arXiv subjects

Archana Lakhani

Publications and source records attributed to Archana Lakhani.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

CoRuTiGe: A Possible Spin Gapless Semiconductor

We report experimental and theoretical investigations on the quaternary Heusler alloy CoRuTiGe, synthesized using the arc melting technique. Crystal structure analysis reveals a tetragonal structure at room temperature. Magnetization measurements as a function of temperature and magnetic field indicate ferromagnetic nature with a saturation magnetization of 0.681 mB/f.u. at 5 K. The temperature dependence of electrical resistivity shows a nearly linear decrease in the high-temperature range, indicating the spin gapless semiconductor like behavior of the material. This SGS nature is further supported by the temperature-independent carrier concentration and mobility. Hall effect analysis reveals that the anomalous Hall effect in CoRuTiGe arises from both intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. Additionally, a well-defined symmetric negative magnetoresistance is observed at low temperatures. These findings suggest that CoRuTiGe holds significant promise for spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Endless Dirac nodal lines and high mobility in kagome semimetal Ni3In2Se2 single crystal

Kagome-lattice crystal is crucial in quantum materials research, exhibiting unique transport properties due to its rich band structure and the presence of nodal lines and rings. Here, we investigate the electronic transport properties and perform first-principles calculations for Ni$_{3}$In$_{2}$Se$_{2}$ kagome topological semimetal. First-principle calculations indicate six endless Dirac nodal lines and two nodal rings with a $π$-Berry phase in the Ni$_{3}$In$_{2}$Se$_{2}$ compound. The temperature-dependent resistivity is dominated by two scattering mechanisms: $s$-$d$ interband scattering occurs below 50 K, while electron-phonon ($e$-$p$) scattering is observed above 50 K. The magnetoresistance (MR) curve aligns with the theory of extended Kohler's rule, suggesting multiple scattering origins and temperature-dependent carrier densities. A maximum MR of 120\% at 2 K and 9 T, with a maximum estimated mobility of approximately 3000 cm$^{2}$V$^{-1}$s$^{-1}$ are observed. The Ni atom's hole-like d$_{x^{2}-y^{2} }$ and electron-like d$_{z^{2}}$ orbitals exhibit peaks and valleys, forming a local indirect-type band gap near the Fermi level (E$_{F}$). This configuration enhances the motion of electrons and holes, resulting in high mobility and relatively high magnetoresistance.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

How to enhance anomalous Hall effects in magnetic Weyl semimetal Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$?

Large spin-orbit coupling, kagome lattice, nontrivial topological band structure with inverted bands anti-crossings, and Weyl nodes are essential ingredients, ideally required to obtain maximal anomalous Hall effect (AHE) are simultaneously present in Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$. It is a leading platform to show large intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) and giant anomalous Hall angle (AHA) simultaneously at low fields. The giant AHE in Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$ is robust against small-scale doping-related chemical potential changes. In this work, we unveil a selective and co-chemical doping route to maximize AHEs in Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$. To begin with, in Co$_3$Sn$_{2-x}$In$_x$S$_2$, we brought the chemical potential at the hotspot of Berry curvature along with a maximum of asymmetric impurity scattering in high mobility region. As a result at x=0.05, we found a significant enhancement of AHA (95%) and AHC (190%) from the synergistic enhancement of extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms from modified Berry curvature of gaped nodal lines. Later, with anticipation of further improvements in AHE, we grew hole-co-doped Co$_{3-y}$Fe$_y$Sn$_{2-x}$In$_x$S$_2$ crystals, where we found rather a suppression of AHEs. The role of dopants in giving extrinsic effects or band broadening can be better understood when chemical potential does not change after doping. By simultaneous and equal co-doping with electrons and holes in Co$_{3-y-z}$Fe$_y$Ni$_z$Sn$_2$S$_2$, we kept the chemical potential unchanged. Henceforth, we found a significant enhancement in intrinsic AHC $\sim$116% due to the disorder broadenings in kagome bands

