Field-dependent magnetic structure of a layered Dirac material EuMnBi$_2$ was investigated in detail by the single crystal neutron diffraction and the resonant x-ray magnetic diffraction techniques. On the basis of the reflection conditions in the an
tiferromagnetic phase at zero field, the Eu moments were found to be ordered ferromagnetically within the $ab$ plane and stacked antiferromagnetically along the $c$ axis in the sequence of up-up-down-down. Upon the spin-flop transition under the magnetic field parallel to the $c$ axis, the Eu moments are reoriented from the $c$ to the $a$ or $b$ directions forming two kinds of spin-flop domains, whereas the antiferromagnetic structure of the Mn sublattice remains intact as revealed by the quantitative analysis of the change in the neutron diffraction intensities. The present study provides a concrete basis to discuss the dominant role of the Eu sublattice on the enhanced two-dimensionality of the Dirac fermion transport in EuMnBi$_2$.
We investigate the crystal structure in multiferroic tetragonal perovskite Sr$_{1/2}$Ba$_{1/2}$MnO$_3$ with high accuracy of the order of 10$^{-3}$ Angstrom for an atomic displacement. The large atomic displacement for Mn ion from the centerosymmetri
c position, comparable with the off-centering distortion in the tetragonal ferroelectric BaTiO$_3$, is observed in the ferroelectric phase ($T_mathrm{N}$ $leq$ $T$ $leq$ $T_mathrm{C}$). In stark contrast, in the multiferroic phase ($T$ $leq$ $T_mathrm{N}$), the atomic displacement for Mn ion is suppressed, but those for O ions are enlarged. The atomic displacements in the polar crystal structures are also analyzed in terms of the ferroelectric modes. In the ferroelectric phase, the atomic displacements are decomposed into dominant positive Slater, negative Last, and small positive Axe modes. The suppression of Slater and Last modes, the sign change of Last mode, and the enlargement of Axe mode are found in the multiferroic phase. The ferroelectric distortion is well reproduced by a first-principles calculation based on Berry phase method, providing an additional information on competing mechanisms to induce the polarization, electronic $p$-$d$ hybridization vs. magnetic exchange-striction.
Unconventional features of relativistic Dirac/Weyl quasi-particles in topological materials are most evidently manifested in the 2D quantum Hall effect (QHE), whose variety is further enriched by their spin and/or valley polarization. Although its ex
tension to three dimensions has been long-sought and inspired theoretical proposals, material candidates have been lacking. Here we have discovered valley-contrasting spin-polarized Dirac fermions in a multilayer form in bulk antiferromagnet BaMnSb$_2$, where the out-of-plane Zeeman-type spin splitting is induced by the in-plane inversion symmetry breaking and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the distorted Sb square net. Furthermore, we have observed well-defined quantized Hall plateaus together with vanishing interlayer conductivity at low temperatures as a hallmark of the half-integer QHE in a bulk form. The Hall conductance of each layer is found to be nearly quantized to $2(N+1/2)e^2/h$ with $N$ being the Landau index, which is consistent with two spin-polarized Dirac valleys protected by the strong spin-valley coupling.
Lifshitz transition, a change in Fermi surface topology, is likely to greatly influence exotic correlated phenomena in solids, such as high-temperature superconductivity and complex magnetism. However, since the observation of Fermi surfaces is gener
ally difficult in the strongly correlated systems, a direct link between the Lifshitz transition and quantum phenomena has been elusive so far. Here, we report a marked impact of the pressure-induced Lifshitz transition on thermoelectric performance for SnSe, a promising thermoelectric material without strong electron correlation. By applying pressure up to 1.6 GPa, we have observed a large enhancement of thermoelectric power factor by more than 100% over a wide temperature range (10-300 K). Furthermore, the high carrier mobility enables the detection of quantum oscillations of resistivity, revealing the emergence of new Fermi pockets at ~0.86 GPa. The observed thermoelectric properties linked to the multi-valley band structure are quantitatively reproduced by first-principles calculations, providing novel insight into designing the SnSe-related materials for potential valleytronic as well as thermoelectric applications.
