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Antiferromagnetic (AF) topological materials offer a fertile ground to explore a variety of quantum phenomena such as axion magnetoelectric dynamics and chiral Majorana fermions. To realize such intriguing states, it is essential to establish a direct link between electronic states and topology in the AF phase, whereas this has been challenging because of the lack of a suitable materials platform. Here we report the experimental realization of the AF topological-insulator phase in NdBi. By using micro-focused angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we discovered contrasting surface electronic states for two types of AF domains; the surface having the out-of-plane component in the AF-ordering vector displays Dirac-cone states with a gigantic energy gap, whereas the surface parallel to the AF-ordering vector hosts gapless Dirac states despite the time-reversal-symmetry breaking. The present results establish an essential role of combined symmetry to protect massless Dirac fermions under the presence of AF order and widen opportunities to realize exotic phenomena utilizing AF topological materials., Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures

We performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on hexagonal MnTe, a candidate for an altermagnet with a high critical temperature (TN=307 K). By utilizing photon-energy-tunable ARPES in combination with first-principles calculations, we found that the band structure in the antiferromagnetic phase exhibits a strongly anisotropic band-splitting associated with the time-reversal-symmetry breaking, providing the first direct experimental evidence for the altermagnetic band-splitting. The magnitude of the splitting reaches 0.8 eV at non-high-symmetry momentum points, which is much larger than the spin-orbit gap of ~0.3 eV along the GK high-symmetry cut. The present result paves the pathway toward realizing exotic physical properties associated with the altermagnetic spin-splitting., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. B

Mn$_{1-x}$Ga$_x$ (MnGa) with the $L1_0$ structure is a ferromagnetic material with strong perpendicular magneto-crystalline anisotropy. Although MnGa thin films have been successfully grown epitaxially and studied for various spintronics devices, fundamental understandings of its electronic structure are still lacking. To address this issue, we have investigated $L1_0$-MnGa thin films using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We have observed a large Fermi surface with a rhombic shape in the $k_x$-$k_y$ plane overlapping neighboring Fermi surfaces. The $k_z$ dependence of the band structure suggests that the band dispersion observed by ARPES comes from the three-dimensional band structure of MnGa folded by a $\sqrt{2} \times \sqrt{2}$ reconstruction. The band dispersion across the corner of the rhombic Fermi surface forms an electron pocket with a weak $k_z$ dependence. The effective mass and the mobility of the bands crossing the Fermi level near the corner are estimated from the ARPES images. Based on the experimental findings, the relationship between the observed band structure and the spin-dependent properties in MnGa-based heterostructures is discussed., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on epitaxial VTe2 films to elucidate the relationship between the fermiology and charge-density waves (CDW). We found that a two-dimensional triangular pocket in 1 monolayer (ML) VTe2 is converted to a strongly warped quasi-one-dimensional (1D) Fermi surface in the 6ML counterpart, likely associated with the 1T-to-1T' structural phase transition. We also revealed a metallic Fermi edge on the entire Fermi surface in 6ML at low temperature distinct from anisotropic pseudogap in 1ML, signifying a contrast behavior of CDW that is also supported by first-principles band-structure caluculations. The present result points to the importance of simultaneously controlling the structural phase and fermiology to manipulate the CDW properties in ultrathin transition-metal dichalcogenides., Comment: To be published in Physical Review B

Three-dimensional topological insulators (3D-TIs) possess a specific topological order of electronic bands, resulting in gapless surface states via bulk-edge correspondence. Exotic phenomena have been realized in ferromagnetic TIs, such as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect with a chiral edge conduction and a quantized value of the Hall resistance ${R_{yx}}$. Here, we report on the emergence of distinct topological phases in paramagnetic Fe-doped (Bi,Sb)${_2}$Se${_3}$ heterostructures with varying structure architecture, doping, and magnetic and electric fields. Starting from a 3D-TI, a two-dimensional insulator appears at layer thicknesses below a critical value, which turns into an Anderson insulator for Fe concentrations sufficiently large to produce localization by magnetic disorder. With applying a magnetic field, a topological transition from the Anderson insulator to the QAH state occurs, which is driven by the formation of an exchange gap owing to a giant Zeeman splitting and reduced magnetic disorder. Topological phase diagram of (Bi,Sb)${_2}$Se${_3}$ allows exploration of intricate interplay of topological protection, magnetic disorder, and exchange splitting., Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures and supplementary 30 pages, 11 figures

