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Exciton dispersion in para-quaterphenyl: Significant molecular interactions beyond Coulomb coupling
2021, Graf, Lukas, Krupskaya, Yulia, Büchner, Bernd, Knupfer, Martin
We have experimentally determined the momentum dependence of the electronic excitation spectra of para-quaterphenyl single crystals. The parallel arrangement of para-quaterphenyl molecules results in a strong Coulomb coupling of the molecular excitons. Such crystals have been considered to be a very good realization of the Frenkel exciton model, including the formation of H-type aggregates. Our data reveal an unexpected exciton dispersion of the upper Davydov component, which cannot be rationalized in terms of inter-molecular Coulomb coupling of the excitons. A significant reduction of the nearest neighbor coupling due to additional charge-transfer processes is able to provide an explanation of the data. Furthermore, the spectral onset of the excitation spectrum, which represents a heavy exciton resulting from exciton-phonon coupling, also shows a clear dispersion, which had been unknown so far. Finally, an optically forbidden excitation about 1 eV above the excitation onset is observed. © 2021 Author(s).
Stabilizing a three-center single-electron metal–metal bond in a fullerene cage
2021, Jin, Fei, Xin, Jinpeng, Guan, Runnan, Xie, Xiao-Ming, Chen, Muqing, Zhang, Qianyan, Popov, Alexey A., Xie, Su-Yuan, Yang, Shangfeng
Trimetallic carbide clusterfullerenes (TCCFs) encapsulating a quinary M3C2 cluster represent a special family of endohedral fullerenes with an open-shell electronic configuration. Herein, a novel TCCF based on a medium-sized rare earth metal, dysprosium (Dy), is synthesized for the first time. The molecular structure of Dy3C2@Ih(7)-C80 determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction shows that the encapsulated Dy3C2 cluster adopts a bat ray configuration, in which the acetylide unit C2 is elevated above the Dy3 plane by ∼1.66 Å, while Dy–Dy distances are ∼3.4 Å. DFT computational analysis of the electronic structure reveals that the endohedral cluster has an unusual formal charge distribution of (Dy3)8+(C2)2−@C806− and features an unprecedented three-center single-electron Dy–Dy–Dy bond, which has never been reported for lanthanide compounds. Moreover, this electronic structure is different from that of the analogous Sc3C2@Ih(7)-C80 with a (Sc3)9+(C2)3−@C806− charge distribution and no metal–metal bonding.
Direct Observation of Shock-Induced Disordering of Enstatite Below the Melting Temperature
2020, Hernandez, J.-A., Morard, G., Guarguaglini, M., Alonso-Mori, R., Benuzzi-Mounaix, A., Bolis, R., Fiquet, G., Galtier, E., Gleason, A.E., Glenzer, S., Guyot, F., Ko, B., Lee, H.J., Mao, W.L., Nagler, B., Ozaki, N., Schuster, A.K., Shim, S.H., Vinci, T., Ravasio, A.
We report in situ structural measurements of shock-compressed single crystal orthoenstatite up to 337 ± 55 GPa on the Hugoniot, obtained by coupling ultrafast X-ray diffraction to laser-driven shock compression. Shock compression induces a disordering of the crystalline structure evidenced by the appearance of a diffuse X-ray diffraction signal at nanosecond timescales at 80 ± 13 GPa on the Hugoniot, well below the equilibrium melting pressure (>170 GPa). The formation of bridgmanite and post-perovskite have been indirectly reported in microsecond-scale plate-impact experiments. Therefore, we interpret the high-pressure disordered state we observed at nanosecond scale as an intermediate structure from which bridgmanite and post-perovskite crystallize at longer timescales. This evidence of a disordered structure of MgSiO3 on the Hugoniot indicates that the degree of polymerization of silicates is a key parameter to constrain the actual thermodynamics of shocks in natural environments. © 2020. The Authors.
Covalency versus magnetic axiality in Nd molecular magnets: Nd-photoluminescence, strong ligand-field, and unprecedented nephelauxetic effect in fullerenes NdM2N@C80 (M = Sc, Lu, Y)
2023, Yang, Wei, Rosenkranz, Marco, Velkos, Georgios, Ziegs, Frank, Dubrovin, Vasilii, Schiemenz, Sandra, Spree, Lukas, de Souza Barbosa, Matheus Felipe, Guillemard, Charles, Valvidares, Manuel, Büchner, Bernd, Liu, Fupin, Avdoshenko, Stanislav M., Popov, Alexey A.
Nd-based nitride clusterfullerenes NdM2N@C80 with rare-earth metals of different sizes (M = Sc, Y, Lu) were synthesized to elucidate the influence of the cluster composition, shape and internal strain on the structural and magnetic properties. Single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed a very short Nd-N bond length in NdSc2N@C80. For Lu and Y analogs, the further shortening of the Nd-N bond and pyramidalization of the NdM2N cluster are predicted by DFT calculations as a result of the increased cluster size and a strain caused by the limited size of the fullerene cage. The short distance between Nd and nitride ions leads to a very large ligand-field splitting of Nd3+ of 1100-1200 cm−1, while the variation of the NdM2N cluster composition and concomitant internal strain results in the noticeable modulation of the splitting, which could be directly assessed from the well-resolved fine structure in the Nd-based photoluminescence spectra of NdM2N@C80 clusterfullerenes. Photoluminescence measurements also revealed an unprecedentedly strong nephelauxetic effect, pointing to a high degree of covalency. The latter appears detrimental to the magnetic axiality despite the strong ligand field. As a result, the ground magnetic state has considerable transversal components of the pseudospin g-tensor, and the slow magnetic relaxation of NdSc2N@C80 could be observed by AC magnetometry only in the presence of a magnetic field. A combination of the well-resolved magneto-optical states and slow relaxation of magnetization suggests that Nd clusterfullerenes can be useful building blocks for magneto-photonic quantum technologies.
