Zhaorong Yang

Pressure-driven dome-shaped superconductivity and electronic structural evolution in tungsten ditelluride

Tungsten ditelluride has attracted intense research interest due to the recent discovery of its large unsaturated magnetoresistance up to 60 T. Motivated by the presence of a small, sensitive Fermi surface of 5d electronic orbitals, we boost the electronic properties by applying a high pressure, and introduce superconductivity successfully. Superconductivity sharply appears at a pressure of 2.5 GPa, rapidly reaching a maximum critical temperature (Tc) of 7 K at around 16.8 GPa, followed by a monotonic decrease in Tc with increasing pressure, thereby exhibiting the typical dome-shaped superconducting phase. From theoretical calculations, we interpret the low-pressure region of the superconducting dome to an enrichment of the density of states at the Fermi level and attribute the high-pressure decrease in Tc to possible structural instability. Thus, tungsten ditelluride may provide a new platform for our understanding of superconductivity phenomena in transition metal dichalcogenides.

Crystal growth and superconductivity of FeSe_x

In this work, crystals of FeSex have been grown by a flux approach. The crystallization process is divided into two stages. First, stoichiometric polycrystal FeSe0.82 was sintered in a solid state reaction. Then, FeSex crystals with a size about 500 µm were successfully grown in an evacuated sealed quartz tube using a NaCl/KCl flux. The products include two crystal structures: tetragonal and hexagonal. The electronic transport and magnetic property measurements show that FeSex crystals exhibit a superconducting transition at about 10 K.

Superconductivity at 44 K in K intercalated FeSe system with excess Fe

We report here that a new superconducting phase with much higher Tc has been found in K intercalated FeSe compound with excess Fe. We successfully grew crystals by precisely controlling the starting amount of Fe. Besides the superconducting (SC) transition at ~30 K, we observed a sharp drop in resistivity and a kink in susceptibility at 44 K. By combining thermodynamic measurements with electron spin resonance (ESR), we demonstrate that this is a new SC transition. Structural analysis unambiguously reveals two phases coexisting in the crystals, which are responsible respectively for the SC transitions at 30 and 44 K. The structural experiments and first-principles calculations consistently indicate that the 44 K SC phase is close to a 122 structure, but with an unexpectedly large c-axis of 18.10 Å. We further find a novel monotonic dependence of the maximum Tc on the separation of neighbouring FeSe layers.

Rare-Earth Triangular Lattice Spin Liquid: A Single-Crystal Study of YbMgGaO4.

YbMgGaO4, a structurally perfect two-dimensional triangular lattice with an odd number of electrons per unit cell and spin-orbit entangled effective spin-1/2 local moments for the Yb(3+) ions, is likely to experimentally realize the quantum spin liquid ground state. We report the first experimental characterization of single-crystal YbMgGaO4 samples. Because of the spin-orbit entanglement, the interaction between the neighboring Yb(3+) moments depends on the bond orientations and is highly anisotropic in the spin space. We carry out thermodynamic and the electron spin resonance measurements to confirm the anisotropic nature of the spin interaction as well as to quantitatively determine the couplings. Our result is a first step towards the theoretical understanding of the possible quantum spin liquid ground state in this system and sheds new light on the search for quantum spin liquids in strong spin-orbit coupled insulators.

Pressure-induced superconductivity in a three-dimensional topological material ZrTe5

Significance Three-dimensional (3D) Dirac semimetals have attracted a lot of advanced research recently on many exotic properties and their association with crystalline and electronic structures under extreme conditions. As one of the fundamental state parameters, high pressure is an effective, clean way to tune lattice as well as electronic states, especially in quantum states, thus their electronic and magnetic properties. In this paper, by combining multiple experimental probes (synchrotron X-ray diffraction, low-temperature transport under magnetic field) and theoretical investigations, we discover the pressure-induced 3D Dirac semimetal to superconductor transition in ZrTe5. As a new type of topological materials, ZrTe5 shows many exotic properties under extreme conditions. Using resistance and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements under high pressure, while the resistance anomaly near 128 K is completely suppressed at 6.2 GPa, a fully superconducting transition emerges. The superconducting transition temperature Tc increases with applied pressure, and reaches a maximum of 4.0 K at 14.6 GPa, followed by a slight drop but remaining almost constant value up to 68.5 GPa. At pressures above 21.2 GPa, a second superconducting phase with the maximum Tc of about 6.0 K appears and coexists with the original one to the maximum pressure studied in this work. In situ high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy combined with theoretical calculations indicate the observed two-stage superconducting behavior is correlated to the structural phase transition from ambient Cmcm phase to high-pressure C2/m phase around 6 GPa, and to a mixture of two high-pressure phases of C2/m and P-1 above 20 GPa. The combination of structure, transport measurement, and theoretical calculations enable a complete understanding of the emerging exotic properties in 3D topological materials under extreme environments.

Gapless quantum spin liquid ground state in the two-dimensional spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO4

Quantum spin liquid (QSL) is a novel state of matter which refuses the conventional spin freezing even at 0 K. Experimentally searching for the structurally perfect candidates is a big challenge in condensed matter physics. Here we report the successful synthesis of a new spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO4 with symmetry. The compound with an ideal two-dimensional and spatial isotropic magnetic triangular-lattice has no site-mixing magnetic defects and no antisymmetric Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interactions. No spin freezing down to 60 mK (despite θw ~ −4 K), the power-law temperature dependence of heat capacity and nonzero susceptibility at low temperatures suggest that YbMgGaO4 is a promising gapless (≤|θw|/100) QSL candidate. The residual spin entropy, which is accurately determined with a non-magnetic reference LuMgGaO4, approaches zero (<0.6%). This indicates that the possible QSL ground state (GS) of the frustrated spin system has been experimentally achieved at the lowest measurement temperatures.

Pressure-Induced New Topological Weyl Semimetal Phase in TaAs

TaAs as one of the experimentally discovered topological Weyl semimetal has attracted intense interests recently. The ambient TaAs has two types of Weyl nodes which are not on the same energy level. As an effective way to tune lattice parameters and electronic interactions, high pressure is becoming a significant tool to explore new materials as well as their exotic states. Therefore, it is highly interesting to investigate the behaviors of topological Weyl fermions and possible structural phase transitions in TaAs under pressure. Here, with a combination of ab initio calculations and crystal structure prediction techniques, a new hexagonal P-6m2 phase is predicted in TaAs at pressure around 14 GPa. Surprisingly, this new phase is a topological semimetal with only single set of Weyl nodes exactly on the same energy level. The phase transition pressure from the experimental measurements, including electrical transport measurements and Raman spectroscopy, agrees with our theoretical prediction reasonably. Moreover, the P-6m2 phase seems to be quenched recoverable to ambient pressure, which increases the possibilities of further study on the exotic behaviors of single set of Weyl fermions, such as the interplay between surface states and other properties.

Thickness dependence of the charge-density-wave transition temperature in VSe2

A set of three-dimensional charge-density-wave (3D CDW) VSe2 nano-flakes with different thicknesses were obtained by the scotch tape-based micro-mechanical exfoliation method. Resistivity measurements showed that the 3D CDW transition temperature Tp decreases systematically from 105 K in bulk to 81.8 K in the 11.6 nm thick flake. The Hall resistivity ρxy of all the flakes showed a linear dependent behavior against the magnetic field with a residual electron concentration of the order of ∼1021 cm−3 at 5 K. The electron concentration n increases slightly as the thickness d decreases, possibly due to the CDW gap is reduced with the decrease of the thickness.

BiFeO3 thin films prepared on metallic Ni tapes by chemical solution deposition: effects of annealing temperature and a La0.5Sr0.5TiO3 buffer layer on the dielectric, ferroelectric and leakage properties

In this work, BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films were prepared on metallic Ni (200) tapes with and without a La0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (LSTO) buffer layer at different temperatures by chemical solution deposition. The effects of the annealing temperature as well as the LSTO buffer layer on the dielectric, leakage and ferroelectric properties have been studied in detail. The crystallite size, dielectric constant and leakage current density increase, while the coercive field decreases with increasing annealing temperature. The BFO thin films deposited directly on the Ni tapes are prone to wrinkling, while the wrinkles are smoothed by introducing a thin LSTO buffer layer. Decreased compressive microstrain as well as improved ferroelectric and leakage properties are observed in the BFO thin films deposited on the LSTO buffered Ni tapes. The results will provide an instructive route to optimize BiFeO3-based thin films on metallic tapes by chemical solution deposition methods.

Disentangling defect-induced ferromagnetism in SiC

1. Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research,Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf(HZDR),P.O.Box 510119,01314 Dresden,Germany2. Department of Physics and Electronics, School of Science,Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China3. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics,Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Hefei 230031, People’s Republic of China4. Technische Universita¨t Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany and5. High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People’s Republic of ChinaWe present a detailed investigation of the magnetic properties in SiC single crystals bom-barded with Neon ions. Through careful measuring the magnetization of virgin and irra-diated SiC, we decompose the magnetization of SiC into paramagnetic, superparamagneticand ferromagnetic contributions. The ferromagnetic contribution persists well above roomtemperature and exhibits a pronounced magnetic anisotropy. We qualitatively explain themagnetic properties as a result of the intrinsic clustering tendency of defects.