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arXiv:1309.5103 · Physical Review B

Effect of amplitude fluctuations on the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition

Amir Erez, Yigal Meir

Published Nov 20, 2013• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition is a generic transition describing the loss of coherence in two-dimensional systems and has been invoked, for example, to describe the superconductor-insulator transition in thin films. However, recent experiments have shown that the BKT transition, driven by phase fluctuations, is not sufficient to describe the loss of superconducting order, and amplitude fluctuations must also be taken into account. The standard models that are extensively used to model two-dimensional superconductors are the Hubbard and $\mathit{XY}$ models. Whereas the $\mathit{XY}$ model allows only phase fluctuations, the Hubbard model has an extra degree of freedom: amplitude fluctuations. In this paper we compare two Hubbard models with the same critical temperature but with different interactions and deduce the role of the amplitude fluctuations in the superconducting transition. For this purpose, a novel approximation is presented and used. We derive an effective phase-only ($\mathit{XY}$) Hamiltonian, incorporating amplitude fluctuations in an explicit temperature dependence of the phase rigidity. We study the relation between amplitude fluctuations and coupling strength. Our results support existing claims about the suppression of phase rigidity due to amplitude fluctuations not present in the $\mathit{XY}$ model.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.88.184510

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The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition is a generic transition describing the loss of coherence in two-dimensional systems and has been invoked, for example, to describe the superconductor-insulator transition in thin films. However, recent experiments have shown that the BKT transition, driven by phase fluctuations, is not sufficient to describe the loss of superconducting order, and amplitude fluctuations must also be taken into account. The standard models that are extensively used to model two-dimensional superconductors are the Hubbard and XY\mathit{XY}XY models. Whereas the XY\mathit{XY}XY model allows only phase fluctuations, the Hubbard model has an extra degree of freedom: amplitude fluctuations. In this paper we compare two Hubbard models with the same critical temperature but with different interactions and deduce the role of the amplitude fluctuations in the superconducting transition. For this purpose, a novel approximation is presented and used. We derive an effective phase-only (XY\mathit{XY}XY) Hamiltonian, incorporating amplitude fluctuations in an explicit temperature dependence of the phase rigidity. We study the relation between amplitude fluctuations and coupling strength. Our results support existing claims about the suppression of phase rigidity due to amplitude fluctuations not present in the XY\mathit{XY}XY model.
We analyze the interplay of thermal amplitude and phase fluctuations in a U(1)U(1)U(1) symmetric two-dimensional ϕ4\phi^4ϕ4-theory. To this end, we derive coupled renormalization group equations for both types of fluctuations. Discarding the amplitude fluctuations, the expected Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase characterized by a finite phase stiffness and an algebraic decay of order parameter correlations is recovered at low temperatures. However, in contrast to the widespread expectation, amplitude fluctuations are not innocuous, since their mass vanishes due to a strong renormalization by phase fluctuations. Even at low temperatures the amplitude fluctuations lead to a logarithmic renormalization group flow of the phase stiffness, which ultimately vanishes. Hence, the BKT phase is strictly speaking replaced by a symmetric phase with a finite correlation length, which is however exponentially large at low temperatures. The vortex-driven BKT transition is then rounded to a crossover, which may be practically indistinguishable from a true phase transition in real systems such as 4^44He-films.
We explore the implications of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) critical behavior on the two-dimensional (2D) quantum superconductor-insulator (QSI) transition driven by the tuning parameter x. Concentrating on the sheet resistance R(x,T) BKT behavior implies: an explicit quantum scaling function for R(x,T) along the superconducting branch ending at the nonuniversal critical value Rc = R(xc); a BKT-transition line T(c)(x) [proportionality] (x - x(c))(zν[overline]), where z is the dynamic exponent and ν[overline] the exponent of the zero-temperature correlation length; independent estimates of zν[overline], z and ν[overline] from the x dependence of the nonuniversal parameters entering the BKT expression for the sheet resistance. To illustrate the potential and the implications of this scenario we analyze the data of Bollinger et al (2011 Nature 472 458) taken on gate voltage tuned epitaxial films of La2-xSrxCuO4 that are one unit cell in thickness. The resulting estimates, z ~/= 3.1 and ν[overline] ~/= 0.52, indicate a clean 2D-QSI critical point where hyperscaling, the proportionality between d/λ(2)(0) and Tc, and the correspondence between the quantum phase transitions in D dimensions and the classical ones in (D + z) dimensions are violated.
