| 1. |
- Alberto, H. V., et al.
(författare)
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Slow-muon study of quaternary solar-cell materials : Single layers and p-n junctions
- 2018
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2475-9953. ; 2:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thin films and p-n junctions for solar cells based on the absorber materials Cu(In, Ga) Se-2 and Cu2ZnSnS4 were investigated as a function of depth using implanted low energy muons. The most significant result is a clear decrease of the formation probability of the Mu(+) state at the heterojunction interface as well as at the surface of the Cu(In, Ga)Se-2 film. This reduction is attributed to a reduced bonding reaction of the muon in the absorber defect layer at its surface. In addition, the activation energies for the conversion from a muon in an atomiclike configuration to a anion-bound position are determined from temperature-dependence measurements. It is concluded that the muon probe provides a measurement of the effective surface defect layer width, both at the heterojunctions and at the films. The CIGS surface defect layer is crucial for solar-cell electrical performance and additional information can be used for further optimizations of the surface.
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| 2. |
- Amirabbasi, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Lattice distortions and magnetic interactions in single-layer VOCl
- 2023
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2475-9953. ; 7:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atomically thin layers exfoliated from magnetic van der Waals layered materials are currently of high interest in solid state physics. VOCl is a quasi-two-dimensional layered antiferromagnet which was recently synthesized in monolayer form. Previous theoretical studies have assumed the high-temperature orthorhombic lattice symmetry also in the low-temperature range, where the bulk system is known to be monoclinic due to a strong magnetoelastic coupling. We demonstrate from ab initio calculations that this monoclinic distortion is prevalent also in monolayers, which is in line with recent experimental indications of monoclinic symmetry. Our calculations also show that competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions cause a frustrated twofold magnetic superstructure where higher-order magnetic interactions play a key role.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Mikael, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Interplay of NH4+ and BH4- reorientational dynamics in NH4BH4
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - 2475-9953. ; 4:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The reorientational dynamics of ammonium borohydride (NH4BH4) was studied using quasielastic neutron scattering in the temperature interval from 10 to 240 K, which covers both the dynamically ordered and disordered polymorphs of NH4BH4. In the low-temperature (50 K) ordered polymorph of NH4BH4, analysis of the quasielastic neutron scattering data reveals that no reorientational dynamics is present within the probed timescale region of 0.1 to 100 ps. In the high-temperature (50 K) disordered polymorph, the analysis establishes the onset of NH4+ and BH4- dynamics at around 50 and 125 K, respectively. The relaxation time at 150 K for NH4+ is approximately 1 ps, while around 100 ps for BH4- . The NH4+ dynamics at temperatures below 125 K is associated with preferential tetrahedral tumbling motions, where each of the hydrogen atoms in the NH4+ tetrahedron can visit any of the four hydrogen sites, however, reorientations around a specific axis are more frequently occurring (C-2 or C3). At higher temperatures, the analysis does not exclude a possible evolution of the NH4+ dynamics from tetrahedral tumbling to either cubic tumbling, where the hydrogen atoms can visit any of the eight positions corresponding to the corners of a cube, or isotropic rotational diffusion, where the hydrogen atoms can visit any location on the surface of a sphere. The BH4- dynamics can be described as cubic tumbling. The difference in reorientational dynamics between the two ions is related to the difference of the local environment where the dynamically much slower BH4- anion imposes a noncubic environment on the NH4+ cation.
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| 4. |
- Anzellini, S., et al.
(författare)
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Phase diagram of calcium at high pressure and high temperature
- 2018
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : American Physical Society. - 2475-9953. ; 2:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Resistively heated diamond-anvil cells have been used together with synchrotron x-ray diffraction to investigate the phase diagram of calcium up to 50 GPa and 800 K. The phase boundaries between the Ca-I (fcc), Ca-II (bcc), and Ca-III (simple cubic, sc) phases have been determined at these pressure-temperature conditions, and the ambient temperature equation of state has been generated. The equation of state parameters at ambient temperature have been determined from the experimental compression curve of the observed phases by using third-order Birch-Murnaghan and Vinet equations. A thermal equation of state was also determined for Ca-I and Ca-II by combining the room-temperature Birch-Murnaghan equation of state with a Berman-type thermal expansion model.
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| 5. |
- Arapan, S., et al.
(författare)
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Influence of antiphase boundary of the MnAl tau-phase on the energy product
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : American Physical Society. - 2475-9953. ; 3:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we use a multiscale approach to describe a realistic model of a permanent magnet based on MnAl tau-phase and elucidate how the antiphase boundary defects present in this material affect the energy product. We show how the extrinsic properties of a microstructure depend on the intrinsic properties of a structure with defects by performing micromagnetic simulations. For an accurate estimation of the energy product of a realistic permanent magnet based on the MnAl tau-phase with antiphase boundaries, we quantify exchange interaction strength across the antiphase boundary defect with a simple approach derived from first-principles calculations. These two types of calculations, performed at different scales, are linked via atomistic spin-dynamics simulations.
