Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Rudolf Torsten Clay

Committee Member

Mark A. Novotny

Committee Member

Seong-Gon Kim

Committee Member

Jinwu Ye

Committee Member

Jeffry A. Winger

Date of Degree

8-6-2021

Original embargo terms

Worldwide

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Physics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

We study unconventional superconductivity in two-dimensional systems. Unbiased numerical calculations within two-dimensional Hubbard models have found no evidence for long-range superconducting order. Most of the two-dimensional theories suggest that the superconducting state can be obtained by destabilizing an antiferromagnetic or spin-liquid insulating state. An antiferromagnet is a half-filled system because each site has one electron or hole. However, in anisotropic triangular lattices, numerical calculation finds pairing enhancement at quarter-filling but no long-range superconducting order. Many organic superconductors are dimerized in nature. Such a dimer lattice is effectively half-filled because each dimer has one electron or hole. Some theories suggest that magnetic fluctuation in such a system can give superconductivity. However, at zero temperature, we performed density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations in such a system, and we find no superconducting long-range order. We also find that the antiferromagnetic order is not necessary to get a superconducting state. Failure in explaining superconductivity in two-dimensional systems suggests that only repulsive interactions between electrons are not sufficient, and other interactions are required. The most likely candidate is the electron-phonon interaction. However, existing theories of superconductivity emphasize either electron-electron or electron-phonon interactions, each of which tends to cancel the effect of the other. We present direct evidence from quantum Monte Carlo calculations of cooperative, as opposed to competing, effects of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions within the frustrated Hubbard Hamiltonian, uniquely at the band-filling of one-quarter. Bond-coupled phonons and the onsite Hubbard U cooperatively reinforce d-wave superconducting pair-pair correlations at this filling while competing with one another at all other densities. Our work further gives new insight into how intertwined charge-order and superconductivity appear in real materials.

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