Minseong Lee

High pressure floating zone growth and structural properties of ferrimagnetic quantum paraelectric BaFe12O19

High quality single crystals of BaFe12O19 were grown using the floating zone technique in 100 atm of flowing oxygen. Single crystal neutron diffraction was used to determine the nuclear and magnetic structures of BaFe12O19 at 4 K and 295 K. At both temperatures, there exist local electric dipoles formed by the off-mirror-plane displacements of magnetic Fe3+ ions at the bipyramidal sites. The displacement at 4 K is about half of that at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the specific heat shows no anomaly associated with long range polar ordering in the temperature range from 1.90 to 300 K. The inverse dielectric permittivity, 1/e, along the c-axis shows a T2 temperature dependence between 10 K and 20 K, with a significantly reduced temperature dependence displayed below 10 K. Moreover, as the sample is cooled below 1.4 K there is an anomalous sharp upturn in 1/e. These features resemble those of classic quantum paraelectrics such as SrTiO3. The presence of the upturn in 1/e indicates that BaF...

Synthesis and characterization of two quaternary uranium tellurides, RbTiU3Te9 and CsTiU3Te9

Black crystals of RbTiU₃Te₉ and CsTiU₃Te₉ have been synthesized at 1223 and 1173 K, respectively, by high-temperature solid-state routes. These compounds crystallize in a new structure type in space group C(2h)²-P2₁/m of the monoclinic system. The structure, which is similar to that of CsTiUTe₅, consists of UTe₂ layers connected into a three-dimensional framework by TiTe₆ octahedra. The expanded UTe₂ layers leave channels that are filled by Rb or Cs atoms. Single-crystal resistivity measurements on CsTiU₃Te₉ are consistent with semiconducting behavior; the calculated activation energy is 0.30(1) eV. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic measurements on CsTiU₃Te₉ indicate that the compound contains U⁴⁺. From single-crystal magnetic measurements, CsTiU₃Te₉ is consistent with antiferromagnetic coupling between magnetic U atoms. The very low value of the effective magnetic moment of 0.56(2) μ(B) is believed to arise from a coexistence of magnetic and nonmagnetic U atoms.

Synthesis and characterization of eight compounds of the MU8Q17 family: ScU8S17, CoU8S17, NiU8S17, TiU8Se17, VU8Se17, CrU8Se17, CoU8Se17, and NiU8Se17.

The solid-state MU8Q17 compounds ScU8S17, CoU8S17, NiU8S17, TiU8Se17, VU8Se17, CrU8Se17, CoU8Se17, and NiU8Se17 were synthesized from the reactions of the elements at 1173 or 1123 K. These isostructural compounds crystallize in space group C2h3 - C2/m of the monoclinic system in the CrU8S17 structure type. X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopic studies of ScU8S17 indicate that it contains Sc3+, and hence charge balance is achieved with a composition that includes U3+ as well as U4+. The other compounds charge balance with M2+ and U4+. Magnetic susceptibility measurements on ScU8S17 indicate antiferromagnetic couplings and a highly reduced effective magnetic moment. Ab Initio calculations find the compound to be metallic. Surprisingly, the Sc–S distances are actually longer than all the other M–S interactions, even though the ionic radii of Sc3+, low-spin Cr2+, and Ni2+ are similar.

Synthesis, crystal structure, resistivity, magnetic, and theoretical study of ScUS3.

Single crystals of ScUS3 were synthesized in high yield in a single step at 1173 K. ScUS3 crystallizes in the FeUS3 structure type in the space group D2h(17)–Cmcm of the orthorhombic system with four formula units in a cell of dimensions a = 3.7500(8) Å, b = 12.110(2) Å, and c = 9.180(2) Å. Its structure consists of edge- and corner-sharing ScS6 octahedra that form two-dimensional layers. U atoms between layers are connected to eight S atoms in a bicapped trigonal-prismatic fashion. ScUS3 can be easily charge-balanced as Sc(3+)U(3+)(S(2–))3 as there are no S–S single bonds present in the crystal structure. High temperature-dependent resistivity measurements on a single crystal of ScUS3 show semiconducting behavior with an activation energy of 0.09(1) eV. A magnetic study on powdered single crystals of ScUS3 reveals an antiferromagnetic transition at 198 K followed by a ferromagnetic transition at 75 K. The weak ferromagnetic behavior at low temperature may originate from canted antiferromagnetic spins. A density functional theory (DFT) calculation predicts ScUS3 to be ferromagnetic and either a very poor metal or a semiconductor with a very small gap.

