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At least 19 records

Theory of thermal properties of magnetic materials with unknown entropy

Theoretical approaches to study thermal properties of magnetic materials typically require accurate models of magnetic interactions in order to define the entropy. Here we introduce a complementary approach for examining thermal properties in magnetic systems where an accepted model for such interactions does not exist. In place of a specific model for magnetic interactions, the approach integrates measurements of temperature dependent magnetization of the studied material into a first principles computational scheme. The approach calculates system pressure from thermally disordered microstates that properly incorporate vibrational and spin subsystems at each temperature as well as the coupling between these subsystems. We apply the approach to calculate phonon modes and to investigate the anomalously low thermal expansion of the classical Invar alloy, Fe 0.65 Ni 0.35 . Here, the calculated phonon dispersions for Invar are in excellent agreement with measured data. The Invar thermal expansion is shown to remain small between 50 K and room temperature, consistent with the experimentally observed low thermal expansion value in this same temperature range. This anomalously small thermal expansion is directly connected to a small positive contribution from lattice thermal disorder that is nearly canceled by a large negative magnetic disorder contribution. By contrast, calculations for bcc Fe show a much larger thermal expansion, consistent with experiment, which is dominated by a large contribution from lattice thermal disorder that is reduced only slightly by a small negative contribution from that of magnetism. These findings give insights into the unusual nature of magnetism and spin-lattice coupling in Invar and Fe. In addition, they give promising preliminary support to the presented new methodology as a complementary way to investigate thermal properties of magnetic materials. The success achieved on Invar and Fe motivates future testing of the approach on other magnetic materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Design Issues for Using Magnetic Materials in Radiation Environments at Elevated Temperature

One of the challenges of designing motors and alternators for use in nuclear powered space missions is accounting for the effects of radiation. Terrestrial reactor power plants use distance and shielding to minimize radiation damage but space missions must economize volume and mass. Past studies have shown that sufficiently high radiation levels can affect the magnetic response of hard and soft magnetic materials. Theoretical models explaining the radiation-induced degradation have been proposed but not verified. This paper reviews the literature and explains the cumulative effects of temperature, magnetic-load, and radiation-level on the magnetic properties of component materials. Magnetic property degradation is very specific to alloy choice and processing history, since magnetic properties are very much entwined with specific chemistry and microstructural features. However, there is basic theoretical as well as supportive experimental evidence that the negative impact to magnetic properties will be minimal if the bulk temperature of the material is less than fifty percent of the Curie temperature, the radiation flux is low, and the demagnetization field is small. Keywords: Magnets, Permanent Magnets, Power Converters, Nuclear Electric Power Generation, Radiation Tolerance.

Bowman, Cheryl L.↗

Symmetry of magnetic correlations in spin-triplet superconductor UTe2

Abstract The temperature dependence of the low-energy magnetic excitations in the spin-triplet superconductor UTe 2 was measured via inelastic neutron scattering in the normal and superconducting states. These excitations have a peak instensity at 4 meV, follow the Brillouin zone edges near the crystallographic b-axis, obey the paramagnetic structural symmetry, and track the temperature evolution of the heavy fermion bulk magnetic susceptibility. Thus, the imaginary part of the dynamic susceptibility follows the behavior of interband correlations in a hybridized Kondo lattice with an appropriate characteristic energy. These excitations are a lower-dimensional analog of phenomena observed in other Kondo lattice materials, such that their presence is not necessarily due to dominance of ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic correlations. The onset of superconductivity alters the magnetic excitations noticeably on the same energy scales, suggesting that these changes originate from additional electronic structure modification.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Inter-valley coherent order and isospin fluctuation mediated superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene

Superconductivity was recently discovered in rhombohedral trilayer graphene (RTG) in the absence of a moiré potential. Superconductivity is observed proximate to a metallic state with reduced isospin symmetry, but it remains unknown whether this is a coincidence or a key ingredient for superconductivity. Using a Hartree-Fock analysis and constraints from experiments, we argue that the symmetry breaking is inter-valley coherent (IVC) in nature. We evaluate IVC fluctuations as a possible pairing glue, and find that they lead to chiral unconventional superconductivity when the fluctuations are strong. We further elucidate how the inter-valley Hund’s coupling determines the spin-structure of the IVC ground state and breaks the degeneracy between spin-singlet and triplet superconductivity. Remarkably, if the normal state is spin-unpolarized, we find that a ferromagnetic Hund’s coupling favors spin-singlet superconductivity, in agreement with experiments. Instead, if the normal state is spin-polarized, then IVC fluctuations lead to spin-triplet pairing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

The Mars Pathfinder Mission and Science Results

Mars Pathfinder, the first low-cost, quick Discovery class mission to be completed, successfully landed on the surface of Mars on July 4, 1997, deployed and navigated a small rover, and collected data from 3 science instruments and 10 technology experiments. The mission operated on Mars for 3 months and returned 2.3 Gbits of new data, including over 16,500 lander and 550 rover images, 16 chemical analyses of rocks and soil, and 8.5 million individual temperature, pressure and wind measurements. The rover traversed 100 m clockwise around the lander, exploring about 200 square meters of the surface. The mission captured the imagination of the public, and garnered front page headlines during the first week. A total of about 566 million internet "hits" were registered during the first month of the mission, with 47 million "hits" on July 8th alone, making the Pathfinder landing by far the largest internet event in history at the time. Pathfinder was the first mission to deploy a rover on Mars. It carried a chemical analysis instrument, to characterize the rocks and soils in a landing area over hundreds of square meters on Mars, which provided a calibration point or "ground truth" for orbital remote sensing observations. The combination of spectral imaging of the landing area by the lander camera, chemical analyses aboard the rover, and close-up imaging of colors, textures and fabrics with the rover cameras offered the potential of identifying rocks (petrology and mineralogy). With this payload, a landing site in Ares Vallis was selected because it appeared acceptably safe and offered the prospect of analyzing a variety of rock types expected to be deposited by catastrophic floods, which enabled addressing first-order scientific questions such as differentiation of the crust, the development of weathering products, and the nature of the early Martian environment and its subsequent evolution. The 3 instruments and rover allowed seven areas of scientific investigation: the geology and geomorphology of the surface, mineralogy and geochemistry of rocks and soils, physical properties of surface materials, magnetic properties of airborne dust, atmospheric science including aerosols, and rotational and orbital dynamics of Mars. Scientists were assembled into 7 Science Operations Groups that were responsible for requesting measurements by the 3 instruments, rover and engineering subsystems for carrying out their scientific investigations and for analyzing the data and reporting on their findings. The spacecraft was launched on December 4, 1996 and had a 7 month cruise to Mars, with four trajectory correction maneuvers. The vehicle entered the atmosphere directly following cruise stage separation. Parachute deployment, heatshield and lander separation, radar ground acquisition, airbag inflation and rocket ignition all occurred before landing at 2:58 AM true local solar time (9:56:55 AM PDT). The lander bounced at least 15 times up to 12 in high without airbag rupture, demonstrating the robustness of this landing system. Reconstruction of the final landing sequence indicates that the parachute/backshel1/1ander was tilted due to a northwest directed wind and wind shear, which resulted in the lander bouncing about I km to the northwest and initially downhill about 20 m from where the solid rockets fired. Two anomalously bright spots located in the lander scene are likely the heatshield, which continued in a ballistic trajectory about 2 km downrange (west southwest), and the backshell/parachute, which stayed nearer to where the rockets fired. Unconnected disturbed soil patches in the scene indicate that the final few bounces of the lander were from the east-southeast and were followed by a gentle roll to the west before coming to rest on the base petal. The location of the lander away from where the solid rockets fired and considerations of the exhaust products used to inflate the airbags and their fate, indicate that the Pathfinder landing system is one of the cleanest designed leaving the local area essentially contaminant free. The radio signal from the low-=gain antenna was received at 11:34 AM PDT indicating a successful landing.

