Enhanced electron coherence in atomically thin Nb 3 SiTe 6

J. Hu, X. Liu, C. L. Yue, J. Y. Liu, H. W. Zhu, J. B. He, J. Wei, Z. Q. Mao, L. Yu Antipina, Z. I. Popov, P. B. Sorokin, T. J. Liu, P. W. Adams, S. M.A. Radmanesh, L. Spinu, H. Ji, D. Natelson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is now well established that many of the technologically important properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as the extremely high carrier mobility in graphene and the large direct band gaps in MoS 2 monolayers, arise from quantum confinement. However, the influence of reduced dimensions on electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling and its attendant dephasing effects in such systems has remained unclear. Although phonon confinement is expected to produce a suppression of e-ph interactions in 2D systems with rigid boundary conditions, experimental verification of this has remained elusive. Here, we show that the e-ph interaction is, indeed, modified by a phonon dimensionality crossover in layered Nb 3 SiTe 6 atomic crystals. When the thickness of the Nb 3 SiTe 6 crystals is reduced below a few unit cells, we observe an unexpected enhancement of the weak-antilocalization signature in magnetotransport. This finding strongly supports the theoretically predicted suppression of e-ph interactions caused by quantum confinement of phonons.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)471-476
Number of pages6
JournalNature Physics
Volume11
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 4 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Enhanced electron coherence in atomically thin Nb 3 SiTe 6'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this