arXiv subjects

Jian Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Jian Liu.

At least 523 records · Page 29Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Mechanism of preferential adsorption of SO$_2$ into two microporous paddle wheel frameworks M(bdc)(ted)0.5

The selective adsorption of a corrosive gas, SO$_2$, into two microporous pillared paddle-wheel frameworks M(bdc)(ted)0.5 [M = Ni, Zn; bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate; ted = triethylenediamine] is studied by volumetric adsorption measurements and a combination of in-situ infrared spectroscopy and ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The uptake of SO$_2$ in M(bdc)(ted)0.5 at room temperature is quite significant, 9.97 mol/kg at 1.13 bar. The major adsorbed SO$_2$ molecules contributing to the isotherm measurements are characterized by stretching bands at 1326 and 1144 cm$^{-1}$. Theoretical calculations including van der Waals interactions (based on vdW-DF) suggest that two adsorption configurations are possible for these SO$_2$ molecules. One geometry involves an SO$_2$ molecule bonded through its sulfur atom to the oxygen atom of the paddle-wheel building unit and its two oxygen atoms to the C-H groups of the organic linkers by formation of hydrogen bonds. Such a configuration results in a distortion of the benzene rings, which is consistent with the experimentally observed shift of the ring deformation mode. In the other geometry, SO$_2$ establishes hydrogen bonding with -CH$_2$ group of the ted linker through its two oxygen atoms simultaneously. The vdW-DF-simulated frequency shifts of the SO$_2$ stretching bands in these two configurations are similar and in good agreement with spectroscopically measured values of physisorbed SO$_2$.In addition, the IR spectra reveal the presence of another minor species, characterized by stretching modes at 1242 and 1105 cm$^{-1}$ and causing significant perturbations of MOFs vibrational modes (CH$_x$ and carboxylate groups). This species is more strongly bound, requiring a higher temperature ($\sim$150 $^\circ$C) to remove it than for the main physisorbed species.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Tuning the Competition between Ferromagnetism and Antiferromagnetism in a Half-doped Manganite through Magnetoelectric Coupling

We investigate the possibility of controlling the magnetic phase transition of the heterointerface between a half-doped manganite La$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO$_{3}$ and a multiferroic BiFeO$_{3}$ through magnetoelectric coupling. Using macroscopic magnetometry and element-selective x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Mn and Fe \emph{L}-edges, we discover that the ferroelectric polarization of BFO controls simultaneously the magnetization of BFO and LCMO. X-ray absorption spectra at oxygen \emph{K}-edge and linear dichroism at Mn \emph{L}-edge suggest that the interfacial coupling is mainly derived from the superexchange between Mn and Fe \emph{t}$_{2g}$ spins. The combination of x-ray absorption spectroscopy and mean field theory calculations reveals that the \emph{d}-electron modulation of Mn cations changes the magnetic coupling in LCMO, which controls the enhanced canted moments of interfacial BFO via the interfacial coupling. Our results demonstrate that the competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic instability can be modulated by an electric field at the heterointerface, providing another pathway for the electrical field control of magnetism.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Very Low Mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars From MARVELS IV: A Candidate Brown Dwarf or Low-Mass Stellar Companion to HIP 67526

We report the discovery of a candidate brown dwarf or a very low mass stellar companion (MARVELS-5b) to the star HIP 67526 from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The radial velocity curve for this object contains 31 epochs spread over 2.5 years. Our Keplerian fit using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach, reveals that the companion has an orbital period of $90.2695^{+0.0188}_{-0.0187}$ days, an eccentricity of $0.4375 \pm 0.0040$ and a semi-amplitude of $2948.14^{+16.65}_{-16.55}$ m s$^{-1}$. Using additional high-resolution spectroscopy, we find the host star has an effective temperature $T_{\rm{eff}}=6004 \pm 34$ K, a surface gravity $\log g$ [cgs] $=4.55 \pm 0.17$ and a metallicity [Fe/H] $=+0.04 \pm 0.06$. The stellar mass and radius determined through the empirical relationship of Torres et al. (2010), yields 1.10$\pm$0.09 $M_{\sun}$ and 0.92$\pm$0.19 $R_{\sun}$. The minimum mass of MARVELS-5b is $65.0 \pm 2.9 M_{Jup}$, indicating that it is likely to be either a brown dwarf or a very low mass star, thus occupying a relatively sparsely-populated region of the mass function of companions to solar-type stars. The distance to this system is 101$\pm$10 pc from the astrometric measurements of Hipparcos. No stellar tertiary is detected in the high-contrast images taken by either FastCam lucky imaging or Keck adaptive optics imaging, ruling out any star with mass greater than 0.2$M_{\sun}$ at a separation larger than 40 AU.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Tuning the electronic properties of J_eff=1/2 correlated semimetal in epitaxial perovskite SrIrO3

