arXiv subjects

M. Kawasaki

Publications and source records attributed to M. Kawasaki.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Microwave response of interacting oxide two-dimensional electron systems

We present an experimental study on microwave illuminated high mobility MgZnO/ZnO based two-dimensional electron systems with different electron densities and, hence, varying Coulomb interaction strength. The photoresponse of the low-temperature dc resistance in perpendicular magnetic field is examined in low and high density samples over a broad range of illumination frequencies. In low density samples a response due to cyclotron resonance (CR) absorption dominates, while high density samples exhibit pronounced microwave-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO). Microwave transmission experiments serve as a complementary means of detecting the CR over the entire range of electron densities and as a reference for the band mass unrenormalized by interactions. Both CR and MIRO-associated features in the resistance permit extraction of the effective mass of electrons but yield two distinct values. The conventional cyclotron mass representing center-of-mass dynamics exhibits no change with density and coincides with the band electron mass of bulk ZnO, while MIRO mass reveals a systematic increase with lowering electron density consistent with renormalization expected in interacting Fermi liquids.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Molecular beam epitaxy of three-dimensionally thick Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 films

Rapid progress of quantum transport study in topological Dirac semimetal, including observations of quantum Hall effect in two-dimensional (2D) Cd$_{\mathrm{3}}$As$_{\mathrm{2}}$ samples, has uncovered even more interesting quantum transport properties in high-quality and three-dimensional (3D) samples. However, such 3D Cd$_{\mathrm{3}}$As$_{\mathrm{2}}$ films with low carrier density and high electron mobility have been hardly obtained. Here we report the growth and characterization of 3D thick Cd$_{\mathrm{3}}$As$_{\mathrm{2}}$ films adopting molecular beam epitaxy. The highest electron mobility ($μ$ = 3 $\times$ 10$^{4}$ cm$^{2}$/Vs) among the reported film samples has been achieved at a low carrier density ($\textit{n} = 5$ $\times$ 10$^{16}$ cm$^{-3}$). In the magnetotransport measurement, Hall plateau-like structures are commonly observed in spite of the 3D thick films ($\textit{t} = 120$ nm). On the other hand, field angle dependence of the plateau-like structures and corresponding Shubunikov-de Haas oscillations rather shows a 3D feature, suggesting the appearance of unconventional magnetic orbit, also distinct from the one described by the semiclassical Weyl-orbit equation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Molecular beam epitaxy growth of superconducting Sr2RuO4 films

We report growth of superconducting Sr2RuO4 films by oxide molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Careful tuning of the Ru flux with an electron beam evaporator enables us to optimize growth conditions including the Ru/Sr flux ratio and also to investigate stoichiometry effects on the structural and transport properties. The highest onset transition temperature of about 1.1 K is observed for films grown in a slightly Ru-rich flux condition in order to suppress Ru deficiency. The realization of superconducting Sr2RuO4 films via oxide MBE opens up a new route to study the unconventional superconductivity of this material.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Anomalous Enhancement of Upper Critical Field in Sr2RuO4 Thin Films

We report large enhancement of upper critical field Hc2 observed in superconducting Sr2RuO4 thin films. Through dimensional crossover approaching two dimensions, Hc2 except the in-plane field direction is dramatically enhanced compared to bulks, following a definite relation distinct from bulk one between Hc2 and the transition temperature. The anomalous enhancement of Hc2 is highly suggestive of important changes of the superconducting properties, possibly accompanied with rotation of the triplet d-vector. Our findings will become a crucial step to further explore exotic properties by employing Sr2RuO4 thin films.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Electromagnetic probes of primordial black holes as dark matter

