arXiv subjects

P. S. Anil Kumar

Publications and source records attributed to P. S. Anil Kumar.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Enhanced coherence and decoupled surface states in topological insulators through structural disorder

To harness the true potential of topological insulators as quantum materials for information processing, it is imperative to maximise topological surface state conduction, while simulateneously improving their quantum coherence. However, these goals have turned out to be contradictory. Surface dominated transport in topological insulators has been achieved primarily through compensation doping of bulk carriers that introduces tremendous electronic disorder and drastically deteriorates electronic coherence. In this work, we use structural disorder instead of electronic disorder to manipulate electrical properties of thin films of topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$. We achieve decoupled surface state transport in our samples and observe significantly suppressed carrier dephasing rates in the coupled surface state regime. As the film thickness is decreased, the dephasing rate evolves from a linear to a super-linear temperature dependence. While the former is consistent with Nyquist electron-electron interactions, the latter leads to significantly enhanced coherence at low temperatures and is indicative of energy exchange due to frictional drag between the two surface states. Our work opens up the way to harness topological surface states, without being afflicted by the deleterious effects of compensation doping.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Quantized transport in topological insulator n-p-n junctions

Electrical transport in three dimensional topological insulators(TIs) occurs through spin-momentum locked topological surface states that enclose an insulating bulk. In the presence of a magnetic field, surface states get quantized into Landau levels giving rise to chiral edge states that are naturally spin-polarized due to spin momentum locking. It has been proposed that p-n junctions of TIs in the quantum Hall regime can manifest unique spin dependent effects, apart from forming basic building blocks for highly functional spintronic devices. Here, for the first time we study electrostatically defined n-p-n junctions of bulk insulating topological insulator BiSbTe$_{1.25}$Se$_{1.75}$ in the quantum Hall regime. We reveal the remarkable quantization of longitudinal resistance into plateaus at 3/2 and 2/3 h/e$^2$, apart from several partially developed fractional plateaus. Theoretical modeling combining the electrostatics of the dual gated TI n-p-n junction with Landauer Buttiker formalism for transport through a network of chiral edge states explains our experimental data, while revealing remarkable differences from p-n junctions of graphene and two-dimensional electron gas systems. Our work not only opens up a route towards exotic spintronic devices but also provides a test bed for investigating the unique signatures of quantum Hall effects in topological insulators.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Metallic monoclinic phase in VO$_2$ induced by electrochemical gating: in-situ Raman study

We report in-situ Raman scattering studies of electrochemically top gated VO$_2$ thin film to address metal-insulator transition (MIT) under gating. The room temperature monoclinic insulating phase goes to metallic state at a gate voltage of 2.6 V. However, the number of Raman modes do not change with electrolyte gating showing that the metallic phase is still monoclinic. The high frequency Raman mode A$_g$(7) near 616 cm$^{-1}$ ascribed to V-O vibration of bond length 2.06 Å~ in VO$_6$ octahedra hardens with increasing gate voltage and the B$_g$(3) mode near 654 cm$^{-1}$ softens. This shows that the distortion of the VO$_6$ octahedra in the monoclinic phase decreases with gating. The time dependent Raman data at fixed gate voltages of 1 V (for 50 minute, showing enhancement of conductivity by a factor of 50) and 2 V (for 130 minute, showing further increase in conductivity by a factor of 5) show similar changes in high frequency Raman modes A$_g$(7) and B$_g$(3) as observed in gating. This slow change in conductance together with Raman frequency changes show that the governing mechanism for metalization is more likely to the diffusion controlled oxygen vacancy formation due to the applied electric field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Granular topological insulators

Granular conductors form an artificially engineered class of solid state materials wherein the microstructure can be tuned to mimic a wide range of otherwise inaccessible physical systems. At the same time, topological insulators (TIs) have become a cornerstone of modern condensed matter physics as materials hosting metallic states on the surface and insulating in the bulk. However it remains to be understood how granularity affects this new and exotic phase of matter. We perform electrical transport experiments on highly granular topological insulator thin films of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and reveal remarkable properties. We observe clear signatures of topological surface states despite granularity with distinctly different properties from conventional bulk TI systems including sharp surface state coupling-decoupling transitions, large surface state penetration depths and exotic Berry phase effects. We present a model which explains these results. Our findings illustrate that granularity can be used to engineer designer TIs, at the same time allowing easy access to the Dirac-fermion physics that is inaccessible in single crystal systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Controlling structural distortion in the geometrically frustrated layered cobaltate YBaCo4O7+δ by Fe substitution and its role on magnetic correlations

