The rich physics of A-site-ordered quadruple perovskite manganites AMn₇O₁₂

Perovskite-structure AMnO3 manganites played an important role in the development of numerous physical concepts such as double exchange, small polarons, electron–phonon coupling, and Jahn–Teller effects, and they host a variety of important properties such as colossal magnetoresistance and spin-induced ferroelectric polarization (multiferroicity). A-site-ordered quadruple perovskite manganites AMn7O12 were discovered shortly after, but at that time their exploration was quite limited. Significant progress in their understanding has been reached in recent years after the wider use of high-pressure synthesis techniques needed to prepare such materials. Here we review this progress, and show that the AMn7O12 compounds host rich physics beyond the canonical AMnO3 materials

Competing electronic instabilities in the quadruple perovskite manganite PbMn₇O₁₂

Structural behavior of PbMn_{7}O_{12} has been studied by high resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction. This material belongs to a family of quadruple perovskite manganites that exhibit an incommensurate structural modulation associated with an orbital density wave. It has been found that the structural modulation in PbMn_{7}O_{12} onsets at 294 K with the incommensurate propagation vector ks=(0,0,∼2.08). At 110 K another structural transition takes place where the propagation vector suddenly drops down to a quasicommensurate value ks=(0,0,2.0060(6)). The quasicommensurate phase is stable in the temperature range of 40-110 K, and below 40 K the propagation vector jumps back to the incommensurate value ks=(0,0,∼2.06). Both low temperature structural transitions are strongly first order with large thermal hysteresis. The orbital density wave in the quasicommensurate phase has been found to be substantially suppressed in comparison with the incommensurate phases, which naturally explains unusual magnetic behavior recently reported for this perovskite. Analysis of the refined structural parameters revealed that that the presence of the quasicommensurate phase is likely to be associated with a competition between the Pb^{2+} lone electron pair and Mn^{3+} Jahn-Teller instabilities

BiMn7 O12: Polar antiferromagnetism by inverse exchange striction

Despite extensive research on magnetically induced ferroelectricity there exist relatively few studies on how a preexisting electric polarization affects magnetic order. Given that well-established magnetoelectric coupling schemes can in principle work in reverse, one might anticipate that primary, polar magnetic structures could be uniquely stabilized in ferroelectric crystals, however, this scenario is apparently rare. Here, we show that in ferroelectric BiMn7O12, a pure, polar E-type antiferromagnetic order emerges below T1=59 K, and we present a phenomenological model of trilinear magnetoelectric coupling consistent with Bi3+ lone-pair driven polar distortions uniquely stabilizing the polar antiferromagnetism via modulation of Heisenberg exchange pathways, i.e., inverse exchange striction. In addition, below T2=55 K there occurs large commensurate canting of the E-type structure due to the onset of ferrimagnetic order on a separate crystallographic sublattice that may be exploited for additional magnetoelectric functionality

Microstructural Characterization of Graphite Spheroids in Ductile Iron

The present work brings new insights by transmission electron microscopy allowing disregarding or supporting some of the models proposed for spheroidal growth of graphite in cast irons. Nodules consist of sectors made of graphite plates elongated along a hai direction and stack on each other with their c axis aligned with the radial direction. These plates are the elementary units for spheroidal growth and a calculation supports the idea that new units continuously nucleate at the ledge between sectors

A plethora of structural transitions, distortions and modulations in Cu-doped BiMn7O12 quadruple perovskites

The presence of strongly competing electronic instabilities in a crystalline material can produce fascinating structural phenomena. For example, the A-site-ordered quadruple perovskite BiMn7O12 hosts both active polar instabilities of the Bi3+ lone pair electrons and Jahn–Teller instabilities of Mn3+ cations that drive the following sequence of phase transformations on cooling, Im-3 > I2/m > Im > P1, corresponding to orbital ordering and polar distortions. Carrier doping by Cu2+ tunes the two instabilities in BiCuxMn7−xO12 solid solutions and significantly complicates the system behavior. The x = 0.05 and 0.1 members show the following sequence of phase transformations on cooling, Im-3 > I2/m > R-1(αβγ)0 > R3(00γ)t, and are examples of materials with the electric dipole helicoidal texture in the ground state and a dipole density wave structure in the intermediate R-1(αβγ)0 phase (Science 2020, 369, 680–684). Here, the detailed behavior of the BiCuxMn7−xO12 solid solutions with x = 0.2–0.8 was investigated by laboratory X-ray, synchrotron X-ray, and neutron powder diffraction between 5 K and 620 K, and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. Nearly every composition (with a step Δx = 0.1) has a unique behavior when considering both the sequence of phase transitions and the presence of incommensurate superstructure reflections. The sequence Im-3 > HT-Immm(t)* > Immm* > LT-Immm(t)* is realized for x = 0.2 and 0.3 (where t denotes pseudo-tetragonal), Im-3 > I2/m* > Immm(t)* – for x = 0.4, Im-3 > I2/m* > I2/m* – for x = 0.5, Im-3 > I2/m* > Im-3 – for x = 0.6 and 0.7, and Im-3 > R-3 > I2/m > Im-3 – for x = 0.8, where asterisks denote the presence of additional incommensurate reflections. Re-entrance of the high-temperature cubic phase was observed at low temperatures for x = 0.6–0.8 suggesting strong competition between the different electronic instabilities. The re-entrant cubic phases have nearly zero thermal expansion

