arXiv subjects

Sang-Wook Cheong

Publications and source records attributed to Sang-Wook Cheong.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Charged domain boundaries stabilized by translational symmetry breaking in the hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca$_{3-x}$Sr$_x$Ti$_2$O$_7$

Charged domain walls and boundaries in ferroelectric materials display distinct phenomena, such as an increased conductivity due to the accumulation of bound charges. Here, we report the electron microscopy observations of atomic-scale arrangements at charged domain boundaries in the hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca$_{2.46}$Sr$_{0.54}$Ti$_2$O$_7$. Like in the prototype improper ferroelectric YMnO$_3$, we find that charged domain boundaries in Ca$_{2.46}$Sr$_{0.54}$Ti$_2$O$_7$ correspond to out-of-phase boundaries, which separate adjacent domains with a fractional translational shift of the unit cell. In addition, our results show that strontium ions are located at charged domain boundaries. The out-of-phase boundary structure may decrease the polarization charge at the boundary because of the ferrielectric nature of Ca$_{2.46}$Sr$_{0.54}$Ti$_2$O$_7$, thereby promoting the stabilization of the charged state. By combining atomic-resolution imaging and density-functional theory calculations, this study proposes an unexplored stabilization mechanism of charged domain boundaries and structural defects accompanying out-of-phase translational shifts.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Decay and renormalization of a longitudinal mode in a quasi-two-dimensional antiferromagnet

An ongoing challenge in the study of quantum materials, is to reveal and explain collective quantum effects in spin systems where interactions between different modes types are important. Here we approach this problem through a combined experimental and theoretical study of interacting transverse and longitudinal modes in an easy-plane quantum magnet near a continuous quantum phase transition. Our inelastic neutron scattering measurements of Ba$_{2}$FeSi$_{2}O$_{7}$ reveal the emergence, decay, and renormalization of a longitudinal mode throughout the Brillouin zone. The decay of the longitudinal mode is particularly pronounced at the zone center. To account for the many-body effects of the interacting low-energy modes in anisotropic magnets, we generalize the standard spin-wave theory. The measured mode decay and renormalization is reproduced by including all one-loop corrections. The theoretical framework developed here is broadly applicable to quantum magnets with more than one type of low energy mode.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Physical properties of a quasi-two-dimensional square lattice antiferromagnet Ba$_2$FeSi$_2$O$_7$

We report the magnetization ($χ$, $M$), specific heat ($C_{\text{P}}$), and neutron powder diffraction results on a quasi-two-dimensional $S$ = 2 square lattice antiferromagnet Ba$_2$FeSi$_2$O$_7$ consisting of FeO$_4$ tetragons with a large compressive distortion (27%). Despite of the quasi-two-dimensional lattice structure, both $χ$ and $C_{\text{P}}$ present three dimensional magnetic long-range order below the Néel temperature $T_{\text{N}}$ = 5.2 K. Neutron diffraction data shows a collinear $Q_{m}$ = (1,0,0.5) antiferromagnetic (AFM) structure with the in-plane ordered magnetic moment suppressed by 26% below $T_{\text{N}}$. Both the AFM structure and the suppressed moments are well explained by the Monte Carlo simulation with a large single-ion ab-plane anisotropy $D$ = 1.4 meV and a rather small in-plane Heisenberg exchange $J_{\text{intra}}$ = 0.15 meV. The characteristic two dimensional spin fluctuations can be recognized in the magnetic entropy release and diffuse scattering above $T_{\text{N}}$. This new quasi-2D magnetic system also displays unusual non-monotonic dependence of the $T_{\text{N}}$ as a function of magnetic field $H$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Chirality-induced spin texture switching in twisted bilayer graphene

The interlayer van der Waals interaction in twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) induces both in-plane and out-of-plane atomic displacements showing complex patterns that depend on the twist angle. In particular, for small twist angles, within each graphene layer, the relaxations give rise to a vortex-like displacement pattern which is known to affect the dispersion of the flat bands. Here, we focus on yet another structural property, the chirality of the twisted bilayer. We perform first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to investigate the properties induced by twist chirality in both real and momentum space. In real space, we study the interplay between twist chirality and atomic relaxation patterns. In momentum space, we investigate the spin textures around the $K$ points of the Brillouin zone, showing that alternating vortex-like textures are correlated with the chirality of tBLG. Interestingly, the helicity of each vortex is inverted by changing the chirality while the different twist angles also modify the spin textures. We discuss the origin of the spin textures by calculating the layer weights and using plot regression models.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Axion-matter coupling in multiferroics

