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2020-09-30
Domain Control by Adjusting Anisotropic Stress in Pyrochlore Oxide Cd2Re2O7
The 5d pyrochlore oxide Cd2Re2O7 exhibits successive phase transitions from a cubic pyrochlore structure (phase I) to a tetragonal structure without inversion symmetry below Ts1 of ~200 K (phase II) and further to another noncentrosymmetric tetragonal structure below Ts2 of ~120 K (phase III). The two low-temperature phases may be characterized by odd-parity multipolar orders induced by the Fermi liquid instability of the spin-orbit-coupled metal. To control the tetragonal domains generated by the transitions and to obtain a single-domain crystal for the measurements of anisotropic properties, we prepared single crystals with the (0 0 1) surface and applied biaxial and uniaxial stresses along the plane. Polarizing optical microscopy observations revealed that inducing a small strain of approximately 0.05% could flip the twin domains ferroelastically in a reversible fashion at low temperatures, which evidences that the tetragonal deformation switches at Ts2 between c > a for phase II and c < a for phase III. Resistivity measurements using single-domain crystals under uniaxial stress showed that the anisotropy was maximum at around Ts2 and turned over across Ts2: resistivity along the c axis is larger (smaller) than that along the a axis by ~25% for phase II (III) at around Ts2. These large anisotropies probably originate from spin-dependent scattering in the spin-split Fermi surfaces of the cluster electric toroidal quadrupolar phases of Cd2Re2O7.
2009.14443v1
2012-01-10
Microscopic theory for a ferromagnetic-nanowire/superconductor heterostructure: Transport, fluctuations and topological superconductivity
Motivated by the recent experiment of Wang et al. [Nature Physics 6, 389 (2010)], who observed a highly unusual transport behavior of ferromagnetic Cobalt nanowires proximity-coupled to superconducting electrodes, we study proximity effect and temperature-dependent transport in such a mesoscopic hybrid structure. It is assumed that the asymmetry in the tunneling barrier gives rise to the Rashba spin-orbit-coupling in the barrier that enables induced p-wave superconductivity in the ferromagnet to exist. We first develop a microscopic theory of Andreev scattering at the spin-orbit-coupled interface, derive a set of self-consistent boundary conditions, and find an expression for the p-wave minigap in terms of the microscopic parameters of the contact. Second, we study temperature-dependence of the resistance near the superconducting transition and find that it should generally feature a fluctuation-induced peak. The upturn in resistance is related to the suppression of the single-particle density of states due to the formation of fluctuating pairs, whose tunneling is suppressed. In conclusion, we discuss this and related setups involving ferromagnetic nanowires in the context of one-dimensional topological superconductors. It is argued that to realize unpaired end Majorana modes, one does not necessarily need a half-metallic state, but a partial spin polarization may suffice. Finally, we propose yet another related class of material systems -- ferromagnetic semiconductor wires coupled to ferromagnetic superconductors -- where direct realization of Kitaev-Majorana model should be especially straightforward.
1201.2180v2
2016-03-14
Lifshitz scaling effects on holographic paramagnetism/ferromagneism phase transition
In the probe limit, we investigate holographic paramagnetism-ferromagnetism phase transition in the four-dimensional (4D) and five-dimensional(5D) Lifshitz black holes by means of numerical and semi-analytical methods, which is realized by introducing a massive 2-form field coupled to the Maxwell field. We find that the Lifshitz dynamical exponent $z$ contributes evidently to magnetic moment and hysteresis loop of single magnetic domain quantitatively not qualitatively. Concretely, in the case without external magnetic field, the spontaneous magnetization and ferromagnetic phase transition happen when the temperature gets low enough, and the critical exponent for the magnetic moment is always $1/2$, which is in agreement with the result from mean field theory. And the increasing $z$ enhances the phase transition and increases the DC resistivity which behaves as the colossal magnetic resistance effect in some materials. Furthermore, in the presence of the external magnetic field, the magnetic susceptibility satisfies the Cure-Weiss law with a general $z$. But the increase of $z$ will result in shortening the period of the external magnetic field.
1603.04149v1
2016-03-14
Double-phase transition and giant positive magnetoresistance in the quasi-skutterudite Gd$_3$Ir$_4$Sn$_{13}$
The magnetic, thermodynamic and electrical/thermal transport properties of the caged-structure quasi-skutterudite Gd$_3$Ir$_4$Sn$_{13}$ are re-investigated. The magnetization $M(T)$, specific heat $C_p(T)$ and the resistivity $\rho(T)$ reveal a double-phase transition -- at $T_{N1}\sim$ 10~K and at $T_{N2}\sim$ 8.8~K -- which was not observed in the previous report on this compound. The antiferromagnetic transition is also visible in the thermal transport data, thereby suggesting a close connection between the electronic and lattice degrees of freedom in this Sn-based quasi-skutterudite. The temperature dependence of $\rho(T)$ is analyzed in terms of a power-law for resistivity pertinent to Fermi liquid picture. Giant, positive magnetoresistance (MR) $\approx$ 80$\%$ is observed in Gd$_3$Ir$_4$Sn$_{13}$ at 2~K with the application of 9~T. The giant MR and the double magnetic transition can be attributed to the quasi-cages and layered antiferromagnetic structure of Gd$_3$Ir$_4$Sn$_{13}$ vulnerable to structural distortions and/or dipolar or spin-reorientation effects. The giant value of MR observed in this class of 3:4:13 type alloys, especially in a Gd-compound, is the highlight of this work.
1603.04377v1
2016-03-29
Electronic and transport properties of the Mn-doped topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$: A first-principles study
We present a first-principles study of the electronic, magnetic, and transport properties of the topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ doped with Mn atoms in substitutional (Mn$_{\rm Bi}$) and interstitial van der Waals gap positions (Mn$_{\rm i}$), which act as acceptors and donors, respectively. The effect of native Bi$_{\rm Te}$- and Te$_{\rm Bi}$-antisite defects and their influence on calculated electronic transport properties is also investigated. We have studied four models representing typical cases, namely (i) Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ with and without native defects, (ii) Mn$_{\rm Bi}$ defects with and without native defects, (iii) the same but for Mn$_{\rm i}$ defects, and (iv) the combined presence of Mn$_{\rm Bi}$ and Mn$_{\rm i}$. It was found that lattice relaxations around Mn$_{\rm Bi}$ defects play an important role for both magnetic and transport properties. The resistivity is strongly influenced by the amount of carriers, their type, and by the relative positions of the Mn-impurity energy levels and the Fermi energy. Our results indicate strategies to tune bulk resistivities, and also help to uncover the location of Mn atoms in measured samples. Calculations indicate that at least two of the considered defects have to be present simultaneously in order to explain the experimental observations, and the role of interstitials may be more important than expected.
1603.08811v2
2017-04-03
Thickness-dependent Kapitza resistance in multilayered graphene and other two-dimensional crystals
The Kapitza or thermal boundary resistance (TBR), which limits heat dissipation from a thin film to its substrate, is a major factor in the thermal management of ultrathin nanoelectronic devices and is widely assumed to be a property of only the interface. However, data from experiments and molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the TBR between a multilayer 2-dimensional (2D) crystal and its substrate decreases with increasing film thickness. To explain this thickness dependence, we generalize the recent theory for single-layer 2D crystals by Ong, Cai and Zhang [Phys. Rev. B 94, 165427 (2016)], which is derived from the theory by Persson, Volokitin, and Ueba [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 23, 045009 (2011)], and use it to evaluate the TBR between bare $N$-layer graphene and SiO$_{2}$. Our calculations reproduce quantitatively the TBR thickness dependence seen in experiments and simulations as well as its asymptotic convergence, and predict that the low-temperature TBR scales as $T^{-4}$ in few-layer graphene. Analysis of the interfacial transmission coefficient spectrum shows that the TBR reduction in few-layer graphene is due to the additional contribution from higher flexural phonon branches. Our theory sheds light on the role of flexural phonons in substrate-directed heat dissipation and provides the framework for optimizing the thermal management of multilayered 2D devices.
1704.00435v2
2017-04-23
Quantum limit transport and destruction of the Weyl nodes in TaAs
Weyl fermions are a new ingredient for correlated states of electronic matter. A key difficulty has been that real materials also contain non-Weyl quasiparticles, and disentangling the experimental signatures has proven challenging. We use magnetic fields up to 95 tesla to drive the Weyl semimetal TaAs far into its quantum limit (QL), where only the purely chiral 0th Landau levels (LLs) of the Weyl fermions are occupied. We find the electrical resistivity to be nearly independent of magnetic field up to 50 tesla: unusual for conventional metals but consistent with the chiral anomaly for Weyl fermions. Above 50 tesla we observe a two-order-of-magnitude increase in resistivity, indicating that a gap opens in the chiral LLs. Above 80 tesla we observe strong ultrasonic attenuation below 2 kelvin, suggesting a mesoscopically-textured state of matter. These results point the way to inducing new correlated states of matter in the QL of Weyl semimetals.
1704.06944v3
2017-05-01
Arbitrary control of the polarization and intensity profiles of diffraction-attenuation-resistant beams along their propagation direction
We report on the theory and experimental generation of a class of diffraction-attenuation-resistant beams with state of polarization (SoP) and intensity that can be controlled on demand along the propagation direction. This is achieved by a suitable superposition of Bessel beams, whose parameters are systematically chosen based on closed-form analytic expressions provided by the Frozen Waves (FWs) method. Using an amplitude-only spatial light modulator, we experimentally demonstrate three scenarios. In the first, the SoP of a horizontally polarized beam evolves to radial polarization and is then changed to vertical polarization, with the beam intensity held constant. In the second, we simultaneously control the SoP and the longitudinal intensity profile, which was chosen such that the beam's central ring can be switched-off over predefined space regions, thus generating multiple foci with different SoP and at different intensity levels along the propagation. Finally, the ability to control the SoP while overcoming attenuation inside lossy fluids is shown experimentally for the first time in the literature (to the best of our knowledge). Therefore, we envision our proposed method to be of great interest for many applications, such as optical tweezers, atom guiding, material processing, microscopy, and optical communications.
1705.00408v3
2019-03-02
Topological Valley Currents in Bilayer Graphene/Hexagonal Boron Nitride Superlattices
Graphene superlattices have recently been attracting growing interest as an emergent class of quantum metamaterials. In this paper, we report the observation of nonlocal transport in bilayer graphene (BLG) superlattices encapsulated between two hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers, which formed hBN/BLG/hBN moir\'e superlattices. We then employed these superlattices to detect a long-range charge-neutral valley current using an all-electrical method. The moir\'e superlattice with broken inversion symmetry leads to a hot spot with Berry curvature accumulating at the charge neutral point (CNP), and it harbors satellites of the CNP. We observed nonlocal resistance on the order of 1 $\text{k}\Omega$, which obeys a scaling relation. This nonlocal resistance evolves from the quantum Hall effect but without magnetic field/time-reversal symmetry breaking, which is associated with a hot-spot-induced topological valley current. This study should pave the way to developing a Berry-phase-sensitive probe to detect hot spots in gapped Dirac materials with inversion-symmetry breaking.
1903.00625v2
2019-04-05
Explicit relationship between electrical and topological degradation of polymer-supported metal films subjected to mechanical loading
For a comprehensive characterization of mechanical reliability of metallization layers on polymer substrates both electrical and mechanical degradation should be taken into account. Although it is evident that cracking of a conductive film should lead to electrical degradation, the quantitative relationship between the growth of electric resistance and parameters of the induced crack pattern has remained thus far unexplored. With the help of finite element modelling we were able to find an explicit and concise expression which shows that electrical resistance grows with the fourth order of the crack length and second order of the areal crack density. The discovered relationship was verified by comparison with the experimental results of tensile testing of polymer-supported thin metal films. Presented model is independent of the length scale and can be applied to films with different thicknesses as long as Ohm's law is valid. It is demonstrated that linear crack density is an ambiguous parameter which does not properly capture the development of a crack pattern. For the unambiguous characterization of the intensity of a crack pattern a universal dimensionless factor is proposed. Presented results show that there is a wide range of possible crack patterns which do not lead to electrical failure of a conductive film that can be used for failure-free design of flexible electronic devices.
1904.03007v1
2015-04-09
Quantum oscillations with non-zero Berry phase from a complex three dimensional Fermi surface in Bi2Te3
We performed angle dependent magnetoresistance study of a metallic single crystal sample of Bi2Te3. We find that the magnetoresistance is highly asymmetric in positive and negative magnetic fields for small angles between the magnetic field and the direction perpendicular to the plane of the sample. The magnetoresistance becomes symmetric as the angle approaches 90 degree. The quantum Shubnikov de-Haas oscillations are symmetric and show signatures of topological surface states with Dirac dispersion in the form of non-zero Berry phase. However, the angular dependence of these oscillations suggests a complex three dimensional Fermi surface as the source of these oscillations, which does not exactly conform with the six ellipsoidal model of the Fermi surface of Bi2Te3. We attribute the asymmetry in the magnetoresistance to a mixing of the Hall voltage in the longitudinal resistance due to the comparable magnitude of the Hall and longitudinal resistance in our samples. This provides a clue to understanding the asymmetric magnetoresistance often seen in this and similar materials. Moreover, the asymmetric nature evolves with exposure to atmosphere and thermal cycling, which we believe is either due to exposure to atmosphere or thermal cycling, or both affecting the carrier concentration and hence the Hall signal in these samples. However, the quantum oscillations seem to be robust against these factors which suggests that the two have different origins.
1504.02386v1
2015-06-17
Origin of the glass-like dynamics in molecular metals $\pmbκ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{\textbf{2}}$X: implications from fluctuation spectroscopy and $\pmb{\textit{ab initio}}$ calculations
We have studied the low-frequency dynamics of the charge carriers in different organic charge-transfer salts $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$X with polymeric anions X by using resistance noise spectroscopy. Our aim is to investigate the structural, glass-like transition caused by the conformational degrees of freedom of the BEDT-TTF molecules' terminal ethylene groups. Although of fundamental importance for studies of the electronic ground-state properties, the phenomenology of the glassy dynamics is only scarcely investigated and its origin is not understood. Our systematic studies of fluctuation spectroscopy of various different compounds reveal a universal, pronounced maximum in the resistance noise power spectral density related to the glass transition. The energy scale of this precess can be identified with the activation energy of the glass-like ethylene endgroup structural dynamics as determined from thermodynamic and NMR measurements. For the first time for this class of 'plastic crystals', we report a typical glassy property of the relaxation time, namely a Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law, and are able to determine the degree of fragility of the glassy system. Supporting $\textit{ab initio}$ calculations provide an explanation for the origin and phenomenology of the glassy dynamics in different systems in terms of a simple two-level model, where the relevant energy scales are determined by the coupling of the ethylene endgroups to the anions.
