arXiv subjects

Taro Wakamura

Publications and source records attributed to Taro Wakamura.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Systematic study of superconductivity in few-layer $T_d$-MoTe$_2$

We present a systematic investigation of superconductivity in a topological superconductor candidate $T_{\rm d}$-MoTe$_2$ in the few-layer limit. By examining multiple mechanically exfoliated samples with different thicknesses, substrates and crystal qualities, we quantitatively correlate superconducting temperature ($T_c$) with disorder, carrier density, carrier type and mobility. By integrating these experimental findings with first-principles calculations, we reveal the relationship between the band structure and superconductivity in this material. Notably, in 2 L samples we access a highly hole-doped regime that has not been systematically explored in previous experiments, providing a complementary perspective to earlier studies. In this regime, we demonstrate that superconductivity can be realized in a manner consistent with a conventional phonon-mediated $s_{(++)}$-wave pairing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Uniform Narrow Excitonic Spectrum in Large-Area Suspended WSe2 Monolayers

Uniformity in the excitonic spectrum is a key requirement for accessing intrinsic excitonic physics in two-dimensional semiconductors; however, in transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers supported on substrates, exciton energies and linewidths can vary spatially due to inhomogeneities from contact with other materials or fabrication residues. Suspended TMD monolayers provide a route to minimizing substrate-induced disorder, although conventional transfer processes can introduce contamination. Here we demonstrate the spatially uniform excitonic spectrum from optically high-quality WSe2 suspended monolayers fabricated by gold-assisted exfoliation directly onto an Au contact electrode of a gate-tunable device. The resulting membranes span narrow suspended regions up to ~80 um and show spatially uniform photoluminescence at cryogenic temperatures with neutral-exciton linewidths as low as ~4.5 meV. Spectral reproducibility supports an intrinsic optical response, while gate-dependent measurements resolve multiple excitonic species. This approach provides a route to electrically tunable potential landscapes in suspended TMD monolayers with a highly uniform excitonic response.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Intrinsic ultrafast edge photocurrent dynamics in WTe$_2$ driven by broken crystal symmetry

Directional photocurrents in two-dimensional materials arise from broken crystal symmetry, offering pathways to high-speed, bias-free photodetection beyond conventional devices. Tungsten ditelluride (WTe$_2$), a type-II Weyl semimetal, exhibits robust symmetry-breaking-induced edge photocurrents from competing nonlinear optical and photothermoelectric mechanisms, whose intrinsic dynamics have remained experimentally inaccessible. Here, we directly resolve sub-picosecond edge photocurrent dynamics in WTe$_2$ through ohmic contacts over temperatures from 300 K to 4 K. We demonstrate ultrafast optical-to-electrical conversion with a 3 dB bandwidth of $\sim$250 GHz and reveal picosecond-timescale switching of the net photocurrent direction below 150 K, linked to a Lifshitz transition. This transient bipolar response arises from non-equilibrium Seebeck effects due to asymmetric cooling of hot electrons and holes. These findings reveal previously hidden ultrafast dynamics in symmetry-engineered materials, offering new strategies to disentangle competing photocurrent mechanisms and enabling the development of self-powered, ultrafast optoelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Super-diffusive sub-picosecond extraction of hot carriers in black phosphorous

Harvesting hot carriers before they lose energy to the lattice is a critical route toward surpassing the conventional thermodynamic limit in optical-to-electrical (O-E) conversion. However, photocurrent from such hot carriers has remained challenging to directly detect because they equilibrate on picosecond timescales, outpacing conventional electronic measurement. Here, by employing terahertz electronics with sub-picosecond temporal resolution, we directly monitor hot-carrier-driven O-E conversion in black phosphorus (BP). Photoexcitation near the metal contact under zero source-drain bias generates an ultrafast photocurrent with a decay time of ~400 fs, orders of magnitude faster than the typical sub-nanosecond energy relaxation in BP, demonstrating a measured 3 dB bandwidth of 260 GHz with an intrinsic limit of ~600 GHz. Notably, this photocurrent flows via energetic holes toward the contact electrode, regardless of the equilibrium carrier type, revealing a super-diffusive hot-carrier extraction mechanism. Furthermore, we show that the ultrafast hot-carrier contribution can coexist with the much slower cold-carrier contribution based on the photovoltaic effect, demonstrating that hot carriers can be harvested without discarding lower-energy carriers. These findings highlight the potential of sub-picosecond hot-carrier extraction to expand the O-E conversion bandwidth without sacrificing efficiency, bridging fundamental hot-carrier physics with ultrahigh-speed technological applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Ultrafast intrinsic optical-to-electrical conversion dynamics in graphene photodetector

Optical-to-electrical (O-E) conversion in graphene is a central phenomenon for realizing anticipated ultrafast and low-power-consumption information technologies. However, revealing its mechanism and intrinsic time scale require uncharted terahertz (THz) electronics and device architectures. Here, we succeeded in resolving O-E conversion processes in high-quality graphene by on-chip electrical readout of ultrafast photothermoelectric current. By suppressing the RC time constant using a resistive zinc oxide top gate, we constructed a gate-tunable graphene photodetector with a bandwidth of up to 220 GHz. By measuring nonlocal photocurrent dynamics, we found that the photocurrent extraction from the electrode is instantaneous without a measurable carrier transit time across several-micrometer-long graphene, following the Shockley-Ramo theorem. The time for photocurrent generation is exceptionally tunable from immediate to > 4 ps, and its origin is identified as Fermi-level-dependent intraband carrier-carrier scattering. Our results bridge the gap between ultrafast optical science and device engineering, accelerating ultrafast graphene optoelectronic applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