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition drives the unbinding of topological defects in many two-dimensional systems. In the two-dimensional Coulomb gas, it corresponds to an insulator-conductor transition driven by charge deconfinement. We investigate the global topological properties of this transition, both analytically and by numerical simulation, using a lattice-field description of the two-dimensional Coulomb gas on a torus. The BKT transition is shown to be an ergodicity breaking between the topological sectors of the electric field, which implies a definition of topological order in terms of broken ergodicity. The breakdown of local topological order at the BKT transition leads to the excitation of global topological defects in the electric field, corresponding to different topological sectors. The quantized nature of these classical excitations, and their strict suppression by ergodicity breaking in the low-temperature phase, afford striking global signatures of topological-sector fluctuations at the BKT transition. We discuss how these signatures could be detected in experiments on, for example, magnetic films and cold-atom systems.
Abstract The physics of two-dimensional (2D) quantum gases can be revealed in strongly confining optical lattices. Upon cooling, 2D bosonic quantum gases as well as Fermi gases where pairing is present, become superfluid. The superfluid-to-normal transition is no longer governed by the presence or absence of a condensate, but by the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) mechanism: above a critical temperature, vortices and antivortices proliferate and destroy phase coherence. We investigate the BKT transition for superfluid 2D Fermi gases in the whole range of the BCS–BEC crossover, from weakly bound Cooper pairing (the BCS state), up to strongly bound molecules (the BEC state). Using a path-integral description, we then focus on the case of imbalanced gases: when the number of ‘spin-up’ and ‘spin-down’ fermions that form the pair is no longer equal. When an excess of one spin species exists, pairing is frustrated and the vortex energetics is strongly affected, influencing the KT mechanism. In the present work we are concentrated on the effect of both phase and amplitude fluctuations on phase diagrams of the fermion system. The amplitude fluctuations only slightly influence the BKT phase transition temperature. However, they lead to a substantial modification of the complete phase diagram for the Fermi gas in 2D with respect to that obtained taking into account only phase fluctuations.
The Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition is the prototype of a phase transition driven by the formation and interaction of topological defects in two-dimensional (2D) systems. In typical models, these are vortices: above a transition temperature TBKT, vortices are free; below this transition temperature, they get confined. In this work, we extend the concept of BKT transition to quantum systems in two dimensions. In particular, we demonstrate that a zero-temperature quantum BKT phase transition driven by a coupling constant can occur in 2D models governed by an effective gauge field theory with a diverging dielectric constant. One particular example is that of a compact U(1) gauge theory with a diverging dielectric constant, where the quantum BKT transition is induced by non-relativistic, purely 2D magnetic monopoles, which can be viewed also as electric vortices. These quantum BKT transitions have the same diverging exponent z as the quantum Griffiths transition but are not related to disorder.
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition is the prototype of a phase transition driven by the formation and interaction of topological defects in two-dimensional (2D) systems. In typical models these are vortices: above a transition temperature TBKTT_{\rm BKT}TBKT​ vortices are free, below this transition temperature they get confined. In this work we extend the concept of BKT transition to quantum systems in two dimensions. In particular, we demonstrate that a zero-temperature quantum BKT phase transition, driven by a coupling constant can occur in 2D models governed by an effective gauge field theory with a diverging dielectric constant. One particular example is that of a compact U(1) gauge theory with a diverging dielectric constant, where the quantum BKT transition is induced by non-relativistic, purely 2D magnetic monopoles, which can be viewed also as electric vortices. These quantum BKT transitions have the same diverging exponent zzz as the quantum Griffiths transition but have nothing to do with disorder.