N. C. Plumb

Observation of Weyl nodes and Fermi arcs in tantalum phosphide.

A Weyl semimetal possesses spin-polarized band-crossings, called Weyl nodes, connected by topological surface arcs. The low-energy excitations near the crossing points behave the same as massless Weyl fermions, leading to exotic properties like chiral anomaly. To have the transport properties dominated by Weyl fermions, Weyl nodes need to locate nearly at the chemical potential and enclosed by pairs of individual Fermi surfaces with non-zero Fermi Chern numbers. Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculation, here we show that TaP is a Weyl semimetal with only a single type of Weyl fermions, topologically distinguished from TaAs where two types of Weyl fermions contribute to the low-energy physical properties. The simple Weyl fermions in TaP are not only of fundamental interests but also of great potential for future applications. Fermi arcs on the Ta-terminated surface are observed, which appear in a different pattern from that on the As-termination in TaAs and NbAs.

Laser Based Angle-Resolved Photoemission, the Sudden Approximation, and Quasiparticle-Like Spectral Peaks in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ

A new low photon energy regime of angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy is accessed with lasers and used to study the superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta. The low energy increases bulk sensitivity, reduces background, and improves resolution. With this we observe spectral peaks which are sharp on the scale of their binding energy - the clearest evidence yet for quasiparticles in the normal state. Crucial aspects of the data such as the dispersion, superconducting gaps, and the bosonic coupling kink and associated weight transfer are robust to a possible breakdown of the sudden approximation.

The origin and non-quasiparticle nature of Fermi arcs in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+ δ

A Fermi arc is a disconnected segment of a Fermi surface observed in the pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors. This simple description belies the fundamental inconsistency in the physics of Fermi arcs, specifically that such segments violate the topological integrity of the band. Efforts to resolve this contradiction of experiment and theory have focused on connecting the ends of the Fermi arc back on itself to form a pocket, with limited and controversial success. Here we show the Fermi arc, while composed of real spectral weight, lacks the quasiparticles to be a true Fermi surface. To reach this conclusion we developed a new photoemission-based technique that directly probes the interplay of pair-forming and pair-breaking processes with unprecedented precision. We find the spectral weight composing the Fermi arc is shifted from the gap edge to the Fermi energy by pair-breaking processes. While real, this weight does not form a true Fermi surface, because the quasiparticles, though significantly broadened, remain at the gap edge. This non-quasiparticle weight may account for much of the unexplained behavior of the pseudogap phase of the cuprates.

Tailoring the nature and strength of electron-phonon interactions in the SrTiO3(001) 2D electron liquid

Surfaces and interfaces offer new possibilities for tailoring the many-body interactions that dominate the electrical and thermal properties of transition metal oxides. Here, we use the prototypical two-dimensional electron liquid (2DEL) at the SrTiO3(001) surface to reveal a remarkably complex evolution of electron-phonon coupling with the tunable carrier density of this system. At low density, where superconductivity is found in the analogous 2DEL at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, our angle-resolved photoemission data show replica bands separated by 100 meV from the main bands. This is a hallmark of a coherent polaronic liquid and implies long-range coupling to a single longitudinal optical phonon branch. In the overdoped regime the preferential coupling to this branch decreases and the 2DEL undergoes a crossover to a more conventional metallic state with weaker short-range electron-phonon interaction. These results place constraints on the theoretical description of superconductivity and allow a unified understanding of the transport properties in SrTiO3-based 2DELs.

Experimental setup for low-energy laser-based angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy

A laser-based angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) system utilizing 6 eV photons from the fourth harmonic of a mode-locked Ti:sapphire oscillator is described. This light source greatly increases the momentum resolution and photoelectron count rate, while reducing extrinsic background and surface sensitivity relative to higher energy light sources. In this review, the optical system is described, and special experimental considerations for low-energy ARPES are discussed. The calibration of the hemispherical electron analyzer for good low-energy angle-mode performance is also described. Finally, data from the heavily studied high T(c) superconductor Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) (Bi2212) is compared to the results from higher photon energies.

