non-Fermi Liquid Behavior Research Articles

Evidence for nematic fluctuations in FeSe superconductor: a 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy study

There has been controversy about the driving force of the nematic order in the FeSe superconductor. Here, we present a detailed study of the57Fe Mössbauer spectra of FeSe single-crystal powders, focusing on the temperature dependences of the hyperfine parameters in the vicinity of the nematic transition temperature,Ts∼ 90 K. The nematicity-induced splitting ofdxzanddyzbands, obtained from the anomalous increase in quadrupole splitting nearTs, starts at 143 K. The temperature evolution of the lattice dynamics, deduced from the recoilless fractions and second-order Doppler shifts, is found to undergo successively two segments of phonon-softening (160 K-105 K) and phonon-hardening (105 K-90 K), related to the appearance of local orthorhombic distortions aboveTsand the establishing way of the associated nematic correlations. Analysis of the linewidths shows that spin fluctuations occur not only below 70 K but also acrossTs(105 K-70 K), accompanied by the non-Fermi liquid behavior of the electrons. The results demonstrate the strong interactions between lattice, spin, and electron degrees of freedom in the vicinity ofTsand that the lattice degrees of freedom may play an essential role in driving the nematic order for FeSe.

Distinct ultrafast dynamics of bilayer and trilayer nickelate superconductors regarding the density-wave-like transitions

In addition to the pressurized high-temperature superconductivity, bilayer and trilayer nickelate superconductors Lan+1NinO3n+1 (n = 2 and 3) exhibit many intriguing properties at ambient pressure, such as orbital-dependent electronic correlation, non-Fermi liquid behavior, and density-wave transitions. Here, using ultrafast reflectivity measurement, we observe a drastic difference between the ultrafast dynamics of the bilayer and trilayer nickelates at ambient pressure. We observe a coherent phonon mode in La4Ni3O10 involving the collective vibration of La, Ni, and O atoms, which is absent in La3Ni2O7. Temperature-dependent relaxation time diverges near the density-wave transition temperature of La4Ni3O10, while it is inversely proportional to the temperature in La3Ni2O7 above ∼150 K, suggesting a dramatic difference in the density-wave states of the two compounds and a non-Fermi liquid behavior of La3Ni2O7. Moreover, we estimate the electron-phonon coupling constants to be 0.05–0.07 and 0.12–0.16 for La3Ni2O7 and La4Ni3O10, respectively, suggesting a relatively minor role of electron-phonon coupling in the electronic properties of Lan+1NinO3n+1. Our work not only sheds light on the relevant microscopic interaction but also establishes a foundation for further studying the interplay between superconductivity and density-wave transitions in nickelate superconductors.

Collapse of metallicity and high-Tc superconductivity in the high-pressure phase of FeSe0.89S0.11

We investigate the high-pressure phase of the iron-based superconductor FeSe0.89S0.11 using transport and tunnel diode oscillator studies using diamond anvil cells. We construct detailed pressure-temperature phase diagrams that indicate that the superconducting critical temperature is strongly enhanced by more than a factor of four towards 40 K above 4 GPa. The resistivity data reveal signatures of a fan-like structure of non-Fermi liquid behaviour which could indicate the existence of a putative quantum critical point buried underneath the superconducting dome around 4.3 GPa. With further increasing the pressure, the zero-field electrical resistivity develops a non-metallic temperature dependence and the superconducting transition broadens significantly. Eventually, the system fails to reach a fully zero-resistance state, and the finite resistance at low temperatures becomes strongly current-dependent. Our results suggest that the high-pressure, high-Tc phase of iron chalcogenides is very fragile and sensitive to uniaxial effects of the pressure medium, cell design and sample thickness. This high-pressure region could be understood assuming a real-space phase separation caused by nearly concomitant electronic and structural instabilities.

Electronic correlations and partial gap in the bilayer nickelate La3Ni2O7

The discovery of superconductivity with a critical temperature of about 80 K in La3Ni2O7 single crystals under pressure has received enormous attention. La3Ni2O7 is not superconducting under ambient pressure but exhibits a transition at T ∗ ≃ 115 K. Understanding the electronic correlations and charge dynamics is an important step towards the origin of superconductivity and other instabilities. Here, our optical study shows that La3Ni2O7 features strong electronic correlations which significantly reduce the electron’s kinetic energy and place this system in the proximity of the Mott phase. The low-frequency optical conductivity reveals two Drude components arising from multiple bands at the Fermi level. The transition at T ∗ removes the Drude component exhibiting non-Fermi liquid behavior, whereas the one with Fermi-liquid behavior is barely affected. These observations in combination with theoretical results suggest that the Fermi surface dominated by the Ni-d3z2−r2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${d}_{3{z}^{2}-{r}^{2}}$$\\end{document} orbital is removed due to the transition at T ∗. Our experimental results provide pivotal information for understanding the transition at T ∗ and superconductivity in La3Ni2O7.

