Hierarchical spin-orbital polarization of a giant Rashba system.

The Rashba effect is one of the most striking manifestations of spin-orbit coupling in solids and provides a cornerstone for the burgeoning field of semiconductor spintronics. It is typically assumed to manifest as a momentum-dependent splitting of a single initially spin-degenerate band into two branches with opposite spin polarization. Combining polarization-dependent and resonant angle-resolved photoemission measurements with density functional theory calculations, we show that the two "spin-split" branches of the model giant Rashba system BiTeI additionally develop disparate orbital textures, each of which is coupled to a distinct spin configuration.

Polycrystalline graphene with single crystalline electronic structure.

We report the scalable growth of aligned graphene and hexagonal boron nitride on commercial copper foils, where each film originates from multiple nucleations yet exhibits a single orientation. Thorough characterization of our graphene reveals uniform crystallographic and electronic structures on length scales ranging from nanometers to tens of centimeters. As we demonstrate with artificial twisted graphene bilayers, these inexpensive and versatile films are ideal building blocks for large-scale layered heterostructures with angle-tunable optoelectronic properties.

Formation of the coherent heavy fermion liquid at the hidden order transition in URu2Si2.

We present high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectra of the heavy-fermion superconductor URu2Si2. Detailed measurements as a function of both photon energy and temperature allow us to disentangle a variety of spectral features, revealing the evolution of the low-energy electronic structure across the "hidden order" transition. Above the transition, our measurements reveal the existence of weakly dispersive states that exhibit a large scattering rate and do not appear to shift from above to below the Fermi level, as previously reported.

Nodeless superconducting phase arising from a strong (π, π) antiferromagnetic phase in the infinite-layer electron-doped Sr(1-x)La(x)CuO2 compound.

The asymmetry between electron and hole doping remains one of the central issues in high-temperature cuprate superconductivity, but our understanding of the electron-doped cuprates has been hampered by apparent discrepancies between the only two known families: Re(2-x)Ce(x)CuO4 and A(1-x)La(x)CuO2. Here we report in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements of epitaxially stabilized Sr(1-x)La(x)CuO2 thin films synthesized by oxide molecular-beam epitaxy. Our results reveal a strong coupling between electrons and (π, π) antiferromagnetism that induces a Fermi surface reconstruction which pushes the nodal states below the Fermi level.

A tunable low-energy photon source for high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

We describe a tunable low-energy photon source consisting of a laser-driven xenon plasma lamp coupled to a Czerny-Turner monochromator. The combined tunability, brightness, and narrow spectral bandwidth make this light source useful in laboratory-based high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy experiments. The source supplies photons with energies up to ~7 eV, delivering under typical conditions >10(12) ph/s within a 10 meV spectral bandwidth, which is comparable to helium plasma lamps and many synchrotron beamlines.

Quantum many-body interactions in digital oxide superlattices.

Controlling the electronic properties of interfaces has enormous scientific and technological implications and has been recently extended from semiconductors to complex oxides that host emergent ground states not present in the parent materials. These oxide interfaces present a fundamentally new opportunity where, instead of conventional bandgap engineering, the electronic and magnetic properties can be optimized by engineering quantum many-body interactions. We use an integrated oxide molecular-beam epitaxy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy system to synthesize and investigate the electronic structure of superlattices of the Mott insulator LaMnO(3) and the band insulator SrMnO(3).