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Isao Ishii

Publications and source records attributed to Isao Ishii.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Anomalous metallic states at magnetic interfaces in an antiferromagnetic topological insulator candidate DyPtBi with ferroquadrupolar order

Antiferromagnetic topological insulators provide a fertile platform where symmetry-breaking magnetic order is intertwined with topological electronic states. In particular, magnetic domain walls have attracted much attention, as they can be easily controlled by external fields as in general magnets, and moreover, host nontrivial electronic states distinct from those in bulks and sample surfaces. Here, we report a new antiferromagnetic topological insulator candidate DyPtBi, which hosts conductive magnetic domain walls controllable by uniaxial stress and magnetic field. We find that the resistivity exhibits abrupt increase upon the magnetic and structural phase transition. Concomitantly, the transverse ultrasonic mode shows remarkable softening of 6 %, indicating that the Dy 4f ferroquadrupolar order plays a vital role in the phase transition. Furthermore, we reveal by neutron experiments that applying compressive uniaxial stress aligns the magnetic domain state, leading to the strong resistivity enhancement of 14 % while eliminating the conductive magnetic domain walls. These findings demonstrate that DyPtBi exhibits topological electronic states entangled with multipolar degrees of freedom, providing a promising route for in situ control of topological properties.

cond-mat.str-el

Origin of high piezoelectricity at the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) in (Pb0.94Sr0.06)(ZrxTi1-x)O3

In this work, we address the issue of peaking of piezoelectric response at a particular composition in the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region of (Pb0.940Sr0.06)(ZrxTi1-x)O3 (PSZT) piezoelectric ceramics. We present results of synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction, dielectric, piezoelectric and sound velocity studies to critically examine the applicability of various models for the peaking of physical properties. It is shown that the models based on the concepts of phase coexistence, polarization rotation due to monoclinic structure, tricritical point and temperature dependent softening of elastic modulus may enhance the piezoelectric response in the MPB region in general but cannot explain its peaking at a specific composition. Our results reveal that the high value of piezoelectric response for the MPB compositions in PSZT at x=0.530 is due to the softening of the elastic modulus as a function of composition. The softening of elastic modulus facilitates the generation of large piezoelectric strain and polarization on approaching the MPB composition of x=0.530. This new finding based on the softening of elastic modulus may pave the way forward for discovering/designing new lead-free environmentally friendly piezoelectric materials and revolutionize the field of piezoelectric ceramics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Spontaneous strain due to ferroquadrupolar ordering in UCu$_2$Sn

The ternary uranium compound UCu$_2$Sn with a hexagonal ZrPt$_2$Al-type structure shows a phase transition at 16 K. We reported previously that huge lattice-softening is accompanied by the phase transition, which originates from ferroquadrupolar ordering of the ground state non-Kramers doublet $Γ_5$. A macroscopic strain, which is expected to emerge spontaneously, was not detected by powder X-ray diffraction in the temperature range between 4.2 and 300 K. To search the spontaneous strain, we have carried out thermal expansion measurements on a single-crystalline sample along the $a$, $b$ and $c$ axes using a capacitance technique with the resolution of $10^{-8}$. In the present experiment, we found the spontaneous $e_{xx} - e_{yy}$ strain which couples to the ground state doublet $Γ_5$. The effect of uniaxial pressure along the $a$, $b$ and $c$ axes on the transition temperature is also discussed.

cond-mat.str-el