Nearly Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism in a Pressure-Induced Correlated Metallic State of the van der Waals Insulator CrGeTe_{3}.

A complex interplay of different energy scales involving Coulomb repulsion, spin-orbit coupling, and Hund's coupling energy in 2D van der Waals (vdW) material produces a novel emerging physical state. For instance, ferromagnetism in vdW charge transfer insulator CrGeTe_{3} provides a promising platform to simultaneously manipulate the magnetic and electrical properties for potential device implementation using few nanometers thick materials. Here, we show a continuous tuning of magnetic and electrical properties of a CrGeTe_{3} single crystal using pressure. With application of pressure, CrGeTe_{3} transforms from a ferromagnetic insulator with Curie temperature T_{C}∼66 K at ambient condition to a correlated 2D Fermi metal with T_{C} exceeding ∼250 K. Notably, absence of an accompanying structural distortion across the insulator-metal transition (IMT) suggests that the pressure induced modification of electronic ground states is driven by electronic correlation furnishing a rare example of bandwidth-controlled IMT in a vdW material.

Superconducting-Gap Anisotropy of Iron Pnictides Investigated via Combinatorial Microwave Measurements.

One of the most significant issues for superconductivity is clarifying the momentum-dependent superconducting gap Δ([Formula: see text]), which is closely related to the pairing mechanism. To elucidate the gap structure, it is essential to investigate Δ([Formula: see text]) in as many different physical quantities as possible and to crosscheck the results obtained in different methods with each other. In this paper, we report a combinatorial investigation of the superfluid density and the flux-flow resistivity of iron-pnictide superconductors; LiFeAs and BaFe2(As1-xPx)2 (x = 0.3, 0.45). We evaluated Δ([Formula: see text]) by fitting these two-independent quantities with a two-band model simultaneously. The obtained Δ([Formula: see text]) are consistent with the results observed in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning-tunneling spectroscopy (STS) studies. We believe our approach is a powerful method for investigating Δ([Formula: see text]) because it does not require a sample with clean surface unlike ARPES and STS experiments, or a rotational magnetic-field system for direct measurements of the angular dependence of thermodynamic quantities.

Superconductivity at 4.8 K and Violation of Pauli Limit in La2IRu2 Comprising Ru Honeycomb Layer.

We discovered superconductivity at 4.8 K in the hexagonal layered compound La2IRu2 comprising a triangular lattice of the La and a honeycomb lattice of the Ru atoms. First-principles calculations reveal a two-dimensional band structure made up of La 5d and Ru 4d electrons and formal oxidation states +1.5 for the La and the uncommon oxidation state -1 for the Ru atoms. The temperature dependence of the specific heat indicates fully gapped superconductivity. Nevertheless, the upper critical field of this compound violates the Pauli limit. We argue that the high upper critical field is ascribed to an antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling in the unique multilayer structure.

Solution of the heavily stacking faulted crystal structure of the honeycomb iridate H3LiIr2O6.

A powder sample of pure H3LiIr2O6 was synthesized from α-Li2IrO3 powder by a soft chemical replacement of Li+ with H+. The crystal structure of H3LiIr2O6 consists of sheets of edge sharing LiO6- and IrO6-octahedra forming a honeycomb network with layers stacked in a monoclinic distorted HCrO2 type pattern. Heavy stacking faulting of the sheets is indicated by anisotropic peak broadening in the X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) pattern. The ideal, faultless crystal structure was obtained by a Rietveld refinement of the laboratory XRPD pattern while using the LiIr2O63--layers of α-Li2IrO3 as a starting model. The low radial distances of the PDF function, derived from synchrotron XRPD data, as constraints to stabilize the structural refinement. DIFFaX-simulations, structural considerations, high radial distances of the PDF function and a Rietveld compatible global optimization of a supercell were employed to derive a suitable faulting model and to refine the microstructure using the experimental data. We assumed that the overall stacking pattern of the layers in the structure of H3LiIr2O6 is governed by interlayer O-HO contacts. From the constitution of the layers, different stacking patterns with similar amounts of strong O-HO contacts are considered. Random transitions among these stacking patterns can occur as faults in the crystal structure of H3LiIr2O6, which quantitatively describe the observed XRPD.