The ligand-protected Au13 clusters have been synthesized by using meso-2,3-imercaptosuccinic acid as the reducing and stabilizing agent. Transmission electron microscopic analysis shows a size distribution of 0.6nm. Optical spectrum shows an absorbance peak at 390 nm. The electrical transport measurement devices are fabricated using the electro-migration method. Coulomb blockade is observed at the temperature of 1.6 K,revealing the formation of the tunneling junction. The Coulomb oscillation on-off ratio is nearly 5. Three peaks are extracted in the dI-dV data and attributed to the energy levels of Au13 clusters, gapped by about 60 meV. First principle calculations are carried out to interpret the energy diagram.
Molecular dynamics simulations of thiolate-protected and solvated gold nanoparticles were carried out in the presence of a non-equilibrium heat flux between the solvent and the core of the particle. The interfacial thermal conductance ($G$) was computed for these interfaces, and the behavior of the thermal conductance was studied as a function of particle size, ligand flexibility, and ligand chain length. In all cases, thermal conductance of the ligand-protected particles was higher than the bare metal-solvent interface. A number of mechanisms for the enhanced conductance were investigated, in…
The influence of passivating ligand on electron-phonon relaxation dynamics of the smallest sized gold clusters was studied using ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and theoretical modeling. The electron dynamics in Au279, Au329, and Au329 passivated with TBBT, SC2Ph and SC6, respectively, were investigated. Ultrafast transient absorption measurements were also carried out on Au~1400 (SC6) and Au~2000 (SC6) to understand the influence of the size on electron-phonon relaxation with the same passivating ligand. The study has revealed interesting aspects on the role of ligand on electron-…
Using ab-initio computational techniques on crystal determined clusters, we report on the similarities and differences of Al$_{50}$(C$_5$(CH$_3)_5)_{12}$, Ga$_{23}$(N(Si(CH$_3)_{3}$)$_{2}$)$_{11}$, and Au$_{102}$(SC$_7$O$_2$H$_5$)$_{44}$ ligand-protected clusters. Each of the ligand-protected clusters in this study show the similar stable character which can be described via a electronic shell model. We show here that the same type of analysis leads consistently to derive a superatomic electronic counting rule, independently of the metal and ligand compositions. One can define the cluster core…
Recent experiments [L. Ju et al., Nature, 2015, 520, 650] confirm the existence of gapless states at domain walls created in gated bilayer graphene, when the sublattice stacking is changed from AB to BA. These states are significant because they are topologically protected, valley-polarized and give rise to conductance along the domain wall. Current theoretical models predict the appearance of such states only at domain walls, which preserve the sublattice order. Here we show that the appearance of the topologically protected states in stacking domain walls can be much more common in bilayer g…
We demonstrate an electrically controlled high-spin (S=5/2) to low-spin (S=1/2) transition in a three-terminal device incorporating a single Mn2+ ion coordinated by two terpyridine ligands. By adjusting the gate-voltage we reduce the terpyridine moiety and thereby strengthen the ligand-field on the Mn-atom. Adding a single electron thus stabilizes the low-spin configuration and the corresponding sequential tunnelling current is suppressed by spin-blockade. From low-temperature inelastic cotunneling spectroscopy, we infer the magnetic excitation spectrum of the molecule and uncover also a stron…
Geometry, electronic structure, and magnetic properties of methylthiolate-stabilized Au$_{25}$L$_{18}$ and MnAu$_{24}$L$_{18}$ (L = SCH$_3$) clusters adsorbed on noble-metal (111) surfaces have been investigated by using spin-polarized density functional theory computations. The interaction between the cluster and the surface is found to be mediated by charge transfer mainly from or into the ligand monolayer. The electronic properties of the 13-atom metal core remain in all cases rather undisturbed as compared to the isolated clusters in gas phase. The Au$_{25}$L$_{18}$ cluster retains a clear…
We propose a realizable device design for an all-electrical robust valley filter that utilizes spin protected topological interface states hosted on monolayer 2D-Xene materials with large intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. In contrast with conventional quantum spin-Hall edge states localized around the $X$-points, the interface states appearing at the domain wall between topologically distinct phases are either from the $K$ or $K^{'}$ points, making them suitable prospects for serving as valley-polarized channels. We show that the presence of a large band-gap quantum spin Hall effect enables the s…
We evidence the possibility for coherent electrical manipulation of the spin orientation of topologically protected edge states in a low-symmetry quantum spin Hall insulator. By using a combination of ab-initio simulations, symmetry-based modeling, and large-scale calculations of the spin Hall conductivity, it is shown that small electric fields can efficiently vary the spin textures of edge currents in monolayer 1T'-WTe2 by up to a 90-degree spin rotation, without jeopardizing their topological character. These findings suggest a new kind of gate-controllable spin-based device, topologically …