The LIGO discoveries have rekindled suggestions that primordial black holes (BHs) may constitute part to all of the dark matter (DM) in the Universe. Such suggestions came from 1) the observed merger rate of the BHs, 2) their unusual masses, 3) their low/zero spins, and 4) also from the independently uncovered cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations signal of high amplitude and coherence with unresolved cosmic X-ray background (CXB). Here we summarize the prospects to resolve this important issue with electromagnetic observations using the instruments and tools expected in the 2020's. These prospects appear promising to make significant, and potentially critical, advances. We demonstrate that in the next decade, new space- and ground-borne electromagnetic instruments, combined with concurrent theoretical efforts, should shed critical light on the long-considered link between primordial BHs and DM. Specifically the new data and methodologies under this program will involve: I) Probing with high precision the spatial spectrum of source-subtracted CIB with Euclid and WFIRST, and its coherence with unresolved cosmic X-ray background using eROSITA and Athena, II) Advanced searches for microlensing of Galactic stars by the intervening Galactic Halo BHs with OGLE, Gaia, LSST and WFIRST, III) Supernovae (SNe) lensing in the upcoming surveys with WFIRST, LSST and also potentially with Euclid and JWST, IV) Advanced theoretical work to understand the details of PBH accretion and evolution and their influence on cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in light of the next generation CMB experiments, V) Better new samples and theoretical understanding involving stability and properties of ultra faint dwarf galaxies, pulsar timing, and cosmological quasar lensing.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Quantised conductance of one-dimensional strongly-correlated electrons in an oxide heterostructure

Oxide heterostructures are versatile platforms with which to research and create novel functional nanostructures. We successfully develop one-dimensional (1D) quantum-wire devices using quantum point contacts on MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures and observe ballistic electron transport with conductance quantised in units of 2e^{2}/h. Using DC-bias and in-plane field measurements, we find that the g-factor is enhanced to around 6.8, more than three times the value in bulk ZnO. We show that the effective mass m^{*} increases as the electron density decreases, resulting from the strong electron-electron interactions. In this strongly interacting 1D system we study features matching the 0.7 conductance anomalies up to the fifth subband. This paper demonstrates that high-mobility oxide heterostructures such as this can provide good alternatives to conventional III-V semiconductors in spintronics and quantum computing as they do not have their unavoidable dephasing from nuclear spins. This paves a way for the development of qubits benefiting from the low defects of an undoped heterostructure together with the long spin lifetimes achievable in silicon.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Impact of electrodes on the extraction of shift current from a ferroelectric semiconductor SbSI

Noncentrosymmetric bulk crystals generate photocurrent without any bias voltage. One of the dominant mechanisms, shift current, comes from a quantum interference of electron wave functions being distinct from classical current caused by electrons' drift or diffusion. The dissipation-less nature of shift current, however, has not been fully verified presumably due to the premature understanding on the role of electrodes. Here we show that the photocurrent dramatically enhances by choosing electrodes with large work function for a $p$-type ferroelectric semiconductor SbSI. An optimized device shows a nearly constant zero-bias photocurrent despite significant variation in photocarrier mobility dependent on temperature, which could be a clear hallmark for the dissipation-less nature of shift current. Distinct from conventional photovoltaic devices, the shift current generator operates as a majority carrier device. The present study provides fundamental design principles for energy-harvesting and photo-detecting devices with novel architectures optimal for the shift current photovoltaic effect.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Disentangling charge and structural contributions during coherent atomic motions studied by ultrafast resonant x-ray diffraction

We report on the ultrafast dynamics of charge order and structural response during the photoinduced suppression of charge and orbital order in a mixed-valence manganite. Employing femtosecond time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction below and at the Mn K absorption edge, we present a method to disentangle the transient charge order and structural dynamics in thin films of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3. Based on the static resonant scattering spectra, we extract the dispersion correction of charge ordered Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions, allowing us to separate the transient contributions of purely charge order from structural contributions to the scattering amplitude after optical excitation. Our finding of a coherent structural mode at around 2.3 THz, which primarily modulates the lattice, but does not strongly affect the charge order, confirms the picture of the charge order being the driving force of the combined charge, orbital and structural transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Negative magnetoresistance suppressed through topological phase transition in (Cd1-xZnx)3As2 films

The newly discovered topological Dirac semimetals host the possibilities of various topological phase transitions through the control of spin-orbit coupling as well as symmetries and dimensionalities. Here, we report a magnetotransport study of high-mobility (Cd1-xZnx)3As2 films, where the topological Dirac semimetal phase can be turned into a trivial insulator via chemical substitution. By high-field measurements with a Hall-bar geometry, magnetoresistance components ascribed to the chiral charge pumping have been distinguished from other extrinsic effects. The negative magnetoresistance exhibits a clear suppression upon Zn doping, reflecting decreasing Berry curvature of the band structure as the topological phase transition is induced by reducing the spin-orbit coupling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Coherence properties of shallow donor qubits in ZnO

