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We have studied the Kondo effect of a spin-1/2 impurity coupled to a two-dimensional altermagnet host material. To attain the low-temperature many-body Kondo physics of the system, we have performed a numerical renormalization group calculations that allows us to access the spectral properties of the system at zero temperature. The impurity spectral function and the Kondo temperature were calculated for different set of parameters, including Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) and an external magnetic field. Interestingly, in the RSOC and altermagnetic fields, the hybridization function is spin independent, despite the characteristic broken time-reversal symmetry of the altermagnet. This is because the alternating sign of the spin splitting of the bands in the momentum space renders equal contributions for both spin components of the hybridization function. Our results demonstrate that, although the hybridization function is time-reversal symmetric, the Kondo temperature is substantially suppressed by the altermagnet coupling. Moreover, we have investigated the effect of an external magnetic field applied in the altermagnet along different directions. Interestingly, we observe an important restraining of the Kondo peak which depends strongly on the direction of the field. This anisotropic effect is, however, masked if strong Zeeman splitting takes place at the impurity, as it shatters the Kondo-singlet state., Comment: Updated version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

In this work we investigate Majorana correlations in quantum impurities coupled to a topological superconducting wire. By employing a density matrix renormalization group approach, we have calculated the Majorana correlation functions in the ground state of the system for different positions of the impurities along the wire. We observe that the correlations decreases exponentially with the distance between the impurities and the ends of the wire. Moreover, different electron-electron interactions on the wire and on the impurities were also analyzed, and the results showed a stronger effect as the electron occupation in the wire is increased. Moreover, changing the occupation of the impurities by tuning their energy levels, we observe that for specific values of $\epsilon$ the absolute value of correlation is highly peaked when the chemical potential lies within the window of the topological regime. These peaks are associated to coulomb blockade phenomena in the impurities, revealing very clearly its effect on the Majorana bound states in the topological phase of the system., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. This is the version accepted in PRB, before proof corrections

Using NRG, we show that a system containing a quantum impurity (QI), strongly coupled to a semiconductor (gap $2 \Delta$) and weakly coupled to a metal, displays a 'reentrant' Kondo stage at low temperatures. The NRG analysis of the corresponding Single Impurity Anderson Model (SIAM) shows that the reentrant stage is characterized by a second sequence of SIAM fixed points: free orbital (FO) > local moment (LM) > strong coupling (SC). In the first stage, the SC fixed point (Kondo temperature $T_{K1}$) is unstable, while the second stage exhibits a much lower Kondo temperature $T_{K2}$, associated to a stable SC fixed point. The results indicate that the reentrant Kondo screening is associated to an effective SIAM, with an effective repulsion $U_{eff}$. This low temperature effective SIAM, which we dub as 'reentrant' SIAM, behaves as a 'replica' of the high temperature (bare) SIAM. The intuitive picture that emerges is that the first Kondo state develops through impurity screening by semiconducting electrons, while the second Kondo state involves screening by metallic electrons, once the semiconducting electrons are out of reach to thermal excitations ($T < \Delta$) and only the metallic spectral weight inside the gap is available for impurity screening. In addition, we analyze a hybrid system formed by a QI `sandwiched' between an armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR) and a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip, with respective couplings set to reproduce the generic model described above. The energy gap in the AGNR can be externally tuned by an electric-field-induced Rashba spin-orbit interaction. We analyzed this system for realistic parameter values, using NRG, and concluded that the reentrant SIAM, with its associated second stage Kondo, is worthy of experimental investigation., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures

We present a proof-of-principle of how electronic transport measurements permits the observation of the Autler-Townes doublet, an optical property of nanodevices. The quantum physical system consists of one optically pumped quantum dot, a second auxiliary quantum dot, and a superconductor lead which provides an effective coupling between the dots via crossed Andreev reflection. Electrodes, working as source and drain, acts as nonequilibrium electronic reservoirs. Our calculations of the photocurrent at both, transient and stationary regimes, obtained using a density matrix formalism for open quantum systems, shows signatures of the formation of the Autler-Townes doublet, caused by the interplay between the optical pumping and the crossed Andreev reflection., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

First principles electronic structure calculations are carried out to investigate the band alignments of tensile strained (001) Ge interfaced with (001) In$_{x}$Al$_{1-x}$As. The sensitivities of band offsets to interfacial structure, interfacial stoichiometry, and substrate stoichiometry, are investigated. Large qualitative variations of the valence and conduction band offsets are observed, including changes of the band offset type, indicating the importance of local structural variations of the interface for band offsets in real samples. Our results explain recent measurements of band offsets derived from XPS core level spectra in terms of As atoms penetrating through the first few monolayers of the Ge film. Analogous studies are carried out for the diffusion of other species across the interface, and in general the band offsets vary approximately linearly with diffusion depth relative to the values for pristine "sharp" interfaces, where the sign of the linear variation depends on the diffusing species. This large sensitivity of the band alignments to interface details indicates potential routes to chemically control the band offset of this group IV/III-V interface by tuning the stoichiometry of the substrate surface that the thin film is grown on., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

