arXiv subjects

Zhiqiang Mao

Publications and source records attributed to Zhiqiang Mao.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Single- and Few-Layer WTe2 and Their Suspended Nanostructures: Raman Signatures and Nanomechanical Resonances

Single crystal tungsten ditelluride (WTe2) has recently been discovered to exhibit non-saturating extreme magnetoresistance in bulk; it has also emerged as a new layered material from which atomic layer crystals can be extracted. While atomically thin WTe2 is attractive for its unique properties, little study has been conducted on single- and few-layer WTe2. Here we report the isolation of single- and few-layer WTe2, as well as fabrication and characterization of the first WTe2 suspended nanostructures. We have observed new Raman signatures of few-layer WTe2 that have been theoretically predicted but not yet reported to date, in both on-substrate and suspended WTe2 flakes. We have further probed the nanomechanical properties of suspended WTe2 structures by measuring their flexural resonances, and obtain a Young's modulus of E_Y~80GPa for the suspended WTe2 flakes. This study paves the way for future investigations and utilization of the multiple new Raman fingerprints of single- and few-layer WTe2, and for exploring mechanical control of WTe2 atomic layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Topological nodal-line fermions in ZrSiSe and ZrSiTe

The discovery of topological semimetal phase in three-dimensional (3D) systems is a new breakthrough in topological material research. Dirac nodal-line semimetal is one of the three topological semimetal phases discovered so far; it is characterized by linear band crossing along a line/loop, contrasted with the linear band crossing at discrete momentum points in 3D Dirac and Weyl semimetals. The study of nodal-line semimetal is still at initial stage; only three material systems have been verified to host nodal line fermions until now, including PbTaSe2, PtSn 4and ZrSiS. In this letter, we report evidence of nodal line fermions in ZrSiSe and ZrSiTe probed in de Haas - van Alphen (dHvA) quantum oscillations. Although ZrSiSe and ZrSiTe share similar layered structure with ZrSiS, our measurements of angular dependences of dHvA oscillations indicate the Fermi surface (FS) enclosing Dirac nodal line is of 2D character in ZiSiTe, in contrast with 3D-like FS in ZrSiSe and ZrSiS. Another important property revealed in our experiment is that the nodal line fermion density in ZrSi(S/Se) (~ 10^20-10^21 cm^-3) is much higher than the Dirac/Weyl fermion density of any known topological materials. In addition, we have demonstrated ZrSiSe and ZrSiTe single crystals can be thinned down to 2D atomic thin layers through microexfoliation, which offers a promising platform to verify the predicted 2D topological insulator in the monolayer materials with ZrSiS-type structure

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Spectroscopic Evidence of Type II Weyl Semimetal State in WTe2

Quantum topological materials, exemplified by topological insulators, three-dimensional Dirac semimetals and Weyl semimetals, have attracted much attention recently because of their unique electronic structure and physical properties. Very lately it is proposed that the three-dimensional Weyl semimetals can be further classified into two types. In the type I Weyl semimetals, a topologically protected linear crossing of two bands, i.e., a Weyl point, occurs at the Fermi level resulting in a point-like Fermi surface. In the type II Weyl semimetals, the Weyl point emerges from a contact of an electron and a hole pocket at the boundary resulting in a highly tilted Weyl cone. In type II Weyl semimetals, the Lorentz invariance is violated and a fundamentally new kind of Weyl Fermions is produced that leads to new physical properties. WTe2 is interesting because it exhibits anomalously large magnetoresistance. It has ignited a new excitement because it is proposed to be the first candidate of realizing type II Weyl Fermions. Here we report our angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) evidence on identifying the type II Weyl Fermion state in WTe2. By utilizing our latest generation laser-based ARPES system with superior energy and momentum resolutions, we have revealed a full picture on the electronic structure of WTe2. Clear surface state has been identified and its connection with the bulk electronic states in the momentum and energy space shows a good agreement with the calculated band structures with the type II Weyl states. Our results provide spectroscopic evidence on the observation of type II Weyl states in WTe2. It has laid a foundation for further exploration of novel phenomena and physical properties in the type II Weyl semimetals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Electronic Evidence for Type II Weyl Semimetal State in MoTe2

