Physical Review Materials - January 2024

Physical Review Materials View Email Online   Volume 8, Issue 1 January 2024   View Issue   Advertisement Physical Review Applied seeks a new Lead Editor The American Physical Society is conducting an international search for a new Lead Editor of Physical Review Applied, our premier journal for Applied Physics Research. The Lead Editor is the lead scientific advisor to the journal and chairs the Editorial Board. They provide community oversight of the journal's content and direction, strategically advising the journal's Chief Editor in a consultative capacity. The role is key in helping to shape the journal's long-term goals, and growing and elevating the journal within the community. Learn more.     Advertisement New from Physical Review Materials: Self-Assembly of Complex Phases in Block Copolymer Materials Collection Highlighting one of the most exciting fields in polymer science, this Collection of papers, guest-edited by Kevin Dorfman from the University of Minnesota and Chris Bates from the University of California - Santa Barbara, presents research covering block copolymers, which offer an excellent model system for comprehending symmetry breaking in soft matter, as well as a unique platform for designing nanostructured materials. Read the first published papers in the Collection.     Advertisement Attend March Meeting 2024 Registration is still open for March Meeting 2024 - one of the largest and most exciting conferences in physics! Witness groundbreaking physics research, network with potential employers, and prepare for career success at March Meeting 2024. Register today.     Not an APS member? Join today to start connecting with a community of more than 50,000 physicists.   HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES Editors' Suggestion Surface termination effect of SrTiO3 substrate on ultrathin SrRuO3 Huiyu Wang, Zhen Wang, Zeeshan Ali, Enling Wang, Mohammad Saghayezhian, Jiandong Guo, Yimei Zhu, Jing Tao, and Jiandi Zhang Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013605 (2024) – Published 23 January 2024 A well-defined substrate surface is crucial for the epitaxy of complex materials, especially for revealing intrinsic properties of films in ultrathin limit. Here by atomically precise growth and characterization, the origin for the lateral inhomogeneity of ultrathin SrRuO3 films due to the step effects of SrTiO3 (001) is revealed. Two distinct types of step propagation along the [011] and [01̅ 1] crystallographic direction is identified, respectively. In particular, the type-II [01̅ 1] step results in lateral discontinuity of monolayer SrRuO3 and originates from the SrO-terminated regions along the TiO2-terminated step edge, responsible for the distinct electronic and magnetic properties of monolayer SrRuO3.     Editors' Suggestion Elucidating the roles of chemistry, compositional complexity, and short-range order in the dislocation energetics of body-centered-cubic concentrated solid solutions Wenqing Wang, Flynn Walsh, Robert O. Ritchie, and Mark Asta Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013608 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024 In compositionally complex refractory alloys, the formation of chemical short-range order has been calculated to flatten the spatial distribution of dislocation core energies. This study examines the extent to which such "narrowing" effects are unique to many-component systems, or if these results are more generally applicable. The authors computationally investigate how system chemistry, compositional complexity, and the presence of chemical short-range order affect dislocation energy distributions in subsystems of the NbMoTaW alloy. Order-induced narrowing is ultimately found to depend more on chemistry than the number of components.     