Detection, occurrence, and fate of emerging contaminants in agricultural environments (2019)

A review of 82 papers published in 2018 is presented. The topics ranged from detailed descriptions of analytical methods, to fate and occurrence studies, to ecological effects and sampling techniques for a wide variety of emerging contaminants likely to occur in agricultural environments. New methods and studies on veterinary pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and engineered nanomaterials in agricultural environments continue to expand our knowledge base on the occurrence and potential impacts of these compounds. This review is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Analytical Methods, Fate and Occurrence, Pharmaceutical Metabolites, Anthelmintics, Microplastics, and Engineered Nanomaterials

Magnetic inhomogeneities in the quadruple perovskite manganite [Y_{2-x}Mn_{x}] Mn_{6}O_{12}

A combination of competing exchange interactions and substitutional disorder gives rise to magnetic inhomogeneities in the [Y_{2-x}Mn_{x}]Mn_{6}O-{12}x = 0.23 and 0.16 quadruple perovskite manganites. Our neutron powder scattering measurements show that both the x=0.23 and 0.16 samples separate into two distinct magnetic phases; below T_{1} = 120 ± 10 K the system undergoes a transition from a paramagnetic phase to a phase characterized by short-range antiferromagnetic clusters contained in a paramagnetic matrix, and below T2≈65 K the system is composed of well-correlated long-range collinear ferrimagnetic order, punctuated by short-range antiferromagnetic clusters. A sharp increase in the antiferromagnetic phase fraction is observed below ≈33 K, concomitant with a decrease in the ferrimagnetic phase fraction. Our results demonstrate that the theoretically proposed antiferromagnetic phase is stabilized in the [Y_{2-x}Mn_{x}] Mn_{6}O_{12} manganites in the presence of dominant B-B exchange interactions, as predicted

The Architectural Design Rules of Solar Systems based on the New Perspective

On the basis of the Lunar Laser Ranging Data released by NASA on the Silver Jubilee Celebration of Man Landing on Moon on 21st July 1969-1994, theoretical formulation of Earth-Moon tidal interaction was carried out and Planetary Satellite Dynamics was established. It was found that this mathematical analysis could as well be applied to Star and Planets system and since every star could potentially contain an extra-solar system, hence we have a large ensemble of exoplanets to test our new perspective on the birth and evolution of solar systems. Till date 403 exoplanets have been discovered in 390 extra-solar systems. I have taken 12 single planet systems, 4 Brown Dwarf - Star systems and 2 Brown Dwarf pairs. Following architectural design rules are corroborated through this study of exoplanets. All planets are born at inner Clarke Orbit what we refer to as inner geo-synchronous orbit in case of Earth-Moon System. By any perturbative force such as cosmic particles or radiation pressure, the planet gets tipped long of aG1 or short of aG1. Here aG1 is inner Clarke Orbit. The exoplanet can either be launched on death spiral as CLOSE HOT JUPITERS or can be launched on an expanding spiral path as the planets in our Solar System are. It was also found that if the exo-planet are significant fraction of the host star then those exo-planets rapidly migrate from aG1 to aG2 and have very short Time Constant of Evolution as Brown Dwarfs have. This vindicates our basic premise that planets are always born at inner Clarke Orbit. This study vindicates the design rules which had been postulated at 35th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in 2004 at Paris, France, under the title ,New Perspective on the Birth & Evolution of Solar Systems.Comment: This paper has been reported to Earth,Moon and Planets Journal as MOON-S-09-0007