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Electronically driven nematic order is often considered as an essential ingredient of high-temperature superconductivity. Its elusive nature in iron-based superconductors resulted in a controversy not only as regards its origin but also as to the degree of its influence on the electronic structure even in the simplest representative material FeSe. Here we utilized angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations to study the influence of the nematic order on the electronic structure of FeSe and determine its exact energy and momentum scales. Our results strongly suggest that the nematicity in FeSe is electronically driven, we resolve the recent controversy and provide the necessary quantitative experimental basis for a successful theory of superconductivity in iron-based materials which takes into account both, spin-orbit interaction and electronic nematicity.

Magnetic topological insulators are narrow-gap semiconductor materials that combine non-trivial band topology and magnetic order 1 . Unlike their nonmagnetic counterparts, magnetic topological insulators may have some of the surfaces gapped, which enables a number of exotic phenomena that have potential applications in spintronics 1 , such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect 2 and chiral Majorana fermions 3 . So far, magnetic topological insulators have only been created by means of doping nonmagnetic topological insulators with 3 d transition-metal elements; however, such an approach leads to strongly inhomogeneous magnetic 4 and electronic 5 properties of these materials, restricting the observation of important effects to very low temperatures 2 , 3 . An intrinsic magnetic topological insulator—a stoichiometric well ordered magnetic compound—could be an ideal solution to these problems, but no such material has been observed so far. Here we predict by ab initio calculations and further confirm using various experimental techniques the realization of an antiferromagnetic topological insulator in the layered van der Waals compound MnBi 2 Te 4 . The antiferromagnetic ordering  that MnBi 2 Te 4  shows makes it invariant with respect to the combination of the time-reversal and primitive-lattice translation symmetries, giving rise to a ℤ 2 topological classification; ℤ 2  = 1 for MnBi 2 Te 4 , confirming its topologically nontrivial nature. Our experiments indicate that the symmetry-breaking (0001) surface of MnBi 2 Te 4 exhibits a large bandgap in the topological surface state. We expect this property to eventually enable the observation of a number of fundamental phenomena, among them quantized magnetoelectric coupling 6 – 8 and axion electrodynamics 9 , 10 . Other exotic phenomena could become accessible at much higher temperatures than those reached so far, such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect 2 and chiral Majorana fermions 3 . An intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator, MnBi 2 Te 4 , is theoretically predicted and then realized experimentally, with implications for the study of exotic quantum phenomena.

A theoretical and experimental study reveals the relation between charge density waves and orbital textures for different stackings in a two-dimensional layered material. Low-dimensional electron systems, as realized in layered materials, often tend to spontaneously break the symmetry of the underlying nuclear lattice by forming so-called density waves 1 ; a state of matter that at present attracts enormous attention 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . Here we reveal a remarkable and surprising feature of charge density waves, namely their intimate relation to orbital order. For the prototypical material 1T-TaS 2 we not only show that the charge density wave within the two-dimensional TaS 2 layers involves previously unidentified orbital textures of great complexity. We also demonstrate that two metastable stackings of the orbitally ordered layers allow manipulation of salient features of the electronic structure. Indeed, these orbital effects provide a route to switch 1T-TaS 2 nanostructures from metallic to semiconducting with technologically pertinent gaps of the order of 200 meV. This new type of orbitronics is especially relevant for the ongoing development of novel, miniaturized and ultrafast devices based on layered transition metal dichalcogenides 7 , 8 .

A fundamental and unconventional characteristic of superconductivity in iron-based materials is that it occurs in the vicinity of two other instabilities. In addition to a tendency towards magnetic order, these Fe-based systems have a propensity for nematic ordering: a lowering of the rotational symmetry while time-reversal invariance is preserved. Setting the stage for superconductivity, it is heavily debated whether the nematic symmetry breaking is driven by lattice, orbital or spin degrees of freedom. Here, we report a very clear splitting of NMR resonance lines in FeSe at Tnem = 91 K, far above the superconducting Tc of 9.3 K. The splitting occurs for magnetic fields perpendicular to the Fe planes and has the temperature dependence of a Landau-type order parameter. Spin-lattice relaxation rates are not affected at Tnem, which unequivocally establishes orbital degrees of freedom as driving the nematic order. We demonstrate that superconductivity competes with the emerging nematicity.

The perfect linear temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity in a variety of “strange” metals is a real puzzle in condensed matter physics. For these materials also other non-Fermi liquid properties are predicted or detected. In particular we mention the results derived from holographic theories which conclude that plasmons should be overdamped due to a low energy continuum in the electronic susceptibility. These predictions were supported by electron energy-loss spectroscopy in reflection on cuprates and ruthenates. Here we use electron energy-loss spectroscopy in transmission to study collective charge excitations in the layer metal Sr 2 RuO 4 . This metal has a transition from a perfect Fermi liquid below T  ≈ 30 K into a “strange” metal phase above T  ≈ 800 K. In this compound we cover a complete range between in-phase and out-of-phase oscillations. Outside the classical range of electron-hole excitations, leading to a Landau damping, we observe well-defined plasmons. The optical (acoustic) plasmon due to an in-phase (out-of-phase) charge oscillation of neighbouring layers exhibits a quadratic (linear) positive dispersion. Using a model for the Coulomb interaction of the charges in a layered system, it is possible to describe the range of optical plasmon excitations at high energies in a mean-field random phase approximation without taking correlation effects into account. In contrast, resonant inelastic X-ray scattering data show at low energies an enhancement of the acoustic plasmon velocity due to correlation effects. This difference can be explained by an energy dependent effective mass which changes from ≈ 3.5 at low energy to 1 at high energy near the optical plasmon energy. There are no signs of over-damped plasmons predicted by holographic theories. Recently, there has been great interest in studying plasmons in strange metals characterized by linear-in-temperature electrical resistivity. Schultz et al. report an EELS in transmission study of plasmons in Sr 2 RuO 4 , revealing unrenormalized behavior explained by resilient quasi-particles at high plasmon energy.

