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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.

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At least 865 records · Page 48
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DOE OSTI2021

Dynamical ground state in the XY pyrochlore Yb2GaSbO7

Abstract The magnetic ground state of the pyrochlore Yb 2 GaSbO 7 has not been established. The persistent spin fluctuations observed by muon spin-relaxation measurements at low temperatures have not been adequately explained for this material using existing theories for quantum magnetism. Here we report on the synthesis and characterisation of Yb 2 GaSbO 7 to revisit the nature of the magnetic ground state. Through DC and AC magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and neutron scattering experiments, we observe evidence for a dynamical ground state that makes Yb 2 GaSbO 7 a promising candidate for disorder-induced spin-liquid or spin-singlet behaviour. This state is quite fragile, being tuned to a splayed ferromagnet in a modest magnetic field μ 0 H c ~ 1.5 T.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

High-energy magnetic excitations from heavy quasiparticles in CeCu 2 Si 2

Magnetic fluctuations is the leading candidate for pairing in cuprate, iron-based, and heavy fermion superconductors. This view is challenged by the recent discovery of nodeless superconductivity in CeCu 2 Si 2 , and calls for a detailed understanding of the corresponding magnetic fluctuations. Here, we mapped out the magnetic excitations in superconducting (S-type) CeCu 2 Si 2 using inelastic neutron scattering, finding a strongly asymmetric dispersion for E ≲ 1.5 meV, which at higher energies evolves into broad columnar magnetic excitations that extend to E ≳ 5 meV. While low-energy magnetic excitations exhibit marked three-dimensional characteristics, the high-energy magnetic excitations in CeCu 2 Si 2 are almost two-dimensional, reminiscent of paramagnons found in cuprate and iron-based superconductors. By comparing our experimental findings with calculations in the random-phase approximation, we find that the magnetic excitations in CeCu 2 Si 2 arise from quasiparticles associated with its heavy electron band, which are also responsible for superconductivity. Our results provide a basis for understanding magnetism and superconductivity in CeCu 2 Si 2 , and demonstrate the utility of neutron scattering in probing band renormalization in heavy fermion metals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires

A Josephson junction (JJ) couples the supercurrent flowing between two weakly linked superconductors to the phase difference between them via a current-phase relation (CPR). While a sinusoidal CPR is expected for conventional junctions with insulating weak links, devices made from some exotic materials may give rise to unconventional CPRs and unusual Josephson effects. In this work, we present such a case: we investigate the proximity-induced superconductivity in SnTe nanowires by incorporating them as weak links in JJs and observe a deviation from the standard CPR. We report on indications of an unexpected breaking of time-reversal symmetry in these devices, detailing the unconventional characteristics that reveal this behavior. These include an asymmetric critical current in the DC Josephson effect, a prominent second harmonic in the AC Josephson effect, and a magnetic diffraction pattern with a minimum in critical current at zero magnetic field. The analysis examines how multiband effects and the experimentally visualized ferroelectric domain walls give rise to this behavior, giving insight into the Josephson effect in materials that possess ferroelectricity and/or multiband superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Precursor of pair-density wave in doping Kitaev spin liquid on the honeycomb lattice

Abstract We study the effects of doping the Kitaev model on the honeycomb lattice where the spins interact via the bond-directional interaction J K , which is known to have a quantum spin liquid as its exact ground state. The effect of hole doping is studied within the t - J K model on a three-leg cylinder using density-matrix renormalization group. Upon light doping, we find that the ground state of the system has a dominant quasi-long-range charge-density-wave correlations but short-range single-particle correlations. In the pairing channel, the even-parity superconducting correlation is dominant with d -wave-like symmetry, which oscillates in sign as a function of separation with a period equal to that of the spin-density wave and two times the charge-density wave. Although these correlations fall rapidly (possibly exponentially) at long distances, this is never-the-less the example where a pair-density wave is the leading instability in the pairing channel on the honeycomb lattice.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Superconductivity in the doped quantum spin liquid on the triangular lattice

