arXiv subjects

Shanshan Sun

Publications and source records attributed to Shanshan Sun.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Probing the direct factor for superconductivity in FeSe-Based Superconductors by Raman Scattering

The FeSe-based superconductors exhibit a wide range of critical temperature Tc under a variety of material and physical conditions, but extensive studies to date have yet to produce a consensus view on the underlying mechanism. Here we report on a systematic Raman scattering work on intercalated FeSe superconductors Lix(NH3)yFe2Se2 and (Li,Fe)OHFeSe compared to pristine FeSe. All three crystals show an anomalous power-law temperature dependence of phonon linewidths, deviating from the standard anharmonic behavior. This intriguing phenomenon is attributed to electron-phonon coupling effects enhanced by electron correlation, as evidenced by the evolution of the A1g Raman mode. Meanwhile, an analysis of the B1g mode, which probes the out-of-plane vibration of Fe, reveals a lack of influence by previously suggested structural parameters, and instead indicates a crucial role of the joint density of states in determining Tc. These findings identify carrier doping as the direct factor driving and modulating superconductivity in FeSe-based compounds.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Experimental observation of bulk nodal lines and electronic surface states in ZrB$_2$

Topological nodal-line semimetals are characterized by the line-contact bulk band crossings and the topological surface states. Breaking certain protecting symmetry turns this system into a Dirac semimetal or Weyl semimetal that hosts zero-dimensional isolated nodal points. Recent advances in band theory predicted a topological nodal-line semimetal state possessing a new type of nodal line in AlB$_2$-type diborides. Here, we report an experimental realization of nodal-line fermions and associated surface states near the Fermi energy in ZrB$_2$ by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with first-principles calculations. The Dirac nodal lines in ZrB$_2$ wind into two groups of nodal rings, which are linked together along the $Γ$-$K$ direction. We further observe a distinct surface state connecting to each nodal line, indicative of the nontrivial topological nature of the bulk nodal lines. Therefore, our results provide convincing experimental evidence of the nodal-line semimetal states in ZrB$_2$ both in the bulk and on the surface, suggesting ZrB$_2$ as a remarkable platform for discovering unique phenomena induced by nodal-line fermions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Experimental Observation of Dirac Nodal Links in Centrosymmetric Semimetal TiB$_2$

The topological nodal-line semimetal state, serving as a fertile ground for various topological quantum phases, where a topological insulator, Dirac semimetal, or Weyl semimetal can be realized when the certain protecting symmetry is broken, has only been experimentally studied in very few materials. In contrast to discrete nodes, nodal lines with rich topological configurations can lead to more unusual transport phenomena. Utilizing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, here, we provide compelling evidence of nodal-line fermions in centrosymmetric semimetal TiB$_2$ with a negligible spin-orbit coupling effect. With the band crossings just below the Fermi energy, two groups of Dirac nodal rings are clearly observed without any interference from other bands, one surrounding the Brillouin zone (BZ) corner in the horizontal mirror plane $σ_h$ and the other surrounding the BZ center in the vertical mirror plane $σ_v$. The linear dispersions forming Dirac nodal rings are as wide as 2 eV. We further observe that the two groups of nodal rings link together along the $Γ$-$K$ direction, composing a nodal-link configuration. The simple electronic structure with Dirac nodal links mainly constituting the Fermi surfaces suggests TiB$_2$ as a remarkable platform for studying and applying the novel physical properties related to nodal-line fermions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Transport properties of Lix(NH3)yFe2(TezSe1-z)2 single crystals in the mixed state

We study the electric transport properties of Lix(NH3)yFe2(TezSe1-z)2 single crystals with z= 0 and 0.6 in the mixed state. Thermally-activated flux-flow, vortex glass and flux-flow Hall effect (FFHE) behaviors are observed. Experimental results show that there are rich vortex phases existing in these systems and the vortex liquid states occupy broad regions of phase diagrams. Further analysis suggests that thermal fluctuation plays an important role in the vortex phase diagrams of Lix(NH3)yFe2(TezSe1-z)2. Moreover, for Lix(NH3)yFe2Se2, there is no sigh reversal of FFHE in the mixed state and a scaling behavior |rhoxy(mu0H)|=Arhoxx(mu0H)^beta with beta ~ 2.0 is observed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Enhanced superconductivity and anisotropy of FeTe0.6Se0.4 single crystals with Li-NH3 intercalation

