arXiv subjects

Masaharu Matsunami

Publications and source records attributed to Masaharu Matsunami.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Semiclassical thermoelectric transport in disordered Dirac electron system Ag2Te

We investigated the thermoelectric effects of the Dirac electron system Ag2Te under magnetic field. Our anal-ysis based on the Boltzmann semiclassical model associated the disorder with the unconventional magnetic field responses such as linear magnetoresistance, linear Nernst effect, step-like Nernst effect, and sign change in Nernst effect. The analysis also revealed the impurity band near the Fermi energy. We simultaneously clari-fied the serious impact of the thermal Hall effect on the measurement of the Nernst effect, and we proposed the definitive solution. Our careful measurement and analysis will be the standard for the thermoelectric study under magnetic field.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Evidence for energy-dependent scattering dominating thermoelectricity in heavy fermion systems

In the field of thermoelectric materials and devices, improving energy conversion efficiency remains a long-standing challenge. As a promising approach to address this issue, utilizing energy-dependent electron-scattering beyond the ordinary constant relaxation time approximation (CRTA) has been proposed. However, direct experimental evidence for an energy-dependent scattering reflected in the Seebeck coefficient is still lacking. Here we demonstrate using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy that the relaxation time of heavy fermion quasiparticles is highly dependent on the energy near the Fermi level. The observed energy dependence of the relaxation time is due to the coherent Kondo scattering, describing the sign of the Seebeck coefficient reasonably well, which cannot be deduced from CRTA. Our findings provide not only deeper insight into the understanding of thermoelectricity in correlated materials, but also future perspectives on possible orbital-selective engineering of thermoelectric materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Understanding the anomalous thermoelectric behaviour of Fe-V-W-Al based thin films

We have investigated the thermoelectric and thermal behaviour of Fe-V-W-Al based thin films prepared using radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique at different base pressures (0.1 ~ 1.0 X 10-2 Pa) and on different substrates (n, p and undoped Si). Interestingly, at lower base pressure, formation of bcc type of Heusler structure was observed in deposited samples, whereas at higher base pressure, we have noted the development of non-Heusler amorphous structure in these samples. Our findings indicates that the moderately oxidized Fe-V-W-Al amorphous thin film deposited on n-Si substrate, possesses large magnitude of absoulte S ~ 1098 microvolt per kelvin near room temperature, which is almost the double the previously reported value for thin films. Additionally, the power factor indicated enormously large values ~ 33.9 milliwatt per meter per kelvin sqaure near 320 K. The thermal conductivity of the amorphous thin film is also found to be 2.75 watt per meter per kelvin, which is quite lower compared to bulk alloys. As a result, the maximum figure of merit is estimated to be extremely high i.e. ~ 3.9 near 320 K, which is among one of the highest reported values so far. The anomalously large value of Seebeck coefficient and power factor has been ascribed to formation of amorphous structure and composite effect of thin film and substrate.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Synergetic enhancement of power factor and suppression of lattice thermal conductivity via electronic structure modification and nanostructuring on Ni and B co-doped p-type Si-Ge alloy

For simultaneously achieving the high-power factor and low lattice thermal conductivity of Si-Ge based thermoelectric materials, we employed, in this study, constructively modifying the electronic structure near the chemical potential and nano-structuring by low temperature and high-pressure sintering on nano-crystalline powders. Nickel was doped to create the impurity states near the edge of the valence band for enhancing the power factor with boron for tuning the carrier concentration. The nanostructured samples with the nominal composition of Si0.65-xGe0.32Ni0.03Bx (x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, and 0.04) were synthesized by the mechanical alloying followed low-temperature and high-pressure sintering process. A large magnitude of Seebeck coefficient reaching 321 μVK-1 together with a small electrical resistivity of 4.49 mΩcm, leads to a large power factor of 2.3 Wm-1K-2 at 1000 K. With successfully reduced thermal conductivity down to 1.47 Wm-1K-1, a large value of ZT ~1.56 was obtained for Si0.65-xGe0.32Ni0.03B0.03 at 1000 K

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Capacitor Type Thin-Film Heat Flow Switching Device

