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Lin, Hsin

Publications and source records attributed to Lin, Hsin.

33 records · Page 2

Noncollinear ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal with anisotropic anomalous Hall effect

An emerging frontier in condensed matter physics involves novel electromagnetic responses, such as the anomalous Hall effect (AHE), in ferromagnetic Weyl semimetals (FM-WSMs). Candidate FM-WSMs have been limited to materials that preserve inversion symmetry and generate Weyl crossings by breaking the time-reversal symmetry. These materials share three common features: a centrosymmetric lattice, a collinear FM ordering, and a large AHE observed when the field is parallel to the magnetic easy axis. Here, we present CeAlSi as a new type of FM-WSM in which the Weyl nodes are stabilized by breaking the inversion symmetry, but their positions are tuned by breaking the time-reversal symmetry. Unlike the other FM-WSMs, CeAlSi has a noncentrosymmetric lattice, a noncollinear FM ordering, and a novel AHE that is anisotropic between the easy and hard magnetic axes. It also exhibits large FM domains that are promising for exploring both device applications and the interplay between the Weyl nodes and FM domain walls.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Topologically distinct Weyl fermion pairs

Abstract A Weyl semimetal has Weyl nodes that always come in pairs with opposite chiralities. Notably, different ways of connection between nodes are possible and would lead to distinct topologies. Here we identify their differences in many respects from two proposed models with different vorticities. One prominent feature is the behaviour of zeroth Landau levels (LLs) under magnetic field. We demonstrate that the magnetic tunneling does not always expel LLs from zero energy because the number of zero-energy modes is protected by the vorticity of the Weyl nodes, instead of the chirality. Other respects in disorder effects for weak (anti-)localization, surface Fermi arcs, and Weyl-node annihilation, are interesting consequences that await more investigation in the future.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Temperature-dependent electronic structure in a higher-order topological insulator candidate EuIn 2 As 2

Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) have enticed enormous research interests owing to their novelty in supporting gapless states along the hinges of a crystal. Despite several theoretical predictions, enough experimental confirmation of the HOTI state in crystalline solids is still lacking. Here, it is shown that interplay between topology and magnetism can give rise to various magnetic topological states, including HOTI and axion insulator states. Here, using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with the first-principles calculations, we report a systematic study of the electronic structure and its evolution across the magnetic phase transition in EuIn 2 As 2 which possesses an antiferromagnetic ground state below 16 K. Antiferromagnetic EuIn 2 As 2 has been predicted to host both the axion insulator and the HOTI states.We directly observe the linearly dispersing holelike bands crossing the Fermi level and the change in their dispersion across the magnetic phase transition. Our paper points to EuIn 2 As 2 as being a promising material for the exploration of interplay between topology and magnetism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Correlating structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of epitaxial VSe 2 thin films

The electronic and magnetic properties of transition metal dichalcogenides are known to be extremely sensitive to their structure. In this paper we study the effect of structure on the electronic and magnetic properties of mono- and bilayer VSe 2 films grown using molecular beam epitaxy. VSe 2 has recently attracted much attention due to reports of emergent ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional (2D) limit. To understand this compound, high-quality 1$\textit{T}$ and distorted 1$\textit{T}$ films were grown at temperatures of 200 °C and 450 °C, respectively, and studied using 4 K scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The measured density of states and the charge density wave (CDW) patterns were compared to band structure and phonon dispersion calculations. Films in the 1$\textit{T}$ phase reveal different CDW patterns in the first layer compared to the second. Interestingly, we find the second layer of the 1$\textit{T}$ film shows a CDW pattern with 4$\textit{a}$ × 4$\textit{a}$ periodicity which is the 2D version of the bulk CDW observed in this compound. We report our phonon dispersion calculations confirm the presence of a soft phonon at the correct wave vector that leads to this CDW. In contrast, the first layer of distorted 1$\textit{T}$ phase films shows a strong stripe feature with varying periodicities, while the second layer displays no observable CDW pattern. Finally, we find that the monolayer 1$\textit{T}$ VSe 2 film is weakly ferromagnetic, with ~3.5 $μ_B$ per unit similar to previous reports.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Spin-orbit quantum impurity in a topological magnet

Quantum states induced by single-atomic impurities are at the frontier of physics and material science. While such states have been reported in high-temperature superconductors and dilute magnetic semiconductors, they are unexplored in topological magnets which can feature spin-orbit tunability. Here we use spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) to study the engineered quantum impurity in a topological magnet Co 3 Sn 2 S 2 . We find that each substituted In impurity introduces a striking localized bound state. Our systematic magnetization-polarized probe reveals that this bound state is spin-down polarized, in lock with a negative orbital magnetization. Moreover, the magnetic bound states of neighboring impurities interact to form quantized orbitals, exhibiting an intriguing spin-orbit splitting, analogous to the splitting of the topological fermion line. Our work collectively demonstrates the strong spin-orbit effect of the single-atomic impurity at the quantum level, suggesting that a nonmagnetic impurity can introduce spin-orbit coupled magnetic resonance in topological magnets.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Magnetotransport properties of the topological nodal-line semimetal CaCdSn

Topological nodal-line semimetals support protected band crossings, which form nodal lines or nodal loops between the valence and conduction bands and exhibit novel transport phenomena. Here we address the topological state of the nodal-line semimetal candidate material CaCdSn, and report magnetotransport properties of its single crystals grown by the self-flux method. In this work, our first-principles calculations show that the electronic structure of CaCdSn harbors a single nodal loop around the Γ point in the absence of spin-orbit coupling effects. The nodal crossings in CaCdSn are found to lie above the Fermi level and yield a Fermi surface that consists of both electron and hole pockets. CaCdSn exhibits high mobility (μ ≈ 3.44 × 10 4 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) and displays a field-induced metal-semiconductor-like crossover with a plateau in resistivity at low temperature. We observe an extremely large and quasilinear nonsaturating transverse as well as longitudinal magnetoresistance (MR) at low temperatures (≈ 7.44 × 10 3 % and ≈ 1.71 × 10 3 %, respectively, at 4 K). We also briefly discuss possible reasons behind such a large quasilinear magnetoresistance and its connection with the nontrivial band structure of CaCdSn.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Quantum anomalous Hall insulator phases in Fe-doped GaBi honeycomb

We discuss electronic and magnetic properties of the Fe-doped GaBi honeycomb using first principles calculations. Our analysis shows that the pristine GaBi honeycomb transitions from being a two-dimensional quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator to a quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulator when it is doped with one Fe atom in a 4 × 4 GaBi honeycomb. Additionally, the QAH phase in Fe-doped GaBi is found to be robust in that it maintains its Chern number (C = 1) under fairly large strains (~ 4%) and supports a gap as large as 112 meV at 2.21% strain. The QAH phase is also retained when the Fe-doped GaBi is placed on a CdTe substrate, suggesting that Fe-doped GaBi films could be useful for spintronics applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Realization of an intrinsic ferromagnetic topological state in MnBi 8 Te 13

Novel magnetic topological materials pave the way for studying the interplay between band topology and magnetism. However, an intrinsically ferromagnetic topological material with only topological bands at the charge neutrality energy has so far remained elusive. Using rational design, we synthesized MnBi 8 Te 13 , a natural heterostructure with [MnBi 2 Te 4 ] and [Bi 2 Te 3 ] layers. Thermodynamic, transport, and neutron diffraction measurements show that despite the adjacent [MnBi 2 Te 4 ] being 44.1 Å apart, MnBi 8 Te 13 manifests long-range ferromagnetism below 10.5 K with strong coupling between magnetism and charge carriers. First-principles calculations and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal it is an axion insulator with sizable surface hybridization gaps. Our calculations further demonstrate the hybridization gap persists in the two-dimensional limit with a nontrivial Chern number. Therefore, as an intrinsic ferromagnetic axion insulator with clean low-energy band structures, MnBi 8 Te 13 serves as an ideal system to investigate rich emergent phenomena, including the quantized anomalous Hall effect and quantized magnetoelectric effect.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

K 2 CoS 2 : A two-dimensional in-plane antiferromagnetic insulator

Recent discovery of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials has brought magnetism to the flatland and opened up exciting opportunities for the exploration of fundamental physics as well as novel device applications. Here, we predict a thermodynamically stable 2D magnetic material, ${\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{CoS}}_{2}$, which retains its in-plane bulk antiferromagnetic (AFM) order down to the monolayer and bilayer limits. Magnetic moments $(2.5{{\mu}}_{B}/\mathrm{Co})$ are found to form a quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnetically ordered chain of Co atoms. The nonmagnetic electronic spectrum of the monolayer film is found to host flatbands and van Hove singularities, which play a key role in stabilizing the magnetic ground state. Based on classical Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate the Neel temperature for the AFM monolayer to be ${\approx}15\mathrm{K}$. Our study demonstrates that ${\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{CoS}}_{2}$ hosts a robust AFM state which persists from the monolayer limit to the bulk material.

2-dimensional systems↗

Observation of Weyl fermions in a magnetic non-centrosymmetric crystal

The absence of inversion symmetry in non-centrosymmetric materials has a fundamental role in the emergence of a vast number of fascinating phenomena, like ferroelectricity, second harmonic generation, and Weyl fermions. The removal of time-reversal symmetry in such systems further extends the variety of observable magneto-electric and topological effects. Here we report the striking topological properties in the non-centrosymmetric spin-orbit magnet PrAlGe by combining spectroscopy and transport measurements. By photoemission spectroscopy below the Curie temperature, we observe topological Fermi arcs that correspond to projected topological charges of ±1 in the surface Brillouin zone. In the bulk, we observe the linear energy-dispersion of the Weyl fermions. We further observe a large anomalous Hall response in our magneto-transport measurements, which is understood to arise from diverging bulk Berry curvature fields associated with the Weyl band structure. These results establish a novel Weyl semimetal phase in magnetic non-centrosymmetric PrAlGe.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Topological Dirac Semimetal Phase in Bismuth Based Anode Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Bismuth has recently attracted interest in connection with Na-ion battery anodes due to its high volumetric capacity. It reacts with Na to form Na 3 Bi which is a prototypical Dirac semimetal with a nontrivial electronic structure. Density-functional-theory based first-principles calculations are playing a key role in understanding the fascinating electronic structure of Na 3 Bi and other topological materials. In particular, the strongly-constrained-and-appropriately-normed (SCAN) meta-generalized-gradient-approximation (meta-GGA) has shown significant improvement over the widely used generalized-gradient-approximation (GGA) scheme in capturing energetic, structural, and electronic properties of many classes of materials. Here, we discuss the electronic structure of Na 3 Bi within the SCAN framework and show that the resulting Fermi velocities and s-band shift around the Γ point are in better agreement with experiments than the corresponding GGA predictions. SCAN yields a purely spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) driven Dirac semimetal state in Na 3 Bi in contrast with the earlier GGA results. Our analysis reveals the presence of a topological phase transition from the Dirac semimetal to a trivial band insulator phase in Na 3 Bi x Sb 1-x alloys as the strength of the SOC varies with Sb content, and gives insight into the role of the SOC in modulating conduction properties of Na 3 Bi.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Unconventional Photocurrents from Surface Fermi Arcs in Topological Chiral Semimetals

The nonlinear optical responses from topological semimetals are crucial in both understanding the fundamental properties of quantum materials and designing next-generation light sensors or solar cells. However, previous work focused on the optical effects from bulk states only, disregarding the responses from topological surface states. Here, we propose a new surface-only photocurrent response from chiral Fermi arcs. Using the ideal topological chiral semimetal RhSi as a representative, we quantitatively compute the photogalvanic currents from Fermi arcs on different surfaces. By rigorous crystal symmetry analysis, we demonstrate that Fermi arc photogalvanic currents can be perpendicular to the bulk injection currents regardless of the choice of materials surface. We then generalize this finding to other cubic chiral space groups and predict material candidates. Our theory reveals a powerful notion where common crystalline symmetry can be used to completely disentangle bulk and surface optical responses in many conducting material families.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Exceptionally large anomalous Hall effect due to anticrossing of spin-split bands in the antiferromagnetic half-Heusler compound TbPtBi

We have investigated the magnetotransport properties and the topological electronic structure of the half-Heusler compound TbPtBi. Our experiments reveal an exceptionally large anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in the canted antiferromagnetic state of TbPtBi with the anomalous Hall angle reaching ~0.68–0.76, which is a few times larger than the previously reported record in GdPtBi. First-principles electronic structure and the associated anomalous Hall conductivity were computed in order to interpret the experimental results. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the AHE in TbPtBi does not originate from the Weyl points but that it is driven by the large net Berry curvature produced by the anticrossing of spin-split bands near the Fermi level in TbPtBi.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Field-free platform for Majorana-like zero mode in superconductors with a topological surface state

Superconducting materials exhibiting topological properties are emerging as an exciting platform to realize fundamentally new excitations from topological quantum states of matter. In this letter, we explore the possibility of a field-free platform for generating Majorana zero energy excitations by depositing magnetic Fe impurities on the surface of candidate topological superconductors, LiFeAs and PbTaSe 2 . We use scanning tunneling microscopy to probe localized states induced at the Fe adatoms on the atomic scale and at sub-Kelvin temperatures. We find that each Fe adatom generates a striking zero-energy bound state inside the superconducting gap, which do not split in magnetic fields up to 8 T, underlining a nontrivial topological origin. Finally, our findings point to magnetic Fe adatoms evaporated on bulk superconductors with topological surface states for exploring Majorana zero modes and quantum information science under field-free conditions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