All-electrical dephasing-protected spin qubits in altermagnets
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)（西班牙高等科学研究委员会）；Quantum Advanced Research Center (QuARC)（量子先进研究中心）；Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM)（马德里材料科学研究所）；Nordita（北欧理论天体物理学研究所）；KTH Royal Institute of Technology（瑞典皇家理工学院）；Stockholm University（斯德哥尔摩大学）
Custodial symmetries are common in the Standard Model of particle physics. They arise when quantum corrections to a parameter are proportional to the parameter itself. Here, we show that a custodial symmetry of the chiral type is also present in a classical Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) electrical circuit with memory (memcircuit). In the absence of memory, the SSH circuit supports a symmetry-protected topological edge state. Memory induces nonlinearities that break chiral symmetry explicitly and spreads the state across the circuit. However, the resulting state is still protected against perturba…
Periodic networks composed of capacitors and inductors have been demonstrated to possess topological properties with respect to incident electromagnetic waves. Here, we develop an analogy between the mathematical description of waves propagating in such networks and models of Majorana fermions hopping on a lattice. Using this analogy we propose simple electrical network architectures that realize Chern insulating phases for electromagnetic waves. Such Chern insulating networks have a bulk gap for a range of signal frequencies that is easily tunable and exhibit topologically protected chiral ed…
We report an \emph{ab inito} investigation on the ground-state atomic configuration, electronic structures, magnetic and spin-dependent transport properties of Mn-doped Au$_{25}$ nanoclusters protected by thiolate. It is found that the most stable dopant sites are near surfaces, rather than the center positions of the nanoparticles. Transport calculations show that high-performance spin filters can be achieved by sandwiching these doped clusters between two nonmagnetic Au electrodes. The nearly perfect spin filtering originates from localized magnetic moments of these clusters that are well pr…
Increasing attention has been recently devoted to protein-based nanobiosensors. The main reason is the huge number of possible technological applications, going from drug detection to cancer early diagnosis. Their operating model is based on the protein activation and the corresponding conformational change, due to the capture of an external molecule, the so-called ligand. Recent measurements, performed with different techniques on human 17-40 olfactory receptor, evidenced a very narrow window of response in respect of the odour concentration. This is a crucial point for understanding whether …
SmB$_6$ has been predicted to be a Kondo Topological Insulator with topologically protected conducting surface states. We have studied quantitatively the electrical transport through surface states in high quality single crystals of SmB$_6$. We observe a large non-local surface signal at temperatures lower than the bulk Kondo gap scale. Measurements and finite element simulations allow us to distinguish unambiguously between the contributions from different transport channels. In contrast to general expectations, the electrical transport properties of the surface channels was found to be insen…
We report electrical conductance measurements of Bi nanocontacts created by repeated tip-surface indentation using a scanning tunneling microscope at temperatures of 4 K and 300 K. As a function of the elongation of the nanocontact we measure robust, tens of nanometers long plateaus of conductance G0 = 2e^2/h at room temperature. This observation can be accounted for by the mechanical exfoliation of a Bi(111) bilayer, a predicted QSH insulator, in the retracing process following a tip-surface contact. The formation of the bilayer is further supported by the additional observation of conductanc…
Topologically gapless edge states, characterized by topological invariants and Berry's phases of bulk energy bands, provide amazing techniques to robustly control the reflectionless propagation of electrons, photons and phonons. Recently, a new family of topological phases, dictated by the bulk polarization, has been observed, leading to the discovery of the higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs). So far, the HOTIs are only demonstrated in discrete mechanical and electromagnetic systems and electrical circuits with the quantized quadrupole polarization. Here, we realize the higher-order t…
Disentangling topological and anomalous Hall contributions of skyrmions using Kerr microscopy and thermal transport measurements
Institute of Physics, University of Greifswald（格赖夫斯瓦尔德大学物理研究所）；Department of Materials Science, Kiel University（基尔大学材料科学系）；Kiel Nano, Surface and Interface Science (KiNSIS), Kiel University（基尔大学基尔纳米、表面与界面科学(KiNSIS)）；Department of Physics, The Grainger College of Engineering（格兰杰工程学院物理系）