On-chip transfer of ultrashort graphene plasmon wavepackets using terahertz electronics

Steering transport of ultrashort polariton wavepackets is essential for achieving on-chip integrated nanocircuits with tightly confined electromagnetic fields towards ultrafast information processing. However, conventional optical techniques have struggled to integrate the necessary components for transferring polariton signals. Here, we address this challenge by electrically generating, manipulating, and reading out terahertz graphene plasmon-polariton wavepackets on-chip. By injecting an electrical pulse into graphene via an ohmic contact, we achieve coherent conversion of the pulse into a plasmon wavepacket exhibiting a pulse duration of 1.2 ps and extreme three-dimensional spatial confinement within a volume of $2.1 \times 10^{-18} m^3$. We reveal the transport properties of plasmons along graphene ribbons in different dielectric environments, providing a basis for designing graphene plasmonic circuits. Furthermore, we find that the conversion efficiency between the electrical pulses and plasmon wavepackets reaches ~30% thanks to the absence of a momentum mismatch. With unprecedented controllability, our platform represents a significant advance in on-chip handling of plasmonic signals in various van der Waals heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Novel transport phenomena in graphene induced by strong spin-orbit interaction

Graphene is known to have small intrinsic spin-orbit Interaction (SOI). In this review, we demonstrate that SOIs in graphene can be strongly enhanced by proximity effect when graphene is deposited on the top of transition metal dichalcogenides. We discuss the symmetry of the induced SOIs and differences between TMD underlayers in the capacity of inducing strong SOIs in graphene. The strong SOIs contribute to bring novel phenomena to graphene, exemplified by robust supercurrents sustained even under tesla-range magnetic fields.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Phase-dependent dissipation and supercurrent of a graphene-superconductor ring under microwave irradiation

A junction with two superconductors coupled by a normal metal hosts Andreev bound states whose energy spectrum is phase-dependent and exhibits a minigap, resulting in a periodic supercurrent. Phase-dependent dissipation also appears at finite frequency due to relaxation of Andreev bound states. While dissipation and supercurrent versus phase have previously been measured near thermal equilibrium, their behavior in nonequilibrium is still elusive. By measuring the ac susceptibility of a graphene-superconductor junction under microwave irradiation, we find supercurrent response deviates from adiabatic ac Josephson effect as irradiation frequency is larger than relaxation rate. Notably, when irradiation frequency further increases above the minigap, the dissipation is enhanced at phase 0 where the minigap is largest and dissipation is minimum in equilibrium. We argue that this is evidence of the nonequilibrium distribution function which allows additional level transitions on the same side of the minigap. These results reveal that phase-dependent dissipation is more sensitive than supercurrent to microwave irradiation, and suggest a new method to investigate photon-assisted physics in proximitized superconducting system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Electronic band structure of Two-Dimensional WS2/Graphene van der Waals Heterostructures

Combining single-layer two-dimensional semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with graphene layer in van der Waals heterostructures offers an intriguing means of controlling the electronic properties through these heterostructures. Here, we report the electronic and structural properties of transferred single layer WS2 on epitaxial graphene using micro-Raman spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements (ARPES) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The results show good electronic properties as well as well-defined band arising from the strong splitting of the single layer WS2 valence band at K points, with a maximum splitting of 0.44 eV. By comparing our DFT results with local and hybrid functionals, we find the top valence band of the experimental heterostructure is close to the calculations for suspended single layer WS2. . Our results provide an important reference for future studies of electronic properties of WS2 and its applications in valleytronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Strong Spin-Orbit Interaction Induced in Graphene by Monolayer WS$_2$

We demonstrate strong anisotropic spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene induced by monolayer WS$_2$. Direct comparison between graphene/monolayer WS$_2$ and graphene/bulk WS$_2$ system in magnetotransport measurements reveals that monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) can induce much stronger SOI than bulk. Detailed theoretical analysis of the weak-antilocalization curves gives an estimated spin-orbit energy ($E_{\rm so}$) higher than 10 meV. The symmetry of the induced SOI is also discussed, and the dominant $z$ $\rightarrow$ $-z$ symmetric SOI can only explain the experimental results. Spin relaxation by the Elliot-Yafet (EY) mechanism and anomalous resistance increase with temperature close to the Dirac point indicates Kane-Mele (KM) SOI induced in graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Experimental Verification of Comparability between Spin-Orbit and Spin-Diffusion Lengths

We experimentally confirmed that the spin-orbit lengths of noble metals obtained from weak anti-localization measurements are comparable to the spin diffusion lengths determined from lateral spin valve ones. Even for metals with strong spin-orbit interactions such as Pt, we verified that the two methods gave comparable values which were much larger than those obtained from recent spin torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements. To give a further evidence for the comparability between the two length scales, we measured the disorder dependence of the spin-orbit length of copper by changing the thickness of the wire. The obtained spin-orbit length nicely follows a linear law as a function of the diffusion coefficient, clearly indicating that the Elliott-Yafet mechanism is dominant as in the case of the spin diffusion length.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