410 research outputs found
Determining surface magnetization and local magnetic moments with atomic scale resolution
We propose a method to determine the direction of surface magnetization and
local magnetic moments on the atomic scale. The method comprises high
resolution scanning tunneling microscope experiments in conjunction with first
principles simulations of the tunneling current. The potential of the method is
demonstrated on a model system, antiferromagnetic Mn overlayers on W(110). We
expect that it will ultimately allow to study the detailed changes of magnetic
surface structures in the vicinity of dopants or impurities.Comment: Four pages (RevTeX) and five figures (EPS). For related papers see
http://cmmp.phys.ucl.ac.uk/~wah
Local boron doping quantification in homoepitaxial diamond structures
The capability of transmission electronmicroscopy (TEM) using the high angle annular dark fieldmode (HAADF,also labelled Z-contrast) to quantify boron concentration, in the high doping range between 1019cm−3 and 1021cm−3, is demonstrated. Thanks to the large relative variation of atomic number Z between carbon and boron, doping concentration maps and profiles are obtained with a nanometer-scale resolution. A novel numerical simulation procedure allows the boron concentration quantification and demonstrates the high sensitivity and
spatial resolution of the technique.4 page
Probing magnetic order in EELS of chromite spinels using both multiple scattering (FEFF8.2) and DFT (WIEN2k)
The electron energy loss near edge structure on the O K-edge from chromite spinels contains fine structure from the hybridisation of the O p-orbitals and the Cr d-orbitals. Unlike the aluminates, a non-spin polarised calculation of this fine structure differs significantly from experimental observations. This is due to the large magnetic moment on the Cr. Calculations using simplified collinear ordering of the spins and the local spin density approximation give much improved agreement. A real space multiple scattering formalism and a reciprocal space density functional formalism give results in substantial agreement. In general, the actual spin arrangement of these chromites is not known since they are typically frustrated magnetic systems with ordering temperatures in the 10–20 K range. The calculations are based on the hypothesis that dynamic short range order persists to room temperature over the time scale of the interaction with the fast electron. However, it is possible that the observed effects are due to the strong paramagnetism present at room temperatures but which it is not possible to simulate accurately at present
Spin state and phase competition in TbBaCo_{2}O_{5.5} and the lanthanide series LnBaCo_{2}O_{5+\delta} (0<=\delta<=1)
A clear physics picture of TbBaCoO is revealed on the basis of
density functional theory calculations. An antiferromagnetic (AFM)
superexchange coupling between the almost high-spin Co ions competes
with a ferromagnetic (FM) interaction mediated by both p-d exchange and double
exchange, being responsible for the observed AFM-FM transition. And the
metal-insulator transition is accompanied by an xy/xz orbital-ordering
transition. Moreover, this picture can be generalized to the whole lanthanide
series, and it is predicted that a few room-temperature magnetoresistance
materials could be found in LnBaACoO
(Ln=Ho,Er,Tm,Yb,Lu; A=Sr,Ca,Mg).Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. B on 1st Sept.
Title and Bylines are added to the revised versio
Optimization of inhomogeneous electron correlation factors in periodic solids
A method is presented for the optimization of one-body and inhomogeneous
two-body terms in correlated electronic wave functions of Jastrow-Slater type.