1506.05191v1
2015-07-13
Structural, and Magnetic properties of flux free large FeTe Single crystal
We report synthesis of non superconducting parent compound of iron chalcogenide, i.e., FeTe single crystal by self flux method. The FeTe single crystal is crystallized in tetragonal structure with the P4/nmm space group. The detailed SEM (scanning electron microscopy) results showed that the crystals are formed in slab like morphology and are near (slight deficiency of Te) stoichiometric with homogenous distribution of Fe and Te. The coupled structural and magnetic phase transition is seen at around 70K in both electrical resistivity and magnetization measurements, which is hysteric (deltaT = 5K) in nature with cooling and warming cycles. Magnetic susceptibility (chi-T) measurements showed the magnetic transition to be of antiferromagnetic nature, which is substantiated by isothermal magnetization (M-H) plots as well. The temperature dependent electrical resistivity measured in 10kOe field in both in plane and out of plane field directions showed that the hysteric width nearly becomes double to deltaT = 10K, and is maximum for the out of plane field direction for the studied FeTe single crystal. We also obtained a sharp spike like peak in heat capacity Cp(T) measurement due to the coupled structural and magnetic order phase transitions.
1507.03320v2
2018-12-06
Covalent-bonding-induced strong phonon scattering in the atomically thin WSe2 layer
In nano-device applications using 2D van der Waals materials, a heat dissipation through nano-scale interfaces can be a critical issue for optimizing device performances. By using a time-domain thermoreflectance measurement technique, we examine a cross-plane thermal transport through mono-layered (n=1) and bi-layered (n=2) WSe2 flakes which are sandwiched by top metal layers of Al, Au, and Ti and the bottom Al2O3 substrate. In these nanoscale structures with hetero- and homo-junctions, we observe that the thermal boundary resistance (TBR) is significantly enhanced as the number of WSe2 layers increases. In particular, as the metal is changed from Al, to Au, and to Ti, we find an interesting trend of TBR depending on the WSe2 thickness; when referenced to TBR for a system without WSe2, TBR for n=1 decreases, but that for n=2 increases. This result clearly demonstrates that the stronger bonding for Ti leads to a better thermal conduction between the metal and the WSe2 layer, but in return gives rise to a large mismatch in the phonon density of states between the first and second WSe2 layers so that the WSe2-WSe2 interface becomes a major thermal resistance for n=2. By using photoemission spectroscopy and optical second harmonic generation technique, we confirm that the metallization induces a change in the valence state of W-ions, and also recovers a non-centrosymmetry for the bi-layered WSe2.
1812.02383v1
2018-12-25
Quantum Transport in Topological Semimetals under Magnetic Fields (II)
We review our recent works on the quantum transport, mainly in topological semimetals and also in topological insulators, organized according to the strength of the magnetic field. At weak magnetic fields, we explain the negative magnetoresistance in topological semimetals and topological insulators by using the semiclassical equations of motion with the nontrivial Berry curvature. We show that the negative magnetoresistance can exist without the chiral anomaly. At strong magnetic fields, we establish theories for the quantum oscillations in topological Weyl, Dirac, and nodal-line semimetals. We propose a new mechanism of 3D quantum Hall effect, via the "wormhole" tunneling through the Weyl orbit formed by the Fermi arcs and Weyl nodes in topological semimetals. In the quantum limit at extremely strong magnetic fields, we find that an unexpected Hall resistance reversal can be understood in terms of the Weyl fermion annihilation. Additionally, in parallel magnetic fields, longitudinal resistance dips in the quantum limit can serve as signatures for topological insulators.
1812.10120v2
2019-06-11
Observation of Large Unidirectional Rashba Magnetoresistance in Ge(111)
Relating magnetotransport properties to specific spin textures at surfaces or interfaces is an intense field of research nowadays. Here, we investigate the variation of the electrical resistance of Ge(111) grown epitaxially on semi-insulating Si(111) under the application of an external magnetic field. We find a magnetoresistance term which is linear in current density j and magnetic field B, hence odd in j and B, corresponding to a unidirectional magnetoresistance. At 15 K, for I = 10 $\mu$A (or j = 0.33 A/m) and B = 1 T, it represents 0.5 % of the zero field resistance, a much higher value compared to previous reports on unidirectional magnetoresistance. We ascribe the origin of this magnetoresistance to the interplay between the externally applied magnetic field and the current-induced pseudo-magnetic field in the spin-splitted subsurface states of Ge(111). This unidirectional magnetoresistance is independent of the current direction with respect to the Ge crystal axes. It progressively vanishes, either using a negative gate voltage due to carrier activation into the bulk (without spin-splitted bands), or by increasing the temperature due to the Rashba energy splitting of the subsurface states lower than $\sim$58 k$_B$. The highly developed technologies on semiconductor platforms would allow the rapid optimization of devices based on this phenomenon.
1906.04457v1
2019-06-11
Thermal conductivity and thermal rectification of nanoporous graphene: A molecular dynamics simulation
Using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation, we study thermal properties of the so-called nanoporous graphene (NPG) sheet which contains a series of nanoporous in an ordered way and was synthesized recently (Science 360 (2018), 199). The dependence of thermal conductivity on sample size, edge chirality, and porosity concentration are investigated. Our results indicate that the thermal conductivity of NPG is about two orders smaller compared with of pristine graphene. Therefore this sheet can be used as a thermoelectric material. Also, the porosity concentration helps us to tune the thermal conductivity. Moreover, the results show that the thermal conductivity increases with growing sample length due to ballistic transport. On the other hand, along the armchair direction, the thermal conductivity is larger than zigzag direction. We also examined the thermal properties of the interface of NPG and graphene. The temperature drops significantly through the interface leading to the thermal resistance. The thermal resistance changes with imposed heat flux direction, and this difference cause significantly large thermal rectification factor, and heat current prefers one direction to another. Besides, to investigate those quantities fundamentally, we study the phonon density of states and scattering of them.
1906.04696v1
2019-06-12
Spin transport and Spin Tunnelling Magneto-Resistance (STMR) of F$|$NCSC$|$F spin valve
In this work, we study the spin transport at the Ferromagnet$|$Noncentrosymmetric Superconductor (F$|$NCSC) junction of a Ferromagnet$|$Noncentrosymmetric Superconductor$|$Ferromagnet (F$|$NCSC$|$F) spin valve. We investigate the Tunnelling Spin-Conductance (TSC), spin current and Spin Tunnelling Magneto-Resistance (STMR), and their dependence on various important parameters like Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling (RSOC), strength and orientation of magnetization, an external in-plane magnetic field, barrier strength and a significant Fermi Wavevector Mismatch (FWM) at the ferromagnetic and superconducting regions. The study has been carried out for different singlet-triplet mixing of the NCSC gap parameter. We develop Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) Hamiltonian and use the extended Blonder - Tinkham - Klapwijk (BTK) approach along with the scattering matrix formalism to calculate the scattering coefficients. Our results strongly suggest that the TSC is highly dependent on RSOC, magnetization strength and its orientation, and singlet-triplet mixing of the gap parameter. It is observed that NCSC with moderate RSOC shows maximum conductance for a partially opaque barrier in presence of low external magnetic field. For a strongly opaque barrier and a nearly transparent barrier a moderate value and a low value of field respectively are found to be suitable. Moreover, NCSC with large singlet component is appeared to be useful. In addition, for NCSC with large RSOC and low magnetization strength, a giant STMR ($\%$) is observed. We have also seen that the spin current is strongly magnetization orientation dependent. With the increase in bias voltage spin current increases in transverse direction, but the component along the direction of flow is almost independent.
1906.05081v1
2019-06-13
Passivation-induced physicochemical alterations of the native surface oxide film on 316L austenitic stainless steel
Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, in situ Photo-Current Spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis were combined to characterize the physicochemical alterations induced by electrochemical passivation of the surface oxide film providing corrosion resistance to 316L stainless steel. The as-prepared surface is covered by a ~2 nm thick, mixed (Cr(III)-Fe(III)) and bi-layered hydroxylated oxide. The inner layer is highly enriched in Cr(III) and the outer layer less so. Molybdenum is concentrated, mostly as Mo(VI), in the outer layer. Nickel is only present at trace level. These inner and outer layers have band gap values of 3.0 and 2.6-2.7 eV, respectively, and the oxide film would behave as an insulator. Electrochemical passivation in sulfuric acid solution causes the preferential dissolution of Fe(III) resulting in the thickness decrease of the outer layer and its increased enrichment in Cr(III) and Mo(IV-VI). The further Cr(III) enrichment of the inner layer causes loss of photoactivity and improved corrosion protection with the anodic shift of the corrosion potential and the increase of the polarization resistance by a factor of ~4. Aging in the passive state promotes the Cr enrichment in the inner barrier layer of the passive film.
1906.05544v1
2019-06-21
Crystal Growth and basic transport and magnetic properties of MnBi2Te4
We report successful growth of magnetic topological insulator (MTI) MnBi2Te4. The heating schedule basically deals with growth of the crystal from melt at 900C and very slow cooling (1C/hr) to around 600C with 24 hours hold time, followed by cooling to room temperature. Our detailed, PXRD Reitveld analysis showed that the resultant crystal is dominated mainly by MnBi2Te4 and minor phases of Bi2Te3 and MnTe. The transport measurements showed a step like behavior at around 150K followed by cusp like structure in resistivity at around 25K (TP) due reported anti-ferromagnetic ordering of Mn. Both the resistivity transitions are seen clearly in dR/dT measurements at 150K and 20K respectively. The 25K transition of the compound is also seen in magnetic susceptibility. Low temperature (5K) magnetoresistance (MR) in applied field of up to 6 Tesla exhibited negative ve MR below 3 Tesla and +ve for higher fields. Also, seen are steps in MR below one Tesla. The studied MnBi2Te4 MTI crystal could be a possible candidate for Quantum Anomalous Hall (QAH) effect.
1906.09038v3
2019-10-03
Nonlinear transport of ballistic Dirac electrons tunneling through a tunable potential barrier in graphene
Dirac-electronic tunneling and nonlinear transport properties with both finite and zero energy bandgap are investigated for graphene with a tilted potential barrier under a bias. For validation, results from a finite-difference based numerical approach, which is developed for calculating transmission and reflection coefficients with a dynamically-tunable (time-dependent bias field) barrier-potential profile, are compared with those of both an analytical model for a static square-potential barrier and a perturbation theory using Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. For a biased barrier, both transmission coefficient and tunneling resistance are computed and analyzed, indicating a full control of the peak in tunneling resistance by bias field for a tilted barrier, gate voltage for barrier height, and energy for incoming electrons. Moreover, a finite energy gap in graphene is found to suppress head-on transmission as well as skew transmission with a large transverse momentum. For a gapless graphene, on the other hand, filtering of Dirac electrons outside of normal incidence is found and can be used for designing electronic lenses. All these predicted attractive transport properties are expected extremely useful for the development of novel electronic and optical graphene-based devices.
1910.01295v1
2019-10-09
Decoupling of itinerant and localized $d$-orbital electrons in the compound Sc$_{0.5}$Zr$_{0.5}$Co
By using the arc-melting method, we successfully synthesized the compound Sc$_{0.5}$Zr$_{0.5}$Co with the space group of $Pm$-$3m$. Both the resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal a phase transition at about 86 K. This transition might be attributed to the establishment of an antiferromagnetic order. The magnetization hysteresis loop measurements in wide temperature region show a weak ferromagnetic feature, which suggests a possible canted arrangement of the magnetic moments. Bounded by the phase transition temperature, the resistivity at ambient pressure shows a change from Fermi liquid behavior to a super-linear behavior as temperature increases. By applying pressures up to 32.1 GPa, the transition temperature does not show a clear change and no superconductivity is observed above 2 K. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm the existence of the antiferromagnetic order and reveal a gap between the spin-up and spin-down $d$-orbital electrons. This kind of behavior may suggest that the antiferromagnetic order in this compound originates from the localized $d$-electrons which do not contribute to the conductance. Thus the itinerant and localized $d$-orbital electrons in the compound are decoupled.
1910.03966v1
2019-10-10
AFM manipulation of gold nanowires to build electrical circuits
We introduce scanning-probe-assisted nanowire circuitry (SPANC) as a new method to fabricate electrodes for the characterization of electrical transport properties at the nanoscale. SPANC uses an atomic force microscope (AFM) to manipulate nanowires to create complex and highly conductive nanostructures (paths) that work as nanoelectrodes, allowing connectivity and electrical characterization of other nano-objects. The paths are formed by the spontaneous cold welding of gold nanowires upon mechanical contact, leading to an excellent contact resistance of about 9 Ohms/junction. SPANC is an easy to use and cost-effective technique that fabricates clean nanodevices. Hence, this new method can complement and/or be an alternative to other well-established methods to fabricate nanocircuits such as electron beam lithography (EBL). The circuits made by SPANC are easily reconfigurable, and their fabrication does not require the use of polymers and chemicals. In this work, we present a few examples that illustrate the capabilities of this method, allowing robust device fabrication and electrical characterization of several nano-objects with sizes down to aprox. 10 nm, well below the current smallest size able to be contacted in a device using the standard available technology (around 30 nm). Importantly, we also provide the first experimental determination of the sheet resistance of thin antimonene flakes.
1910.04801v1
2019-10-21
A report of (topological) Hall anomaly two decades ago in Gd2PdSi3, and its relevance to the history of the field of Topological Hall Effect due to magnetic skyrmions
The area of magnetic skyrmions, with potential revolution in certain applications, in condensed matter physics is considered about a decade old. In this article, we draw the attention of the community to the recent work of Kurumaji et al [Science 365, 914 (2019)] establishing magnetic skyrmion lattice behavior in Gd2PdSi3. We consider it important to bring out the two decades old history, in particular Hall transport anomalies characterizing magnetic skyrmions. The key experimental data in support of the skyrmion lattice that Kurumaji et al present is the observation of topological Hall resistivity in an intervening field range, following two metamagnetic transitions. In addition, the values are giant, compared to those known for other magnetic skyrmions. We point out here that such features in Hall resistivity data, arising from Gd 4f magnetism, can be found in our publication in 1999 (along with the metamagnetic transitions) and we expressed difficulties in explaining the results at that time. In view of above, we propose to the scientific community that the compound Gd2PdSi3, ex post facto, can be considered as the first experimental demonstration for giant topological Hall effect in this field, discovered about two decades ago. We take this opportunity to share some thoughts, offering clues for further investigations, in particular to identify novel magnetic skyrmions and to find the same to enable applications.
