arXiv subjects

César Magén

Publications and source records attributed to César Magén.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Alternative origins of polarity in compressively strained SrTiO3-RENiO3 capacitors

Since its original prediction 25 years ago, room-temperature out-of-plane ferroelectricity in compressively strained SrTiO3 remains an ongoing pursuit. In this work, we investigate the structural, electrical and electromechanical properties of highly strained epitaxial SrTiO3 capacitors with rare earth nickelate electrodes. The SrTiO3 layers experience compressive strains up to -3% and exhibit pronounced tetragonality, comparable to that of bulk PbTiO3. Variable-temperature electrical measurements and room-temperature piezoresponse force microscopy reveal butterfly-shaped capacitance-voltage hysteresis and domain-like electromechanical response typical of ferroelectric materials. However, the overall behavior is inconsistent with a stable ferroelectric state. We therefore propose an alternative mechanism for the observed polarity in our samples based on spatially inhomogeneous internal fields. Our first-principles calculations show that such fields may arise from charge discontinuities between the formally charged NdNiO3 layers and charge-neutral SrTiO3 layers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ nano-constriction Josephson junctions and SQUIDs fabricated by focused helium-ion-beam irradiation

By focused $30\,\mathrm{keV}$ He ion beam irradiation, epitaxially grown YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ (YBCO) thin films can be driven from the superconducting to the insulating state with increasing irradiation dose. A properly chosen dose suppresses superconductivity down to $4\,\mathrm{K}$, while crystallinity is still preserved. With this approach we create areas of normal-conducting YBCO that can be used to define resistively shunted constriction-type Josephson junctions (cJJs) on the nanometer scale. We also demonstrate that the fabricated cJJs can be incorporated in direct current superconducting quantum interference devices and can be used as detector junctions in THz antennas.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Hierarchical domain structures in buckled ferroelectric free sheets

Flat elastic sheets tend to display wrinkles and folds. From pieces of clothing down to two-dimensional crystals, these corrugations appear in response to strain generated by sheet compression or stretching, thermal or mechanical mismatch with other elastic layers, or surface tension. Extensively studied in metals, polymers and, more recently, in van der Waals exfoliated layers, with the advent of thin single crystal freestanding films of complex oxides, researchers are now paying attention to novel microstructural effects induced by bending ferroelectric-ferroelastics, where polarization is strongly coupled to lattice deformation. Here we show that wrinkle undulations in BaTiO3 sheets bonded to a viscoelastic substrate transform into a buckle delamination geometry when transferred onto a rigid substrate. Using spatially resolved techniques at different scales (Raman, scanning probe and electron microscopy), we show how these delaminations in the free BaTiO3 sheets display a self-organization of ferroelastic domains along the buckle profile that strongly differs from the more studied sinusoidal wrinkle geometry. Moreover, we disclose the hierarchical distribution of a secondary set of domains induced by the misalignment of these folding structures from the preferred in-plane crystallographic orientations. Our results disclose the relevance of the morphology and orientation of buckling instabilities in ferroelectric free sheets, for the stabilization of different domain structures, pointing to new routes for domain engineering of ferroelectrics in flexible oxide sheets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Impact of the La2NiO4+δ oxygen content on the synaptic properties of the TiN/La2NiO4+δ/Pt memristive devices

The rapid development of brain-inspired computing requires new artificial components and architectures for its hardware implementation. In this regard, memristive devices emerged as potential candidates for artificial synapses because of their ability to emulate the plasticity of the biological synapses. In this work, the synaptic behavior of the TiN/La2NiO4+δ/Pt memristive devices based on thermally annealed La2NiO4+δ films is thoroughly investigated. Using electron energy loss spectroscopy, we show that annealing using reducing (Ar) or oxidizing (O2) atmospheres affects the interstitial oxygen content (δ) in the La2NiO4+δ films. Electrical characterization shows that both devices exhibit long-term potentiation/depression and spike-timing-dependent plasticity, which makes them suitable for neuromorphic applications. At the same time, the Ar annealed TiN/La2NiO4+δ/Pt device demonstrates non-volatile properties with low energy consumption during the learning process. On the other hand, in the O2 annealed TiN/La2NiO4+δ/Pt device the resistive switching behavior is more volatile and requires more energy for synaptic learning. Finally, the simulation tools show that spiking neural network architectures with unsupervised learning rules based on the experimental data achieve high inference accuracy in the digit recognition task, which proves the potential of TiN/La2NiO4+δ/Pt devices for artificial synapse applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Vortex matching at 6 T in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ thin films by imprinting a 20 nm-periodic pinning array with a focused helium ion beam

