Abstract: Understanding the coupling between spin and phonons is critical for controlling the lattice thermal conductivity (kappa ( l )) in magnetic materials, as we demonstrate here for CrX3 (X = Br and I) monolayers. We show that these compounds exhibit large spin-phonon coupling (SPC), dominated by out-of-plane vibrations of Cr atoms, resulting in significantly different phonon dispersions in ferromagnetic (FM) and paramagnetic (PM) phases. Lattice thermal conductivity calculations provide additional evidence for strong SPC, where particularly large kappa ( l ) is found for the FM phase. Most strikingly, PM and FM phases exhibit radically different behavior with tensile strain, where kappa ( l ) increases with strain for the PM phase, and strongly decreases for the FM phase-as we explain through analysis of phonon lifetimes and scattering rates. Taken all together, we uncover the high significance of SPC on the phonon transport in CrX3 monolayers, a result extendable to other 2D magnetic materials, that will be useful in further design of thermal spin devices.

Abstract: Monolayer chromium-trihalides, the archetypal two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials, are readily suggested as a promising platform for high-frequency magnonics. Here we detail the spin-wave properties of monolayer CrBr₃and CrI₃, using spin-dynamics simulations parametrized from the first principles. We reveal that spin-wave dispersion can be tuned in a broad range of frequencies by strain, paving the way towards flexo-magnonic applications. We further show that ever-present halide vacancies in these monolayers host sufficiently strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to scatter spin-waves, which promotes design of spin-wave guides by defect engineering. Finally we discuss the spectra of spin-waves propagating across a moiré-periodic modulation of magnetic parameters in a van der Waals heterobilayer, and show that the nanoscale moiré periodicities in such samples are ideal for realization of a magnonic crystal in the terahertz frequency range. Recalling the additional tunability of magnetic 2D materials by electronic gating, our results situate these systems among the front-runners for prospective high-frequency magnonic applications.

Abstract: Silicon-based materials are attractive for thermoelectric applications due to their thermal stability, chemical inertness, and natural abundance of silicon. Here, using a combination of first-principles and Boltzmann transport calculations we report the thermoelectric properties of the recently synthesized compound Mg3Si2Te6. Our analysis reveals that Mg3Si2Te6 is a direct bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap of 1.6 eV. The combination of heavy and light valence bands, along with a high valley degeneracy, results in a large power factor under p-type doping. We also find that Mg is weakly bonded both within and between the layers, leading to low phonon group velocities. The vibrations of the Mg atoms are localized and make a significant contribution to phonon-phonon scattering. This high anharmonicity, coupled with low phonon group velocity, results in a low lattice thermal conductivity of & kappa;(l) = 0.5 W m(-1) K-1 at room temperature, along the cross-plane direction. Combining excellent electronic transport properties and low & kappa;(l), p-type Mg3Si2Te6 achieves figure-of-merit (zT) values greater than 1 at temperatures above 600 K. Specifically, a zT of 2.0 is found at 900 K along the cross-plane direction. Our findings highlight the importance of structural complexity and chemical bonding in electronic and phonon transport, providing guiding insights for further design of Si-based thermoelectrics.

Abstract: MXenes are an emerging class of two-dimensional materials, which in their thinnest limit consist of a monolayer of carbon or nitrogen (X) sandwiched between two transition metal (M) layers. We have systematically searched for superconductivity among MXenes for a range of transition metal elements, based on a full first-principles characterization in combination with the Eliashberg formalism. Thus, we identified six superconducting MXenes: three carbides (Mo2C, W2C and Sc2C) and three nitrides (Mo2N, W2N and Ta2N). The highest critical temperature of similar to 16 K is found in Mo2N, for which a successful synthesis method has been established [Urbankowskiet al.,Nanoscale, 2017,9, 17722-17730]. Moreover, W2N presents a novel case of competing superconducting and charge density wave phases.

Abstract: We explore the flatness of conduction and valence bands of interlayer excitons in MoS2/WSe2 van der Waals heterobilayers, tuned by interlayer twist angle, pressure, and external electric field. We employ an efficient continuum model where the moire pattern from lattice mismatch and/or twisting is represented by an equivalent mesoscopic periodic potential. We demonstrate that the mismatch moire potential is too weak to produce significant flattening. Moreover, we draw attention to the fact that the quasi-particle effective masses around the Gamma-point and the band flattening are reduced with twisting. As an alternative approach, we show (i) that reducing the interlayer distance by uniform vertical pressure can significantly increase the effective mass of the moire hole, and (ii) that the moire depth and its band flattening effects are strongly enhanced by accessible electric gating fields perpendicular to the heterobilayer, with resulting electron and hole effective masses increased by more than an order of magnitude – leading to record-flat bands. These findings impose boundaries on the commonly generalized benefits of moire twistronics, while also revealing alternative feasible routes to achieve truly flat electron and hole bands to carry us to strongly correlated excitonic phenomena on demand.

