arXiv subjects

Ewa Mlynczak

Publications and source records attributed to Ewa Mlynczak.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Element- and momentum-resolved electronic structure of the dilute magnetic semiconductor manganese doped gallium arsenide

The dilute magnetic semiconductors have promise in spin-based electronics applications due to their potential for ferromagnetic order at room temperature, and various unique switching and spin-dependent conductivity properties. However, the precise mechanism by which the transition-metal doping produces ferromagnetism has been controversial. Here we have studied a dilute magnetic semiconductor (5% manganese-doped gallium arsenide) with Bragg-reflection standing-wave hard X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and resolved its electronic structure into element- and momentum- resolved components. The measured valence band intensities have been projected into element-resolved components using analogous energy scans of Ga 3d, Mn 2p, and As 3d core levels, with results in excellent agreement with element-projected Bloch spectral functions and clarification of the electronic structure of this prototypical material. This technique should be broadly applicable to other multi-element materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Localized segregation of gold in ultra-thin Fe films on Au(001)

The growth of up to 10 monolayer-thick Fe films on a Au(001) surface was investigated during deposition at room temperature and during annealing using low-energy electron diffraction and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy as well as locally with low-energy electron microscopy and photoemission electron microscopy. The growth proceeds with a submonolayer of Au segregating to the surface of Fe, which is in agreement with previous studies. Annealing was found to be critical for the presence of Au on the Fe surface. Our findings show that Au segregation proceeds by the formation of cracks in the Fe film, starting at the annealing temperature of 190 °C, through which Au diffuses towards the surface. We explain the localized Au segregation with a shadowing effect due to the oblique deposition geometry. As a result, an Fe film with significantly improved roughness, but covered with a Au overlayer, is obtained. This study shows the necessity to employ spatially-resolved techniques to fully understand the growth modes of the layered epitaxial systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Quasi 2D electronic states with high spin-polarization in centrosymmetric MoS$_2$ bulk crystals

Time reversal dictates that nonmagnetic, centrosymmetric crystals cannot be spin-polarized as a whole. However, it has been recently shown that the electronic structure in these crystals can in fact show regions of high spin-polarization, as long as it is probed locally in real and in reciprocal space. In this article we present the first observation of this type of compensated polarization in MoS$_2$ bulk crystals. Using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) we directly observed a spin-polarization of more than 65% for distinct valleys in the electronic band structure. By additionally evaluating the probing depth of our method we find that these valence band states at the $\overline{\text{K}}$ point in the Brillouin zone are close to fully polarized for the individual atomic trilayers of MoS$_2$, which is confirmed by our density functional theory calculations. Furthermore, we show that this spin-layer locking leads to the observation of highly spin-polarized bands in ARPES since these states are almost completely confined within two dimensions. Our findings prove that these highly desired properties of MoS$_2$ can be accessed without thinning it down to the monolayer limit.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Realization of a vertical topological p-n junction in epitaxial $\mathrm{Sb_2Te_3 / Bi_2Te_3}$ heterostructures

3D topological insulators are a new state of quantum matter which exhibits both a bulk band structure with an insulating energy gap as well as metallic spin-polarized Dirac fermion states when interfaced with a topologically trivial material. There have been various attempts to tune the Dirac point to a desired energetic position for exploring its unusual quantum properties. Here we show a direct experimental proof by angle-resolved photoemission of the realization of a vertical topological p-n junction made of a heterostructure of two different binary 3D TI materials $\mathrm{Bi_2Te_3}$ and $\mathrm{Sb_2Te_3}$ epitaxially grown on Si(111). We demonstrate that the chemical potential is tunable by about 200 meV when decreasing the upper $\mathrm{Sb_2Te_3}$ layer thickness from 25 to 6 quintuple layers without applying any external bias. These results make it realistic to observe the topological exciton condensate and pave the way of exploring other exotic quantum phenomena in the near future.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Tuning the Dirac point to the Fermi level in the ternary topological insulator (Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x}$)$_{2}$Te$_{3}$

In order to stabilize Majorana excitations within vortices of proximity induced topological superconductors, it is mandatory that the Dirac point matches the Fermi level rather exactly, such that the conventionally confined states within the vortex are well separated from the Majorana-type excitation. Here, we show by angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy that (Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x}$)$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ thin films with $x=0.94$ prepared by molecular beam epitaxy and transferred in ultrahigh vacuum from the molecular beam epitaxy system to the photoemission setup matches this condition. The Dirac point is within 10 meV around the Fermi level and we do not observe any bulk bands intersecting the Fermi level.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