Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Two-dimensional quantum materials can host original electronic phases that arise from the interplay of electronic correlations, symmetry and topology. In particular, the spontaneous breaking of internal symmetry that acts simultaneously on the pseudospin and the spatial degree of freedom realizes a nematic ordering. We report evidence of a quantum Hall valley nematic phase with an underlying SU(3) order parameter space obtained by a spontaneous polarization between the threefold degenerate valley pseudospins in Pb1-xSnxSe quantum wells. In the presence of a Zeeman field, we demonstrate a further control of the nematic ordering with an explicit symmetry breaking. Evidence of both spontaneous and explicit SU(3) symmetry breaking, reminiscent of the quark flavor paradigm, is of fundamental interest to shape the many body physics in a SU(3) system.
DOI: 10.1103/y8bd-y5ht
Institutions: 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, Polish Academy of Sciences, Chungnam National University, Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, Université Grenoble Alpes, National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute", Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Université Paris-Saclay, Institut de Physique Théorique
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej, Austrian Science Fund, National Research Foundation of Korea, Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Narodowym Centrum Nauki, Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, National Academy of Sciences
Awards: G1185480948, G1508384316, G1629076885, G2023704055, G2173752762, G262637578, G3057783929, G3460104338, G442103306, G4499662489, G5032656458, G57182573, Ferroelectric Topological Matter for Weyl Fermions, G6268741103, G7777076066, G7799207878, Ferroelectric Topological Matter for Manipulation of Weyl Fermions
OpenAlex ID: W4417170778