Abstract
Bulk Dirac semimetals (DSMs) exhibit unconventional transport properties and phase transitions due to their peculiar low-energy band structure, yet the electronic interactions governing nonequilibrium phenomena in DSMs are not fully understood. Here we show that electron-phonon (e-ph) interactions in a prototypical bulk DSM, Na3Bi, are predominantly two-dimensional (2D). Our first-principles calculations reveal a 2D optical phonon with strong e-ph interactions associated with in-plane vibrations of Na atoms. We show that this 2D mode governs e-ph scattering and charge transport in Na3Bi and induces a dynamical phase transition to a Weyl semimetal. Our work advances the quantitative analysis of electron interactions in Na3Bi and reveals a dominant low-dimensional interaction in a bulk Dirac semimetal.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3947-3953 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Nano Letters |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 May 2023 |
Keywords
- Dirac semimetal
- electron−phonon coupling
- first principles
- phonon
- two-dimensional