Ferroelectric quantum Hall phase revealed by visualizing Landau level wave function interference
Abstract
States with spontaneously broken symmetry can form due to Coulomb interactions in electronic systems with multiple internal degrees of freedom. Materials with several degenerate regions in the Brillouin zone-called valleys-offer a rich setting for the emergence of such states, which have potential electronic and optical applications. To date, identification of these broken-symmetry phases has mostly relied on macroscopic transport or optical properties. Here we demonstrate a direct approach by visualizing the wavefunctions of bismuth surface states with a scanning tunnelling microscope. Strong spin-orbit coupling on the surface of bismuth leads to six degenerate, teardrop-shaped, hole valleys. Our spectroscopic measurements reveal that exchange interactions fully lift this degeneracy at high magnetic field, and we are able to determine the nature of the valley ordering by imaging the broken-symmetry Landau level wavefunctions. The spatial features of singly degenerate Landau level wavefunctions near isolated defects contain unique signatures of interference between spin-textured valleys, which identify the electronic ground state as a quantum Hall ferroelectric. As a result, our observations confirm the recent prediction that interactions in strongly anisotropic valley systems favour the occupation of a single valley, giving rise to emergent ferroelectricity in the surface state of bismuth.
- Authors:
-
- Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- The Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; U.S. Army Research Laboratory, U.S. Army Research Office (ARO); Welch Foundation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1466366
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
Citation Formats
Randeria, Mallika T., Feldman, Benjamin E., Wu, Fengcheng, Ding, Hao, Gyenis, András, Ji, Huiwen, Cava, R. J., MacDonald, Allan H., and Yazdani, Ali. Ferroelectric quantum Hall phase revealed by visualizing Landau level wave function interference. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41567-018-0148-2.
Randeria, Mallika T., Feldman, Benjamin E., Wu, Fengcheng, Ding, Hao, Gyenis, András, Ji, Huiwen, Cava, R. J., MacDonald, Allan H., & Yazdani, Ali. Ferroelectric quantum Hall phase revealed by visualizing Landau level wave function interference. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0148-2
Randeria, Mallika T., Feldman, Benjamin E., Wu, Fengcheng, Ding, Hao, Gyenis, András, Ji, Huiwen, Cava, R. J., MacDonald, Allan H., and Yazdani, Ali. Mon .
"Ferroelectric quantum Hall phase revealed by visualizing Landau level wave function interference". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0148-2. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1466366.
@article{osti_1466366,
title = {Ferroelectric quantum Hall phase revealed by visualizing Landau level wave function interference},
author = {Randeria, Mallika T. and Feldman, Benjamin E. and Wu, Fengcheng and Ding, Hao and Gyenis, András and Ji, Huiwen and Cava, R. J. and MacDonald, Allan H. and Yazdani, Ali},
abstractNote = {States with spontaneously broken symmetry can form due to Coulomb interactions in electronic systems with multiple internal degrees of freedom. Materials with several degenerate regions in the Brillouin zone-called valleys-offer a rich setting for the emergence of such states, which have potential electronic and optical applications. To date, identification of these broken-symmetry phases has mostly relied on macroscopic transport or optical properties. Here we demonstrate a direct approach by visualizing the wavefunctions of bismuth surface states with a scanning tunnelling microscope. Strong spin-orbit coupling on the surface of bismuth leads to six degenerate, teardrop-shaped, hole valleys. Our spectroscopic measurements reveal that exchange interactions fully lift this degeneracy at high magnetic field, and we are able to determine the nature of the valley ordering by imaging the broken-symmetry Landau level wavefunctions. The spatial features of singly degenerate Landau level wavefunctions near isolated defects contain unique signatures of interference between spin-textured valleys, which identify the electronic ground state as a quantum Hall ferroelectric. As a result, our observations confirm the recent prediction that interactions in strongly anisotropic valley systems favour the occupation of a single valley, giving rise to emergent ferroelectricity in the surface state of bismuth.},
doi = {10.1038/s41567-018-0148-2},
journal = {Nature Physics},
number = 8,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
Web of Science
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