skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Wigner solid pinning modes tuned by fractional quantum Hall states of a nearby layer
We studied a bilayer system hosting two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) in close proximity but isolated from one another by a thin barrier. One 2DES has low electron density and forms a Wigner solid (WS) at high magnetic fields. The other has much higher density and, in the same field, exhibits fractional quantum Hall states (FQHSs). The WS spectrum has resonances which are understood as pinning modes, oscillations of the WS within the residual disorder. We found the pinning mode frequencies of the WS are strongly affected by the FQHSs in the nearby layer. Analysis of the spectra indicates that the majority layer screens like a dielectric medium even when its Landau filling is ~ 1 / 2 , at which the layer is essentially a composite fermion (CF) metal. Although the majority layer is only ~ one WS lattice constant away, a WS site only induces an image charge of ~0.1e in the CF metal.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1709076
PAR ID:
10130445
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Volume:
5
Issue:
3
ISSN:
2375-2548
Page Range / eLocation ID:
eaao2848
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract Harnessing electronic excitations involving coherent coupling to bosonic modes is essential for the design and control of emergent phenomena in quantum materials. In situations where charge carriers induce a lattice distortion due to the electron-phonon interaction, the conducting states get “dressed, which leads to the formation of polaronic quasiparticles. The exploration of polaronic effects on low-energy excitations is in its infancy in two-dimensional materials. Here, we present the discovery of an interlayer plasmon polaron in heterostructures composed of graphene on top of single-layer WS2. By using micro-focused angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy during in situ doping of the top graphene layer, we observe a strong quasiparticle peak accompanied by several carrier density-dependent shake-off replicas around the single-layer WS2conduction band minimum. Our results are explained by an effective many-body model in terms of a coupling between single-layer WS2conduction electrons and an interlayer plasmon mode. It is important to take into account the presence of such interlayer collective modes, as they have profound consequences for the electronic and optical properties of heterostructures that are routinely explored in many device architectures involving 2D transition metal dichalcogenides. 
    more » « less
  2. null (Ed.)
    High contact resistance is one of the primary concerns for electronic device applications of two-dimensional (2D) layered semiconductors. Here, we explore the enhanced carrier transport through metal–semiconductor interfaces in WS 2 field effect transistors (FETs) by introducing a typical transition metal, Cu, with two different doping strategies: (i) a “generalized” Cu doping by using randomly distributed Cu atoms along the channel and (ii) a “localized” Cu doping by adapting an ultrathin Cu layer at the metal–semiconductor interface. Compared to the pristine WS 2 FETs, both the generalized Cu atomic dopant and localized Cu contact decoration can provide a Schottky-to-Ohmic contact transition owing to the reduced contact resistances by 1–3 orders of magnitude, and consequently elevate electron mobilities by 5–7 times. Our work demonstrates that the introduction of transition metal can be an efficient and reliable technique to enhance the carrier transport and device performance in 2D TMD FETs. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract One-dimensional c -axis-aligned BaZrO 3 (BZO) nanorods are regarded as strong one-dimensional artificial pinning centers (1D-APCs) in BZO-doped YaBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− x (BZO/YBCO) nanocomposite films. However, a microstructure analysis has revealed a defective, oxygen-deficient YBCO column around the BZO 1D-APCs due to the large lattice mismatch of ∼7.7% between the BZO (3a = 1.26 nm) and YBCO (c = 1.17 nm), which has been blamed for the reduced pinning efficiency of BZO 1D-APCs. Herein, we report a dynamic lattice enlargement approach on the tensile strained YBCO lattice during the BZO 1D-APCs growth to induce c -axis elongation of the YBCO lattice up to 1.26 nm near the BZO 1D-APC/YBCO interface via Ca/Cu substitution on single Cu-O planes of YBCO, which prevents the interfacial defect formation by reducing the BZO/YBCO lattice mismatch to ∼1.4%. Specifically, this is achieved by inserting thin Ca 0.3 Y 0.7 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7− x (CaY-123) spacers as the Ca reservoir in 2–6 vol.% BZO/YBCO nanocomposite multilayer (ML) films. A defect-free, coherent BZO 1D-APC/YBCO interface is confirmed in transmission electron microscopy and elemental distribution analyses. Excitingly, up to five-fold enhancement of J c ( B ) at magnetic field B = 9.0 T// c -axis and 65 K–77 K was obtained in the ML samples as compared to their BZO/YBCO single-layer (SL) counterpart’s. This has led to a record high pinning force density F p together with significantly enhanced B max at which F p reaches its maximum value F p,max for BZO 1D-APCs at B // c -axis. At 65 K, the F p,max ∼158 GN m −3 and B max ∼ 8.0 T for the 6% BZO/YBCO ML samples represent a significant enhancement over F p,max ∼ 36.1 GN m −3 and B max ∼ 5.0 T for the 6% BZO/YBCO SL counterparts. This result not only illustrates the critical importance of a coherent BZO 1D-APC/YBCO interface in the pinning efficiency, but also provides a facile scheme to achieve such an interface to restore the pristine pinning efficiency of the BZO 1D-APCs. 
    more » « less
  4. A new member of the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) family, 2M-WS 2, has been recently discovered and shown to display superconductivity with a critical temperature (Tc) of 8.8 K, the highest Tc among superconducting TMDs at ambient pressure. Using first-principles calculations combined with the Migdal-Eliashberg formalism, we explore how the superconducting properties of 2M-WS 2 can be enhanced through doping. Mo, Nb, and Ta are used as dopants at the W sites, while Se is used at the S sites. We demonstrate that the monotonous decrease in the Tc observed experimentally for Mo and Se doping is due to the decrease in density of states at the Fermi level and the electron–phonon coupling of the low-energy phonons. In addition, we find that a noticeable increase in the electron–phonon coupling could be achieved when doping with Nb and Ta, leading to an enhancement of the Tc of up to 50% compared to the undoped compound. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) behavior in one-dimensional systems has been predicted and shown to occur at semiconductor-to-metal transitions within two-dimensional materials. Reports of one-dimensional defects hosting a Fermi liquid or a TLL have suggested a dependence on the underlying substrate, however, unveiling the physical details of electronic contributions from the substrate require cross-correlative investigation. Here, we study TLL formation within defectively engineered WS2atop graphene, where band structure and the atomic environment is visualized with nano angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, and non-contact atomic force microscopy. Correlations between the local density of states and electronic band dispersion elucidated the electron transfer from graphene into a TLL hosted by one-dimensional metal (1DM) defects. It appears that the vertical heterostructure with graphene and the induced charge transfer from graphene into the 1DM is critical for the formation of a TLL. 
    more » « less