Abstract Broad interest in quantum spin liquid (QSL) phases was triggered by the notion that they can be viewed as insulating phases with preexisting electron pairs, such that upon light doping they might automatically yield high temperature superconductivity. Yet despite intense experimental and numerical efforts, definitive evidence showing that doping QSLs leads to superconductivity has been lacking. We address the problem of a lightly doped QSL through a large-scale density-matrix renormalization group study of the t - J model on finite-circumference triangular cylinders with a small but nonzero concentration of doped holes. We provide direct evidences that doping QSL can naturally give rise to d -wave superconductivity. Specifically, we find power-law superconducting correlations with a Luttinger exponent, K s c ≈ 1, which is consistent with a strongly diverging superconducting susceptibility, $${\chi }_{sc} \,\sim\, {T}^{-(2\,-\,{K}_{sc})}$$ χ s c ~ T − ( 2 − K s c ) as the temperature T → 0. The spin–spin correlations—as in the undoped QSL state—fall exponentially which suggests that the superconducting pair-pair correlations evolve smoothly from the insulating parent state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Phase diagram of YbZnGaO4 in applied magnetic field

Abstract Recently, Yb-based triangular-lattice antiferromagnets have garnered significant interest as possible quantum spin-liquid candidates. One example is YbMgGaO 4 , which showed many promising spin-liquid features, but also possesses a high degree of disorder owing to site-mixing between the non-magnetic cations. To further elucidate the role of chemical disorder and to explore the phase diagram of these materials in applied field, we present neutron scattering and sensitive magnetometry measurements of the closely related compound, YbZnGaO 4 . Our results suggest a difference in magnetic anisotropy between the two compounds, and we use key observations of the magnetic phase crossover to motivate an exploration of the field- and exchange parameter-dependent phase diagram, providing an expanded view of the available magnetic states in applied field. This enriched map of the phase space serves as a basis to restrict the values of parameters describing the magnetic Hamiltonian with broad application to recently discovered related materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Competitive and cooperative electronic states in Ba(Fe1−xTx)2As2 with T = Co, Ni, Cr

Abstract The electronic inhomogeneities in Co, Ni, and Cr doped BaFe 2 As 2 single crystals are compared within three bulk property regions: a pure superconducting (SC) dome region, a coexisting SC and antiferromagnetic (AFM) region, and a non-SC region. Machine learning is utilized to categorize the inhomogeneous electronic states: in-gap, L-shape, and S-shape states. Although the relative percentages of the states vary in the three samples, the total volume fraction of the three electronic states is quite similar. This is coincident with the number of electrons (Ni 0.04 and Co 0.08 ) and holes (Cr 0.04 ) doped into the compounds. The in-gap state is confirmed as a magnetic impurity state from the Co or Ni dopants, the L-shape state is identified as a spin density wave which competes with the SC phase, and the S-shape state is found to be another form of magnetic order which constructively cooperates with the SC phase, rather than competing with it.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experimental evidence of plasmarons and effective fine structure constant in electron-doped graphene/h-BN heterostructure

Electron-electron interaction is fundamental in condensed matter physics and can lead to composite quasiparticles called plasmarons, which strongly renormalize the dispersion and carry information of electron-electron coupling strength as defined by the effective fine structure constant $α$ $^{*}_{ee}$. Although h-BN with unique dielectric properties has been widely used as an important substrate for graphene, so far there is no experimental report of plasmarons in graphene/h-BN yet. Here, we report direct experimental observation of plasmaron dispersion in graphene/h-BN heterostructures through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements upon in situ electron doping. Characteristic diamond-shaped dispersion is observed near the Dirac cone in both 0° (aligned) and 13.5° (twisted) graphene/h-BN, and the electron-electron interaction strength $α$ $^{*}_{ee}$ is extracted to be $α$ $^{*}_{ee}$ ≈ 0.9 ± 0.1, highlighting the important role of electron-electron interaction. Our results suggest graphene/h-BN as an ideal platform for investigating strong electron-electron interaction with weak dielectric screening, and lays fundamental physics for gate-tunable nano-electronics and nano-plasmonics.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Unveiling the orbital texture of 1T-TiTe 2 using intrinsic linear dichroism in multidimensional photoemission spectroscopy

The momentum-dependent orbital character in crystalline solids, referred to as orbital texture, is of capital importance in the emergence of symmetry-broken collective phases, such as charge density waves as well as superconducting and topological states of matter. By performing extreme ultraviolet multidimensional angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy for two different crystal orientations linked to each other by mirror symmetry, we isolate and identify the role of orbital texture in photoemission from the transition metal dichalcogenide 1T-TiTe 2 . By comparing our experimental results with theoretical calculations based on both a quantitative one-step model of photoemission and an intuitive tight-binding model, we unambiguously demonstrate the link between the momentum-dependent orbital orientation and the emergence of strong intrinsic linear dichroism in the photoelectron angular distributions. Our results represent an important step towards going beyond band structure (eigenvalues) mapping and learning about electronic wavefunction and orbital texture of solids by exploiting matrix element effects in photoemission spectroscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Photoinduced anisotropic lattice dynamic response and domain formation in thermoelectric SnSe

