No Arabic abstract
Electronic properties of the sodium cobaltate NaxCoO2 are systematically studied through a precise control of band filling. Resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements are carried out on a series of high-quality polycrystalline samples prepared at 200 C with Na content in a wide range of 0.35 =< x =< 0.70. It is found that dramatic changes in electronic properties take place at a critical Na concentration x* that lies between 0.58 and 0.59, which separates a Pauli paramagnetic and a Curie-Weiss metals. It is suggested that at x* the Fermi level touches the bottom of the a1g band at the gamma point, leading to a crucial change in the density of states across x* and the emergence of a small electron pocket around the gamma point for x > x*.
We observe and explain theoretically a dramatic evolution of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the series of isostructural weak ferromagnets, MnCO$_3$, FeBO$_3$, CoCO$_3$ and NiCO$_3$. The sign of the interaction is encoded in the phase of x-ray magnetic diffraction amplitude, observed through interference with resonant quadrupole scattering. We find very good quantitative agreement with first-principles electronic structure calculations, reproducing both sign and magnitude through the series, and propose a simplified `toy model to explain the change in sign with 3 d shell filling. The model gives a clue for qualitative understanding of the evolution of the DMI in Mott and charge transfer insulators.
We present a detailed study of the low temperature and high magnetic field phases in the chemical substitution series URu$_2$Si$_{2-x}$P$_x$ using electrical transport and magnetization in pulsed magnetic fields up to 65T. Within the hidden order region (0 $ x$$ $ 0.035) the high field ordering is robust even as the hidden order temperature is suppressed. Earlier work shows that for 0.035 $ x$ $ $ 0.26 there is a Kondo lattice with a no-ordered state that is replaced by antiferromagnetism for 0.26 $ x$ 0.5. We observe a simplified continuation of the high field ordering in the no-order $x$-region and an enhancement of the high field state upon the destruction of the antiferromagnetism with magnetic field. These results closely resemble what is seen for URu$_{2-x}$Rh$_x$Si$_2$footnote{The concentration in this paper is defined as URu$_{2-x}$Rh$_x$Si$_2$ while the chemical formula in the literature is given as U(Ru$_{1-x}$Rh$_x$)$_2$Si$_2$ [24-26]}, from which we infer that charge tuning uniformly controls the ground state of URu$_2$Si$_2$, regardless of whether s/p or d-electrons are replaced. This provides guidance for determining the specific factors that lead to hidden order versus magnetism in this family of materials.
Twisted bilayer graphene exhibits a panoply of many-body phenomena that are intimately tied to the appearance of narrow and well isolated electronic bands near magic-angle. The microscopic ingredients that are responsible for the complex experimental phenomenology include electron-electron (phonon) interactions and non-trivial Bloch wavefunctions associated with the narrow bands. Inspired by recent experiments, we focus here on an interplay of two independent interaction-induced phenomena on superconductivity. We analyze the combined effects of Coulomb interaction driven band-flattening and phonon-mediated attraction due to the exchange of multiple electron-phonon umklapp processes, as a function of filling and twist angle. The former leads to a filling-dependent enhancement of the renormalized density of states, which contributes to a robust increase in the tendency towards pairing in a range of angles near magic-angle. In addition, the minimal spatial extent associated with the Wannier functions develops a non-trivial enhancement as a result of these many-body renormalizations, which can further contribute towards stabilizing the superconducting state over a wider range of fillings and twist-angles.
The effect of surface degradation of the thermolectric cobaltite on Raman spectra is discussed and compared to experimental results from Co3O4 single crystals. We conclude that on NaCl flux grown NaxCoO2 crystals a surface layer of Co3O4 easily forms that leads to the observation of an intense phonon around 700 cm-1 [Phys. Rev. B 70, 052502 (2004)]. Raman spectra on freshly cleaved crystals from optical floating zone ovens do not show such effects and have a high frequency phonon cut-off at approximately 600 cm -1 [Phys. Rev. Lett 96, 167204 (2006)]. We discuss the relation of structural dimensionality, electronic correlations and the high frequency phonon cut-off of the thermolectric cobaltite.
We report the divergence of the nonlinear component of the bulk susceptibility in NaxCoO2 (0.3<x<0.62) as T goes to 0 K. These experiments provide an striking evidence of the existence of a ferromagnetic phase transition at zero Kelvin (quantum phase transition). The possible role of magnetic fluctuations in the superconductivity is discussed to the light of the observed (H,T) scaling of the magnetization, which implies a local character of the fluctuations.