Double exchange and orbital correlations in electron-doped manganites

A double exchange model for degenerate $e_g$ orbitals with intra- and inter-orbital interactions has been studied for the electron doped manganites A$_{1-x}$B$_{x}$MnO$_3$ ($x > 0.5$). We show that such a model reproduces the observed phase diagram and orbital ordering in the intermediate bandwidth regime and the Jahn-Teller effect, considered to be crucial for the region $x<0.5$, does not play a major role in this region. Brink and Khomskii have already pointed this out and stressed the relevance of the anistropic hopping across the degenerate $e_g$ orbitals in the infinite Hund's coupling limit. From a more realistic calculation with finite Hund's coupling, we show that inclusion of interactions stabilizes the C-phase, the antiferromagnetic metallic A-phase moves closer to $x=0.5$ while the ferromagnetic phase shrinks. This is in agreement with the recent observations of Kajimoto et. al. and Akimoto et. al.Comment: text 9 pages, 5 figure

An Experimental Analysis ofGroup Size and Risk Sharing

We study the relationship between group size and the extent of risk sharing in an insurance game played over a number of periods with random idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks to income in each period. Risk sharing is attained via agents that receive a high endowment in one period making unilateral transfers to agents that receive a low endowment in that period. The complete risk sharing allocation is for all agents to place their endowments in a common pool, which is then shared equally among members of the group in every period. Theoretically, the larger the group size, the smaller the per capita dispersion in consumption and greater is the potential value of insurance. Field evidence however suggests that smaller groups do better than larger groups as far as risk sharing is concerned. Results from our experiments show that the extent of mutual insurance is significantly higher in smaller groups, though contributions to the pool are never close to what complete risk sharing requires.Reciprocity, Risk Sharing, Group Size, Experiments

Magnetic properties of doped GdI2

Motivated by the recent experimental studies on layered ferromagnetic metallic system GdI2 and its doped variant GdI2Hx we develop a model to understand their ground state magnetic phase diagram. Based on first principle electronic structure calculations we write down a phenomenological model and solve it under certain approximations to obtain the ground state energy. In the process we work out the phase diagram of the correlated double exchange model on a triangular lattice for the specific band structure at hand.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, corrected typo

Ground state phase diagram of a spinless, extended Falicov-Kimball model on the triangular lattice

Correlated systems with hexagonal layered structures have come to fore with renewed interest in Cobaltates, transition-metal dichalcogenides and GdI2. While superconductivity, unusual metal and possible exotic states (prevented from long range order by strong local fluctuations) appear to come from frustration and correlation working in tandem in such systems, they freeze at lower temperature to crystalline states. The underlying effective Hamiltonian in some of these systems is believed to be the Falicov-Kimball model and therefore, a thorough study of the ground state of this model and its extended version on a non-bipartite lattice is important. Using a Monte Carlo search algorithm, we identify a large number of different possible ground states with charge order as well as valence and metal-insulator transitions. Such competing states, close in energy, give rise to the complex charge order and other broken symmetry structures as well as phase segregations observed in the ground state of these systems.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Magnetic and orbital order in overdoped bilayer manganites

The magnetic and orbital orders for the bilayer manganites in the doping region $0.5 < x <1.0$ have been investigated from a model that incorporates the two $e_g$ orbitals at each Mn site, the inter-orbital Coulomb interaction and lattice distortions. The usual double exchange operates via the $e_g$ orbitals. It is shown that such a model reproduces much of the phase diagram recently obtained for the bilayer systems in this range of doping. The C-type phase with ($\pi,0,\pi$) spin order seen by Ling et al. appears as a natural consequence of the layered geometry and is stabilised by the static distortions of the system. The orbital order is shown to drive the magnetic order while the anisotropic hopping across the $e_g$ orbitals, layered nature of the underlying structure and associated static distortions largely determine the orbital arrangements.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity in a Model with Extended Pairing Interactions

The competition between antiferromagnetism and the $d+id$ superconducting state is studied in a model with near and next near neighbour interactions in the absence of any on-site repulsion. A mean field study shows that it is possible to have simultaneous occurrence of an antiferromagnetic and a singlet $d+id$ superconducting state in this model. In addition, such a coexistence generates a triplet $d+id$ superconducting order parameter with centre of mass momentum $Q=(\pi, \pi)$ {\it dynamically} having the same orbital symmetry as the singlet superconductor. Inclusion of next nearest neighbour hopping in the band stabilises the $d_{xy}$ superconducting state away from half filling, the topology of the phase diagram, though, remains similar to the near neighbour model. In view of the very recent observation of a broad region of coexistence of antiferrmagnetic and unconventional superconducting states in organic superconductors, the possibility of observation of the triplet state has been outlined.Comment: 12 pages(tex file), 7 figures (ps files

Rare Earth Doping and Effective Band-Convergence in SnTe for Improved Thermoelectric Performance

Thermoelectric performance of SnTe has been found to enhance with isovalent doping of alkaline and transition metal elements where most of these elements have solubility of less than 13%. We propose a strategy of doping rare earth element Yb to enhance the thermoelectric performance of SnTe. With heavy atomic mass and strong spin-orbit coupling, even the mild doping of Yb (~ 5%) is enough to create a degeneracy via band-convergence which enhances the density of states near Fermi level and improve overall performance. Our transport data and first-principles calculations corroborate that nearly 5% Yb is an efficient dopant to achieve thermoelectric response which is equivalent to 9% of Mn doping. The results are useful for understanding the environment-friendly thermoelectric SnTe