1910.09194v2
2019-10-25
Energy-efficient ultrafast SOT-MRAMs based on low-resistivity spin Hall metal Au0.25Pt0.75
Many key electronic technologies (e.g., large-scale computing, machine learning, and superconducting electronics) require new memories that are fast, reliable, energy-efficient, and of low-impedance at the same time, which has remained a challenge. Non-volatile magnetoresistive random access memories (MRAMs) driven by spin-orbit torques (SOTs) have promise to be faster and more energy-efficient than conventional semiconductor and spin-transfer-torque magnetic memories. This work reports that the spin Hall effect of low-resistivity Au0.25Pt0.75 thin films enables ultrafast antidamping-torque switching of SOT-MRAM devices for current pulse widths as short as 200 ps. If combined with industrial-quality lithography and already-demonstrated interfacial engineering, our results show that an optimized MRAM cell based on Au0.25Pt0.75 can have energy-efficient, ultrafast, and reliable switching, e.g. a write energy of < 1 fJ (< 50 fJ) for write error rate of 50% (<1e-5) for 1 ns pulses. The antidamping torque switching of the Au0.25Pt0.75 devices is 10 times faster than expected from a rigid macrospin model, most likely because of the fast micromagnetics due to the enhanced non-uniformity within the free layer. These results demonstrate the feasibility of Au0.25Pt0.75-based SOT-MRAMs as a candidate for ultrafast, reliable, energy-efficient, low-impedance, and unlimited-endurance memory.
1910.11896v2
2019-11-15
Resist and Transfer Free Patterned CVD Graphene Growth on ALD Molybdenum Carbide Nano Layers
Multilayer graphene (MLG) films were grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on molybdenum carbide ($MoC_{x}$) substrates. We fabricated the catalytic $MoC_{x}$ films by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). The mechanism of graphene growth is studied and analysed for amorphous and crystalline $MoC_{x}$ films. In addition, the unique advantages of catalytic substrate PEALD are demonstrated in two approaches to graphene device fabrication. First, we present a complete bottom up, resist-free patterned graphene growth (GG) on pre-patterned $MoC_{x}$ PEALD performed at 50$^{\circ}C$. Selective CVD GG eliminates the need to pattern or transfer the graphene film to retain its pristine, as grown, qualities. Furthermore, we fabricated MLG directly on PEALD $MoC_{x}$ on 100 nm suspended SiN membrane. We characterise the MLG qualities using Raman spectroscopy, and analyse the samples by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. The techniques of graphene device manufacturing demonstrated here pave the path for large scale production of graphene applications.
1911.06490v3
2020-05-30
Tribocorrosion under galvanic interaction of Ti6Al4V and NiCr implant alloys
Micromovements that occur in the joint between dental prostheses and implants can lead to wear-induced degradation. This process can be enhanced by corrosion in the oral environment influenced by the presence of solutions containing fluoride. Moreover, the eventual galvanic interactions between NiCr and Ti alloys can accelerate the wear-corrosion process. In this work, the tribocorrosion process of Ti6Al4V and NiCr alloys used in dental implant rehabilitations immersed in fluoride solutions at different pH values was investigated. The galvanic interaction effect between the alloys was also assessed. Tribocorrosion tests in corrosive media were performed with isolated Ti6Al4V and NiCr alloys, followed by testing with both alloys in contact. The media selected were based on fluoride concentrations and pH values that are possible to be found in oral environments. Analysis of the surfaces after the tribocorrosion tests was carried out using confocal laser microscopy. The wear profile and volume losses were determined by confocal measurements. It was concluded that the galvanic interaction between the alloys increased the tribocorrosion resistance of Ti6Al4V, compared with that of the isolated Ti6Al4V alloy. Ti6Al4V coupled with NiCr reduced the electrochemical potential decay during sliding. The increased resistance was explained by the electrochemical shift of the Ti6Al4V potential from active dissolution to the passive domain.
2006.00270v1
2020-10-16
Multiscale studies of nanoconfined charging dynamics in supercapacitors bridged by machine learning
The energy-delivery performance of supercapacitors is fundamentally determined by the dynamics of ions confined in nanoporous materials, which has attracted intensive interest in nanoscopic research. Many nanoscopic understandings, including changes in in-pore ion concentration and mobility during dynamical processes, are continuously reported. However, quantitative scale-up of these nanoscopic understandings for evaluation of the macroscopic performance of supercapacitors is difficult due to the absence of links between these scales. Here we demonstrate that machine learning can be used to establish such links. Starting from nanoscale, we first reveal a diffusion-enhanced migration of ions in nanopores using primarily modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck model, unlike in bulk electrolyte where diffusion counteracts migration. Using machine learning, we discover a dynamically varying ionic resistance and its equation, resulting from the in-pore ion concentration change contributed by diffusion-enhanced migration. The obtained equation is used to construct a nano-circuitry model (NCM), which describes both the macroscopic performance of supercapacitors and nanometre-resolved ionic behaviour. We demonstrate that NCM can provide additional perspectives to understand cyclic voltammograms. A Faradaic-like current peak can show in non-Faradaic processes, and an asymmetric charging/discharging can occur without ion desolvation. These is because the dynamically varying resistance delivers ions effectively for storage. The demonstrated use of machine learning could extend to other ionic systems including batteries and desalination, paving the route towards rational design.
2010.08151v1
2020-10-31
A Non-Volatile Cryogenic Random-Access Memory Based on the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect
The interplay between ferromagnetism and topological properties of electronic band structures leads to a precise quantization of Hall resistance without any external magnetic field. This so-called quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) is born out of topological correlations, and is oblivious of low-sample quality. It was envisioned to lead towards dissipationless and topologically protected electronics. However, no clear framework of how to design such an electronic device out of it exists. Here we construct an ultra-low power, non-volatile, cryogenic memory architecture leveraging the QAHE phenomenon. Our design promises orders of magnitude lower cell area compared with the state-of-the-art cryogenic memory technologies. We harness the fundamentally quantized Hall resistance levels in moir\'e graphene heterostructures to store non-volatile binary bits (1, 0). We perform the memory write operation through controlled hysteretic switching between the quantized Hall states, using nano-ampere level currents with opposite polarities. The non-destructive read operation is performed by sensing the polarity of the transverse Hall voltage using a separate pair of terminals. We custom design the memory architecture with a novel sensing mechanism to avoid accidental data corruption, ensure highest memory density and minimize array leakage power. Our design is transferrable to any material platform exhibiting QAHE, and provides a pathway towards realizing topologically protected memory devices.
2011.00170v1
2021-02-11
Microscopic metallic air-bridge arrays for connecting quantum devices
We present a single-exposure fabrication technique for a very large array of microscopic air-bridges using a tri-layer resist process with electron-beam lithography. The technique is capable of forming air-bridges with strong metal-metal or metal-substrate connections. This was demonstrated by its application in an electron tunnelling device consisting of 400 identical surface gates for defining quantum wires, where the air-bridges are used as suspended connections for the surface gates. This technique enables us to create a large array of uniform one-dimensional channels that are open at both ends. In this article, we outline the details of the fabrication process, together with a study and the solution of the challenges present in the development of the technique, which includes the use of water-IPA (isopropyl alcohol) developer, calibration of resist thickness and numerical simulation of the development.
2102.06123v2
2021-03-29
In Situ Phase-Transition Crystallization of All-Inorganic Water-Resistant Exciton-Radiative Heteroepitaxial CsPbBr3-CsPb2Br5 Core-Shell Perovskite Nanocrystals
The instability of metal halide perovskites upon exposure to moisture or heat strongly hampers their applications in optoelectronic devices. Here, we report the large-yield synthesis of highly water-resistant total-inorganic green luminescent CsPbBr3/CsPb2Br5 core/shell heteronanocrystals (HNCs) by developing an in situ phase transition approach. It is implemented via water-driven phase transition of the original monoclinic CsPbBr3 nanocrystal and the resultant tetragonal CsPb2Br5 nanoshell has small lattice mismatch with the CsPbBr3 core, which ensures formation of an epitaxial interface for the yielded CsPbBr3/CsPb2Br5 HNCs. These HNCs maintain nearly 100% of the original luminescence intensity after immersion in water for eleven months and the luminescence intensity drops only to 81.3% at 100 {\deg}C. The transient luminescence spectroscopy and density functional theory calculation reveal that there are double radiative recombination channels in the core CsPbBr3 nanocrystal, and the electron potential barrier provided by the CsPb2Br5 nanoshell significantly improves the exciton recombination rate. A prototype quasi-white light-emitting device based on these robust CsPbBr3/CsPb2Br5 HNCs is realized, showing their strong competence in solid-state lighting and wide color-gamut displays.
2103.15491v2
2021-05-31
Ab initio Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Threshold Displacement Energies and Defect Formation Energies in Y4Zr3O12
Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations using VASP was employed to calculate threshold displacement energies and defect formation energies of Y4Zr3O12 {\delta}-phase, which is the most commonly found phase in newly developed Zr and Al-containing ODS steels. The Threshold displacement energy (Ed) values are determined to be 28 eV for Zr3a primary knock-on atom along [111] direction, 40 eV for Zr18f atoms along [111] direction and 50 eV for Y recoils along [110] direction. Minimum Ed values for O and O' atoms are 13 eV and 16 eV respectively. The displacement energies of anions are much smaller compared to cations, thus suggesting that anion disorder is more probable than cation disorder. All directions except the direction in which inherent structural vacancies are aligned, cations tend to occupy another cation site. The threshold displacement energies are larger than that of Y2Ti2O7, the conventional precipitates in Ti containing ODS steels. Due to the partial occupancy of Y and Zr in the 18f position, the antisite formation energy is negligibly small, and it may help the structure to withstand more disorder upon irradiation. These results convey that Zr/Al ODS alloys, which have better corrosion resistance properties compared to the conventional Ti-ODS alloys, may also possess superior radiation resistance.
2105.15066v1
2021-06-10
Multilayer Capacitances: How Selective Contacts Affect Capacitance Measurements of Perovskite Solar Cells
Capacitance measurements as a function of voltage, frequency and temperature are useful tools to identify fundamental parameters that affect solar cell operation. Techniques such as capacitance-voltage (CV), Mott-Schottky analysis and thermal admittance spectroscopy (TAS) measurements are therefore frequently employed to obtain relevant parameters of the perovskite absorber layer in perovskite solar cells. However, state-of-the-art perovskite solar cells employ thin electron and hole transport layers that improve contact selectivity. These selective contacts are often quite resistive in nature, which implies that their capacitances will contribute to the total capacitance and thereby affect the extraction of the capacitance of the perovskite layer. Based on this premise, we develop a simple multilayer model that considers the perovskite solar cell as a series connection of the geometric capacitance of each layer in parallel with their voltage-dependent resistances. Analysis of this model yields fundamental limits to the resolution of spatial doping profiles and minimum values of doping/trap densities, built-in voltages and activation energies. We observe that most of the experimental capacitance-voltage-frequency-temperature data, calculated doping/trap densities and activation energies reported in literature are within these cut-off values derived, indicating that the capacitance response of the perovskite solar cell is indeed strongly affected by the capacitance of its selective contacts.
2106.05758v2
2021-06-25
Blistering Failure of Elastic Coatings with Applications to Corrosion Resistance
A variety of polymeric surfaces, such as anti-corrosion coatings and polymer-modified asphalts, are prone to blistering when exposed to moisture and air. As water and oxygen diffuse through the material, dissolved species are produced, which generate osmotic pressure that deforms and debonds the coating.These mechanisms are experimentally well-supported; however, comprehensive macroscopic models capable of predicting the formation osmotic blisters, without extensive data-fitting, is scant. Here, we develop a general mathematical theory of blistering and apply it to the failure of anti-corrosion coatings on carbon steel. The model is able to predict the irreversible, nonlinear blister growth dynamics, which eventually reaches a stable state, ruptures, or undergoes runaway delamination, depending on the mechanical and adhesion properties of the coating. For runaway delamination, the theory predicts a critical delamination length, beyond which unstable corrosion-driven growth occurs. The model is able to fit multiple sets of blister growth data with no fitting parameters. Corrosion experiments are also performed to observe undercoat rusting on carbon steel, which yielded trends comparable with model predictions. The theory is used to define three dimensionless numbers which can be used for engineering design of elastic coatings capable of resisting visible deformation, rupture, and delamination.
2106.13371v1
2021-07-29
Thermal Contribution in the Electrical Switching Experiments with Heavy Metal / Antiferromagnet Structures
We examine the thermal origin of the detected "saw-tooth" shaped Hall resistance (Rxy) signals in the spin-orbit torque switching experiment for antiferromagnetic MnN. Compared with the results of the heavy metal / antiferromagnet bilayers (MnN/Ta), the qualitatively same "saw-tooth" shaped signals also appear in the samples with the heavy metal layer alone (either Ta or Pt) without MnN layer. In addition, The Rxy signal changes oppositely in the devices with Ta and Pt, due to the opposite temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) of the two materials. All those results are consistent with the "localized Joule heating" mechanism in devices with Hall crosses geometry. Moreover, by utilizing a structure with separated writing current paths and Hall cross area, the quadratic relationship between delta-Rxy and the writing current's amplitude is observed, which provides quantitative evidence of the thermal contribution. These results reveal the dominant thermal artifact in the widely used Hall crosses geometry for Neel vector probing, and also provide a strategy to semi-quantitatively evaluate the thermal effect, which can shed light on a more conclusive experiment design.
2107.13859v1
2021-08-26
Direct thermal infrared vision via nanophotonic detector design
Detection of infrared (IR) photons in a room-temperature IR camera is carried out by a two-dimensional array of microbolometer pixels which exhibit temperature-sensitive resistivity. When IR light coming from the far-field is focused onto this array, microbolometer pixels are heated up in proportion to the temperatures of the far-field objects. The resulting resistivity change of each pixel is measured via on-chip electronic readout circuit followed by analog to digital (A/D) conversion, image processing, and presentation of the final IR image on a separate information display screen. In this work, we introduce a new nanophotonic detector as a minimalist alternative to microbolometer such that the final IR image can be presented without using the components required for A/D conversion, image processing and display. In our design, the detector array is illuminated with visible laser light and the reflected light itself carries the IR image which can be directly viewed. We realize and numerically demonstrate this functionality using a resonant waveguide grating structure made of typical materials such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and silica for which lithography techniques are well-developed. We clarify the requirements to tackle the issues of fabrication nonuniformities and temperature drifts in the detector array. We envision a potential near-eye display device for IR vision based on timely use of diffractive optical waveguides in augmented reality headsets and tunable visible laser sources. Our work indicates a way to achieve direct thermal IR vision for suitable use cases with lower cost, smaller form factor, and reduced power consumption compared to the existing thermal IR cameras.
