J. M. Dai

Magnetic and dielectric properties of Aurivillius phase Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 and the doped compounds

The magnetic and dielectric properties of Bi6Fe2Ti3O18, Bi6FeCoTi3O18, and Bi5LaFeCoTi3O18 are investigated. The room-temperature ferromagnetism is observed in the samples Bi6FeCoTi3O18 and Bi5LaFeCoTi3O18 compared with the paramagnetic behavior in Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 at room temperature. The ferromagnetism in Bi6FeCoTi3O18 and Bi5LaFeCoTi3O18 can be ascribed to spin canting of the Fe-based and Co-based sublattices via the antisymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The frequency-dependent behavior of the dielectric loss peak in Bi6FeCoTi3O18 and Bi5LaFeCoTi3O18 manifests itself a thermally activated relaxation process. The rather large activation energy (2.62 ± 0.11 eV for Bi6FeCoTi3O18 and 1.97 ± 0.07 eV for Bi5LaFeCoTi3O18) implies that the relaxation process is not due to the thermal motion of oxygen vacancies inside ceramics.

Multiferroic properties of Aurivillius phase Bi6Fe2−xCoxTi3O18 thin films prepared by a chemical solution deposition route

The magnetic and ferroelectric properties of Co-doped Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 thin films Bi6Fe2−xCoxTi3O18 (BFCTO) (0 ≤x≤ 1) are investigated. The coexistence of room-temperature ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity is observed in BFCTO thin films. The x = 0.6 sample exhibits a higher remnant magnetization Mr of 8.41 emu/cm3 and a remnant polarization Pr of 17.6 μC/cm2 compared with other BFCTO thin films. The ferromagnetism can be ascribed to the spin canting of Fe- and Co-based sublattices via the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction [I. Dzyaloshinsky, J. Phys. Chem. Solids 4, 241 (1958); T. Moriya, Phys. Rev. 120, 91 (1960)]. The change in the remnant polarization is discussed in terms of the variation of grain size and oxygen vacancies caused by Co-doping.

Structural, magnetic, and transport properties of the Cu-doped manganite La0.85Te0.15Mn1-xCuxO3 (0≤x≤0.20)

The effect of Cu-doping at Mn-site on structural, magnetic and transport properties in electron-doped manganites La0.85Te0.15Mn1-xCuxO3 has been investigated. Based on the analysis of structural parameter variations, the valence state of the Cu ion in Cu-doped manganites is suggested to be +2. All samples undergo the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic (PM-FM) phase transition. The Curie temperature decreases and the transition becomes broader with increasing Cu-doping level, in contrast, the magnetization magnitude of Cu-doping samples at low temperatures increase as x \leq 0.15. The insulator-metal (I-M) transition moves to lower temperatures with increasing Cu-doping content and disappears as x > 0.1. In addition, the higher temperature resistivity r peak in double-peak-like r(T) curves observed in no Cu-doping sample is completely suppressed as Cu-doping level x = 0.1 and r(T) curve only shows single I-M transition at the low temperature well below . The results are discussed according to the change of magnetic exchange interaction caused by Cu-doping.

Multiferroicity and magnetoelectric coupling enhanced large magnetocaloric effect in DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3

DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 has been synthesized using a sol-gel method. It exhibits ferroelectricity at the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature TN1∼261 K. Large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) (11.3 J/kg K at 4.5 T) enhanced by magnetoelectric coupling due to magnetic field and temperature induced magnetic transition was observed. Temperature-dependent Raman study shows an anomalous behavior near TN1 in the phonon modes related to the vibration of Dy atoms and stretching of CrO6/FeO6 octahedra, suggesting the ferroelectricity in DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 is associated with the spin-phonon coupling with respect to both Dy and Cr/Fe ions. These results suggest routes to obtain high-temperature multiferroicity and large MCE for practical applications.

Magnetic and dielectric properties of Aurivillius phase Bi6Fe2Ti3−2xNbxCoxO18 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4)

We investigate the structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of Bi6Fe2Ti3−2xNbxCoxO18 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4). The room-temperature ferromagnetism is observed in the Nb and Co co-doped samples compared with the paramagnetic behavior in Bi6Fe2Ti3O18. The ferromagnetism in Bi6Fe2Ti3−2xNbxCoxO18 can be understood in terms of spin canting of the antiferromagnetic coupling of the Fe-based and Co-based sublattices via Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction. Moreover, doping Co at Ti sites can significantly enhance the ferromagnetic Curie temperature compared with the substitution of Co for Fe in the Aurivillius compounds. The dielectric loss of Bi6Fe2Ti3−2xNbxCoxO18 (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) exhibits a relaxation process. The rather large activation energy in the 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.3 samples implies that the relaxation process is not due to the thermal motion of oxygen vacancies inside ceramics.

Microscopic evidence for strong periodic lattice distortion in two-dimensional charge-density wave systems

In quasi-two-dimensional electron systems of layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) there is still controversy about the nature of the transitions to charge-density wave (CDW) phases, i.e., whether they are described by a Peierls-type mechanism or by a lattice-driven model. By performing scanning tunneling microscopy experiments on canonical TMD-CDW systems, we image the electronic modulation and the lattice distortion separately in 2H-TaS2, TaSe2, and NbSe2. Across the three materials, we found dominant lattice contributions instead of the electronic modulation expected from Peierls transitions, in contrast to the CDW states, which show the hallmark of contrast inversion between filled and empty states. Our results imply that periodic lattice distortion plays a vital role in the formation of CDW phases in TMDs and illustrate the importance of taking into account the more complicated lattice degrees of freedom when studying correlated electron systems.

Dielectric relaxations and magnetodielectric response in BiMn2O5 single crystal

Magnetic and dielectric properties have been investigated on BiMn2O5 single crystals. Magnetic measurements show that BiMn2O5 becomes antiferromagnetic below TN∼39 K, with short range magnetic correlation existing between TN and T∗∼100 K. Three thermally excited dielectric relaxations at temperatures TN<T<300 K and large intrinsic magnetodielectric effect due to the special arrangement of Mn3+/Mn4+ ions associated with electron hopping between them were observed. The low temperature anisotropic relaxation (TN<T<T∗) along the b-axis, which is insignificant along the c-axis, can be ascribed to electron hopping between the zigzag chains with short range magnetic correlation. The other two dielectric relaxations are also discussed.