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on transition-metal dichalcogenide 1$T$-HfTe$_2$ to elucidate the evolution of electronic states upon potassium (K) deposition. In pristine HfTe$_2$, an in-plane hole pocket and electron pockets are observed at the Brillouin-zone center and corner, respectively, indicating the semimetallic nature of bulk HfTe$_2$, with dispersion perpendicular to the plane. In contrast, the band structure of heavily K-dosed HfTe$_2$ is obviously different from that of bulk, and resembles the band structure calculated for monolayer HfTe$_2$. It was also observed that lightly K-dosed HfTe$_2$ is characterized by quantized bands originating from bilayer and trilayer HfTe$_2$, indicative of staging. The results suggest that the dimensionality-crossover from 3D (dimensional) to 2D electronic states due to systematic K intercalation takes place via staging in a single sample. The study provides a new strategy for controlling the dimensionality and functionality of novel quantum materials., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

One of key challenges in current material research is to search for new topological materials with inverted bulk-band structure. In topological insulators, the band inversion caused by strong spin-orbit coupling leads to opening of a band gap in the entire Brillouin zone, whereas an additional crystal symmetry such as point-group and nonsymmorphic symmetries sometimes prohibits the gap opening at/on specific points or line in momentum space, giving rise to topological semimetals. Despite many theoretical predictions of topological insulators/semimetals associated with such crystal symmetries, the experimental realization is still relatively scarce. Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with bulk-sensitive soft x-ray photons, we experimentally demonstrate that hexagonal pnictide CaAgAs belongs to a new family of topological insulators characterized by the inverted band structure and the mirror reflection symmetry of crystal. We have established the bulk valence-band structure in three-dimensional Brillouin zone, and observed the Dirac-like energy band and ring-torus Fermi surface associated with the line node, where bulk valence and conducting bands cross on a line in the momentum space under negligible spin-orbit coupling. Intriguingly, we found that no other bands cross the Fermi level and therefore the low-energy excitations are solely characterized by the Dirac-like band. CaAgAs provides an excellent platform to study the interplay among low-energy electron dynamics, crystal symmetry, and exotic topological properties., Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) of LaSb and CeSb, a candidate of topological insulator. Using soft-x-ray photons, we have accurately determined the three-dimensional bulk band structure and revealed that the band inversion at the Brillouin-zone corner - a prerequisite for realizing topological-insulator phase - is absent in both LaSb and CeSb. Moreover, unlike the ARPES data obtained with soft-x-ray photons, those with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons were found to suffer significant $k_z$ broadening. These results suggest that LaSb and CeSb are topologically trivial semimetals, and unusual Dirac-cone-like states observed with VUV photons are not of the topological origin., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B, Rapid Communications

We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on trigonal tellurium consisting of helical chains in the crystal. Through the band-structure mapping in the three-dimensional Brillouin zone, we found a definitive evidence for the band splitting originating from the chiral nature of crystal. A direct comparison of the band dispersion between the ARPES results and the first-principles band-structure calculations suggests the presence of Weyl nodes and tiny spin-polarized hole pockets around the H point. The present result opens a pathway toward studying the interplay among crystal symmetry, band structure, and exotic physical properties in chiral crystals., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

