<i>h</i>/<i>e</i> oscillations in interlayer transport of delafossites.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32527829.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.aay8413.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Microstructures can be carefully designed to reveal the quantum phase of the wave-like nature of electrons in a metal. Here, we report phase-coherent oscillations of out-of-plane magnetoresistance in the layered delafossites PdCoO<sub>2</sub> and PtCoO<sub>2</sub> The oscillation period is equivalent to that determined by the magnetic flux quantum, <i>h/e</i>, threading an area defined by the atomic interlayer separation and the sample width, where <i>h</i> is Planck's constant and <i>e</i> is the charge of an electron. The phase of the electron wave function appears robust over length scales exceeding 10 micrometers and persisting up to temperatures of T > 50 kelvin. We show that the experimental signal stems from a periodic field modulation of the out-of-plane hopping. These results demonstrate extraordinary single-particle quantum coherence lengths in delafossites.