Synthesis of epitaxial LuN films.

Epitaxy of rare-earth nitride films are crucial for studying their physical properties and offer significant potential for applications in spintronics and optoelectronics. However, synthesizing single-crystalline LuN presents significant challenges, leading to a limited understanding of its properties. In this study, we successfully achieved the epitaxial growth of (001)-oriented LuN films on YAlO (110) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering epitaxy.

Resilient Growth of a Highly Crystalline Topological Insulator-Superconductor Heterostructure Enabled by an Nitride Film.

Highly crystalline and easily feasible topological insulator-superconductor (TI-SC) heterostructures are crucial for the development of practical topological qubit devices. The optimal superconducting layer for TI-SC heterostructures should be highly resilient against external contamination and structurally compatible with TIs. In this study, we provide a solution to this challenge by showcasing the growth of a highly crystalline TI-SC heterostructure using refractory TiN (111) as the superconducting layer.

Momentum-Resolved Electronic Structures and Strong Electronic Correlations in Graphene-like Nitride Superconductors.

Although transition-metal nitrides have been widely applied for several decades, experimental investigations of their high-resolution electronic band structures are rare due to the lack of high-quality single-crystalline samples. Here, we report on the first momentum-resolved electronic band structures of titanium nitride (TiN) films, which are remarkable nitride superconductors. The measurements of the crystal structures and electrical transport properties confirmed the high quality of these films.

Electronic structure of superconducting VN(111) films.

Vanadium nitride (VN) is a transition-metal nitride with remarkable properties that have prompted extensive experimental and theoretical investigations in recent years. However, there is a current paucity of experimental research investigating the temperature-dependent electronic structure of single-crystalline VN. In this study, high-quality VN(111) films were successfully synthesized on -Al O (0001) substrates using magnetron sputtering.

Rashba-like spin splitting along three momentum directions in trigonal layered PtBi.

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) has gained much attention for its rich physical phenomena and highly promising applications in spintronic devices. The Rashba-type SOC in systems with inversion symmetry breaking is particularly attractive for spintronics applications since it allows for flexible manipulation of spin current by external electric fields. Here, we report the discovery of a giant anisotropic Rashba-like spin splitting along three momentum directions (3D Rashba-like spin splitting) with a helical spin polarization around the M points in the Brillouin zone of trigonal layered PtBi.