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Role of defects on carrier dynamics and transport mechanism in Bi2Te3 single crystals

Defects play an important role in determining the type of carriers as well as on tuning the physical properties of layered materials. In this study, we have demonstrated that by varying the growth kinetics one can control the defects and can achieve electrons or holes dominated Bi2Te3 single crystals using modified Bridgman method. The correlation between structural defects and the type of dominant charge carriers in crystals are discussed using X-Ray diffraction and Hall resistivity. Electrons are found to be originating from Te vacancy type defects, while holes are manifested from predominant structural defects viz. Bi_Te antisite defects or interstitial Te atoms. We observe that the alteration of charger carriers from electrons to holes have enhanced magnetoresistance (MR) from 103% to 224%. The enhancement in MR emerges from 2D multichannel quantum coherent conduction mechanism.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Spin-valve nature and giant coercivity of a ferrimagnetic spin semimetal Mn$_2$IrGa

Spin semimetals are amongst the most recently discovered new class of spintronic materials, which exhibit a band gap in one spin channel and semimetallic feature in the other, thus facilitating tunable spin transport. Here, we report Mn$_2$IrGa to be a candidate material for spin semimetal along with giant coercivity and spin-valve characteristics using a combined experimental and theoretical study. The alloy crystallizes in an inverse Heusler structure (without any martensitic transition) with a para- to ferri-magnetic transition at $T_\mathrm{C} \sim$ 243 K. It shows a giant coercive field of about 8.5 kOe (at 2 K). The negative temperature coefficient, relatively low magnitude and weak temperture dependance of electrical resistivity suggest the semimetallic character of the alloy. This is further supported by our specific heat measurement. Magnetoresistance (MR) confirms an irreversible nature (with its magnitude $\sim$1\%) along with a change of sign across the magnetic transition indicating the potentiality of Mn$_2$IrGa in magnetic switching applications. In addition, asymmetric nature of MR in the positive and negative field cycles is indicative of spin-valve characteristics. Our ab-initio calculations confirm the inverse Heusler structure with ferrimagnetic ordering to be the lowest energy state, with a saturation magnetization of 2 $μ_\mathrm{B}$. $<100>$ is found to be the easy magnetic axis with considerable magneto-crystalline anisotropy energy. A large positive Berry flux at/around $Γ$ point gives rise to an appreciable anomalous Hall conductivity ($\sim$-180 S/cm).

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Anti-site disorder and Berry curvature driven anomalous Hall effect in spin gapless semiconducting Mn2CoAl Heusler compound

Spin gapless semiconductors exhibit a finite band gap for one spin channel and closed gap for other spin channel, emerged as a new state of magnetic materials with a great potential for spintronic applications. The first experimental evidence for the spin gapless semiconducting behavior was observed in an inverse Heusler compound Mn2CoAl. Here, we report a detailed investigation of the crystal structure and anomalous Hall effect in the Mn2CoAl using experimental and theoretical studies. The analysis of the high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction data shows anti-site disorder between Mn and Al atoms within the inverse Heusler structure. The temperature-dependent resistivity shows semiconducting behavior and follows Mooijs criteria for disordered metal. Scaling behavior of the anomalous Hall resistivity suggests that the anomalous Hall effect in the Mn2CoAl is primarily governed by intrinsic mechanism due to the Berry curvature in momentum space. The experimental intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) is found to be 35 S/cm, which is considerably larger than the theoretically predicted value for ordered Mn2CoAl. Our first-principle calculations conclude that the anti-site disorder between Mn and Al atoms enhances the Berry curvature and hence the value of intrinsic AHC, which is in a very well agreement with the experiment.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Growth of rare-earth monopnictide DySb single crystal by novel Self-flux method

