Quantum transport theory: numerics and dynamics

ORAL

Abstract

In recent years a number of systems have been identified in which momentum-space Berry phases play an important role in determining transport coefficients. Examples include the anomalous and spin Hall effects in spintronics and the negative magnetoresistance of Weyl semimetals. A convenient quantum kinetic formalism has recently been developed which is intended to allow these transport effects to be evaluated in real materials. As discussed in Refs. [1, 2], the formalism treats linear response to static electric field and nonlinear response to static magnetic field in the low-field regime. We present a numerical implementation of this formalism, validated by comparing with analytic results for simple models but applicable to general tight-binding models. We also discuss the extension of this formalism to consider nonlinear response to a time-varying electric field, with potential application to the valley Hall effect.

[1] D. Culcer, A. Sekine, and A. H. MacDonald, Phys. Rev. B 96, 035106 (2017).
[2] A. Sekine, D. Culcer, and A. H. MacDonald, arXiv:1706.01200.

*We acknowledge support by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-FG03-02ER45958 and by the Welch Foundation under Grant No. TBF1473.

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Presenters

  • Timothy Lovorn

    • Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin
    • University of Texas

Authors

  • Timothy Lovorn

    • Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin
    • University of Texas

  • Akihiko Sekine

    • The University of Texas at Austin
    • Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin

  • Allan MacDonald

    • Physics department, University of Texas at Austin
    • Physics, University of Texas, Austin
    • Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Physics , Univ of Texas, Austin
    • Univ of Texas at Austin
    • Physics, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Department of Physics, Univerisity of Texas at Austin
    • The University of Texas at Austin
    • University of Texas