No Arabic abstract
Exotic properties in single or few layers of van der Waals materials carry great promise for applications in nanoscaled electronics, optoelectronics and flexible devices. The established, distinct examples include extremely high mobility and superior thermal conductivity in graphene, a large direct band gap in monolayer MoS2 and quantum spin Hall effect in WTe2 monolayer, etc. All these exotic properties arise from the electron quantum confinement effect in the two-dimensional limit. Here we report a novel phenomenon due to one-dimensional (1D) confinement of carriers in a layered van der Waals material NbSi0.45Te2 revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, i.e. directional massless Dirac fermions. The 1D behavior of the carriers is directly related to a stripe-like structural modulation with the long-range translational symmetry only along the stripe direction, as perceived by scanning tunneling microscopy experiment. The four-fold degenerated node of 1D Dirac dispersion is essential and independent on band inversion, because of the protection by nonsymmorphic symmetry of the stripe structure. Our study not only provides a playground for investigating the striking properties of the essential directional massless Dirac fermions, but also introduces a unique monomer with 1D long-range order for engineering nano-electronic devices based on heterostructures of layered van der Waals materials.
Two-dimensional (2D) topological superconductors are highly desired because they not only offer opportunities for exploring novel exotic quantum physics, but also possesses potential applications in quantum computation. However, there are few reports on 2D superconductors, let alone topological superconductors. Here, we find a 2D monolayer W$_2$N$_3$, which can be exfoliated from its real van der Waals bulk material with much lower exfoliation energy than MoS$_2$, to be a topological metal with exotic topological states at different energy level. Due to the Van Hove singularities, the density of states near Fermi level are high, making the monolayer a compensate metal. Moreover, the monolayer W$_2$N$_3$ is unveiled to be a superconductor with the superconducting transition temperature Tc $sim$ 22 K and a superconducting gap of about 5 meV based on the anisotropic Migdal-Eliashberg formalism, arising from the strong electron-phonon coupling around the $Gamma$ point. Because of the strong electron and lattice coupling, the monolayer displays a non-Fermi liquid behavior in its normal states at temperatures lower than 80 K, where the specific heat exhibit T$^3$ behavior and the Wiedemann-Franz law dramatically violates. Our findings not only provide the platform to study the emergent phenomena in 2D topological superconductors, but also open a door to discover more 2D high-temperature topological superconductors in van der Waals materials.
The recent emergence of 2D van der Waals magnets down to atomic layer thickness provides an exciting platform for exploring quantum magnetism and spintronics applications. The van der Waals nature stabilizes the long-range ferromagnetic order as a result of magnetic anisotropy. Furthermore, giant tunneling magnetoresistance and electrical control of magnetism have been reported. However, the potential of 2D van der Waals magnets for magnonics, magnon-based spintronics, has not been explored yet. Here, we report the experimental observation of long-distance magnon transport in quasi-twodimensional van der Waals antiferromagnet MnPS3, which demonstrates the 2D magnets as promising material candidates for magnonics. As the 2D MnPS3 thickness decreases, a shorter magnon diffusion length is observed, which could be attributed to the surface-impurity-induced magnon scattering. Our results could pave the way for exploring quantum magnonics phenomena and designing future magnonics devices based on 2D van der Waals magnets.
The recent discovery of magnetism within the family of exfoliatable van der Waals (vdW) compounds has attracted considerable interest in these materials for both fundamental research and technological applications. However current vdW magnets are limited by their extreme sensitivity to air, low ordering temperatures, and poor charge transport properties. Here we report the magnetic and electronic properties of CrSBr, an air-stable vdW antiferromagnetic semiconductor that readily cleaves perpendicular to the stacking axis. Below its N{e}el temperature, $T_N = 132 pm 1$ K, CrSBr adopts an A-type antiferromagnetic structure with each individual layer ferromagnetically ordered internally and the layers coupled antiferromagnetically along the stacking direction. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) reveal that the electronic gap is $Delta_E = 1.5 pm 0.2$ eV with a corresponding PL peak centered at $1.25 pm 0.07$ eV. Using magnetotransport measurements, we demonstrate strong coupling between magnetic order and transport properties in CrSBr, leading to a large negative magnetoresistance response that is unique amongst vdW materials. These findings establish CrSBr as a promising material platform for increasing the applicability of vdW magnets to the field of spin-based electronics.
We have synthesized unique colloidal nanoplatelets of the ferromagnetic two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals material CrI3 and have characterized these nanoplatelets structurally, magnetically, and by magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy. The isolated CrI3 nanoplatelets have lateral dimensions of ~25 nm and ensemble thicknesses of only ~4 nm, corresponding to just a few CrI3 monolayers. Magnetic and magneto-optical measurements demonstrate robust 2D ferromagnetic ordering in these nanoplatelets with Curie temperatures similar to those observed in bulk CrI3, despite the strong spatial confinement. These data also show magnetization steps akin to those observed in micron-sized few-layer 2D sheets and associated with concerted spin-reversal of individual CrI3 layers within few-layer van der Waals stacks. Similar data have also been obtained for CrBr3 and anion-alloyed Cr(I1-xBrx)3 nanoplatelets. These results represent the first example of laterally confined 2D van der Waals ferromagnets of any composition. The demonstration of robust ferromagnetism at nanometer lateral dimensions opens new doors for miniaturization in spintronics devices based on van der Waals ferromagnets.
With the advanced investigations into low-dimensional systems, it has become essential to find materials having interesting lattices that can be exfoliated down to monolayer. One particular important structure is a kagome lattice with its potentially diverse and vibrant physics. We report a van-der-Waals kagome lattice material, Pd3P2S8, with several unique properties such as an intriguing flat band. The flat band is shown to arise from a possible compact-localized state of all five 4d orbitals of Pd. The diamagnetic susceptibility is precisely measured to support the calculated susceptibility obtained from the band structure. We further demonstrate that Pd3P2S8 can be exfoliated down to monolayer, which ultimately will allow the possible control of the localized states in this two-dimensional kagome lattice using the electric field gating.