Exact thermodynamics of pairing and charge–spin separation crossovers in small Hubbard nanoclusters

The exact numerical diagonalization and thermodynamics in an ensemble of small Hubbard clusters in the ground state and finite temperatures reveal intriguing insights into the nascent charge and spin pairings, Bose condensation and ferromagnetism in nanoclusters. The phase diagram off half filling strongly suggests the existence of quantum critical points and subsequent transitions from electron pairing into unsaturated and saturated ferromagnetic Mott–Hubbard like insulators, driven by electron repulsion. Rigorous criteria for the existence of quantum critical points and crossover temperatures are formulated. The phase diagram for 2×4$2\times 4$-site clusters illustrates how these features are scaled with cluster size. The phase separation and electron pairing, monitored by a magnetic field and electron doping, surprisingly resemble phase diagrams in the family of doped high-Tc$T_c$ cuprates.     

Comparison of variational approaches for the exactly solvable 1/r-Hubbard chain

We study Hartree-Fock, Gutzwiller, Baeriswyl, and combined Gutzwiller-Baeriswyl wave functions for the exactly solvable one-dimensional 1/r-Hubbard model. We find that none of these variational wave functions is able to correctly reproduce the physics of the metal-to-insulator transition which occurs in the model for halffilled bands when the interaction strength equals the bandwidth. The many-particle problem to calculate the variational ground state energy for the Baeriswyl and combined Gutzwiller-Baeriswyl wave function is exactly solved for the 1/r-Hubbard model. The latter wave function becomes exact both for small and large interaction strength, but it incorrectly predicts the metal-to-insulator transition to happen at infinitely strong interactions. It is thus seen that neither Hartree-Fock nor an energetically excellent Jastrow-type wave function yield a reliable prediction on the zero temperature phase transition in the one-dimensional 1/r-Hubbard chain.     

Effects of cation size disorder and lattice distortion on metamagnetism in phase-separated manganites

The effects of A-site cation size disorder in ABO₃ type charge-ordered and antiferromagnetic Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ system have been studied by substituting La³⁺, Sr²⁺ or Ba²⁺, while keeping the valency of Mn ions and the tolerance factor (t=0.921) constant in the substituted compounds. We find that the substitutions by these larger cations induce successive sharp step-like metamagnetic transitions at 2.5 K. The critical field for metamagnetism is the lowest for 3% Ba substituted compound, which has the largest A-site cation size disorder and the least distorted MnO₆ octahedra, among the compounds reported here. These cation substitutions give rise to ferromagnetic clusters within antiferromagnetic matrix, indicating phase-separation at low temperatures. The growth of the clusters is found to vary with the substitution amount. The local lattice distortion of MnO₆ octahedra enhances the charge ordering temperature and reduces the magnetization at high fields (>1 T) in these manganites.     

Two kinds of phase transition in 1-D backward scattering

The one-dimensional Fermion system with backward scattering has been analyzed by use of the methods of bosonization and Gaussian wave functional. We find that there exist two kinds of phase transitions in the spin density degree according to the interaction parameters: one is a Kosterlitz-Thouless type transition and the other is a first order phase transition when backward scattering becomes sufficiently strong.     

Absence of metal-insulator transition and coherent interlayer transport in oriented graphite in parallel magnetic fields

Measurements of the magnetoresistivity of graphite with a high degree of control of the angle between the sample and magnetic field indicate that the metal-insulator transition, shown to be induced by a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the layers, does not appear in parallel field orientation. Furthermore, we show that interlayer transport is coherent in less ordered samples and high magnetic fields, whereas appears to be incoherent in less disordered samples. Our results demonstrate the two-dimensionality of the electron system in ideal graphite samples.     

Study of the magnetization and transport properties of the La(2+x)/3Sr(1−x)/3Mn1−xCrxO3 (0≤x≤0.2) system

The samples with the Mn³⁺/Mn⁴⁺ ratio fixed at 2:1 La_(2+x)/3Sr_(1−x)/3Mn_1−xCr_xO₃ (0≤x≤0.20) have been prepared. The magnetic, electrical transport, and magnetoresistance properties have been investigated. Remarkable transport and colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) effect, as well as cluster glass (CG) behaviors have been clearly observed in the samples studied. It was found that the Curie temperature T_c and insulator−metal transition temperature T_p1 are strongly affected by Cr substitution. The experiment observations are discussed by taking into account the variety of tolerance factors t; the effects of A-site radius 〈r_A〉 and the A-site mismatch effect (σ²).     

