Pressure-induced quantum phase transitions in a $\mathrm{Yb}{\mathrm{B}}_{6}$ single crystal

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Pressure-induced quantum phase transitions in a $Yb B_{6}$ single crystal

Yazhou Zhou, Dae-Jeong Kim, Priscila Ferrari Silveira Rosa, Qi Wu, Jing Guo, Shan Zhang, Zhe Wang, Defen Kang, Wei Yi, Yanchun Li, Xiaodong Li, Jing Liu, Peiquan Duan, Ming Zi, Xiangjun Wei, Zheng Jiang, Yuying Huang, Yi-feng Yang, Zachary Fisk, Liling Sun, and Zhongxian Zhao

Phys. Rev. B 92, 241118(R) – Published 29 December 2015

Abstract

We report the observation of two pressure-induced quantum phase transitions in a $Yb B_{6}$ single crystal, i.e., from a topologically trivial semiconductor to an intermediate semimetal and then from the semimetal to a possible topologically nontrivial high-pressure gapped phase through in situ high-pressure transport and synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements. Our high-pressure absorption results reveal that the mixed-valence state in pressurized $Yb B_{6}$ above 15 GPa plays an important role in the formation of the high-pressure state with a reopened gap. These high-pressure results may be helpful for shedding light on the intriguing relation between the topology and the $4 f$ electrons in the rare-earth hexaborides.

Received 14 February 2015
Revised 27 November 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.241118

Authors & Affiliations

Yazhou Zhou¹, Dae-Jeong Kim², Priscila Ferrari Silveira Rosa², Qi Wu¹, Jing Guo¹, Shan Zhang¹, Zhe Wang¹, Defen Kang¹, Wei Yi¹, Yanchun Li³, Xiaodong Li³, Jing Liu³, Peiquan Duan⁴, Ming Zi⁴, Xiangjun Wei⁴, Zheng Jiang⁴, Yuying Huang⁴, Yi-feng Yang^1,5, Zachary Fisk², Liling Sun^1,5,*, and Zhongxian Zhao^1,5

¹Institute of Physics, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
³Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
⁴Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facilities, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, China
⁵Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100190, China

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: llsun@iphy.ac.cn

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Vol. 92, Iss. 24 — 15 December 2015

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Figure 1
(a) Resistance-temperature (R-T) curves measured in the pressure range of 0.9–8.8 GPa, showing a remarkable pressure-induced resistance decrease over the entire temperature range. The inset displays normalized R-T curves in the low-temperature range, showing the upturns of the resistance measured at different pressures. (b) Selective R-T curves in the pressure range of 10.5–17.6 GPa, displaying a dramatic change in resistance. (c) The R-T curves measured in the pressure range of 19.8–26.4 GPa, exhibiting a significant pressure-induced enhancement of nonmetallic behavior. The inset shows the resistance plateaus $(T^{*})$ in lower temperatures at different pressures. (d) $T^{*}$ as a function of pressure. (e) The pressure dependence of the resistance obtained at different fixed temperatures, illustrating two critical pressures ( ${P_{C}}_{1}$ and ${P_{C}}_{2}$ ). (f) Hall coefficient $(R_{H})$ as a function of pressure for single-crystal $Yb B_{6}$ at 4 K.
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Figure 2
(a) X-ray diffraction patterns of $Yb B_{6}$ collected at different pressures, showing that no structure phase transition occurs over the entire pressure range investigated. (b) and (c) Pressure dependences of the lattice parameter and volume of $Yb B_{6}$ , respectively.
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Figure 3
(a) Phase diagram of the pressure dependence of the activation energy gap ( $ɛ_{a}$ , left axis) and temperature (right axis) as well as the summary of $d R / d T$ as a function of temperature and pressure. The orange solid dots represent the activation gap. The acronyms TT-S and TNT-HP phase stand for the topologically trivial semiconducting state and topologically nontrivial high-pressure gapped phase, respectively. SM represents the semimetallic state. The value of $ɛ_{a}$ in the TT-S regime is scaled by 0.5 to fit the pressure dependence of $d R / d T$ . (b)–(d) Temperature dependence of resistance measured at zero field and 7 T at fixed pressure. The insets illustrate the details for the measurements. The acronyms in the inset of (b), $I, V$ , and $H$ stand for current, voltage, and magnetic field, respectively.
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Figure 4
(a) XAS of Yb through the $L_{III}$ -edge at different pressures. The dashed vertical lines indicate characteristic energy positions of the $L_{III}$ -edge peak for $Y b^{2 +}$ and $Y b^{3 +}$ , respectively. (b) XAS of Yb measured at ambient pressure and 28.2 GPa after the background deduction. The light gray area and dark gray area represent the $Y b^{2 +}$ component and $Y b^{3 +}$ component, respectively. (c) Pressure dependence of the mean valence determined from XAS data.
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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Pressure-induced quantum phase transitions in a $Yb B_{6}$ single crystal

Yazhou Zhou, Dae-Jeong Kim, Priscila Ferrari Silveira Rosa, Qi Wu, Jing Guo, Shan Zhang, Zhe Wang, Defen Kang, Wei Yi, Yanchun Li, Xiaodong Li, Jing Liu, Peiquan Duan, Ming Zi, Xiangjun Wei, Zheng Jiang, Yuying Huang, Yi-feng Yang, Zachary Fisk, Liling Sun, and Zhongxian Zhao

Phys. Rev. B 92, 241118(R) – Published 29 December 2015

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Pressure-induced quantum phase transitions in a YbB6 single crystal

Yazhou Zhou, Dae-Jeong Kim, Priscila Ferrari Silveira Rosa, Qi Wu, Jing Guo, Shan Zhang, Zhe Wang, Defen Kang, Wei Yi, Yanchun Li, Xiaodong Li, Jing Liu, Peiquan Duan, Ming Zi, Xiangjun Wei, Zheng Jiang, Yuying Huang, Yi-feng Yang, Zachary Fisk, Liling Sun, and Zhongxian Zhao

Phys. Rev. B 92, 241118(R) – Published 29 December 2015

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Pressure-induced quantum phase transitions in a $Yb B_{6}$ single crystal