2108.11583v1
2021-08-26
Effects of minor alloying on the mechanical properties of Al based metallic glasses
Minor alloying is widely used to control mechanical properties of metallic glasses (MGs). The present understanding of how a small amount of alloying element changes strength is that the additions lead to more efficient packing of atoms and increased local topological order, which then increases the barrier for shear transformations and the resistance to plastic deformation. Here, we discover that minor alloying can improve the strength of MGs by increasing the chemical bond strength alone and show that this strengthening is distinct from changes in topological order. The results were obtained using Al-Sm based MGs minor alloyed with transition metals (TMs). The addition of TMs led to an increase in the hardness of the MGs which, however, could not be explained based on changes in the topological ordering in the structure. Instead we found that it was the strong bonding between TM and Al atoms which led to a higher resistance to shear transformation that resulted in higher strength and hardness, while the topology around the TM atoms had no influence on their mechanical response. This finding demonstrates that the effects of topology and chemistry on mechanical properties of MGs are independent of each other and that they should be understood as separate, sometimes competing mechanisms of strengthening. This understanding lays a foundation for design of MGs with improved mechanical properties.
2108.12028v1
2021-09-13
Ray Optics for Gliders
Control of self-propelled particles is central to the development of many microrobotic technologies, from dynamically reconfigurable materials to advanced lab-on-a-chip systems. However, there are few physical principles by which particle trajectories can be specified and can be used to generate a wide range of behaviors. Within the field of ray optics, a single principle for controlling the trajectory of light -- Snell's law -- yields an intuitive framework for engineering a broad range of devices, from microscopes to cameras and telescopes. Here we show that the motion of self-propelled particles gliding across a resistance discontinuity is governed by a variant of Snell's law, and develop a corresponding ray optics for gliders. Just as the ratio of refractive indexes sets the path of a light ray, the ratio of resistance coefficients is shown to determine the trajectories of gliders. The magnitude of refraction depends on the glider's shape, in particular its aspect ratio, which serves as an analog to the wavelength of light. This enables the demixing of a polymorphic, many-shaped, beam of gliders into distinct monomorphic, single-shaped, beams through a friction prism. In turn, beams of monomorphic gliders can be focused by spherical and gradient friction lenses. Alternatively, the critical angle for total internal reflection can be used to create shape-selective glider traps. Overall our work suggests that furthering the analogy between light and microscopic gliders will result in a wide range of new devices for sorting, concentrating, and analyzing self-propelled particles.
2109.06360v5
2021-10-11
Topological phonons in an inhomogeneously strained silicon-2: Evidence of spin-momentum locking
In this study, we report first experimental evidence of spin-momentum locking in the topological phonons in an inhomogeneously strained Si thin film. The spin-momentum locking in the topological phonons lead to a longitudinal spin texture or spatially inhomogeneous spin distribution in the freestanding sample structure. The spin texture was uncovered using location dependent Hall effect and planar Hall effect measurement. The charge carrier density and anomalous Hall resistance showed a linear behavior along the length of the sample. Similarly, the planar Hall resistance related with the spin dependent scattering was also found to be different at two different location along the length of the sample. The spin-momentum locking also gave rise to transverse thermal spin current and spin-Nernst magneto thermopower response, which was uncovered using angle dependent longitudinal second harmonic measurement. The magneto thermopower response was also a function of crystallography of the Si sample where the sign of the response was opposite for <110> and <100> aligned samples. The spin-momentum locking in topological phonons may give rise to large spin dependent response at and above room temperature, which can pave the way for energy efficient spintronics and spin-caloritronics devices.
2110.04937v1
2021-10-11
Bi kagome sublattice distortions by quenching and flux pinning in superconducting RbBi$_2$
The properties of RbBi$_2$, a 4.15 K superconductor, were investigated using magnetic field, pressure and neutron diffraction. Under hydrostatic pressure, an almost 50 % reduction of T$_c$ is observed, linked to a low Debye temperature estimated at 165 K. The resistivity and magnetic susceptibility were measured on quenched and slow-cooled polycrystalline samples. The resistivity follows a low temperature power-law dependence in both types of samples, while the diamagnetic susceptibility, $\chi$, is dependent on the sample cooling history. Slow-cooled samples have a $\chi= -1$ while quenched samples have $\chi< -1$ due to grain size differences. Evidence of the effects of the cooling rate is also discerned from the local structure, obtained by neutron diffraction and the pair density function analysis. Slow-cooled samples have structurally symmetric Bi hexagons, in contrast to quenched samples in which disorder is manifested in periodic distortions of the Bi hexagonal rings of the kagome sublattice. Disorder may lead to flux pinning that reduces vortex mobility, but T$_c$ remains unaffected by the cooling rate.
2110.05452v1
2021-10-18
Magnetic field induced transition from a vortex liquid to Bose metal in ultrathin a-MoGe thin film
We identify a magnetic field induced transition from a vortex liquid to Bose metal in a 2-dimensional amorphous superconductor, a-MoGe, using a combination of magnetotransport and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS). Below the superconducting transition, Tc ~ 1.36 K, the magnetoresistance isotherms cross at a nearly temperature independent magnetic field, H_c^*~ 36 kOe. Above this field, the temperature coefficient of resistance is weakly negative, but the resistance remains finite as T --> 0, as expected in a bad metal. From STS conductance maps at 450 mK we observe a very disordered vortex lattice at very low fields that melts into a vortex liquid above 3 kOe. Up to H_c^* the tunnelling spectra display superconducting gap and coherence peak over a broad background caused by electron-electron interactions, as expected in a vortex liquid. However, above H_c^* the tunnelling spectra continue to display the gap but the coherence peak gets completely suppressed, suggesting that Cooper pairs lose their phase coherence. We conclude that H_c^* demarcates a transition from a vortex liquid to Bose metal, that eventually transforms to a regular metal at a higher field H* where the gap vanishes in the electronic spectrum.
2110.09335v3
2021-12-18
Infrared Absorption and its Sources of CdZnTe at Cryogenic Temperature
To reveal the infrared absorption causes in the wavelength region between electronic and lattice absorptions, we measured the temperature dependence of the absorption coefficient of $p$-type low-resistivity ($\sim 10^2~{\rm \Omega cm}$) CdZnTe crystals. We measured the absorption coefficients of CdZnTe crystals in four-wavelength bands ($\lambda=6.45$, 10.6, 11.6, 15.1$~\mu$m) over the temperature range of $T=8.6-300$ K with an originally developed system. The CdZnTe absorption coefficient was measured to be $\alpha=0.3-0.5$ ${\rm cm^{-1}}$ at $T=300$ K and $\alpha=0.4-0.9$ ${\rm cm^{-1}}$ at $T=8.6$ K in the investigated wavelength range. With an absorption model based on transitions of free holes and holes trapped at an acceptor level, we conclude that the absorption due to free holes at $T=150-300$ K and that due to trapped-holes at $T<50$ K are dominant absorption causes in CdZnTe. We also discuss a method to predict the CdZnTe absorption coefficient at cryogenic temperature based on the room-temperature resistivity.
2112.09879v1
2022-01-02
Role of surface functional groups to superconductivity in Nb$_2$C-MXene: Experiments and density functional theory calculations
The recently discovered surface-group-dependent superconductivity in Nb$_2$C-MXene fabricated by the molten salts method is attracting wide attention. However, regarding the superconductivity of Nb$_2$C-MXene with functional F groups (Nb$_2$CF$_x$), there were some conflicting results in experimental and theoretical studies. Herein, we systematically carried out experimental and theoretical investigations on the superconductivity in Nb$_2$C-MXene with the Cl functional group (Nb$_2$CCl$_x$) and Nb$_2$CF$_x$. The experimental results of the Meissner effect and zero resistivity have proved that Nb$_2$CClx is superconducting with the transition temperature (Tc) ~ 5.2 K. We extract its superconducting parameters from the temperature dependence of resistivity and the field dependence of the magnetization. The Ginzburg-Landau parameter K$_G$$_L$ is estimated to be 2.41, indicating that Nb$_2$CClx is a typical type-II superconductor. Conversely, both magnetic and electrical transport measurements demonstrate that Nb$_2$CF$_x$ is not superconducting. The first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the Tc of Nb$_2$Cl$_x$ is ~ 5.2 K, while Nb$_2$CF$_x$ is dynamically unstable with imaginary frequency in phonon spectrum, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. Our studies not only are useful for clarifying the present inconsistency but also offer referential significance for future investigations on the superconductivity of MXenes.
2201.00298v1
2022-01-13
Charge-Density-Wave Proximity Effects in Graphene
Certain layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as 1T-TaS2, show a rich collection of charge density wave (CDW) phases at different temperatures, and their atomic structures and electron conductions have been widely studied. However, the properties of CDW systems that are integrated with other electronic materials have not yet been investigated. Here, we incorporate the CDW properties of TMDCs into the electronic transport of graphene for the first time. During CDW phase transitions, anomalous transport behaviors that are closely related to the formation of correlated disorder in TMDCs were observed in the graphene sample used in this study. In particular, the commensurate CDW phase forms a periodic charge distribution with potential fluctuations, and thus constitutes correlated charged impurities, which decreases resistivity and enhances carrier mobility in graphene. The CDW-graphene heterostructure system demonstrated here paves the way to controlling the temperature-dependent carrier mobility and resistivity of graphene and to developing novel functional electronic devices such as graphene-based sensors and memory devices.
2201.04844v2
2022-01-25
Charge-4e and charge-6e flux quantization and higher charge superconductivity in kagome superconductor ring devices
The flux quantization is a key indication of electron pairing in superconductors. For example, the well-known h/2e flux quantization is considered strong evidence for the existence of the charge-2e, two-electron Cooper pairs. Here we report evidence for multi-charge flux quantization in mesoscopic ring devices fabricated using the transition-metal kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5. We perform systematic magneto-transport measurements and observe unprecedented quantization of magnetic flux in units of h/4e and h/6e in magnetoresistance oscillations. Specifically, at low temperatures, magnetoresistance oscillations with period h/2e are detected, as expected from the flux quantization for charge-2e superconductivity. We find that the h/2e oscillations are suppressed and replaced by resistance oscillations with h/4e periodicity when temperature is increased. Increasing the temperature further suppresses the h/4e oscillations and robust resistance oscillations with h/6e periodicity emerge as evidence for charge-6e flux quantization. Our observations provide the first experimental evidence for the existence of multi-charge flux quanta and emergent quantum matter exhibiting higher-charge superconductivity in the strongly fluctuating region above the charge-2e Cooper pair condensate, revealing new insights into the intertwined and vestigial electronic order in kagome superconductors.
2201.10352v3
2022-03-09
The drastic effect of the impurity scattering on the electronic and superconducting properties of Cu-doped FeSe
Non-magnetic impurities in iron-based superconductors can provide an important tool to understand the pair symmetry and they can influence significantly the transport and the superconducting behaviour. Here, we present a study of the role of strong impurity potential in the Fe plane, induced by Cu substitution, on the electronic and superconducting properties of single crystals of FeSe. The addition of Cu quickly suppresses both the nematic and superconducting states, and increases the residual resistivity due to enhanced impurity scattering. Using magnetotransport data up to 35 T for a small amount of Cu impurity, we detect a significant reduction in the mobility of the charge carriers by a factor of ~3. While the electronic conduction is strongly disrupted by Cu substitution, we identify additional signatures of anisotropic scattering which manifest in linear resistivity at low temperatures and $H^{1.6}$ dependence of magnetoresistance. The suppression of superconductivity by Cu substitution is consistent with a sign-changing $s_{\pm}$ order parameter. Additionally, in the presence of compressive strain, the superconductivity is enhanced, similar to FeSe.
2203.04624v1
2022-04-21
Ferrous Metal Matrix Composites Status Scope and Challenges
The present paper is an effort to culminate the status, scopes and challenges in the development of ferrous metal matrix composites (FMMCs). The FMMCs are old but less in use than the non-ferrous metal matrix composites (NFMMCs), as far as literature and actual applications are concerned. Therefore, this stimulates the exploration of the reasons behind the scarcity of literature and field applications of the FMMCs, which must be investigated scientifically. The powder metallurgy route is the most used process for fabricating iron and steel based FMMCs by reinforcing particulates. At the same time, the in-situ method has been used for the fabrication and cast iron-based FMMCs. The main characteristics being considered during the designing and fabrication of FMMCs are wear resistance and improved specific mechanical properties. To fabricate cheaper and eco-friendly FMMCs, traditionally used costly reinforcements such as SiC, WC, TiC, SiO2, TiO2, TiB2 are required to be replaced by inexpensive industrial wastes like red-mud, fly-ashes and grinding swarf. The data extracted from the web of science exhibited that the FMMCs have been researched less than the NFMMCs. The increasing number of research papers on FMMCs indicates a bright future. FMMCs are going to be a favourite topic among researchers and manufacturers. Higher strengths, wear resistance, dimensional stability at elevated temperatures, and, most importantly, the lower cost will put forward the FMMCs as a stiff competitor of NFMMCs. In developing and mass production of FMMCs for field applications, challenges like oxidation and higher weight still require special research efforts.
2204.09999v2
2022-05-12
Investigation of lattice dynamics, magnetism and electronic transport in $β$-Na$_{0.33}$V$_2$O$_{5}$
We investigate the electronic and magnetic properties as well as lattice dynamics and spin-phonon coupling of $\beta$-Na$_{0.33}$V$_2$O$_5$ using temperature-dependent Raman scattering, dc-magnetization and dc-resistivity, x-ray photoemission, and absorption spectroscopy. The Rietveld refinement of XRD pattern with space group C2/m confirms the monoclinic structure. The analysis of temperature-dependent Raman spectra in a temperature range of 13--673~K reveals an anharmonic dependence of the phonon frequency and full width at half maximum, which is accredited to the symmetric phonon decay. However, below about 40 K, the hardening of the phonon frequency beyond anharmonicity is attributed to the spin-phonon coupling. Interestingly, the estimated effective magnetic moment $\mu_{\rm eff}=$ 0.63~$\mu_B$ from the magnetization data manifests a mixed-valence state of V ions in 4+ (18$\pm$1\%) and 5+ (82$\pm$1\%). A similar ratio of V$^{4+}$ to V$^{5+}$ is also observed in the x-ray photoemission and x-ray absorption near-edge spectra and that is found to be consistent with the sample stoichiometry. In addition, the V$^{4+}$ ions are distributed between different vanadium (V1 and V3) sites. The analysis of extended x-ray absorption fine structure at different V-sites gives the corresponding V--O bond lengths, which are utilized in the assignment of Raman modes. Moreover, the temperature-dependent resistivity resembles a semiconducting behavior where the charge carrier transport is facilitated by the band conduction at higher temperatures and via hopping $\le$260~K.
