Quadratic Fermi node in a 3D strongly correlated semimetal
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Strong spin–orbit coupling fosters exotic electronic states such as topological insulators and superconductors, but the combination of strong spin–orbit and strong electron–electron interactions is just beginning to be understood. Central to this emerging area are the 5 d transition metal iridium oxides. Here, in the pyrochlore iridate Pr 2 Ir 2 O 7 , we identify a non-trivial state with a single-point Fermi node protected by cubic and time-reversal symmetries, using a combination of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculations. Owing to its quadratic dispersion, the unique coincidence of four degenerate states at the Fermi energy, and strong Coulomb interactions, non-Fermi liquid behaviour is predicted, for which we observe some evidence. Our discovery implies that Pr 2 Ir 2 O 7 is a parent state that can be manipulated to produce other strongly correlated topological phases, such as topological Mott insulator, Weyl semimetal, and quantum spin and anomalous Hall states.
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The metallic phase above the magnetic ordering temperature in pyrochlore iridates is expected to have quadratic doubly degenerate bands that touch at the Γ point, a state termed a Luttinger semimetal.
“The metallic phase above the magnetic ordering temperature is expected have quadratic doubly degenerate bands that touch at the Γ point (Kondo et al. , 2015; Nakayama et al. , 2016; Witczak-Krempa and Kim, 2012), a state we term a Luttinger semimetal (Abrikosov and Beneslavskii, 1971a; Moon et al. , 2013).”
From Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids (2018) · cites this paper as Kondo et al., 2015
In A=Pr, a quadratic band touching has been found in recent experiments.
“In A=Pr, which remains a nonmagnetic metal down to low temperatures (Machida et al. , 2010; Nakatsuji et al. , 2006), a quadratic band touching has been found recent experiments (Kondo et al. , 2015)”
From Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids (2018) · cites this paper as Kondo et al., 2015
ARPES has shown that the pyrochlore oxide Pr2Ir2O7 possesses a QBT.
“It has recently been shown by ARPES (Kondo et al. , 2015) that the pyrochlore oxide Pr 2 Ir 2 O 7 (Balicas et al. , 2011; Machida et al. , 2007; Tokiwa et al. , 2014) possesses a QBT (Fig. 37).”
From Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids (2018) · cites this paper as Kondo et al., 2015
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Cited by
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Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids
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Self-citationWeyl and Dirac Semimetals in Three Dimensional Solids
Armitage, N. P., Mele, E. J., & Vishwanath, A. (2017) · arXiv
“22, one can see represen- tative ARPES data for TaAs (Belopolski et al., 2016c).”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Kondo, T., Nakayama, M., Chen, R., Ishikawa, J. J., Moon, E.-G., Yamamoto, T., Ota, Y., Malaeb, W., Kanai, H., Nakashima, Y., Ishida, Y., Yoshida, R., Yamamoto, H., Matsunami, M., Kimura, S., Inami, N., Ono, K., Kumigashira, H., Nakatsuji, S., Balents, L., & Shin, S.
- Affiliations
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Beirut Arab University (LB)
- Institute for Molecular Science (JP)
- High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (JP)
- Japan Science and Technology Agency (JP)
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kondo, Takeshi
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2015-12-07
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 10042-10042
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4686656
- OpenAlex
- W1890616858
- Cited by
- 190
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 8.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1121053)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DE‐FG02‐, DEFG0208ER46524, FG02-08ER46524)
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (R2604, 15H05882)
- University of Tokyo
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University (1121053, DMR-1121053)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (15H05883, R2604, 25287095, 25220707, 15H03676, 15H05882, 24740218, 25707030)
- Japan Science and Technology Agency (R2604, 25707030, 15H05882)
- Division of Materials Research (DMR 1121053, 1121053)
- Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Keywords
- quadratic dispersion, Pr2Ir2O7, pyrochlore iridates, spin-orbit coupling, electron-electron interaction, non-Fermi liquid, topological Mott insulator, Weyl semimetals, time-reversal symmetry, cubic symmetry
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