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Baptiste Hildebrand

Publications and source records attributed to Baptiste Hildebrand.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Electron-phonon-dominated charge-density-wave fluctuations in TiSe$_2$ accessed by ultrafast nonequilibrium dynamics

The complex phase diagram of 1T-TiSe2 consists of a charge density wave (CDW) below 200 K, and CDW fluctuations of still unknown origin at higher temperatures. Here, we use time-resolved extreme ultraviolet momentum microscopy and density functional perturbation theory to uncover the formation mechanism of CDW fluctuations and their spectral features at 295 K. We investigated the transient dynamics of fluctuations upon nonresonant ultrafast photoexcitation, and directly correlate it with the CDW soft-phonon hardening. Surprisingly, our results show that the coherent amplitude mode modulating ultrafast CDW recovery persists above TCDW, and reveal that CDW fluctuations are dominated by the electron-phonon interaction rather than excitonic correlations as commonly believed. Our findings on these microscopic CDW fluctuations clarify the complex interplay between electronic and lattice degrees of freedom at elevated temperatures and, therefore, could be useful in understanding the nature of the CDW phase transition in 1T-TiSe2 and similar quantum materials.

cond-mat.str-el

Suppression of stripe-ordered structural phases in monolayer IrTe$_2$ by a gold substrate

Metal-assisted exfoliation of two-dimensional (2D) materials has emerged as an efficient route to isolating large-area monolayer crystals, yet the influence of the supporting metal substrate on their intrinsic properties remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate successful gold-assisted exfoliation of monolayer IrTe$_2$ up to the millimeter scale. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), combined with first-principles calculations, reveals that the low-energy electronic structure closely resembles that of a freestanding monolayer 1T-IrTe$_2$. We find that quasi-covalent hybridization together with substrate-induced strain leads to only modest modifications of the electronic bands. Although strain contributes to phase stability, it is essentially hybridization that drives the stabilization of the 1T-phase of the monolayer IrTe$_2$ by suppressing stripe-ordered phase transitions. These results establish gold-assisted exfoliation as a robust route to prepare a large-area monolayer IrTe$_2$ and highlight the role of metal-substrate interaction in engineering 2D materials with tailored structural phases.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Observation of the metallic mosaic phase in 1$T$-TaS$_2$ at equilibrium

The transition-metal dichalcogenide tantalum disulphide (1$T$-TaS$_2$) hosts a commensurate charge density wave (CCDW) at temperatures below 165~K where it also becomes insulating. The low temperature CCDW phase can be driven into a metastable "mosaic" phase by means of either laser or voltage pulses which shows a large density of CDW domain walls as well as a closing of the electronic band gap. The exact origins of this pulse-induced metallic mosaic are not yet fully understood. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS), we observe the occurrence of such a metallic mosaic phase on the surface of TaS$_2$ without prior pulse excitation over continuous areas larger than $100 \times 100$~nm$^2$ and macroscopic areas on the millimetre scale. We attribute the appearance of the mosaic phase to the presence of surface defects which cause the formation of the characteristic dense domain wall network. Based on our STM measurements, we further argue how the appearance of the metallic behaviour in the mosaic phase could be explained by local stacking differences of the top layer. Thus, we provide a potential avenue to explain the origin of the pulse induced mosaic phase.

cond-mat.str-el