Publications

While recent experiments confirm the existence of hundreds of topological electronic materials, only a few exhibit the coexistence of superconductivity (SC) and a topological electronic state. These compounds attract significant attention in forefront research because of the potential for the existence of topological SC, paving the way for future technological advancements. SrSn₄ is known for exhibiting unusual SC below the transition temperature (T_C) of 4.8 K. Recent theory predicts a topological electronic state in this compound, which is yet to be confirmed by experiments. Systematic and detailed studies of the magnetotransport properties of SrSn₄ and its Fermi surface characterizations are also absent. For the first time, a quantum oscillation study reveals a nontrivial π-Berry phase, very light effective mass, and high quantum mobility of charge carriers in SrSn₄. Magnetotransport experiment unveils large linear transverse magnetoresistance (TMR) of more than 1200% at 5 K and 14 T. Angle-dependent transport experiments detect anisotropic and fourfold symmetric TMR, with the maximum value (≈2000%) occurring when the angle between the magnetic field and the crystallographic b-axis is 45°. The results suggest that SrSn₄ is the first topological material with SC above the boiling point of helium that displays such high magnetoresistance.

The scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) fabricated on the tip of a sharp quartz pipette (SQUID-on-tip) has emerged as a versatile tool for the nanoscale imaging of magnetic, thermal, and transport properties of microscopic devices of quantum materials. We present the design and performance of a scanning SQUID-on-tip microscope in a top-loading probe of a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator. The microscope is enclosed in a custom-made vacuum-tight cell mounted at the bottom of the probe and is suspended by springs to suppress vibrations caused by the pulse tube cryocooler. Two capillaries allow for the in situ control of helium exchange gas pressure in the cell that is required for thermal imaging. A nanoscale heater is used to create local temperature gradients in the sample, which enables quantitative characterization of relative vibrations between the tip and the sample. The spectrum of the vibrations shows distinct resonant peaks with a maximal power density of about 27 nm/Hz1/2 in the in-plane direction. The performance of the SQUID-on-tip microscope is demonstrated by magnetic imaging of the MnBi2Te4 magnetic topological insulator, magnetization and current distribution imaging in a SrRuO3 ferromagnetic oxide thin film, and thermal imaging of dissipation in graphene.

Vortices are the hallmarks of hydrodynamic flow. Strongly interacting electrons in ultrapure conductors can display signatures of hydrodynamic behaviour, including negative non-local resistance1,2,3,4, higher-than-ballistic conduction5,6,7, Poiseuille flow in narrow channels8,9,10 and violation of the WiedemannFranz law11. Here we provide a visualization of whirlpools in an electron fluid. By using a nanoscale scanning superconducting quantum interference device on a tip12, we image the current distribution in a circular chamber connected through a small aperture to a current-carrying strip in the high-purity type II Weyl semimetal WTe2. In this geometry, the Gurzhi momentum diffusion length and the size of the aperture determine the vortex stability phase diagram. We find that vortices are present for only small apertures, whereas the flow is laminar (non-vortical) for larger apertures. Near the vortical-to-laminar transition, we observe the single vortex in the chamber splitting into two vortices; this behaviour is expected only in the hydrodynamic regime and is not anticipated for ballistic transport. These findings suggest a new mechanism of hydrodynamic flow in thin pure crystals such that the spatial diffusion of electron momenta is enabled by small-angle scattering at the surfaces instead of the routinely invoked electronelectron scattering, which becomes extremely weak at low temperatures. This surface-induced para-hydrodynamics, which mimics many aspects of conventional hydrodynamics including vortices, opens new possibilities for exploring and using electron fluidics in high-mobility electron systems.

A combined resistivity and hard x-ray diffraction study of superconductivity and charge ordering in Ir Ir(1-x)PtxTe(2), as a function of Pt substitution and externally applied hydrostatic pressure, is presented. Experiments are focused on samples near the critical composition x(c)-0.045 where competition and switching between charge order and superconductivity is established. We show that charge order as a function of pressure in Ir0.95Pt0.05Te2 is preempted-and hence triggered - by a structural transition. Charge ordering appears uniaxially along the short crystallographic (1, 0, 1) domain axis with a (1/5, 0, 1/5) modulation. Based on these results we draw a charge-order phase diagram and discuss the relation between stripe ordering and superconductivity.

