arXiv subjects

Ding Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Ding Zhang.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Coexistence of resistance oscillations and the anomalous metal phase in a lithium intercalated TiSe$_2$ superconductor

Superconductivity and charge density wave (CDW) appear in the phase diagram of a variety of materials including the high - $T$$_c$ cuprate family and many transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Their interplay may give rise to exotic quantum phenomena. Here, we show that superconducting arrays can spontaneously form in TiSe$_2$ - a TMD with coexisting superconductivity and CDW - after lithium ion intercalation. We induce a superconducting dome in the phase diagram of Li$_x$TiSe$_2$ by using the ionic solid-state gating technique. Around optimal doping, we observe magnetoresistance oscillations, indicating the emergence of periodically arranged domains. In the same temperature, magnetic field and carrier density regime where the resistance oscillations occur, we observe signatures for the anomalous metal - a state with a resistance plateau across a wide temperature range below the superconducting transition. Our study not only sheds further insight into the mechanism for the periodic electronic structure, but also reveals the interplay between the anomalous metal and superconducting fluctuations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Presence of $s$-wave pairing in Josephson junctions made of twisted ultrathin Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+x}$ flakes

Since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in cuprates, Josephson junction based phase-sensitive experiments are believed and used to provide the most convincing evidence for determining the pairing symmetry. Regardless of different junction materials and geometries used, quantum tunneling involved in these experiments is essentially a nanoscale process, and thus, actual experimental results are extremely sensitive to atomic details of the junction structures. The situation has led to controversial results as to the nature of the pairing symmetry of cuprates: while in-plane junction experiments generally support $d$-wave pairing symmetry, those based on out-of-plane ($c$-axis) Josephson junctions between two rotated cuprate blocks favor $s$-wave pairing. In this work, we revisit the $c$-axis experiment by fabricating Josephson junctions with atomic-level control in their interface structure. We fabricate over 90 junctions of ultrathin Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+x}$ (BSCCO) flakes by state-of-the-art exfoliation technique and obtain atomically flat junction interfaces in the whole junction regions as characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Notably, the resultant uniform junctions at various twist angles all exhibit a single tunneling branch behavior, suggesting that only the first half a unit cell on both sides of the twisted flakes is involved in Josephson tunneling process. With such well-defined geometry/structure and the characteristic single tunneling branch, we repeatedly observe Josephson tunneling at a nominal twist angle of 45 degrees, which is against the expectation from a purely $d$-wave pairing scenario. Our results strongly favor the scenario of a persistent $s$-wave order parameter in the junction.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Establishing and Maintaining a Reliable Optical Wireless Communication in Underwater Environment

This paper proposes the trajectory tracking problem between an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and a mobile surface ship, both equipped with optical communication transceivers. The challenging issue is to maintain stable connectivity between the two autonomous vehicles within an optical communication range. We define a directed optical line-of-sight (LoS) link between the two-vehicle systems. The transmitter is mounted on the AUV while the surface ship is equipped with an optical receiver. However, this optical communication channel needs to preserve a stable transmitter-receiver position to reinforce service quality, which typically includes a bit rate and bit error rates. A cone-shaped beam region of the optical receiver is approximated based on the channel model; then, a minimum bit rate is ensured if the AUV transmitter remains inside of this region. Additionally, we design two control algorithms for the transmitter to drive the AUV and maintain it in the cone-shaped beam region under an uncertain oceanic environment. Lyapunov function-based analysis that ensures asymptotic stability of the resulting closed-loop tracking error is used to design the proposed NLPD controller. Numerical simulations are performed using MATLAB/Simulink to show the controllers' ability to achieve favorable tracking in the presence of the solar background noise within competitive times. Finally, results demonstrate the proposed NLPD controller improves the tracking error performance more than $70\%$ under nominal conditions and $35\%$ with model uncertainties and disturbances compared to the original PD strategy.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2020

Direct visualization of ambipolar Mott transition in cuprate CuO2 planes

Identifying the essence of doped Mott insulators is one of the major outstanding problems in condensed matter physics and the key to understanding the high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates. We report real space visualization of Mott transition in Sr1-xLaxCuO2+y cuprate films that cover the entire electron- and hole-doped regimes. Tunneling conductance measurements directly on the cooper-oxide (CuO2) planes reveal a systematic shift in the Fermi level, while the fundamental Mott-Hubbard band structure remains unchanged. This is further demonstrated by exploring atomic-scale electronic response of CuO2 to substitutional dopants and intrinsic defects in a sister compound Sr0.92Nd0.08CuO2. The results could be better explained in the framework of self-modulation doping, similar to that in semiconductor heterostructures, and form a basis for developing any microscopic theories for cuprate superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Robust ferromagnetism in highly strained SrCoO3 thin films

Epitaxial strain provides important pathways to control the magnetic and electronic states in transition metal oxides. However, the large strain is usually accompanied by a strong reduction of the oxygen vacancy formation energy, which hinders the direct manipulation of their intrinsic properties. Here using a post-deposition ozone annealing method, we obtained a series of oxygen stoichiometric SrCoO3 thin films with the tensile strain up to 3.0%. We observed a robust ferromagnetic ground state in all strained thin films, while interestingly the tensile strain triggers a distinct metal to insulator transition along with the increase of the tensile strain. The persistent ferromagnetic state across the electrical transition therefore suggests that the magnetic state is directly correlated with the localized electrons, rather than the itinerant ones, which then calls for further investigation of the intrinsic mechanism of this magnetic compound beyond the double-exchange mechanism.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Microscopic theory of in-plane critical field in two-dimensional Ising superconducting systems

We study the in-plane critical magnetic field of two-dimensional Ising superconducting systems, and propose the microscopic theory for these systems with or without inversion symmetry. Protected by certain specific spin-orbit interaction which polarizes the electron spin to the out-of-plane direction, the in-plane critical fields largely surpass the Pauli limit and show remarkable upturn in the zero temperature limit. The impurity scattering and Rashba spin-orbit coupling, treated on equal-footing in the microscopic framework, both weaken the critical field but in qualitatively different manners. The microscopic theory is consistent with recent experimental results in stanene and Pb superconducting ultra-thin films.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Type-II Ising superconductivity in two-dimensional materials with strong spin-orbit coupling

Recent discovery of Ising superconductivity protected against in-plane magnetic field by spin-orbit coupling (SOC) has stimulated intensive research interests. The effect, however, was only expected to appear in two-dimensional (2D) noncentrosymmetric materials with spin-valley locking. In this work, we proposed a new type of Ising superconductivity in 2D materials with $C_{nz}$ rotational symmetry ($n=3,4,6$). This mechanism, dubbed as type-II Ising superconductivity, is applicable for centrosymmetric materials. Type-II Ising superconductivity relies on the SOC-induced spin-orbital locking characterized by Ising-type Zeeman-like fields displaying opposite signs for opposing orbitals. We found that type-II Ising superconductivity are most prominent around time-reversal invariant momenta and is not sensitive to inversion symmetry breaking. By performing high-throughput first-principles calculations, about one hundred candidate materials were identified. Our work significantly enriches the physics and materials of Ising superconductor, opening new opportunities for fundamental research and practical applications of 2D materials.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Real-space observation of charge ordering in epitaxial La2-xSrxCuO4 films

The cuprate superconductors exhibit ubiquitous instabilities toward charge-ordered states. These unusual electronic states break the spatial symmetries of the host crystal, and have been widely appreciated as essential ingredients for constructing a theory for high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates. Here we report real-space imaging of the doping-dependent charge orders in the epitaxial thin films of a canonical cuprate compound La2-xSrxCuO4 using scanning tunneling microscopy. As the films are moderately doped, we observe a crossover from incommensurate to commensurate (4a0, where a0 is the Cu-O-Cu distance) stripes. Furthermore, at lower and higher doping levels, the charge orders occur in the form of distorted Wigner crystal and grid phase of crossed vertical and horizontal stripes. We discuss how the charge orders are stabilized, and their interplay with superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Type-II Ising Pairing in Few-Layer Stanene

