arXiv subjects

K. Siemensmeyer

Publications and source records attributed to K. Siemensmeyer.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Nodeless Hybridization as Proof of Trivial Topology in Samarium Hexaboride

Calculations unanimously predict samarium hexaboride to be a topological Kondo insulator, the first topological insulator driven by strong electron correlation. As of today it appears also experimentally established as the only representative of this material class. Here, we investigate the three-dimensional band structure of SmB$_6$ and show that it is incompatible with a topological Kondo insulator which must have hybridization nodes at high-symmetry points. In addition we clarify the remaining questions concerning the nature of the surface states with new data. We address consequences for the search for correlated topological insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Crystal field effects in the zig-zag chain compound SrTm$_2$O$_4$

The single ion properties of the zig-zag chain compound SrTm$_2$O$_4$ have been investigated using heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, inelastic neutron scattering, and polarized muon spectroscopy. Two crystal field models are employed to estimate the single ion properties; a Density Function Theory based model and an effective charge model based on the Hutchings point charge model. The latter describes our experimental results well. This model estimates an easy-axis anisotropy for one of the Tm$^{3+}$ sites and an easy-plane anisotropy for the second site. It also predicts a mixed ground state with dominating $J = 0$ characteristics for both sites. Additionally, muon spin rotation/relaxation ($μ^+$SR) spectra reveal oscillations, typically a sign of long-range magnetic order. However, the temperature dependence of the precession frequency and the relaxation rates indicate that the system is in an extended critical regime and the observed relaxation is actually dynamic.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Crystal growth, characterization and phase transition of PbCuTe$_2$O$_6$

Single crystals of the three-dimensional frustrated magnet and spin liquid candidate compound PbCuTe$_2$O$_6$ were grown using both the Travelling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) and the Top-Seeded Solution Growth (TSSG) techniques. The growth conditions were optimized by investigating the thermal properties. The quality of the crystals was checked by polarized optical microscopy, X-ray Laue and X-ray powder diffraction, and compared to the polycrystalline samples. Excellent quality crystals were obtained by the TSSG method. Magnetic measurements of these crystals revealed a small anisotropy for different crystallographic directions in comparison with the previously reported data. The heat capacity of both single crystal and powder samples reveal a transition anomaly around 1 K. Curiously the position and magnitude of the transition are strongly dependent on the crystallite size and it is almost entirely absent for the smallest crystallites. A structural transition is suggested which accompanies the reported ferroelectric transition, and a scenario whereby it becomes energetically unfavourable in small crystallites is proposed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Crystal field potential and short-range order effects in inelastic neutron scattering, magnetization and heat capacity of the cage-glass compound HoB12

The strongly correlated system Ho11B12 with boron sublattice Jahn-Teller instability and nanoscale electronic phase separation (dynamic charge stripes) was studied in detail by inelastic neutron scattering (INS), magnetometry and heat capacity measurements at temperatures in the range 3-300 K. From the analysis of registered INS spectra, we determined parameters of the cubic crystal field at holmium sites, B4=- 0.333 meV and B6= -2.003 meV (in Stevens notations), with an unconventional large ratio B6/B4 pointing on the dominant role of conduction electrons in the formation of a crystal field potential. The molecular field in the antiferromagnetic state, Bloc = (1.75+- 0.1) T has been directly determined from the INS spectra together with short-range order effects detected in the paramagnetic state. A comparison of measured magnetization in diluted Lu0.99Ho0.01B12 and concentrated HoB12 single crystals showed a strong suppression of Ho magnetic moments by antiferromagnetic exchange interactions in holmium dodecaboride. To account explicitly for the short-range antiferromagnetic correlations, a self-consistent holmium dimer model was developed that allowed us to reproduce successfully field and temperature variations of the magnetization and heat capacity in the cage-glass phase of HoB12 in external magnetic fields.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Structural and magnetic properties of the new quantum magnet BaCuTe$_2$O$_6$