Ba 8 CoNb 6 O 24 : A spin- 1 2 triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet in the two-dimensional limit

The perovskite Ba8CoNb6O24 comprises equilateral effective spin-1/2 Co2+ triangular layers separated by six non-magnetic layers. Susceptibility, specific heat and neutron scattering measurements combined with high-temperature series expansions and spin-wave calculations confirm that Ba8CoNb6O24 is basically a twodimensional (2D) magnet with no detectable spin anisotropy and no long-range magnetic ordering down to 0.06 K. In other words, Ba8CoNb6O24 is very close to be a realization of the paradigmatic spin-1/2 triangular Heisenberg model, which is not expected to exhibit symmetry breaking at finite temperature according to the Mermin and Wagner theorem.

The [U2(μ-S2)2Cl8]4– Anion: Synthesis and Characterization of the Uranium Double Salt Cs5[U2(μ-S2)2Cl8]I

Red plates of Cs5[U2(μ-S2)2Cl8]I were obtained in good yield from the reaction at 1173 K of U, GeI2 or SnI4, and S, with CsCl flux. The compound crystallizes in space group D2h25-Immm of the orthorhombic system in the Cs5[Nb2(μ-S2)2Cl8]Cl structure type. The centrosymmetric [U2(μ-S2)2Cl8]4– anion in the structure has mmm symmetry with the two U4+ atoms separated by 3.747(1) Å. Each U atom is coordinated to four Cl atoms and four S atoms from two S22– groups in a square-antiprismatic arrangement. The polarized absorbance spectra of Cs5[U2(μ-S2)2Cl8]I display prominent optical anisotropy. Magnetic measurements are consistent with the modified Curie–Weiss law at high temperatures. The low-temperature behavior may arise from antiferromagnetic coupling of the U4+ ions within the anion.

Magnetism and multiferroicity of an isosceles triangular lattice antiferromagnet Sr3NiNb2O9

Various experimental measurements were performed to complete the phase diagram of a weakly distorted triangular lattice system, Sr3NiNb2O9 with Ni(2+) , spin-1 magnetic ions. This compound possesses an isosceles triangular lattice with two shorter bonds and one longer bond. It shows a two-step magnetic phase transition at [Formula: see text] K and [Formula: see text] K at zero magnetic field, characteristic of an easy-axis anisotropy. In the magnetization curves, a series of magnetic phase transitions was observed such as an up-up-down phase at [Formula: see text] T with 1/3 of the saturation magnetization (M sat) and an oblique phase at [Formula: see text] T with [Formula: see text]/3 M sat. Intriguingly, the magnetic phase transition below T N2 is in tandem with the ferroelectricity, which demonstrates multiferroic behaviors. Moreover, the multiferroic phase persists in all magnetically ordered phases regardless of the spin structure. The comparison between the phase diagrams of Sr3NiNb2O9 and its sister compound with an equilateral triangular lattice antiferromagnet Ba3NiNb2O9 (Hwang et al 2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 257205), illustrates how a small imbalance among exchange interactions change the magnetic ground states of the TLAFs.

Cu3Ru6Sb8—a new ternary antimonide with a new structure type

The new ternary transition metal antimonide, Cu3Ru6Sb8, has been synthesized by a solid-state reaction of the elements at 1023 K. Its crystal structure has been established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. It crystallizes in a new structure type in the trigonal crystal system (Pearson index hP17) in space group Pm1. The asymmetric unit of this structure contains six crystallographically independent sites: one Cu (site symmetry .2/m.), three Ru (Ru1 (.2/m.), Ru2 (3m.), and Ru3 (m.)), and two Sb sites (Sb1 (.m.) and Sb2 (3m.)). Two of the Ru atoms and the Cu atom are coordinated to six Sb atoms in a distorted octahedral fashion; the third Ru atom is found in a trigonal bipyramidal environment of five Sb atoms. The structure can be viewed as a hexagonal closed-packed array of Sb atoms, with Ru and Cu atoms in the interstices, representing a lattice that is an ordered variant of the NiAs structure. Electronic structure calculations provide insight into the chemical bonding in this transition metal antimonide. From magnetic and resistivity measurements on polycrystalline material, the compound is metallic and exhibits magnetic response that shows an effective moment smaller than any free-ion values, suggestive of weak itinerant magnetism.

Canted magnetic ground state of quarter-doped manganites R 0.75Ca0.25MnO3 (R = Y, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er).

Polycrystalline samples of the quarter-doped manganites R 0.75Ca0.25MnO3 (R  =  Y, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er) were studied by x-ray diffraction and AC/DC susceptibility measurements. All five samples are orthorhombic and exhibit similar magnetic properties: enhanced ferromagnetism below T 1 (∼80 K) and a spin glass (SG) state below T SG (∼30 K). With increasing R 3+ ionic size, both T 1 and T SG generally increase. The single crystal neutron diffraction results on Tb0.75Ca0.25MnO3 revealed that the SG state is mainly composed of a short-range ordered version of a novel canted (i.e. noncollinear) antiferromagnetic spin state. Furthermore, calculations based on the double exchange model for quarter-doped manganites reveal that this new magnetic phase provides a transition state between the ferromagnetic state and the theoretically predicted spin-orthogonal stripe phase.