No Arabic abstract
We have prepared polycrystalline samples of LaSrRh$_{1-x}$Ga$_x$O$_4$ and LaSr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$RhO$_4$,and have measured the x-ray diffraction, resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, magnetization and electron spin resonance in order to evaluate their electronic states. The energy gap evaluated from the resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient systematically changes with the Ga concentration, and suggests that the system changes from a small polaron insulator to a band insulator. We find that all the samples show Curie-Weiss-like susceptibility with a small Weiss temperature of the order of 1 K, which is seriously incompatible with the collective wisdom that a trivalent rhodium ion is nonmagnetic. We have determined the $g$ factor to be $g$=2.3 from the electron spin resonance, and the spin number to be $S$=1 from the magnetization-field curves by fitting with a modified Brillouin function. The fraction of the $S$=1 spins is 2--5%, which depends on the degree of disorder in the La/Sr/Ca-site, which implies that disorder near the apical oxygen is related to the magnetism of this system. A possible origin for the magnetic Rh$^{3+}$ ions is discussed.
First-principles calculations and a model consideration of magnetically frustrated layered material PdCrO$_2$ are performed. The results on the exchange parameters are in agreement with the experimental data on the Curie-Weiss temperature ($theta$). We show that experimentally observed strong suppression of the Neel temperature ($T_N$) in comparison with the Curie-Weiss temperature is due to three main factors. First, as expected, this is connected with the layered structure and relatively small exchange interaction along the $c$ axis. Second, deformation of the ideal in-plane 120$^{circ}$ magnetic structure is crucial to provide finite $T_N$ value. However, these two factors are still insufficient to explain low $T_N$ and the large frustration factor $|theta|/T_N$. Thus, we suggest a scenario of an exotic non-Fermi-liquid state in PdCrO$_2$ above $T_N$ within the frameworks of the Anderson lattice model, which seems to explain qualitatively all its main peculiarities.
Both Ba$_4$Mn$_3$O$_{10}$ and Sr$_4$Mn$_3$O$_{10}$ crystallize in an orthorhombic crystal structure consisting of corrugated layers containing Mn$_3$O$_{12}$ polydedra. The thermal variation of magnetic susceptibility of the compositions consists of a broad hump like feature indicating the presence of low dimensional magnetic correlation. We have systematically investigated the magnetic data of these compounds and found that the experimental results match quite well with the two dimensional Heisenberg model of spin-spin interaction. The two dimensional nature of the magnetic spin-spin interaction is supported by the low temperature heat capacity data of Ba$_4$Mn$_3$O$_{10}$. Interestingly, both the samples show dielectric anomaly near the magnetic ordering temperature indicating multiferroic behavior.
In strongly correlated electronic systems, several novel physical properties are induced by the orbital degree of freedom. In particular, orbital degeneracy near the Fermi level leads to spontaneous symmetry breaking, such as the nematic state in FeSe and the orbital ordering in several perovskite systems. Here, the novel layered perovskite material CsVF$_4$, with a $3d^2$ electronic configuration, was systematically studied using density functional theory and a multiorbital Hubbard model within the Hatree-Fock approximation. Our results show that CsVF$_4$ should be magnetic, with a G-type antiferromagnetic arrangement in the $ab$ plane and weak antiferromagnetic exchange along the $c$-axis, in agreement with experimental results. Driven by the Jahn-Teller distortion in the VF$_6$ octahedra that shorten the $c$-axis, the system displays an interesting electron occupancy $d_{xy}^1(d_{xz}d_{yz})^1$ corresponding to the lower nondegenerate $d_{xy}$ orbital being half-filled and the other two degenerate $d_{yz}$ and $d_{xz}$ orbitals sharing one electron per site. We show that this degeneracy is broken and a novel $d_{yz}$/$d_{xz}$ staggered orbital pattern is here predicted by both the first-principles and Hubbard model calculations. This orbital ordering is driven by the electronic instability associated with degeneracy removal to lower the energy.
Since the discovery of superconductivity in LaFePO in 2006, numerous iron-based superconductors have been identified within diverse structure families, all of which combine iron with a group-V (pnictogen) or group-VI (chalco- gen) element. Unconventional superconductivity is extremely rare among transition metal compounds outside these layered iron systems and the cuprates, and it is almost universally associated with highly anisotropic electronic properties and nearly 2D Fermi surface geometries. The iron-based intermetallic YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ features a 3D Fermi surface and a strongly enhanced low temperature heat capacity, which signals strong electronic correlations. We present data from a new generation of high quality samples of YFe$_2$Ge$_2$, which show superconducting transition anomalies below 1.8 K in thermodynamic as well as transport measurements, establishing that superconductivity is intrinsic in this layered iron compound outside the known superconducting iron pnictide or chalcogenide families. The Fermi surface geometry of YFe$_2$Ge$_2$ resembles that of KFe$_2$As$_2$ in the high pressure collapsed tetragonal phase, in which superconductivity at temperatures as high as 10 K has recently been reported, suggesting an underlying connection between the two systems.
The phase diagram of the layered organic superconductor $kappa$-(ET)$_{2}$Cu[N(CN)$_{2}$]Cl has been accurately measured from a combination of $^{1}$H NMR and AC susceptibility techniques under helium gas pressure. The domains of stability of antiferromagnetic and superconducting long-range orders in the pressure {it vs} temperature plane have been determined. Both phases overlap through a first-order boundary that separates two regions of inhomogeneous phase coexistence. The boundary curve is found to merge with another first order line related to the metal-insulator transition in the paramagnetic region. This transition is found to evolve into a crossover regime above a critical point at higher temperature. The whole phase diagram features a point-like region where metallic, insulating, antiferromagnetic and non s-wave superconducting phases all meet.