Spin freezing in the van der Waals material Mn2Ga2S5

Geometrical frustration in low-dimensional magnetic systems has been an intriguing research aspect, where the suppression of conventional magnetic order may lead to exotic ground states such as spin glass or spin liquid. In this work we report the synthesis and magnetism study of the monocrystalline Mn$_2$Ga$_2$S$_5$, featuring both the van der Waals structure and a bilayered triangular Mn lattice. Magnetic susceptibility reveals a significant antiferromagnetic interaction with a Curie-Weiss temperature $\theta_{\rm w}\sim-260$ K and a high spin $S=5/2$ Mn$^{2+}$ state. However, no long range magnetic order has been found down to 2 K, and a spin freezing transition is found to occur at around 12 K well below its $\theta_{\rm w}$. This yields a frustration index of $f = -\theta_{\rm w}/T_{\rm f} \approx 22$, an indication that the system is highly frustrated. The absence of a double-peak structure in magnetic specific heat compared with the $TM_2$S$_4$ compounds implies that the spin freezing behavior in Mn$_2$Ga$_2$S$_5$ is a result of the competition between exchange interactions and the 2D crystalline structure. Our results suggest that the layered Mn$_2$Ga$_2$S$_5$ would be an excellent candidate for investigating the physics of 2D magnetism and spin disordered state.     

Steady-state and transient electronic transport properties of β-(AlxGa1-x)2O3/Ga2O3 heterostructures: An ensemble Monte Carlo simulation

The steady-state and transient electron transport properties of $\beta $-(Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$/Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ heterostructures were investigated by Monte Carlo simulation with the classic three-valley model. In particular, the electronic band structures were acquired by first-principles calculations, which could provide precise parameters for calculating the transport properties of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), and the quantization effect was considered in the $\varGamma $ valley with the five lowest subbands. Wave functions and energy eigenvalues were obtained by iteration of the Schrödinger-Poisson equations to calculate the 2DEG scattering rates with five main scattering mechanisms considered. The simulated low-field electron mobilities agree well with the experimental results, thus confirming the effectiveness of our models. The results show that the room temperature electron mobility of the $\beta $-(Al$_{0.188}$Ga$_{0.812}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$/Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ heterostructure at 10 kV$ \cdot$cm$^{-1}$ is approximately 153.669 cm$^{2}\cdot$V$^{-1}\cdot$s$^{-1}$, and polar optical phonon scattering would have a significant impact on the mobility properties at this time. The region of negative differential mobility, overshoot of the transient electron velocity and negative diffusion coefficients are also observed when the electric field increases to the corresponding threshold value or even exceeds it. This work offers significant parameters for the $\beta$-(Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$/Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ heterostructure that may benefit the design of high-performance $\beta$-(Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$/Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ heterostructure-based devices.     

Synthesis and high temperature thermoelectric transport properties of Si-based type-I clathrates

N-type Si-based type-I clathrates with different Ga content were synthesized by combining the solid-state reaction method, melting method and spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. The effects of Ga composition on high temperature thermoelectric transport properties were investigated. The results show that at room temperature, the carrier concentration decreases, while the carrier mobility increases slightly with increasing Ga content. The Seebeck coefficient increases with increasing Ga content. Among all the samples, Ba_7.93Ga_17.13Si_28.72 exhibits higher Seebeck coefficient than the others and reaches -135~μ V.K^-1 at 1000 K. The sample prepared by this method exhibits very high electrical conductivity, and reaches 1.95× 10⁵S.m^-1 for Ba_8.01Ga_16.61Si_28.93 at room temperature. The thermal conductivity of all samples is almost temperature independent in the temperature range of 300--1000~K, indicating the behaviour of a typical metal. The maximum {ZT} value of 0.75 is obtained at 1000~K for the compound Ba_7.93Ga_17.13Si_28.72.     

A polarization mismatched p-GaN/p-Al0.25Ga0.75N/p-GaN structure to improve the hole injection for GaN based micro-LED with secondary etched mesa

A low hole injection efficiency for InGaN/GaN micro-light-emitting diodes (μLEDs) has become one of the main bottlenecks affecting the improvement of the external quantum efficiency (EQE) and the optical power. In this work, we propose and fabricate a polarization mismatched p-GaN/p-Al$_{0.25}$Ga$_{0.75}$N/p-GaN structure for 445 nm GaN-based μLEDs with the size of $40 \times 40 $μm$^{2}$, which serves as the hole injection layer. The polarization-induced electric field in the p-GaN/p-Al$_{0.25}$Ga$_{0.75}$N/p-GaN structure provides holes with more energy and can facilitate the non-equilibrium holes to transport into the active region for radiative recombination. Meanwhile, a secondary etched mesa for μLEDs is also designed, which can effectively keep the holes apart from the defected region of the mesa sidewalls, and the surface nonradiative recombination can be suppressed. Therefore, the proposed μLED with the secondary etched mesa and the p-GaN/p-Al$_{0.25}$Ga$_{0.75}$N/p-GaN structure has the enhanced EQE and the improved optical power density when compared with the μLED without such designs.     

