arXiv subjects

Kaifa Luo

Publications and source records attributed to Kaifa Luo.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anomalous charge density wave in a two-dimensional superatomic superconductor

The spatial modulation of electron density into a wave-like pattern, known as charge density wave (CDW), represents a fundamental quantum state that often coexists with superconductivity, quantum Hall states, axion insulating phases and etc. Conventional CDWs are mediated by longitudinal acoustic phonons, exhibit picometer-scale lattice distortions ($10^{-12}$--$10^{-11}$ m), and typically vanish approaching the atomic limit. Here, we report a series of anomalous CDW behaviors in the 2D superatomic superconductor Au$_6$Te$_{12}$Se$_8$. Remarkably, its CDW is governed by transverse phonons, accompanied by an extraordinarily high real-space displacement of $\sim 4$ \AA ngstr\"om. Furthermore, we observe an exotic dimensional response persisting up to micrometer-scale thickness, a regime where other materials are already considered as bulk. Through liquid helium-temperature transmission electron microscopy, ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy and transport measurements, we demonstrate a dramatic enhancement of the CDW transition temperature ($T_{\text{CDW}}$) from $<2$ K in the bulk to 110 K in approaching the ``superatomic limit''. Our findings not only reveal novel facets of both CDW and superatomic materials, but the competition between this anomalous CDW and superconductivity opens avenues for exploring unconventional electron-phonon interactions.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Symmetry-protected topological polarons

Emergent quasiparticles in solids often exhibit unique topological properties as a result of the complex interplay between charge, orbital, spin and lattice degrees of freedom. Among these quasiparticles, the polaron occupies a special place as the first known manifestation of the interaction between a fermion and a boson field. While polarons have been investigated for almost a century, whether these quasiparticles exhibit topological properties and why remain open questions. Here, we establish the universal symmetry principles governing the topology of polar textures in large polarons. Using a group-theoretic analysis, we identify four distinct classes of polar textures in time-reversal-invariant systems, and we show that they carry integer topological charges. We validate this classfication by performing state-of-the-art first-principles calculations of materials representative of each class. For these materials, we compute the fingerprints of polaron topology in Huang diffuse scattering, and propose ultrafast electron and X-ray scattering experiments to detect these quasiparticles.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Extreme-Band-Gap Semiconductors with Shallow Dopants and Mobile Carriers

The conventional distinction between semiconductors and insulators is often based on the magnitude of the band gap, with materials exhibiting gaps wider than 3 eV typically classified as insulators. However, the emergence of ultra-wide-band-gap (UWBG) semiconductors such as AlGaN, diamond, BN, and Ga2O3 challenges this paradigm for materials classification and raises fundamental questions about the upper bound of band gaps compatible with semiconducting behavior. Here we develop a computational-discovery strategy to identify semiconductors with band gaps exceeding that of AlN (6.2 eV), while retaining essential semiconducting properties such as shallow dopants and mobile charge carriers. We discover that materials composed of light elements in densely packed crystal structures exhibit wide band gaps and light carrier effective masses that enable shallow dopants, high mobility, and weak polaron binding. By applying the hydrogenic Bohr model and first-principles defect calculations - validated against available experimental data - to screen for materials with shallow dopants, we identify dopable compounds with gaps as wide as 9.5 eV that nonetheless host mobile charge carriers. Our findings demonstrate that semiconducting behavior persists even at extreme band gaps, far beyond conventional upper bounds traditionally associated with semiconductor materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Understanding chiral charge-density wave by frozen chiral phonon

Charge density wave (CDW) is discovered within a wide interval in solids, however, its microscopic nature is still not transparent in most realistic materials, and the recently studied chiral ones with chiral structural distortion remain unclear. In this paper, we try to understand the driving forces of chiral CDW transition by chiral phonons from the electron-phonon coupling scenario. We use the prototypal monolayer 1T-TiSe$_2$ as a case study to unveil the absence of chirality in the CDW transition and propose a general approach, i.e., symmetry-breaking stimuli, to engineer the chirality of CDW in experiments. Inelastic scattering patterns are also studied as a benchmark of chiral CDW (CCDW, which breaks the mirror/inversion symmetry in 2D/3D systems). We notice that the anisotropy changing of Bragg peak profiles, which is contributed by the soft chiral phonons, can show a remarkable signature for CCDW. Our findings pave a path to understanding the CCDW from the chiral phonon perspective, especially in van der Waals materials, and provide a powerful way to manipulate the chirality of CDW.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Magnetic-field-induced electronic instability of Weyl-like fermions in compressed black phosphorus

Revealing the role of Coulomb interaction in topological semimetals with Dirac/Weyl-like band dispersion shapes a new frontier in condensed matter physics. Topological node-line semimetals (TNLSMs), anticipated as a fertile ground for exploring electronic correlation effects due to the anisotropy associated with their node-line structure, have recently attracted considerable attention. In this study, we report an experimental observation for correlation effects in TNLSMs realized by black phosphorus (BP) under hydrostatic pressure. By performing a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance measurements and band calculations on compressed BP, a magnetic-field-induced electronic instability of Weyl-like fermions is identified under an external magnetic field parallel to the so-called nodal ring in the reciprocal space. Anomalous spin fluctuations serving as the fingerprint of electronic instability are observed at low temperatures, and they are observed to maximize at approximately 1.0 GPa. This study presents compressed BP as a realistic material platform for exploring the rich physics in strongly coupled Weyl-like fermions.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Transverse Peierls Transition

