arXiv subjects

András Kovács

Publications and source records attributed to András Kovács.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Effect of gallium termination on InGaAs wetting layer properties in droplet epitaxy InGaAs quantum dots

Self-assembled quantum dots based on III-V semiconductors have excellent properties for applications in quantum optics. However, the presence of a 2D wetting layer which forms during the Stranski-Krastanov growth of quantum dots can limit their performance. Here, we investigate wetting layer formation during quantum dot growth by the alternative droplet epitaxy technique. We use a combination of photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, lifetime measurements, and transmission electron microscopy to identify the presence of an InGaAs wetting layer in these droplet epitaxy quantum dots, even in the absence of distinguishable wetting layer photoluminescence. We observe that increasing the amount of Ga deposited on a GaAs (100) surface prior to the growth of InGaAs quantum dots leads to a significant reduction in the emission wavelength of the wetting layer to the point where it can no longer be distinguished from the GaAs acceptor peak emission in photoluminescence measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Skyrmionic Spin Structures in Layered Fe5GeTe2 Up To Room Temperature

The role of the crystal lattice, temperature and magnetic field for the spin structure formation in the 2D van der Waals magnet Fe5GeTe2 is a key open question. Using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, we experimentally observe topological spin structures up to room temperature in the metastable pre-cooling and stable post-cooling phase of Fe5GeTe2. Over wide temperature and field ranges, skyrmionic magnetic bubbles form without preferred chirality, which is indicative of a centrosymmetric crystal structure. In the pre-cooling phase, these bubbles are observable even without the application of an external field, while in the post-cooling phase, a transformation from bubble domains to stripe domains is seen. To understand the magnetic order in Fe5GeTe2 we compare macroscopic magnetometry characterization results with microscopic density functional theory calculation. Our results show that even up to room temperature, topological spin structures can be stabilized in centrosymmetric van der Waals magnets.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Generalized Universe Hierarchies and First-Class Universe Levels

In type theories, universe hierarchies are commonly used to increase the expressive power of the theory while avoiding inconsistencies arising from size issues. There are numerous ways to specify universe hierarchies, and theories may differ in details of cumulativity, choice of universe levels, specification of type formers and eliminators, and available internal operations on levels. In the current work, we aim to provide a framework which covers a large part of the design space. First, we develop syntax and semantics for cumulative universe hierarchies, where levels may come from any set equipped with a transitive well-founded ordering. In the semantics, we show that induction-recursion can be used to model transfinite hierarchies, and also support lifting operations on type codes which strictly preserve type formers. Then, we consider a setup where universe levels are first-class types and subject to arbitrary internal reasoning. This generalizes the bounded polymorphism features of Coq and at the same time the internal level computations in Agda.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2021

Strong bulk spin-orbit torques quantified in the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2

The recent emergence of magnetic van der Waals materials allows for the investigation of current induced magnetization manipulation in two dimensional materials. Uniquely, Fe3GeTe2 has a crystalline structure that allows for the presence of bulk spin-orbit torques (SOTs), that we quantify in a Fe3GeTe2 flake. From the symmetry of the measured torques, we identify the current induced effective fields using harmonic analysis and find dominant bulk SOTs, which arise from the symmetry in the crystal structure. Our results show that Fe3GeTe2 uniquely can exhibit bulk SOTs in addition to the conventional interfacial SOTs enabling magnetization manipulation even in thick single layers without the need for complex multilayer engineering.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Discovery and implications of hidden atomic-scale structure in a metallic meteorite

Iron and its alloys have made modern civilisation possible, with metallic meteorites providing one of the human's earliest sources of usable iron as well as providing a window into our solar system's billion-year history. Here highest-resolution tools reveal the existence of a previously hidden FeNi nanophase within the extremely slowly cooled metallic meteorite NWA 6259. This new nanophase exists alongside Ni-poor and Ni-rich nanoprecipitates within a matrix of tetrataenite, the uniaxial, chemically ordered form of FeNi. The ferromagnetic nature of the nanoprecipitates combined with the antiferromagnetic character of the FeNi nanophases give rise to a complex magnetic state that evolves dramatically with temperature. These observations extend and possibly alter our understanding of celestial metallurgy, provide new knowledge concerning the archetypal Fe-Ni phase diagram and supply new information for the development of new types of sustainable, technologically critical high-energy magnets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Magnetic skyrmion braids

Filamentary textures can take the form of braided, rope-like superstructures in nonlinear media such as plasmas and superfluids. The formation of similar superstructures in solids has been predicted, for example from flux lines in superconductors. However, their observation has proved challenging. Here, we use electron microscopy and numerical methods to reveal braided superstructures of magnetic skyrmions in thin crystals of B20-type FeGe. Their discovery opens the door to applications of rich topological landscapes of geometric braids in magnetic solids.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Highly Complex Magnetic Structures Resulting From Hierarchical Phase Separation in AlCo(Cr)FeNi High Entropy Alloys

