arXiv subjects

Jiří Prchal

Publications and source records attributed to Jiří Prchal.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Pressure-tuned magnetism and conductivity in pyrochlore iridates Lu2Ir2O7 and Er2Ir2O7

A2Ir2O7 iridates were proven to crystallise in the geometrically frustrated pyrochlore structure, which remains stable upon rare-earth cation substitution, temperature variation, and external pressure application. However, the change of interatomic distances and local distortions in the lattice frequently leads to complex electronic properties. The low-temperature behaviour in light-A iridates has been thoroughly investigated, including its evolution with pressure. The present pressure study reports the electrical transport and magnetotransport properties in heavy rare-earth Lu2Ir2O7 and Er2Ir2O7. Both compounds reveal a semiconductor-to-insulator transition induced by the antiferromagnetic ordering of the all-in-all-out (AIAO) type in the Ir sublattice. The transition monotonously shifts to a higher temperature under applied pressure by approximately 20 K at 3 GPa. As the transition in resistivity originates in the antiferromagnetic order, the latter is expected to be enhanced with the applied pressure as well. Upon cooling the compound in a magnetic field, the AIAO/AOAI domain structure with non-zero net magnetic moment is formed, mirroring itself in an asymmetric term in the magnetoresistance of Lu2Ir2O7. The application of pressure then enhances the asymmetric term. The same behaviour is proposed for the whole heavy rare-earth A2Ir2O7 series (A = Gd - Lu), although with magnetoresistance features masked significantly by a stronger response of magnetic A cations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Tricritical fluctuations and elastic properties of the Ising antiferromagnet UIrSi$_3$

Elastic constants, thermal expansion, magnetostriction and heat capacity measurements were performed with and without applied magnetic field on a single crystal of UIrSi$_3$. The elastic properties were interpreted within the theory of the strain-exchange effect. The exchange-striction model together with the Ising model for the behavior of magnetic localized 5$f$ electrons and itinerant electrons of uranium correctly reproduces the main features of our magneto-acoustic experiments in UIrSi$_3$. Data on thermal expansion and magnetostriction confirm the conclusion that the dominant contribution of the measured temperature and field change in the speed of sound comes from the change in the elastic modulus itself. Based on the analysis of heat capacity measurements in the magnetic field, we explain the significant anomalies at the second-order branch of the phase transition boundary as a manifestation of the tricritical fluctuations, dominating the region below the tricritical point. The outcome confirms the 3D Ising model, at zero and low magnetic fields, with a crossover to the mean-field tricritical behavior at fields close to the tricritical point, where tricritical fluctuations dominate the temperature evolution of the given property.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Pressure induced superconductivity in a CeRhSi$_{3}$ single crystal -- the high pressure study

Pressure induced superconductivity in non-centrosymmetric CeRhSi$_{3}$ and CeIrSi$_{3}$ compounds has attracted significant attention of the scientific community since its discovery 15 years ago. Up-to-date, all reported experimental results were obtained employing the hybrid-cylinder piston pressure cells with a maximum reachable pressure of 3 GPa. Present study focuses on the superconducting state at higher, so far unreported, pressures using the Bridgman anvil cell and a CeRhSi$_{3}$ single crystal synthesized by the Sn-true-flux method. The initial increase of superconducting critical temperature from 0.4 K at 1.1 GPa to 1.1 K at 2.4 GPa is followed by a gradual suppression of SC state upon increasing the pressure above 3.0 GPa, forming a typical dome. The pressure induced superconductivity is expected to be completely suppressed in the pressure region between 4.5 and 5.0 GPa. Temperature dependence of electrical resistivity in constant magnetic fields and high pressures, as well as the magnetoresistance measurements, reveal a large critical field, exceeding 19 T at 0.6 K and 2.4 GPa, sharply decreasing receding the superconductivity dome. The previously reported $\it{T-p}$ and $\it{H-T}$ phase diagrams are completed by our high-pressure data and discussed in the frame of previous results.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2019

Magnetotransport as a probe of phase transformations in metallic antiferromagnets: the UIrSi$_3$ case

The electrical resistance, Hall resistance and thermoelectric power of the Ising-like antiferromagnet UIrSi3 were measured as functions of temperature and magnetic field. We have observed that the unequivocally different characters of first-order and second-order magnetic phase transitions lead to distinctly different magnetotransport properties in the neighborhood of corresponding critical temperatures and magnetic fields, respectively. The magnetic contributions to the electrical and Hall resistivity in the antiferromagnetic state, and the polarized and normal regimes of paramagnetic state are driven by different underlying mechanisms. Results of detailed measurements of magnetotransport in the vicinity of the tricritical point reveal that the Hall-resistivity steps at phase transitions change polarity just at this point. The jumps in field dependences of specific heat, electrical resistivity, Hall resistivity and Seebeck coefficient at the first-order metamagnetic transitions indicate a Fermi surface reconstruction, which is characteristic of a magnetic-field induced Lifshitz transition. The presented results emphasize the usefulness of measurements of electrical- and thermal-transport properties as sensitive probes of magnetic phase transformations in antiferromagnets sometimes hardly detectable by other methods.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Antiferromagnetism and phase transitions in non-centrosymmetric UIrSi$_3$

Magnetization and specific heat measurements on a UIrSi3 single crystal reveal Ising-like antiferromagnetism below T$_N$ = 41.7 K with easy magnetization direction along the c-axis of tetragonal structure. The antiferromagentic ordering is suppressed by magnetic fields > H$_c$ (μ$_0$H$_c$ = 7.3 T at 2 K) applied along the c-axis. The first-order metamagnetic transition at H$_c$ exhibits asymmetric hysteresis reflecting a slow reentry of the complex ground-state antiferromagnetic structure with decreasing field. The hysteresis narrows with increasing temperature and vanishes at 28 K. A second-order metamagnetic transition is observed at higher temperatures. The point of change of the order of transition in the established H-T magnetic phase diagram is considered as the tricritical point (at T$_{tc}$ = 28 K and μ$_0$H$_{tc}$ = 5.8 T). The modified-Curie-Weiss-law fits of temperature dependence of the a- and c-axis susceptibility provide opposite signs of Weiss temperatures, Θ$_p^a$ ~ -51 K and Θ$_p^c$ ~ +38 K, respectively. This result and the small value of μ$_0$H$_c$ contrasting to the high T$_N$ indicate competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions responsible for the complex antiferromagnetic ground state. The simultaneous electronic-structure calculations focused on the total energy of ferromagentic and various antiferromagnetic states, the U magnetic moment and magnetocrystalline anisotropy provide results consistent with experimental findings and the suggested physical picture of the system.

cond-mat.str-el↗