Large Nonlinear Transverse Conductivity and Berry Curvature in KTaO3 Based Two-Dimensional Electron Gas.

Two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at oxide interfaces exhibits various exotic properties stemming from interfacial inversion and symmetry breaking. In this work, we report large nonlinear transverse conductivities in the LaAlO3/KTaO3 interface 2DEG under zero magnetic field. Skew scattering was identified as the dominant origin based on the cubic scaling of nonlinear transverse conductivity with linear longitudinal conductivity and 3-fold symmetry. Moreover, gate-tunable nonlinear transport with pronounced peak and dip was observed and reproduced by our theoretical calculation. These results indicate the presence of Berry curvature hotspots and thus a large Berry curvature triplet at the oxide interface. Our theoretical calculations confirm the existence of large Berry curvatures from the avoided crossing of multiple 5d-orbit bands, orders of magnitude larger than that in transition-metal dichalcogenides. Nonlinear transport offers a new pathway to probe the Berry curvature at oxide interfaces and facilitates new applications in oxide nonlinear electronics.

Effect of Confinement and Coulomb Interactions on the Electronic Structure of the (111) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Interface.

A tight binding supercell approach is used for the calculation of the electronic structure of the (111) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. The confinement potential at the interface is evaluated solving a discrete Poisson equation by means of an iterative method. In addition to the effect of the confinement, local Hubbard electron-electron terms are included at the mean-field level within a fully self-consistent procedure. The calculation carefully describes how the two-dimensional electron gas arises from the quantum confinement of electrons near the interface due to the band bending potential. The resulting electronic sub-bands and Fermi surfaces show full agreement with the electronic structure determined by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. In particular, we analyse how the effect of local Hubbard interactions change the density distribution over the layers from the interface to the bulk. Interestingly, the two-dimensional electron gas at the interface is not depleted by local Hubbard interactions which indeed induce an enhancement of the electron density between the first layers and the bulk.

Tunable Spin and Orbital Edelstein Effect at (111) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Interface.

Converting charge current into spin current is one of the main mechanisms exploited in spintronics. One prominent example is the Edelstein effect, namely, the generation of a magnetization in response to an external electric field, which can be realized in systems with lack of inversion symmetry. If a system has electrons with an orbital angular momentum character, an orbital magnetization can be generated by the applied electric field, giving rise to the so-called orbital Edelstein effect. Oxide heterostructures are the ideal platform for these effects due to the strong spin-orbit coupling and the lack of inversion symmetries. Beyond a gate-tunable spin Edelstein effect, we predict an orbital Edelstein effect an order of magnitude larger then the spin one at the (111) LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface for very low and high fillings. We model the material as a bilayer of t2g orbitals using a tight-binding approach, whereas transport properties are obtained in the Boltzmann approach. We give an effective model at low filling, which explains the non-trivial behaviour of the Edelstein response, showing that the hybridization between the electronic bands crucially impacts the Edelstein susceptibility.

Unveiling Signatures of Topological Phases in Open Kitaev Chains and Ladders.

In this work, the general problem of the characterization of the topological phase of an open quantum system is addressed. In particular, we study the topological properties of Kitaev chains and ladders under the perturbing effect of a current flux injected into the system using an external normal lead and derived from it via a superconducting electrode. After discussing the topological phase diagram of the isolated systems, using a scattering technique within the Bogoliubov-de Gennes formulation, we analyze the differential conductance properties of these topological devices as a function of all relevant model parameters. The relevant problem of implementing local spectroscopic measurements to characterize topological systems is also addressed by studying the system electrical response as a function of the position and the distance of the normal electrode (tip). The results show how the signatures of topological order affect the electrical response of the analyzed systems, a subset of which being robust also against the effects of a moderate amount of disorder. The analysis of the internal modes of the nanodevices demonstrates that topological protection can be lost when quantum states of an initially isolated topological system are hybridized with those of the external reservoirs. The conclusions of this work could be useful in understanding the topological phases of nanowire-based mesoscopic devices.

On the Role of Local Many-Body Interactions on the Thermoelectric Properties of Fullerene Junctions.

