Abstract: We investigate the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on the optoelectronic properties of n- and p-type monolayer MoS2. The optical conductivity is calculated within the Kubo formalism. We find that the spin-flip transitions enabled by the Rashba SOC result in a wide absorption window in the optical spectrum. Furthermore, we evaluate the effects of the polarization direction of the radiation, temperature, carrier density, and the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit parameter on the optical conductivity. We find that the position, width, and shape of the absorption peak or absorption window can be tuned by varying these parameters. This study shows that monolayer MoS2 can be a promising tunable optical and optoelectronic material that is active in the infrared to terahertz spectral range.

Abstract: Layered structures of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) belong to a new class of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor materials in which monolayers exhibit a direct band gap in their electronic spectrum. This band gap has recently been shown to vanish due to the presence of metallic edge modes when MoS2 monolayers are terminated by zigzag edges on both sides. Here, we demonstrate that a zigzag nanoribbon of MoS2, when exposed to an external exchange field in combination with a transverse electric field, has the potential to exhibit a peculiar half-metallic nature and thereby allows electrons of only one spin direction to move. The peculiarity of such spin-selective conductors originates from a spin switch near the gap-closing region, so the allowed spin orientation can be controlled by means of an external gate voltage. It is shown that the induced half-metallic phase is resistant to random fluctuations of the exchange field as well as the presence of edge vacancies.

Abstract: Magnesium hydroxide [Mg(OH)(2)] has a layered brucitelike structure in its bulk form and was recently isolated as a new member of two-dimensional monolayer materials. We investigated the electronic and optical properties of monolayer crystals of Mg(OH)(2) and WS2 and their possible heterobilayer structure by means of first-principles calculations. It was found that both monolayers of Mg(OH)(2) and WS2 are direct-gap semiconductors and these two monolayers form a typical van der Waals heterostructure with a weak interlayer interaction and a type-II band alignment with a staggered gap that spatially separates electrons and holes. We also showed that an out-of-plane electric field induces a transition from a staggered to a straddling-type heterojunction. Moreover, by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation on top of single-shot G(0)W(0) calculations, we show that the low-energy spectrum of the heterobilayer is dominated by the intralyer excitons of the WS2 monolayer. Because of the staggered interfacial gap and the field-tunable energy-band structure, the Mg(OH)(2)-WS2 heterobilayer can become an important candidate for various optoelectronic device applications in nanoscale.

Abstract: Using Ginzburg-Landau formalism, we investigate the effect of confinement on the ground state of mesoscopic chiral p-wave superconductors in the absence of magnetic field. We reveal stable multichiral states with domain walls separating the regions with different chiralities, as well as monochiral states with spontaneous currents flowing along the edges. We show that multichiral states can exhibit identifying signatures in the spatial profile of the magnetic field if those are not screened by edge currents in the case of strong confinement. Such magnetic detection of domain walls in topological superconductors can serve as long-sought evidence of broken time-reversal symmetry. Furthermore, when applying electric current to mesoscopic p-wave samples, we found a hysteretic behavior in the current-voltage characteristic that distinguishes states with and without domain walls, thereby providing another useful hallmark for indirect confirmation of chiral p-wave superconductivity.

Abstract: To investigate the impact of both the CoFe ferromagnetic layer thickness and the capping paramagnetic layer on the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR), we performed first-principles simulations on epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions contacted with either CoFe or Ta paramagnetic capping layers. We observed a strong oscillation of the TMR amplitude with respect to the thickness of the ferromagnetic layer. The TMR is found to be amplified whenever the MgO spin tunnel barrier is thickened. Quantization of the electronic structure of the ferromagnetic layers is found to be at the origin of this oscillatory behavior. Metals such as Ta contacting the magnetic layer are found to enhance the amplitude of the oscillations due to the occurrence of an interface dipole. The latter drives the band alignment and tunes the nature of the spin channels that are active during the tunneling process. Subsequently, the regular transmission spin channels are modulated in the magnetic tunnel junction stack and other complex ones are being activated.

Abstract: The electronic structure and transport properties of monolayer MoS2 are studied using a tight-binding approach coupled with the nonequilibrium Green's function method. A zigzag nanoribbon of MoS2 is conducting due to the intersection of the edge states with the Fermi level that is located within the bulk gap. We show that applying a transverse electric field results in the disappearance of this intersection and turns the material into a semiconductor. By increasing the electric field the band gap undergoes a two stage linear increase after which it decreases and ultimately closes. It is shown that in the presence of a uniform exchange field, this electric field tuning of the gap can be exploited to open low energy domains where only one of the spin states contributes to the electronic conductance. This introduces possibilities in designing spin filters for spintronic applications.

