No Arabic abstract
We show that room temperature resistivity of Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22 single crystals increases by more than three orders of magnitude upon being subjected to optimized heat treatments. The increase in the resistivity allows the determination of magnetic field (H)-induced ferroelectric phase boundaries up to 310 K through the measurements of dielectric constant at a frequency of 10 MHz. Between 280 and 310 K, the dielectric constant curve shows a peak centered at zero magnetic field and thereafter decreases monotonically up to 0.1 T, exhibiting a magnetodielectric effect of 1.1%. This effect is ascribed to the realization of magnetic field-induced ferroelectricity at an H value of less than 0.1 T near room temperature. Comparison between electric and magnetic phase diagrams in wide temperature- and field-windows suggests that the magnetic field for inducing ferroelectricity has decreased near its helical spin ordering temperature around 315 K due to the reduction of spin anisotropy in Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22.
The analogy between magnetism and electricity has long been established by Maxwell in the 19th century, in spite of their subtle difference. While magnetic materials display paramagnetism, ferromagnetism, antiferromagnetism, and diamagnetism, only paraelectricity, ferroelectricity, and antiferrolelectricity have been found in dielectric materials. The missing `diaelectricity may be found if there exists a material that has a dc-polarization opposing the electric field or a negative dielectric susceptibility epsilon-1, with epsilon being the real part of the relative dielectric constant. Both of these properties have been observed in nano-particle aggregates under a dc electric bias field at room temperature. A possible collective effect in the nano-particle aggregates is proposed to account for the observation. `Diaelectricity implies overscreening by polarization to the external charges. Materials with a negative static epsilon are expected to provide attraction to similar charges and unusual scattering to electromagnetic waves with possible profound implications for high temperature superconductivity and communication.
Strongly correlated Kagome magnets are promising candidates for achieving controllable topological devices owing to the rich interplay between inherent Dirac fermions and correlation-driven magnetism. Here we report tunable local magnetism and its intriguing control of topological electronic response near room temperature in the Kagome magnet Fe3Sn2 using small angle neutron scattering, muon spin rotation, and magnetoresistivity measurement techniques. The average bulk spin direction and magnetic domain texture can be tuned effectively by small magnetic fields. Magnetoresistivity, in response, exhibits a measurable degree of anisotropic weak localization behavior, which allows the direct control of Dirac fermions with strong electron correlations. Our work points to a novel platform for manipulating emergent phenomena in strongly-correlated topological materials relevant to future applications.
We find the realization of large converse magnetoelectric (ME) effects at room temperature in a multiferroic hexaferrite Ba$_{0.52}$Sr$_{2.48}$Co$_{2}$Fe$_{24}$O$_{41}$ single crystal, in which rapid change of electric polarization in low magnetic fields (about 5 mT) is coined to a large ME susceptibility of 3200 ps/m. The modulation of magnetization then reaches up to 0.62 $mu$$_{B}$/f.u. in an electric field of 1.14 MV/m. We find further that four ME states induced by different ME poling exhibit unique, nonvolatile magnetization versus electric field curves, which can be approximately described by an effective free energy with a distinct set of ME coefficients.
Polar metals, commonly defined by the coexistence of polar crystal structure and metallicity, are thought to be scarce because the long-range electrostatic fields favoring the polar structure are expected to be fully screened by the conduction electrons of a metal. Moreover, reducing from three to two dimensions, it remains an open question whether a polar metal can exist. Here we report on the realization of a room temperature two-dimensional polar metal of the B-site type in tri-color (tri-layer) superlattices BaTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$/LaTiO$_3$. A combination of atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy, optical second harmonic generation, electrical transport, and first-principles calculations have revealed the microscopic mechanisms of periodic electric polarization, charge distribution, and orbital symmetry. Our results provide a route to creating all-oxide artificial non-centrosymmetric quasi-two-dimensional metals with exotic quantum states including coexisting ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases.
Charge-density wave (CDW) is one of the most fundamental quantum phenomena in solids. Different from ordinary metals in which only single particle excitations exist, CDW also has collective excitations and can carry electric current in a collective fashion. Manipulating this collective condensation for applications has long been a goal in the condensed matter and materials community. Here we show that the CDW system of 1T-TaS2 is highly sensitive to light directly from visible down to terahertz, with current responsivities around the order of ~1 AW-1 at room temperature. Our findings open a new avenue for realizing uncooled, ultrabroadband and sensitive photoelectronics continuously down to terahertz spectral range.