The role of local electron-vibration and electron-electron interactions on the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions is theoretically analyzed focusing on devices based on fullerene molecules. A self-consistent adiabatic approach is used in order to obtain a non-perturbative treatment of the electron coupling to low frequency vibrational modes, such as those of the molecule center of mass between metallic leads. The approach also incorporates the effects of strong electron-electron interactions between molecular degrees of freedom within the Coulomb blockade regime. The analysis is based on a one-level model which takes into account the relevant transport level of fullerene and its alignment to the chemical potential of the leads. We demonstrate that only the combined effect of local electron-vibration and electron-electron interactions is able to predict the correct behavior of both the charge conductance and the Seebeck coefficient in very good agreement with available experimental data.

Post-Deposition Wetting and Instabilities in Organic Thin Films by Supersonic Molecular Beam Deposition.

We discuss the formation and post-deposition instability of nanodrop-like structures in thin films of PDIF-CN2 (a perylene derivative) deposited via supersonic molecular beam deposition technique on highly hydrophobic substrates at room temperature. The role of the deposition rate on the characteristic lengths of the organic nanodrops has been investigated by a systematic analysis of atomic force microscope images of the thin films and through the use of the height-height correlation function. The nanodrops appear to be a metastable configuration for the freshly-deposited films. For this reason, post-deposition wetting effect has been examined with unprecedented accuracy throughout a year of experimental observations. The observed time scales, from few hours to months, are related to the growth rate, and characterize the thin films morphological reordering from three-dimensional nanodrops to a well-connected terraced film. While the interplay between adhesion and cohesion energies favors the formation of 3D-mounted structures during the growth, wetting phenomenon following the switching off of the molecular flux is found to be driven by an instability. A slow rate downhill process survives at the molecular flux shutdown and it is accompanied and maybe favored by the formation of a precursor layer composed of more lying molecules. These results are supported by simulations based on a non-linear stochastic model. The instability has been simulated, for both the growth and the post-growth evolution. To better reproduce the experimental data it is needed to introduce a surface equalizer term characterized by a relaxation time taking into account the presence of a local mechanism of molecular correlation.

Charge and heat transport in soft nanosystems in the presence of time-dependent perturbations.

BACKGROUND: Soft nanosystems are electronic nanodevices, such as suspended carbon nanotubes or molecular junctions, whose transport properties are modulated by soft internal degrees of freedom, for example slow vibrational modes. Effects of the electron-vibration coupling on the charge and heat transport of soft nanoscopic systems are theoretically investigated in the presence of time-dependent perturbations, such as a forcing antenna or pumping terms between the leads and the nanosystem. A well-established approach valid for non-equilibrium adiabatic regimes is generalized to the case where external time-dependent perturbations are present. Then, a number of relevant applications of the method are reviewed for systems composed by a quantum dot (or molecule) described by a single electronic level coupled to a vibrational mode. RESULTS: Before introducing time-dependent perturbations, the range of validity of the adiabatic approach is discussed showing that a very good agreement with the results of an exact quantum calculation is obtained in the limit of low level occupation. Then, we show that the interplay between the low frequency vibrational modes and the electronic degrees of freedom affects the thermoelectric properties within the linear response regime finding out that the phonon thermal conductance provides an important contribution to the figure of merit at room temperature. Our work has been stimulated by recent experimental results on carbon nanotube electromechanical devices working in the semiclassical regime (resonator frequencies in the megahertz range compared to an electronic hopping frequency of the order of tens of gigahertz) with extremely high quality factors. The nonlinear vibrational regime induced by the external antenna in such systems has been discussed within the non-perturbative adiabatic approach reproducing quantitatively the characteristic asymmetric shape of the current-frequency curves. Within the same set-up, we have proved that the antenna is able to pump sufficient charge close to the mechanical resonance making single-parameter adiabatic charge pumping feasible in carbon nanotube resonators. The pumping mechanism that we observe is different from that acting in the two parameter pumping and, instead, it is based on an important dynamic adjustment of the mechanical motion of the nanotube to the external drive in the weakly nonlinear regime. Finally, stochastic forces induced by quantum and thermal fluctuations due to the electron charging of the quantum dot are shown to affect in a significant way a Thouless charge pump realized with an elastically deformable quantum dot. In this case, the pumping mechanism is also shown to be magnified when the frequency of the external drive is resonant with the proper frequency of the deformable quantum dot. In this regime, the pumping current is not strongly reduced by the temperature, giving a measurable effect. CONCLUSION: Aim of this review has been to discuss common features of different soft nanosystems under external drive. The most interesting effects induced by time-dependent perturbations are obtained when the external forcing is nearly resonant with the slow vibrational modes. Indeed, not only the external forcing can enhance the electronic response, but it also induces nonlinear regimes where the interplay between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom plays a major role.