arXiv subjects

Chenglin Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Chenglin Zhang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Linear scaling relation between two-dimensional massless Dirac fermion Fermi velocity and Fe-As bond length in iron arsenide superconductor systems

Two-dimensional (2D) massless Dirac fermions (MDF), which represent a type of quasi-particles with linear energy-momentum dispersions only in 2D momentum space, provide a fertile ground for realizing novel quantum phenomena. However, 2D MDF were seldom observed in the superconducting bulk states of 3D materials. Furthermore, as a cornerstone for accurately tuning the quantum phenomena based on 2D MDF, a quantitative relationship between 2D MDF and a structural parameter has rarely been revealed so far. Here, we report magneto-infrared spectroscopy studies of the iron-arsenide-superconductor systems NaFeAs and $A\mathrm{Fe_2As_2} (A = \mathrm{Ca, Ba})$ at temperature $T \sim 4.2 $ K and at magnetic fields ($B$) up to 17.5 T. Our results demonstrate the existence of 2D MDF in the superconducting bulk state of NaFeAs. Moreover, the 2D-MDF Fermi velocities in NaFeAs and $A\mathrm{Fe_2As_2} (A = \mathrm{Ca, Ba})$, which are extracted from the slopes of the linear $\sqrt{B}$ dependences of the Landau-level transition energies, scale linearly with the Fe-As bond lengths. The linear scaling between the 2D-MDF Fermi velocities and the Fe-As bond lengths is supported by (i) the linear relationship between the square root of the effective mass of the $d_{xy}$ electrons and the Fe-As bond length and (ii) the linear dependence of the square root of the calculated tight-binding hopping energy on the Fe-As bond length. Our results open up new avenues for exploring and tuning novel quantum phenomena based on 2D MDF in the superconducting bulk states of 3D materials.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Visualizing Gender Gap in Film Industry over the Past 100 Years

Visualizing big data can provide valuable insights into social science research. In this project, we focused on visualizing the potential gender gap in the global film industry over the past 100 years. We profiled the differences both for the actors/actresses and male/female movie audiences and analyzed the IMDb data of the most popular 10,000 movies (the composition and importance of casts of different genders, the cooperation network of the actors/actresses, the movie genres, the movie descriptions, etc.) and audience ratings (the differences between male's and female's ratings). Findings suggest that the gender gap has been distinct in many aspects, but a recent trend is that this gap narrows down and women are gaining discursive power in the film industry. Our study presented rich data, vivid illustrations, and novel perspectives that can serve as the foundation for further studies on related topics and their social implications.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2018

Unusual suppression of a spin resonance mode with magnetic field in underdoped NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As: Evidence for orbital-selective pairing

We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the fate of the two spin resonance modes in underdoped superconducting NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As ($x=0.0175$) under applied magnetic fields. While an applied in-plane magnetic field of $B=12$ T only modestly suppresses superconductivity and enhances static antiferromagnetic order, the two spin resonance modes display disparate responses. The spin resonance mode at higher energy is mildly suppressed, consistent with the field effect in other unconventional superconductors. The spin resonance mode at lower energy, on the other hand, is almost completely suppressed. Such dramatically different responses to applied magnetic field indicate distinct origins of the two spin resonance modes, resulting from the strongly orbital-selective nature of spin excitations and Cooper-pairing in iron-based superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Temperature and polarization dependence of low-energy magnetic fluctuations in nearly-optimal-doped NaFe$_{0.9785}$Co$_{0.0215}$As

We use unpolarized and polarized neutron scattering to study the temperature and polarization dependence of low-energy magnetic fluctuations in nearly-optimal-doped NaFe$_{0.9785}$Co$_{0.0215}$As, with coexisting superconductivity ($T_{\rm c}\approx19$ K) and weak antiferromagnetic order ($T_{\rm N}\approx30$ K, ordered moment $\approx0.02$ $μ_{\rm B}$/Fe). A single spin resonance mode with intensity tracking the superconducting order parameter is observed, although energy of the mode only softens slightly on approaching $T_{\rm c}$. Polarized neutron scattering reveals that the single resonance is mostly isotropic in spin space, similar to overdoped NaFe$_{0.935}$Co$_{0.045}$As but different from optimal electron-, hole-, and isovalent-doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ compounds, all featuring an additional prominent anisotropic component. Spin anisotropy in NaFe$_{0.9785}$Co$_{0.0215}$As is instead present at energies below the resonance, which becomes partially gapped below $T_{\rm c}$, similar to the situation in optimal-doped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.9}$. Our results indicate that anisotropic spin fluctuations in NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As appear in the form of a resonance in the underdoped regime, become partially gapped below $T_{\rm c}$ near optimal doping and disappear in overdoped compounds.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Two-dimensional Massless Dirac Fermions in Antiferromagnetic AFe2As2 (A = Ba, Sr)

