Subhasish Mandal

What Determines the Sign Reversal of Magnetoresistance in a Molecular Tunnel Junction

The observations of both positive and negative signs in tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) for the same organic spin-valve structure have baffled researchers working in organic spintronics. In this article, we provide an answer to this puzzle by exploring the role of metal-molecule interface on TMR in a single molecular spin-valve junction. A planar organic molecule sandwiched between two nickel electrodes is used to build a prototypical spin-valve junction. A parameter-free, single-particle Greens function approach in conjunction with a posteriori, spin-unrestricted density functional theory involving a hybrid orbital-dependent functional is used to calculate the spin-polarized current. The effect of external bias is explicitly included to investigate the spin-valve behavior. Our calculations show that only a small change in the interfacial distance at the metal-molecule junction can alter the sign of the TMR from a positive to a negative value. By changing the interfacial distance by 3%, the number of participating eigenchannels as well as their orbital characteristics changes for the antiparallel configuration, leading to the sign reversal in TMR.

Strong pressure-dependent electron-phonon coupling in FeSe

We have computed the correlated electronic structure of FeSe and its dependence on the A1g mode versus compression. Using the self-consistent density functional theory-dynamical mean field theory (DFT-DMFT) with continuous time quantum Monte Carlo, we find that there is greatly enhanced coupling between some correlated electron states and the A1g lattice distortion. Superconductivity in FeSe shows a very strong sensitivity to pressure, with an increase in Tc of almost a factor of 5 within a few GPa, followed by a drop, despite monotonic pressure dependence of almost all electronic properties. We find that the maximum A1g deformation potential behaves similar to the experimental Tc. In contrast, the maximum deformation potential in DFT for this mode increases monotonically with increasing pressure.

Pressure suppression of electron correlation in the collapsed tetragonal phase of CaFe 2 As 2 : A DFT-DMFT investigation

Recent studies reveal a pressure induced transition from a paramagnetic tetragonal phase (T) to a collapsed tetragonal phase (CT) in CaFe2As2, which was found to be superconducting with pressure at low temperature. We have investigated the effects of electron correlation and a local fluctuating moment in both tetragonal and collapsed tetragonal phases of the paramagnetic CaFe2As2 using self-consistent DFT-DMFT with continuous time quantum Monte Carlo as the impurity solver. From the computed optical conductivity, we find a gain in the optical kinetic energy due to the loss in Hunds rule coupling energy in the CT phase. We find that the transition from T to CT turns CaFe2As2 from a bad metal into a good metal. Computed mass enhancement and local moments also show a significant decrease in the CT phase, which confirms the suppression of the electron correlation in the CT phase of CaFe2As2.

Mechanism behind the switching of current induced by a gate field in a semiconducting nanowire junction

We propose a new orbital controlled model to explain the gate field induced switching of current in a semiconducting PbS-nanowire junction. A single particle scattering formalism in conjunction with a posteriori density functional approach involving hybrid functional is used to study the electronic current; both first and higher order Stark effects are explicitly treated in our model. Our calculation reveals that after a threshold gate-voltage, orbital mixing produces p-components at the S atoms in the participating orbitals. This results in an inter-layer orbital interaction that allows electron to delocalize along the channel axis. As a consequence a higher conductance state is found. A similar feature is also found in a PbSe nanowire junction, which suggests that this model can be used universally to explain the gate field induced switching of current in lead-chalcogenide nanowire junctions.

Theoretical spectroscopic studies of the atomic transitions and lifetimes of low-lying states in Ti IV

The astrophysically important electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic dipole (M1) transitions for the low-lying states of triply ionized titanium (Ti IV) are calculated very accurately using a state-of-the-art all-order many-body theory called coupled cluster (CC) method in the relativistic framework. Different many-body correlations of the CC theory has been estimated by studying the core and valence electron excitations to the unoccupied states. The calculated excitation energies of different states are in excellent agreement with the measurements. Also, we compare our calculated electric dipole (E1) amplitudes of few transitions with recent many-body calculations by others. The lifetimes of the low-lying states of Ti IV have been estimated and long lifetime is found for the first excited 3d2D5/2 state, which suggested that Ti IV may be one of the useful candidates for many fundamental studies of physics. Most of the forbidden transition results reported here are not available in the literature, to the best of our knowledge.