Robust superconductivity and the suppression of charge-density wave in the quasi-skutterudites Ca3(Ir1−xRhx)4Sn13 single crystals at ambient pressure

Single crystals of the quasi-skutterudite compounds Ca3(Ir1-xRhx)4Sn13 (3–4–13) were synthesized by flux growth and characterized by x-ray diffraction, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, magnetization, resistivity, and radio frequency magnetic susceptibility techniques. The coexistence and competition between the charge density wave (CDW) and superconductivity was studied by varying the Rh/Ir ratio. The superconducting transition temperature, Tc , varies from 7 K in pure Ir (x = 0) to 8.3 K in pure Rh (x = 1). Temperature-dependent electrical resistivity reveals monotonic suppression of the CDW transition temperature, T CDW(x). The CDW starts in pure Ir, x = 0, at T CDW ≈ 40 K and extrapolates roughly linearly to zero at xc≈ 0.53–0.58 under the superconducting dome. Magnetization and transport measurements show a significant influence of CDW on superconducting and normal states. Meissner expulsion is substantially reduced in the CDW region, indicating competition between the CDW and superconductivity. The low-temperature resistivity is higher in the CDW part of the phase diagram, consistent with the reduced density of states due to CDW gapping. Its temperature dependence just above Tc shows signs of non-Fermi liquid behavior in a cone-like composition pattern. We conclude that the Ca3(Ir1-xRhx)4Sn13 alloy is a good candidate for a composition-driven quantum critical point at ambient pressure.

Weak antilocalization and sign inversion of magnetoresistance on CaRuO3 epitaxial films

CaRuO3 is a prototypical perovskite oxide among the Ruddlesden–Popper series with multi-exotic physical properties on the verge of quantum criticality. Unlike the case of the well-known ferromagnetic SrRuO3, the literature on the physical properties of the CaRuO3 system is scarce with no consensus about its magnetic and transport ground states. This work provides a detailed study of the magnetotransport properties of 300 nm CaRuO3 epitaxial films grown on single crystalline SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates. The magnetic and electronic ground states in tensile strained CaRuO3/SrTiO3 films and compressively strained CaRuO3/LaAlO3 films are found to be distinctly different. In particular, in zero magnetic field, the high-temperature resistivity of both films show a T1/2 non-Fermi liquid behavior. Cooling below 30 K, CaRuO3/SrTiO3 undergoes metal–insulator-transition ascribed by 3D weak localization, with signs of weak ferromagnetic-like domains. By contrast, the transport data of the nonmagnetic CaRuO3/LaAlO3 film below 30 K, show T3/2 non-Fermi liquid type behavior. Magnetoresistance in CaRuO3/SrTiO3 shows combination of weak antilocalization and weak localization behaviors deep in the insulating side, emphasizing the existence of spin–orbit coupling and the strong influence of ferromagnetic impurities. Moreover, the nonlinearity signals in CaRuO3/SrTiO3 Hall measurements could be described by anomalous Hall effects. Interestingly, below 30 K, magnetoresistance and Hall in CaRuO3/LaAlO3 change sign, indicating an inversion from hole-like to electron-like behavior. We discuss the sensitivity of the 300 nm CaRuO3/SrTiO3 and CaRuO3/LaAlO3 films to the 30 K temperature, an additional quantum critical feature to the ruthenate oxides.

Tunable Non-Fermi Liquid Phase from Coupling to Two-Level Systems.

We study a controlled large-N theory of electrons coupled to dynamical two-level systems (TLSs) via spatially random interactions. Such a physical situation arises when electrons scatter off low-energy excitations in a metallic glass, such as a charge or stripe glass. Our theory is governed by a non-Gaussian saddle point, which maps to the celebrated spin-boson model. By tuning the coupling strength we find that the model crosses over from a Fermi liquid at weak coupling to an extended region of non-Fermi liquid behavior at strong coupling, and realizes a marginal Fermi liquid at the crossover. Our results are valid for generic space dimensions d>1.

