square lattice Hubbard model. However, the available calculations do not give consistent results, and the question of the exact solution for the conductivity in the Hubbard model remained open. In this Letter, we employ several complementary state-of-the-art numerical methods to disentangle various contributions to conductivity and identify the best available result to be compared to experiment.

Charge localization and reentrant superconductivity in a quasi-ballistic InAs nanowire coupled to superconductors.

A semiconductor nanowire with strong spin-orbit coupling in proximity to a superconductor is predicted to display Majorana edge states emerging under a properly oriented magnetic field. The experimental investigation of these exotic states requires assessing the one-dimensional (1D) character of the nanowire and understanding the superconducting proximity effect in the presence of a magnetic field. Here, we explore the quasi-ballistic 1D transport regime of an InAs nanowire with Ta contacts.

Observation of Coexistence of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States and Spin-Flip Excitations.

We investigate the spectral evolution in different metal phthalocyanine molecules on NbSe surface using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) as a function of the coupling with the substrate. For manganese phthalocyanine (MnPc), we demonstrate a smooth spectral crossover from Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) bound states to spin-flip excitations. This has not been observed previously and it is in contrast to simple theoretical expectations.

Mottness collapse without metallization in the domain wall of the triangular-lattice Mott insulator 1T-TaS_{2}.

1T-TaS_{2} is a charge-density-wave (CDW) compound with a Mott-insulating ground state. The metallic state obtained by doping, substitution, or pulsed charge injection is characterized by an emergent CDW domain-wall network, while single domain walls can be found in the pristine Mott state. Here we study whether and how the single walls become metallic.

Supercurrent in a Double Quantum Dot.

We demonstrate the Josephson effect in a serial double quantum dot defined in a nanowire with epitaxial superconducting leads. The supercurrent stability diagram adopts a honeycomb pattern. We observe sharp discontinuities in the magnitude of the critical current, I_{c}, as a function of dot occupation, related to doublet to singlet ground state transitions.

Yu-Shiba-Rusinov screening of spins in double quantum dots.

A magnetic impurity coupled to a superconductor gives rise to a Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) state inside the superconducting energy gap. With increasing exchange coupling the excitation energy of this state eventually crosses zero and the system switches to a YSR ground state with bound quasiparticles screening the impurity spin by ħ/2. Here we explore indium arsenide (InAs) nanowire double quantum dots tunnel coupled to a superconductor and demonstrate YSR screening of spin-1/2 and spin-1 states.

Field-Induced Instability of a Gapless Spin Liquid with a Spinon Fermi Surface.

The ground state of the quantum kagome antiferromagnet Zn-brochantite, ZnCu_{3}(OH)_{6}SO_{4}, which is one of only a few known spin-liquid (SL) realizations in two or three dimensions, has been described as a gapless SL with a spinon Fermi surface. Employing nuclear magnetic resonance in a broad magnetic-field range down to millikelvin temperatures, we show that in applied magnetic fields this enigmatic state is intrinsically unstable against a SL with a full or a partial gap. A similar instability of the gapless Fermi-surface SL was previously encountered in an organic triangular-lattice antiferromagnet, suggesting a common destabilization mechanism that most likely arises from spinon pairing.

Non-Fermi-liquid behavior in quantum impurity models with superconducting channels.

We study how the non-Fermi-liquid nature of the overscreened multi-channel Kondo impurity model affects the response to a BCS pairing term that, in the absence of the impurity, opens a gap Δ. We find that the low-energy spectrum in the limit Δ → 0 actually does not correspond to the spectrum strictly at Δ = 0. In particular, in the two-channel Kondo model the Δ → 0 ground state is an orbitally degenerate spin-singlet, while it is an orbital singlet with a residual spin degeneracy at Δ = 0.

Metal-to-insulator crossover in alkali doped zeolite.

We report a systematic nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of the (23)Na spin-lattice relaxation rate, 1/T1, in sodium loaded low-silica X (LSX) zeolite, Nan/Na12-LSX, for various loading levels of sodium atoms n across the metal-to-insulator crossover. For high loading levels of n ≥ 14.2, 1/T1T shows nearly temperature-independent behaviour between 10 K and 25 K consistent with the Korringa relaxation mechanism and the metallic ground state.

