6,699 research outputs found
Nonlinear optical probe of tunable surface electrons on a topological insulator
We use ultrafast laser pulses to experimentally demonstrate that the
second-order optical response of bulk single crystals of the topological
insulator BiSe is sensitive to its surface electrons. By performing
surface doping dependence measurements as a function of photon polarization and
sample orientation we show that second harmonic generation can simultaneously
probe both the surface crystalline structure and the surface charge of
BiSe. Furthermore, we find that second harmonic generation using
circularly polarized photons reveals the time-reversal symmetry properties of
the system and is surprisingly robust against surface charging, which makes it
a promising tool for spectroscopic studies of topological surfaces and buried
interfaces
Semimetal to semimetal charge density wave transition in 1T-TiSe
We report an infrared study on 1-TiSe, the parent compound of the
newly discovered superconductor CuTiSe. Previous studies of this
compound have not conclusively resolved whether it is a semimetal or a
semiconductor: information that is important in determining the origin of its
unconventional CDW transition. Here we present optical spectroscopy results
that clearly reveal that the compound is metallic in both the high-temperature
normal phase and the low-temperature CDW phase. The carrier scattering rate is
dramatically different in the normal and CDW phases and the carrier density is
found to change with temperature. We conclude that the observed properties can
be explained within the scenario of an Overhauser-type CDW mechanism.Comment: 4 pages, 4 page
Volume Fractions of the Kinematic "Near-Critical" Sets of the Quantum Ensemble Control Landscape
An estimate is derived for the volume fraction of a subset in the neighborhood
of the critical set
of the kinematic quantum ensemble control landscape J(U) = Tr(U\rho U' O),
where represents the unitary time evolution operator, {\rho} is the initial
density matrix of the ensemble, and O is an observable operator. This estimate
is based on the Hilbert-Schmidt geometry for the unitary group and a
first-order approximation of . An upper bound on these
near-critical volumes is conjectured and supported by numerical simulation,
leading to an asymptotic analysis as the dimension of the quantum system
rises in which the volume fractions of these "near-critical" sets decrease to
zero as increases. This result helps explain the apparent lack of influence
exerted by the many saddles of over the gradient flow.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figur
Anomalous metallic state of CuTiSe: an optical spectroscopy study
We report an optical spectroscopy study on the newly discovered
superconductor CuTiSe. Consistent with the development from a
semimetal or semiconductor with a very small indirect energy gap upon doping
TiSe, it is found that the compound has a low carrier density. Most
remarkably, the study reveals a substantial shift of the "screened" plasma edge
in reflectance towards high energy with decreasing temperature. This
phenomenon, rarely seen in metals, indicates either a sizeable increase of the
conducting carrier concentration or/and a decrease of the effective mass of
carriers with reducing temperature. We attribute the shift primarily to the
later effect.Comment: 4 figures, 4+ page
Nonlinear and time-resolved optical study of the 112-type iron-based superconductor parent Ca_(1−x)La_xFeAs_2 across its structural phase transition
The newly discovered 112-type ferropnictide superconductors contain chains of As atoms that break the tetragonal symmetry between the É‘ and b axes. This feature eliminates the need for uniaxial strain that is usually required to stabilize large single domains in the electronic nematic state that exists in the vicinity of magnetic order in the iron-based superconductors. We report detailed structural symmetry measurements of 112-type Ca_(0.73)La_(0.27)FeAs_2 using rotational anisotropy optical second-harmonic generation. This technique is complementary to diffraction experiments and enables a precise determination of the point-group symmetry of a crystal. By combining our measurements with density functional theory calculations, we uncover a strong optical second-harmonic response of bulk electric dipole origin from the Fe and Ca 3d-derived states that enables us to assign C_2 as the crystallographic point group. This makes the 112-type materials high-temperature superconductors without a center of inversion, allowing for the possible mixing of singlet and triplet Cooper pairs in the superconducting state. We also perform pump-probe transient reflectivity experiments that reveal a 4.6-THz phonon mode associated with the out-of-plane motion of As atoms in the FeAs layers. We do not observe any suppression of the optical second-harmonic response or shift in the phonon frequency upon cooling through the reported monoclinic-to-triclinic transition at 58 K. This allows us to identify C_1 as the low-temperature crystallographic point group but suggests that structural changes induced by long-range magnetic order are subtle and do not significantly affect electronic states near the Fermi level
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