Editors' Suggestion Anisotropic anomalous transport in the kagome-based topological antiferromagnetic Mn3Ga epitaxial thin films M. Raju, Ralph Romero, III, Daisuke Nishio-Hamane, Ryota Uesugi, Mihiro Asakura, Zhenisbek Tagay, Tomoya Higo, N. P. Armitage, Collin Broholm, and Satoru Nakatsuji Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014204 (2024) – Published 26 January 2024 Weyl semimetals based on Mn3X (X=Sn, Ge, Ga) are promising materials for antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics. Kagome spin structure formed by the Mn moments coupled to nontrivial band topology produces giant topological effects in these materials. Mn3Ga with the largest Néel temperature among this class of materials, is potentially useful for high-speed device applications. In this work, authors develop AFM epitaxial Mn3Ga films with controlled crystal orientation, accessing different orientation of Kagome planes formed by Mn moments. Detailed investigations through structural, magnetization, magnetoresistance, DC and terahertz electrical transport reveal the anisotropic transport signatures emerging from the nontrivial band topology.     Editors' Suggestion Structure and lattice excitations of the copper substituted lead oxyapatite Pb9.06(7)Cu0.94(6)(PO3.92(4))6O0.96(3) Qiang Zhang, Yingdong Guan, Yongqiang Cheng, Lujin Min, Jong K. Keum, Zhiqiang Mao, and Matthew B. Stone Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014605 (2024) – Published 30 January 2024 There was significant discussion regarding the potential for room-temperature superconductivity in the copper-substituted lead apatite which has come to be known as LK-99. Neutron diffraction and spectroscopy were employed to examine this compound. We did not observe a superconducting resonance, nor did we observe any predicted Cu-induced structural distortion between 5 and 300 K. No magnetic long-range order or magnetic excitations were detected in this temperature range. We have determined a favored substitution site of copper at the Pb1 site. This may provide crucial insights into the absence of structural distortion and superconductivity in LK-99.     Editors' Suggestion Excitation protocols for nonlinear phononics in bismuth and antimony Anubhab Haldar, Zhengjie Huang, Xuedan Ma, Pierre Darancet, and Sahar Sharifzadeh Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015202 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024 Coherent interactions between electromagnetic waves and extended vibrational degrees of freedom in solids (phonons) enable the stabilization of non-equilibrium states of matter with potentially desirable properties. However, the breakdown of the harmonic approximation in a material experiencing a structural phase transition results in large anharmonic deviations that limit the applicability of standard illumination protocols based on periodic drives. In this study, the authors propose a new illumination protocol that enables amplification of vibrations far into the non-linear regime for broken-symmetry materials.     Editors' Suggestion Vibrations and transitions across barrier of strained nanoribbons at finite temperature Paul Z. Hanakata, Sourav S. Bhabesh, David Yllanes, David R. Nelson, and Mark J. Bowick Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 016001 (2024) – Published 9 January 2024 Thermalized crystalline sheets, such as graphene liberated from a substrate, are driven by height fluctuations. The authors study the nonlinear dynamics of doubly-clamped nanoribbons as prototypical graphene resonators. Such ribbons exhibit a thermalized version of Euler buckling, with both up and down local minima. Treating the ribbon as a Brownian particle confined to a double-well potential, they determine transition rates across the two wells and oscillations inside a given well via molecular dynamics simulations. The dynamical behavior found is very different from Arrhenius behavior. The rate-controlling exponential factor depends only on the geometry, as opposed to the temperature, providing a new pathway for the experimental control of thermalized two-dimensional metamaterials.     