arXiv subjects

Amar Fakhredine

Publications and source records attributed to Amar Fakhredine.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Huge Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in Re_Co_Pt thin films

We investigate the magnetization and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI) in Pt/Co/Re thin films in the case of perfect interfaces and upon the introduction of intermixing on both Co interfaces. Calculations were implemented on a series of systems with a varied number of cobalt atomic layers (ALs). Remarkably, the Re is able to introduce a DMI at the interface with cobalt and also, increase the DMI at the Pt/Co interface. We demonstrate that the chiral magnetic multilayer Pt/Co/Re with chiral spin structure can achieve a huge DMI value which is almost double of that attained in the prototype system W/Co/Pt. We study also the DMI as a function of the Re thickness finding the optimal thickness to maximize the DMI. When we include a disorder that cancels a contribution from all first-neighbor Co atoms in the intermixed region, we found out that intermixing at the two interfaces affects the strength of the DMI solely when introduced at the Pt/Co interface where the DMI loses almost half of its value. On the contrary, the mixing at the Co/Re interface has very little or no effect as compared to the case with perfect interfaces. The value of the DMI would be somewhere between the perfect interface case and the totally intermixed case. The realization of such a device should focus on the reduction of the Pt/Co intermixing to realize this huge DMI interaction.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Interplay between altermagnetism and nonsymmorphic symmetries generating large anomalous Hall conductivity by semi-Dirac points induced anticrossings

We investigate the interplay between altermagnetic spin-splitting and nonsymmorphic symmetries using the space group no. 62 as a testbed. Studying different magnetic orders by means of first-principles calculations, we find that the altermagnetism (AM) is present in the C-type magnetic configuration while it is absent for the G-type and A-type configurations due to different magnetic space group types. The nonsymmorphic symmetries constrain the system to a four-fold degeneracy at the border of the Brillouin zone with semi-Dirac dispersion. In the case of large hybridization as for transition metal pnictides, the interplay between AM and nonsymmorphic symmetries generates an intricate network of several crossings and anticrossings that we describe in terms of semi-Dirac points and glide symmetries. When we add the spin-orbit coupling (SOC), we find a Neel-vector dependent spin-orbit splitting at the time-reversal invariant momenta points since the magnetic space groups depend on the Neel vector. The magnetic space group type-I produces antiferromagnetic hourglass electrons that disappear in the type-III. When the Neel vector is along x, we observe a glide-protected crossing that could generate a nodal-line in the altermagnetic phase. The SOC splits the remaining band crossings and band anticrossings producing a large anomalous Hall effect in all directions excluding the Neel-vector direction

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Sign change of the anomalous Hall effect and the anomalous Nernst effect in Weyl semimetal CeAlSi

We report the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) data for the non-collinear Weyl semimetal CeAlSi. The anomalous Hall conductivity (σ_ij^A) was measured for two different orientations of the magnetic field (B), namely σ_yz^A for B II a and σ_xy^A for B II c, where a and c denote the crystallographic axes. We find that σ_xy^A and σ_yz^A are of opposite sign and both are large below the Curie temperature (T_C). In the paramagnetic phase, σ_xy^A raises even more and goes through a maximum at T ~ 170 K, whereas the absolute value of σ_yz^A decreases with increasing temperature. The origin of the sign difference between σ_xy^A and σ_yz^A was attributed to the reconstruction of the band structure under the variation of the spin orientation. Further, in a system where humps in the AHE are present and scalar spin chirality is zero, we show that the k-space topology plays an important role to determine the transport properties at both low and high temperatures. We also observed the anomalous contribution in the Nernst conductivity (α_xy^A) measured for B II c. α_xy^A/T turns out to be sizeable in the magnetic phase and above T_C slowly decreases with temperature. We were able to recreate the temperature dependences of σ_xy^A and α_xy^A/T in the paramagnetic phase using a single band toy-model assuming a non-zero Berry curvature in the vicinity of the Weyl node. A decisive factor appears to be a small energy distance between the Fermi level and a Weyl point.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Correlation-driven topological transition in Janus VSiGeP2As2

The appearance of intrinsic ferromagnetism in 2D materials opens the possibility of investigating the interplay between magnetism and topology. The magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) describing the easy axis for magnetization in a particular direction is an important yardstick for nanoscale applications. Here, the first-principles approach is used to investigate the electronic band structures, the strain dependence of MAE in pristine VSi2Z4 (Z=P, As) and its Janus phase VSiGeP2As2 and the evolution of the topology as a function of the Coulomb interaction. In the Janus phase the compound presents a breaking of the mirror symmetry, which is equivalent to having an electric field, and the system can be piezoelectric. It is revealed that all three monolayers exhibit ferromagnetic ground state ordering, which is robust even under biaxial strains. A large value of coupling J is obtained, and this, together with the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, will produce a large critical temperature. We found an out-of-plane (in-plane) magnetization for VSi2P4 (VSi2As4), while in-plane magnetization for VSiGeP2As2. Furthermore, we observed a correlation-driven topological transition in the Janus VSiGeP2As2. Our analysis of these emerging pristine and Janus-phased magnetic semiconductors opens prospects for studying the interplay between magnetism and topology in two-dimensional materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Topological phase diagram of Pb1-xSnxSe1-yTey

We reproduce the mirror Chern number phase diagram for the quaternary compound Pb1-xSnxSe1-yTey combining accurate density functional theory and tight-biding model. The tight binding models are extracted from ab-initio results, adding constraints to reproduce the experimental results. By using the virtual crystalline approximation, we calculated the mirror Chern number as a function of the concentrations x and y. We report different hamiltonians depending on whether we want to focus on the experimental band gap or on the experimental topological transition. We calculate the transition line between the trivial insulating phase and topological insulating phase that results in good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, we add in the phase diagram the Weyl phase predicted in the literature providing a complete topological phase diagram for the Pb1-xSnxSe1-yTey quaternary compound.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