Negatively enhanced thermopower near a Van Hove singularity in electron-doped Sr2RuO4

The layered perovskite Sr2RuO4 serves as a model material of the two-dimensional (2D) Fermi liquid but also exhibits various emergent phenomena including the non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) behavior under external perturbations such as uniaxial pressure and chemical substitutions. Here we present the thermoelectric transport of electron-doped system Sr2−yLayRuO4, in which a filling-induced Lifshitz transition occurs at the Van Hove singularity (VHS) point of y≈0.2. We find that the sign of the low-temperature thermopower becomes negative only near the VHS point, where the NFL behavior has been observed in the earlier study. This observation is incompatible with either a numerical calculation within a constant relaxation-time approximation or a toy-model calculation for the 2D Lifshitz transition adopting an elastic carrier scattering. As a promising origin of the observed negatively enhanced thermopower, we propose a skewed NFL state, in which an inelastic scattering with a considerable odd-frequency term plays a crucial role to negatively enhance the thermopower. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Anomalous properties in normal and superconducting states of Sc2Ir4-xSix due to flat band effect driven by spin-orbit coupling

Correlation effect may be induced by the flat band(s) near the Fermi energy, as demonstrated in twisted graphene, Kagome materials, and heavy Fermion materials. Unconventional superconductivity may arise from this correlation effect and show deviation from the phonon-mediated pairing as well as the Landau Fermi liquid in the normal state. Here, we report the anomalous properties in normal and superconducting states in the Laves phase superconductor Sc2Ir4-xSix with a kagome lattice and silicon doping. By doping silicon to the iridium sites, a phase diagram with nonmonotonic and two-dome-like doping dependence of the superconducting transition temperature Tc was observed. The samples in the region of the second dome, including Sc2Ir3.5Si0.5 with the optimal Tc, exhibit non-Fermi liquid behavior at low temperatures after superconductivity is suppressed, as evidenced by the divergence of the specific heat coefficient and the semiconducting-like resistivity, together with a strong superconducting fluctuation in the optimally doped samples. Combined with first-principles calculations, we attribute the anomalous properties in normal and superconducting states to the correlation effect, which is intimately induced by the flat band effect when considering the strong spin-orbit coupling.

Nonlinear phenomena in charge transport properties of a hole-doped organic spin-liquid compound

The nonlinear electric conductivity of κ-(BEDT-TTF)4Hg2.89Br8, which is known as a hole-doped spin liquid, has been observed by single crystal transport measurements using dc and ac excitations. This compound is known as a charge transfer complex with strong magnetic fluctuations accompanied by electron mass enhancement at ambient pressure. We discuss the nonlinear dc conductivity drastically emerging below 100 K. We also performed ac impedance measurements of this compound and compared the results with those of a typical dimer-Mott compound of deuterated κ-(d8-BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br, located just near the Mott boundary. The analyses of the Nyquist plots of κ-(d8-BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br and κ-(BEDT-TTF)4Hg2.89Br8 reveal qualitatively different features. The former shows a behavior pertinent to the inhomogeneous distribution of domains due to a mixing of metal and insulating phases, taking into account the influence of the proximity effect, while the doped spin liquid has a distinct semicircle-type frequency dependence in its Nyquist plot in the whole temperature range studied. We conclude that the nonlinear conductivity is intrinsically peculiar to the doped dimer Mott system, where the charge degrees of freedom dominate the itinerancy. We attribute the anomalous features, such as non-Fermi liquid behavior, heat capacity enhancement, and strong antiferromagnetic fluctuations in κ-(BEDT-TTF)4Hg2.89Br8, to a kind of charge confinement effect retained in the hole-doped spin-liquid state.