We report infrared studies of AFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ (A = Ba, Sr), two representative parent compounds of iron-arsenide superconductors, at magnetic fields (B) up to 17.5 T. Optical transitions between Landau levels (LLs) were observed in the antiferromagnetic states of these two parent compounds. Our observation of a $\sqrt{B}$ dependence of the LL transition energies, the zero-energy intercepts at B = 0 T under the linear extrapolations of the transition energies and the energy ratio ($\sim$ 2.4) between the observed LL transitions, combined with the linear band dispersions in two-dimensional (2D) momentum space obtained by theoretical calculations, demonstrates the existence of massless Dirac fermions in antiferromagnetic BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$. More importantly, the observed dominance of the zeroth-LL-related absorption features and the calculated bands with extremely weak dispersions along the momentum direction $k_{z}$ indicate that massless Dirac fermions in BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ are 2D. Furthermore, we find that the total substitution of the barium atoms in BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ by strontium atoms not only maintains 2D massless Dirac fermions in this system, but also enhances their Fermi velocity, which supports that the Dirac points in iron-arsenide parent compounds are topologically protected.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Superconductivity and electronic fluctuations in Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ studied by Raman scattering

Using polarization-resolved electronic Raman scattering we study under-doped, optimally-doped and over-doped Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ samples in the normal and superconducting states. We show that low-energy nematic fluctuations are universal for all studied doping range. In the superconducting state, we observe two distinct superconducting pair breaking peaks corresponding to one large and one small superconducting gaps. In addition, we detect a collective mode below the superconducting transition in the B$_{2g}$ channel and determine the evolution of its binding energy with doping. Possible scenarios are proposed to explain the origin of the in-gap collective mode. In the superconducting state of the under-doped regime, we detect a re-entrance transition below which the spectral background changes and the collective mode vanishes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Spin anisotropy due to spin-orbit coupling in optimally hole-doped Ba$_{0.67}$K$_{0.33}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$

We use polarized inelastic neutron scattering to study the temperature and energy dependence of spin space anisotropies in the optimally hole-doped iron pnictide Ba$_{0.67}$K$_{0.33}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ ($T_{\rm c}=38$ K). In the superconducting state, while the high-energy part of the magnetic spectrum is nearly isotropic, the low-energy part displays a pronouced anisotropy, manifested by a $c$-axis polarized resonance. We also observe that the spin anisotropy in superconducting Ba$_{0.67}$K$_{0.33}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ extends to higher energies compared to electron-doped BaFe$_{2-x}TM_{x}$As$_{2}$ ($TM=$Co, Ni) and isovalent-doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{1.4}$P$_{0.6}$, suggesting a connection between $T_{\rm c}$ and the energy scale of the spin anisotropy. In the normal state, the low-energy spin anisotropy for optimally hole- and electron-doped iron pnictides onset at temperatures similar to the temperatures at which the elastoresistance deviate from Curie-Weiss behavior, pointing to a possible connection between the two phenomena. Our results highlight the relevance of the spin-orbit coupling to the superconductivity of the iron pnictides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

A Mott insulator continuously connected to iron pnictide superconductors

Iron-based superconductivity develops near an antiferromagnetic order and out of a bad metal normal state, which has been interpreted as originating from a proximate Mott transition. Whether an actual Mott insulator can be realized in the phase diagram of the iron pnictides remains an open question. Here we use transport, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and neutron scattering to demonstrate that NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As near $x\approx 0.5$ exhibits real space Fe and Cu ordering, and are antiferromagnetic insulators with the insulating behavior persisting above the Néel temperature, indicative of a Mott insulator. Upon decreasing $x$ from $0.5$, the antiferromagnetic ordered moment continuously decreases, yielding to superconductivity around $x=0.05$. Our discovery of a Mott insulating state in NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As thus makes it the only known Fe-based material in which superconductivity can be smoothly connected to the Mott insulating state, highlighting the important role of electron correlations in the high-$T_{\rm c}$ superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Absence of long wavelength nematic fluctuations in LiFeAs

We investigated long-wavelength nematic fluctuations in an Fe-based superconductor LiFeAs near q=(0.05,0,0) by measuring temperature-dependent renormalization of acoustic phonons through inelastic neutron scattering. We found that the phonons have conventional behavior, as would be expected in the absence of electronic nematic fluctuations. This observation implies that either electron-phonon coupling is too weak to see any effect or that nematic fluctuations are not present.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Magnetic moment evolution and spin freezing in doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$