Observation of Fermi-Arc Spin Texture in TaAs

We have investigated the spin texture of surface Fermi arcs in the recently discovered Weyl semimetal TaAs using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The experimental results demonstrate that the Fermi arcs are spin polarized. The measured spin texture fulfills the requirement of mirror and time-reversal symmetries and is well reproduced by our first-principles calculations, which gives strong evidence for the topologically nontrivial Weyl semimetal state in TaAs. The consistency between the experimental and calculated results further confirms the distribution of chirality of the Weyl nodes determined by first-principles calculations.

The Origin and Non-quasiparticle Nature of Fermi Arcs in Bi

A Fermi arc is a disconnected segment of a Fermi surface observed in the pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors. This simple description belies the fundamental inconsistency in the physics of Fermi arcs, specifically that such segments violate the topological integrity of the band. Efforts to resolve this contradiction of experiment and theory have focused on connecting the ends of the Fermi arc back on itself to form a pocket, with limited and controversial success. Here we show the Fermi arc, while composed of real spectral weight, lacks the quasiparticles to be a true Fermi surface. To reach this conclusion we developed a new photoemission-based technique that directly probes the interplay of pair-forming and pair-breaking processes with unprecedented precision. We find the spectral weight composing the Fermi arc is shifted from the gap edge to the Fermi energy by pair-breaking processes. While real, this weight does not form a true Fermi surface, because the quasiparticles, though significantly broadened, remain at the gap edge. This non-quasiparticle weight may account for much of the unexplained behavior of the pseudogap phase of the cuprates.

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Temperature dependence of the electronic structure of SmB6 is studied by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) down to 1 K. We demonstrate that there is no essential difference for the dispersions of the surface states below and above the resistivity saturating anomaly (similar to 3.5 K). Quantitative analyses of the surface states indicate that the quasiparticle scattering rate increases linearly as a function of temperature and binding energy, which differs from Fermi-liquid behavior. Most intriguingly, we observe that the hybridization between the d and f states builds gradually over a wide temperature region (30 K < T < 110 K). The surface states appear when the hybridization starts to develop. Our detailed temperature-dependence results give a complete interpretation of the exotic resistivity result of SmB6, as well as the discrepancies among experimental results concerning the temperature regions in which the topological surface states emerge and the Kondo gap opens, and give insights into the exotic Kondo crossover and its relationship with the topological surface states in the topological Kondo insulator SmB6.

Sr

Accurate theoretical fits to laser-excited photoemission spectra in the normal phase of high-temperature superconductors

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Topological insulators are a novel materials platform with high applications potential in fields ranging from spintronics to quantum computation. In the ongoing scientific effort to demonstrate controlled manipulation of their electronic structure by external means, i. e., the provision of knobs with which to tune properties, stoichiometric variation and surface decoration are two effective approaches that have been followed. In angleresolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments, both approaches are seen to lead to electronic band-structure changes. Most importantly, such approaches result in variations of the energy position of bulk and surface-related features and the creation of two-dimensional electron gases. The data presented here demonstrate that a third manipulation handle is accessible by utilizing the amount of super-band-gap light a topological insulator surface has been exposed to under typical ARPES experimental conditions. Our results show that this third knob acts on an equal footing with stoichiometry and surface decoration as a modifier of the electronic band structure, and that it is in continuous and direct competition with the latter. The data clearly point towards surface photovoltage and photoinduced desorption as the physical phenomena behind modifications of the electronic band structure under exposure to high-flux photons. We show that the interplay of these phenomena can minimize and even eliminate the adsorbate-related surface band bending on typical binary, ternary, and quaternary Bi-based topological insulators. Including the influence of the sample temperature, these data set up a detailed framework for the external control of the electronic band structure in topological insulator compounds in an ARPES setting. Four external knobs are available: bulk stoichiometry, surface decoration, temperature, and photon exposure. These knobs can be used in conjunction to fine tune the band energies near the surface and consequently influence the topological properties of the relevant electronic states.