No Arabic abstract
Recently, the observation of atomic thin film SnTe with a Curie temperature (Tc) higher than that of the bulk (Chang et. al., Science 353, 274 (2016)) has boosted the research on two-dimensional (2D) ferroic materials tremendously. However, the origin of such phenomenon has yet been thoroughly investigated, which hinder the understanding and design of novel materials with ferroic orders at 2D limit. By using the density functional theory, we investigated the structural and ferroelectrical properties of 2D SnTe, to reveal the thickness dependence. The calculated results demonstrate that the 2D SnTe automatically transform into periodical bilayer structure, resulting from the surface effect. Moreover, based on the double-well potential and atomic distortion analysis, we found the Tc of the 2D SnTe is higher than the bulk counterpart, and more surprisingly, the Tc exhibits an unusual non-monotonous dependence of thickness, featuring a pronounced atomic distortion and Curie temperature maximum at 8 atomic-layers. In addition, this non-monotonous dependence is sensitive to the external strain and it can be tuned easily by the external compressive strain.
We present a segregrated strain model that describes the thickness-dependent dielectric properties of ferroelectric films. Using a phenomenological Landau approach, we present results for two specific materials, making comparison with experiment and with first-principles calculations whenever possible. We also suggest a smoking gun benchtop probe to test our elastic scenario.
Using first-principles electronic structure calculations, we have studied the dependence of the Curie temperature on external hydrostatic pressure for random Ni2MnSn Heusler alloys doped with Cu and Pd atoms, over the entire range of dopant concentrations. The Curie temperatures are calculated by applying random-phase approximation to the Heisenberg Hamiltonian whose parameters are determined using the linear response and multiple scattering methods, based on density-functional theory. In (Ni1-x,Pdx)2MnSn alloys, the Curie temperature is found to increase with applied pressure over the whole concentration range. The crossover from the increase to the decrease of the Curie temperature with pressure takes place for Cu concentrations larger than about 70% in (Ni1-x,Cux)2MnSn Heusler alloys. The results for the reference Ni2MnSn Heusler alloy agree well with a previous theoretical study of E. Sasioglu, L. M. Sandratskii and P. Bruno Phys. Rev. B 71 214412 (2005) and also reasonably well with available experimental data. Results for the spin-disorder-induced part of the resistivity in (Ni1-x,Pdx)2MnSn Heusler alloys, calculated by using the disordered local moment model, are also presented. Finally, a qualitative understanding of the results, based on Andersons superexchange interaction and Stearns model of the indirect exchange interaction between localized and itinerant d electrons, is provided.
We have studied ferroelectricity and photovoltaic effects in atomic layer deposited (ALD) 40-nm thick SnTiO$_{x}$ films deposited directly onto p-type (001)Si substrate. These films showed well-saturated, square and repeatable hysteresis loops with remnant polarization of 1.5 $mu$C/cm$^{2}$ at room temperature, as detected by out-of-plane polarization versus electric field (P-E) and field cycling measurements. A photo-induced enhancement in ferroelectricity was also observed as the spontaneous polarization increased under white-light illumination. The ferroelectricity exhibits relaxor characteristics with dielectric peak shifting from ca. T = 600 K at f = 1 MHz to ca. 500 K at 100 Hz. Moreover, our films showed ferroelectric photovoltaic behavior under the illumination of a wide spectrum of light, from visible to ultraviolet regions. A combination of experiment and theoretical calculation provided optical band gap of SnTiO$_{x}$ films which lies in the visible range of white light spectra. Our study leads a way to develop green ferroelectric SnTiO$_{x}$ thin films, which are compatible to semiconducting processes, and can be used for various ferroelectric and dielectric applications.
Electrical manipulation of magnetism via spin-orbit torques (SOTs) promises efficient spintronic devices. In systems comprising magnetic insulators and heavy metals, SOTs have started to be investigated only recently, especially in systems with interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI). Here, we quantitatively study the SOT efficiency and iDMI in a series of gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) / thulium iron garnet (TmIG) / platinum (Pt) heterostructures with varying TmIG and Pt thicknesses. We find that the non-monotonic SOT efficiency as a function of the magnetic layer thickness is not consistent with the 1/thickness dependence expected from a simple interfacial SOT mechanism. Moreover, considering the insulating nature of TmIG, our results cannot be explained by the SOT mechanism established for metallic magnets where the transverse charge spin current can inject and dephase in the magnetic layers. Rather we can explain this non-monotonic behavior by a model based on the interfacial spin mixing conductance that is affected by the thickness-dependent exchange splitting energy by determining the phase difference of the reflected spin-up and spin-down electrons at the TmIG / Pt interface. By studying the Pt thickness dependence, we find that the effective DMI for GGG / TmIG / Pt does not depend on the Pt thickness, which indicates that the GGG / TmIG interface is the source of the iDMI in this system. Our work demonstrates that SOT and DMI can originate from two different interfaces, which enables independent optimization of DMI and SOT for advanced chiral spintronics with low damping magnetic insulators.
Nodal line semimetals in two-dimensional (2-D) materials have attracted intense attention currently. From fundamental physics and spintronic applications points of view, high Curie temperature ferromagnetic (FM) ones with nodal lines robust against spin-orbit coupling (SOC) are significantly in desirable. Here, we propose that FM K2N monolayer is such Weyl nodal line semimetal. We show that K2N monolayer is dynamically stable, and has a FM ground magnetic state with the out-of-plane [001] magnetization. It shows two nodal lines in the low-energy band structures. Both nodal lines are robust against SOC, under the protection of mirror symmetry. We construct an effective Hamiltonian, which can well characterize the nodal lines in the system. Remarkably, the nodal line semimetal proposed here is distinct from the previously studied ones in that K2N monolayer is 2-D d0-type ferromagnet with the magnetism arising from the partially filled N-p orbitals, which can bring special advantages in spintronic applications. Besides, the Curie temperature in K2N monolayer is estimated to be 942K, being significantly higher than previous FM nodal lines materials. We also find that, specific tensile strains can transform the nodal line from type-I to a type-II one, making its nodal line characteristics even more interesting.