Spin-orbit coupling has proven indispensable in realizing topological materials and more recently Ising pairing in two-dimensional superconductors. This pairing mechanism relies on inversion symmetry breaking and sustains anomalously large in-plane polarizing magnetic fields whose upper limit is expected to diverge at low temperatures, although experimental demonstration of this has remained elusive due to the required fields. In this work, the recently discovered superconductor few-layer stanene, i.e. epitaxially strained $α$-Sn, is shown to exhibit a new type of Ising pairing between carriers residing in bands with different orbital indices near the $Γ$-point. The bands are split as a result of spin-orbit locking without the participation of inversion symmetry breaking. The in-plane upper critical field is strongly enhanced at ultra-low temperature and reveals the sought for upturn.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Superconductivity above 28 K in single unit cell FeSe films interfaced with GaO$_{2-δ}$ layer on NdGaO$_{3}$(110)

We prepared single unit cell FeSe films on GaO$_{2-δ}$ terminated perovskite NdGaO$_{3}$(110) substrates and performed ex situ transport and scanning transmission electron microscopy measurements on the FeTe protected films. Our experimental measurements showed that the single unit cell FeSe films interfaced with GaO$_{2-δ}$ layer are electron doped via interface charge transfer. Most importantly, this type of heterostructure can host interface enhanced superconductivity with an onset temperature of about 28 K, which is much higher than the value of 8 K in bulk FeSe. Our work indicates that FeSe/GaO$_{2-δ}$can be a comparative platform with the FeSe/TiO$_{2-δ}$ family for understanding the mechanism of interface enhanced high temperature superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

A protonated brownmillerite electrolyte for superior low-temperature proton conductivity

Design novel solid oxide electrolyte with enhanced ionic conductivity forms one of the Holy Grails in the field of materials science due to its great potential for wide range of energy applications. Conventional solid oxide electrolyte typically requires elevated temperature to activate the ionic transportation, while it has been increasing research interests to reduce the operating temperature due to the associated scientific and technological importance. Here, we report a conceptually new solid oxide electrolyte, HSrCoO2.5, which shows an exceptional enhanced proton conductivity at low temperature region (from room temperature to 140 oC). Combining both the experimental results and corresponding first-principles calculations, we attribute these intriguing properties to the extremely-high proton concentration as well as the well-ordered oxygen vacancy channels inherited from the novel crystalline structure of HSrCoO2.5. This result provides a new strategy to design novel solid oxide electrolyte with excellent proton conductivity for wide ranges of energy-related applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Realizing an Epitaxial Stanene with an Insulating Bandgap

Stanene, a single atomic layer of Sn in a honeycomb lattice, is predicted a candidate wide bandgap two-dimensional (2D) topological insulator and can host intriguing topological states of matter such as quantum anomalous Hall effect and topological superconductivity with different surface modifications. Despite intensive research efforts, one still cannot obtain bulk-insulating stanene samples-a prerequisite for any transport studies and applications of stanene. Here we show the experimental realization of an epitaxial stanene with an insulating bulk bandgap by using PbTe(111) substrates. With low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy, we are able to grow single layer stanene on PbTe(111). In-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy shows the characteristic stanene bands with its Fermi level lying in the bandgap. Doping Sr in PbTe removes the substrate states located in the stanene gap, resulting in a stanene sample with truly insulating bulk. This experimental progress paves the way for studies of stanene-based topological quantum effects.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Superconductivity in Few-Layer Stanene

A single atomic slice of α-tin-stanene-has been predicted to host quantum spin Hall effect at room temperature, offering an ideal platform to study low-dimensional and topological physics. While recent research has intensively focused on monolayer stanene, the quantum size effect in few-layer stanene could profoundly change material properties, but remains unexplored. By exploring the layer degree of freedom, we unexpectedly discover superconductivity in few-layer stanene down to a bilayer grown on PbTe, while bulk α-tin is not superconductive. Through substrate engineering, we further realize a transition from a single-band to a two-band superconductor with a doubling of the transition temperature. In-situ angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) together with first-principles calculations elucidate the corresponding band structure. Interestingly, the theory also indicates the existence of a topologically nontrivial band. Our experimental findings open up novel strategies for constructing two-dimensional topological superconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Experimental realization of an intrinsic magnetic topological insulator

