Science Daily July 31, 2019
In a new study researchers in Australia have found evidence of a new phase of matter predicted in the 1960s: the excitonic insulator. It is a new phase of matter in the critical transition point between insulator and metal. The researchers studied antimony nanoflake using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. They observed the unique feature of the excitonic insulator, a charge density wave (CDW) without periodic lattice distortion and a gap induced by the CDW near the Fermi surface, suggesting that the antimony (Sb(110)) nanoflake is an excitonic insulator. They are predicted to host many novel properties, including crystallized excitonium, superfluidity and excitonic high-temperature superconductivity. The findings provide a novel strategy to search for more excitonic insulators…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Abstract. Credit: Nano Letters, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01123