We investigated the electronic properties of epitaxially stabilized perovskite SrIrO3 and demonstrated the effective strain-control on its electronic structure. Comprehensive transport measurements showed that the strong spin-orbit coupling renders a novel semimetallic phase for the J_eff=1/2 electrons rather than an ordinary correlated metal, elucidating the nontrivial mechanism underlying the dimensionality-controlled metal-insulator transition in iridates. The electron-hole symmetry of this correlated semimetal was found to exhibit drastic variation when subject to bi-axial strain. Under compressive strain, substantial electron-hole asymmetry is observed in contrast to the tensile side, where the electron and hole effective masses are comparable, illustrating the susceptivity of the J_eff=1/2 to structural distortion. Tensile strain also shrinks the Fermi surface, indicative of an increasing degree of correlation which is consistent with optical measurements. These results pave a pathway to investigate and manipulate the electronic states in spin-orbit-coupled correlated oxides, and lay the foundation for constructing 5d transition metal heterostructures.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Interfacial Coupling in Multiferroic-Ferromagnet Heterostructures

We report local probe investigations of the magnetic interaction between BiFeO3 films and a ferromagnetic Co0.9Fe0.1 layer. Within the constraints of intralayer exchange coupling in the Co0.9Fe0.1, the multiferroic imprint in the ferromagnet results in a collinear arrangement of the local magnetization and the in-plane BiFeO3 ferroelectric polarization. The magnetic anisotropy is uniaxial, and an in-plane effective coupling field of order 10 mT is derived. Measurements as a function of multiferroic layer thickness show that the influence of the multiferroic layer on the magnetic layer becomes negligible for 3 nm thick BiFeO3 films. We ascribe this breakdown in the exchange coupling to a weakening of the antiferromagnetic order in the ultrathin BiFeO3 film based on our X-ray linear dichroism measurements. These observations are consistent with an interfacial exchange coupling between the CoFe moments and a canted antiferromagnetic moment in the BiFeO3.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Very Low Mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-Like Stars From MARVELS V: A Low Eccentricity Brown Dwarf from the Driest Part of the Desert, MARVELS-6b

We describe the discovery of a likely brown dwarf (BD) companion with a minimum mass of 31.7 +/- 2.0 M_Jup to GSC 03546-01452 from the MARVELS radial velocity survey, which we designate as MARVELS-6b. For reasonable priors, our analysis gives a probability of 72% that MARVELS-6b has a mass below the hydrogen-burning limit of 0.072 M_Sun, and thus it is a high-confidence BD companion. It has a moderately long orbital period of 47.8929 +0.0063/-0.0062 days with a low eccentricty of 0.1442 +0.0078/-0.0073, and a semi-amplitude of 1644 +12/-13 m/s. Moderate resolution spectroscopy of the host star has determined the following parameters: T_eff = 5598 +/- 63, log g = 4.44 +/- 0.17, and [Fe/H] = +0.40 +/- 0.09. Based upon these measurements, GSC 03546-01452 has a probable mass and radius of M_star = 1.11 +/- 0.11 M_Sun and R_star = 1.06 +/- 0.23 R_Sun with an age consistent with less than ~6 Gyr at a distance of 219 +/- 21 pc from the Sun. Although MARVELS-6b is not observed to transit, we cannot definitively rule out a transiting configuration based on our observations. There is a visual companion detected with Lucky Imaging at 7.7 arcsec from the host star, but our analysis shows that it is not bound to this system. The minimum mass of MARVELS-6b exists at the minimum of the mass functions for both stars and planets, making this a rare object even compared to other BDs.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Water Transport through Carbon Nanotubes with the Radial Breathing Mode

