We have performed a high-resolution angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy study on the newly discovered superconductor Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 (Tc = 37 K). We have observed two superconducting gaps with different values: a large gap (∆ ∼ 12 meV) on the two small holelike and electron-like Fermi surface (FS) sheets, and a small gap (∼ 6 meV) on the large hole-like FS. Both gaps, closing simultaneously at the bulk transition temperature (Tc), are nodeless and nearly isotropic around their respective FS sheets. The isotropic pairing interactions are strongly orbital dependent, as the ratio 2∆/kBTc switches from weak to strong coupling on different bands. The same and surprisingly large superconducting gap due to strong pairing on the two small FSs, which are connected by the (π, 0) spin-density-wave vector in the parent compound, strongly suggests that the pairing mechanism originates from the inter-band interactions between these two nested FS sheets.
The three-dimensional topological insulator is a quantum state of matter characterized by an insulating bulk state and gapless Dirac cone surface states. Device applications of topological insulators require a highly insulating bulk and tunable Dirac carriers, which has so far been difficult to achieve. Here we demonstrate that Bi 2-x sb x Te 3-y se y is a system that simultaneously satisfies both of these requirements. For a series of compositions presenting bulk-insulating transport behaviour, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals that the chemical potential is always located in the bulk band gap, whereas the Dirac cone dispersion changes systematically so that the Dirac point moves up in energy with increasing x, leading to a sign change of the Dirac carriers at x~0.9. such a tunable Dirac cone opens a promising pathway to the development of novel devices based on topological insulators.
The recent discovery of possible high-temperature (T(c)) superconductivity over 65 K in a monolayer FeSe film on SrTiO3 (refs 1-6) triggered a fierce debate on how superconductivity evolves from bulk to film, because bulk FeSe crystal exhibits a T(c) of no higher than 10 K (ref. 7). However, the difficulty in controlling the carrier density and the number of FeSe layers has hindered elucidation of this problem. Here, we demonstrate that deposition of potassium onto FeSe films markedly expands the accessible doping range towards the heavily electron-doped region. Intriguingly, we have succeeded in converting non-superconducting films with various thicknesses into superconductors with T(c) as high as 48 K. We also found a marked increase in the magnitude of the superconducting gap on decreasing the FeSe film thickness, indicating that the interface plays a crucial role in realizing the high-temperature superconductivity. The results presented provide a new strategy to enhance and optimize T(c) in ultrathin films of iron-based superconductors.
We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on an FeSe superconductor (T_{c}∼8 K), which exhibits a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural transition at T_{s}∼90 K. At low temperature, we found splitting of the energy bands as large as 50 meV at the M point in the Brillouin zone, likely caused by the formation of electronically driven nematic states. This band splitting persists up to T∼110 K, slightly above T_{s}, suggesting that the structural transition is triggered by the electronic nematicity. We have also revealed that at low temperature the band splitting gives rise to a van Hove singularity within 5 meV of the Fermi energy. The present result strongly suggests that this unusual electronic state is responsible for the unconventional superconductivity in FeSe.
The three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator is a novel quantum state of matter where an insulating bulk hosts a linearly dispersing surface state, which can be viewed as a sea of massless Dirac fermions protected by the time-reversal symmetry (TRS). Breaking the TRS by a magnetic order leads to the opening of a gap in the surface state 1 , and consequently the Dirac fermions become massive. It has been proposed theoretically that such a mass acquisition is necessary to realize novel topological phenomena 2,3 , but achieving a sufficiently large mass is an experimental challenge. Here we report an unexpected discovery that the surface Dirac fermions in a solid-solution system TlBi(S 1−x Se x ) 2 acquire a mass without explicitly breaking the TRS. We found that this system goes through a quantum phase transition from the topological to the non-topological phase, and, by tracing the evolution of the electronic states using the angle-resolved photoemission, we observed that the massless Dirac state in TlBiSe 2 switches to a massive state before it disappears in the non-topological phase. This result suggests the existence of a condensedmatter version of the 'Higgs mechanism' where particles acquire a mass through spontaneous symmetry breaking.Whether a band insulator is topological or not is determined by the parity of the valence-band wave function, which is described by the Z 2 topological invariant. Strong spin-orbit coupling can lead to an inversion of the character of valence-and conduction-band wave functions, resulting in an odd Z 2 invariant that characterizes the topological insulator 4,5 . All known topological