arXiv subjects

Ajay Soni

Publications and source records attributed to Ajay Soni.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anharmonic Lattice Dynamics and Anisotropic Electron-Phonon Coupling in Quasi-1-Dimensional Charge Density Wave Ta2NiSe7

The microscopic origin of charge density wave formation in quasi one dimensional Ta2NiSe7 remains actively debated, particularly regarding the relative contributions of Fermi surface nesting, electron phonon coupling, and lattice instabilities. Here, we combine temperature and orientation dependent polarized Raman spectroscopy with first principles calculations to uncover the anisotropic electronic and lattice interactions governing the CDW state in Ta2NiSe7. Heat capacity and electrical transport measurements identify an incommensurate CDW transition at 61 K. Raman spectroscopy reveals pronounced in plane anisotropy, with e ph coupling strength along intrachain b axis exceeding five times that along interchain c axis, whereas lattice anharmonicity is enhanced by threefold along c axis. First principles calculations identify Ta2 Se octahedral vibrations and Ta Se electronic states near the Fermi level as dominant channels mediating the anisotropic e ph interaction. Exceptionally strong and directional e ph coupling along b axis establishes lattice driven electronic instability as the primary mechanism underlying CDW modulation and highlights the dominance of intrachain interactions in strongly coupled Ta2NiSe7. Despite this strong coupling, the CDW remains incommensurate, indicating that lattice anharmonicity provides an additional degree of freedom. Enhanced anharmonicity along c axis suggests that anisotropic phonon phonon interactions reshape the free energy landscape and contribute to stabilizing incommensurate phase. These findings reveal a cooperative interplay between anisotropic e ph coupling and lattice anharmonicity in governing CDW formation in low dimensional quantum materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Exact Thermoelectric Transport Coefficients and Figure of Merit for Graphene Photothermoelectric Devices from a Finite Zeta-Function Mott Series

The standard Mott formula is widely used to describe thermoelectric transport, but it becomes less accurate when the temperature is not much smaller than the Fermi energy. In this work, we develop an all-orders extension of the Mott approach using a series of Riemann zeta functions. We show that when the transport function is a polynomial, the series ends after a finite number of terms, giving exact results within the model. We apply this method to graphene photothermoelectric devices using a quadratic conductivity model. The results provide closed-form expressions for the Seebeck coefficient, Lorenz ratio, and electronic figure of merit. The analysis shows that the Seebeck coefficient reaches a maximum instead of increasing indefinitely, while the Wiedemann-Franz law can be significantly violated at higher temperatures. We also find that disorder reduces the thermoelectric performance and that the electronic figure of merit has an upper limit in the clean graphene model. Finally, we discuss the effect of radiative heat transport on the figure of merit. These results provide a simple analytical way to study graphene thermoelectric transport beyond the usual low-temperature Mott approximation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

Moire-Engineered Excitonic Landscape and Phonon-Mediated Recombination in Twisted WSe2 Bilayers

We report light emission from the moire superlattice of a twisted bilayer of tungsten diselenide (WSe2/WSe2) encapsulated in insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). The low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy reveals signatures of moire-potential induced strong interlayer excitonic emission and phonon-assisted recombination, while the twisting significantly suppresses the emission from localized defect-bound excitons. The moire potential redistributes carriers into indirect valleys, thereby enhancing recombination efficiency and stabilizing the interlayer excitons. Our findings establish that precise control of twist angle and dielectric environment provides a new route for engineering excitonic systems for exploring exciton-phonon interactions and associated quantum phenomena in transition metal dichalcogenides.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Morphology-engineered nanostructured silver- and antimony-telluride films for flexible thermoelectric generators

Harvesting low-grade heat to electricity is attractive for powering wearable electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate nW-scale thermoelectric power generation in devices from thin film assemblies of microwave-synthesized p-Sb2Te3 nanoplates and n-Ag2Te nanowires on polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. While microwave cycling is crucial for Ag2Te nanocrystal shaping, Sb2Te3 formation is sensitive to precursors and surfactant concentrations. Introducing S doping in Sb2Te3 in the 1 - 1.5 atomic percent range via thioglycolic acid during synthesis yields an up to eightfold higher power-factor, due to a fivefold increase in electrical conductivity and 25% increase in Seebeck coefficient. Our microfilm devices generate up to 33.6 mV from 5 deg C to 50 deg C thermal gradients, with 120 nW maximum power output at Delta T 30 deg C, which is sixtyfold higher than Sb2Te3 paper devices. Mechanical bending can increase device resistance by up to 125% due to diminished inter-nanostructure electronic transport. These findings provide insights for integrating synthesis, morphology engineering and device design for next-generation wearable thermoelectric systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Robust Superconductivity and High Upper Critical Fields in Epitaxial cubic W2N Thin Films

