Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userUltrafast modification of the electronic structure of a correlated insulator
77
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Electronic materials properties are determined by the interplay of many competing factors. Electro-magnetic fields strong enough to rival atomic interactions can disturb the balance between kinematic effects due to electrons hopping between lattice sites and the Coulomb repulsion between electrons that limits the band formation. This allows for new insights into quantum phases, as well as the time-scales and energies involved in using quantum effects for possible applications. Here we show that 0.2 V/{AA} ultrashort optical fields in the high harmonic generation regime lead to a pronounced transient inter-site charge transfer in NiO, a prototypical correlated electron insulator. Element-specific transient x-ray absorption spectroscopy detects a negligible change in electron correlations of Ni 3d-states. This behaviour is captured by time-dependent density functional theory and points to a speed limit for the dynamical screening of the Coulomb interaction taking place above our experimental 6.9 femtoseconds optical cycle.
rate research
Read More
The observation of metallic interface between band insulators LaAlO$_3$ and SrTiO$_3$ has led to massive efforts to understand the origin of the phenomenon as well as to search for other systems hosting such two dimensional electron gases (2-DEG). However, the understanding of the origin of the 2-DEG is very often hindered as several possible mechanisms such as polar catastrophe, cationic intermixing and oxygen vacancy (OV) etc. can be operative simultaneously. The presence of a heavy element makes KTaO$_3$ (KTO) based 2-DEG a potential platform to investigate spin orbit coupling driven novel electronic and magnetic phenomena. In this work, we investigate the sole effect of the OV, which makes KTO metallic. Our detailed textit{ab initio} calculations not only find partially filled conduction bands in the presence of an OV but also predict a highly localized mid-gap state due to the linear clustering of OVs around Ta. Photoluminescence measurements indeed reveal the existence of such mid-gap state and O $K$-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy finds electron doping in Ta $t_{2g}^*$ antibonding states. This present work suggests that one should be cautious about the possible presence of OVs within KTO substrate in interpreting metallic behavior of KTO based 2-DEG.
Single crystalline bismuth (Bi) is known to have a peculiar electronic structure which is very close to the topological phase transition. The modification of the surface states of Bi depending on the temperature are revealed by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES). At low temperature, the upper branch of the surface state merged to the projected bulk conduction bands around the $bar{M}$ point of the surface Brillouin zone (SBZ). In contrast, the same branch merged to the projected bulk valence bands at high temperature (400 K). Such behavior could be interpreted as a topological phase transition driven by the temperature, which might be applicable for future spin-thermoelectric devices. We discuss the possible mechanisms to cause such transition, such as the thermal lattice distortion and electron-phonon coupling.
Revealing the bonding and time-evolving atomic dynamics in functional materials with complex lattice structures can update the fundamental knowledge on rich physics therein, and also help to manipulate the material properties as desired. As the most prototypical chalcogenide phase change material, Ge2Sb2Te5 has been widely used in optical data storage and non-volatile electric memory due to the fast switching speed and the low energy consumption. However, the basic understanding of the structural dynamics on the atomic scale is still not clear. Using femtosecond electron diffraction and TDDFT-MD simulation, we reveal the photoinduced ultrafast transition of the correlated local structure in the averaged rock-salt phase of Ge2Sb2Te5. The ultrafast suppression of the local Peierls distortions gives rise to a local structure change from the rhombohedral to the cubic geometry within ~ 0.3 ps. Our work provides new microscopic insights into contributions of the correlated local structure to the transient structural and optical responses in phase change materials. Moreover, we stress the significance of femtosecond electron diffraction in revealing the correlated local structure in the subunit cell and the link between the correlated disorder and physical properties in functional materials with complex microstructures.
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy have been applied to study the intercalation process of silver underneath a monolayer of graphite (MG) on Ni(111). The room-temperature deposition of silver on top of MG/Ni(111) system leads to the islands-like growth of Ag on top of the MG. Annealing of the as-deposited system at temperature of 350-450 C results in the intercalation of about 1-2 ML of Ag underneath MG on Ni(111) independently of the thickness of pre-deposited Ag film (3-100 A). The intercalation of Ag is followed by a shift of the graphite-derived valence band states towards energies which are slightly larger than ones characteristic for pristine graphite. This observation is understood in terms of a weakening of chemical bonding between the MG and the substrate in the MG/Ag/Ni(111) system with a small MG/Ni(111) covalent contribution to this interaction.
We investigate the ultrafast transient absorption spectrum of Bi2Se3 topological insulator. Bi2Se3 single crystal is grown through conventional solid-state reaction routevia self-flux method. The structural properties have been studied in terms of high-resolution Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD). Detailed Rietveld analysis of PXRD of the crystal showed that sample is crystallized in the rhombohedral crystal structure with a space group of R-3m, and the lattice parameters are a=b=4.14A and c=28.7010A. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) result shows perfectly crystalline structure with layered type morphology which evidenced from surface XRD. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis determined quantitative amounts of the constituent atoms, found to be very close to their stoichiometric ratio. Further the fluence dependent nonlinear behaviour is studied by means of ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. The ultrafast spectroscopy also predicts the capability of this single crystal to generate Terahertz (THz) radiations (T-rays).
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