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| 6. |
- Arpaia, Riccardo, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Engineering underdoped CuO2 nanoribbons in nm-thick a -axis YBa2Cu3 O7-δ films
- 2024
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - 2475-9953. ; 8:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In underdoped cuprate high-Tc superconductors, various local orders and symmetry-breaking states, in addition to superconductivity, reside in the CuO2 planes. The confinement of the CuO2 planes can therefore play a fundamental role in modifying the hierarchy between the various orders and their intertwining with superconductivity. Here we present the growth of a-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7-δ films, spanning the whole underdoped side of the phase diagram. In these samples, the CuO2 planes are confined by the film thickness, effectively forming unit-cell-thick nanoribbons. The unidirectional confinement at the nanoscale enhances the in-plane anisotropy of the films. By x-ray diffraction and resistance vs temperature measurements, we have discovered the suppression of the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition at low dopings, and a very high anisotropy of the normal state resistance in the b-c plane, the latter being connected to a weak coupling between adjacent CuO2 nanoribbons. These findings show that the samples we have grown represent a novel system, different from the bulk, where future experiments can possibly shed light on the rich and mysterious physics occurring within the CuO2 planes.
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| 7. |
- Arpaia, Riccardo, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Engineering underdoped CuO2 nanoribbons in nm-thick a -axis YBa2Cu3 O7-δ films
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : American Physical Society. - 2475-9953. ; 8:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In underdoped cuprate high-Tc superconductors, various local orders and symmetry-breaking states, in addition to superconductivity, reside in the CuO2 planes. The confinement of the CuO2 planes can therefore play a fundamental role in modifying the hierarchy between the various orders and their intertwining with superconductivity. Here we present the growth of a-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7-δ films, spanning the whole underdoped side of the phase diagram. In these samples, the CuO2 planes are confined by the film thickness, effectively forming unit-cell-thick nanoribbons. The unidirectional confinement at the nanoscale enhances the in-plane anisotropy of the films. By x-ray diffraction and resistance vs temperature measurements, we have discovered the suppression of the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition at low dopings, and a very high anisotropy of the normal state resistance in the b-c plane, the latter being connected to a weak coupling between adjacent CuO2 nanoribbons. These findings show that the samples we have grown represent a novel system, different from the bulk, where future experiments can possibly shed light on the rich and mysterious physics occurring within the CuO2 planes.
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| 8. |
- Arpaia, Riccardo, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Probing the phase diagram of cuprates with YBa2Cu3O7−δ thin films and nanowires
- 2018
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - 2475-9953. ; 2:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have grown and characterized 30-nm-thick YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) films, deposited by pulsed laser deposition on both MgO (110) and SrTiO3 (001) substrates, which induce opposite strain to the superconducting layer. By carefully tuning the in situ post-annealing oxygen pressure, we achieved, in a reproducible way, films at different oxygen doping, spanning from the slightly overdoped down to the strongly underdoped region of the phase diagram. The transport properties of the films, investigated through resistance versus temperature measurements, are in perfect qualitative agreement with single crystals. Starting from these films, we have also successfully fabricated nanowires with widths down to 65 nm, at different oxygen doping. The nanostructures exhibit characteristic temperatures (as the critical temperature Tc and the pseudogap temperature T∗) similar to those of the as-grown films and carry critical current densities Jc close to the critical depairing value, limited by vortex entry. This implies that the superconducting and the normal state properties of underdoped YBCO are preserved in our films, and they can be studied as a function of the dimensionality of the system, down to the nanoscale.
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| 9. |
- Arpaia, Riccardo, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Untwinned YBa2Cu3O7-delta thin films on MgO substrates: A platform to study strain effects on the local orders in cuprates
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - 2475-9953. ; 3:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have grown untwinned YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) films on (110) MgO substrates that were preannealed at high temperature in oxygen atmosphere. The annealing results in surface reconstruction with shallow facets, which induce the suppression of the YBCO twinning domains, and the preferential alignment of the CuO chains along one of the in-plane directions of the substrate. Because of the large mismatch between the in-plane lattice parameters of film and substrate, the strain induced by the MgO into the YBCO layer is strong and very peculiar. The YBCO film is compressed, with respect to the bulk, and presents a unidirectional buckling of the atomic planes, along the chains' direction, due to a deformation of the copper-oxygen octahedra. The YBCO films, which can be grown with thicknesses down to few unit cells and oxygen doping levels spanning most of the superconducting dome, are patterned into nanowires with dimensions down to 50 nm. The anisotropies due to the untwinning state are preserved in these structures; moreover, additional anisotropies appear in ultrathin structures where strain effects become more pronounced. Such untwinned and compressively strained films can therefore be used as a platform to study the interplay between strain and the various local orders in the normal state of YBCO.
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| 10. |
- Baba, Elbruz Murat, et al.
(författare)
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Light-induced breathing in photochromic yttrium oxyhydrides
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - : AMER PHYSICAL SOC. - 2475-9953. ; 4:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When exposed to air, metallic yttrium dihydride YH2 films turn into insulating and transparent yttrium oxyhydride (YHO). The incorporation of oxygen causes the lattice expansion of YH2 and the emergence of photochromic properties, i.e., YHO darkens reversibly when illuminated with light of adequate energy and intensity. However, the adequate bleaching of the photodarkened samples once the illumination has stopped is much faster in air than in inert atmosphere. According to this experimental evidence, the photochromic mechanism has to be related to an oxygen diffusion and exchange process. Since this process is accompanied by a lattice expansion/contraction, it can be said that YHO "breathes" when subjected to illumination/darkness cycling. Another interesting side effect of the breathing is the unexpected enhancement of the hydrophobicity of the YHO samples under illumination. A theoretical model able to explain the breathing in YHO is presented, together with the discussion of other alternative explanations.
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