33 research outputs found
Magnetic frustration, phase competition, and the magnetoelectric effect in NdFe3(BO3)4
PACS numbers: 75.85.+t, 75.25. j, 75.30.Et, 78.70.Ck.-- et al.We present an element selective resonant magnetic x-ray scattering study of NdFe3(BO3)4 as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. Our measurements show that the magnetic order of the Nd sublattice is induced by the Fe spin order. When a magnetic field is applied parallel to the hexagonal basal plane, the helicoidal spin order is suppressed and a collinear ordering, where the moments are forced to align in a direction perpendicular to the applied magnetic field, is stabilized. This result excludes a noncollinear spin order as the origin of the magnetically induced electric polarization in this compound. Instead our data imply that magnetic frustration results in a phase competition, which is the origin of the magnetoelectric response.This work was supported by the DFG through the Emmy Noether Programme (Grant No. GE1647/2-1) and the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant No. 226716.Peer reviewe
Electronic depth profiles with atomic layer resolution from resonant soft x-ray reflectivity
The analysis of x-ray reflectivity data from artificial heterostructures
usually relies on the homogeneity of optical properties of the constituent
materials. However, when the x-ray energy is tuned to an absorption edge, this
homogeneity no longer exists. Within the same material, spatial regions
containing elements at resonance will have optical properties very different
from regions without resonating sites. In this situation, models assuming
homogeneous optical properties throughout the material can fail to describe the
reflectivity adequately. As we show here, resonant soft x-ray reflectivity is
sensitive to these variations, even though the wavelength is typically large as
compared to the atomic distances over which the optical properties vary. We
have therefore developed a scheme for analyzing resonant soft x-ray
reflectivity data, which takes the atomic structure of a material into account
by "slicing" it into atomic planes with characteristic optical properties.
Using LaSrMnO4 as an example, we discuss both the theoretical and experimental
implications of this approach. Our analysis not only allows to determine
important structural information such as interface terminations and stacking of
atomic layers, but also enables to extract depth-resolved spectroscopic
information with atomic resolution, thus enhancing the capability of the
technique to study emergent phenomena at surfaces and interfaces.Comment: Completely overhauled with respect to the previous version due to
peer revie
Magnetic frustration, phase competition and the magneto-electric effect in NdFe3(BO3)4
We present an element selective resonant magnetic x-ray scattering study of
NdFe3(BO3)4 as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. Our
measurements show that the magnetic order of the Nd sublattice is induced by
the Fe spin order. When a magnetic field is applied parallel to the hexagonal
basal plane, the helicoidal spin order is suppressed and a collinear ordering,
where the moments are forced to align in a direction perpendicular to the
applied magnetic field, is stabilized. This result excludes a non-collinear
spin order as the origin of the magnetically induced electric polarization in
this compound. Instead our data imply that magnetic frustration results in a
phase competition, which is the origin of the magneto-electric response.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
High-Field Pauli-Limiting Behavior and Strongly Enhanced Upper Critical Magnetic Fields near the Transition Temperature of an Arsenic-Deficient LaO_0.9F_0.1FeAs_(1-\delta) Superconductor
We report upper critical field B_c2(T) data for disordered
(arsenic-deficient) LaO_0.9F_0.1FeAs_(1-delta) in a wide temperature and
magnetic field range up to 47 T. Because of the large linear slope of Bc2 about
-5.4 T/K to -6.6 T/K near Tc = 28.5 K the T-dependence of the in-plane Bc2(T)
shows a flattening near 23 K above 30 T which points to Pauli-limited behavior
with Bc2(0) about 63-68 T. Our results are discussed in terms of disorder
effects within conventional and unconventional superconducting pairings.Comment: Change of the title as suggested by the Editors, one author added,
typos corrected, references updated, final published versio
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Transition from a uni- to a bimodal interfacial charge distribution in LaAlO 3 / SrTiO 3 upon cooling
We present a combined resonant soft X-ray reflectivity and electric transport study of LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3 field effect devices. The depth profiles with atomic layer resolution that are obtained from the resonant reflectivity reveal a pronounced temperature dependence of the two-dimensional electron liquid at the LaAlO 3/SrTiO 3 interface. At room temperature the corresponding electrons are located close to the interface, extending down to 4 unit cells into the SrTiO 3 substrate. Upon cooling, however, these interface electrons assume a bimodal depth distribution: They spread out deeper into the SrTiO 3 and split into two distinct parts, namely one close to the interface with a thickness of about 4 unit cells and another centered around 9 unit cells from the interface. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions based on oxygen vacancies at the surface of the LaAlO 3 film and support the notion of a complex interplay between structural and electronic degrees of freedom. © 2020, The Author(s)
