Magnetic devices are a leading contender for the implementation of memory and logic technologies that are non-volatile, that can scale to high density and high speed, and that do not wear out. However, widespread application of magnetic memory and logic devices will require the development of efficient mechanisms for reorienting their magnetization using the least possible current and power.

Identifying the effects of surface-bulk coupling is a key challenge in exploiting the topological nature of the surface states in many available three-dimensional topological “metals.†Here we combine an effective-model calculation and an ab initio slab calculation to study the effects of the lowest order surface-bulk interaction: hybridization. In the effective-model study, we discretize an established low-energy effective four-band model and introduce hybridization between surface bands and bulk bands in the spirit of the Fano model.

The existence of electronic symmetry breaking in the underdoped cuprates and its disappearance with increased hole density p are now widely reported. However, the relation between this transition and the momentum-space (k →-space) electronic structure underpinning the superconductivity has not yet been established. Here, we visualize the Q→ = 0 (intra-unit-cell) and Q→ ≠ 0 (density-wave) broken-symmetry states, simultaneously with the coherent k→-space topology, for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ samples spanning the phase diagram 0.06 ≤ p ≤ 0.23.

Despite much interest in engineering new topological surface (edge) states using structural defects, such topological surface states have not been observed yet. We show that recently imaged tilt boundaries in gated multilayer graphene should support topologically protected gapless edge states. We approach the problem from two perspectives: the microscopic perspective of a tight-binding model and an ab initio calculation on a bilayer, and the symmetry-protected topological (SPT) state perspective for a general multilayer.

The phase diagram of Sr3Ru2O7 shows hallmarks of strong electron correlations despite the modest Coulomb interaction in the Ru 4d shell. We use angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy measurements to provide microscopic insight into the formation of the strongly renormalized heavy d-electron liquid that controls the physics of Sr 3Ru2O7. Our data reveal itinerant Ru 4d-states confined over large parts of the Brillouin zone to an energy range of <6 meV, nearly three orders of magnitude lower than the bare band width.

A major question in Fe-based superconductors remains the structure of the pairing, in particular whether it is of unconventional nature. The electronic structure near a vortex can serve as a platform for phase-sensitive measurements to answer this question. By solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for LiFeAs, we calculate the energy-dependent local electronic structure near a vortex for different nodeless gap-structure possibilities. At low energies, the local density of states (LDOS) around a vortex is determined by the normal-state electronic structure.

Rashba spin-orbit coupling together with electron correlations in the metallic interface between SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 can lead to an unusual combination of magnetic and orbital ordering. We consider such phenomena in the context of the recent observation of anisotropic magnetism. Firstly, we show that Rashba spin-orbit coupling can account for the observed magnetic anisotropy, assuming a correlation driven (Stoner type) instability toward ferromagnetism. Secondly, we investigate nematicity in the form of an orbital imbalance between dxz/dyz orbitals.

Topological insulators in three spatial dimensions are known to possess a precise bulk-boundary correspondence, in that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the five classes characterized by bulk topological invariants and Dirac Hamiltonians on the boundary with symmetry protected zero modes. This holographic characterization of topological insulators is studied in two dimensions. Dirac Hamiltonians on the one-dimensional edge are classified according to the discrete symmetries of time reversal, particle hole, and chirality, extending a previous classification in two dimensions.

Recent observations of broken symmetries have partly demystified the pseudogap phase. Here we review evidence for long-range intra-unit-cell (IUC) nematic order and its unexpectedly strong coupling to the phase of the fluctuating stripes in the pseudogap states of underdoped Bi 2Sr 2CaCu 2O 8+δ.

A motivation for the development of atomically resolved spectroscopic imaging STM (SISTM) has been to study the broken symmetries in the electronic structure of cuprate high temperature superconductors. Both the d-wave superconducting (dSC) and the pseudogap (PG) phases of underdoped cuprates exhibit two distinct classes of electronic states when studied using SI-STM. The class consists of the dispersive Bogoliubov quasiparticles of a homogeneous d-wave superconductor.