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The quantum criticality of an Ising-like screw chain antiferromagnet SrCo$_2$V$_2$O$_8$, with a transverse magnetic field applied along the crystalline $a$-axis, is investigated by ultra-low temperature NMR measurements. The N\'{e}el temperature is rapidly and continuously suppressed by the field, giving rise to a quantum critical point (QCP) at $H_{C{_1}}$$\approx$~7.0~T. Surprisingly, a second QCP at $H_{C{_2}}\approx$~7.7~T featured with gapless excitations is resolved from both the double-peak structure of the field dependent spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/^{51}T_1$ at low temperatures and the weakly temperature-dependent $1/^{51}T_1$ at this field. Our data, combined with numerical calculations, suggest that the induced effective staggered transverse field significantly lowers the critical fields, and leads to an exposed QCP at $H_{C{_2}}$, which belongs to the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising universality., Comment: 4 figure, 1 supplemental materials upon request

the main physics goal for Back-n white neutron facility at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) is to measure nuclear data. The energy of neutrons is one of the most important parameters for measuring nuclear data. Method of time of flight (TOF) is used to obtain the energy of neutrons. The time when proton bunches hit the thick tungsten target is considered as the start point of TOF. T0 signal, generated from the CSNS accelerator, represents this start time. Besides, the T0 signal is also used as the gate control signal that triggers the readout electronics. Obviously, the timing precision of T0 directly affects the measurement precision of TOF and controls the running or readout electronics. In this paper, the T0 fan-out for Back-n white neutron facility at CSNS is proposed. The T0 signal travelling from the CSNS accelerator is fanned out to the two underground experiment stations respectively over long cables. To guarantee the timing precision, T0 signal is conditioned with good signal edge. Furthermore, techniques of signal pre-emphasizing and equalizing are used to improve signal quality after T0 being transmitted over long cables with about 100 m length. Experiments show that the T0 fan-out works well, the T0 signal transmitted over 100 m remains a good time resolution with a standard deviation of 25 ps. It absolutely meets the required accuracy of the measurement of TOF., Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, the 21st IEEE Real Time Conference

Back-n is a white neutron experimental facility at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). The time structure of the primary proton beam make it fully applicable to use TOF (time-of-flight) method for neutron energy measuring. We implement the electronics of TOF measurement on the general-purpose readout electronics designed for all of the seven detectors in Back-n. The electronics is based on PXIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express eXtensions for Instrumentation) platform, which is composed of FDM (Field Digitizer Modules), TCM (Trigger and Clock Module), and SCM (Signal Conditioning Module). T0 signal synchronous to the CSNS accelerator represents the neutron emission from the target. It is the start of time stamp. The trigger and clock module (TCM) receives, synchronizes and distributes the T0 signal to each FDM based on the PXIe backplane bus. Meantime, detector signals after being conditioned are fed into FDMs for waveform digitizing. First sample point of the signal is the stop of time stamp. According to the start, stop time stamp and the time of signal over threshold, the total TOF can be obtained. FPGA-based (Field Programmable Gate Array) TDC is implemented on TCM to accurately acquire the time interval between the asynchronous T0 signal and the global synchronous clock phase. There is also an FPGA-based TDC on FDM to accurately acquire the time interval between T0 arriving at FDM and the first sample point of the detector signal, the over threshold time of signal is obtained offline. This method for TOF measurement is efficient and not needed for additional modules. Test result shows the accuracy of TOF is sub-nanosecond and can meet the requirement for Back-n at CSNS., Comment: 4 pages, 13 figures, 21st IEEE Real Time Conference

We utilized X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (XPEEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the crystal surface of Weyl semimetal NbAs. XPEEM images present white and black contrast in both the Nb 3d and As 3d core level spectra. Surface-sensitive XPS spectra indicate that the entire surface of the sample contains both surface states of Nb 3d and As 3d, in form of oxides, and bulk states of NbAs. Estimated atomic percentage values nNb/nAs suggest that the surface is Nb-rich and asymmetric for white and black areas., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

The search for a Fermi surface in the absence of a conventional Fermi liquid has thus far yielded very few potential candidates. Among promising materials are spin-frustrated Mott insulators near the insulator-metal transition, where theory predicts a Fermi surface associated with neutral low energy excitations. Here we reveal another route to experimentally realise a Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid by the experimental study of a Kondo insulator SmB$_6$ positioned close to the insulator-metal transition. We present experimental signatures down to low temperatures ($\ll 1$ K) associated with a Fermi surface in the bulk, including a sizeable linear specific heat coefficient, and on the application of a finite magnetic field, bulk magnetic quantum oscillations, finite quantum oscillatory entropy, and substantial enhancement in thermal conductivity well below the charge gap energy scale. Thus, the weight of evidence indicates that despite an extreme instance of Fermi liquid breakdown in Kondo insulating SmB$_6$, a Fermi surface arises from novel itinerant low energy excitations that couple to magnetic fields, but not weak DC electric fields.

