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arXiv:cond-mat/0610326 · Physical Review B

Fermi liquid instabilities in the spin channel

Congjun Wu, Kai Sun, Eduardo Fradkin, Shoucheng Zhang

Published Mar 5, 2007• 227 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the Fermi-surface instabilities of the Pomeranchuk type [Sov. Phys. JETP 8, 361 (1959)] in the spin-triplet channel with high orbital partial waves $[{F}_{l}^{a}(l>0)]$. The ordered phases are classified into two classes, dubbed the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}$ phases by analogy to the superfluid $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ A and B phases. The Fermi surfaces in the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ phases exhibit spontaneous anisotropic distortions, while those in the $\ensuremath{\beta}$ phases remain circular or spherical with topologically nontrivial spin configurations in momentum space. In the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ phase, the Goldstone modes in the density channel exhibit anisotropic overdamping. The Goldstone modes in the spin channel have a nearly isotropic underdamped dispersion relation at small propagating wave vectors. Due to the coupling to the Goldstone modes, the spin-wave spectrum develops resonance peaks in both the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}$ phases, which can be detected in inelastic neutron-scattering experiments. In the $p$-wave channel $\ensuremath{\beta}$ phase, a chiral ground-state inhomogeneity is spontaneously generated due to a Lifshitz-like instability in the originally nonchiral systems. Possible experiments to detect these phases are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.75.115103

