No Arabic abstract
We review the physics of magnetic quantum oscillations in quasi-one dimensional conductors with an open Fermi surface, in the presence of modulated order. We emphasize the difference between situations where a modulation couples states on the same side of the Fermi surface and a modulation couples states on opposite sides of the Fermi surface. We also consider cases where several modulations coexist, which may lead to a complex reorganization of the Fermi surface. The interplay between nesting effects and magnetic breakdown is discussed. The experimental situation is reviewed.
We report a comprehensive investigation of the structural, magnetic, transport and thermodynamic properties of a single crystal PrAlSi, in comparison to its nonmagnetic analogue LaAlSi. PrAlSi exhibits a ferromagnetic transition at $T_C$ = 17.8 K which, however, is followed by two weak phase transitions at lower temperatures. Based on the combined dc and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements, we propose the two reentrant magnetic phases below $T_C$ to be spin glasses or ferromagnetic cluster glasses. When the magnetic glassy states are suppressed by small field, several remarkable features appear. These include a linear, nonsaturating magnetoresistance as a function of field that is reminiscent of a topological or charge-compensated semimetal, and a large anomalous Hall conductivity amounting to $sim$2000 $Omega ^{-1}$cm$^{-1}$. Specific-heat measurements indicate a non-Kramers doublet ground state and a relatively low crystal electric field splitting of the Pr$^{3+}$ multiplets of less than 100 K. Shubnikov-de Hass oscillations are absent in LaAlSi, whereas they are clearly observed below about 25 K in PrAlSi, with an unusual temperature dependence of the dominating oscillation frequency $F$. It increases from $F$ = 18 T at 25 K to $F$ = 33 T at 2 K, hinting at an emerging Fermi pocket upon cooling into the ordered phase. These results suggest that PrAlSi is a new system where a small Fermi pocket of likely relativistic fermions is strongly coupled to magnetism. Whether hybridization between $f$ and conduction band is also involved remains an intriguing open problem.
We report quantum oscillations in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.56 over a significantly large range in magnetic field extending from 24 to 101 T, enabling three well-spaced low frequencies at 440 T, 532 T, and 620 T to be clearly resolved. We show that a small nodal bilayer coupling that splits a nodal pocket into bonding and antibonding orbits yields a sequence of frequencies, F0 - {Delta}F, F0, and F0 + {Delta}F and accompanying beat pattern similar to that observed experimentally, on invoking magnetic breakdown tunneling at the nodes. The relative amplitudes of the multiple frequencies observed experimentally in quantum oscillation measurements are shown to be reproduced using a value of nodal bilayer gap quantitatively consistent with that measured in photoemission experiments in the underdoped regime.
Several experimental studies have shown the presence of spatially inhomogeneous phase coexistence of superconducting and non superconducting domains in low dimensional organic superconductors. The superconducting properties of these systems are found to be strongly dependent on the amount of disorder introduced in the sample regardless of its origin. The suppression of the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ shows clear discrepancy with the result expected from the Abrikosov-Gorkov law giving the behavior of $T_c$ with impurities. Based on the time dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, we derive a model to account for the striking feature of $T_c$ in organic superconductors for different types of disorder by considering the segregated texture of the system. We show that the calculated $T_c$ quantitatively agrees with experiments. We also focus on the role of superconducting fluctuations on the upper critical fields $H_{c2}$ of layered superconductors showing slab structure where superconducting domains are sandwiched by non-superconducting regions. We found that $H_{c2}$ may be strongly enhanced by such fluctuations.
The symmetries of a crystal form the guiding principle to understand the topology of its band structure. They dictate the location and degrees of stable band crossings which lead to significant sources of Berry curvature. Here we show how non-crystalline quasi-symmetries stabilize near-degeneracies of bands over extended regions in energy and in the Brillouin zone. Specifically, a quasi-symmetry is an exact symmetry of a $kcdot p$ Hamiltonian to lower-order that is broken by higher-order terms. Hence quasi-symmetric points are gapped, yet the gap is parametrically small and therefore does not influence the physical properties of the system. We demonstrate that in the eV-bandwidth semi-metal CoSi an internal quasi-symmetry stabilizes gaps in the 1-2 meV range over a large near-degenerate plane. This quasi-symmetry is key to explaining the surprising simplicity of the experimentally observed quantum oscillations of four interpenetrating Fermi surfaces around the R-point. Untethered from limitations of crystalline symmetry, quasi-symmetries can source large Berry curvature over wide ranges of energy and on low symmetry points - thereby impacting quasiparticle dynamics in unexpected places. Quasi-symmetries also lead to new types of Wigner-Von Neumann classifications.
The observation of quantized anomalous Hall conductance in the forced ferromagnetic state of MnBi2Te4 thin flakes has attracted much attentions. However, strong magnetic field is needed to fully polarize the magnetic moments due to the large antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling. Here, we reported the magnetic and electrical transport properties of the magnetic van der Waals MnBi2Te4(Bi2Te3)n (n=1,2) single crystals, in which the interlayer antiferromagnetic exchange coupling is greatly suppressed with the increase of the separation layers Bi2Te3. MnBi4Te7 and MnBi6Te10 show weak antiferromagnetic transition at 12.3 and 10.5 K, respectively. The ferromagnetic hysteresis was observed at low temperature for both of the crystals, which is quite crucial for realizing the quantum anomalous Hall effect without external magnetic field. Our work indicates that MnBi2Te4(Bi2Te3)n (n=1,2) provide ideal platforms to investigate the rich topological phases with going to their 2D limits.