arXiv subjects

Shaoheng Ruan

Publications and source records attributed to Shaoheng Ruan.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Soft point-contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy in a palm-type cubic anvil-pressure cell

We have implemented soft point-contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy (PCARS) in a palm-type cubic anvil pressure cell by combining a substrate anchoring strategy with an external wire-splitting technique. This design enables the stable formation of multiple point contact junctions under hydrostatic pressures up to 15 GPa. Benchmark measurements on the elemental superconductor Nb demonstrate high reproducibility and yield a zero-temperature superconducting gap with a gap ratio of 3.3. We further apply this technique to the Kagome metal superconductor CsCr3Sb5 and the bilayer nickelate superconductor La2PrNi2O7. Pronounced zero-bias conductance peaks are observed, and their evolution with temperature, magnetic field and applied pressure is investigated, together with the superconducting gap magnitude and possible pairing symmetries. These measurements provide spectroscopic evidence consistent with unconventional superconductivity in these materials. Our work establishes a robust experimental platform that bridges macroscopic electrical transport and microscopic spectroscopic probes, opening a new avenue for investigating pairing symmetry in a wide range of pressure-induced unconventional superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Anomalous Structural Response of Quasi-One-Dimensional Antiferromagnetic Metal KMn6Bi5 under high pressure

We report high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements on the quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) antiferromagnetic metal KMn6Bi5 up to 12.5 GPa, revealing the detailed pressure evolution of its atomic coordination environment. We find that the lattice exhibits pronounced anisotropic compressibility-the relative changes in the a and b lattice parameters reach a/a0=0.91 and b/b0 = 0.94 at 12.5 GPa-and a distinct structural anomaly emerges near 11 GPa without any symmetry-breaking. Detailed structural analysis further uncovers an anomalous hardening of the Mn nanotubes between 5 and 11 GPa, followed by a configuration optimization of the Mn/Bi nanotubes around 11 GPa. These features correlate closely with the reported pressure-temperature phase diagram of KMn6Bi5 and compare favorably with the chemical pressure effects induced by substituting K with Na, Rb, or Cs. Our findings provide key microscopic insights into how coordination environment modulation governs the stability of electronic orders in low-dimensional systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Structural responses incipient to pressure-driven antiferromagnetic quantum critical point of van der Waals heavy-fermion metal CeSiI

CeSiI is a van der Waals heavy-fermion metal recently found to exhibit unconventional superconductivity near a pressure-induced antiferromagnetic quantum critical point (QCP) at Pc =6 GPa. Here, we report a comprehensive single-crystal X-ray diffraction study of CeSiI under high pressures up to 8.3 GPa at room temperature, revealing subtle structural responses that precede pressure-driven QCP. We find that the unit-cell volume decreases smoothly upon compression without showing any structural phase transition in the investigated pressure range. Intriguingly, we observe abrupt and concurrent anisotropic responses of the lattice parameters around Pc =6 GPa, i.e., the a-axis contracts while the c-axis enlongated suddenly, with the unit-cell volume smoothily varies with pressure. Structural refinements further show that these lattice anomalies primarily originate from changes of Ce-Ce and Ce-Si bond lengths, as well as a flattening of the inner honeycomb Si layer within the CeSiI monolayer around Pc. Our findings establish an interesting case linking pressure-driven electronic transition of QCP at low temperatures to incipient structural responses at room temperature, thereby providing fresh insight into the pressure-temperature phase diagram of CeSiI.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Pressure-Induced Metal-Insulator and Paramagnet-Altermagnet Transitions in Rutile OsO2 Single Crystals

Altermagnets with compensated spin structures and nonrelativistic spin splitting have emerged as a new class of magnetic materials. Rutile OsO2 has been theoretically predicted to be altermagnetic, but experimental studies have been limited by synthesis challenges. We have succeeded in synthesizing high-quality single crystals of rutile OsO2. Electrical transport studies reveal that OsO2 is highly conductive and exhibits clear Fermi liquid behavior, indicating strong electron-electron scattering. Magnetic measurements show that the crystals are isotropically paramagnetic. Density-functional theory calculations indicate that bulk OsO2 is semimetallic with coexisting electron and hole pockets, with its magnetic ground state strongly dependent on the on-site Coulomb correlation U. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies unveil that the bulk bands do not yet show altermagnetic spin splitting. Interestingly, resistivity is rather pressure sensitive: at 44 GPa, a clear metal-insulator transition occurs. Hybrid functional calculations reveal that applying pressure significantly increases the Hubbard U value, driving a phase transition from a paramagnetic metal to an altermagnetic metal, and eventually to an altermagnetic insulator. These findings suggest that tuning external pressure effectively modulates the magnetic ground state of OsO2, providing a pathway to realize altermagnetism in this material.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

A family of rare-earth Quasi-One-Dimensional spin-chain compounds K2RENb5O15 (RE=Ce,Pr,Nd,Sm,Gd-Ho) with large interchain distance

One-dimensional spin chain systems have received special attention to discover the novel magnetic ground states and emergent phenomena, while the magnetic studies on rare-earth (RE)-based 1D spin chain materials are still rare. Here, we report the synthesis, structure and magnetic behaviors on a family of tetragonal tungsten-bronze structure K2RENb5O15 (RE = Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd-Ho) compounds, which consist of 1D linear spin-chain structure built by RE3+ ions along the c-axis and well spatially separated by the nonmagnetic K/Nb-O polyhedrons with large interchain distances of ~ 8.80-8.88 Å in the ab-plane. The low temperature magnetic measurements reveal the absence of long-range magnetic order down to 1.8 K for all serial K2RENb5O15 compounds and the dominant ferromagnetic interactions for RE=Ce,Dy and antiferromagnetic interactions for other members. Among them, K2GdNb5O15 with spin only magnetic moment S=7/2, exhibits a long-range magnetic order with TN~0.31 K and strong spin fluctuations at low temperatures due to its low-dimension characteristics. Moreover, a large magnetocaloric effect under low field change of 0-2 T is realized at temperatures below 1 K for K2GdNb5O15, letting it as an ideal candidate for adiabatic magnetic refrigeration applications at sub-kelvin temperatures. The K2RENb5O15 become a rare family of insulting RE-based magnets to explore the novel 1D spin chain physics beyond the 3d TM-based counterparts, in terms of its combination of low dimension, strong spin-orbital coupling and the rich diversity of RE ions.

cond-mat.str-el↗