5,463 research outputs found
Sodium vacancy ordering and the co-existence of localized spins and itinerant charges in NaxCoO2
The sodium cobaltate family (NaxCoO2) is unique among transition metal oxides
because the Co sits on a triangular lattice and its valence can be tuned over a
wide range by varying the Na concentration x. Up to now detailed modeling of
the rich phenomenology (which ranges from unconventional superconductivity to
enhanced thermopower) has been hampered by the difficulty of controlling pure
phases. We discovered that certain Na concentrations are specially stable and
are associated with superlattice ordering of the Na clusters. This leads
naturally to a picture of co-existence of localized spins and itinerant charge
carriers. For x = 0.84 we found a remarkably small Fermi energy of 87 K. Our
picture brings coherence to a variety of measurements ranging from NMR to
optical to thermal transport. Our results also allow us to take the first step
towards modeling the mysterious ``Curie-Weiss'' metal state at x = 0.71. We
suggest the local moments may form a quantum spin liquid state and we propose
experimental test of our hypothesis.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Nonmagnetic impurity perturbation to the quasi-two-dimensional quantum helimagnet LiCu2O2
A complete phase diagram of Zn substituted quantum quasi-two-dimensional
helimagnet LiCu2O2 has been presented. Helical ordering transition temperature
(T_h) of the original LiCu2O2 follows finite size scaling for less than ~ 5.5%
Zn substitution, which implies the existence of finite helimagnetic domains
with domain boundaries formed with nearly isolated spins. Higher Zn
substitution > 5.5% quenches the long-range helical ordering and introduces an
intriguing Zn level dependent magnetic phase transition with slight thermal
hysteresis and a universal quadratic field dependence for T_c (Zn > 0.055,H).
The magnetic coupling constants of nearest-neighbor (nn) J1 and
next-nearest-neighbor (nnn) J2 (alpha=J2/J1) are extracted from high
temperature series expansion (HTSE) fitting and N=16 finite chain exact
diagonalization simulation. We have also provided evidence of direct
correlation between long-range helical spin ordering and the magnitude of
electric polarization in this spin driven multiferroic material
Nonstoichiometric doping and Bi antisite defect in single crystal Bi2Se3
We studied the defects of Bi2Se3 generated from Bridgman growth of
stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric self-fluxes. Growth habit, lattice size,
and transport properties are strongly affected by the types of defect
generated. Major defect types of Bi_Se antisite and partial Bi_2-layer
intercalation are identified through combined studies of direct atomic-scale
imaging with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) in conjunction
with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction, and
Hall effect measurements. We propose a consistent explanation to the origin of
defect type, growth morphology, and transport property.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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© 2008 Chu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens
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