Fe-K$_β$ X-ray emission spectroscopy measurements reveal an asymmetric doping dependence of the magnetic moments $μ_\text{bare}$ in electron- and hole-doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$. At low temperature, $μ_\text{bare}$ is nearly constant in hole-doped samples, whereas it decreases upon electron doping. Increasing temperature substantially enhances $μ_\text{bare}$ in the hole-doped region, which is naturally explained by the theoretically predicted crossover into a spin-frozen state. Our measurements demonstrate the importance of Hund's coupling and electronic correlations, especially for hole-doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$, and the inadequacy of a fully localized or fully itinerant description of the 122 family of Fe pnictides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Orbital selective spin excitations and their impact on superconductivity of LiFe1-xCoxAs

We use neutron scattering to study spin excitations in single crystals of LiFe$_{0.88}$Co$_{0.12}$As, which is located near the boundary of the superconducting phase of LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As and exhibits non-Fermi-liquid behavior indicative of a quantum critical point. By comparing spin excitations of LiFe$_{0.88}$Co$_{0.12}$As with a combined density functional theory (DFT) and dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) calculation, we conclude that wave-vector correlated low energy spin excitations are mostly from the $d_{xy}$ orbitals, while high-energy spin excitations arise from the $d_{yz}$ and $d_{xz}$ orbitals. Unlike most iron pnictides, the strong orbital selective spin excitations in LiFeAs family cannot be described by anisotropic Heisenberg Hamiltonian. While the evolution of low-energy spin excitations of LiFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As are consistent with electron-hole Fermi surface nesting condition for the $d_{xy}$ orbital, the reduced superconductivity in LiFe$_{0.88}$Co$_{0.12}$As suggests that Fermi surface nesting conditions for the $d_{yz}$ and $d_{xz}$ orbitals are also important for superconductivity in iron pnictides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Electron doping evolution of the neutron spin resonance in NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As

Neutron spin resonance, a collective magnetic excitation coupled to superconductivity, is one of the most prominent features shared by a broad family of unconventional superconductors including copper oxides, iron pnictides, and heavy fermions. In this work, we study the doping evolution of the resonances in NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As covering the entire superconducting dome. For the underdoped compositions, two resonance modes coexist. As doping increases, the low-energy resonance gradually loses its spectral weight to the high-energy one but remains at the same energy. By contrast, in the overdoped regime we only find one single resonance, which acquires a broader width in both energy and momentum, but retains approximately the same peak position even when $T_c$ drops by nearly a half compared to optimal doping. These results suggest that the energy of the resonance in electron overdoped NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As is neither simply proportional to $T_c$ nor the superconducting gap, but is controlled by the multi-orbital character of the system and doped impurity scattering effect.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Electron doping evolution of the magnetic excitations in NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As

We use time-of-flight (ToF) inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectroscopy to investigate the doping dependence of magnetic excitations across the phase diagram of NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As with $x=0, 0.0175, 0.0215, 0.05,$ and $0.11$. The effect of electron-doping by partially substituting Fe by Co is to form resonances that couple with superconductivity, broaden and suppress low energy ($E\le 80$ meV) spin excitations compared with spin waves in undoped NaFeAs. However, high energy ($E> 80$ meV) spin excitations are weakly Co-doping dependent. Integration of the local spin dynamic susceptibility $χ^{\prime\prime}(ω)$ of NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As reveals a total fluctuating moment of 3.6 $μ_B^2$/Fe and a small but systematic reduction with electron doping. The presence of a large spin gap in the Co-overdoped nonsuperconducting NaFe$_{0.89}$Co$_{0.11}$As suggests that Fermi surface nesting is responsible for low-energy spin excitations. These results parallel Ni-doping evolution of spin excitations in BaFe$_{2-x}$Ni$_x$As$_2$, confirming the notion that low-energy spin excitations coupling with itinerant electrons are important for superconductivity, while weakly doping dependent high-energy spin excitations result from localized moments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Surface terminations and layer-resolved spectroscopy in 122 iron pnictide superconductors

The surface terminations of 122-type alkaline earth metal iron pnictides AEFe2As2 (AE = Ca, Ba) are investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS). Cleaving these crystals at a cryogenic temperature yields a large majority of terminations with atomically resolved square-root-two (rt2) or 1*2 lattice, as well as the very rare terminations with 1*1 symmetry. By means of lattice alignment and chemical marking, we identify these terminations as rt2-AE, 1*2-As, and rt2-Fe surfaces, respectively. Layer-resolved spectroscopy on these terminating surfaces reveals a well-defined superconducting gap on the As terminations, while the gap features become weaker and absent on AE and Fe terminations respectively. The local gap features are hardly affected by the surface reconstruction on As or AE surface, whereas a suppression of them along with the in-gap states can be induced by As vacancies. The emergence of two impurity resonance peaks at +-2 meV is consistent with the sign-reversal pairing symmetry. The definite identification of surface terminations and their spectroscopic signatures shall provide a more comprehensive understanding of the high-temperature superconductivity in multilayered iron pnictides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Critical Quadrupole Fluctuations and Collective Modes in Iron Pnictide Superconductors