2205.06019v2
2022-05-04
Graphene/fluorinated graphene systems for a wide spectrum of electronics application
Heterostructures prepared from graphene and fluorographene (FG) using the technology of 2D printing on solid and flexible substrates were fabricated and studied. Excellent stability of printed graphene layers and, to a lesser degree, composite graphene: PEDOT: PSS layers were shown. Extraordinary properties of FG as an insulating layer for graphene-based heterostructures at fluorination degree above 30% were demonstrated. It is shown that the leakage current in thin (20-40 nm) films is normally smaller than 10^-8 A/cm2, the breakdown field being greater than 108 V/cm. In hybrid structures with printed FG layers in which graphene was transferred onto, or capsulated with, an FG layer, an increase in charge-carrier mobility and material conductivity amounting to 5-6 times was observed. The spectrum of future applications of FG layers can be further extended due to the possibility of obtaining, from weakly fluorinated graphene (< 20%), functional layers exhibiting a negative differential resistance behavior and, at fluorination degrees of 20-23%, field-effect-transistor channels with current modulation reaching several orders. Composite or bilayer films based on fluorographene and V2O5 or polyvinyl alcohol exhibit a stable resistive switching behavior. On the whole, graphene/FG heterostructures enjoy huge potential for their use in a wide spectrum of application, including flexible electronics.
2205.07602v1
2022-07-14
Magnetron Sputtered Non-Toxic and Precious Element-Free Ti-Zr-Ge Metallic Glass Nanofilms with Enhanced Biocorrosion Resistance
The chemical composition and structural state of advanced alloys are the decisive factors in optimum biomedical performance. This contribution presents unique Ti-Zr-Ge metallic glass thin-film compositions fabricated by magnetron sputter deposition targeted for nanocoatings for biofouling prevention. The amorphous nanofilms with nanoscale roughness exhibit a large relaxation and supercooled liquid regions as revealed by flash differential scanning calorimetry. Ti\textsubscript{68}Zr\textsubscript{8}Ge\textsubscript{24} shows the lowest corrosion (0.17 \textmu A cm\textsuperscript{\textminus2}) and passivation (1.22 \textmu A cm\textsuperscript{\textminus2}) current densities, with the lowest corrosion potential of \textminus0.648 V and long-range stability against pitting, corroborating its excellent performance in phosphate buffer solution at 37 {\textdegree}C. The oxide layer is comprised of TiO\textsubscript{2}, TiO\textsubscript{\emph{x}} and ZrO\textsubscript{\emph{x}}, as determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy by short-term ion-etching of the surface layer. The two orders of magnitude increase in the oxide and interface resistance (from 14 to 1257 {\textOmega} cm\textsuperscript{2}) along with an order of magnitude decrease in the capacitance parameter of the oxide interface (from 1.402 x 10\textsuperscript{\textminus5} to 1.677 x 10\textsuperscript{\textminus6} S s\textsuperscript{n} cm\textsuperscript{\textminus2}) of the same composition is linked to the formation of carbonyl groups and reduction of the native oxide layer during linear sweep voltammetry.
2207.07000v2
2022-08-09
Structural, magnetic and transport properties of Co$_2$CrAl epitaxial thin films
We report the physical properties of Co$_2$CrAl Heusler alloy epitaxial thin films grown on single crystalline MgO(001) substrate using pulsed laser deposition technique. The x-ray diffraction pattern in $\theta$-2$\theta$ mode showed the film growth in single phase B2-type ordered cubic structure with the presence of (002) and (004) peaks, and the film oriented along the MgO(001) direction. The $\phi$~scan along the (220) plane confirms the four-fold symmetry and the epitaxial growth relation found to be Co$_2$CrAl(001)[100]$\vert$$\vert$MgO(001)[110]. The thickness of about 12~nm is extracted through the analysis of x-ray reflectivity data. The isothermal magnetization (M--H) curves confirm the ferromagnetic (FM) nature of the thin film having significant hysteresis at 5 and 300~K. From the in-plane M--H curves, the saturation magnetization values are determined to be 2.1~$\mu$$_{\rm B}$/f.u.~at 5~K and 1.6~$\mu$$_{\rm B}$/f.u. at 300~K, which suggests the soft FM behavior in the film having the coercive field $\approx$ 522~Oe at 5~K. The thermo-magnetization measurements at 500~Oe magnetic field show the bifurcation between field-cooled and zero-field-cooled curves below about 100~K. The normalized field-cooled magnetization curve follows the T$^2$ dependency, and the analysis reveal the Curie temperature around 335$\pm$11~K. Moreover, the low-temperature resistivity indicates semiconducting behavior with the temperature, and we find a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity (5.2 $\times$ 10$^{-4}$ /K).
2208.04687v1
2022-10-21
Effect of Pressure on Electrical and optical Properties of Metal Doped TiO$_2$
A comparative study of the electrical and optical properties has been done on 3d-doped TiO$_2$. Ti$_{1-x}$M$_x$O$_2$ (M= Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) powder and its corresponding pellets, with doping concentration $x= 0.05$. The samples were prepared using the solid-state route. Optical and electrical measurements have been performed for all prepared samples and interestingly, it is observed that due to external pressure (i.e. strain) both the properties change significantly. A rigorous theoretical calculation has also been carried out to verify the experimental band gap obtained from optical absorption spectroscopy. In case of pellet sample band gap decreases as compared to the powder sample due to variation of pressure inside the structures. Role of doping has also been investigated both in pellet and powder forms and we found that the band gap decreases as the atomic number of dopants increases. A cross-over behavior is seen in pellet samples on doping with Ni, Cu and Zn (i.e. band gap increases with an increase in the atomic number of dopant). Electrical resistivity measurements have been carried out for both pellet and powder samples and it is found that in the case of strained samples the value of resistivity is smaller while in the case of strain-free samples it is quite large. We believe that the present study suggests a novel approach for tuning the electrical and optical properties of semiconducting oxides either from doping or from applied pressure (or strain).
2210.11687v1
2022-10-28
Optimal Inverter-Based Resources Placement in Low-Inertia Power Systems
An increase in the integration of Inverter Based Resources (IBRs) to the electric grid, will lead to a corresponding decrease in the amount of connected synchronous generators, resulting in a decline in the available rotational inertia system-wide. This can lead to pronounced frequency deviations when there are disturbances and faults in the grid. This decline in available rotational inertia can be compensated for by fast acting IBRs participating in frequency response services, by rapidly injecting into or removing power from the grid. Currently, there are still relative small number of sizable IBRs in the grid. Therefore, the placement of the IBRs in the system, as well as the inverter configuration type and controller, will have a material impact on the frequency response of the grid. In this work, we present an optimal placement algorithm that maximizes the benefits of utilizing IBRs in providing frequency response services. That is, we minimize the overall system frequency deviation while using a minimal amount of electric power injection from the IBRs. The proposed algorithm uses the resistance distance to place the IBRs at nodes that are central to the rest of the nodes in the network thus minimizing the distance of power flow. The proposed greedy algorithm achieves a near optimal performance and relies on the supermodularity of the resistance distances. We validate the performance of the placement algorithm on three IEEE test systems of varying sizes, by comparing its performance to an exhaustive search algorithm. We further evaluate the performance of the placed IBRs on an IEEE test system, to determine their impact on frequency stability. The IBRs are configured in a grid-forming mode and equipped with a model predictive control (MPC)-based inverter power control.
2210.15839v1
2022-12-16
Environmental Doping-Induced Degradation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulators
The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulator is a topological quantum state with quantized Hall resistance and zero longitudinal resistance in the absence of an external magnetic field. The QAH insulator carries spin-polarized dissipation-free chiral edge current and thus provides a unique opportunity to develop energy-efficient transformative information technology. Despite promising advances on the QAH effect over the past decade, the QAH insulator has thus far eluded any practical applications. In addition to its low working temperature, the QAH state in magnetically doped topological insulator (TI) films/heterostructures usually deteriorates with time in ambient conditions. In this work, we prepare three QAH devices with similar initial properties and store them in different environments to investigate the evolution of their transport properties. The QAH device without a protection layer in air show clear degradation and becomes hole-doped with the charge neutral point shifting significantly to positive gate voltages. The QAH device kept in an argon glove box without a protection layer shows no measurable degradation after 560 hours and the device protected by a 3 nm AlOx protection layer in air shows minimal degradation with stable QAH properties. Our work shows a route to preserve the dissipation-free chiral edge state in QAH devices for potential applications in quantum information technology.
2212.08538v1
2023-01-13
Exploring the substrate-driven morphological changes in Nd0.6Sr0.4MnO3 thin films
Manganite thin films are promising candidates for studying the strongly correlated electron systems. Understanding the growth-and morphology-driven changes in the physical properties of manganite thin films is vital for their applications in oxitronics. This work reports the morphological, structural, and electrical transport properties of nanostructured Nd0.6Sr0.4MnO3 (NSMO) thin films fabricated using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of the thin films revealed two prominent surface morphologies: a granular and a unique crossed-nano-rod-type morphology. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, we found that the observed nanostructures resulted from altered growth modes occurring on the terraced substrate surface. Furthermore, investigations on the electrical-transport properties of thin films revealed that the films with crossed-nano-rod type morphology showed a sharp resistive transition near the metal-to-insulator transition (MIT). An enhanced temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of up to one order of magnitude was also observed compared to the films with granular morphology. Such enhancement in TCR % by tuning the morphology makes these thin films promising candidates for developing oxide-based temperature sensors and detectors.
2301.05513v1
2023-01-30
Percolation and electrical conduction in random systems of curved linear objects on a plane: computer simulations along with a mean-field approach
Using computer simulations, we have studied the percolation and the electrical conductance of two-dimensional, random percolating networks of curved, zero-width metallic nanowires. We mimicked the curved nanowires using circular arcs. The percolation threshold decreased as the aspect ratio of the arcs increased. Comparison with published data on the percolation threshold of symmetric quadratic B\'{e}zier curves suggests that, when the percolation of slightly curved wires is simulated, the particular choice of curve to mimic the shape of real-world wires is of little importance. Considering the electrical properties, we took into account both the nanowire resistance per unit length and the junction (nanowire/nanowire contact) resistance. Using a mean-field approximation (MFA), we derived the total electrical conductance of the nanowire-based networks as a function of their geometrical and physical parameters. The MFA predictions have been confirmed by our Monte Carlo numerical simulations. For our random homogeneous and isotropic systems of conductive curved wires, the electric conductance decreased as the wire shape changed from a stick to a ring when the wire length remained fixed.
2301.12795v1
2023-01-31
Platinum contacts for 9-atom-wide armchair graphene nanoribbons
Creating a good contact between electrodes and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) has been a longstanding challenge in searching for the next GNR-based nanoelectronics. This quest requires the controlled fabrication of sub-20 nm metallic gaps, a clean GNR transfer minimizing damage and organic contamination during the device fabrication, as well as work function matching to minimize the contact resistance. Here, we transfer 9-atom-wide armchair-edged GNRs (9-AGNRs) grown on Au(111)/mica substrates to pre-patterned platinum electrodes, yielding polymer-free 9-AGNR field-effect transistor devices. Our devices have a resistance in the range of $10^6$ to $10^8$ $\Omega$ in the low-bias regime, which is 2 to 4 orders of magnitude lower than previous reports. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with the non-equilibrium Green's function method (NEGF) explain the observed p-type electrical characteristics and further demonstrate that platinum gives strong coupling and higher transmission in comparison to other materials such as graphene.
2301.13814v1
2023-02-13
Growth of Zr/ZrO2 core-shell structures by Fast Thermal Oxidation
This research has been conducted to characterize and validate the resistive heating as a synthesis method for zirconium oxides (ZrO$_2$). A wire of Zr has been oxidized to form a core shell structure, in which the core is the metal wire, and the shell is an oxide layer around 10${\mu}$m thick. The characterization This research has been conducted to characterize and validate the resistive heating as a synthesis method for zirconium oxides (ZrO$_2$). A wire of Zr has been oxidized to form a core shell structure, in which the core is the metal wire, and the shell is an oxide layer around 10${\mu}$m thick. The characterization of the samples has been performed by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The chemical composition was analysed by X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy have been used to assess crystallinity and crystal structure. Photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements have allowed us to study the distribution of defects along the shell, and to confirm the degree of uniformity. The oxygen vacancies, either as isolated defects or forming complexes with impurities, play a determinant role in the luminescent processes. Colour centres, mainly electron centres as F, F$_A$ and F$_{AA}$, give rise to several visible emissions extending from blue to green, with main components around 2eV, 2.4-2.5eV and 2.7eV. The differences between PL and CL are also discussed.
2302.06296v1
2023-03-15
Magnetic phase diagram and multiple field-induced states in the intermetallic triangular-lattice antiferromagnet NdAuAl$_4$Ge$_2$ with Ising-like spins
Geometrical frustration and the enhancement of strong quantum fluctuations in two-dimensional triangular antiferromagnets can lead to various intriguing phenomena. Here, we studied the spin-1/2 triangular lattice antiferromagnet NdAuAl$_4$Ge$_2$. Thermodynamic and transport properties, such as magnetization and specific heat together with the resistivity measurements were performed. In zero field, two successive phase transitions were observed at $T_{\rm N1}=1.75\pm 0.02$ K and $T_{\rm N2}=0.49\pm 0.02$ K, respectively. Under magnetic field, $\rm XXZ$-type anisotropy was revealed, with the moments pointing along the easy $c$ axis. For $B\parallel c$, multiple field-induced states were observed, and the magnetic phase diagram was established based on the specific heat and magnetization data. The temperature-dependent resistivity measurements indicate that NdAuAl$_4$Ge$_2$ is a good metal. It is very likely that both the long-range RKKY interactions and the geometrical frustration play an important roles in this case.
2303.08661v1
2023-04-07
Effect of Pt vacancies on magnetotransport of Weyl semimetal candidate GdPtSb epitaxial films
We examine the effects of Pt vacancies on the magnetotransport properties of Weyl semimetal candidate GdPtSb films, grown by molecular beam epitaxy on c-plane sapphire. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and x-ray diffraction measurements suggest that phase pure GdPt$_{x}$Sb films can accommodate up to $15\%$ Pt vacancies ($x=0.85$), which act as acceptors as measured by Hall effect. Two classes of electrical transport behavior are observed. Pt-deficient films display a metallic temperature dependent resistivity (d$\rho$/dT$>$0). The longitudinal magnetoresistance (LMR, magnetic field $\mathbf{B}$ parallel to electric field $\mathbf{E}$) is more negative than transverse magnetoresistance (TMR, $\mathbf{B} \perp \mathbf{E}$), consistent with the expected chiral anomaly for a Weyl semimetal. The combination of Pt-vacancy disorder and doping away from the expected Weyl nodes; however, suggests conductivity fluctuations may explain the negative LMR rather than chiral anomaly. Samples closer to stoichiometry display the opposite behavior: semiconductor-like resistivity (d$\rho$/dT$<$0) and more negative transverse magnetoresistance than longitudinal magnetoresistance. Hysteresis and other nonlinearities in the low field Hall effect and magnetoresistance suggest that spin disorder scattering, and possible topological Hall effect, may dominate the near stoichiometric samples. Our findings highlight the complications of transport-based identification of Weyl nodes, but point to possible topological spin textures in GdPtSb.
2304.03811v1
2023-05-22
Development of Fe$_2$O$_3$/YSZ ceramic plates for cryogenic operation of resistive-protected gaseous detectors
We present a ceramic material based on hematite (Fe$_2$O$_3$) and zirconia stabilized with yttria at 8% molar (YSZ), that exhibits stable electrical properties with transported charge and that can be tuned to the resistivities necessary to induce spark-quenching in gaseous detectors ($\rho = 10^9-10^{12}$ $\Omega \cdot$cm), from room temperature down to the liquid-vapor coexistence point of nitrogen (77 K). It, thus, allows covering the operating temperatures of most immediate interest to gaseous instrumentation. The ceramics have been produced in a region of mass concentrations far from what has been usually explored in literature: optimal characteristics are achieved for Fe$_2$O$_3$ concentrations of 75%wt (LAr boiling temperature), 35%wt (LXe boiling temperature), and 100%wt (room temperature). The nine order of magnitude enhancement observed for the electrical conductivity of the mixed phases relative to that of pure Fe$_2$O$_3$ is startling, however it can be qualitatively understood based on existing literature. Plates of 4 cm x 4 cm have been manufactured and, prior to this work, operated in-detector at the LXe boiling point (165 K), demonstrating spark-free operation. Preliminary results obtained for the first time on a spark-protected amplification structure (RP-WELL) at around the LAr boiling point (90 K) are now presented, too.
2305.12899v2
2023-07-05
An efficient approach to include transport effects in thin coating layers in electrochemo-mechanical models for all-solid-state batteries
A novel approach is presented to efficiently include transport effects in thin active material coating layers of all-solid-state batteries using a dimensionally reduced formulation embedded into a three-dimensionally resolved coupled electrochemo-mechanical continuum model. In the literature, the effect of coating layers is so far captured by additional zero-dimensional resistances to circumvent the need for an extremely fine mesh resolution. However, a zero-dimensional resistance cannot capture transport phenomena along the coating layer, which can become significant, as we will show in this work. Thus, we propose a model which resolves the thin coating layer in a two-dimensional manifold based on model assumptions in the direction of the thickness. This two-dimensional formulation is monolithically coupled with a three-dimensional model representing the other components of a battery cell. The approach is validated by showing conservation properties and convergence and by comparing the results with those computed with a fully resolved model. Results for realistic microstructures of a battery cell, including coating layers as well as design recommendations for a preferred coating layer, are presented. Based on those results, we show that existing modeling approaches feature remarkable errors when transport along the coating layer is significant, whereas the novel approach resolves this.
2307.02424v1
2023-08-04
Effect of Pb addition on microstructure, transport properties and the critical current density in a polycrystalline FeSe0.5Te0.5
We have investigated the effects of lead (Pb) additions (x) up to 40 wt.% (x = 0-0.4) on the structure, electrical properties, and magnetic properties of FeSe0.5Te0.5 superconductor. The samples were prepared by the solid-state reaction method and characterized by various techniques. The parent compound (x = 0) showed the onset temperature Tc onset of 15 K, and zero-resistance temperature, Tc offset of 12 K. The addition of Pb enhances the metallic characteristics of FeSe0.5Te0.5, but both Tc onset and Tc offset are decreased to the lower temperature with the broadened transition width. The Tc onset is nearly the same (10.3 K) at higher additions, such as x = 0.3 and 0.4, but zero resistivity is not observed up to 7 K. Microstructural analysis and transport studies suggest that for x > 0.05, Pb additions weakened the coupling between grains and suppressed the superconducting percolation, leading to a broad transition. More importantly, the inclusion of a relatively small amount of Pb (x = 0.05) increased the critical current density, Jc, in the entire magnetic field, which might be attributable to better phase uniformity as well as good grain connectivity.
2308.02128v1
2023-08-07
Single crystal growth and characterization of antiferromagnetically ordering EuIn$_2$
We report the single crystal growth and characterization of EuIn$_2$, a magnetic topological semimetal candidate according to our density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We present results from electrical resistance, magnetization, M\"ossbauer spectroscopy, and X-ray resonant magnetic scattering (XRMS) measurements. We observe three magnetic transitions at $T_{\text{N}1}\sim 14.2~$K, $T_{\text{N}2}\sim12.8~$K and $T_{\text{N}3}\sim 11~$K, signatures of which are consistently seen in anisotropic temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistance data. M\"ossbauer spectroscopy measurements on ground crystals suggest an incommensurate sinusoidally modulated magnetic structure below the transition at $T_{\text{N}1}\sim 14~$K, followed by the appearance of higher harmonics in the modulation on further cooling roughly below $T_{\text{N}2}\sim13~$K, before the moment distribution squaring up below the lowest transition around $T_{\text{N}3}\sim 11~$K. XRMS measurements showed the appearance of magnetic Bragg peaks below $T_{\text{N}1}\sim14~$K, with a propagation vector of $\bm{\tau}$ $=(\tau_h,\bar{\tau}_h,0)$, with $\tau_h$varying with temperature, and showing a jump at $T_{\text{N}3}\sim11$~K. The temperature dependence of $\tau_h$ between $\sim11$~K and $14$~K shows incommensurate values consistent with the M\"{o}ssbauer data. XRMS data indicate that $\tau_h$ remains incommensurate at low temperatures and locks into $\tau_h=0.3443(1)$.
2308.03600v1
2023-08-10
Ferromagnetism and insulating behavior with a logarithmic temperature dependence of resistivity in $Pb_{10-x}Cu_x\left( PO_4 \right) _6O$
Recent claim of discovering above-room-temperature superconductivity (Tc about 400 K) at ambient pressure in copper doped apatite $Pb_{10}\left( PO_4 \right) _6O$ has stimulated world-wide enthusiasm and impulse of motion. A lot of follow-up works have been carried out with controversial conclusions. To check whether superconductivity is really present or absent in the material, we need samples which should have a rather pure phase of $Pb_{10-x}Cu_x\left( PO_4 \right) _6O$. Here we report the characterization results from the $Pb_{10-x}Cu_x\left( PO_4 \right) _6O$ with a fraction of about 97 wt.% inferred from the fitting to the x-ray diffraction pattern. The resistivity measurements show that it is a semiconductor characterized roughly by a ln(1/T) temperature dependence in wide temperature region without trace of superconductivity. Magnetization measurements show that it has a general ferromagnetic signal with a weak superparamagnetic background. Many grains of the sample show clear interactions with a NbFeB magnet. The detected Cu concentration is much lower than the expected nominal one and the conduction may be improved if more Cu atoms are successfully doped into the system. Our results show the absence of metallicity and superconductivity in $Pb_{10-x}Cu_x\left( PO_4 \right) _6O$ at ambient pressure, and suggest the presence of strong correlation effect.
2308.05786v3
2023-08-15
Thermoelectric response across the semiconductor-semimetal transition in black phosphorus
In spite of intensive studies on thermoelectricity in metals, little is known about thermoelectric response in semiconductors at low temperature. An even more fascinating and unanswered question is what happens to the Seebeck coefficient when the semiconductor turns to a metal. By precisely tuning the ground state of black phosphorus with pressure from the semiconducting to semimetallic state, we track a systematic evolution of the Seebeck coefficient. Thanks to a manifest correlation between the Seebeck coefficient and resistivity, the Seebeck response in each conduction regime, i.e., intrinsic, saturation, extrinsic, and variable range hopping (VRH) regimes, is identified. In the former two regimes, the Seebeck coefficient behaves in accordance with the present theories, whereas in the later two regimes available theories do not give a satisfactory account for its response. However, by eliminating the extrinsic sample dependence in the resistivity $\rho$ and Seebeck coefficient $S$, the Peltier conductivity $\alpha=S/\rho$ allows to unveil the intrinsic thermoelectric response, revealing vanishing fate for $\alpha$ in the VRH regime. The emerged ionized impurity scattering on entry to the semimetallic state is easily surpassed by electron-electron scattering due to squeezing of screening length accompanied by an increase of carrier density with pressure. In the low temperature limit, a small number of carriers enhances a prefactor of $T$-linear Seebeck coefficient as large as what is observed in prototypical semimetals. A crucial but largely ignored role of carrier scattering in determining the magnitude and sign of the Seebeck coefficient is indicated by the observation that a sign reversal of the $T$-linear prefactor is concomitant with a change in dominant scattering mechanism for carriers.
2308.07900v1
2023-08-18
Anomalous Hall effect induced by Berry curvature in topological nodal-line van der Waals ferromagnet Fe$_4$GeTe$_2$
The exploration of nontrivial transport phenomena associated with the interplay between magnetic order and spin-orbit coupling (SOC), particularly in van der Waals (vdW) systems has gained a resurgence of interest due to their easy exfoliation, ideal for two-dimensional (2D) spintronics. We report the near room temperature quasi-2D ferromagnet, Fe$_4$GeTe$_2$ from the iron-based vdW family (Fe$_n$GeTe$_2$, $n$=3,4,5), exhibiting a large anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC), $\sigma^A_{xy}$ $\sim$ 490 $\Omega^{-1}\textrm{cm}^{-1}$ at 2 K. The near quadratic behavior of anomalous Hall resistivity ($\rho^{A}_{xy}$) with the longitudinal resistivity ($\rho_{xx}$) suggests that a dominant AHC contribution is coming from an intrinsic Berry curvature (BC) mechanism. Concomitantly, the electronic structure calculations reveal a large BC arising from SOC induced gaped nodal lines around the Fermi level, governing such large AHC property. Moreover, we also report an exceptionally large anomalous Hall angle ($\simeq$ 10.6\%) and Hall factor ($\simeq$ 0.22 V$^{-1}$) values which so far, are the largest in compared to those for other members in this vdW family.
2308.09695v1
2023-08-25
Evidence of the Coulomb gap in the density of states of MoS$_2$
$\mathrm{MoS_2}$ is an emergent van der Waals material that shows promising prospects in semiconductor industry and optoelectronic applications. However, its electronic properties are not yet fully understood. In particular, the nature of the insulating state at low carrier density deserves further investigation, as it is important for fundamental research and applications. In this study, we investigate the insulating state of a dual-gated exfoliated bilayer $\mathrm{MoS_2}$ field-effect transistor by performing magnetotransport experiments. We observe positive and non-saturating magnetoresistance, in a regime where only one band contributes to electron transport. At low electron density ($\sim 1.4\times 10^{12}~\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$) and a perpendicular magnetic field of 7 Tesla, the resistance exceeds by more than one order of magnitude the zero field resistance and exponentially drops with increasing temperature. We attribute this observation to strong electron localization. Both temperature and magnetic field dependence can, at least qualitatively, be described by the Efros-Shklovskii law, predicting the formation of a Coulomb gap in the density of states due to Coulomb interactions. However, the localization length obtained from fitting the temperature dependence exceeds by more than one order of magnitude the one obtained from the magnetic field dependence. We attribute this discrepancy to the presence of a nearby metallic gate, which provides electrostatic screening and thus reduces long-range Coulomb interactions. The result of our study suggests that the insulating state of $\mathrm{MoS_2}$ originates from a combination of disorder-driven electron localization and Coulomb interactions.
2308.13337v2
2023-09-05
Localized f-electron magnetism in the semimetal Ce3Bi4Au3
Ce$_{3}$Bi$_{4}$Au$_{3}$ crystallizes in the same non-centrosymmetric cubic structure as the prototypical Kondo insulator Ce$_{3}$Bi$_{4}$Pt$_{3}$. Here we report the physical properties of Ce$_{3}$Bi$_{4}$Au$_{3}$ single crystals using magnetization, thermodynamic, and electrical-transport measurements. Magnetic-susceptibility and heat-capacity data reveal antiferromagnetic (AFM) order below $T_N=3.2$ K. The magnetic entropy $S_{\rm mag}$ reaches $R$ln2 slightly above $T_N$, which suggests localized $4f$-moments in a doublet ground state. Multiple field-induced magnetic transitions are observed at temperatures below $T_N$, which indicate a complex spin structure with competing interactions. Ce$_{3}$Bi$_{4}$Au$_{3}$ shows semimetallic behavior in electrical resistivity measurements in contrast to the majority of reported Cerium-based 343 compounds. Electrical-resistivity measurements under hydrostatic pressure reveal a slight enhancement of $T_N$ under pressures up to 2.3 GPa, which supports a scenario wherein Ce$_{3}$Bi$_{4}$Au$_{3}$ belongs to the far left of the Doniach phase diagram dominated by Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions. Using realistic many-body simulations, we confirm the semi-metallic electronic structure of Ce$_{3}$Bi$_{4}$Au$_{3}$ and quantitatively reproduce its local moment behavior in the paramagnetic state.
2309.02559v1
2023-09-27
Design of Passive and Structural Conductors for Tokamaks Using Thin-Wall Eddy Current Modeling
A new three-dimensional electromagnetic modeling tool ThinCurr has been developed using the existing PSI-Tet finite-element code in support of conducting structure design work for both the SPARC and DIII-D tokamaks. Within this framework a 3D conducting structure model was created for both the SPARC and DIII-D tokamaks in the thin-wall limit. This model includes accurate details of the vacuum vessel and other conducting structural elements with realistic material resistivities. This model was leveraged to support the design of a passive runaway electron mitigation coil (REMC), studying the effect of various design parameters, including coil resistivity, current quench duration, and plasma vertical position, on the effectiveness of the coil. The REMC is a non-axisymmetric coil designed to passively drive large non-axisymmetric fields during the plasma disruption thereby destroying flux surfaces and deconfining RE seed populations. These studies indicate that current designs should apply substantial 3D fields at the plasma surface during future plasma current disruptions as well as highlight the importance of having the REMC conductors away from the machine midplane in order to ensure they are robust to off-normal disruption scenarios.
2309.15336v1
2023-10-02
Dielectric Detection of Single Nanoparticles Using a Microwave Resonator Integrated with a Nanopore
The characterization of individual nanoparticles in a liquid constitutes a critical challenge for environmental, material, and biological sciences. To detect nanoparticles, electronic approaches are especially desirable owing to their compactness and lower costs. Indeed, for single-molecule and single-nanoparticle detection, resistive pulse sensing has advanced significantly during the last two decades. While resistive pulse sensing was widely used to obtain the geometric size information, impedimetric measurements to obtain dielectric signatures of nanoparticles have scarcely been reported. To explore this orthogonal sensing modality, we developed an impedimetric sensor based on a microwave resonator with a nanoscale sensing gap surrounding a nanopore. The approach of single nanoparticles near the sensing region and their translocation through the nanopore induced sudden changes in the impedance of the structure. The impedance changes in turn were picked up by the phase response of the microwave resonator. We worked with 100 nm and 50 nm polystyrene nanoparticles to observe single-particle events. Our current implementation was limited by the non-uniform electric field at the sensing region. The work provides a complementary sensing modality for nanoparticle characterization where the dielectric response, rather than the ionic current, determines the signal.
2310.00910v1
2023-10-16
Growth and characterization of the magnetic topological insulator candidate Mn$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$
We report a new member of topological insulator (TI) family i.e., Mn$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$, which belongs to MnSb$_2$Te$_4$ family and is a sister compound of Mn$_2$Bi$_2$Te$_5$. An antiferromagnetic layer of (MnTe)$_2$ has been inserted between quintuple layers of Sb$_2$Te$_3$. The crystal structure and chemical composition of as grown Mn$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ crystal is experimentally visualized by single crystal XRD (SCXRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The valence states of individual constituents i.e., Mn, Sb and Te are ascertained through X ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS). Different vibrational modes of Mn$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ are elucidated through Raman spectroscopy. Temperature-dependent resistivity of Mn$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ resulted in metallic behaviour of the same with an up-turn at below around 20K. Further, the magneto-transport R(T) vs H of the same exhibited negative magneto-resistance (MR) at low temperatures below 20K and small positive at higher temperatures. The low Temperature -ve MR starts decreasing at higher fields. The magnetic moment as a function of temperature at 100Oe and 1kOe showed AFM like down turn cusps at around 20K and 10K. The isothermal magnetization (MH) showed AFM like loops with some embedded FM/PM domains at 5K and purely paramagnetic (PM) like at 100K. The studied Mn$_2$Sb$_2$Te$_5$ clearly exhibited the characteristics of a magnetic TI (MTI).
2310.10163v1
2023-10-22
Investigation of the mechanism of the anomalous Hall effects in Cr2Te3/(BiSb)2(TeSe)3 heterostructure
The interplay between ferromagnetism and the non-trivial topology has unveiled intriguing phases in the transport of charges and spins. For example, it is consistently observed the so-called topological Hall effect (THE) featuring a hump structure in the curve of the Hall resistance (Rxy) vs. a magnetic field (H) of a heterostructure consisting of a ferromagnet (FM) and a topological insulator (TI). The origin of the hump structure is still controversial between the topological Hall effect model and the multi-component anomalous Hall effect (AHE) model. In this work, we have investigated a heterostructure consisting of BixSb2-xTeySe3-y (BSTS) and Cr2Te3 (CT), which are well-known TI and two-dimensional FM, respectively. By using the so-called minor-loop measurement, we have found that the hump structure observed in the CT/BSTS is more likely to originate from two AHE channels. Moreover, by analyzing the scaling behavior of each amplitude of two AHE with the longitudinal resistivities of CT and BSTS, we have found that one AHE is attributed to the extrinsic contribution of CT while the other is due to the intrinsic contribution of BSTS. It implies that the proximity-induced ferromagnetic layer inside BSTS serves as a source of the intrinsic AHE, resulting in the hump structure explained by the two AHE model.
2310.14259v1
2023-11-09
Lithium-ion battery degradation: using degradation mode analysis to validate lifetime prediction modelling
Predicting lithium-ion battery lifetime is one of the greatest unsolved problems in battery research right now. Recent years have witnessed a surge in lifetime prediction papers using physics-based, empirical, or data-driven models, most of which have been validated against the remaining capacity (capacity fade) and sometimes resistance (power fade). However, there are many different combinations of degradation mechanisms in lithium-ion batteries that can result in the same patterns of capacity and power fade, making it impossible to find a unique validated solution. Experimentally, degradation mode analysis involving measuring the loss of lithium inventory, loss of active material at both electrodes, and electrode drift/slippage has emerged as a state-of-the-art requirement for cell degradation studies. In this paper we coupled five degradation mechanisms together for the first time. We also showed how three models with different levels of complexity can all fit the remaining capacity and resistance well, but only the model with five coupled degradation mechanisms could also fit the degradation modes at all temperatures. This work proves that validating only against capacity and power fade is no longer sufficient, and state-of-the-art experimental and modelling degradation studies should include degradation mode analysis for validation in the future.
2311.05482v2
2023-11-19
Non-Hermitian effect to the ballistic transport and quantized Hall conductivity in 2H-MoS$_{2}$
By designing a multi-channel millimeter Hall measurement configuration, we realize the carrier-density (locally) controllable measurement on the transport property in 2H MoS$_{2}$. We observe a linearly increased Hall conductivity and exponentially decreased resistivity as the increase of dc current. The intrinsically large band gap does not exhibit too much effect on our measurement, as far as the magnetic field is above the critical value, which is $B=6$ T for 2H-MoS$_{2}$. Instead, the edge effect which emerge as a result of one-dimensional channels. This is different from the Corbino geometry which is widely applied on semiconductors, where the edges are absent. At room temperature, we observe that the emergent quantized quantum Hall plateaus are at the same value for both the two measurements, which implies that the quantized conductivity does not depends on the non-Hermitian interactions, but the number of partially filled Landau levels, and this is in consistent with the previous theoretical works\cite{Siddiki}. At low-temperature limit, the Hall plateaus are destroyed due to the filtered contribution from the electrons above fermi energy, and in this case, the two measuremens exhibits stronger distinction, where we observe stronger fluctuations (of voltage, conductivity, and resistivity) at the currents between where there are Hall plateaus at higher temperature.
2311.11276v3
2023-11-24
Even-in-magnetic-field part of transverse resistivity as a probe of magnetic order
The detection of a voltage transverse to both an applied current and a magnetic field is one of the most common characterization techniques in solid-state physics. The corresponding component of the resistivity tensor $\rho_{ij}$ can be separated into odd and even parts with respect to the applied magnetic field. The former contains information, for example, about the ordinary or anomalous Hall effect. The latter is typically ascribed to experimental artefacts and ignored. We here show that upon suppressing these artefacts in carefully controlled experiments, useful information remains. We first investigate the well-explored ferromagnet CoFeB, where the even part of $\rho_{yx}$ contains a contribution from the anisotropic magnetoresistance, which we confirm by Stoner-Wohlfarth modelling. We then apply our approach to magnetotransport measurements in $\rm Mn_5Si_3$ thin films with a complex compensated magnetic order. In this material, the even part of the transverse signal is sizable only in the low-spin-symmetry phase below $\approx 80$ K and thus offers a simple and readily available probe of the magnetic order.
2311.14498v1
2023-12-10
Radiation resistance of fine-grained ceramics Y2.5Nd0.5Al5O12 under Xe-ions irradiation
Oxide Y2.5Nd0.5Al5O12 (YAG:Nd) with garnet structure was synthesized in the powder and ceramics forms. Fine-grained YAG:Nd ceramics with a relative density of ~99% were obtained by the Spark Plasma Sintering method (SPS). The radiation resistance of ceramics was studied under irradiation with swift Xe-ions (E = 146 MeV). A gradient defect structure is formed in irradiated ceramics, varying from layer to layer. The strained YAG phase formed as a result of Xe ions irradiation is localized in a near-surface layer with a thickness of ~5 {\mu}m. Full amorphization of the samples was observed under irradiation with a fluence of 1x10^13 cm-2. The calculated critical fluence was 6.5x10^12 cm-2, which corresponded to 0.03 dpa. The microhardness of the surface layers of irradiated ceramics is less than the central layers, and, in general, decreases with increasing ion fluence.
2312.05820v1
2024-01-16
Thermoelectric power of overdoped Tl2201 crystals: Charge density waves and $T^1$ and $T^2$ resistivities
We report measurements of the in-plane thermoelectric power (TEP) for an overdoped (OD) crystal of the single layer cuprate superconductor Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+x}$ (Tl2201) at several hole concentrations ($p$), from 300 or 400 K to below the superconducting transition temperature ($T_c$). For $p$ = 0.192 and 0.220, small upturns in the TEP below 150 K are attributed to the presence of charge density waves (CDW) detected by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering studies. This suggests that measurement of the TEP could provide a simple and effective guide to the presence of a CDW. Over a certain temperature range, often strongly restricted by the CDW, the TEP is consistent with the Nordheim-Gorter rule and the $T^1$ and $T^2$ terms in the in-plane resistivity of similar crystals observed below 160 K. Two scenarios in which the $T^1$ scattering term is uniform or non-uniform around the Fermi surface are discussed. As found previously by others, for uniform scattering the $T^1$ terms give scattering rates ($\tau^{-1}$) at lower $p$ that are somewhat larger than the Planckian value $k_B T/\hbar$ and fall to zero for heavily OD crystals. Near 160 K, $\tau^{-1}$ from the $T^2$ terms corresponds to the Planckian value.
2401.08380v1
2024-01-25
Unveiling a Novel Metal-to-Metal Transition in LuH2: Critically Challenging Superconductivity Claims in Lutetium Hydrides
Following the recent report by Dasenbrock-Gammon et al. (2023) of near-ambient superconductivity in nitrogen-doped lutetium trihydride (LuH3-{\delta}N{\epsilon}), significant debate has emerged surrounding the composition and interpretation of the observed sharp resistance drop. Here, we meticulously revisit these claims through comprehensive characterization and investigations. We definitively identify the reported material as lutetium dihydride (LuH2), resolving the ambiguity surrounding its composition. Under similar conditions (270-295 K and 1-2 GPa), we replicate the reported sharp decrease in electrical resistance with a 30% success rate, aligning with Dasenbrock-Gammon et al.'s observations. However, our extensive investigations reveal this phenomenon to be a novel, pressure-induced metal-to-metal transition intrinsic to LuH2, distinct from superconductivity. Intriguingly, nitrogen doping exerts minimal impact on this transition. Our work not only elucidates the fundamental properties of LuH2 and LuH3 but also critically challenges the notion of superconductivity in these lutetium hydride systems. These findings pave the way for future research on lutetium hydride systems while emphasizing the crucial importance of rigorous verification in claims of ambient temperature superconductivity.
2401.13958v2
2024-02-06
Homogeneity problem for basis expansion of functional data with applications to resistive memories
The homogeneity problem for testing if more than two different samples come from the same population is considered for the case of functional data. The methodological results are motivated by the study of homogeneity of electronic devices fabricated by different materials and active layer thicknesses. In the case of normality distribution of the stochastic processes associated with each sample, this problem is known as Functional ANOVA problem and is reduced to test the equality of the mean group functions (FANOVA). The problem is that the current/voltage curves associated with Resistive Random Access Memories (RRAM) are not generated by a Gaussian process so that a different approach is necessary for testing homogeneity. To solve this problem two different parametric and nonparametric approaches based on basis expansion of the sample curves are proposed. The first consists of testing multivariate homogeneity tests on a vector of basis coefficients of the sample curves. The second is based on dimension reduction by using functional principal component analysis of the sample curves (FPCA) and testing multivariate homogeneity on a vector of principal components scores. Different approximation numerical techniques are employed to adapt the experimental data for the statistical study. An extensive simulation study is developed for analyzing the performance of both approaches in the parametric and non-parametric cases. Finally, the proposed methodologies are applied on three samples of experimental reset curves measured in three different RRAM technologies.
2402.04321v1
2024-02-17
Fourier Electron Optics with Massless Dirac Fermions Scattered by Quantum Dot Lattice
The field of electron optics exploits the analogy between the movement of electrons or charged quasiparticles, primarily in two-dimensional materials subjected to electric and magnetic (EM) fields and the propagation of electromagnetic waves in a dielectric medium with varied refractive index. We significantly extend this analogy by introducing Fourier electron optics (FEO) with massless Dirac fermions (MDF), namely the charge carriers of single-layer graphene under ambient conditions, by considering their scattering from a two-dimensional quantum dot lattice (TDQDL) treated within Lippmann-Schwinger formalism. By considering the scattering of MDF from TDQDL with a cavity, as well as the moir\'{e} pattern of twisted TDQDLs, we establish an electronic analogue of Babinet's principle in optics. Exploiting the similarity of the resulting differential scattering cross-section with the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern, we construct a dictionary for such FEO. Subsequently, we evaluate the resistivity of such scattered MDF using the Boltzmann approach as a function of the angle made between the direction of propagation of these charge-carriers and the symmetry axis of the dot-lattice, and Fourier analyze them to show that the spatial frequency associated with the angle-resolved resistivity gets filtered according to the structural changes in the dot lattice, indicating wider applicability of FEO of MDF.
2402.11259v1
2024-04-01
Electronic structure and thermoelectric properties of epitaxial Sc1-xVxNy thin films grown on MgO(001)
The electronic structure of Sc1-xVxNy epitaxial films with different alloying concentrations of V are investigated with respect to effects on thermoelectric properties. Band structure calculations on Sc0.75V0.25N indicate that V 3d states lie in the band gap of the parent ScN compound in the vicinity of the Fermi level. Thus, theoretically the presence of light (dispersive) bands at the {\Gamma}-point with band multiplicity is expected to lead to lower electrical resistivity while flat (heavy) bands at X-W-K symmetry points are associated with higher Seebeck coefficient than that of ScN. With this aim, epitaxial Sc1-xVxNy thin film samples were deposited on MgO(001) substrates. All the samples showed N substoichiometry and pseudocubic crystal structure. The N-vacancy-induced states were visible in the Sc 2p XAS spectra. The reference ScN and Sc1-xVxNy samples up to x = 0.12 were n type, exhibiting carrier concentration of 1021 cm-3, typical for degenerate semiconductors. For the highest V alloying of x = 0.15, holes became the majority charge carrier as indicated by the positive Seebeck coefficient. The underlying electronic structure and bonding mechanism in Sc1-xVxNy influence the electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and Hall effect. Thus, the work contributes to the fundamental understanding of the correlated defects and thermoelectric properties to the electronic structure in Sc-N system with V alloying.
2404.01417v1
2024-05-01
Metamagnetism and anomalous magnetotransport properties in rare-earth-based polar semimetals $R$AuGe ($R =$ Dy, Ho, and Gd)
We report the magnetic, magnetoelastic, and magnetotransport properties of single crystals of polar magnets $R$AuGe ($R=$ Dy, Ho, and Gd), grown by Au-Ge self-flux. Magnetization and magnetostriction measurements reveal multi-step metamagnetic transitions for the $c$-axis magnetic field ($H\parallel c$) for DyAuGe and HoAuGe, suggesting magnetic frustration in the triangular lattice of $R$ ions. The magnetic phase diagrams have clarified a close connection between the magnetoelastic property and the emergence of the intermediate metamagentic phase. The magnetic-field dependence of the resistivity and Hall resistivity reveal the semimetallic transport dominated by hole-type carriers, consistent with the behavior in a nonmagnetic analogue YAuGe. We also identify a signature of an anomalous Hall effect (AHE) proportional to the field-induced magnetization in $R=$ Dy, Ho, and Gd. GdAuGe shows magnetic and transport behavior as reported in a previous study using Bi-flux grown single crystals, while the self-flux grown crystal shows larger magnetoresistance ($\sim$ 345\%, at 1.8 K and 9 T) due to higher hole-type carrier mobility ($\sim$ 6400 cm$^2$/Vs). Using the two-band model analysis considering the mobility change during the magnetization process, we extract the anomalous Hall conductivity: $\sim 1200$ S/cm and $\sim 530$ S/cm for $R=$ Dy and Ho, respectively, at 1.8 K with 9 T for $H\parallel c$. The magnitude of conductivity suggests a contribution of intrinsic origin, possibly related to the Berry curvature in the electron bands induced by the time-reversal symmetry breaking and the polar lattice.