Controlled engineering of vortex pinning sites in copper-oxide superconductors is a critical issue in manufacturing devices based on magnetic flux quanta. To address this, we employed a focused He-ion beam (He-FIB) to irradiate thin YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ films and create ultradense hexagonal arrays of defects with lattice spacings as small as 20 nm. Critical current and magnetoresistance measurements demonstrate efficient pinning by an unprecedentedly high matching field of 6 T visible in a huge temperature range from the critical temperature $T_c$ down to 2 K. These results show that He-FIB irradiation provides excellent opportunities for the development and application of superconducting fluxonic devices based on Abrikosov vortices. In particular, our findings suggest that such devices can operate at temperatures far below $T_c$, where superconductivity is robust.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Phenomenological classification of metals based on resistivity

Efforts to understand metallic behaviour have led to important concepts such as those of strange metal, bad metal or Planckian metal. However, a unified description of metallic resistivity is still missing. An empirical analysis of a large variety of metals shows that the parallel resistor formalism used in the cuprates, which includes T-linear and T-quadratic dependence of the electron scattering rates, can be used to provide a phenomenological description of the electrical resistivity in all metals, where these two contributions are shown to correspond to the two first terms of a Taylor expansion of the resistivity, detached of their physics origin, and thus, valid for any metal. Here we show that the different metallic classes are then determined by the relative magnitude of these two components and the magnitude of the extrapolated residual resistivity. These two parameters allow to categorize a few systems that are notoriously hard to ascribe to one of the currently accepted metallic classes. This approach also reveals that the T-linear term has a common origin in all cases, strengthening the arguments that propose the universal character of the Planckian dissipation bound.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Crystal Engineering and Ferroelectricity at the Nanoscale in Epitaxial 1D Manganese Oxide on Silicon

Ferroelectric oxides have attracted much attention due to their wide range of applications, especially in electronic devices such as nonvolatile memories and tunnel junctions. As a result, the monolithic integration of these materials into silicon technology and its nanostructuration to develop alternative cost-effective processes are among the central points in current technology. In this work, we used a chemical route to obtain nanowire thin films of a novel Sr1+δMn8O16 (SMO) hollandite-type manganese oxide on silicon. Scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with crystallographic computing reveals a crystal structure comprising hollandite and pyrolusite units sharing the edges of their MnO6 octahedra, resulting in three types of tunnels arranged along the c axis, where ordering of the Sr atoms produces a natural symmetry breaking. The novel structure gives rise to a ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity, as revealed by local Direct Piezoelectric Force Microscopy measurements, which confirmed the ferroelectric nature of SMO nanowire thin films at room temperature and showed a piezoelectric coefficient d33 value of 22,6 pC/N. Moreover, we proved that flexible vertical SMO nanowires can be harvested and converted into electric output energy through the piezoelectric effect, showing an excellent deformability and high interface recombination. This work indicates the possibility of engineering the integration of 1D manganese oxides on silicon, a step which precedes the production of microelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Artificial double-helix for geometrical control of magnetic chirality