Transition Metal Nitrides are a versatile class of materials, combining chemical robustness, high hardness, and superconducting behaviour with critical temperatures between 2 to 10 K. While several binary TMNs have been explored, superconductivity in stoichiometric W2N has remained largely unexplored. Here, we report on superconducting thin films of stoichiometric W2N, demonstrating a distinctly high upper critical field of 8.5 T, uncommon among binary TMNs. This robust superconducting response under high magnetic fields highlights the technological relevance of W2N for integrated quantum and cryogenic electronic platforms. Overall, these results position stoichiometric W2N as a promising addition to the TMN superconducting landscape, opening new avenues for functional materials design based on chemically stable and mechanically resilient nitrides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Lattice Mismatch Driven In Plane Strain Engineering for Enhanced Upper Critical Fields in Mo2N Superconducting Thin Films

Transition metal nitrides are a fascinating class of hard coating material that provide an excellent platform for investigating superconductivity and fundamental electron phonon interactions. In this work the structural morphological and superconducting properties have been studied for Mo2N thin films deposited via direct current magnetron sputtering on cplane Al2O3 and MgO substrates to elucidate the effect of internal strain on superconducting properties. High resolution X Ray diffraction and time of flight elastic recoil detection analysis confirms the growth of single phase Mo2N thin films exhibiting epitaxial growth with twin domain structure. Low temperature electrical transport measurements reveal superconducting transitions at 5.2 K and 5.6 K with corresponding upper critical fields of 5 T and 7 T for the films deposited on Al2O3 and MgO, respectively. These results indicate strong type II superconductivity and the observed differences in superconducting properties are attributed to substrate induced strain which leads to higher e ph coupling for the film on MgO substrate. These findings highlight the tunability of superconducting properties in Mo2N films through strategic substrate selection.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Electron-phonon interactions and tensor analysis in topological insulator bismuth telluride using angle resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy

We report on the angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy and estimation of the Raman tensor elements using both classical and quantum treatments to analyse the polarized Raman spectra of single crystal Bismuth Telluride. The observed polar patterns and systematic variations in the relative intensities of four characteristic Raman active modes indicate a higher differential polarizability along the c-axis, accompanied by anisotropic photon-phonon interactions. This interplay of electron-photon-phonon interactions is crucial for understanding the lattice dynamics of Bismuth Telluride, which underpin its thermoelectric performance and topological properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Emergence of spin-phonon coupling in a Gd-doped Y$_2$CoMnO$_6$ double perovskite oxide: a combined experimental and ab-initio study

We present Raman spectroscopy results backed by first-principles calculations and investigate the nature of possible spin-phonon coupling (SPC) in a Gd-doped Y$_2$CoMnO$_6$ (YGCMO) double perovskite oxide. The influence of Gd substitution, A-site ordering, and anti-site disorder is also studied. YGCMO exhibits anti-site disorder leading to both ferromagnetic (between Co and Mn) and antiferromagnetic interactions (Co-Co, Mn-Mn, Gd-Co/Mn), making the SPC quite intriguing. An analysis of the temperature-dependent phonon frequencies for the stretching modes of YGCMO indicates that SPC here possibly emerges from the simultaneous presence of competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. The SPC strength comes out to be 0.29 cm$^{-1}$. Our density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that Phonon modes shifted towards lower frequency with Gd doping. Similarly, A-site ordring and anti-site disorder significantly alter the Raman spectra. Experimental findings are also corroborated by first-principles DFT calculations, which indicate that anti-site disorder and Gd doping enhances SPC in YGCMO. This implies a strong influence of A-site cationic radii, and B-site (Co/Mn) ordering on SPC in the bulk double perovskite systems. The phonon dynamics of YGCMO are, therefore, correlated with magnetic ordering, indicating potential applications in spintronics devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Ultralow Lattice Thermal Conductivity in Complex Structure Cu26V2Sn6Se32 due to Interaction of Low-Frequency Acoustic-Optical Phonons

Damping of phonon momentum suppresses the lattice thermal conductivity (kl) through low energy acoustic-optical phonon interactions. We studied the thermal transport properties and underlying mechanism of phonon interactions in the large unit cell Cu26V2Sn6Se32. The large number of atoms in the unit cell results in low acoustic phonon cutoff frequency, flat phonon branches, low frequency Raman active modes, localized rattler-like vibrations and strong crystalline anharmonicity. The crystal structure complexity disrupts the phonon propagation through weak bonded Cu atoms, boson peak and poor phonon velocity. The sulfur at selenium sites (Cu26V2Sn6Se30S2) distort the crystal lattice by offering additional scattering mechanism at the anionic sites, thereby increases the power factor and decreases the kl. This strategic manipulation of phonon scattering towards ultra-low kl not only results in improved thermoelectric performance but also offers insights into the fundamental understanding of heat transport in complex structured, large unit cell compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Multiphonon interactions and collective excitations in charge density wave of transition metal dichalcogenides

