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1999-04-01
Radio-frequency impedance measurements using a tunnel-diode oscillator (TDO) technique
A resonant method based on a tunnel-diode oscillator (TDO) for precision measurements of relative impedance changes in materials, is described. The system consists of an effective self-resonant LC-tank circuit driven by a forward-biased tunnel diode operating in its negative resistance region. Samples under investigation are placed in the core of an inductive coil and impedance changes are determined directly from the measured shift in resonance frequency. A customized low temperature insert is used to integrate this experiment with a commercial Model 6000 Physical Property Measurement System (Quantum Design). Test measurements on a manganese-based perovskite sample exhibiting colossal magneto-resistance (CMR) indicate that this method is well suited to study the magneto-impedance in these materials.
9904026v1
2000-01-19
Pseudogap effects on the c-axis charge dynamics in copper oxide materials
The c-axis charge dynamics of copper oxide materials in the underdoped and optimally doped regimes has been studied by considering the incoherent interlayer hopping. It is shown that the c-axis charge dynamics for the chain copper oxide materials is mainly governed by the scattering from the in-plane fluctuation, and the c-axis charge dynamics for the no-chain copper oxide materials is dominated by the scattering from the in-plane fluctuation incorporating with the interlayer disorder, which would be suppressed when the holon pseudogap opens at low temperatures and lower doping levels, leading to the crossovers to the semiconducting-like range in the c-axis resistivity and the temperature linear to the nonlinear range in the in-plane resistivity.
0001260v1
2002-02-27
Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As
We have measured the magnetoresistance in a series of Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As samples with 0.033$\le x \le$ 0.053 for three mutually orthogonal orientations of the applied magnetic field. The spontaneous resistivity anisotropy (SRA) in these materials is negative (i.e. the sample resistance is higher when its magnetization is perpendicular to the measuring current than when the two are parallel) and has a magnitude on the order of 5% at temperatures near 10K and below. This stands in contrast to the results for most conventional magnetic materials where the SRA is considerably smaller in magnitude for those few cases in which a negative sign is observed. The magnitude of the SRA drops from its maximum at low temperatures to zero at T$_C$ in a manner that is consistent with mean field theory. These results should provide a significant test for emerging theories of transport in this new class of materials.
0202508v1
2008-05-28
Unified explanation of the Kadowaki-Woods ratio in strongly correlated materials
Discoveries of ratios whose values are constant within broad classes of materials have led to many deep physical insights. The Kadowaki-Woods ratio (KWR) compares the temperature dependence of a metal's resistivity to that of its heat capacity; thereby probing the relationship between the electron-electron scattering rate and the renormalisation of the electron mass. However, the KWR takes very different values in different materials. Here we introduce a ratio, closely related to the KWR, that includes the effects of carrier density and spatial dimensionality and takes the same (predicted) value in organic charge transfer salts, transition metal oxides, heavy fermions and transition metals - despite the numerator and denominator varying by ten orders of magnitude. Hence, in these materials, the same emergent physics is responsible for the mass enhancement and the quadratic temperature dependence of the resistivity and no exotic explanations of their KWRs are required.
0805.4275v4
2016-06-15
Suppression of lattice thermal conductivity by mass-conserving cation mutation in multi-component semiconductors
In semiconductors almost all heat is conducted by phonons (lattice vibrations), which is limited by their quasi-particle lifetimes. Phonon-phonon interactions represent scattering mechanisms that produce thermal resistance. In thermoelectric materials, this resistance due to anharmonicity should be maximised for optimal performance. We use a first-principles lattice-dynamics approach to explore the changes in lattice dynamics across an isostructural series where the average atomic mass is conserved: ZnS to CuGaS$_2$ to Cu$_2$ZnGeS$_4$. Our results demonstrate an enhancement of phonon interactions in the multernary materials, and confirm that lattice thermal conductivity can be controlled independently of the average mass and local coordination environments.
1606.04914v1
2018-06-12
Determination of the BCS material parameters of the HIE-ISOLDE superconducting resonator
Superconducting material parameters of the Nb film coating on the Quarter-Wave Resonator (QWR) for the HIE-ISOLDE project were studied by fitting experimental results with the Mattis-Bardeen theory. We pointed out a strong correlation among fitted estimators of material parameters in the BCS theory, and proposed a procedure to remove the correlation by simultaneously fitting the surface resistance and effective penetration depth. Unlike previous studies, no literature values were assumed in the fitting. As surface resistance and penetration depth had a similar dependence on coherence length and mean free path, the correlation between these two parameters could not be eliminated by this fitting. The upper critical field measured by SQUID magnetometry showed complementary constraint to the RF result, and this allowed all the material parameters to be determined.
1806.04443v1
2018-09-19
Electrical Parameters for Planar Transport in Graphene and 2-D Materials
Classical electrodynamics has been revisited with a view to recast the electrical parameters for planar transport in 2-dimensional (2-D) materials like graphene. In this attempt a new line integral, named transverse line integral, with extensive applications in 2-D, is defined. Since the existing divergence theorem in not applicable in 2-D, we introduced a new divergence theorem. A new definition for the in-plane flux of any 2-D vector is introduced. A new vector named electric vector potential is defined and Gauss law is modified in terms of the 2-D flux of the new vector. The new Gauss law in presence of dielectric is obtained and a new electric displacement vector is defined for the 2-D materials. The conduction and displacement current densities in 2-D are defined. Resistance and resistivity in 2-D materials are discussed. The continuity equation for planar transport is derived.
1809.07319v1
2020-09-04
Fracture mechanics of micro samples: Fundamental considerations
In this review article we consider the crack growth resistance ofmicrometer and submicrometer sized samples from the fracture mechanics point of view. Standard fracture mechanics test procedures were developed for macroscale samples, and reduction of the specimen dimensions by three to five orders of magnitude has severe consequences. This concerns the interpretation of results obtained by micro and nanomechanics, as well as the life time and failure prediction of micro and nano devices. We discuss the relevant fracture mechanics length scales and their relation to the material specific structural lengths in order to conduct rigorous fracture mechanics experiments. To ensure general validity and applicability of evaluation concepts, these scaling considerations are detailed for ideally brittle, semi brittle and micro ductile crack propagation, subject to both monotonic and cyclic loading. Special attention is devoted to the requirements for determining specimen size for various loading types to measure material characteristic crack propagation resistance at small scales. Finally, we discuss novel possibilities of micron and submicron fracture mechanics tests to improve the basic understanding of specific crack propagation processes.
2009.05386v1
2015-07-23
Ba{0.4}Rb{0.6}Mn2As2: A Prototype Half-Metallic Ferromagnet
Half-metallic ferromagnetism (FM) in single-crystal Ba{0.39(1)}Rb{0.61(1)}Mn2As2 below its Curie temperature TC = 103(2) K is reported. The magnetization M versus applied magnetic field H isotherm data at 1.8 K show complete polarization of the itinerant doped-hole magnetic moments that are introduced by substituting Rb for Ba. The material exhibits extremely soft FM, with unobservably small remanent magnetization and coercive field. Surprisingly, and contrary to typical itinerant FMs, the M(H) data follow the Arrott-plot paradigm that is based on a mean-field theory of local-moment FMs. The in-plane electrical resistivity data are fitted well by an activated-T^2 expression for T < TC, whereas the data sharply deviate from this model for T > TC. Hence the activated-T^2 resistivity model is an excellent diagnostic for determining the onset of half-metallic FM in this compound, which in turn demonstrates the presence of a strong correlation between the electronic transport and magnetic properties of the material. Together with previous data on 40% hole-doped Ba{0.6}K{0.4}Mn2As2, these measurements establish 61%-doped Ba{0.39}Rb{0.61}Mn2As2 as a prototype for a new class of half-metallic ferromagnets in which all the itinerant carriers in the material are ferromagnetic.
1507.06679v1
2018-12-18
Atomistic study of an ideal metal/thermoelectric contact: the full-Heusler/half-Heusler interface
Half-Heusler alloys such as the (Zr,Hf)NiSn intermetallic compounds are important thermoelectric materials for converting waste heat into electricity. Reduced electrical resistivity at the hot interface between the half-Heusler material and a metal contact is critical for device performance, however this has yet to be achieved in practice. Recent experimental work suggests that a coherent interface between half-Heusler and full-Heusler compounds can form due to diffusion of transition metal atoms into the vacant sublattice of the half-Heusler lattice. We study theoretically the structural and electronic properties of such an interface using a first-principles based approach that combines {\it ab initio} calculations with macroscopic modeling. We find that the prototypical interface HfNi$_2$Sn/HfNiSn provides very low contact resistivity and almost ohmic behavior over a wide range of temperatures and doping levels. Given the potential of these interfaces to remain stable over a wide range of temperatures, our study suggests that full-Heuslers might provide nearly ideal electrical contacts to half-Heuslers that can be harnessed for efficient thermoelectric generator devices.
1812.07189v1
2020-11-21
All-Materials-Inclusive Flash Spark Plasma Sintering
A new flash (ultra-rapid) spark plasma sintering method applicable to various materials systems, regardless of their electrical resistivity, is developed. A number of powders ranging from metals to electrically insulative ceramics have been successfully densified resulting in homogeneous microstructures within sintering times of 8-35 s. A finite element simulation reveals that the developed method, providing an extraordinary fast and homogeneous heating concentrated in the sample's volume and punches, is applicable to all the different samples tested. The utilized uniquely controllable flash phenomenon is enabled by the combination of the electric current concentration around the sample and the confinement of the heat generated in this area by the lateral thermal contact resistance. The presented new method allows: extending flash sintering to nearly all materials, controlling sample shape by an added graphite die, and an energy efficient mass production of small and intermediate size objects. This approach represents also a potential venue for future investigations of flash sintering of complex shapes.
2011.14012v1
2021-03-26
A micropolar continuum model of diffusion creep
Solid polycrystalline materials undergoing diffusion creep are usually described by Cauchy continuum models with a Newtonian viscous rheology dependent on the grain size. Such a continuum lacks the rotational degrees of freedom needed to describe grain rotation. Here we provide a more general continuum description of diffusion creep that includes grain rotation, and identifies the deformation of the material with that of a micropolar (Cosserat) fluid. We derive expressions for the micropolar constitutive tensors by a homogenisation of the physics describing a discrete collection of rigid grains, demanding an equivalent dissipation between the discrete and continuum descriptions. General constitutive laws are derived for both Coble (grain-boundary diffusion) and Nabarro-Herring (volume diffusion) creep. Detailed calculations are performed for a two-dimensional tiling of irregular hexagonal grains, which illustrates a potential coupling between the rotational and translational degrees of freedom. If only the plating out or removal of material at grain boundaries is considered, the constitutive laws are degenerate: modes of deformation that involve pure tangential motion at the grain boundaries are not resisted. This degeneracy can be removed by including the resistance to grain-boundary sliding, or by imposing additional constraints on the deformation.
2103.14458v3
2021-04-30
Material surface -- analyte interactions with similar energy rates vary as univariate quadratic function of topological polar surface area of analytes
Material surface - analyte interactions play important roles in numerous processes including gas sensing. However, the effects of topological polar surface area (TPSA) of analytes on surface interactions during gas sensing have been so far largely disregarded. In this work, based on experimental observations on changes in electrical resistance of cadmium sulphide (CdS) due to surface interactions during gas sensing, we found that unexpected univariate quadratic correlation exists between changes in resistance of CdS and TPSA of analytes. Further experiments on four other material systems showed the same trend, revealing a generalized picture of TPSA dependence of surface interactions.
2104.14867v1
2022-06-08
Scalable fabrication of edge contacts to 2D materials
We present a fabrication method for reliably and reproducibly forming electrical contacts to 2D materials, based on the tri-layer resist system. We demonstrate the applicability of this method for epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide (epigraphene) and the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) molybdenum disulfide ($MoS_2$). For epigraphene, the specific contact resistances are of the order of $\rho_c$ ~ $50$ $\Omega\mu m$, and follow the Landauer quantum limit, $\rho_c \propto n^{-1/2}$, with $n$ being the carrier density of graphene. For $MoS_2$ flakes, our edge contacts enable field effect transistors (FET) with ON/OFF ratio of $> 10^6$ at room temperature ( $> 10^9$ at cryogenic temperatures). The fabrication route here demonstrated allows for contact metallization using thermal evaporation and also by sputtering, giving an additional flexibility when designing electrical interfaces, which is key in practical devices and when exploring the electrical properties of emerging materials.
2206.03839v2
2022-07-04
An Important Structural Requirement for the Superconductor Material: A Hypothesis
On a microscopic scale, resistivity during electric conduction is caused by collisions of the free conduction electrons with the obstructing atoms or molecules of the conductor material, resulting in heat production. Based on this fundamental understanding, a hypothesis concerning a physical requirement of the superconductor material is proposed, which suggests that for superconductivity (i.e., with zero resistivity) to occur, the conductor material must have nano-sized, continuous and straight vacuum tunnels inside with effective radius size large enough to allow collision-free conduction of free electrons. Besides, some of the composite atoms of the conductor should be able to readily release electrons to form the conduction band; in fact, this basic requirement is for all forms of electrical conductors, not just for superconductors. The proposed hypothesis is supported by experimental observations in the literature, and also offers a plausible explanation for some of the poorly-understood experimental phenomena observed in the past. In addition, the hypothesis offers practical strategies for the rational design of electrical conductors with (quasi-)superconductivity. Lastly, the proposed new hypothesis also suggests a novel mechanism for neural microtubule-mediated electrical quasi-superconductance in the nervous system.
2207.01226v2
1994-06-03
Localization Effects in Bi2Sr2Ca(Cu,Co)2O8+y High Temperature Superconductors
Doping Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8+y with Co causes a superconductor-insulator transition. We study correlations between changes in the electrical resistivity RHOab(T) and the electronic bandstructure using identical single crystalline samples. For undoped samples the resistivity is linear in temperature and has a vanishing residual resistivity. In angle resolved photoemission these samples show dispersing band-like states. Co-doping decreases TC and causes and increase in the residual resistivity. Above a threshold Co-concentration the resistivity is metallic (drab/dT >0) at room temperature, turns insulating below a characteristic temperature Tmin and becomes super- conducting at even lower temperature. These changes in the resistivity correlate with the disappearance of the dispersing band-like states in angle resolved photoemission. We show that Anderson localization caused by the impurity potential of the doped Co-atoms provides a consistent explanation of all experimental features. Therefore the TC reduction in 3d-metal doped high- temperature superconductors is not caused by Abrikosov Gor'kov pair- breaking but by spatial localization of the carriers. The observed suppression of TC indicates that the system is in the homogenous limit of the superconductor-insulator transition. The coexistance of insulating (dRHOab/dT <0) normal state behavior and super- conductivity indicates that the superconducting ground state is formed out of spatially almost localized carriers.
9406021v1
2011-11-17
Stability of a self-gravitating homogeneous resistive plasma
In this paper, we analyze the stability of a homogeneous self-gravitating plasma, having a non-zero resistivity. This study provides a generalization of the Jeans paradigm for determining the critical scale above which gravitational collapse is allowed. We start by discussing the stability of an ideal self-gravitating plasma embedded in a constant magnetic field. We outline the existence of an anisotropic feature of the gravitational collapse. In fact, while in the plane orthogonal to the magnetic field the Jeans length is enhanced by the contribution of the magnetic pressure, outside this plane perturbations are governed by the usual Jeans criterium. The anisotropic collapse of a density contrast is sketched in details, suggesting that the linear evolution provides anisotropic initial conditions for the non-linear stage, where this effect could be strongly enforced. The same problem is then faced in the presence of non-zero resistivity and the conditions for the gravitational collapse are correspondingly extended. The relevant feature emerging in this resistive scenario is the cancellation of the collapse anisotropy in weakly conducting plasmas. In this case, the instability of a self-gravitating resistive plasma is characterized by the standard isotropic Jeans length in any directions. The limit of very small resistivity coefficient is finally addressed, elucidating how reminiscence of the collapse anisotropy can be found in the different value of the perturbation frequency inside and outside the plane orthogonal to the magnetic field.
