Browsing by Author "Yi, Ming"
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Item Correlation-driven electronic reconstruction in FeTe1−xSex(Springer Nature, 2022) Huang, Jianwei; Yu, Rong; Xu, Zhijun; Zhu, Jian-Xin; Oh, Ji Seop; Jiang, Qianni; Wang, Meng; Wu, Han; Chen, Tong; Denlinger, Jonathan D.; Mo, Sung-Kwan; Hashimoto, Makoto; Michiardi, Matteo; Pedersen, Tor M.; Gorovikov, Sergey; Zhdanovich, Sergey; Damascelli, Andrea; Gu, Genda; Dai, Pengcheng; Chu, Jiun-Haw; Lu, Donghui; Si, Qimiao; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Yi, Ming; Rice Center for Quantum MaterialsElectronic correlation is of fundamental importance to high temperature superconductivity. While the low energy electronic states in cuprates are dominantly affected by correlation effects across the phase diagram, observation of correlation-driven changes in fermiology amongst the iron-based superconductors remains rare. Here we present experimental evidence for a correlation-driven reconstruction of the Fermi surface tuned independently by two orthogonal axes of temperature and Se/Te ratio in the iron chalcogenide family FeTe1−xSex. We demonstrate that this reconstruction is driven by the de-hybridization of a strongly renormalized dxy orbital with the remaining itinerant iron 3d orbitals in the emergence of an orbital-selective Mott phase. Our observations are further supported by our theoretical calculations to be salient spectroscopic signatures of such a non-thermal evolution from a strongly correlated metallic phase into an orbital-selective Mott phase in dxy as Se concentration is reduced.Item Electronic and Magnetic Anisotropies in FeSe Family of Iron-Based Superconductors(Frontiers, 2020) Chen, Tong; Yi, Ming; Dai, PengchengMost parent compounds of iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) exhibit a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic lattice distortion below Ts associated with an electronic nematic phase that breaks the four-fold (C4) rotational symmetry of the underlying lattice, and then forms collinear antiferromagnetic (AF) below TN (TN ≤ Ts). Optimal superconductivity emerges upon suppression of the nematic and AF phases. FeSe, which also exhibits a nematic phase transition below Ts but becomes superconducting in the nematic phase without AF order, provides a unique platform to study the interplay amongst the nematic phase, AF order, and superconductivity. In this review, we focus on the experiments done on uniaxial pressure detwinned single crystals of FeSe and other FeSCs and highlight the importance of understanding the electronic and magnetic anisotropy in elucidating the nature of unconventional superconductivity.Item Gradual enhancement of stripe-type antiferromagnetism in the spin-ladder material BaFe2S3 under pressure(American Physical Society, 2018) Zheng, Liangliang; Frandsen, Benjamin A.; Wu, Changwei; Yi, Ming; Wu, Shan; Huang, Qingzhen; Bourret-Courchesne, Edith; Simutis, G.; Khasanov, R.; Yao, Dao-Xin; Wang, Meng; Birgeneau, Robert J.We report pressure-dependent neutron diffraction and muon spin relaxation/rotation measurements combined with first-principles calculations to investigate the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of BaFe2S3 under pressure. The experimental results reveal a gradual enhancement of the stripe-type ordering temperature with increasing pressure up to 2.6 GPa and no observable change in the size of the ordered moment. The ab initio calculations suggest that the magnetism is highly sensitive to the Fe-S bond lengths and angles, clarifying discrepancies with previously published results. In contrast to our experimental observations, the calculations predict a monotonic reduction of the ordered moment with pressure. We suggest that the robustness of the stripe-type antiferromagnetism is due to strong electron correlations not fully considered in the calculations.Item Embargo Interplay of Spin, Charge, and Lattice in Kagome Antiferromagnet FeGe(2024-08-08) Teng, Xiaokun; Dai, Pengcheng; Yi, MingStrongly correlated quantum materials feature complex phase diagrams with intertwined phases that have nearly degenerate ground-state energies. A