This report presents a new synthesis protocol for the single crystal growth of rare earth monopnictide DySb by self-flux technique. A detailed structural, transport and magnetic characterization have been done using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), High resolution X-Ray diffraction (HRXRD), resistivity and magnetization measurements respectively. The Rietveld refinement of powder XRD pattern confirms that the grown crystal is in single phase and crystallizes in space group Fm3m(225) of rock-salt type crystal structure. HRXRD on cleaved crystal confirms the single crystalline nature while rocking curve analysis reveals the high quality of the grown crystal. Temperature dependent resistivity and magnetization measurements show a transition at 9.7K from paramagnetic (PM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) state.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Atomic disorder and Berry phase driven anomalous Hall effect in Co2FeAl Heusler compound

Co2-based Heusler compounds are the promising materials for the spintronics application due to their high Curie temperature, large spin-polarization, large magnetization density, and exotic transport properties. In the present manuscript, we report the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in a polycrystalline Co2FeAl Heusler compound using combined experimental and theoretical studies. The Rietveld analysis of high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction data reveals a large degree (~50 %) of antisite disorder between Fe and Al atoms. The analysis of anomalous transport data provides the experimental anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) about 227 S/cm at 2 K with an intrinsic contribution of 155 S/cm, which has nearly constant variation with temperature. The detailed scaling analysis of anomalous Hall resistivity suggests that the AHE in Co2FeAl is governed by the Berry phase driven intrinsic mechanism. Our theoretical calculations reveal that the disorder present in Co2FeAl compound enhances the Berry curvature induced intrinsic AHC.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Large linear magnetoresistance and evidence of degeneracy lifting of valence bands in rhombohedral phase of topological crystalline insulator SnTe

We report a comprehensive magneto-transport study on single crystalline p-type topological crystalline insulator (TCI) SnTe, across the cubic-to-rhombohedral (R3m) transition which occurs as a function of temperature. The electrical resistivity of a well-characterized SnTe crystal shows evidence for the cubic-to-rhombohedral structural transition at T$_s$ $\sim$64,K and a carrier density of $\sim$1.8$\times$10$^{20}$ at 77,K. As a function of applied magnetic field perpendicular to the (100) plane, SnTe exhibits a large unsaturated linear magnetoresistance (LMR) reaching a value of 42% at 5K and 8T. LMR is found to have a direct dependence on the mobility and a detailed analysis shows that it follows the classical Parish-Littlewood model of conductivity fluctuations arising from macroscopic inhomogeneity of tellurium interstitial atoms. We also observe SdH oscillations in the rhombohedral (R3m) phase with a Berry phase of $π$ and significantly lower carrier density $\sim$5.32$\times$10$^{11}$cm$^{-2}$ at 2K, which provides direct evidence of protected topological surface states in the (R3m) phase. The Hall conductivity shows a transformation from one band to two-band behavior across the structural transition, thus providing experimental evidence for the degeneracy lifting of bulk valence bands below the cubic symmetry breaking point which is consistent with recent band structure calculations. The overall results indicate that magneto-transport studies can distinctly probe the surface and bulk sensitive properties of SnTe, and can also track the band-splitting of degenerate bands at the Fermi level across the cubic-to-rhombohedral (R3m) transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Extremely large linear magnetoresistance in Antimony crystal

In this letter we report the observation of extremely large non-saturating linear magnetoresistance (MR) in Antimony(Sb) crystal. An extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR) of 43000% at 2K and large unsaturating MR$\sim\ $70% at room temperature is observed at the magnetic field of 9T. Hall measurements reveal a very high mobility $\sim\ $3.8 x 10$^{4}$ cm$^{2}$/Vs of charge carriers and strong temperature dependence of carrier concentration and mobility. The respective scaling of MR and crossover field (B$_{c}$) from quadratic to linear MR with mobility and inverse of mobility describes the classical origin of large linear MR in this crystal as suggested by Parish and Littlewood (PL) model for disordered systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Scaling Analysis of Anomalous Hall Resistivity in the Co$_{2}$TiAl Heusler Alloy