1111.4051v1
2013-02-26
Inter-plane resistivity of isovalent doped BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$
Temperature-dependent inter-plane resistivity, $\rho_c(T)$, was measured for the iron-based superconductor BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$ over a broad isoelectron phosphorus substitution range from $x$=0 to $x$=0.60, from non-superconducting parent compound to heavily overdoped superconducting composition with $T_c\approx 10 K$. The features due to structural and magnetic transitions are clearly resolved in $\rho_c(T)$ of the underdoped crystals. A characteristic maximum in $\rho_c(T)$, found in the parent BaFe$_2$As$_2$ at around 200 K, moves rapidly with phosphorus substitution to high temperatures. At the optimal doping, the inter-plane resistivity shows $T$-linear temperature dependence without any cross-over anomalies, similar to the previously reported in-plane resistivity. This observation is in stark contrast with dissimilar temperature dependences found at optimal doping in electron-doped Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$. Our finding suggests that despite similar values of the resistivity and its anisotropy, the temperature dependent transport in the normal state is very different in electron and isoelectron doped compounds. Similar temperature dependence of both in-plane and inter-plane resistivities, in which the dominant contributions are coming from different parts of the Fermi surface, suggests that scattering is the same on the whole Fermi surface. Since magnetic fluctuations are expected to be much stronger on the quasi-nested sheets, this observation may point to the importance of the inter-orbital scattering between different sheets.
1302.6440v1
2013-05-16
Effect of doping on the magnetostructural ordered phase of iron arsenides: A comparative study of the resistivity anisotropy in the doped BaFe$_2$As$_2$ with doping into three different sites
In order to unravel a role of doping in the iron-based superconductors, we investigated the in-plane resistivity for BaFe$_2$As$_2$ doped at either of the three different lattice sites, Ba(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$As$_2$, BaFe$_2$(As$_{1-x}$P$_x$)$_2$, and Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$, focusing on the doping effect in the low-temperature antiferromagnetic/orthorhombic (AFO) phase. A major role of doping in the high-temperature paramagnetic/tetragonal (PT) phase is known to change the Fermi surface by supplying charge carriers or by exerting chemical pressure. In the AFO phase, we found a clear correlation between the magnitude of residual resistivity and resistivity anisotropy. This indicates that the resistivity anisotropy originates from the anisotropic impurity scattering from dopant atoms. The magnitude of residual resistivity is also found to be a parameter controlling the suppression rate of AFO ordering temperature $T_s$. Therefore, the dominant role of doping in the AFO phase is to introduce disorder to the system, distinct from that in the PT phase.
1305.3744v1
2016-01-13
Limiting the Development of Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance in a Spatial Model of Micrometastases
While chemoresistance in primary tumors is well-studied, much less is known about the influence of systemic chemotherapy on the development of drug resistance at metastatic sites. In this work, we use a hybrid spatial model of tumor response to a DNA damaging drug to study how the development of chemoresistance in micrometastases depends on the drug dosing schedule. We separately consider cell populations that harbor pre-existing resistance to the drug, and those that acquire resistance during the course of treatment. For each of these independent scenarios, we consider one hypothetical cell line that is responsive to metronomic chemotherapy, and another that with high probability cannot be eradicated by a metronomic protocol. Motivated by experimental work on ovarian cancer xenografts, we consider all possible combinations of a one week treatment protocol, repeated for three weeks, and constrained by the total weekly drug dose. Simulations reveal a small number of fractionated-dose protocols that are at least as effective as metronomic therapy in eradicating micrometastases with acquired resistance (weak or strong), while also being at least as effective on those that harbor weakly pre-existing resistant cells. Given the responsiveness of very different theoretical cell lines to these few fractionated-dose protocols, these may represent more effective ways to schedule chemotherapy with the goal of limiting metastatic tumor progression.
1601.03412v2
2014-01-08
Angular and Polarization Response of Multimode Sensors with Resistive-Grid Absorbers
High sensitivity receiver systems with near ideal polarization sensitivity are highly desirable for development of millimeter and sub-millimeter radio astronomy. Multimoded bolometers provide a unique solution to achieve such sensitivity, for which hundreds of single-mode sensors would otherwise be required. The primary concern in employing such multimoded sensors for polarimetery is the control of the polarization systematics. In this paper, we examine the angular- and polarization- dependent absorption pattern of a thin resistive grid or membrane, which models an absorber used for a multimoded bolometer. The result shows that a freestanding thin resistive absorber with a surface resistivity of \eta/2, where \eta\ is the impedance of free space, attains a beam pattern with equal E- and H-plane responses, leading to zero cross polarization. For a resistive-grid absorber, the condition is met when a pair of grids is positioned orthogonal to each other and both have a resistivity of \eta/2. When a reflective backshort termination is employed to improve absorption efficiency, the cross-polar level can be suppressed below -30 dB if acceptance angle of the sensor is limited to <60degrees. The small cross-polar systematics have even-parity patterns and do not contaminate the measurements of odd-parity polarization patterns, for which many of recent instruments for cosmic microwave background are designed. Underlying symmetry that suppresses these cross-polar systematics is discussed in detail. The estimates and formalism provided in this paper offer key tools in the design consideration of the instruments using the multimoded polarimeters.
1401.1859v1
2021-08-30
Clonal Diversity at Cancer Recurrence
Despite initial success, cancer therapies often fail due to the emergence of drug-resistant cells. In this study, we use a mathematical model to investigate how cancer evolves over time, specifically focusing on the state of the tumor when it recurs after treatment. We use a two-type branching process to capture the dynamics of both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant cells. We analyze the clonal diversity of drug-resistant cells at the time of cancer recurrence, which is defined as the first time the population size of drug-resistant cells exceeds a specified proportion of the initial population size of drug-sensitive cells. We examine two clonal diversity indices: the number of clones and the Simpson's Index. We calculate the expected values of these indices and utilize them to develop statistical methods for estimating model parameters. Additionally, we examine these two indices conditioned on early recurrence in the special case of a deterministically decaying sensitive population, with the aim of addressing the question of whether early recurrence is driven by a single mutation that generates an unusually large family of drug-resistant cells (corresponding to a low clonal diversity), or if it is due to the presence of an unusually large number of mutations causing drug resistance (corresponding to a high clonal diversity). Our findings, based on both indices, support the latter possibility. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the time of cancer recurrence can serve as a valuable indicator of clonal diversity, offering new insights for the treatment of recurrent cancers.
2108.13472v3
2022-03-23
A Fast Diagnostic to Inform Screening of Discarded or Retired Batteries
With the increased pervasiveness of Lithium-ion batteries, there is growing concern for the amount of retired batteries that will be entering the waste stream. Although these batteries no longer meet the demands of their first application, many still have a significant portion of their initial capacity remaining for use in secondary applications. Yet, direct repurposing is generally not possible and each cell in a battery must be evaluated, increasing the cost of the repurposed packs due to the time intensive screening process. In this paper, a rapid assessment of the internal resistance of a cell is proposed. First, this method of measuring the resistance is completed on cells from twelve retired battery packs and one fresh pack using a hybrid pulse power characterization (HPPC) test as a benchmark for the analysis. Results from these tests show relatively constant resistance measurements across mid to high terminal voltages, allowing this metric to be independent of state of charge (SOC). Then, the relation between internal resistance and capacity across the various packs is discussed. Initial experimental results from this study show a correlation between internal resistance and capacity which can be approximated with a linear fit, suggesting internal resistance measurements taken above a threshold cell terminal voltage may be a suitable initial screening metric for the capacity of retired cells without knowledge of the SOC.
2203.12376v1
2023-01-15
Effects of quantum recoil forces in resistive switching in memristors
Memristive devices, whose resistance can be controlled by applying a voltage and further retained, are attractive as possible circuit elements for neuromorphic computing. This new type of devices poses a number of both technological and theoretical challenges. Even the physics of the key process of resistive switching, usually associated with formation or breakage of conductive filaments in the memristor, is not completely understood yet. This work proposes a new resistive switching mechanism, which should be important in the thin-filament regime and take place due to the back reaction, or recoil, of quantum charge carriers -- independently of the conventional electrostatically-driven ion migration. Since thinnest conductive filaments are in question, which are only several atoms thick and allow for a quasi-ballistic, quantized conductance, we use a mean-field theory and the framework of nonequilibrium Green's functions to discuss the electron recoil effect for a quantum current through a nanofilament on its geometry and compare it with the transmission probability of charge carriers. Namely, we first study an analytically tractable toy model of a 1D atomic chain, to qualitatively demonstrate the importance of the charge-carrier recoil, and further proceed with a realistic molecular-dynamics simulation of the recoil-driven ion migration along a copper filament and the resulting resistive switching. The results obtained are expected to add to the understanding of resistive switching mechanisms at the nanoscale and to help downscale high-retention memristive devices.
2301.06066v2
2024-01-16
Resistively controlled primordial magnetic turbulence decay
Magnetic fields generated in the early Universe undergo turbulent decay during the radiation-dominated era. The decay is governed by a decay exponent and a decay time. It has been argued that the latter is prolonged by magnetic reconnection, which depends on the microphysical resistivity and viscosity. Turbulence, on the other hand, is not usually expected to be sensitive to microphysical dissipation, which affects only very small scales. We want to test and quantify the reconnection hypothesis in decaying hydromagnetic turbulence. We performed high-resolution numerical simulations with zero net magnetic helicity using the Pencil Code with up to $2048^3$ mesh points and relate the decay time to the Alfv\'en time for different resistivities and viscosities. The decay time is found to be longer than the Alfv\'en time by a factor that increases with increasing Lundquist number to the 1/4 power. The decay exponent is as expected from the conservation of the Hosking integral, but a timescale dependence on resistivity is unusual for developed turbulence and not found for hydrodynamic turbulence. In two dimensions, the Lundquist number dependence is shown to be leveling off above values of $\approx25,000$, independently of the value of the viscosity. Our numerical results suggest that resistivity effects have been overestimated in earlier work. Instead of reconnection, it may be the magnetic helicity density in smaller patches that is responsible for the resistively slow decay. The leveling off at large Lundquist number cannot currently be confirmed in three dimensions.
2401.08569v3
2015-09-11
Model of Flux Trapping in Cooling Down Process
The flux trapping that occurs in the process of cooling down of the superconducting cavity is studied. The critical fields $B_{c2}$ and $B_{c1}$ depend on a position when a material temperature is not uniform. In a region with $T\simeq T_c$, $B_{c2}$ and $B_{c1}$ are strongly suppressed and can be smaller than the ambient magnetic field, $B_a$. A region with $B_{c2}\le B_a$ is normal conducting, that with $B_{c1}\le B_a < B_{c2}$ is in the vortex state, and that with $B_{c1}> B_a$ is in the Meissner state. As a material is cooled down, these three domains including the vortex state domain sweep and pass through the material. In this process, vortices contained in the vortex state domain are trapped by pinning centers distributing in the material. A number of trapped fluxes can be evaluated by using the analogy with the beam-target collision event, where beams and a target correspond to pinning centers and the vortex state domain, respectively. We find a number of trapped fluxes and thus the residual resistance are proportional to the ambient magnetic field and the inverse of the temperature gradient. The obtained formula for the residual resistance is consistent with experimental results. The present model focuses on what happens at the phase transition fronts during a cooling down, reveals why and how the residual resistance depends on the temperature gradient, and naturally explains how the fast cooling works.
1509.03369v1
2020-06-21
A Novel Magnetic Material by Design: Observation of Yb3+ with Spin-1/2 and Possible Superconducting Trace in YbxPt5P
The localized f-electrons enrich the magnetic properties in rare-earth-based intermetallics. Among those, compounds with heavier 4d and 5d transition metals are even more fascinating because anomalous electronic properties may be induced by the hybridization of 4f and itinerant conduction electrons primarily from the d orbitals. Here, we describe the observation of trivalent Yb3+ with S = 1/2 at low temperatures in YbxPt5P, the first of a new family of materials. YbxPt5P (0.20< x <1) phases were synthesized and structurally characterized. They exhibit a large homogeneity width with the Yb ratio exclusively occupying the 1a site in the anti-CeCoIn5 structure. Moreover, the resistivity measurement of a sample analyzed as Yb0.25Pt5P shows it to exist a complete zero-resistance transition with a critical transition temperature of ~0.6 K, possible superconductivity. However, the zero-resistivity transition was not observed in YbPt5P with antiferromagnetic ordering existing solely. First-principles electronic structure calculations substantiate the antiferromagnetic ground state and indicate that 2D nesting around the Fermi level may give rise to exotic physical properties, such as superconductivity. YbxPt5P appears to be a unique case among materials.
2006.11891v1
2024-03-19
Giant electrode effect on tunneling magnetoresistance and electroresistance in van der Waals intrinsic multiferroic tunnel junctions using VS2
Van der Waals multiferroic tunnel junctions (vdW-MFTJs) with multiple nonvolatile resistive states are highly suitable for new physics and next-generation storage electronics. However, currently reported vdW-MFTJs are based on two types of materials, i.e., vdW ferromagnetic and ferroelectric materials, forming a multiferroic system. This undoubtedly introduces additional interfaces, increasing the complexity of experimental preparation. Herein, we engineer vdW intrinsic MFTJs utilizing bilayer VS$_2$. By employing the nonequilibrium Green's function combined with density functional theory, we systematically investigate the influence of three types of electrodes (including non-vdW pure metal Ag/Au, vdW metallic 1T-MoS$_2$/2H-PtTe$_2$, and vdW ferromagnetic metallic Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$/Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$) on the electronic transport properties of VS$_2$-based intrinsic MFTJs. We demonstrate that these MFTJs manifest a giant electrode-dependent electronic transport characteristic effect. Comprehensively comparing these electrode pairs, the Fe$_3$GaTe$_2$/Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ electrode combination exhibits optimal transport properties, the maximum TMR (TER) can reach 10949\% (69\%) and the minimum resistance-area product (RA) is 0.45 $\Omega$$\mu$m$^{2}$, as well as the perfect spin filtering and negative differential resistance effects. More intriguingly, TMR (TER) can be further enhanced to 34000\% (380\%) by applying an external bias voltage (0.1 V), while RA can be reduced to 0.16 $\Omega$$\mu$m$^{2}$ under the influence of biaxial stress (-3\%). Our proposed concept of designing vdW-MFTJs using intrinsic multiferroic materials points towards new avenues in experimental exploration.
2403.12845v2
2001-05-15
Current-Driven Magnetic Memory with Tunable Magnetization Switching
Co(x nm, x=10nm or 40nm)/Cu(5nm)/Co(2.5nm) layers were deposited between copper electrodes in SiO2 vias. Magnetic states, and the corresponding resistance states, of these devices were switched by electric currents perpendicular to the layers. The I-V loops show asymmetric behavior with hysteresis. When electrons flow in the direction from thick to thin Co layer (positive current), multiple switches were observed on increasing current up to a chosen maximum positive I(write). On decreasing current from I(write), the I-V curve was smooth and characterized by considerably lower resistance. Under reverse current, an abrupt switch to the high resistance state occurred at the current value I(erase)~ -0.9*I(write). Resistance had a maximum at zero current in both states, where the ratio R(high)/R(low) could be as high as factor of four.
