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Abstract: We report theoretical and experimental evidence that EuCd 2 As 2 in magnetic fields greater than 1.6 T applied along the c axis is a Weyl semimetal with a single pair of Weyl nodes. Ab initio electronic structure calculations, verified at zero field by angle-resolved photoemission spectra, predict Weyl nodes with wave vectors k = ( 0 , 0 , ± 0.03 ) × 2 π / c at the Fermi level when the Eu spins are fully aligned along the c axis. Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations measured in fields parallel to c reveal a cyclotron effective mass of m ∗ c = 0.08 m e and a Fermi surface of extremal area A ext = 0.24 nm − 2 , corresponding to 0.1% of the area of the Brillouin zone. The small values of m ∗ c and A ext are consistent with quasiparticles near a Weyl node. The identification of EuCd 2 As 2 as a model Weyl semimetal opens the door to fundamental tests of Weyl physics.

Open Access

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Abstract: We study the magnetic structure of the “stuffed” (Tb-rich) pyrochlore iridate Tb2+xIr2−xO7−y, using resonant elastic x-ray scattering (REXS). In order to disentangle contributions from Tb and Ir magnetic sublattices, experiments were performed at the Ir L3 and Tb M5 edges, which provide selective sensitivity to Ir 5d and Tb 4f magnetic moments, respectively. At the Ir L3 edge, we found the onset of long-range k = 0 magnetic order below TIr N ∼71K, consistent with the expected signal of all-in all-out (AIAO) magnetic order. Using a single-ion model to calculate REXS crosssections, we estimate an ordered magnetic moment of µIr 5d ≈ 0.34(3)µB at 5K. At the Tb M5 edge,long-range k = 0 magnetic order appeared below ∼ 40K, also consistent with an AIAO magnetic structure on the Tb site. Additional insight into the magnetism of the Tb sublattice is gleaned from measurements at the M5 edge in applied magnetic fields up to 6T, which is found to completely suppress the Tb AIAO magnetic order. In zero applied field, the observed gradual onset of the Tb sublattice magnetisation with temperature suggests that it is induced by the magnetic order on the Ir site. The persistence of AIAO magnetic order, despite the greatly reduced ordering temperature and moment size compared to stoichiometric Tb2Ir2O7, for which TIr N = 130K and µIr 5d = 0.56µB, indicates that stuffing could be a viable means of tuning the strength of electronic correlations, thereby potentially offering a new strategy to achieve topologically non-trivial band crossings in pyrochlore iridates.

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Abstract: The ground-state orbital occupancy of the Ru4+ ion in Ca2−xLaxRuO4[x=0, 0.05(1), 0.07(1), and 0.12(1)] was investigated by performing x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in the vicinity of the O K edge as a function of the angle between the incident beam and the surface of the single-crystal samples. A minimal model of the hybridization between the O 2p states probed at the K edge and the Ru 4d orbitals was used to analyze the XAS data, allowing the ratio of hole occupancies nxy/nyz,zx to be determined as a function of doping and temperature. For the samples displaying a low-temperature insulating ground state (x≤0.07), nxy/nyz,zx is found to increase significantly with increasing doping, with increasing temperature acting to further enhance nxy/nyz,zx. For the x=0.12 sample, which has a metallic ground state, the XAS spectra are found to be independent of temperature and not to be describable by the minimal hybridization model, while being qualitatively similar to the spectra displayed by the x≤0.07 samples above their insulating to metallic transitions. To understand the origin of the evolution of the electronic structure of Ca2−xLaxRuO4 across its phase diagram, we have performed theoretical calculations based on a model Hamiltonian, comprising electron-electron correlations, crystal field Δ, and spin-orbit coupling λ, of a Ru-O-Ru cluster, with realistic values used to parametrize the various interactions taken from the literature. Our calculations of the Ru hole occupancy as a function of Δ/λ provide an excellent description of the general trends displayed by the data. In particular they establish that the enhancement of nxy/nyz,zx is driven by significant modifications to the crystal field as the tetragonal distortion of the RuO6 octahedral changes from compressive to tensile with La doping. We have also used our model to show that the hole occupancy of the O 2p and Ru 4d orbitals displays the same general trend as a function of Δ/λ, thus validating the minimal hybridization model used to analyze the data. In essence, our results suggest that the predominant mechanism driving the emergence of the low-temperature metallic phase in La-doped Ca2RuO4 is the structurally induced redistribution of holes within the t2g orbitals, rather than the injection of free carriers.

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Abstract: We have performed inelastic neutron-scattering measurements on a powder sample of the superconductor lithium iron selenide hydroxide Li 1−x Fe x ODFe 1−y Se(x≃0.16,y≃0.02,T c =41K) . The spectrum shows an enhanced intensity below T c over an energy range of 0.64×2Δ

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Abstract: Using resonant magnetic x-ray scattering we address the unresolved nature of the magnetic ground state and the low-energy effective Hamiltonian of Sm2Ir2O7, a prototypical pyrochlore iridate with a finite temperature metal-insulator transition. Through a combination of elastic and inelastic measurements, we show that the magnetic ground state is an all-in–all-out (AIAO) antiferromagnet. The magnon dispersion indicates significant electronic correlations and can be well described by a minimal Hamiltonian that includes Heisenberg exchange [J=27.3(6)  meV ] and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions [D=4.9(3)  meV ], which provides a consistent description of the magnetic order and excitations. In establishing that Sm2Ir2 O7 has the requisite inversion symmetry preserving AIAO magnetic ground state, our results support the notion that pyrochlore iridates may host correlated Weyl semimetals.