Although copper oxide high-temperature superconductors constitute a complex and diverse material family, they all share a layered lattice structure. This curious fact prompts the question of whether ...high-temperature superconductivity can exist in an isolated monolayer of copper oxide, and if so, whether the two-dimensional superconductivity and various related phenomena differ from those of their three-dimensional counterparts. The answers may provide insights into the role of dimensionality in high-temperature superconductivity. Here we develop a fabrication process that obtains intrinsic monolayer crystals of the high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212; here, a monolayer refers to a half unit cell that contains two CuO2 planes). The highest superconducting transition temperature of the monolayer is as high as that of optimally doped bulk. The lack of dimensionality effect on the transition temperature defies expectations from the Mermin-Wagner theorem, in contrast to the much-reduced transition temperature in conventional two-dimensional superconductors such as NbSe2. The properties of monolayer Bi-2212 become extremely tunable; our survey of superconductivity, the pseudogap, charge order and the Mott state at various doping concentrations reveals that the phases are indistinguishable from those in the bulk. Monolayer Bi-2212 therefore displays all the fundamental physics of high-temperature superconductivity. Our results establish monolayer copper oxides as a platform for studying high-temperature superconductivity and other strongly correlated phenomena in two dimensions.
Topological superconductors are predicted to host exotic Majorana states that obey non-Abelian statistics and can be used to implement a topological quantum computer. Most of the proposed topological ...superconductors are realized in difficult-to-fabricate heterostructures at very low temperatures. By using high-resolution spin-resolved and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we find that the iron-based superconductor FeTe
Se
(
= 0.45; superconducting transition temperature
= 14.5 kelvin) hosts Dirac-cone-type spin-helical surface states at the Fermi level; the surface states exhibit an s-wave superconducting gap below
Our study shows that the surface states of FeTe
Se
are topologically superconducting, providing a simple and possibly high-temperature platform for realizing Majorana states.
Sulforaphane is a type of sulfur-containing isothiocyanates hydrolyzed from glucosinolates by myrosinase found in Brassica plants. Sulforaphane is a naturally occurring inducer of phase II enzymes in ...human and animal bodies to detoxify cancer-causing chemicals. Glucoraphanin is the precursor of sulforaphane and its content is greatly influenced by plant species and genotype, plant organs, pre-harvest factors, and post-harvest processing, thus sulforaphane formation is also directly influenced. Here, we review the formation mechanism of sulforaphane and the factors influencing sulforaphane formation. In the end, the future directions are also discussed.
Chiral magnetic effect in ZrTe5 Li, Qiang; Kharzeev, Dmitri E.; Zhang, Cheng ...
Nature physics,
06/2016, Volume:
12, Issue:
6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The chiral magnetic effect is the generation of an electric current induced by chirality imbalance in the presence of a magnetic field. It is a macroscopic manifestation of the quantum anomaly1, 2 in ...relativistic field theory of chiral fermions (massless spin 1/2 particles with a definite projection of spin on momentum)--a remarkable phenomenon arising from a collective motion of particles and antiparticles in the Dirac sea. The recent discovery3, 4, 5, 6 of Dirac semimetals with chiral quasiparticles opens a fascinating possibility to study this phenomenon in condensed matter experiments. Here we report on the measurement of magnetotransport in zirconium pentatelluride, ZrTe5, that provides strong evidence for the chiral magnetic effect. Our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments show that this material's electronic structure is consistent with a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal. We observe a large negative magnetoresistance when the magnetic field is parallel with the current. The measured quadratic field dependence of the magnetoconductance is a clear indication of the chiral magnetic effect. The observed phenomenon stems from the effective transmutation of a Dirac semimetal into a Weyl semimetal induced by parallel electric and magnetic fields that represent a topologically non-trivial gauge field background. We expect that the chiral magnetic effect may emerge in a wide class of materials that are near the transition between the trivial and topological insulators.
Dissipationless currents from topologically protected states are promising for disorder-tolerant electronics and quantum computation. Here, we photogenerate giant anisotropic terahertz nonlinear ...currents with vanishing scattering, driven by laser-induced coherent phonons of broken inversion symmetry in a centrosymmetric Dirac material ZrTe5. Our work suggests that this phononic terahertz symmetry switching leads to formation of Weyl points, whose chirality manifests in a transverse, helicity-dependent current, orthogonal to the dynamical inversion symmetry breaking axis, via circular photogalvanic effect. The temperature-dependent topological photocurrent exhibits several distinct features: Berry curvature dominance, particle–hole reversal near conical points and chirality protection that is responsible for an exceptional ballistic transport length of ~10 μm. These results, together with first-principles modelling, indicate two pairs of Weyl points dynamically created by B1u phonons of broken inversion symmetry. Such phononic terahertz control breaks ground for coherent manipulation of Weyl nodes and robust quantum transport without application of static electric or magnetic fields.Femtosecond optical pulses are used to generate coherent phonons that break inversion symmetry and drive anisotropic terahertz photocurrents in the topological material ZrTe5.
