No Arabic abstract
The formation of conducting channels of Ti${}_4$O${}_7$ inside TiO${}_2$-based memristors is believed to be the origin for the change in electric resistivity of these devices. While the properties of the bulk materials are reasonably known, the interface between them has not been studied up to now mostly due to their different crystalline structures. In this work we present a way to match the interfaces between TiO${}_2$ and Ti${}_4$O${}_7$ and subsequently the band offset between these materials is obtained from density functional theory based calculations. The results show that while the valence band is located at the Ti${}_4$O${}_7$, the conduction band is found at the TiO${}_2$ structure, resulting into a type II interface. In this case, the Ti${}_4$O${}_7$ would act as a donor to the TiO${}_2$ matrix.
Terbium titanate (Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$) is a spin-ice material with remarkable magneto-optical properties. It has a high Verdet constant and is a promising substrate crystal for the epitaxy of quantum materials with the pyrochlore structure. Large single crystals with adequate quality of Tb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ or any pyrochlore are not available so far. Here we report the growth of high-quality bulk crystals using the Czochralski method to pull crystals from the melt. Prior work using the automated Czochralski method has suffered from growth instabilities like diameter fluctuation, foot formation and subsequent spiraling shortly after the seeding stage. In this study, the volumes of the crystals were strongly increased to several cubic centimeters by means of manual growth control, leading to crystal diameters up to 40 mm and crystal lengths up to 10 mm. Rocking curve measurements revealed full width at half maximum values between 28 and 40 for 222 reflections. The specific heat capacity c$_p$ was measured between room temperature and 1573 K by dynamic differential scanning calorimetry and shows the typical slow parabolic rise. In contrast, the thermal conductivity kappa(T) shows a minimum near 700 K and increases at higher temperature T. Optical spectroscopy was performed at room temperature from the ultraviolet to the near infrared region, and additionally in the near infrared region up to 1623 K. The optical transmission properties and the crystal color are interpreted to be influenced by partial oxidation of Tb$^{3+}$ to Tb$^{4+}$.
The oxide pyrochlore Bi$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is in some ways analogous to perovskite PbTiO$_3$, in that Bi$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ has two cations, Bi$^{3+}$ and Ti$^{4+}$ in oxidation states that are normally associated with a propensity to off-center. However, unlike PbTiO$_3$, Bi$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is experimentally observed to remain cubic down to 2 K, while the only observed ionic displacements are local and incoherent. Here we report first-principles calculations of the zone-center phonons of the ordered cubic pyrochlore which reveal several lattice instabilities. An analysis of the structural energetics suggest that the ordered cubic pyrochlore is unstable with respect to distortion towards a ferroelectric ground state with a large polarization. Our results suggest a key role of a frustrated soft polar mode in the dielectric properties of bismuth pyrochlores.
The elementary excitations of the spin-ice materials Ho$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ and Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ in zero field can be described as independent magnetic monopoles. We investigate the influence of these exotic excitations on the heat transport by measuring the magnetic-field dependent thermal conductivity $kappa $. Additional measurements on the highly dilute reference compounds HoYTi$_2$O$_7$ and DyYTi$_2$O$_7$ enable us to separate $kappa $ into a sum of phononic ($kappa_{ph}$) and magnetic ($kappa_{mag}$) contributions. For both spin-ice materials, we derive significant zero-field contributions $kappa_{mag}$, which are rapidly suppressed in finite magnetic fields. Moreover, $kappa_{mag}$ sensitively depends on the scattering of phonons by magnetic excitations, which is rather different for the Ho- and the Dy-based materials and, as a further consequence, the respective magnetic-field dependent changes $kappa_{ph}(B)$ are even of opposite signs.
The intrinsic noncollinear spin patterns in rare-earth pyrochlore are physically interesting, hosting many emergent properties, e.g. spin ice and monopole-type excitation. Recently, the magnetic monopole excitation of spin ice systems was predicted to be magnetoelectric active, while rare experimental works have directly confirmed this scenario. In this work, we performed systematic experimental investigation on the magnetoelectricity of Dy$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ by probing the ferroelectricity, spin dynamics, and dielectric behaviors. Two ferroelectric transitions at $T_{c1}$=25 K and $T_{c2}$=13 K have been observed. Remarkable magnetoelectric coupling is identified below the lower transition temperature, with a significant suppression of the electric polarization upon applied magnetic field. It is surprised that the lower ferroelectric transition temperature just coincides with the Ising-spin paramagnetic transition point, below which the quasi-particle-like monopoles are populated, indicating implicit correlation between electric dipoles and spin moments. The possible magnetoelectric mechanisms have also been discussed although a decent theory remains unavailable up to date. Our results will stimulate more investigations to explore multiferroicity in these spin ice systems and other frustrated magnets.
The crystal structure of Lanthanum Cerium Oxide (La$_2$Ce$_2$O$_7$) is investigated using textit{ab initio} density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The relative stability of fluorite- and pyrochlore-like structures is studied through comparison of their formation energies. These formation energies show the pyrochlore structure to be favored over the fluorite structure, apparently contradicting the conclusions based on experimental neutron and X-ray diffraction (XRD). By calculating and comparing XRD spectra for a set of differently ordered and random structures, we show that the pyrochlore structure is consistent with diffraction experiments. For these reasons, we suggest the pyrochlore structure as the ground state crystal structure for La$_2$Ce$_2$O$_7$. %we show that among the structures considered in this work, the pyrochlore geometry is clearly favorable over the disordered fluorite geometry.