Search

Nanowires (NWs) of topological materials are emerging as an exciting platform to probe and engineer new quantum phenomena that are hard to access in bulk phase. Their quasi-one-dimensional geometry and large surface-to-bulk ratio unlock new expressions of topology and highlight surface states. TaAs2, a compensated semimetal, is a topologically rich material harboring nodal-line, weak topological insulator (WTI), C2-protected topological crystalline insulator, and Zeeman field-induced Weyl semimetal phases. We report the synthesis of TaAs2 NWs in situ encapsulated in a dielectric SiO2 shell, which enabled us to probe rich magnetotransport phenomena, including metal-to-insulator transition and strong signatures of topologically non-trivial transport at remarkably high temperatures, direction-dependent giant positive and negative magnetoresistance, and a double pattern of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, demonstrating coherent surface transport consistent with the two Dirac cones of a WTI surface. The coexistence and susceptibility of topological phases to external stimuli have potential applications in spintronics and nanoscale quantum technology., Comment: 23 PAGES, 04 FIGURES

Optoelectronic micro- and nanostructures have a vast parameter space to explore for modification and optimisation of their functional performance. This paper reports on a data-led approach using high-throughput single nanostructure spectroscopy to probe > 8,000 structures, allowing for holistic analysis of multiple material and optoelectronic parameters with statistical confidence. The methodology is applied to surface-guided CsPbBr$_3$ nanowires, which have complex and interrelated geometric, structural and electronic properties. Photoluminescence-based measurements, studying both the surface and embedded interfaces, exploits the natural inter-nanowire geometric variation to show that increasing the nanowire width reduces the optical bandgap, increases the recombination rate in the nanowire bulk and reduces the rate at the surface interface. A model of carrier recombination and diffusion is developed which ascribes these trends to carrier density and strain effects at the interfaces and self-consistently retrieves values for carrier mobility, trap densities, bandgap, diffusion length and internal quantum efficiency. The model predicts parameter trends, such as the variation of internal quantum efficiency with width, which is confirmed by experimental verification. As this approach requires minimal a-priori information, it is widely applicable to nano- and micro-scale materials.

Carbon nanotubes are promising building blocks for various nanoelectronic components. A highly desirable geometry for such applications is a coil. However, coiled nanotube structures reported so far were inherently defective or had no free ends accessible for contacting. Here we demonstrate the spontaneous self-coiling of single-wall carbon nanotubes into defect-free coils of up to more than 70 turns with identical diameter and chirality, and free ends. We characterize the structure, formation mechanism, and electrical properties of these coils by different microscopies, molecular dynamics simulations, Raman spectroscopy, and electrical and magnetic measurements. The coils are highly conductive, as expected for defect-free carbon nanotubes, but adjacent nanotube segments in the coil are more highly coupled than in regular bundles of single-wall carbon nanotubes, owing to their perfect crystal momentum matching, which enables tunneling between the turns. Although this behavior does not yet enable the performance of these nanotube coils as inductive devices, it does point a clear path for their realization. Hence, this study represents a major step toward the production of many different nanotube coil devices, including inductors, electromagnets, transformers, and dynamos.

Energy dissipation is a fundamental process governing the dynamics of physical, chemical, and biological systems. It is also one of the main characteristics distinguishing quantum and classical phenomena. In condensed matter physics, in particular, scattering mechanisms, loss of quantum information, or breakdown of topological protection are deeply rooted in the intricate details of how and where the dissipation occurs. Despite its vital importance the microscopic behavior of a system is usually not formulated in terms of dissipation because the latter is not a readily measureable quantity on the microscale. Although nanoscale thermometry is gaining much recent interest, the existing thermal imaging methods lack the necessary sensitivity and are unsuitable for low temperature operation required for study of quantum systems. Here we report a superconducting quantum interference nano-thermometer device with sub 50 nm diameter that resides at the apex of a sharp pipette and provides scanning cryogenic thermal sensing with four orders of magnitude improved thermal sensitivity of below 1 {\mu}K/Hz1/2. The non-contact non-invasive thermometry allows thermal imaging of very low nanoscale energy dissipation down to the fundamental Landauer limit of 40 fW for continuous readout of a single qubit at 1 GHz at 4.2 K. These advances enable observation of dissipation due to single electron charging of individual quantum dots in carbon nanotubes and reveal a novel dissipation mechanism due to resonant localized states in hBN encapsulated graphene, opening the door to direct imaging of nanoscale dissipation processes in quantum matter., Comment: Submitted to Nature

The interlayer sliding energy landscape of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is investigated via a van der Waals corrected density functional theory approach. It is found that the main role of the van der Waals forces is to "anchor" the layers at a fixed distance, whereas the electrostatic forces dictate the optimal stacking mode and the interlayer sliding energy. A nearly free-sliding path is identified, along which bandgap modulations of ~0.6 eV are obtained. We propose a simple geometrical model that quantifies the registry matching between the layers and captures the essence of the corrugated h-BN interlayer energy landscape. The simplicity of this phenomenological model opens the way to the modeling of complex layered structures, such as carbon and boron nitride nanotubes., Comment: 4 Pages, 3 Figures

We combine electromechanical measurements with {\em ab initio} density functional calculations to settle the controversy about the origin of torsion-induced conductance oscillations in multi-wall carbon nanotubes. According to our observations, the oscillation period is inversely proportional to the squared diameter of the nanotube, as expected for a single-wall nanotube of the same diameter. This is supported by our theoretical finding that differential torsion effectively decouples the walls of a multi-wall nanotube near the Fermi level and moves the Fermi momentum across quantization lines. We exclude the alternative explanation linked to registry changes between the walls, since it would cause a different diameter dependence of the oscillation period., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRL