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Tuning Ultra-Narrow Direct Bandgap in alpha-Sn Nanocrystals: A CMOS-Compatible Approach for THz Applications
Authors:
Tiziano Bertoli,
Elena Stellino,
Francesco Minati,
Camilla Belloni,
Giovanni Tomassucci,
Emanuele Bosco,
Silvano Battisti,
Leonardo Puppulin,
Demetrio Logoteta,
Alessandro Nucara,
Luisa Barba,
Gaetano Campi,
Naurang Lal Saini,
Fabrizio Palma,
Michele Back,
Pietro Riello,
Fernanda Irrera
Abstract:
alpha-Sn has recently been attracting significant interest due to its unique electronic properties. However, this allotrope of Sn is stable only below 13 °C and alternative options to the conventional stabilization by epitaxial growth on InSb are still a challenge. In this work, nanoparticles with inner alpha-Sn nanocrystals were synthesized on a Silicon substrate via a CMOS-compatible process thr…
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alpha-Sn has recently been attracting significant interest due to its unique electronic properties. However, this allotrope of Sn is stable only below 13 °C and alternative options to the conventional stabilization by epitaxial growth on InSb are still a challenge. In this work, nanoparticles with inner alpha-Sn nanocrystals were synthesized on a Silicon substrate via a CMOS-compatible process through microwave irradiation. The nanoparticle morphology was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy, demonstrating the ability to control the nanoparticle size by a dewetting process combined with a coalescence process induced by the microwaves. Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction analyses confirmed the stabilization of the alpha-Sn phase within a SnO2 shell, while X-Ray Photoemission Spectroscopy measurements revealed the presence of a bandgap. Infrared transmission spectroscopy combined with a Tauc-plot extrapolation led to an estimate of the gap in the range from 64 to 137 meV range. Furthermore, the possibility to tune the bandgap by controlling the nanoparticle size, possibly leveraging weak quantum confinement effects, was demonstrated, unveiling the potential of alpha-Sn nanoparticles on Si for the development of CMOS-compatible THz devices.
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Submitted 27 May, 2025;
originally announced May 2025.
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Lattice Quantum Geometry Controlling 118 K Multigap Superconductivity in Heavily Overdoped CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+d
Authors:
Gaetano Campi,
Massimiliano Catricala,
Giuseppe Chita,
Luisa Barba,
Luchuan Shi,
Jianfa Zhao,
Changing Jin,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
Synchrotron X-ray diffraction has been used to study the thermal structure evolution in CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+d (Cu1234), a superconductor which exhibits a high critical temperature (Tc 118 K), high critical current density and large upper critical magnetic field. The lattice geometry at nanoscale of this cuprate belongs to the class of natural heterostructures at atomic limit like the artificial high Tc…
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Synchrotron X-ray diffraction has been used to study the thermal structure evolution in CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+d (Cu1234), a superconductor which exhibits a high critical temperature (Tc 118 K), high critical current density and large upper critical magnetic field. The lattice geometry at nanoscale of this cuprate belongs to the class of natural heterostructures at atomic limit like the artificial high Tc superlattices made of interface space charge in Mott insulator units intercalated by metal units. Temperature-dependent lattice parameters reveal a distinct structural transition at TC characterized by a drop of the c-axis and in plane Cu-O negative thermal expansion below TC. These results provide clear evidence of lattice reorganization associated with the chemical potential changes due to the opening of multiple superconducting gaps. Additionally, evidence for oxygen defects rearrangement is observed at temperatures above 200 K. We construct a phase diagram correlating temperature, the c/a axis ratio, and in plane Cu-O strain, identifying regions associated with gaps opening and oxygen rearrangement. These findings provide new insights into how lattice geometry control superconductivity to inform the material design of advanced nanoscale superconducting artificial quantum heterostructures.
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Submitted 23 August, 2025; v1 submitted 18 April, 2025;
originally announced April 2025.