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We study the Fermi-surface instabilities of the Pomeranchuk type [Sov. Phys. JETP 8, 361 (1959)] in the spin-triplet channel with high orbital partial waves [Fla(l>0)][{F}_{l}^{a}(l>0)][Fla​(l>0)]. The ordered phases are classified into two classes, dubbed the \ensuremathα\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremathα and \ensuremathβ\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremathβ phases by analogy to the superfluid 3He^{3}\mathrm{He}3He A and B phases. The Fermi surfaces in the \ensuremathα\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremathα phases exhibit spontaneous anisotropic distortions, while those in the \ensuremathβ\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremathβ phases remain circular or spherical with topologically nontrivial spin configurations in momentum space. In the \ensuremathα\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremathα phase, the Goldstone modes in the density channel exhibit anisotropic overdamping. The Goldstone modes in the spin channel have a nearly isotropic underdamped dispersion relation at small propagating wave vectors. Due to the coupling to the Goldstone modes, the spin-wave spectrum develops resonance peaks in both the \ensuremathα\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremathα and \ensuremathβ\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremathβ phases, which can be detected in inelastic neutron-scattering experiments. In the ppp-wave channel \ensuremathβ\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremathβ phase, a chiral ground-state inhomogeneity is spontaneously generated due to a Lifshitz-like instability in the originally nonchiral systems. Possible experiments to detect these phases are discussed.
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We study the competition between a Pomeranchuk instability in spin-channel with angular momentum l = 1 and an attractive BCS interaction, favoring Cooper pair formation. We compute the phase diagram at mean-field level, finding a transition between two superconductor phases: a homogeneous and a modulated superconductor, with similar characteristics of the FFLO state. Differently from FFLO, time-reversal symmetry is preserved due to the spontaneous generation of a spin-orbit coupling. An experimental signature for this phase transition could be the simultaneous observation of anisotropic superconductivity and an anomalous Hall effect. A Fermi liquid is, except in one dimension, a very stable state of matter 1 . At least two type of instabilities, related with attractive interactions, are known: Pomeranchuk 2 and superconductor instabilities. Pomeranchuk instabilities occur in the presence of two-body interactions containing a strong attractive component in the forward scattering channel with a definite angular momentum. In the context of Landau theory, the instability sets in when one or more dimensionless Landau parameters F s,a l , with angular momentum l in the charge
We investigate Fermi liquid states of the ultracold magnetic dipolar Fermi gases in the simplest two-component case including both thermodynamic instabilities and collective excitations. The magnetic dipolar interaction is invariant under the simultaneous spin-orbit rotation but not under either the spin or the orbit one. Therefore, the corresponding Fermi liquid theory is intrinsically spin-orbit coupled. This is a fundamental feature of magnetic dipolar Fermi gases different from electric dipolar ones. The Landau interaction matrix is calculated and is diagonalized in terms of the spin-orbit coupled partial-wave channels of the total angular momentum JJJ. The leading thermodynamic instabilities lie in the channels of ferromagnetism hybridized with the ferronematic order with J=1+J={1}^{+}J=1+ and the spin-current mode with $J={1}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, where +++ and $\ensuremath{-}$ represent even and odd parities, respectively. An exotic propagating collective mode is identified as spin-orbit coupled Fermi surface oscillations in which spin distribution on the Fermi surface exhibits a topologically nontrivial hedgehog configuration.
"This thesis is devoted to the investigation of the quantum liquid crystal phases in strongly correlated electronic systems. Such phases are characterized by their partially broken spatial symmetries and are observed in various strongly correlated systems as being summarized in Chapter 1. In quantum liquid crystal phases formed by fermions, behaviors beyond Landau's theory of the Fermi liquids appear naturally, signed by the absence of well-defined quasiparticle excitations. Although quantum liquid crystal phases often involve strong-coupling physics, the associated symmetry analysis can often be carried out also in a relatively weak coupling regime and this is the main approach taken in this thesis. Two different quantum liquid crystal phases, the nematic state and the smectic state, are studied in Chapters 2 and 3 respectively, by investigating various instabilities of a Landau Fermi liquid. A nematic phase is a state that breaks the rotational symmetry spontaneously but preserves the translational symmetries. It can be reached by the Pomeranchuk instability of a Landau Fermi liquid. The Pomeranchuk instability in the charge (spin-singlet) sector of a Fermi liquid was studied previously within a random phase approximation and by a high-dimensional bosonization method. In Chapter 2, we concentrate on the Pomeranchuk instability in the spin-triplet sector, and two different classes of ordered phases are discovered, dubbed the a and ,8-phases by analogy to the superfluid 3He-A and B-phases. The Fermi surfaces in the a-phases exhibit spontaneous anisotropic distortions, while in the ,8-phases the Fermi surfaces remain circular or spherical with topologically non-trivial spin configurations in momentum space. The behaviors of the low energy bosonic excitations are studied both in the order phases (a and .B) and at the quantum critical point separating the ordered phases from the Fermi liquid phase. In Chapter 3, the smectic phase and the quantum phase transition between a metallic nematic state and a metallic smectic phase are investigated using the random phase approximation, by considering the formation of a unidirectional charge density wave in an electronic nematic state. The associated quantum critical point is investigated within the Hertz-Millis approach. Non-Fermi liquid behaviors are discovered both at the quantum phase transition and in the smectic ordered phase. The theory we studied here provides a simple description for the so-called ""fluctuating stripe"" phase in cuprates. Similar to its classical counterpart, the phase transition between the nematic and smectic phases are described by a ""gauge-like"" theory as required by the rotational invariance in close analogy with the McMillan-deGennes theory of the smectic-nematic phase transition in classical liquid crystals. However, unlike the classical McMillandeGennes theory, in which the coupling between the ""gauge-like"" nematic fluctuations and the ""matter-like"" smectic fields is relevant, in the sense of renormalization group, this coupling is irrelevant at the quantum phase transition. This property enables the study of low energy fluctuations and the fate of fermions near this quantum critical point. In Chapter 4, quantum liquid crystal phases with a broken time-reversal symmetry are investigated. We start by studying the general scenario of timereversal symmetry breaking phases in the absence of magnetic ordering in systems with long-lived low-energy fermionic quasiparticle excitations in two dimensions. Using a Berry phase approach, we classified possible time-reversal symmetry breaking phases by the accompanying spatial symmetry breaking patterns. Two of the simplest situations are referred to as the type I state, which breaks simultaneously the space-inversion symmetry and the time-reversal symmetry, and the type I I state, in which the chiral symmetry is broken in addition to the breaking of the time-reversal symmetry. Although the starting point is general and has little relation with the quantum liquid crystal phases, both type I and type II states defined above are realized by (generalized) Pomeranchuk instabilities. In fact , a type I I state is usually a nematic state which also breaks the time-reversal symmetry. Interestingly, the type II states also shows spontaneously generated Hall effect even in the absence of a magnetic field, which is known as the spontaneous anomalous Hall effect. In Chapter 5, we investigate the stability of a quadratic band-crossing point in two-dimensional fermionic systems that provide an explicit example, within well controlled approximations, for the nematic ordering discussed in Chapter 2 and spontaneous anomalous Hall effect discussed in Chapter 4. At the non-interacting level, we show that a quadratic band-crossing point exists and is topologically stable when the Berry flux of this crossing point is ±27r and the point symmetry group at this point has either fourfold or sixfold rotational symmetries. Strikingly, we find that this would-be topologically stable quadratic band-crossing is marginally unstable against short-range interactions: a quadratic band-crossing point in two dimensions is unstable against shortrange repulsion, no matter how weak! Four ordered phases are found in this system, the quantum anomalous Hall state, the quantum spin Hall phase, the nematic phase, and the nematic-spin-nematic phase."
Interactions in Fermi systems can generate a Pomeranchuk instability leading to orientational symmetry breaking, that is, nematic order. In a metallic system close to such an instability the Fermi surface is easily deformed by anisotropic perturbations and exhibits enhanced collective fluctuations. We analyze fluctuation effects in the quantum critical regime near a d-wave Pomeranchuk instability in two dimensions. Density correlations with a d-wave form factor and the dynamical forward scattering interaction diverge near the instability. The singular forward scattering leads to large self-energy contributions, which destroy Fermi liquid behavior over the whole Fermi surface except at “cold spots” on the Brillouin zone diagonal. The decay rate of single-particle excitations, which is related to the width of the peaks in the spectral function, exceeds the excitation energy in the low-energy limit. The dispersion of the spectra flattens strongly near those portions of the Fermi surface which are remote from the zone diagonal. The decay rate for DC transport is linear in temperature except at the cold spots. We discuss the possible relevance of d-wave Fermi surface fluctuations for the “strange metal” behavior observed in the normal phase of cuprates.
We study the Fermi liquid properties of the cold atomic dipolar Fermi gases with the explicit dipolar anisotropy using perturbative approaches. Due to the explicit dipolar anisotropy, Fermi surfaces exhibit distortions of the ${d}_{{r}^{2}\ensuremath{-}3{z}^{2}}$ type in three dimensions and of the ${d}_{{x}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{y}^{2}}$ type in two dimensions. The fermion self-energy, effective mass, and Fermi velocity develop the same anisotropy at the Hartree-Fock level proportional to the interaction strength. The Landau interaction parameters in the isotropic Fermi liquids become the tridiagonal Landau interaction matrices in the dipolar Fermi liquids which renormalize thermodynamic susceptibilities. With large dipolar interaction strength, the Fermi surface collapses along directions perpendicular to the dipole orientation. The dynamic collective zero sound modes exhibit an anisotropic dispersion with the largest sound velocity propagating along the polar directions. Similarly, the longitudinal ppp-wave channel spin mode becomes a propagating mode with an anisotropic dispersion in multicomponent dipolar systems.