arXiv subjects

Andrea N. Capa Salinas

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea N. Capa Salinas.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Band-Saddle-Point Engineering in Mixed $A$-site $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ Kagome Metals

$A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ compounds ($A$ = K, Rb, Cs) offer an experimental platform for probing the physics of kagome metals near ideal Van Hove filling. Here, we use optical spectroscopy on $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ with mixed $A$-site compositions to reveal the effect of the alkali metal on the low-energy electronic structure. Supported by density-functional-theory calculations, we identify a band-saddle-point inversion as a chemical consequence of Cs substitution, revealing that $A$-site composition controls the orbital character of Van Hove singularities, Fermi surface topology, and electron-phonon interactions while leaving the kagome layer intact.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Direct Evidence of Unconventional Superconductivity in Doped Kagome system RV$_3$Sb$_5$

The superconducting pairing symmetry of kagome metals remains a central unresolved question largely because phase-sensitive experiments capable of distinguishing between different possible order parameters have been difficult to implement. The spatial and energetic characteristics of impurity bound states measured by spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy encode information on the superconducting order parameter. Here, we use impurity-bound state spectroscopy to investigate optimally doped RbV$_3$Sb$_{5}$ where the charge-density wave instability is fully suppressed. We find that the superconducting state is fully gapped and exhibits two distinct energy scales, consistent with a multiband order parameter. Atomic-scale spectroscopy around nonmagnetic defects reveals pronounced particle-hole asymmetric bound states. Comparison with theoretical calculations demonstrates that these bound states are incompatible with conventional $s$-wave and sign-changing $s^{\pm}$ pairing. Our calculations also show that the data are fully consistent with a chiral order parameter. Our results establish impurity-bound-state spectroscopy as a powerful phase-sensitive probe of superconductivity in kagome materials and provide strong evidence that optimally doped RbV$_3$Sb$_{5}$ realizes a fully gapped chiral superconducting state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Unified pressure and field response across distinct charge-order regimes in Ti-doped CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

Understanding the phase diagram of kagome superconductors from a microscopic perspective is crucial for clarifying the interplay between charge order and superconductivity. Ti-doped CsV$_{3}$Sb$_{5}$ exhibits a nonmonotonic temperature-doping phase diagram in which both $T_{\rm c}$ and the charge-order temperature initially decrease with doping, followed by a crossover from long-range to short-range charge order and a subsequent increase in $T_{\rm c}$. Here, we report a muon spin rotation ($μ$SR) study of Ti-doped CsV$_{3}$Sb$_{5}$ at two representative compositions: underdoped (Ti$_{0.05}$-CVS) and optimally doped (Ti$_{0.22}$-CVS). Using zero-field, high-field, and high-pressure $μ$SR, we find spontaneous time-reversal-symmetry (TRS) breaking in the normal state of both compositions, strongly enhanced by an applied magnetic field and associated with long-range and short-range charge-order correlations, respectively. In the superconducting state, both samples exhibit anisotropic nodeless pairing with low superfluid density. Hydrostatic pressure substantially enhances both $T_{\rm c}$ and the superfluid density (by $\sim$2.5), revealing a linear correlation between them and pointing to unconventional pairing. Above $\sim$1 GPa, a crossover from anisotropic to isotropic nodeless pairing is observed. Despite the different nature of charge order in the two doping regimes, the superconducting responses are remarkably similar, suggesting that the competition between superconductivity and charge order occurs on a local scale, largely independent of the long-range coherence of the charge-ordered state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Interplay between charge correlations and superconductivity across the superconducting domes of CsV$_{3}$Sb$_{5-x}$Sn$_x$

The kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ shows an unconventional interplay between charge density wave (CDW) order and superconductivity. Tuning the band filling is known to rapidly suppress long-range CDW order and drive the formation of two superconducting ``domes" upon increasing hole concentration. Here we determine the detailed evolution of charge correlations across this phase diagram and resolve their interplay with the superconducting state. Upon light hole-doping, the suppression of a metastable $2\times 2\times 4$ CDW state coincides with the suppression of superconducting fluctuations present in the parent CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ compound. Continued doping suppresses long-range $2\times 2\times 2$ CDW order, leaving remnant short-range, quasi-1D correlations that persist across the second superconducting dome. These higher temperature charge correlations are seemingly essential to the lower temperature superconducting state, as charge correlations vanish coincident with superconductivity as a function of hole-doping. A multidomain model of short-range V-V dimer formation within the kagome plane is proposed in the second superconducting dome, where rotational and translational symmetry remain locally broken even in the absence of long-range CDW order.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Magnetic dilution in the triangular lattice antiferromagnet NaYb$_{1-x}$Lu$_{x}$O$_2$

