Xinchun Lai

Observation of Dirac cone band dispersions in FeSe thin films by photoemission spectroscopy

The electronic structure of FeSe thin films grown on SrTiO3 substrate is studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We reveal the existence of Dirac cone band dispersions in FeSe thin films thicker than 1 Unit Cell below the nematic transition temperature, whose apex are located -10 meV below Fermi energy. The evolution of Dirac cone electronic structure for FeSe thin films as function of temperature, thickness and cobalt doping is systematically studied. The Dirac cones are found to be coexisted with the nematicity in FeSe, disappear when nematicity is suppressed. Our results provide some indication that the spin degrees of freedom may play some kind of role in the nematicity of FeSe.

Three-dimensional bulk electronic structure of the Kondo lattice CeIn3 revealed by photoemission

We show the three-dimensional electronic structure of the Kondo lattice CeIn3 using soft x-ray angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy in the paramagnetic state. For the first time, we have directly observed the three-dimensional topology of the Fermi surface of CeIn3 by photoemission. The Fermi surface has a complicated hole pocket centred at the Γ-Z line and an elliptical electron pocket centred at the R point of the Brillouin zone. Polarization and photon-energy dependent photoemission results both indicate the nearly localized nature of the 4f electrons in CeIn3, consistent with the theoretical prediction by means of the combination of density functional theory and single-site dynamical mean-field theory. Those results illustrate that the f electrons of CeIn3, which is the parent material of CeMIn5 compounds, are closer to the localized description than the layered CeMIn5 compounds.

Tunable Fe-vacancy disorder-order transition in FeSe thin films

Various Fe-vacancy orders have been reported in tetragonal Fe1-xSe single crystals and nanowires/nanosheets, which are similar to those found in alkali metal intercalated A1-xFe2-ySe2 superconductors. Here we report the in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of Fe-vacancy disordered and ordered phases in FeSe multi-layer thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Low temperature annealed FeSe films are identified to be Fe-vacancy disordered phase and electron doped. Further long-time low temperature anneal can change the Fe-vacancy disordered phase to ordered phase, which is found to be semiconductor/insulator with (root 5) x (root 5) superstructure and can be reversely changed to disordered phase with high temperature anneal. Our results reveal that the disorder-order transition in FeSe thin films can be simply tuned by vacuum anneal and the (root 5) x (root 5) Fe-vacancy ordered phase is more likely the parent phase of FeSe.

Emergence of Kondo lattice behavior in a van der Waals itinerant ferromagnet, Fe3GeTe2

Ferromagnetism and the Kondo effect are crucial for 3d electrons to become spin-separated and heavy at the same time. Searching for heavy fermion (HF) states in non–f-electron systems becomes an interesting issue, especially in the presence of magnetism, and can help explain the physics of complex compounds. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, physical properties measurements, and the first-principles calculations, we observe the HF state in a 3d-electron van der Waals ferromagnet, Fe3GeTe2. Upon entering the ferromagnetic state, a massive spectral weight transfer occurs, which results from the exchange splitting. Meanwhile, the Fermi surface volume and effective electron mass are both enhanced. When the temperature drops below a characteristic temperature T*, heavy electrons gradually emerge with further enhanced effective electron mass. The coexistence of ferromagnetism and HF state can be well interpreted by the dual properties (itinerant and localized) of 3d electrons. This work expands the limit of ferromagnetic HF materials from f- to d-electron systems and illustrates the positive correlation between ferromagnetism and HF state in the 3d-electron material, which is quite different from the f-electron systems.

Physical properties and field-induced metamagnetic transitions in UAu0.8Sb2

We have successfully synthesized single crystals of UAu0.8Sb2 using a flux method and present a comprehensive study of its physical properties by measuring the magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity and specific heat. Evidence for at least three magnetic phases is observed in the field-temperature phase diagram of UAu0.8Sb2. In zero field, the system undergoes an antiferromagnetic transition at 71 K, and upon further cooling it passes through another antiferromagnetic phase with a ferromagnetic component, before reaching a ferromagnetic ground state. A complex magnetic field-temperature phase diagram is obtained for fields along the easy c-axis, where the antiferromagnetic order eventually becomes polarized upon applying a magnetic field.

Direct observation of heavy quasiparticles in the Kondo-lattice compound CeIn3

The electronic structure of the Kondo lattice CeIn3 has been studied by on-resonant angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy. A weakly dispersive quasiparticle band has been observed directly with an energy dispersion of 4 meV by photoemission, implying the existence of weak hybridization between the f electrons and conduction electrons. The hybridization is further confirmed by the formation of the hybridization gap revealed by temperature-dependent scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Moreover, we find the hybridization strength in CeIn3 is much weaker than that in the more two-dimensional compounds CeCoIn5 and CeIrIn5. Our results may be essential for the complete microscopic understanding of this important compound and the related heavy-fermion systems.

Superconductivity of bilayer titanium/indium thin film grown on SiO2/Si (001)

Bilayer superconducting films with tunable transition temperature (T c) are a critical ingredient to the fabrication of high-performance transition edge sensors. Commonly chosen materials include Mo/Au, Mo/Cu, Ti/Au, and Ti/Al systems. Here in this work, titanium/indium (Ti/In) bilayer superconducting films are successfully fabricated on SiO2/Si (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The success in the epitaxial growth of indium on titanium is achieved by lowering the substrate temperature to −150 °C during indium evaporation. We measure the critical temperature under a bias current of 10 μA, and obtain different superconducting transition temperatures ranging from 645 mK to 2.7 K by adjusting the thickness ratio of Ti/In. Our results demonstrate that the transition temperature decreases as the thickness ratio of Ti/In increases.

Anisotropic and mutable magnetization in Kondo lattice CeSb2

We have systematically studied the behaviors of the resistivity and magnetization of CeSb2 single crystals as a function of temperature and external field. Four anomalies in the resistivity/magnetization-versus-temperature curves are observed at low magnetic field. They are located at 15.5 K, 11.5 K, 9.5 K, and 6.5 K, corresponding to the paramagnetic–magnetically ordered state (MO), MO-antiferromagnetic (AFM), AFM–AFM, and AFM–ferromagnetic (FM) transitions, respectively. The anomaly at 9.5 K is only visible with H || [010] by magnetic susceptibility measurements, indicating that the AFM–AFM transition only happens along [010] direction in ab-plane. The four magnetic transitions are strongly suppressed by high external field. Finally, the field-temperature phase diagrams of CeSb2 with different orientations of the applied field in ab-plane are constructed and indicate the highly anisotropic nature of the magnetization of CeSb2.

Spin-cluster glass state in U(Ga0.95Mn0.05)3 *

We report the study of a low temperature cluster glass state in 5% Mn-doped UGa3 heavy fermion compound. This compound transforms from a paramagnetic state to a spin-cluster glass state, which is confirmed by measuring the dc susceptibility and magnetization. The ac susceptibility exhibits a frequency-dependent peak around T f, which provides direct evidence of the cluster glass state. By analyzing the field-dependent magnetization and frequency-dependent ac susceptibility in detail, we deduce that this compound forms a spin-cluster glass state below T f.

STM and ARPES Study of Ordered Ce Film and Its Initial Oxidation

Ordered Ce metal films were grown on a W (110) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and subsequent annealing. The interface and surface with different annealing temperatures were studied by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Ordered Ce films were obtained as deposited, which was proven by LEED patterns. After being annealed at 600 K, LEED patterns become sharp, indicating the high orientation of the films. Initial oxidation of Ce films in UHV was studied, and reconstruction of the surface was found. Valence band spectrum and band structure were obtained by ARPES.