arXiv subjects

M. Dressel

Publications and source records attributed to M. Dressel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

From Narrow-gap Semiconductor to Metallic Altermagnet: Optical Fingerprints of Co-Doped FeSb2

The realization of bulk metallic altermagnetism has remained elusive despite the growing number of candidate materials. Here, we present evidence that moderate cobalt substitution ($\sim$15%) drives the correlated narrow-gap semiconductor FeSb$_2$ into a metallic altermagnetic state persisting up to room temperature. The infrared optical conductivity reveals low-energy interband transitions near 0.1 eV that emerge upon doping and grow with Co concentration. Density functional theory calculations show that these transitions originate exclusively from altermagnetic spin ordering, with spin split bands ($\sim$0.2 eV) of non-relativistic origin, together with spin-orbit coupling induced band splitting of the order of $\sim$5 meV near the Fermi level. Co substitution further leads to Fano lineshapes and mode mixing in the infrared-active phonons, reflecting enhanced electron-phonon coupling and local inversion symmetry breaking, while leaving the altermagnetic spin symmetry intact. Our results establish carrier-tuned FeSb$_2$ as a platform for exploring metallic $d$-wave altermagnetism and its coupling to lattice degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Electronic structure of Gd-based intermetallics GdCu$_2$Ge$_2$ and GdCuAl$_3$

We present a temperature-dependent reflectivity study of single crystals of the ternary intermetallic compounds GdCu$_2$Ge$_2$ and GdCuAl$_3$ over a broad spectral range (100-18000 cm$^{-1}$, equivalent to 12 meV-2.23 eV) down to 13 K. Below 2000 cm$^{-1}$, the optical spectra are dominated by the response of itinerant charge carriers exhibiting two distinct scattering rates. While the response of the slow charge carriers shows negligible temperature dependence, the more mobile carriers follow the dc resistivity and are significantly suppressed in GdCuAl$_3$, consistent with the higher resistivity of this compound. We attribute this behavior to enhanced electronic correlations arising from the proximity of the Fermi level to van Hove singularities. Supported by density-functional-theory calculations, we further show that elemental substitution can be described as a rigid shift of the Fermi level, i.e., doping, whereas changes in the crystalline symmetry have only minor effects on the electronic structure.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Optical conductivity and band gap in the double-Weyl candidate SrSi2 at ambient pressure

We probe the possible double-Weyl state in cubic SrSi2 using optical spectroscopy. The complex optical conductivity was measured in a frequency range from 70 to 22 000 cm-1 at temperatures down to 10 K at ambient pressure. The optical response of SrSi2 can be well separated into the intraband (free carriers) and interband contributions. Additionally, four infrared-active phonons are detected. As follows from the optical spectra, the free-carrier density decreases with decreasing temperature, consistent with an activation behaviour. Experimental interband conductivity juxtaposed with ab initio calculations shows that conventional density-functional theory fails to describe the electronic structure of SrSi2 in the vicinity of the Fermi level. A semi-local exchange-correlation potential allows a much better agreement with the experiment, resulting in the trivial (gapped) band structure of SrSi2. The direct gap estimated from the measurements is approximately 40 meV.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Photoinduced Frustration Modulation in $\kappa$-type Quantum Spin Liquid Candidates

Geometric frustration is a key parameter controlling electronic and magnetic properties of quantum spin liquid systems, yet remains challenging to tune. Here, we coherently drive molecular vibrations with midinfrared pulses in two organic quantum spin liquid candidates, the insulating $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ and the metallic $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_4$Hg$_{2.89}$Br$_8$, and probe their electronic response through ultrafast reflectivity measurements. We observe a nonlinear coupling between local molecular vibrations and nonlocal phonons, which is expected to directly modulate the geometric frustration of their triangular lattice. Our findings establish a promising route to dynamically control frustration in nonbipartite quantum materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Interplay of $d$- and $p$-states in RbTi$_3$Bi$_5$ and CsTi$_3$Bi$_5$ flat-band kagome metals

Shifting the Fermi level of the celebrated $AM_3X_5$ (135) compounds into proximity of flat bands strongly enhances electronic correlations and severely affects the formation of density waves and superconductivity. Our broadband infrared spectroscopy measurements of RbTi$_3$Bi$_5$ and CsTi$_3$Bi$_5$ combined with density-functional band-structure calculations reveal that the correlated Ti $d$-states are intricately coupled with the Bi $p$-states that form a tilted Dirac crossing. Electron-phonon coupling manifests itself in the strong damping of itinerant carriers and in the anomalous shape of the phonon line in RbTi$_3$Bi$_5$. An anomaly in these spectral features around 150 K can be paralleled to the onset of nematicity detected by low-temperature probes. Our findings show that the materials with low band filling open unexplored directions in the physics of kagome metals and involve electronic states of different nature strongly coupled with lattice dynamics.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Lattice dynamics of the frustrated kagome compound Y-kapellasite