We developed a capacitor type heat flow switching device, in which electron thermal conductivity of the electrodes is actively controlled through the carrier concentration varied by an applied bias voltage. The devices consist of an amorphous p-type Si-Ge-Au alloy layer, an amorphous SiO$_2$ as the dielectric layer, and a n-type Si substrate. Both amorphous materials are characterized by very low lattice thermal conductivity, less than 1 Wm-1K-1. The Si-Ge-Au amorphous layer with 40 nm in thickness was deposited by means of molecular beam deposition technique on the 100 nm thick SiO$_2$ layer formed at the top surface of Si substrate. Bias voltage-dependent thermal conductivity and heat flow density of the fabricated device were evaluated by a time-domain thermoreflectance method at room temperature. Consequently, we observed a 55 percent increase in thermal conductivity.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Distinctive Thermoelectric Properties of Supersaturated Si-Ge-P Compounds: Achieving Figure of Merit ZT > 3.6

The efficiency of energy conversion in thermoelectric generators (TEGs) is directly proportional to electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient while inversely to thermal conductivity. The challenge is to optimize these interdependent parameters simultaneously. In this work, the problem is addressed with a novel approach of nanostructuring and constructive electronic structure modification to achieve a very high value of dimensionless figure of merit ZT greater than 3.6 at 1000 K with negative Seebeck coefficient. Supersaturated solid-solutions of Si-Ge containing 1 atomic percent Fe and 10 atomic percent P are prepared by high-energy ball milling. The bulk samples consisting of ultra-fine nano-crystallites 9.7 nm are obtained by the sophisticated low-temperature & high-pressure sintering process. Despite that the electrical resistivity is slightly high due to the localization of electrons is associated with the highly disordered structure and low electrical density of states near the chemical potential, a very low thermal conductivity \k{appa} less than 1 W m-1K-1 and very large magnitude of Seebeck coefficient exceeding 470 uV K-1 are achieved in association with the nanostructuring and the Fe 3d impurity states, respectively, to realize a very large magnitude of ZT.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Large-gap magnetic topological heterostructure formed by subsurface incorporation of a ferromagnetic layer

Inducing magnetism into topological insulators is intriguing for utilizing exotic phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) for technological applications. While most studies have focused on doping magnetic impurities to open a gap at the surface-state Dirac point, many undesirable effects have been reported to appear in some cases that makes it difficult to determine whether the gap opening is due to the time-reversal symmetry breaking or not. Furthermore, the realization of the QAHE has been limited to low temperatures. Here we have succeeded in generating a massive Dirac cone in a MnBi2Se4 /Bi2Se3 heterostructure which was fabricated by self-assembling a MnBi2Se4 layer on top of the Bi2Se3 surface as a result of the co-deposition of Mn and Se. Our experimental results, supported by relativistic ab initio calculations, demonstrate that the fabricated MnBi2Se4 /Bi2Se3 heterostructure shows ferromagnetism up to room temperature and a clear Dirac-cone gap opening of ~100 meV without any other significant changes in the rest of the band structure. It can be considered as a result of the direct interaction of the surface Dirac cone and the magnetic layer rather than a magnetic proximity effect. This spontaneously formed self-assembled heterostructure with a massive Dirac spectrum, characterized by a nontrivial Chern number C = -1, has a potential to realize the QAHE at significantly higher temperatures than reported up to now and can serve as a platform for developing future " topotronics" devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Surface Kondo Effect and Non-Trivial Metallic State of the Kondo Insulator YbB12

A synergistic effect between strong electron correlation and spin-orbit interaction (SOI) has been theoretically predicted to result in a new topological state of quantum matter on Kondo insulators (KIs), so-called topological Kondo insulators (TKIs). One TKI candidate has been experimentally observed on the KI SmB6(001), and the origin of the surface states (SS) and the topological order of SmB6 has been actively discussed. Here, we show a metallic SS on the clean surface of another TKI candidate YbB12(001), using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. The SS showed temperature-dependent reconstruction corresponding with the Kondo effect observed for bulk states. Despite the low-temperature insulating bulk, the reconstructed SS with c-f hybridization was metallic, forming a closed Fermi contour surrounding $\barΓ$ on the surface Brillouin zone and agreeing with the theoretically expected behavior for SS on TKIs. These results demonstrate the temperature-dependent holistic reconstruction of two-dimensional states localized on KIs surface driven by the Kondo effect.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Surface Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid state on Bi/InSb(001)

A 1D metallic surface state was created on an anisotropic InSb(001) surface covered with Bi. Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) showed a 1D Fermi contour with almost no 2D distortion. Close to the Fermi level ($E_{\rm F}$), the angle-integrated photoelectron spectra showed power-law scaling with the binding energy and temperature. The ARPES plot above $E_{\rm F}$ obtained thanks to thermally broadened Fermi edge at room temperature showed a 1D state with continuous metallic dispersion across $E_{\rm F}$ and power-law intensity suppression around $E_{\rm F}$. These results strongly suggest a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid on the Bi/InSb(001) surface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Polarization-Dependent Three-Dimensional Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy of BaFe$_{1.8}$Co$_{0.2}$As$_{2}$

We performed polarization- and photon-energy-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of a slightly overdoped iron pnictide superconductor, BaFe$_{1.8}$Co$_{0.2}$As$_{2}$, to clarify the three-dimensional electronic structure including its orbital characters at the Brillouin zone center. Two hole Fermi surfaces (FSs) with $d_{xz/yz}$ and $d_{xy/x^2-y^2}$ orbitals were observed but $d_{z^2}$ hole FS, which has nodes according to a theory of the spin-fluctuation superconductivity mechanism, did not appear. These results suggest that no node will appear at hole FSs at the zone center.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Microscopic mechanism for asymmetric charge distribution in Rashba-type surface states and the origin of the the energy splitting scale

Microscopic mechanism for the Rashba-type band splitting is examined in detail. We show how asymmetric charge distribution is formed when local orbital angular momentum (OAM) and crystal momentum get interlocked due to surface effects. An electrostatic energy term in the Hamiltonian appears when such OAM and crystal momentum dependent asymmetric charge distribution is placed in an electric field produced from an inversion symmetry breaking (ISB). Analysis by using an effective Hamiltonian shows that, as the atomic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength increases from weak to strong, originally OAM-quenched states evolve into well-defined chiral OAM states and then to total angular momentum J-states. In addition, the energy scale of the band splitting changes from atomic SOC energy to electrostatic energy. To confirm the validity of the model, we study OAM and spin structures of Au(111) system by using an effective Hamiltonian for the d-orbitals case. As for strong SOC regime, we choose Bi2Te2Se as a prototype system. We performed circular dichroism angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments as well as first-principles calculations. We find that the effective model can explain various aspects of spin and OAM structures of the system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Observation of warping effects in the band and angular momentum structures of topological insulator Bi2Te3

We performed angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments on Bi2Te3 with circularly polarized light. ARPES data show very strong circular dichroism, indicating existence of orbital angular momentum (OAM). Moreover, the alignment of OAM is found to have a strong binding energy dependence. Such energy dependence comes from a relatively strong band warping effect in Bi2Te3 compared to Bi2Se3. OAM close to Dirac point has an ideal chiral structure (sin ?) without out-of-plane component. Warping effect comes in as the binding energy decreases and circular dichroism along a constant energy contour can no longer be explained by a simple sin? function but requires a sin3? term. When the warping effect becomes even stronger near the Fermi energy, circular dichroism gains an additional sin6? term. Such behavior is found to be compatible with the theoretically predicted OAM structure.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Optical study of charge instability in CeRu2Al10 in comparison with CeOs2Al10 and CeFe2Al10

The anisotropic electronic structure responsible for the antiferromagnetic transition in CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ at the unusually high temperature of $T_0$ = 28 K was studied using optical conductivity spectra, Ce 3d X-ray photoemission spectra, and band calculation. It was found that the electronic structure in the $ac$ plane is that of a Kondo semiconductor, whereas that along the b axis has a nesting below 32 K (slightly higher than $T_0$). These characteristics are the same as those of CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ [S. Kimura {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 056404 (2011).]. The $c$-$f$ hybridization intensities between the conduction and $4f$ electrons of CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ are weaker than that of CeFe$_2$Al$_{10}$, showing no magnetic ordering. These results suggest that the electronic structure with one-dimensional weak $c$-$f$ hybridization along the b axis combined with two-dimensional strong hybridization in the $ac$ plane causes charge-density wave (CDW) instability, and the CDW state then induces magnetic ordering.

cond-mat.str-el↗