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Dynamics of non-thermal states in optimally-doped $Bi_2Sr_2Ca_{0.92}Y_{0.08}Cu_2O_{8+δ}$ revealed by mid-infrared three-pulse spectroscopy
Authors:
Angela Montanaro,
Enrico Maria Rigoni,
Francesca Giusti,
Luisa Barba,
Giuseppe Chita,
Filippo Glerean,
Giacomo Jarc,
Shahla Y. Mathengattil,
Fabio Boschini,
Hiroshi Eisaki,
Martin Greven,
Andrea Damascelli,
Claudio Giannetti,
Dragan Mihailovic,
Viktor Kabanov,
Daniele Fausti
Abstract:
In the cuprates, the opening of a d-wave superconducting (SC) gap is accompanied by a redistribution of spectral weight at energies two orders of magnitude larger than this gap. This indicates the importance to the pairing mechanism of on-site electronic excitations, such as orbital transitions or charge transfer excitations. Here, we resort to a three-pulse pump-probe scheme to study the broadban…
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In the cuprates, the opening of a d-wave superconducting (SC) gap is accompanied by a redistribution of spectral weight at energies two orders of magnitude larger than this gap. This indicates the importance to the pairing mechanism of on-site electronic excitations, such as orbital transitions or charge transfer excitations. Here, we resort to a three-pulse pump-probe scheme to study the broadband non-equilibrium dielectric function in optimally-doped $Bi_2Sr_2Ca_{0.92}Y_{0.08}Cu_2O_{8+δ}$ and we identify two distinct dynamical responses: i) a blueshift of the central energy of an interband excitation peaked at 2 eV and ii) a change in spectral weight in the same energy range. Photoexcitation with near-IR and mid-IR pulses, with photon energies respectively above and below the SC gap, reveals that the transient changes in the central energy are not modified by the onset of superconductivity and do not depend on the pump photon energy. Conversely, the spectral weight dynamics strongly depends on the pump photon energy and has a discontinuity at the critical temperature. The picture that emerges is that, while high-energy pulses excite quasiparticles in both nodal and thermally inaccessible antinodal states, photoexcitation by low-energy pulses mostly accelerates the condensate and creates excitations predominantly at the nodes of the SC gap. These results, rationalized by kinetic equations for d-wave superconducting gaps, indicate that dynamical control of the momentum-dependent distribution of non-thermal quasiparticles may be achieved by the selective tuning of the photoexcitation.
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Submitted 16 October, 2023;
originally announced October 2023.
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Disentangling structural and electronic properties in V$_{2}$O$_{3}$ thin films: a genuine non-symmetry breaking Mott transition
Authors:
Federico Mazzola,
Sandeep Kumar Chaluvadi,
Vincent Polewczyk,
Debashis Mondal,
Jun Fujii,
Piu Rajak,
Mahabul Islam,
Regina Ciancio,
Luisa Barba,
Michele Fabrizio,
Giorgio Rossi,
Pasquale Orgiani,
Ivana Vobornik
Abstract:
Phase transitions are key in determining and controlling the quantum properties of correlated materials. Here, by using the powerful combination of precise material synthesis and angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we show evidence for a genuine Mott transition undressed of any symmetry breaking side effects in the thin-films of V$_{2}$O$_{3}$. In particular, and in sharp contrast with the…
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Phase transitions are key in determining and controlling the quantum properties of correlated materials. Here, by using the powerful combination of precise material synthesis and angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we show evidence for a genuine Mott transition undressed of any symmetry breaking side effects in the thin-films of V$_{2}$O$_{3}$. In particular, and in sharp contrast with the bulk V$_{2}$O$_{3}$ crystals, we unveil the purely electronic dynamics approaching the metal-insulator transition, disentangled from the structural transformation that is prevented by the residual substrate-induced strain. On approaching the transition, the spectral signal evolves surprisingly slowly over a wide temperature range, the Fermi wave-vector does not change, and the critical temperature appears to be much lower than the one reported for the bulk. Our findings are on one side fundamental in demonstrating the universal benchmarks of a genuine non-symmetry breaking Mott transition, extendable to a large array of correlated quantum systems and, on the other, given that the fatal structural breakdown is avoided, they hold promise of exploiting the metal-insulator transition by implementing V$_{2}$O$_{3}$ thin films in devices.
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Submitted 1 July, 2022;
originally announced July 2022.