Studying the magnetic ground states of frustrated antiferromagnets provides unique insight into the stability of quantum spin liquids, even if the anticipated state is not realized towards T = 0. Particularly relevant are structural modifications setting in at temperatures where the magnetic correlations come into play. Here we explore the lattice dynamics of Y-kapellasite (Y3Cu9(OH)19Cl8) single crystals by infrared spectroscopy in combination with ab initio calculations. We observe significant changes in the phonon spectra at Ts = 32 K, that gradually evolve down to low temperatures. The increase in the number of phonon modes provides evidence for a lowering of symmetry and we discuss several possibilities of crystal structure modifications. Our analysis also reveals that the structural variation involves exclusively H and O atoms, while the other atoms remain rather unaffected. An 8% red shift of the lowest-lying phonon mode upon cooling indicates strong magneto-elastic effects upon decoupling Cu-6f hexagons through the lattice vibrations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Interlayer charge transfer induced by electronic instabilities in the natural van der Waals hetrostructure 4H$_b$-TaS$_2$

The natural van der Waals heterostructure 4H$_b$-TaS$_2$ composed of alternating 1T- and 1H-TaS$_2$ layers serves as a platform for investigating the electronic correlations and layer-dependent properties of novel quantum materials. The temperature evolution of the conductivity spectra $\sigma(\omega)$ obtained through infrared spectroscopy elucidates the influence of band modifications associated with the charge-density-wave (CDW) superlattice on the 1T layer, resulting in a room-temperature energy gap, $\Delta_{\rm CDW}\approx$ 0.35 eV. However, there is no gap associated to the 1H layer. Supported by density functional theory calculations, we attribute the behavior of interband transitions to the convergence of the layers, which amplifies the charge transfer from the 1T to the 1H layers, progressing as the temperature decreases. This phenomenon leads to an enhanced low-energy spectral weight and carrier density. The presence of an energy gap and the temperature-tunable charge transfer within the bulk of 4H$_b$-TaS$_2$ driven by layer-dependent CDW states contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of other complex compounds of transition-metal dichalcogenides.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Inherent circular dichroism of phonons in magnetic Weyl semimetal Co3Sn2S2

We investigated the infrared-active phonons in ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Co3Sn3S3 using optical spectroscopy. Below the Curie temperature (T~175~K), we observed asymmetric Fano lineshapes of phonons peaks in the optical conductivities, reflecting the presence of electron-phonon coupling (EPC). Additionally, the detected phonon signals by the polar Kerr rotation and the ellipticity spectroscopy indicate the circular dichroism (CD) of phonons. We attribute the CD of phonons to their distinct couplings with charge excitations on the tilted Weyl nodal rings in two circularly polarized channels. Our findings provide experimental evidence that, without external fields, phonons can also become circularly polarized by coupling with the electronic topology. Since the magnetic exchange splitting gradually shifts the topological bands in Co3Sn2S2, the CD of phonons exhibits significant temperature dependence, hinting at a promising approach for manipulation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Phonon and magnon dynamics across antiferromagnetic transition in 2D layered van der Waals material CrSBr

We report temperature-dependent reflectivity spectra of the layered van der Waals magnet CrSBr in the far-infrared region. Polarization-dependent measurements resolve the vibrational modes along the E$\|a$- and $b$-axes and reveal the clear structural anisotropy. While the $a$-axis phonons notably harden on cooling, the $b$-axis phonon frequencies are almost temperature-independent. A phonon splitting due to the antiferromagnetic phase transition is observed for the 180~cm$^{-1}$ $a$-axis vibrational mode, accompanied by a phonon softening below $T_N$. Furthermore, an additional mode with strong magnetic characteristics at $\sim$360~cm$^{-1}$ is identified and attributed to the magnon excitation of CrSBr.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Intriguing Low-Temperature Phase in the Antiferromagnetic Kagome Metal FeGe

