arXiv subjects

Wenhong Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Wenhong Wang.

84 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Large low-field positive magnetoresistance in nonmagnetic half-Heusler ScPtBi single crystal

High-quality nonmagnetic half-Heusler ScPtBi single crystals were synthesized by a Bi self-flux method. This compound was revealed to be a hole-dominated semimetal with a large low-field magnetoresistance up to 240% at 2K in a magnetic field of 1T. Magneto-transport measurements demonstrated that the large low-field magnetoresistance effect resulted from the coexistence of field-induced metal-semiconductor transition and weak-antilocalization effect. Moreover, Hall measurements indicated that ScPtBi single crystal showed a high mobility over a wide temperature region even up to room temperature (4050 cm2V-1s-1 at 2K - 2016 cm2V-1s-1 at 300K). These findings not only suggest the nonmagnetic ScPtBi semimetal a potential material candidate for applications in high-sensitivity magnetic sensors, but also are of great significance to comprehensively understand the rare-earth based half-Heusler compounds.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Transition from semiconducting to metallic-like conducting and weak antilocalization effect in single crystals of LuPtSb

High quality half-Heusler single crystals of LuPtSb have been synthesized by a Pb flux method. The temperature dependent resistivity and Hall effects indicate that the LuPtSb crystal is a p-type gapless semiconductor showing a transition from semiconducting to metallic conducting at 150 K. Moreover, a weakly temperature-dependent positive magnetoresistance (MR) as large as 109 % and high carrier mobility up to 2950 cm2/Vs are experimentally observed at temperatures below 150 K. The low-field MR data shows evidence for weak antilocalization (WAL) effect at temperatures even up to 150 K. Analysis of the temperature and angle dependent magnetoconductance manifests that the WAL effect originates from the bulk contribution owing to the strong spin-orbital coupling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

NMR evidence for enhanced orbital diamagnetism in topologically nontrivial half-Heusler semimetals

209Bi nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was employed to probe potential spin-orbit effects on orbital diamagnetism in YPtBi and YPdBi crystals. The observed opposite sign and temperature dependent magnitude of 209Bi NMR shifts of both crystals reveal experimental signatures of enhanced orbital diamagnetism induced by spin-orbit interactions. This investigation indicates that NMR isotropic shifts might be beneficial in search of interesting spin-electronic phases among a vast number of topological nontrivial half-Heusler semimetals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Weak Antilocalization Effect and Noncentrosymmetric Superconductivity in a Topologically Nontrivial Semimetal LuPdBi

A large number of half-Heusler compounds have been recently proposed as three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) with tunable physical properties.However, no transport measurements associated with the topological surface states have been observed in these half-Heusler candidates due to the dominating contribution from bulk electrical conductance. Here we show that, by reducing the mobility of bulk carriers, a two-dimensional (2D) weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, one of the hallmarks of topological surface states, was experimentally revealed from the tilted magnetic field dependence of magnetoconductance in a topologically nontrivial semimetal LuPdBi. Besides the observation of a 2D WAL effect, a superconducting transition was revealed at Tc~1.7 K in the same bulk LuPdBi. Quantitative analysis within the framework of a generalized BCS theory leads to the conclusion that the noncentrosymmetric superconductivity of LuPdBi is fully gapped with a possibly unconventional pairing character. The co-existence of superconductivity and the transport signature of topological surface states in the same bulk alloy suggests that LuPdBi represents a very promising candidate as a topological superconductor.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Large Linear Magnetoresistance and Shubnikov-de Hass Oscillations in Single Crystals of YPdBi Heusler Topological Insulators

We report the observation of a large linear magnetoresistance (MR) and Shubnikov-de Hass (SdH) quantum oscillations in single crystals of YPdBi Heusler topological insulators. Owning to the successfully obtained the high-quality YPdBi single crystals, large non-saturating linear MR of as high as 350% at 5K and over 120% at 300 K under a moderate magnetic field of 7 T is observed. In addition to the large, field-linear MR, the samples exhibit pronounced SdH quantum oscillations at low temperature. Analysis of the SdH data manifests that the high-mobility bulk electron carriers dominate the magnetotransport and are responsible for the observed large linear MR in YPdBi crystals. These findings imply that the Heusler-based topological insulators have superiorities for investigating the novel quantum transport properties and developing the potential applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Thickness-dependent structural, magnetic and transport properties of epitaxial Co2FeAl Heusler alloy thin films

We report on a systematic study of the structural, magnetic properties and the anomalous Hall effect, in the Heusler alloy Co2FeAl (CFA) epitaxial films on MgO(001), as a function of film thickness. It was found that the epitaxial CFA films show a highly ordered B2 structure with an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. An analysis of the electrical transport properties reveals that the lattice and magnon scattering contributions to the longitudinal resistivity. Independent on the thickness of films, the anomalous Hall resistivity of CFA films is found to be dominated by skew scattering only. Moreover, the anomalous Hall resistivity shows weakly temperature dependent behavior, and its absolute value increases as the thickness decreases. We attribute this temperature insensitivity in the anomalous Hall resistivity to the weak temperature dependent of tunneling spin-polarization in the CFA films, while the thickness dependence behavior is likely due to the increasing significance of interface or free surface electronic states.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Fabrication and characterization of the gapless half-Heusler YPtSb thin films

