2D Holstein polarons in the presence of spin-orbit interactions

H. Fehske, J. Loos, Gerhard Wellein

Zhou Li, Lucian Covaci, Mona Berciu +2 more

We utilize an exact variational numerical procedure to calculate the ground state properties of a polaron in the presence of a Rashba-like spin-orbit interaction. Our results corroborate previous work performed with the momentum average approximation and with weak-coupling perturbation theory. We find that spin-orbit coupling increases the effective mass in the regime with weak electron-phonon coupling, and decreases the effective mass in the regimes of intermediate and strong electron-phonon coupling. Analytical strong-coupling perturbation theory results confirm our numerical results in the small-polaron regime. A large amount of spin-orbit coupling can lead to a significant lowering of the polaron effective mass.

Subhasree Pradhan, Monodeep Chakraborty, A. Taraphder

We investigate the orbital effects of a strong external magnetic field on the ground-state properties of a two-dimensional (2D) Holstein polaron, employing variational approaches based on exact diagonalization. From the ground-state energy and the wave function, we calculate the electron-phonon correlation function, the average phonon number, and the Drude weight and investigate the evolution of a 2D Holstein polaron as a function of the magnetic flux. Although the external magnetic field affects the polaron throughout the parameter regime, we show that the magnetic field has a stronger effect on a loosely bound (spatially extended) polaron. We also find that the magnetic field can be used as a tuning parameter, particularly for a weakly coupled polaron, to reduce the spatial extent of a large polaron.

F. Marsiglio

Xuezao Ren, Xu Liao, Lei Li +1 more

Ebrahimnejad Rahbari

In this thesis, we investigated the spectral properties of polaronic quasiparticles resulting from the coupling of a charge carrier to the bosonic excitations of ordered environments. Holstein polarons, describing an electron locally coupled to dispersionless phonons, and spin polarons in hole-doped antiferromagnets are considered. The Green's function of the Holstein polaron in a lattice with various kinds of impurities is calculated using the momentum average approximation. The main finding is that the scenario where the mere effect of the coupling to phonons is to enhance the electron's effective mass is incomplete as the phonons are found to also renormalize the impurity potential the polaron interacts with. This formalism is applied first to the case of a single impurity and the range of parameters where the polaron's ground state is localized is identified. The lifetime of the polaron due to scattering from weak but extended disorder is then studied and it is shown that the renormalization of the disorder potential leads to deviation of the strong coupling results from Fermi's golden rule's predictions. Motivated by the hole-doped cuprate superconductors, the motion of a hole in a two-dimensional Ising antiferromagnet and its binding to an attractive impurity is studied next, based on a variational scheme that allows for configurations with a certain maximum number of spin flips. The role of the magnetic sublattices in determining the symmetry of the resulting bound states is discussed. Next, a more realistic model describing a hole in a CuO₂ layer which retains the O explicitly, is considered. By neglecting the fluctuations of the Cu spins and using a variational principle similar to that of the previous chapter, a semi-analytic solution for the Green's function of the hole in an infinite 2D lattice is constructed. The resulting quasiparticle dispersion shows the proper ground state and other features observed in experiments. The lack of importance of the background spin fluctuations is justified based on the hole's ability to move on the O sublattice without disturbing the Cu spins. Finally, the model is generalized to gauge the importance of other relevant O orbitals.