Multiferroics (MFs) are materials with two or more ferroic orders, like spontaneous ferroelectric and ferromagnetic polarizations. Such materials can exhibit a magnetoelectric effect whereby magnetic and ferroelectric polarizations couple linearly, reminiscent of, but not identical to the electromagnetic $\boldsymbol{E}\cdot \boldsymbol{B}$ axion coupling. Here we point out a possible mechanism in which an external dark matter axion field couples linearly to ferroic orders in these materials without external applied fields. We find the magnetic response to be linear in the axion-electron coupling. At temperatures close to the ferromagnetic transition fluctuations can lead to an enhancement of the axion-induced magnetic response. Relevant material candidates such as the Lu-Sc hexaferrite family are discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Large Orbital Magnetic Moment and Strong Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in Heavily Intercalated Fe$_{x}$TiS$_2$

Titanium disulfide TiS$_2$, which is a member of the layered transition-metal dichalcogenides with the 1T-CdI$_2$-type crystal structure, is known to exhibit a wide variety of magnetism through intercalating various kinds of transition-metal atoms of different concentrations. Among them, Fe-intercalated titanium disulfide Fe$_x$TiS$_2$ is known to be ferromagnetic with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and large coercive fields ($H_\text{c}$). In order to study the microscopic origin of the magnetism of this compound, we have performed X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements on single crystals of heavily intercalated Fe$_x$TiS$_2$ ($x\sim0.5$). The grown single crystals showed a strong PMA with a large $H_\text{c}$ of $μ_0H_\text{c} \simeq 1.0\ \text{T}$. XAS and XMCD spectra showed that Fe is fully in the valence states of 2+ and that Ti is in an itinerant electronic state, indicating electron transfer from the intercalated Fe atoms to the host TiS$_2$ bands. The Fe$^{2+}$ ions were shown to have a large orbital magnetic moment of $\simeq 0.59\ μ_\text{B}\text{/Fe}$, to which, combined with the spin-orbit interaction and the trigonal crystal field, we attribute the strong magnetic anisotropy of Fe$_x$TiS$_2$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Ultrafast Modulations And Detection of a Ferro-rotational Charge Density Wave Using Time-resolved Electric Quadrupole Second Harmonic Generation

We show the ferro-rotational nature of the commensurate charge density wave (CCDW) in $1T$-$\mathrm{TaS}_2$ and track its dynamic modulations by temperature-dependent and time-resolved electric quadrupole rotation anisotropy-second harmonic generation (EQ RA-SHG), respectively. The ultrafast modulations manifest as the breathing and the rotation of the EQ RA-SHG patterns at three frequencies around the reported single CCDW amplitude mode frequency. A sudden shift of the triplet frequencies and a dramatic increase in the breathing and rotation magnitude further reveal a photo-induced transient CDW phase across a critical pump fluence of ~ 0.5 mJ/cm$^2$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Crystal-field excitations and vibronic modes in triangular-lattice spin-liquid candidate TbInO$_3$

We study the ground state properties, the electronic excitations and lattice dynamics in spin-liquid candidate TbInO$_3$. By employing polarization resolved Raman spectroscopy we define the inter- and intra-multiplet excitations, and establish the low-energy crystal-field (CF) level scheme. In particular, we demonstrate that the ground state of the Tb$^{3+}$ ions is a non-Kramers doublet, and relate the enhanced linewidth of the CF modes to the magnetic fluctuations near the spin-liquid ground state. We identify all 38 allowed Raman-active phonon modes at low temperature. Moreover, we observe hybrid vibronic excitations involving coupled CF and low-lying phonon modes, suggesting strong spin-lattice dynamics. We develop a model for vibronic states and obtain the parameters of the bare responses and coupling strength. We further demonstrate that the obtained CF level scheme is consistent with specific heat data.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Evolution of topological defects at two sequential phase transitions of Nd2SrFe2O7

How topological defects, unavoidable at symmetry-breaking phase transitions in a wide range of systems, evolve through consecutive phase transitions with different broken symmetries remains unexplored. Nd2SrFe2O7, a bilayer ferrite, exhibits two intriguing structural phase transitions and dense networks of the so-called type-II Z8 structural vortices at room temperature, so it is an ideal system to explore the topological defect evolution. From our extensive experimental investigation, we demonstrate that the cooling rate at the second-order transition (1290oC) plays a decisive role in determining the vortex density at room temperature, following the universal Kibble-Zurek mechanism. In addition, we discovered a transformation between topologically-distinct vortices (Z8 to Z4 vortices) at the first-order transition (550oC), which conserves the number of vortex cores. Remarkably, the Z4 vortices consist of two phases with an identical symmetry but two distinct magnitudes of an order parameter. Furthermore, when lattice distortion is enhanced by chemical doping, a new type of topological defects emerges: loop domain walls with orthorhombic distortions in the tetragonal background, resulting in unique pseudo-orthorhombic twins. Our findings open a new avenue to explore the evolution of topological defects through multiple phase transitions.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2021