Abstract: Hydrodynamic flow in two-dimensional electron systems has so far been probed only by dc transport and scanning gate microscopy measurements. In this work we discuss theoretically signatures of the hydrodynamic regime in near-field optical microscopy. We analyze the dispersion of acoustic plasmon modes in two-dimensional electron liquids using a nonlocal conductivity that takes into account the effects of (momentumconserving) electron-electron collisions, (momentum-relaxing) electron-phonon and electron-impurity collisions, and many-body interactions beyond the celebrated random phase approximation. We derive the dispersion and, most importantly, the damping of acoustic plasmon modes and their coupling to a near-field probe, identifying key experimental signatures of the crossover between collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes.

Abstract: An effective tight-binding (TB) Hamiltonian for monolayer GeSnH2 is constructed which has an inversion-asymmetric honeycomb structure. The low-energy band structure of our TB model agrees very well with previous ab initio calculations even under biaxial tensile strain. Our model predicts a phase transition at 7.5% biaxial tensile strain in agreement with DFT calculations. Upon 8.5% strain the system exhibits a band gap of 134 meV, suitable for room temperature applications. It is shown that an external applied magnetic field produces a special phase which is a combination of the quantum Hall (QH) and quantum spin Hall (QSH) phases; and at a critical magnetic field strength the QSH phase completely disappears. The topological nature of the phase transition is confirmed from: (1) the calculation of the Z(2) topological invariant, and (2) quantum transport properties of disordered GeSnH2 nanoribbons which allows us to determine the universality class of the conductance fluctuations. The application of an external applied magnetic field reduces the conductance fluctuations by a factor of root 2.

Abstract: Devising magnetic nanostructures with spatially heterogeneous Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is a promising pathway toward advanced confinement and control of magnetic skyrmions in potential devices. Here we discuss theoretically how a skyrmion interacts with a heterochiral interface using micromagnetic simulations and analytic arguments. We show that a heterochiral interface deflects the trajectory of ferromagnetic (FM) skyrmions, and that the extent of such deflection is tuned by the applied spin-polarized current and the difference in DMI across the interface. Further, we show that this deflection is characteristic of the FM skyrmion, and it is completely absent in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) case. In turn, we reveal that the AFM skyrmion achieves much higher velocities than its FM counterpart, yet experiences far stronger confinement in nanoengineered heterochiral tracks, which reinforces AFM skyrmions as a favorable choice for skyrmion-based devices.

Abstract: The effect of anisotropy in the energy spectrum on the binding energy and structural properties of excitons, trions, and biexcitons is investigated. To this end we employ the stochastic variational method with a correlated Gaussian basis. We present results for the binding energy of different excitonic complexes in black phosphorus (bP) and TiS3 and compare them with recent results in the literature when available, for which we find good agreement. The binding energies of excitonic complexes in bP are larger than those in TiS3. We calculate the different average interparticle distances in bP and TiS3 and show that excitonic complexes in bP are strongly anisotropic whereas in TiS3 they are almost isotropic, even though the constituent particles have an anisotropic energy spectrum. This is also confirmed by the correlation functions.

Abstract: The laser-modulated magnetopolaron effect on shallow donors in semiconductors is investigated in the presence of a magnetic field in the Voigt configuration. A nonperturbative approach is used to describe the electron-photon interaction by including the radiation field in an exact way via a laser-dressed interaction potential. Through a variational approach we evaluate the donor binding energy. We find that the interaction strength of the laser-dressed Coulomb potential in the z direction cannot only be enhanced but also weakened by the radiation field, while that in the x-y plane is only weakened. In this way, the binding energy of the states with odd z parity, like 2p(z) can be decreased or increased with respect to its static binding energy by the radiation field, while that of the other states can be only decreased. Furthermore, all binding energies become insensitive to the magnetic field if the radiation field is strong. The magnetopolaron effect on these energies is studied within second-order time-dependent perturbation theory. In the nonresonant region, a laser-modulated magnetopolaron correction, including the effect of single-photon processes, is observed. In the resonant region, a laser-modulated magnetopolaron effect, accompanied by the emission and absorption of a single photon, is found. Moreover, the 1s -> 2p(+) transition, accompanied by the emission of a single photon, is tuned by the radiation field into resonance with the longitudinal-optical phonon branch. This is electrically analogous to the magnetopolaron effect, and therefore we name it the dynamical magnetopolaron effect. Finally, by changing the frequency of the radiation field, these interesting effects can be tuned to be far away from the reststrahlen band and, therefore, can be detected experimentally. This in turn provides a direct measure of the electron-phonon interaction.