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the water permeation across the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) with the radial breathing mode (RBM) vibration. It is found that the RBM can play a significant role in breaking hydrogen bonds of the water chain, accordingly increasing the net flux dramatically, and reducing drastically the average number of water molecules inside the tube with the frequency ranging from 5000 to 11000 GHz, while far away from this frequency region the transport properties of water molecules are almost unaffected by the RBM. This phenomenon can be understood as the resonant response of the water molecule chain to the RBM. Our findings are expected to be helpful for the design of high-flux nanochannels and the understanding of biological activities especially the water channelling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Anisotropic magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic semiconductor Sr2IrO4 epitaxial heterostructure

Lord Kelvin with his discovery of the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) phenomenon in Ni and Fe was 70 years ahead of the formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics the effect stems from, and almost one and a half century ahead of spintronics whose first commercial applications relied on the AMR. Despite the long history and importance in magnetic sensing and memory technologies, the microscopic understanding of the AMR has struggled to go far beyond the basic notion of a relativistic magnetotransport phenomenon arising from combined effects on diffusing carriers of spin-orbit coupling and broken symmetry of a metallic ferromagnet. Our work demonstrates that even this seemingly generic notion of the AMR phenomenon needs revisiting as we observe the ohmic AMR effect in a nano-scale film of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) semiconductor Sr2IrO4 (SIO). Our work opens the recently proposed path for integrating semiconducting and spintronic technologies in AFMs. SIO is a particularly favorable material for exploring this path since its semiconducting nature is entangled with the AFM order and strong spin-orbit coupling. For the observation of the low-field Ohmic AMR in SIO we prepared an epitaxial heterostructure comprising a nano-scale SIO film on top of an epilayer of a FM metal La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO). This allows the magnetic field control of the orientation of AFM spins in SIO via the exchange spring effect at the FM-AFM interface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Epitaxy-distorted spin-orbit Mott insulator in Sr2IrO4 thin films

High quality epitaxial thin films of Jeff=1/2 Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 with increasing in-plane tensile strain have been grown on top of SrTiO3(001) substrates. Increasing the in-plane tensile strain up to ~0.3% was observed to drop the c/a tetragonality by 1.2 %. X-ray absorption spectroscopy detected a strong reduction of the linear dichroism upon increasing in-plane tensile strain towards a reduced anisotropy in the local electronic structure. While the most relaxed thin film shows a consistent dependence with previously reported single crystal bulk measurements, electrical transport reveals a charge gap reduction from 200 meV down to 50 meV for the thinnest and most epitaxy-distorted film. We argue that the reduced tetragonality plays a major role in the change of the electronic structure, which is reflected in the change of the transport properties. Our work opens the possibility for exploiting epitaxial strain as a tool for both structural and functional manipulation of spin-orbit Mott systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Enhanced Spin and Electronic Reconstructions at the Cuprate-Manganite Interface

We report on a resonant soft X-ray spectroscopy study of the electronic and magnetic structure of the cuprate-manganite interface. Polarized X-ray spectroscopy measurements taken at the Cu L edge reveal up to a five-fold increase in the dichroic signal as compared to past experimental and theoretical values. Furthermore an increase in the degree of interlayer charge transfer up to 0.25e (where e is charge of an electron) per copper ion is observed leading to a profound reconstruction in the orbital scheme for these interfacial copper ions. It is inferred that these enhancement are related to an increase in TMI observed for manganite layers grown with rapidly modulated flux.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Very Low-mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars from Marvels III: A Short-Period Brown Dwarf Candidate Around An Active G0Iv Subgiant

