No Arabic abstract
We study the low-temperature electrical and thermal conductivity of CoSi and Co$_{1-x}$M$_x$Si alloys (M = Fe, Ni; $x leq$ 0.06). Measurements show that the low-temperature electrical conductivity of Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_{x}$Si alloys decreases at $x > $ 0.01 by an order of magnitude compared with that of pure CoSi. It was expected that both the lattice and electronic contributions to thermal conductivity would decrease in the alloys. However, our experimental results revealed that at temperatures below 20K the thermal conductivity of Fe- and Ni-containing alloys is several times larger than that of pure CoSi. We discuss possible mechanisms of the thermal conductivity enhancement. The most probable one is related to the dominant scattering of phonons by charge carriers. We propose a simple theoretical model that takes into account the complex semimetallic electronic structure of CoSi with nonequivalent valleys, and show that it explains well the increase of the lattice thermal conductivity with increasing disorder and the linear temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity in the Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Si alloys below 20K.
The finite-temperature magnetic properties of Fe$_x$Pd$_{1-x}$ and Co$_x$Pt$_{1-x}$ alloys have been investigated. It is shown that the temperature-dependent magnetic behaviour of alloys, composed of originally magnetic and non-magnetic elements, cannot be described properly unless the coupling between magnetic moments at magnetic atoms (Fe,Co) mediated through the interactions with induced magnetic moments of non-magnetic atoms (Pd,Pt) is included. A scheme for the calculation of the Curie temperature ($T_C$) for this type of systems is presented which is based on the extended Heisenberg Hamiltonian with the appropriate exchange parameters $J_{ij}$ obtained from {em ab-initio} electronic structure calculations. Within the present study the KKR Greens function method has been used to calculate the $J_{ij}$ parameters. A comparison of the obtained Curie temperatures for Fe$_x$Pd$_{1-x}$ and Co$_x$Pt$_{1-x}$ alloys with experimental data shows rather good agreement.
We report the successful substitution of cobalt, nickel, and copper for iron in the 1038 phase parent compound Ca$_{10}$(FeAs)$_{10}$(Pt$_3$As$_8$) yielding Ca$_{10}$(Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$As)$_{10}$(Pt$_3$As$_8$), Ca$_{10}$(Fe$_{1-x}$Ni$_x$As)$_{10}$(Pt$_3$As$_8$), and Ca$_{10}$(Fe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As)$_{10}$(Pt$_3$As$_8$), respectively. Superconductivity is induced in Co and Ni doped compounds reaching critical temperatures up to 15 K, similar to known Pt substituted Ca$_{10}$(Fe$_{1-x}$Pt$_x$As)$_{10}$(Pt$_3$As$_8$), whereas no superconductivity was detected in Ca$_{10}$(Fe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As)$_{10}$(Pt$_3$As$_8$). The obtained Tc(x) phase diagrams are very similar to those of other iron arsenide superconductors indicating rather universal behavior despite the more complex structures of the 1038-type compounds, where the physics is primarily determined by the FeAs layer.
Element specific ultrafast demagnetization was studied in Fe$_{1-x}$Ni$_{x}$ alloys, covering the concentration range between $0.1<x<0.9$. For all compositions, we observe a delay in the onset of Ni demagnetization relative to the Fe demagnetization. We find that the delay is correlated to the Curie temperature and hence also the exchange interaction. The temporal evolution of demagnetization is fitted to a magnon diffusion model based on the presupposition of enhanced ultrafast magnon generation in the Fe sublattice. The spin wave stiffness extracted from this model correspond well to known experimental values.
The thermal conductivity of optimally doped NaFe$_{0.972}$Co$_{0.028}$As ($T_c sim$ 20 K) and overdoped NaFe$_{0.925}$Co$_{0.075}$As ($T_c sim$ 11 K) single crystals were measured down to 50 mK. No residual linear term $kappa_0/T$ is found in zero magnetic field for both compounds, which is an evidence for nodeless superconducting gap. Applying field up to $H$ = 9 T ($approx H_{c2}/4$) does not noticeably increase $kappa_0/T$ in NaFe$_{1.972}$Co$_{0.028}$As, which is consistent with multiple isotropic gaps with similar magnitudes. The $kappa_0/T$ of overdoped NaFe$_{1.925}$Co$_{0.075}$As shows a relatively faster field dependence, indicating the increase of the ratio between the magnitudes of different gaps, or the enhancement of gap anisotropy upon increasing doping.
The composition-dependent behavior of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), the spin-orbit torque (SOT), as well as anomalous and spin Hall conductivities of Mn$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$Ge alloys have been investigated by first-principles calculations using the relativistic multiple scattering Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) formalism. The $D_{rm xx}$ component of the DMI exhibits a strong dependence on the Fe concentration, changing sign at $x approx 0.85$ in line with previous theoretical calculations as well as with experimental results demonstrating the change of spin helicity at $x approx 0.8$. A corresponding behavior with a sign change at $x approx 0.5$ is predicted also for the Fermi sea contribution to the SOT, as this is closely related to the DMI. In the case of anomalous and spin Hall effects it is shown that the calculated Fermi sea contributions are rather small and the composition-dependent behavior of these effects are determined mainly by the electronic states at the Fermi level. The spin-orbit-induced scattering mechanisms responsible for both these effects suggest a common origin of the minimum of the AHE and the sign change of the SHE conductivities.