LETTERS Two-dimensional materials Letter Highly confined, low-loss plasmonics based on two-dimensional solid-state defect lattices Ali Ghorashi, Nicholas Rivera, Bowen Shi, Ravishankar Sundararaman, Efthimios Kaxiras, John Joannopoulos, and Marin Soljačić Phys. Rev. Materials 8, L011001 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024   Magnetic, ferroelectric, and multiferroic materials Letter Tuning the magnetic anisotropy in artificially layered Mn3GaN/Mn3Ga superlattices Lu Guo, Neil Campbell, Alexander J. Grutter, Gahee Noh, Tianxiang Nan, P. Quarterman, Si-Young Choi, Thomas Tybell, Mark S. Rzchowski, and Chang-Beom Eom Phys. Rev. Materials 8, L011401 (2024) – Published 31 January 2024   Superconducting materials Letter Implications of the electron-phonon coupling in CuPb9(PO4)6O for superconductivity: An ab initio study Hari Paudyal, Michael E. Flatté, and Durga Paudyal Phys. Rev. Materials 8, L011801 (2024) – Published 16 January 2024   ARTICLES Crystal growth, crystallization, and kinetics Revisiting the heavy-fermion compound YbCdCu4: Kondo temperature and the ground-state degeneracy Eundeok Mun Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013401 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Structural and mechanical properties Structural evolution of short-range order in CrCoNi and MnCoNi medium-entropy alloys Masataka Mizuno and Hideki Araki Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013601 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024   High temperature decomposition and age hardening of single-phase wurtzite Ti1−xAlxN thin films grown by cathodic arc deposition J. Salamania, F. Bock, L. J. S. Johnson, F. Tasnádi, K. M. Calamba Kwick, A. F. Farhadizadeh, I. A. Abrikosov, L. Rogström, and M. Odén Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013602 (2024) – Published 9 January 2024   Pressure-induced loss of metallicity in RuO2 Melanie White, Daniel Schacher, G. Alexander Smith, Dean Smith, Changyong Park, Keith V. Lawler, and Ashkan Salamat Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013603 (2024) – Published 16 January 2024   High temperature dislocation glide in the MoNbTi refractory multiprincipal element alloy Morgan R. Jones, Lauren T. W. Fey, and Irene J. Beyerlein Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013604 (2024) – Published 18 January 2024   Editors' Suggestion Surface termination effect of SrTiO3 substrate on ultrathin SrRuO3 Huiyu Wang, Zhen Wang, Zeeshan Ali, Enling Wang, Mohammad Saghayezhian, Jiandong Guo, Yimei Zhu, Jing Tao, and Jiandi Zhang Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013605 (2024) – Published 23 January 2024 A well-defined substrate surface is crucial for the epitaxy of complex materials, especially for revealing intrinsic properties of films in ultrathin limit. Here by atomically precise growth and characterization, the origin for the lateral inhomogeneity of ultrathin SrRuO3 films due to the step effects of SrTiO3 (001) is revealed. Two distinct types of step propagation along the [011] and [01̅ 1] crystallographic direction is identified, respectively. In particular, the type-II [01̅ 1] step results in lateral discontinuity of monolayer SrRuO3 and originates from the SrO-terminated regions along the TiO2-terminated step edge, responsible for the distinct electronic and magnetic properties of monolayer SrRuO3.     Study of vacancy ordering and the boson peak in metastable cubic Ge-Sb-Te using machine learning potentials Young-Jae Choi, Minjae Ghim, and Seung-Hoon Jhi Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013606 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Impact of oxygen ordering on titanium lattice parameters Martin S. Talla Noutack, Fabienne Amann, Sophie Nowak, Régis Poulain, Raphaëlle Guillou, Stéphanie Delannoy, Ivan Guillot, Frédéric Prima, and Emmanuel Clouet Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013607 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Editors' Suggestion Elucidating the roles of chemistry, compositional complexity, and short-range order in the dislocation energetics of body-centered-cubic concentrated solid solutions Wenqing Wang, Flynn Walsh, Robert O. Ritchie, and Mark Asta Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013608 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024 In compositionally complex refractory alloys, the formation of chemical short-range order has been calculated to flatten the spatial distribution of dislocation core energies. This study examines the extent to which such "narrowing" effects are unique to many-component systems, or if these results are more generally applicable. The authors computationally investigate how system chemistry, compositional complexity, and the presence of chemical short-range order affect dislocation energy distributions in subsystems of the NbMoTaW alloy. Order-induced narrowing is ultimately found to depend more on chemistry than the number of components.     