0105290v1
2005-12-19
Multiphoton processes in microwave photoresistance of 2D electron system
We extend our studies of microwave photoresistance of ultra-high mobility two-dimensional electron system (2DES) into the high-intensity, non-linear regime employing both monochromatic and bichromatic radiation. Under high-intensity monochromatic radiation $\omega$ we observe new zero-resistance states (ZRS) which correspond to rational values of $\epsilon=\omega/\omega_C$ ($\omega_C$ is the cyclotron frequency) and can be associated with multiphoton processes. %Formation of these rational ZRS is accompanied by a dramatic reconstruction of the photoresistance spectrum which reveals diminishing, narrowing, and phase reduction of the resistance peaks, as well as overall suppression of resistance at $\epsilon<1/2$. Under bichromatic radiation $\omega_1,\omega_2$ we discover new resistance minimum, possibly a precursor of bichromatic ZRS, which seems to originate from a frequency mixing process, $\omega_1+\omega_2$. These findings indicate that multiphoton processes play important roles in the physics of non-equilibrium transport of microwave-driven 2DES, and suggest new directions for theoretical and experimental studies.
0512479v1
2007-08-17
Developments and the preliminary tests of Resistive GEMs manufactured by a screen printing technology
We report promising initial results obtained with new resistive-electrode GEM (RETGEM) detectors manufactured, for the first time, using screen printing technology. These new detectors allow one to reach gas gains nearly as high as with ordinary GEM-like detectors with metallic electrodes; however, due to the high resistivity of its electrodes the RETGEM, in contrast to ordinary hole-type detectors, has the advantage of being fully spark protected. We discovered that RETGEMs can operate stably and at high gains in noble gases and in other badly quenched gases, such as mixtures of noble gases with air and in pure air; therefore, a wide range of practical applications, including dosimetry and detection of dangerous gases, is foreseeable. To promote a better understanding of RETGEM technology some comparative studies were completed with metallic-electrode thick GEMs. A primary benefit of these new RETGEMs is that the screen printing technology is easily accessible to many research laboratories. This accessibility encourages the possibility to manufacture these GEM-like detectors with the electrode resistivity easily optimized for particular experimental or practical applications.
0708.2344v1
2016-03-15
Thermo Activated Hysteresis on High Quality Graphene/h-BN Devices
We report on gate hysteresis in resistance on high quality graphene/h-BN devices. We observe a thermal activated hysteretic behavior in resistance as a function of the applied gate voltage at temperatures above 375K. In order to investigate the origin of the hysteretic phenomenon, we design heterostructures involving graphene/h-BN devices with different underlying substrates such as: SiO2/Si and graphite; where heavily doped silicon and graphite are used as a back gate electrodes, respectively. The gate hysteretic behavior of the resistance shows to be present only in devices with an h-BN/SiO2 interface and is dependent on the orientation of the applied gate electric field and sweep rate. Finally, we suggest a phenomenological model, which captures all of our findings based on charges trapped at the h-BN/SiO2. Certainly, such hysteretic behavior in graphene resistance represents a technological problem for the application of graphene devices at high temperatures, but conversely, it can open new routes for applications on digital electronics and graphene memory devices.
1603.04872v1
2021-09-29
Magnetotransport patterns of collective localization near $ν=1$ in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas
We report complex magnetotransport patterns of the $\nu=1$ integer quantum Hall state in a GaAs/AlGaAs sample from the newest generation with a record high electron mobility. The reentrant integer quantum Hall effect in the flanks of the $\nu=1$ plateau indicates the formation of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid, a collective insulator. Moreover, at a fixed filling factor, the longitudinal resistance versus temperature in the region of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid exhibits a sharp peak. Such sharp peaks in the longitudinal resistance versus temperature so far were only detected for bubble phases forming in high Landau levels but were absent in the region of the Anderson insulator. We suggest that in samples of sufficiently low disorder sharp peaks in the longitudinal resistance versus temperature traces are universal transport signatures of all isotropic electron solids that form in the flanks of integer quantum Hall plateaus. We discuss possible origins of these sharp resistance peaks and we draw a stability diagram for the insulating phases in the $\nu$-$T$ phase space.
2109.14649v1
2024-04-29
Mobility and Threshold Voltage Extraction in Transistors with Gate-Voltage-Dependent Contact Resistance
The mobility of emerging (e.g., two-dimensional, oxide, organic) semiconductors is commonly estimated from transistor current-voltage measurements. However, such devices often experience contact gating, i.e., electric fields from the gate modulate the contact resistance during measurements, which can lead conventional extraction techniques to estimate mobility incorrectly even by a factor >2. This error can be minimized by measuring transistors at high gate-source bias, |$V_\mathrm{gs}$|, but this regime is often inaccessible in emerging devices that suffer from high contact resistance or early gate dielectric breakdown. Here, we propose a method of extracting mobility in transistors with gate-dependent contact resistance that does not require operation at high |$V_\mathrm{gs}$|, enabling accurate mobility extraction even in emerging transistors with strong contact gating. Our approach relies on updating the transfer length method (TLM) and can achieve <10% error even in regimes where conventional techniques overestimate mobility by >2$\times$.
2404.19022v1
2004-09-11
Magnetic and electron transport properties of the rare-earth cobaltates, La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 (Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy) : A case of phase separation
Magnetic and electrical properties of four series of rare earth cobaltates of the formula La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 with Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy have been investigated. Compositions close to x = 0.0 contain large ferromagnetic clusters or domains, and show Brillouin-like behaviour of the field-cooled DC magnetization data with fairly high ferromagnetic Tc values, besides low electrical resistivities with near-zero temperature coefficients. The zero-field-cooled data generally show a non-monotonic behaviour with a peak at a temperatures slightly lower than Tc. The near x = 0.0 compositions show a prominent peak corresponding to the Tc in the AC-susceptibility data. The ferromagnetic Tc varies linearly with x or the average radius of the A-site cations, (rA). With increase in x or decrease in (rA), the magnetization value at any given temperature decreases markedly and the AC-susceptibility measurements show a prominent transition arising from small magnetic clusters with some characteristics of a spin-glass. Electrical resistivity increases with increase in x, showed a significant increase around a critical value of x or (rA), at which composition the small clusters also begin to dominate. These properties can be understood in terms of a phase separation scenario wherein large magnetic clusters give way to smaller ones with increase in x, with both types of clusters being present in certain compositions. The changes in magnetic and electrical properties occur parallely since the large ferromagnetic clusters are hole-rich and the small clusters are hole-poor. Variable-range hopping seems to occur at low temperatures in these cobaltates.
0409288v2
2004-11-17
Al substitution in MgB2 crystals: influence on superconducting and structural properties
Single crystals of Mg1-xAlxB2 have been grown at a pressure of 30 kbar using the cubic anvil technique. Precipitation free crystals with x < 0.1 were obtained as a result of optimization of already developed MgB2 crystal growth procedure. Systematic decrease of the c-axis lattice constant with increasing Al content, when the a-axis lattice constant is practically unchanged, was observed. Variation of the critical temperature on Al content in Mg1-xAlxB2 crystals was found to be slightly different than that one observed for polycrystalline samples since, even a very small substitution of 1-2% of Al leads to the decrease of Tc by about 2-3 K. X-ray and high resolution transmission electron microscopy investigations indicate on the appearance of second precipitation phase in the crystals with x > 0.1. This is in a form of non-superconducting MgAlB4 domains in the structure of superconducting Mg1-xAlxB2 matrix. Resistivity and magnetic investigations show the slight increase of the upper critical field, Hc2, for H//c for the samples with small x, significant reduction of the Hc2 anisotropy at lower temperatures, and decrease of the residual resistance ratio value for Al substituted samples as compared to those of unsubstituted crystals. Superconducting gaps variation as a function of Al content, investigated with point contact spectroscopy for the series of the crystals with Tc in the range from 20 to 37 K, does not indicate on the merging of the gaps with decreasing Tc down to 20 K. It may be related to an appearance of the precipitation phase in the Mg1-xAlxB2 structure.
0411449v2
2007-08-01
Structural and transport properties of GaAs/delta<Mn>/GaAs/InxGa1-xAs/GaAs quantum wells
We report results of investigations of structural and transport properties of GaAs/Ga(1-x)In(x)As/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) having a 0.5-1.8 ML thick Mn layer, separated from the QW by a 3 nm thick spacer. The structure has hole mobility of about 2000 cm2/(V*s) being by several orders of magnitude higher than in known ferromagnetic two-dimensional structures. The analysis of the electro-physical properties of these systems is based on detailed study of their structure by means of high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and glancing-incidence reflection, which allow us to restore the depth profiles of structural characteristics of the QWs and thin Mn containing layers. These investigations show absence of Mn atoms inside the QWs. The quality of the structures was also characterized by photoluminescence spectra from the QWs. Transport properties reveal features inherent to ferromagnetic systems: a specific maximum in the temperature dependence of the resistance and the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) observed in samples with both "metallic" and activated types of conductivity up to ~100 K. AHE is most pronounced in the temperature range where the resistance maximum is observed, and decreases with decreasing temperature. The results are discussed in terms of interaction of 2D-holes and magnetic Mn ions in presence of large-scale potential fluctuations related to random distribution of Mn atoms. The AHE values are compared with calculations taking into account its "intrinsic" mechanism in ferromagnetic systems.
0708.0056v1
2009-08-03
Fabrication of Diamond Nanowires for Quantum Information Processing Applications
We present a design and a top-down fabrication method for realizing diamond nanowires in both bulk single crystal and polycrystalline diamond. Numerical modeling was used to study coupling between a Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) color center and optical modes of a nanowire, and to find an optimal range of nanowire diameters that allows for large collection efficiency of emitted photons. Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactive ion etching (RIE) with oxygen is used to fabricate the nanowires. Drop-casted nanoparticles (including $\mathrm{Au}$, $\mathrm{SiO_{2}}$ and $\mathrm{Al_2O_3}$) as well as electron beam lithography defined spin-on glass and evaporated $\mathrm{Au}$ have been used as an etch mask. We found $\mathrm{Al_2O_3}$ nanoparticles to be the most etch resistant. At the same time FOx e-beam resist (spin-on glass) proved to be a suitable etch mask for fabrication of ordered arrays of diamond nanowires. We were able to obtain nanowires with near vertical sidewalls in both polycrystalline and single crystal diamond. The heights and diameters of the polycrystalline nanowires presented in this paper are $\unit[\approx1]{\mu m}$ and $\unit[120-340]{nm}$, respectively, having a $\unit[200]{nm/min}$ etch rate. In the case of single crystal diamond (types Ib and IIa) nanowires the height and diameter for different diamonds and masks shown in this paper were $\unit[1-2.4]{\mu m}$ and $\unit[120-490]{nm}$ with etch rates between $\unit[190-240]{nm/min}$.
0908.0352v2
2015-08-25
Central Acceptance Testing for Camera Technologies for CTA
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is an international initiative to build the next generation ground based very-high energy gamma-ray observatory. It will consist of telescopes of three different sizes, employing several different technologies for the cameras that detect the Cherenkov light from the observed air showers. In order to ensure the compliance of each camera technology with CTA requirements, CTA will perform central acceptance testing of each camera technology. To assist with this, the Camera Test Facilities (CTF) work package is developing a detailed test program covering the most important performance, stability, and durability requirements, including setting up the necessary equipment. Performance testing will include a wide range of tests like signal amplitude, time resolution, dead-time determination, trigger efficiency, performance testing under temperature and humidity variations and several others. These tests can be performed on fully-integrated cameras using a portable setup at the camera construction sites. In addition, two different setups for performance tests on camera sub-units are being built, which can provide early feedback for camera development. Stability and durability tests will include the long-term functionality of movable parts, water tightness of the camera housing, temperature and humidity cycling, resistance to vibrations during transport or due to possible earthquakes, UV-resistance of materials and several others. Some durability tests will need to be contracted out because they will need dedicated equipment not currently available within CTA. The planned test procedures and the current status of the test facilities will be presented.
1508.06074v1
2016-08-28
Magnetic order and spin-orbit coupled Mott state in double perovskite (La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$)$_2$CuIrO$_6$
Double-perovskite oxides that contain both 3d and 5d transition metal elements have attracted growing interest as they provide a model system to study the interplay of strong electron interaction and large spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Here, we report on experimental and theoretical studies of the magnetic and electronic properties of double-perovskites (La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$)$_2$CuIrO$_6$ ($x$ = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3). The undoped La$_2$CuIrO$_6$ undergoes a magnetic phase transition from paramagnetism to antiferromagnetism at T$_N$ $\sim$ 74 K and exhibits a weak ferromagnetic behavior below $T_C$ $\sim$ 52 K. Two-dimensional magnetism that was observed in many other Cu-based double-perovskites is absent in our samples, which may be due to the existence of weak Cu-Ir exchange interaction. First-principle density-functional theory (DFT) calculations show canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) order in both Cu$^{2+}$ and Ir$^{4+}$ sublattices, which gives rise to weak ferromagnetism. Electronic structure calculations suggest that La$_2$CuIrO$_6$ is an SOC-driven Mott insulator with an energy gap of $\sim$ 0.3 eV. Sr-doping decreases the magnetic ordering temperatures ($T_N$ and $T_C$) and suppresses the electrical resistivity. The high temperatures resistivity can be fitted using a variable-range-hopping model, consistent with the existence of disorders in these double-pervoskite compounds.
1608.07763v2
2017-10-11
Fermi surface with Dirac fermions in CaFeAsF determined via quantum oscillation measurements
Despite the fact that 1111-type iron arsenides hold the record transition temperature of iron-based superconductors, their electronic structures have not been studied much because of the lack of high-quality single crystals. In this study, we completely determine the Fermi surface in the antiferromagnetic state of CaFeAsF, a 1111 iron-arsenide parent compound, by performing quantum oscillation measurements and band-structure calculations. The determined Fermi surface consists of a symmetry-related pair of Dirac electron cylinders and a normal hole cylinder. From analyses of quantum-oscillation phases, we demonstrate that the electron cylinders carry a nontrivial Berry phase $\pi$. The carrier density is of the order of 10$^{-3}$ per Fe. This unusual metallic state with the extremely small carrier density is a consequence of the previously discussed topological feature of the band structure which prevents the antiferromagnetic gap from being a full gap. We also report a nearly linear-in-$B$ magnetoresistance and an anomalous resistivity increase above about 30 T for $B \parallel c$, the latter of which is likely related to the quantum limit of the electron orbit. Intriguingly, the electrical resistivity exhibits a nonmetallic temperature dependence in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase ($T >$ 118 K), which may suggest an incoherent state. Our study provides a detailed knowledge of the Fermi surface in the antiferromagnetic state of 1111 parent compounds and moreover opens up a new possibility to explore Dirac-fermion physics in those compounds.
1710.03938v3
2020-04-23
Ultralow Schottky Barriers in hBN-Encapsulated Monolayer WSe$_2$ Tunnel Field-Effect Transistors
To explore the potential of field-effect transistors (FETs) based on monolayers of the two-dimensional semiconducting channel(SC) for spintronics, the two most important issues are to ensure the formation of variable low resistive tunnel ferromagnetic contacts(FC), and to preserve intrinsic properties of the SC during fabrication. Large Schottky barriers lead to the formation of high resistive contacts and methods adopted to control the barriers often alter the intrinsic properties of the SC. This work aims at addressing both issues in fully encapsulated monolayer WSe$_2$ FETs by using bi-layer h-BN as a tunnel barrier at the FC/SC interface. We investigate the electrical transport in monolayer WSe$_2$ FETs with current-in-plane geometry that yields hole mobilities $\sim$ 38.3 $cm^{2}V^{-1}s^{-1}$ at 240 K and On/Off ratios of the order of 10$^7$, limited by the contact regions. We have achieved ultralow effective Schottky barrier ($\sim$ 5.34 meV) with encapsulated tunneling device as opposed to a non-encapsulated device in which the barrier heights are considerably higher. These observations provide an insight into the electrical behavior of the FC/h-BN/SC/h-BN heterostructures and such control over the barrier heights opens up the possibilities for WSe$_2$-based spintronic devices.