Abstract: Starting from our previous work in which we obtained a system of coupled integrodifferential equations for acoustic sound waves and phonon density fluctuations in two-dimensional (2D) crystals, we derive here the corresponding hydrodynamic equations, and we study their consequences as a function of temperature and frequency. These phenomena encompass propagation and damping of acoustic sound waves, diffusive heat conduction, second sound, and Poiseuille heat flow, all of which are characterized by specific transport coefficients. We calculate these coefficients by means of correlation functions without using the concept of relaxation time. Numerical calculations are performed as well in order to show the temperature dependence of the transport coefficients and of the thermal conductivity. As a consequence of thermal tension, mechanical and thermal phenomena are coupled. We calculate the dynamic susceptibilities for displacement and temperature fluctuations and study their resonances. Due to the thermomechanical coupling, the thermal resonances such as the Landau-Placzek peak and the second-sound doublet appear in the displacement susceptibility, and conversely the acoustic sound wave doublet appears in the temperature susceptibility, Our analytical results not only apply to graphene, but they are also valid for arbitrary 2D crystals with hexagonal symmetry, such as 2D hexagonal boron nitride, 2H-transition-metal dichalcogenides, and oxides.

Abstract: A four-band exciton Hamiltonian is constructed starting from the single-particle Dirac Hamiltonian for charge carriers in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). The angular part of the exciton wave function can be separated from the radial part, in the case of zero center of mass momentum excitons, by exploiting the eigenstates of the total exciton angular momentum operator with which the Hamiltonian commutes. We explain why this approach fails for excitons with finite center of mass momentum or in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and present an approximation to resolve this issue. We calculate the (binding) energy and average interparticle distance of different excited exciton states in different TMDs and compare these with results available in the literature. Remarkably, we find that the intervalley exciton ground state in the -/+ K valley has angular momentum j = +/- 1, which is due to the pseudospin of the separate particles. The exciton mass and the exciton Landau levels are calculated and we find that the degeneracy of exciton states with opposite relative angular momentum is altered by a magnetic field.

Abstract: Interface effect in complex oxide thin-film heterostructures lies at the vanguard of current research to design technologically relevant functionality and explore emergent physical phenomena. While most of the previous works focus on the perovskite/perovskite heterostructures, the study of perovskite/brownmillerite interfaces remains in its infancy. Here, we investigate spontaneously stabilized perovskite-ferromagnet (SrCoO3-delta)/brownmillerite-antiferromagnet (SrCoO2.5) bilayer with T-N > T-C and discover an unconventional interfacial magnetic exchange bias effect. From magnetometry investigations, it is rationalized that the observed effect stems from the interfacial ferromagnet/antiferromagnet coupling. The possibility for coupled ferromagnet/spin-glass interface engendering such effect is ruled out. Strikingly, a finite coercive field persists in the paramagnetic state of SrCoO3-delta,whereas the exchange bias field vanishes at T-C . We conjecture the observed effect to be due to the effective external quenched staggered field provided by the antiferromagnetic layer for the ferromagnetic spins at the interface. Our results not only unveil a paradigm to tailor the interfacial magnetic properties in oxide heterostructures without altering the cations at the interface, but also provide a purview to delve into the fundamental aspects of exchange bias in such unusual systems, paving a big step forward in thin-film magnetism.

Abstract: The anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is studied on the surface of a 3D magnetic topological insulator. By applying a modified semiclassical framework, all three contributions to the AHE, the Berry curvature effect, the side jump effect and the skew scattering effects are systematically treated, and analytical expressions for the conductivities are obtained in terms of the Fermi level, the spatial orientation of the surface magnetization and the concentration of magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities. We demonstrate that the AHE can change sign by altering the orientation of the surface magnetization, the concentration of the impurities and also the position of the Fermi level, in agreement with recent experimental observations. We show how each contribution to the AHE, or even the whole AHE, can be turned off by properly adjusting the given parameters. For example, one can turn off the anomalous hall conductivity in a system with in-plane magnetization by pushing the system into the fully metallic regime.