Giant Density of States Enhancement Driven by a Zero-Mode Landau Level in Semimetallic Black Phosphorus under Pressure.

Dirac fermion systems form a unique Landau level at the Fermi level-the so-called zero mode-whose observation itself will provide strong evidence of the presence of Dirac dispersions. Here, we report the study of semimetallic black phosphorus under pressure by ^{31}P-nuclear magnetic resonance measurements in a wide range of magnetic field up to 24.0 T. We have found a field-induced giant enhancement of 1/T_{1}T, where 1/T_{1} is the nuclear spin lattice relaxation rate: 1/T_{1}T at 24.0 T reaches more than 20 times larger than that at 2.0 T. The increase in 1/T_{1}T above 6.5 T is approximately proportional to the squared field, implying a linear relationship between the density of states and the field. We also found that, while 1/T_{1}T at a constant field is independent of temperature in the low-temperature region, it steeply increases with temperature above 100 K. All these phenomena are well explained by considering the effect of Landau quantization on three-dimensional Dirac fermions. The present study demonstrates that 1/T_{1} is an excellent quantity to probe the zero-mode Landau level and to identify the dimensionality of the Dirac fermion system.

Locally commensurate charge-density wave with three-unit-cell periodicity in YBa2Cu3Oy.

In order to identify the mechanism responsible for the formation of charge-density waves (CDW) in cuprate superconductors, it is important to understand which aspects of the CDW's microscopic structure are generic and which are material-dependent. Here, we show that, at the local scale probed by NMR, long-range CDW order in YBa2Cu3Oy is unidirectional with a commensurate period of three unit cells (λ = 3b), implying that the incommensurability found in X-ray scattering is ensured by phase slips (discommensurations). Furthermore, NMR spectra reveal a predominant oxygen character of the CDW with an out-of-phase relationship between certain lattice sites but no specific signature of a secondary CDW with λ = 6b associated with a putative pair-density wave. These results shed light on universal aspects of the cuprate CDW. In particular, its spatial profile appears to generically result from the interplay between an incommensurate tendency at long length scales, possibly related to properties of the Fermi surface, and local commensuration effects, due to electron-electron interactions or lock-in to the lattice.

Interacting chiral electrons at the 2D Dirac points: a review.

The pseudo-relativistic chiral electrons in 2D graphene and 3D topological semimetals, known as the massless Dirac or Weyl fermions, constitute various intriguing issues in modern condensed-matter physics. In particular, the issues linked to the Coulomb interaction between the chiral electrons attract great attentions due to their unusual features, namely, the interaction is not screened and has a long-ranged property near the charge-neutrality point, in clear contrast to its screened and short-ranged properties in the conventional correlated materials. In graphene, this long-range interaction induces an anomalous logarithmic renormalization of the Fermi velocity, which causes a nonlinear reshaping of its Dirac cone. In addition, for strong interactions, it even leads to the predictions of an excitonic condensation with a spontaneous mass generation. The interaction, however, would seem to be not that large in graphene, so that the latter phenomenon appears to have not yet been observed. Contrastingly, the interaction is probably large in the pressurized organic materialα-(BEDT-TTF)2I3, where a 2D massless-Dirac-fermion phase emerges next to a correlated insulating phase. Therefore, an excellent testing ground would appear in this material for the studies of both the velocity renormalization and the mass generation, as well as for those of the short-range electronic correlations. In this review, we give an overview of the recent progress on the understanding of such interacting chiral electrons in 2D, by placing particular emphasis on the studies in graphene andα-(BEDT-TTF)2I3. In the first half, we briefly summarize our current experimental and theoretical knowledge about the interaction effects in graphene, then turn attentions to the understanding inα-(BEDT-TTF)2I3, and highlight its relevance to and difference from graphene. The second half of this review focusses on the studies linked to the nuclear magnetic resonance experiments and the associated model calculations inα-(BEDT-TTF)2I3. These studies allow us to discuss the anisotropic reshaping of a tilted Dirac cone together with various electronic correlations, and the precursor excitonic dynamics growing prior to a condensation. We see these provide unique opportunities to resolve the momentum dependence of the spin excitations and fluctuations that are strongly influenced by the long-range interaction near the Dirac points.

Anomalous spin correlations and excitonic instability of interacting 2D Weyl fermions.

The Coulomb interaction in systems of quasi-relativistic massless electrons has an unscreened long-range component at variance with conventional correlated metals. We used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements to reveal unusual spin correlations of two-dimensional Weyl fermions in an organic material, causing a divergent increase of the Korringa ratio by a factor of 1000 upon cooling, in marked contrast to conventional metallic behavior. Combined with model calculations, we show that this divergence stems from an interaction-driven velocity renormalization that almost exclusively suppresses zero-momentum spin fluctuations. At low temperatures, the NMR relaxation rate shows an unexpected increase; numerical analyses show that this increase corresponds to internode excitonic fluctuations, a precursor to a transition from massless to massive quasiparticles.

