Evidence for hydrodynamic electron flow in PdCoO2 Moll, Philip J W; Kushwaha, Pallavi; Nandi, Nabhanila ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
03/2016, Letnik:
351, Številka:
6277
Journal Article
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Electrons inside a conductor are often described as flowing in response to an electric field. This flow rarely resembles anything like the familiar flow of water through a pipe, but three groups ...describe counterexamples (see the Perspective by Zaanen). Moll et al. found that the viscosity of the electron fluid in thin wires of PdCoO2 had a major effect on the flow, much like what happens in regular fluids. Bandurin et al. found evidence in graphene of electron whirlpools similar to those formed by viscous fluid flowing through a small opening. Finally, Crossno et al. observed a huge increase of thermal transport in graphene, a signature of so-called Dirac fluids. Science, this issue p. 1061, 1055, 1058; see also p. 1026 Electron transport is conventionally determined by the momentum-relaxing scattering of electrons by the host solid and its excitations. Hydrodynamic fluid flow through channels, in contrast, is determined partly by the viscosity of the fluid, which is governed by momentum-conserving internal collisions. A long-standing question in the physics of solids has been whether the viscosity of the electron fluid plays an observable role in determining the resistance. We report experimental evidence that the resistance of restricted channels of the ultrapure two-dimensional metal palladium cobaltate (PdCoO2) has a large viscous contribution. Comparison with theory allows an estimate of the electronic viscosity in the range between 6 × 10-3 kg m-1 s-1 and 3 × 10-4 kg m-1 s-1, versus 1 × 10-3 kg m-1 s-1 for water at room temperature.
Broadband, efficient and fast conversion of light to electricity is crucial for sensing and clean energy. The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE) is a second-order nonlinear optical effect that ...intrinsically converts light into electrical current. Here, we demonstrate a large mid-infrared BPVE in microscopic devices of the Weyl semimetal TaAs. This discovery results from combining recent developments in Weyl semimetals, focused-ion beam fabrication and theoretical works suggesting a connection between BPVE and topology. We also present a detailed symmetry analysis that allows us to separate the shift current response from photothermal effects. The magnitude and wavelength range of the assigned shift current may impact optical detectors, clean energy and topology, and demonstrate the utility of Weyl semimetals for practical applications.
Abstract
In an idealized infinite crystal, the material properties are constrained by the symmetries of the unit cell. The point-group symmetry is broken by the sample shape of any finite crystal, ...but this is commonly unobservable in macroscopic metals. To sense the shape-induced symmetry lowering in such metals, long-lived bulk states originating from an anisotropic Fermi surface are needed. Here we show how a strongly facetted Fermi surface and the long quasiparticle mean free path present in microstructures of PdCoO
2
yield an in-plane resistivity anisotropy that is forbidden by symmetry on an infinite hexagonal lattice. We fabricate bar-shaped transport devices narrower than the mean free path from single crystals using focused ion beam milling, such that the ballistic charge carriers at low temperatures frequently collide with both of the side walls that define the channel. Two symmetry-forbidden transport signatures appear: the in-plane resistivity anisotropy exceeds a factor of 2, and a transverse voltage appears in zero magnetic field. Using ballistic Monte Carlo simulations and a numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation, we identify the orientation of the narrow channel as the source of symmetry breaking.
Abstract
When electric conductors differ from their mirror image, unusual chiral transport coefficients appear that are forbidden in achiral metals, such as a non-linear electric response known as ...electronic magnetochiral anisotropy (eMChA)
1–6
. Although chiral transport signatures are allowed by symmetry in many conductors without a centre of inversion, they reach appreciable levels only in rare cases in which an exceptionally strong chiral coupling to the itinerant electrons is present. So far, observations of chiral transport have been limited to materials in which the atomic positions strongly break mirror symmetries. Here, we report chiral transport in the centrosymmetric layered kagome metal CsV
3
Sb
5
observed via second-harmonic generation under an in-plane magnetic field. The eMChA signal becomes significant only at temperatures below
$${T}^{{\prime} }\approx $$
T
′
≈
35 K, deep within the charge-ordered state of CsV
3
Sb
5
(
T
CDW
≈ 94 K). This temperature dependence reveals a direct correspondence between electronic chirality, unidirectional charge order
7
and spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking due to putative orbital loop currents
8–10
. We show that the chirality is set by the out-of-plane field component and that a transition from left- to right-handed transport can be induced by changing the field sign. CsV
3
Sb
5
is the first material in which strong chiral transport can be controlled and switched by small magnetic field changes, in stark contrast to structurally chiral materials, which is a prerequisite for applications in chiral electronics.
