Doublon production in correlated materials by multiple ion impacts

Abstract

In a recent Letter [Balzer \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{121}, 267602 (2018)] it was demonstrated that ions impacting a correlated graphene cluster can excite strongly nonequilibrium states. In particular, this can lead to an enhanced population of bound pairs of electrons with opposite spin -- doublons -- where the doublon number can be increased via multiple ion impacts. These predictions were made based on nonequilibrium Green functions (NEGF) simulations allowing for a time-dependent non-perturbative study of the energy loss of charged particles penetrating a strongly correlated system. Here we extend these simulations to larger clusters and longer simulation times, utilizing the recently developed G1--G2 scheme [Sch\"unzen \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{124}, 076601 (2020)] which allows for a dramatic speedup of NEGF simulations. Furthermore, we investigate the dependence of the energy and doublon number on the time interval between ion impacts and on the impact point.