Effects of spin-phonon interaction on transport, magnetic properties and the oxygen isotope effect in R1−xAxMnO3

We consider the spin-phonon (s-p) coupling as an important correction to the double exchange and the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in colossal magnetoresistance systems R_1−xA_xMnO₃. The effect of s-p on transport, magnetic properties and the oxygen isotope effect has been studied by utilizing the perturbation theory and mean field theory. It is indicated that (i) a formula for the shift of the ferromagnetic (FM) transition temperature T_c is given, from which it could be seen that the s-p coupling could yield an excitation gap for long-wavelength acoustic spin waves and an applied field could improve T_c, (ii) the relation T_c∼m^−1/2 (m is the mass of the anion) is obtained, which suggests that the oxygen isotope effect is dominated by both the s-p and e-p interaction, (iii) it could cause the hardening of phonon frequency in the FM state, (iv) s-p could lead to the increase of the resistivity which is proportional to T³ at low temperature and proportional to T at high temperature in the ferromagnetic metallic region of R_1−xA_xMnO₃.     

Intercalation of metals and silicon at the interface of epitaxial graphene and its substrates

Intercalations of metals and silicon between epitaxial graphene and its substrates are reviewed. For metal intercala- tion, seven different metals have been successfully intercalated at the interface of graphene/Ru（O001） and form different intercalated structures. Meanwhile, graphene maintains its original high quality after the intercalation and shows features of weakened interaction with the substrate. For silicon intercalation, two systems, graphene on Ru（O001） and on Ir（l I 1）, have been investigated. In both cases, graphene preserves its high quality and regains its original superlative properties after the silicon intercalation. More importantly, we demonstrate that thicker silicon layers can be intercalated at the interface, which allows the atomic control of the distance between graphene and the metal substrates. These results show the great potential of the intercalation method as a non-damaging approach to decouple epitaxial graphene from its substrates and even form a dielectric layer for future electronic applications.