In general, magnetism and superconductivity are antagonistic to each other. However, there are several families of superconductors in which superconductivity coexists with magnetism, and a few examples are known where the superconductivity itself induces spontaneous magnetism. The best known of these compounds are Sr 2 RuO 4 and some non-centrosymmetric superconductors. Here, we report the finding of a narrow dome of an s + i s ′ superconducting phase with apparent broken time-reversal symmetry (BTRS) inside the broad s -wave superconducting region of the centrosymmetric multiband superconductor Ba 1 −  x K x Fe 2 As 2 (0.7 ≲  x  ≲ 0.85). We observe spontaneous magnetic fields inside this dome using the muon spin relaxation (μSR) technique. Furthermore, our detailed specific heat study reveals that the BTRS dome appears very close to a change in the topology of the Fermi surface. With this, we experimentally demonstrate the likely emergence of a novel quantum state due to topological changes of the electronic system. An exotic s  +  is multiband superconducting state manifests in a doped pnictide superconductor when a second band moves below the Fermi surface. This creates an internal magnetic field, breaking time-reversal symmetry.

Although spin fluctuations are believed to have an important role in the mechanism responsible for high-temperature superconductivity, it has been unclear whether the strength of their coupling with fermionic quasiparticles is sufficiently strong. Systematic analysis of angle-resolved photoemission and neutron spectra suggests it is. Theories based on the coupling between spin fluctuations and fermionic quasiparticles are among the leading contenders to explain the origin of high-temperature superconductivity, but estimates of the strength of this interaction differ widely 1 . Here, we analyse the charge- and spin-excitation spectra determined by angle-resolved photoemission and inelastic neutron scattering, respectively, on the same crystals of the high-temperature superconductor YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6.6 . We show that a self-consistent description of both spectra can be obtained by adjusting a single parameter, the spin–fermion coupling constant. In particular, we find a quantitative link between two spectral features that have been established as universal for the cuprates, namely high-energy spin excitations 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and ‘kinks’ in the fermionic band dispersions along the nodal direction 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 . The superconducting transition temperature computed with this coupling constant exceeds 150 K, demonstrating that spin fluctuations have sufficient strength to mediate high-temperature superconductivity.

Plasmonic nanostructures and -devices are rapidly transforming light manipulation technology by allowing to modify and enhance optical fields on sub-wavelength scales. Advances in this field rely heavily on the development of new characterization methods for the fundamental nanoscale interactions. However, the direct and quantitative mapping of transient electric and magnetic fields characterizing the plasmonic coupling has been proven elusive to date. Here we demonstrate how to directly measure the inelastic momentum transfer of surface plasmon modes via the energy-loss filtered deflection of a focused electron beam in a transmission electron microscope. By scanning the beam over the sample we obtain a spatially and spectrally resolved deflection map and we further show how this deflection is related quantitatively to the spectral component of the induced electric and magnetic fields pertaining to the mode. In some regards this technique is an extension to the established differential phase contrast into the dynamic regime. Characterizing plasmonic coupling has proven elusive. Here, the authors obtain a spectrally resolved deflection map related to a focused electron beam, which has excited a surface plasmon resonance, and relate this deflection to the spectral component of the induced electric and magnetic fields pertaining to the mode.

Electron–phonon coupling and the emergence of superconductivity in intercalated graphite have been studied extensively. Yet, phonon-mediated superconductivity has never been observed in the 2D equivalent of these materials, doped monolayer graphene. Here we perform angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to try to find an electron donor for graphene that is capable of inducing strong electron–phonon coupling and superconductivity. We examine the electron donor species Cs, Rb, K, Na, Li, Ca and for each we determine the full electronic band structure, the Eliashberg function and the superconducting critical temperature T c from the spectral function. An unexpected low-energy peak appears for all dopants with an energy and intensity that depend on the dopant atom. We show that this peak is the result of a dopant-related vibration. The low energy and high intensity of this peak are crucially important for achieving superconductivity, with Ca being the most promising candidate for realizing superconductivity in graphene. It has been suggested that it might be possible to induce superconductivity in graphene by increasing the electron–phonon coupling through doping. A systematic ARPES study conducted by Fedorov et al. finds that all donor atoms induce an unexpected vibrational mode, with the strongest generated by calcium.

In the family of iron-based superconductors, LaFeAsO-type materials possess the simplest electronic structure due to their pronounced two-dimensionality. And yet they host superconductivity with the highest transition temperature T c  ≈ 55 K . Early theoretical predictions of their electronic structure revealed multiple large circular portions of the Fermi surface with a very good geometrical overlap (nesting), believed to enhance the pairing interaction and thus superconductivity. The prevalence of such large circular features in the Fermi surface has since been associated with many other iron-based compounds and has grown to be generally accepted in the field. In this work we show that a prototypical compound of the 1111-type, SmFe 0.92 Co 0.08 AsO , is at odds with this description and possesses a distinctly different Fermi surface, which consists of two singular constructs formed by the edges of several bands, pulled to the Fermi level from the depths of the theoretically predicted band structure by strong electronic interactions. Such singularities dramatically affect the low-energy electronic properties of the material, including superconductivity. We further argue that occurrence of these singularities correlates with the maximum superconducting transition temperature attainable in each material class over the entire family of iron-based superconductors.