The exploration of quantum materials in which an applied thermo/electrical/magnetic field along one crystallographic direction produces an anisotropic response has led to unique functionalities. Along these lines, KMgBi is a layered, narrow gap semiconductor near a critical state between multiple Dirac phases due to the presence of a flat band near the Fermi level. The valence band is highly anisotropic with minimal cross-plane dispersion, which, in combination with an isotropic conduction band, enables axis-dependent conduction polarity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChirality depends on particular symmetries. For crystal structures it describes the absence of mirror planes and inversion centers, and in addition to translations, only rotations are allowed as symmetry elements. However, chiral space groups have additional restrictions on the allowed screw rotations as a symmetry element, because they always appear in enantiomorphous pairs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaterials (Basel)
August 2022
The present work reports on the calculated electronic and magnetic structure of the binary Co-Ga system at high Co content. β-CoGa adopts a simple cubic CsCl type structure. Well-ordered CoGa does not exhibit collective magnetism but is a paramagnetic, metallic compound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBand structure engineering has a strong beneficial impact on thermoelectric performance, where theoretical methods dominate the investigation of electronic structures. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to analyze the electronic structure and report on the thermoelectric transport properties of half-Heusler TiCoSb high-quality single crystals. High degeneracy of the valence bands at the L and Γ band maximum points was observed, which provides a band-convergence scenario for the thermoelectric performance of TiCoSb.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA large non-saturating magnetoresistance has been observed in several nonmagnetic topological Weyl semi-metals with high mobility of charge carriers at the Fermi energy. However, ferromagnetic systems rarely display a large magnetoresistance because of localized electrons in heavy d bands with a low Fermi velocity. Here, we report a large linear non-saturating magnetoresistance and high mobility in ferromagnetic MnBi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interplay between topology and magnetism has recently sparked the frontier studies of magnetic topological materials that exhibit intriguing anomalous Hall and Nernst effects owning to the large intrinsic Berry curvature (BC). To better understand the anomalous quantum transport properties of these materials and their implications for future applications such as electronic and thermoelectric devices, it is crucial to discover more novel material platforms for performing anomalous transverse transport studies. Here, it is experimentally demonstrated that low-cost Fe-based Heusler compounds exhibit large anomalous Hall and Nernst effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanomaterials (Basel)
January 2021
Magnetic Weyl semimetals are newly discovered quantum materials with the potential for use in spintronic applications. Of particular interest is the cubic Heusler compound CoMnGa due to its inherent magnetic and topological properties. This work presents the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of magnetron co-sputtered CoMnGa thin films, with thicknesses ranging from 10 to 80 nm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of high-density magnetic recording media is limited by superparamagnetism in very small ferromagnetic crystals. Hard magnetic materials with strong perpendicular anisotropy offer stability and high recording density. To overcome the difficulty of writing media with a large coercivity, heat-assisted magnetic recording was developed, rapidly heating the media to the Curie temperature T before writing, followed by rapid cooling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultifold degenerate points in the electronic structure of metals lead to exotic behaviors. These range from twofold and fourfold degenerate Weyl and Dirac points, respectively, to sixfold and eightfold degenerate points that are predicted to give rise, under modest magnetic fields or strain, to topological semimetallic behaviors. The present study shows that the nonsymmorphic compound PdSb hosts six-component fermions or sextuplets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeusler compounds with 2:1:1 stoichiometry either have a centrosymmetric Cu 2 MnAl structure or an Li 2 AgSb structure without a centre of inversion. The centrosymmetry is always lost in quaternary Heusler compounds with 1:1:1:1 stoichiometry and LiMgPdSn structure. This presents the possibility of realizing non-centrosymmetric superconductors in the family of Heusler compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the synthesis, crystal structure, and basic physical properties of Ag8PtO6, which represents the first silver platinum ternary oxide. The crystalline compound was obtained from appropriate mixtures of the binary constituents under alkaline conditions at high oxygen pressure, while applying relatively mild thermal conditions (573 K). Ag8PtO6 crystallizes in a new crystal structure in the triclinic system (P1[combining macron]).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe topological phases of matter provide the opportunity to observe many exotic properties, such as the existence of 2D topological surface states in the form of Dirac cones in topological insulators and chiral transport through the open Fermi arc in Weyl semimetals. However, these properties affect the transport characteristics and, therefore, may be useful for applications only if the topological phenomena occur near the Fermi level. CaAgAs is a promising candidate for which the ab initio calculations predict line-nodes at the Fermi energy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2017