insulators 6-14 are based on this band-inversion mechanism 4,5,[15][16][17][18] , but the successive evolution of the electronic state across the quantum phase transition (QPT) from trivial to topological has not been well studied in 3D topological insulators owing to the lack of suitable materials. TlBi(S 1−x Se x ) 2 is therefore the first system where one can investigate the 3D topological QPT (ref. 19). The advantage of this system is that it always maintains the same crystal structure (Fig. 1a), irrespective of the S/Se ratio. Low-energy, ultrahigh-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), which has recently become available, is particularly suited to trace such a QPT in great detail.The bulk band structures of the two end members, TlBiSe 2 and TlBiS 2 , are shown in Fig. 1b, where one can see several common features, such as the prominent hole-like band at the binding energy E B of 0.5-1 eV and a weaker intensity at the Fermi level (E F ), both being centred at the point (Brillouin-zone centre). These features
Topological semimetals materialize a new state of quantum matter where massless fermions protected by a specific crystal symmetry host exotic quantum phenomena. Distinct from well-known Dirac and Weyl fermions, structurally-chiral topological semimetals are predicted to host new types of massless fermions characterized by a large topological charge, whereas such exotic fermions are yet to be experimentally established. Here, by using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we experimentally demonstrate that a transition-metal silicide CoSi hosts two types of chiral topological fermions, spin-1 chiral fermion and double Weyl fermion, in the center and corner of the bulk Brillouin zone, respectively. Intriguingly, we found that the bulk Fermi surfaces are purely composed of the energy bands related to these fermions. We also find the surface states connecting the Fermi surfaces associated with these fermions, suggesting the existence of the predicted Fermi-arc surface states. Our result provides the first experimental evidence for the chiral topological fermions beyond Dirac and Weyl fermions in condensed-matter systems, and paves the pathway toward realizing exotic electronic properties associated with unconventional chiral fermions.
The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides raised the possibility of an unconventional superconducting mechanism in multiband materials. The observation of Fermisurface (FS)-dependent nodeless superconducting gaps suggested that inter-FS interactions may play a crucial role in superconducting pairing. In the optimally hole-doped Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2, the pairing strength is enhanced simultaneously (2⌬/TcϷ7) on the nearly nested FS pockets, i.e., the inner hole-like (␣) FS and the 2 hybridized electron-like FSs, whereas the pairing remains weak (2⌬/ TcϷ3.6) in the poorly nested outer hole-like () FS. Here, we report that in the electron-doped BaFe1.85Co0.15As2, the FS nesting condition switches from the ␣ to the  FS due to the opposite size changes for hole-and electron-like FSs upon electron doping. The strong pairing strength (2⌬/TcϷ6) is also found to switch to the nested  FS, indicating an intimate connection between FS nesting and superconducting pairing, and strongly supporting the inter-FS pairing mechanism in the iron-based superconductors.angle-resolved photoemission ͉ band structure ͉ iron pnictide ͉ superconductivity I n charge-doped superconductors, such as copper oxides (cuprates), electron or hole doping may influence the superconducting (SC) properties differently (1, 2). As an example, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (3) (ARPES) and Raman scattering (4) revealed a nonmonotonic behavior in the SC gap function of the electron-doped cuprates that is different from the simple dx 2 -y 2 -wave function observed in the hole-doped cuprates (5). On the other hand, in the new Fe-based superconductors (6-9), no direct comparison of the SC order parameter has been made between hole-and electron-doped systems. ARPES studies on hole-doped Ba 1-x K x Fe 2 As 2 have observed isotropic gaps that have different values on different Fermi surfaces (FSs) with strong pairing occurring on the nearly nested FS pockets (10-13). Thus, it is particularly important to conduct a comparison of the SC gaps and their FS dependence of an electron-doped pnictide. We have chosen BaFe 1.85 Co 0.15 As 2 , which is optimally electron doped (14) with the same crystal structure as the Ba 1-x K x Fe 2 As 2 system (9). ResultsFig . 1A and B show ARPES intensity plots of BaFe 1.85 Co 0.15 As 2 (T c ϭ 25.5 K) as a function of binding energy and momentum (k) along 2 high-symmetry lines in the Brillouin zone (BZ). We observe a hole-like dispersion centered at the ⌫ point and 2 electron-like FSs near the M point. Even though a reasonable agreement is found between experiment and renormalized band calculations (15), some experimental features such as the energy position of the 0.2 eV band at the ⌫ point and the bottom of the electron band at the M point, are not well reproduced by band calculations. This suggests a possible orbital and k dependence of the mass-renormalization factor. Fig. 1C shows the ARPES intensity at the Fermi level (E F ) plotted as a function of the in-plane wave vector. A circular and an...
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