Nernst quantum oscillations in bulk semi-metals

With a widely available magnetic field of 10 T, one can attain the quantum limit in bismuth and graphite. At zero magnetic field, these two elemental semi-metals host a dilute liquid of carriers of both signs. When the quantum limit is attained, all quasi-particles are confined to a few Landau tubes. Each time a Landau tube is squeezed before definitely leaving the Fermi surface, the Nernst response sharply peaks. In bismuth, additional Nernst peaks, unexpected in the non-interacting picture, are resolved beyond the quantum limit. The amplitude of these unexpected Nernst peaks is larger in the samples with the longest electron mean-free-path.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter's special issue on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems(SCES

Magnetothermoelectric properties of Bi2Se3

We present a study of entropy transport in Bi2Se3 at low temperatures and high magnetic fields. In the zero-temperature limit, the magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient quantitatively tracks the Fermi temperature of the 3D Fermi surface at \Gamma-point as the carrier concentration changes by two orders of magnitude (10$^{17}$ to 10$^{19}$cm$^{-3}$). In high magnetic fields, the Nernst response displays giant quantum oscillations indicating that this feature is not exclusive to compensated semi-metals. A comprehensive analysis of the Landau Level spectrum firmly establishes a large $g$-factor in this material and a substantial decrease of the Fermi energy with increasing magnetic field across the quantum limit. Thus, the presence of bulk carriers significantly affects the spectrum of the intensively debated surface states in Bi2Se3 and related materials.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Hall plateaus at magic angles in bismuth beyond the quantum limit

We present a study of the angular dependence of the resistivity tensor up to 35 T in elemental bismuth complemented by torque magnetometry measurements in a similar configuration. For at least two particular field orientations a few degrees off the trigonal axis, the Hall resistivity was found to become field-independent within experimental resolution in a finite field window corresponding to a field which is roughly three times the frequency of quantum oscillations. The Hall plateaus rapidly vanish as the field is tilted off theses magic angles. We identify two distinct particularities of these specific orientations, which may play a role in the emergence of the Hall plateaus.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

2D orbital-like magnetic order in La2−xSrxCuO4{\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4}

In high temperature copper oxides superconductors, a novel magnetic order associated with the pseudogap phase has been identified in two different cuprate families over a wide region of temperature and doping. We here report the observation below 120 K of a similar magnetic ordering in the archetypal cuprate ${\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4}$ (LSCO) system for x=0.085. In contrast to the previous reports, the magnetic ordering in LSCO is {\it\bf only} short range with an in-plane correlation length of $\sim$ 10 \AA\ and is bidimensional (2D). Such a less pronounced order suggests an interaction with other electronic instabilities. In particular, LSCO also exhibits a strong tendency towards stripes ordering at the expense of the superconducting state.Comment: 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Observation of Magnetic Order in a YBa2Cu3O6.6{\rm YBa_2Cu_3O_{6.6}} Superconductor

Polarized beam neutron scattering measurements on a highly perfect crystal of ${\rm YBa_2Cu_3O_{6.6}}$ show a distinct magnetic transition with an onset at about 235K, the temperature expected for the pseudogap transition. The moment is found to be about 0.1 $\mu_B$ for each sublattice and have a correlation length of at least 75 \AA. We found the critical exponent for the magnetic neutron intensity to be 2$\beta$ =0.37$\pm$ 0.12. This is the proper range for the class of transition that has no specific heat divergence possibly explaining why none is found at the pseudogap transition.Comment: 3 figure

Doping Dependence of Bilayer Resonant Spin Excitations in (Y,Ca)Ba2Cu3O6+x\bf (Y,Ca)Ba_2Cu_3O_{6+x}

Resonant magnetic modes with odd and even symmetries were studied by inelastic neutron scattering experiments in the bilayer high-$T_c$ superconductor $\rm Y_{1-x}Ca_{x}Ba_2Cu_3O_{6+y}$ over a wide doping range. The threshold of the spin excitation continuum in the superconducting state, deduced from the energies and spectral weights of both modes, is compared with the superconducting d-wave gap, measured on the same samples by electronic Raman scattering in the $B_{1g}$ symmetry. Above a critical doping level of $\delta \simeq 0.19$, both mode energies and the continuum threshold coincide. We find a simple scaling relationship between the characteristic energies and spectral weights of both modes, which indicates that the resonant modes are bound states in the superconducting energy gap, as predicted by the spin-exciton model of the resonant mode.Comment: 4 figure

An electronic instability in bismuth far beyond the quantum limit

We present a transport study of semi-metallic bismuth in presence of a magnetic field applied along the trigonal axis extended to 55 T for electric conductivity and to 45 T for thermoelectric response. The results uncover a new field scale at about 40 T in addition to the previously detected ones. Large anomalies in all transport properties point to an intriguing electronic instability deep in the ultraquantum regime. Unexpectedly, both the sheer magnitude of conductivity and its metallic temperature dependence are enhanced by this instability.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Phase diagram of bismuth in the extreme quantum limit

Elemental bismuth provides a rare opportunity to explore the fate of a three-dimensional gas of highly mobile electrons confined to their lowest Landau level. Coulomb interaction, neglected in the band picture, is expected to become significant in this extreme quantum limit with poorly understood consequences. Here, we present a study of the angular-dependent Nernst effect in bismuth, which establishes the existence of ultraquantum field scales on top of its complex single-particle spectrum. Each time a Landau level crosses the Fermi level, the Nernst response sharply peaks. All such peaks are resolved by the experiment and their complex angular-dependence is in very good agreement with the theory. Beyond the quantum limit, we resolve additional Nernst peaks signaling a cascade of additional Landau sub-levels caused by electron interaction

Transport anomalies across the quantum limit in semimetallic Bi0.96_{0.96}Sb0.04_{0.04}

We report on a study of electronic transport in semi-metallic Bi$_{0.96}$Sb$_{0.04}$. At zero field, the system is a very dilute Fermi liquid displaying a T$^{2}$ resistivity with an enhanced prefactor. Quantum oscillations in resistivity as well as in Hall, Nernst and Seebeck responses of the system are detectable and their period quantifies the shrinking of the Fermi surface with antimony doping. For a field along the trigonal axis, the quantum limit was found to occur at a field as low as 3T. An ultraquantum anomaly at twice this field was detected in both charge transport and Nernst response. Its origin appears to lie beyond the one-particle picture and linked to unidentified many-body effects.Comment: 5 pages inculding 4 figure