Emergence of the nematic electronic state in FeSe

Watson, M. D. and Kim, T. K. and Haghighirad, A. A. and Davies, N. R. and McCollam, A. and Narayanan, A. and Blake, S. F. and Chen, Y. L. and Ghannadzadeh, S. and Schofield, A. J. and Hoesch, M. and Meingast, C. and Wolf, T. and Coldea, A. I. (2015) Emergence of the nematic electronic state in FeSe. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 91 (15): 155106. ISSN 1098-0121

Abstract

We present a comprehensive study of the evolution of the nematic electronic structure of FeSe using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), quantum oscillations in the normal state, and elastoresistance measurements. Our high-resolution ARPES allows us to track the Fermi surface deformation from fourfold to twofold symmetry across the structural transition at ∼87K, which is stabilized as a result of the dramatic splitting of bands associated with dxz and dyz character in the presence of strong electronic interactions. The low-temperature Fermi surface is that of a compensated metal consisting of one hole and two electron bands and is fully determined by combining the knowledge from ARPES and quantum oscillations. A manifestation of the nematic state is the significant increase in the nematic susceptibility approaching the structural transition that we detect from our elastoresistance measurements on FeSe. The dramatic changes in electronic structure cannot be explained by the small lattice distortion and, in the absence of magnetic fluctuations above the structural transition, point clearly towards an electronically driven transition in FeSe, stabilized by orbital-charge ordering.