arXiv subjects

Kejun Xu

Publications and source records attributed to Kejun Xu.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Collective Magnetic Excitations in a Photo-excited Electron-doped Cuprate Superconductor

Elucidating the microscopic behavior of cuprates under ultrafast photoexcitation offers critical insights into their highly correlated out-of-equilibrium states. Although quasiparticle dynamics have been investigated extensively, the behavior of collective magnetic excitations remains comparatively unexplored. Here, we use time-resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (trRIXS) at the Cu $L_3$-edge to track the collective magnetic excitations (paramagnons) in an optimally electron-doped cuprate driven out-of-equilibrium by a femtosecond pump laser pulse. Upon pumping, we observed an anti-Stokes signal associated with paramagnon generation, which modifies the paramagnon dispersion near the zone center, although the bandwidth remained unchanged. Moreover, the spectral weight exhibits a momentum-dependent variation across the Brillouin zone. The light-driven boost of the paramagnon population and the resulting spectral-weight transfer could provide new leverage to manipulate the properties of cuprates.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Thermal Hall conductivity of electron-doped cuprates: Electrons and phonons

It has recently become clear that phonons generate a sizable thermal Hall effect in cuprates, whether they are undoped, electron-doped or hole-doped (inside the pseudogap phase). At higher doping, where cuprates are reasonably good metals, mobile electrons also generate a thermal Hall effect, the thermal equivalent of the standard electrical Hall effect. Here we show that in the cleanest crystals of the electron-doped cuprate Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$, at high doping, the phonon and electron contributions to the thermal Hall conductivity $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ are of comparable magnitude, but of opposite sign. In samples of lower quality, phonons dominate $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$, resulting in a negative $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ at all temperatures. The fact that the negative phononic $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ in the metallic state is similar in magnitude and temperature dependence to that found in the insulating state at lower doping rules out any mechanism based on skew scattering of phonons off charged impurities, since a local charge should be screened in the metallic regime. The phononic $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ is found to persist over the entire doping range where antiferromagnetic correlations are known to be significant, suggesting that such correlations may play a role in generating the phonon thermal Hall effect in electron-doped cuprates. If the same mechanism is also at play in hole-doped cuprates, the presence of a phononic $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ below (and only below) the critical doping $p^{\star}$ would be evidence that spin correlations are a property of the pseudogap phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Planar thermal Hall effect from phonons in cuprates

A surprising "planar" thermal Hall effect, whereby the field is parallel to the current, has recently been observed in a few magnetic insulators, and this has been attributed to exotic excitations such as Majorana fermions or chiral magnons. Here we investigate the possibility of a planar thermal Hall effect in three different cuprate materials, in which the conventional thermal Hall conductivity $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ (with an out-of-plane field perpendicular to the current) is dominated by either electrons or phonons. Our measurements show that the planar $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ from electrons in cuprates is zero, as expected from the absence of a Lorentz force in the planar configuration. By contrast, we observe a sizable planar $\kappa_{\rm {xy}}$ in those samples where the thermal Hall response is due to phonons, even though it should in principle be forbidden by the high crystal symmetry. Our findings call for a careful re-examination of the mechanisms responsible for the phonon thermal Hall effect in insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Suppression of Charge Density Wave by Substrate Induced Doping on TiSe$_2$/TiO$_2$ Heterostructure

Substrate engineering provides an opportunity to modulate the physical properties of quantum materials in thin film form. Here we report that TiSe$_2$ thin films grown on TiO$_2$ have unexpectedly large electron doping that suppresses the charge density wave (CDW) order. This is dramatically different from either bulk single crystal TiSe$_2$ or TiSe$_2$ thin films on graphene. The epitaxial TiSe$_2$ thin films can be prepared on TiO$_2$ via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in two ways: by conventional co-deposition using selenium and titanium sources, and by evaporating only selenium on reconstructed TiO$_2$ surfaces. Both growth methods yield atomically flat thin films with similar physical properties. The electron doping and subsequent suppression of CDW order can be explained by selenium vacancies in the TiSe$_2$ film, which naturally occur when TiO$_2$ substrates are used. This is due to the stronger interfacial bonding that changes the ideal growth conditions. Our finding provides a way to tune the chemical potential of chalcogenide thin films via substrate selection and engineering.

cond-mat.str-el↗