Search

Superconductivity has been investigated for over a century, but there are still open questions about what determines the critical current; the maximum current a superconductor can carry before switching to its normal state. For a given superconductor, the zero-field critical current is widely believed to be determined by its inherent properties and be related to its critical magnetic field. Here, by studying superconducting polycrystalline films, single crystal flakes, and layered heterostructures, we find that the critical current of a superconductor can vary with measurement configuration. It can be influenced, or even determined, by adjacent superconducting segments along the applied current trajectory, whereas the critical magnetic field and critical temperature remain unaffected. This global critical current effect both reveals the need to revisit fundamental theory describing superconductivity, as well as implies that superconductors can transfer critical current related properties to each other. We demonstrate this by designing and fabricating a simple superconducting structure that transferred a superconducting diode effect from one segment to another segment which could not manifest the effect on its own. This observation merits a reconsideration of contemporary superconducting circuit design, and developing a full understanding will lead to a new paradigm of superconducting electronics., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

Fundamental research on two-dimensional (2D) magnetic systems based on van der Waals materials has been gaining traction rapidly since their recent discovery. With the increase of recent knowledge, it has become clear that such materials have also a strong potential for applications in devices that combine magnetism with electronics, optics, and nanomechanics. Nonetheless, many challenges still lay ahead. Several fundamental aspects of 2D magnetic materials are still unknown or poorly understood, such as their often-complicated electronic structure, optical properties, and magnetization dynamics, and their magnon spectrum. To elucidate their properties and facilitate integration in devices, advanced characterization techniques and theoretical frameworks need to be developed or adapted. Moreover, developing synthesis methods which increase critical temperatures and achieve large-scale, high-quality homogeneous thin films is crucial before these materials can be used for real-world applications. Therefore, the field of 2D magnetic materials provides many challenges and opportunities for the discovery and exploration of new phenomena, as well as the development of new applications. This Roadmap presents the background, challenges, and potential research directions for various relevant topics in the field on the fundamentals, synthesis, characterization, and applications. We hope that this work can provide a strong starting point for young researchers in the field and provide a general overview of the key challenges for more experienced researchers., Comment: 87 pages, 24 figures. Roadmap based on the discussions during the workshop on Quantum Magnetic Materials hosted by the Lorentz Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands (Oct. 2023)

Kagome materials are known to be an ideal platform that hosts a plethora of interesting phases such as topological states, electronic correlation, and magnetism, owing to their unique band structure and geometry. We report magnetotransport measurement in Kagome metal Yb$_{0.5}$Co_3Ge$_3$ as a function of pressure. Below $\sim25^\circ$ K the temperature dependence of resistance shows an upturn that is accompanied by a strong negative magnetoresistance, which could be attributed to Kondo effect. Upon pressurization above 1 GPa the resistance shows a reduction as a function of temperature below $4^\circ$ K, along with a further enhanced negative magnetoresistance. This might indicate an onset of a pressure-induced Kondo coherence effect.

In a well-ordered crystalline solid, insulating behaviour can arise from two mechanisms: electrons can either scatter off a periodic potential, thus forming band gaps that can lead to a band insulator, or they localize due to strong interactions, resulting in a Mott insulator. For an even number of electrons per unit cell, either band- or Mott-insulators can theoretically occur. However, unambiguously identifying an unconventional Mott-insulator with an even number of electrons experimentally has remained a longstanding challenge due to the lack of a momentum-resolved fingerprint. This challenge has recently become pressing for the layer dimerized van der Waals compound Nb$_3$Br$_8$, which exhibits a puzzling magnetic field-free diode effect when used as a weak link in Josephson junctions, but has previously been considered to be a band-insulator. In this work, we present a unique momentum-resolved signature of a Mott-insulating phase in the spectral function of Nb$_3$Br$_8$: the top of the highest occupied band along the out-of-plane dimerization direction $k_z$ has a momentum space separation of $\Delta k_z=2\pi/d$, whereas the valence band maximum of a band insulator would be separated by less than $\Delta k_z=\pi/d$, where $d$ is the average spacing between the layers. As the strong electron correlations inherent in Mott insulators can lead to unconventional superconductivity, identifying Nb$_3$Br$_8$ as an unconventional Mott-insulator is crucial for understanding its apparent time-reversal symmetry breaking Josephson diode effect. Moreover, the momentum-resolved signature employed here could be used to detect quantum phase transition between band- and Mott-insulating phases in van der Waals heterostructures, where interlayer interactions and correlations can be easily tuned to drive such transition., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