The properties of kagome metals are governed by the interdependence of band topology and electronic correlations resulting in remarkably rich phase diagrams. Here, we study the temperature evolution of the bulk electronic structure of the antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe using infrared spectroscopy. We uncover drastic changes in the low-energy interband absorption at the 100 K structural phase transition that has been linked to a charge-density-wave (CDW) instability. We explain this effect by the minuscule Fe displacement in the kagome plane, which results in parallel bands in the vicinity of the Fermi level. In contrast to conventional CDW materials, however, the spectral weight shifts to low energies, ruling out the opening of a CDW gap in FeGe.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Magneto-optical response of the Weyl semimetal NbAs: Experimental results and hyperbolic-band computations

The magneto-optical properties of (001)-oriented NbAs single crystals have been studied in the spectral range from 5 to 150 meV and in magnetic fields of up to 13 T. A rich spectrum of inter-Landau-level transitions is revealed by these measurements. The transitions follow a square-root-like dependence with magnetic field, but the simple linear-band approximation is unable to accurately reproduce the observed behavior of the transitions in applied fields. We argue that the detected magneto-optical spectra should be related to crossing hyperbolic bands, which form the W1 cones. We propose a model Hamiltonian, which describes coupled hyperbolic bands and reproduces the shape of the relevant bands in NbAs. The magneto-optical spectra computed from this Hamiltonian nicely reproduce our observations. We conclude that the hyperbolic-band approach is a minimal model to adequately describe the magneto-optical response of NbAs and that the chiral (conical) bands do not explicitly manifest themselves in the spectra.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Charge-density wave transition in magnetic topological semimetal EuAl$_4$

The interplay among topology, charge-density wave (CDW), and magnetism can give rise to a plethora of exotic quantum phenomena. Recently, a group of magnetic topological semimetals with tetragonal lattices and CDW order were found to exhibit anomalous magnetic instability, helical spin ordering, and the presence of skyrmions. However, the underlying mechanism responsible for these observations remains unclear. Here, we conducted a comprehensive investigation into the impact of CDW on the topological and magnetic properties of EuAl$_4$ using optical spectroscopy and the first-principles calculations. Through optical spectroscopy, we observed a partial gap (60~meV) on the Fermi surface and an enhanced mid-infrared absorption around 0.4~eV after the CDW transition. Magneto-optical spectroscopy and the first-principles calculations proved that, by affecting the band structure, the CDW order frustrates the antiferromagnetic interactions but strengthened the ferromagnetic ones, which can destabilize the magnetism. With lower symmetry in the CDW ordered state, carriers from the Weyl bands will mediate the anisotropic magnetic interactions promoting the formation of chiral spin textures. Conversely, without the CDW order, the counterpart EuGa$_4$ shows robust collinear antiferromagnetic order. Our findings uncover the pivotal role played by CDW order in arousing intricate magnetism in topological materials and provide valuable insights into controlling topological and magnetic properties through the manipulation of CDW orders.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Exchange gap in GdPtBi probed by magneto-optics

We measured the magneto-reflectivity spectra (4 - 90 meV, 0 - 16 T) of the triple-point semimetal GdPtBi and found them to demonstrate two unusual broad features emerging in field. The electronic bands of GdPtBi are expected to experience large exchange-mediated shifts, which lends itself to a description via effective Zeeman splittings with a large g factor. Based on this approach, along with an ab initio band structure analysis, we propose a model Hamiltonian that describes our observations well and allows us to estimate the effective g factor, g* = 95. We conclude that we directly observe the exchange-induced $\Gamma_{8}$ band inversion in GdPtBi by means of infrared spectroscopy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Effect of magnetism and phonons on localized carriers in the ferrimagnetic kagome metals GdMn$_6$Sn$_6$ and TbMn$_6$Sn$_6$

Kagome metals possess peculiar optical spectra consisting of contributions from free charge carriers in a Drude-type response, localized carriers seen as a strongly temperature-dependent localization peak, and, in some cases, phonons displaying strong anomalies. The rare-earth kagome metal series, $R$Mn$_6$Sn$_6$, provides a marvelous playground to study the electronic properties of kagome metals in the presence of variable magnetic order. Here, we report temperature-dependent reflectivity studies on two members of the $R$Mn$_6$Sn$_6$ family, GdMn$_6$Sn$_6$ (in-plane ferrimagnet) and TbMn$_6$Sn$_6$ (out-of-plane ferrimagnet), in a broad energy range (50 - 18000 cm$^{-1}$, equivalent to 6.2 meV - 2.23 eV) down to 10 K. At high temperatures, a phonon mode at approximately 160 cm$^{-1}$ is observed, which becomes screened out in TbMn$_6$Sn$_6$ below $\sim$ 150 K as the localization peak linearly passes through the mode. In GdMn$_6$Sn$_6$, the disappearance of the phonon is accompanied by the onset of saturation of the peak position, suggesting an unusual interplay between the two features.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Optical study of RbV$_3$Sb$_5$: Multiple density-wave gaps and phonon anomalies