A comprehensive magnetotransport study including resistivity ($ρ_{xx}$) at various fields, isothermal magnetoresistance and Hall resistivity ($ρ_{xy}$) has been carried out at different temperatures on the Co$_{2}$TiAl Heusler alloy. Co$_{2}$TiAl alloy shows a paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) transition below the curie temperature (T$_{C}$) $\sim$ 125 K. In the FM region, resistivity and magnetoresistance reveals a spin flip electron-magnon scattering and the Hall resistivity unveils the anomalous Hall resistivity ($ρ_{xy}^{AH}$). Scaling of anomalous Hall resistivity with resistivity establishes the extrinsic scattering process responsible for the anomalous hall resistivity; however Skew scattering is the dominant mechanism compared to the side-jump contribution. A one to one correspondence between magnetoresistance and side-jump contribution to anomalous Hall resistivity verifies the electron-magnon scattering being the source of side-jump contribution to the anomalous hall resistivity.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Strategy for enhanced thermoelectric performance of Bi2S3 nanorods by Bi nanoinclusions

This is the first report on the enhanced thermoelectric (TE) properties of novel Bi2S3-Bi nanocomposites synthesized using a one-step polyol method at different reaction temperatures (TRe) and time. They are well-characterized as nanorod-composites, coexistent with orthorhombic Bi2S3 and rhombohedral Bi phases together in which the latter coats the former forming Bi2S3-Bi core-shell type structures along with independent Bi nanoparticles (NPs). There is a very significant observation of systematic reduction in electri-cal resistivity \r{ho} with reaction temperature and time duration increase, revealing a promising approach for reduction of \r{ho} in this highly resistive Bi2S3 and hence resolving the earlier obstacles for its thermoelectric application potentials for the past few decades. Most astonishingly, TE power factor at 300 K of highest Bi content nanocomposite pellet, made at 27 oC using ~900 MPa pressure, is 3 orders of magnitude greater than that of hot-pressed Bi2S3, or even 23% better than that of spark plasma-sintered core-shell Bi2S3@Bi sample reported earlier (Tarachand et al. Nano Res. 2016, 9, 3291; Ge et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 4828). Considering the probable greatly reduced thermal conductivity due to their complex nanostructures, the significantly improved TE performance potential near 300 K is highly anticipated for these toxic- and rare earth element-free TE nanocomposites, making the present synthesis method as a pioneering approach for developing enhanced thermoelectric properties of Bi2S3-based materials without using extra sintering steps.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Observation of multichannel quantum coherent transport and electron-electron interaction in Bi2Te3 single crystal

The bulk of topological insulators is relatively unexplored due to excess contribution of conduction from native defects. Here we investigate the bulk conduction in a Bi2Te3 crystal having reduced defect induced conduction. Our results uncover the presence of three transport regimes which are dominated by thermal activation across bulk band gap, defect state charge conduction, and quantum coherent transport. The low temperature conductance and magnetoconductance reveal the presence of multichannel two dimensional quantum coherent transport in the bulk. The number of channels are of the order of quintuple layers, signifying each quintuple layer as a single transport channel. These transport channels exhibit two dimensional electron-electron interaction effect causing electron dephasing whereas the defect state bulk conduction exhibits three dimensional electron-electron interaction effect which vanishes on enhancement in defect induced charge carriers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Magnetotransport studies of optimally doped Sr(Fe${_{1-x}}$Co${_x}$)${_2}$As${_2}$

We report magnetotransport measurements and its scaling analysis for the optimally electron doped Sr(Fe${_{0.88}}$Co${_{0.12}}$)${_2}$As${_2}$ system. We pbserve that both the Kohler's and modified Kohler's scalings are violated. Interestingly, the Hall angle displays a quadratic temperature dependence similar to many cuprates and heavy fermion systems. The fact that this temperature dependence is seen in spite of the violation of modified Kohler's scaling suggests that the Hall angle and the magnetoresistance are not governed by the same scattering mechanism. We also observe a linear magnetoresistance in this system, which does not harbor a spin density wave ground state. Implcations of our observations are discussed in the context of spin fluctuations in strongly correlated electron systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Diffuson contribution to anomalous Hall effect in disordered Co2FeSi thin films