In the last few decades, basic ideas of topology have completely transformed the prediction of quantum transport phenomena. Following this trend, we go deeper into the incorporation of modern mathematics into quantum material science focusing on geometry. Here we investigate the relation between the geometrical type of the Fermi surface and Anomalous and Spin Hall Effects. An index, $\mathbb{H}_F$, quantifying the hyperbolic geometry of the Fermi surface, shows a universal correlation (R$^2$ = 0.97) with the experimentally measured intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity, of 16 different compounds spanning a wide variety of crystal, chemical, and electronic structure families, including those where topological methods give R$^2$ = 0.52. This raises a question about the predictive limits of topological physics and its transformation into a wider study of bandstructures' and Fermi surfaces' geometries, opening horizon for prediction of phenomena beyond topological understanding., Comment: Submission to SciPost. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2007.05525

In solid materials, nontrivial topological states, electron correlations, and magnetism are central ingredients for realizing quantum properties, including unconventional superconductivity, charge and spin density waves, and quantum spin liquids. The Kagome lattice, made up of connected triangles and hexagons, can host these three ingredients simultaneously and has proven to be a fertile platform for studying diverse quantum phenomena including those stemming from the interplay of these ingredients. In this review, we introduce the fundamental properties of the Kagome lattice as well as discuss the complex observed phenomena seen in several emergent material systems such as the intertwining of charge order and superconductivity in some Kagome metals, modulation of magnetism and topology in some Kagome magnets, and symmetry breaking with Mott physics in the breathing Kagome insulators. We also highlight many open questions in the field as well as future research directions of Kagome systems.

The Kagome lattice is an important fundamental structure in condensed matter physics for investigating the interplay of electron correlation, topology, and frustrated magnetism. Recent work on Kagome metals in the AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) family, has shown a multitude of correlation-driven distortions, including symmetry breaking charge density waves and nematic superconductivity at low temperatures. Here we study the new Kagome metal Yb0.5Co3Ge3 and find a temperature-dependent kink in the resistivity that is highly similar to the AV3Sb5 behavior and is commensurate with an in-plane structural distortion of the Co Kagome lattice along with a doubling of the c-axis. The space group is found to lower from P6/mmm to P63/m below the transition temperature, breaking the in-plane mirror planes and C6 rotation, while gaining a screw axis along the c-direction. At very low temperatures, anisotropic negative magnetoresistance is observed, which may be related to anisotropic magnetism. This raises questions about the types of the distortions in Kagome nets and their resulting physical properties including superconductivity and magnetism.

The superconducting analog to the semiconducting diode, the Josephson diode, has long been sought, with multiple avenues to realization proposed by theorists. Exhibiting magnetic-field free, single directional superconductivity with Josephson coupling of the supercurrent across a tunnel barrier, it would serve as the building-block for next-generation superconducting circuit technology. Here we realized the field-free Josephson diode using an inversion symmetry breaking heterostructure of $\mathrm{NbSe_2/Nb_3Br_8/NbSe_2}$. We demonstrate, for the first time without magnetic field, the junction can be superconducting in one direction while normal in the opposite direction. Based on that, half-wave rectification of a square-wave excitation was achieved with low switching current density ($~2.2\times 10^2 \mathrm{A/cm^2}$), high rectification ratio ($~10^4$) and high robustness (at least $10^4$ cycles). We also demonstrate symmetric $\Delta I_\mathrm{c}$ (the difference between positive and negative critical currents) behavior with field and the expected Fraunhofer current phase relation of a Josephson junction. This realization raises fundamental questions about the Josephson effect through an insulator when breaking symmetry, and opens the door to ultralow power, high speed, superconducting circuits for logic and signal modulation., Comment: 30 pages, 14 figures