Spin susceptibility of charge-ordered YBa2Cu3O y across the upper critical field.

The value of the upper critical field Hc2, a fundamental characteristic of the superconducting state, has been subject to strong controversy in high-Tc copper oxides. Since the issue has been tackled almost exclusively by macroscopic techniques so far, there is a clear need for local-probe measurements. Here, we use 17O NMR to measure the spin susceptibility [Formula: see text] of the CuO2 planes at low temperature in charge-ordered YBa2Cu3O y We find that [Formula: see text] increases (most likely linearly) with magnetic field H and saturates above field values ranging from 20 T to 40 T. This result is consistent with the lowest Hc2 values claimed previously and with the interpretation that the charge density wave (CDW) reduces Hc2 in underdoped YBa2Cu3O y Furthermore, the absence of marked deviation in [Formula: see text] at the onset of long-range CDW order indicates that this [Formula: see text] reduction and the Fermi-surface reconstruction are primarily rooted in the short-range CDW order already present in zero field, not in the field-induced long-range CDW order. Above [Formula: see text], the relatively low values of [Formula: see text] at [Formula: see text] K show that the pseudogap is a ground-state property, independent of the superconducting gap.

Hyperfine interaction constants of 14NO2 in 14 500-16 800 cm-1 energy region.

We observed hyperfine-resolved high-resolution fluorescence excitation spectra of k = 0, N = 1 ← 0 transitions in 82 vibronic bands of the Ã2B2 ← X̃2A1 system of 14NO2 in the 14 500-16 800 cm-1 region by crossing a jet-cooled molecular beam and a single-mode dye laser beam at right angles. We determined hyperfine interaction constants of the lower and upper states for all the observed vibronic bands based on the analysis of the hyperfine structures of k = 0, N = 1 ← 0 transitions. Most of the determined Fermi contact interaction constants were found to be distributed in 0.0013-0.0038 cm-1, which are intermediate in magnitude between those in lower and higher energy region reported by other groups. A sharp decreasing of the Fermi contact interaction constant was found in 16 200-16 600 cm-1, and it may be caused by the interaction with the dark C̃2A2 state. The hyperfine interaction constants are powerful clues to obtain reliable vibronic assignment. We tentatively assigned vibronic bands located at 14 836 cm-1, 15 586 cm-1, and 16 322 cm-1 as the transitions to the intrinsic (0,7,0), (0,8,0), and (0,9,0) vibrational levels of the Ã2B2 state, respectively.

Observation of an anisotropic Dirac cone reshaping and ferrimagnetic spin polarization in an organic conductor.

The Coulomb interaction among massless Dirac fermions in graphene is unscreened around the isotropic Dirac points, causing a logarithmic velocity renormalization and a cone reshaping. In less symmetric Dirac materials possessing anisotropic cones with tilted axes, the Coulomb interaction can provide still more exotic phenomena, which have not been experimentally unveiled yet. Here, using site-selective nuclear magnetic resonance, we find a non-uniform cone reshaping accompanied by a bandwidth reduction and an emergent ferrimagnetism in tilted Dirac cones that appear on the verge of charge ordering in an organic compound. Our theoretical analyses based on the renormalization-group approach and the Hubbard model show that these observations are the direct consequences of the long-range and short-range parts of the Coulomb interaction, respectively. The cone reshaping and the bandwidth renormalization, as well as the magnetic behaviour revealed here, can be ubiquitous and vital for many Dirac materials.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis [correction of anaylsis] of the LOV1 domains of phototropin 1 and 2 from Arabidopsis thaliana.

Phototropin is a blue-light receptor protein in plants that is responsible for phototropic responses, stomata opening and photo-induced relocation of chloroplasts. Higher plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana have two isoforms of phototropin: phototropin 1 and phototropin 2. Both isoforms comprise a tandem pair of blue-light-absorbing light-oxygen-voltage domains named LOV1 and LOV2 in the N-terminal half and a serine/threonine kinase domain in the C-terminal half. The LOV1 domain is thought to function as a dimerization site. In the present study, recombinant LOV1 domains of A. thaliana phototropin 1 and phototropin 2 were crystallized. The crystal of the LOV1 domain of phototropin 1 belonged to the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 61.2, b = 64.9, c = 70.8 A, and diffracted X-rays to a resolution of 2.1 A. The crystal of the LOV1 domain of phototropin 2 belonged to space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 32.5, b = 66.5, c = 56.7 A, beta = 92.4 degrees , and diffracted X-rays to beyond 2.0 A resolution. In both crystals, two LOV1 domains occupied the crystallographic asymmetric unit.