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Wang, Lin -Lin

Publications and source records attributed to Wang, Lin -Lin.

Single pair of Weyl fermions in the half-metallic semimetal EuC d 2 A s 2 [A Single Pair of Weyl Fermions in Half-metallic EuCd 2 As 2 Semimetal]

Materials with the ideal case of a single pair of Weyl points (WPs) are highly desirable for elucidating the unique properties of Weyl fermions. EuCd 2 As 2 is an antiferromagnetic topological insulator or Dirac semimetal depending on the different magnetic configurations. Using first-principles band-structure calculations, we show that inducing ferromagnetism in EuCd 2 As 2 can generate a single pair of WPs from splitting the single pair of antiferromagnetic Dirac points due to its half-metallic nature. Analysis with a low-energy effective Hamiltonian shows that a single pair of WPs is obtained in EuCd 2 As 2 because the Dirac points are very close to the zone center and the ferromagnetic exchange splitting is large enough to push one pair of WPs to merge and annihilate at Γ while the other pair survives. As a result, we predict that alloying with Ba at the Eu site can stabilize the ferromagnetic configuration and generate a single pair of Weyl points without application of a magnetic field.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Use of Cernox thermometers in AC specific heat measurements under pressure

We report on the resistance behavior of bare-chip Cernox thermometers under pressures up to 2 GPa, generated in a piston-cylinder pressure cell. Our results clearly show that Cernox thermometers, frequently used in low-temperature experiments due to their high sensitivity, remain highly sensitive even under applied pressure. We show that these thermometers are therefore ideally suited for measurements of heat capacity under pressure utilizing an ac oscillation technique up to at least 150 K. Our Cernox-based system is very accurate in determining changes in the specific heat as a function of pressure as demonstrated by measurements of the heat capacity on three different test cases: (i) the superconducting transition in elemental Pb ( T c = 7.2 K), (ii) the antiferromagnetic transition in the rare-earth compound GdNiGe 3 ( T N = 26 K), and (iii) the structural/magnetic transition in the iron-pnictide BaFe 2 As 2 ( T s,N = 130 K). In conclusion, the chosen examples demonstrate the versatility of our technique for measuring the specific heat under the pressure of various condensed-matter systems with very different transition temperatures as well as amounts of removed entropy.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Enhanced 1 H-X D-HMQC performance through improved 1 H homonuclear decoupling

The sensitivity of solid-state NMR experiments that utilize 1 H zero-quantum heteronuclear dipolar recoupling, such as D-HMQC, is compromised by poor homonuclear decoupling. This leads to a rapid decay of recoupled magnetization and an inefficient recoupling of long-range dipolar interactions, especially for nuclides with low gyromagnetic ratios. We investigated the use, in symmetry-based 1 H heteronuclear recoupling sequences, of a basic R element that was principally designed for efficient homonuclear decoupling. By shortening the time required to suppress the effects of homonuclear dipolar interactions to the duration of a single inversion pulse, spin diffusion was effectively quenched and long-lived recoupled coherence lifetimes could be obtained. Furthermore we show, both theoretically and experimentally, that these modified sequences can yield considerable sensitivity improvements over the current state-of-the-art methods and applied them to the indirect detection of 89Y in a metal-organic framework.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Effect of pressure on the physical properties of the superconductor NiBi 3

Here, we present an experimental study of the superconducting properties of NiBi 3 as a function of pressure by means of resistivity and magnetization measurements and combine our results with DFT calculations of the band structure under pressure. We find a moderate suppression of the critical temperature T c from ~ 4.1 K to ~ 3 K by pressures up to 2 GPa. By taking into account the change of the band structure as a function of pressure, we argue that the decrease in T c is consistent with conventional, electron-phonon-mediated BCS-type superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Electronic structure of the topological superconductor candidate Au 2 Pb

Here, we use magnetization measurements, high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to study the electronic properties of Au 2 Pb, a topological superconductor candidate. The magnetization measurements reveal three discontinuities at 40, 51, and 99 K that agree well with reported structural phase transitions. To measure the band structure along desired crystal orientations, we utilized polishing, sputtering, and annealing to obtain clean flat sample surfaces. ARPES measurements of the Au 2 Pb (111) surface at 110 K shows a shallow hole pocket at the center and flower-petal-like surface states at the corners of the Brillouin zone. These observations match the results of DFT calculations relatively well. The flower-petal-like surface states appear to originate from a Dirac-like dispersion close to the zone corner. For the Au 2 Pb (001) surface at 150 K, ARPES reveals at least one electron pocket between the Γ and M points, consistent with the DFT calculations. Lastly, our results provide evidence for the possible existence of a Dirac state in this material.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Characterizing substrate–surface interactions on alumina-supported metal catalysts by dynamic nuclear polarization-enhanced double-resonance NMR spectroscopy [Characterizing substrate-surface interactions on alumina supported metal catalysts by DNP-enhanced double-resonance NMR spectroscopy]