Current-induced control of magnetization in ferromagnets using spin-orbit torque (SOT) has drawn attention as a new mechanism for fast and energy efficient magnetic memory devices. Energy-efficient spintronic devices require a spin-current source with a large SOT efficiency (${\xi}$) and electrical conductivity (${\sigma}$), and an efficient spin injection across a transparent interface. Herein, we use single crystals of the van der Waals (vdW) topological semimetal WTe$_2$ and vdW ferromagnet Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ to satisfy the requirements in their all-vdW-heterostructure with an atomically sharp interface. The results exhibit values of ${\xi}{\approx}4.6$ and ${\sigma}{\approx}2.25{\times}10^5 {\Omega}^{-1} m^{-1}$ for WTe$_2$. Moreover, we obtain the significantly reduced switching current density of $3.90{\times}10^6 A/cm^2$ at 150 K, which is an order of magnitude smaller than those of conventional heavy-metal/ ferromagnet thin films. These findings highlight that engineering vdW-type topological materials and magnets offers a promising route to energy-efficient magnetization control in SOT-based spintronics., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures

Materials with transition metals in triangular lattices are of great interest for their potential combination of strong correlation, exotic magnetism and electronic topology. Kagome nets are of particular importance since the discovery of geometrically frustrated magnetism and topological band structures in crystals like Herbertsmithite and Fe3Sn2, respectively. KV3Sb5 was discovered to be a layered topological metal with a Kagome net of vanadium. Here, we fabricated Josephson Junctions (JJ) of K1-xV3Sb5 and induced superconductivity over long junction lengths. Through magnetoresistance and current vs. phase measurements, we observed magnetic field sweeping direction dependent magnetoresistance, and an anisotropic interference pattern with a Fraunhofer pattern for in-plane magnetic field, but a suppression of critical current for out-of-plane magnetic field. These results indicate an anisotropic internal magnetic field in K1-xV3Sb5 which influences the superconducting coupling in the junction, possibly giving rise to spin-triplet superconductivity. In addition, the observation of long-lived fast oscillations shows evidence of spatially localized conducting channels arising from edge states. These observations pave the way for studying unconventional superconductivity and Josephson device based on Kagome metals with electron correlation and topology.

Topological magnetic semimetals, like Co3Sn2S2 and Co2MnGa, are known to display exotic transport properties, such as large intrinsic anomalous (AHE) due to uncompensated Berry curvature. The highly symmetric XPt3 compounds display anti-crossing gapped nodal lines, which are a driving mechanism in the intrinsic Berry curvature Hall effects. Uniquely, these compounds contain two sets of gapped nodal lines that harmoniously dominate the Berry curvature in this complex multiband system. We calculate a maximum AHE of 1965 S/cm in the CrPt3 by a state-of-the-art first principle electronic structure. We have grown high-quality thin films by magnetron sputtering and measured a robust AHE of 1750 S/cm for different sputtering growth conditions. Additionally, the cubic films display a hard magnetic axis along [111] direction. The facile and scalable fabrication of these materials is prime candidates for integration into topological devices.

Motivated by the famous and pioneering mathematical works by Perelman, Hamilton, and Thurston, we introduce the concept of using modern geometrical mathematical classifications of multi-dimensional manifolds to characterize electronic structures and predict non-trivial electron transport phenomena. Here we develop the Fermi Surface Geometry Effect (FSGE), using the concepts of tangent bundles and Gaussian curvature as an invariant. We develop an index, $\mathbb{H}_F$, for describing the the "hyperbolicity" of the Fermi Surface (FS) and show a universal correlation (R$^2$ = 0.97) with the experimentally measured intrinsic anomalous Hall effect of 16 different compounds spanning a wide variety of crystal, chemical, and electronic structure families, including where current methods have struggled. This work lays the foundation for developing a complete theory of geometrical understanding of electronic (and by extension magnonic and phononic) structure manifolds, beginning with Fermi surfaces. In analogy to the broad impact of topological physics, the concepts begun here will have far reaching consequences and lead to a paradigm shift in the understanding of electron transport, moving it to include geometrical properties of the E vs k manifold as well as topological properties., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