In the present paper, we have discussed a new type of spontaneous symmetry breaking phases caused by the softening of the transverse acoustic phonon modes through the electron phonon coupling. These new phases include the shear density wave and self-twisting wave, which are caused by the softening of linearly and circularly polarized acoustic phonon modes, respectively. We propose that two of the topological semimetal systems in the quantum limit, where the electrons only occupy the lowest Landau bands under external magnetic field, will be the perfect systems to realize these new phases. Exotic physical effects will be induced in these new phases, including the 3D quantum Hall effect, chiral standing acoustic wave, magneto-acoustic effects and chiral phonon correction to Einstein-de Hass effect.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Topological phases in pyrochlore thallium niobate Tl$_2$Nb$_2$O$_{6+x}$

The discovery of new topological electronic materials brings a chance to uncover novel physics and plays a key role in observing and controlling various intriguing phenomena. Up to now, many materials have been theoretically proposed and experimentally proved to host different kinds of topological states. Unfortunately, there is little convincing experimental evidence for the existence of topological oxides. The reason is that oxidation of oxygen leads to ionic crystal in general and makes band inversion unlikely. In addition, the realization of different topological states in a single material is quite difficult, but strongly needed for exploring topological phase transitions. In this work, using first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we propose that the experimentally tunable continuous solid solution of oxygen in pyrochlore Tl$_2$Nb$_2$O$_{6+x}$ ($ 0\leq x \leq 1.0$) leads to various topological states. Topological insulator, Dirac semimetal and triply degenerate nodal point semimetal can be realized in it via changing the oxygen content and/or tuning the crystalline symmetries. When $x = 1$, it is a semimetal with quadratic band touching point at Fermi level. It transits into a Dirac semimetal or a topological insulator depending on the in-plane strain. When $x = 0.5$, the inversion symmetry is spontaneously broken in Tl$_2$Nb$_2$O$_{6.5}$, leading to triply degenerate nodal points. When $x = 0$, Tl$_2$Nb$_2$O$_6$ becomes a trivial insulator with a narrow band gap. These topological phase transitions driven by solid solution of oxygen are unique and physically plausible due to the variation of valence state of $Tl^{1+}$ and $Tl^{3+}$. This topological oxide will be promising for studying correlation induced topological states and potential applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Nodal Manifolds Bounded by Exceptional Points on Non-Hermitian Honeycomb Lattices and Electrical-Circuit Realizations

Topological semimetals feature a diversity of nodal manifolds including nodal points, various nodal lines and surfaces, and recently novel quantum states in non-Hermitian systems have been arousing widespread research interests. In contrast to Hermitian systems whose bulk nodal points must form closed manifolds, it is fascinating to find that for non-Hermitian systems exotic nodal manifolds can be bounded by exceptional points in the bulk band structure. Such exceptional points, at which energy bands coalesce with band conservation violated, are iconic for non-Hermitian systems. In this work, we show that a variety of nodal lines and drumheads with exceptional boundary can be realized on 2D and 3D honeycomb lattices through natural and physically feasible non-Hermitian processes. The bulk nodal Fermi-arc and drumhead states, although is analogous to, but should be essentially distinguished from the surface counterpart of Weyl and nodal-line semimetals, respectively, for which surface nodal-manifold bands eventually sink into bulk bands. Then we rigorously examine the bulk-boundary correspondence of these exotic states with open boundary condition, and find that these exotic bulk states are thereby undermined, showing the essential importance of periodic boundary condition for the existence of these exotic states. As periodic boundary condition is non-realistic for real materials, we furthermore propose a practically feasible electrical-circuit simulation, with non-Hermitian devices implemented by ordinary operational amplifiers, to emulate these extraordinary states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Large Fermi-arc and robust Weyl semimetal phase in Ag$_2$S

Three-dimensional Dirac and Weyl semimetals have attracted widespread interest in condensed matter physics and material science. Here, based on first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we report that Ag$_2$S with P2$_1$2$_1$2$_1$ symmetry is a topological Dirac semimetal in the absence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Every Dirac points are composed of two Weyl points with the same chirality overlapping in the momentum space. After taking the SOC into consideration, each Dirac point is split into two Weyl points. The Weyl points with the opposite chirality are far from each other in the momentum space. Therefore, the Weyl pairs are not easy to annihilate and robust in the Ag$_2$S compound, which also lead to long Fermi-arcs on material surface. The robustness of the Weyl points against the strain is discussed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Topological nodal states in circuit lattice

The search for artificial structure with tunable topological properties is an interesting research direction of today's topological physics. Here, we introduce a scheme to realize `topological semimetal states' with a three-dimensional periodic inductor-capacitor (LC) circuit lattice, where the topological nodal-line state and Weyl state can be achieved by tuning the parameters of inductors and capacitors. A tight-binding-like model is derived to analyze the topological properties of the LC circuit lattice. The key characters of the topological states, such as the drumhead-like surface bands for nodal-line state and the Fermi-arc-like surface bands for Weyl state, are found in these systems. We also show that the Weyl points are stable with the fabrication errors of electric devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