Researchers have discovered a complex landscape of electronic states that
can co-exist on a kagome lattice, resembling those in high-temperature
superconductors, a team of Boston College physicists reports in an advance
electronic publication of the journal Nature.
The focus of the study was a bulk single crystal of a topological kagome
metal, known as CsV3Sb5—a metal that becomes superconducting below 2.5
degrees Kelvin, or minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit. The exotic material is
built from atomic planes composed of Vanadium atoms arranged on a so-called
kagome lattice—described as a pattern of interlaced triangles and
hexagons—stacked on top of one another, with Cesium and Antimony spacer
layers between the kagome planes.
The material offers a window into how the physical properties of quantum
solids—such as light transmission, electrical conduction, or response to a
magnetic field—relate to the underlying geometry of the atomic lattice
structure. Because its geometry causes destructive interference and
"frustrates" the kinetic motion of traversing electrons, kagome lattice
materials are prized for offering the unique and fertile ground for the
study of quantum electronic states described as frustrated, correlated and
topological.
The majority of experimental efforts thus far have focused on kagome
magnets. The material the team examined is not magnetic, which opens the
door to investigate how electrons in kagome systems behave in the absence of
magnetism. The electronic structure of these crystals can be classified as
"topological", while high electrical conductivity makes it a "metal".
"This topological metal becomes superconducting at low temperature, which is
a very rare occurrence of superconductivity in a kagome material," said
Boston College Associate Professor of Physics Ilija Zeljkovic, a lead
co-author of the report, titled "Cascade of correlated electron states in a
kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5."
In a metal, electrons in the crystal form a liquid state. Electrical
conduction happens when the charged liquid flows under a bias voltage. The
team used scanning tunneling spectroscopy to probe the quantum interference
effects of the electron liquid, said Zeljkovic, who conducted the research
with Boston College colleagues Professor of Physics Ziqiang Wang, graduate
student Hong Li, and He Zhao, who earned his doctorate in Physics at BC in
2020, as well as colleagues from the University of California, Santa
Barbara.
The experiments revealed a "cascade" of symmetry-broken phases of the
electron liquid driven by the correlation between the electrons in the
material, the team reported.
Occurring consecutively as the temperature of the material was lowered,
ripples, or standing waves, emerge first in the electron liquid, known as
charge density waves, with periodicity different from the underlying atomic
lattice. At a lower temperature, a new standing wave component nucleates
only along one direction of the crystal axes, such that electrical
conduction along this direction is different than in any other direction.
These phases develop in the normal state—or the non-superconducting metallic
state—and persist below the superconducting transition, Wang said. The
experiments demonstrate that superconductivity in CsV3Sb5 emerges from, and
coexists with, a correlated quantum electronic state that breaks spatial
symmetries of the crystal.
The findings could have strong implications for how the electrons form
"Cooper" pairs and turn into a charged superfluid at an even lower
temperature, or a superconductor capable of electrical conduction without
resistance. In this family of kagome superconductors, other research has
already suggested the possibility of unconventional electron pairing, said
Zeljkovic.
Researchers in the field have noted a phenomenon called time-reversal
symmetry breaking in CsV3Sb5. This symmetry rule—which holds that actions
would be performed in reverse if time were to run backwards—is typically
broken in magnetic materials, but the kagome metal shows no substantial
magnetic moments. Zeljkovic said next steps in this research are to
understand this apparent contradiction and how the electronic states
revealed in this recent work are related to time-reversal symmetry breaking.
The level of significance and research into these recently-discovered kagome
lattice superconductors is reflected in an associated Nature article
published in the same advance electronic edition. Also co-authored by BC's
Ziqiang Wang, the paper, titled "Roton pair density wave in a
strong-coupling kagome superconductor," reports the observation of novel
standing waves formed by Cooper pairs with yet another periodicity in the
same kagome superconductor, CsV3Sb5.
"The publishing of these two reports side-by-side not only reveals new and
broad insights into kagome lattice superconductors, but also signals the
high level of interest and excitement surrounding these materials and their
unique properties and phenomena, which researchers at Boston College and
institutions around the world are discovering with increasing frequency,"
Wang said.
Reference:
He Zhao et al, Cascade of correlated electron states in a kagome
superconductor CsV3Sb5, Nature (2021).
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03946-w
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Physics