Non-adiabatic Kohn Anomaly in Heavily Boron-doped Diamond

We report evidence of a non-adiabatic Kohn anomaly in boron-doped diamond, using a joint theoretical and experimental analysis of the phonon dispersion relations. We demonstrate that standard calculations of phonons using density functional perturbation theory are unable to reproduce the dispersion relations of the high-energy phonons measured by high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering. On the contrary, by taking into account non-adiabatic effects within a many-body field-theoretic framework, we obtain excellent agreement with our experimental data. This result indicates a breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation in the phonon dispersion relations of boron-doped diamond.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Giant Kohn anomaly and the phase transition in charge density wave ZrTe_3

A strong Kohn anomaly in ZrTe_3 is identified in the mostly transverse acoustic phonon branch along the modulation vector q_P with polarization along the a* direction. This soft mode freezes to zero frequency at the transition temperature T_P and the temperature dependence of the frequency is strongly affected by fluctuation effects. Diffuse x-ray scattering of the incommensurate superstructure shows a power law scaling of the intensity and the correlation length that is compatible with an order parameter of dimension n = 2.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. accepted at Phys. Rev. Let

Buried double CuO chains in YBa2_2Cu4_4O8_8 uncovered by nano-ARPES

The electron dynamics in the CuO chains has been elusive in Y-Ba-Cu-O cuprate systems by means of standard angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES); cleaved sample exhibits areas terminated by both CuO-chain or BaO layers, and the size of a typical beam results in ARPES signals that are superposed from both terminations. Here, we employ spatially-resolved ARPES with submicrometric beam (nano-ARPES) to reveal the surface-termination-dependent electronic structures of the double CuO chains in YBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$. We present the first observation of sharp metallic dispersions and Fermi surfaces of the double CuO chains buried underneath the CuO$_2$-plane block on the BaO terminated surface. While the observed Fermi surfaces of the CuO chains are highly one-dimensional, the electrons in the CuO-chains do not undergo significant electron correlations and no signature of a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid nor a marginal Fermi liquid is found. Our works represent an important experimental step toward understanding of the charge dynamics and provides a starting basis for modelling the high-$T_c$ superconductivity in YBCO cuprate systems.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures including supplementary material (4 pages, 2 figures

Evolution of the charge density wave superstructure in ZrTe3{\mathrm{ZrTe}}_{3} under pressure

The material ZrTe3 is a well-known example of an incommensurate periodic lattice distortion (PLD) at low temperatures due to a charge density wave (CDW). Previous studies have found a sharp boundary as a function of pressure between CDW below 5 GPa and bulk superconductivity above this value. We present a study of low-temperature-high-pressure single crystal x-ray diffraction along with ab initio density functional theory calculations. The modulation vector qCDW is found to change smoothly with pressure until the PLD is lost. Fermi surface calculations reproduce these changes, but neither these nor the experimental crystal lattice structure show a particular step change at 5 GPa, thus leading to the conclusion that the CDW is lost accidentally by tipping the balance of CDW formation in the Fermi surface nesting that stabilizes it

Anharmonicity due to Electron-Phonon Coupling in Magnetite

We present the results of inelastic x-ray scattering for magnetite and analyze the energies and spectral widths of the phonon modes with different symmetries in a broad range of temperature 125<T<293 K. The phonon modes with X_4 and Delta_5 symmetries broaden in a nonlinear way with decreasing temperature when the Verwey transition is approached. It is found that the maxima of phonon widths occur away from high-symmetry points which indicates the incommensurate character of critical fluctuations. Strong phonon anharmonicity induced by electron-phonon coupling is discovered within ab initio calculations which take into account local Coulomb interactions at Fe ions. It (i) explains observed anomalous phonon broadening, and (ii) demonstrates that the Verwey transition is a cooperative phenomenon which involves a wide spectrum of phonons coupled to charge fluctuations condensing in the low-symmetry phase.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Physical Review Letter

Phonon anomalies and lattice dynamics in superconducting oxychlorides Ca2−x_{2-x}CuO2_2Cl

We present a comprehensive study of the phonon dispersion in an underdoped, superconducting Ca$_{2-x}$CuO$_2$Cl$_2$ crystal. We interpret the results using lattice dynamical calculations based on a shell model, and we compare the results, to other hole-doped cuprates, in particular to the ones isomorphic to La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (LSCO). We found that an anomalous dip in the Cu-O bond stretching dispersion develops in oxychlorides with a simultaneous marked broadening of the mode. The broadening is maximum at $\approx (\pi / (2a) ~ 0 ~ 0)$ that corresponds to the charge-modulations propagation vector. Our analysis also suggests that screening effects in calculations may cause an apparent cosine-shaped bending of the Cu-O bond-stretching dispersion along both the ($q$ 0 0) and ($q$ $q$ 0) directions, that is not observed on the data close to optimal doping. This observation suggests that the discrepancy between experimental data and \textit{ab-initio} calculations on this mode originates from an overestimation of the doping effects on the mode

dxz/yzd_{xz/yz} Orbital Subband Structures and Chiral Orbital Angular Momentum in the (001) Surface States of SrTiO3_3

We have performed angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments on the surface states of SrTiO$_3$(001) using linearly and circularly polarized light to investigate the subband structures of out-of-plane $d_{xz/yz}$ orbitals and chiral orbital angular momentum (OAM). The data taken in the first Brillouin zone reveal new subbands for $d_{xz/yz}$ orbitals with Fermi wave vectors of 0.25 and 0.45 $\mathrm{\AA}^{-1}$ in addition to the previously reported ones. As a result, there are at least two subbands for all the Ti 3d t$_{2g}$ orbitals. Our circular dichroism ARPES data is suggestive of a chiral OAM structure in the surface states and may provide clues to the origin of the linear Rashba-like surface band splitting.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Journal pape

Short-Range Correlations in Magnetite above the Verwey Temperature

Magnetite, Fe$_3$O$_4$, is the first magnetic material discovered and utilized by mankind in Ancient Greece, yet it still attracts attention due to its puzzling properties. This is largely due to the quest for a full and coherent understanding of the Verwey transition that occurs at $T_V=124$ K and is associated with a drop of electric conductivity and a complex structural phase transition. A recent detailed analysis of the structure, based on single crystal diffraction, suggests that the electron localization pattern contains linear three-Fe-site units, the so-called trimerons. Here we show that whatever the electron localization pattern is, it partially survives up to room temperature as short-range correlations in the high-temperature cubic phase, easily discernible by diffuse scattering. Additionally, {\it ab initio} electronic structure calculations reveal that characteristic features in these diffuse scattering patterns can be correlated with the Fermi surface topology.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure