Search

Chirality is a ubiquitous phenomenon in which a symmetry between left- and right-handed objects is broken, examples in nature ranging from subatomic particles and molecules to living organisms. In particle physics, the weak force is responsible for the symmetry breaking and parity violation in beta decay, but in condensed matter systems interactions that lead to chirality remain poorly understood. Here, we unravel the mechanism of chiral charge density wave formation in the transition-metal dichalcogenide 1T-TiSe2. Using representation analysis, we show that charge density modulations and ionic displacements, which transform as a continuous scalar field and a vector field on a discrete lattice, respectively, follow different irreducible representations of the space group, despite the fact that they propagate with the same wave-vectors and are strongly coupled to each other. This charge-lattice symmetry frustration is resolved by further breaking of all symmetries not common to both sectors through induced lattice distortions, thus leading to chirality. Our theory is verified using Raman spectroscopy and inelastic x-ray scattering, which reveal that all but translation symmetries are broken at a level not resolved by state-of-the-art diffraction techniques., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

Altermagnetism is a newly identified fundamental class of magnetism with vanishing net magnetization and time-reversal symmetry broken electronic structure. Probing the unusual electronic structure with nonrelativistic spin splitting would be a direct experimental verification of altermagnetic phase. By combining high-quality film growth and $in~situ$ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we report the electronic structure of an altermagnetic candidate, $\alpha$-MnTe. Temperature dependent study reveals the lifting of Kramers{\textquoteright} degeneracy accompanied by a magnetic phase transition at $T_N=267\text{ K}$ with spin splitting of up to $370\text{ meV}$, providing direct spectroscopic evidence for altermagnetism in MnTe.

Identifying ordered phases and their underlying symmetries is the first and most important step toward understanding the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity; critical behaviors of ordered phases are expected to be correlated with superconductivity. Efforts to find such ordered phases have been focused on symmetry breaking in the pseudogap region while the Fermi liquid-like metal region beyond the so-called critical doping $p_{c}$ has been regarded as a trivial disordered state. Here, we used rotational anisotropy second harmonic generation and uncovered a broken mirror symmetry in the Fermi liquid-like phase in (Bi,Pb)$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+\delta}$ with $p = 0.205 > p_{c}$. By tracking the temperature evolution of the symmetry-breaking response, we verify an order parameter-like behavior with the onset temperature $T_{up}$ at which the strange metal to Fermi liquid-like-metal crossover takes place. Complementary angle-resolved photoemission study showed that the quasiparticle coherence between $\mathrm{CuO_{2}}$ bilayers is enhanced in proportion to the symmetry-breaking response as a function of temperature, indicating that the change in metallicity and symmetry breaking are linked. These observations contradict the conventional quantum disordered scenario for over-critical-doped cuprates and provide new insight into the nature of the quantum critical point in cuprates., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Finding d-electron heavy fermion (HF) states has been an important topic as the diversity in d-electron materials can lead to many exotic Kondo effect-related phenomena or new states of matter such as correlation-driven topological Kondo insulator or cooperation between long-range magnetism and Kondo lattice behavior. Yet, obtaining direct spectroscopic evidence for a d-electron HF system has been elusive to date. Here, we report the observation of Kondo lattice behavior in an antiferromagnetic metal, FeTe, via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and transport properties measurements. The Kondo lattice behavior is represented by the emergence of a sharp quasiparticle at low temperatures. The transport property measurements confirm the low-temperature Fermi liquid behavior and reveal successive coherent-incoherent crossover upon increasing temperature. We interpret the Kondo lattice behavior as a result of hybridization between localized Fe 3dxy and itinerant Te 5pz orbitals. Our interpretation is further evidenced by Fano-type tunneling spectra which accompany a hybridization gap. Our observations strongly suggest unusual cooperation between Kondo lattice behavior and long-range magnetic order., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures

Alkali metal dosing (AMD) has been widely used as a way to control doping without chemical substitution. This technique, in combination with angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), often provides an opportunity to observe unexpected phenomena. However, the amount of transferred charge and the corresponding change in the electronic structure vary significantly depending on the material. Here, we report study on the correlation between the sample work function and alkali metal induced electronic structure change for three iron-based superconductors: FeSe, Ba(Fe$_{0.94}$Co$_{0.06}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ and NaFeAs which share a similar Fermi surface topology. Electronic structure change upon monolayer of alkali metal dosing and the sample work function were measured by ARPES. Our results show that the degree of electronic structure change is proportional to the difference between the work function of the sample and Mulliken's absolute electronegativity of the dosed alkali metal. This finding provides a possible way to estimate the AMD induced electronic structure change., Comment: 4 pages