The superconducting phase in iron-based high-[Formula: see text] superconductors (FeSC), as in other unconventional superconductors such as the cuprates, neighbors a magnetically ordered one in the phase diagram. This proximity hints at the importance of electron correlation effects in these materials, and Hund's exchange interaction has been suggested to be the dominant correlation effect in FeSCs because of their multiband nature. By this reasoning, correlation should be strongest for materials closest to a half-filled [Formula: see text] electron shell (Mn compounds, hole-doped FeSCs) and decrease for systems with both higher (electron-doped FeSCs) and lower (Cr-pnictides) [Formula: see text] counts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rare-earth monopnictide LaBi exhibits exotic magneto-transport properties, including an extremely large and anisotropic magnetoresistance. Experimental evidence for topological surface states is still missing although band inversions have been postulated to induce a topological phase in LaBi. In this work, we have revealed the existence of surface states of LaBi through the observation of three Dirac cones: two coexist at the corners and one appears at the centre of the Brillouin zone, by employing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in conjunction with ab initio calculations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Chem Chem Phys
January 2017
The thermoelectric properties of the n-type semiconductor TiNiSn were optimized by partial substitution with metallic MnNiSb in the half Heusler structure. Herein, we study the transport properties and intrinsic phase separation in the TiMnNiSnSb system. The alloys were prepared by arc-melting and annealed at temperatures obtained from differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present the synthesis of Co2FeGa Heusler nanowires and the results of our investigations on their three-dimensional (3D) electric and magnetic internal and external fields mapped by electron holographic tomography (EHT). These fields will be of great importance in next-generation nanomagnets integrated in spintronics and memory devices. The Co2FeGa nanowires with a L21 ordered structure are prepared by a SBA-15 silica-assisted method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Chem Chem Phys
December 2015
X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) were used to probe the electronic structure and magnetic moment of Mn in Heusler compounds with different crystallographic structure. The results were compared with theoretical calculations of the magnetic and electronic properties, and it was found that in full and half Heusler alloys, Mn is metallic on both sublattices. The magnetic moment is large and localized when octahedrally coordinated by the main group element, consistent with previous theoretical work, and reduced when the main group coordination is tetrahedral.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of new phases of matter at oxide interfaces and surfaces by extrinsic electric fields is of considerable significance both scientifically and technologically. Vanadium dioxide (VO2), a strongly correlated material, exhibits a temperature-driven metal-to-insulator transition, which is accompanied by a structural transformation from rutile (high-temperature metallic phase) to monoclinic (low-temperature insulator phase). Recently, it was discovered that a low-temperature conducting state emerges in VO2 thin films upon gating with a liquid electrolyte.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report high-resolution hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy results on (Ga,Mn)As films as a function of Mn doping. Supported by theoretical calculations we identify, for both low (1%) and high (13%) Mn doping values, the electronic character of the states near the top of the valence band. Magnetization and temperature-dependent core-level photoemission spectra reveal how the delocalized character of the Mn states enables the bulk ferromagnetic properties of (Ga,Mn)As.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent studies have reported an interesting class of semiconductor materials that bridge the gap between semiconductors and half-metallic ferromagnets. These materials, called spin gapless semiconductors, exhibit a band gap in one of the spin channels and a zero band gap in the other and thus allow for tunable spin transport. Here, we report the first experimental verification of the spin gapless magnetic semiconductor Mn(2)CoAl, an inverse Heusler compound with a Curie temperature of 720 K and a magnetic moment of 2 μ(B).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBand Jahn-Teller type structural instabilities of cubic Mn(2)YZ Heusler compounds causing tetragonal distortions can be predicted by ab initio band-structure calculations. This allows for identification of new Heusler materials with tunable magnetic and structural properties that can satisfy the demands for spintronic applications, such as in spin-transfer torque-based devices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWithin the huge family of Heusler compounds only a few quaternary derivatives are known that crystallize in the F43m space group. In this work, the yet unreported compounds CoRhMnZ (Z = Ga, Sn, Sb) and the alloy Co(0.5)Rh(1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a rational design scheme intended to provide stable high spin polarization at the interfaces of the magnetoresistive junctions by fulfilling the criteria of structural and chemical compatibilities at the interface. This can be realized by joining the semiconducting and half-metallic Heusler materials with similar structures. The present first-principles calculations verify that the interface remains half-metallic if the nearest interface layers effectively form a stable Heusler material with the properties intermediately between the surrounding bulk parts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci
September 2011
In this work, the theoretical and experimental investigations of Co₂TiZ (Z=Si, Ge or Sn) compounds are reported. Half-metallic ferromagnetism is predicted for all three compounds with only two bands crossing the Fermi energy in the majority channel. The magnetic moments fulfil the Slater-Pauling rule and the Curie temperatures are well above room temperature.
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