Golombek, M. P.↗

Magnetic properties of Martian surface material

The hypothesis that the magnetic properties of the Martian surface material are due to the production of a magnetic phase in the clay mineral nontronite by transient shock heating is examined. In the course of the investigation a magnetic material is produced with rather unusual properties. Heating from 900 C to 1000 C, of natural samples of nontronite leads first to the production of what appears to be Si doped maghemite gamma (-Fe2O3). Although apparently metastable, the growth of gamma -Fe2O3 at these temprtures is unexpected, and its relative persistence of several hours at 1000 C is most surprising. Continued annealing of this material for longer periods promote the crystallization of alpha Fe2O3 and cristobalite (high temperature polymorph of SiO2). All available data correlate this new magnetic material with the cristobalite hence our naming it magnetic ferri cristobalite. Formation of this magnetic cristobalite, however, may require topotactic growth from a smectite precursor.

Hargraves, R. B.↗

Competing incommensurate spin fluctuations and magnetic excitations in infinite-layer nickelate superconductors

The recently discovered infinite-layer nickelates show great promise in helping to disentangle the various cooperative mechanisms responsible for high-temperature superconductivity. However, lack of antiferromagnetic order in the pristine nickelates presents a challenge for connecting the physics of the cuprates and nickelates. Here, by using a quantum many-body Green’s function-based approach to treat the electronic and magnetic structures, we unveil the presence of many two- and three-dimensional magnetic stripe instabilities that are shown to persist across the phase diagram of LaNiO 2 . Our analysis indicates that the magnetic properties of the infinite-layer nickelates are closer to those of the doped cuprates, which host a stripe ground state, rather than the undoped cuprates. The computed longitudinal-spin, transverse-spin, and charge spectra of LaNiO 2 are found to contain an admixture of contributions from localized and itinerant carriers. Theoretically obtained dispersion of magnetic excitations (spin-flip) is found to be in good accord with the results of recent resonant inelastic X-ray scattering experiments. Our study gives insight into the origin of strong magnetic competition in the infinite-layer nickelates and their relationship with the cuprates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Particle-hole asymmetry in the dynamical spin and charge responses of corner-shared 1D cuprates

Although many experiments imply that oxygen orbitals play an essential role in the high-temperature superconducting cuprates, their precise role in collective spin and charge excitations and superconductivity is not yet fully understood. Here, we study the doping-dependent dynamical spin and charge structure factors of single and multi-orbital (pd) models for doped one-dimensional corner-shared spin-chain cuprates using several numerically exact methods. In doing so, we determine the orbital composition of the collective spin and charge excitations of cuprates, with important implications for our understanding of these materials. For example, we observe a particle-hole asymmetry in the orbital-resolved charge excitations, which is directly relevant to resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiments and not captured by the single-band Hubbard model. Our results imply that one must explicitly include the oxygen degrees of freedom in order to fully understand some experimental observations on cuprate materials.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Magnetic control over the fundamental structure of atomic wires

When reducing the size of materials towards the nanoscale, magnetic properties can emerge due to structural variations. Here, we show the reverse effect, where the structure of nanomaterials is controlled by magnetic manipulations. Using the break-junction technique, we find that the interatomic distance in platinum atomic wires is shorter or longer by up to ~20%, when a magnetic field is applied parallel or perpendicular to the wires during their formation, respectively. The magnetic field direction also affects the wire length, where longer (shorter) wires are formed under a parallel (perpendicular) field. Our experimental analysis, supported by calculations, indicates that the direction of the applied magnetic field promotes the formation of suspended atomic wires with a specific magnetization orientation associated with typical orbital characteristics, interatomic distance, and stability. A similar effect is found for various metal and metal-oxide atomic wires, demonstrating that magnetic fields can control the atomistic structure of different nanomaterials when applied during their formation stage.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Subtle metastability of the layered magnetic topological insulator MnBi 2 Te 4 from weak interactions