As spintronic devices become more and more prevalent, the desire to find Pt free materials with large spin Hall effects is increasing. Previously it was shown that Beta W, the metastable A15 structured variant of pure W, has charge-spin conversion efficiencies on par with Pt, and it was predicted that Beta W(Ta) alloys should be even more efficient. Here we demonstrate the enhancement of the spin Hall ratio (SHR) in A15-phase Beta W films doped with Ta (W(4-x)Tax where x is between 0.28 and 0.4, deposited at room temperature using DC magnetron co-sputtering. In close agreement with theoretical predictions, we find that the SHR of the doped films was approx. 9 percent larger than pure Beta W films. We also found that the SHRs in devices with Co2Fe6B2 were nearly twice as large as the SHRs in devices with Co4Fe4B2. This work shows that by optimizing deposition parameters and substrates, the fabrication of the optimum W3Ta alloy should be feasible, opening the door to commercially viable, Pt free, spintronic devices., Comment: 7 Pages, 3 Figures, 1 Table

The electronic anomalous Hall effect (AHE), where charge carriers acquire a velocity component orthogonal to an applied electric field, is one of the most fundamental and widely studied phenomena in physics. There are several different AHE mechanisms known, and material examples are highly sought after, however in the highly conductive (skew scattering) regime the focus has centered around ferromagnetic metals. Here we report the observation of a giant extrinsic AHE in KV$_3$Sb$_5$, an exfoliable, Dirac semimetal with a Kagome layer of Vanadium atoms. Although there has been no reports of magnetic ordering down to 0.25 K, the anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) reaches $\approx$ 15,507 $\Omega^{-1}$cm$^{-1}$ with an anomalous Hall ratio (AHR) of $\approx$ 1.8$ \%$; an order of magnitude larger than Fe. Defying expectations from skew scattering theory, KV$_3$Sb$_5$ shows an enhanced skew scattering effect that scales quadratically, not linearly, with the longitudinal conductivity ($\sigma_{xx}$), opening the possibility of reaching an anomalous Hall angle (AHA) of 90$^{\circ}$ in metals; an effect thought reserved for quantum anomalous Hall insulators. This observation raises fundamental questions about the AHE and opens a new frontier for AHE (and correspondingly SHE) exploration, stimulating investigation in a new direction of materials, including metallic geometrically frustrated magnets, spin-liquid candidates, and cluster magnets.

Understanding the electronic transport properties of layered, van der Waals transition metal halides (TMHs) and chalcogenides is a highly active research topic today. Of particular interest is the evolution of those properties with changing thickness as the 2D limit is approached. Here, we present the electrical conductivity of exfoliated single crystals of the TMH, cluster magnet, Nb3Cl8, over a wide range of thicknesses both with and without hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) encapsulation. The conductivity is found to increase by more than three orders of magnitude when the thickness is decreased from 280 {\mu}m to 5 nm, at 300 K. At low temperatures and below ~50 nm, the conductance becomes thickness independent, implying surface conduction is dominating. Temperature dependent conductivity measurements indicate Nb3Cl8 is an insulator, however the effective activation energy decreases from a bulk value of 310 meV to 140 meV by 5nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows mild surface oxidation in devices without hBN capping, however, no significant difference in transport is observed when compared to the capped devices, implying the thickness dependent transport behavior is intrinsic to the material. A conduction mechanism comprised of a higher conductivity surface channel in parallel with a lower conductivity interlayer channel is discussed., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures

The noncentrosymmetric Td-WTe$_2$, previously known as a type-II Weyl semimetal, is expected to have higher order topological phases with topologically protected, helical one-dimensional (1D) hinge states when their scarcely separated Weyl points get annihilated. However, the detection of these hinge states is difficult in the presence of the semimetallic behaviour of the bulk. Here, we spatially resolved the hinge states by analysing the magnetic field interference of supercurrent in Nb-WTe$_2$-Nb proximity Josephson junctions. The Josephson current along the a-axis of the WTe$_2$ crystal, but not along the b-axis, showed sharp enhancements at the edges of the junction; the amount of enhanced Josephson current was comparable to the upper limits of a single 1D conduction channel. Our experimental observations provide evidence of the higher order topological phase in WTe$_2$ and its corresponding anisotropic topological hinge states, in good agreement with theoretical calculations. Our work paves the way for hinge transport studies on topological semimetals in superconducting heterostructures, including their topological superconductivity., Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures

Antiferromagnetically doped topological insulators (A-TI) are among the candidates to host dynamical axion fields and axion-polaritons; weakly interacting quasiparticles that are analogous to the dark axion, a long sought after candidate dark matter particle. Here we demonstrate that using the axion quasiparticle antiferromagnetic resonance in A-TI's in conjunction with low-noise methods of detecting THz photons presents a viable route to detect axion dark matter with mass 0.7 to 3.5 meV, a range currently inaccessible to other dark matter detection experiments and proposals. The benefits of this method at high frequency are the tunability of the resonance with applied magnetic field, and the use of A-TI samples with volumes much larger than 1 mm$^3$., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. v2 accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. Many points clarified, some parameter estimates revised

The physical properties of the previously reported superconductor IrGe and the Rh1-xIrxGe solid solution are investigated. IrGe has an exceptionally high superconducting transition temperature (Tc = 4.7 K) among the isostructural 1:1 late-metal germanides MGe (M = Rh, Pd, Ir and Pt). Specific-heat measurements reveal that IrGe has an anomalously low Debye temperature, originating from a low-lying phonon, compared to the other MGe phases. A large jump at Tc in the specific-heat data clearly indicates that IrGe is a strong coupling superconductor. In the Rh1-xIrxGe solid solution, a relationship between an anomalous change in lattice constants and the Debye temperature is observed. We conclude that the unusually high Tc for IrGe is likely due to strong electron-phonon coupling derived from the presence of a low-lying phonon., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

The realization of Dirac and Weyl physics in solids has made topological materials one of the main focuses of condensed matter physics. Recently, the topic of topological nodal line semimetals, materials in which Dirac or Weyl-like crossings along special lines in momentum space create either a closed ring or line of degeneracies, rather than discrete points, has become a hot topic in topological quantum matter. Here we review the experimentally confirmed and theoretically predicted topological nodal line semimetals, focusing in particular on the symmetry protection mechanisms of the nodal lines in various materials. Three different mechanisms: a combination of inversion and time-reversal symmetry, mirror reflection symmetry, and non-symmorphic symmetry, and their robustness under the effect of spin orbit coupling are discussed. We also present a new Weyl nodal line material, the Te-square net compound KCu$_2$EuTe$_4$, which has several Weyl nodal lines including one extremely close to the Fermi level ($<$30 meV below E$_F$). Finally, we discuss potential experimental signatures for observing exotic properties of nodal line physics.

Magnetoresistance (MR), the change of a material's electrical resistance in response to an applied magnetic field, is a technologically important property that has been the topic of intense study for more than a quarter century. Here we report the observation of an unusual "butterfly" shaped titanic angular magnetoresistance (AMR) in the non-magnetic, Dirac material, ZrSiS. The MR is large and positive, reaching nearly 1.8 x 10^5 percent at 9 T and 2 K at an angle of 45o between the applied current (along the a-axis) and the applied field (90o is H parallel to the c-axis). Approaching 90o, a "dip" is seen in the AMR which can be traced to an angle dependent deviation from the H^2 law. By analyzing the SdH oscillations at different angles, we find that ZrSiS has a combination of 2D and 3D Dirac pockets comprising its Fermi surface and that the anomalous transport behavior coincides with a topological phase transition whose robust signature is evident despite transport contributions from other parts of the Fermi surface. We also find that as a function of angle, the temperature dependent resistivity in high field displays a broad peak-like behavior, unlike any known Dirac/Weyl material. The combination of very high mobility carriers and multiple Fermi surfaces in ZrSiS allow for large bulk property changes to occur as a function of angle between applied fields makes it a promising platform to study the physics stemming from the coexistence of 2D and 3D Dirac electrons.