2004.10962v1
2015-04-23
Fowler-Nordheim Plot Analysis: a Progress Report
The commonest method of characterizing a cold field electron emitter is to measure its current-voltage characteristics, and the commonest method of analysing these characteristics is by means of a Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plot. This tutorial/review-type paper outlines a more systematic method of setting out the Fowler-Nordheim-type theory of cold field electron emission, and brings together and summarises the current state of work by the authors on developing the theory and methodology of FN plot analysis. This has turned out to be far more complicated than originally expected. Emphasis is placed in this paper on: (a) the interpretation of FN-plot slopes, which is currently both easier and of more experimental interest than the analysis of FN-plot intercepts; and (b) preliminary explorations into developing methodology for interpreting current-voltage characteristics when there is series resistance in the conduction path from the high-voltage generator to the emitter's emitting regions. This work reinforces our view that FN-plot analysis is best carried out on the raw measured current-voltage data, without pre-conversion into another data format, particularly if series resistance is present in the measuring circuit. Relevant formulae are given for extracting field-enhancement-factor values from such an analysis.
1504.06134v7
2018-07-07
Three-dimensional quantum Hall effect and metal-insulator transition in ZrTe5
Symmetry, dimensionality, and interaction are crucial ingredients for phase transitions and quantum states of matter. As a prominent example, the integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) represents a topological phase generally regarded as characteristic for two-dimensional (2D) electronic systems, and its many aspects can be understood without invoking electron-electron interaction. The intriguing possibility of generalizing QHE to three-dimensional (3D) systems was proposed decades ago, yet it remains elusive experimentally. Here, we report clear experimental evidence for the 3D QHE observed in bulk ZrTe5 crystals. Owing to the extremely high sample quality, the extreme quantum limit with only the lowest Landau level occupied can be achieved by an applied magnetic field as low as 1.5 T. Remarkably, in this regime, we observe a dissipationless longitudinal resistivity rho_xx=0 accompanied with a well-developed Hall resistivity plateau rho_xy=(1\pm0.1) h/e^2 (\lambda_(F,z)/2), where \lambda_(F,z) is the Fermi wavelength along the field direction (z axis). This striking result strongly suggests a Fermi surface instability driven by the enhanced interaction effects in the extreme quantum limit. In addition, with further increasing magnetic field, both rho_xx and rho_xy increase dramatically and display an interesting metal-insulator transition, representing another magnetic field driven quantum phase transition. Our findings not only unambiguously reveal a novel quantum state of matter resulting from an intricate interplay among dimensionality, interaction, and symmetry breaking, but also provide a promising platform for further exploration of more exotic quantum phases and transitions in 3D systems.
1807.02678v2
2019-01-14
Detailed physical property characterization of FeTe1-xSex x = 0.0 to 0.50 single crystals
Here, we report self flux single crystal growth of FeTe1-xSex for x = 0 to 0.50 series via solid state reaction route,the resulted crystals as seen are shiny. X Ray diffraction performed on the surface of crystals elucidated the growth in 00l plane, i.e. orientation in c direction only. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed slab like morphology and EDX (Energy dispersive X ray analyzer) confirmed that the crystals are closed to their designed compositions. Rietveld analysis of the XRD patterns of crushed crystal powders showed that the cell parameters decrease with Se content increase. Coupled magnetic and structural phase transition temperature, seen as a step in resistivity for the lower Se concentration and it is not detected for higher x values. Superconductivity is observed by resistivity measurement for higher Se concentration with a maximum temperature of 14K at x = 0.50. Thermally Activated Flux Flow (TAFF) analysis based on high field transport measurements in superconducting region done for x = 0.20 crystal. Raman spectroscopy at room temperature of synthesized samples exhibits all the allowed phonon modes with slight shift to higher frequency with Se content. Mossbauer spectra of FeTe1-xSex crystals series were recorded at 300 and 5K. At 5K, the average hyperfine field decreases systematically with Se content increase from 10.6 to 6.1Tesla for x = 0.0 to x = 0.20 samples. This indicates a possibility of co-existing magnetism and superconductivity in x = 0.07 to 0.20 crystals. For x = 0.50 sample, no hyperfine field related to magnetic ordering is seen. Based on above results, detailed phase diagram of the FeTe1-xSex compounds is defined in the present study.
1901.04224v1
2019-01-24
Fascinating interplay between Charge Density Wave Order and magnetic field in Non-magnetic Rare-Earth Tritelluride LaTe$_{3}$
Charge density wave (CDW) states in solids bear an intimate connection to underlying fermiology. Modification of the latter by a suitable perturbation provides an attractive handle to unearth novel CDW states. Here, we combine extensive magnetotransport experiments and first-principles electronic structure calculations on a non-magnetic tritelluride LaTe$_{3}$ single crystal to uncover phenomena rare in CDW systems: $(i)$ hump-like feature in the temperature dependence of resistivity at low temperature under application of magnetic field, which moves to higher temperature with increasing field strength, $(ii)$ highly anisotropic large transverse magnetoresistance (MR) upon rotation of magnetic field about current parallel to crystallographic c-axis, (iii) anomalously large positive MR with spike-like peaks at characteristic angles when the angle between current and field is varied in the bc-plane, (iv) extreme sensitivity of the angular variation of MR on field and temperature. Moreover, our Hall measurement reveals remarkably high carrier mobility $\sim$ 33000 cm$^{2}$/Vs, which is comparable to that observed in some topological semimetals. These novel observations find a comprehensive explication in our density functional theory (DFT) and dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) calculations that capture field-induced electronic structure modification in LaTe$_{3}$. The band structure theory together with transport calculations suggest the possibility of a second field-induced CDW transition from the field-reconstructed Fermi surface, which qualitatively explains the hump in temperature dependence of resistivity at low temperature. Thus, our study exposes the novel manifestations of the interplay between CDW order and field-induced electronic structure modifications in LaTe$_{3}$, and establishes a new route to tune CDW states by perturbations like magnetic field.
1901.08267v2
2019-06-09
Spin dynamics and unconventional magnetism in insulating La$_{(1-2x)}$Sr$_{2x}$Co$_{(1-x)}$Nb$_{x}$O$_3$
We study the structural, magnetic, transport and electronic properties of LaCoO$_3$ with Sr/Nb co-substitution, i.e., La$_{(1-2x)}$Sr$_{2x}$Co$_{(1-x)}$Nb$_{x}$O$_3$ using x-ray and neutron diffraction, dc and ac-magnetization, neutron depolarization, dc-resistivity and photoemission measurements. The powder x-ray and neutron diffraction data were fitted well with the rhombohedral crystal symmetry (space group \textit{R$\bar{3}$c}) in Rietveld refinement analysis. The calculated effective magnetic moment ($\approx$3.85~$\mu_B$) and average spin ($\approx$1.5) of Co ions from the analysis of magnetic susceptibility data are consistent with 3+ state of Co ions in intermediate-spin (IS) and high-spin (HS) states in the ratio of $\approx$50:50, i.e., spin-state of Co$^{3+}$ is preserved at least up to $x=$ 0.1 sample. Interestingly, the magnetization values were significantly increased with respect to the $x=$ 0 sample, and the M-H curves show non-saturated behavior up to an applied maximum magnetic field of $\pm$70 kOe. The ac-susceptibility data show a shift in the freezing temperature with excitation frequency and the detailed analysis confirm the slower dynamics and a non-zero value of the Vogel-Fulcher temperature T$_0$, which suggests for the cluster spin glass. The unusual magnetic behavior indicates the presence of complex magnetic interactions at low temperatures. The dc-resistivity measurements show the insulating nature in all the samples. However, relatively large density of states $\approx$10$^{22}$ eV$^{-1}$cm$^{-3}$ and low activation energy $\approx$130~meV are found in $x=$ 0.05 sample. Using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, we study the core-level spectra of La 3$d$, Co 2$p$, Sr 3$d$, and Nb 3$d$ to confirm the valence state.
1906.03659v1
2019-10-14
First predictive simulations for deuterium shattered pellet injection in ASDEX Upgrade
First simulations of deuterium shattered pellet injection (SPI) into an ASDEX Upgrade H-Mode plasma with the JOREK MHD code are presented. Resistivity is increased by one order of magnitude in most simulations to reduce computational costs and allow for extensive parameter scans. The effect of various physical parameters onto MHD activity and thermal quench (TQ) dynamics is studied and the influence of MHD onto ablation is shown. TQs are obtained quickly after injection in most simulations with a typical duration of 100 microseconds, which slows down at lower resistivity. Although the n=1 magnetic perturbation dominates in the simulations, toroidal harmonics up to n=10 contribute to stochastization and stochastic transport in the plasma core. The post-TQ density profile remains hollow for a few hundred microseconds. However, when flux surfaces re-form around the magnetic axis, the density has become monotonic again suggesting a beneficial behaviour for runaway electron avoidance/mitigation. With $10^{21}$ atoms injected, the TQ is typically incomplete and triggered when the shards reach the q=2 rational surface. At a larger number of injected atoms, the TQ can set in even before the shards reach this surface. For low field side injection considered here, repeated formation of outward convection cells is observed in the ablation region reducing material assimilation. Responsible is a sudden rise of pressure in the high density cloud when the stochastic region expands further releasing heat from the hot core. After the TQ, strong sheared poloidal rotation is created by Maxwell stress, which contributes to re-formation of flux surfaces.
1910.06095v4
2020-08-25
Isospin Pomeranchuk effect and the entropy of collective excitations in twisted bilayer graphene
In condensed matter systems, higher temperatures typically disfavors ordered phases leading to an upper critical temperature for magnetism, superconductivity, and other phenomena. A notable exception is the Pomeranchuk effect in 3He, in which the liquid ground state freezes upon increasing the temperature due to the large entropy of the paramagnetic solid phase. Here we show that a similar mechanism describes the finite temperature dynamics of spin and valley-isospins in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene. Most strikingly a resistivity peak appears at high temperatures near superlattice filling factor nu = -1, despite no signs of a commensurate correlated phase appearing in the low-temperature limit. Tilted field magnetotransport and thermodynamic measurements of the inplane magnetic moment show that the resistivity peak is adiabatically connected to a finite-field magnetic phase transition at which the system develops finite isospin polarization. These data are suggestive of a Pomeranchuk-type mechanism, in which the entropy of disordered isospin moments in the ferromagnetic phase stabilizes it relative to an isospin unpolarized Fermi liquid phase at elevated temperatures. Measurements of the entropy, S/kB indeed find it to be of order unity per unit cell area, with a measurable fraction that is suppressed by an in-plane magnetic field consistent with a contribution from disordered physical spins. In contrast to 3He, however, no discontinuities are observed in the thermodynamic quantities across this transition. Our findings imply a small isospin stiffness, with implications for the nature of finite temperature transport as well as the mechanisms underlying isospin ordering and superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene and related systems.
2008.10830v4
2021-05-18
One-reactor vacuum and plasma synthesis of transparent conducting oxide nanotubes and nanotrees: from single wire conductivity to ultra-broadband perfect absorbers in the NIR
The eventual exploitation of one-dimensional nanomaterials yet needs the development of scalable, high yield, homogeneous, and environmentally friendly methods able to meet the requirements for the fabrication of under design functional nanomaterials. In this article, we demonstrate a vacuum and plasma one-reactor approach for the synthesis of the fundamental common element in solar energy and optoelectronics, i.e. the transparent conducting electrode but in the form of nanotubes and nanotrees architectures. Although the process is generic and can be used for a variety of TCOs and wide-bandgap semiconductors, we focus herein on Indium Doped Tin Oxide (ITO) as the most extended in the previous applications. This protocol combines widely applied deposition techniques such as thermal evaporation for the formation of organic nanowires serving as 1D and 3D soft templates, deposition of polycrystalline layers by magnetron sputtering, and removal of the template by simply annealing under mild vacuum conditions. The process variables are tuned to control the stoichiometry, morphology, and alignment of the ITO nanotubes and nanotrees. Four-probe characterization reveals the improved lateral connectivity of the ITO nanotrees and applied on individual nanotubes shows resistivities as low as 3.5 +/- 0.9 x 10-4 {\Omega}.cm, a value comparable to single-crystalline counterparts. The assessment of diffuse reflectance and transmittance in the UV-VIS range confirms the viability of the supported ITO nanotubes as a random optical media working as strong scattering layers. Further ability to form ITO nanotrees opens the path for practical applications as ultra-broadband absorbers in the NIR. The demonstrated low resistivity and optical properties of these ITO nanostructures open the way for their use in LEDs, IR shield, energy harvesting, nanosensors, and photoelectrochemical applications
2105.08751v1
2021-09-01
Interaction driven giant thermopower in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene
Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MtBLG) has proven to be an extremely promising new platform to realize and study a host of emergent quantum phases arising from the strong correlations in its narrow bandwidth flat band. In this regard, thermal transport phenomena like thermopower, in addition to being coveted technologically, is also sensitive to the particle-hole (PH) asymmetry, making it a crucial tool to probe the underlying electronic structure of this material. We have carried out thermopower measurements of MtBLG as a function of carrier density, temperature and magnetic field, and report the observation of an unusually large thermopower reaching up to a value as high as $\sim \bf{100\mu V/K}$ at a low temperature of 1K. Surprisingly, our observed thermopower exhibiting peak-like features in close correspondence to the resistance peaks around the integer Moire fillings, including the Dirac Point, violating the Mott formula. %Surprisingly, our observed thermopower exhibits peak-like features in close correspondence to the resistance peaks around the integer Moire fillings, including the Dirac Point, which completely violates the Mott formula. We show that the large thermopower peaks and their %non-monotonic dependence with temperature and magnetic field associated behaviour arise from the emergent highly PH asymmetric electronic structure due to the cascade of Dirac revivals. Furthermore, the thermopower shows an anomalous peak around the superconducting transition on the hole side and points towards the possible role of enhanced superconducting fluctuations in MtBLG.
2109.00361v2
2022-06-13
Long-range magnetic order in the anisotropic triangular lattice system CeCd3As3
We report the physical properties of $R$Cd$_{3}$As$_{3}$ ($R$ = La and Ce) compounds, crystallized into a hexagonal ScAl$_{3}$C$_{3}$-type structure ($P$6$_{3}$/mmc) such that the $R$ sublattice forms a spin-orbit coupled triangular lattice. Magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate the 4$f$ electrons of Ce$^{3+}$ ions are well localized and reveal a large magnetic anisotropy. The electrical resistivity and specific heat measurement for $R$Cd$_{3}$As$_{3}$ exhibit an anomaly at high temperatures ($T_{0}$ $\sim$ 63 K for $R$ = La and $T_{0}$ $\sim$ 136 K for $R$ = Ce), most likely due to a structural transition. Specific heat measurements for CeCd$_{3}$As$_{3}$ clearly indicate a long range magnetic order below $T_{N}$ = 0.42 K. Although the magnetic contribution to the specific heat $C_{m}/T$ increases significantly below $\sim$ 10 K, the electrical resistivity for CeCd$_{3}$As$_{3}$ follows typical, metallic behavior inconsistent with Kondo lattice systems. In CeCd$_3$As$_3$ only $\sim$ 40 $\%$ of the $R \ln(2)$ magnetic entropy is recovered by $T_N$ and the $R$ln(2) entropy is fully achieved at about the Curie-Weiss temperature $|\theta_{p}|$. Unusually, based on our current investigations, the magnetic specific heat below $|\theta_{p}|$ is not attributed to a Kondo contribution, but rather associated with the magnetic ordering and frustration on the triangular lattice. Specific heat measurements in applied magnetic field show a negligible variation of $T_{N}$ for $H \parallel c$, whereas a suppression of $T_{N}$ is observed above 40 kOe for $H \parallel ab$. Such behavior is consistent with the application a magnetic field within the $ab$-plane breaking the triangular symmetry and partially relieving the magnetic frustration in this system.