Charge density wave (CDW) is a periodic modulation of electronic charge leading to a reconstruction of the lattice, an emergence of zone folded mode along with collective excitations.1 Transition metal chalcogenides have shown a great potential to study the underlying physics of multi body interactions like electron-phonon (e-ph) as well as plasmons-phonon coupling,2,3 excitonic complexes4 and CDW instabilities.5,6 We are elaborating on the collective excitation and multiphonon interactions like amplitude, zone-folded and two phonon (2_ph) mode associated with CDW in 2H-TaS2 and 2H-NbSe2. The 2_ph is a unique excitation appears due to anharmonicity mediated longitudinal acoustic modes associated with the Kohn anomaly and provides a substantial evidences of e-ph coupling.7 The experimental observations of anomalous response of 2_ph mode across CDW is clarified with phonon self-energy formalism. Transport measurements shows that both materials exhibit incommensurate CDW (TI-CDW) at ~ 76 K (2H-TaS2) and ~ 30 K (2H-NbSe2). As revealed by the estimated e-ph coupling (l ~ 0.007 for 2H-NbSe2 and ~ 0.013 for 2H-TaS2) and anharmonicity constant (d ~ 6.92 for 2H-NbSe2 and ~ 2.723 for 2H-TaS2), we emphasize on higher e-ph coupling in 2H-TaS2 while larger anharmonicity 2H-NbSe2.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Tuning the magnetic properties in MPS3 (M = Mn, Fe, and Ni) by proximity-induced Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interactions

Tailoring the quantum many-body interactions in layered materials through appropriate heterostructure engineering can result in emergent properties that are absent in the constituent materials thus promising potential future applications. In this article, we have demonstrated controlling the otherwise robust magnetic properties of transition metal phosphorus trisulphides (Mn/Fe/NiPS3) in their heterostructures with Weyl semimetallic MoTe2 which can be attributed to the Dzyaloshinskii Moriya (DM) interactions at the interface of the two different layered materials. While the DM interaction is known to scale with the strength of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC), we also demonstrate here that the effect of DM interaction strongly varies with the spin orientation/dimensionality of the magnetic layer and the low-energy electronic density of state of the spin-orbit coupled layer. The observations are further supported by a series of experiments on heterostructures with a variety of substrates/underlayers hosting variable SOC and electronic density of states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Symmetry breaking and structure instability in ultra-thin 2H-TaS2 across charge density wave transition

Ultra-thin 2D materials have shown complete paradigm shift of understanding of physical and electronic properties because of confinement effects, symmetry breaking and novel phenomena at nanoscale. Bulk 2H-TaS2 undergoes an incommensurate charge density wave (I-CDW) transition temperature, TI-CDW - 76 K, however, onset of CDW in atomically thin layers is not clear. We explored the evidence of CDW instability in exfoliated atomically thin 2H-TaS2 using low temperature Raman spectroscopy. We have emphasized on CDW associated modes, M1 - 125 cm-1, M2 -158 cm-1, and M3 -334 cm-1, with thickness - 3 nm (one unit-cell). The asymmetric (Fano) line shape of M2 suggests evidence of strong electron-phonon coupling, which mainly drives the CDW instability. Our observations provide key evidence that the CDW can persists even in one-unit cell with a TI-CDW well above - 200 K, which is higher than bulk 2H-TaS2.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Interaction of Acoustic and Optical Phonons in Soft Bonded Cu-Se Framework of Large Unit Cell Minerals with Anionic Disorders

Large unit cell copper-chalcogenide based minerals with high crystalline anharmonicity have a potential for thermoelectric applications owing to their inherent poor lattice thermal conductivity. Here, the softening of copper-selenium bonding and hence crystal framework plays an important role in superionic conduction and thermal conductivity. We have studied Cu26Nb2Sn6Se32, Cu26Nb2Sn6Se31.5 and Cu26Nb2Sn6Se30Te2 minerals with a strategically tailored anionic disorders. These compounds have p-type degenerate behavior with carrier concentration ranging between 1020 cm-3 at 300 K, high power factor and low lattice thermal conductivity at 640 K. The existence of two low frequency Raman active optical modes associated with soft Cu and Se atoms, three localized Einstein modes in specific heat, suggest high scattering between acoustic and optical branches with very short phonon lifetime less than 1 ps. The excess vibrational density of states at low energies with compressed and flat optical branches strongly hinders the heat transport in these crystalline mineral. Comparatively, Cu26Nb2Sn6Se30Te2 is a promising thermoelectric material because of high crystalline anharmonicity and softening of Cu-Se framework due to heavier tellurium atom.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Anisotropic Light-Matter Interactions in Single Crystal Topological Insulator Bismuth Selenide