We present an eccentric, short-period brown dwarf candidate orbiting the active, slightly evolved subgiant star TYC 2087-00255-1, which has effective temperature T_eff = 5903+/-42 K, surface gravity log (g) = 4.07+/-0.16 (cgs), and metallicity [Fe/H] = -0.23+/-0.07. This candidate was discovered using data from the first two years of the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanets Large-area Survey (MARVELS), which is part of the third phase of Sloan Digital Sky Survey. From our 38 radial velocity measurements spread over a two-year time baseline, we derive a Keplerian orbital fit with semi-amplitude K=3.571+/-0.041 km/s, period P=9.0090+/-0.0004 days, and eccentricity e=0.226+/-0.011. Adopting a mass of 1.16+/-0.11 Msun for the subgiant host star, we infer that the companion has a minimum mass of 40.0+/-2.5 M_Jup. Assuming an edge-on orbit, the semimajor axis is 0.090+/-0.003 AU. The host star is photometrically variable at the \sim1% level with a period of \sim13.16+/-0.01 days, indicating that the host star spin and companion orbit are not synchronized. Through adaptive optics imaging we also found a point source 643+/-10 mas away from TYC 2087-00255-1, which would have a mass of 0.13 Msun if it is physically associated with TYC 2087-00255-1 and has the same age. Future proper motion observation should be able to resolve if this tertiary object is physically associated with TYC 2087-00255-1 and make TYC 2087-00255-1 a triple body system. Core Ca II H and K line emission indicate that the host is chromospherically active, at a level that is consistent with the inferred spin period and measured v_{rot}*sin i, but unusual for a subgiant of this T_eff. This activity could be explained by ongoing tidal spin-up of the host star by the companion.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Metal-insulator transition and orbital reconstruction in Mott quantum wells of NdNiO$_{3}$

The metal-insulator transition (MIT) and the underlying electronic and orbital structure in $e_{g}^{1}$ quantum wells based on NdNiO$_{3}$ was investigated by d.c. transport and resonant soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy. By comparing quantum wells of the same dimension but with two different confinement structures, we explicitly demonstrate that the quantum well boundary condition of correlated electrons is critical to selecting the many-body ground state. In particular, the long-range orderings and the MIT are found to be strongly enhanced under quantum confinement by sandwiching NdNiO$_{3}$ with the wide-gap dielectric LaAlO$_{3}$, while they are suppressed when one of the interfaces is replaced by a surface (interface with vacuum). Resonant spectroscopy reveals that the reduced charge fluctuations in the sandwich structure are supported by the enhanced propensity to charge ordering due to the suppressed $e_g$ orbital splitting when interfaced with the confining LaAlO$_{3}$ layer.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Very Low-mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars from MARVELS II: A Short-period Companion Orbiting an F Star with Evidence of a Stellar Tertiary And Significant Mutual Inclination

We report the discovery via radial velocity of a short-period (P = 2.430420 \pm 0.000006 days) companion to the F-type main sequence star TYC 2930-00872-1. A long-term trend in the radial velocities indicates the presence of a tertiary stellar companion with $P > 2000$ days. High-resolution spectroscopy of the host star yields T_eff = 6427 +/- 33 K, log(g) = 4.52 +/- 0.14, and [Fe/H]=-0.04 +/- 0.05. These parameters, combined with the broad-band spectral energy distribution and parallax, allow us to infer a mass and radius of the host star of M_1=1.21 +/- 0.08 M_\odot and R_1=1.09_{-0.13}^{+0.15} R_\odot. We are able to exclude transits of the inner companion with high confidence. The host star's spectrum exhibits clear Ca H and K core emission indicating stellar activity, but a lack of photometric variability and small v*sin(I) suggest the primary's spin axis is oriented in a pole-on configuration. The rotational period of the primary from an activity-rotation relation matches the orbital period of the inner companion to within 1.5 σ, suggesting they are tidally locked. If the inner companion's orbital angular momentum vector is aligned with the stellar spin axis, as expected through tidal evolution, then it has a stellar mass of M_2 ~ 0.3-0.4 M_\odot. Direct imaging limits the existence of stellar companions to projected separations < 30 AU. No set of spectral lines and no significant flux contribution to the spectral energy distribution from either companion are detected, which places individual upper mass limits of M < 1.0 M_\odot, provided they are not stellar remnants. If the tertiary is not a stellar remnant, then it likely has a mass of ~0.5-0.6 M_\odot, and its orbit is likely significantly inclined from that of the secondary, suggesting that the Kozai-Lidov mechanism may have driven the dynamical evolution of this system.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Determining Seebeck coefficient of heavily doped La:SrTiO3 from density functional calculations