Topological quantum materials, including topological insulators and superconductors, Dirac semimetals and Weyl semimetals, have attracted much attention recently for their unique electronic structure, spin texture and physical properties. Very lately, a new type of Weyl semimetals has been proposed where the Weyl Fermions emerge at the boundary between electron and hole pockets in a new phase of matter, which is distinct from the standard type I Weyl semimetals with a point-like Fermi surface. The Weyl cone in this type II semimetals is strongly tilted and the related Fermi surface undergos a Lifshitz transition, giving rise to a new kind of chiral anomaly and other new physics. MoTe2 is proposed to be a candidate of a type II Weyl semimetal; the sensitivity of its topological state to lattice constants and correlation also makes it an ideal platform to explore possible topological phase transitions. By performing laser-based angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) measurements with unprecedentedly high resolution, we have uncovered electronic evidence of type II semimetal state in MoTe2. We have established a full picture of the bulk electronic states and surface state for MoTe2 that are consistent with the band structure calculations. A single branch of surface state is identified that connects bulk hole pockets and bulk electron pockets. Detailed temperature-dependent ARPES measurements show high intensity spot-like features that is ~40 meV above the Fermi level and is close to the momentum space consistent with the theoretical expectation of the type II Weyl points. Our results constitute electronic evidence on the nature of the Weyl semimetal state that favors the presence of two sets of type II Weyl points in MoTe2.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Novel Layered Iridate Ba7Ir3O13+δ Thin Films with Colossal Permittivity

Ba7Ir3O13+δ in thin film form is discovered. These films are characterized by colossal permittivity (CP) ~104 at room temperature, attributable to the colossal internal barrier layer capacitance effect at atomically thin domain boundaries. These findings suggest a new route to seeking novel CP materials through designing atomically thin domain boundaries.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Observation of universal strong orbital-dependent correlation effects in iron chalcogenides

Establishing the appropriate theoretical framework for unconventional superconductivity in the iron-based materials requires correct understanding of both the electron correlation strength and the role of Fermi surfaces. This fundamental issue becomes especially relevant with the discovery of the iron chalcogenide (FeCh) superconductors, the only iron-based family in proximity to an insulating phase. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to measure three representative FeCh superconductors, FeTe0.56Se0.44, K0.76Fe1.72Se2, and monolayer FeSe film grown on SrTiO3. We show that, these FeChs are all in a strongly correlated regime at low temperatures, with an orbital-selective strong renormalization in the dxy bands despite having drastically different Fermi-surface topologies. Furthermore, raising temperature brings all three compounds from a metallic superconducting state to a phase where the dxy orbital loses all spectral weight while other orbitals remain itinerant. These observations establish that FeChs display universal orbital-selective strong correlation behaviors that are insensitive to the Fermi surface topology, and are close to an orbital-selective Mott phase (OSMP), hence placing strong constraints for theoretical understanding of iron-based superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Experimental Observation of Incoherent-Coherent Crossover and Orbital Dependent Band Renormalization in Iron Chalcogenide Superconductors

The level of electronic correlation has been one of the key questions in understanding the nature of superconductivity. Among the iron-based superconductors, the iron chalcogenide family exhibits the strongest electron correlations. To gauge the correlation strength, we performed systematic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study on the iron chalcogenide series Fe$_{1+y}$Se$_x$Te$_{1-x}$ (0$<$x$<$0.59), a model system with the simplest structure. Our measurement reveals an incoherent to coherent crossover in the electronic structure as the selenium ratio increases and the system evolves from the weakly localized to more itinerant state. Furthermore, we found that the effective mass of bands dominated by the d$_{xy}$ orbital character significantly decreases with increasing selenium ratio, as compared to the d$_{xz}$/d$_{yz}$ orbital-dominated bands. The orbital dependent change in the correlation level agrees with theoretical calculations on the band structure renormalization, and may help to understand the onset of superconductivity in Fe$_{1+y}$Se$_x$Te$_{1-x}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Gate Tunable Quantum Oscillations in Air-Stable and High Mobility Few-Layer Phosphorene Heterostructures