We report a systematic study of anisotropy resistivity, magnetoresistance and Hall effect of Li0.32(NH3)yFe2Te1.2Se0.8 single crystals. When compared to the parent compound FeTe0.6Se0.4, the Li-NH3 intercalation not only increases the superconducting transition temperature, but also enhances the electronic anisotropy in both normal and superconducting states. Moreover, in contrast to the parent compound, the Hall coefficient RH becomes negative at low temperature, indicating electron-type carriers are dominant due to Li doping. On the other hand, the sign reverse of RH at high temperature and the failure of scaling behavior of magnetoresistance imply that hole pockets may be still crossing or just below the Fermi energy level, leading to the multiband behavior in Li0.32(NH3)yFe2Te1.2Se0.8.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Massive fermions with low mobility in antiferromagnet orthorhombic CuMnAs single crystals

We report the physical properties of orthorhombic o-CuMnAs single crystal, which is predicted to be a topological Dirac semimetal with magnetic ground state and inversion symmetry broken. o-CuMnAs exhibits an antiferromagnetic transition with TN ~ 312 K. Further characterizations of magnetic properties suggest that the AFM order may be canted with the spin orientation in the bc plane. Small isotropic MR and linearly field-dependent Hall resistivity with positive slope indicate that single hole-type carries with high density and low mobility dominate the transport properties of o-CuMnAs. Furthermore, the result of low-temperature heat capacity shows that the effective mass of carriers is much larger than those in typical topological semimetals. These results imply that the carriers in o-CuMnAs exhibit remarkably different features from those of Dirac fermions predicted in theory.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Extremely large magnetoresistance and high-density Dirac-like fermions in ZrB2

We report the detailed study on transport properties of ZrB2 single crystal, a predicted topological nodal-line semimetal. ZrB2 exhibits extremely large magnetoresistance as well as field-induced resistivity upturn and plateau. These behaviors can be well understood by the two-band model with the perfect electron - hole compensation and high carrier mobilities. More importantly, the electrons with small effective masses and nontrivial Berry phase have significantly high density when compared to those in known topological semimetals. It strongly suggests that ZrB2 hosts Dirac-like nodal-line fermions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Critical current density and vortex pinning mechanism of Lix(NH3)yFe2Te1.2Se0.8 single crystals

We grew Lix(NH3)yFe2Te1.2Se0.8 single crystals successfully using the low-temperature ammonothermal method and the onset superconducting transition temperature Tc,onset is increased to 21 K when compared to 14 K in the parent compound FeTe0.6Se0.4. The derived critical current density Jc increases remarkably to 2.6*10^5 A/cm^2 at 2 K. Further analysis indicates that the dominant pinning mechanism in Lix(NH3)yFe2Te1.2Se0.8 single crystal is the interaction between vortex and surface-like defects with normal core, possibly originating from the stacking faults along the c axis, by variations in the charge-carrier mean free path l near the defects (delta l pinning). Moreover, the flux creep is important to the vortex dynamics of this material.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Extreme anisotropy and anomalous transport properties of heavily electron doped Lix(NH3)yFe2Se2 single crystals

The missing hole packets near the Brillouin zone center render unique electronic structures to the heavily electron doped FeSe-based superconductors with Tc above 40 K. It challenges the existing scenario accounting for the nature of superconductivity in the iron-based family. Yet, one hurdle that has to be overcome is the materials complexity in the rather limited number of compounds. Here we report the growth of heavily electron doped Li-NH3 intercalated FeSe single crystals that are free of such complexities and allow access to the intrinsic superconducting properties. Our results show extremely large electronic anisotropy in both normal and superconducting states. Moreover, the anomalous transport properties appear in normal state, which are believed related to the anisotropy of relaxation time and/or temperature dependent electron carrier concentration. In view of the great chemical flexibility of intercalants, our findings provide novel platform to understanding of superconductivity origin of FeSe-related superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Physical properties of KMgBi single crystals