Temperature-dependent reflectivity studies on the non-magnetic kagome metal RbV$_3$Sb$_5$ in a broad energy range (50 cm$^{-1}$ $-$ 20000 cm$^{-1}$, equivalent to 6 meV $-$ 2.5 eV) down to 10 K are reported. Below $T_{\rm CDW}=102$ K, the optical spectra demonstrate a prominent spectral-weight transfer from low to higher energies as the fingerprint of the charge-density wave (CDW) formation with the opening of a partial gap. A detailed analysis reveals two energy scales of, respectively, $\sim$ 800 cm$^{-1}$ (100 meV) and 360 cm$^{-1}$ (45 meV), the latter visible below 50 K only. Additionally, two modes at, respectively, 160 cm$^{-1}$ (20 meV) and 430 cm$^{-1}$ (53 meV) can be traced both above and below $T_{\rm CDW}$. They show strong anomalies already above $T_{\rm CDW}$ with a further renormalization across the transition, suggesting the importance of the electron-phonon coupling in RbV$_3$Sb$_5$ in both normal and CDW states. While the 160 cm$^{-1}$ mode can be attributed to the E$_{1u}$ phonon, the 430 cm$^{-1}$ mode could not be reproduced in our phonon calculations. The antiresonance nature of this mode suggests a nontrivial electron-phonon coupling in RbV$_3$Sb$_5$. A distinct localization peak observed at all temperatures signals damped electron dynamics, whereas the reduced Drude spectral weight manifests moderate deviations from the band picture in RbV$_3$Sb$_5$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Optical detection of charge-density-wave instability in the non-magnetic kagome metal KV$_3$Sb$_5$

Coexisting density-wave and superconducting states along with the large anomalous Hall effect in the absence of local magnetism remain intriguing and enigmatic features of the AV$_3$Sb$_5$ kagome metals (A = K, Rb, Cs). Here, we demonstrate via optical spectroscopy and density-functional calculations that low-energy dynamics of KV$_3$Sb$_5$ is characterized by unconventional localized carriers, which are strongly renormalized across the density-wave transition and indicative of electronic correlations. Strong phonon anomalies are prominent not only below the density-wave transition, but also at high temperatures, suggesting an intricate interplay of phonons with the underlying electronic structure. We further propose the star-of-David and tri-hexagon (inverse star-of-David) configurations for the density-wave order in KV$_3$Sb$_5$. These configurations are strongly reminiscent of $p$-wave states expected in the Hubbard model on the kagome lattice at the filling level of the van Hove singularity. The proximity to this regime should have intriguing and far-reaching implications for the physics of KV$_3$Sb$_5$ and related materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Charge localization in strongly correlated $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]I due to inherent disorder

In order to understand the physical properties of the series of organic conductors $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]$X$ with $X$ = Cl, Br, and I, not only electronic correlations but also the effect of disorder has to be taken into account. While for Cl- and Br-containing salts the influence of both parameters were investigated and a universal phase diagram was proposed, the position of $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]I is still not settled. Here we have conducted transport, infrared, and dielectric measurements on single crystals of the title compound to clarify its electronic state at low temperatures. The correlation strength was determined as $U/W \approx 2.2$; thus this salt is placed deeper in an insulating state compare to the two sister compounds. We found that inherent disorder leads to a Coulomb localized insulating state similar to the moderately x-ray-irradiated $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Cl.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Low-energy optical properties of the non-magnetic kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

Temperature-dependent reflectivity measurements on the kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ in a broad frequency range of $50-20000$ cm$^{-1}$ down to $T$=10 K are reported. The charge-density wave (CDW) formed below $T_{\rm CDW}$ = 94 K manifests itself in a prominent spectral-weight transfer from low to higher energy regions. The CDW gap of 60-75 meV is observed at the lowest temperature and shows significant deviations from an isotropic BCS-type mean-field behavior. Absorption peaks appear at frequencies as low as 200 cm$^{-1}$ and can be identified with interband transitions according to density-functional calculations. The change in the interband absorption compared to KV$_3$Sb$_5$ reflects the inversion of band saddle points between the K and Cs compounds. Additionally, a broader and strongly temperature-dependent absorption feature is observed below 1000 cm$^{-1}$ and assigned to a displaced Drude peak. It reflects localization effects on charge carriers.

cond-mat.str-el↗