Charge Carrier Interaction with a Purely Electronic Collective Mode: Plasmarons and the Infrared Response of Elemental Bismuth (original) (raw)
Related papers
Collective excitations and low-temperature transport properties of bismuth
Physical Review B, 2011
We examine the influence of collective excitations on the transport properties (resistivity, magnetooptical conductivity) for semimetals, focussing on the case of bismuth. We show, using an RPA approximation, that the properties of the system are drastically affected by the presence of an acoustic plasmon mode, consequence of the presence of two types of carriers (electrons and holes) in this system. We find a crossover temperature T * separating two different regimes of transport. At high temperatures T > T * we show that Baber scattering explains quantitatively the DC resistivity experiments, while at low temperatures T < T * interactions of the carriers with this collective mode lead to a T 5 behavior of the resistivity. We examine other consequences of the presence of this mode, and in particular predict a two plasmon edge feature in the magneto-optical conductivity. We compare our results with the experimental findings on bismuth. We discuss the limitations and extensions of our results beyond the RPA approximation, and examine the case of other semimetals such as graphite or 1T − T iSe2.
Metal-Insulator-Like Behavior in Semimetallic Bismuth and Graphite
Physical Review Letters, 2005
When high quality bismuth or graphite crystals are placed in a magnetic field directed along the c-axis (trigonal axis for bismuth) and the temperature is lowered, the resistance increases as it does in an insulator but then saturates. We show that the combination of unusual features specific to semimetals, i.e., low carrier density, small effective mass, high purity, and an equal number of electrons and holes (compensation), gives rise to a unique ordering and spacing of three characteristic energy scales, which not only is specific to semimetals but which concomitantly provides a wide window for the observation of apparent field induced metal-insulator behavior. Using magnetotransport and Hall measurements, the details of this unusual behavior are captured with a conventional multiband model, thus confirming the occupation by semimetals of a unique niche between conventional metals and semiconductors.
Direct observation of electron thermalization and electron-phonon coupling in photoexcited bismuth
Physical Review B, 2013
We investigate the ultrafast response of the bismuth (111) surface by means of time resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The direct visualization of the electronic structure allows us to gain insights on electron-electron and electron-phonon interaction. Concerning electron-electron interaction, it is found that electron thermalization is fluence dependent and can take as much as several hundreds of femtoseconds at low fluences. This behavior is in qualitative agreement with Landau's theory of Fermi liquids but the data show deviations from the behavior of a common 3D degenerate electron gas. Concerning electron-phonon interaction, our data allows us to directly observe the coupling of individual Bloch state to the coherent A1g mode. It is found that surface states are much less coupled to this mode when compared to bulk states. This is confirmed by ab initio calculations of surface and bulk bismuth.
Electronic instability in bismuth far beyond the quantum limit
New Journal of Physics, 2009
We present a transport study of semi-metallic bismuth in presence of a magnetic field applied along the trigonal axis extended to 55 T for electric conductivity and to 45 T for thermoelectric response. The results uncover a new field scale at about 40 T in addition to the previously detected ones. Large anomalies in all transport properties point to an intriguing electronic instability deep in the ultraquantum regime. Unexpectedly, both the sheer magnitude of conductivity and its metallic temperature dependence are enhanced by this instability.
Physical Review Letters, 2010
The application of pressure to elemental bismuth reduces its conduction-valence band overlap, and results in a semimetal-semiconductor (SMSC) transition around 25 kbar. This transition is nominally of the topological "Lifshitz" Fermi surface variety, but there are open questions about the role of interactions at low charge densities. Using a novel pressure cell with optical access, we have performed an extensive study of bismuth's infrared conductivity under pressure. In contrast to the expected pure band behavior we find signatures of enhanced interaction effects, including strongly coupled charge-plasmon (plasmaron) features and a plasma frequency that remains finite up to the transition. These effect are inconsistent with a pure 'Lifshitz' bandlike transition. We postulate that interactions plays a central role in driving the SMSC transition.
Ab initiostudy of electron energy loss spectra of bulk bismuth up to 100 eV
Physical Review B, 2017
The dynamical charge-density response of bulk bismuth has been studied within time-dependent density functional perturbation theory, explicitly accounting for spin-orbit coupling. The use of the Liouville-Lanczos approach allows us to calculate electron energy loss spectra for excitation energies as large as 100 eV. Effects of 5d semicore electronic states, spin-orbit coupling, exchange and correlation, local fields, and anisotropy are thoroughly investigated. The account of the 5d states in the calculation turns out to be crucial to correctly describe the loss spectra above 10 eV and, in particular, the position and shape of the bulk-plasmon peak at 14.0 eV at vanishing transferred momentum. Our calculations reveal the presence of interband transitions at 16.3 eV, which had never been discussed before. The origin of the peak at 5.8 eV is revisited as due to mixed interband and collective excitations. Finally, our study supplements the lack of experiments at finite transferred momenta.
Quantum size effects manifest in infrared spectra of single bismuth nanowires
Applied Physics Letters, 2006
Infrared transmission spectroscopy measurements on single bismuth nanowires of various diameters d are presented. The spectra show a strong absorption whose onset is blueshifted proportionally to 1/d 2 . We ascribe the absorption to interband transitions. The blueshift results from quantum size effects since they lead to the d-dependent splitting of the energy bands and to a respective shift of energy gaps.