Related papers: Phononic soft mode and strong electronic backgroun…
We use variable-temperature x-ray thermal diffuse scattering and inelastic scattering to investigate the lattice dynamics in single crystals of multiferroic CaMn7O12 which undergo a series of orbital and magnetic transitions at low…
Graphite under high magnetic field exhibits consecutive metal-insulator (MI) transitions as well as re-entrant insulator-metal (IM) transition in the quasi-quantum limit at low temperature. In this paper, we identify the low-$T$ insulating…
We have used an effective model of ferroelectric PbTiO$_{3}$, which displays a representative soft mode-driven phase transition, to investigate how different features of the potential-energy surface affect the transition temperature $T_{\rm…
Excitons are compound particles formed from an electron and a hole in semiconductors. The impact of this substructure on the phonon-exciton interaction is described by a closed system of microscopic scattering equations. To calculate the…
Development of topological insulating phases in IV-VI compounds under dynamic lattice deformations is studied using first-principles methods. Unlike the static state of topological phases at equilibrium conditions, we show that non-trivial…
Raman scattering experiments on stoichiometric, Mott-insulating LaTiO$_3$ over a wide range of excitation energies reveal a broad electronic continuum which is featureless in the paramagnetic state, but develops a gap of $\sim 800$…
Half a century ago, Mott noted that tuning the carrier density of a semimetal towards zero produces an insulating state in which electrons and holes form bound pairs. It was later argued that such pairing persists even if a semiconducting…
Using the band structure calculation and mean-field analysis of the derived three-chain Hubbard model with phonon degrees of freedom, we discuss the origin of the orthorhombic-to-monoclinic phase transition of the layered chalcogenide…
A theoretical study on low-temperature structural phase transitions is presented, in which both phonon-like and relaxation order-parameter dynamics are contemplated. While the first limiting case has been considered previously, the second…
The thesis presents a comprehensive Raman spectroscopic and first-principle density functional theory based investigation of V_(1-x)PS_(3) ; PbTaSe_(2) and 1T-TaS_(2). In V_(1-x)PS_(3),the detection of fractionalized excitations (Majorana…
Interaction between the lattice and the orbital degrees of freedom not only makes rare-earth nickelates unusually "bad metal", but also introduces a temperature driven insulator-metal phase transition. Here we investigate this…
We investigate an interesting anisotropic van der Waals material, Ta$_{2}$NiSe$_{5}$, using optical spectroscopy. Ta$_{2}$NiSe$_{5}$ has been known as one of the few excitonic insulators proposed over 50 years ago. Ta$_{2}$NiSe$_{5}$ has…
Since 2014 the layered semiconductor SnSe in the high-temperature Cmcm phase is known to be the most efficient thermoelectric material. Making use of first-principles calculations we show that its vibrational and thermal transport…
We discuss, from a theoretical point of view, excitonic phases at the pressure induced semiconductor-semimetal transition in $\rm TmSe_{0.45}Te_{0.55}$,focusing, in particular, on the stability against an electron-hole liquid. The…
The ideal strength of monolayer materials possessing semimetallic, semiconducting, and insulating ground states is computed using density functional theory. Here we show that, as in graphene, a soft mode occurs at the K-point in BN,…
Local symmetry breaking in complex materials is emerging as an important contributor to materials properties but is inherently difficult to study. Here we follow up an earlier structural observation of such a local symmetry broken phase in…
The doped topological insulator $A_{x}\mathrm{Bi_{2}Se_{3}}$, with $A=\{\mathrm{Cu},\mathrm{Sr},\mathrm{Nb}\}$, becomes a nematic superconductor below $T_{c}\sim3-4\,\mathrm{K}$. The associated electronic nematic director is described by an…
Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on the molecular dimer-Mott insulator $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu[N(CN)$_{2}$]Cl reveal a phonon anomaly in a wide temperature range. Starting from $T_{\rm ins}\sim50$-$60$ K where the charge gap…
We present a study of the soft transverse optic phonon mode in SnTe in comparison to the corresponding mode in PbTe using inelastic neutron scattering and ab-initio lattice dynamical calculations. In contrast to previous reports our…
Excitonic insulators are long-sought-after quantum materials predicted to spontaneously open a gap by the Bose condensation of bound electron-hole pairs, namely, excitons, in their ground state. Since the theoretical conjecture, extensive…