2405.00628v2
1995-10-03
Theory of the Normal State of Cuprate Superconducting Materials
We have proposed a model Hamiltonian, which describes a simple physical picture that the holes with single occupation constraint introduced by doping move in the antiferromagnetic background of the copper spins, to describe the normal state of the cuprate superconducting materials, and used the renormalization group method to calculate its anomalous magnetic and transport properties. The anomalous magnetic behavior of the normal state is controlled by both the copper spin and the spin part of the doping hole residing on the O sites. The physical resistivity is determined by both the quasiparticle-spin-fluctuation and the quasiparticle-gauge-fluctuation scatterings and the Hall coefficient is determined by the parity-odd gauge interaction deriving from the nature of the hard-core boson which describes the charge part of the doping holes.
9510015v1
1999-03-04
Transport in Materials with Disclination Dipoles: Applications to Polycrystals and Amorphous Dielectrics
The problem of both electron and phonon scattering by wedge disclination dipoles (WDD) is studied in the framework of the deformation potential approach. The exact analytical results for the mean free path are obtained within the Born approximation. The WDD-induced contribution to the residual resistivity in nanocrystalline metals is estimated. Using the WDD-based model of a grain boundary, the thermal conductivity, kappa, of polycrystals and amorphous dielectrics is studied. It is shown that the low-temperature crossover of kappa experimentally observed in LiF, NaCl, and sapphire can be explained by the grain-boundary phonon scattering. A combination of two scattering processes, the phonon scattering due to biaxial WDD and the Rayleigh-type scattering, is suggested to be of importance in amorphous dielectrics. Our results are in a good agreement with the experimentally observed kappa in a-SiO_2, a-GeO_2 a-Se, and polystyrene over a wide temperature range.
9903072v1
1999-05-06
Role of Orbitals in Manganese Oxides - Ordering and Fluctuation
We study the manganese oxides from the viewpoint of the strongly correlated doped Mott insulator. The magnetic ordering and the charge transport are governed by the orbital degrees of freedom, and their dimensionality is controlled by the anisotropic transfer integrals between the $e_g$ orbitals. As x increases the magnetic structure is predicted to change as $A \to F \to A \to C \to G$ (F: ferromagnet, A: layered antiferromagnet, C: rod-type antiferromagnet, G: usual antiferromagnet), in agreement with experiments. Especially the orbital is aligned as $d_{x^2-y^2}$ in the metallic A state, which explains the quasi 2D transport and no canting of the spin observed experimentally. Next we discuss the ferromagnetic state without the orbital ordering due to the quantum fluctuation. Here the interplay between the electron repulsion U and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon interation $E_{LR}$ is studied with a large d model. In addition to this strong correlation, we propose that the dynamical phase separation could explain the specific heat as well as the various anomalous physical properties, e.g., resistivity, photo-emission, etc.
9905072v1
1999-11-16
Magneto-impedance of glass-coated Fe-Ni-Cu microwires
The magneto-impedance (MI) of glass-coated Fe-Ni-Cu microwires was investigated for longitudinal radio-frequency (RF) currents up to a frequency of 200 MHz using an RF lock-in amplifier method. The MI, defined as DZ/Z = [Z(H)-Z(H=0.3T)]/Z(H=0.3T), displays a peak structure (negative MI) at zero field for RF currents with frequencies less than 20MHz and this crosses over to a sharp dip (positive MI) at higher frequencies. This crossover behavior is ascribed to the skin-depth-limited response primarily governed by the field-dependence of the permeability. Large saturation fields (300 to 600 Oe) and other anomalies indicate the possible influence of giant magneto-resistance (GMR) on the MI.
9911241v1
2000-11-18
Magneto-electronic Properties of a Ferrimagnetic Semiconductor: The Hybrid Cupromanganite CaCu3Mn4O12
The mixed manganite-cuprate CaCu3Mn4O12 is found, using density functional methods, to be a narrow gap (90 meV calculated) ferrimagnetic semiconductor. Cu (formally S=1/2) antialigns with Mn (formally S=3/2), and the net spin moment is 9 \mu_B consistent with the formal spins. Holes have Cu d_{xy}-O p_{\sigma} (i.e. antibonding dp\sigma) character with spins aligned antiparallel to the net magnetization; electrons have the opposite spin and have mixed Cu d_{xy} - Mn e_g character. Thermally excited electrons and holes will each be fully spin polarized, but in opposite directions. The properties of this material are strongly tied to the distorted quadruple perovskite structure, which is closely related to the skutterudite structure. The observed resistivity, magnetoresistance, and magnetization are discussed in terms of our results.
0011316v1
2001-06-15
Pressure-induced recovery of the Fermi-liquid state in the non-Fermi liquid material U2Pt2In
In the study of non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) phenomena in correlated metals, U2Pt2In is of special interest as it is one of the rare stoichiometric (undoped) materials that show NFL behaviour at ambient pressure. Here we report on the stability of the NFL phase with respect to hydrostatic pressure (p< 1.8 GPa). Electrical resistivity data under pressure, taken on a single-crystalline sample for a current in the tetragonal plane, show that T_FL, i.e. the temperature below which the Fermi-liquid T^2-term is observed, increases with pressure as T_FL ~ (p-p_c), where p_c~0 is a critical pressure. This provides strong evidence for the location of U2Pt2In at an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point.
0106292v1
2002-04-25
Interpretation of large room-temperature diamagnetism at low magnetic fields in films of oxidised atactic polypropylene in terms of superconducting current loops
A simple model is used to analyse published results on large room-temperature diamagnetism for two films of oxidised atactic polypropylene (OAPP) at low magnetic fields. The model involves induced currents expected in circular closed loops of superconductors in fields below the lower critical field H_{c1} at which flux penetration would first occur if a metamagnetic transition did not intervene as in OAPP, and the assumption that resistance would be restored at H_{c1} (negligible pinning). Fits to the data for the more strongly magnetic sample with the model, allowing two different types of loops with different loop radii b_1 and b_2, but with the same cross section a of loop material yield H_{c1} is approximately equal to 5260 Oe, and fits to the data for the less strongly magnetic sample with two loop sizes and with the same value of H_{c1}, combined with the knowledge that the minimum number of closed loops of any type is one, requires that the radius a of the cross section of the material should be less than about 0.8 micrometres, in fair agreement with a maximum radius of 1 micrometre obtained previously from other data.
0204556v1
2002-08-28
Low frequency 1/f noise in doped manganite grain-boundary junctions
We have performed a systematic analysis of the low frequency 1/f-noise in single grain boundary junctions in the colossal magnetoresistance material La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_{3-delta}. The grain boundary junctions were formed in epitaxial La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_{3-delta} films deposited on SrTiO_3 bicrystal substrates and show a large tunneling magnetoresistance of up to 300% at 4.2 K as well as ideal, rectangular shaped resistance versus applied magnetic field curves. Below the Curie temperature T_C the measured 1/f noise is dominated by the grain boundary. The dependence of the noise on bias current, temperature and applied magnetic field gives clear evidence that the large amount of low frequency noise is caused by localized sites with fluctuating magnetic moments in a heavily disordered grain boundary region. At 4.2 K additional temporally unstable Lorentzian components show up in the noise spectra that are most likely caused by fluctuating clusters of interacting magnetic moments. Noise due to fluctuating domains in the junction electrodes is found to play no significant role.
0208556v1
2002-11-14
Variable-Range Hopping of Spin Polarons: Magnetoresistance in a Modified Mott Regime
We analize electrical conductivity controlled by hopping of bound spin polarons in disordered solids with wide distributions of electron energies and polaron shifts (barriers). By means of percolation theory and Monte Carlo simulations we have shown that in such materials at low temperatures, when hopping occurs in the vicinity of the Fermi level, a hard polaron gap does not manifest itself in the transport properties. This happens because as temperature decreases the hopping polaron trades the decreasing electron and polaron barriers for increasing hopping distance. As a result, in the absence of the Coulomb correlation effects, in this variable-range variable-barrier hopping regime, the electrical resistivity as a function of temperature obeys a non-activation law, which differs from the standard Mott law.
0211301v1
2002-11-15
Ultra-sharp magnetization steps in perovskite manganites
We report a detailed study of step-like metamagnetic transitions in the magnetization and resistivity of polycrystalline Pr0.5Ca0.5Mn0.95Co0.05O3. The steps have a sudden onset below a critical temperature, are extremely sharp (width < 0.2 mT), and occur at critical fields which are linearly dependent on the absolute value of the cooling field in which the sample is prepared. Similar transitions are also observed at low temperature in non-Co doped manganites, including single crystal samples. These data show that the steps are an intrinsic property, qualitatively different from either previously observed higher temperature metamagnetic transitions in the manganites or metamagnetic transitions observed in other materials.
0211337v1
2003-04-02
Low Friction Flows of Liquids at Nanopatterned Interfaces
With the recent important development of microfluidic systems, miniaturization of flow devices has become a real challenge. Microchannels, however, are characterized by a large surface to volume ratio, so that surface properties strongly affect flow resistance in submicrometric devices. We present here results showing that the concerted effect of wetting . properties and surface roughness may considerably reduce friction of the fluid past the boundaries. The slippage of the fluid at the channel boundaries is shown to be drastically increased by using surfaces that are patterned at the nanometer scale. This effect occurs in the regime where the surface pattern is partially dewetted, in the spirit of the 'superhydrophobic' effects that have been recently discovered at the macroscopic scales. Our results show for the first time that, in contrast to the common belief, surface friction may be reduced by surface roughness. They also open the possibility of a controlled realization of the 'nanobubbles' that have long been suspected to play a role in interfacial slippage
0304037v1
2003-05-30
A Low-Temperature Atomic Layer Deposition Liftoff Method for Microelectronic and Nanoelectronic Applications
We report a novel method for depositing patterned dielectric layers with sub-micron features using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The patterned films are superior to sputtered or evaporated films in continuity, smoothness, conformality, and minimum feature size. Films were deposited at 100-150C using several different precursors and patterned using either PMMA or photoresist. The low deposition temperature permits uniform film growth without significant outgassing or hardbaking of resist layers. A liftoff technique presented here gives sharp step edges with edge roughness as low as ~10 nm. We also measure dielectric constants (k) and breakdown fields for the high-k materials aluminum oxide (k ~ 8-9), hafnium oxide (k ~ 16-19) and zirconium oxide (k ~ 20-29), grown under similar low temperature conditions.
0305711v2
2003-11-13
Structural, magnetic and transport properties of thin films of the Heusler alloy Co2MnSi
Thin films of Co2MnSi have been grown on a-plane sapphire substrates from three elemental targets by dc magnetron co-sputtering. These films are single phase, have a strong (110) texture and a saturation magnetization of 4.95 uB/formula unit at 10 K. Films grown at the highest substrate temperature of 715 K showed the lowest resistivity (47 uOhm cm at 4.2 K) and the lowest coercivity (18 Oe). The spin polarization of the transport current was found to be of the order of 54% as determined by point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy. A decrease in saturation magnetization with decreasing film thickness and different transport behaviour in thinner films indicate a graded disorder in these films grown on non-lattice matched substrates.
0311316v1
2004-05-17
Itinerant Ferromagnetism and Superconductivity
Superconductivity has again become a challenge following the discovery of unconventional superconductivity. Resistance-free currents have been observed in heavy-fermion materials, organic conductors and copper oxides. The discovery of superconductivity in a single crystal of $UGe_2$, $ZrZn_2$ and $URhGe$ revived the interest in the coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism. The experiments indicate that: i)The superconductivity is confined to the ferromagnetic phase. ii)The ferromagnetic order is stable within the superconducting phase (neutron scattering experiments). iii) The specific heat anomaly associated with the superconductivity in these materials appears to be absent. The specific heat depends on the temperature linearly at low temperature. I present a review of the recent experimental results and the basic theoretical ideas concerning ferromagnetic superconductivity (FM-superconductivity) induced by the ferromagnetic spin fluctuations. A particular attention is paid to the magnon exchange mechanism of FM-superconductivity.
0405371v2
2005-01-08
Silver paint as a soldering agent for DyBaCuO single-domains welding
Silver paint has been tested as a soldering agent for DyBaCuO single-domain welding. Junctions have been manufactured on Dy-Ba-Cu-O single-domains cut either along planes parallel to the c-axis or along the ab-planes. Microstructural and superconducting characterisations of the samples have been performed. For both types of junctions, the microstructure in the joined area is very clean: no secondary phase or Ag particles segregation has been observed. Electrical and magnetic measurements for all configurations of interest are reported $\rho(T)$ curves, and Hall probe mapping). The narrow resistive superconducting transition reported for all configurations shows that the artificial junction does not affect significantly the measured superconducting properties of the material.
0501163v1
2005-01-19
Magnetism and Transport in YbMn2Sb2
A new ternary intermetallic compound, namely, YbMn2Sb2, has been synthesized and its magnetic and electrical transport properties have been studied in the temperature range of 2 to 300 K. This compound crystallizes in a trigonal, La2O2S type structure (space group P3bm1, No. 164) and is found to be ferromagnetically ordered at room temperature. The magnetism is attributed to the ordering of Mn sublattice. M5 xray absorption spectrum of YbMn2Sb2 obtained at room temperature suggests that the valency of Yb in this compound is close to 2. Electrical resistivity of this compound is metal like and a positive magnetoresistance of 13 percent is observed at 5 K in an applied field of 9T. Key words Rare earth intermetallics and alloys, Magnetic properties, Xray absorption spectroscopy, Electrical transport.
0501450v1
2005-03-08
Ultra low threshold current THz quantum cascade lasers based on buried strip-waveguides
THz quantum cascade lasers based on a novel buried cavity geometry are demonstrated by combining double-metal waveguides with proton implantation. Devices are realised with emission at 2.8 THz, displaying ultra low threshold currents of 19 mA at 4K in both pulsed and continuous wave operation. Thanks to the semiconductor material on both sides of the active region and to the narrow width of the top metal strip, the thermal properties of these devices have been greatly improved. A decrease of the thermal resistance by over a factor of two compared to standard ridge double-metal lasers of similar size has been measured.
0503186v1