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Title: Magnetic electron collimation in three-dimensional semi-metals

Abstract

While electrons moving perpendicular to a magnetic field are confined to cyclotron orbits, they can move freely parallel to the field. This simple fact leads to complex current flow in clean, low carrier density semi-metals, such as long-ranged current jets forming along the magnetic field when currents pass through point-like constrictions. Occurring accidentally at imperfect current injection contacts, the phenomenon of "current jetting" plagues the research of longitudinal magneto-resistance, which is particularly important in topological conductors. Here we demonstrate the controlled generation of tightly focused electron beams in a new class of micro-devices machined from crystals of the Dirac semi-metal Cd3As2. The current beams can be guided by tilting a magnetic field and their range tuned by the field strength. Finite element simulations quantitatively capture the voltage induced at faraway contacts when the beams are steered towards them, supporting the picture of controlled electron jets. These experiments demonstrate direct control over the highly non-local signal propagation unique to 3D semi-metals in the current jetting regime, and may lead to applications akin to electron optics in free space.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne (Switzlerland). Lab. of Quantum Materials (QMAT)
  2. Max Planck Inst. for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
  3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); European Research Council (ERC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1616142
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; 715730; 1607753
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
npj Quantum Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2397-4648
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Huang, Xiangwei, Putzke, Carsten, Guo, Chunyu, Diaz, Jonas, König, Markus, Borrmann, Horst, Nair, Nityan L., Analytis, James G., and Moll, Philip J. W. Magnetic electron collimation in three-dimensional semi-metals. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1038/s41535-020-0214-8.
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Huang, Xiangwei, Putzke, Carsten, Guo, Chunyu, Diaz, Jonas, König, Markus, Borrmann, Horst, Nair, Nityan L., Analytis, James G., & Moll, Philip J. W. Magnetic electron collimation in three-dimensional semi-metals. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-0214-8
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Huang, Xiangwei, Putzke, Carsten, Guo, Chunyu, Diaz, Jonas, König, Markus, Borrmann, Horst, Nair, Nityan L., Analytis, James G., and Moll, Philip J. W. Tue . "Magnetic electron collimation in three-dimensional semi-metals". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-0214-8. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1616142.
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@article{osti_1616142,
title = {Magnetic electron collimation in three-dimensional semi-metals},
author = {Huang, Xiangwei and Putzke, Carsten and Guo, Chunyu and Diaz, Jonas and König, Markus and Borrmann, Horst and Nair, Nityan L. and Analytis, James G. and Moll, Philip J. W.},
abstractNote = {While electrons moving perpendicular to a magnetic field are confined to cyclotron orbits, they can move freely parallel to the field. This simple fact leads to complex current flow in clean, low carrier density semi-metals, such as long-ranged current jets forming along the magnetic field when currents pass through point-like constrictions. Occurring accidentally at imperfect current injection contacts, the phenomenon of "current jetting" plagues the research of longitudinal magneto-resistance, which is particularly important in topological conductors. Here we demonstrate the controlled generation of tightly focused electron beams in a new class of micro-devices machined from crystals of the Dirac semi-metal Cd3As2. The current beams can be guided by tilting a magnetic field and their range tuned by the field strength. Finite element simulations quantitatively capture the voltage induced at faraway contacts when the beams are steered towards them, supporting the picture of controlled electron jets. These experiments demonstrate direct control over the highly non-local signal propagation unique to 3D semi-metals in the current jetting regime, and may lead to applications akin to electron optics in free space.},
doi = {10.1038/s41535-020-0214-8},
journal = {npj Quantum Materials},
number = 1,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 18 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Tue Feb 18 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-0214-8
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: a, Sketch of electron trajectory entering the sample through a point-like contact. b, Magneto-conductivity σ(B) of Cd3As2 when the magnetic field perpendicular σ⊥ and parallel σ‖ to the current direction, and c their resulting anisotropy A = σ‖/σ⊥. d-f, Calculated electric potential distribution of a 3D square samplemore » with two point current injections at three different magnetic fields applied along the z-direction. The color scale is different in the three panels for clarity.« less
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