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Reproducible Validation and Replication Studies in Nanoscale Physics
Authors:
Natalia C. Clementi,
Lorena A. Barba
Abstract:
Credibility building activities in computational research include verification and validation, reproducibility and replication, and uncertainty quantification. Though orthogonal to each other, they are related. This paper presents validation and replication studies in electromagnetic excitations on nanoscale structures, where the quantity of interest is the wavelength at which resonance peaks occu…
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Credibility building activities in computational research include verification and validation, reproducibility and replication, and uncertainty quantification. Though orthogonal to each other, they are related. This paper presents validation and replication studies in electromagnetic excitations on nanoscale structures, where the quantity of interest is the wavelength at which resonance peaks occur. The study uses the open-source software PyGBe: a boundary element solver with trecode acceleration and GPU capability. We replicate a result by Rockstuhl et al. (2005, doi:10/dsxw9d) with a two-dimensional boundary element method on silicon carbide particles, despite differences in our method. The second replication case from Ellis et al. (2016, doi:10/f83zcb) looks at aspect ratio effects on high-order modes of localized surface phonon-polariton nanostructures. The results partially replicate: the wavenumber position of some mode match, but for other modes they differ. With virtually no information about the original simulations, explaining the discrepancies is not possible. A comparison with experiments that measured polarized reflectance of silicon carbide nano pillars provides a validation case. The wavenumber of the dominant mode and two more do match, but differences remain in other minor modes. Results in this paper were produced with strict reproducibility practices, and we share reproducibility packages for all, including input files, execution scripts, secondary data, post-processing code and plotting scripts, and the figures (deposited in Zenodo). In view of the many challenges faced, we propose that reproducible practices make replication and validation more feasible.
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Submitted 12 August, 2020;
originally announced August 2020.
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Anisotropic thermal expansion of p-Terphenyl: a self-assembled supramolecular array of poly-p-phenyl nanoribbons
Authors:
Luisa Barba,
Giuseppe Chita,
Gaetano Campi,
Lorenza Suber,
Elvira Maria Bauer,
Augusto Marcelli,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
The recent discovery of superconductivity in a metallic aromatic hydrocarbon, alkali-doped p-Terphenyl, has attracted considerable interest. The critical temperature Tc ranges from few to 123 K, the record for organic superconductors, due to uncontrolled competition of multiple phases and dopant concentration. In the proposed mechanism of Fano resonance in a superlattice of quantum wires with coex…
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The recent discovery of superconductivity in a metallic aromatic hydrocarbon, alkali-doped p-Terphenyl, has attracted considerable interest. The critical temperature Tc ranges from few to 123 K, the record for organic superconductors, due to uncontrolled competition of multiple phases and dopant concentration. In the proposed mechanism of Fano resonance in a superlattice of quantum wires with coexisting polarons and Fermi particles, the lattice properties play a key role. Here we report a study of the temperature evolution of the parent compound p-Terphenyl crystal structure proposed to be made of a self-assembled supramolecular network of nanoscale nanoribbons. Using temperature dependent synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction we report the anisotropic thermal expansion in the ab plane, which supports the presence of a nanoscale network of one-dimensional nanoribbons running in the b-axis direction in the P21/a structure. Below the enantiotropic phase transition at 193 K the order parameter of the C-1 structure follows a power law behaviour with the critical exponent 0.34 and the thermal expansion of the a-axis and b-axis show major changes supporting the formation of a two-dimensional bonds network. The large temperature range of the orientation fluctuations in a double well potential of the central phenyl has been determined.
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Submitted 3 January, 2018; v1 submitted 16 October, 2017;
originally announced October 2017.