KMgBi single crystals are grown by using the Bi flux successfully. KMgBi shows semiconducting behavior with a metal-semiconductor transition at high temperature region and a resistivity plateau at low temperature region, suggesting KMgBi could be a topological insulator with a very small band gap. Moreover, KMgBi exhibits multiband feature with strong temperature dependence of carrier concentrations and mobilities.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Anomalous Hall effect of ferromagnetic Fe3Sn2 single crystal with geometrically frustrated kagome lattice

The anomalous Hall effect is investigated for ferromagnetic Fe3Sn2 single crystal with geometrically frustrated kagome bilayer of Fe. The scaling behavior between anomalous Hall resistivity rho_{xy}^{A} and longitudinal resistivity rho_{xx} is quadratic and further analysis implies that the AHE in Fe3Sn2 single crystal should be dominated by the intrinsic Karplus-Luttinger mechanism rather than extrinsic skew-scattering or side-jump mechanisms. Moreover, there is a sudden jump of anomalous Hall conductivity sigma_{xy}^{A} appearing at about 100 K where the spin-reorientation transition from the c axis to the ab plane is completed. This change of sigma_{xy}^{A} might be related to the evolution of Fermi surface induced by the spin-reorientation transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Large magnetoresistance in LaBi: origin of field-induced resistivity upturn and plateau in compensated semimetals

The discovery of non-magnetic extreme magnetoresistance (XMR) materials has induced great interests because the XMR phenomenon challenges our understanding of how a magnetic field can alter electron transport in semimetals. Among XMR materials, the LaSb shows XMR and field-induced exotic behaviors but it seems to lack the essentials for these properties. Here, we study the magnetotransport properties and electronic structure of LaBi, isostructural to LaSb. LaBi exhibits large MR as in LaSb, which can be ascribed to the nearly compensated electron and hole with rather high mobilities. More importantly, our analysis suggests that the XMR as well as field-induced resistivity upturn and plateau observed in LaSb and LaBi can be well explained by the two-band model with the compensation situation. We present the critical conditions leading to these field-induced properties. It will contribute to understanding the XMR phenomenon and explore novel XMR materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Estimating changes in temperature extremes from millennial scale climate simulations using generalized extreme value (GEV) distributions

Changes in extreme weather may produce some of the largest societal impacts of anthropogenic climate change. However, it is intrinsically difficult to estimate changes in extreme events from the short observational record. In this work we use millennial runs from the CCSM3 in equilibrated pre-industrial and possible future conditions to examine both how extremes change in this model and how well these changes can be estimated as a function of run length. We estimate changes to distributions of future temperature extremes (annual minima and annual maxima) in the contiguous United States by fitting generalized extreme value (GEV) distributions. Using 1000-year pre-industrial and future time series, we show that the magnitude of warm extremes largely shifts in accordance with mean shifts in summertime temperatures. In contrast, cold extremes warm more than mean shifts in wintertime temperatures, but changes in GEV location parameters are largely explainable by mean shifts combined with reduced wintertime temperature variability. In addition, changes in the spread and shape of the GEV distributions of cold extremes at inland locations can lead to discernible changes in tail behavior. We then examine uncertainties that result from using shorter model runs. In principle, the GEV distribution provides theoretical justification to predict infrequent events using time series shorter than the recurrence frequency of those events. To investigate how well this approach works in practice, we estimate 20-, 50-, and 100-year extreme events using segments of varying lengths. We find that even using GEV distributions, time series that are of comparable or shorter length than the return period of interest can lead to very poor estimates. These results suggest caution when attempting to use short observational time series or model runs to infer infrequent extremes.

stat.AP↗

arXiv2015

Type-I superconductivity in KBi2 single crystals

We report the detailed transport, magnetic, thermodynamic properties and theoretical calculation of KBi2 single crystals in superconducting and normal states. KBi2 shows metallic behavior at normal state and enters superconducting state below Tc = 3.573 K. Moreover, KBi2 exhibits low critical fields in all of measurements, field-induced crossover from second to first-order phase transition in specific heat measurement, typical magnetization isotherms of type-I superconductors, and small Ginzburg-Landau parameter kappaGL = 0.611. These results clearly indicate that KB2 is a type-I superconductor with thermodynamic critical field Hc = 234.3(3) Oe.

cond-mat.supr-con↗