No Arabic abstract
Geometric electron optics may be implemented in solid state when transport is ballistic on the length scale of a device. Currently, this is realized mainly in 2D materials characterized by circular Fermi surfaces. Here we demonstrate that the nearly perfectly hexagonal Fermi surface of PdCoO2 gives rise to highly directional ballistic transport. We probe this directional ballistic regime in a single crystal of PdCoO2 by use of focused ion beam (FIB) micro-machining, defining crystalline ballistic circuits with features as small as 250nm. The peculiar hexagonal Fermi surface naturally leads to electron self-focusing effects in a magnetic field, well below the geometric limit associated with a circular Fermi surface. This super-geometric focusing can be quantitatively predicted for arbitrary device geometry, based on the hexagonal cyclotron orbits appearing in this material. These results suggest a novel class of ballistic electronic devices exploiting the unique transport characteristics of strongly faceted Fermi surfaces.
A wide range of unconventional transport phenomena have recently been observed in single-crystal delafossite metals. Here, we present a theoretical framework to elucidate electron transport using a combination of first-principles calculations and numerical modeling of the anisotropic Boltzmann transport equation. Using PdCoO$_2$ as a model system, we study different microscopic electron and phonon scattering mechanisms and establish the mean free path hierarchy of quasiparticles at different temperatures. We treat the anisotropic Fermi surface explicitly to numerically obtain experimentally-accessible transport observables, which bridge between the diffusive, ballistic, and hydrodynamic transport regime limits. We illustrate that distinction between the quasi-ballistic, and quasi-hydrodynamic regimes is challenging and often needs to be quantitative in nature. From first-principles calculations, we populate the resulting transport regime plots, and demonstrate how the Fermi surface orientation adds complexity to the observed transport signatures in micro-scale devices. Our work provides key insights into microscopic interaction mechanisms on open hexagonal Fermi surfaces and establishes their connection to the macroscopic electron transport in finite-size channels.
The electron-electron interactions effects on the shape of the Fermi surface of doped graphene are investigated. The actual discrete nature of the lattice is fully taken into account. A $pi$-band tight-binding model, with nearest-neighbor hopping integrals, is considered. We calculate the self-energy corrections at zero temperature. Long and short range Coulomb interactions are included. The exchange self-energy corrections for graphene preserve the trigonal warping of the Fermi surface topology, although rounding the triangular shape. The band velocity is renormalized to higher value. Corrections induced by a local Coulomb interaction, calculated by second order perturbation theory, do deform anisotropically the Fermi surface shape. Results are compared to experimental observations and to other theoretical results.
While recent advances in band theory and sample growth have expanded the series of extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR) semimetals in transition metal dipnictides $TmPn_2$ ($Tm$ = Ta, Nb; $Pn$ = P, As, Sb), the experimental study on their electronic structure and the origin of XMR is still absent. Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with first-principles calculations and magnetotransport measurements, we performed a comprehensive investigation on MoAs$_2$, which is isostructural to the $TmPn_2$ family and also exhibits quadratic XMR. We resolve a clear band structure well agreeing with the predictions. Intriguingly, the unambiguously observed Fermi surfaces (FSs) are dominated by an open-orbit topology extending along both the [100] and [001] directions in the three-dimensional Brillouin zone. We further reveal the trivial topological nature of MoAs$_2$ by bulk parity analysis. Based on these results, we examine the proposed XMR mechanisms in other semimetals, and conclusively ascribe the origin of quadratic XMR in MoAs$_2$ to the carriers motion on the FSs with dominant open-orbit topology, innovating in the understanding of quadratic XMR in semimetals.
We present magnetic stray field measurements performed on a single micro-crystal of the half metallic ferromagnet CrO$_2$, covered by a naturally grown 2,-,5,nm surface layer of antiferromagnetic (AFM) Cr$_2$O$_3$. The temperature variation of the stray field of the micro-crystal measured by micro-Hall magnetometry shows an anomalous increase below $sim$,60,K. We find clear evidence that this behavior is due to the influence of the AFM surface layer, which could not be isolated in the corresponding bulk magnetization data measured using SQUID magnetometry. The distribution of pinning potentials, analyzed from Barkhausen jumps, exhibits a similar temperature dependence. Overall, the results indicate that the surface layer plays a role in defining the potential landscape seen by the domain configuration in the ferromagnetic grain.
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the surface vibrational modes of the topological insulator (TI) Bi$_2$Se$_3$ with particular emphasis on the low-energy region below 10 meV that has been difficult to resolve experimentally. By applying inelastic helium atom scattering (HAS), the entire phonon dispersion was determined and compared with density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations. The intensity of the phonon modes is dominated by a strong Rayleigh mode, in contrast to previous experimental works. Moreover, also at variance with recent reports, no Kohn-anomaly is observed. These observations are in excellent agreement with DFPT calculations. Besides these results, the experimental data reveal$-$via bound-state resonance enhancement$-$two additional dispersion curves in the gap below the Rayleigh mode. They are possibly associated with an excitation of a surface electron density superstructure that we observe in HAS diffraction patterns. The electron-phonon coupling paramenter $lambda$ = 0.23 derived from our temperature dependent Debye-Waller measurements compares well with values determined by angular resolved photoemission or Landau level spectroscopy. Our work opens up a new perspective for THz measurements on 2D materials as well as the investigation of subtle details (band bending, the presence of quantum well states) with respect to the electron-phonon coupling.