Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Wang, Z. Q.

Publications and source records attributed to Wang, Z. Q..

Low-temperature magnetic crossover in the topological kagome magnet TbMn 6 Sn 6

Magnetic topological phases of quantum matter are an emerging frontier in physics and materials science, of which kagome magnets appear as a highly promising platform. Here, we explore magnetic correlations in the recently identified topological kagome system TbMn6 S n 6 using muon spin rotation, combined with local field analysis and neutron diffraction. Our studies identify an out-of-plane ferrimagnetic structure with slow magnetic fluctuations which exhibit a critical slowing down below $T^{*}_{C1}$ ≃ 120 K and finally freeze into static patches with ideal out-of-plane order below T C1 ≃ 20 K. We further show that hydrostatic pressure of 2.1 GPa stabilises the static out-of-plane topological ferrimagnetic ground state in the whole volume of the sample. Therefore the exciting perspective arises of a magnetically-induced topological system whose magnetism can be controlled through external parameters. The present results will stimulate theoretical investigations to obtain a microscopic understanding of the relation between the low-temperature volume-wise magnetic evolution of the static c-axis ferrimagnetic patches and the topological electronic properties in TbMn 6 Sn 6 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nodeless kagome superconductivity in LaRu 3 Si 2

We report muon spin rotation (μSR) experiments together with first-principles calculations on microscopic properties of superconductivity in the kagome superconductor LaRu 3 Si 2 with T c ≃ 7K. Below Tc, μSR reveals type-II superconductivity with a single s-wave gap, which is robust against hydrostatic pressure up to 2 GPa. We find that the calculated normal state band structure features a kagome flat band, and Dirac as well as van Hove points formed by the Ru-dz 2 orbitals near the Fermi level. We also find that electron-phonon coupling alone can only reproduce a small fraction of T c from calculations, which suggests other factors in enhancing T c such as the correlation effect from the kagome flat band, the van Hove point on the kagome lattice, and the high density of states from narrow kagome bands. Our experiments and calculations taken together point to nodeless moderate coupling kagome superconductivity in LaRu 3 Si 2 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Bond-orientational order in liquid Si

Bond-orientational order in liquid Si via Monte Carlo simulation in conjuncation with empirical two- and three-body potentials of the form proposed by Stillinger and Weber are studied. Bond-orientational order (BOO) is described in terms of combinations of spherical harmonic functions. Liquid Si is found to have pronounced short-range BOO corresponding to l = 3, as expected for a structure with local tetrahedral order. No long-range BOO is found either in the equilibrium or the supercooled liquid. When the three-body potential is artificially removed, the tetrahedral bond-orientation order disappears and the liquid assumes a close-packed structure.

Wang, Z. Q.↗

Surface entropy of liquids via a direct Monte Carlo approach - Application to liquid Si

Two methods are presented for a direct Monte Carlo evaluation of the surface entropy S(s) of a liquid interacting by specified, volume-independent potentials. The first method is based on an application of the approach of Ferrenberg and Swendsen (1988, 1989) to Monte Carlo simulations at two different temperatures; it gives much more reliable results for S(s) in liquid Si than previous calculations based on numerical differentiation. The second method expresses the surface entropy directly as a canonical average at fixed temperature.

Wang, Z. Q.↗

Monte Carlo studies of liquid semiconductor surfaces - Si and Ge

The liquid-vapor interface of Si and Ge, and of Si doped with impurities is studied using the empirical Stillinger-Weber two- and three-body potentials. The surface tension of the pure elements is calculated by use of a direct evaluation of the free energy required to create the surface. For Si, both the surface tension and its temperature derivative are in good agreement with experiment. To within numerical accuracy, the free surfaces of both Si and Ge have a monotonically decreasing density, with a 10-90 percent surface width of about 2.2 A in both cases. When large and small model impurities are introduced into pure liquid Si, they are found in the simulations to migrate, respectively, towards the surface and away from the surface. This behavior is consistent with the interpretation that impurities with atoms larger than Si tend to lower the surface tension.

Wang, Z. Q.↗

Ginzburg-Landau theory for the solid-liquid interface of bcc elements

Consideration is given to a simple order-parameter theory for the interfacial tension of body-centered-cubic solids in which the principal order parameter is the amplitude of the density wave at the smallest nonzero reciprocal-lattice vector of the solid. The parameters included in the theory are fitted to the measured heat of fusion, melting temperature, and solid-liquid density difference, and to the liquid structure factor and its temperature derivative at freezing. Good agreement is found with experiment for Na and Fe and the calculated anisotropy of the surface tension among different crystal faces is of the order of 2 percent. On the basis of various assumptions about the universal behavior of bcc crystals at melting, the formalism predicts that the surface tension is proportional to the heat of fusion per surface atom.

Shih, W. H.↗