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Evidence for excitonic condensation and superfluidity in black phosphorus

Author

Listed:
  • Jiadong Mei

    (Nanjing University)

  • Yue Wang

    (Nanjing University)

  • Ruixiang Fei

    (Beijing Institute of Technology)

  • Junzhuan Wang

    (Nanjing University)

  • Xuetao Gan

    (Northwestern Polytechnical University)

  • Bo Liu

    (Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)

  • Xiaomu Wang

    (Nanjing University
    Beijing Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Excitonic condensation refers to the spontaneous formation of correlated electron-hole pairs. These collective states, also known as excitonic insulator, are expected to lead to intriguing many-body physics such as Bose-Einstein-condensates and Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer crossover. While the occurrence of excitonic insulator has been confirmed by measuring charge gaps, related macro-quantum phenomenon are less often observed. Here we report the signature of exciton insulator and its superfluidity in dual-gate few layer black phosphorus. Using Fourier transform infrared photo-current spectroscopy, we characterize the behavior of electron-hole pairs in black phosphorus. When shrinking the bandgap of photo-excited black phosphorus by electric displacement, we observe excitonic insulator formation featured by a sharp change of infrared photo-current spectrum and charge compressibility. This condensation presents a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer -like temperature dependence with a critical temperature of ~17 K. We observe that the intrinsic black phosphorus photocurrent simultaneously vanishes with the formation of excitonic condensation. This vanished photocurrent is resilient against reasonable in-plane electric fields, indicating robust electron-hole pair binding state and providing evidence for the potential superfluidity of the exciton bosons. Our work not only reveals the exotic quantum phases and unusual orderings in excitonic insulator, but also provides a perspective for the study of composite Fermions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiadong Mei & Yue Wang & Ruixiang Fei & Junzhuan Wang & Xuetao Gan & Bo Liu & Xiaomu Wang, 2025. "Evidence for excitonic condensation and superfluidity in black phosphorus," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58886-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58886-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Liguo Ma & Phuong X. Nguyen & Zefang Wang & Yongxin Zeng & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Allan H. MacDonald & Kin Fai Mak & Jie Shan, 2021. "Strongly correlated excitonic insulator in atomic double layers," Nature, Nature, vol. 598(7882), pages 585-589, October.
    2. Binjie Zheng & Junzhuan Wang & Qianghua Wang & Xin Su & Tianye Huang & Songlin Li & Fengqiu Wang & Yi Shi & Xiaomu Wang, 2022. "Quantum criticality of excitonic Mott metal-insulator transitions in black phosphorus," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
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