Field-tunable toroidal moment in a chiral-lattice magnet

A toroidal dipole moment appears independent of the electric and magnetic dipole moment in the multipole expansion of electrodynamics. It arises naturally from vortex-like arrangements of spins. Observing and controlling spontaneous long-range orders of toroidal moments are highly promising for spintronics but remain challenging. Here we demonstrate that a vortex-like spin configuration with a staggered arrangement of toroidal moments, a ferritoroidal state, is realized in a chiral triangular-lattice magnet BaCoSiO4. Upon applying a magnetic field, we observe multi-stair toroidal transitions correlating directly with metamagnetic transitions. We establish a first-principles microscopic Hamiltonian that explains both the formation of toroidal states and the metamagnetic toroidal transition as a combined effect of the magnetic frustration and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions allowed by the crystallographic chirality in BaCoSiO4.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Noncollinear antiferromagnetic order in the buckled honeycomb lattice of magnetoelectric Co4Ta2O9 determined by single-crystal neutron diffraction

Co4Ta2O9 exhibits a three-dimensional magnetic lattice based on the buckled honeycomb motif. It shows unusual magnetoelectric effects, including the sign change and non-linearity. These effects cannot be understood without the detailed knowledge of the magnetic structure. Herein, we report neutron diffraction and direction-dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements on Co4Ta2O9 single crystals. Below 20.3 K, we find a long-range antiferromagnetic order in the alternating buckled and flat honeycomb layers of Co2+ ions stacked along the c axis. Within experimental accuracy, the magnetic moments lie in the ab plane. They form a canted antiferromagnetic structure with a tilt angle of ~ 14 degrees at 15 K in the buckled layers, while the magnetic moments in each flat layer are collinear. This is directly evidenced by a finite (0, 0, 3) magnetic Bragg peak intensity, which would be absent in the collinear magnetic order. The magnetic space group is C2'/c. It is different from the previously reported C2/c' group, also found in the isostructural Co4Nb2O9. The revised magnetic structure successfully explains the major features of the magnetoelectric tensor of Co4Ta2O9 within the framework of the spin-flop model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Permutable SOS (Symmetry Operational Similarity)

Based on symmetry consideration, quasi-one-dimensional (1D) objects, relevant to numerous observables or phenomena, can be classified into eight different types. We provide various examples of each 1D type, and discuss their Symmetry Operational Similarity (SOS) relationships, which are often permutable. A number of recent experimental observations, including current-induced magnetization in polar or chiral conductors, non-linear Hall effect in polar conductors, spin-polarization of tunneling current to chiral conductors, and ferro-rotational domain imaging with linear gyration are discussed in terms of (permutable) SOS. In addition, based on (permutable) SOS, we predict a large number of new phenomena in low symmetry materials that can be experimentally verified in the future.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Kinetically-stabilized Ferroelectricity in Bulk Singlecrystalline HfO2:Y without Wake-up Effects

HfO2, a simple binary oxide, holds ultra-scalable ferroelectricity integrable into silicon technology. Polar orthorhombic (Pbc21) form in ultra-thin-films ascribes as the plausible root-cause of the astonishing ferroelectricity, which has thought not attainable in bulk crystals. Though, perplexities remain primarily due to the polymorphic nature and the characterization challenges at small-length scales. Herein, utilizing a state-of-the-art Laser-Diode-heated Floating Zone technique, we report ferroelectricity in bulk single-crystalline HfO2:Y as well as the presence of anti-polar Pbca phase at different Y concentrations. Neutron diffraction and atomic imaging demonstrate (anti-)polar crystallographic signatures and abundant 90o/180o ferroelectric domains in addition to the switchable polarization with little wake-up effects. Density-functional theory calculations suggest that the Yttrium doping and rapid cooling are the key factors for the desired phase. Our observations provide new insights into the polymorphic nature and phase controlling of HfO2, remove the upper size limit for ferroelectricity, and also pave a new road toward the next-generation ferroelectric devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Superconductivity emerging from a stripe charge order in IrTe2 nanoflakes

Superconductivity in the vicinity of a competing electronic order often manifests itself with a superconducting dome, centred at a presumed quantum critical point in the phase diagram. This common feature, found in many unconventional superconductors, has supported a prevalent scenario that fluctuations or partial melting of a parent order are essential for inducing or enhancing superconductivity. Here we present a contrary example, found in IrTe2 nanoflakes of which the superconducting dome is identified well inside the parent stripe charge ordering phase in the thickness-dependent phase diagram. The coexisting stripe charge order in IrTe2 nanoflakes significantly increases the out-of-plane coherence length and the coupling strength of superconductivity, in contrast to the doped bulk IrTe2. These findings clarify that the inherent instabilities of the parent stripe phaseare sufficient to induce superconductivity in IrTe2 without its complete or partial melting. Our study highlights the thickness control as an effective means to unveil intrinsic phase diagrams of correlated vdW materials.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Stabilization of competing ferroelectric phases of HfO$_2$ under epitaxial strain