notable example is copper oxides, where charge density waves (CDWs) coexist with magnetic order and compete with superconductivity. Recently, similar rich phase diagrams have been observed in correlated topological materials such as 2D kagome lattice metals. These materials are composed of corner-sharing triangles exhibiting flat bands, magnetic order, superconductivity, and CDW order. In this thesis, we present the discovery of CDW in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordered phase of kagome lattice FeGe (Chapter 3). This marks the first observation of CDW in a correlated magnetic-ordered kagome metal. The CDW in FeGe occurs at wavevectors identical to those in the non-magnetic $\rm AV_3Sb_5$ (A = K, Rb, Cs) and enhances the AFM ordered moment. Our findings suggest that the CDW in FeGe arises from electron correlations-driven AFM order and Van Hove singularities-driven instability, contrasting with copper oxides and nickelates where CDW typically precedes or accompanies magnetic order. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we identified all three electronic signatures of the kagome lattice in FeGe (Chapter 4). This includes flat bands induced by destructive interference of electronic wavefunctions, topological Dirac crossings, and Van Hove singularities. Below antiferromagnetic transition temperature, driven by magnetic exchange splitting, Van Hove singularities move near the Fermi level, and gaps open in the vicinity of the CDW transition. This behavior highlights the interplay between charge order and magnetism in FeGe. These observations suggest that magnetic interactions drive band modifications, resulting in the formation of the charge density wave, indicating that emergent magnetism and charge order are intertwined in this moderately correlated kagome metal. We then further investigated the spin and lattice excitations in FeGe using inelastic neutron scattering (Chapter 5). Our results show that spin excitations below around 100 meV can be modeled by a spin-1 Heisenberg Hamiltonian. However, higher energy excitations are centered around the Brillouin zone boundary, appearing rod-like, and extend to around 180 meV, consistent with quasiparticle excitations across spin-polarized electron-hole Fermi surfaces. This supports that FeGe is a Hund’s metal in the intermediate correlated regime, with magnetism arising from both itinerant and localized electrons. Moreover, The $c$-axis spin wave dispersion and Fe-Ge optical phonon modes harden below the CDW transition temperature $T_{\rm CDW}$ due to spin-charge-lattice coupling. In addition to these findings, this thesis includes an introduction to the fundamental concepts of magnetism, charge density waves, and the unique properties of kagome materials (Chapter 1). It also details experimental techniques, such as elastic, inelastic neutron scattering, and ARPES (Chapter 2). Overall, this research advances our understanding of the interplay between magnetic, electronic, and structural properties in correlated kagome materials and motivates future studies to further examine the competing phases in these systems.Item Kramers nodal lines and Weyl fermions in SmAlSi(Springer Nature, 2023) Zhang, Yichen; Gao, Yuxiang; Gao, Xue-Jian; Lei, Shiming; Ni, Zhuoliang; Oh, Ji Seop; Huang, Jianwei; Yue, Ziqin; Zonno, Marta; Gorovikov, Sergey; Hashimoto, Makoto; Lu, Donghui; Denlinger, Jonathan D.; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Kono, Junichiro; Wu, Liang; Law, Kam Tuen; Morosan, Emilia; Yi, MingKramers nodal lines (KNLs) have recently been proposed theoretically as a special type of Weyl line degeneracy connecting time-reversal invariant momenta. KNLs are robust to spin orbit coupling and are inherent to all non-centrosymmetric achiral crystal structures, leading to unusual spin, magneto-electric, and optical properties. However, their existence in in real quantum materials has not been experimentally established. Here we gather the experimental evidence pointing at the presence of KNLs in SmAlSi, a non-centrosymmetric metal that develops incommensurate spin density wave order at low temperature. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, density functional theory calculations, and magneto-transport methods, we provide evidence suggesting the presence of KNLs, together with observing Weyl fermions under the broken inversion symmetry in the paramagnetic phase of SmAlSi. We discuss the nesting possibilities regarding the emergent magnetic orders in SmAlSi. Our results provide a solid basis of experimental observations for exploring correlated topology in SmAlSiItem Local Orthorhombicity in the Magnetic ${C}_{4}$ Phase of the Hole-Doped Iron-Arsenide Superconductor ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Na}}_{x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}{\mathrm{As}}_{2}$(American Physical Society, 2017) Frandsen, Benjamin A.; Taddei, Keith M.; Yi, Ming; Frano, Alex; Guguchia, Zurab; Yu, Rong; Si, Qimiao; Bugaris, Daniel E.; Stadel, Ryan; Osborn, Raymond; Rosenkranz, Stephan; Chmaissem, Omar; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Rice Center for Quantum MaterialsWe report on temperature-dependent pair distribution function measurements of Sr1−xNaxFe2As2, an iron-based superconductor system that contains a magnetic phase with reentrant tetragonal symmetry, known as the magnetic C4 phase. Quantitative refinements indicate that the instantaneous local structure in the C4 phase comprises fluctuating orthorhombic regions with a length scale of ∼2 nm, despite the tetragonal symmetry of the average static structure. Additionally, local orthorhombic fluctuations exist on a similar length scale at temperatures well into the paramagnetic tetragonal phase. These results highlight the exceptionally large nematic susceptibility of iron-based superconductors and have significant implications for the magnetic C4 phase and the neighboring C2 and superconducting phases.Item Mott localization in a pure stripe antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{1.5\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\sigma}}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$(American Physical Society, 2015) Wang, Meng; Yi, Ming; Cao, Huibo; de la Cruz, C.; Mo, S.K.; Huang, Q.Z.; Bourret-Courchesne, E.; Dai, Pengcheng; Lee, D.H.; Shen, Z.X.; Birgeneau, R.J.A combination of neutron diffraction and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on a pure antiferromagnetic stripe Rb1−δFe1.5−σS2 is reported. A neutron diffraction experiment on a powder sample shows that a 98% volume fraction of the sample is in the antiferromagnetic stripe phase with rhombic iron vacancy order and a refined composition of Rb0.66Fe1.36S2, and that only 2% of the sample is in the block antiferromagnetic phase with √5×√5 iron vacancy order. Furthermore, a neutron diffraction experiment on a single crystal shows that there is only a single phase with the stripe antiferromagnetic order with the refined composition of Rb0.78Fe1.35S2, while the phase with block antiferromagnetic order is absent. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on the same crystal with the pure stripe phase reveal that the electronic structure is gapped at the Fermi level with a gap larger than 0.325 eV. The data collectively demonstrate that the extra 10% iron vacancies in addition to the rhombic iron vacancy order effectively impede the formation of the block antiferromagnetic phase; the data also suggest that the stripe antiferromagnetic phase with rhombic iron vacancy order is a Mott insulator.Item Mott localization in a pure stripe antiferromagnet Rb1−δFe1.5−σS2(American Physical Society, 2015) Wang, Meng; Yi, Ming; Cao, Huibo; de la Cruz, C.; Mo, S.K.; Huang, Q.Z.; Bourret-Courchesne, E.; Dai, Pengcheng; Lee, D.H.; Shen, Z.X.; Birgeneau, R.J.A combination of neutron diffraction and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on a pure antiferromagnetic stripe Rb1−δFe1.5−σS2 is reported. A neutron diffraction experiment on a powder sample shows that a 98% volume fraction of the sample is in the antiferromagnetic stripe phase with rhombic iron vacancy order and a refined composition of Rb0.66Fe1.36S2, and that only 2% of the sample is in the block antiferromagnetic phase with 5√×5√ iron vacancy order. Furthermore, a neutron diffraction experiment on a single crystal shows that there is only a single phase with the stripe antiferromagnetic order with the refined composition of Rb0.78Fe1.35S2, while the phase with block antiferromagnetic order is absent. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on the same crystal with the pure stripe phase reveal that the electronic structure is gapped at the Fermi level with a gap larger than 0.325 eV. The data collectively demonstrate that the extra 10% iron vacancies in addition to the rhombic iron vacancy order effectively impede the formation of the block antiferromagnetic phase; the data also suggest that the stripe antiferromagnetic phase with rhombic iron vacancy order is a Mott insulator.Item Nematic Fluctuations in the Non-Superconducting Iron Pnictide BaFe1.9−xNi0.1CrxAs2(Frontiers Media S.A., 2022) Gong, Dongliang; Yi, Ming; Wang, Meng; Xie, Tao; Zhang, Wenliang; Danilkin, Sergey; Deng, Guochu; Liu, Xinzhi; Park, Jitae T.; Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko; Kamazawa, Kazuya; Mo, Sung-Kwan; Hashimoto, Makoto; Lu, Donghui; Zhang, Rui; Dai, Pengcheng; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Li, Shiliang; Luo, Huiqian; Rice Center for Quantum MaterialsThe main driven force of the electronic nematic phase in iron-based superconductors is still under debate. Here, we report a comprehensive study on the nematic fluctuations in a non-superconducting iron pnictide system BaFe1.9−xNi0.1CrxAs2 by electronic transport, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements. Previous neutron diffraction and transport measurements suggested that the collinear antiferromagnetism persists to x = 0.8, with similar Néel temperature TN and structural transition temperature Ts around 32 K, but the charge carriers change from electron type to hole type around x = 0.5. In this study, we have found that the in-plane resistivity anisotropy also highly depends on the Cr dopings and the type of charge carriers. While ARPES measurements suggest possibly weak orbital anisotropy onset near Ts for both x = 0.05 and x = 0.5 compounds, INS experiments reveal clearly different onset temperatures of low-energy spin excitation anisotropy, which is likely related to the energy scale of spin nematicity. These results suggest that the interplay between the local spins on Fe atoms and the itinerant electrons on Fermi surfaces is crucial to the nematic fluctuations of iron pnictides, where the orbital degree of freedom may behave differently from the spin degree of freedom, and the transport properties are intimately related to the spin dynamics.Item Nonsymmorphic symmetry-protected band crossings in a square-net metal PtPb4(Springer Nature, 2022) Wu, Han; Hallas, Alannah M.; Cai, Xiaochan; Huang, Jianwei; Oh, Ji Seop; Loganathan, Vaideesh; Weiland, Ashley; McCandless, Gregory T.; Chan, Julia Y.; Mo, Sung-Kwan; Lu, Donghui; Hashimoto, Makoto; Denlinger, Jonathan; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Nevidomskyy, Andriy H.; Li, Gang; Morosan, Emilia; Yi, Ming; Rice Center for Quantum MaterialsTopological semimetals with symmetry-protected band crossings have emerged as a rich landscape to explore intriguing electronic phenomena. Nonsymmorphic symmetries in particular have been shown to play an important role in protecting the crossings along a line (rather than a point) in momentum space. Here we report experimental and theoretical evidence for Dirac nodal line crossings along the Brillouin zone boundaries in PtPb4, arising from the nonsymmorphic symmetry of its crystal structure. Interestingly, while the nodal lines would remain gapless in the absence of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), the SOC, in this case, plays a detrimental role to topology by lifting the band degeneracy everywhere except at a set of isolated points. Nevertheless, the nodal line is observed to have a bandwidth much smaller than that found in density functional theory (DFT). Our findings reveal PtPb4 to be a material system with narrow crossings approximately protected by nonsymmorphic crystalline symmetries.Item Observation of flat bands and Dirac cones in a pyrochlore lattice superconductor(Springer Nature, 2024) Huang, Jianwei; Setty, Chandan; Deng, Liangzi; You, Jing-Yang; Liu, Hongxiong; Shao, Sen; Oh, Ji Seop; Guo, Yucheng; Zhang, Yichen; Yue, Ziqin; Yin, Jia-Xin; Hashimoto, Makoto; Lu, Donghui; Gorovikov, Sergey; Dai, Pengcheng; Denlinger, Jonathan D.; Allen, J. W.; Hasan, M. Zahid; Feng, Yuan-Ping; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Shi, Youguo; Chu, Ching-Wu; Chang, Guoqing; Si, Qimiao; Yi, Ming; Rice Center for Quantum MaterialsEmergent phases often appear when the electronic kinetic energy is comparable to the Coulomb interactions. One approach to seek material systems as hosts of such emergent phases is to realize localization of electronic wavefunctions due to the geometric frustration inherent in the crystal structure, resulting in flat electronic bands. Recently, such efforts have found a wide range of exotic phases in the two-dimensional kagome lattice, including magnetic order, time-reversal symmetry breaking charge order, nematicity, and superconductivity. However, the interlayer coupling of the kagome layers disrupts the destructive interference needed to completely quench the kinetic energy. Here we demonstrate that an interwoven kagome network—a pyrochlore lattice—can host a three dimensional (3D) localization of electron wavefunctions. Meanwhile, the nonsymmorphic symmetry of the pyrochlore lattice guarantees all band crossings at the Brillouin zone X point to be 3D gapless Dirac points, which was predicted theoretically but never yet observed experimentally. Through a combination of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, fundamental lattice model and density functional theory calculations, we investigate the novel electronic structure of a Laves phase superconductor with a pyrochlore sublattice, CeRu2. We observe evidence of flat bands originating from the Ce 4f orbitals as well as flat bands from the 3D destructive interference of the Ru 4d orbitals. We further observe the nonsymmorphic symmetry-protected 3D gapless Dirac cone at the X point. Our work establishes the pyrochlore structure as a promising lattice platform to realize and tune novel emergent phases intertwining topology and many-body interactions.Item Persistent flat band splitting and strong selective band renormalization in a kagome magnet thin film(Springer Nature, 2024) Ren, Zheng; Huang, Jianwei; Tan, Hengxin; Biswas, Ananya; Pulkkinen, Aki; Zhang, Yichen; Xie, Yaofeng; Yue, Ziqin; Chen, Lei; Xie, Fang; Allen, Kevin; Wu, Han; Ren, Qirui; Rajapitamahuni, Anil; Kundu, Asish K.; Vescovo, Elio; Kono, Junichiro; Morosan, Emilia; Dai, Pengcheng; Zhu, Jian-Xin; Si, Qimiao; Minár, Ján; Yan, Binghai; Yi, Ming; Smalley-Curl InstituteMagnetic kagome materials provide a fascinating playground for exploring the interplay of magnetism, correlation and topology. Many magnetic kagome systems have been reported including the binary FemXn (X = Sn, Ge; m:n = 3:1, 3:2, 1:1) family and the rare earth RMn6Sn6 (R = rare earth) family, where their kagome flat bands are calculated to be near the Fermi level in the paramagnetic phase. While partially filling a kagome flat band is predicted to give rise to a Stoner-type ferromagnetism, experimental visualization of the magnetic splitting across the ordering temperature has not been reported for any of these systems due to the high ordering temperatures, hence leaving the nature of magnetism in kagome magnets an open question. Here, we probe the electronic structure with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in a kagome magnet thin film FeSn synthesized using molecular beam epitaxy. We identify the exchange-split kagome flat bands, whose splitting persists above the magnetic ordering temperature, indicative of a local moment picture. Such local moments in the presence of the topological flat band are consistent with the compact molecular orbitals predicted in theory. We further observe a large spin-orbital selective band renormalization in the Fe $${{{{\rm{d}}}}}_{{xy}}+{{{{\rm{d}}}}}_{{x}^{2}-{y}^{2}}$$spin majority channel reminiscent of the orbital selective correlation effects in the iron-based superconductors. Our discovery of the coexistence of local moments with topological flat