We investigate the electronic structure of a two-dimensional electron gas created at the surface of the multi-valley semimetal 1T-PtSe$_2$. Using angle-resolved photoemission and first-principles-based surface space charge calculations, we show how the induced quantum well subband states form multiple Fermi surfaces which exhibit highly anisotropic Rashba-like spin splittings. We further show how the presence of both electron- and hole-like bulk carriers causes the near-surface band bending potential to develop an unusual non-monotonic form, with spatially-segregated electron accumulation and hole accumulation regions, which in turn amplifies the induced spin splitting. Our results thus demonstrate the novel environment that semimetals provide for tailoring electrostatically-induced potential profiles and their corresponding quantum subband states
We report a giant Rashba-type spin splitting in two-dimensional heterostructure PtSe$_2$/MoSe$_2$ with first-principles calculations. We obtain a large value of spin splitting energy 110 meV at the momentum offset $k_0$=0.23 Å$^{-1}$ around $\mathrmΓ$ point, arising from the emerging strong interfacial spin-orbital coupling induced by the hybridization between PtSe$_2$ and MoSe$_2$. Moreover, we find that the band dispersion close to valence band maximum around $Γ$ point can be well approximated by the generalized Rashba Hamiltonian $H(k_{||})=-\frac{\hbar^2 k_{||}^2}{2m}+c k_{||}+α_R \vecσ\cd…
Graphene-Confined Growth of Few-Layer PtSe2 via One-Step Selenization
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences（斯洛伐克科学院电气工程学院）；Danubia NanoTech, s.r.o.（多瑙纳米科技公司）；Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences（斯洛伐克科学院高分子研究所）；University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics（维也纳大学物理学院）
LaBi is a three-dimensional rocksalt-type material with a surprisingly quasi-two-dimensional electronic structure. It exhibits excellent electronic properties such as the existence of nontrivial Dirac cones, extremely large magnetoresistance, and high charge-carrier mobility. The cigar-shaped electron valleys make the charge transport highly anisotropic when the magnetic field is varied from one crystallographic axis to another. We show that the electrons can be polarized effectively in these electron valleys under a rotating magnetic field. We achieved a polarization of 60% at 2 K despite the…
Valley-based electronics, known as valleytronics, is one of the keys to break through to a new stage of electronics. The valley degree of freedom is ubiquitous in the honeycomb lattice system. The honeycomb lattice structure of silicon called silicene is an fascinating playground of valleytronics. We investigate topological phases of silicene by introducing different exchange fields on the $A$ and $B$ sites. There emerges a rich variety of topologically protected states each of which has a characteristic spin-valley structure. The single Dirac-cone semimetal is such a state that one gap is clo…
Topological materials with both insulating and semimetal phases can be protected by crystalline (e.g. mirror) symmetry. The insulating phase, called topological crystalline insulator (TCI), has been intensively investigated and observed in three-dimensional materials. However, the predicted two-dimensional (2D) materials with TCI phase are explored much less than 3D TCIs and 2D topological insulator, while so far considered 2D TCIs almost exclusively possess a square lattice structure with the mirror Chern number $\mathcal C_{M} =-2$. Here, we predict theoretically that hexagonal monolayer of …
We present a theory of an optically induced valley polarization in an interacting, time-reversal symmetric Weyl semimetal placed under strong magnetic fields. Because the application of a magnetic field reduces the symmetry of the crystal, the optical absorption intensity differs at Weyl nodes that were equivalent by symmetry at zero field. At strong magnetic field, the difference in the absorption intensity reaches 100% for a sizeable frequency interval of the incident light. This complete valley polarization originates from interband transitions involving the chiral Landau level, and can be …
Spin-valley locking in the band structure of monolayers of MoS$_2$ and other group-VI dichalcogenides has attracted enormous interest, since it offers potential for valleytronic and optoelectronic applications. Such an exotic electronic state has sparsely been seen in bulk materials. Here, we report spin-valley locking in a bulk Dirac semimetal BaMnSb$_2$. We find valley and spin are inherently coupled for both valence and conduction bands in this material. This is revealed by comprehensive studies using first principle calculations, tight-binding and effective model analyses, angle-resolved p…
Chiral anomaly, a non-conservation of chiral charge pumped by the topological nontrivial gauge fields, has been predicted to exist in Weyl semimetals. However, until now, the experimental signature of this effect exclusively relies on the observation of negative longitudinal magnetoresistance at low temperatures. Here, we report the field-modulated chiral charge pumping process and valley diffusion in Cd3As2. Apart from the conventional negative magnetoresistance, we observe an unusual nonlocal response with negative field dependence up to room temperature, originating from the diffusion of va…
Layered hexagonal Gamma--GeSe, a new polymorph of GeSe synthesized recently, shows strikingly high electronic conductivity in its bulk form (even higher than graphite) while semiconducting in the case of monolayer (1L). In this work, by using first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that, different from its orthorhombic phases of GeSe, the Gamma--GeSe shows a small spatial anisotropic dependence and a strikingly thickness-dependent behavior with transition from semimetal (bulk, 0.04 eV) to semiconductor (1L, 0.99 eV), and this dual conducting characteristic realized simply with thickness …
The search for topological systems has recently broadened to include random substitutional alloys, which lack the specific crystalline symmetries that protect topological phases, raising the question whether topological properties can be preserved, or are modified by disorder. To address this question, we avoid methods that assumed at the outset high (averaged) symmetry, using instead a fully-atomistic, topological description of alloy. Application to PbSe-SnSe alloy reveals that topology survives in an interesting fashion: (a) spatial randomness removes the valley degeneracy (splitting larger…