Hafnia (HfO$_2$)-based thin films have promising applications in nanoscale electronic devices due to their robust ferroelectricity and integration with silicon. However, HfO$_2$ has various stable and metastable polymorphs with quite similar structures and energies. Identifying and stabilizing the ferroelectric functional phases of HfO$_2$ have attracted intensive research interest in recent years. In this work, first-principles calculations on (111)-oriented HfO$_2$ are used to discover that imposing an in-plane shear strain on the tetragonal phase induces a nonpolar to polar phase transition. This in-plane shear-induced polar phase is shown to be an epitaxial distortion of a known metastable ferroelectric $Pnm2_1$ phase of HfO$_2$. It is proposed that this ferroelectric $Pnm2_1$ phase can account for the recently observed ferroelectricity in the (111)-oriented HfO$_2$-based thin film [Nature Materials 17, 1095-1100 (2018)]. Further investigation of this second functional ferroelectric phase in HfO$_2$ could potentially improve the performances of HfO$_2$-based films in logic and memory devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Second-order nonlinear optical and linear UV-VIS absorption properties of type-II multiferroic candidates RbFe(AO4)2 (A = Mo, Se, S)

Motivated by the search for type-II multiferroics, we present a comprehensive optical study of a complex oxide family of type-II multiferroic candidates: RbFe(MoO4)2, RbFe(SeO4)2, and RbFe(SO4)2. We employ rotational-anisotropy second harmonic generation spectroscopy (RA SHG), a technique sensitive to point symmetries, to address discrepancies in literature-assigned point/space groups and to identify the correct crystal structures. At room temperature we find that our RA SHG patterns rotate away from the crystal axes in RbFe(AO4)2 (A = Se, S), which identifies the lack of mirror symmetry and in-plane two-fold rotational symmetry. Also, the SHG efficiency of RbFe(SeO4)2 is two orders of magnitude stronger than RbFe(AO4)2 (A = Mo, S), which suggests broken inversion symmetry. Additionally, we present temperature-dependent linear optical characterizations near the band edge of this family of materials using ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) absorption spectroscopy. Included is experimental evidence of the band gap energy and band gap transition type for this family. Previously unreported sub-band gap absorption is also presented, which reveals prominent optical transitions, some with an unusual central energy temperature dependence. Furthermore, we find that by substituting the A-site in RbFe(AO4)2 (A = Mo, Se, S), the aforementioned transitions are spectrally tunable. Finally, we discuss the potential origin and impact of these tunable transitions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Highly tunable ferroelectricity in hybrid improper ferroelectric Sr3Sn2O7

The successful theoretical prediction and experimental demonstration of hybrid improper ferroelectricity (HIF) provides a new pathway to couple octahedral rotations, ferroelectricity, and magnetism in complex materials. To enable technological applications, a HIF with a small coercive field is desirable. We successfully grow Sr3Sn2O7 single crystals, and discover that they exhibit the smallest electric coercive field at room temperature among all known HIFs. Furthermore, we demonstate that a small external stress can repeatedly erase and re-generate ferroelastic domains. In addition, using in-plane piezo-response force microscopy, we characterize abundant charged and neutral domain walls. The observed small electrical and mechanical coercive field values are in accordance with the results of our first-principles calculations on Sr3Sn2O7, which show low energy barriers for both 90° and 180° polarization switching compared to those in other experimentally demonstrated HIFs. Our findings represent an advance towards the possible technological implemetation of functional HIFs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Honeycomb-Lattice Mott insulator on Tantalum Disulphide

Effects of electron many-body interactions amplify in an electronic system with a narrow bandwidth opening a way to exotic physics. A narrow band in a two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb lattice is particularly intriguing as combined with Dirac bands and topological properties but the material realization of a strongly interacting honeycomb lattice described by the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model has not been identified. Here we report a novel approach to realize a 2D honeycomb-lattice narrow-band system with strongly interacting 5$d$ electrons. We engineer a well-known triangular lattice 2D Mott insulator 1T-TaS$_2$ into a honeycomb lattice utilizing an adsorbate superstructure. Potassium (K) adatoms at an optimum coverage deplete one-third of the unpaired $d$ electrons and the remaining electrons form a honeycomb lattice with a very small hopping. Ab initio calculations show extremely narrow Z$_2$ topological bands mimicking the Kane-Mele model. Electron spectroscopy detects an order of magnitude bigger charge gap confirming the substantial electron correlation as confirmed by dynamical mean field theory. It could be the first artificial Mott insulator with a finite spin Chern number.

cond-mat.str-el↗