J. F. DiTusa

Magnetoresistance from quantum interference effects in ferromagnets

The desire to maximize the sensitivity of read/write heads (and thus the information density) of magnetic storage devices has stimulated interest in the discovery and design of new magnetic materials exhibiting magnetoresistance. Recent discoveries include the ‘colossal’ magnetoresistance in the manganites and the enhanced magnetoresistance in low-carrier-density ferromagnets. An important feature of these systems is that the electrons involved in electrical conduction are different from those responsible for the magnetism. The latter are localized and act as scattering sites for the mobile electrons, and it is the field tuning of the scattering strength that ultimately gives rise to the observed magnetoresistance. Here we argue that magnetoresistance can arise by a different mechanism in certain ferromagnets—quantum interference effects rather than simple scattering. The ferromagnets in question are disordered, low-carrier-density magnets where the same electrons are responsible for both the magnetic properties and electrical conduction. The resulting magnetoresistance is positive (that is, the resistance increases in response to an applied magnetic field) and only weakly temperature-dependent below the Curie point.

Large anomalous Hall effect in a silicon-based magnetic semiconductor

Magnetic semiconductors are attracting great interest because of their potential use for spintronics, a new technology that merges electronics with the manipulation of conduction electron spins. (GaMn)As and (GaMn)N have recently emerged as the most popular materials for this new technology, and although their Curie temperatures are rising towards room temperature, these materials can only be fabricated in thin-film form, are heavily defective, and are not obviously compatible with Si. We show here that it is productive to consider transition metal monosilicides as potential alternatives. In particular, we report the discovery that the bulk metallic magnets derived from doping the narrow-gap insulator FeSi with Co share the very high anomalous Hall conductance of (GaMn)As, while displaying Curie temperatures as high as 53 K. Our work opens up a new arena for spintronics, involving a bulk material based only on transition metals and Si, which displays large magnetic-field effects on its electrical properties.

Doping a semiconductor to create an unconventional metal.

Landau–Fermi liquid theory, with its pivotal assertion that electrons in metals can be simply understood as independent particles with effective masses replacing the free electron mass, has been astonishingly successful. This is true despite the Coulomb interactions an electron experiences from the host crystal lattice, lattice defects and the other ∼1022 cm-3 electrons. An important extension to the theory accounts for the behaviour of doped semiconductors. Because little in the vast literature on materials contradicts Fermi liquid theory and its extensions, exceptions have attracted great attention, and they include the high-temperature superconductors, silicon-based field-effect transistors that host two-dimensional metals, and certain rare-earth compounds at the threshold of magnetism. The origin of the non-Fermi liquid behaviour in all of these systems remains controversial. Here we report that an entirely different and exceedingly simple class of materials—doped small-bandgap semiconductors near a metal–insulator transition—can also display a non-Fermi liquid state. Remarkably, a modest magnetic field functions as a switch which restores the ordinary disordered Fermi liquid. Our data suggest that we have found a physical realization of the only mathematically rigorous route to a non-Fermi liquid, namely the ‘undercompensated Kondo effect’, where there are too few mobile electrons to compensate for the spins of unpaired electrons localized on impurity atoms.

Coulomb gap: how a metal film becomes an insulator

Electron tunneling measurements of the density of states (DOS) in ultrathin Be films reveal that a correlation gap mediates their insulating behavior. In films with sheet resistance R<5000 Omega the correlation singularity appears as the usual perturbative ln(V) zero bias anomaly (ZBA) in the DOS. As R is increased further, however, the ZBA grows and begins to dominate the DOS spectrum. This evolution continues until a nonperturbative |V| Efros-Shklovskii Coulomb gap spectrum finally emerges in the highest R films. Transport measurements of films which display this gap are well described by a universal variable range hopping law R(T) = (h/2e(2))exp(T0/T)(1/2).

Discovery of the Griffiths phase in the itinerant magnetic semiconductor Fe1-xCoxS2.