Harmonic transition state theory applied to vacancy diffusion pre-exponential factors in a concentrated solid-solution alloy Joseph Lefèvre López, Normand Mousseau, Gilles Adjanor, and Christophe Domain Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013609 (2024) – Published 30 January 2024   Antiphase boundaries in B2 intermetallics: Proximate structures, formation energies, and chemical stability Justin A. Mayer, Tresa M. Pollock, K. V. Vamsi, and Ram Seshadri Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013610 (2024) – Published 31 January 2024   Development of new methods for materials Multicode benchmark on simulated Ti K-edge x-ray absorption spectra of Ti-O compounds Fanchen Meng, Benedikt Maurer, Fabian Peschel, Sencer Selcuk, Mark Hybertsen, Xiaohui Qu, Christian Vorwerk, Claudia Draxl, John Vinson, and Deyu Lu Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013801 (2024) – Published 11 January 2024   Generalized Kohn-Sham approach for the electronic band structure of spin-orbit coupled materials Jacques K. Desmarais, Giacomo Ambrogio, Giovanni Vignale, Alessandro Erba, and Stefano Pittalis Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013802 (2024) – Published 16 January 2024   Parametrization protocol and refinement strategies for accurate and transferable analytic bond-order potentials: Application to Re Aparna P. A. Subramanyam, Jan Jenke, Alvin N. Ladines, Ralf Drautz, and Thomas Hammerschmidt Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013803 (2024) – Published 17 January 2024   Improving ab initio diffusion calculations in materials through Gaussian process regression Seyyedfaridoddin Fattahpour and Sara Kadkhodaei Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 013804 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Two-dimensional materials Indirect-to-direct band-gap transition in few-layer β-InSe as probed by photoluminescence spectroscopy B. R. Borodin, I. A. Eliseyev, A. I. Galimov, L. V. Kotova, M. V. Durnev, T. V. Shubina, M. A. Yagovkina, and M. V. Rakhlin Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014001 (2024) – Published 4 January 2024   Piezoelectric electrostatic superlattices in monolayer MoS2 Ashwin Ramasubramaniam and Doron Naveh Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014002 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024   Modulating the electronic structure and interface contact of WSe2/CrSe2 van der Waals heterostructures by strain engineering: Insights from first-principles calculations Fangqi Yu, Weihua Yang, Rao Huang, Lei Li, Yang Zhang, and Yuhua Wen Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014003 (2024) – Published 10 January 2024   Ultraclean two-dimensional hole systems with mobilities exceeding 107 cm2/Vs Adbhut Gupta, C. Wang, S. K. Singh, K. W. Baldwin, R. Winkler, M. Shayegan, and L. N. Pfeiffer Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014004 (2024) – Published 12 January 2024   Synthesis and magnetic properties of the Shastry-Sutherland family R2Be2SiO7 (R=Nd,Sm,Gd-Yb) A. Brassington, Q. Huang, A. A. Aczel, and H. D. Zhou Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014005 (2024) – Published 18 January 2024   Order-by-disorder charge density wave condensation at q=(1/3,1/3,1/3) in kagome metal ScV6Sn6 Alaska Subedi Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014006 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   On-site and intersite Hubbard corrections in magnetic monolayers: The case of FePS3 and CrI3 Fatemeh Haddadi, Edward Linscott, Iurii Timrov, Nicola Marzari, and Marco Gibertini Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014007 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Topological and Dirac materials Symmetry-enforced double Weyl points, multiband quantum geometry, and singular flat bands of doping-induced states at the Fermi level Moritz M. Hirschmann and Johannes Mitscherling Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014201 (2024) – Published 9 January 2024   Resolving the discrepancy between MOKE measurements at 1550-nm wavelength on kagome metal CsV3Sb5 Jingyuan Wang, Camron Farhang, Brenden R. Ortiz, Stephen D. Wilson, and Jing