Angle-resolved and core-level photoemission study of interfacing the topological insulator Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3 with Ag, Nb and Fe

Interfaces between a bulk-insulating topological insulator (TI) and metallic adatoms have been studied using high-resolution, angle-resolved and core-level photoemission. Fe, Nb and Ag were evaporated onto Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3 (BSTS) surfaces both at room temperature and 38K. The coverage- and temperature-dependence of the adsorption and interfacial formation process have been investigated, highlighting the effects of the overlayer growth on the occupied electronic structure of the TI. For all coverages at room temperature and for those equivalent to less than 0.1 monolayer at low temperature all three metals lead to a downward shift of the TI's bands with respect to the Fermi level. At room temperature Ag appears to intercalate efficiently into the van der Waals gap of BSTS, accompanied by low-level substitution of the Te/Se atoms of the termination layer of the crystal. This Te/Se substitution with silver increases significantly for low temperature adsorption, and can even dominate the electrostatic environment of the Bi/Sb atoms in the BSTS near-surface region. On the other hand, Fe and Nb evaporants remain close to the termination layer of the crystal. On room temperature deposition, they initially substitute isoelectronically for Bi as a function of coverage, before substituting for Te/Se atoms. For low temperature deposition, Fe and Nb are too immobile for substitution processes and show a behaviour consistent with clustering on the surface. For both Ag and Fe/Nb, these differing adsorption pathways leads to the qualitatively similar and remarkable behavior for low temperature deposition that the chemical potential first moves upward (n-type dopant behavior) and then downward (p-type behavior) on increasing coverage.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. In our Phys. Rev. B manuscript an error was made in formulating the last sentence of the abstract that, unfortunately, was missed in the page proofs. Version 2 on arxiv has the correct formulation of this sentenc

Kondo hybridisation and the origin of metallic states at the (001) surface of SmB6

SmB6, a well-known Kondo insulator, has been proposed to be an ideal topological insulator with states of topological character located in a clean, bulk electronic gap, namely the Kondo hybridisation gap. Seeing as the Kondo gap arises from many body electronic correlations, this would place SmB6 at the head of a new material class: topological Kondo insulators. Here, for the first time, we show that the k-space characteristics of the Kondo hybridisation process is the key to unravelling the origin of the two types of metallic states observed directly by ARPES in the electronic band structure of SmB6(001). One group of these states is essentially of bulk origin, and cuts the Fermi level due to the position of the chemical potential 20 meV above the lowest lying 5d-4f hybridisation zone. The other metallic state is more enigmatic, being weak in intensity, but represents a good candidate for a topological surface state. However, before this claim can be substantiated by an unequivocal measurement of its massless dispersion relation, our data raises the bar in terms of the ARPES resolution required, as we show there to be a strong renormalisation of the hybridisation gaps by a factor 2-3 compared to theory, following from the knowledge of the true position of the chemical potential and a careful comparison with the predictions from recent LDA+Gutzwiler calculations. All in all, these key pieces of evidence act as triangulation markers, providing a detailed description of the electronic landscape in SmB6, pointing the way for future, ultrahigh resolution ARPES experiments to achieve a direct measurement of the Dirac cones in the first topological Kondo insulator.Comment: 9 pages, 4 Figures and supplementary material (including Movies and CORPES13 "best prize" poster

Emergence of pseudogap from short-range spin-correlations in electron doped cuprates

Electron interactions are pivotal for defining the electronic structure of quantum materials. In particular, the strong electron Coulomb repulsion is considered the keystone for describing the emergence of exotic and/or ordered phases of quantum matter as disparate as high-temperature superconductivity and charge- or magnetic-order. However, a comprehensive understanding of fundamental electronic properties of quantum materials is often complicated by the appearance of an enigmatic partial suppression of low-energy electronic states, known as the pseudogap. Here we take advantage of ultrafast angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to unveil the temperature evolution of the low-energy density of states in the electron-doped cuprate Nd$_{\text{2-x}}$Ce$_{\text{x}}$CuO$_{\text{4}}$, an emblematic system where the pseudogap intertwines with magnetic degrees of freedom. By photoexciting the electronic system across the pseudogap onset temperature T*, we report the direct relation between the momentum-resolved pseudogap spectral features and the spin-correlation length with an unprecedented sensitivity. This transient approach, corroborated by mean field model calculations, allows us to establish the pseudogap in electron-doped cuprates as a precursor to the incipient antiferromagnetic order even when long-range antiferromagnetic correlations are not established, as in the case of optimal doping.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Influence of Spin Orbit Coupling in the Iron-Based Superconductors

We report on the influence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the Fe-based superconductors (FeSCs) via application of circularly-polarized spin and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We combine this technique in representative members of both the Fe-pnictides and Fe-chalcogenides with ab initio density functional theory and tight-binding calculations to establish an ubiquitous modification of the electronic structure in these materials imbued by SOC. The influence of SOC is found to be concentrated on the hole pockets where the superconducting gap is generally found to be largest. This result contests descriptions of superconductivity in these materials in terms of pure spin-singlet eigenstates, raising questions regarding the possible pairing mechanisms and role of SOC therein.Comment: For supplementary information, see http://qmlab.ubc.ca/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/articles.htm

Stable Weyl points, trivial surface states and particle-hole compensation in WP2

A possible connection between extremely large magneto-resistance and the presence of Weyl points has garnered much attention in the study of topological semimetals. Exploration of these concepts in transition metal phosphide WP2 has been complicated by conflicting experimental reports. Here we combine angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to disentangle surface and bulk contributions to the ARPES intensity, the superposition of which has plagued the determination of the electronic structure in WP2. Our results show that while the hole- and electron-like Fermi surface sheets originating from surface states have different areas, the bulk-band structure of WP2 is electron-hole-compensated in agreement with DFT. Furthermore, the detailed band structure is compatible with the presence of at least 4 temperature-independent Weyl points, confirming the topological nature of WP2 and its stability against lattice distortions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Collapse of superconductivity in cuprates via ultrafast quenching of phase coherence

The possibility of driving phase transitions in low-density condensates through the loss of phase coherence alone has far-reaching implications for the study of quantum phases of matter. This has inspired the development of tools to control and explore the collective properties of condensate phases via phase fluctuations. Electrically-gated oxide interfaces, ultracold Fermi atoms, and cuprate superconductors, which are characterized by an intrinsically small phase-stiffness, are paradigmatic examples where these tools are having a dramatic impact. Here we use light pulses shorter than the internal thermalization time to drive and probe the phase fragility of the Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ cuprate superconductor, completely melting the superconducting condensate without affecting the pairing strength. The resulting ultrafast dynamics of phase fluctuations and charge excitations are captured and disentangled by time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. This work demonstrates the dominant role of phase coherence in the superconductor-to-normal state phase transition and offers a benchmark for non-equilibrium spectroscopic investigations of the cuprate phase diagram.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, Main Text and Supplementary Informatio