强关联材料霍尔热导率实验测量综述

在材料中输入热流并在垂直于热流的方向上施加磁场时,热载流子将可能被磁场偏转,获得横向速度,从而导致材料在横向出现一个温度梯度。这种效应被称为热霍尔效应(THE)。与电霍尔效应类似,热霍尔效应被预言将在一些拥有非平庸贝利曲率的材料中出现,因此它可以揭示材料的拓扑性质。然而,热霍尔效应并不像电霍尔一样,只局限于载流子带电的体系;相反,任何种类的准粒子都可以导热。因此,热霍尔效应也可以用来探索强关联电子体系材料(尤其是绝缘体)的奇异性质。因此,热霍尔效应更具有普适性,并日益成为探测电中性激发,如声子和磁振子的强有力手段。不仅如此,有如手性声子这样超越一般非平庸贝利曲率图像的因素仍可导致热霍尔效应;探查其中的热霍尔效应将为理解材料中复杂的微观机理指明方向。但是,热信号比电信号要微弱得多。尤其是测量热霍尔效应,往往要在较大背景噪音中提取微弱的有效信号,这使霍尔热导的测量极具挑战性。但是得益于科研工作者大量的努力,该领域在近几年发展迅速,得到了许多十分有趣的结果。在本文中,我们将简要总结现有的一些令人兴奋的在霍尔热导率测量方面的成果,指出尚未解决的问题,并提出未来可能的方向。

强关联电子系统中的热输运测量

当考虑电子间的库伦排斥相互作用,以及电荷、自旋和轨道之间的相互耦合时,诸多超越了近自由电子框架的新奇量子态涌现而出,如非常规超导态和量子自旋液体等。对这些新奇物态的认知不仅会拓展现有的知识框架,也有望引发新一轮的量子科技革命。因此,对强关联物理的研究是当下凝聚态物理领域的前沿课题。铜基高温超导体的母体是一种莫特绝缘体,在传统的能带论之下被预言为金属态。然而电子间的强关联行为使得它表现出绝缘体的性质。由于莫特绝缘体中库伦相互作用致使能隙打开并冻结其中的电荷自由度,所以在该体系中难以开展电输运性质的测量研究。作为一种对于元激发(不仅包括电子,还包括磁振子、自旋子等)敏感的探针,热输运测量在强关联电子系统的研究中发挥着重要的作用。本文回顾了近些年在非常规超导、重费米子系统和量子自旋液体研究中一些有趣的纵向热输运性质的研究成果,并与我们近期发表的运用横向热导率测量热霍尔现象的综述文章相互补充。

量子自旋液体的实验研究进展

量子自旋液体是指由于其中存在的强量子涨落导致自旋即使在零温极限下也不形成磁有序的一种新的自旋量子态.区别于传统的磁有序材料,它的基态没有确定的序参量来表示,并且不伴随任何自发的对称性破缺,超越了朗道相变理论所能描述的物相范畴,代表了一种新奇的量子物态,具有非常高的理论研究价值.这一全新的物态被认为与非常规超导机制之间有着十分紧密的关系.同时在未来的量子计算方面有着非常诱人的应用前景,因此一直以来备受关注.虽然量子自旋液体理论经过近半个世纪的积淀有了长足的发展,但是由于候选材料稀少,实验测量条件苛刻等多种因素制约,导致实验方面的进展相对缓慢.近年来各项实验技术的进步和成熟为量子自旋液体候选材料的测量表征提供了有利条件,加快了实验工作的推进速度.本文将从实验的角度介绍(1)几何阻挫量子自旋液体候选材料,包括三角晶格化合物YbMgGaO4和YbZnGaO4、κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3、EtMe3Sb[Pd(dmit)2]2和kagomé格子化合物ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2;(2) Kitaev量子自旋液体候选材料铱氧化物(Na2IrO3与α-,β-,γ-Li2IrO3)和α-RuCl3.文章将着重介绍近年来在量子自旋液体实验方面的进展,之后做一个简单的总结,最后对量子自旋液体的未来发展做一个展望.

Evidence for Magnetic Fractional Excitations in a Kitaev Quantum-Spin-Liquid Candidate α-RuCl_(3)

It is known that α-RuCl_(3) has been studied extensively because of its proximity to the Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid(QSL)phase and the possibility of approaching it by tuning the competing interactions.Here we present the first polarized inelastic neutron scattering study on α-RuCl_(3) single crystals to explore the scattering continuum around the Γ point at the Brillouin zone center,which was hypothesized to be resulting from the Kitaev QSL state but without concrete evidence.With polarization analyses,we find that,while the spin-wave excitations around the Γ point vanish above the transition temperature T_(N),the pure magnetic continuous excitations around the Γ point are robust against temperature.Furthermore,by calculating the dynamical spin-spin correlation function using the cluster perturbation theory,we derive magnetic dispersion spectra based on the K-Γ model,which involves with a ferromagnetic Kitaev interaction of −7.2 meV and an off-diagonal interaction of 5.6 meV.We find this model can reproduce not only the spin-wave excitation spectra around the Γ point,but also the non-spin-wave continuous magnetic excitations around the Γ point.These results provide evidence for the existence of fractional excitations around the Γ point originating from the Kitaev QSL state,and further support the validity of the K-Γ model as the effective minimal spin model to describe α-RuCl_(3).

Neutron Spectroscopy Evidence for a Possible Magnetic-Field-Induced Gapless Quantum-Spin-Liquid Phase in a Kitaev Materialα-RuCl3

As one of the most promising Kitaev quantum-spin-liquid(QSL)candidates,α-RuCl_(3)has received a great deal of attention.However,its ground state exhibits a long-range zigzag magnetic order,which defies the QSL phase.Nevertheless,the magnetic order is fragile and can be completely suppressed by applying an external magnetic field.Here,we explore the evolution of magnetic excitations ofα-RuCl;under an in-plane magnetic field,by carrying out inelastic neutron scattering measurements on high-quality single crystals.Under zero field,there exist spin-wave excitations near the M point and a continuum near theΓpoint,which are believed to be associated with the zigzag magnetic order and fractional excitations of the Kitaev QSL state,respectively.By increasing the magnetic field,the spin-wave excitations gradually give way to the continuous excitations.On the verge of the critical fieldμ_(0)H_(c)=7.5 T,the former ones vanish and only the latter ones are left,indicating the emergence of a pure QSL state.By further increasing the field strength,the excitations near theΓpoint become more intense.By following the gap evolution of the excitations near theΓpoint,we are able to establish a phase diagram composed of three interesting phases,including a gapped zigzag order phase at low fields,possibly gapless QSL phase nearμ;H;,and gapped partially polarized phase at high fields.These results demonstrate that an in-plane magnetic field can driveα-RuCl;into a long-sought QSL state near the critical field.

Observation of a Ubiquitous(π,π)-Type Nematic Superconducting Order in the Whole Superconducting Dome of Ultra-Thin BaFe_(2-x)Ni_(x)As_(2) Single Crystals

In iron-based superconductors,the(0,π) or(π,0) nematicity,which describes an electronic anisotropy with a fourfold symmetry breaking,is well established and believed to be important for understanding the superconducting mechanism.However,how exactly such a nematic order observed in the normal state can be related to the superconducting pairing is still elusive.Here,by performing angular-dependent in-plane magnetoresistivity using ultra-thin flakes in the steep superconducting transition region,we unveil a nematic superconducting order along the(π,π) direction in electron-doped BaFe_(2-x)Ni_(x)As_(2) from under-doped to heavily overdoped regimes with x=0.065- 0.18.It shows superconducting gap maxima along the(π,π) direction rotated by 45° from the nematicity along(0, π) or(π,0) direction observed in the normal state.A similar(π,π)-type nematicity is also observed in the under-doped and optimally doped hole-type Ba1-yKyFe2 As_(2),with y=0.2-0.5.These results suggest that the(π,π) nematic superconducting order is a universal feature that needs to be taken into account in the superconducting pairing mechanism in iron-based superconductors.

Recent progress on magnetic-field studies on quantum-spin-liquid candidates

Quantum spin liquids（QSLs） represent a novel state of matter in which quantum fluctuations prevent the conventional magnetic order from being established, and the spins remain disordered even at zero temperature. There have been many theoretical developments proposing various QSL states. On the other hand, experimental movement was relatively slow largely due to limitations on the candidate materials and difficulties in the measurements. In recent years, the experimental progress has been accelerated. In this topical review, we give a brief summary of experiments on the QSL candidates under magnetic fields. We arrange our discussions by two categories： i） Geometrically-frustrated systems, including triangularlattice compounds YbMgGaO4 and YbZnGaO4, κ-（BEDT-TTF）2 Cu2（CN）3, and EtMe3 Sb[Pd（dmit）2]2, and the kagom′e system ZnCu3（OH）6 Cl2; ii） the Kitaev material α-RuCl3. Among these, we will pay special attention to α-RuCl3, which has been intensively studied by ours and other groups recently. We will present evidence that both supports and rejects the QSL ground state for these materials, based on which we give several perspectives to stimulate further research activities.

三维拓扑磁振子在真实材料体系中的实现

将＂拓扑＂这一数学概念引入物理学后,一方面推动了基础物理学研究的发展,另外一方面也促使了大量新颖拓扑量子材料的出现,例如石墨烯、拓扑绝缘体、三维狄拉克半金属以及外尔半金属等,极大地丰富了材料科学,为低耗散、更稳定的下一代电子器件的发展奠定了材料基础。在这类拓扑材料中,系统的对称性在拓扑电子能带的形成中发挥着极为重要的作用。