bands in a kagome system echoes similar findings in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, and provides a basis for theoretical effort towards modeling correlation effects in magnetic flat band systems.Item Reversible non-volatile electronic switching in a near-room-temperature van der Waals ferromagnet(Springer Nature, 2024) Wu, Han; Chen, Lei; Malinowski, Paul; Jang, Bo Gyu; Deng, Qinwen; Scott, Kirsty; Huang, Jianwei; Ruff, Jacob P. C.; He, Yu; Chen, Xiang; Hu, Chaowei; Yue, Ziqin; Oh, Ji Seop; Teng, Xiaokun; Guo, Yucheng; Klemm, Mason; Shi, Chuqiao; Shi, Yue; Setty, Chandan; Werner, Tyler; Hashimoto, Makoto; Lu, Donghui; Yilmaz, Turgut; Vescovo, Elio; Mo, Sung-Kwan; Fedorov, Alexei; Denlinger, Jonathan D.; Xie, Yaofeng; Gao, Bin; Kono, Junichiro; Dai, Pengcheng; Han, Yimo; Xu, Xiaodong; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Zhu, Jian-Xin; da Silva Neto, Eduardo H.; Wu, Liang; Chu, Jiun-Haw; Si, Qimiao; Yi, Ming; Rice Center for Quantum MaterialsNon-volatile phase-change memory devices utilize local heating to toggle between crystalline and amorphous states with distinct electrical properties. Expanding on this kind of switching to two topologically distinct phases requires controlled non-volatile switching between two crystalline phases with distinct symmetries. Here, we report the observation of reversible and non-volatile switching between two stable and closely related crystal structures, with remarkably distinct electronic structures, in the near-room-temperature van der Waals ferromagnet Fe5−δGeTe2. We show that the switching is enabled by the ordering and disordering of Fe site vacancies that results in distinct crystalline symmetries of the two phases, which can be controlled by a thermal annealing and quenching method. The two phases are distinguished by the presence of topological nodal lines due to the preserved global inversion symmetry in the site-disordered phase, flat bands resulting from quantum destructive interference on a bipartite lattice, and broken inversion symmetry in the site-ordered phase.Item Room-Temperature Topological Phase Transition in Quasi-One-Dimensional Material Bi4I4(American Physical Society, 2021) Huang, Jianwei; Li, Sheng; Yoon, Chiho; Oh, Ji Seop; Wu, Han; Liu, Xiaoyuan; Dhale, Nikhil; Zhou, Yan-Feng; Guo, Yucheng; Zhang, Yichen; Hashimoto, Makoto; Lu, Donghui; Denlinger, Jonathan; Wang, Xiqu; Lau, Chun Ning; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Zhang, Fan; Lv, Bing; Yi, MingQuasi-one-dimensional (1D) materials provide a superior platform for characterizing and tuning topological phases for two reasons: (i) existence for multiple cleavable surfaces that enables better experimental identification of topological classification and (ii) stronger response to perturbations such as strain for tuning topological phases compared to higher dimensional crystal structures. In this paper, we present experimental evidence for a room-temperature topological phase transition in the quasi-1D material Bi4I4, mediated via a first-order structural transition between two distinct stacking orders of the weakly coupled chains. Using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on the two natural cleavable surfaces, we identify the high-temperature β phase to be the first weak topological insulator with two gapless Dirac cones on the (100) surface and no Dirac crossing on the (001) surface, while in the low-temperature α phase, the topological surface state on the (100) surface opens a gap, consistent with a recent theoretical prediction of a higher-order topological insulator beyond the scope of the established topological materials databases that hosts gapless hinge states. Our results not only identify a rare topological phase transition between first-order and second-order topological insulators but also establish a novel quasi-1D material platform for exploring unprecedented physics.Item Single-crystal growth and superconductivity in RbNi2Se2(American Physical Society, 2022) Liu, Hui; Hu, Xunwu; Guo, Hanjie; Teng, Xiao-Kun; Bu, Huanpeng; Luo, Zhihui; Li, Lisi; Liu, Zengjia; Huo, Mengwu; Liang, Feixiang; Sun, Hualei; Shen, Bing; Dai, Pengcheng; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Yao, Dao-Xin; Yi, Ming; Wang, MengWe report the synthesis and characterization of RbNi2Se2, an analog of the iron chalcogenide superconductor RbxFe2Se2, via transport, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. A superconducting transition at Tc=1.20 K is identified. In the normal state, RbNi2Se2 shows paramagnetic and Fermi-liquid behaviors. A large Sommerfeld coefficient yields an effective electron mass of m∗≈6me. In the superconducting state, zero-field electronic specific-heat data Ces can be described by a two-gap BCS model, indicating that RbNi2Se2 is a possible multigap superconductor. Our density functional theory calculations and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements demonstrate that RbNi2Se2 exhibits relatively weak correlations and multiband characteristics, consistent with the multigap superconductivity.Item Spin waves and spatially anisotropic exchange interactions in the $S=2$ stripe antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{Rb}}_{0.8}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{1.5}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$(American Physical Society, 2015) Wang, Meng; Valdivia, P.; Yi, Ming; Chen, J.X.; Zhang, W.L.; Ewings, R.A.; Perring, T.G.; Zhao, Yang; Harriger, L.W.; Lynn, J.W.; Bourret-Courchesne, E.; Dai, Pengcheng; Lee, D.H.; Yao, D. X.; Birgeneau, R.J.An inelastic neutron scattering study of the spin waves corresponding to the stripe antiferromagnetic order in insulating Rb0.8Fe1.5S2 throughout the Brillouin zone is reported. The spin wave spectra are well described by a Heisenberg Hamiltonian with anisotropic in-plane exchange interactions. Integrating the ordered moment and the spin fluctuations results in a total moment squared of 27.6±4.2μ2B/Fe, consistent with S≈2. Unlike XFe2As2 (X=Ca, Sr, and Ba), where the itinerant electrons have a significant contribution, our data suggest that this stripe antiferromagnetically ordered phase in Rb0.8Fe1.5S2 is a Mott-like insulator with fully localized 3d electrons and a high-spin ground state configuration. Nevertheless, the anisotropic exchange couplings appear to be universal in the stripe phase of Fe pnictides and chalcogenides.Item Spin waves and spatially anisotropic exchange interactions in the S=2 stripe antiferromagnet Rb0.8Fe1.5S2(American Physical Society, 2015) Wang, Meng; Valdivia, P.; Yi, Ming; Chen, J.X.; Zhang, W.L.; Ewings, R.A.; Perring, T.G.; Zhao, Yang; Harriger, L.W.; Lynn, J.W.; Bourret-Courchesne, E.; Dai, Pengcheng; Lee, D.H.; Yao, D.X.; Birgeneau, R.J.An inelastic neutron scattering study of the spin waves corresponding to the stripe antiferromagnetic order in insulating Rb0.8Fe1.5S2 throughout the Brillouin zone is reported. The spin wave spectra are well described by a Heisenberg Hamiltonian with anisotropic in-plane exchange interactions. Integrating the ordered moment and the spin fluctuations results in a total moment squared of 27.6±4.2μ2B/Fe, consistent with S≈2. Unlike XFe2As2 (X=Ca, Sr, and Ba), where the itinerant electrons have a significant contribution, our data suggest that this stripe antiferromagnetically ordered phase in Rb0.8Fe1.5S2 is a Mott-like insulator with fully localized 3d electrons and a high-spin ground state configuration. Nevertheless, the anisotropic exchange couplings appear to be universal in the stripe phase of Fe pnictides and chalcogenides.Item Surface Modification of Quantum Materials(2023-09-15) Yue, Ziqin; Yi, Ming; Kono, JunichiroThe tuning of surface electronic structure in quantum materials has emerged as an important research direction with broad implications for both fundamental physics as well as applications. Here we carried out angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to characterize the continuous evolution of the electronic band structures in a prototypical three-dimensional topological insulator, Bi2Se3, and a van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductor, Cr2Ge2Te6, using different approaches of in-situ surface modification. In Bi2Se3, by active hydrogen etching, we demonstrate the gradual removal of Se atoms and the formation of Bi bilayers that directly result in the spatial tuning of the topological surface states. In Cr2Ge2Te6, by surface alkali metal dosing, we observe the appearance and tuning of a Van Hove singularity in the electronic structure and subsequent renormalization of the conduction band, suggesting the tuning of surface charge carriers as a way to modify electronic correlations in 2D materials.Item Symmetry Breaking and Ascending in the Magnetic Kagome Metal FeGe(American Physical Society, 2024) Wu, Shangfei; Klemm, Mason L.; Shah, Jay; Ritz, Ethan T.; Duan, Chunruo; Teng, Xiaokun; Gao, Bin; Ye, Feng; Matsuda, Masaaki; Li, Fankang; Xu, Xianghan; Yi, Ming; Birol, Turan; Dai, Pengcheng; Blumberg, GirshSpontaneous symmetry breaking—the phenomenon in which an infinitesimal perturbation can cause the system to break the underlying symmetry—is a cornerstone concept in the understanding of interacting solid-state systems. In a typical series of temperature-driven phase transitions, higher-temperature phases are more symmetric due to the stabilizing effect of entropy that becomes dominant as the temperature is increased. However, the opposite is rare but possible when there are multiple degrees of freedom in the system. Here, we present such an example of a symmetry-ascending phenomenon upon cooling in a magnetic kagome metal FeGe by utilizing neutron Larmor diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. FeGe has a kagome lattice structure with simple A-type antiferromagnetic order below Néel temperature TN≈400 K and a charge density wave (CDW) transition at TCDW≈110 K, followed by a spin-canting transition at around 60 K. In the paramagnetic state at 460 K, we confirm that the crystal structure is indeed a hexagonal kagome lattice. On cooling to around TN, the crystal structure changes from hexagonal to monoclinic with in-plane lattice distortions on the order of 10−4 and the associated splitting of the double-degenerate phonon mode of the pristine kagome lattice. Upon further cooling to TCDW, the kagome lattice shows a small negative thermal expansion, and the crystal structure gradually becomes more symmetric upon further cooling. A tendency of increasing the crystalline symmetry upon cooling is unusual; it originates from an extremely weak structural instability that coexists and competes with the CDW and magnetic orders. These observations are against the expectations for a simple model with a single order parameter and hence can only be explained by a Landau free energy expansion that takes into account multiple lattice, charge, and spin degrees of freedom. Thus, the determination of the crystalline lattice symmetry as well as the unusual spin-lattice coupling is a first step towards understanding the rich electronic and magnetic properties of the system, and it sheds new light on intertwined orders where the lattice degree of freedom is no longer dominant.Item Transport anomalies in the layered compound BaPt4Se6(Springer Nature, 2021) Li, Sheng; Zhang, Yichen; Wu, Hanlin; Zhai, Huifei; Liu, Wenhao; Petit, Daniel Peirano; Oh, Ji Seop; Denlinger, Jonathan; McCandless, Gregory T.; Chan, Julia Y.; Birgeneau, Robert J.; Li, Gang; Yi, Ming; Lv, BingWe report a layered ternary selenide BaPt4Se6 featuring sesqui-selenide Pt2Se3 layers sandwiched by Ba atoms. The Pt2Se3 layers in this compound can be derived from the Dirac-semimetal PtSe2 phase with Se vacancies that form a honeycomb structure. This structure results in a Pt (VI) and Pt (II) mixed-valence compound with both PtSe6 octahedra and PtSe4 square net coordination configurations. Temperature-dependent electrical transport measurements suggest two distinct anomalies: a resistivity crossover, mimic to the metal-insulator (M-I) transition at ~150 K, and a resistivity plateau at temperatures below 10 K. The resistivity crossover is not associated with any structural, magnetic, or charge order modulated phase transitions. Magnetoresistivity, Hall, and heat capacity measurements concurrently suggest an existing hidden state below 5 K in this system. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal a metallic state and no dramatic reconstruction of the electronic structure up to 200 K.