Recently, Kobayashi et al. (arXiv:1608.07718; ref. 1) have proposed an alternative interpretation of our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) results for the dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As. They claim that our ARPES data [Sci. Rep. 6, 27266 (2016); ref. 2] can be explained by locating the Fermi level EF above the valence-band top, supporting the impurity-band model of ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As. In this comment, we show that the assignment of bands' positions in respect to EF by Kobayashi et al. is not consistent with our data. By comparing the ARPES result to band-structure calculations, we demonstrate clearly that EF resides inside the valence band in accordance with the p-d Zener model., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

Carrier-induced nature of ferromagnetism in a ferromagnetic semiconductor, (Ga,Mn)As, offers a great opportunity to observe novel spin-related phenomena as well as to demonstrate new functionalities of spintronic devices. Here, we report on low-temperature angle-resolved photoemission studies of the valence band in this model compound. By a direct determination of the distance of the split-off band to the Fermi energy EF, we conclude that EF is located within the heavy/light hole band. However, the bands are strongly perturbed by disorder and disorder-induced carrier correlations that lead to the Coulomb gap at EF, which we resolve experimentally in a series of samples, and show that its depth and width enlarge when the Curie temperature decreases. Furthermore, we have detected surprising linear magnetic dichroism in photoemission spectra of the split-off band. By a quantitative theoretical analysis we demonstrate that it arises from the Dresselhaus-type spin-orbit term in zinc-blende crystals. The spectroscopic access to the magnitude of such asymmetric part of spin-orbit coupling is worthwhile, as they account for spin-orbit torque in spintronic devices of ferromagnets without inversion symmetry., Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, supplemental info included

We have fabricated a high-quality monolayer WSe2 film on bilayer graphene by epitaxial growth, and revealed the electronic states by spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We observed a direct energy gap at the Brillounin-zone corner in contrast to the indirect nature of gap in bulk WSe2, which is attributed to the lack of interlayer interaction and the breaking of space-inversion symmetry in monolayer film. A giant spin splitting of ~0.5 eV, which is the largest among known monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides, is observed in the energy band around the zone corner. The present results suggest a high potential applicability of WSe2 to develop advanced devices based with the coupling of spin- and valley-degrees of freedom., Comment: accepted for publication in Appl. Phys. Lett

To realize a one-dimensional (1D) system with strong spin-orbit coupling is a big challenge in modern physics, since the electrons in such a system are predicted to exhibit exotic properties unexpected from the 2D or 3D counterparts, while it was difficult to realize genuine physical properties inherent to the 1D system. We demonstrate the first experimental result that directly determines the purely 1D band structure by performing spin-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of Bi islands on a silicon surface that contains a metallic 1D edge structure with unexpectedly large Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling suggestive of the nontopological nature. We have also found a sizable out-of-plane spin polarization of the 1D edge state, consistent with our first-principles band calculations. Our result provides a new platform to realize exotic quantum phenomena at the 1D edge of the strong spin-orbit-coupling systems.

We performed an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of Si-doped $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$. We observed very small photoemission intensity near the Fermi level corresponding to non-dispersive states assigned to Si impurities. We show evidence for a quantization of these states that is accompanied by a confinement in the momentum space consistent with a real-space finite confinement observed in a previous scanning tunneling microscopy study. Our results suggest that this semi-localization in the conjugate spaces plays a crucial role in the electronic conduction of this material., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Copyright (2012) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters and may be found at http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v101/i23/p232105_s1

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on (PbSe)5(Bi2Se3)3m, which forms a natural multilayer heterostructure consisting of a topological insulator (TI) and an ordinary insulator. For m = 2, we observed a gapped Dirac-cone state within the bulk-band gap, suggesting that the topological interface states are effectively encapsulated by block layers; furthermore, it was found that the quantum confinement effect of the band dispersions of Bi2Se3 layers enhances the effective bulk-band gap to 0.5 eV, the largest ever observed in TIs. In addition, we found that the system is no longer in the topological phase at m = 1, pointing to a topological phase transition between m = 1 and 2. These results demonstrate that utilization of naturally-occurring heterostructures is a new promising strategy for realizing exotic quantum phenomena and device applications of TIs., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures