arXiv subjects

Umesh V. Waghmare

Publications and source records attributed to Umesh V. Waghmare.

43 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Electronic Structure, Phonons and Dielectric Anomaly in Ferromagnetic Insulating Double Perovskite La2NiMnO6

Using first-principles density functional calculations, we study the electronic and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic insulating double-perovskite compound La2NiMnO6, which has been reported to exhibit interesting magnetic field sensitive dielectric anomaly as a function of temperature. Our study reveals existence of very soft infra-red active phonons that couple strongly with spins at the Ni and Mn sites through modification of the super-exchange interaction. We suggest that these modes are the origin for observed dielectric anomaly in La2NiMnO6.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2007

Soft Modes at the Stacking Faults in SiC Crystals

We use first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to determine and understand the driving force of the observed stacking fault expansion in SiC. We verify the suggestion based on recent experiments that the free energy difference between the faulted and the perfect structures is responsible for this expansion, and show that its origin lies in a large entropy associated with soft vibrational modes of the faulted SiC structure. These soft modes involve shearing of SiC on a long length-scale and are absent in related group IV semiconductors, such as Si, Ge and C.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2007

Ferroelectric Phase Transitions in Ultra-thin Films of BaTiO3

We present molecular dynamics simulations of a realistic model of an ultrathin film of BaTiO$_3$ sandwiched between short-circuited electrodes to determine and understand effects of film thickness, epitaxial strain and the nature of electrodes on its ferroelectric phase transitions as a function of temperature. We determine a full epitaxial strain-temperature phase diagram in the presence of perfect electrodes. Even with the vanishing depolarization field, we find that ferroelectric phase transitions to states with in-plane and out-of-plane components of polarization exhibit dependence on thickness; it arises from the interactions of local dipoles with their electrostatic images in the presence of electrodes. Secondly, in the presence of relatively bad metal electrodes which only partly compensate the surface charges and depolarization field, a qualitatively different phase with stripe-like domains is stabilized at low temperature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2007

Coupling between magnetic ordering and structural instabilities in perovskite biferroics: A first-principles study

We use first-principles density functional theory-based calculations to investigate structural instabilities in the high symmetry cubic perovskite structure of rare-earth (R $=$ La, Y, Lu) and Bi-based biferroic chromites, focusing on $Γ$ and $R$ point phonons of states with para-, ferro-, and antiferromagnetic ordering. We find that (a) the structure with G-type antiferromagnetic ordering is most stable, (b) the most dominant structural instabilities in these oxides are the ones associated with rotations of oxygen octahedra, and (c) structural instabilities involving changes in Cr-O-Cr bond angle depend sensitively on the changes in magnetic ordering. The dependence of structural instabilities on magnetic ordering can be understood in terms of how super-exchange interactions depend on the Cr-O-Cr bond angles and Cr-O bond lengths. We demonstrate how adequate buckling of Cr-O-Cr chains can favour ferromagnetism. Born effective charges (BEC) calculated using the Berry phase expression are found to be anomalously large for the A-cations, indicating their chemical relevance to ferroelectric distortions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Ferroics: magnetic-compass lattice and optical phonon dispersions of dipolar crystals

We report a simple safe and attractive pedagogic demonstration with magnetic compasses that facilitates an intuitive understanding of the concept that ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity do not result from dipole-dipole interactions alone. Phonon dispersion relations were calculated for a 3-dimensional simple-cubic dipole crystal and a 2-dimensional square-lattice dipole crystal. The latter calculation corresponds to the compass demonstration that confirm the antiferro ground state structure. A sum rule for the three optical phonon frequencies is discussed. A mathematical non-analyticity in the longitudinal optical phonon are also illustrated.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Biferroic YCrO3

YCrO3 which has a monoclinic structure, shows weak ferromagnetism below 140 K (TN) and a ferroelectric transition at 473 K accompanied by hysteresis. We have determined the structure and energetics of YCrO3 with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering by means of first-principles density functional theory calculations, based on pseudopotentials and a plane wave basis. The non-centrosymmetric monoclinic structure is found to be lower in energy than the orthorhombic structure, supporting the biferroic nature of YCrO3.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

The Nature of Vibrations of a 2-D Disordered Lattice Model with Nano-scale Order

Motivated by the unusual soft mode anomalies in the relaxor ferroelectrics, we present a numerical study of vibrational excitations of a disordered lattice model with chemical order on the nano-scale. We find an Ioffe-Regel crossover in acoustic modes separating propagating low-frequency modes from the intermediate frequency diffusons, and localized modes at the high-frequency end of the spectrum. At a fixed degree of disorder, we find increasing uncertainty in the momentum of long wave-length optical modes with decrease in the size of nano-ordered regions. We determine the cause for this to be a strong mixing between acoustic and optical modes, believed to be central to the model of waterfall phonon anomalies.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