Unconventional superconductivity from local spin fluctuations in the Kondo lattice.

The explanation of heavy-fermion superconductivity is a long-standing challenge to theory. It is commonly thought to be connected to nonlocal fluctuations of either spin or charge degrees of freedom and therefore of unconventional type. Here we present results for the Kondo-lattice model, a paradigmatic model to describe heavy-fermion compounds, obtained from dynamical mean-field theory which captures local correlation effects only.

How bad metals turn good: spectroscopic signatures of resilient quasiparticles.

We investigate transport in strongly correlated metals. Within dynamical mean-field theory, we calculate the resistivity, thermopower, optical conductivity and thermodynamic properties of a hole-doped Mott insulator. Two well-separated temperature scales are identified: T(FL) below which Landau Fermi liquid behavior applies, and T(MIR) above which the resistivity exceeds the Mott-Ioffe-Regel value and bad-metal behavior is found.

Tunable Kondo effect in a double quantum dot coupled to ferromagnetic contacts.

We investigate the effects induced by ferromagnetic contacts attached to a serial double quantum dot. Spin polarization generates effective magnetic fields and suppresses the Kondo effect in each dot. The superexchange interaction J(AFM), tuned by the interdot tunneling rate t, can be used to compensate the effective fields and restore the Kondo resonance when the contact polarizations are aligned.

Ground state of the parallel double quantum dot system.

We resolve the controversy regarding the ground state of the parallel double quantum dot system near half filling. The numerical renormalization group predicts an underscreened Kondo state with residual spin-1/2 magnetic moment, ln2 residual impurity entropy, and unitary conductance, while the Bethe ansatz solution predicts a fully screened impurity, regular Fermi-liquid ground state, and zero conductance. We calculate the impurity entropy of the system as a function of the temperature using the hybridization-expansion continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo technique, which is a numerically exact stochastic method, and find excellent agreement with the numerical renormalization group results.

Low-energy properties of the Kondo lattice model.

We study the zero-temperature properties of the Kondo lattice model within the dynamical mean-field theory. As an impurity solver we use the numerical renormalization group. We present results for the paramagnetic case showing the anticipated heavy-fermion physics, including direct evidence for the appearance of a large Fermi surface for antiferromagnetic exchange interaction.

Josephson current in strongly correlated double quantum dots.

We study the Josephson current through a serial double quantum dot and the associated 0-π transitions which result from the subtle interplay between the superconductivity, the Kondo physics, and the interdot superexchange interaction. The competition between them is examined by tuning the relative strength Δ/T(K) of the superconducting gap and the Kondo temperature, for different strengths of the superexchange coupling determined by the interdot tunneling t relative to the level broadening Γ. We find strong renormalization of t, a significant role of the superexchange coupling J, and a rich phase diagram of the 0 and π-junction regimes.

Pinning of adsorbed cobalt atoms by defects embedded in the copper (111) surface.

Using a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM), we observe that Co adatoms are unusually strongly bound to a particular type of pinning centers on the Cu(111) surface. Using density-functional-theory calculations, the pinning centers are identified as Ag substitutional atoms embedded in the topmost atomic layer of the surface. These impurities are hardly detectable in the STM images as they have low topographic height and produce no standing-wave patterns.

Kondo screening in high-spin side-coupled two-impurity clusters.

We study the system of two magnetic impurities described by a two-impurity Kondo model where only the first impurity couples directly to the conduction band, while the second impurity interacts with the first through Heisenberg exchange coupling in a 'side-coupled' configuration. We consider various choices of the impurity spins (S(1)S(2)) and we contrast the regimes where the inter-impurity exchange coupling J is either lower or higher than the Kondo temperature T(K)((0)) of the first impurity in the absence of the second. This model is a high-spin generalization of the two-impurity model for side-coupled double quantum dots which corresponds to the simplest S(1)=S(2)=1/2 case, where the moments are Kondo-screened successively in two stages for J View Article and Find Full Text PDF