2206.06403v1
2022-11-05
Effect of various electron and hole transport layers on the performance of CsPbI3-based perovskite solar cells: A numerical investigation in DFT, SCAPS-1D, and wxAMPS frameworks
CsPbI3 has recently received tremendous attention as a possible absorber of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, CsPbI3-based PSCs have yet to achieve the high performance of the hybrid PSCs. In this work, we performed a density functional theory (DFT) study using the Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) code for the cubic CsPbI3 absorber to compare and evaluate its structural, electronic, and optical properties. The calculated electronic band gap (Eg) using the GGA-PBE approach of CASTEP was 1.483 eV for this CsPbI3 absorber. Moreover, the computed density of states (DOS) exhibited the dominant contribution from the Pb-5d orbital, and most charge also accumulated for the Pb atom as seen from the electronic charge density map. Fermi surface calculation showed multiband character, and optical properties were computed to investigate the optical response of CsPbI3. Furthermore, we used IGZO, SnO2, WS2, CeO2, PCBM, TiO2, ZnO, and C60 as the electron transport layers (ETLs), and Cu2O, CuSCN, CuSbS2, Spiro-MeOTAD, V2O5, CBTS, CFTS, P3HT, PEDOT: PSS, NiO, CuO, and CuI as the hole transport layers (HTLs) to identify the best HTL/CsPbI3/ETL combinations using the SCAPS-1D solar cell simulation software. Among 96 device structures, the best-optimized device structure, ITO/TiO2/CsPbI3/CBTS/Au was identified, which exhibited an efficiency of 17.9%. The effect of absorber and ETL thickness, series resistance, shunt resistance, and operating temperature was also evaluated for the six best devices along with their corresponding generation rate, recombination rate, capacitance-voltage, current density-voltage, and quantum efficiency characteristics. The obtained results from SCAPS-1D were also compared with wxAMPS simulation software.
2211.02968v1
2023-01-30
Infrared ellipsometry study of the charge dynamics in K3p-terphenyl
We report an infrared ellipsometry study of the charge carrier dynamics in polycrystalline Kxp-terphenyl samples with nominal $x=3$, for which signatures of high-temperature superconductivity were previously reported. The infrared spectra are dominated by two Lorentzian bands with maxima around 4 000 cm$^{-1}$ and 12 000 cm$^{-1}$ which, from a comparison with calculations based on a H\"uckel model are assigned to intra-molecular excitations of $\pi$ electrons of the anionic p-terphenyl molecules. The inter-molecular electronic excitations are much weaker and give rise to a Drude peak and a similarly weak Lorentzian band around 220 cm$^{-1}$. A dc resistivity of about 0.3 $\Omega$ cm at 300 K is deduced from the IR data, comparable to values measured by electrical resistivity on a twin sample. The analysis of the temperature dependence of the low-frequency response reveals a gradual decrease of the plasma frequency and the scattering rate of the Drude peak below 300 K that gets anomalously enhanced below 90 K. The corresponding missing spectral weight of the Drude peak appears blue-shifted towards the Lorentz-band at 220 cm$^{-1}$. This characteristic blue-shift signifies an enhanced localization of the charge carriers at low temperatures and contrasts the behavior expected for a bulk superconducting state for which the missing spectral weight would be redshifted to a delta-function at zero frequency that accounts for the loss-free response of the superconducting condensate. Our data might still be compatible with a filamentary superconducting state with a volume fraction well below the percolation limit for which the spatial confinement of the condensate can result in a plasmonic resonance at finite frequency.
2302.10097v2
2023-08-04
Observation of Fractionally Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect
The integer quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is a lattice analog of the quantum Hall effect at zero magnetic field. This striking transport phenomenon occurs in electronic systems with topologically nontrivial bands and spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking. Discovery of its putative fractional counterpart in the presence of strong electron correlations, i.e., the fractional quantum anomalous Hall (FQAH) effect, would open a new chapter in condensed matter physics. Here, we report the direct observation of both integer and fractional QAH effects in electrical measurements on twisted bilayer MoTe$_2$. At zero magnetic field, near filling factor $\nu = -1$ (one hole per moir\'e unit cell) we see an extended integer QAH plateau in the Hall resistance $R_\text{xy}$ that is quantized to $h/e^2 \pm 0.1 \%$ while the longitudinal resistance $R_\text{xx}$ vanishes. Remarkably, at $\nu=-2/3$ and $-3/5$ we see plateau features in $R_\text{xy}$ at $3h/2e^2 \pm 1\%$ and $5h/3e^2 \pm 3\%$, respectively, while $R_\text{xx}$ remains small. All these features shift linearly in an applied magnetic field with slopes matching the corresponding Chern numbers $-1$, $-2/3$, and $-3/5$, precisely as expected for integer and fractional QAH states. In addition, at zero magnetic field, $R_\text{xy}$ is approximately $2h/e^2$ near half filling ($\nu = -1/2$) and varies linearly as $\nu$ is tuned. This behavior resembles that of the composite Fermi liquid in the half-filled lowest Landau level of a two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic field. Direct observation of the FQAH and associated effects paves the way for researching charge fractionalization and anyonic statistics at zero magnetic field.
2308.02657v1
2023-09-29
Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in a Graphene Moire Superlattice
The fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect (FQAHE), the analog of the fractional quantum Hall effect1 at zero magnetic field, is predicted to exist in topological flat bands under spontaneous time-reversal-symmetry breaking. The demonstration of FQAHE could lead to non-Abelian anyons which form the basis of topological quantum computation. So far, FQAHE has been observed only in twisted MoTe2 (t-MoTe2) at moire filling factor v > 1/2. Graphene-based moire superlattices are believed to host FQAHE with the potential advantage of superior material quality and higher electron mobility. Here we report the observation of integer and fractional QAH effects in a rhombohedral pentalayer graphene/hBN moire superlattice. At zero magnetic field, we observed plateaus of quantized Hall resistance Rxy = h/(ve^2) at filling factors v = 1, 2/3, 3/5, 4/7, 4/9, 3/7 and 2/5 of the moire superlattice respectively. These features are accompanied by clear dips in the longitudinal resistance Rxx. In addition, at zero magnetic field, Rxy equals 2h/e^2 at v = 1/2 and varies linearly with the filling factor-similar to the composite Fermi liquid (CFL) in the half-filled lowest Landau level at high magnetic fields. By tuning the gate displacement field D and v, we observed phase transitions from CFL and FQAH states to other correlated electron states. Our graphene system provides an ideal platform for exploring charge fractionalization and (non-Abelian) anyonic braiding at zero magnetic field, especially considering a lateral junction between FQAHE and superconducting regions in the same device.
2309.17436v4
2024-03-20
Effect of annealing on the hot salt corrosion resistance of the fine-grained titanium alpha-alloy Ti-2.5Al-2.6Zr obtained via cold Rotary Swaging
A hot salt corrosion (HSC) test was performed on the fine-grained titanium alpha-alloy Ti-2.5Al-2.6Zr (Russian industrial alloy PT-7M). The ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure in the titanium alpha-alloy was formed via cold Rotary Swaging. The grain size and volume fraction of the recrystallized microstructure in the alloy were varied by choosing appropriate annealing temperatures and times. The microstructure and corrosion resistance of UFG alloys were studied after 30 min of annealing at 500-700C and after 1000 h of annealing at 250C. Metallographic studies were carried out to investigate the effects of annealing on the nature and extent of corrosive damage in the titanium alpha-alloy Ti-2.5Al-2.6Zr. After HSC tests, surface analyses of the titanium alpha-alloy samples were conducted using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. During the HSC testing of the titanium alpha-alloy Ti-2.5Al-2.6Zr, a competitive interaction between intergranular corrosion (IGC) and pitting corrosion was observed. To the best of our knowledge, it was shown for the first time that annealing affects the relationship among the IGC, pitting corrosion and uniform corrosion rates of the titanium alloy. Prolonged low-temperature annealing at 250C resulted in a more pronounced increase in the uniform corrosion rate than short-term high-temperature annealing for 30 min at 500-700C. An in-depth analysis of the effect of the structure and phase composition of the grain boundaries on the susceptibility of the alpha-alloy Ti-2.5Al-2.6Zr to HSC was conducted.
2403.13587v1
2024-04-23
Magnetic anisotropy in single-crystalline antiferromagnetic Mn$_2$Au
Multiple recent studies have identified the metallic antiferromagnet Mn$_2$Au to be a candidate for spintronic applications due to apparent in-plane anisotropy, preserved magnetic properties above room temperature, and current-induced N\'eel vector switching. Crystal growth is complicated by the fact that Mn$_2$Au melts incongruently. We present a bismuth flux method to grow millimeter-scale bulk single crystals of Mn$_2$Au in order to examine the intrinsic anisotropic electrical and magnetic properties. Flux quenching experiments reveal that the Mn$_2$Au crystals precipitate below 550{\deg}C, about 100{\deg}C below the decomposition temperature of Mn$_2$Au. Bulk Mn$_2$Au crystals have a room-temperature resistivity of 16-19 $\mu\Omega$-cm and a residual resistivity ratio of 41. Mn$_2$Au crystals have a dimensionless susceptibility on the order of 10$^{-4}$, comparable to calculated and experimental reports on powder samples. Single-crystal neutron diffraction confirms the in-plane magnetic structure. The tetragonal symmetry of Mn$_2$Au constrains the $ab$-plane magnetic susceptibility to be constant, meaning that $\chi_{100}=\chi_{110}$ in the low-field limit, below any spin-flop transition. We find that three measured magnetic susceptibilities $\chi_{100}$, $\chi_{110}$, and $\chi_{001}$ are the same order of magnitude and agree with the calculated prediction, meaning the low-field susceptibility of Mn$_2$Au is quite isotropic, despite clear differences in $ab$-plane and $ac$-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Mn$_2$Au is calculated to have an extremely high in-plane spin-flop field above 30 T, which is much larger than that of another in-plane antiferromagnet Fe$_2$As (less than 1 T). The subtle anisotropy of intrinsic susceptibilities may lead to dominating effects from shape, crystalline texture, strain, and defects in devices that attempt spin readout in Mn$_2$Au.
2404.15525v1
2006-05-06
Three-dimensionality of field-induced magnetism in a high-temperature superconductor
Many physical properties of high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors are two-dimensional phenomena derived from their square planar CuO2 building blocks. This is especially true of the magnetism from the copper ions. As mobile charge carriers enter the CuO2 layers, the antiferromagnetism of the parent insulators, where each copper spin is antiparallel to its nearest neighbours1, evolves into a fluctuating state where the spins show tendencies towards magnetic order of a longer periodicity. For certain charge carrier densities, quantum fluctuations are sufficiently suppressed to yield static long-period order2,3,4,5,6, and external magnetic fields also induce such order7,8,9,10,11,12. Here we show that in contrast to the chemically-controlled order in superconducting samples, the field-induced order in these same samples is actually three-dimensional, implying significant magnetic linkage between the CuO2 planes. The results are important because they show that there are three-dimensional magnetic couplings which survive into the superconducting state, and coexist with the crucial inter-layer couplings responsible for three-dimensional superconductivity. Both types of coupling will straighten the vortex lines, implying that we have finally established a direct link between technical superconductivity, which requires zero electrical resistance in an applied magnetic field and depends on vortex dynamics, and the underlying antiferromagnetism of the cuprates.
0605164v1
2008-06-24
Crystal structure and phase transitions across the metal-superconductor boundary in the SmFeAsO1-xFx (0 < x < 0.20) family
The fluorine-doped rare-earth iron oxyarsenides, REFeAsO1-xFx (RE =rare earth) have recently emerged as a new family of high-temperature superconductors with transition temperatures (Tc) as high as 55 K (refs 1-4). Early work has provided compelling evidence that the undoped parent materials exhibit spin-density-wave (SDW) antiferromagnetic order and undergo a structural phase transition from tetragonal to orthorhombic crystal symmetry upon cooling.5 Both the magnetic and structural instabilities are suppressed upon doping with fluoride ions before the appearance of superconductivity.6,7 Here we use high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction to study the structural properties of SmFeAsO1-xFx (0 < x < 0.20) in which superconductivity emerges near x ~ 0.07 and Tc increases monotonically with doping up to x ~ 0.20.8 We find that orthorhombic symmetry survives through the metal-superconductor boundary well into the superconducting regime 2 and the structural distortion is only suppressed at doping levels, x > 0.15 when the superconducting phase becomes metrically tetragonal. Remarkably this crystal symmetry crossover coincides with reported drastic anomalies in the resistivity and the Hall coefficient8 and a switch of the pressure coefficient of Tc from positive to negative,9 thereby implying that the low-temperature structure plays a key role in defining the electronic properties of these superconductors.
0806.3962v1
2012-04-23
Integrating Functional Oxides with Graphene
Graphene-oxide hybrid structures offer the opportunity to combine the versatile functionalities of oxides with the excellent electronic transport in graphene. Understanding and controlling how the dielectric environment affects the intrinsic properties of graphene is also critical to fundamental studies and technological development of graphene. Here we review our recent effort on understanding the transport properties of graphene interfaced with ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O_3 (PZT) and high-k HfO_2. Graphene field effect devices prepared on high-quality single crystal PZT substrates exhibit up to tenfold increases in mobility compared to SiO_2-gated devices. An unusual and robust resistance hysteresis is observed in these samples, which is attributed to the complex surface chemistry of the ferroelectric. Surface polar optical phonons of oxides in graphene transistors play an important role in the device performance. We review their effects on mobility and the high source-drain bias saturation current of graphene, which are crucial for developing graphene-based room temperature high-speed amplifiers. Oxides also introduce scattering sources that limit the low temperature electron mobility in graphene. We present a comprehensive study of the transport and quantum scattering times to differentiate various scattering scenarios and quantitatively evaluate the density and distribution of charged impurities and the effect of dielectric screening. Our results can facilitate the design of multifunctional nano-devices utilizing graphene-oxide hybrid structures.
1204.5161v1
2012-08-30
High-pressure flux growth, structural, and superconducting properties of LnFeAsO (Ln = Pr, Nd, Sm) single crystals
Single crystals of the LnFeAsO (Ln1111, Ln = Pr, Nd, and Sm) family with lateral dimensions up to 1 mm were grown from NaAs and KAs flux at high pressure. The crystals are of good structural quality and become superconducting when O is partially substituted by F (PrFeAsO1-xFx and NdFeAsO1-xFx) or when Fe is substituted by Co (SmFe1-xCoxAsO). From magnetization measurements, we estimate the temperature dependence and anisotropy of the upper critical field and the critical current density of underdoped PrFeAsO0.7F0.3 crystal with Tc = 25 K. Single crystals of SmFe1-xCoxAsO with maximal Tc up to 16.3 K for x = 0.08 were grown for the first time. From transport and magnetic measurements we estimate the critical fields and their anisotropy, and find these superconducting properties to be quite comparable to the ones in SmFeAsO1-xFx with a much higher Tc of = 50 K. The magnetically measured critical current densities are as high as 109 A/m2 at 2 K up to 7 T, with indication of the usual fishtail effect. The upper critical field estimated from resistivity measurements is anisotropic with slopes of -8.7 T/K (H // ab-plane) and -1.7 T/K (H // c-axis). This anisotropy (= 5) is similar to that in other Ln1111 crystals with various higher Tc s.