Intrinsic magnetic topological insulator (TI) is a stoichiometric magnetic compound possessing both inherent magnetic order and topological electronic states. Such a material can provide a shortcut to various novel topological quantum effects but remains elusive experimentally so far. Here, we report the experimental realization of high-quality thin films of an intrinsic magnetic TI---MnBi$_2$Te$_4$---by alternate growth of a Bi$_2$Te$_3$ quintuple-layer and a MnTe bilayer with molecular beam epitaxy. The material shows the archetypical Dirac surface states in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and is demonstrated to be an antiferromagnetic topological insulator with ferromagnetic surfaces by magnetic and transport measurements as well as first-principles calculations. The unique magnetic and topological electronic structures and their interplays enable the material to embody rich quantum phases such as quantum anomalous Hall insulators and axion insulators in a well-controlled way.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Anomalous Hall Effect and Spin Fluctuations in Ionic Liquid Gated SrCoO$_3$ Thin Films

The recent realization of epitaxial SrCoO$_3$ thin films has triggered a renewed interest in their electronic, magnetic, and ionic properties. Here we uncover several unusual magneto-transport properties of this compound, suggesting that it hosts persistent spin fluctuation down to low temperatures. We achieve the metallic SrCoO$_3$ with record-low resistivity from insulating SrCoO$_{2.5}$ by the ionic liquid gating. We find a linear relationship between the anomalous Hall resistivity and the longitudinal resistivity, which cannot be accounted for by the conventional mechanisms. We theoretically propose that the impurity induced chiral spin fluctuation gives rise to such a dependence. The existence of spin fluctuation manifests itself as negatively enhanced magneto-resistance of SrCoO$_3$ when the temperature approaches zero. Our study brings further insight into the unique spin state of SrCoO$_3$ and unveils a novel skew scattering mechanism for the anomalous Hall effect.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Atomic Visualization of Copper Oxide Structure in Infinite-Layer Cuprate SrCuO2

We report on atomic-scale visualization of the structure of infinite-layer cuprate SrCuO2 thin films grown on Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. In-situ scanning tunneling microscopy study reveals stoichiometric copper oxide (CuO2) plane with a 2 x 2 surface reconstruction, prompted by preferential clustering of four adjacent CuO2 plaquettes. By imaging the subsurface Sr atoms, intra-unit-cell rotational symmetry breaking is observed, which, together with the adjacent CuO2 clustering, can be well accounted for by a periodic up-down buckling of oxygen ions on the CuO2 plane. Further post-annealing leads to an incommensurate stripe structure of the surface layer. Our findings provide important structural information for deeply understanding the electronic structure of superconducting CuO2 plane as well as high temperature superconductivity in cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Quantum anomalous Hall multilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is a quantum Hall effect that occurs without the need of external magnetic field. A system composed of multiple parallel QAH layers is an effective high Chern number QAH insulator and the key to the applications of the dissipationless chiral edge channels in low energy consumption electronics. Such a QAH multilayer can also be engineered into other exotic topological phases such as a magnetic Weyl semimetal with only one pair of Weyl points. This work reports the first experimental realization of QAH multilayers in the superlattices composed of magnetically doped (Bi,Sb)$_2$Te$_3$ topological insulator and CdSe normal insulator layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The obtained multilayer samples show quantized Hall resistance $h/Ne$$^2$, where $h$ is the Planck's constant, $e$ is the elementary charge and $N$ is the number of the magnetic topological insulator layers, resembling a high Chern number QAH insulator.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Electric-Field Induced Superconductor-Insulator Transitions in Exfoliated Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ Flakes

We realize superconductor-insulator transitions (SIT) in mechanically exfoliated Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ (BSCCO) flakes and address simultaneously their transport properties as well as the evolution of density of states. Back-gating via the solid ion conductor engenders a reversible SIT in BSCCO, as lithium ions from the substrate are electrically driven into and out of BSCCO. Scaling analysis indicates that the SIT follows the theoretical description of a two-dimensional quantum phase transition (2D-QPT). We further carry out tunneling spectroscopy in graphite(G)/BSCCO heterojunctions. We observe V-shaped gaps in the critical regime of the SIT. The density of states in BSCCO gets symmetrically suppressed by further going into the insulating regime. Our technique of combining solid state gating with tunneling spectroscopy can be easily applied to the study of other two-dimensional materials.

cond-mat.supr-con↗