Axions and superfluidity in Weyl semimetals

An effective field theory (EFT) for dynamical axions in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) is presented. A pseudoscalar axion excitation is predicted in WSMs at sufficiently low temperatures, independently of the strength of the Weyl fermion self-coupling. For strong fermion self-coupling the axion is the gapless Goldstone boson of chiral U(1)ch spontaneous symmetry breaking. For weak fermion self-coupling an axion is also generated at nonzero chiral density for Weyl nodes displaced in energy, as a gapless collective mode of correlated fermion pair excitations of the Fermi surface. This is an explicit example of the extension of Goldstone's theorem to symmetry breaking by the axial anomaly itself. In both cases, the axion is a chiral density wave or phason mode of the superfluid state of the WSM, and the Weyl fermions form a chiral condensate 〈ψ¯ψ〉 at low temperatures. In the presence of an applied magnetic field, the axion mode becomes gapped, in analogy to the Anderson–Higgs mechanism in a superconductor. 't Hooft anomaly matching from ultraviolet to infrared scales is directly verified in the EFT approach. WSMs thus provide an interesting quantum system in which superfluid, non-Fermi liquid behavior, and a dynamical axion are predicted to follow directly from the axial anomaly in a consistent EFT that may be tested experimentally. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Linear resistivity at van Hove singularities in twisted bilayer WSe2

Different mechanisms driving a linear temperature dependence of the resistivity ρ ∼ T at van Hove singularities (VHSs) or metal-insulator transitions when doping a Mott insulator are being debated intensively with competing theoretical proposals. We experimentally investigate this using the exceptional tunability of twisted bilayer (TB) WSe2 by tracking the parameter regions where linear-in-T resistivity is found in dependency of displacement fields, filling, and magnetic fields. We find that even when the VHSs are tuned rather far away from the half-filling point and the Mott insulating transition is absent, the T-linear resistivity persists at the VHSs. When doping away from the VHSs, the T-linear behavior quickly transitions into a Fermi liquid behavior with a T2 relation. No apparent dependency of the linear-in-T resistivity, besides a rather strong change of prefactor, is found when applying displacement fields as long as the filling is tuned to the VHSs, including D ∼ 0.28 V/nm where a high-order VHS is expected. Intriguingly, such non-Fermi liquid linear-in-T resistivity persists even when magnetic fields break the spin-degeneracy of the VHSs at which point two linear in T regions emerge, for each of the split VHSs separately. This points to a mechanism of enhanced scattering at generic VHSs rather than only at high-order VHSs or by a quantum critical point during a Mott transition. Our findings provide insights into the many-body consequences arising out of VHSs, especially the non-Fermi liquid behavior found in moiré materials.

The Superconductivity in Bi-Doped BaFe2As2 Single Crystals.

We have successfully synthesized a series of Bi-doped BaFe2As2 high-quality single crystals for the first time. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show an expansion of lattice parameter c with Bi doping, indicating a negative pressure effect. By investigating the resistivity, a Fermi liquid (FL) to non-Fermi liquid (NFL) crossover is observed from normal state to antiferromagnetic order state, accompanied by three superconducting transitions labeled as SC I, SC II and SC III, which are supposed to be induced by three superconducting realms with various Bi concentrations. Thus, we propose that the NFL behavior is closely related to the presence of superconductivity. The magnetic susceptibility measurements further speculate that the SC I and SC III phases should exhibit filamentary superconductivity while the SC II exhibits a possible bulk superconductivity of TC~7 K.

Lattice dynamics and enhanced electron–phonon coupling of itinerant magnet Fe1-xCoxSi (x ≥ 0.3): A 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy study

The magnetic phase transition in itinerant magnets involves many fundamental physical problems. Here we report a systematic investigation on the 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy of B20-type Fe1-xCoxSi (0.3 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) compounds in combination with macroscopic magnetism and resistance measurements. We observed non-Fermi liquid behavior at low temperatures in the region of phase transition (close to x = 0.7), as well as significant phonon softening. In addition, with the increase of Co content, the effect of electron–phonon coupling on the hyperfine field is gradually comparable to that of spin fluctuations. Our observations indicate that electron doping promotes electron–electron correlations and facilitates electron–phonon interactions at the cost of suppression of magnetic ordering and magnetic fluctuations, suggesting that interactions between phonons and other quasiparticles play a crucial role in the magnetic phase transitions of itinerant helical magnets.

Non-Fermi liquid behaviour in a correlated flat-band pyrochlore lattice

Non-Fermi liquid behaviour in a correlated flat-band pyrochlore lattice

Infinite critical boson non-Fermi liquid on heterostructure interfaces

We study the emergence of non-Fermi liquid on heterostructure interfaces where there exists an infinite number of critical boson modes accounting for the magnetic fluctuations in two spatial dimensions. The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction naturally arises in magnetic interactions due to the absence of inversion symmetry, resulting in a degenerate contour for the low-energy bosonic modes in the momentum space which simultaneously becomes critical near the magnetic phase transition. The itinerant electrons are scattered by the critical boson contour via the Yukawa coupling. When the boson contour is much smaller than the Fermi surface, it is shown that, there exists a regime with a dynamic critical exponent {z=3} while the boson contour still controls the low-energy magnetic fluctuations. Using a self-consistent renormalization calculation for this regime, we uncover a prominent non-Fermi liquid behavior in the resistivity with a characteristic temperature scaling power. These findings open up new avenues for understanding boson-fermion interactions and the novel fermionic quantum criticality.

