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Petrovic, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Petrovic, C..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Anisotropic excitonic magnetism from discrete C 4 symmetry in CeRhIn 5

Anisotropy in strongly correlated materials is a central parameter in determining the electronic ground state and is tuned through the local crystalline electric field. This is notably the case in the CeCo x Rh 1 − x In 5 system where the ground-state wave function can provide the basis for antiferromagnetism and/or unconventional superconductivity. We develop a methodology to understand the local magnetic anisotropy and experimentally investigate with neutron spectroscopy applied to antiferromagnetic ( T N = 3.8 K ) CeRhIn 5 , which is isostructural to d -wave superconducting ( T c = 2.3 K ) CeCoIn 5 . Through diagonalizing the local crystal field Hamiltonian with discrete tetragonal C 4 point group symmetry and coupling these states with the random phase approximation, we find two distinct modes polarized along the crystallographic c and a − b planes, agreeing with experiment. The anisotropy and bandwidth, underlying the energy scale of these modes, are tuneable with a magnetic field which we use experimentally to separate in energy single and multiparticle excitations thereby demonstrating the instability of excitations polarized within the crystallographic a − b plane in CeRhIn 5 . We compare this approach to a S eff = 1 2 parametrizations and argue for the need to extend conventional SU(2) theories of magnetic excitations to utilize the multilevel nature of the underlying crystal-field basis states constrained by the local point-group C 4 symmetry. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Brener, D. J. (ORCID:0000000333400177)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Electronic transport and thermoelectricity in the selenospinel Cu 6—x Fe 4+x Sn 12 Se 32

Here, we report a study of selenospinel Cu 6—x Fe 4+x Sn 12 Se 32 (x = 0, 1, 2) single crystals, which crystallize in a cubic structure with the F$d$$\overline{3}$$m$ space group, and show typical semiconducting behavior. The large discrepancy between the activation energy for electrical conductivity E ρ (32.3–69.8 meV), and for thermopower E S (3.2–11.5 meV), indicates a polaronic transport mechanism between 350 and 50 K. With decreasing temperature, it evolves into variable-range hopping conduction. Furthermore, the heat capacity shows a hump around 25(5) K and diverges from the Debye T 3 law at low temperatures, indicating the observation of structural glassy features in these crystalline solids.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Enhancement of superconductivity at a quantum critical point in (Ca x Sr 1- x ) 3 Rh 4 Sn 13

We report microscopic studies by muon spin spectroscopy of the superconducting properties as a function of chemical and hydrostatic pressure in the cubic ternary intermetallic (Ca x Sr 1-x ) 3 Rh 4 Sn 13 compounds. We find evidence of a quantum critical point at a critical pressure pc in the superconducting phase, where the superfluid density increases by a factor of two and the superconducting pairing strength displays a pronounced maximum. The enhancement of superconductivity is related to the structural phase transition at p c , which is accompanied by profound changes of the Fermi surface associated to the suppression of a charge density wave (CDW). The quantum critical point separates a superconducting phase coexisting with CDW from a pure superconducting phase, while in both phases superconductivity has a strong-coupling phonon-mediated BCS-like s-wave character. Together with the related isoelectronic compound (Ca x Sr 1-x ) 3 Ir 4 Sn 13 , this system shows that conventional BCS superconductors in the presence of competing orders may display behaviour and characteristics of unconventional superconductors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enhanced superconductivity and electron correlations in intercalated ZrTe 3

We report charge density waves (CDWs) with superconductivity, competing Fermi surface instabilities, and collective orders have captured much interest in two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) materials. Understanding the CDW suppression mechanism, its connection to the emerging superconducting state, and electronic correlations provides opportunities for engineering the electronic properties of vdW heterostructures and thin-film devices. Using a combination of the thermal transport, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, Raman measurements, and first-principles calculations, we observe an increase in electronic correlations of the conducting states as the CDW is suppressed in ZrT e3 with 5% Cu and Ni intercalation in the vdW gap. As superconductivity emerges, intercalation brings not only decoupling of quasi-one-dimensional conduction electrons with phonons as a consequence of intercalation-induced lattice expansion but also a drastic increase in Zr 2+ at the expense of Zr 4+ metal atoms. These observations not only demonstrate the potential of atomic intercalates in the vdW gap for ground-state tuning but also illustrate the crucial role of the Zr metal valence in the formation of collective electronic orders.

