Graphite in 90 T: Evidence for Strong-Coupling Excitonic Pairing
Abstract
Strong magnetic field induces at least two phase transitions in graphite beyond the quantum limit where many-body effects are expected. We report on a study using a state-of-the-art nondestructive magnet allowing us to attain 90.5 T at 1.4 K, which reveals a new field-induced phase and evidence that the insulating state destroyed at 75 T is an excitonic condensate of electron-hole pairs. By monitoring the angle dependence of in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistance, we distinguish between the role of cyclotron and Zeeman energies in driving various phase transitions. We find that, with the notable exception of the transition field separating the two insulating states, the threshold magnetic field for all other transitions displays an exact cosine angular dependence. Remarkably, the threshold field for the destruction of the second insulator (phase B) is temperature independent with no detectable Landau-level crossing nearby. We conclude that the field-induced insulator starts as a weak-coupling density wave but ends as a strong-coupling excitonic insulator of spin-polarized electron-hole pairs.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1503935
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1557746
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-18-28433
Journal ID: ISSN 2160-3308; PRXHAE; 011058
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review. X
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Physical Review. X Journal Volume: 9 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2160-3308
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; High Magnetic Field Science
Citation Formats
Zhu, Zengwei, Nie, Pan, Fauqué, Benoît, Vignolle, Baptiste, Proust, Cyril, McDonald, Ross D., Harrison, Neil, and Behnia, Kamran. Graphite in 90 T: Evidence for Strong-Coupling Excitonic Pairing. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.9.011058.
Zhu, Zengwei, Nie, Pan, Fauqué, Benoît, Vignolle, Baptiste, Proust, Cyril, McDonald, Ross D., Harrison, Neil, & Behnia, Kamran. Graphite in 90 T: Evidence for Strong-Coupling Excitonic Pairing. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.9.011058
Zhu, Zengwei, Nie, Pan, Fauqué, Benoît, Vignolle, Baptiste, Proust, Cyril, McDonald, Ross D., Harrison, Neil, and Behnia, Kamran. Fri .
"Graphite in 90 T: Evidence for Strong-Coupling Excitonic Pairing". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.9.011058.
@article{osti_1503935,
title = {Graphite in 90 T: Evidence for Strong-Coupling Excitonic Pairing},
author = {Zhu, Zengwei and Nie, Pan and Fauqué, Benoît and Vignolle, Baptiste and Proust, Cyril and McDonald, Ross D. and Harrison, Neil and Behnia, Kamran},
abstractNote = {Strong magnetic field induces at least two phase transitions in graphite beyond the quantum limit where many-body effects are expected. We report on a study using a state-of-the-art nondestructive magnet allowing us to attain 90.5 T at 1.4 K, which reveals a new field-induced phase and evidence that the insulating state destroyed at 75 T is an excitonic condensate of electron-hole pairs. By monitoring the angle dependence of in-plane and out-of-plane magnetoresistance, we distinguish between the role of cyclotron and Zeeman energies in driving various phase transitions. We find that, with the notable exception of the transition field separating the two insulating states, the threshold magnetic field for all other transitions displays an exact cosine angular dependence. Remarkably, the threshold field for the destruction of the second insulator (phase B) is temperature independent with no detectable Landau-level crossing nearby. We conclude that the field-induced insulator starts as a weak-coupling density wave but ends as a strong-coupling excitonic insulator of spin-polarized electron-hole pairs.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevX.9.011058},
journal = {Physical Review. X},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Fri Mar 29 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.9.011058
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Cited by: 13 works
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Figures / Tables:
FIG. 1: (a) Field dependence of in-plane magnetoresistance ρxx and out-of-plane magnetoresistance ρzz up to 90.5 T at 1.4 K. The sketches illustrate configurations. (b) The field dependence of ratio ρzz/ρxx. The quantum limit (QL) and the three phases (A, B, and C) are designated. The zero-field anisotropy is asmore »
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