arXiv subjects

Lucas M. K. Tang

Publications and source records attributed to Lucas M. K. Tang.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Controlling electronic topology in a strongly correlated electron system

Combining strong electron correlations [1-4] and nontrivial electronic topology [5] holds great promise for discovery. So far, this regime has been rarely accessed and systematic studies are much needed to advance the field. Here we demonstrate the control of topology in a heavy fermion system. We use magnetic field to manipulate Weyl nodes in a Weyl-Kondo semimetal [6-8], up to the point where they annihilate in a topological quantum phase transition. The suppression of the topological characteristics occurs in an intact and only weakly varying strongly correlated "background". Thus, topology is changing per se and not as a consequence of a change of the correlation state, for instance across a magnetic, electronic or structural phase transition. Our demonstration of genuine topology tuning in a strongly correlated electron system sets the stage for establishing global phase diagrams of topology, an approach that has proven highly valuable to explore and understand topologically trivial strongly correlated electron systems [1-4]. Our work also lays the ground for technological exploitations of controlled electronic topology.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Tuning Rashba spin-orbit coupling at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces by band filling

The electric-field tunable Rashba spin-orbit coupling at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface shows potential applications in spintronic devices. However, different gate dependence of the coupling strength has been reported in experiments. On the theoretical side, it has been predicted that the largest Rashba effect appears at the crossing point of the $d_{xy}$ and $d_{xz,yz}$ bands. In this work, we study the tuneability of the Rashba effect in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 by means of back-gating. The Lifshitz transition was crossed multiple times by tuning the gate voltage so that the Fermi energy is tuned to approach or depart from the band crossing. By analyzing the weak antilocalization behavior in the magnetoresistance, we find that the maximum spin-orbit coupling effect occurs when the Fermi energy is near the Lifshitz point. Moreover, we find strong evidence for a single spin winding at the Fermi surface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

New insights into the electron trapping mechanism in LaAlO_3 / SrTiO3 heterostructures

In LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures, a commonly observed but poorly understood phenomenon is that of electron trapping in back-gating experiments. In this work, by combining magnetotransport measurements and self-consistent Schroedinger-Poisson calculations, we obtain an empirical relation between the amount of trapped electrons and the gate voltage. We find that the trapped electrons follow an exponentially decaying spatial distribution away from the interface. However, contrary to earlier observations, we find that the Fermi level remains well within the quantum well. The enhanced trapping of electrons induced by the gate voltage can therefore not be explained by a thermal escape mechanism. Further gate sweeping experiments strengthen our conclusion that the thermal escape mechanism is not valid. We propose a new mechanism which involves the electromigration and clustering of oxygen vacancies in SrTiO3. Our work indicates that electron trapping is a universal phenomenon in SrTiO3-based two-dimensional electron systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Balanced electron-hole transport in spin-orbit semimetal SrIrO3 heterostructures

Relating the band structure of correlated semimetals to their transport properties is a complex and often open issue. The partial occupation of numerous electron and hole bands can result in properties that are seemingly in contrast with one another, complicating the extraction of the transport coefficients of different bands. The 5d oxide SrIrO3 hosts parabolic bands of heavy holes and light electrons in gapped Dirac cones due to the interplay between electron-electron interactions and spin-orbit coupling. We present a multifold approach relying on different experimental techniques and theoretical calculations to disentangle its complex electronic properties. By combining magnetotransport and thermoelectric measurements in a field-effect geometry with first-principles calculations, we quantitatively determine the transport coefficients of different conduction channels. Despite their different dispersion relationships, electrons and holes are found to have strikingly similar transport coefficients, yielding a holelike response under field-effect and thermoelectric measurements and a linear, electronlike Hall effect up to 33 T.

cond-mat.str-el↗