Combining topology and superconductivity provides a powerful tool for investigating fundamental physics as well as a route to fault-tolerant quantum computing. There is mounting evidence that the ...Fe-based superconductor FeTe0.55Se0.45 (FTS) may also be topologically nontrivial. Should the superconducting order be s±, then FTS could be a higher order topological superconductor with helical hinge zero modes (HHZMs). To test the presence of these modes, we have fabricated normal-metal/superconductor junctions on different surfaces via 2D atomic crystal heterostructures. As expected, junctions in contact with the hinge reveal a sharp zero bias anomaly that is absent when tunneling purely into the c-axis. Additionally, the shape and suppression with temperature are consistent with highly coherent modes along the hinge and are incongruous with other origins of zero bias anomalies. Additional measurements with soft-point contacts in bulk samples with various Fe interstitial contents demonstrate the intrinsic nature of the observed mode. Thus, we provide evidence that FTS is indeed a higher order topological superconductor.
Although the possibility of spatial variations in the superfluid of unconventional, strongly correlated superconductors has been suggested
, it is not known whether such inhomogeneities-if they ...exist-are driven by disorder, strong scattering or other factors. Here we use atomic-resolution Josephson scanning tunnelling microscopy to reveal a strongly inhomogeneous superfluid in the iron-based superconductor FeTe
Se
. By simultaneously measuring the topographic and electronic properties of the superconductor, we find that this inhomogeneity in the superfluid is not caused by structural disorder or strong inter-pocket scattering and is not correlated with variations in the energy required to break electron pairs. Instead, we see a clear spatial correlation between the superfluid density and the quasiparticle strength (the height of the coherence peak) on a local scale. This result places iron-based superconductors on equal footing with copper oxide superconductors, where a similar relation has been observed on the macroscopic scale. Our results establish the existence of strongly inhomogeneous superfluids in unconventional superconductors, excluding chemical disorder and inter-band scattering as the causes of the inhomogeneity, and shed light on the relation between quasiparticle character and superfluid density. When repeated at different temperatures, our technique could further help to elucidate what local and global mechanisms limit the critical temperature in unconventional superconductors.
A grand challenge underlies the entire field of topology-enabled quantum logic and information science: how to establish topological control principles driven by quantum coherence and understand the ...time dependence of such periodic driving. Here we demonstrate a few-cycle THz-pulse-induced phase transition in a Dirac semimetalZrTe5that is periodically driven by vibrational coherence due to excitation of the lowest Raman active mode. Above a critical THz-pump field threshold, there emerges a long-lived metastable phase, approximately 100 ps, with unique Raman phonon-assisted topological switching dynamics absent for optical pumping. The switching also manifests itself by distinct features: nonthermal spectral shape, relaxation slowing near the Lifshitz transition where the critical Dirac point occurs, and diminishing signals at the same temperature that the Berry-curvature-induced anomalous Hall effect magnetoresistance vanishes. These results, together with first-principles modeling, identify a mode-selective Raman coupling that drives the system from strong to weak topological insulators with a Dirac semimetal phase established at a critical atomic displacement controlled by the phonon coherent pumping. Harnessing of vibrational coherence can be extended to steer symmetry-breaking transitions, i.e., Dirac to Weyl ones, with implications for THz topological quantum gate and error correction applications.
Sensory systems for detecting tactile stimuli have evolved from touch-sensing nerves in invertebrates to complicated tactile end organs in mammals. Merkel discs are tactile end organs consisting of ...Merkel cells and Aβ-afferent nerve endings and are localized in fingertips, whisker hair follicles, and other touch-sensitive spots. Merkel discs transduce touch into slowly adapting impulses to enable tactile discrimination, but their transduction and encoding mechanisms remain unknown. Using rat whisker hair follicles, we show that Merkel cells rather than Aβ-afferent nerve endings are primary sites of tactile transduction and identify the Piezo2 ion channel as the Merkel cell mechanical transducer. Piezo2 transduces tactile stimuli into Ca2+-action potentials in Merkel cells, which drive Aβ-afferent nerve endings to fire slowly adapting impulses. We further demonstrate that Piezo2 and Ca2+-action potentials in Merkel cells are required for behavioral tactile responses. Our findings provide insights into how tactile end-organs function and have clinical implications for tactile dysfunctions.
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•Merkel cells are primary sites of tactile transduction and encoding•Piezo2 ion channels mediate tactile transduction in Merkel cells•Tactile transduction is encoded as Ca2+-action potentials in Merkel cells•Merkel cell Ca2+-action potentials drive slowly adapting Aβ-afferent impulses
Merkel cells transduce the sense of touch in mammals through Piezo2 channel-mediated Ca2+-action potentials that drive the firing of Aβ-afferent nerve endings.
Structural distortions and imperfections are a crucial aspect of materials science, on the macroscopic scale providing strength, but also enhancing corrosion and reducing electrical and thermal ...conductivity. At the nanometre scale, multi-atom imperfections, such as atomic chains and crystalline domain walls have conversely been proposed as a route to topological superconductivity, whose most prominent characteristic is the emergence of Majorana Fermions that can be used for error-free quantum computing. Here, we shed more light on the nature of purported domain walls in Fe(Se,Te) that may host 1D dispersing Majorana modes. We show that the displacement shift of the atomic lattice at these line-defects results from sub-surface impurities that warp the topmost layer(s). Using the electric field between the tip and sample, we manage to reposition the sub-surface impurities, directly visualizing the displacement shift and the underlying defect-free lattice. These results, combined with observations of a completely different type of 1D defect where superconductivity remains fully gapped, highlight the topologically trivial nature of 1D defects in Fe(Se,Te).
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