arXiv subjects

Jianfa Zhao

Publications and source records attributed to Jianfa Zhao.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Crystal structure and properties of iron-based spin-chain compound Ba9Fe3Se15

We report the synthesis of a new quasi one-dimensional (1D) iron selenide. Ba9Fe3Se15 was synthesized at high temperature and high pressure of 5.5 GPa and systematically studied via structural, magnetic and transport measurements at ambient and at high-pressures. Ba9Fe3Se15 crystallizes in a monoclinic structure and consists of face-sharing FeSe6 octahedral chains along the c axis. At ambient pressure it exhibits an insulating behavior with a band gap ~460 meV and undergoes a ferrimagnet-like phase transition at 14 K. Under high pressure, a complete metallization occurs at ~29 GPa, which is accompanied by a spin state crossover from high spin (HS) state to low spin (LS) state. The LS appears for pressures P >36 GPa.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Mott Transition and Superconductivity in Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate NaYbSe$_2$

The Mott transition is one of the fundamental issues in condensed matter physics, especially in the system with antiferromagnetic long-range order. However the Mott transition in quantum spin liquid (QSL) systems without long-range order is rare. Here we report the observation of the pressure-induced insulator to metal transition followed by the emergence of superconductivity in the QSL candidate NaYbSe2 with triangular lattice of 4f Yb$_3^+$ ions. Detail analysis of transport properties at metallic state shows an evolution from non-Fermi liquid to Fermi liquid behavior when approaching the vicinity of superconductivity. An irreversible structure phase transition occurs around 11 GPa is revealed by the X-ray diffraction. These results shed light on the Mott transition and superconductivity in the QSL systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Pressure-induced inverse order-disorder transition in double perovskites

Given the consensus that pressure improves cation order in most of known materials, a discovery of pressure-induced disorder could require reconsideration of order-disorder transition in solid state physics/chemistry and geophysics. Double perovskites Y2CoIrO6 and Y2CoRuO6 synthesized at ambient pressure show B-site order, while the polymorphs synthesized at 6 and 15 GPa are partially-ordered and disordered respectively. With the decrease of ordering degrees, the lattices are shrunken and the crystal structures alter from monoclinic to orthorhombic symmetry. Correspondingly, long-range ferrimagnetic order in the B-site ordered phases are gradually overwhelmed by B-site disorder. Theoretical calculations suggest that unusual unit cell compressions under external pressures unexpectedly stabilize the disordered phases of Y2CoIrO6 and Y2CoRuO6.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Anomalous critical point behavior in dilute magnetic semiconductor (Ca,Na)(Zn,Mn)2Sb2

In this paper we report successful synthesis and magnetic properties of (Ca,Na)(Zn,Mn)2Sb2 as a new ferromagnetic dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS). In this DMS material the concentration of magnetic moments can be controlled independently from the concentration of electric charge carriers that are required for mediating magnetic interactions between these moments. This feature allows us to separately investigate the effect of carriers and of spins on the ferromagnetic properties of this new DMS alloy, and particularly of the critical ferromagnetic behavior. We use modified Arrott plot technique to establish critical exponents b, g, and d of this alloy. We find that at low Mn concentrations (< 10 at.%), it is governed by short-range 3D-Ising behavior, with experimental values of b, g, and d very close to theoretical 3D-Ising values of 0.325, 1.24, and 4.815. However, as the Mn concentration increases, this DMS material exhibits a mixed-phase behavior, with g retaining its 3D-Ising characteristics, but b crossing over to longer-range mean-field behavior.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

A substantial increase of Curie temperature in a new type of diluted magnetic semiconductors via effects of chemical pressure

Chemical pressure is an effective method to tune physical properties, particularly for diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) of which ferromagnetic ordering is mediated by charge carriers. Via substitution of smaller Ca for larger Sr, we introduce chemical pressure on (Sr,Na)(Cd,Mn)2As2 to fabricate a new DMS material (Ca,Na)(Cd,Mn)2As2. Carriers and spins are introduced by substitutions of (Ca,Na) and (Cd,Mn) respectively. The unit cell volume reduces by 6.2% after complete substitution of Ca for Sr, suggesting a subsistent chemical pressure. Importantly the local geometry of [Cd/MnAs4] tetrahedron is optimized via chemical compression that increases the Mn-As hybridization leading to enhanced ferromagnetic interactions. As a result, the maximum Curie temperature (TC) is increased by about 50% while the the maximum saturation moment increases by over 100% from (Sr,Na)(Cd,Mn)2As2 to (Ca,Na)(Cd,Mn)2As2. The chemical pressure estimated from the equation of state is equal to an external physical pressure of 3.6 GPa.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

A New Quasi One-Dimensional Compound Ba3TiTe5 and Superconductivity Induced by Pressure

We report systematical studies of a new quasi-one-dimensional (1D) compound Ba3TiTe5 and the high-pressure induced superconductivity therein. Ba3TiTe5 was synthesized at high pressure and high temperature. It crystallizes into a hexagonal structure (P63/mcm), which consists of infinite face-sharing octahedral TiTe6 chains and Te chains along the c axis, exhibiting a strong 1D characteristic structure. The first-principles calculations demonstrate that Ba3TiTe5 is a well-defined 1D conductor and thus, it can be considered a starting point to explore the exotic physics induced by pressure via enhancing the interchain hopping to move the 1D conductor to a high dimensional metal. For Ba3TiTe5, high-pressure techniques were employed to study the emerging physics dependent on interchain hopping, such as the Umklapp scattering effect, spin/charge density wave (SDW/CDW), superconductivity and non-Fermi Liquid behavior. Finally, a complete phase diagram was plotted. The superconductivity emerges from 8.8 GPa, near which the Umklapp gap is mostly suppressed. Tc is enhanced and reaches the maximum ~6 K at about 36.7 GPa, where the spin/charge density wave (SDW/CDW) is completely suppressed, and a non-Fermi Liquid behavior appears. Our results suggest that the appearance of superconductivity is associated with the fluctuation due to the suppression of Umklapp gap and the enhancement of Tc is related with the fluctuation of the SDW/CDW.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Relationship between the parent charge transfer gap and maximum transition temperature in cuprates

One of the biggest puzzles concerning the cuprate high temperature superconductors is what determines the maximum transition temperature (Tc,max), which varies from less than 30 K to above 130 K in different compounds. Despite this dramatic variation, a robust trend is that within each family, the double-layer compound always has higher Tc,max than the single-layer counterpart. Here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the electronic structure of four cuprate parent compounds belonging to two different families. We find that within each family, the double layer compound has a much smaller charge transfer gap size ($Δ_{CT}$), indicating a clear anticorrelation between $Δ_{CT}$ and Tc,max. These results suggest that the charge transfer gap plays a key role in the superconducting physics of cuprates, which shed important new light on the high Tc mechanism from doped Mott insulator perspective.

cond-mat.str-el↗