No abstract

Atomically engineered oxide heterostructures provide a fertile ground for creating novel states. For example, a two-dimensional electron gas at the interface between two oxide insulators, giant thermoelectric Seebeck coefficient, emergent ferromagnetism from otherwise nonmagnetic components, and colossal ionic conductivity. Extensive research efforts reveal that oxygen deficiency or lattice strain play an important role in determining these unexpected properties. Herein, by studying the abrupt presence of robust ferromagnetism (up to 1.5  B /Mn) in LaMnO 3 -based heterostructures, we find the multivalence states of Mn that play a decisive role in the emergence of ferromagnetism in the otherwise antiferromagnetic LaMnO 3 thin films. Combining spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism techniques, we determine unambiguously that the ferromagnetism results from a conventional Mn 3+ -O-Mn 4+ double-exchange mechanism rather than an interfacial effect. In contrast, the magnetic dead layer of 5 unit cell in proximity to the interface is found to be accompanied with the accumulation of Mn 2+ induced by electronic reconstruction. These findings provide a hitherto-unexplored multivalence state of Mn on the emergent magnetism in undoped manganite epitaxial thin films, such as LaMnO 3 and BiMnO 3 , and shed new light on all-oxide spintronic devices.

We report on an ultrahigh Hall mobility exceeding 40 000 cm2/V s and a very long traditional scattering time in a trivial layered semiconductor Bi2O2Se. Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations were observed in both the unsaturated longitudinal linear magnetoresistance Rxx and the transverse Hall resistance Rxy. The amplitude ΔRxy of SdH oscillations was phase-shifted approximately 180° with respect to ΔRxx, indicating the strong suppression of electron backward scattering. This was further proved by the evidence of transport lifetime that is 10 times longer than the quantum lifetime. Our results show that the suppressed backward scattering in nontrivial Dirac semimetals can also occur in the trivial semiconductor Bi2O2Se.

We report on an avenue to obtain the centimeter-scale, uniform, and high-quality WTe2 ultrathin films by a pulsed laser deposition technique and the post-annealing under the tellurium (Te) vapor. The WTe2 ultrathin films showed the typical metallic behavior when Te vacancies were mostly eliminated. Magnetoresistance measurements showed that WTe2 ultrathin films underwent the competition between weak localization and weak antilocalization that could be modulated by the amount of Te vacancies. Our study may open an avenue to improve the charge transport of WTe2 for its two-dimensional device applications.

WTe 2 is a unique material in the family of transition metal dichalcogenides and it has been proposed as a candidate for type-II Weyl semimetals. However, thus far, studies on the optical properties of this emerging material have been significantly hindered by the lack of large-area, high-quality WTe 2 materials. Here, we grow a centimeter-scale, highly crystalline WTe 2 ultrathin film (∼35 nm) by a pulsed laser deposition technique. Broadband pump-probe spectroscopy (1.2-2.5 μm) reveals a peculiar ultrafast optical response where an initial photo-bleaching signal (lasting ∼3 ps) is followed by a long-lived photoinduced absorption signature. Nonlinear absorption characterization using femtosecond pulses confirms the saturable absorption response of the WTe 2 ultrathin films, and we further demonstrated a mode-locked Thulium fiber laser using a WTe 2 absorber. Our work provides important insights into linear and nonlinear optical responses of WTe 2 thin films.

We report the study of a triaxial vector magnetoresistance (MR) in nonmagnetic (BiIn)Se nanodevices at the composition of x = 0.08. We show a dumbbell-shaped in-plane negative MR up to room temperature as well as a large out-of-plane positive MR. MR at three directions is about in a -3%:-1%:225% ratio at 2 K. Through both the thickness and composition-dependent magnetotransport measurements, we show that the in-plane negative MR is due to the topological phase transition enhanced intersurface coupling near the topological critical point. Our devices suggest the great potential for room-temperature spintronic applications in, for example, vector magnetic sensors.

We have studied the Co2FeAl thin films with different thicknesses epitaxially grown on GaAs (001) by molecular beam epitaxy. The magnetic properties and spin polarization of the films were investigated by in-situ magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) measurement and spin-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES) at 300 K, respectively. High spin polarization of 58% (±7%) was observed for the film with thickness of 21 unit cells (uc), for the first time. However, when the thickness decreases to 2.5 uc, the spin polarization falls to 29% (±2%) only. This change is also accompanied by a magnetic transition at 4 uc characterized by the MOKE intensity. Above it, the film’s magnetization reaches the bulk value of 1000 emu/cm3. Our findings set a lower limit on the thickness of Co2FeAl films, which possesses both high spin polarization and large magnetization.

Semiconductor metal-oxide materials have a high surface-to-volume ratio and many active sites, making them potentially useful for gas sensing. Dopants introduced into the lattice can improve the catalytic activity of oxides and promote the formation of oxygen vacancies, hence improving the sensing performance of the materials. However, the simple preparation of materials with high sensitivity, selectivity, and a low detection limit remains a challenge. Herein, we report on the synthesis of Ni-P2O5/MoO3 and Pd-doped Ni-P2O5/MoO3 hollow polyhedral heterostructures (HPHSs) and their application in diethylamine (DEA) sensing for the first time. The Pd-doped Ni-P2O5/MoO3 HPHS was synthesized by doping different proportions of palladium-containing precursors using hydrothermal and solid-state reaction techniques. The concentration of oxygen vacancies in the HPHS composite increased by increasing Pd doping from 2 to 6 weight percent (wt %) but later reduced, according to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. Pd6%Ni-P2O5/MoO3 has the highest sensitivity to DEA (R a/R g = 42.5) and is 5.0 times and 42.5 times more sensitive than the pure Ni-P2O5/MoO3 HPHS (R a/R g = 8.5) and commercial ammonium phosphomolybdate (R a/R g = 1) at 175 °C toward 10 ppm DEA. Moreover, the DEA sensor exhibits a low detection limit (R a/R g = 3.5@1 ppm) with a wide dynamic response (R a/R g = 145.5@50 ppm). The remarkable improvement in DEA sensitivity is attributed to the hollow polyhedral structure, heterostructures, and oxygen vacancies formed by Pd doping. This study confirms that developing Pd-doped Ni-P2O5/MoO3 HPHSs provides an innovative approach for DEA sensors.