Magnetic high entropy alloys (HEAs) are a new category of high-performance magnetic materials, with multi-component concentrated compositions and complex multi-phase structures. Although there have been numerous reports of their interesting magnetic properties, there is very limited understanding about the interplay between their hierarchical multi-phase structures and their local magnetic structures. By employing high spatial resolution correlative magnetic, structural and chemical studies, we reveal the influence of a hierarchically decomposed B2 + A2 structure in an AlCo0.5Cr0.5FeNi HEA on the formation of magnetic vortex states within individual A2 (disordered BCC) precipitates, which are distributed in an ordered B2 matrix that is weakly ferromagnetic. Non-magnetic or weakly ferromagnetic B2 precipitates in large magnetic domains of the A2 phase, and strongly magnetic Fe-Co-rich interphase A2 regions, are also observed. These results provide important insight into the origin of coercivity in this HEA, which can be attributed to a complex magnetization process that includes the successive reversal of magnetic vortices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Unveiling the three-dimensional spin texture of skyrmion tubes

Magnetic skyrmions are stable topological solitons with complex non-coplanar spin structures. Their nanoscopic size and the low electric currents required to initiate and control their motion has opened a new field of research, skyrmionics, that aims at using skyrmions as information carriers for data storage and manipulation. Recent advances in skyrmionics prompt for a thorough understanding of the detailed three-dimensional (3D) spin texture of a skyrmion including skyrmion-skyrmion interactions and their coupling to surfaces and interfaces. These properties crucially affect application-related aspects such as the stability and mobility of skyrmions in confined structures. To date, however, experimental techniques to measure the three-dimensional spin texture with nanometer resolution are largely missing. We therefore adapt holographic vector field electron tomography to the problem and report on the first quantitative reconstruction of the 3D spin texture of skyrmions with sub-10 nanometer resolution. The reconstructed textures reveal a variety of previously unseen local deviations from a homogeneous Bloch character within the skyrmion tubes (SkTs), details of the collapse of the skyrmion texture at surfaces, and a correlated modulation of the SkT in FeGe along their tube axes. The quantitative 3D data of the magnetic induction also allow to experimentally confirm some principles of skyrmion formation by deriving spatially resolved maps of the magnetic energy density across these magnetic solitons.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Temperature dependence of magnetization processes in Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr)$_z$ magnets with different nanoscale microstructures

The characteristic microstructure of Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr)$_z$ alloys with SmCo$_5$ cell walls in Sm$_2$Co$_{17}$ cells, all intersected by Zr-rich platelets, makes them some of the best performing high-temperature permanent magnets. Plentiful research has been performed to tailor the microstructure at the nanoscale, but due to its complexity many questions remain unanswered about the effect of the individual phases on the magnetic performance at different temperatures. Here, we explore this mechanism effect for three different Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr)$_z$ alloys by deploying high-resolution magnetic imaging via in-situ transmission electron microscopy and three-dimensional chemical analysis using atom probe tomography. We show that their microstructures differ in terms of SmCo$_5$ cell-wall and Z-phase size and density, as well as the Cu concentration in the cell walls, and demonstrate how these features influence the magnetic domain size and density and thus form different magnetic textures. Moreover, we illustrate that the dominant coercivity mechanism at room temperature is domain-wall pinning and show that magnets with a denser cell-wall network, a steeper Cu gradient across the cell-wall boundary, and thinner Z-phase platelets have a higher coercivity. We also show that the coercivity mechanism at high temperatures is domain-wall nucleation at the cell walls. Increasing the Cu concentration inside the cell walls decreases the transition temperature between pinning and nucleation, significantly decreasing the coercivity with increasing temperature. We therefore provide a detailed explanation of how the microstructure on the atomic to nanoscale directly affects the magnetic performance and provide detailed guidelines for an improved design of Sm(Co,Fe,Cu,Zr)$_z$ magnets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Origin of the hump anomalies in the Hall resistance loops of ultrathin SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$ multilayers