Kondo frustration via charge fluctuations: a route to Mott localisation

We propose a minimal effective impurity model that captures the phenomenology of the Mott–Hubbard metal–insulator transition of the half-filled Hubbard model on the Bethe lattice in infinite dimensions as observed by dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). This involves extending the standard Anderson impurity model Hamiltonian to include an explicit Kondo coupling J, as well as a local on-site correlation Ub on the conduction bath site connected directly to the impurity. For the case of attractive local bath correlations (), the extended Anderson impurity model (e-SIAM) sheds new light on several aspects of the DMFT phase diagram. For example, the T = 0 metal-to-insulator quantum phase transition (QPT) is preceded by an excited state QPT (ESQPT) where the local moment eigenstates are emergent in the low-lying spectrum. Long-ranged fluctuations are observed near both the QPT and ESQPT, suggesting that they are the origin of the quantum critical scaling observed recently at high temperatures in DMFT simulations. The T = 0 gapless excitations at the quantum critical point display particle-hole interconversion processes, and exhibit power-law behaviour in self-energies and two-particle correlations. These are signatures of non-Fermi liquid behaviour that emerge from the partial breakdown of the Kondo screening.

Electronic state dominated magnetism in CoSb single crystal

Both theoretical calculations and experiments indicate that a monolayer CoSb/SrTiO3 film has high-temperature superconductivity resembling the case of FeSe/SrTiO3. However, no superconductivity was found in the bulk CoSb, even under high pressure. Moreover, the magnetic properties of CoSb have always been controversial. Here, we have studied the electrical property, magnetic property, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of CoSb single crystals. Electrical and magnetic transportation measurements reveal that CoSb is a Pauli paramagnetic metal with non-Fermi liquid behavior. The XPS results showed that both Co and Sb in CoSb are in the zero-valence state, and they form an alloy in which the metallic bond is dominant. The Pauli paramagnetism of CoSb originates from its itinerant electrons. Therefore, unveiling the electronic states of CoSb single crystal not only help us understand its magnetic properties, but would also pave the way for searching for the possible high-temperature superconductivity.

Spiral spin cluster in the hyperkagome antiferromagnet Mn3RhSi

Local spin correlation orders emerge in a paramagnetic state, with notable examples such as the partial order, cooperative paramagnetism, and soliton spin liquid. The noncentrosymmetric intermetallic antiferromagnet Mn3RhSi also exhibits the local spin correlation order in the paramagnetic state as magnetic short-range order in a wide temperature range. Here, we show that the local spin correlation order has a spiral structure by neutron scattering measurement of a Mn3RhSi single crystal. The possible origins of the magnetic cluster formation are discussed in terms of the Lifshitz invariant and the Griffiths phase, and compared with the room-temperature skyrmion phase of Co7Zn7Mn6 and non-Fermi liquid behavior of β-Mn.

Signature of filamentary superconductivity in centrosymmetric silicide LuScSi

Discovery of new superconductors with different crystal structure and exotic physics provides a great prospect for better understanding of superconducting mechanism. In this context, a detailed investigation of the structural, magnetic and electrical transport properties of a new superconducting alloy, LuScSi have been reported. Temperature (T) and magnetic field (H) dependent magnetisation (M) analysis reveals the onset of filamentary superconductivity below TC ∼ 4.2 K, which is among the highest value of TC that has been reported for LuTX (T = transition element, X = p block element) systems. This is corroborated with T and H dependent resistivity (ρ) and heat capacity (C) studies. Interestingly, in normal state, ρ exhibits a non-Fermi liquid behaviour (ρ (T) ∝ T2.38) in the range 5 < T < 50 K and Bloch-Gruneisen–type T dependence for 50 K < T < 250 K. The Kohler scaling is also employed on the magnetoresistance (MR) data indicating a single scattering rate across the Fermi surface in the normal state. Our studies reflect the conventional nature of moderately coupled superconducting state of this alloy.