CeRhIn$_{5}$ is a Kondo-lattice prototype in which a magnetic field B$bf{^{ast}simeq}$ 30 T induces an abrupt Fermi-surface (FS) reconstruction and pronounced in-plane electrical transport anisotropy all within its antiferromagnetic state. Though the
antiferromagnetic order at zero field is well-understood, the origin of an emergent state at B$^{ast}$ remains unknown due to challenges inherent to probing states microscopically at high fields. Here, we report low-temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements revealing a discontinuous decrease in the $^{115}$In formal Knight shift, without changes in crystal or magnetic structures, of CeRhIn$_{5}$ at fields spanning B$^{ast}$. We show that the emergent state above B$^{ast}$ results from a change in Ces 4f orbitals that arises from field-induced evolution of crystal-electric field (CEF) energy levels. This change in orbital character enhances hybridisation between the 4f and the conduction electrons (c.e.) that leads ultimately to an itinerant quantum-critical point at B$bf{_{c0} simeq}$ 50 T.
We report spin-split Landau levels of quasi-two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a layered antiferromagnet EuMnBi$_2$, as revealed by interlayer resistivity measurements in a tilted magnetic field up to $sim$35 T. The amplitude of Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH
) oscillation in interlayer resistivity is strongly modulated by changing the tilt angle of the field, i.e., the Zeeman-to-cyclotron energy ratio. The effective $g$ factor estimated from the tilt angle, where the SdH oscillation exhibits a phase inversion, differs by approximately 50% between two antiferromagnetic phases. This observation signifies a marked impact of the magnetic order of Eu sublattice on the Dirac-like band structure. The origin may be sought in strong exchange coupling with the local Eu moments, as verified by the first-principles calculation.
Iorgov, Lisovyy, and Teschner established a connection between isomonodromic deformation of linear differential equations and Liouville conformal field theory at $c=1$. In this paper we present a $q$ analog of their construction. We show that the gen
eral solution of the $q$-Painleve VI equation is a ratio of four tau functions, each of which is given by a combinatorial series arising in the AGT correspondence. We also propose conjectural bilinear equations for the tau functions.
Ferroelectrics with spontaneous electric polarization play an essential role in todays device engineering, such as capacitors and memories. Their physical properties are further enriched by suppressing the long-range polar order, as is exemplified by
quantum paraelectrics with giant piezoelectric and dielectric responses at low temperatures. Likewise in metals, a polar lattice distortion has been theoretically predicted to give rise to various unusual physical properties. So far, however, a ferroelectric-like transition in metals has seldom been controlled and hence its possible impacts on transport phenomena remain unexplored. Here we report the discovery of anomalous enhancement of thermopower near the critical region between the polar and nonpolar metallic phases in 1T-Mo$_{1-x}$Nb$_{x}$Te$_2$ with a chemically tunable polar transition. It is unveiled from the first-principles calculations and magnetotransport measurements that charge transport with strongly energy-dependent scattering rate critically evolves towards the boundary to the nonpolar phase, resulting in large cryogenic thermopower. Such a significant influence of the structural instability on transport phenomena might arise from the fluctuating or heterogeneous polar metallic states, which would pave a novel route to improving thermoelectric efficiency.
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 ext
remely 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.
There is still no general consensus on how one can describe the out-of-equilibrium phenomena in matter induced by an ultrashort light pulse. We investigate the pulse-induced dynamics in a layered Dirac semimetal SrMnBi2 by pump-and-probe photoemissio
n spectroscopy. At ~<1 ps, the electronic recovery slowed upon increasing the pump power. Such a bottleneck-type slowing is expected in a two-temperature model (TTM) scheme, although opposite trends have been observed to date in graphite and in cuprates. Subsequently, an unconventional power-law cooling took place at ~100 ps, indicating that spatial heat diffusion is still ill defined at ~100 ps. We identify that the successive dynamics before the emergence of heat diffusion is a canonical realization of a TTM scheme. Criteria for the applicability of the scheme is also provided.