The effect of Gd-doping on the charge ordering state of Bi0.3−xGdxCa0.7MnO3 (0≤x≤0.30)

The effect of Gd-doping on the charge ordering (CO) state in perovskite-type manganates Bi_0.3−xGd_xCa_0.7MnO₃ with x=0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3 has been investigated by transport and magnetic property measurements. It is found that CO temperature (T_CO) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering temperature T_N occurring below T_CO decrease obviously with increasing Gd-doping level. Accompanying the variation of T_CO, the increased magnetization and the decreased resistivity are observed. In addition, the increased magnetic inhomogeneity has been also observed in the samples based on the difference between the zero-field-cooling (ZFC) magnetization M_ZFC and field-cooling (FC) magnetization M_FC, which is ascribed to the competition between ferromagnetic (FM) phase induced by Gd-doping and CO AFM phase. The experimental results indicate that the Bi³⁺ lone pair electron with 6s² character plays a dominating role on the CO state of Bi_0.3Ca_0.7MnO₃.     

Charge ordering in amorphous WOx films

We report on the observation of highly anisotropic viscous electronic conducting phase in amorphous WO_1.55 films that occurs below a current (I)- and frequency (f  )-dependent temperature T^∗(I,f)$T^{\ast }(I,f)$. At T<T^∗(I,f)$T<T^{\ast }(I,f)$ the rotational symmetry of randomly disordered electronic background is broken leading to the appearance of mutually perpendicular metallic- and insulating-like states. A rich dynamic behavior of the electronic matter occurring at T<T^∗(I,f)$T<T^{\ast }(I,f)$ provides evidence for an interplay between pinning effects and electron–electron interactions. The results suggest a dynamic crystallization of the disordered electronic matter, viz. formation of sliding Wigner crystal, as well as the occurrence of quantum liquid-like crystal or stripe phase at low drives.     

Charge transport near pressure-induced antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in Magnéli-phase vanadium oxides

Resistivity (ρ) measurements on Magnéli phases V₇O₁₃ and V₈O₁₅ were performed under high pressures up to 3.5GPa. We have achieved a pressure-induced transition from an antiferromagnetic metal to a paramagnetic metal (PM) at critical pressures P_c≈3.4 and 3.3 GPa for V₇O₁₃ and V₈O₁₅, respectively. The critical behavior of ρ(T) near P_c turned out to be quite unusual in that no noticeable precursor effect was observed. This strongly contrasts with the canonical quantum critical point behavior observed in chemically modified systems such as Ni(S,Se)₂ and V₂O₃. We propose that the presence of two distinct Fermi surface segments is responsible for the observed unusual behaviors.     

Valence transition behavior of the doped Falicov-Kimball model at nonzero temperatures

The extrapolation of small-cluster exact-diagonalization calculations is used to study the influence of doping on valence transitions in the spinless Falicov-Kimball model at nonzero temperatures. Two types of doping are examined, and namely, the substitution of rare-earth ions by nonmagnetic ions that introduce (i) one or (ii) none additional electron (per nonmagnetic ion) into the conduction band. It is found that the first type of substitution increases the average f-state occupancy of rare-earth ions, whereas the second type of substitution has the opposite effect. The results obtained are used to describe valence transition behavior of samarium in the hexaboride solid solutions Sm_1−xM_xB₆ (M=Y³⁺, La³⁺, Sr²⁺, Yb²⁺) and a very good agreement of theoretical and experimental results is found.     

Modification of the charge ordering transition in the quasi-one-dimensional conductor (TMTTF)2SbF6 under pressure

We have measured the temperature dependences of the conductance G and the dielectric permittivity ε′ of the (TMTTF)₂SbF₆ compound under a moderate pressure. The maximum of G(T) associated with the Mott-Hubbard localization disappears under pressure. With increasing pressure the peak in ε′(T), corresponding to the charge ordering (CO) phase transition, shifts to lower temperatures and broadens. At pressures above 0.24 GPa, ε′(T) becomes strongly frequency dependent. These modifications are explained in the frame of the extended Hubbard model and a slowing down behavior.     

First-principles calculations for magnetic properties of Mn-doped GaN nanotubes

Based on first-principles spin-density functional calculations, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of Mn-doped GaN nanotubes in which two of Ga atoms are substituted by Mn atoms. Similar to the case of Mn in bulk GaN, our calculations show that Mn atoms also act as an acceptor and all of the ground states for the Mn-doped GaNNTs are ferromagnetic. Moreover, the ferromagnetism is isotropic and independent of the chirality and diameter of the nanotubes. It is found that the most favorable configuration is the first-nearest neighbor Mn model, which is mainly mediated by both the hole-hole interaction and the dipole-dipole interaction.     

Localization Exponent for the Second Landau Level in the Quantum Hall Effect

At temperature above 1 K, we measured the temperature dependence of the longitudinal and Hall resistivity ρxx,ρxy in the regime of the quantum Hall plateau-to-plateau transitions. The localization exponent v is extracted with an approach based on the variable range hopping theory. We find the quantity v ≈ 2.3 at the second Landau level, which is proven to be accurately universal.     