The multiband nature of iron pnictides gives rise to a rich temperature-doping phase diagram of competing orders and a plethora of collective phenomena. At low dopings, the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition is closely followed by a spin density wave transition both being in close proximity to the superconducting phase. A key question is the nature of high-$T_c$ superconductivity and its relation to orbital ordering and magnetism. Here we study the NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$As superconductor using polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy. The Raman susceptibility displays critical enhancement of non-symmetric charge fluctuations across the entire phase diagram which are precursors to a $d$-wave Pomeranchuk instability at temperature $θ(\mbox{x})$. The charge fluctuations are interpreted in terms of quadrupole inter-orbital excitations in which the electron and hole Fermi surfaces breathe in-phase. Below $T_c$, the critical fluctuations acquire coherence and undergo a metamorphosis into a coherent ingap mode of extraordinary strength.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Neutron spin resonance as a probe of superconducting gap anisotropy in partially detwinned electron underdoped NaFe$_{0.985}$Co$_{0.015}$As

We use inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to study the spin excitations in partially detwinned NaFe$_{0.985}$Co$_{0.015}$As which has coexisting static antiferromagnetic (AF) order and superconductivity ($T_c=15$ K, $T_N=30$ K). In previous INS work on a twinned sample, spin excitations form a dispersive sharp resonance near $E_{r1}=3.25$ meV and a broad dispersionless mode at $E_{r1}=6$ meV at the AF ordering wave vector ${\bf Q}_{\rm AF}={\bf Q}_1=(1,0)$ and its twinned domain ${\bf Q}_2=(0,1)$. For partially detwinned NaFe$_{0.985}$Co$_{0.015}$As with the static AF order mostly occurring at ${\bf Q}_{\rm AF}=(1,0)$, we still find a double resonance at both wave vectors with similar intensity. Since ${\bf Q}_1=(1,0)$ characterizes the explicit breaking of the spin rotational symmetry associated with the AF order, these results indicate that the double resonance cannot be due to the static and fluctuating AF orders, but originate from the superconducting gap anisotropy.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Phase Separation, Competition, and Volume Fraction Control in NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As

We report a detailed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study by combined $^{23}$Na and $^{75}$As measurements over a broad range of doping to map the phase diagram of NaFe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As. In the underdoped regime ($x \le$ 0.017), we find a magnetic phase with robust antiferromagnetic (AFM) order, which we denote the {\it s}-AFM phase, cohabiting with a phase of weak and possibly proximity-induced AFM order ({\it w}-AFM) whose volume fraction $V \simeq 8$\% is approximately constant. Near optimal doping, at $x = 0.0175$, we observe a phase separation between static antiferromagnetism related to the {\it s}-AFM phase and a paramagnetic (PM) phase related to {\it w}-AFM. The volume fraction of AFM phase increases upon cooling, but both the N{é}el temperature and the volume fraction can be suppressed systematically by applying a $c$-axis magnetic field. On cooling below $T_c$, superconductivity occupies the PM region and its volume fraction grows at the expense of the AFM phase, demonstrating a phase separation of the two types of order based on volume exclusion. At higher dopings, static antiferromagnetism and even critical AFM fluctuations are completely suppressed by superconductivity. Thus the phase diagram we establish contains two distinct types of phase separation and reflects a strong competition between AFM and superconducting phases both in real space and in momentum space. We suggest that both this strict mutual exclusion and the robustness of superconductivity against magnetism are consequences of the extreme two-dimensionality of NaFeAs.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Anisotropic neutron spin resonance in underdoped superconducting NaFe1-xCoxAs

We use polarized inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to study spin excitations in superconducting NaFe0.985Co0.015As (C15) with static antiferromagnetic (AF) order along the a-axis of the orthorhombic structure and NaFe0.935Co0.045As (C45) without AF order. In previous unpolarized INS work, spin excitations in C15 were found to have a dispersive sharp resonance near Er1=3.25 meV and a broad dispersionless mode at Er2=6 meV. Our neutron polarization analysis reveals that the dispersive resonance in C15 is highly anisotropic and polarized along the a- and c-axis, while the dispersionless mode is isotropic similar to that of C45. Since the a-axis polarized spin excitations of the anisotropic resonance appear below Tc, our data suggests that the itinerant electrons contributing to the magnetism are also coupled to the superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