No Arabic abstract
We demonstrate a new method to control the Fermi level around the van Hove singularity (VHS) in Li-intercalated graphene on the SiC substrate. By angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we observed a clear Lifshitz transition in the vicinity of the VHS by increasing the graphene thickness. This behavior is unexpected in a free-standing Li-intercalated graphene model. The calculation including the substrate suggests that the surface state stabilizes the Fermi level around the VHS of the Dirac bands via hybridization. In addition, we found that a sizable Schottky barrier is formed between graphene and the substrate. These properties allow us to explore the electronic phase diagram around the VHS by controlling the thickness and electric field in the device condition.
A topological Dirac semimetal is a novel state of quantum matter which has recently attracted much attention as an apparent 3D version of graphene. In this paper, we report critically important results on the electronic structure of the 3D Dirac semimetal Na3Bi at a surface that reveals its nontrivial groundstate. Our studies, for the first time, reveal that the two 3D Dirac cones go through a topological change in the constant energy contour as a function of the binding energy, featuring a Lifshitz point, which is missing in a strict 3D analog of graphene (in other words Na3Bi is not a true 3D analog of graphene). Our results identify the first example of a band saddle point singularity in 3D Dirac materials. This is in contrast to its 2D analogs such as graphene and the helical Dirac surface states of a topological insulator. The observation of multiple Dirac nodes in Na3Bi connecting via a Lifshitz point along its crystalline rotational axis away from the Kramers point serves as a decisive signature for the symmetry-protected nature of the Dirac semimetals topological groundstate.
Twisted graphene bilayers (TGBs) have low-energy van Hove singularities (VHSs) that are strongly localized around AA-stacked regions of the moire pattern. Therefore, they exhibit novel many-body electronic states, such as Mott-like insulator and unconventional superconductivity. Unfortunately, these strongly correlated states were only observed in magic angle TGBs with the twist angle theta~1.1{deg}, requiring a precisely tuned structure. Is it possible to realize exotic quantum phases in the TGBs not limited at the magic angle? Here we studied electronic properties of a TGB with theta~1.64{deg} and demonstrated that a VHS splits into two spin-polarized states flanking the Fermi energy when the VHS is close to the Fermi level. Such a result indicates that localized magnetic moments emerge in the AA-stacked regions of the TGB. Since the low-energy VHSs are quite easy to be reached in slightly TGBs, our result therefore provides a facile direction to realize novel quantum phases in graphene system.
We have applied nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the distinctive network of nodal lines in the Dirac semimetal ZrSiTe. The low-$T$ behavior is dominated by a symmetry-protected nodal line, with NMR providing a sensitive probe of the diamagnetic response of the associated carriers. A sharp low-$T$ minimum in NMR shift and $(T_1T)^{-1}$ provides a quantitative measure of the dispersionless, quasi-2D behavior of this nodal line. We also identify a van Hove singularity closely connected to this nodal line, and an associated $T$-induced Lifshitz transition. A disconnect in the NMR shift and line width at this temperature indicates the change in electronic behavior associated with this topological change. These features have an orientation-dependent behavior indicating a field-dependent scaling of the associated band energies.
Electronic instabilities at the crossing of the Fermi energy with a Van Hove singularity in the density of states often lead to new phases of matter such as superconductivity, magnetism or density waves. However, in most materials this condition is difficult to control. In the case of single-layer graphene, the singularity is too far from the Fermi energy and hence difficult to reach with standard doping and gating techniques. Here we report the observation of low-energy Van Hove singularities in twisted graphene layers seen as two pronounced peaks in the density of states measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We demonstrate that a rotation between stacked graphene layers can generate Van Hove singularities, which can be brought arbitrarily close to the Fermi energy by varying the angle of rotation. This opens intriguing prospects for Van Hove singularity engineering of electronic phases.
Understanding and tuning correlated states is of great interest and significance to modern condensed matter physics. The recent discovery of unconventional superconductivity and Mott-like insulating states in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) presents a unique platform to study correlation phenomena, in which the Coulomb energy dominates over the quenched kinetic energy as a result of hybridized flat bands. Extending this approach to the case of twisted multilayer graphene would allow even higher control over the band structure because of the reduced symmetry of the system. Here, we study electronic transport properties in twisted trilayer graphene (tTLG, bilayer on top of monolayer graphene heterostructure). We observed the formation of van Hove singularities which are highly tunable by twist angle and displacement field and can cause strong correlation effects under optimum conditions, including superconducting states. We provide basic theoretical interpretation of the observed electronic structure.