No abstract

Long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) photodetection is important for heatseeking technologies, such as thermal imaging, all-weather surveillance, and missile guidance. Among various detection techniques, photothermoelectric (PTE) detectors are promising in that they can realize ultra-broadband photodetection at room temperature without an external power supply. However, their performance in terms of speed, responsivity, and noise level in the LWIR regime still needs further improvement. Here, we demonstrated a high-performance PTE photodetector based on low-symmetry palladium selenide (PdSe 2 ) with asymmetric van der Waals contacts. The temperature gradient induced by asymmetric van der Waals contacts even under global illumination drives carrier diffusion to produce a photovoltage via the PTE effect. A responsivity of over 13 V/W, a response time of ∼50 μs, and a noise equivalent power of less than 7 nW/Hz 1/2 are obtained in the 4.6−10.5 μm regime at room temperature. Furthermore, due to the anisotropic absorption of PdSe 2 , the detector exhibits a linear polarization angle sensitive response with an anisotropy ratio of 2.06 at 4.6 μm and 1.21 at 10.5 μm, respectively. Our proposed device architecture provides an alternative strategy to design high-performance photodetectors in the LWIR regime by utilizing van der Waals layered materials.

The layered MnBi2nTe3n+1 family represents the first intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator (AFM TI, protected by a combination symmetry S ) ever discovered, providing an ideal platform to explore novel physics such as quantum anomalous Hall effect at elevated temperature and axion electrodynamics. Recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments on this family have revealed that all terminations exhibit (nearly) gapless topological surface states (TSSs) within the AFM state, violating the definition of the AFM TI, as the surfaces being studied should be S -breaking and opening a gap. Here we explain this curious paradox using a surface-bulk band hybridization picture. Combining ARPES and first-principles calculations, we prove that only an apparent gap is opened by hybridization between TSSs and bulk bands. The observed (nearly) gapless features are consistently reproduced by tight-binding simulations where TSSs are coupled to a Rashba-split bulk band. The Dirac-cone-like spectral features are actually of bulk origin, thus not sensitive to the S -breaking at the AFM surfaces. This picture explains the (nearly) gapless behaviour found in both Bi2Te3-and MnBi2Te4-terminated surfaces and is applicable to all terminations of MnBi2nTe3n+1 family. Our findings highlight the role of band hybridization, superior to magnetism in this case, in shaping the general surface band structure in magnetic topological materials for the first time.

No abstract

Confining interacting particles in one-dimension (1D) changes the electronic behavior of the system fundamentally, which has been studied extensively in the past. Examples of 1D metallic systems include carbon nanotubes, quasi-1D organic conductors, metal chains, and domain boundary defects in monolayer thick transition-metal dichalcogenides such as MoSe 2 . Here single and bundles of Mo 6 Se 6 nanowires were fabricated through annealing a MoSe 2 monolayer grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on graphene. Conversion from twodimensional (2D) MoSe 2 film to 1D Mo 6 Se 6 nanowire is reversible. Mo 6 Se 6 nanowires form preferentially at the Se-terminated zigzag edges of MoSe 2 and stitch to it via two distinct atomic configurations. The Mo 6 Se 6 wire is metallic and its length is tunable, which represents one of few 1D systems that exhibit properties pertinent to quantum confined Tomonaga−Luttinger liquid, as evidenced by scanning tunneling microscopic and spectroscopic studies.