Materials harboring exotic quasiparticles, such as Dirac and Weyl fermions\cite{xu2015discovery,borisenko2015time,weng2015weyl,xu2015observation}, have garnered much attention from the physics and material science communities. These fermions are massless and, in some materials, have shown exceptional physical properties such as ultrahigh mobility and extremely large magnetoresistances \cite{liang2015ultrahigh,ali2014large,du2015unsaturated,shekhar2015large}. Recently, new materials have been predicted to exist which exhibit line nodes of Dirac cones \cite{PhysRevLett.115.036806,xie2015new,burkov2011topological,rhim2015landau}. Here, we show with angle resolved photoemission studies supported by \textit{ab initio} calculations that the highly stable, non-toxic and earth-abundant material, ZrSiS, has an electronic band structure that hosts several Dirac cones which form a Fermi surface with a diamond-shaped line of Dirac nodes. We also experimentally show, for the first time, that the square Si lattice in ZrSiS is an excellent template for realizing the new types of 2D Dirac cones recently predicted by Young and Kane \cite{young2015dirac} and image an unforseen surface state that arises close to the 2D Dirac cone. Finally, we find that the energy range of the linearly dispersed bands is as high as 2\,eV above and below the Fermi level; much larger than of any known Dirac material so far. This makes ZrSiS a very promising candidate to study the exotic behavior of Dirac electrons, or Weyl fermions if a magnetic field is applied, as well as the properties of lines of Dirac nodes

In recent years, layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted considerable attention because of their rich physics; for example, these materials exhibit superconductivity, charge density waves, and the valley Hall effect. As a result, TMDs have promising potential applications in electronics, catalysis, and spintronics. Despite the fact that the majority of related research focuses on semiconducting TMDs (e.g., MoS2), the characteristics of WTe2 are provoking strong interest in semimetallic TMDs with extremely large magnetoresistance, pressure-driven superconductivity, and the predicted Weyl semimetal (WSM) state. In this work, we investigate the sister compound of WTe2, MoTe2, which is also predicted to be a WSM and a quantum spin Hall insulator in bulk and monolayer form, respectively. We find that MoTe2 exhibits superconductivity with a resistive transition temperature Tc of 0.1 K. The application of a small pressure (such as 0.4 GPa) is shown to dramatically enhance the Tc, with a maximum value of 8.2 K being obtained at 11.7 GPa (a more than 80-fold increase in Tc). This yields a dome-shaped superconducting phase diagram. Further explorations into the nature of the superconductivity in this system may provide insights into the interplay between strong correlations and topological physics., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures

We investigate the orthorhombic phase (Td) of layered transition-metal-dichalcogenide MoTe$_2$ as a Weyl semimetal candidate, which was discovered to be a superconductor in our recent experiment. MoTe$_2$ exhibits four pairs of Weyl points lying slightly ($\sim$ 6 meV) above the Fermi energy in the bulk band structure. Unlike its cousin WTe$_2$, which was predicted to be a type-II Weyl semimetal recently, the spacing between each pair of Weyl points is found to be as large as 4 percent of the reciprocal lattice in MoTe$_2$ (six times larger than that of WTe$_2$). When projected to the surface, Weyl points are connected by Fermi arcs, which can be easily verified by ARPES due to the large Weyl point separation. In addition, we show that the correlation effect or strain can drive MoTe$_2$ from the type-II to type-I Weyl semimetal., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication

High quality single crystals of WTe$_2$ were grown using a Te flux followed by a cleaning step involving self-vapor transport. The method is reproducible and yields consistently higher quality single crystals than are typically obtained via halide assisted vapor transport methods. Magnetoresistance (MR)values at 9 Tesla and 2 Kelvin as high as 1.75 million \%, nearly an order of magnitude higher than previously reported for this material, were obtained on crystals with residual resistivity ratio (RRR) of approximately 1250. The MR follows a near B$^2$ law (B = 1.95(1)) and, assuming a semiclassical model, the average carrier mobility for the highest quality crystal was found to be ~167,000 cm$^2$/Vs at 2 K. A correlation of RRR, MR ratio and average carrier mobility ($\mu_{avg}$) is found with the cooling rate during the flux growth., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

3D Dirac semi-metals (DSMs) are materials that have massless Dirac electrons and exhibit exotic physical properties It has been suggested that structurally distorting a DSM can create a Topological Insulator (TI), but this has not yet been experimentally verified. Furthermore, quasiparticle excitations known as Majorana Fermions have been theoretically proposed to exist in materials that exhibit superconductivity and topological surface states. Here we show that the cubic Laves phase Au$_2$Pb has a bulk Dirac cone above 100 K that gaps out upon cooling at a structural phase transition to create a topologically non trivial phase that superconducts below 1.2 K. The nontrivial Z$_2$ = -1 invariant in the low temperature phase indicates that Au$_2$Pb in its superconducting state must have topological surface states. These characteristics make Au$_2$Pb a unique platform for studying the transition between bulk Dirac electrons and topological surface states as well as studying the interaction of superconductivity with topological surface states.

The electronic properties of two-dimensional materials such as graphene are extremely sensitive to their environment, especially the underlying substrate. Planar van der Waals bonded substrates such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have been shown to greatly improve the electrical performance of graphene devices by reducing topographic variations and charge fluctuations compared to amorphous insulating substrates}. Semiconducting transition metal dichalchogenides (TMDs) are another family of van der Waals bonded materials that have recently received interest as alternative substrates to hBN for graphene as well as for components in novel graphene-based device heterostructures. Additionally, their semiconducting nature permits dynamic gate voltage control over the interaction strength with graphene. Through local scanning probe measurements we find that crystalline defects intrinsic to TMDs induce scattering in graphene which results in significant degradation of the heterostructure quality, particularly compared to similar graphene on hBN devices., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures

We report the first observation of a pressure-induced breakdown of the 3D-DSM state in Cd3As2, evidenced by a series of in-situ high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and single crystal transport measurements. We find that Cd3As2 undergoes a structural phase transition from a metallic tetragonal (T) phase in space group I41/acd to a semiconducting monoclinic (M) phase in space group P21/c at critical pressure 2.57 GPa, above this pressure, an activation energy gap appears, accompanied by distinct switches in Hall resistivity slope and electron mobility. These changes of crystal symmetry and corresponding transport properties manifest the breakdown of the 3D-DSM state in pressurized Cd3As2., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures

The electronic structure basis of the extremely large magnetoresistance in layered non-magnetic tungsten ditelluride has been investigated by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. Hole and electron pockets of approximately the same size were found at the Fermi level, suggesting that carrier compensation should be considered the primary source of the effect. The material exhibits a highly anisotropic, quasi one-dimensional Fermi surface from which the pronounced anisotropy of the magnetoresistance follows. A change in the Fermi surface with temperature was found and a high-density-of-states band that may take over conduction at higher temperatures and cause the observed turn-on behavior of the magnetoresistance in WTe$_2$ was identified.

Magnetoresistance is the change of a material's electrical resistance in response to an applied magnetic field. In addition to its intrinsic scientific interest, it is a technologically important property, placing it in "Pasteur's quadrant" of research value: materials with large magnetorsistance have found use as magnetic sensors 1, in magnetic memory 2, hard drives 3, transistors 4, and are the subject of frequent study in the field of spintronics 5, 6. Here we report the observation of an extremely large one-dimensional positive magnetoresistance (XMR) in the layered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) WTe2; 452,700 percent at 4.5 Kelvin in a magnetic field of 14.7 Tesla, and 2.5 million percent at 0.4 Kelvin in 45 Tesla, with no saturation. The XMR is highly anisotropic, maximized in the crystallographic direction where small pockets of holes and electrons are found in the electronic structure. The determination of the origin of this effect and the fabrication of nanostructures and devices based on the XMR of WTe2 will represent a significant new direction in the study and uses of magnetoresistivity. *The published version of the paper includes co-authors Tian Liang and Max Hirschberger. **This paper has been published with new MR data to 60T where the MR of WTe2 reaches 13 million percent (at 0.5K) and still shows no signs of saturation. We also have new electron diffraction patterns to lower temperature (10K). We discuss the possible origin of the MR as coming from an electron-hole 'resonance' condition established by a perfect n/p ratio of 1 (more details in a new "extended data" section). This makes WTe2, possibly, the first realization of a perfectly balanced semimetal. ***The paper is published as "Large non-saturating magnetoresistance in WTe2" in Nature (2014), DOI:10.1038/nature13763, Comment: Nature, 2014