The proposal that very small Néel skyrmions can form in SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$ epitaxial bilayers and that the electric field-effect can be used to manipulate these skyrmions in gated devices strongly stimulated the recent research of SrRuO$_3$ heterostructures. A strong interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, combined with the breaking of inversion symmetry, was considered as the driving force for the formation of skyrmions in SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$ bilayers. Here, we investigated nominally symmetric heterostructures in which an ultrathin ferromagnetic SrRuO$_3$ layer is sandwiched between large spin-orbit coupling SrIrO$_3$ layers, for which the conditions are not favorable for the emergence of a net interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Previously the formation of skyrmions in the asymmetric SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$ bilayers was inferred from anomalous Hall resistance loops showing humplike features that resembled topological Hall effect contributions. Symmetric SrIrO$_3$/SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$ trilayers do not show hump anomalies in the Hall loops. However, the anomalous Hall resistance loops of symmetric multilayers, in which the trilayer is stacked several times, do exhibit the humplike structures, similar to the asymmetric SrRuO$_3$/SrIrO$_3$ bilayers. The origin of the Hall effect loop anomalies likely resides in unavoidable differences in the electronic and magnetic properties of the individual SrRuO$_3$ layers rather than in the formation of skyrmions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

A common explanation of the Hubble tension and anomalous cold spots in the CMB

The standard cosmological paradigm narrates a reassuring story of a universe currently dominated by an enigmatic dark energy component. Disquietingly, its universal explaining power has recently been challenged by, above all, the $\sim4σ$ tension in the values of the Hubble constant. Another, less studied anomaly is the repeated observation of integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprints $\sim5\times$ stronger than expected in the $Λ$CDM model from R>100 $Mpc/h$ super-structures. Here we show that the inhomogeneous AvERA model of emerging curvature is capable of telling a plausible albeit radically different story that explains both observational anomalies without dark energy. We demonstrate that while stacked imprints of R>100 $Mpc/h$ supervoids in cosmic microwave background temperature maps can discriminate between the AvERA and $Λ$CDM models, their characteristic differences may remain hidden using alternative void definitions and stacking methodologies. Testing the extremes, we then also show that the CMB Cold Spot can plausibly be explained in the AvERA model as an ISW imprint. The coldest spot in the AvERA map is aligned with multiple low-$z$ supervoids with R>100 $Mpc/h$ and central underdensity $δ_{0}\approx-0.3$, resembling the observed large-scale galaxy density field in the Cold Spot area. We hence conclude that the anomalous imprint of supervoids may well be the canary in the coal mine, and existing observational evidence for dark energy should be re-interpreted to further test alternative models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Large and Infinitary Quotient Inductive-Inductive Types

Quotient inductive-inductive types (QIITs) are generalized inductive types which allow sorts to be indexed over previously declared sorts, and allow usage of equality constructors. QIITs are especially useful for algebraic descriptions of type theories and constructive definitions of real, ordinal and surreal numbers. We develop new metatheory for large QIITs, large elimination, recursive equations and infinitary constructors. As in prior work, we describe QIITs using a type theory where each context represents a QIIT signature. However, in our case the theory of signatures can also describe its own signature, modulo universe sizes. We bootstrap the model theory of signatures using self-description and a Church-coded notion of signature, without using complicated raw syntax or assuming an existing internal QIIT of signatures. We give semantics to described QIITs by modeling each signature as a finitely complete CwF (category with families) of algebras. Compared to the case of finitary QIITs, we additionally need to show invariance under algebra isomorphisms in the semantics. We do this by modeling signature types as isofibrations. Finally, we show by a term model construction that every QIIT is constructible from the syntax of the theory of signatures.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2020

Signatures and Induction Principles for Higher Inductive-Inductive Types

Higher inductive-inductive types (HIITs) generalize inductive types of dependent type theories in two ways. On the one hand they allow the simultaneous definition of multiple sorts that can be indexed over each other. On the other hand they support equality constructors, thus generalizing higher inductive types of homotopy type theory. Examples that make use of both features are the Cauchy real numbers and the well-typed syntax of type theory where conversion rules are given as equality constructors. In this paper we propose a general definition of HIITs using a small type theory, named the theory of signatures. A context in this theory encodes a HIIT by listing the constructors. We also compute notions of induction and recursion for HIITs, by using variants of syntactic logical relation translations. Building full categorical semantics and constructing initial algebras is left for future work. The theory of HIIT signatures was formalised in Agda together with the syntactic translations. We also provide a Haskell implementation, which takes signatures as input and outputs translation results as valid Agda code.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2019

Unconventional magnetization textures and domain-wall pinning in Sm-Co magnets

The most powerful magnets for high temperature applications are Sm-Co-based alloys with a microstructure that combines magnetically soft and hard regions. The microstructure consists of a dense domain-wall-pinning network that endows the material with remarkable magnetic hardness. A precise understanding of the coupling between magnetism and microstructure is essential for enhancing the performance of Sm-Co magnets, but experiments and theory have not yet converged to a unified model. Here, we combine transmission electron microscopy, atom probe tomography, and nanometer-resolution off-axis electron holography with micromagnetic simulations to show that the magnetization processes in Sm-Co magnets result from an interplay between curling instabilities and pinning effects at the intersections between magnetically soft and hard regions. We also find that topologically non-trivial magnetic domains separated by a complex network of domain walls play a key role in the magnetic state. Our findings reveal a previously hidden aspect of magnetism and provide insight into the full potential of high-performance magnetic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Shallow Embedding of Type Theory is Morally Correct