Abstract: Among the large variety of two-dimensional (2D) materials discovered to date, elemental monolayers that host superconductivity are very rare. Using ab initio calculations we show that recently synthesized gallium monolayers, coined gallenene, are intrinsically superconducting through electron-phonon coupling. We reveal that Ga-100 gallenene, a planar monolayer isostructural with graphene, is the structurally simplest 2D superconductor to date, furthermore hosting topological edge states due to its honeycomb structure. Our anisotropic Eliashberg calculations show distinctly three-gap superconductivity in Ga-100, in contrast to the alternative buckled Ga-010 gallenene which presents a single anisotropic superconducting gap. Strikingly, the critical temperature (T ( c )) of gallenene is in the range of 7-10 K, exceeding the T ( c ) of bulk gallium from which it is exfoliated. Finally we explore chemical functionalization of gallenene with hydrogen, and report induced multigap superconductivity with an enhanced T ( c ) in the resulting gallenane compound.

Abstract: We demonstrate the in situ engineering of superconducting nanocircuitry by targeted modulation of material properties through high applied current densities. We show that the sequential repetition of such customized electro-annealing in a niobium (Nb) nanoconstriction can broadly tune the superconducting critical temperature T-c and the normal-state resistance R-n in the targeted area. Once a sizable R-n is reached, clear magneto-resistance oscillations are detected along with a Fraunhofer-like field dependence of the critical current, indicating the formation of a weak link but with further adjustable characteristics. Advanced Ginzburg-Landau simulations fully corroborate this picture, employing the detailed parametrization from the electrical characterization and high resolution electron microscope images of the region within the constriction where the material has undergone amorphization by electro-annealing.

Abstract: We report experimental coupling of chiral magnetism and superconductivity in [IrFeCoPt]/Nb heterostructures. The stray field of skyrmions with radius ~50nm is sufficient to nucleate antivortices in a 25nm Nb film, with unique signatures in the magnetization, critical current and flux dynamics, corroborated via simulations. We also detect a thermally-tunable Rashba-Edelstein exchange coupling in the isolated skyrmion phase. This realization of a strongly interacting skyrmion-(anti)vortex system opens a path towards controllable topological hybrid materials, unattainable to date.

Abstract: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.207001

Abstract: We perform strategic current injection in a small mesoscopic superconductor and control the (non)equilibrium quantum states in an applied homogeneous magnetic field. In doing so, we realize a current-driven splitting of multiquanta vortices, current-induced transitions between states with different angular momenta, and current-controlled switching between otherwise degenerate quantum states. These fundamental phenomena form the basis for the electronic and logic applications discussed, and are confirmed in both theoretical simulations and multiple-small-tunnel-junction transport measurements.

Abstract: Recent observation of unusual vortex patterns in MgB2 single crystals raised speculations about possible type-1.5 superconductivity in two-band materials, mixing the properties of both type-I and type-II superconductors. However, the strict application of the standard two-band Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory results in simply proportional order parameters of the two bandsand does not support the type-1.5 behavior. Here we derive the extended GL formalism (accounting all terms of the next order over the small τ=1-T/Tc parameter) for a two-band clean s-wave superconductor and show that the two condensates generally have different spatial scales, with the difference disappearing only in the limit T→Tc. The extended version of the two-band GL formalism improves the validity of GL theory below Tc and suggests revisiting the earlier calculations based on the standard model.

Abstract: A Josephson phase shift can be induced in a Josephson junction by a strategically nearby pinned Abrikosov vortex (AV). For an asymmetric distribution of an imprinted phase along the junction (controlled by the position of the AV) such a simple system is capable of rectification of ac current in a broad and tunable frequency range. The resulting rectified voltage is a consequence of the directed motion of a Josephson antivortex which forms a pair with the AV when at local equilibrium. The proposed realization of the ratchet potential by an imprinted phase is more efficient than the asymmetric geometry of the junction itself, is easily realizable experimentally, and provides rectification even in the absence of an applied magnetic field.

Abstract: We describe investigations of the largely unexplored field of mesoscopic type-I superconductors. Micromagnetometry and 3D Ginzburg-Landau simulations of our single crystal β-tin samples in this regime reveal size- and temperature-dependent supercritical fields whose behavior is radically different from the bulk critical field HcB. We find that complete suppression of the intermediate state in medium-size samples can result in a surprising reduction of the critical field significantly below HcB. We also reveal an evolution of the superconducting-to-normal phase transition from the expected irreversible first order at low temperatures through the previously unobserved reversible first-order to a second-order transition close to Tc, where the critical field can be many times larger than HcB. Finally, we have identified striking correlations between the mesoscopic Hc3 for nucleation of surface superconductivity and the thermodynamic Hc near Tc. All these observations are entirely unexpected in the conventional type-I picture.

Abstract: Vortex matter in mesoscopic superconductors is known to be strongly affected by the geometry of the sample. Here we show that in nanoscale superconductors with coherence length comparable to the Fermi wavelength the shape resonances of the order parameter results in an additional contribution to the quantum topological confinement-leading to unconventional vortex configurations. Our Bogoliubov-de Gennes calculations in a square geometry reveal a plethora of asymmetric, giant multivortex, and vortex-antivortex structures, stable over a wide range of parameters and which are very different from those predicted by the Ginzburg-Landau theory. These unconventional states are relevant for high-T-c nanograins, confined Bose-Einstein condensates, and graphene flakes with proximity-induced superconductivity.