Analysis of electronic properties frommagnetotransport measurements on Ba(Fe1-xNix)2As2 thin films
2020, Shipulin, I., Richter, S., Thomas, A.A., Nielsch, K., Hühne, R., Martovitsky, V.
We performed a detailed structural, magnetotransport, and superconducting analysis of thin epitaxial Ba(Fe1-xNix)2As2 films with Ni doping of x = 0.05 and 0.08, as prepared by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction studies demonstrate the high crystalline perfection of the films, which have a similar quality to single crystals. Furthermore, magnetotransport measurements of the films were performed in magnetic fields up to 9 T. The results we used to estimate the density of electronic states at the Fermi level, the coefficient of electronic heat capacity, and other electronic parameters for this compound, in their dependence on the dopant concentration within the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau-Abrikosov-Gorkov theory. The comparison of the determined parameters with measurement data on comparable Ba(Fe1-xNix)2As2 single crystals shows good agreement, which confirms the high quality of the obtained films.
Investigating the magnetic and magnetocaloric behaviors of LiSm(PO3)4
2023, Tran, T.A., Petrov, Dimitar N., Phan, T.L., Tu, B. D., Nhat, H.N., Tran, H.C., Weise, B., Cwik, J., Koshkid'ko, Yu S., Manh, T.V., Hoang, T.P., Dang, N.T.
We report a detailed study on the magnetic behaviors and magnetocaloric (MC) effect of a single crystal of lithium samarium tetraphosphate, LiSm(PO3)4. The analyses of temperature-dependent magnetization data have revealed magnetic ordering established with decreasing temperature below Tp, where Tp is the minimum of a dM/dT vs. T curve and varies as a linear function of the applied field H. The Curie temperature has been extrapolated from Tp(H) data, as H → 0, to be about 0.51 K. The establishment of magnetic-ordering causes a substantial change in the heat capacity Cp. Above Tp, the crystal exhibits paramagnetic behavior. Using the Curie-Weiss (CW) law and Arrott plots, we have found the crystal to have a CW temperature θCW ≈ −36 K, and short-range magnetic order associated with a coexistence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions ascribed to the couplings of magnetic dipoles and octupoles at the Γ7 and Γ8 states. An assessment of the MC effect has shown increases in value of the absolute magnetic-entropy change (|ΔSm|) and adiabatic-temperature change (ΔTad) when lowering the temperature to 2 K, and increasing the magnetic-field H magnitude. Around 2 K, the maximum value of |ΔSm| is about 3.6 J kg−1 K−1 for the field H = 50 kOe, and ΔTad is about 5.8 K for H = 20 kOe, with the relative cooling power (RCP) of ∼82.5 J kg−1. In spite of a low MC effect in comparison to Li(Gd,Tb,Ho)(PO3)4, the absence of magnetic hysteresis reflects that LiSm(PO3)4 is also a candidate for low-temperature MC applications below 25 K.
Shape-adaptive single-molecule magnetism and hysteresis up to 14 K in oxide clusterfullerenes Dy2O@C72 and Dy2O@C74 with fused pentagon pairs and flexible Dy-(μ2-O)-Dy angle
2020, Velkos, G., Yang, W., Yao, Y.-R., Sudarkova, S.M., Liu, X., Büchner, B., Avdoshenko, S.M., Chen, N., Popov, A.A.
Dysprosium oxide clusterfullerenes Dy2O@Cs(10528)-C72 and Dy2O@C2(13333)-C74 are synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Carbon cages of both molecules feature two adjacent pentagon pairs. These pentalene units determine positions of endohedral Dy ions hence the shape of the Dy2O cluster, which is bent in Dy2O@C72 but linear in Dy2O@C74. Both compounds show slow relaxation of magnetization and magnetic hysteresis. Nearly complete cancelation of ferromagnetic dipolar and antiferromagnetic exchange Dy⋯Dy interactions leads to unusual magnetic properties. Dy2O@C74 exhibits zero-field quantum tunneling of magnetization and magnetic hysteresis up to 14 K, the highest temperature among Dy-clusterfullerenes.
Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 single crystals towards high thermoelectric performance
2020, Pan, Yu, Yao, Mengyu, Hong, Xiaochen, Zhu, Yifan, Fan, Fengren, Imasato, Kazuki, He, Yangkun, Hess, Christian, Fink, Jörg, Yang, Jiong, Büchner, Bernd, Fu, Chenguang, Snyder, G. Jeffrey, Felser, Claudia
The rapid growth of the thermoelectric cooler market makes the development of novel room temperature thermoelectric materials of great importance. Ternary n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 alloys are promising alternatives to the state-of-the-art Bi2(Te,Se)3 alloys but grain boundary resistance is the most important limitation. n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 single crystals with negligible grain boundaries are expected to have particularly high zT but have rarely been realized due to the demanding Mg-rich growth conditions required. Here, we report, for the first time, the thermoelectric properties of n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 alloyed single crystals grown by a one-step Mg-flux method using sealed tantalum tubes. High weighted mobility ∼140 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a high zT of 0.82 at 315 K are achieved in Y-doped Mg3Bi1.25Sb0.75 single crystals. Through both experimental angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, we denote the origin of the high thermoelectric performance from a point of view of band widening effect and electronegativity, as well as the necessity to form high Bi/Sb ratio ternary Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 alloys. The present work paves the way for further development of Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 for near room temperature thermoelectric applications.