The application of magnetic fields to layered cuprates suppresses their high-temperature superconducting behaviour and reveals competing ground states. In widely studied underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO), the microscopic nature of field-induced electronic and structural changes at low temperatures remains unclear. Here we report an X-ray study of the high-field charge density wave (CDW) in YBCO. For hole dopings ∼0.123, we find that a field (B∼10 T) induces additional CDW correlations along the CuO chain (b-direction) only, leading to a three-dimensional (3D) ordered state along this direction at B∼15 T. The CDW signal along the a-direction is also enhanced by field, but does not develop an additional pattern of correlations. Magnetic field modifies the coupling between the CuO2 bilayers in the YBCO structure, and causes the sudden appearance of the 3D CDW order. The mirror symmetry of individual bilayers is broken by the CDW at low and high fields, allowing Fermi surface reconstruction, as recently suggested.

Charge density wave (CDW) order appears throughout the underdoped high-temperature cuprate superconductors, but the underlying symmetry breaking and the origin of the CDW remain unclear. We use X-ray diffraction to determine the microscopic structure of the CDWs in an archetypical cuprate YBa2Cu3O6.54 at its superconducting transition temperature ∼60 K. We find that the CDWs in this material break the mirror symmetry of the CuO2 bilayers. The ionic displacements in the CDWs have two components, which are perpendicular and parallel to the CuO2 planes, and are out of phase with each other. The planar oxygen atoms have the largest displacements, perpendicular to the CuO2 planes. Our results allow many electronic properties of the underdoped cuprates to be understood. For instance, the CDWs will lead to local variations in the electronic structure, giving an explicit explanation of density-wave states with broken symmetry observed in scanning tunnelling microscopy and soft X-ray measurements.

To explore the doping dependence of the recently discovered charge-density-wave (CDW) order in YBa2Cu3Oy, we present a bulk-sensitive high-energy x-ray study for several oxygen concentrations, including strongly underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.44. Combined with previous data around the so-called 1/8 doping, we show that bulk CDW order exists at least for hole concentrations (p) in the CuO2 planes of 0.078≲p≲0.132. This implies that CDW order exists in close vicinity to the quantum critical point for spin-density-wave (SDW) order. In contrast to the pseudogap temperature T∗, the onset temperature of CDW order decreases with underdoping to TCDW∼90 K in YBa2Cu3O6.44. Together with a weakened order parameter this suggests a competition between CDW and SDW orders. In addition, the CDW order in YBa2Cu3O6.44 shows the same type of competition with superconductivity as a function of temperature and magnetic field as samples closer to p=1/8. At low p the CDW incommensurability continues the previously reported linear increasing trend with underdoping. In the entire doping range the in-plane correlation length of the CDW order in b axis direction depends only very weakly on the hole concentration, and appears independent of the type and correlation length of the oxygen-chain order. The onset temperature of the CDW order is remarkably close to a temperature T† that marks the maximum of 1/(T1T) in planar 63Cu NQR/NMR experiments, potentially indicating a response of the spin dynamics to the formation of the CDW. Our discussion of these findings includes a detailed comparison to the charge stripe order in La2−xBaxCuO4.

The interplay between stripe correlations, local structure, and superconductivity in La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 is studied with concomitant polarized x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and x-ray diffraction measurements at high pressure. Long-range order of the CuO6 octahedral tilt pattern that pins charge-stripe order vanishes at a pressure-induced structural transition (P=1.8 GPa at T=5 K). Diffraction shows that static charge stripe and associated octahedral tilt correlations which survive in the high-pressure phase are effectively suppressed above 3.5 GPa. In contrast, XAFS analysis shows that instantaneous local correlations of the characteristic octahedral tilt pattern remain robust to at least 5 GPa. The decreasing local tilt angle is well correlated with a gradual increase in the superconducting transition temperature, suggesting that orientational pinning of charge correlations can survive the loss of static stripe order.