A wide variation in the disorder strength, as inferred from an order of magnitude variation in the longitudinal resistivity of Co2FeSi (CFS) Huesler alloy thin films of fixed (50 nm) thickness, has been achieved by growing these films on Si(111) substrates at substrate temperatures ranging from room temperature (RT) to 600 C. An in-depth study of the influence of disorder on anomalous Hall resistivity,longitudinal resistivity(LR) and magnetoresistance, enabled by this approach, reveals the following. The side-jump mechanism gives a dominant contribution to anomalous Hall resistivity (AHR) in the CFS thin films, regardless of the degree of disorder present. A new and novel contribution to both LR and AHR characterized by the logarithmic temperature dependence at temperatures below the minimum, exclusive to the amorphous CFS films, originates from the scattering of conduction electrons from the diffusive hydrodynamic modes associated with the longitudinal component of magnetization, called diffusons. In these amorphous CFS films, the electron-diffuson, e d, scattering and weak localization (WL) mechanisms compete with that arising from the inelastic electron magnon, e m, scattering to produce the minimum in longitudinal resistivity, whereas the minimum in AHR is caused by the competing contributions from the e d and e m scattering, as WL does not make any contribution to AHR. In sharp contrast, in crystalline films, enhanced electron electron Coulomb interaction (EEI), which is basically responsible for the resistivity minimum, makes no contribution to AHR with the result that AHR does not exhibit a minimum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Sign reversal of magnetoresistance and p to n transition in Ni doped ZnO thin film

We report the magnetoresistance and nonlinear Hall effect studies over a wide temperature range in pulsed laser deposited Ni0.07Zn0.93O thin film. Negative and positive contributions to magnetoresistance at high and low temperatures have been successfully modeled by the localized magnetic moment and two band conduction process involving heavy and light hole subbands, respectively. Nonlinearity in the Hall resistance also agrees well with the two channel conduction model. A negative Hall voltage has been found for T $\gte 50 K$, implying a dominant conduction mainly by electrons whereas positive Hall voltage for T less than 50 K shows hole dominated conduction in this material. Crossover in the sign of magnetoresistance from negative to positive reveals the spin polarization of the charge carriers and hence the applicability of Ni doped ZnO thin film for spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Large linear magnetoresistance from neutral defects in Bi$_2$Se$_3$

The chalcogenide Bi$_2$Se$_3$ can attain the three dimensional (3D) Dirac semimetal state under the influence of strain and microstrain. Here we report the presnece of large linear magnetoresistance in such a Bi$_2$Se$_3$ crystal. The magnetoresistance has quadratic form at low fields which crossovers to linear above 4 T. The temperature dependence of magnetoresistance scales with carrier mobility and the crossover field scales with inverse of mobility. Our analysis suggest that the linear magnetoresistance in our system has a classical origin and arises from the scattering of high mobility 3D Dirac electrons from crystalline inhomogeneities. We observe that the charged selenium vacancies are strongly screened by high mobility Dirac electrons and the neutral crystalline defects are the main scattering center for transport mechanism. Our analysis suggests that both the resistivity and the magnetoresistance have their origin in scattering of charge carriers from neutral defects.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Observation of quantum Hall effect in a microstrained Bi$_2$Se$_3$ single crystal

We report the observation of quantum Hall effect (QHE) in a Bi$_2$Se$_3$ single crystal having carrier concentration ($n$) $\sim1.13\times10^{19}$cm$^{-3}$, three dimensional Fermi surface and bulk transport characteristics. The plateaus in Hall resistivity coincide with minima of Shubnikov de Haas oscillations in resistivity. Our results demonstrate that the presence of perfect two dimensional transport is not an essential condition for QHE in Bi$_2$Se$_3$. The results of high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and residual resistivity measurements show the presence of enhanced crystalline defects and microstrain. We propose that the formation of localized state at the edge of each Landau level due to resonance between the bulk and defect band of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ causes the quantum Hall effect.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