No Arabic abstract
As an intermediate state in the topological phase diagram, Dirac semimetals are of particular interest as a platform for studying topological phase transitions under external modulations. Despite a growing theoretical interest in this topic, it remains a substantial challenge to experimentally tune the system across topological phase transitions. Here, we investigate the Fermi surface evolution of Cd3As2 under high pressure through magnetotransport. A sudden change in Berry phase occurs at 1.3 GPa along with the unanticipated shrinkage of the Fermi surface, which occurs well below the structure transition point (~2.5 GPa). High pressure X-ray diffraction also reveals an anisotropic compression of the Cd3As2 lattice around a similar pressure. Corroborated by the first-principles calculations we show that an axial compression will shift the Dirac nodes towards the Brillouin zone center and eventually introduces a finite energy gap. The ability to tune the node position, a vital parameter of Dirac semimetals, can have dramatic impacts on the corresponding topological properties such as the Fermi arc surface states and the chiral anomaly. Our study demonstrates axial compression as an efficient approach for manipulating the band topology and exploring the critical phenomena near the topological phase transition in Cd3As2.
Weyl nodes are topological objects in three-dimensional metals. Their topological property can be revealed by studying the high-field transport properties of a Weyl semimetal. While the energy of the lowest Landau band (LLB) of a conventional Fermi pocket always increases with magnetic field due to the zero point energy, the LLB of Weyl cones remains at zero energy unless a strong magnetic field couples the Weyl fermions of opposite chirality. In the Weyl semimetal TaP, we achieve such a magnetic coupling between the electron-like Fermi pockets arising from the W1 Weyl fermions. As a result, their LLBs move above chemical potential, leading to a sharp sign reversal in the Hall resistivity at a specific magnetic field corresponding to the W1 Weyl node separation. By contrast, despite having almost identical carrier density, the annihilation is unobserved for the hole-like pockets because the W2 Weyl nodes are much further separated. These key findings, corroborated by other systematic analyses, reveal the nontrivial topology of Weyl fermions in high-field measurements.
Transition metals, Fe, Co and Ni, are the canonical systems for studying the effect of external perturbations on ferromagnetism. Among these, Ni stands out as it undergoes no structural phase transition under pressure. Here we have investigated the long-debated issue of pressure-induced magnetisation drop in Ni from first-principles. Our calculations confirm an abrupt quenching of magnetisation at high pressures, not associated with any structural phase transition. We find that the pressure substantially enhances the crystal field splitting of Ni-$3d$ orbitals, driving the system towards a new metallic phase violating the Stoner Criterion for ferromagnetic ordering. Analysing the charge populations in each spin channel, we show that the next nearest neighbour interactions play a crucial role in quenching ferromagnetic ordering in Ni and materials alike.
Three-dimensional (3D) topological Dirac semimetal is a new kind of material that has a linear energy dispersion in 3D momentum space and can be viewed as an analog of graphene. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the understanding of bulk materials, but yet it remains a challenge to explore the intriguing physics in low-dimensional Dirac semimetals. Here, we report on the synthesis of Cd3As2 nanowires and nanobelts and a systematic investigation of their magnetotransport properties. Temperature-dependent ambipolar behavior is evidently demonstrated, suggesting the presence of finite-size of bandgap in nanowires. Cd3As2 nanobelts, however, exhibit metallic characteristics with a high carrier mobility exceeding 32,000 cm2V-1s-1 and pronounced anomalous double-period Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations. Unlike the bulk counterpart, the Cd3As2 nanobelts reveal the possibility of unusual change of the Fermi sphere owing to the suppression of the dimensionality. More importantly, their SdH oscillations can be effectively tuned by the gate voltage. The successful synthesis of Cd3As2 nanostructures and their rich physics open up exciting nanoelectronic applications of 3D Dirac semimetals.
The recently discovered Dirac and Weyl semimetals are new members of topological materials. Starting from them, topological superconductivity may be achieved, e.g. by carrier doping or applying pressure. Here we report high-pressure resistance and X-ray diffraction study of the three-dimensional topological Dirac semimetal Cd3As2. Superconductivity with Tc ~ 2.0 K is observed at 8.5 GPa. The Tc keeps increasing to about 4.0 K at 21.3 GPa, then shows a nearly constant pressure dependence up to the highest pressure 50.9 GPa. The X-ray diffraction measurements reveal a structure phase transition around 3.5 GPa. Our observation of superconductivity in pressurized topological Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 provides a new candidate for topological superconductor, as argued in a recent point contact study and a theoretical work.
Raman and combined trasmission and reflectivity mid infrared measurements have been carried out on monoclinic VO$_2$ at room temperature over the 0-19 GPa and 0-14 GPa pressure ranges, respectively. The pressure dependence obtained for both lattice dynamics and optical gap shows a remarkable stability of the system up to P*$sim$10 GPa. Evidence of subtle modifications of V ion arrangements within the monoclinic lattice together with the onset of a metallization process via band gap filling are observed for P$>$P*. Differently from ambient pressure, where the VO$_2$ metal phase is found only in conjunction with the rutile structure above 340 K, a new room temperature metallic phase coupled to a monoclinic structure appears accessible in the high pressure regime, thus opening to new important queries on the physics of VO$_2$.