Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)

Abstract: Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy is a powerful technique for studying emission properties of optoelectronic materials because CL is free from excitable bandgap limits and from ambiguous signals due to simple light scattering and resonant Raman scattering potentially involved in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra. However, direct CL measurements of atomically thin two-dimensional materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), have been difficult due to the small excitation volume that interacts with high-energy electron beams (e-beams). Herein, distinct CL signals from a monolayer hBN, namely mBN, epitaxial film grown on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate are shown by using a home-made CL system capable of large-area and surface-sensitive excitation by an e-beam. The spatially resolved CL spectra at 13 K exhibited a predominant 5.5-eV emission band, which has been ascribed to originate from multilayered aggregates of hBN, markedly at thicker areas formed on the step edges of the substrate. Conversely, a faint peak at 6.04 eV was routinely observed from atomically flat areas. Since the energy agreed with the PL peak of 6.05 eV at 10 K that has been assigned as being due to the recombination of phonon-assisted direct excitons of mBN by Elias et al. [Nat. Commun. 10, 2639 (2019)], the CL peak at 6.04 eV is attributed to originate from the mBN epilayer. The CL results support the transition from indirect bandgap in bulk hBN to direct bandgap in mBN, in analogy with molybdenum disulfide. The results also encourage to elucidate emission properties of other low-dimensional materials with reduced excitation volumes by using the present CL configuration.

Abstract: Systematic research was performed to investigate magnetic properties of the Tsai-type Ga-Pd-RE (RE = Gd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) systems, where both 1/1 and 2/1 quasicrystal approximants (ACs) are attainable at the same compositions as thermodynamical stable phases. Most of the samples exhibited spin-glass (SG)-like freezing behavior at low temperatures except Ga-Pd-Tb 2/1 AC and Ga-Pd-Ho 1/1 AC. The former showcased antiferromagnetic order at 5.78 K while the latter did not show any anomaly down to 1.8 K. Furthermore, 2/1 ACs were noticed to be less frustrated than their corresponding 1/1 ACs presumably due to the disorder-free environment in the nearest neighbors of the rare earth sites that form a network of distorted octahedron in the 2/1 ACs. The spin dynamic in SG samples was also characterized by means of ac magnetic susceptibility measurements. The results evidenced a weak response of the freezing temperatures to the measurement frequency in the Heisenberg systems, i.e., Gd-contained ACs, in contrast to the non-Heisenberg systems, i.e., Tb, Dy and Ho-contained ACs, where significant dependency is noticed for the latter. The spin-glass samples were further examined by fitting their freezing temperatures to the Vogel-Fulcher law.

Abstract: The formation of ice in the atmosphere affects precipitation and cloud properties, and plays a key role in the climate of our planet. Although ice can form directly from liquid water at deeply supercooled conditions, the presence of foreign particles can aid ice formation at much warmer temperatures. Over the past decade, experiments have highlighted the remarkable efficiency of feldspar minerals as ice nuclei compared to other particles present in the atmosphere. However, the exact mechanism of ice formation on feldspar surfaces has yet to be fully understood. Here, we develop a first-principles machine-learning model for the potential energy surface aimed at studying ice nucleation at microcline feldspar surfaces. The model is able to reproduce with high fidelity the energies and forces derived from density-functional theory (DFT) based on the SCAN exchange and correlation functional. We apply the machine-learning force field to study different fully-hydroxylated terminations of the (100), (010), and (001) surfaces of microcline exposed to vacuum. Our calculations suggest that terminations that do not minimize the number of broken bonds are preferred in vacuum. We also study the structure of supercooled liquid water in contact with microcline surfaces, and find that water density correlations extend up to around 1 nm from the surfaces. Finally, we show that the force field maintains a high accuracy during the simulation of ice formation at microcline surfaces, even for large systems of around 30,000 atoms. Future work will be directed towards the calculation of nucleation free energy barriers and rates using the force field developed herein, and understanding the role of different microcline surfaces on ice nucleation.

Abstract: The migration of grain boundaries leads to grain growth in polycrystals and is one mechanism of grain-boundary-mediated plasticity, especially in metallic nanocrystals. This migration is due to the movement of dislocation-like defects, called disconnections, which couple to externally applied shear stresses. Here, we investigate a $\Sigma$19b symmetric tilt grain boundary without pre-existing defects using atomistic computer simulations with classical potentials. This specific grain boundary exhibits two different atomic structures with different microscopic degrees of freedom (complexions), called ``domino'' and ``pearl'' complexion. We show that the grain boundary migration is affected by both the formation energy of a disconnection dipole and the Peierls-like barrier required to move the disconnections. For the pearl complexion, the latter is much higher, leading to a high stress required for grain boundary migration at low temperatures. However, in absolute values, the Peierls barrier is low and can be overcome by thermal energy even at room temperature. Since the domino complexion has higher disconnection formation energies, it is more resistant to migration at room temperature and above.

Abstract: Progress toward a first-principles theory of plasticity and work-hardening is currently impeded by an insufficient picture of dislocation kinetics (the dynamic effect of driving forces in a given dislocation theory). This is because present methods ignore the short-range interaction of dislocations. This work presents a kinetic theory of continuum dislocation dynamics in a vector density framework which takes into account the short-range interactions by means of suitably defined correlation functions. The weak line bundle ensemble of dislocations is defined, whereby the treatment of dislocations by a vector density is justified. It is then found by direct averaging of the dislocation transport equation that additional driving forces arise which are dependent on the dislocation correlation functions. A combination of spatial coarse-graining and statistical averaging of discrete dislocation systems are used to evaluate the various classes of tensorial dislocation correlations which arise in the kinetic theory. A novel, chiral classification of slip system interactions in FCC is used to define proper and improper rotations by which correlation functions corresponding to the six traditional interaction classifications can be evaluated. The full set of dislocation correlations are evaluated from discrete data. Only the self-correlations (for densities of like slip system) are found to be highly anisotropic. All correlation functions are found to decay within 2-4 times the coarse-graining distance. One type of interaction (coplanar correlations) are found to be negligible. Implications of the evaluated correlation functions for the future of vector density continuum dislocation dynamics are discussed, especially in terms of additional correlation driving forces and a gesture towards a coarse-grained dislocation mobility.