Yang-Yuan Chen | Searcharxiv

arXiv2016

Superconductivity and Superconductor-Insulator Transition in Single Crystal Sb2Te3 Nanoflakes

We report on transport properties of the topological insulator single crystal $Sb2Te3$ nanoflakes with thickness about from 7 to 50nm. A steep drop of resistance is appeared near $3K$ in the ultrathin $Sb2Te3$ nanoflakes, manifesting a superconducting transition.The magnetic field induced superconductor insulator transition of disordered 2D superconductor system is observed in the nanoflakes.The results show that the existence of certain optimum degree of disorder is a necessary condition for emergence of superconductivity.Temperature dependence of magneto-resistance shows a consecutive transformation of weak antilocalization cusp into the superconducting transition at low field when $B < BC$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Multiferroicity in Geometrically Frustrated α-MCr_2O_4 systems (M=Ca, Sr, Ba)

We have successfully synthesized three quasi-2D geometrically frustrated magnetic compounds (α-MCr_2O_4, M=Ca, Sr, Ba) using the spark-plasma-sintering technique. All these members of the α-MCr_2O_4 family consist of the stacking planar triangular lattices of Cr$^{3+}$ spins (${\rm S}=3/2$), separated by non-magnetic alkaline earth ions. Their corresponding magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, dielectric permittivity and ferroelectric polarization are systematically investigated. A long-range magnetic ordering arises below the Néel temperature (around 40K) in each member of the α-MCr_2O_4 family, which changes to the quasi-120\degree proper-screw-type helical spin structure at low temperature. A very small but confirmed spontaneous electric polarization emerges concomitantly with this magnetic ordering. The direction of electric polarization is found within the basal triangular plane. The multiferroicity in α-MCr_2O_4 can not be explained within the frameworks of the magnetic exchange striction or the inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The observed results are more compatible with the newly proposed Arima mechanism that is associated the d-p hybridization between the ligand and transition metal ions, modified by the spin-orbit coupling. The evolution of multiferroic properties with the increasing inter-planar spacing (as M changes from Ca to Ba) reveals the importance of interlayer interaction in this new family of frustrated magnetic systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