As the only non-carbon elemental layered allotrope, few-layer black phosphorus or phosphorene has emerged as a novel two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor with both high bulk mobility and a band gap. Here we report fabrication and transport measurements of phosphorene-hexagonal BN (hBN) heterostructures with one-dimensional (1D) edge contacts. These transistors are stable in ambient conditions for >300 hours, and display ambipolar behavior, a gate-dependent metal-insulator transition, and mobility up to 4000 $cm^2$/Vs. At low temperatures, we observe gate-tunable Shubnikov de Haas (SdH) magneto-oscillations and Zeeman splitting in magnetic field with an estimated g-factor ~2. The cyclotron mass of few-layer phosphorene holes is determined to increase from 0.25 to 0.31 $m_e$ as the Fermi level moves towards the valence band edge. Our results underscore the potential of few-layer phosphorene (FLP) as both a platform for novel 2D physics and an electronic material for semiconductor applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

High Performance Field-Effect Transistor Based on Multilayer Tungsten Disulfide

Semiconducting two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenide crystals have been regarded as the promising candidate for the future generation of transistor in modern electronics. However, how to fabricate those crystals into practical devices with acceptable performance still remains as a challenge. Employing tungsten disulfide multilayer thin crystals, we demonstrate that using gold as the only contact metal and choosing appropriate thickness of the crystal, high performance transistor with on/off ratio of $10^{8}$ and mobility up to $234\:cm^{2}V^{-1}s^{-1}$ at room temperature can be realized in a simple device structure. Further low temperature study revealed that the high performance of our device is caused by the minimized Schottky barrier at the contact and the existence of a shallow impurity level around 80 meV right below the conduction band edge. From the analysis on temperature dependence of field-effect mobility, we conclude that strongly suppressed phonon scattering and relatively low charge impurity density are the key factors leading to the high mobility of our tungsten disulfide devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Structural and metal-insulator transitions in ionic liquid-gated Ca3Ru2O7 surface

We report the fabrication and measurements of ionic liquid gated Hall bar devices prepared on thin Ca$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$ flakes exfoliated from bulk single crystals that were grown by a floating zone method. Two types of devices with their electrical transport properties dominated by $c$-axis transport in Type A or that of the in-plane in Type B devices, were prepared. Bulk physical phenomena, including a magnetic transition near 56 K, a structural and metal-insulator transition at a slightly lower temperature, as well as the emergence of a highly unusual metallic state as the temperature is further lowered, were found in both types of devices. However, the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations were found in Type A but not Type B devices, most likely due to enhanced disorder on the flake surface. Finally, the ionic liquid gating of a Type B device revealed a shift in critical temperature of the structural and metal-insulator transitions, suggesting that such transitions can be tuned by the electric field effect.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Real Space Imaging of the Verwey Transition at the (100) Surface of Magnetite

Effects of the Verwey transition on the (100) surface of magnetite were studied using scanning tunelling microscopy and spin polarized low-energy electron microsccopy. On cooling through the transition temperature Tv, the initially flat surface undergoes a roof-like distortion with a periodicity of ~0.5 um due to ferroelastic twinning within monoclinic domains of the low-temperature monoclinic structure. The monoclinic c axis orients in the surface plane, along the [001]c directions. At the atomic scale, the charge-ordered sqrt2xsqrt2R45 reconstruction of the (100) surface is unperturbed by the bulk transition, and is continuous over the twin boundaries. Time resolved low-energy electron microscopy movies reveal the structural transition to be first-order at the surface, indicating that the bulk transition is not an extension of the Verwey-like sqrt2xsqrt2R45 reconstruction. Although conceptually similar, the charge-ordered phases of the (100) surface and sub-Tv bulk of magnetite are unrelated phenomena.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Possible nodal superconducting gap in Fe$_{1+y}$(Te$_{1-x}$Se$_{x}$) single crystals from ultra-low temperature penetration depth measurements