Effects of Fe-substitution on the crystal structure and magnetic correlations of the geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets YBaCo4-xFexO7+δ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.8) have been studied by neutron diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and ac susceptibility. The compounds YBaCo4-xFexO7+δ have a special layered-type crystal structure with an alternating Kagomé (6c site) and triangular (2a site) layers along the c axis. Fe3+ ions are found to be substituted at both the crystallographic 2a and 6c sites of Co ions. Mössbauer results show a high spin state of Fe3+ ions in a tetrahedral coordination. A reduction in the distortion of the Kagomé lattice has been observed with the Fe-substitution. The correlation length of the short-range antiferromagnetic ordering decreases with the Fe-substitution. The sharpness of the magnetic transition also decreases with the Fe-substitution.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Probing a spin-glass state in SrRuO3 thin films through higher-order statistics of resistance fluctuations

The complex perovskite oxide SrRuO3 shows intriguing transport properties at low temperatures due to the interplay of spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom. One of the open questions in this system is regarding the origin and nature of the low-temperature glassy state. In this paper we report on measurements of higher-order statistics of resistance fluctuations performed in epitaxial thin films of SrRuO3 to probe this issue. We observe large low-frequency non-Gaussian resistance fluctuations over a certain temperature range. Our observations are compatible with that of a spin-glass system with properties described by hierarchical dynamics rather than with that of a simple ferromagnet with a large coercivity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Influence of lattice distortion on the Curie temperature and spin-phonon coupling in LaMn$_{0.5}$Co$_{0.5}$O$_{3}$

Two distinct ferromagnetic phases of LaMn$_{0.5}$Co$_{0.5}$O$_{3}$ having monoclinic structure with distinct physical properties have been studied. The ferromagnetic ordering temperature $\textit{T}_{c}$ is found to be different for both the phases. The origin of such contrasting characteristics is assigned to the changes in the distance(s) and angle(s) between Mn - O - Co resulting from distortions observed from neutron diffraction studies. Investigations on the temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy provide evidence for such structural characteristics, which affects the exchange interaction. The difference in B-site ordering which is evident from the neutron diffraction is also responsible for the difference in $\textit{T}_{c}$. Raman scattering suggests the presence of spin-phonon coupling for both the phases around the $\textit{T}_{c}$. Electrical transport properties of both the phases have been investigated based on the lattice distortion.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2001

Temperature Dependence of Magneto Current in Spin Valve Transistor: A phenomenological Study

The temperature dependence of magneto current in the spin spin valve transistor system is theoretically explored based on phenomenological model. We find that the collector current strongly depends on the relative orientation of magnetic moment of ferromagnetic metals due to spin mixing effect. For example, the collector current is decreasing in the parallel case with increasing temperature, and it is increasing in anti-parallel configuration. We then obtain decreasing magneto current with increasing temperature. The result accords with the experimental data in qualitative manner. This phenomenological model calculations suggest that spin mixing effect may play an important role in the spin valve transistor system at finite temperature.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

The Contribution of Hot Electron Spin Polarization to the Magnetotransport in a Spin-Valve Transistor at Finite Temperatures

The effect of spin mixing due to thermal spin waves and temperature dependence of hot electron spin polarization to the collector current in a spin-valve transistor has been theoretically explored. We calculate the collector current as well as the temperature dependence of magnetocurrent at finite temperatures to investigate the relative importance of spin mixing and hot electron spin polarization. In this study the inelastic scattering events in ferromagnetic layers have been taken into account to explore our interests. The theoretical calculations suggest that the temperature dependence of hot electron spin polarization has substantial contribution to the magnetotransport in the spin-valve transistor.

cond-mat↗