Disentangling Lattice and Electronic Instabilities in the Excitonic Insulator Candidate Ta_{2}NiSe_{5} by Nonequilibrium Spectroscopy.

Ta_{2}NiSe_{5} is an excitonic insulator candidate showing the semiconductor or semimetal-to-insulator (SI) transition below T_{c}=326 K. However, since a structural transition accompanies the SI transition, deciphering the role of electronic and lattice degrees of freedom in driving the SI transition has remained controversial. Here, we investigate the photoexcited nonequilibrium state in Ta_{2}NiSe_{5} using pump-probe Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopies. The combined nonequilibrium spectroscopic measurements of the lattice and electronic states reveal the presence of a photoexcited metastable state where the insulating gap is suppressed, but the low-temperature structural distortion is preserved. We conclude that electron correlations play a vital role in the SI transition of Ta_{2}NiSe_{5}.

Nematic-Fluctuation-Mediated Superconductivity Revealed by Anisotropic Strain in Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_{x})_{2}As_{2}.

Anisotropic strain is an external field capable of selectively addressing the role of nematic fluctuations in promoting superconductivity. We demonstrate this using polarization-resolved elasto-Raman scattering by probing the evolution of nematic fluctuations under strain in the normal and superconducting state of the paradigmatic iron-based superconductor Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_{x})_{2}As_{2}. In the parent compound BaFe_{2}As_{2} we observe a strain-induced suppression of the nematic susceptibility which follows the expected behavior of an Ising order parameter under a symmetry breaking field. For the superconducting compound, the suppression of the nematic susceptibility correlates with the decrease of the critical temperature T_{c}, indicating a significant contribution of nematic fluctuations to electron pairing. Our results validate theoretical scenarios of enhanced T_{c} near a nematic quantum critical point.

Possible observation of the signature of the bad metal phase and its crossover to a Fermi liquid in Κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2bulk and nanoparticles by Raman scattering.

Κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2has been investigated by Raman scattering in both bulk and nanoparticle compounds. Phonon modes from 20 to 1600 cm-1have been assigned. Focusing on the unexplored low frequency phonons, a plateau in frequencies is observed in the bulk phonons between 50 and 100 K and assigned to the signature of the bad metal phase. Nanoparticles of Κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2exhibit anomalies at 50 K associated to the crossover from a bad metal to a Fermi liquid whose origins are discussed.

Pressure-Induced Collapse of the Charge Density Wave and Higgs Mode Visibility in 2H-TaS_{2}.

The pressure evolution of the Raman active electronic excitations of the transition metal dichalcogenides 2H-TaS_{2} is followed through the pressure phase diagram embedding incommensurate charge-density-wave and superconducting states. At high pressure, the charge-density wave is found to collapse at 8.5 GPa. In the coexisting charge-density-wave and superconducting orders, we unravel a strong in-gap superconducting mode, attributed to a Higgs mode, coexisting with the expected incoherent Cooper-pair breaking signature. The latter remains in the pure superconducting state reached above 8.5 GPa. Our report constitutes a new observation of such Raman active Higgs mode since the long-standing unique case 2H-NbSe_{2}.

Collapse of Critical Nematic Fluctuations in FeSe under Pressure.

We report the evolution of the electronic nematic susceptibility in FeSe via Raman scattering as a function of hydrostatic pressure up to 5.8 GPa where the superconducting transition temperature T_{c} reaches its maximum. The critical nematic fluctuations observed at low pressure vanish above 1.6 GPa, indicating they play a marginal role in the fourfold enhancement of T_{c} at higher pressures. The collapse of nematic fluctuations appears to be linked to a suppression of low energy electronic excitations which manifests itself by optical phonon anomalies at around 2 GPa, in agreement with lattice dynamical and electronic structure calculations using local density approximation combined with dynamical mean field theory. Our results reveal two different regimes of nematicity in the phase diagram of FeSe under pressure: a d-wave Pomeranchuk instability of the Fermi surface at low pressure and a magnetic driven orthorhombic distortion at higher pressure.

Charge-induced nematicity in FeSe.

The spontaneous appearance of nematicity, a state of matter that breaks rotation but not translation symmetry, is one of the most intriguing properties of the iron-based superconductors (Fe SC), and has relevance for the cuprates as well. Establishing the critical electronic modes behind nematicity remains a challenge, however, because their associated susceptibilities are not easily accessible by conventional probes. Here, using FeSe as a model system, and symmetry-resolved electronic Raman scattering as a probe, we unravel the presence of critical charge nematic fluctuations near the structural/nematic transition temperature, [Formula: see text] 90 K. The diverging behavior of the associated nematic susceptibility foretells the presence of a Pomeranchuk instability of the Fermi surface with d-wave symmetry. The excellent scaling between the observed nematic susceptibility and elastic modulus data demonstrates that the structural distortion is driven by this d-wave Pomeranchuk transition. Our results make a strong case for charge-induced nematicity in FeSe.

Theory of spin-orbit enhanced electric-field control of magnetism in multiferroic BiFeO3.

We present a microscopic theory that shows the importance of spin-orbit coupling in perovskite compounds with heavy ions. In BiFeO3 (BFO) the spin-orbit coupling at the bismuth ion sites results in a special kind of magnetic anisotropy that is linear in the applied E field. This interaction can convert the cycloid ground state into a homogeneous antiferromagnet, with a weak ferromagnetic moment whose orientation can be controlled by the E-field direction. Remarkably, the E-field control of magnetism occurs without poling the ferroelectric moment, providing a pathway for reduced energy dissipation in spin-based devices made of insulators.

Lattice dynamics of multiferroic BiFeO3 studied by inelastic x-ray scattering.

We report an experimental study of the phonon dispersion in BiFeO(3) single crystals at ambient conditions by inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS). The phonon dispersions were recorded along several symmetry directions up to 35 meV. Our results compare favorably with first-principles calculations performed using density functional theory (DFT) within the local-density approximation (LDA). We resolve a discrepancy concerning the symmetry of the optical phonon branches observed by Raman spectroscopy, determine the energy of the lowest Raman and infrared silent mode, and derive a subset of the elastic moduli of BiFeO(3).