A new approach is developed to calculate temperature dependent Seebeck coefficient of heavily doped systems by using Boltzmann transport theory and electron density of states (DOS) obtained from density functional calculations. This approach is applied to heavily doped La:STO with DOS from tetrahedral method and Fermi energy using Fermi integrals. The calculated Seebeck coefficient agrees with the experimental data nearly quantitatively, which proved the accuracy of this approach. The influence of the Fermi energy and asymmetry of DOS on the Seebeck coefficient is analyzed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Very Low-Mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-Like Stars from MARVELS I: A Low Mass Ratio Stellar Companion to TYC 4110-01037-1 in a 79-day Orbit

TYC 4110-01037-1 has a low-mass stellar companion, whose small mass ratio and short orbital period are atypical amongst solar-like (Teff ~< 6000 K) binary systems. Our analysis of TYC 4110-01037-1 reveals it to be a moderately aged (~<5 Gyr) solar-like star having a mass of 1.07 +/- 0.08 MSun and radius of 0.99 +/- 0.18 RSun. We analyze 32 radial velocity measurements from the SDSS-III MARVELS survey as well as 6 supporting radial velocity measurements from the SARG spectrograph on the 3.6m TNG telescope obtained over a period of ~2 years. The best Keplerian orbital fit parameters were found to have a period of 78.994 +/- 0.012 days, an eccentricity of 0.1095 +/- 0.0023, and a semi-amplitude of 4199 +/- 11 m/s. We determine the minimum companion mass (if sin i = 1) to be 97.7 +/- 5.8 MJup. The system's companion to host star mass ratio, >0.087 +/- 0.003, places it at the lowest end of observed values for short period stellar companions to solar-like (Teff ~< 6000 K) stars. One possible way to create such a system would be if a triple-component stellar multiple broke up into a short period, low q binary during the cluster dispersal phase of its lifetime. A candidate tertiary body has been identified in the system via single-epoch, high contrast imagery. If this object is confirmed to be co-moving, we estimate it would be a dM4 star. We present these results in the context of our larger-scale effort to constrain the statistics of low mass stellar and brown dwarf companions to FGK-type stars via the MARVELS survey.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Orbital control in strained ultra-thin LaNiO$_3$/LaAlO$_3$ superlattices

In pursuit of rational control of orbital polarization, we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of single unit cell superlattices of the correlated metal LaNiO$_3$ and the band insulator LaAlO$_3$. Polarized x-ray absorption spectra show a distinct asymmetry in the orbital response under strain. A splitting of orbital energies consistent with octahedral distortions is found for the case of compressive strain. In sharp contrast, for tensile strain, no splitting is found although a strong orbital polarization is present. Density functional theory calculations including a Hubbard U term reveal that this asymmetry is a result of the interplay of strain and confinement induces octahedral rotations and distortions and altered covalency in the bonding across the interfacial Ni-O-Al apical oxygen, leading to a charge disporportionation at the Ni sites for tensile strain.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Dynamics of competing ideas in complex social systems

Individuals accepting an idea may intentionally or unintentionally impose influences in a certain neighborhood area, making other individuals within the area less likely or even impossible to accept other competing ideas. Depending on whether such influences strictly prohibit neighborhood individuals from accepting other ideas or not, we classify them into exclusive and non-exclusive influences, respectively. Our study reveals for the first time the rich and complex dynamics of two competing ideas with neighborhood influences in scale-free social networks: depending on whether they have exclusive or non-exclusive influences, the final state varies from multiple coexistence to founder control to exclusion, with different sizes of population accepting each of the ideas respectively. Such results provide insights helpful for better understanding the spread (and the control of spread) of ideas in human society.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2011

Epitaxial Stabilization of Ultrathin Films of Rare-Earth Nickelates

We report on the synthesis of ultrathin films of highly distorted EuNiO3 (ENO) grown by interrupted pulse laser epitaxy on YAlO3 (YAO) substrates. Through mapping the phase space of nickelate thin film epitaxy, the optimal growth temperatures were found to scale linearly with the Goldschmidt tolerance factor. Considering the gibbs energy of the expanding film, this empirical trend is discussed in terms of epitaxial stabilization and the escalation of the lattice energy due to lattice distortions and decreasing symmetry. These findings are fundamental to other complex oxide perovskites, and provide a route to the synthesis of other perovskite structures in ultrathin-film form.

cond-mat.str-el↗