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↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermoelectricity and electronic correlation enhancement in FeS by light Se doping

We report thermoelectric studies of FeS 1–x Se x (x = 0, 0.06) superconducting single crystals that feature high irreversibility fields and critical current density J c comparable to materials with much higher superconducting critical temperatures (T c 's). The ratio of T c to the Fermi temperature T F is very small, indicating weak electronic correlations. With a slight selenium substitution on sulfur site in FeS both T c /T F and the effective mass m* rise considerably, implying increase in electronic correlation of the bulk conducting states. The first-principle calculations show rise of the density of states at the Fermi level in FeS 0.94 Se 0.06 when compared to FeS, which is related not only to Fe but also to chalcogen-derived electronic states.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Absence of long-range magnetic order in Fe 1–δ Te 2 (δ ≈ 0.1) crystals

Transition metal dichalcogenides attract considerable attention due to variety of interesting properties, including long range magnetism in nanocrystals. Here we have investigated magnetic, thermal and electrical properties of FeTe 2 single crystal with iron vacancy defects. Magnetic measurements shows paramagnetic state and the absence of magnetic order with small anisotropy in magnetic susceptibility. Fe 3d orbitals are well hybridized, contributing to bad metal electrical resistivity. Observed thermal conductivity values below room temperature are rather low and comparable to high performance thermoelectric materials. Furthermore, our results indicate that FeTe 2 can form in highly defective marcasite crystal structure which can be exploited in future materials design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Critical phenomena of the layered ferrimagnet Mn 3 Si 2 Te 6 following proton irradiation

The critical phenomena and magnetic entropy of the quasi-2D ferrimagnetic crystal, Mn 3 Si 2 Te 6 (MST), is analyzed along the easy axis (H || ab) as a function of proton irradiance. The critical exponents β and γ do not fall into any particular universality class upon proton irradiation. However, for pristine and irradiated samples, the critical exponents lie closer to mean field-like interactions; therefore, long-range interactions are presumed to be sustained in MST. The effective spatial dimensionality reveals that MST remains at d =3 under proton irradiation, whereas spin dimensionality transitions from an initial n =1 to n =2 and n =3 for 1 × 10 15 and 5 × 10 15 H + /cm 2 , indicating XY and Heisenberg interactions, respectively. The spin correlation function reveals an increase in magnetic correlations at 5 × 10 15 H + /cm 2 . Maximum change in magnetic entropy at 3 T is the largest for 5 × 10 15 H + /cm 2 at 2.45 J/kg K, in comparison to 1.60 J/kg K for pristine MST. These results intriguingly align with previous findings on MST where magnetization increased by ~50% at 5 × 10 15 H + /cm 2 , in comparison to its pristine counterpart [Martinez et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 116, 172404 (2020)]. Magnetic entropy derived from heat capacity analysis shows no large deviations across the proton irradiated samples suggesting that the antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling between the Mn sites is stable even after proton irradiation. This implies that magnetization is enhanced through a strengthening of the super-exchange interaction between Mn atoms mediated through Te rather than a weakening of the AFM component.

2D materials↗
DOE OSTI2021

Probing charge density wave phases and the Mott transition in 1 T -TaS 2 by inelastic light scattering

