Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “superfluid density”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14

Tuning the flat bands of the kagome metal CoSn with Fe, In, or Ni doping

We report CoSn is a Pauli paramagnet with relatively flat d bands centered about 100 meV below the Fermi energy, E F . Single crystals of CoSn lightly doped with Fe, In, or Ni are investigated using x-ray and neutron scattering, magnetic susceptibility and magnetization, AC susceptibility, specific heat, and resistivity measurements. Within the rigid-band approximation, hole doping with a few percent of Fe or In should move the flat bands closer to E F , whereas electron doping with Ni should move the flat bands further away from E F . We provide evidence that this indeed occurs. Fe and In doping drive CoSn toward magnetism, while Ni doping suppresses CoSn's already weak magnetic response. The resulting ground state is different for Fe versus In doping. For Fe-doped crystals, Co 1-x Fe x Sn, with 0.02< x <0.27, the magnetic and specific-heat data are consistent with the formation of a spin glass, with a glass temperature, T g , ranging from 1 K for x = 0.02 to 10 K for x = 0.27. Powder and single-crystal neutron diffraction found no evidence of long-range magnetic order below T g for samples with x ≈ 0.17. For In-doped crystals, CoSn 1-y In y , both the magnetic susceptibility and the Sommerfeld coefficient, γ, increase substantially relative to pure CoSn, but with no clear indication of a magnetic transition for 0.05< y <0.2. CoSn crystals doped with Ni (Co 0.93 Ni 0.07 Sn) have a significantly smaller magnetic susceptibility and γ than pure CoSn, consistent with flat bands further from E F .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Charge-induced phase transition in encapsulated $\mathrm{HfTe_2}$ nanoribbons

Nanotube encapsulation is a powerful technique for coaxing solids into unconventional configurations. By synthesizing materials within the interior confines of hollow nanotubes, lower dimensional morphologies, such as one-dimensional chains or nanoribbons, are favored. We have used carbon nanotube encapsulation to realize ultranarrow, atomically precise HfTe 2 nanoribbons. A local, electron-beam-stimulated transition from the metallic 1T phase to the previously unreported semiconducting 1H phase is observed. Here, we study computationally how charging can drive the phase transition and the stability of the different atomic configurations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Effect of doping on the phase stability and superconductivity in LaH 10

Here, we present a computational investigation into the effects of chemical doping with 15 different elements on phase stability and superconductivity in the LaH 10 structure. Most doping elements were found to induce softening of phonon modes, enhancing electron-phonon coupling and improving critical superconducting temperature while weakening dynamical stability. Unlike these dopants, Ce was found to extend the range of dynamical stability for LaH 10 by eliminating the Van Hove singularity near the Fermi level. The doped compound, La 0.75 Ce 0.25 H 10 , maintains high-temperature superconductivity. We also demonstrate that different Ce doping configurations in the LaH 10 structure have a minimal effect on energetic stability and electron-phonon coupling strength. Our findings suggest that Ce is a promising dopant to stabilize LaH 10 at lower pressures while preserving its high-temperature superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

First-principles determination of the phonon-point defect scattering and thermal transport due to fission products in ThO 2

This work presents the first-principles calculations of the lattice thermal conductivity degradation due to point defects in thorium dioxide using an iterative solution of the Pierels-Boltzmann transport equation. We have used the non perturbative Green’s function methodology to compute the phonon- point defect scattering rates that consider the local distortion around the point defect, including the mass difference changes, interatomic force constants, and structural relaxation near the point defects. The point defects considered in this work include the vacancy of thorium ($V$ $TH$ ) and oxygen ($V$ $O$ ), substitutions of helium ($He$ $Th$ ), krypton ($Kr$ $Th$ ), zirconium ($Zr$ $Th$ ), iodine ($I$ $Th$ ) and xenon ($Xe$ $Th$ ) in the thorium site, and the three different configurations of the Schottky defects. The results of the phonon-defect scattering rate reveal that, among all the considered intrinsic defects, the thorium vacancy and helium substitution in the thorium site scatter the phonon most due to the substantial changes in the force constant and structural distortions. The scattering of phonons due to the substitutional defects unveils that the zirconium atom scatters phonons the least, followed by xenon, iodine, krypton, and helium. This is contrary to the intuition that the scattering strength follows $He$ $Th$ > $Kr$ $Th$ > $Zr$ $Th$ > $I$ $Th$ > $Xe$ $Th$ based on the mass difference. This striking difference in the zirconium phonon scattering is due to the local chemical environment changes. Zirconium is an electropositive element with valency similar to thorium and, therefore, can bond with the oxygen atoms, thus creating less force constant variance compared to iodine, an electronegative element noble gas helium, xenon, and krypton. In conclusion, these results can serve as the benchmark for the analytical models and help the engineering-scale modeling effort for nuclear design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Change in the Thermodynamic Properties of a Si–Ge Solid Solution at a Decrease of the Nanocrystal Size

The equation of state and the thermodynamic properties of the substitutional solid solution Si{sub 0.5}‒Ge{sub 0.5} are calculated in the framework of the “ medium atom” model. The changes in the equation of state and the thermodynamic properties upon the transition from a macrocrystal to a nanocrystal of 222 atoms with the geometric Gibbs surface are calculated using the RP-model of nanocrystal. The calculations have been performed along isotherms T = 100, 300, and 1000 K in the pressure range –1< P < 7 GPa. The changes in the properties is studied at the isochoric and also isobaric (P = 0) decrease of the number of atoms in the nanocrystal. It is shown that, at the isobaric (P = 0) decrease in the size, the specific volume of the Si{sub 0.5}–Ge{sub 0.5} nanocrystal increases the more significantly, the higher the nanocrystal temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Rotating quantum turbulence in the unitary Fermi gas

Quantized vortices carry the angular momentum in rotating superfluids, and are key to the phenomenon of quantum turbulence. Advances in ultracold-atom technology enable quantum turbulence to be studied in regimes with both experimental and theoretical control, unlike the original contexts of superfluid helium experiments. While much work has been performed with bosonic systems, detailed studies of fermionic quantum turbulence are nascent, despite wide applicability to other contexts such as rotating neutron stars. In this paper, we present a large-scale study of quantum turbulence in rotating fermionic superfluids using an accurate time-dependent density functional theory called the superfluid local density approximation. We identify two different modes of turbulent decay in the dynamical equilibration of a rotating fermionic superfluid, and contrast these results with a computationally simpler description provided by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which we find can qualitatively reproduce these decay mechanisms if dissipation is explicitly included. These results demonstrate that dissipation mechanisms intrinsic to fermionic superfluids play a key role in differentiating fermionic from bosonic turbulence, which manifests by enhanced damping of Kelvin waves.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Superfluidity in Disordered Neutron Stars Crusts

Nonequilibrium conditions imposed by neutrino cooling through the liquid-solid transition lead to disorder in the solid crust of neutron stars. Disorder reduces the superfluid fraction, $\rho_s/\rho$, at densities above that of neutron drip, $\rho_d \approx 4\times 10^{11}\,g/cm^3$. For an amorphous solid crust the suppression of $\rho_s$ is small, except in the highest density regions of the crust. In contrast to the strong reduction in neutron conduction predicted for coherent Bragg scattering in a crystalline crust, the disordered solid crust supports sufficient neutron superfluid density to account for pulsar glitches.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Excitonic density wave and spin-valley superfluid in bilayer transition metal dichalcogenide

Artificial moiré superlattices in 2 d van der Waals heterostructures are a new venue for realizing and controlling correlated electronic phenomena. Recently, twisted bilayer WSe 2 emerged as a new robust moiré system hosting a correlated insulator at moiré half-filling over a range of twist angle. In this work, we present a theory of this insulating state as an excitonic density wave due to intervalley electron–hole pairing. We show that exciton condensation is strongly enhanced by a van Hove singularity near the Fermi level. Our theory explains the remarkable sensitivity of the insulating gap to the vertical electric field. In contrast, the gap is weakly reduced by a perpendicular magnetic field, with quadratic dependence at low field. The different responses to electric and magnetic field can be understood in terms of pair-breaking versus non-pair-breaking effects in a BCS analog of the system. We further predict superfluid spin transport in this electrical insulator, which can be detected by optical spin injection and spatial-temporal imaging.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Fission dynamics of 240Pu from saddle to scission and beyond

Calculations are presented for the time evolution of 240 Pu from the proximity of the outer saddle point until the fission fragments are well separated, using the time-dependent density functional theory extended to superfluid systems. We have tested three families of nuclear energy density functionals and found that all functionals exhibit a similar dynamics: The collective motion is highly dissipative and with little trace of inertial dynamics, due to the one-body dissipation mechanism alone. This finding justifies the validity of using the overdamped collective motion approach and to some extent the main assumptions in statistical models of fission. This conclusion is robust with respect to the nuclear energy density functional used. The configurations and interactions left out of the present theory framework only increase the role of the dissipative couplings. An unexpected finding is varying the pairing strength within a quite large range has only minor effects on the dynamics. We find notable differences in the excitation energy sharing between the fission fragments in the cases of spontaneous and induced fission. With increasing initial excitation energy of the fissioning nucleus, more excitation energy is deposited in the heavy fragment, in agreement with experimental data on average neutron multiplicities.

Bulgac, Aurel↗

Effect of inversion asymmetry on the superconducting and exciton condensates of bilayer graphene

Inversion asymmetry in bilayer graphene can be tuned by the displacement field. As a result, the band dispersion in biased bilayer graphene acquires flatband regions near the Dirac points along with a nontrivial band geometry. We analyze the effect of inversion asymmetry on the critical temperature and superfluid stiffness of the superconducting state of AB-stacked graphene bilayer and the exciton condensate in double layers formed by two AB-stacked graphene bilayers. We find that the geometric superfluid stiffness in bilayer graphene superconductors is negligible due to the small superconducting gap. Furthermore, since the geometric superfluid stiffness is maximized for a constant order parameter, it can be neglected in biased bilayer graphene superconductors with any pairing symmetry. In contrast, the displacement field enhances the geometric superfluid stiffness in exciton condensates. It is most prominent at low densities and high displacement fields. Here, a consequence of the geometric superfluid stiffness is a modest enhancement of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature in bilayer graphene’s exciton condensate.

BKT transition↗