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Evidence for a Strong Topological Insulator Phase in $\mathrm{ZrTe_5}$
Authors:
G. Manzoni,
L. Gragnaniello,
G. Autès,
T. Kuhn,
A. Sterzi,
F. Cilento,
M. Zacchigna,
V. Enenkel,
I. Vobornik,
L. Barba,
F. Bisti,
Ph. Bugnon,
A. Magrez,
V. N. Strocov,
H. Berger,
O. V. Yazyev,
M. Fonin,
F. Parmigiani,
A. Crepaldi
Abstract:
The complex electronic properties of $\mathrm{ZrTe_5}$ have recently stimulated in-depth investigations that assigned this material to either a topological insulator or a 3D Dirac semimetal phase. Here we report a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of both electronic and structural properties of $\mathrm{ZrTe_5}$, revealing that the bulk material is a strong topological insulator (ST…
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The complex electronic properties of $\mathrm{ZrTe_5}$ have recently stimulated in-depth investigations that assigned this material to either a topological insulator or a 3D Dirac semimetal phase. Here we report a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of both electronic and structural properties of $\mathrm{ZrTe_5}$, revealing that the bulk material is a strong topological insulator (STI). By means of angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we identify at the top of the valence band both a surface and a bulk state. The dispersion of these bands is well captured by ab initio calculations for the STI case, for the specific interlayer distance measured in our x-ray diffraction study. Furthermore, these findings are supported by scanning tunneling spectroscopy revealing the metallic character of the sample surface, thus confirming the strong topological nature of $\mathrm{ZrTe_5}$.
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Submitted 11 August, 2016;
originally announced August 2016.
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Inhomogeneity of charge density wave order and quenched disorder in a high Tc superconductor
Authors:
G. Campi,
A. Bianconi,
N. Poccia,
G. Bianconi,
L. Barba,
G. Arrighetti,
D. Innocenti,
J. Karpinski,
N. D. Zhigadlo,
S. M. Kazakov,
M. Burghammer,
M. v. Zimmermann,
M. Sprung,
A. Ricci
Abstract:
It has recently been established that the high temperature (high-Tc) superconducting state coexists with short-range charge-density-wave order and quenched disorder arising from dopants and strain. This complex, multiscale phase separation invites the development of theories of high temperature superconductivity that include complexity. The nature of the spatial interplay between charge and dopant…
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It has recently been established that the high temperature (high-Tc) superconducting state coexists with short-range charge-density-wave order and quenched disorder arising from dopants and strain. This complex, multiscale phase separation invites the development of theories of high temperature superconductivity that include complexity. The nature of the spatial interplay between charge and dopant order that provides a basis for nanoscale phase separation remains a key open question, because experiments have yet to probe the unknown spatial distribution at both the nanoscale and mescoscale (between atomic and macroscopic scale). Here we report micro X-ray diffraction imaging of the spatial distribution of both the charge-density-wave puddles (domains with only a few wavelengths) and quenched disorder in HgBa2CuO4+y, the single layer cuprate with the highest Tc, 95 kelvin. We found that the charge-density-wave puddles, like the steam bubbles in boiling water, have a fat-tailed size distribution that is typical of self-organization near a critical point. However, the quenched disorder, which arises from oxygen interstitials, has a distribution that is contrary to the usual assumed random, uncorrelated distribution. The interstitials-oxygen-rich domains are spatially anti-correlated with the charge-density-wave domains, leading to a complex emergent geometry of the spatial landscape for superconductivity.
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Submitted 16 September, 2015;
originally announced September 2015.
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Probing protein orientation near charged nanosurfaces for simulation-assisted biosensor design
Authors:
Christopher D. Cooper,
Natalia C. Clementi,
Lorena A. Barba
Abstract:
Protein-surface interactions are ubiquitous in biological processes and bioengineering, yet are not fully understood. In biosensors, a key factor determining the sensitivity and thus the performance of the device is the orientation of the ligand molecules on the bioactive device surface. Adsorption studies thus seek to determine how orientation can be influenced by surface preparation. In this wor…
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Protein-surface interactions are ubiquitous in biological processes and bioengineering, yet are not fully understood. In biosensors, a key factor determining the sensitivity and thus the performance of the device is the orientation of the ligand molecules on the bioactive device surface. Adsorption studies thus seek to determine how orientation can be influenced by surface preparation. In this work, protein orientation near charged nanosurfaces is obtained under electrostatic effects using the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, in an implicit-solvent model. Sampling the free energy for protein GB1D4' at a range of tilt and rotation angles with respect to the charged surface, we calculated the probability of the protein orientations and observed a dipolar behavior. This result is consistent with published experimental studies and combined Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations using this small protein, validating our method. More relevant to biosensor technology, antibodies such as immunoglobulin G are still a formidable challenge to molecular simulation, due to their large size. We obtained the probability distribution of orientations for the iso-type IgG2a at varying surface charge and salt concentration. This iso-type was not found to have a preferred orientation in previous studies, unlike the iso-type IgG1 whose larger dipole moment was assumed to make it easier to control. We find that the preferred orientation of IgG2a can be favorable for biosensing with positive surface charge of 0.05C/m$^{2}$ or higher and 37mM salt concentration. The results also show that local interactions dominate over dipole moment for this protein. Improving immunoassay sensitivity may thus be assisted by numerical studies using our method (and open-source code), guiding changes to fabrication protocols or protein engineering of ligand molecules to obtain more favorable orientations.
