No Arabic abstract
Transition metal dichalcogenides are rich in their structural phases, e.g. 1T-TaS2 and 1T-TaSe2 form charge density wave (CDW) under low temperature with interesting and exotic properties. Here, we present a systematic study of different structures in two-dimensional TaX2 (X=S, Se, Te) using density functional theory calculations with consideration of van der Waals interaction. All the normal phases present metal characteristics with various ground state and magnetic properties. The lattice reconstruction of CDW drastically affects the electronic and structural characteristics of 1T-TaS2 and 1T-TaSe2, leading to a transition from metal to insulator and an emergence of magnetic moment within periodic atomic clusters called the Star of David. The evaluated Heisenberg couplings indicate the weak ferromagnetic coupling between the clusters in monolayer. Furthermore, in bilayer commensurate CDW cases, we find intriguing phenomenon of the varying magnetic properties with different stacking orders. The magnetic moment in each layer disappears when two layers are coupled, but may sustain in certain stackings of interlayer antiferromagnetic configurations.
The discovery of graphene makes it highly desirable to seek new two-dimensional materials. Through first-principles investigation, we predict two-dimensional materials of ReN$_{2}$: honeycomb and tetragonal structures. The phonon spectra establish the dynamical stability for both of the two structures, and the calculated in-plane stiffness constants proves their mechanical stability. The energy bands near the Fermi level consist of N-p and Re-d orbitals for the honeycomb structure, and are mainly from Re d orbitals for the tetragonal structure. While the tetragonal structure is non-magnetic, the honeycomb structure has N-based ferromagnetism, which will transit to anti-ferromagnetism under 14$%$ biaxial strain. The calculated electron localization function and spin density indicate that direct N-N bond can occur only in the honeycomb structure. The ferromagnetism allows us to distinguish the two 2D phases easily. The tetragonal phase has lower energy than the honeycomb one, which means that the tetragonal phase is more stable, but the hexagonal phase has much larger bulk, shear, and Youngs muduli than the tetragonal phase. The tetragonal phase is a three-bands metal, and the hexagonal phase is a ferromagnetic semi-metal. The special structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties in the honeycomb and tetragonal structures make them promising for novel applications.
Charge density wave (CDW) is a collective quantum phenomenon in metals and features a wave-like modulation of the conduction electron density. A microscopic understanding and experimental control of this many-body electronic state in atomically thin materials remain hot topics in condensed matter physics. Here we report an interface and/or Zr intercalation induced semiconductor-metal phase transition, as well as a concomitant (2 $times$ 2) CDW order in 1T-ZrX$_2$ (X = Se, Te) thin films prepared on graphitized SiC(0001) substrates. Also observed has been a sizable CDW energy gap up to 22 meV opened at the Fermi level. Fourier-transformed scanning tunneling microscopy reveals a rather simple Fermi surface, consisting only of Zr 4d-derived conduction band at the corners of the Brillouin zone. Our finding that such a simple electronic structure is compatible with the CDW phase proves intriguing and challenges several prevailing scenarios for the formation of CDW in transition metal dichalcogenides.
Very recently, it has been shown that vanadium dichalcogenides (VX$_2$, X=S, Se and Te) monolayers show intrinsic ferromagnetism, and their critical temperatures are nearly to or beyond room temperature. Hence, they would have wide potential applications in next-generation nanoelectronic and spintronic devices. In this work, being inspired by a recent study we systematically perform Monte Carlo simulations based on single-site update Metropolis algorithm to investigate the hysteresis features of VX$_2$ monolayers for a wide range of temperatures up to 600 K. Our simulation results indicate that, both remanence and coercivity values tend to decrease with increasing temperature. Furthermore, it is found that hysteresis curves start to evolve from rectangular at the lower temperature regions to nearly S-shaped with increasing temperature.
Dynamic second-order nonlinear susceptibilities, $chi^{(2)}(2omega,omega,omega)equiv chi^{(2)}(omega)$, are calculated here within a fully first-principles scheme for monolayered molybdenum dichalcogenides, $2H$-MoX$_2$ (X=S,Se,Te). The absolute values of $chi^{(2)}(omega)$ across the three chalcogens critically depend on the band gap energies upon uniform strain, yielding the highest $chi^{(2)}(0)sim$ 140 pm/V for MoTe$_2$ in the static limit. Under this uniform in-plane stress, $2H$-MoX$_2$ can undergo direct-to-indirect transition of band gaps, which in turn substantially affects $chi^{(2)}(omega)$. The tunability of $chi^{(2)}(omega)$ by either compressive or tensile strain is demonstrated especially for two important experimental wavelengths, 1064 nm and 800 nm, where resonantly enhanced non-linear effects can be exploited: $chi^{(2)}$ of MoSe$_2$ and MoTe$_2$ approach $sim$800 pm/V with -2% strain at 1064 nm.
First-principle calculations with different exchange-correlation functionals, including LDA, PBE and vdW-DF functional in form of optB88-vdW, have been performed to investigate the electronic and elastic properties of two dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides(TMDCs) with the formula of MX$_2$(M=Mo,W; X=O,S,Se,Te) in both monolayer and bilayer structures. The calculated band structures show a direct band gap for monolayer TMDCs at the K point except for MoO$_2$ and WO$_2$. When the monolayers are stacked into bilayer, the reduced indirect band gaps are found except for bilayer WTe$_2$, in which direct gap is still present at the K point. The calculated in-plane Young moduli are comparable to graphene, which promises the possible application of TMDCs in future flexible and stretchable electronic devices. We also evaluated the performance of different functionals including LDA, PBE, and optB88-vdW in describing elastic moduli of TMDCs and found that LDA seems to be the most qualified method. Moreover, our calculations suggest that the Young moduli for bilayers are insensitive to stacking orders and the mechanical coupling between monolayers seems to be negligible.