With the discovery of new superconducting materials, such as the iron pnictides, exploring their potential for applications is one of the foremost tasks. Even if the critical temperature Tc is high, ...intrinsic electronic properties might render applications difficult, particularly if extreme electronic anisotropy prevents effective pinning of vortices and thus severely limits the critical current density, a problem well known for cuprates. Although many questions concerning microscopic electronic properties of the iron pnictides have been successfully addressed and estimates point to a very high upper critical field, their application potential is less clear. Thus, we focus here on the critical currents, their anisotropy and the onset of electrical dissipation in high magnetic fields up to 65 T. Our detailed study of the transport properties of SmFeAsO0.7F0.25 single crystals reveals a promising combination of high (>2×106 A cm−2) and nearly isotropic critical current densities along all crystal directions. This favourable intragrain current transport in SmFeAs(O, F), which shows the highest Tc of 54 K at ambient pressure, is a crucial requirement for possible applications. Essential in these experiments are four-probe measurements on focused-ion-beam-cut single crystals with a sub-square-micrometre cross-section, with current along and perpendicular to the crystallographic c axis.
The dispersion of charge carriers in a metal is distinctly different from that of free electrons owing to their interactions with the crystal lattice. These interactions may lead to quasiparticles ...mimicking the massless relativistic dynamics of high-energy particle physics, and they can twist the quantum phase of electrons into topologically non-trivial knots-producing protected surface states with anomalous electromagnetic properties. These effects intertwine in materials known as Weyl semimetals, and in their crystal-symmetry-protected analogues, Dirac semimetals. The latter show a linear electronic dispersion in three dimensions described by two copies of the Weyl equation (a theoretical description of massless relativistic fermions). At the surface of a crystal, the broken translational symmetry creates topological surface states, so-called Fermi arcs, which have no counterparts in high-energy physics or conventional condensed matter systems. Here we present Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in focused-ion-beam-prepared microstructures of Cd3As2 that are consistent with the theoretically predicted 'Weyl orbits', a kind of cyclotron motion that weaves together Fermi-arc and chiral bulk states. In contrast to conventional cyclotron orbits, this motion is driven by the transfer of chirality from one Weyl node to another, rather than momentum transfer of the Lorentz force. Our observations provide evidence for direct access to the topological properties of charge in a transport experiment, a first step towards their potential application.
Abstract
CeRhIn
5
provides a textbook example of quantum criticality in a heavy fermion system: Pressure suppresses local-moment antiferromagnetic (AFM) order and induces superconductivity in a dome ...around the associated quantum critical point (QCP) near
p
c
≈ 23 kbar. Strong magnetic fields also suppress the AFM order at a field-induced QCP at
B
c
≈ 50 T. In its vicinity, a nematic phase at
B
*
≈ 28 T characterized by a large in-plane resistivity anisotropy emerges. Here, we directly investigate the interrelation between these phenomena via magnetoresistivity measurements under high pressure. As pressure increases, the nematic transition shifts to higher fields, until it vanishes just below
p
c
. While pressure suppresses magnetic order in zero field as
p
c
is approached, we find magnetism to strengthen under strong magnetic fields due to suppression of the Kondo effect. We reveal a strongly non-mean-field-like phase diagram, much richer than the common local-moment description of CeRhIn
5
would suggest.
Weyl fermions are a recently discovered ingredient for correlated states of electronic matter. A key difficulty has been that real materials also contain non-Weyl quasiparticles, and disentangling ...the experimental signatures has proven challenging. Here we use magnetic fields up to 95 T to drive the Weyl semimetal TaAs far into its quantum limit, where only the purely chiral 0th Landau levels of the Weyl fermions are occupied. We find the electrical resistivity to be nearly independent of magnetic field up to 50 T: unusual for conventional metals but consistent with the chiral anomaly for Weyl fermions. Above 50 T we observe a two-order-of-magnitude increase in resistivity, indicating that a gap opens in the chiral Landau levels. Above 80 T we observe strong ultrasonic attenuation below 2 K, suggesting a mesoscopically textured state of matter. These results point the way to inducing new correlated states of matter in the quantum limit of Weyl semimetals.
We present a high magnetic field study of NbP-a member of the monopnictide Weyl semimetal (WSM) family. While the monoarsenides (NbAs and TaAs) have topologically distinct left and right-handed Weyl ...fermi surfaces, NbP is argued to be "topologically trivial" due to the fact that all pairs of Weyl nodes are encompassed by a single Fermi surface. We use torque magnetometry to measure the magnetic response of NbP up to 60 tesla and uncover a Berry paramagnetic response, characteristic of the topological Weyl nodes, across the entire field range. At the quantum limit B
(≈32 T), τ/B experiences a change in slope when the chemical potential enters the last Landau level. Our calculations confirm that this magnetic response arises from band topology of the Weyl pocket, even though the Fermi surface encompasses both Weyl nodes at zero magnetic field. We also find that the magnetic field pulls the chemical potential to the chiral n = 0 Landau level in the quantum limit, providing a disorder-free way of accessing chiral Weyl fermions in systems that are "not quite" WSMs in zero magnetic field.
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