Anisotropy of light-matter interactions in materials give remarkable information about the phonons and their interactions with electrons. We report the angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy of single-crystal of Bi2Se3 to obtain the elements of Raman tensor for understanding the strength of polarization along different crystallographic orientations. Intensity variation in the polar plots corresponding to E_g^1 ~ 37 cm-1, A_1g^1 ~71 cm-1, E_g^2 ~ 130 cm-1, and A_1g^2 ~ 173 cm-1 suggests the higher differential polarizability along cross-plane (bc-plane). The polar patterns and the differences in elements of the Raman tensor provides the evidence of the fundamental electron-phonon and anisotropic light matter interactions in Bi2Se3.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Contextual road lane and symbol generation for autonomous driving

In this paper we present a novel approach for lane detection and segmentation using generative models. Traditionally discriminative models have been employed to classify pixels semantically on a road. We model the probability distribution of lanes and road symbols by training a generative adversarial network. Based on the learned probability distribution, context-aware lanes and road signs are generated for a given image which are further quantized for nearest class label. Proposed method has been tested on BDD100K and Baidu ApolloScape datasets and performs better than state of the art and exhibits robustness to adverse conditions by generating lanes in faded out and occluded scenarios.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2021

Ultralow Thermal Conductivity and Thermoelectric Properties of Bi4GeTe7 with an Intrinsic van der Waal Heterostructure

Ternary chalcogenides, having large crystalline unit cell and van der Waal stacking of layers, are expected to be poor thermal conductors and good thermoelectric (TE) materials. We are reporting that layered Bi4GeTe7, with alternating quintuplet-septuplet layers of Bi2Te3 and Bi2GeTe4, has an ultralow thermal conductivity, \k{appa}total 0.42 Wm-1K-1 because of high degree of anharmonicity as estimated from large Gruneisen parameter ({\gamma} 4.07) and low Debye temperature ({\theta}d 135 K). The electron dominated charge transport has been realized from the Seebeck coefficient, S - 82 uV/K, at 380 K, and Hall carrier concentration of ne ~ 9.8 x 1019 cm-3 at 300 K. Observation of weak antilocalization (WAL), due to spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of heavy Bi and Te, advocate Bi4GeTe7 to be a topological quantum material also. The cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images show the inherent stacking of hetero-layers, which are leading to a large anharmonicity for poor phonon propagation. Thus, being a poor thermal conductor with a TE figure of merit, ZT ~ 0.24, at 380 K, the Bi4GeTe7 is a good material for TE applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Electron-Phonon Coupling and Quantum Correction to Topological Magnetoconductivity in Bi2GeTe4

We report on structure, vibrational properties and weak-antilocalization-(WAL-) induced quantum correction to magnetoconductivity in single crystal Bi2GeTe4. Surface band structure calculations show a single Dirac cone corresponding to topological surface states in Bi2GeTe4. An estimated phase coherence length, l_{\phi} ~ 143 nm and prefactor {\alpha} ~ - 1.54 from Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka fitting of magnetoconductivity describe the quantum correction to conductivity. An anomalous temperature dependence of A1g Raman modes confirms enhanced electron-phonon interactions. Our results establish the involvement of vibrations of Bi-Te with existence of topological surface states and WAL in Bi2GeTe4.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Ferroelectric Polarization in Antiferroelectric Chalcogenide Perovskite BaZrS3 Thin Film

Bulk chalcogenide perovskite BaZrS3 (BZS), with a direct band gap in visible region, is an important photovoltaic material, albeit with limited applicability owing to its antiferroelectric (AF) nature. Presently, ferroelectric (FE) perovskite-based photovoltaics are attracting enormous attention for environmental stability and better energy conversion efficiency through enhanced charge separation, owing to loss of center of inversion symmetry. We report on antiferroelectric-ferroelectric (AF-FE) phases of BZS thin film, grown with chemical vapor deposition (CVD), using temperature-dependent Raman investigations and first-principles calculations. The origin of FE phases is established from anomalous behavior of A7g ~ 300 cm-1 and B1g5 ~ 420 cm-1 modes, which involves the vibration of atoms at apical site of ZrS6 octahedra. Additionally, below 60 K, B1g1 and B2g2 ( ~ 85 cm-1) modes appear whereas B12g (~ 60 cm-1) disappears to stabilize the Pnma structure against ferroelectricity by local distortion. Here, B2g2 and B1g2 involve vibrations of Ba atoms in AF manner while B1g1 involves, in addition, the rotation of octahedra as well. Our first-principles calculations confirm that FE appears as a result of loss of center of inversion symmetry in ZrS6 octahedra due to existence of oxygen (O) impurities placed locally at apical sites of sulfur (S) atom.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