26 research outputs found
Gate-tunable giant nonreciprocal charge transport in noncentrosymmetric oxide interfaces
A polar conductor, where inversion symmetry is broken, may exhibit directional propagation of itinerant electrons, i.e., the rightward and leftward currents differ from each other, when time-reversal symmetry is also broken. This potential rectification effect was shown to be very weak due to the fact that the kinetic energy is much higher than the energies associated with symmetry breaking, producing weak perturbations. Here we demonstrate the appearance of giant nonreciprocal charge transport in the conductive oxide interface, LaAlO3/SrTiO3, where the electrons are confined to two-dimensions with low Fermi energy. In addition, the Rashba spin???orbit interaction correlated with the sub-band hierarchy of this system enables a strongly tunable nonreciprocal response by applying a gate voltage. The observed behavior of directional response in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 is associated with comparable energy scales among kinetic energy, spin???orbit interaction, and magnetic field, which inspires a promising route to enhance nonreciprocal response and its functionalities in spin orbitronics
Towards colloidal spintronics through Rashba spin-orbit interaction in lead sulphide nanosheets
Employing the spin degree of freedom of charge carriers offers the
possibility to extend the functionality of conventional electronic devices,
while colloidal chemistry can be used to synthesize inexpensive and tuneable
nanomaterials. In order to benefit from both concepts, Rashba spin-orbit
interaction has been investigated in colloidal lead sulphide nanosheets by
electrical measurements on the circular photo-galvanic effect. Lead sulphide
nanosheets possess rock salt crystal structure, which is centrosymmetric. The
symmetry can be broken by quantum confinement, asymmetric vertical interfaces
and a gate electric field leading to Rashba-type band splitting in momentum
space at the M points, which results in an unconventional selection mechanism
for the excitation of the carriers. The effect, which is supported by
simulations of the band structure using density functional theory, can be tuned
by the gate electric field and by the thickness of the sheets. Spin-related
electrical transport phenomena in colloidal materials open a promising pathway
towards future inexpensive spintronic devices.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure
Origin of ferroelectric polarization in spiral magnetic structure of MnWO(4)
Magnetism and the origin of ferroelectricity in the multiferroic MnWO(4) are studied using ab initio electronic-structure calculations, correctly reproducing the magnetic ground state. The calculated ferroelectric polarization is in good agreement with experiments. Our results reveal that spin-orbit interaction is necessary and sufficient to explain the observed ferroelectric polarization, establishing an entirely electronic origin of ferroelectricity in MnWO(4). The origin of spin-orbit interaction in this compound with a nominally d(5) L=0 orbitally quenched state is elucidated by analyzing results of x-ray absorption spectroscopy
First-Principles Study of the Effect of Organic Ligands on the Crystal Structure of CdS Nanoparticles
We show with the aid of first-principles electronic structure calculations that suitable choice of the capping ligands may be an important control parameter for crystal structure engineering of nanoparticles. Our calculations on CdS nanocrystals reveal that the binding energy of model trioctylphosphine molecules on the (001) facets of zincblende nanocrystals is larger compared to that on wurtzite facets. Similarly, the binding energy of model cis-oleic acid is found to be dominant for the (10 (1) over bar0) facets of wurtzite structure. As a consequence, trioctylphosphine as a capping agent stabilizes the zincblende structure while cis-oleic acid stabilizes the wurtzite phase by influencing the surface energy, which has a sizable contribution to the energetics of a nanocrystal. Our detailed analysis suggests that the binding of molecules on the nanocrystalline facets depends on the surface topology of the facets, the coordination of the surface atoms where the capping molecule is likely to attach, and the conformation of the capping molecule
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Growth and Characterization of Ce- Substituted Nd2Fe14B Single Crystals
Single crystals of (Nd1-xCex)2Fe14B are grown out of Fe-(Nd,Ce) flux.
Chemical and structural analysis of the crystals indicates that
(Nd1-xCex)2Fe14B forms a solid solution until at least x = 0.38 with a
Vegard-like variation of the lattice constants with x. Refinements of single
crystal neutron diffraction data indicate that Ce has a slight site preference
(7:3) for the 4g rare earth site over the 4f site. Magnetization measurements
show that for x = 0.38 the saturation magnetization at 400 K, a temperature
important to applications, falls from 29.8 for the parent Nd2Fe14B to 27.6
(mu)B/f.u., the anisotropy field decreases from 5.5 T to 4.7 T, and the Curie
temperature decreases from 586 to 543 K. First principles calculations carried
out within density functional theory are used to explain the decrease in
magnetic properties due to Ce substitution. Though the presence of the
lower-cost and more abundant Ce slightly affects these important magnetic
characteristics, this decrease is not large enough to affect a multitude of
applications. Ce-substituted Nd2Fe14B is therefore a potential high-performance
permanent magnet material with substantially reduced Nd content
2Flux growth and characterization of Ce-substituted Nd2Fe14B single crystals
Single crystals of (Nd1−xCex)2Fe14B, some reaching ∼6×8×8mm3 in volume, are grown out of Fe-(Nd, Ce) flux. This crystal growth method allows for large (Nd1−xCex)2Fe14B single crystals to be synthesized using a simple flux growth procedure. Chemical and structural analyses of the crystals indicate that (Nd1−xCex)2Fe14B forms a solid solution until at least x=0.38 with a Vegard-like variation of the lattice constants with x. Refinements of single crystal neutron diffraction data indicate that Ce has a slight site preference (7:3) for the 4g rare earth site over the 4f site. Magnetization measurements at 300 K show only small decreases with increasing Ce content in saturation magnetization (Ms) and anisotropy field (HA), and Curie temperature (TC). First principles calculations are carried out to understand the effect of Ce substitution on the electronic and magnetic properties. For a multitude of applications, it is expected that the advantage of incorporating lower-cost and more abundant Ce will outweigh the small adverse effects on magnetic properties. Ce-substituted Nd2Fe14B is therefore a potential high-performance permanent magnet material with substantially reduced Nd content