A detailed analysis of the Kondo effect of a magnetic impurity in a zigzag graphene nanoribbon is addressed. An adatom is coupled to the graphene nanoribbon via a hybridization amplitude $\Gamma_{imp}$ in a hollow or top site configuration. In addition, the adatom is also weakly coupled to a metallic STM tip by a hybridization function $\Gamma_{tip}$ that provides a Kondo screening of its magnetic moment. The entire system is described by an Anderson-like Hamiltonian whose low-temperature physics is accessed by employing the numerical renormalization group approach, which allows us to obtain the thermodynamic properties used to compute the Kondo temperature of the system. We find two screening regimes when the adatom is close to the edge of the zigazag graphene nanoribbon: (1) a weak coupling regime ($\Gamma_{imp}\ll \Gamma_{tip}$), in which the edge states produce an enhancement of the Kondo temperature $T_K$ and (2) a strong coupling regime ($\Gamma_{imp}\gg \Gamma_{tip}$), in which a local singlet is formed, in detriment to the Kondo screening by the STM tip. These two regimes can be clearly distinguished by the dependence of their characteristic temperature $T^*$ on the coupling between the adatom and the carbon sites of the graphene nanoribon ($V_{imp}$). We observe that in the weak coupling regime $T^*$ increases exponentially with $V_{imp}^2$. Differently, in the strong coupling regime, $T^*$ increases linearly with $V_{imp}^2$., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

We propose a physical model based on disordered (a hole punched inside a material) monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) to demonstrate a large-gap quantum valley Hall insulator. We find an emergence of bound states lying inside the bulk gap of the TMDs. They are strongly affected by spin-valley coupling, rest- and kinetic- mass terms and the hole size. In addition, in the whole range of the hole size, at least two in-gap bound states with opposite angular momentum, circulating around the edge of the hole, exist. Their topological insulator (TI) feature is analyzed by the Chern number, characterized by spacial distribution of their probabilities and confirmed by energy dispersion curves (Energy vs. angular momentum). It not only sheds light on overcoming low-temperature operating limitation of existing narrow-gap TIs, but also opens an opportunity to realize valley- and spin- qubits., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Feedback is welcomed

We investigate the spin-resolved transport in a two-terminal zigzag graphene nanoribbon device with two independent gate induced Rashba spin-orbit coupling regions and in the presence of strain. By employing a recursive Green's function technique to the tight-binding model for the graphene nanoribbon, we calculate the spin-resolved conductance of the system. We show that by switching the sign of one of the gates it is possible to select which spin component will be transmitted. Moreover, our results show that an uniaxial strain applied to the nanoribbon plays a significant role in the transport, providing and additional manner to control the spin-polarized conductance. This makes the present system a potential candidate for future implementations of spin-based mechanical strain sensors., Comment: Title changed. More references and discussions added along the manuscript

We theoretically investigate the manipulation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) in graphene by means of the uniaxial strain. The values of Chern number and Hall conductance demonstrate that the strained graphene in presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and exchange field, for vanishing intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, possesses non-trivial topological phase which is robust against the direction and modulus of the strain. Besides, we also find that the interplay between Rashba and intrinsic spin-orbit couplings results in a topological phase transition in the strained graphene. Remarkably, as the strain strength is increased beyond approximately 7%, the critical parameters of the exchange field for triggering the quantum anomalous Hall phase transition show distinct behaviors - decrease (increase) for strains along zigzag (armchair) direction. Our findings open up a new platform for manipulation of the QAHE by an experimentally accessible strain deformation of the graphene structure, with promising application on novel quantum electronic devices with high energy efficiency performance., Comment: Discussions improved and new references added. Comments/Suggestions are highly welcome

We report on theoretical studies of electronic transport in the archetypical molecular hybrid formed by DNA wrapped around single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Using a Green's function formalism in a $\pi$-orbital tight-binding representation, we investigate the role that spin-orbit interactions play on the CNT in the case of the helicoidal electric field induced by the polar nature of the adsorbed DNA molecule. We find that spin polarization of the current can take place in the absence of magnetic fields, depending strongly on the direction of the wrapping and length of the helicoidal field. These findings open new routes for using CNTs in spintronic devices., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures