High-Pressure Synthesis of Superconducting SnS Using a Diamond Anvil Cell with a Boron-Doped Diamond Heater.

High-pressure techniques open exploration of functional materials in broad research fields. An established diamond anvil cell with a boron-doped diamond heater and transport measurement terminals has performed the high-pressure synthesis of a cubic SnS superconductor. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy reveal that the SnS phase is stable in the pressure range of > 5 GPa in a decompression process.

Phase Relationship of MgSi at High Pressures and High Temperatures and Thermoelectric Properties of MgSi.

Magnesium silicide (MgSi) is a promising eco-friendly thermoelectric material, which has been extensively studied in recent times. However, its phase behavior at high pressures and temperatures remains unclear. To this end, in this study, X-ray diffraction analysis was conducted at high pressures ranging from 0 to 11.

Composition induced metal-insulator quantum phase transition in the Heusler type Fe2VAl.

We report the magnetism and transport properties of the Heusler compound Fe2+x V1-x Al at  -0.10  ⩽  x  ⩽  0.20 under pressure and a magnetic field.

Possibility of charge density wave transition in a SrPt2Sb2 superconductor.

The first-order transition at T(0) =  270 K for the platinum-based SrPt2Sb2 superconductor was investigated using x-ray diffraction and magnetic susceptibility measurements. When polycrystalline SrPt2Sb2 was cooled down through T(0), the structure was transformed from monoclinic to a modulated orthorhombic structure, and no magnetic order was formed, which illustrates the possibility of a charge density wave (CDW) transition at T(0). SrPt2Sb2 can thus be a new example to examine the interplay of CDW and superconductivity in addition to SrPt2As2, BaPt2As2, and LaPt2Si2.

Structural characterization of magnesium-based compounds Mg9Si5 and Mg4Si3Al (superconductor) synthesized under high pressure and high temperature conditions.

Two kinds of magnesium-based compounds Mg9Si5 and Mg4Si3Al have been prepared under high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) conditions of 5 GPa at 900-1100 °C. Single crystal study revealed that Mg9Si5 crystallizes in space group P6(3) (No. 173) with the lattice parameters a = 12.

Semiconducting behavior of type-I Si clathrate K8Ga8Si38.

A ternary type-I Si clathrate K(8)Ga(8)Si(38) has been revealed to be an indirect band gap semiconducting material with an energy gap (E(g)) of approximately 0.10 eV, which is much smaller than the calculated E(g) value that is 0.15 eV wider than E(g) of elemental Si with the diamond-type structure.

In situ observation of the formation of Si clathrate Ba8Si46 at high pressures and high temperatures.

X-ray diffraction measurements at high pressures and high temperatures revealed that Si clathrate Ba 8Si 46 is formed by a solid-phase reaction of an 8:30 molar mixture of SrSi 2-phase BaSi 2 and Si after BaSi 2 undergoes the BaSi 2-to-EuGe 2 and the EuGe 2-to-SrSi 2 transitions. The volume reduction during the formation of Ba 8Si 46 is the largest, 7.6%, among the observed transitions.

Electrical properties of single-crystalline CaAl2Si2.

Electrical resistivity and Hall coefficient measurements of single-crystalline CaAl(2)Si(2) revealed that CaAl(2)Si(2) is a metal in which both electrons and holes contribute to the transport properties; its dominant carriers are holes at temperature below 150 K but electrons above that temperature.