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Noah Ratcliff

Publications and source records attributed to Noah Ratcliff.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Fermi surface mapping and the nature of charge density wave order in the kagome superconductor CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

The recently discovered family of AV$_3$Sb$_5$ (A: K, Rb Cs) kagome metals possess a unique combination of nontrivial band topology, superconducting ground states, and signatures of electron correlations manifest via competing charge density wave order. Little is understood regarding the nature of the charge density wave (CDW) instability inherent to these compounds and the potential correlation with the accompanying onset of a large anomalous Hall response. To understand the impact of the CDW order on the electronic structure in these systems, we present quantum oscillation measurements on single crystals of CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. Our data provides direct evidence that the CDW invokes a substantial reconstruction of the Fermi surface pockets associated with the vanadium orbitals and the kagome lattice framework. In conjunction with density functional theory modeling, we are able to identify split oscillation frequencies originating from reconstructed pockets built from vanadium orbitals and Dirac-like bands. Complementary diffraction measurements are further able to demonstrate that the CDW instability has a correlated phasing between neighboring V$_3$Sb$_5$ planes. These results provide critical insights into the underlying CDW instability in AV$_3$Sb$_5$ kagome metals and support minimal models of CDW order arising from within the vanadium-based kagome lattice.

cond-mat.str-el

Coherent phonon spectroscopy and interlayer modulation of charge density wave order in the kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

The recent discovery of the $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ ($A=$ K, Rb, Cs) material family offers an exciting opportunity to investigate the interplay of correlations, topology, and superconductivity in kagome metals. The low energy physics of these materials is dominated by an unusual charge density wave phase, but little is understood about the true nature of the order parameter. In this work, we use a combination of ultrafast coherent phonon spectroscopy and first-principles density functional theory calculations to investigate the charge density wave order in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. We find that the charge density wave is the result of a simultaneous condensation of three optical phonon modes at one $M$ and two $L$ points. This distortion can be described as tri-hexagonal ordering with an interlayer modulation along the $c$ axis. It breaks the $C_6$ rotational symmetry of the crystal and may offer a natural explanation for reports of uniaxial order at lower temperatures in this material family.

cond-mat.str-el

Ferroelectric enhancement of superconductivity in compressively strained SrTiO$_3$ films

SrTiO$_3$ is an incipient ferroelectric on the verge of a polar instability, which is avoided at low temperatures by quantum fluctuations. Within this unusual quantum paraelectric phase, superconductivity persists despite extremely dilute carrier densities. Ferroelectric fluctuations have been suspected to play a role in the origin of superconductivity by contributing to electron pairing. To investigate this possibility, we used optical second harmonic generation to measure the doping and temperature dependence of the ferroelectric order parameter in compressively strained SrTiO$_3$ thin films. At low temperatures, we uncover a spontaneous out-of-plane ferroelectric polarization with an onset that correlates perfectly with normal-state electrical resistivity anomalies. These anomalies have previously been associated with an enhancement of the superconducting critical temperature in doped SrTiO$_3$ films, directly linking the ferroelectric and superconducting phases. We develop a long-range mean-field Ising model of the ferroelectric phase transition to interpret the data and extract the relevant energy scales in the system. Our results support a long-suspected connection between ferroelectricity and superconductivity in SrTiO$_3$, but call into question the role played by ferroelectric fluctuations.

cond-mat.supr-con