We present a polarization-resolved, high-resolution Raman scattering study of the three consecutive charge density wave (CDW) regimes in 1T - TaS 2 single crystals, supported by ab initio calculations. Our analysis of the spectra within the low-temperature commensurate (C-CDW) regime shows P$\bar3$ symmetry of the system, thus excluding the previously proposed triclinic stacking of the “star-of-David” structure, and promoting trigonal or hexagonal stacking instead. The spectra of the high-temperature incommensurate (IC-CDW) phase directly project the phonon density of states due to the breaking of the translational invariance, supplemented by sizable electron-phonon coupling. Between 200 and 352 K, our Raman spectra show contributions from both the IC-CDW and the C-CDW phases, indicating their coexistence in the so-called nearly commensurate (NC-CDW) phase. The temperature dependence of the symmetry-resolved Raman conductivity indicates the stepwise reduction of the density of states in the CDW phases, followed by a Mott transition within the C-CDW phase. We determine the size of the Mott gap to be Ω gap ≈ 170 – 190 meV, and track its temperature dependence.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ingredients for enhanced thermoelectric power at cryotemperatures in the correlated semiconductor CoSbS revealed by its optical response

The semiconducting CoSbS is well-known for its thermoelectric performance at high-temperatures but it is also of interest because of its colossal low-temperature thermopower. Here, we address the temperature dependence of its optical response over a broad spectral range, from which we reveal several ingredients determining the thermoelectric properties at cryo-temperatures. Furthermore, we discover co- herent phonon modes and with the additional support of scanning transmission electron microscopy investigations we provide evidences for in-gap impurity states driving the formation of correlated electrons in the valence band. Their implications, with respect to the high thermoelectric power at low temperatures, are discussed within the framework of the phonon-drag transport of low-mobility heavy quasiparticles.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Anomalous Hall effect in the weak-itinerant ferrimagnet FeCr 2 Te 4

In this study, we carried out a comprehensive study of electronic transport, thermal, and thermodynamic properties in Fe Cr 2 Te 4 single crystals. It exhibits bad-metallic behavior and anomalous Hall effect (AHE) below a weak-itinerant paramagnetic-to-ferrimagnetic transition T c ~ 123 K. The linear scaling between the anomalous Hall resistivity ρ x y and the longitudinal resistivity ρ x x implies that the AHE in Fe Cr 2 Te 4 is most likely dominated by an extrinsic skew-scattering mechanism rather than an intrinsic KL or an extrinsic side-jump mechanism, which is supported by our Berry phase calculations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Superconducting pairing mechanism in CeCoIn 5 revisited

Spectroscopic-imaging scanning-tunneling microscopy (SI-STM) measurements have previously been applied to the study of the heavy-fermion system CeCoIn 5 to examine the superconducting gap structure and band dispersions via quasiparticle intereference. Here we directly measure the dispersing electron bands with angle-resolved-photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) and compare with first principles electronic structure calculations. By auto-correllating the ARPES-resolved bands with themselves we can measure the potential q-vectors and discern exactly which bands the STM is measuring. We find that the STM results are dominated by scattering associated with a cloverleaf shaped band centered at the zone corners. This same band is also a viable candidate to host the superconducting gap. Overall, the electronic structure calculations indicate that this region of the Fermi surface involves significant contributions from the Co d-electrons, an indication that the superconductivity in these materials is more 3-dimensional than that found in the related unconventional superconductors, the cuprates and the pnictides.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Valence band electronic structure of the van der Waals ferromagnetic insulators: VI 3 and CrI 3

Ferromagnetic van der Waals (vdW) insulators are of great scientific interest for their promising applications in spintronics. It has been indicated that in the two materials within this class, CrI 3 and VI 3 , the magnetic ground state, the band gap, and the Fermi level could be manipulated by varying the layer thickness, strain or doping. To understand how these factors impact the properties, a detailed understanding of the electronic structure would be required. However, the experimental studies of the electronic structure of these materials are still very sparse. Here, we present the detailed electronic structure of CrI 3 and VI 3 measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Our results show a band-gap of the order of 1 eV, sharply contrasting some theoretical predictions such as Dirac half-metallicity and metallic phases, indicating that the intra-atomic interaction parameter (U) and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) were not properly accounted for in the calculations. We also find significant differences in the electronic properties of these two materials, in spite of similarities in their crystal structure. In CrI 3 , the valence band maximum is dominated by the I 5p, whereas in VI 3 it is dominated by the V 3d derived states. Our results represent valuable input for further improvements in the theoretical modeling of these systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