The delafossite-like compound NaYbO$_2$ hosts a triangular lattice of Yb$^{3+}$ moments and is a promising candidate for the realization of a quantum spin liquid ground state -- an exotic, quantum-disordered magnetic phase featuring long-range entanglement of spins. Tuning this system away from this quantum-disordered regime toward classical order or spin freezing is a powerful approach to shed light on the nature of the parent ground state. Here we leverage the substitution of nonmagnetic Lu$^{3+}$ onto the Yb$^{3+}$ sites to study the effects of magnetic disorder in NaYbO$_2$ using low-temperature ac susceptibility, heat capacity, and muon spin relaxation ($μ$SR) measurements. Our $μ$SR measurements reveal resilient, correlated magnetic fluctuations that persist to at least 15\% dilution, precluding conventional spin freezing and magnetic inhomogeneity. Heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility resolve a rapid suppression of the field-induced ``up-up-down'' magnetic order upon dilution and a crossover in the power-law behavior of the low-temperature magnetic excitations associated with the zero-field quantum disordered ground state. Taken together, these results support the notion of a robust network of entangled moments in NaYbO$_2$, and provides experimental validation of several models of a Heisenberg triangular lattice antiferromagnet in the presence of disorder.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

$^{51}$V NMR evidence for interlayer-modulated charge order and a first-order low-temperature transition in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

Charge order in the kagome superconductor CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ exhibits a complex three-dimensional organization and intermediate-temperature anomalies whose bulk character has remained unsettled. We use orientation-dependent $^{51}$V NMR as a site-selective probe to determine the stacking of the charge density wave (CDW) state and its thermal evolution. Below $T_{\mathrm{CDW}}\!\approx\!94$~K, the field-linear splitting of the $^{51}$V central transition together with the anisotropy of the Knight-shift tensor identify an interlayer-modulated $3\mathbf{q}$ CDW whose local environments are consistent with a four-layer $2\times2\times4$ stacking with mixed trihexagonal/Star-of-David distortions, in agreement with synchrotron x-ray determinations. For comparison, RbV$_3$Sb$_5$ serves as a reference exhibiting a uniform trihexagonal $2\times2\times2$ stacking, allowing us to isolate features unique to the $2\times2\times4$ state in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. With $\mathbf{H}_0\!\parallel\!c$, the $^{51}$V quadrupolar satellites through the intermediate temperature scale near $T_{\mathrm{CO}}\!\approx\!65$ K reorganize into two well-resolved electric-field-gradient manifolds that coexist over a finite interval; their relative spectral weights interchange on cooling while the total integrated satellite intensity remains conserved and $ν_Q$ within each manifold is nearly temperature independent. The coexistence without critical broadening, together with conserved intensity, provides bulk evidence consistent with a first-order charge-order transition near $T_{\mathrm{CO}}$. Our measurements do not resolve whether this lower-temperature transition corresponds to a distinct in-plane order or a reorganization of the $3\mathbf{q}$ state; rather, they delimit this window and provide bulk, site-resolved constraints that connect prior reported anomalies to a thermodynamic first-order transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Persistence of charge density wave fluctuations in the absence of long-range order in a hole-doped kagome metal

The kagome metals $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ ($A$ = K, Rb, Cs) exhibit a complex interplay between charge density wave (CDW) order and superconductivity. In this study, we use ultrafast coherent phonon spectroscopy to probe the evolution of CDW order in hole-doped CsV$_3$Sb$_{5-x}$Sn$_x$ across a broad range of compositions ($0 \leq x \leq 0.68$). While thermodynamic and diffraction measurements show long-range CDW order vanishes above $x \approx 0.05$, we observe persistent signatures of CDW fluctuations up to the highest doping levels, with correlation times on the order of several picoseconds. These results indicate the presence of robust fluctuating charge order that survives well beyond the established CDW phase boundary. Furthermore, these fluctuations are enhanced near a doping-tuned quantum phase transition at $x^* \approx 0.15$, which coincides with a local minimum in the superconducting $T_\mathrm{c}$ double-dome. Additional measurements on Ti- and K-substituted samples confirm that this behavior is intrinsic to hole doping and not tied to disorder. Overall, our findings suggest that CDW fluctuations play a central role in the electronic phase diagram of $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ and may mediate or compete with superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Evolution of charge correlations in the hole-doped kagome superconductor CsV$_{3-x}$Ti$_x$Sb$_5$