We investigate the structural and magnetic properties of the new quantum magnet BaCuTe$_2$O$_6$. This compound is synthesized for the first time in powder and single crystal form. Synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction reveal a cubic crystal structure (P4$_1$32) where the magnetic Cu$^{2+}$ ions form a complex network. Physical properties measurements suggest the presence of antiferromagnetic interactions with a Curie-Weiss temperature of -33K, while long-range magnetic order occurs at the much lower temperature of ~6.3K. The magnetic structure, solved using neutron diffraction, reveals antiferromagnetic order along chains parallel to the a, b and c crystal axes. This is consistent with the magnetic excitations which resemble the multispinon continuum typical of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. A consistent intrachain interaction value of ~34K is achieved from the various techniques. Finally the magnetic structure provides evidence that the chains are coupled together in a non-colinear arrangement by a much weaker antiferromagnetic, frustrated hyperkagome interaction.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Suppression of indirect exchange and symmetry breaking in antiferromagnetic metal with dynamic charge stripes

Precise angle-resolved magnetoresistance (ARM) measurements are applied to reveal the origin for the lowering of symmetry in electron transport and the emergence of a huge number of magnetic phases in the ground state of antiferromagnetic metal HoB12 with fcc crystal structure. By analyzing of the polar H-theta-phi magnetic phase diagrams of this compound reconstructed from the experimental ARM data we argue that non-equilibrium electron density oscillations (dynamic charge stripes) are responsible for the suppression of the indirect RKKY exchange along <110> directions between the nearest neighboring magnetic moments of Ho3+ ions in this strongly correlated electron system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2019

Maltese Cross anisotropy in Ho0.8Lu0.2B12 antiferromagnetic metal with dynamic charge stripes

The model strongly correlated electron system Ho0.8Lu0.2B12 which demonstrates a cooperative Jahn-Teller instability of the boron sub-lattice in combination with rattling modes of Ho(Lu) ions, dynamic charge stripes and unusual antiferromagnetic (AF) ground state has been studied in detail at low temperatures by magnetoresistance, magnetization and heat capacity measurements. Based on received results it turns out that the angular H-fi-T magnetic phase diagrams of this non-equilibrium AF metal can be reconstructed in the form of a Maltese cross. The dramatic AF ground state symmetry lowering of this dodecaboride with fcc crystal structure can be attributed to the redistribution of conduction electrons which leave the RKKY oscillations of the electron spin density to participate in the dynamic charge stripes providing with extraordinary changes in the indirect exchange interaction between magnetic moments of Ho3+ ions and resulting in the emergence of a number of various magnetic phases. It is also shown that the two main contributions to magnetoresistance in the complex AF phase, the (i) positive linear on magnetic field and the (ii) negative quadratic component can be separated and analyzed quantitatively, correspondingly, in terms of charge carrier scattering on spin density wave (5d) component of the magnetic structure and on local 4f-5d spin fluctuations of holmium sites.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

A consistent view of the samarium hexaboride terminations to resolve the nature of its surface states

The research effort prompted by the prediction that SmB$_6$ could be the first topological Kondo insulator has produced a wealth of new results, though not all of these seem compatible. A major discrepancy exists between scanning tunneling microscopy / spectroscopy (STM/S) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), because the two experimental methods suggest a very different number of terminations of the (100) surface with different properties. Here we tackle this issue in a combined STM/S and ARPES study. We find that two of the well-ordered topographies reported in earlier STM studies can be associated with the crystal terminations identified using photoemission. We further observe a reversal of the STM contrast with bias voltage for one of the topographies. We ascribe this result to a different energy dependence of Sm and B-derived states, and show that it can be used to obtain element specific images of SmB$_6$ and identify which topography belongs to which termination. We finally find STS results to support a modification of the low-energy electronic structure at the surface that has been proposed as the trivial origin of surface metallicity in this material.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Investigation of the magnetic structure and crystal field states of pyrochlore antiferromagnet Nd2Zr2O7

We present synchrotron x-ray diffraction, neutron powder diffraction and time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering measurements on the rare earth pyrochlore oxide Nd2Zr2O7 to study the ordered state magnetic structure and cystal field states. The structural characterization by high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction confirms that the pyrochlore structure has no detectable O vacancies or Nd/Zr site mixing. The neutron diffraction reveals long range all-in/all-out antiferromagnetic order below T_N ~ 0.4 K with propagation vector k = (0 0 0) and an ordered moment of 1.26(2) μ_B/Nd at 0.1 K. The ordered moment is much smaller than the estimated moment of 2.65 μ_B/Nd for the local <111> Ising ground state of Nd3+ (J=9/2) suggesting that the ordering is partially suppressed by quantum fluctuations. The strong Ising anisotropy is further confirmed by the inelastic neutron scattering data which reveals a well-isolated dipolar-octupolar type Kramers doublet ground state. The crystal field level scheme and ground state wavefunction have been determined.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Samarium hexaboride: A trivial surface conductor

Recent theoretical and experimental studies suggest that SmB$_6$ is the first topological Kondo insulator: A material in which the interaction between localized and itinerant electrons renders the bulk insulating at low temperature, while topological surface states leave the surface metallic. While this would elegantly explain the material's puzzling conductivity, we find the experimentally observed candidates for both predicted topological surface states to be of trivial character instead: The surface state at $\barΓ$ is very heavy and shallow with a mere $\sim 2$ meV binding energy. It exhibits large Rashba splitting which excludes a topological nature. We further demonstrate that the other metallic surface state, located at $\bar{X}$, is not an independent in-gap state as supposed previously, but part of a massive band with much higher binding energy (1.7 eV). We show that it remains metallic down to 1 K due to reduced hybridization with the energy-shifted surface 4$f$ level.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Dissimilarities between the electronic structure of chemically doped and chemically pressurized iron pnictides from an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study

We have studied the electronic structure of EuFe2As2-xPx using high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Upon substituting As with the isovalent P, which leads to a chemical pressure and to superconductivity, we observe a non-rigid-band like change of the electronic structure along the center of the Brillouin zone (BZ): an orbital and kz dependent increase or decrease in the size of the hole pockets near the Gamma - Z line. On the other hand, the diameter of the Fermi surface cylinders at the BZ corner forming electron pockets, hardly changes. This is in stark contrast to p and n-type doped iron pnictides where, on the basis of ARPES experiments, a more rigid-band like behavior has been proposed. These findings indicate that there are different ways in which the nesting conditions can be reduced causing the destabilization of the antiferromagnetic order and the appearance of the superconducting dome.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2008

Fractional magnetization plateaus and magnetic order in the Shastry Sutherland magnet TmB4

We investigate the phase diagram of TmB4, an Ising magnet on a frustrated Shastry-Sutherland lattice by neutron diffraction and magnetization experiments. At low temperature we find Neel order at low field, ferrimagnetic order at high field and an intermediate phase with magnetization plateaus at fractional values M/Msat = 1/7, 1/8, 1/9 ... and spatial stripe structures. Using an effective S = 1/2 model and its equivalent two-dimensional (2D) fermion gas we suggest that the magnetic properties of TmB4 are related to the fractional quantum Hall effect of a 2D electron gas.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Magnetic structure and phase diagram of TmB4

Magnetic structure of single crystalline TmB4 has been studied by magnetization, magnetoresistivity and specific heat measurements. A complex phase diagram with different antiferromagnetic (AF) phases was observed below TN1 = 11.7 K. Besides the plateau at half-saturated magnetization (1/2 MS), also plateaus at 1/9, 1/8 and 1/7 of MS were observed as function of applied magnetic field B//c. From additional neutron scattering experiments on TmB4, we suppose that those plateaus arise from a stripe structure which appears to be coherent domain boundaries between AF ordered blocks of 7 or 9 lattice constants. The received results suggest that the frustration among the Tm3+ magnetic ions, which maps to a geometrically frustrated Shastry-Sutherland lattice lead to strong competition between AF and ferromagnetic (FM) order. Thus, stripe structures in intermediate field appear to be the best way to minimize the magnetostatic energy against other magnetic interactions between the Tm ions combined with very strong Ising anisotropy.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Neutron scattering on HoB$_{12}$ - short-range correlations above T$_{N}$

Neutron scattering experiments on frustrated fcc - antiferromagnet HoB$_{12}$ have been performed above T$_{N}$ = 7.4 K. Diffuse scattering patterns indicate that above Neel temperature correlations between neighboring magnetic moments of Ho - ions appear, similar to the appearance of coupled spin-pairs (dimers) in low dimensional magnets. Moreover, the diffuse patterns show a symmetry reduction from fcc to simple cubic. Analogous behavior in 3D systems is not known, although it was predicted by theory. The role of various interactions leading to this behavior is being analyzed and discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