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Submitted 20 August, 2015; v1 submitted 25 March, 2015;
originally announced March 2015.
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arXiv:1405.4103
[pdf]
cond-mat.supr-con
cond-mat.mes-hall
cond-mat.mtrl-sci
cond-mat.str-el
Networks of superconducting nano-puddles in 1/8 doped YBa2Cu3O6.5+y controlled by thermal manipulation
Authors:
Alessandro Ricci,
Nicola Poccia,
Gaetano Campi,
Francesco Coneri,
Luisa Barba,
Gianmichele Arrighetti,
Maurizio Polentarutti,
Manfred Burghammer,
Michael Sprung,
Martin v. Zimmermann,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
While it is known that the nature and the arrangement of defects in complex oxides have an impact on the material functionalities little is known on control of superconductivity by oxygen interstitial organization in cuprates. Here we report direct compelling evidence for the control of Tc, by manipulation of the superconducting granular networks of nanoscale puddles, made of ordered oxygen stripe…
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While it is known that the nature and the arrangement of defects in complex oxides have an impact on the material functionalities little is known on control of superconductivity by oxygen interstitial organization in cuprates. Here we report direct compelling evidence for the control of Tc, by manipulation of the superconducting granular networks of nanoscale puddles, made of ordered oxygen stripes, in a single crystal of YBa2Cu3O6.5+y with average formal hole doping p close to 1/8. Upon thermal treatments we were able to switch from a first network of oxygen defects striped puddles with OVIII modulation (qOVIII(a*)=(h+3/8,k,0) and qOVIII(a*)=(h+5/8,k,0)), to second network characterized by OXVI modulation (qOXVI(a*)=(h+7/16,k,0) and qOXVI(a*)=(h+9/16,k,0)), and finally to a third network with puddles of OV periodicity (qOV(a*)=(4/10,1,0) and qOV(a*)=(6/10,1,0)). We map the microscopic spatial evolution of the out of plane OVIII, OXVI and OV puddles nano-size distribution via scanning micro-diffraction measurements. In particular, we calculated the number of oxygen chains (n) and the charge density (holes concentration p) inside each puddle, analyzing areas of 160x80 μm2, and recording 12800 diffraction patterns to reconstruct each spatial map. The high spatial inhomogeneity shown by all the reconstructed spatial maps reflects the intrinsic granular structure that characterizes cuprates and iron-chalcogenides, disclosing the presence of several complex networks of coexisting superconducting domains with different lattice modulations, charge density and different gaps like in the proposed multi-gaps scenario called superstripes.
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Submitted 16 May, 2014;
originally announced May 2014.
