Electronic analog of chiral metamaterial: Helicity-resolved filtering and focusing of Dirac fermions in thin films of topological materials

Control over the helicity degree of freedom of Dirac fermions is identified in thin films of topological materials which act as a tunable “chiral-metamaterial-like” platform to tame left- and right-handed Dirac fermions in two dimensions. Using topological crystalline insulator SnTe(111) thin films as an example, we perform the first-principles calculations and show that giant helicity splitting in the band structures can be induced under moderate electric field. Based on this result, helicity-resolved functionalities, including pronounced electron dichroism, helicity switching, helical negative refraction, and birefraction, are demonstrated, where the intrahelical scattering always dominates over the interhelical one. Such intriguing control strategy for helical Dirac fermions may hold great promise for the applications of helicity-based electron optics and nanoelectronics.National Natural Science Foundation (China) (Grant 11204154)National Natural Science Foundation (China) (Grant 11334006)Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (Grant 2011CB921901)Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (Grant 2011CB606405

Isotopic dynamics of precipitation and its regional and local drivers in a plateau inland lake basin, Southwest China

Shrinkage of plateau lakes under climate strength has drawn growing attention. Because of its intricate implication to hydro-meteorological condition and climate system, stable isotopes in precipitation (e.g. delta H-2(p) and delta O-18(p)) provide us a powerful tool to understand the climate-hydrologic dynamics in shrinking lakes. However, how the regional atmospheric circulation, moisture sources and local fractionation processes drive isotopic variability from temporal to spatial scale has rarely been reported for remote plateau lakes. Hence, we collected a total of 98 rainfall samples at the south and the north shores of Chenghai lake, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to study the potential driving forces of precipitation isotope variability during the wet season of 2019. Based on backward trajectories of air masses obtained from HYSPLIT model, 68% of moisture came from delta O-18 depleted ocean (Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, South China Sea and Pacific Ocean), and the rainout process promoted the isotopic depletion when moisture arrived at the study basin. Evapotranspiration increased the heavy isotope ratios in precipitation originated from continents (northern China inland and western continents). The temporal dynamics of delta O-18(p) and delta H-2(p) were in phase with the convection activities intensity underlined the influence from large-scale atmospheric circulation. Local meteorological factors played a secondary role in isotope variability. Precipitation amount-effect strongly affected isotope ratios while mild anti-temperature effect was observed at daily scale. Interestingly, the rainfall isotope ratios showed different mechanisms in govern at lake south shore and north shore, with a distance of 19 km in between. This south-to-north difference can be explained by either lower 1.03% sub-evaporation in the south shore or 7% of recycled moisture contributing to precipitation in the north shore. Our findings discover the driving forces for delta O-18(p) variation and provide solid interpretations for hydro-climate change in Southwest China. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Experimental observation of Dirac-like surface states and topological phase transition in Pb1−x_{1-x}Snx_xTe(111) films

The surface of a topological crystalline insulator (TCI) carries an even number of Dirac cones protected by crystalline symmetry. We epitaxially grew high quality Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Te(111) films and investigated the TCI phase by in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Te(111) films undergo a topological phase transition from trivial insulator to TCI via increasing the Sn/Pb ratio, accompanied by a crossover from n-type to p-type doping. In addition, a hybridization gap is opened in the surface states when the thickness of film is reduced to the two-dimensional limit. The work demonstrates an approach to manipulating the topological properties of TCI, which is of importance for future fundamental research and applications based on TCI