Chuanying Xi

Transport evidence for the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal phase inZrTe5

Topological Dirac semimetal is a newly discovered class of materials and has attracted intense attentions. This material can be viewed as a three-dimensional (3D) analogue of graphene and has linear energy dispersion in bulk, leading to a range of exotic transport properties. Here we report direct quantum transport evidence of 3D Dirac semimetal phase of layered material ZrTe5 by angular dependent magnetoresistance measurements under high magnetic fields up to 31 Tesla. We observed very clear negative longitudinal magnetoresistance induced by chiral anomaly under the condition of the magnetic field aligned only along the current direction. Pronounced Shubnikov-de Hass (SdH) quantum oscillations in both longitudinal magnetoresistance and transverse Hall resistance were observed, revealing anisotropic light cyclotron masses and high mobility of the system. In particular, a nontrivial {\pi}-Berry phase in the SdH gives clear evidence for 3D Dirac semimetal phase. Furthermore, we observed clear Landau Level splitting under high magnetic field, suggesting possible splitting of Dirac point into Weyl points due to broken time reversal symmetry. Our results indicate that ZrTe5 is an ideal platform to study 3D massless Dirac and Weyl fermions in a layered compound.

Superconductivity enhancement in the S-doped Weyl semimetal candidate MoTe2

Two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDs) MoTe2 has attracted much attention due to its predicted Weyl semimetal (WSM) state and a quantum spin Hall insulator in bulk and monolayer form, respectively. We find that the superconductivity in MoTe2 single crystal can be much enhanced by the partial substitution of the Te ions by the S ones. The maximum of the superconducting temperature TC of MoTe1.8S0.2 single crystal is about 1.3 K. Compared with the parent MoTe2 single crystal (TC=0.1 K), nearly 13-fold in TC is improved in MoTe1.8S0.2 one. The superconductivity has been investigated by the resistivity and magnetization measurements. MoTe2-xSx single crystals belong to weak coupling superconductors and the improvement of the superconductivity may be related to the enhanced electron-phonon coupling induced by the S-ion substitution. A dome-shape superconducting phase diagram is obtained in the S-doped MoTe2 single crystals. MoTe2-xSx materials may provide a new platform for our understanding of superconductivity phenomena and topological physics in TMDs.

Td-MoTe2: A possible topological superconductor

We measured the magnetoresistivity properties of Td-MoTe2 single crystal under the magnetic field up to 33 T. By analyzing the Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations of the longitudinal resistance Δρxx, a linear dependence of the Landau index n on 1/B is obtained. The intercept of the Landau index plot is 0.47, which is between 3/8 and 1/2. This clearly reveals a nontrivial π Berrys phase, which is a distinguished feature of the surface state in Td-MoTe2 single crystal. Accompanied by the superconductivity observed at TC = 0.1 K, Td-MoTe2 may be a promising candidate of the topological superconductor and opens a door to study the relationship between the superconductivity and topological physics.

Evidence of topological two-dimensional metallic surface states in thin bismuth nanoribbons.

Understanding the exotic quantum phenomena in bulk bismuth beyond its ultraquantum limit remains controversial and gives rise to renewed interest. The focus of the issues is whether these quantum properties have a conventional bulk nature or just the surface effect due to the significant spin-orbital interaction and in relation to the Bi-based topological insulators. Here, we present angular-dependent magnetoresistance (AMR) measurements on single-crystal bismuth nanoribbons of different thicknesses with magnetic fields up to 31 T. In thin nanoribbons with thickness of ∼40 nm, a two-fold rational symmetry of the low field AMR spectra and two sets of 1/2-shifted (i.e., γ = 1/2) Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) quantum oscillations with exact two- dimensional (2D) character were obtained. However, when the thickness of the ribbon increases, a 3D bulk-like SdH oscillations with γ = 0 and a four-fold rotational symmetry of the AMR spectra appear. These results provided unambiguous transport evidence of the topological 2D metallic surface states in thinner nanoribbons with an insulating bulk. Our observations provide a promising pathway to understand the quantum phenomena in Bi arising from the surface states.

Giant anisotropic magnetoresistance in bilayered La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 single crystals

We report an observation of anomalous anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in bilayered La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 single crystals. A giant AMR is found to be 80% under a magnetic field of 1 T near the metal-insulator transition temperature, where AMR is defined as AMR=[ρ(H⊥c)−ρ(H∥c)]/ρ(H⊥c)×100%, and ρ(H⊥c) and ρ(H∥c) are the resistivity with the magnetic field perpendicular and parallel to c-axis, respectively. The AMR effect shows strong temperature and magnetic field dependences, and indicates a close interrelation with the anisotropic field-tuned metal-insulator transition.

De Hass-van Alphen and magnetoresistance reveal predominantly single-band transport behavior in PdTe2.

Research on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has grown rapidly over the past several years, from fundamental studies to the development of next generation technologies. Recently, it has been reported that the MX2-type PdTe2 exhibits superconductivity with topological surface state, making this compound a promising candidate for investigating possible topological superconductivity. However, due to the multi-band feature of most of TMDs, the investigating of magnetoresistance and quantum oscillations of these TMDs proves to be quite complicated. Here we report a combined de Hass-van Alphen effect and magnetoresistance studies on the PdTe2 single crystal. Our high-field de Hass-van Alphen data measured at different temperature and different tilting angle suggest that though these is a well-defined multi-band feature, a predominant oscillation frequency has the largest oscillation magnitude in the fast Fourier transformation spectra, which is at least one order of magnitude larger than other oscillation frequencies. Thus it is likely that the transport behavior in PdTe2 system can be simplified into a single-band model. Meanwhile, the magnetoresistance results of the PdTe2 sample can be well-fitted according to the single-band models. The present results could be important in further investigation of the transport behaviors of two-dimensional TMDs.

Enhanced electrical conductivity and diluted Ir4+ spin orders in electron doped iridates Sr2–xGaxIrO4

Sr2IrO4 represents a fascinating system to study comparable electronic correlations and spin-orbit couplings, and recently attracts considerable attention in high-temperature superconductivity. Here, we report on the transport and magnetic properties in gallium-doped Sr2IrO4. A metallic state is discovered when doping x is over 0.1, which could be understood in terms of the quickly decreased energy gap and increased carrier concentration. In addition to the high-temperature magnetic transition (TC > 200 K), a low-temperature one ( TC′) is also observed for the x = 0.05–0.10 samples. Both of the magnetic states are found to be canted antiferromagnetism. The low-temperature phase is strongly depressed by doping and vanishes when doping is further increased, which is probably stabilized by the long-way exchange interactions of diluted Ir4+ spins via Ir3+ ions. Our studies provide an insight into the electrical and magnetic states tuned by chemical doping in Sr2IrO4, thereby facilitating the seeking of superc...

Phase separation and metallic conductivity in Tl0.4K0.4Fe2−ySe2−xSx

We study the effects of S-doping on the microstructure, magnetic and transport properties of the Tl0.4K0.4Fe2?ySe2?xSx superconductor. At low doping level (x???0.8), the samples exhibit behaviors similar to those of the parent sample, i.e., the occurrence of phase separation into a Fe-vacancy phase, a charge ordering phase and an undistorted phase; the presence of a ?hump?-like feature in the resistivity curves; and the development of antiferromagnetic order well above room temperature. In sharp contrast, the samples with x???1.0 all exhibit metallic-like behavior without displaying superconductivity. And these samples are chemically phase separated into a S-poor Tl0.4K0.4Fe2?ySe2?xSx-phase and a S-rich Tl0.4K0.4Fe2?yS2-phase. Interestingly, the Fe-vacancy phase is absent in these samples, accompanied with the disappearance of semiconducting-like conductivity at high temperature and the depression of superconductivity. The charge ordering phase is responsible for the metallic behavior in heavily doped samples.

Electron-spin-resonance of Gd3+ions in Y1−xGdxBaCo2O5 (x = 0.01, 0.25, and 1)

While charge-ordering transition is well established in the oxygen-deficient layered cobaltite YBaCo2O5, there has been no evidence for the transition in the analogous compound GdBaCo2O5 either from neutron diffraction or from magnetic susceptibility experiments. In this paper, we present comparative studies on the electron spin resonance (ESR) of Gd3+ ions in Y1−xGdxBaCo2O5 (x = 0.01, 0.25, and 1) polycrystalline samples. Magnetic susceptibility was also performed for comparison with the ESR results. It was found that charge-ordering transition for Y0.75Gd0.25BaCo2O5 revealed by the susceptibility is also manifested in the characters of the ESR data. The similar temperature-evolution of the ESR parameters for GdBaCo2O5 provides a support for the existence of charge-ordering transition, although no characteristic of the transition is evidenced from susceptibility experiments, which can be understood as being hidden by dominant paramagnetism of Gd3+ ions in this compound. We have interpreted the temperatur...

Efficient charge carriers induced by extra outer-shell electrons in iron-pnictides: a comparison between Ni- and Co-doped CaFeAsF

A comprehensive study of the difference between CaFe1−xNixAsF and CaFe1−xCoxAsF systems has been carried out by measuring the efficient charge carrier concentration, the valence states and the superconducting phase diagram. It is found that at the same doping level, Ni doping introduces nearly twice the number of charge carriers as Co doping. However, x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy measurements reveal that the valence state of Fe in both systems is close to 2, indicating that there is no valence mismatch. We suggest that the charge carriers in CaFe1−xMxAsF (M=transition metal elements) are not induced by valence mismatch but come from the difference in the number of outer-shell electrons. We also suggest that with Ni and Co doping, the systems change from a multi-band material in the underdoped regions to a single-band state in the overdoped regions.