The interplay between superconductivity and charge correlations in the kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ can be tuned by external perturbations such as doping or pressure. Here we present a study of charge correlations and superconductivity upon hole doping via Ti substitution on the V kagome sites in CsV$_{3-x}$Ti$_x$Sb$_5$ via synchrotron x-ray diffraction and scanning SQUID measurements. While the superconducting phase, as viewed via the vortex structure, remains conventional and unchanged across the phase diagram, the nature of charge correlations evolves as a function of hole-doping from the first superconducting dome into the second superconducting dome. For Ti doping in the first superconducting dome, competing $2\times 2 \times 2$ and $2\times 2 \times 4$ supercells form within the charge density wave state and are suppressed rapidly with carrier substitution. In the second superconducting dome, no charge correlations are detected. Comparing these results to those observed for CsV$_3$Sb$_{5-x}$Sn$_x$ suggests important differences between hole doping via chemical substitution on the V and Sb sites, particularly in the disorder potential associated with each dopant.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Optical Manipulation of the Charge Density Wave state in RbV3Sb5

Broken time-reversal symmetry in the absence of spin order indicates the presence of unusual phases such as orbital magnetism and loop currents. The recently discovered family of kagome superconductors AV$_3$Sb$_5$ (A = K, Rb, or Cs), hosting an exotic charge-density wave (CDW) state, has emerged as a strong candidate for this phase. While initial experiments suggested that the CDW phase breaks time-reversal symmetry, this idea is being intensely debated due to conflicting experimental data. In this work we use laser-coupled scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study RbV$_3$Sb$_5$. STM data shows that the Fourier intensities of all three CDW peaks are different, implying that the CDW breaks rotational and mirror symmetries. By applying linearly polarized light along high-symmetry directions, we show that the relative intensities of the CDW peaks can be reversibly switched, implying a substantial electro-striction response, indicative of strong non-linear electron-phonon coupling. A similar CDW intensity switching is observed with perpendicular magnetic fields, which implies an unusual piezo-magnetic response that, in turn, requires time-reversal symmetry-breaking. We show that the simplest CDW that satisfies these constraints and reconciles previous seemingly contradictory experimental data is an out-of-phase combination of bond charge order and loop currents that we dub congruent CDW flux phase. Our laser-STM data opens the door to the possibility of dynamic optical control of complex quantum phenomenon in correlated materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Advances in high-pressure laser floating zone growth: the Laser Optical Kristallmacher II

The optical floating zone crystal growth technique is a well-established method for obtaining large, high-purity single crystals. While the floating zone method has been constantly evolving for over six decades, the development of high-pressure (up to 1000 bar) growth systems has only recently been realized via the combination of laser-based heating sources with an all-metal chamber. While our inaugural high-pressure laser floating zone furnace design demonstrated the successful growth of new volatile and metastable phases, the furnace design faces several limitations with imaging quality, heating profile control, and chamber cooling power. Here, we present a second-generation design of the high-pressure laser floating zone furnace, "Laser Optical Kristallmacher II" (LOKII), and demonstrate that this redesign facilitates new advances in crystal growth by highlighting several exemplar materials: $α$-Fe$_2$O$_3$, $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, and La$_2$CuO$_{4+δ}$. Notably, for La$_2$CuO$_{4+δ}$, we demonstrate the feasibility and long-term stability of traveling solvent floating zone growth under a record pressure of 700 bar.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Electron-hole asymmetry in the phase diagram of carrier-tuned CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

Here we study the effect of electron doping the kagome superconductor CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. Single crystals and powders of CsV$_3$Sb$_{5-x}$Te$_x$ are synthesized and characterized via magnetic susceptibility, nuclear quadrupole resonance, and x-ray diffraction measurements, where we observe a slight suppression of the charge density wave transition temperature and superconducting temperature with the introduction of electron dopants. In contrast to hole-doping, both transitions survive relatively unperturbed up to the solubility limit of Te within the lattice. A comparison is presented between the electronic phase diagrams of electron- and hole-tuned CsV$_3$Sb$_5$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Complete miscibility amongst AV$_3$Sb$_5$ kagome superconductors: design of mixed A-site AV$_3$Sb$_5$ (A: K, Rb, Cs) alloys

In this work we explore the chemical-property phase diagram of the AV$_3$Sb$_5$ family through A-site alloying. We demonstrate full miscibility of the alkali-site, highlighting that the three parent compounds are the terminal ends of a single solid-solution. Using both polycrystalline and single crystal methods, we map the dependence of the two primary electronic instabilities: (1) the onset of charge density wave (CDW) order ($T_\text{CDW}$) and (2) the onset of superconductivity ($T_\text{c}$) with alkali-site composition. We show continuous trends in both $T_\text{CDW}$ and $T_\text{c}$, including a region of enhanced CDW stability in K$_{1-x}$Cs$_{x}$V$_3$Sb$_5$ alloys. Together, our results open new routes for chemical perturbation and exploration of the chemical-property relationships in the class of AV$_3$Sb$_5$ kagome superconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