arXiv subjects

M. Jaime

Publications and source records attributed to M. Jaime.

82 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2000

Superconductivity and Magnetism in a New Class of Heavy-Fermion Materials

We report a new family of Ce-based heavy-fermion compounds whose electronic specific heat coefficients range from about 400 to over 700 mJ/mole Ce-K2. Crystal in this family form as CenTmIn3n+2m, where T=Rh or Ir, n=1 or 2, and m=1, with a tetragonal structure that can be viewed as n-layers of CeIn3 units stacked sequentially along the c-axis with intervening m-layers of TIn2. Ambient and high pressure studies show that the quasi-2D layers of CeIn3 produce unconventional superconducting and magnetic ground states. This family should enable new understanding of the relationship between magnetism and superconductivity in heavy-fermion materials and more generally of why heavy-fermion superconductivity prefers to develop in one structure type and not another.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2000

A New Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeIrIn5: Relative of the Cuprates?

CeIrIn5 is a member of a new family of heavy-fermion compounds and has a Sommerfeld specific heat coefficient of 720 mJ/mol-K2. It exhibits a bulk, thermodynamic transition to a superconducting state at Tc=0.40 K, below which the specific heat decreases as T2 to a small residual T-linear value. Surprisingly, the electrical resistivity drops below instrumental resolution at a much higher temperature T0=1.2 K. These behaviors are highly reproducible and field-dependent studies indicate that T0 and Tc arise from the same underlying electronic structure. The layered crystal structure of CeIrIn5 suggests a possible analogy to the cuprates in which spin/charge pair correlations develop well above Tc.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Electronic Transport in La-Ca Manganites

We revisit the transport properties of La-Ca manganites in detail, since they have been confirmed in a number of CMR-exhibiting materials. We also discuss new data considered the hallmark of an unusually high electron-phonon coupling responsible for charge localization and small polaron transport.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Heat Capacity Measurements in Pulsed Magnetic Fields

The new NHMFL 60T quasi-continuous magnet produces a flat-top field for a period of 100 ms at 60 Tesla, and for longer time at lower fields, e.g. 0.5 sec at 35 Tesla. We have developed for the first time the capability to measure heat capacity at very high magnetic fields in the NHMFL 60 T quasi-continuous magnet at LANL, using a probe built out of various plastic materials. The field plateau allows us to utilize a heat-pulse method to obtain heat capacity data. Proof-of-principle heat capacity experiments were performed on a variety of correlated electron systems. Both magnet performance characteristics and physical properties of various materials studied hold out a promise of wide application of this new tool.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Coexistence of localized and itinerant carriers near Tc in calcium-doped manganites

We explore the possibility that polaronic distortions in the paramagnetic phase of La$_{0.67}$Ca$_{0.33}$MnO$_3$ manganites persist in the ferromagnetic phase by considering the observed electrical resistivity to arise from coexisting field- and temperature-dependent polaronic and band-electron fractions. We use an effective medium approach to compute the total resistivity of the two-component system, and find that a limit with low percolation threshold explains the data rather well. To test the validity of this model, we apply it to the thermoelectric coefficient. We propose a plausible mean-field model that reproduces the essential features of a microscopic model and provides a comparison with the experimental mixing fraction, as well as the magnetization and magnetic susceptibility.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Second Low Temperature Phase Transition in Frustrated UNi_4B

Hexagonal UNi_4B is magnetically frustrated, yet it orders antiferromagnetically at T_N = 20 K. However, one third of the U-spins remain paramagnetic below this temperature. In order to track these spins to lower temperature, we measured the specific heat C of \unib between 100 mK and 2 K, and in applied fields up to 9 T. For zero field there is a sharp kink in C at $T^\ast\approx$ 330 mK, which we interpret as an indication of a second phase transition involving paramagnetic U. The rise in $γ= C/T$ between 7 K and 330 mK and the absence of a large entropy liberated at $T^\ast$ may be due to a combination of Kondo screening effects and frustration that strongly modifies the low T transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

^{139}La Spectrum and Spin-Lattice Relaxation Measurements of La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3 in the Paramagnetic State

^{139}La NMR measurements of La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3 performed in the paramagnetic state and high magnetic fields are reported. Analysis of the high temperature spectrum measured establishes that the spectrum it is a standard powder pattern broadened by a variation in lattice distortions. At lower temperatures, the spectrum shifts and broadens. Both the shift and broadening exhibit Curie-Weiss behavior, indicating that the shift measures the polarization of the electron spin system, and the broadening reflects a distribution of magnetic susceptibilities. This distribution may result from variations of local susceptibility in the bulk of the sample or from differences in demagnetizing factors among powder grains. The spectrum also indicates that the lattice distortions do not change as the temperature lowers. Spectral diffusion measurements suggest that the temperature dependence of the spectrum shape does not result from freezing out of motion of magnetic polarons. Variation of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation across the spectrum indicate that magnetic fluctuations, not lattice vibrations, dominate nuclear relaxation. Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation therefore measures electron spin dynamics in this system. The magnetic field dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation indicates that the electron spin-spin correlation function adopts simple single exponential behavior with a slow field-independent correlation time of 10^{-8} seconds near Tc. The spin-spin correlation function changes form at higher temperatures, but remains slow. The spin-lattice relaxation therefore indicates the presence of extremely slow dynamics above Tc.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1998

Low-temperature electrical transport and double exchange in La(Pb,Ca)MnO

The resistivity in the ferromagnetic state of flux-grown La_{2/3}(Pb,Ca)_{1/3}MnO_3 single crystals, measured in magnetic fields up to 7 T, reveals a strong quadratic temperature dependence at and above 50 K. At lower temperatures, this contribution drops precipitously leaving the resistivity essentially temperature independent below 20 K. The Seebeck coefficient also reflects a change of regime at the same temperature. We attribute this behavior to a cut-off of single magnon scattering processes at long wavelengths due to the polarized bands of a double-exchange ferromagnet.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1996

High Temperature Thermopower in La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3 Films: Evidence for Polaronic Transport

Thermoelectric power, electrical resistivity and magnetization experiments, performed in the paramagnetic phase of La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3, provide evidence for polaron-dominated conduction in CMR materials. At high temperatures, a large, nearly field-independent difference between the activation energies for resistivity (rho) and thermopower (S), a characteristic of Holstein Polarons, is observed, and ln(rho) ceases to scale with the magnetization. On approaching T_c, both energies become field-dependent, indicating that the polarons are magnetically polarized. Below T_c, the thermopower follows a law S(H) prop. 1/rho (H) as in non saturated ferromagnetic metals.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

Hall-Effect Sign Anomaly and Small-Polaronic Conduction in (La_{1-x}Gd_x)_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3

The Hall coefficient of Gd-doped La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3 exhibits Arrhenius behavior over a temperature range from 2T_c to 4T_c, with an activation energy very close to 2/3 that of the electrical conductivity. Although both the doping level and thermoelectric coefficient indicate hole-like conduction, the Hall coefficient is electron-like. This unusual result provides strong evidence in favor of small-polaronic conduction in the paramagnetic regime of the manganites.

cond-mat↗