1208.6207v2
2013-09-06
MgB2 nonlinear properties investigated under localized high rf magnetic field excitation-report 2
The high transition temperature and low surface resistance of MgB2 attracts interest in its potential application in superconducting radio frequency accelerating cavities. However, compared to traditional Nb cavities, the viability of MgB2 at high rf fields is still open to question. Our approach is to study the nonlinear electrodynamics of the material under localized rf magnetic fields. Because of the presence of the small superconducting gap in the $\pi$ band, the nonlinear response of MgB2 at low temperature is potentially complicated compared to a single-gap s-wave superconductor such as Nb. Understanding the mechanisms of nonlinearity coming from the two-band structure of MgB2, as well as extrinsic sources of nonlinearity, is an urgent requirement. A localized and strong rf magnetic field, created by a magnetic write head, is integrated into our nonlinear-Meissner-effect scanning microwave microscope [Tamin Tai, X. X. Xi, C. G. Zhuang, D. I. Mircea, and S. M. Anlage, IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 21, 2615 (2011)]. MgB2 films with thickness 50 nm, fabricated by a hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition technique on dielectric substrates, are measured at a fixed location and show a strongly temperature-dependent third harmonic response. We propose that several possible mechanisms are responsible for this nonlinear response.
1309.1706v1
2013-12-26
A Novel High-Pressure Monoclinic Metallic Phase of V2O3
Vanadium sesquioxide, V2O3, is a prototypical metal-to-insulator system where, in temperature-dependent studies, the transition always coincides with a corundum-to-monoclinic structural transition. As a function of pressure, V2O3 follows the expected behavior of increased metallicity due to a larger bandwidth for pressures up to 12.5 GPa. Surprisingly, for higher pressures when the structure becomes unstable, the resistance starts to increase. Around 32.5 GPa at 300 K, we observe a novel pressure-induced corundum-to-monoclinic transition between two metallic phases, showing that the structural phase transition can be decoupled from the metal-insulator transition. Using X-ray Raman scattering, we find that screening effects, which are strong in the corundum phase, become weakened at high pressures. Theoretical calculations indicate that this can be related to a decrease in coherent quasiparticle strength, suggesting that the high-pressure phase is likely a critical correlated metal, on the verge of Mott-insulating behavior.
1312.7063v1
2014-06-19
Synthesis of SnTe Nanoplates with {100} and {111} Surfaces
SnTe is a topological crystalline insulator that possesses spin-polarized, Dirac-dispersive surface states protected by crystal symmetry. Multiple surface states exist on the {100}, {110}, and {111} surfaces of SnTe, with the band structure of surface states depending on the mirror symmetry of a particular surface. Thus, to access surface states selectively, it is critical to control the morphology of SnTe such that only desired crystallographic surfaces are present. Here, we grow SnTe nanostructures using vapor-liquid-solid and vapor-solid growth mechanisms. Previously, SnTe nanowires and nanocrystals have been grown.1-4 In this report, we demonstrate synthesis of SnTe nanoplates with lateral dimensions spanning tens of microns and thicknesses of a hundred nanometers. The top and bottom surfaces are either (100) or (111), maximizing topological surface states on these surfaces. Magnetotransport on these SnTe nanoplates shows high bulk carrier density, consistent with bulk SnTe crystals arising due to defects such as Sn vacancies. In addition, we observe a structural phase transition in these nanoplates from the high temperature rock salt to low temperature rhombohedral structure. For nanoplates with very high carrier density, we observe a slight upturn in resistance at low temperatures, indicating electron-electron interactions.
1406.5227v1
2017-12-13
High Field (up to 140kOe) Angle Dependent Magneto Transport of Bi2Te3 Single Crystals
We report the angle dependent high field (up to 140kOe) magneto transport of Bi2Te3 single crystals, a well-known topological insulator. The crystals were grown from melt of constituent elements via solid state reaction route by self-flux method. Details of crystal growth along with their brief characterization up to 5 Tesla applied field was reported by some of us recently [J. Magn. Mag. Mater. 428, 213 (2017)]. The angle dependence of the magneto-resistance (MR) of Bi2Te3 follows the cos Theta function i.e., MR is responsive, when the applied field is perpendicular (tilt angle Theta = o and/or 180) to the transport current. The low field (10 kOe) MR showed the signatures of weak anti localization (WAL) character with typical cusp near origin at 5 K. Further, the MR is linear right up to highest applied field of 140 kOe. The large positive MR are observed up to high temperatures and are above 250 and 150 percent at 140 kOe in perpendicular fields at 50 K and 100 K respectively. Heat capacity CP(T) measurements revealed the value of Debye temperature to be 135 K. ARPES (angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy) data clearly showed that the bulk Bi2Te3 single crystal consists of a single Dirac cone.
1712.04632v1
2018-05-14
Structural Dependence of Chemical Durability in Modified Aluminoborate Glasses
Alkali and alkaline earth aluminoborate glasses feature high resistance to cracking under sharp contact loading compared to other oxide glasses. However, due to the high content of hygroscopic B2O3, it is expected that applications of these glasses could be hindered by poor chemical durability in aqueous solutions. Indeed, the compositional and structural dependence of their dissolution kinetics remains unexplored. In this work, we correlate the dissolution rates of aluminoborate glasses in acidic, neutral, and basic solutions with the structural changes induced by varying the aluminum-to-boron ratio. In detail, we investigate a total of seventeen magnesium, lithium, and sodium aluminoborate glasses with fixed modifier content of 25 mol%. We show that the structural changes induced by alumina depend on the network modifier. We also demonstrate a correlation between the chemical durability at various pH values and the structural changes in Mg-, Li- and Na- aluminoborate glasses. The substitution of alumina by boron oxide leads to a general decrease of chemical corrosion in neutral and acidic solutions. The lowest dissolution rate value is observed in Mg-aluminoborate glasses, as a consequence of the intermediate character of magnesium which can increase the network cross-linking. For basic solutions, the chemical durability is almost constant for the different amount of alumina in the three series, likely because B2O3 is susceptible to nucleophilic attack, which is favored in high-OH- solutions.
1805.05191v1
2018-06-12
Characterization of a depleted monolithic pixel sensors in 150 nm CMOS technology for the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade
This work presents a depleted monolithic active pixel sensor (DMAPS) prototype manufactured in the LFoundry 150\,nm CMOS process. DMAPS exploit high voltage and/or high resistivity inclusion of modern CMOS technologies to achieve substantial depletion in the sensing volume. The described device, named LF-Monopix, was designed as a proof of concept of a fully monolithic sensor capable of operating in the environment of outer layers of the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade in 2025 for the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). This type of devices has a lower production cost and lower material budget compared to presently used hybrid designs. In this work, the chip architecture will be described followed by the characterization of the different pre-amplifier and discriminator flavors with an external injection signal and an iron source (5.9\,keV x-rays).
1806.04400v1
2018-06-14
Demonstration of nonpolar m-plane vertical GaN-on-GaN p-n power diodes grown on free-standing GaN substrates
This work demonstrates the first nonpolar vertical GaN on GaN pn power diodes grown on m-plane free standing substrates by MOCVD. The SEM and HRXRD results showed the good crystal quality of the homoepitaxial nonpolar structure with low defect densities. The CL result confirmed the nonpolar p GaN was of high quality with considerably reduced deep level states. At forward bias, the device showed good rectifying behaviors with a turn-on voltage of 4.0 V, an on-resistance of 2.3 mohmcm2, and a high on off ratio of 1e10. At reverse bias, the current leakage and breakdown were described by the trap assisted space charge limited current conduction mechanism, where I was proportional to V power 4.5. The critical electrical field was calculated to be 2.0 MV per cm without field plates or edge termination, which is the highest value reported on nonpolar power devices. The high performance m-plane p-n diodes can serve as key building blocks to further develop nonpolar GaN power electronics and polarization-engineering-related advanced power device structures for power conversion applications.
1806.05308v1
2019-09-23
Superconductivity up to 243 K in yttrium hydrides under high pressure
The discovery of high-temperature conventional superconductivity in H3S with a critical temperature of Tc=203 K was followed by the recent record of Tc ~250 K in the face-centered cubic (fcc) lanthanum hydride LaH10 compound. It was realized in a new class of hydrogen-dominated compounds having a clathrate-like crystal structure in which hydrogen atoms form a 3D framework and surround a host atom of rare earth elements. Yttrium hydrides are predicted to have even higher Tc exceeding room temperature. In this paper, we synthesized and refined the crystal structure of new hydrides: YH4, YH6, and YH9 at pressures up to 237 GPa finding that YH4 crystalizes in the I4/mmm lattice, YH6 in Im-3m lattice and YH9 in P63/mmc lattice in excellent agreement with the calculations. The observed very high-temperature superconductivity is comparable to that found in fcc-LaH10: the pressure dependence of Tc for YH9 also displays a "dome like shape" with the highest Tc of 243 K at 201 GPa. We also observed a Tc of 227 K at 237 GPa for the YH6 phase. However, the measured Tcs are notably lower by ~30 K than predicted. Evidence for superconductivity includes the observation of zero electrical resistance, a decrease of Tc under an external magnetic field and an isotope effect. The theoretically predicted fcc YH10 with the promising highest Tc>300 K was not stabilized in our experiments under pressures up to 237 GPa.
1909.10482v1
2019-02-26
Modelling a Transition-Edge Sensor X-ray Microcalorimeter Linear Array for Compton Profile Measurements and Energy Dispersive Diffraction
Transition-edge sensors are a type of superconducting detector that offers high energy resolution based on their sharp resistance-temperature feature in the superconducting-to-normal transition. TES X-ray microcalorimeters have typically been designed and used for spectroscopic applications. In this work, we present a design optimization for a TES X-ray microcalorimeter array for high-energy scattering and diffraction measurements. In particular, Compton scattering provides information about the electron momentum distribution, while energy dispersive diffraction provides structural information about dense engineering materials. Compton scattering and energy dispersive diffraction experiments must be conducted in the very hard X-ray regime (~ 100 keV), demanding a high X-ray stopping power in the detector; therefore, an absorber with a large heat capacity is needed in conjunction with the TES. In addition, both applications would benefit from an array composed of parallel strips. We present a design for a TES X-ray microcalorimeter optimized for such applications. In particular, we model the longitudinal position dependence due to the finite thermal diffusion time in the absorber.
1902.10047v2
2019-07-14
Current-Induced magnetization switching by the high spin Hall conductivity $α$-W
The spin Hall effect originating from 5d heavy transition metal thin films such as Pt, Ta, and W is able to generate efficient spin-orbit torques that can switch adjacent magnetic layers. This mechanism can serve as an alternative to conventional spin-transfer torque for controlling next-generation magnetic memories. Among all 5d transition metals, W in its resistive amorphous phase typically shows the largest spin-orbit torque efficiency ~ 0.20-0.50. In contrast, its conductive and crystalline $\alpha$ phase possesses a significantly smaller efficiency ~ 0.03 and no spin-orbit torque switching has yet been realized using $\alpha$-W thin films as the spin Hall source. In this work, through a comprehensive study of high quality W/CoFeB/MgO and the reversed MgO/CoFeB/W magnetic heterostructures, we show that although amorphous-W has a greater spin-orbit torque efficiency, the spin Hall conductivity of $\alpha$-W ($|\sigma_{\operatorname{SH}}^{\alpha\operatorname{-W}}|=3.71\times10^{5}\operatorname{\Omega}^{-1}\operatorname{m}^{-1}$) is ~3.5 times larger than that of amorphous-W ($|\sigma_{\operatorname{SH}}^{\operatorname{amorphous-W}}|=1.05\times10^{5}\operatorname{\Omega}^{-1}\operatorname{m}^{-1}$). Moreover, we demonstrate spin-orbit torque driven magnetization switching using a MgO/CoFeB/$\alpha$-W heterostructure. Our findings suggest that the conductive and high spin Hall conductivity $\alpha$-W can be a potential candidate for future low power consumption spin-orbit torque memory applications.
1907.06192v1
2020-02-22
Electron irradiation on multilayer PdSe$_2$ field effect transistors
Palladium diselenide (PdSe2) is a recently isolated layered material that has attracted a lot of interest for the pentagonal structure, the air stability and the electrical properties largely tunable by the number of layers. In this work, PdSe2 is used in the form of multilayer as the channel of back-gate field-effect transistors, which are studied under repeated electron irradiations. Source-drain Pd leads enable contacts with resistance below 350 kOhm um. The transistors exhibit a prevailing n-type conduction in high vacuum, which reversibly turns into ambipolar electric transport at atmospheric pressure. Irradiation by 10 keV electrons suppresses the channel conductance and promptly transforms the device from n-type to p-type. An electron fluence as low as 160 e-/nm2 dramatically change the transistor behavior demonstrating a high sensitivity of PdSe2 to electron irradiation. The sensitivity is lost after few exposures, that is a saturation condition is reached for fluence higher than 4000 e-/nm2. The damage induced by high electron fluence is irreversible as the device persist in the radiation-modified state for several hours, if kept in vacuum and at room temperature. With the support of numerical simulation, we explain such a behavior by electron-induced Se atom vacancy formation and charge trapping in slow trap states at the Si/SiO_2 interface.
2002.09785v1
2020-04-27
Recent advancements of the NEWS-G experiment
NEWS-G (New Experiments With Spheres-Gas) is an experiment aiming to shine a light on the dark matter conundrum with a novel gaseous detector, the spherical proportional counter. It uses light gases, such as hydrogen, helium, and neon, as targets to expand dark matter searches to the sub-GeV/c$^{2}$ mass region. NEWS-G produced its first results with a 60 cm in diameter detector installed at LSM (France), excluding at 90% C.L. cross-sections above $4.4\cdot{10}^{37}$ cm$^{2}$ for dark matter candidates of 0.5 GeV/c$^{2}$ mass. Currently, a 140 cm in diameter detector is being built at LSM and a commissioning run is underway, prior to its installation at SNOLAB (Canada) at the end of the year. Presented here are developments incorporated in this new detector: a) sensor technologies using resistive materials and multi-anode read-out that allow high gain and high pressure operation; b) gas purification techniques to remove contaminants (H$_{2}$O, O$_{2}$); c) reduction of ${}^{210}$Pb induced background through copper electroforming methods; d) utilisation of UV-lasers for detector calibration, detector response monitoring and estimation of gas related fundamental properties. This next phase of NEWS-G will allow searches for low mass dark matter with unprecedented sensitivity.
2004.12795v1
2016-03-02
Conformal Titanium Nitride in a Porous Silicon Matrix: a Nanomaterial for In-Chip Supercapacitors
Today's supercapacitor energy storages are typically discrete devices aimed for printed boards and power applications. The development of autonomous sensor networks and wearable electronics and the miniaturisation of mobile devices would benefit substantially from solutions in which the energy storage is integrated with the active device. Nanostructures based on porous silicon (PS) provide a route towards integration due to the very high inherent surface area to volume ratio and compatibility with microelectronics fabrication processes. Unfortunately, pristine PS has limited wettability and poor chemical stability in electrolytes and the high resistance of the PS matrix severely limits the power efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate that excellent wettability and electro-chemical properties in aqueous and organic electrolytes can be obtained by coating the PS matrix with an ultra-thin layer of titanium nitride by atomic layer deposition. Our approach leads to very high specific capacitance (15 F/cm$^3$), energy density (1.3 mWh/cm$^3$), power density (up to 214 W/cm$^3$) and excellent stability (more than 13,000 cycles). Furthermore, we show that the PS-TiN nanomaterial can be integrated inside a silicon chip monolithically by combining MEMS and nanofabrication techniques. This leads to realisation of in-chip supercapacitor, i.e., it opens a new way to exploit the otherwise inactive volume of a silicon chip to store energy.
