arXiv subjects

Huakun Zuo

Publications and source records attributed to Huakun Zuo.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Chiral domain walls of Mn$_3$Sn and their memory

Magnetic domain walls are topological solitons whose internal structure is set by competing energies which sculpt them. In common ferromagnets, domain walls are known to be of either Bloch or Néel types. Little is established in the case of Mn$_3$Sn, a triangular antiferromagnet with a large room-temperature anomalous Hall effect, where domain nucleation is triggered by a well-defined threshold magnetic field. Here, we show that the domain walls of this system generate an additional contribution to the Hall conductivity tensor and a transverse magnetization. The former is an electric field lying in the same plane with the magnetic field and electric current and therefore a planar Hall effect. We demonstrate that in-plane rotation of spins inside the domain wall would explain both observations and the clockwise or anticlockwise chirality of the walls depends on the history of the field orientation and can be controlled.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Momentum-space and real-space Berry curvatures in Mn$_{3}$Sn

Mn$_{3}$X (X= Sn, Ge) are noncollinear antiferromagnets hosting a large anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Weyl nodes in the electronic dispersions are believed to cause this AHE, but their locus in the momentum space is yet to be pinned down. We present a detailed study of the Hall conductivity tensor and magnetization in Mn$_{3}$Sn crystals and find that in the presence of a moderate magnetic field, spin texture sets the orientation of the $k$-space Berry curvature with no detectable in-plane anisotropy due to the $Z_6$ symmetry of the underlying lattice. We quantify the energy cost of domain nucleation and show that the multidomain regime is restricted to a narrow field window. Comparing the field dependence of AHE and magnetization, we find that there is a distinct component in the AHE which does not scale with magnetization when the domain walls are erected. This so-called `topological' Hall effect provides indirect evidence for a non-coplanar spin components and real-space Berry curvature in domain walls.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Fermi Surface and Carriers Compensation of pyrite-type PtBi$_{2}$ Revealed by Quantum Oscillations

Large non-saturating magnetoresistance has been observed in various materials and electron-hole compensation has been regarded as one of the main mechanisms. Here we present a detailed study of the angle-dependent Shubnikov -de Haas effect on large magnetoresistance material pyrite-type PtBi$_{2}$, which allows us to experimentally reconstruct its Fermi-surface structure and extract the physical properties of each pocket. We find its Fermi surface contains four types of pockets in the Brillouin zone: three ellipsoid-like hole pockets $α$ with C$_4$ symmetry located on the edges (M points), one intricate electron pocket $β$ merged from four ellipsoids along [111] located on the corners (R points), two smooth and cambered octahedrons $γ$ (electron) and $δ$ (hole) on the center ($Γ$ point). The deduced carrier densities of electrons and holes from the volume of pockets prove carrier compensation. This compensation at low temperatures is also supported by fitting the field dependence of Hall and magnetoresistance at different temperatures. We conclude that the compensation is the main mechanism for the large non-saturating magnetoresistance in pyrite-type PtBi$_{2}$. We found the hole pockets α may contribute major mobility because of their light masses and anisotropy to relatively avoid large-angle scattering at low temperature. This may be a common feature of semimetals with large magnetoresistance. The found sub-quadratic magnetoresistance in high field is probably due to field-dependent mobilities, another feature of semimetals under high magnetic fields.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Emptying Dirac valleys in bismuth using high magnetic fields

The Fermi surface of elemental bismuth consists of three small rotationally equivalent electron pockets, offering a valley degree of freedom to charge carriers. A relatively small magnetic field can confine electrons to their lowest Landau level. This is the quantum limit attained in other dilute metals upon application of sufficiently strong magnetic field. Here, we report on the observation of another threshold magnetic field never encountered before in any other solid. Above this field, $B_{\rm{empty}}$, one or two valleys become totally empty. Drying up a Fermi sea by magnetic field in the Brillouin zone leads to a manyfold enhancement in electric conductance. We trace the origin of the large drop in magnetoresistance across $B_{\rm{empty}}$ to transfer of carriers between valleys with highly anisotropic mobilities. The non-interacting picture of electrons with field-dependent mobility explains most results. Coulomb interaction may play a role in shaping the fine details.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Temperature and Angular Dependence of the Upper Critical Field in K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$