Chirality plays a major role in nature, from particle physics to DNA, and its control is much sought-after due to the scientific and technological opportunities it unlocks. For magnetic materials, chiral interactions between spins promote the formation of sophisticated swirling magnetic states such as skyrmions, with rich topological properties and great potential for future technologies. Currently, chiral magnetism requires either a restricted group of natural materials or synthetic thin-film systems that exploit interfacial effects. Here, using state-of-the-art nanofabrication and magnetic X-ray microscopy, we demonstrate the imprinting of complex chiral spin states via three-dimensional geometric effects at the nanoscale. By balancing dipolar and exchange interactions in an artificial ferromagnetic double-helix nanostructure, we create magnetic domains and domain walls with a well-defined spin chirality, determined solely by the chiral geometry. We further demonstrate the ability to create confined 3D spin textures and topological defects by locally interfacing geometries of opposite chirality. The ability to create chiral spin textures via 3D nano-patterning alone enables exquisite control over the properties and location of complex topological magnetic states, of great importance for the development of future metamaterials and devices in which chirality provides enhanced functionality.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Tunable resistivity exponents in the metallic phase of epitaxial nickelates

We report a detailed analysis of the electrical resistivity exponent of thin films of NdNiO3 as a function of epitaxial strain. Strain-free thin-films show a linear dependence of the resistivity vs temperature, consistent with a classical Fermi gas ruled by electron-phonon interactions. In addition, the apparent temperature exponent, n, can be tuned with the epitaxial strain between n= 1 and n= 3. We discuss the critical role played by quenched random disorder in the value of n. Our work shows that the assignment of Fermi/Non-Fermi liquid behaviour based on experimentally obtained resistivity exponents requires an in-depth analysis of the degree of disorder in the material.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Engineering Vacancies in Bi2S3 yields sub-Bandgap Photoresponse and highly sensitive Short-Wave Infrared Photodetectors

Defects play an important role in tailoring the optoelectronic properties of materials. Here we demonstrate that sulphur vacancies are able to engineer sub-band photoresponse into the short-wave infrared range due to formation of in-gap states in Bi2S3 single crystals supported by density functional (DF) calculations. Sulfurization and subsequent refill of the vacancies results in faster response but limits the spectral range to the near infrared as determined by the bandgap of Bi2S3. A facile chemical treatment is then explored to accelerate the speed of sulphur deficient (SD)-based detectors on the order of 10 ms without sacrificing its spectral coverage into the infrared, while holding a high D* close to 10^15 Jones in the visible-near infrared range and 10^12 Jones at 1.6 um. This work also provides new insights into the role sulphur vacancies play on the electronic structure and, as a result, into sub-bandgap photoresponse enabling ultrasensitive, fast and broadband photodetectors.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2017

On the nature of the (de)coupling of the magnetostructural transition in Er$_5$Si$_4$

In this report, a successful thermodynamical model was employed to understand the structural transition in Er$_5$Si$_4$, able to explain the decoupling of the magnetic and structural transition. This was achieved by the DFT calculations which were used to determine the energy differences at 0 K, using a LSDA+U approximation. It was found that the M structure as the stable phase at low temperatures as verified experimentally with a $ΔF_0 = -$0.262 eV. Finally, it was achieved a variation of Seebeck coefficient ($\sim$ 6 $μ$V) at the structural transition which allow to conclude that the electronic entropy variation is negligible in the transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Transmission XMCD-PEEM imaging of an engineered vertical FEBID cobalt nanowire with a domain wall

Using focused electron-beam-induced deposition (FEBID), we fabricate vertical, platinum-coated cobalt nanowires with a controlled three-dimensional structure. The latter is engineered to feature bends along the height: these are used as pinning sites for domain walls, the presence of which we investigate using X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) coupled to PhotoEmission Electron Microscopy (PEEM). The vertical geometry of our sample combined with the low incidence of the X-ray beam produce an extended wire shadow which we use to recover the wire's magnetic configuration. In this transmission configuration, the whole sample volume is probed, thus circumventing the limitation of PEEM to surfaces. This article reports on the first study of magnetic nanostructures standing perpendicular to the substrate with XMCD-PEEM. The use of this technique in shadow mode enabled us to confirm the presence of a domain wall (DW) without direct imaging of the nanowire.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