Carmine Ortix

Bio: Carmine Ortix is an academic researcher from University of Salerno. The author has contributed to research in topics: Topological insulator & Magnetic field. The author has an hindex of 26, co-authored 99 publications receiving 1926 citations. Previous affiliations of Carmine Ortix include Leiden University & Leibniz Association.

Higher-order topological insulators protected by inversion and rotoinversion symmetries

Abstract: We provide the bulk topological invariant for chiral higher-order topological insulators in (i) fourfold rotoinversion invariant bulk crystals, and (ii) inversion-symmetric systems with or without an additional threefold rotation symmetry. These states of matter are characterized by a nontrivial ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ index, which we define in terms of symmetric hybrid Wannier functions of the filled bands, and can be readily calculated from the knowledge of the crystalline symmetry labels of the bulk band structure. The topological invariant determines the generic presence or absence of protected chiral gapless one-dimensional modes localized at the hinges between conventional gapped surfaces.

Universal recovery of the energy-level degeneracy of bright excitons in InGaAs quantum dots without a structure symmetry.

Abstract: The lack of structural symmetry which usually characterizes semiconductor quantum dots lifts the energetic degeneracy of the bright excitonic states and hampers severely their use as high-fidelity sources of entangled photons. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that it is always possible to restore the excitonic degeneracy by the simultaneous application of large strain and electric fields. This is achieved by using one external perturbation to align the polarization of the exciton emission along the axis of the second perturbation, which then erases completely the energy splitting of the states. This result, which holds for any quantum dot structure, highlights the potential of combining complementary external fields to create artificial atoms meeting the stringent requirements posed by scalable semiconductor-based quantum technology.

Stacked topological insulator built from bismuth-based graphene sheet analogues

Abstract: C ommonly, materials are classified as either electrical conductors or insulators. The theoretical discovery of topological insulators has fundamentally challenged this dichotomy. In a topological insulator, the spin‐orbit interaction generates a non-trivial topology of the electronic band structure dictating that its bulk is perfectly insulating, whereas its surface is fully conducting. The first topological insulator candidate material put forward—graphene—is of limited practical use because its weak spin‐orbit interactions produce a bandgap of0.01 K. Recent reexaminations of Bi 2Se3 and Bi2Te3, however, have firmly categorized these materials as strong three-dimensional topological insulators. We have synthesized the first bulk material belonging to an entirely different, weak, topological class, built from stacks of two-dimensional topological insulators: Bi14Rh3I9. Its Bi‐Rh sheets are graphene analogues, but with a honeycomb net composed of RhBi8 cubes rather than carbon atoms. The strong bismuth-related spin‐orbit interaction renders each graphene-like layer a topological insulator with a 2,400 K bandgap.

Energy-tunable sources of entangled photons: a viable concept for solid-state-based quantum relays.

Abstract: We propose a new method of generating triggered entangled photon pairs with wavelength on demand. The method uses a microstructured semiconductor-piezoelectric device capable of dynamically reshaping the electronic properties of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) via anisotropic strain engineering. Theoretical models based on $\mathbf{k}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\mathbf{p}$ theory in combination with finite-element calculations show that the energy of the polarization-entangled photons emitted by QDs can be tuned in a range larger than 100 meV without affecting the degree of entanglement of the quantum source. These results pave the way towards the deterministic implementation of QD entanglement resources in all-electrically-controlled solid-state-based quantum relays.

Graphene on incommensurate substrates: trigonal warping and emerging Dirac cone replicas with halved group velocity

Abstract: The adhesion of graphene on slightly lattice-mismatched surfaces, for instance, of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) or Ir(111), gives rise to a complex landscape of sublattice symmetry-breaking potentials for the Dirac fermions. Whereas a gap at the Dirac point opens for perfectly lattice-matched graphene on hBN, we show that the small lattice incommensurability prevents the opening of this gap and rather leads to a renormalized Dirac dispersion with a trigonal warping. This warping breaks the effective time-reversal symmetry in a single valley. On top of this an additional set of massless Dirac fermions is generated, which is characterized by a group velocity that is about half the one of pristine graphene.

Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids

Abstract: Weyl and Dirac semimetals are three-dimensional phases of matter with gapless electronic excitations that are protected by topology and symmetry. As three-dimensional analogs of graphene, they have generated much recent interest. Deep connections exist with particle physics models of relativistic chiral fermions, and, despite their gaplessness, to solid-state topological and Chern insulators. Their characteristic electronic properties lead to protected surface states and novel responses to applied electric and magnetic fields. The theoretical foundations of these phases, their proposed realizations in solid-state systems, and recent experiments on candidate materials as well as their relation to other states of matter are reviewed.

Quantum Phase Transitions

Abstract: We give a general introduction to quantum phase transitions in strongly-correlated electron systems. These transitions which occur at zero temperature when a non-thermal parameter $g$ like pressure, chemical composition or magnetic field is tuned to a critical value are characterized by a dynamic exponent $z$ related to the energy and length scales $\Delta$ and $\xi$. Simple arguments based on an expansion to first order in the effective interaction allow to define an upper-critical dimension $D_{C}=4$ (where $D=d+z$ and $d$ is the spatial dimension) below which mean-field description is no longer valid. We emphasize the role of pertubative renormalization group (RG) approaches and self-consistent renormalized spin fluctuation (SCR-SF) theories to understand the quantum-classical crossover in the vicinity of the quantum critical point with generalization to the Kondo effect in heavy-fermion systems. Finally we quote some recent inelastic neutron scattering experiments performed on heavy-fermions which lead to unusual scaling law in $\omega /T$ for the dynamical spin susceptibility revealing critical local modes beyond the itinerant magnetism scheme and mention new attempts to describe this local quantum critical point.