7,084 research outputs found
The phase diagrams of iron-based superconductors: theory and experiments
Phase diagrams play a primary role in the understanding of materials
properties. For iron-based superconductors (Fe-SC), the correct definition of
their phase diagrams is crucial because of the close interplay between their
crystallo-chemical and magnetic properties, on one side, and the possible
coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity, on the other. The two most
difficult issues for understanding the Fe-SC phase diagrams are: 1) the origin
of the structural transformation taking place during cooling and its
relationship with magnetism; 2) the correct description of the region where a
crossover between the magnetic and superconducting electronic ground states
takes place. Hence a proper and accurate definition of the structural, magnetic
and electronic phase boundaries provides an extremely powerful tool for
material scientists. For this reason, an exact definition of the thermodynamic
phase fields characterizing the different structural and physical properties
involved is needed, although it is not easy to obtain in many cases. Moreover,
physical properties can often be strongly dependent on the occurrence of
micro-structural and other local-scale features (lattice micro-strain, chemical
fluctuations, domain walls, grain boundaries, defects), which, as a rule, are
not described in a structural phase diagram. In this review, we critically
summarize the results for the most studied 11-, 122- and 1111-type compound
systems, providing a correlation between experimental evidence and theory
Role of Dirac cones in magnetotransport properties of REFeAsO (RE=rare earth) oxypnictides
In this work we study the effect of the rare earth element in iron
oxypnictides of composition REFeAsO (RE=rare earth). On one hand we carry out
Density Functional Theory calculations of the band structure, which evidence
the multiband character of these compounds and the presence of Dirac cones
along the Y-{\Gamma} and Z-R directions of the reciprocal space. On the other
hand, we explore transport behavior by means of resistivity, Hall resistance
and magnetoresistance measurements, which confirm the dominant role of Dirac
cones. By combining our theoretical and experimental approaches, we extract
information on effective masses, scattering rates and Fermi velocities for
different rare earth elements.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures accepted for publication on European Journal of
Physics
Stability and electronic properties of the LaNiO/SrTiO interface
Infinite-layer nickelate thin films materialize an intriguing new platform
for high-temperature unconventional superconductivity, with LaNiO/SrTiO
as reference setup. We discuss the relative stability of the elementary
interfaces of this system and determine the corresponding electronic band
structure. We find substantial changes compared to the bulk, in particular in
relation to the 5 orbital contributions to the low-energy physics which can
be totally replaced by purely Ni-3 flat bands. The configuration
characteristic of cuprates can thus be supplemented by an extra interfacial
ingredient destabilizing the normal non-superconducting state in these
heterostructures.Comment: 6 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures + Supplemental Material. v2: updated
refs., extra figure + improved discussion of interfacial structure. v3: new
appendi
Macroscopic polarization and band offsets at nitride heterojunctions
Ab initio electronic structure studies of prototypical polar interfaces of
wurtzite III-V nitrides show that large uniform electric fields exist in
epitaxial nitride overlayers, due to the discontinuity across the interface of
the macroscopic polarization of the constituent materials. Polarization fields
forbid a standard evaluation of band offsets and formation energies: using new
techniques, we find a large forward-backward asymmetry of the offset (0.2 eV
for AlN/GaN (0001), 0.85 eV for GaN/AlN (0001)), and tiny interface formation
energies.Comment: RevTeX 4 pages, 2 figure
Geometric effects in the infinite-layer nickelates
Geometric effects in the infinite-layer nickelates NiO associated with
the relative size of the -site atom are investigated via first-principles
calculations. We consider, in particular, the prospective YNiO material to
illustrate the impact of these effects. Compared to LaNiO, we find that the
La Y substitution is equivalent to a pressure of 19 GPa and that the
presence of topotactic hydrogen can be precluded. However, the electronic
structure of YNiO departs from the cuprate-like picture due to an increase
in both self-doping effect and hybridization. Furthermore, we find that
geometric effects introduce a quantum critical point in the NiO series.
This implies a structural transformation
associated to a normal mode, according to which the oxygen squares
undergo an in-plane rotation around Ni that alternates along . We find that
such a -mode instability has a generic character in the infinite-layer
nickelates and can be tuned via either the effective -site atom size or
epitaxial strain.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 4 table
Non-linear macroscopic polarization in III-V nitride alloys
We study the dependence of macroscopic polarization on composition and strain
in wurtzite III-V nitride ternary alloys using ab initio density-functional
techniques. The spontaneous polarization is characterized by a large bowing,
strongly dependent on the alloy microscopic structure. The bowing is due to the
different response of the bulk binaries to hydrostatic pressure, and to
internal strain effects (bond alternation). Disorder effects are instead minor.
Deviations from parabolicity (simple bowing) are of order 10 % in the most
extreme case of AlInN alloy, much less at all other compositions. Piezoelectric
polarization is also strongly non-linear. At variance with the spontaneous
component, this behavior is independent of microscopic alloy structure or
disorder effects, and due entirely to the non-linear strain dependence of the
bulk piezoelectric response. It is thus possible to predict the piezoelectric
polarization for any alloy composition using the piezoelectricity of the parent
binaries.Comment: RevTex 7 pages, 7 postscript figures embedde
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