Temperature-dependent excitonic superuid plasma frequency evolution in an excitonic insulator, Ta(2)NiSe(5)

An interesting van der Waals material, Ta(2)NiSe(5) has been known one of strong excitonic insulator candidates since it has very small or zero bandgap and can have a strong exciton binding energy because of its quasi-one-dimensional crystal structure. Here we investigate a single crystal Ta(2)NiSe(5) using optical spectroscopy. Ta(2)NiSe(5) has quasi-one-dimensional chains along the a-axis. We have obtained anisotropic optical properties of a single crystal Ta(2)NiSe(5) along the a- and c-axes. The measured a- and c-axis optical conductivities exhibit large anisotropic electronic and phononic properties. With regard to the a-axis optical conductivity, a sharp peak near 3050 cm(−1) at 9 K, with a well-defined optical gap ([Formula: see text] 1800 cm(−1)) and a strong temperature-dependence, is observed. With an increase in temperature, this peak broadens and the optical energy gap closes around ∼325 K ([Formula: see text] ). The spectral weight redistribution with respect to the frequency and temperature indicates that the normalized optical energy gap ([Formula: see text] ) is [Formula: see text] . The temperature-dependent superfluid plasma frequency of the excitonic condensation in Ta(2)NiSe(5) has been determined from measured optical data. Our study may pave new avenues in the future research on excitonic insulators.