Coherent control of interfering one- and two-photon processes has for decades been the subject of research to achieve the redirection of photocurrent. The present study develops two-pathway coherent control of ground state helium atom above-threshold
photoionization for energies up to the $N=2$ threshold, based on a multichannel quantum defect and R-matrix calculation. Three parameters are controlled in our treatment: the optical interference phase $DeltaPhi$, the reduced electric field strength $chi=mathcal{E}_{omega}^2/{mathcal{E}_{2omega}}$, and the final state energy $epsilon$. A small energy change near a resonance is shown to flip the emission direction of photoelectrons with high efficiency, through an example where $90%$ of photoelectrons whose energy is near the $2p^2 ^1S^e$ resonance flip their emission direction. However, the large fraction of photoelectrons ionized at the intermediate state energy, which are not influenced by the optical control, make this control scheme challenging to realize experimentally.
Topological insulators realized in materials with strong spin-orbit interactions challenged the long-held view that electronic materials are classified as either conductors or insulators. The emergence of controlled, two-dimensional moire patterns ha
s opened new vistas in the topological materials landscape. Here we report on evidence, obtained by combining thermodynamic measurements, local and non-local transport measurements, and theoretical calculations, that robust topologically non-trivial, valley Chern insulators occur at charge neutrality in twisted double-bilayer graphene (TDBG). These time reversal-conserving valley Chern insulators are enabled by valley-number conservation, a symmetry that emerges from the moire pattern. The thermodynamic gap extracted from chemical potential measurements proves that TDBG is a bulk insulator under transverse electric field, while transport measurements confirm the existence of conducting edge states. A Landauer-Buttiker analysis of measurements on multi-terminal samples allows us to quantitatively assess edge state scattering and demonstrate that it does not destroy the edge states, leaving the bulk-boundary correspondence largely intact.
Multiphoton ionization provides a clear window into the nature of electron correlations in the helium atom. In the present study, the final state energy range extends up to the region near the $N=2$ and $N=3$ ionization thresholds, where two-photon i
onization proceeds via continuum intermediate states above the lowest threshold. Our calculations are performed using multichannel quantum defect theory (MQDT) and the streamlined R-matrix method. The sum and integration over all intermediate states in the two-photon ionization amplitude is evaluated using the inhomogeneous R-matrix method developed by Robicheaux and Gao. The seamless connection of that method with MQDT allows us to present high resolution spectra of the final state Rydberg resonances. Our analysis classifies the resonances above the $N=2$ threshold in terms of their group theory quantum numbers. Their dominant decay channels are found to obey the previously conjectured propensity rule far more weakly for these even parity states than was observed for the odd-parity states relevant to single photon ionization.
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.
The FeSe-based superconductors exhibit a wide range of critical temperature Tc under a variety of material and physical conditions, but extensive studies to date have yet to produce a consensus view on the underlying mechanism. Here we report on a sy
stematic Raman scattering work on intercalated FeSe superconductors Lix(NH3)yFe2Se2 and (Li,Fe)OHFeSe compared to pristine FeSe. All three crystals show an anomalous power-law temperature dependence of phonon linewidths, deviating from the standard anharmonic behavior. This intriguing phenomenon is attributed to electron-phonon coupling effects enhanced by electron correlation, as evidenced by the evolution of the A1g Raman mode. Meanwhile, an analysis of the B1g mode, which probes the out-of-plane vibration of Fe, reveals a lack of influence by previously suggested structural parameters, and instead indicates a crucial role of the joint density of states in determining Tc. These findings identify carrier doping as the direct factor driving and modulating superconductivity in FeSe-based compounds.
The crystal structure of a material creates a periodic potential that electrons move through giving rise to the electronic band structure of the material. When two-dimensional materials are stacked, the twist angle between the layers becomes an addit
ional degree freedom for the resulting heterostructure. As this angle changes, the electronic band structure is modified leading to the possibility of flat bands with localized states and enhanced electronic correlations. In transition metal dichalcogenides, flat bands have been theoretically predicted to occur for long moire wavelengths over a range of twist angles around 0 and 60 degrees giving much wider versatility than magic angle twisted bilayer graphene. Here we show the existence of a flat band in the electronic structure of 3{deg} and 57.5{deg} twisted bilayer WSe2 samples using scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Direct spatial mapping of wavefunctions at the flat band energy have shown that the flat bands are localized differently for 3{deg} and 57.5{deg}, in excellent agreement with first-principle density functional theory calculations.