The most general form of inhomogeneous correlation term which is compatible
with crystal symmetry is used and the energy is minimized with respect to all
parameters using a rapidly convergent iterative approach, based on Monte Carlo
sampling of the energy and fitting energy fluctuations. The energy minimization
is performed exactly within statistical sampling error for the energy
derivatives and the resulting one- and two-body terms of the wave function are
found to be well-determined. The largest calculations performed require the
optimization of over 3000 parameters. The inhomogeneous two-electron
correlation terms are calculated for diamond and rhombohedral graphite. The
optimal terms in diamond are found to be approximately homogeneous and
isotropic over all ranges of electron separation, but exhibit some
inhomogeneity at short- and intermediate-range, whereas those in graphite are
found to be homogeneous at short-range, but inhomogeneous and anisotropic at
intermediate- and long-range electron separation.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4, submitted to PR
Repulsion-Sustained Supercurrent and Flux Quantization in Rings of Symmetric Hubbard Clusters
We test the response to a threading magnetic field of rings of 5-site
-symmetric repulsive Hubbard clusters connected by weak intercell
links; each 5-site unit has the topology of a CuO cluster and a repulsive
interaction is included on every site. In a numerical study of the three-unit
ring with 8 particles, we take advantage of a novel exact-diagonalization
technique which can be generally applied to many-fermion problems. For O-O
hopping we find Superconducting Flux Quantization (SFQ), but for purely Cu-Cu
links bound pair propagation is hindered by symmetry. The results agree with
W=0 pairing theory.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Electrical resistivity at large temperatures: Saturation and lack thereof
Many transition metal compounds show saturation of the resistivity at high
temperatures, T, while the alkali-doped fullerenes and the high-Tc cuprates are
usually considered to show no saturation. We present a model of transition
metal compounds, showing saturation, and a model of alkali-doped fullerenes,
showing no saturation. To analyze the results we use the f-sum rule, which
leads to an approximate upper limit for the resistivity at large T. For some
systems and at low T, the resistivity increases so rapidly that this upper
limit is approached for experimental T. The resistivity then saturates. For a
model of transition metal compounds with weakly interacting electrons, the
upper limit corresponds to a mean free path consistent with the Ioffe-Regel
condition. For a model of the high Tc cuprates with strongly interacting
electrons, however, the upper limit is much larger than the Ioffe-Regel
condition suggests. Since this limit is not exceeded by experimental data, the
data are consistent with saturation also for the cuprates. After "saturation"
the resistivity usually grows slowly. For the alkali-doped fullerenes,
"saturation" can be considered to have happened already for T=0, due to
orientational disorder. For these systems, however, the resistivity grows so
rapidly after "saturation" that this concept is meaningless. This is due to the
small band width and to the coupling to the level energies of the important
phonons.Comment: 22 pages, RevTeX, 19 eps figures, additional material available at
http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/andersen/fullerene
Density-functional embedding using a plane-wave basis
The constrained electron density method of embedding a Kohn-Sham system in a
substrate system (first described by P. Cortona, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 44}, 8454
(1991) and T.A. Wesolowski and A. Warshel, J. Phys. Chem {\bf 97}, 8050 (1993))
is applied with a plane-wave basis and both local and non-local
pseudopotentials. This method divides the electron density of the system into
substrate and embedded electron densities, the sum of which is the electron
density of the system of interest. Coupling between the substrate and embedded
systems is achieved via approximate kinetic energy functionals. Bulk aluminium
is examined as a test case for which there is a strong interaction between the
substrate and embedded systems. A number of approximations to the
kinetic-energy functional, both semi-local and non-local, are investigated. It
is found that Kohn-Sham results can be well reproduced using a non-local
kinetic energy functional, with the total energy accurate to better than 0.1 eV
per atom and good agreement between the electron densities.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Electronic structure study of double perovskites FeReO (A=Ba,Sr,Ca) and SrMoO (M=Cr,Mn,Fe,Co) by LSDA and LSDA+U
We have implemented a systematic LSDA and LSDA+U study of the double
perovskites FeReO (A=Ba,Sr,Ca) and SrMoO
(M=Cr,Mn,Fe,Co) for understanding of their intriguing electronic and magnetic
properties. The results suggest a ferrimagnetic (FiM) and half-metallic (HM)
state of FeReO (A=Ba,Sr) due to a pdd- coupling between the
down-spin Re/Fe orbitals via the intermediate O
ones, also a very similar FiM and HM state of SrFeMoO.
In contrast, a decreasing Fe component at Fermi level () in the
distorted CaFeReO partly accounts for its nonmetallic behavior,
while a finite - coupling between the down-spin
Re/Fe orbitals being present at serves to
stabilize its FiM state. For SrCrMoO compared with
SrFeMoO, the coupling between the down-spin Mo/Cr
orbitals decreases as a noticeable shift up of the Cr 3d
levels, which is likely responsible for the decreasing value and weak
conductivity. Moreover, the calculated level distributions indicate a
Mn(Co)/Mo ionic state in SrMnMoO
(SrCoMoO), in terms of which their antiferromagnetic insulating
ground state can be interpreted. While orbital population analyses show that
owing to strong intrinsic pd covalence effects, SrMoO
(M=Cr,Mn,Fe,Co) have nearly the same valence state combinations, as accounts
for the similar M-independent spectral features observed in them.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. to be published in Phys. Rev. B on 15th Se
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