Gate tuning of coupled electronic and structural phase transition in atomically thin Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Wei, Keyu, Luo, Yixuan, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Guo, Yanfeng, Xi, Xiaoxiang
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Wei, Keyu
Luo, Yixuan
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Guo, Yanfeng
Xi, Xiaoxiang
author_facet Wei, Keyu
Luo, Yixuan
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Guo, Yanfeng
Xi, Xiaoxiang
contents Realizing an excitonic insulator phase from narrow-gap semiconductors remains challenging, as unambiguous experimental signatures are difficult to establish. Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ has been widely regarded as a leading candidate, yet the nature of its phase transition and insulating state remains controversial. Here, we report a systematic Raman spectroscopy study of Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ as a function of thickness and field-effect doping, complemented by electrical transport measurements. The phase transition persists down to the monolayer limit, with the critical temperature increasing as thickness decreases. In bilayer samples, both electron and hole doping suppress the insulating state, with electron doping lowering and hole doping raising the transition temperature. Importantly, the quasi-elastic scattering, previously attributed to excitonic fluctuations, evolves monotonically across the entire doping range, inconsistent with the expected suppression of excitonic correlations by Coulomb screening. These findings rule out a dominant excitonic mechanism and instead point to a coupled electronic and structural phase transition, whose stability is tunable by carrier doping. Our doping-based approach offers a general strategy for evaluating the role of excitonic effects in candidate excitonic insulators.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_09751
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Gate tuning of coupled electronic and structural phase transition in atomically thin Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$
Wei, Keyu
Luo, Yixuan
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Guo, Yanfeng
Xi, Xiaoxiang
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Realizing an excitonic insulator phase from narrow-gap semiconductors remains challenging, as unambiguous experimental signatures are difficult to establish. Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ has been widely regarded as a leading candidate, yet the nature of its phase transition and insulating state remains controversial. Here, we report a systematic Raman spectroscopy study of Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$ as a function of thickness and field-effect doping, complemented by electrical transport measurements. The phase transition persists down to the monolayer limit, with the critical temperature increasing as thickness decreases. In bilayer samples, both electron and hole doping suppress the insulating state, with electron doping lowering and hole doping raising the transition temperature. Importantly, the quasi-elastic scattering, previously attributed to excitonic fluctuations, evolves monotonically across the entire doping range, inconsistent with the expected suppression of excitonic correlations by Coulomb screening. These findings rule out a dominant excitonic mechanism and instead point to a coupled electronic and structural phase transition, whose stability is tunable by carrier doping. Our doping-based approach offers a general strategy for evaluating the role of excitonic effects in candidate excitonic insulators.
title Gate tuning of coupled electronic and structural phase transition in atomically thin Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09751