Critical points that can be suppressed to zero temperature are interesting because quantum fluctuations have been shown to dramatically alter electron gas properties. Here, the metal formed by Co doping the paramagnetic insulator FeS2, Fe1-xCoxS2 is demonstrated to order ferromagnetically at x > xc = 0.01+/-0.005, where we observe unusual transport, magnetic, and thermodynamic properties. We show that this magnetic semiconductor undergoes a percolative magnetic transition with distinct similarities to the Griffiths phase, including singular behavior at xc and zero temperature.

High magnetic field sensor using LaSb2

The magnetotransport properties of single crystals of the highly anisotropic layered metal LaSb2 are reported in magnetic fields up to 45 T with fields oriented both parallel and perpendicular to the layers. Below 10 K the perpendicular magnetoresistance of LaSb2 becomes temperature independent and is characterized by a 100-fold linear increase in resistance between 0 and 45 T with no evidence of quantum oscillations down to 50 mK. The Hall resistivity is hole-like and gives a high field carrier density of n∼3×1020 cm−3. The feasibility of using LaSb2 for magnetic field sensors is discussed.

Undoped and doped FeSi or how to make a heavy fermion metal with three of the most common elements

Abstract We review electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibility and optical data on the Kondo insulator FeSi and its chemically doped metallic derivatives. While at T =0, FeSi appears in many respects to be a conventional band insulator, its temperature-dependent behavior cannot be explained in terms of ordinary band theory. Doping with Al yields a transition from the Kondo insulator to a heavy fermion metal. The transition maps quantitatively onto that observed for Si:P, with the exception of a strongly renormalized effective carrier mass and critical concentration. We conclude that one of the simplest ways to make a heavy fermion metal is to dope a Kondo insulator.

Structure of end states for a haldane spin chain

Inelastic neutron scattering was used to probe edge states in a quantum spin liquid. The experiment was performed on finite length antiferromagnetic spin-1 chains in Y2BaNi1-xMgxO5. At finite fields, there is a Zeeman resonance below the Haldane gap. The wave-vector dependence of its intensity provides direct evidence for staggered magnetization at chain ends, which decays exponentially towards the bulk [xi=8(1) at T=0.1 K]. Continuum contributions to the chain-end spectrum indicate interchain segment interactions. We also observe a finite size blueshift of the Haldane gap.

One-dimensional spin fluctuations in a transition metal oxide

Abstract We use inelastic neutron scattering from polycrystalline Y2BaNiO5 and Y2BaNi0.96Zn0.04O5 specimens to demonstrate that the spin fluctuations in this compound are one-dimensional. In addition they are gapped, in accord with the S=1 nature of the Ni2+ and the Haldane conjecture. The gap remains well defined and may even grow slightly in the Zn-diluted compound.

Discovery of Spin Glass Behavior in Ln2Fe4Sb5 (Ln = La–Nd and Sm)

Single crystals of Ln(2)Fe(4)Sb(5) (Ln = La-Nd and Sm) were grown from an inert Bi flux. Measurements of the single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that these compounds crystallize in the tetragonal space group I4/mmm with lattice parameters of a ≈ 4 Å, c ≈ 26 Å, V ≈ 500 Å(3), and Z = 2. This crystal structure consists of alternating LnSb(8) square antiprisms and Fe-sublattices composed of nearly equilateral triangles of bonded Fe atoms. These compounds are metallic and display spin glass behavior, which originates from the magnetic interactions within the Fe-sublattice. Specific heat measurements are void of any sharp features that can be interpreted as contributions from phase transitions as is typical for spin glass systems. A large, approximately linear in temperature, contribution to the specific heat of La(2)Fe(4)Sb(5) is observed at low temperatures that we interpret as having a magnetic origin. Herein, we report the synthesis, structure, and physical properties of Ln(2)Fe(4)Sb(5) (Ln = La-Nd and Sm).