Form of Scaling Function in Quantum Hall Plateau Transitions

We have measured the temperature dependence of the resistance Rxx and Rxy of a two-dimensional electron system in the regime of the quantum Hall plateau transition. We observe for our sample a considerable large critical exponent κ～ 0.66 - 0.77, which may be due to the dominant electron-phonon scattering. Further we find a simple exponential form of Rxx = Rc exp（-s） in agreement with the theoretically proposed universal scaling function.     

Hubbard-like models in high spatial dimensions

The present paper studies the properties of Hubbard-like models in high spatial dimensionsD. In a first par the limit of infinite dimension and its main features-i.e.i) the mapping onto a generalized atomic model with an additional auxiliary field andii) the validity of the local approximation for the self-energy-are worked out in a systematic (1/D)-expansion. Since the hopping matrix elements have to be properly scaled with the dimensionD, the (1/D)-expansion is also an expansion in the hopping amplitude. Thus for small hopping theD-limit may serve as a proper approximation for finite-dimensional systems. The second part of the paper adopts the hybridisation-perturbation theory of the single impurity Anderson model in order to construct a perturbation theory for the auxiliary field of the generalized atom which can also be interpreted as an expansion in the hopping amplitude. The non-crossing approximation (NCA) is used to study the antiferromagnetic phase transtion of theD-Hubbard model in the case of half filling: the critical temperature, the antiferromagnetic order parameter and the free energy of the lattice system are calculated. The NCA-results are in quite good agreement with recent results from the imaginary-time discretisation method.     

Static susceptibility and heat capacity studies on V3O7·H2O7 nanobelts

V₃O₇·H₂O nanobelts were prepared by a hydrothermal method at 190 °C using V₂O₅·nH₂O gel and H₂C₂O₄·2H₂O as starting agents. The obtained nanobelts have diameters ranging from 40 to 70 nm with lengths up to several micrometers. Measurements of the static magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat show a discontinuous phase transition at around T=145 K, which separates two regions of paramagnetic behavior.     

Magnetic properties of the bilayer manganese oxide (Pr0.6La0.4)1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 under pressure

We investigated the effect of pressure on the magnetic properties of a single crystal of the bilayer manganese oxide (Pr_0.6La_0.4)_1.2Sr_1.8Mn₂O₇ by means of DC magnetization measurements under pressure. The ferromagnetic transition, which is accompanied by a metal-insulator transition, is highly sensitive to pressure. The pressure causes a structural variation, which affects the magnetic properties. We discuss the pressure dependence of the 3d electronic state of the Mn ion in this system.     

First principles study of Eu doped carbon nanotubes

The geometric and electronic structures of Eu doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been studied using density functional theory. Three different doping configurations are considered. All of these configurations are stable upon relaxation, and Eu atom on the top of the inside hole site is the most favorable configuration for most nanotubes, except (3,3) CNT. The formation energies vary regularly with the same trend as in the Co and Fe doped cases. The electronic structures studies indicate that the charge transfer basically occurs between 5d6s of Eu and the antibonding orbital of the C6 ring of the SWCNT. Eu atom is monovalent for the exohedral and substitutional doping, and for the endohedral doping of large radius nanotubes; it is bivalent for endohedral doping of (3,3) tube. As the radius increases, the net charges on Eu atom steadily decrease for exohedral and endohedral doping. The magnetic moments of Eu atoms are preserved in all of the configurations, but they vary with the radius of nanotube and adsorbing sites.     

Bias driven coherent carrier dynamics in a two-dimensional aperiodic potential

We study the dynamics of an electron wave-packet in a two-dimensional square lattice with an aperiodic site potential in the presence of an external uniform electric field. The aperiodicity is described by at lattice sites (mx,my), with πα being a rational number, and νx and νy tunable parameters, controlling the aperiodicity. Using an exact diagonalization procedure and a finite-size scaling analysis, we show that in the weakly aperiodic regime (νx,νy<1), a phase of extended states emerges in the center of the band at zero field giving support to a macroscopic conductivity in the thermodynamic limit. Turning on the field gives rise to Bloch oscillations of the electron wave-packet. The spectral density of these oscillations may display a double peak structure signaling the spatial anisotropy of the potential landscape. The frequency of the oscillations can be understood using a semi-classical approach.     

The semiconductor-to-ferromagnetic-metal transition in FeSb2

We propose FeSb₂ to be a nearly ferromagnetic small gap semiconductor, hence a direct analog of FeSi. We find that despite different compositions and crystal structures, in the local density approximation with on-site Coulomb repulsion correction (LDA+U) method magnetic and semiconducting solutions for U=2.6 eV are energetically degenerate similar to the case of FeSi. For both FeSb₂ and FeSi (FeSi_1-xGe_x alloys) the underlying transition mechanism allows one to switch from a small gap semiconductor to a ferromagnetic metal with magnetic moment ≈1 μ_B per Fe ion with external magnetic field.