Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 49(119), 2022

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2212730119

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Correlation-driven electronic nematicity in the Dirac semimetal BaNiS <sub>2</sub>

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

In BaNiS 2 , a Dirac nodal line band structure exists within a two-dimensional Ni square lattice system, in which significant electronic correlation effects are anticipated. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we discover signs of correlated-electron behavior, namely electronic nematicity appearing as a pair of C 2 -symmetry striped patterns in the local density-of-states at ∼60 meV above the Fermi energy. In observations of quasiparticle interference, as well as identifying scattering between Dirac cones, we find that the striped patterns in real space stem from a lifting of degeneracy among electron pockets at the Brillouin zone boundary. We infer a momentum-dependent energy shift with d -form factor, which we model numerically within a density wave (DW) equation framework that considers spin-fluctuation-driven nematicity. This suggests an unusual mechanism driving the nematic instability, stemming from only a small perturbation to the Fermi surface, in a system with very low density of states at the Fermi energy. The Dirac points lie at nodes of the d -form factor and are almost unaffected by it. These results highlight BaNiS 2 as a unique material in which Dirac electrons and symmetry-breaking electronic correlations coexist.