Defects in crystals are leading candidates for photon-based quantum technologies, but progress in developing practical devices critically depends on improving defect optical and spin properties. Motivated by this need, we study a new defect qubit candidate, the shallow donor in ZnO. We demonstrate all-optical control of the electron spin state of the donor qubits and measure the spin coherence properties. We find a longitudinal relaxation time T$_1$ exceeding 100 ms, an inhomogeneous dephasing time T$_2^*$ of $17\pm2$ ns, and a Hahn spin-echo time T$_2$ of $50\pm13$ $μ$s. The magnitude of T$_2^*$ is consistent with the inhomogeneity of the nuclear hyperfine field in natural ZnO. Possible mechanisms limiting T$_2$ include instantaneous diffusion and nuclear spin diffusion (spectral diffusion). These results are comparable to the phosphorous donor system in natural silicon, suggesting that with isotope and chemical purification long qubit coherence times can be obtained for donor spins in a direct band gap semiconductor. This work motivates further research on high-purity material growth, quantum device fabrication, and high-fidelity control of the donor:ZnO system for quantum technologies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Emergence of topological Hall effect in half-metallic manganite thin films by tuning perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Magnetic materials hosting topological spin textures like magnetic skyrmion exhibit nontrivial Hall effect, namely, topological Hall effect (THE). In this study, we demonstrate the emergence of THE in thin films of half-metallic perovskite manganites. To stabilize magnetic skyrmions, we control the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by imposing a compressive epitaxial strain as well as by introducing a small Ru doping. When the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is tuned so that it is balanced with the magnetic dipolar interaction, the film exhibits a sizable THE in a magnetization reversal process. Real-space observations indicate the formation of skyrmions and some of them have high topological charge number. The present result opens up the possibility for novel functionalities that emerge under keen competition between the skyrmion phase and other rich phases of perovskite manganites with various orders in spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

A cascade of phase transitions in an orbitally mixed half-filled Landau level

Half-filled Landau levels host an emergent Fermi-liquid which displays an instability towards pairing, culminating in a gapped even-denominator fractional quantum Hall ground state. While this pairing may be probed by tuning the polarization of carriers in competing orbital and spin degrees of freedom, sufficiently high quality platforms offering such tunability remain few. Here we explore the ground states at filling factor $ν$ = 5/2 in ZnO-based two-dimensional electron systems through a forced intersection of opposing spin branches of Landau levels taking quantum numbers $N$ = 1 and 0. We reveal a cascade of phases with distinct magnetotransport features including a gapped phase polarized in the $N$ = 1 level and a compressible phase in N = 0, along with an unexpected Fermi-liquid, a second gapped, and a strongly anisotropic nematic-like phase at intermediate polarizations when the levels are near degeneracy. The phase diagram is produced by analyzing the proximity of the intersecting levels and highlights the excellent reproducibility and controllability ZnO offers for exploring exotic fractionalized electronic phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Spectral dynamics of topological shift-current in ferroelectric semiconductor SbSI

Photoexcitation in solids brings about transitions of electrons/holes between different electronic bands. If the solid lacks an inversion symmetry, these electronic transitions support spontaneous photocurrent due to the topological character of the constituting electronic bands; the Berry connection. This photocurrent, termed shift current, is expected to emerge on the time-scale of primary photoexcitation process. We observed ultrafast time evolution of the shift current in a prototypical ferroelectric semiconductor by detecting emitted terahertz electromagnetic waves. By sweeping the excitation photon energy across the band gap, ultrafast electron dynamics as a source of terahertz emission abruptly changes its nature, reflecting a contribution of Berry connection upon interband optical transition. The shift excitation carries a net charge flow, and is followed by a swing-over of the electron cloud on the sub-picosecond time-scale of electron-phonon interaction. Understanding these substantive characters of the shift current will pave the way for its application to ultrafast sensors and solar cells.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