1603.00798v1
2019-02-28
Effect of atomic ordering on the magnetic anisotropy of single crystal Ni80Fe20
We investigate the effect of atomic ordering on the magnetic anisotropy of Ni80Fe20 at.% (Py). To this end, Py films were grown epitaxially on MgO (001) using dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). Aside from twin boundaries observed in the latter case, both methods present high quality single crystals with cube-on-cube epitaxial relationship as verified by the polar mapping of important crystal planes. However, X-ray diffraction results indicate higher order for the dcMS deposited film towards L12 Ni3Fe superlattice. This difference can be understood by the very high deposition rate of HiPIMS during each pulse which suppresses adatom mobility and ordering. We show that the dcMS deposited film presents biaxial anisotropy while HiPIMS deposition gives well defined uniaxial anisotropy. Thus, higher order achieved in the dcMS deposition behaves as predicted by magnetocrystalline anisotropy i.e. easy axis along the [111] direction that forced in the plane along the [110] direction due to shape anisotropy. The uniaxial behaviour in HiPIMS deposited film then can be explained by pair ordering or more recent localized composition non-uniformity theories. Further, we studied magnetoresistance of the films along the [100] directions using an extended van der Pauw method. We find that the electrical resistivities of the dcMS deposited film are lower than in their HiPIMS counterparts verifying the higher order in the dcMS case.
1903.00105v1
2019-03-29
Multi-contact Phase Change Toggle Logic Device Utilizing Thermal Crosstalk
Phase change memory (PCM) is an emerging high speed, high density, high endurance, and scalable non-volatile memory technology which utilizes the large resistivity contrast between the amorphous and crystalline phases of chalcogenide materials such as Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST). In addition to being used as a standalone memory, there has been a growing interest in integration of PCM devices on top of the CMOS layer for computation in memory and neuromorphic computing. The large CMOS overhead for memory controllers is a limiting factor for this purpose. Transferring functionality like routing, multiplexing, and logic to the memory layer can substantially reduce the CMOS overhead, making it possible to integrate 100s of GB of PCM storage on top of a conventional CPU. In this work, we present computational analysis of a phase change device concept that can perform toggle operations. The toggle functionality is achieved using two physical mechanisms: (i) isolation of different read contacts due to amorphization between different write contact pairs, and (ii) thermal cross-talk between a molten region and a previously amorphized region. Phase-change devices with six contacts can be implemented as toggle flip-flops, multiplexer, or demultiplexer when interfaced with CMOS transistors. Here, we demonstrate the operation of the device as a toggle flip-flop with 5 transistors, requiring ~50% of the footprint compared to conventional CMOS alternatives, with the added advantage of non-volatility.
1904.00836v1
2021-01-05
High-Temperature Superconductivity in Cerium Superhydrides
The discoveries of high-temperature superconductivity in H3S and LaH10 have excited the search for superconductivity in compressed hydrides. In contrast to rapidly expanding theoretical studies, high-pressure experiments on hydride superconductors are expensive and technically challenging. Here we experimentally discover superconductivity in two new phases,Fm-3m-CeH10 (SC-I phase) and P63/mmc-CeH9 (SC-II phase) at pressures that are much lower (<100 GPa) than those needed to stabilize other polyhydride superconductors. Superconductivity was evidenced by a sharp drop of the electrical resistance to zero, and by the decrease of the critical temperature in deuterated samples and in an external magnetic field. SC-I has Tc=115 K at 95 GPa, showing expected decrease on further compression due to decrease of the electron-phonon coupling (EPC) coefficient {\lambda} (from 2.0 at 100 GPa to 0.8 at 200 GPa). SC-II has Tc = 57 K at 88 GPa, rapidly increasing to a maximum Tc ~100 K at 130 GPa, and then decreasing on further compression. This maximum of Tc is due to a maximum of {\lambda} at the phase transition from P63/mmc-CeH9 into a symmetry-broken modification C2/c-CeH9. The pressure-temperature conditions of synthesis affect the actual hydrogen content, and the actual value of Tc. Anomalously low pressures of stability of cerium superhydrides make them appealing for studies of superhydrides and for designing new superhydrides with even lower pressures of stability.
2101.01315v2
2015-07-30
Likelihood-free inference in high-dimensional models
Methods that bypass analytical evaluations of the likelihood function have become an indispensable tool for statistical inference in many fields of science. These so-called likelihood-free methods rely on accepting and rejecting simulations based on summary statistics, which limits them to low dimensional models for which the absolute likelihood is large enough to result in manageable acceptance rates. To get around these issues, we introduce a novel, likelihood-free Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method combining two key innovations: updating only one parameter per iteration and accepting or rejecting this update based on subsets of statistics sufficient for this parameter. This increases acceptance rates dramatically, rendering this approach suitable even for models of very high dimensionality. We further derive that for linear models, a one dimensional combination of statistics per parameter is sufficient and can be found empirically with simulations. Finally, we demonstrate that our method readily scales to models of very high dimensionality using both toy models as well as by jointly inferring the effective population size, the distribution of fitness effects of new mutations (DFE) and selection coefficients for each locus from data of a recent experiment on the evolution of drug-resistance in Influenza.
1507.08612v2
2019-06-19
Scalable, green fabrication of single-crystal noble metal films and nanostructures for low-loss nanotechnology applications
High quality metal thin films and nanostructures are critical building blocks for next generation nanotechnologies. They comprise low-loss circuit elements in nanodevices, provide new catalytic pathways for water splitting and $CO_2$ reduction technologies, and enable the confinement of spatially extended electromagnetic waves to be harnessed for application in information processing, energy harvesting, engineered metamaterials, and new technologies that will operate in the quantum plasmonics limit. However, the controlled fabrication of high-definition single-crystal subwavelength metal nanostructures remains a significant hurdle, due to the tendency for polycrystalline metal growth using conventional physical vapor deposition methods, and the challenges associated with placing solution-grown nanocrystals in desired orientations and locations on a surface to fabricate functional devices. Here, we introduce a new scalable, green, wet chemical approach to monocrystalline noble metals that enables the fabrication of ultrasmooth, epitaxial, single-crystal films of controllable thickness. They are ideal for the subtractive manufacture of nanostructure through ion beam milling, and additive crystalline nanostructure via lithographic patterning to enable large area, single-crystal metamaterials and high aspect ratio nanowires. Our single-crystal nanostructures demonstrate improved feature quality and pattern transfer yield, reduced optical and resistive losses, tailored local fields, and greatly improved stability compared to polycrystalline structures, supporting greater local field enhancements and enabling new practical advances at the nanoscale.
1906.07879v1
2019-10-23
Implications for Dark Matter Direct Detection in the Presence of LIGO-Motivated Primordial Black Holes
We discuss formation of dark matter (DM) mini-halos around primordial black holes (PBHs) and its implication on DM direct detection experiments, including axion searches. Motivated by LIGO observations, we consider $f_{\textrm{DM}} \simeq 0.01$ as the fraction of DM in PBHs with masses $10 M_{\odot} - 70 M_{\odot}$. In this case, we expect the presence of dressed PBHs after Milky Way halo formation with mini-halo masses peaked around $M_{\textrm{halo}} \sim (50-55) M_{\textrm{PBH}}$. We analyze the effect of tidal forces acting on dressed PBHs within the Milky Way galaxy. In the solar neighborhood, the mini-halos are resistant against tidal disruption from the mean-field potential of the galaxy and encounters with stars, but they undergo a small level of disruption caused by disk shocking. The presence of mini-halos around LIGO-motivated PBHs today could reduce by half the local dark matter background. High-resolution simulations are encouraged. If the proposed scenario is realized, chances of direct detection of DM would decrease.
1910.10575v3
2020-06-24
Predicting the propensity for thermally activated $β$ events in metallic glasses via interpretable machine learning
The elementary excitations in metallic glasses (MGs), i.e., $\beta$ processes that involve hopping between nearby sub-basins, underlie many unusual properties of the amorphous alloys. A high-efficacy prediction of the propensity for those activated processes from solely the atomic positions, however, has remained a daunting challenge. Recently, employing well-designed site environment descriptors and machine learning (ML), notable progress has been made in predicting the propensity for stress-activated $\beta$ processes (i.e., shear transformations) from the static structure. However, the complex tensorial stress field and direction-dependent activation would induce non-trivial noises in the data, limiting the accuracy of the structure-property mapping learned. Here, we focus on the thermally activated elementary excitations and generate high-quality data in several Cu-Zr MGs, allowing quantitative mapping of the potential energy landscape. After fingerprinting the atomic environment with short- and medium-range interstice distribution, ML can identify the atoms with strong resistance or high compliance to thermal activation, at an unprecedented accuracy over ML models for stress-driven activation events. Interestingly, a quantitative "between-task" transferring test reveals that our learnt model can also generalize to predict the propensity of shear transformation. Our dataset is potentially useful for benchmarking future ML models on structure-property relationships in MGs.
2006.13552v1
2020-10-07
Physical properties and electronic structure of single-crystal KCo$_2$As$_2$
We present a method for producing high quality KCo2As2 crystals, stable in air and suitable for a variety of measurements. X-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, electrical transport and heat capacity measurements confirm the high quality and an absence of long range magnetic order down to at least 2 K. Residual resistivity values approaching 0.25 $\mu\Omega$~cm are representative of the high quality and low impurity content, and a Sommerfeld coefficient $\gamma$ = 7.3 mJ/mol K$^2$ signifies weaker correlations than the Fe-based counterparts. Together with Hall effect measurements, angle-resolved photoemission experiments reveal a Fermi surface consisting of electron pockets at the center and corner of the Brillouin zone, in line with theoretical predictions and in contrast to the mixed carrier types of other pnictides with the ThCr2Si2 structure. A large, linear magnetoresistance of 200\% at 14~T, together with an observed linear and hyperbolic, rather than parabolic, band dispersions are unusual characteristics of this metallic compound and may indicate more complex underlying behavior.
2010.03447v2
2020-10-16
Investigation of n-type dilute magnetic semiconductor property observed in amorphous AlNO alloy thin film incorporated with dilute nitrogen at 300K
In the present work, a thin film was deposited on quartz substrate by reactive RF magnetron sputtering of high purity (99.999%) aluminium target using ultra-high pure (Ar + N2) gas mixture. The percentage ratio of Ar and N2 in the gas mixture was 95% and 5%, respectively. Chemical characterization using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy-dispersive xray (EDX) spectroscopy reveals that in the presence of dilute nitrogen, Al prefers to react with residual oxygen to form Al2O3 while the nitrogen is incorporated in it. The stoichiometry of bulk film is Al2N0.38O3.1. Magnetic and electrical properties measurement shows that the film exhibits ntype dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) property at 300K. The film has low electrical resistivity of 6.3 {\Omega}-cm and high carrier mobility of 5.7*106 cm2V-1s-1 at 300K. A density functional theory (DFT) calculation was performed to investigate the origin of observed magnetism in the film. From first-principles calculation based on DFT, it is found that for thermodynamic stability dilute nitrogen incorporated in Al2O3 preferred to sit at the interstitial site, which is responsible for observed magnetic property. Present study reported here provides a new insight to prepare rarely observed n-type DMS at room temperature by incorporating nitrogen interstitials in Al2O3, which is desirable for potential application in the field of spintronics.
2010.08361v1
2020-11-03
In situ mechanical testing of an Al matrix composite to investigate compressive plasticity and failure on multiple length scales
SiC particle-reinforced Al matrix composites exhibit high strength, high wear resistance, and excellent high-temperature performance, but can also have low plasticity and fracture toughness, which limits their use in structural applications. This study investigates the plasticity and failure of such a composite on multiple length scales, from strain localization through a complex microstructure to the debonding of individual microparticles from the matrix. Three microscale pillars containing microstructures with different complexities and sizes/volume fraction of SiC particles were used to study the effect of these features on deformation. For the matrix, nanoscale intermetallic precipitates within the Al grains contribute most to the strengthening effect, and the Al grain boundaries are shown to be effective obstacles for preventing strain localization by dominant shear bands and, therefore, catastrophic failure. When shear localization occurs, SiC particles can then debond from the matrix if the shear band and interface are aligned. To investigate whether the interface is a weak point during catastrophic failure, a number of SiC particles were separated from the matrix with direct debonding tests, which yield an interface strength that is much higher than the critical resolved shear stress for a pillar exhibiting both shear localization and interface debonding. Therefore, the matrix-particle interface is ruled out as a possible weak point, and instead shear localization is identified as the mechanism that can drive subsequent interface debonding.
2011.01390v3
2020-12-04
Revealing the Nanostructure of Mesoporous Fuel Cell Catalyst Supports for Durable, High-Power Performance
Achieving high power performance and durability with low Pt loadings are critical challenges for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. PtCo catalysts developed on new carbon black supports show promise by simultaneously providing good oxygen reduction kinetics and local oxygen transport. We investigate the role of nanoscale morphology in the performance of these catalysts supported on accessible (HSC-e and HSC-f) and conventional (Ketjen Black) porous carbons using 3D electron tomography, nitrogen sorption, and electrochemical performance measurements. We find that the accessible porous carbons have hollow interiors with mesopores that are larger and more numerous than conventional porous carbons. However, mesopore-sized openings (>2nm width) are too rare to account for significant oxygen transport. Instead we propose the primary oxygen transport pathway into the interior is through 1-2nm microporous channels permeating the carbon. The increased mesoporosity in the accessible porous carbons results in a shorter diffusion pathlength through constrictive, tortuous micropores in the support shell leading to lower local oxygen transport resistance. In durability testing, the accessible porous carbons show faster rates of electrochemical surface area loss, likely from fewer constrictive pores that would mitigate coarsening, but maintain superior high current density performance at end of life from the improved local oxygen transport.
2012.02879v1
2020-12-08
Complex impedance and Raman spectroscopy of Na$_{0.5}$(Bi$_{1-x}$Dy$_x$)$_{0.5}$TiO$_3$ ceramics
In this work structural refinement, complex impedance spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy have been investigated on Na$_{0.5}$(Bi$_{1-x}$Dy$_x$)$_{0.5}$TiO$_3$ (xDyNBT) ceramic systems. The pure NBT, 2DyNBT and 5DyNBT compounds crystallize in a rhombohedral structure while the 15DyNBT composition crystallizes in an orthorhombic Pnma structure. We reported that dysprosium addition affects the phase transition temperatures as well as the dielectric losses. The electrical transport at high temperatures was investigated using the CIS over a wide frequency range. The studied samples showed a non-Debye type process, with a short-range relaxation for the pure NBT and a coexistence of both localized and long-range relaxations of charge carriers for the 2DyNBT and 5DyNBT compounds. For the high concentration, 15DyNBT, a short-range relaxation is observed. Moreover, using a brick-layer model we discuss the resistance and capacitance of the different contributors (grain and grain boundaries) in our samples. High temperature Raman spectroscopy investigation was performed in order to follow the temperature evolution of the structural transformations on ferroelectric compounds. Anomalies in the temperature evolution of the vibrational modes are seen to correlate well with the temperature transitions observed from dielectric measurements.
2012.04325v1
2021-02-18
Characterization of high aspect ratio TiAu TES X-ray microcalorimeters array using the X-IFU Frequency Domain Multiplexing readout
We are developing X-ray microcalorimeters as a backup option for the baseline detectors in the X-IFU instrument on board the ATHENA space mission led by ESA and to be launched in the early 2030s.5$\times$5 mixed arrays with TiAu transition-edge sensor (TES), which have different high aspect ratios and thus high resistances, have been designed and fabricated to meet the energy resolution requirement of the X-IFU instrument. Such arrays can also be used to optimise the performance of the Frequency Domain Multiplexing (FDM) readout and lead to the final steps for the fabrication of a large detector array. In this work we present the experimental results from tens of the devices with an aspect ratio (length-to-width) ranging from 1-to-1 up to 6-to-1, measured in a single-pixel mode with a FDM readout system developed at SRON/VTT. We observed a nominal energy resolution of about 2.5 eV at 5.9 keV at bias frequencies ranging from 1 to 5 MHz. These detectors are proving to be the best TES microcalorimeters ever reported in Europe, being able to meet not only the requirements of the X-IFU instrument, but also those of other future challenging X-ray space missions, fundamental physics experiments, plasma characterization and material analysis.
