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Characterization of Thermal Transport in One-dimensional Solid Materials
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Universal Behavior of the Thermal Hall Conductivity
Yi-Feng Yang1,2,3, Guang-Ming Zhang4,5, Fu-Chun Zhang6
1Beijing National Lab for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
Physical Review Letters
|May 23, 2020
Summary
Researchers discovered universal thermal Hall conductivity scaling in correlated systems at intermediate temperatures. This finding, observed in SrTiO_{3} and RuCl_{3}, offers a unified model for analyzing thermal transport across various temperatures.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Quantum Materials Science
Background:
- Thermal Hall conductivity (THC) is crucial for understanding heat transport in materials.
- Correlated systems exhibit complex electronic behaviors impacting thermal properties.
- Topological excitations influence macroscopic transport phenomena.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temperature-dependent thermal Hall conductivity in correlated systems.
- To develop a unified phenomenological model for THC analysis.
- To link theoretical predictions with experimental observations in prototype materials.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of fermionic and bosonic excitations with nontrivial topology.
- Experimental measurements of thermal Hall conductivity.
- Development of a minimal phenomenological model.
Main Results:
- Observed unexpected universal exponential scaling of THC at intermediate temperatures.
- Demonstrated distinct low-temperature THC behavior reflecting spectral properties.
- Validated predictions using SrTiO_{3} (quantum paraelectric) and RuCl_{3} (spin-liquid).
- Identified dominant bosonic contributions in SrTiO_{3} and gapped fermionic excitations in RuCl_{3}.
Conclusions:
- Established a phenomenological link between microscopic models and experimental THC data.
- Provided a unified framework for analyzing THC in correlated systems over a wide temperature range.
- Highlighted the importance of topological excitations and excitation types (bosonic/fermionic) in determining THC behavior.
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