The characterization of nanometer-scale interactions between carbon-containing substrates and alumina surfaces is of paramount importance to industrial and academic catalysis applications, but it is also very challenging. Here, we demonstrate that dynamic nuclear polarization surface-enhanced NMR spectroscopy (DNP SENS) allows the unambiguous description of the coordination geometries and conformations of the substrates at the alumina surface through high-resolution measurements of 13 C– 27 Al distances. We apply this new technique to elucidate the molecular-level geometry of 13 C-enriched methionine and natural abundance poly(vinyl alcohol) adsorbed on γ-Al 2 O 3 -supported Pd catalysts, and we support these results with element-specific X-ray absorption near-edge measurements. Furthermore, this work clearly demonstrates a surprising bimodal coordination of methionine at the Pd–Al 2 O 3 interface.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Enhancement of the superconducting gap by nesting in CaKFe 4 As 4 : A new high temperature superconductor

We use high resolution angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory with measured crystal structure parameters to study the electronic properties of CaKFe 4 As 4 . In contrast to the related CaFe 2 As 2 compounds, CaKFe 4 As 4 has a high T c of 35 K at stochiometric composition. This presents a unique opportunity to study the properties of high temperature superconductivity in the iron arsenides in the absence of doping or substitution. The Fermi surface consists of several hole and electron pockets that have a range of diameters. We find that the values of the superconducting gap are nearly isotropic (within the explored portions of the Brillouin zone), but are significantly different for each of the Fermi surface (FS) sheets. Most importantly, we find that the momentum dependence of the gap magnitude plotted across the entire Brillouin zone displays a strong deviation from the simple cos( k x )cos( k y ) functional form of the gap function, proposed by the scenario of Cooper pairing driven by a short range antiferromagnetic exchange interaction. Instead, the maximum value of the gap is observed on FS sheets that are closest to the ideal nesting condition, in contrast to previous observations in other ferropnictides. Finally, these results provide strong support for the multiband character of superconductivity in CaKFe 4 As 4 , in which Cooper pairing forms on the electron and the hole bands interacting via a dominant interband repulsive interaction, enhanced by band nesting.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Towards direct synthesis of alane: A predicted defect-mediated pathway confirmed experimentally

Here, alane (AlH 3 ) is a unique energetic material that has not found a broad practical use for over 70 years because it is difficult to synthesize directly from its elements. Using density functional theory, we examine the defect-mediated formation of alane monomers on Al(111) in a two-step process: (1) dissociative adsorption of H 2 and (2) alane formation, which are both endothermic on a clean surface. Only with Ti dopant to facilitate H 2 dissociation and vacancies to provide Al adatoms, both processes become exothermic. In agreement, in situ scanning tunneling microscopy showed that during H 2 exposure, alane monomers and clusters form primarily in the vicinity of Al vacancies and Ti atoms. Moreover, ball milling of the Al samples with Ti (providing necessary defects) showed a 10 % conversion of Al into AlH 3 or closely related species at 344 bar H 2 , indicating that the predicted pathway may lead to the direct synthesis of alane from elements at pressures much lower than the 104 bar expected from bulk thermodynamics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Dirac node arcs in PtSn 4

In topological quantum materials 1,2,3 the conduction and valence bands are connected at points or along lines in the momentum space. A number of studies have demonstrated that several materials are indeed Dirac/Weyl semimetals 4,5,6,7,8 . However, there is still no experimental confirmation of materials with line nodes, in which the Dirac nodes form closed loops in the momentum space 2,3 . Here we report the discovery of a novel topological structure—Dirac node arcs—in the ultrahigh magnetoresistive material PtSn 4 using laser-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data and density functional theory calculations. Unlike the closed loops of line nodes, the Dirac node arc structure arises owing to the surface states and resembles the Dirac dispersion in graphene that is extended along a short line in the momentum space. Here, we propose that this reported Dirac node arc structure is a novel topological state that provides an exciting platform for studying the exotic properties of Dirac fermions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