Half-Heusler YPtSb thin films were fabricated by magnetron co-sputtering method on MgO-buffered SiO2/Si(001) substrates. X-ray diffraction pattern and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the high-quality growth and stoichiometry. The temperature dependence of the resistivity shows a semiconducting-type behavior down to low temperature. The Hall mobility was determined to be 450 cm2/Vs at 300K, which is much higher than the bulk value (300 cm2/Vs). In-plane magnetoresistance (MR) measurements with fields applied along and perpendicular to the current direction show opposite MR signs, which suggests the possible existence of the topological surface states.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Stable magnetostructural coupling with tunable magnetoresponsive effects in hexagonal phase-transition ferromagnets

The magnetostructural coupling between the structural and the magnetic transition plays a crucial role in magnetoresponsive effects in a martensitic-transition system. A combination of various magnetoresponsive effects based on this coupling may facilitate the multifunctional applications of a host material. Here, we demonstrate a possibility to obtain a stable magnetostructural coupling in a broad temperature window from 350 to 70 K, showing tunable magnetoresponsive effects, based on simultaneous manipulation of the phase stability and the magnetic structure by suitable chemical substitution of iron in MnNiGe. The resultant MnNiGe:Fe exhibits a magnetic-field-induced martensitic transition from paramagnetic austenite to ferromagnetic martensite, featuring (i) a large volume increase, (ii) a distinct magnetization change, (iii) small thermal hysteresis and (iv) a giant negative magnetocaloric effect. The results indicate that stable magnetostructural coupling is accessible in hexagonal phase-transition systems to attain the magnetoresponsive effects with broad tunability.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Influence of tetragonal distortion on the topological electronic structure of the half-Heusler compound LaPtBi from first principles

The electronic structures of tetragonally distorted half-Heuselr compound LaPtBi in the C1b structure are investigated in the framework of density functional theory using the full potential linearized augmented plane with local spin density approximation method. The calculation results show that both the band structures and the Fermi level can be tuned by using either compressive or tensile in-plane strain. A large bulk band gap of 0.3 eV can be induced through the application of a compressive in-pane strain in LaPtBi with the assumption of a relaxed volume of the unit cell. Our results could serve as a guidance to realize topological insulators in half-Heusler compounds by strain engineering.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Magnetic dichroism in angular-resolved hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy from buried layers

This work reports the measurement of magnetic dichroism in angular-resolved photoemission from in-plane magnetized buried thin films. The high bulk sensitivity of hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) in combination with circularly polarized radiation enables the investigation of the magnetic properties of buried layers. HAXPES experiments with an excitation energy of 8 keV were performed on exchange-biased magnetic layers covered by thin oxide films. Two types of structures were investigated with the IrMn exchange-biasing layer either above or below the ferromagnetic layer: one with a CoFe layer on top and another with a Co$_2$FeAl layer buried beneath the IrMn layer. A pronounced magnetic dichroism is found in the Co and Fe $2p$ states of both materials. The localization of the magnetic moments at the Fe site conditioning the peculiar characteristics of the Co$_2$FeAl Heusler compound, predicted to be a half-metallic ferromagnet, is revealed from the magnetic dichroism detected in the Fe $2p$ states.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Magnetostructural Transformation and Magnetoresponsive Properties of MnNiGe1-xSnx Alloys

The martensitic and magnetic phase transformations in MnNiGe1-xSnx (0 \leq x \leq 0.200) alloys were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and magnetization measurements. Results indicate that the increasing Sn substitution in MnNiGe1-xSnx results in (i) decrease of martensitic transformation temperature from 460 to 100 K and (ii) conversion of AFM spiral to antiparallel AFM strcuture in martensite. Based on these, the remarkable magnetic-field-induced PM/spiral-AFM and FM/AFM magnetostructural transformations and, large positive and negative magnetocaloric effects are obtained. The magnetoresponsive effects of MnNiGe1-xSnx alloys are enhanced by Sn substitution. A structural and magnetic phase diagram of MnNiGe1-xSnx alloys has been proposed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

A new spin-functional MOSFET based on magnetic tunnel junction technology: pseudo-spin-MOSFET

We fabricated and characterized a new spin-functional MOSFET referred to as a pseudo-spin-MOSFET (PS-MOSFET). The PS-MOSFET is a circuit using an ordinary MOSFET and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) for reproducing functions of spin-transistors. Device integration techniques for a bottom gate MOSFET using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and for an MTJ with a full-Heusler alloy electrode and MgO tunnel barrier were developed. The fabricated PS-MOSFET exhibited high and low transconductance controlled by the magnetization configurations of the MTJ at room temperature. This is the first observation of spin-transistor operations for spin-functional MOSFETs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