Identifying and understanding the mechanisms behind strong phonon–phonon scattering in condensed matter systems is critical to maximizing the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. To date, the leading method to address this has been to meticulously survey the full phonon dispersion of the material in order to isolate modes with anomalously large linewidth and temperature-dependence. Here we combine quantitative MeV ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) analysis with Monte Carlo based dynamic diffraction simulation and first-principles calculations to directly unveil the soft, anharmonic lattice distortions of model thermoelectric material SnSe. A small single-crystal sample is photoexcited with ultrafast optical pulses and the soft, anharmonic lattice distortions are isolated using MeV-UED as those associated with long relaxation time and large displacements. We reveal that these modes have interlayer shear strain character, induced mainly by c -axis atomic displacements, resulting in domain formation in the transient state. These findings provide an innovative approach to identify mechanisms for ultralow and anisotropic thermal conductivity and a promising route to optimizing thermoelectric devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nonsymmorphic symmetry-protected band crossings in a square-net metal PtPb 4

Topological semimetals with symmetry-protected band crossings have emerged as a rich landscape to explore intriguing electronic phenomena. Nonsymmorphic symmetries in particular have been shown to play an important role in protecting the crossings along a line (rather than a point) in momentum space. Here we report experimental and theoretical evidence for Dirac nodal line crossings along the Brillouin zone boundaries in PtPb 4 , arising from the nonsymmorphic symmetry of its crystal structure. Interestingly, while the nodal lines would remain gapless in the absence of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), the SOC, in this case, plays a detrimental role to topology by lifting the band degeneracy everywhere except at a set of isolated points. Nevertheless, the nodal line is observed to have a bandwidth much smaller than that found in density functional theory (DFT). Our findings reveal PtPb 4 to be a material system with narrow crossings approximately protected by nonsymmorphic crystalline symmetries.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photoinduced evolution of lattice orthorhombicity and conceivably enhanced ferromagnetism in LaMnO 3 membranes

Ultrashort laser pulses have been utilized to dynamically drive phase transitions in correlated quantum materials. Of particular interest is whether phases not achievable in thermal equilibrium can be induced in complex oxides with intricately coupled lattice, electron and spin degrees of freedom. Here, we tracked atomic motions in LaMnO 3 following photoexcitation with MeV ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED) technique. We found that the light excited state exhibits numerous signatures different from thermal equilibrium ones, including nearly conserved Bragg intensities, strongly suppressed La cation and oxygen anion displacements, and the long-range lattice orthorhombicity evolution. Furthermore, using first-principles calculations, we predict that the ferromagnetic ordering and conductivity are both enhanced upon laser excitation due to the reduction of the lattice orthorhombicity. This work benefits from recent advance in fabrication of membrane films with high epitaxial quality and in MeV-UED with large momentum space access and high temporal resolution.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Theory of superconductivity in doped quantum paraelectrics

Abstract Recent experiments on Nb-doped SrTiO 3 have shown that the superconducting energy gap to the transition temperature ratio maintains the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) value throughout its superconducting dome. Motivated by these and related studies, we show that the Cooper pairing mediated by a single soft transverse-optical phonon is the most natural mechanism for such a superconducting dome given experimental constraints, and present the microscopic theory for this pairing mechanism. Furthermore, we show that this mechanism is consistent with the T 2 resistivity in the normal state. Lastly, we discuss what physical insights SrTiO 3 provides for superconductivity in other quantum paraelectrics such as KTaO 3 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electronic nature of the pseudogap in electron-doped Sr 2 IrO 4