Quantum diffusion in semi-infinite periodic and quasiperiodic systems

This paper studies quantum diffusion in semi-infinite one-dimensional periodic lattice and quasiperiodic Fibonacci lattice. It finds that the quantum diffusion in the semi-infinite periodic lattice shows the same properties as that for the infinite periodic lattice. Different behaviour is found for the semi-infinite Fibonacci lattice. In this case, there are still C（t） - t^-δ and d（t） - t^β. However, it finds that 0 〈δ 〈 1 for smaller time, and δ = 0 for larger time due to the influence of surface localized states. Moreover, β for the semi-infinite Fibonacci lattice is much smaller than that for the infinite Fibonacci lattice. Effects of disorder on the quantum diffusion are also discussed.     

Phonon spectra of La0.5Ca2MnO3

This paper presents a microscopic theory to explain different Raman modes of La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 based on the electronic Hamiltonian of the Kondo lattice model,which adds phonon interaction to the hybridization between the conduction electrons of the system and the l-electrons.The spectral density is calculated by the Green function technique of Zubarev at zero wave vector and in the low temperature limit.It finds that there are three Raman-active modes and the spectral densities of these modes are substantially influenced by model parameters such as the position of l-level(εJT),the effective electron-phonon coupling strength(g) and the hybridization parameter(v).Finally,the intensity changes of those peaks are investigated.     

Scattering behaviours to the two-dimensional electron gasinduced by the Al composition fluctuation in AlxGa1-xNbarrier in AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures

<正>This paper reports that cathodoluminescence（CL） measurements have been done to study the alloy fluctuation of the Al_0.3Ga_0.7N layer in Al_0.3Ga_0.7N/GaN heterostructures.The CL images and linescanning results demonstrate the existence of compositional fluctuation of Al in the Al_0.3Ga_0.7N barrier.A model using aδ-shape perturbation Hamilton function has been proposed to simulate the scattering probability of the two dimensional electron gases （2DEG） induced by Al composition fluctuation.Two factors,including conduction band fluctuation and polarization electric field variation,induced by the Al composition fluctuation have been taken into account.The scattering relaxation time induced by both factors has been estimated to be 0.31 ns and 0.0078 ns,respectively,indicating that the variation of the piezoelectric field is dominant in the scattering of the 2DEG induced by Al fluctuation.     

First-principles investigation of BAs and BxGa1-xAs alloys

First-principles investigation of BAs and BxGa1-xAs alloys Using first-principles calculations in the generalized gradient approximation, the electronic properties of BAs and BxGa1-xAs alloys are studied. At the Brillouin-zone centre, the lowest conduction band is the three-degenerate p-like Г15c state rather than s-like Г1c state, and the conduction band minimum （CBM） is along the A line between the Г and X points-at approximately 11/14（1,0,0）2π/a. With boron content at 0%-18.75%, BxGa1-xAs alloys have a small （2.6 eV） and relatively composition-independent band-gap bowing parameter, the band-gap increases monotonically by -18meV/B% with increasing boron content. In addition, the formation enthalpies of mixing for BxGa1-xAs alloys with boron content at 6.25% and 12.5% are calculated, and the large formation enthalpies may explain the difficulty in alloying boron to GaAs.     

CeAu2In4: A candidate of quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice

Needle-like single crystals of CeAu₂In₄ have been grown from In flux and characterized as a new candidate of quasi-one-dimensional Kondo lattice compound by crystallographic, magnetic, transport, and specific-heat measurements down to very low temperatures. We observe an antiferromagnetic transition at T_N ≈ 0.9 K, a highly non-mean-field profile of the corresponding peak in specific heat, and a large Sommerfeld coefficient γ =369 mJ·mol^-1·K^-2. The Kondo temperature T_K is estimated to be 1.1 K, being low and comparable to T_N. While Fermi liquid behavior is observed deep into the magnetically ordered phase, the Kadowaki-Woods ratio is much reduced relative to the expected value for Ce compounds with Kramers doublet ground state. Markedly, this feature shares striking similarities to that of the prototypical quasi-one-dimensional compounds YbNi₄P₂ and CeRh₆Ge₄ with tunable ferromagnetic quantum critical point. Given the shortest Ce-Ce distance along the needle direction, CeAu₂In₄ appears to be an interesting model system for exploring antiferromagnetic quantum critical behaviors in a quasi-one-dimensional Kondo lattice with enhanced quantum fluctuations.     

Critical radius and dipole polarizability for a confined system

The analytical transfer matrix method (ATMM) is applied to calculating the critical radius $r_{\rm c}$ and the dipole polarizability $\alpha_{\rm d}$ in two confined systems: the hydrogen atom and the Hulth\'{e}n potential. We find that there exists a linear relation between $r_{\rm c}^{1/2}$ and the quantum number $n_{r}$ for a fixed angular quantum number $l$, moreover, the three bounds of $\alpha_{\rm d}$ ($\alpha_{\rm d}^{K}$, $\alpha_{\rm d}^{B}$, $\alpha_{\rm d}^{U}$) satisfy an inequality: $\alpha_{\rm d}^{K}\leq\alpha_{\rm d}^{B}\leq\alpha_{\rm d}^{U}$. A comparison between the ATMM, the exact numerical analysis, and the variational wavefunctions shows that our method works very well in the systems.     

Study of valence intersubband absorption in tensile strained Si/SiGe quantum wells

The hole subband structures and effective masses of tensile strained Si/Sil-yGey quantum wells are calculated by using the 6 × 6 k·p method. The results show that when the tensile strain is induced in the quantum well, the light-hole state becomes the ground state, and the light hole effective masses in the growth direction are strongly reduced while the in-plane effective masses are considerable. Quantitative calculation of the valence intersubband transition between two light hole states in a 7nm tensile strained Si/Si0.55Ge0.45 quantum well grown on a relaxed Si0.5Ge0.5 （100） substrates shows a large absorption coefficient of 8400 cm^-1.     

Electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of LiBC under high pressure

This paper investigates the electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of LiBC in the hexagonal structure by using the generalized gradient approximation （GGA） and local density approximation correction scheme in the frame of density functional theory. The geometric structure of LiBC under zero pressure, and the dependences of the normalized lattice parameters a/ao and c/co, the ratio e/a, the normalized primitive volume V/Vo on pressure are given. The thermodynamic quantity （including the heat capacity Cv, Debye temperature 6~D, thermal expansion a and Grfineisen parameter -y） dependences on temperature and pressure are obtained through the GGA method and the quasi-harmonic Debye model. The band structures and density of state of LiBC under different pressures have also been analysed.     

Dy2 AlFe13 Mn3 化合物的本征磁致伸缩

通过X-射线衍射及磁测量手段研究了Dy2AlFe13Mn3化合物的结构及磁性质。研究结果表明Dy2AlFe13Mn3化合物具有六角相的Th2Ni17型结构。通过X-射线热膨胀测定法发现Dy2AlFe13Mn3化合物在245到344K的温度范围内存在负热膨胀现象，其平均热膨胀系数为α＝-1.1×10-4K-1K-1。在105到360K的温度范围内，通过比较磁性状态下的晶胞参数和由高温顺磁状态外延得到的低温顺磁状态下的晶胞参数间的差别计算了Dy2AlFe13Mn3化合物的本征磁致伸缩。结果表明Dy2AlFe13Mn3化合物的本征体磁致伸缩ωS在105到245K的温度范围内随着温度的升高而增大，由105K时的7.0×10-3 增加到245K时的9.1×10-3。随着温度的进一步升高，ωS反而减小。沿c轴方向的本征线磁致伸缩λc随着温度的升高而减小。基面内的本征线磁致伸缩λa在105到270K的温度范围内随着温度的升高而增大，从105K时的0.8×10-3增大到270K时的3.4×10-3，然后随着温度的进一步升高而减小。     

Structural and thermodynamic properties of wurtzite-type aluminium nitride from first-principles calculations

The lattice parameter, bulk modulus and its pressure derivative of the wurtzite-type aluminium nitride (w-AlN) are investigated by using the Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) program in the framework of Density Functional Theory (DFT). The calculated results are in good agreement with the available experimental data and other theoretical results. Through the quasi-harmonic Debye model, the dependences of the normalized lattice parameters $a/a_{0}$ and $ c/c_{0}$, axial ratio $c/a$, normalized primitive-cell volume $V/V_{0}$, Debye temperature ${\it\Theta} _{\rm D} $ and heat capacity $C_{\rm V}$ on pressure $P $ and temperature $ T$ are obtained. It is found that the interlayer covalent interactions (Al-N bonds) are more (even a little) sensitive to temperature and pressure than intralayer ones (N--N bonds), which gives rise to a little lattice anisotropy in the w-AlN.     