There are multiple ways to formalise the metatheory of type theory. For some purposes, it is enough to consider specific models of a type theory, but sometimes it is necessary to refer to the syntax, for example in proofs of canonicity and normalisation. One option is to embed the syntax deeply, by using inductive definitions in a proof assistant. However, in this case the handling of definitional equalities becomes technically challenging. Alternatively, we can reuse conversion checking in the metatheory by shallowly embedding the object theory. In this paper, we consider the standard model of a type theoretic object theory in Agda. This model has the property that all of its equalities hold definitionally, and we can use it as a shallow embedding by building expressions from the components of this model. However, if we are to reason soundly about the syntax with this setup, we must ensure that distinguishable syntactic constructs do not become provably equal when shallowly embedded. First, we prove that shallow embedding is injective up to definitional equality, by modelling the embedding as a syntactic translation targeting the metatheory. Second, we use an implementation hiding trick to disallow illegal propositional equality proofs and constructions which do not come from the syntax. We showcase our technique with very short formalisations of canonicity and parametricity for Martin-Löf type theory. Our technique only requires features which are available in all major proof assistants based on dependent type theory.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

The part and the whole: voids, supervoids, and their ISW imprint

The integrated Sachs-Wolfe imprint of extreme structures in the cosmic web probes the dynamical nature of dark energy. Looking through typical cosmic voids, no anomalous signal has been reported. On the contrary, supervoids, associated with large-scale fluctuations in the gravitational potential, have shown potentially disturbing excess signals. In this study, we used the Jubilee ISW simulation to demonstrate how the stacked signal depends on the void definition. We found that large underdensities, with at least $\approx5$ merged sub-voids, show a peculiar ISW imprint shape with central cold spots and surrounding hot rings, offering a natural way to define supervoids in the cosmic web. We then inspected the real-world BOSS DR12 data using the simulated imprints as templates. The imprinted profile of BOSS supervoids appears to be more compact than in simulations, requiring an extra $α\approx 0.7$ re-scaling of filter sizes. The data reveals an excess ISW-like signal with $A_{\rm ISW}\approx9$ amplitude at the $\approx2.5σ$ significance level, unlike previous studies that used isolated voids and reported good consistency with $A_{\rm ISW}=1$. The tension with the Jubilee-based $Λ$CDM predictions is $\sim 2σ$, in consistency with independent analyses of supervoids in Dark Energy Survey data. We show that such a very large enhancement of the $A_{\rm ISW}$ parameter hints at a possible causal relation between the CMB Cold Spot and the Eridanus supervoid. The origin of these findings remains unclear.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Direct imaging of a zero-field target skyrmion and its polarity switch in a chiral magnetic nanodisk

A target skyrmion is a flux-closed spin texture that has two-fold degeneracy and is promising as a binary state in next generation universal memories. Although its formation in nanopatterned chiral magnets has been predicted, its observation has remained challenging. Here, we use off-axis electron holography to record images of target skyrmions in a 160-nm-diameter nanodisk of the chiral magnet FeGe. We compare experimental measurements with numerical simulations, demonstrate switching between two stable degenerate target skyrmion ground states that have opposite polarities and rotation senses and discuss the observed switching mechanism.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Experimental observation of magnetic bobbers for a new concept of magnetic solid-state memory

The use of chiral skyrmions, which are nanoscale vortex-like spin textures, as movable data bit carriers forms the basis of a recently proposed concept for magnetic solid-state memory. In this concept, skyrmions are considered to be unique localized spin textures, which are used to encode data through the quantization of different distances between identical skyrmions on a guiding nanostripe. However, the conservation of distances between highly mobile and interacting skyrmions is difficult to implement in practice. Here, we report the direct observation of another type of theoretically-predicted localized magnetic state, which is referred to as a chiral bobber (ChB), using quantitative off-axis electron holography. We show that ChBs can coexist together with skyrmions. Our results suggest a novel approach for data encoding, whereby a stream of binary data representing a sequence of ones and zeros can be encoded via a sequence of skyrmions and bobbers. The need to maintain defined distances between data bit carriers is then not required. The proposed concept of data encoding promises to expedite the realization of a new generation of magnetic solid-state memory.

cond-mat.str-el↗