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Scanning micro X-ray diffraction unveils the distribution of oxygen chains nano-puddles in YBa2Cu3O6.33
Authors:
Gaetano Campi,
Alessandro Ricci,
Nicola Poccia,
Luisa Barba,
Gianmichele Arrighetti,
Manfred Burghammer,
Alessandra-Stella Caporale,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
Oxygen chain fragments are known to appear at the insulator to superconductor transition (SIT) in YBa2Cu3O6+y. However the self organization and the size distribution of oxygen chain fragments is not known. Here we contribute to fill this gap, using scanning micro X ray diffraction which is a novel imaging method based on advances in focusing synchrotron radiation beam. This novel approach allows…
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Oxygen chain fragments are known to appear at the insulator to superconductor transition (SIT) in YBa2Cu3O6+y. However the self organization and the size distribution of oxygen chain fragments is not known. Here we contribute to fill this gap, using scanning micro X ray diffraction which is a novel imaging method based on advances in focusing synchrotron radiation beam. This novel approach allows us to probe both real-space and k-space of a high-quality YBa2Cu3O6.33 single crystals with Tc=7K. We report compelling evidence for nanoscale striped puddles, with Ortho-II structure, made of chain fragments in the basal Cu(1) plane with local oxygen concentration 0.5. The size of the Ortho-II puddles spans a range between 2 and 9 nanometers. The real space imaging of Ortho-II puddles granular network shows that superconductivity, at low hole-doping regime, occurs in a network of nanoscale oxygen ordered patches, interspersed with oxygen depleted regions. The manipulation by thermal treatments of the striped Ortho II puddles has been investigated focusing on the spontaneous symmetry breaking near the order to disorder phase transition at 350 K.
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Submitted 12 January, 2013; v1 submitted 12 December, 2012;
originally announced December 2012.
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Evolution and Control of Oxygen Order in a Cuprate Superconductor
Authors:
Nicola Poccia,
Michela Fratini,
Alessandro Ricci,
Gaetano Campi,
Luisa Barba,
Alessandra Vittorini-Orgeas,
Ginestra Bianconi,
Gabriel Aeppli,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
The disposition of defects in metal oxides is a key attribute exploited for applications from fuel cells and catalysts to superconducting devices and memristors. The most typical defects are mobile excess oxygens and oxygen vacancies, and can be manipulated by a variety of thermal protocols as well as optical and dc electric fields. Here we report the X-ray writing of high-qualitysuperconducting r…
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The disposition of defects in metal oxides is a key attribute exploited for applications from fuel cells and catalysts to superconducting devices and memristors. The most typical defects are mobile excess oxygens and oxygen vacancies, and can be manipulated by a variety of thermal protocols as well as optical and dc electric fields. Here we report the X-ray writing of high-qualitysuperconducting regions, derived from defect ordering, in the superoxygenated layered cuprate, La2CuO4+y. Irradiation of a poor superconductor prepared by rapid thermal quenching results first in growth of ordered regions, with an enhancement of superconductivity becoming visible only after a waiting time, as is characteristic of other systems such as ferroelectrics, where strain must be accommodated for order to become extended. However, in La2CuO4+y, we are able to resolve all aspects of the growth of (oxygen) intercalant order, including an extraordinary excursion from low to high and back to low anisotropy of the ordered regions. We can also clearly associate the onset of high quality superconductivity with defect ordering in two dimensions. Additional experiments with small beams demonstrate a photoresist-free, single-step strategy for writing functional materials.
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Submitted 20 August, 2011;
originally announced August 2011.
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Nanoscale phase separation in the iron chalcogenide superconductor K0.8Fe1.6Se2 as seen via scanning nanofocused x-ray diffraction
Authors:
A. Ricci,
N. Poccia,
G. Campi,
B. Joseph,
G. Arrighetti,
L. Barba,
M. Reynolds,
M. Burghammer,
H. Takeya,
Y. Mizuguchi,
Y. Takano,
M. Colapietro,
N. L. Saini,
A. Bianconi
Abstract:
Advanced synchrotron radiation focusing down to a size of 300 nm has been used to visualize nanoscale phase separation in the K0.8Fe1.6Se2 superconducting system using scanning nanofocus single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The results show an intrinsic phase separation in K0.8Fe1.6Se2 single crystals at T< 520 K, revealing coexistence of i) a magnetic phase characterized by an expanded lattice with…
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Advanced synchrotron radiation focusing down to a size of 300 nm has been used to visualize nanoscale phase separation in the K0.8Fe1.6Se2 superconducting system using scanning nanofocus single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The results show an intrinsic phase separation in K0.8Fe1.6Se2 single crystals at T< 520 K, revealing coexistence of i) a magnetic phase characterized by an expanded lattice with superstructures due to Fe vacancy ordering and ii) a non-magnetic phase with an in-plane compressed lattice. The spatial distribution of the two phases at 300 K shows a frustrated or arrested nature of the phase separation. The space-resolved imaging of the phase separation permitted us to provide a direct evidence of nanophase domains smaller than 300 nm and different micrometer-sized regions with percolating magnetic or nonmagnetic domains forming a multiscale complex network of the two phases.