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Valence-state reflectometry of complex oxide heterointerfaces
Emergent phenomena in transition-metal-oxide heterostructures such as interface superconductivity and magnetism have been attributed to electronic reconstruction, which, however, is difficult to detect and characterise. Here we overcome the associated difficulties to simultaneously address the electronic degrees of freedom and distinguish interface from bulk effects by implementing a novel approach to resonant X-ray reflectivity (RXR). Our RXR study of the chemical and valance profiles along the polar (001) direction of a LaCoO3 film on NdGaO3 reveals a pronounced valence-state reconstruction from Co3+ in the bulk to Co2+ at the surface, with an areal density close to 0.5 Co2+ ions per unit cell. An identical film capped with polar (001) LaAlO3 maintains the Co3+ valence over its entire thickness. We interpret this as evidence for electronic reconstruction in the uncapped film, involving the transfer of 0.5e− per unit cell to the subsurface CoO2 layer at its LaO-terminated polar surface
Electronic properties of LaOFFeAs in the normal state probed by NMR/NQR
We report 139La, 57Fe and 75As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear
quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements on powders of the new LaO1-xFxFeAs
superconductor for x = 0 and x = 0.1 at temperatures up to 480 K, and compare
our measured NQR spectra with local density approximation (LDA) calculations.
For all three nuclei in the x = 0.1 material, it is found that the local Knight
shift increases monotonically with an increase in temperature, and scales with
the macroscopic susceptibility, suggesting a single magnetic degree of freedom.
Surprisingly, the spin lattice relaxation rates for all nuclei also scale with
one another, despite the fact that the form factors for each site sample
different regions of q-space. This result suggests a lack of any q-space
structure in the dynamical spin susceptibility that might be expected in the
presence of antiferromagnetic correlations. Rather, our results are more
compatible with simple quasi-particle scattering. Furthermore, we find that the
increase in the electric field gradient at the As cannot be accounted for by
LDA calculations, suggesting that structural changes, in particular the
position of the As in the unit cell, dominate the NQR response.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Observation of heavy spin-orbit excitons propagating in a nonmagnetic background: The case of (Ba,Sr)2YIrO6
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the elementary magnetic excitations in Ba2YIrO6 and Sr2YIrO6 - the two most intensively discussed candidates for a new type of magnetic instability caused by exciton condensation. For both materials, high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Ir L3 edge reveals sharp excitations around 370 and 650 meV energy loss, which we identify as triplet and quintet spin-orbit excitons. While the momentum-dependent RIXS spectra reveal that both the triplet and the quintet propagate coherently within the nonmagnetic background of the singlet sites, these modes remain fully gapped. The Ir-Ir exchange interactions in both double perovskites are therefore not strong enough to overcome the magnetic gap and, hence, our results exclude an intrinsic magnetic instability due to a condensation of magnetic excitations for both Ba2YIrO6 and Sr2YIrO6
Autoantibodies against type I IFNs in patients with life-threatening COVID-19
Interindividual clinical variability in the course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is vast. We report that at least 101 of 987 patients with life-threatening coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia had neutralizing immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against interferon-w (IFN-w) (13 patients), against the 13 types of IFN-a (36), or against both (52) at the onset of critical disease; a few also had auto-Abs against the other three type I IFNs. The auto-Abs neutralize the ability of the corresponding type I IFNs to block SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. These auto-Abs were not found in 663 individuals with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and were present in only 4 of 1227 healthy individuals. Patients with auto-Abs were aged 25 to 87 years and 95 of the 101 were men. A B cell autoimmune phenocopy of inborn errors of type I IFN immunity accounts for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia in at least 2.6% of women and 12.5% of men