Xia Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014202 (2024) – Published 12 January 2024   Buffer-layer-controlled nickeline vs zinc-blende/wurtzite-type MnTe growths on c-plane Al2O3 substrates Deepti Jain, Hee Taek Yi, Alessandro R. Mazza, Kim Kisslinger, Myung-Geun Han, Matthew Brahlek, and Seongshik Oh Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014203 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Editors' Suggestion Anisotropic anomalous transport in the kagome-based topological antiferromagnetic Mn3Ga epitaxial thin films M. Raju, Ralph Romero, III, Daisuke Nishio-Hamane, Ryota Uesugi, Mihiro Asakura, Zhenisbek Tagay, Tomoya Higo, N. P. Armitage, Collin Broholm, and Satoru Nakatsuji Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014204 (2024) – Published 26 January 2024 Weyl semimetals based on Mn3X (X=Sn, Ge, Ga) are promising materials for antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics. Kagome spin structure formed by the Mn moments coupled to nontrivial band topology produces giant topological effects in these materials. Mn3Ga with the largest Néel temperature among this class of materials, is potentially useful for high-speed device applications. In this work, authors develop AFM epitaxial Mn3Ga films with controlled crystal orientation, accessing different orientation of Kagome planes formed by Mn moments. Detailed investigations through structural, magnetization, magnetoresistance, DC and terahertz electrical transport reveal the anisotropic transport signatures emerging from the nontrivial band topology.     Magnetic, ferroelectric, and multiferroic materials Kondo volume collapse in frustrated antiferromagnet: The case of Ce2Pd2In Petr Král, Ladislav Havela, Daniel Staško, Dominik Daisenberger, Milan Klicpera, Martin Diviš, Inés Puente-Orench, Petr Proschek, Jiří Kaštil, Milan Dopita, and Jiří Prchal Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014401 (2024) – Published 3 January 2024   Stacking disorder and thermal transport properties of α−RuCl3 Heda Zhang, Michael A. McGuire, Andrew F. May, Hsin-Yun Chao, Qiang Zheng, Miaofang Chi, Brian C. Sales, David G. Mandrus, Stephen E. Nagler, Hu Miao, Feng Ye, and Jiaqiang Yan Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014402 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024   Local probe investigation of the spin dynamics in the kagome and interlayers of orthorhombic barlowite Cu4(OD)6FBr: 79Br and 63Cu NQR study Takashi Imai, Jiaming Wang, Rebecca W. Smaha, Wei He, Jiajia Wen, and Young S. Lee Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014403 (2024) – Published 9 January 2024   First-principle study of multiple metastable charge ordering states in La1/3Sr2/3FeO3 Nam Nguyen, Alex Taekyung Lee, Vijay Singh, Anh T. Ngo, and Hyowon Park Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014404 (2024) – Published 11 January 2024   Anatomy of spin Hall and anomalous Hall conductivities in Co/5d-heavy-metal heterostructures from band filling and interfacial orbital hybridization Kenji Nawa, Mana Fukutani, and Kohji Nakamura Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014405 (2024) – Published 12 January 2024   A-site cation controlled localization of dipole correlations in a relaxor material Jiahao Zhang, Drew Behrendt, Yubo Qi, and Andrew M. Rappe Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014406 (2024) – Published 17 January 2024   Probing the local thermal conductivity of single- and multidomain ferroelastic variants of BiFeO3 by Raman thermometry Ayberk Özden, Felix Drechsler, Jens Kortus, Marin Alexe, and Cameliu Himcinschi Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014407 (2024) – Published 24 January 2024   Laser-induced demagnetization in van der Waals XY- and Ising-like antiferromagnets NiPS3 and FePS3 D. V. Kuntu, E. A. Arkhipova, L. A. Shelukhin, F. Mertens, M. A. Prosnikov, I. A. Eliseyev, A. N. Smirnov, V. Yu. Davydov, S. Mañas-Valero, E. Coronado, M. Cinchetti, and A. M. Kalashnikova Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014408 (2024) – Published 26 January 2024   High-throughput determination of Hubbard U and Hund J values for transition metal oxides via the linear response formalism Guy C. Moore, Matthew K. Horton, Edward Linscott, Alexander M. Ganose, Martin Siron, David D. O'Regan, and