We attain the previously unaccessed full superconducting dome in a pristine high temperature cuprate superconductor by applying pressures up to 280 kbar to samples of near stoichiometric YBa2Cu3O7. The obtained superconducting phase boundary as a function of hole doping closely follows the superconducting dome in La2-xSrxCuO4. Measurements are now enabled to trace the evolution of various entangled phases and the Fermi surface from the underdoped to overdoped regime in a single high purity cuprate superconducting family of materials.

A series of (Li$_{0.8}$Fe$_{0.2}$)OHFeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$ (0 $\leq$ x $\leq$ 1) samples were successfully synthesized via hydrothermal reaction method and the phase diagram is established. Magnetic susceptibility suggests that an antiferromagnetism arising from (Li$_{0.8}$Fe$_{0.2}$)OH layers coexists with superconductivity, and the antiferromagnetic transition temperature nearly remains constant for various S doping levels. In addition, the lattice parameters of the both a and c axes decrease and the superconducting transition temperature T$_c$ is gradually suppressed with the substitution of S for Se, and eventually superconductivity vanishes at $x$ = 0.90. The decrease of T$_c$ could be attributed to the effect of chemical pressure induced by the smaller ionic size of S relative to that of Se, being consistent with the effect of hydrostatic pressure on (Li$_{0.8}$Fe$_{0.2}$)OHFeSe. But the detailed investigation on the relationships between $T_{\rm c}$ and the crystallographic facts suggests a very different dependence of $T_{\rm c}$ on anion height from the Fe2 layer or $Ch$-Fe2-$Ch$ angle from those in FeAs-based superconductors., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures

FeSe-derived superconductors show some unique behaviors relative to iron-pnictide superconductors, which are very helpful to understand the mechanism of superconductivity in high-Tc iron-based superconductors. The low-energy electronic structure of the heavily electron-doped AxFe2Se2 (A=K, Rb, Cs) demonstrates that interband scattering or Fermi surface nesting is not a necessary ingredient for the unconventional superconductivity in iron-based superconductors. The superconducting transition temperature (Tc) in the one-unit-cell FeSe on SrTiO3 substrate can reach as high as ~65 K, largely transcending the bulk Tc of all known iron-based superconductors. However, in the case of AxFe2Se2, the inter-grown antiferromagnetic insulating phase makes it difficult to study the underlying physics. Superconductors of alkali metal ions and NH3 molecules or organic-molecules intercalated FeSe and single layer or thin film FeSe on SrTiO3 substrate are extremely air-sensitive, which prevents the further investigation of their physical properties. Therefore, it is urgent to find a stable and accessible FeSe-derived superconductor for physical property measurements so as to study the underlying mechanism of superconductivity. Here, we report the air-stable superconductor (Li0.8Fe0.2)OHFeSe with high temperature superconductivity at ~40 K synthesized by a novel hydrothermal method. The crystal structure is unambiguously determined by the combination of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance. It is also found that an antiferromagnetic order coexists with superconductivity in such new FeSe-derived superconductor. This novel synthetic route opens a new avenue for exploring other superconductors in the related systems. The combination of different structure characterization techniques helps to complementarily determine and understand the details of the complicated structures.

Superconductivity has been found in the iron-arsenides with different structures by alternative stacking of the conducting Fe2As2 layers and spacer layers including alkali- or alkali-earth metal ions and PbO- or perovskite-type oxides blocks. So far, no spacer layer could be intercalated in between the neutral Fe2Se2 layers similar in structure to Fe2As2 layers except for alkali-metal ions in AxFe2-ySe2. The superconducting phase in AxFe2-ySe2 with transition temperature of 32 K is always inter-grown with the insulating phase which exhibits an antiferromagnetic order with extremely high Neel temperature of ~560 K and the order of Fe vacancies. Such inhomogeneity makes the investigation on the underlying physics in AxFe2-ySe2 complicated. Here we report the synthesis of a novel superconductor LiFeO2Fe2Se2 by hydrothermal method, exhibiting superconductivity at ~43 K, in which anti-PbO-type spacer layers of LiFeO2 have been successfully intercalated between anti-PbO-type Fe2Se2 layers. This finding demonstrates that superconductivity can be realized in the iron selenide with a novel spacer layer of anti-PbO-type, which is not found in the iron arsenides, and expands the category of the iron-based superconductors. Such a new synthetic method paves a new way to search for possible novel superconductors with different spacer layers, which is helpful to further study the underlying physics in iron-based high-Tc superconductors., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures

We report that Bi$_2$Se$_3$ thin films can be epitaxially grown on SrTiO$_{3}$ substrates, which allow for very large tunablity in carrier density with a back-gate. The observed low field magnetoconductivity due to weak anti-localization (WAL) has a very weak gate-voltage dependence unless the electron density is reduced to very low values. Such a transition in WAL is correlated with unusual changes in longitudinal and Hall resistivities. Our results suggest much suppressed bulk conductivity at large negative gate-voltages and a possible role of surface states in the WAL phenomena. This work may pave a way for realizing three-dimensional topological insulators at ambient conditions., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures.