No Arabic abstract
Relativistic massless Dirac fermions can be probed with high-energy physics experiments, but appear also as low-energy quasi-particle excitations in electronic band structures. In condensed matter systems, their massless nature can be protected by crystal symmetries. Classification of such symmetry-protected relativistic band degeneracies has been fruitful, although many of the predicted quasi-particles still await their experimental discovery. Here we reveal, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, the existence of two-dimensional type-II Dirac fermions in the high-temperature superconductor La$_{1.77}$Sr$_{0.23}$CuO$_4$. The Dirac point, constituting the crossing of $d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $d_{z^2}$ bands, is found approximately one electronvolt below the Fermi level ($E_mathrm{F}$) and is protected by mirror symmetry. If spin-orbit coupling is considered, the Dirac point degeneracy is lifted and the bands acquire a topologically non-trivial character. In certain nickelate systems, band structure calculations suggest that the same type-II Dirac fermions can be realised near $E_mathrm{F}$.
We show that a class of compounds with $I$4/$mcm$ crystalline symmetry hosts three-dimensional semi-Dirac fermions. Unlike the known two-dimensional semi-Dirac points, the degeneracy of these three-dimensional semi-Dirac points is not lifted by spin-orbit coupling due to the protection by a nonsymmorphic symmetry -- screw rotation in the $a-b$ plane and a translation along the $c$ axis. This crystalline symmetry is found in tetragonal perovskite oxides, realizable in thin films by epitaxial strain that results in a$^0$a$^0$c$^-$-type octahedral rotation. Interestingly, with broken time-reversal symmetry, two pairs of Weyl points emerge from the semi-Dirac points within the Brillouin zone, and an additional lattice distortion leads to enhanced intrinsic anomalous Hall effect. We discuss possible fingerprints of this symmetry-protected band topology in electronic transport experiments.
Layered magnetic transition-metal thiophosphate NiPS3 has unique two-dimensional (2D) magnetic properties and electronic behavior. The electronic band structure and corresponding magnetic state are expected to sensitive to the interlayer interaction, which can be tuned by external pressure. Here, we report an insulator-metal transition accompanied with magnetism collapse during the 2D-3D crossover in structure induced by hydrostatic pressure. A two-stage phase transition from monoclinic (C2=m) to trigonal (P-31m) lattice is identified by ab initio simulation and confirmed by high-pressure XRD and Raman data, corresponding to a layer by layer slip mechanism along the a-axis. Temperature dependence resistance measurements and room temperature infrared spectroscopy show that the insulator-metal transition occurs near 20 GPa as well as magnetism collapse, which is further confirmed by low temperature Raman measurement and theoretical calculation. These results establish a strong correlation among the structural change, electric transport, and magnetic phase transition and expand our understandings about the layered magnetic materials.
For the innovation of spintronic technologies, Dirac materials, in which the low-energy excitation is described as relativistic Dirac fermions, are one of the most promising systems, because of the fascinating magnetotransport associated with the extremely high mobility. To incorporate Dirac fermions into spintronic applications, their quantum transport phenomena are desired to be manipulated to a large extent by magnetic order in a solid. We here report a bulk half-integer quantum Hall effect in a layered antiferromagnet EuMnBi$_2$, in which field-controllable Eu magnetic order significantly suppresses the interlayer coupling between the Bi layers with Dirac fermions. In addition to the high mobility more than 10,000 cm$^2$/Vs, Landau level splittings presumably due to the lifting of spin and valley degeneracy are noticeable even in a bulk magnet. These results will pave a route to the engineering of magnetically functionalized Dirac materials.
The results of DC magnetization measurements under hydrostatic (helium-gas) pressure are reported for an ambient pressure superconductor Na0.35CoO2.1.4D2O and its precursor compound, the gamma-phase Na0.75CoO2 that is known to combine a metallic conductivity with an unusual magnetic state below ~22K. The obtained data allowed us to present for the first time the pressure dependence of the magnetic transition in a metallic sodium cobaltate system. This dependence appears to be positive, with the magnetic transition rapidly shifting towards higher temperatures when an applied pressure increases. We ascribe the observed effect to the pressure-induced enhancement of the out-of-plane antiferromagnetic coupling mediated by localized spins interactions (of either superexchange or RKKY type), the scenario consistent with the A-type antiferromagnetic state suggested by recent neutron-scattering data. As for the pressure effect on the superconductivity in Na0.35CoO2.1.4D2O, our measurements established negative and linear for the entire pressure range from 1 bar to 8.3 kbar pressure dependence of Tc, the behavior quite different from the reported by previous workers strong non-linearity of the Tc (P) dependence. (Dated September 12, 2005) PACS numbers: 74.62.Fj, 74.70.-b, 75.20. En, 75.50 Ee, 75.30 Kz.
We study excitonic effects in two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions with Coulomb interactions by solving the ladder approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation. It is found that the general 4-leg vertex has a power law behavior with the exponent going from real to complex as the coupling constant is increased. This change of behavior is manifested in the antisymmetric response, which displays power law behavior at small wavevectors reminiscent of a critical state, and a change in this power law from real to complex that is accompanied by poles in the response function for finite size systems, suggesting a phase transition for strong enough interactions. The density-density response is also calculated, for which no critical behavior is found. We demonstrate that exciton correlations enhance the cusp in the irreducible polarizability at $2k_F$, leading to a strong increase in the amplitude of Friedel oscillations around a charged impurity.