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Submitted 25 August, 2011; v1 submitted 2 July, 2011;
originally announced July 2011.
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Intrinsic phase separation in superconducting K0.8Fe1.6Se2 (Tc= 31.8 K) single crystals
Authors:
Alessandro Ricci,
Nicola Poccia,
Boby Joseph,
Gianmichele Arrighetti,
Luisa Barba,
Jasper Plaisier,
Gaetano Campi,
Yoshikazu Mizuguchi,
Hiroyuki Takeya,
Yoshihiko Takano,
Naurang Lal Saini,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
Temperature dependent single-crystal x-ray diffraction (XRD) in transmission mode probing the bulk of the newly discovered K0.8Fe1.6Se2 superconductor (Tc = 31.8 K) using synchrotron radiation is reported. A clear evidence of intrinsic phase separation at 520 K between two competing phases, (i) a first majority magnetic phase with a ThCr2Si2-type tetragonal lattice modulated by the iron vacancy or…
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Temperature dependent single-crystal x-ray diffraction (XRD) in transmission mode probing the bulk of the newly discovered K0.8Fe1.6Se2 superconductor (Tc = 31.8 K) using synchrotron radiation is reported. A clear evidence of intrinsic phase separation at 520 K between two competing phases, (i) a first majority magnetic phase with a ThCr2Si2-type tetragonal lattice modulated by the iron vacancy ordering and (ii) a minority non-magnetic phase having an in-plane compressed lattice volume and a weak superstructure, is reported. The XRD peaks due to the Fe vacancy ordering in the majority phase disappear by increasing the temperature at 580 K, well above phase separation temperature confirming the order-disorder phase transition. The intrinsic phase separation at 520K between a competing first magnetic phase and a second non-magnetic phase in the normal phase both having lattice superstructures (that imply different Fermi surface topology reconstruction and charge density) is assigned to a lattice-electronic instability of the K0.8Fe1.6Se2 system typical of a system tuned at a Lifshitz critical point of an electronic topological transition that gives a multi-gaps superconductor tuned a shape resonance.
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Submitted 2 July, 2011;
originally announced July 2011.
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Structural phase transition and superlattice misfit strain of RFeAsO (R = La, Pr, Nd and Sm)
Authors:
Alessandro Ricci,
Nicola Poccia,
B. Joseph,
Luisa Barba,
Gianmichele Arrighetti,
Gabriele Ciasca,
J. -Q. Yan,
R. W. McCallum,
T. A. Lograsso,
N. D. Zhigadlo,
J. Karpinski,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
The tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural phase transition (SPT) in LaFeAsO (La-1111) and SmFeAsO (Sm-1111) single crystals measured by high resolution x-ray diffraction is found to be sharp while the RFeAsO (R=La, Nd, Pr, Sm) polycrystalline samples show a broad continuous SPT. Comparing the polycrystalline and the single crystal 1111 samples, the critical exponents of the SPT are found to be the…
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The tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural phase transition (SPT) in LaFeAsO (La-1111) and SmFeAsO (Sm-1111) single crystals measured by high resolution x-ray diffraction is found to be sharp while the RFeAsO (R=La, Nd, Pr, Sm) polycrystalline samples show a broad continuous SPT. Comparing the polycrystalline and the single crystal 1111 samples, the critical exponents of the SPT are found to be the same while the correlation length critical exponents are found to be very different. These results imply that the lattice fluctuations in 1111 systems change in samples with different surface to volume ratio that is assigned to the relieve of the temperature dependent superlattice misfit strain between active iron layers and the spacer layers in 1111 systems. This phenomenon that is missing in the AFe2As2 (A=Ca, Sr, Ba) "122" systems, with the same electronic structure but different for the thickness and the elastic constant of the spacer layers, is related with the different maximum superconducting transition temperature in the 1111 (55 K) versus 122 (35 K) systems and implies the surface reconstruction in 1111 single crystals.
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Submitted 28 September, 2010; v1 submitted 16 July, 2010;
originally announced July 2010.
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Feshbach resonances and mesoscopic phase separation near a quantum critical point in multiband FeAs-based superconductors
Authors:
Rocchina Caivano,
Michela Fratini,
Nicola Poccia,
Alessandro Ricci,
Alessandro Puri,
Zhi-An Ren,
Xiao-Li Dong,
Jie Yang,
Wei Lu,
Zhong-Xian Zhao,
Luisa Barba,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
High Tc superconductivity in FeAs-based multilayers (pnictides), evading temperature decoherence effects in a quantum condensate, is assigned to a Feshbach resonance (called also shape resonance) in the exchange-like interband pairing. The resonance is switched on by tuning the chemical potential at an electronic topological transition (ETT) near a band edge, where the Fermi surface topology of…
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High Tc superconductivity in FeAs-based multilayers (pnictides), evading temperature decoherence effects in a quantum condensate, is assigned to a Feshbach resonance (called also shape resonance) in the exchange-like interband pairing. The resonance is switched on by tuning the chemical potential at an electronic topological transition (ETT) near a band edge, where the Fermi surface topology of one of the subbands changes from 1D to 2D topology. We show that the tuning is realized by changing i) the misfit strain between the superconducting planes and the spacers ii) the charge density and iii) the disorder. The system is at the verge of a catastrophe i.e. near a structural and magnetic phase transition associated with the stripes (analogous to the 1/8 stripe phase in cuprates) order to disorder phase transition. Fine tuning of both the chemical potential and the disorder pushes the critical temperature Ts of this phase transition to zero giving a quantum critical point. Here the quantum lattice and magnetic fluctuations promote the Feshbach resonance of the exchange-like anisotropic pairing. This superconducting phase that resists to the attacks of temperature is shown to be controlled by the interplay of the hopping energy between stripes and the quantum fluctuations. The superconducting gaps in the multiple Fermi surface spots reported by the recent ARPES experiment of D. V. Evtushinsky et al. arXiv:0809.4455 are shown to support the Feshbach scenario.
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Submitted 29 September, 2008;
originally announced September 2008.
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The effect of internal pressure on the tetragonal to monoclinic structural phase transition in ReOFeAs: the case of NdOFeAs
Authors:
Michela Fratini,
Rocchina Caivano,
Alessandro Puri,
Alessandro Ricci,
Zhi-An Ren,
Xiao-Li Dong,
Jie Yang,
Wei Lu,
Zhong-Xian Zhao,
Luisa Barba,
Gianmichele Arrighetti,
Maurizio Polentarutti,
Antonio Bianconi
Abstract:
We report the temperature dependent x-ray powder diffraction of the quaternary compound NdOFeAs (also called NdFeAsO) in the range between 300 K and 95 K. We have detected the structural phase transition from the tetragonal phase, with P4/nmm space group, to the orthorhombic or monoclinic phase, with Cmma or P112/a1 (or P2/c) space group, over a broad temperature range from 150 K to 120 K, cente…
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We report the temperature dependent x-ray powder diffraction of the quaternary compound NdOFeAs (also called NdFeAsO) in the range between 300 K and 95 K. We have detected the structural phase transition from the tetragonal phase, with P4/nmm space group, to the orthorhombic or monoclinic phase, with Cmma or P112/a1 (or P2/c) space group, over a broad temperature range from 150 K to 120 K, centered at T0 ~137 K. Therefore the temperature of this structural phase transition is strongly reduced, by about ~30K, by increasing the internal chemical pressure going from LaOFeAs to NdOFeAs. In contrast the superconducting critical temperature increases from 27 K to 51 K going from LaOFeAs to NdOFeAs doped samples. This result shows that the normal striped orthorhombic Cmma phase competes with the superconducting tetragonal phase. Therefore by controlling the internal chemical pressure in new materials it should be possible to push toward zero the critical temperature T0 of the structural phase transition, giving the striped phase, in order to get superconductors with higher Tc.
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Submitted 11 August, 2008; v1 submitted 26 May, 2008;
originally announced May 2008.