Magnon energy gap in a four-layer ferromagnetic superlattice

The magnon energy band in a four-layer ferromagnetic superlattice is studied by using the linear spin-wave approach and Green＇s function technique. It is found that three modulated energy gaps exist in the magnon energy band along Kx direction perpendicular to the superlattice plane. The spin quantum numbers and the interlayer exchange couplings all affect the three energy gaps. The magnon energy gaps of the four-layer ferromagnetic superlattice are different from those of the three-layer one. For the four-layer ferromagnetic superlattice, the disappearance of the magnon energy gaps △ω12, △ω23 and △ω34 all correlates with the symmetry of this system. The zero energy gap △ω23 correlates with the symmetry of interlayer exchange couplings, while the vanishing of the magnon energy gaps △ω12 and △ω34 corresponds to a translational symmetry of x-direction in the lattice. When the parameters of the system deviate from these symmetries, the three energy gaps will increase.     

Coherent interaction and action-counteraction theory in small polaron systems,and ground state properties

Based on the coherent interaction and action-counteraction principles, we investigate the ground state properties for small polaron systems, the coherent-squeezed fluctuation correction, and the anomalous lattice quantum fluctuation, with the new variational generator containing correlated squeezed-coherent coupling and quantum entanglement. Noting that $-2t $ is the T.B.A. energy, for the coherent interaction effect, we find the ground-state energy $E_0$ to be $-2.428t$, in which the coherent squeezed fluctuation correction $-A_0 t$ is $-0.463t $ (where $ t $ is the hopping integral, $\omega $ is the phonon frequency), with the electron-one-phonon coupling constant $g=$1 and the electron-two-phonon coupling constant $g_{1}=-0.1$. However, as a result of the action-counteraction effect, $\tilde{{E}}_{0} $ is $-2.788t$, but $-\tilde{{A}}_{0} t$ is $-0.735t$. As to the polaron binding energy $(E_{\rm P} )$, for the coherent interaction effect, $E_{\rm P} $ is $-1.38\omega $, but for the action-counteraction effect, $\tilde{{E}}_{\rm P}$ is $-1.88\omega $. In particular, the electron-two-phonon interaction noticeably enlarges the coherent interaction and the coherent squeezed quantum fluctuation correction. By intervening with the quantum entanglement, the evolutions of the squeezed coherent state and the lattice quantum fluctuation begin to take control. At that time, we encounter a new quantum phase coherence phenomenon — the collapse and revival of inversion repeatedly for the coherent state in the entangled evolution.     

Variable-range hopping in 2D quasi-1D electronic systems

A semi-phenomenological theory of variable-range hopping (VRH) is developed for two-dimensional (2D) quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) systems such as arrays of quantum wires in the Wigner crystal regime. The theory follows the phenomenology of Efros, Mott and Shklovskii allied with microscopic arguments. We first derive the Coulomb gap in the single-particle density of states, g(ε), where ε is the energy of the charge excitation. We then derive the main exponential dependence of the electron conductivity in the linear (L), i.e. σ(T) ∼exp [-(T_L/T)^γL], and current in the non-linear (NL), i.e. , response regimes ( is the applied electric field). Due to the strong anisotropy of the system and its peculiar dielectric properties we show that unusual, with respect to known results, Coulomb gaps open followed by unusual VRH laws, i.e. with respect to the disorder-dependence of T_L and and the values of γ_L and γ_NL.     

Low-temperature heat transport of the zigzag spin-chain compound SrEr2O4

Low-temperature thermal conductivity ($\kappa$), as well as the magnetic properties and specific heat, are studied for the frustrated zigzag spin-chain material SrEr$_{2}$O$_{4}$ by using single-crystal samples. The specific heat data indicate the long-range antiferromagnetic transition at $\sim 0.73 $ K and the existence of strong magnetic fluctuations. The magnetizations at very low temperatures for magnetic field along the $c$ axis (spin chain direction) or the $a$ axis reveal the field-induced magnetic transitions. The $\kappa $ shows a strong dependence on magnetic field, applied along the $c$ axis or the $a$ axis, which is closely related to the magnetic transitions. Furthermore, high magnetic field induces a strong increase of $\kappa $. These results indicate that thermal conductivity along either the $c$ axis or the $a$ axis are mainly contributed by phonons, while magnetic excitations play a role of scattering phonons.