2102.09378v1
2021-07-19
Miniaturization of Josephson junction for digital superconducting circuits
In this work, we briefly overview various options for Josephson junctions which should be scalable down to nanometer range for utilization in nanoscale digital superconducting technology. Such junctions should possess high values of critical current, $I_c$, and normal state resistance, $R_n$. Another requirement is the high reproducibility of the junction parameters across a wafer in a fabrication process. We argue that Superconductor - Normal metal - Superconductor (SN-N-NS) Josephson junction of "variable thickness bridge" geometry is a promising choice to meet these requirements. Theoretical analysis of SN-N-NS junction is performed in the case where the distance between the S-electrodes is comparable to the coherence length of the N-material. The restriction on the junction geometrical parameters providing the existence of superconductivity in the S-electrodes is derived for the current flowing through the junction of an order of $I_c$. The junction heating, as well as available mechanisms for the heat removal, is analyzed. The obtained results show that an SN-N-NS junction with a high (sub-millivolt) value of $I_cR_n$ product can be fabricated from a broadly utilized combination of materials like Nb/Cu using well-established technological processes. The junction area can be scaled down to that of semiconductor transistors fabricated in the frame of a 40-nm process.
2107.08711v1
2021-11-18
Searching for Superconductivity in High Entropy Oxide Ruddlesden-Popper Cuprate Films
In this work, the high entropy oxide A2CuO4 Ruddlesden-Popper (La0.2Pr0.2Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2)2CuO4 is explored by charge doping with Ce+4 and Sr+2 at concentrations known to induce superconductivity in the simple parent compounds, Nd2CuO4 and La2CuO4. Electron doped (La0.185Pr0.185Nd0.185Sm0.185Eu0.185Ce0.075)2CuO4 and hole doped (La0.18Pr0.18Nd0.18Sm0.18Eu0.18Sr0.1)2CuO4 are synthesized and shown to be single crystal, epitaxially strained, and highly uniform. Transport measurements demonstrate that all as-grown films are insulating regardless of doping. Annealing studies show that resistivity can be tuned by modifying oxygen stoichiometry and inducing metallicity but without superconductivity. These results in turn are connected to extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) results indicating that the lack of superconductivity in the high entropy cuprates likely originates from a large distortion within the Cu-O plane ({\sigma}2>0.015 {\AA}2) due to A-site cation size variance, which drives localization of charge carriers. These findings describe new opportunities for controlling charge- and orbital-mediated functional responses in Ruddlesden-Popper crystal structures, driven by balancing of cation size and charge variances that may be exploited for functionally important behaviors such as superconductivity, antiferromagnetism, and metal-insulator transitions, while opening less understood phase spaces hosting doped Mott insulators, strange metals, quantum criticality, pseudogaps, and ordered charge density waves.
2111.09767v1
2022-01-03
Phase Diagram of Infinite-layer Nickelate Compounds from First- and Second-principles Calculations
The fundamental properties of infinite-layer rare-earth nickelates (RNiO2) are carefully revisited and compared with those of CaCuO2 and RNiO3 perovskites. Combining first-principles and finite-temperature second-principles calculations, we highlight that bulk NdNiO2 compound are far from equivalent to CaCuO2, together at the structural, electronic, and magnetic levels. Structurally, it is shown to be prone to spin-phonon coupling induced oxygen square rotation motion, which might be responsible for the intriguing upturn of the resistivity. At the electronic and magnetic levels, we point out orbital-selective Mott localization with strong out-of-plane band dispersion, which should result in the isotropic upper critical fields and weakly three-dimensional magnetic interactions with in-plane local moment and out-of-plane itinerant moment. We further demonstrate that as in RNiO3 perovskites, oxygen rotation motion and rare-earth ion controlled electronic and magnetic properties can give rise in RNiO2 compounds to a rich phase diagram and high tunability of various appealing properties. In line with that, we reveal that key ingredients of high-Tc superconductor such as orbital polarization, Fermi surface, and antiferromagnetic interactions can be deliberately controlled in NdNiO2 through epitaxial strain. Exploiting strain-orbital engineering, a crossover from three- to two-dimensional magnetic transition can be established, making then NdNiO2 thin film a true analog of high-Tc cuprates.
2201.00709v1
2022-03-20
Deposition temperature dependence of thermo-spin and magneto-thermoelectric conversion in Co$_2$MnGa films on Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ and Gd$_3$Ga$_5$O$_{12}$
We have characterized Co$_2$MnGa (CMG) Heusler alloy films grown on Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ (YIG) and Gd$_3$Ga$_5$O$_{12}$ (GGG) substrates at different deposition temperatures and investigated thermo-spin and magneto-thermoelectric conversion properties by means of a lock-in thermography technique. X-ray diffraction, magnetization, and electrical transport measurements show that the deposition at high substrate temperatures induces the crystallized structures of CMG while the resistivity of the CMG films on YIG (GGG) prepared at and above 500 {\deg}C (550 {\deg}C) becomes too high to measure the thermo-spin and magneto-thermoelectric effects due to large roughness, highlighting the difficulty of fabricating highly ordered continuous CMG films on garnet structures. Our lock-in thermography measurements show that the deposition at high substrate temperatures results in an increase in the current-induced temperature change for CMG/GGG and a decrease in that for CMG/YIG. The former indicates the enhancement of the anomalous Ettingshausen effect in CMG through crystallization. The latter can be explained by the superposition of the anomalous Ettingshausen effect and the spin Peltier effect induced by the positive (negative) charge-to-spin conversion for the amorphous (crystallized) CMG films. These results provide a hint to construct spin-caloritronic devices based on Heusler alloys.
2203.10566v2
2022-04-10
Efficient route to achieve superconductivity improvement via substitutional La-Ce alloy superhydride at high pressure
The discovery of clathrate superhydrides has approached the long-standing dream of room-temperature superconductivity and thus inspired their prosperous research under high pressure. However, how to experimentally optimize these compelling superhydrides is still a formidable challenge. Here, we find that half of the Ce atoms in the recently discovered hexagonal close packed (hcp) CeH9 structure can be randomly replaced by adjacent La, resulting in the formation of LaH9 unit that is impossible in a binary system. Our experiments show that hcp (La, Ce)H9 can be synthesized at ~110 GPa and possesses a maximum Tc of 178 K at higher pressure, which is evidenced by in-situ X-ray diffraction and electronic transport measurement where a sharp drop of resistivity to zero and a characteristic decrease of Tc under a magnetic field up to 9 T. More importantly, the Tc of (La, Ce)H9 is significantly increased by ~50-80 K compared to CeH9, showing the hitherto highest Tc at megabar pressure. Our experimental results not only verify the feasibility of improving the superconductivity of hydrides by introducing other suitable metals, but also provide important inspiration for finding high-Tc superconductors in various multinary superhydrides.
2204.04623v1
2022-06-16
A Lateral AlGaN/GaN Schottky Barrier Diode with 0.36 V Turn-on Voltage and 10 kV Breakdown Voltage by Using Double Barrier Anode Structure
In this letter, we demonstrate a lateral AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diode (SBD) on sapphire substrate with low turn-on voltage (Von) and high breakdown voltage (VBK). By using a double barrier anode (DBA) structure formed by the mixture of Platinum (Pt) and Tantalum (Ta), the Von of the SBD can be as low as 0.36 V with a leakage current of 2.5E-6 A/mm. Supported by the high-quality carbon-doped GaN buffer on sapphire, the VBK can reach more than 10 kV with the anode-to-cathode spacing of 85 {\mu}m. Combining the VBK and the specific on-resistance (Ron,sp) of 25.1 m{\Omega}.cm^2, the power figure of merit of the SBD can reach 4.0 GW/cm^2, demonstrating a great potential for the application in ultra-high-voltage electronics.
2206.07881v1
2022-07-08
Synthesis and Superconductivity in yttrium superhydrides under high pressure
The flourishing rare earth superhydrides are a class of recently discovered materials that possess near-room-temperature superconductivity at high pressures, opening a new era of superconductivity research at high pressures. Among these superhydrides, yttrium superhydrides attracted great interest owing to their abundance of stoichiometries and excellent superconductivities. Here, we carried out a comprehensive study of yttrium superhydrides in a wide pressure range of 145-300 GPa. We successfully synthesized a series of superhydrides with the compositions of YH4, YH6, YH7, and YH9, and reported their superconducting transition temperatures of 82 K at 167 GPa, 218 K at 165 GPa, 29 K at 162 GPa, and 230 K at 300 GPa, respectively, which were evidenced by a sharp drop of resistivity. The structure and superconductivity of YH4, which was taken as a representative example, were also examined by X-ray diffraction measurements and the suppression of the superconductivity under external magnetic fields, respectively. Clathrate YH10 as a candidate of room-temperature superconductor was not synthesized within the studied pressure and temperature ranges of up to 300 GPa and 2000 K, respectively. The current work created a detailed platform for further searching room-temperature superconductors in polynary yttrium-based superhydrides.
2207.03918v1
2022-08-31
Pouch cells with 15% silicon calendar-aged for 4 years
Small amounts of high-capacity silicon-based materials are already used in the anode of commercial Li-ion batteries, helping increase their energy density. Despite their remarkable storage capability, silicon continuously reacts with the electrolyte, accelerating time-dependent cell performance fade. Nevertheless, very limited information is available on the specific consequences of this reactivity for the calendar aging of Li-ion cells. Here, we analyze aging effects on 450 mAh pouch cells containing 15 wt% of Si (and 73 wt% graphite) after storage at 21 oC for four years. We show that severe losses of Si capacity occurred due to particle isolation when cells were stored at high states of charge (SOC), but not when cells were fully discharged prior to storage. Impedance rise was also significantly higher when cells were kept at high SOCs and was mostly due to phenomena taking place at the cathode; the continuous electrolyte reduction at the anode did not lead to a major increase in bulk electrode resistance. A series of post-test characterization provided additional information on the effects of time and SOC on the calendar aging of Si-containing cells. Our study highlights the many challenges posed by Si during calendar aging and can inform future studies in the field.
2209.00138v1
2022-10-13
Diffusion mechanism and electrochemical investigation of 1T phase Al-MoS$_{2}$@rGO nano-composite as a high-performance anode for sodium-ion batteries
We report the electrochemical investigation of 5% Al doped MoS$_2$@rGO composite as a high-performance anode for sodium (Na)-ion batteries. The x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy characterizations reveal that the Al doping increase the interlayer spacing of (002) plane of MoS$_2$ nanosheets and form a stable 1T phase. The galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements show the specific capacity stable around 450, 400, 350, 300 and 200 mAhg$^{-1}$ at current densities of 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1~Ag$^{-1}$, respectively. Also, we observe the capacity retentions of 86% and 66% at 0.1 and 0.3 Ag$^{-1}$, respectively, over 200 cycles with a consistent Coulombic efficiency of nearly 100%. The cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic intermittent titration technique, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are used to find the kinetic behavior and the obtained value of diffusion coefficient falls in the range of 10$^{-10}$ to 10$^{-12}$ cm$^2$s$^{-1}$. Intriguingly, the in-situ EIS also explains the electrochemical kinetics of the electrode at different charge-discharge states with the variation of charge transfer resistance. Moreover, the post cycling investigation using ex-situ XRD and photoemission spectroscopy indicate the coexistence of 1T/2H phase and field-emission scanning electron microscopy confirm the stable morphology after 500 cycles. Also, the Na-ion transport properties are calculated for 1T Al--MoS$_2$@rGO interface and Al--MoS$_2$--MoS$_2$ interlayer host structure by theoretical calculations using density functional theory.
2210.06735v1
2022-11-02
Discovery of a high-temperature antiferromagnetic state and transport signatures of exchange interactions in a Bi2Se3/EuSe heterostructure
Spatial confinement of electronic topological surface states (TSS) in topological insulators poses a formidable challenge because TSS are protected by time-reversal symmetry. In previous works formation of a gap in the electronic spectrum of TSS has been successfully demonstrated in topological insulator/magnetic material heterostructures, where ferromagnetic exchange interactions locally lifts the time-reversal symmetry. Here we report an experimental evidence of exchange interaction between a topological insulator Bi2Se3 and a magnetic insulator EuSe. Spin-polarized neutron reflectometry reveals a reduction of the in-plane magnetic susceptibility within a 2 nm interfacial layer of EuSe, and the combination of SQUID magnetometry and Hall measurements points to the formation of an antiferromagnetic layer with at least five-fold enhancement of N\'eel's temperature. Abrupt resistance changes in high magnetic fields indicate interfacial exchange coupling that affects transport in a TSS. High temperature local control of TSS with zero net magnetization unlocks new opportunities for the design of electronic, spintronic and quantum computation devices, ranging from quantization of Hall conductance in zero fields to spatial localization of non-Abelian excitations in superconducting topological qubits.
2211.01211v1
2022-11-09
Evolution of the strange-metal scattering in momentum space of electron-doped ${\rm La}_{2-x}{\rm Ce}_x{\rm CuO}_4$
The linear-in-temperature resistivity is one of the important mysteries in the strange metal state of high-temperature cuprate superconductors. To uncover this anomalous property, the energy-momentum-dependent imaginary part of the self-energy Im ${\rm \Sigma}(k, \omega)$ holds the key information. Here we perform systematic doping, momentum, and temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements of electron-doped cuprate ${\rm La}_{2-x}{\rm Ce}_x{\rm CuO}_4$ and extract the evolution of the strange metal scattering in momentum space. At low doping levels and low temperatures, Im ${\rm\Sigma} \propto \omega$ dependence dominates the whole momentum space. For high doping levels and high temperatures, Im ${\rm\Sigma} \propto \omega^2$ shows up, starting from the antinodal region. By comparing with the hole-doped cuprates ${\rm La}_{2-x}{\rm Sr}_x{\rm CuO}_4$ and ${\rm Bi}_2{\rm Sr}_2{\rm CaCu}_2{\rm O}_8$, we find a dichotomy of the scattering rate exists along the nodal and antinodal direction, which is ubiquitous in the cuprate family. Our work provides new insight into the strange metal state in cuprates.
2211.04833v1
2023-03-30
Physics-based bias-dependent compact modeling of 1/f noise in single- to few- layer 2D-FETs
1/f noise is a critical figure of merit for the performance of transistors and circuits. For two-dimensional devices (2D-FETs), and especially for applications in the GHz range where short-channel FETs are required, velocity saturation (VS) effect can result in the reduction of 1/f noise at high longitudinal electric fields. A new physics-based compact model is for the first time introduced for single- to few- layer 2D-FETs in this study, precisely validating 1/f noise experiments for various types of devices. The proposed model mainly accounts for the measured 1/f noise bias dependence as the latter is defined by different physical mechanisms. Thus, analytical expressions are derived, valid in all regions of operation in contrast to conventional approaches available in literature so far, accounting for carrier number fluctuation (DN), mobility fluctuation (Dmu}) and contact resistance (DR) effects based on the underlying physics that rules these devices. DN mechanism due to trapping/detrapping together with an intense Coulomb scattering effect, dominates 1/f noise from medium to strong accumulation region while Dmu, is also demonstrated to modestly contribute in subthreshold region. DR can also be significant in very high carrier density. The VS induced reduction of 1/f noise measurements at high electric fields, is also remarkably captured by the model. The physical validity of the model can also assist in extracting credible conclusions when conducting comparisons between experimental data from devices with different materials or dielectrics.
2303.17162v1