In high-temperature ($T_c$) cuprate superconductors, many exotic phenomena are rooted in the enigmatic pseudogap state, which has been interpreted as consisting of preformed Cooper pairs or competing orders or a combination thereof. Observation of pseudogap phenomenologically in electron-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 —the 5d electron counterpart of the cuprates, has spurred intense interest in the strontium iridates as a testbed for exploring the exotic physics of the cuprates. Here, we examine the pseudogap state of electron-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and parallel theoretical modeling. Our analysis demonstrates that the pseudogap state of Sr 2 IrO 4 appears without breaking the particle–hole symmetry or inducing spectral broadening which are telltale signatures of competing orders in the cuprates. We find quasiparticle dispersion and its temperature dependence in the pseudogap state of Sr 2 IrO 4 to point to an electronic order with a zero scattering wave vector and limited correlation length. Particle–hole symmetric preformed Cooper pairs are discussed as a viable mechanism for such an electronic order. The potential roles of incommensurate density waves are also discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Orbital selective Kondo effect in heavy fermion superconductor UTe2

Abstract Heavy fermion systems emerge from the collective Kondo effect, and their superconductivity can serve as a promising platform for realizing next-generation quantum technologies. However, it has been a great challenge to explore many-body effects in heavy fermion systems with ab-initio approaches. We computed the electronic structure of UTe 2 without purposive judgements, such as intentional selection of on-site Coulomb interaction and disregarding spin-orbit coupling. We show that U-5 f electrons are highly localized in the paramagnetic normal state, giving rise to the Kondo effect. It is also found that the hybridization between U-5 f and U-6 d predominantly in the orthorhombic a b -plane is responsible for the high-temperature Kondo effect. In contrast, the hybridization between U-5 f and Te-5 p along the c -axis manifests the Kondo scattering at a much lower temperature, which could be responsible for the low-temperature upturn of the c -axis resistivity. Our results show that the electron correlation in UTe 2 is orbital selective, which naturally elucidates the recent experimental observations of anomalous temperature dependence of resistivity. Furthermore, we suggest that the Kondo effect is suppressed at high pressure owing to weak localization of magnetic moments, which results from enhanced U-5 f electron hopping. Our discovery provides significant insight toward understanding anisotropic quantum behavior including selective re-entrant superconductivity in heavy fermion UTe 2 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetic freeze-out and anomalous Hall effect in ZrTe 5

The ultra-quantum limit is achieved when a magnetic field confines an electron gas in its lowest spin-polarised Landau level. Here we show that in this limit, electron doped ZrTe 5 shows a metal-insulator transition followed by a sign change of the Hall and Seebeck effects at low temperature. We attribute this transition to a magnetic freeze-out of charge carriers on the ionized impurities. The reduction of the charge carrier density gives way to an anomalous Hall response of the spin-polarised electrons. This behavior, at odds with the usual magnetic freeze-out scenario, occurs in this Dirac metal because of its tiny Fermi energy, extremely narrow band gap and a large g-factor. We discuss the different possible sources (intrinsic or extrinsic) for this anomalous Hall contribution.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Chiral superconductivity with enhanced quantized Hall responses in moiré transition metal dichalcogenides

Experimental demonstrations of tunable correlation effects in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene have put two-dimensional moiré quantum materials at the forefront of condensed-matter research. Other twisted few-layer graphitic structures, boron-nitride, and homo- or hetero-stacks of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have further enriched the opportunities for analysis and utilization of correlations in these systems. Recent experiments within the latter material class confirmed the relevance of many-body interactions and demonstrated the importance of their extended range. Since the interaction, its range, and the filling can be tuned experimentally by twist angle, substrate engineering and gating, we here explore Fermi surface instabilities and resulting phases of matter of hetero-bilayer TMDs. Using an unbiased renormalization group approach, we establish in particular that hetero-bilayer TMDs are platforms to realize topological superconductivity with winding number |$\mathcal{N}$| = 4. We show that this state reflects in pronounced experimental signatures, such as distinct quantum Hall features.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Charge dynamics of a noncentrosymmetric magnetic Weyl semimetal

The interplay of topology with magnetism in Weyl semimetals recently arose to a vanguard topic, because of novel physical scenarios with anomalous transport properties. Here, we address the charge dynamics of the noncentrosymmetric and ferromagnetic (T C ~ 15 K) PrAlGe material and discover that it harbours electronic correlations, which are reflected in a sizeable reduction of the Fermi velocity with respect to the bare band value at low temperatures (T). At T < T C , the optical response registers a band reconstruction, which additionally causes a reshuffling of spectral weight, pertinent to the electronic environment of the type-I Weyl fermions and tracing the remarkable anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC). With the support of first-principles calculations, we provide evidence for the intimate relationship between a topological resonance of the absorption spectrum and the progressively enhanced occupation of non-trivial states with large Berry curvatures, a requirement for AHC.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