Abstract Layered quantum materials can host interesting properties, including magnetic and topological, for which enormous computational predictions have been done. Their thermodynamic stability is much less visited computationally, which however determines the existence of materials and can be used to guide experimental synthesis. MnBi 2 Te 4 is one of such layered quantum materials that was predicted to be an intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator, and later experimentally realized but in a thermodynamically metastable state. Here, using a combined first-principles-based approach that considers lattice, charge, and spin degrees of freedom, we investigate the metastability of MnBi 2 Te 4 by calculating the Helmholtz free energy for the reaction Bi 2 Te 3 + MnTe → MnBi 2 Te 4 . We identify a temperature range (~500–873 K) in which the compound is stable with respect to the competing binary phases, consistent with experimental observation. We validate the predictions by comparing the calculated specific heats contributed from different degrees of freedom with experimental results. Our findings indicate that the degrees of freedom responsible for the van der Waals interaction, lattice vibration, magnetic coupling, and nontrivial band topology in MnBi 2 Te 4 not only enable emergent phenomena but also play a crucial role in determining its thermodynamic stability. This conclusion lays the foundation for the future computational material synthesis of novel layered systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Anomalous normal fluid response in a chiral superconductor UTe2

Abstract Chiral superconductors have been proposed as one pathway to realize Majorana normal fluid at its boundary. However, the long-sought 2D and 3D chiral superconductors with edge and surface Majorana normal fluid are yet to be conclusively found. Here, we report evidence for a chiral spin-triplet pairing state of UTe 2 with surface normal fluid response. The microwave surface impedance of the UTe 2 crystal was measured and converted to complex conductivity, which is sensitive to both normal and superfluid responses. The anomalous residual normal fluid conductivity supports the presence of a significant normal fluid response. The superfluid conductivity follows the temperature behavior predicted for an axial spin-triplet state, which is further narrowed down to a chiral spin-triplet state with evidence of broken time-reversal symmetry. Further analysis excludes trivial origins for the observed normal fluid response. Our findings suggest that UTe 2 can be a new platform to study exotic topological excitations in higher dimension.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Design of air-gapped magnetic-core inductors for superimposed direct and alternating currents

Using data on standard magnetic-material properties and standard core sizes for air-gap-type cores, an algorithm designed for a computer solution is developed which optimally determines the air-gap length and locates the quiescent point on the normal magnetization curve so as to yield an inductor design with the minimum number of turns for a given ac voltage and frequency and with a given dc bias current superimposed in the same winding. Magnetic-material data used in the design are the normal magnetization curve and a family of incremental permeability curves. A second procedure, which requires a simpler set of calculations, starts from an assigned quiescent point on the normal magnetization curve and first screens candidate core sizes for suitability, then determines the required turns and air-gap length.

Ohri, A. K.↗

Kondo interaction in FeTe and its potential role in the magnetic order

Finding d-electron heavy fermion states has been an important topic as the diversity in d-electron materials can lead to many exotic Kondo effect-related phenomena or new states of matter such as correlation-driven topological Kondo insulator. Yet, obtaining direct spectroscopic evidence for a d-electron heavy fermion system has been elusive to date. Here, we report the observation of Kondo lattice behavior in an antiferromagnetic metal, FeTe, via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling spectroscopy and transport property measurements. The Kondo lattice behavior is represented by the emergence of a sharp quasiparticle and Fano-type tunneling spectra at low temperatures. The transport property measurements confirm the low-temperature Fermi liquid behavior and reveal successive coherent-incoherent crossover upon increasing temperature. We interpret the Kondo lattice behavior as a result of hybridization between localized Fe 3d xy and itinerant Te 5p z orbitals. Our observations strongly suggest unusual cooperation between Kondo lattice behavior and long-range magnetic order.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