No Arabic abstract
To efficiently manipulate magnetism is a key physical issue for modern condensed matter physics, which is also crucial for magnetic functional applications. Most previous relevant studies rely on the tuning of spin texture, while the spin orientation is often negligible. As an exception, spin-orbit coupled $J_{rm eff}$ states of $4d$/$5d$ electrons provide an ideal platform for emergent quantum effects. However, many expectations have not been realized due to the complexities of real materials. Thus the pursuit for more ideal $J_{rm eff}$ states remains ongoing. Here a near-ideal $J_{rm eff}$=$3/2$ Mott insulating phase is predicted in the family of hexachloro niobates, which avoid some common drawbacks of perovskite oxides. The local magnetic moment is nearly compensated between spin and orbital components, rendering exotic recessive magnetism. More interestingly, the electronic structure and magnetism can be strongly tuned by rotating spin axis, which is rare but crucial for spintronic applications.
Mn$_3$O$_4$ is a spin frustrated magnet that adopts a tetragonally distorted spinel structure at ambient conditions and a CaMn$_2$O$_4$-type postspinel structure at high pressure. We conducted both optical measurements and emph{ab} emph{initio} calculations, and systematically studied the electronic band structures of both the spinel and postspinel Mn$_3$O$_4$ phases. For both phases, theoretical electronic structures are consistent with the optical absorption spectra, and display characteristic band-splitting of the conduction band. The band gap obtained from the absorption spectra is 1.91(6) eV for the spinel phase, and 0.94(2) eV for the postspinel phase. Both phases are charge-transfer type insulators. The Mn 3emph{d} $t_2$$_g$ and O 2emph{p} form antibonding orbitals situated at the conduction band with higher energy.
We employ state-of-the-art ab initio simulations within the dynamical mean-field theory to study three likely phases of iron (hexogonal close-packed, hcp, face centered cubic, fcc, and body centered cubic, bcc) at the Earths core conditions. We demonstrate that the correction to the electronic free energy due to correlations can be significant for the relative stability of the phases. The strongest effect is observed in bcc Fe, which shows a non-Fermi liquid behaviour, and where a Curie-Weiss behaviour of the uniform susceptbility hints at a local magnetic moment still existing at 5800 K and 300 GPa. We predict that all three structures have sufficiently high magnetic susceptibility to stabilize the geodynamo.
PtBi2 with a layered trigonal crystal structure was recently reported to exhibit an unconventional large linear magnetoresistance, while the mechanism involved is still elusive. Using high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we present a systematic study on its bulk and surface electronic structure. Through careful comparison with first-principle calculations, our experiment distinguishes the low-lying bulk bands from entangled surface states, allowing the estimation of the real stoichiometry of samples. We find significant electron doping in PtBi2, implying a substantial Bi deficiency induced disorder therein. We discover a Dirac-cone-like surface state on the boundary of the Brillouin zone, which is identified as an accidental Dirac band without topological protection. Our findings exclude quantum-limit-induced linear band dispersion as the cause of the unconventional large linear magnetoresistance.
The crystal and magnetic structures of stoichiometric ZnCr2Se4 have been investigated using synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, muon spin relaxation (muSR) and inelastic neutron scattering. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction shows a spin-lattice distortion from the cubic spinel to a tetragonal I41/amd lattice below TN = 21 K, where powder neutron diffraction confirms the formation of a helical magnetic structure with magnetic moment of 3.04(3) {mu}B at 1.5 K; close to that expected for high-spin Cr3+. MuSR measurements show prominent local spin correlations that are established at temperatures considerably higher (< 100 K) than the onset of long range magnetic order. The stretched exponential nature of the relaxation in the local spin correlation regime suggests a wide distribution of depolarizing fields. Below TN, unusually fast (> 100 {mu}s-1) muon relaxation rates are suggestive of rapid site hopping of the muons in static field. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements show a gapless mode at an incommensurate propagation vector of k = (0 0 0.4648(2)) in the low temperature magnetic ordered phase that extends to 0.8 meV. The dispersion is modelled by a two parameter Hamiltonian, containing ferromagnetic nearest neighbor and antiferromagnetic next nearest neighbor interactions with a Jnnn/Jnn = -0.337.
Electronic structure near Fermi level of Pr2CoFeO6 (at 300 K) was investigated by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) technique. All three cations, i.e., Pr, Co and Fe were found to be trivalent in nature. XPS analysis also suggested the system to be insulating in nature. Moreover, Raman spectroscopy study indicated the random distribution of the B-site ions (Co/Fe) triggered by same charge states. In temperature-dependent Raman study, the relative heights of the two observed phonon modes exhibited anomalous behaviour near magnetic transition temperature TN~270 K, thus indicating towards interplay between spin and phonon in the system. Furthermore, clear anomalous softening was observed below TN which confirmed the existence of strong spin-phonon coupling occurring for at least two phonon modes of the system. The line width analysis of the phonon modes essentially ruled out the role of magnetostriction effect in the observed phonon anomaly. The investigation of the lattice parameter variation across TN (obtained from the temperature-dependent neutron diffraction measurements) further confirmed the existence of the spin-phonon coupling.