Related papers: Dependence of nonthermal metallization kinetics on…
The electron-excitation induced bond strength variations in metals have been predicted from density-functional theory calculations and observed experimentally, while the microscopic mechanism has yet to be elucidated. Here, we present a…
When the electron density of highly crystalline thin films is tuned by chemical doping or ionic liq- uid gating, interesting effects appear including unconventional superconductivity, sizeable spin-orbit coupling, competition with…
We consider how electron-phonon interaction influences the insulator-metal transitions driven by doping in the strongly correlated system. Using the polaronic version of the generalized tight-binding method, we investigate a multiband…
Topological phase transitions occur when the electronic bands change their topological properties, typically featuring the closing of the bandgap. While the influence of topological phase transitions on electronic and optical properties has…
This contribution is a brief introduction to nonthermal effects related to modifications of the interatomic potential upon ultrafast excitation of the electronic system of solids, primarily focusing on the swift heavy ion track problem. We…
A topological phase transition from a trivial insulator to a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological insulator requires the bulk band gap to vanish. In the case of noncentrosymmetric materials, these phases are separated by a gapless Weyl semimetal…
Plasmonic excitations behave fundamentally different in layered materials in comparison to bulk systems. They form gapless modes, which in turn couple at low energies to the electrons. Thereby they can strongly influence superconducting…
We develop a procedure to determine the portion of exact Hartree-Fock exchange interaction contained in a hybrid density functional to treat the range of electronic correlation governing the physics of a system as a function of a…
Transition of molecular hydrogen to atomic ionized state with increase of temperature and pressure poses still unresolved problems for experimental methods and theory. Here we analyze the dynamics of this transition and show its…
While solid-state materials are commonly classified as covalent, ionic, or metallic, there are cases that defy these iconic bonding mechanisms. A prominent example is given by phase-change materials (PCMs) for data storage or photonics,…
Ge2Sb2Te5 and related phase change materials are highly unusual in that they can be readily transformed between amorphous and crystalline states using very fast melt, quench, anneal cycles, although the resulting states are extremely long…
We address the role of electronic correlations in different kinds of band insulators by using the two-orbital Hubbard model within the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). An intriguing finding is that electronic correlations turn a metal…
We investigate the structural properties and melting behavior of two-dimensional ion crystals in an RF trap, focusing on the effects of ion temperature and trap potential symmetry. We identify distinct crystal structures that form under…
We first argue that the covalent bond and the various closed-shell interactions can be thought of as symmetry broken versions of one and the same interaction, viz., the multi-center bond. We use specially chosen molecular units to show that…
Electronic and optical properties of materials are affected by atomic motion through the electron-phonon interaction: not only band gaps change with temperature, but even at absolute zero temperature, zero-point motion causes band-gap…
We present a microscopic picture rationalizing the surprisingly steep decrease of the band gap with temperature in insulators, crystalline or otherwise. The gap narrowing largely results from fluctuations of long-wavelength optical…
Electrons in correlated insulators are prevented from conducting by Coulomb repulsion between them. When an insulator-to-metal transition is induced in a correlated insulator by doping or heating, the resulting conducting state can be…
When materials are deformed at extreme strain rates, greater than $10^6 \text{ s}^{-1}$, a counterintuitive mechanical response is seen where the strength and hardness of pure metals increases with increasing temperature. The anti-thermal…
Ionic liquids (ILs) gain much interest as possible electrolytes in the next generation of mixed-solid Li-ion batteries. However, such properties of ionic liquids as melting transition, diffusion, strength and structure of hydrogen bond…
The anisotropy of the electronic transition is a well-known characteristic of low-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides, but their layer-thickness dependence has not been properly in- vestigated experimentally until now. Yet, it not…