Direct observation of magnon-phonon coupling in yttrium iron garnet

The magnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) with a ferrimagnetic transition temperature of $\sim$560 K has been widely used in microwave and spintronic devices. Anomalous features in the spin Seeback effect (SSE) voltages have been observed in Pt/YIG and attributed to the magnon-phonon coupling. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to map out low-energy spin waves and acoustic phonons of YIG at 100 K as a function of increasing magnetic field. By comparing the zero and 9.1 T data, we find that instead of splitting and opening up gaps at the spin wave and acoustic phonon dispersion intersecting points, magnon-phonon coupling in YIG enhances the hybridized scattering intensity. These results are different from expectations of conventional spin-lattice coupling, calling for new paradigms to understand the scattering process of magnon-phonon interactions and the resulting magnon-polarons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, PRB in pres

Anisotropic Small-Polaron Hopping In W:Bivo4 Single Crystals

DC electrical conductivity, Seebeck and Hall coefficients are measured between 300 and 450 K on single crystals of monoclinic bismuth vanadate that are doped n-type with 0.3% tungsten donors (W:BiVO4). Strongly activated small-polaron hopping is implied by the activation energies of the Arrhenius conductivities (about 300 meV) greatly exceeding the energies characterizing the falls of the Seebeck coefficients' magnitudes with increasing temperature (about 50 meV). Small-polaron hopping is further evidenced by the measured Hall mobility in the ab-plane (10(-1) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at 300 K) being larger and much less strongly activated than the deduced drift mobility (about 5 x 10(-5) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at 300 K). The conductivity and n-type Seebeck coefficient is found to be anisotropic with the conductivity larger and the Seebeck coefficient's magnitude smaller and less temperature dependent for motion within the ab-plane than that in the c-direction. These anisotropies are addressed by considering highly anisotropic next-nearest-neighbor (approximate to 5 angstrom) transfers in addition to the somewhat shorter (approximate to 4 angstrom), nearly isotropic nearest-neighbor transfers. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), DE-FG02-09ER16119Welch Foundation Grant F-1436Hemphill-Gilmore Endowed FellowshipNSF MIRT DMR 1122603Chemical EngineeringTexas Materials InstituteChemistr

Formation and Device Application of Ge Nanowire Heterostructures via Rapid Thermal Annealing

We reviewed the formation of Ge nanowire heterostructure and its field-effect characteristics by a controlled reaction between a single-crystalline Ge nanowire and Ni contact pads using a facile rapid thermal annealing process. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated a wide temperature range of 400~500°C to convert the Ge nanowire to a single-crystalline Ni2Ge/Ge/Ni2Ge nanowire heterostructure with atomically sharp interfaces. More importantly, we studied the effect of oxide confinement during the formation of nickel germanides in a Ge nanowire. In contrast to the formation of Ni2Ge/Ge/Ni2Ge nanowire heterostructures, a segment of high-quality epitaxial NiGe was formed between Ni2Ge with the confinement of Al2O3 during annealing. A twisted epitaxial growth mode was observed in both two Ge nanowire heterostructures to accommodate the large lattice mismatch in the NixGe/Ge interface. Moreover, we have demonstrated field-effect transistors using the nickel germanide regions as source/drain contacts to the Ge nanowire channel. Our Ge nanowire transistors have shown a high-performance p-type behavior with a high on/off ratio of 105 and a field-effect hole mobility of 210 cm2/Vs, which showed a significant improvement compared with that from unreacted Ge nanowire transistors

Thermal stability of Mg_2Si_(0.4)Sn_(0.6) in inert gases and atomic-layer-deposited Al_2O_3 thin film as a protective coating

Mg_2Si_(1−x)Sn_x solid solutions are promising thermoelectric materials to be applied in vehicle waste-heat recovery. Their thermal stability issue, however, needs to be addressed before the materials can be applied in practical thermoelectric devices. In this work, we studied the crystal structure and chemical composition of Mg_2Si_(1−x)Sn_x in inert gas atmosphere up to 823 K. We found that the sample was oxidized even in high-purity inert gases. Although no obvious structural change has been found in the slightly oxidized sample, carrier concentration decreased significantly since oxidation creates Mg vacancies in the lattice. We demonstrated that an atomic-layer deposited Al_2O_3 coating can effectively protect Mg_2Si_(1−x)Sn_x from oxidation in inert gases and even in air. In addition, this Al_2O_3 thin film also provides in situ protection to the Sb-doped Mg_2Si_(1−x)Sn_x samples during the laser-flash measurement and therefore eliminates the measurement error that occurs in uncoated samples as a result of sample oxidation and graphite exfoliation issues

Thermal Hall effect in insulating quantum materials

The emerging field of quantum materials involves an exciting new class of materials in which charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom are inter- twined, exhibiting a plethora of exotic physical properties. Quantum materials include, but are not limited to, superconductors, topological quantum matter, and systems with frustrated spins, which enable a wide range of potential applications in biomedicine, energy transport and conversion, quantum sensing, and quantum information processing.S.G. and X.C. acknowledge the support from National Science Foundation under grant No. 2144328. J.Z. acknowledges the support from National Science Foundation through the Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials: an NSF MRSEC unnder Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1720595.Center for Dynamics and Control of Material

Observation of Colossal Terahertz Magnetoresistance and Magnetocapacitance in a Perovskite Manganite

We have studied the terahertz response of a bulk single crystal of La$_{0.875}$Sr$_{0.125}$MnO$_3$ at around its Curie temperature, observing large changes in the real and imaginary parts of the optical conductivity as a function of magnetic field. The terahertz resistance and capacitance extracted from the optical conductivity rapidly increased with increasing magnetic field and did not show any sign of saturation up to 6 T, reaching 60% and 15%, respectively, at 180 K. The observed terahertz colossal magnetoresistance and magnetocapacitance effects can be qualitatively explained by using a two-component model that assumes the coexistence of two phases with vastly different conductivities. These results demonstrate the potential use of perovskite manganites for developing efficient terahertz devices based on magnetic modulations of the amplitude and phase of terahertz waves.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Thermal expansion coefficient and lattice anharmonicity of cubic boron arsenide

Recent measurements of an unusual high thermal conductivity of around 1000 W m-1 K-1 at room temperature in cubic boron arsenide (BAs) confirm predictions from theory and suggest potential applications of this semiconductor compound for thermal management applications. Knowledge of the thermal expansion coefficient and Gr\"uneisen parameter of a material contributes both to the fundamental understanding of its lattice anharmonicity and to assessing its utility as a thermal-management material. However, previous theoretical calculations of the thermal expansion coefficient and Gr\"uneisen parameter of BAs yield inconsistent results. Here we report the linear thermal expansion coefficient of BAs obtained from the X-ray diffraction measurements from 300 K to 773 K. The measurement results are in good agreement with our ab initio calculations that account for atomic interactions up to fifth nearest neighbours. With the measured thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat, a Gr\"uneisen parameter of BAs of 0.84 +/- 0.09 is obtained at 300 K, in excellent agreement with the value of 0.82 calculated from first principles and much lower than prior theoretical results. Our results confirm that BAs exhibits a better thermal expansion coefficient match with commonly used semiconductors than other high-thermal conductivity materials such as diamond and cubic boron nitride