The photoinduced transition in magnetoresistive manganites: a comprehensive view

We use femtosecond x-ray diffraction to study the structural response of charge and orbitally ordered Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$MnO$_3$ thin films across a phase transition induced by 800 nm laser pulses. By investigating the dynamics of both superlattice reflections and regular Bragg peaks, we disentangle the different structural contributions and analyze their relevant time-scales. The dynamics of the structural and charge order response are qualitatively different when excited above and below a critical fluence $f_c$. For excitations below $f_c$ the charge order and the superlattice is only partially suppressed and the ground state recovers within a few tens of nanosecond via diffusive cooling. When exciting above the critical fluence the superlattice vanishes within approximately half a picosecond followed by a change of the unit cell parameters on a 10 picoseconds time-scale. At this point all memory from the symmetry breaking is lost and the recovery time increases by many order of magnitudes due to the first order character of the structural phase transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Observation of superparamagnetism in coexistence with quantum anomalous Hall C=$\pm$1 and C=0 Chern states

Simultaneous transport and scanning nanoSQUID-on-tip magnetic imaging studies in Cr-(Bi,Sb)$_2$Te$_3$ modulation-doped films reveal the presence of superparamagnetic order within the quantum anomalous Hall regime. In contrast to the expectation that a long-range ferromagnetic order is required for establishing the quantum anomalous Hall state, superparamagnetic dynamics of weakly interacting nanoscale magnetic islands is observed both in the plateau transition regions as well as within the fully quantized C=$\pm$1 Chern plateaus. Modulation doping of the topological insulator films is found to give rise to significantly larger superparamagnetic islands as compared to uniform magnetic doping, evidently leading to enhanced robustness of the quantum anomalous Hall effect. Nonetheless, even in this more robust quantum state, attaining full quantization of transport coefficients requires magnetic alignment of at least 95% of the superparamagnetic islands. The superparamagnetic order is also found within the incipient C=0 zero Hall plateau, which may host an axion state if the top and bottom magnetic layers are magnetized in opposite directions. In this regime, however, a significantly lower level of island alignment is found in our samples, hindering the formation of the axion state. Comprehension and control of superparamagnetic dynamics is thus a key factor in apprehending the fragility of the quantum anomalous Hall state and in enhancing the endurance of the different quantized states to higher temperatures for utilization of robust topological protection in novel devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Nonlinear response of a MgZnO/ZnO heterostructure close to zero bias

We report on magnetotransport properties of a MgZnO/ZnO heterostructure subjected to weak direct currents. We find that in the regime of overlapping Landau levels, the differential resistivity acquires a quantum correction proportional to both the square of the current and the Dingle factor. The analysis shows that the correction to the differential resistivity is dominated by a current-induced modification of the electron distribution function and allows us to access both quantum and inelastic scattering rates.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Tensile-Strain Dependent Spin States in Epitaxial LaCoO$_3$ Thin Films

The spin states of Co$^{3+}$ ions in perovskite-type LaCoO$_3$, governed by complex interplay between the electron-lattice interactions and the strong electron correlations, still remain controversial due to the lack of experimental techniques which can detect directly. In this letter, we revealed the tensile-strain dependence of spin states, $i. e.$ the ratio of the high- and low-spin states, in epitaxial thin films and a bulk crystal of LaCoO$_3$ via resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering. The tensile-strain as small as 1.0% was found to realize different spin states from that in the bulk.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Tailoring tricolor structure of magnetic topological insulator for robust axion insulator

Exploration of novel electromagnetic phenomena is a subject of great interest in topological quantum materials. One of the unprecedented effects to be experimentally verified is topological magnetoelectric (TME) effect originating from an unusual coupling of electric and magnetic fields in materials. A magnetic heterostructure of topological insulator (TI) hosts such an exotic magnetoelectric coupling and can be expected to realize the TME effect as an axion insulator. Here we designed a magnetic TI with tricolor structure where a non-magnetic layer of (Bi, Sb)2Te3 is sandwiched by a soft ferromagnetic Cr-doped (Bi, Sb)2Te3 and a hard ferromagnetic V-doped (Bi, Sb)2Te3. Accompanied by the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, we observe zero Hall conductivity plateaus, which are a hallmark of the axion insulator state, in a wide range of magnetic field between the coercive fields of Cr- and V-doped layers. The resistance of the axion insulator state reaches as high as 10^9 ohm, leading to a gigantic magnetoresistance ratio exceeding 10,000,000% upon the transition from the QAH state. The tricolor structure of TI may not only be an ideal arena for the topologically distinct phenomena, but also provide magnetoresistive applications for advancing dissipationless topological electronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