Using a radio frequency tunnel diode oscillator technique, we measured the temperature dependence of the in-plane London penetration depth $Δλ_{ab}(T)$ in Fe$_{1+y}$(Te$_{1-x}$Se$_{x})$ single crystals, down to temperatures as low as 50 mK. A significant number of samples, with nominal Se concentration $x$=0.36, 0.40, 0.43 and 0.45 respectively, were studied and in many cases we found that $Δλ_{ab}(T)$ shows an upturn below 0.7 K, indicative of a paramagnetic type contribution. After subtracting the magnetic background, the low temperature behavior of penetration depth is best described by a power law with exponent $n\approx2$ and with no systematic dependence on the Se concentration. Most importantly, in the limit of T$\rightarrow$0, in some samples we observed a narrow region of linear temperature dependence of penetration depth, suggestive of nodes in the superconducting gap of Fe$_{1+y}$(Te$_{1-x}$Se$_{x})$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Measurement of Coherent Polarons in the Strongly Coupled Antiferromagnetically Ordered Iron-Chalcogenide Fe1.02Te using Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

The nature of metallicity and the level of electronic correlations in the antiferromagnetically ordered parent compounds are two important open issues for the iron-based superconductivity. We perform a temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of Fe1.02Te, the parent compound for iron chalcogenide superconductors. Deep in the antiferromagnetic state, the spectra exhibit a "peak-dip-hump" line shape associated with two clearly separate branches of dispersion, characteristics of polarons seen in manganites and lightly-doped cuprates. As temperature increases towards the Neel temperature (T_N), we observe a decreasing renormalization of the peak dispersion and a counterintuitive sharpening of the hump linewidth, suggestive of an intimate connection between the weakening electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling and antiferromagnetism. Our finding points to the highly-correlated nature of Fe1.02Te ground state featured by strong interactions among the charge, spin and lattice and a good metallicity plausibly contributed by the coherent polaron motion.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

The effect of disorder on quantum phase transition in the double layered ruthenates (Sr1-xCax)3Ru2O7

(Sr1-xCax)3Ru2O7 is characterized by complex magnetic states, spanning from a long-range antiferromagnetically ordered state over an unusual heavy-mass nearly ferromagnetic (NFM) state to an itinerant metamagnetic (IMM) state. The NFM state, which occurs in the 0.4 > x > 0.08 composition range, freezes into a cluster-spin-glass (CSG) phase at low temperatures [Z. Qu et al., Phys. Rev. B 78, 180407(R) (2008)]. In this article, we present the scaling analyses of magnetization and the specific heat for (Sr1-xCax)3Ru2O7 in the 0.4 > x > 0.08 composition range. We find that in a temperature region immediately above the spin freezing temperature T$_f$, the isothermal magnetization M(H) and the temperature dependence of electronic specific heat C_e(T) exhibit anomalous power-law singularities; both quantities are controlled by a single exponent. The temperature dependence of magnetization M(T) also displays a power-law behavior, but its exponent differs remarkably from that derived from M(H) and C_e(T). Our analyses further reveal that the magnetization data M(H,T) obey a phenomenological scaling law of M(H,T) \propto H^αf(H/T^δ) in a temperature region between the spin freezing temperature T_f and the scaling temperature T_scaling. T_scaling systematically decreases with the decease of Ca content. This scaling law breaks down near the critical concentration x = 0.1 where a CSG-to-IMM phase transition occurs. We discussed these behaviors in term of the effect of disorder on the quantum phase transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Doping and dimensionality effects on the core-level spectra of layered ruthenates