We present an ARPES study of the surface states of Ru$_2$Sn$_3$, a new type of a strong 3D topological insulator (TI). In contrast to currently known 3D TIs, which display two-dimensional Dirac cones with linear isotropic dispersions crossing through one point in the surface Brillouin Zone (SBZ), the surface states on Ru$_2$Sn$_3$ are highly anisotropic, displaying an almost flat dispersion along certain high-symmetry directions. This results in quasi-one dimensional (1D) Dirac electronic states throughout the SBZ that we argue are inherited from features in the bulk electronic structure of Ru$_2$Sn$_3$, where the bulk conduction bands are highly anisotropic. Unlike previous experimentally characterized TIs, the topological surface states of Ru$_2$Sn$_3$ are the result of a d-p band inversion rather than an s-p band inversion. The observed surface states are the topological equivalent to a single 2D Dirac cone at the surface Brillouin zone, Comment: 4 figures, includes supplementary information

Dirac semimetals and Weyl semimetals are 3D analogs of graphene in which crystalline symmetry protects the nodes against gap formation [1-3]. Na$_3$Bi and Cd$_3$As$_2$ were predicted to be Dirac semimetals [4,5], and recently confirmed to be so by photoemission [6-8]. Several novel transport properties in a magnetic field $\bf H$ have been proposed for Dirac semimetals [2,9-11]. Here we report an interesting property in Cd$_3$As$_2$ that was unpredicted, namely a remarkable protection mechanism that strongly suppresses back-scattering in zero $\bf H$. In single crystals, the protection results in a very high mobility that exceeds $>10^7$ cm$^2$/Vs below 4 K. Suppression of backscattering results in a transport lifetime 10$^4\times$ longer than the quantum lifetime. The lifting of this protection by $\bf H$ leads to an unusual giant $\bf H$-linear magnetoresistance that violates Kohler's rule. We discuss how this may relate to changes to the Fermi surface induced by $\bf H$., Comment: Main text has 7 pages, 4 figures and 1 table. Text has been re-written with new results added. Supplement has 8 pages, 13 figures and 1 table, Nature Materials online Nov 24, 2014

This is a revised version of a manuscript that was originally posted here in February of 2014. It has been accepted at the journal Inorganic Chemistry after reviews that included those of two crystallographers who made sure all the t's were crossed and the i's were dotted. The old work (from 1968) that said that Cd3As2 was noncentrosymmetric was mistaken, with the authors of that study making a type of error that in the 1980s became infamous in crystallography. As a result of the increased scrutiny of the issue of centrosymmetricity of the 1980's, there are now much better analysis tools to resolve the issue fully, and its important to understand that not just our crystals are centrosymmetric, even the old guy's crystals were centrosymmetric (and by implication everyone's are). There is no shame in having made that error back in the day and those authors would not find the current centrosymmetric result controversial; their paper is excellent in all other aspects. This manuscript describes how the structure is determined, explains the structure schematically, calculates the electronic structure based on the correct centrosymmetric crystal structure, and gives the structural details that should be used for future analysis and modeling., Comment: Accepted by ACS Inorganic Chemistry

Layered, non-centrosymmetric, heavy element PbTaSe2 is found to be superconducting. We report its electronic properties accompanied by electronic structure calculations. Specific heat, electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate that PbTaSe2 is a moderately coupled, type-II BCS superconductor (Tc = 3.72 K, Ginzburg-Landau parameter Kappa = 14) with an electronphonon coupling constant of Lambda_ep = 0.74. Electronic structure calculations reveal a single bulk 3D Dirac cone at the K point of the Brillouin Zone derived exclusively from its hexagonal Pb layer; it is similar to the feature found in graphene except there is a 0.8 eV gap opened by spin-orbit coupling. The combination of large spin-orbit coupling and lack of inversion symmetry also results in large Rashba splitting on the order of tenths of eV.