Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In topological semimetals, nodes appear at symmetry points in the Brillouin zone as a result of band inversion, and yield quasirelativistic massless fermions at low energies. ${\mathrm{Cd}}_{3}{\mathrm{As}}_{2}$ is a three-dimensional topological semimetal that hosts two Dirac cones responsible for a variety of quantum phenomena. In this work, we demonstrate the strain tuning of the Dirac nodes of ${\mathrm{Cd}}_{3}{\mathrm{As}}_{2}$ through a combination of magneto-optical infrared spectroscopy and high-resolution x-ray-diffraction studies performed on epitaxial films. In these thin films, we observe a giant enhancement of the node separation in momentum space by close to a factor of 4. A combination of experimental measurements and theoretical modeling allows us to relate the origin of this enhancement to a strengthening of the topological band inversion driven by lattice strain. Our results demonstrate how strain can be used as a knob to tune the topological properties of semimetals and to potentially enhance their performance and response for various applications.
Institutions: Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Notre Dame, Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source
Language: Latvian
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G102163711, G107546177, G1313983767, G1664757510, G1821385481, G1829968774, G2287611682, G262962599, G3010527862, G3075337988, G3589692066, G376989995, G498139845, G513797252, ENGINEERED 3D DIRAC MATERIALS, G583840452, G6848031779, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G6918803902, Topological IV-VI semiconductor heterostructures: A platform to study topological phase transitions and strain sensitive topology, Electron Spin Effects in Semiconductor Nanostructure: Magnetism and Topology, G969889393, G993149817
OpenAlex ID: W4302363598