Using the Feynman diagram techniques, we derive the finite-temperature conductivity and magnetoconductivity formulas from the quantum interference and electron-electron interaction, for a three-dimensional disordered Weyl semimetal. For a single valley of Weyl fermions, we find that the magnetoconductivity is negative and proportional to the square root of magnetic field at low temperatures, as a result of the weak antilocalization. By including the contributions from the weak antilocalization, Berry curvature correction, and Lorentz force, we compare the calculated magnetoconductivity with a …
We have studied theoretically the Weyl semimetals the point symmetry group of which has reflection planes and which contain equivalent valleys with opposite chiralities. These include the most frequently studied compounds, namely the transition metals monopnictides TaAs, NbAs, TaP, NbP, and also Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_x$ alloys. The circular photogalvanic current, which inverts its direction under reversal of the light circular polarization, has been calculated for the light absorption under direct optical transitions near the Weyl points. In the studied materials, the total contribution of all the val…
Observation of spin-valley locked nodal lines in a quasi-2D altermagnet
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交大李政道理论与计算研究所及物理与天文学院）；Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology（香港科技大学物理系）；Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海微系统与信息技术研究所）；School of Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学院）；Institute of Fundamental and Transdisciplinary Research, and State Key Laboratory of Silicon and Advanced Semiconductor Materials, Zhejiang University（浙江大学基础跨学科研究院及硅与先进半导体材料国家重点实验室）；Collaborative Innovation Centre of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University（南京大学先进微结构协同创新中心）；Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海高级研究院上海同步辐射光源设施）；National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学国家同步辐射实验室）；Department of Physics, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学强耦合量子物质物理中国科学院重点实验室物理系）；Zhejiang Institute of Photoelectronics（浙江光电子研究所）；Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing（南京先进微结构协同创新中心）；Zhangjiang Institute for Advanced Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学张江高等研究院）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）；New Cornerstone Science Laboratory（新基石科学实验室）
We study the low-energy surface electronic structure of the transition-metal dichalcogenide superconductor PdTe$_2$ by spin- and angle-resolved photoemission, scanning tunneling microscopy, and density-functional theory-based supercell calculations. Comparing PdTe$_2$ with its sister compound PtSe$_2$, we demonstrate how enhanced inter-layer hopping in the Te-based material drives a band inversion within the anti-bonding p-orbital manifold well above the Fermi level. We show how this mediates spin-polarised topological surface states which form rich multi-valley Fermi surfaces with complex spi…
Using spin- and angle- resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES) together with ${\it ab~initio}$ calculations, we demonstrate the existence of a type-II Dirac semimetal state in NiTe$_2$. We show that, unlike PtTe$_2$, PtSe$_2$, and PdTe$_2$, the Dirac node in NiTe$_2$ is located in close vicinity of the Fermi energy. Additionally, NiTe$_2$ also hosts a pair of band inversions below the Fermi level along the $Γ-A$ high-symmetry direction, with one of them leading to a Dirac cone in the surface states. The bulk Dirac nodes and the ladder of band inversions in NiTe$_2$ support unique topo…
The interplay between interactions and topology in quantum materials is of extensive current interest. Strong correlations are known to be important for insulating topological states, as exemplified by the fractional quantum Hall effect. For the metallic case, whether and how they can drive topological states that have no free-electron counterparts is an open and pressing question. We introduce a general framework for lattice symmetries to constrain single-particle excitations even when they are not quasiparticles, and substantiate it in a periodic Anderson model with two channels of conductio…
Recent advancements in the generation of mid-infrared and terahertz laser pulses have enabled us to observe strong-field driven non-perturbative high-harmonic generation (HHG) from semiconductors, dielectrics, and semimetals. HHG has added another dimension to time-resolved ultrafast electron dynamics in materials with unprecedented temporal resolution. Present thesis discusses how HHG is an emerging method to probe static and dynamical properties in two-dimensional materials. In this thesis, two-dimensional materials with hexagonal symmetry are studied. We have demonstrated that the high-harm…
Tsientang Institute for Advanced Study（紫江高等研究院）；Sichuan Normal University（四川师范大学）；Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter（马克斯·普朗克物质结构与动力学研究所）；City University of Hong Kong（香港城市大学）；Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory（松山湖材料实验室）；Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ), The Flatiron Institute（纽约联邦研究所计算量子物理中心）；Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)（多诺斯蒂亚国际物理中心）；Liaoning University（辽宁大学）
The band inversions that generate the topologically non-trivial band gaps of topological insulators and the isolated Dirac touching points of three-dimensional Dirac semimetals generally arise from the crossings of electronic states derived from different orbital manifolds. Recently, the concept of single orbital-manifold band inversions occurring along high-symmetry lines has been demonstrated, stabilising multiple bulk and surface Dirac fermions. Here, we discuss the underlying ingredients necessary to achieve such phases, and discuss their existence within the family of transition metal dic…
We present a general quantum kinetic theory that accounts for the interplay between a temperature gradient, momentum-space Berry curvatures of Bloch electrons, and Bloch-state scattering. Using a theory that incorporates the presence of a temperature gradient by introducing a "thermal vector potential", we derive a quantum kinetic equation for Bloch electrons in the presence of disorder and a temperature gradient. Taking also into account the presence of electric and magnetic fields, the quantum kinetic equation we derive makes it possible to compute transport coefficients at arbitrary orders …