Core-level spectra of the Mn-doped Sr3Ru2O7 and Srn+1RunO3n+1 (n = 1, 2 and 3) crystals are investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Doping of Mn to Sr3Ru2O7 considerably affects the distribution of core-level spectral weight. The satellite of Ru 3d core levels exhibits a substantial change with doping, indicating an enhanced electron localization across the doping- induced metal-insulator transition. However, the Ru 3p core levels remain identical with Mn-doping, thus showing no sign of doping-induced multiple Ru valences. In the Srn+1RunO3n+1 (n = 1, 2 and 3), the Ru 3d core-level spectra are similar, indicating that the chemical bonding environment around Ru ions remains the same for different layered compounds. Meanwhile the Sr 3d shallow core levels shift to higher binding energy with increasing n, suggesting their participation in Sr-O bonding with structural evolution.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Incommensurate itinerant antiferromagnetic excitations and spin resonance in the FeTe$_{0.6}$Se$_{0.4}$ superconductor

We report on inelastic neutron scattering measurements that find incommensurate itinerant like magnetic excitations in the normal state of superconducting FeTe$_{0.6}$Se$_{0.4}$ (\Tc=14K) at wave-vector $\mathbf{Q}_{inc}=(1/2\pmε,1/2\mpε)$ with $ε$=0.09(1). In the superconducting state only the lower energy part of the spectrum shows significant changes by the formation of a gap and a magnetic resonance that follows the dispersion of the normal state excitations. We use a four band model to describe the Fermi surface topology of iron-based superconductors with the extended $s(\pm)$ symmetry and find that it qualitatively captures the salient features of these data.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2009

Complex electronic states in double layered ruthenates (Sr1-xCax)3Ru2O7

The magnetic ground state of (Sr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$)$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$ (0 $\leq x \leq$ 1) is complex, ranging from an itinerant metamagnetic state (0 $\leq x <$ 0.08), to an unusual heavy-mass, nearly ferromagnetic (FM) state (0.08 $< x <$ 0.4), and finally to an antiferromagnetic (AFM) state (0.4 $\leq x \leq$ 1). In this report we elucidate the electronic properties for these magnetic states, and show that the electronic and magnetic properties are strongly coupled in this system. The electronic ground state evolves from an AFM quasi-two-dimensional metal for $x =$ 1.0, to an Anderson localized state for $0.4 \leq x < 1.0$ (the AFM region). When the magnetic state undergoes a transition from the AFM to the nearly FM state, the electronic ground state switches to a weakly localized state induced by magnetic scattering for $0.25 \leq x < 0.4$, and then to a magnetic metallic state with the in-plane resistivity $ρ_{ab} \propto T^α$ ($α>$ 2) for $0.08 < x < 0.25$. The system eventually transforms into a Fermi liquid ground state when the magnetic ground state enters the itinerant metamagnetic state for $x < 0.08$. When $x$ approaches the critical composition ($x \sim$ 0.08), the Fermi liquid temperature is suppressed to zero Kelvin, and non-Fermi liquid behavior is observed. These results demonstrate the strong interplay between charge and spin degrees of freedom in the double layered ruthenates.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Spin Gap and Resonance at the Nesting Wavevector in Superconducting FeSe0.4Te0.6

Neutron scattering is used to probe magnetic excitations in FeSe_{0.4}Te_{0.6} (T_c=14 K). Low energy spin fluctuations are found with a characteristic wave vector $(0.5,0.5,L)$ that corresponds to Fermi surface nesting and differs from Q_m=(δ,0,0.5) for magnetic ordering in Fe_{1+y}Te. A spin resonance with \hbarΩ_0=6.5 meV \approx 5.3 k_BT_c and \hbarΓ=1.25 meV develops in the superconducting state from a normal state continuum. We show that the resonance is consistent with a bound state associated with s+/- superconductivity and imperfect quasi-2D Fermi surface nesting.

cond-mat.supr-con↗