We report measurements of the upper critical field $H_{\mathrm{c2}}$ as functions of temperature $T$, polar angle $θ$ (of the field direction with respect to the crystallographic $c$ axis), and azimuthal angle $ϕ$ (of the field direction relative to the $a$ axis within the $ab$ plane) for the Cr-based superconductor K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$ with a quasi-one-dimensional and non-centrosymmetric crystal structure. We confirm that the anisotropy in $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(T)$ becomes inverse with decreasing temperature. At low temperatures, $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(θ)$ data are featured by two maxima at $θ$ = 0 ($\mathbf{H}\parallel c$) and $π/2$ ($\mathbf{H}\bot c$), which can be quantitatively understood only if uniaxial effective-mass anisotropy and absence of Pauli paramagnetic effect for $\mathbf{H}\bot c$ are taken simultaneously into consideration. The in-plane $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(ϕ)$ profile shows a unique threefold modulation especially at low temperatures. Overall, the characteristic of the $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(θ, ϕ, T)$ data mostly resemble those of the heavy-fermion superconductor UPt$_3$, and we argue in favor of a dominant spin-triplet superconductivity with odd parity in K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Evidence of both surface and bulk Dirac bands in ZrSiS and the unconventional magnetoresistance

The unconventional magnetoresistance of ZrSiS single crystals is found unsaturated till the magnetic field of 53 T with the butterfly shaped angular dependence. Intense Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations resolve a bulk Dirac cone with a nontrivial Berry phase, where the Fermi surface area is 1.80*10^-3 Å-2 and reaches the quantum limit before 20 T. Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurement reveals an electronic state with the two-dimensional nature around the X point of Brillouin zone boundary. By integrating the density functional theory calculations, ZrSiS is suggested to be a Dirac material with both surface and bulk Dirac bands.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Robust linear magnetoresistance in WTe2

Unsaturated magnetoresistance (MR) has been reported in WTe2, and remains irrepressible up to very high field. Intense optimization of the crystalline quality causes a squarely-increasing MR, as interpreted by perfect compensation of opposite carriers. Herein we report our observation of linear MR (LMR) in WTe2 crystals, the onset of which is first identified by constructing the mobility spectra of the MR at low fields. The LMR further intensifies and predominates at fields higher than 20 Tesla while the parabolic MR gradually decays. The LMR remains unsaturated up to a high field of 60 Tesla and persists, even at a high pressure of 6.2 GPa. Assisted by density functional theory calculations and detailed mobility spectra, we find the LMR to be robust against the applications of high field, broken carrier balance, and mobility suppression. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals a unique quasilinear energy dispersion near the Fermi level. Our results suggest that the robust LMR is the low bound of the unsaturated MR in WTe2.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Crossover between Weak Antilocalization and Weak Localization of Bulk States in Ultrathin Bi2Se3 Films

We report transport studies on the 5 nm thick Bi2Se3 topological insulator films which are grown via molecular beam epitaxy technique. The angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data show that the Fermi level of the system lies in the bulk conduction band above the Dirac point, suggesting important contribution of bulk states to the transport results. In particular, the crossover from weak antilocalization to weak localization in the bulk states is observed in the parallel magnetic field measurements up to 50 Tesla. The measured magneto-resistance exhibits interesting anisotropy with respect to the orientation of B// and I, signifying intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in the Bi2Se3 films. Our work directly shows the crossover of quantum interference effect in the bulk states from weak antilocalization to weak localization. It presents an important step toward a better understanding of the existing three-dimensional topological insulators and the potential applications of nano-scale topological insulator devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