Kristin A. Persson Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014409 (2024) – Published 29 January 2024   Magnetic properties of CoFeB films grown on a single-layer graphene underlayer Imane Berrai, Kyusup Lee, Mohamed Belmeguenai, Mingfang Cui, Wafa Alimi, Yves Roussigné, Samir Farhat, Hyunsoo Yang, and Salim Mourad Chérif Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014410 (2024) – Published 29 January 2024   Insensitivity of nucleation rate to order-disorder interfaces in reversible thermoelastic martensitic transformations J. C. Lago, W. Cho, D. Salas, I. Karaman, and P. J. Shamberger Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014411 (2024) – Published 30 January 2024   Semiconducting materials Computational design of optimal heterostructures for β−Ga2O3 Sierra Seacat, John L. Lyons, and Hartwin Peelaers Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014601 (2024) – Published 18 January 2024   Probing the electronic properties of gap states near the surface of n−SrTiO3−δ/i−Si(001) heterojunctions with high sensitivity S. A. Chambers, Z. H. Lim, J. H. Ngai, D. Biswas, and T.-L. Lee Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014602 (2024) – Published 19 January 2024   N- and P-type symmetric scaling behavior of monolayer hydrogenated boron arsenide transistors Qiuhui Li, Tao Zheng, Lin Xu, Shibo Fang, Zongmeng Yang, Linqiang Xu, Ying Li, Baochun Wu, Xingyue Yang, Ruge Quhe, Guo Ying, and Jing Lu Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014603 (2024) – Published 26 January 2024   Nonequilibrium thermal resistance of interfaces between III-V compounds Jinchen Han and Sangyeop Lee Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014604 (2024) – Published 26 January 2024   Editors' Suggestion Structure and lattice excitations of the copper substituted lead oxyapatite Pb9.06(7)Cu0.94(6)(PO3.92(4))6O0.96(3) Qiang Zhang, Yingdong Guan, Yongqiang Cheng, Lujin Min, Jong K. Keum, Zhiqiang Mao, and Matthew B. Stone Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014605 (2024) – Published 30 January 2024 There was significant discussion regarding the potential for room-temperature superconductivity in the copper-substituted lead apatite which has come to be known as LK-99. Neutron diffraction and spectroscopy were employed to examine this compound. We did not observe a superconducting resonance, nor did we observe any predicted Cu-induced structural distortion between 5 and 300 K. No magnetic long-range order or magnetic excitations were detected in this temperature range. We have determined a favored substitution site of copper at the Pb1 site. This may provide crucial insights into the absence of structural distortion and superconductivity in LK-99.     Superconducting materials Local pairing versus bulk superconductivity intertwined by the charge density wave order in Cs(V1−xTax)3Sb5 Jinyulin Li, Qing Li, Jinjin Liu, Ying Xiang, Huan Yang, Zhiwei Wang, Yugui Yao, and Hai-Hu Wen Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014801 (2024) – Published 2 January 2024   Impacts of substrate conditions and post-annealing on monolayer iron-based superconductors Guanyang He, Yu Li, Yuxuan Lei, Xingyue Wang, Minghu Pan, and Jian Wang Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 014802 (2024) – Published 16 January 2024   Other electronic materials Large Rashba parameter for 4d strongly correlated perovskite oxide SrNbO3 ultrathin films Hikaru Okuma, Yumiko Katayama, and Kazunori Ueno Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015001 (2024) – Published 3 January 2024   Film morphology and substrate strain contributions to ramp reversal memory in VO2 Avital Fried, Elihu Anouchi, Gili Cohen Taguri, Jonathan Shvartzberg, and Amos Sharoni Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015002 (2024) – Published 9 January 2024   Optimizing the spin Hall effect in Pt-based binary alloys Oliver L. W. McHugh, Martin Gradhand, and Derek A. Stewart Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015003 (2024) – Published 18 January 2024   Origin of antiferroelectricity in NaNbO3 Niloofar Hadaeghi, Mian Dai, Yixuan Zhang, Ruiwen Xie, Hamid Nouri, and Hongbin Zhang Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015004 (2024) – Published 22 January 2024   Metamaterials, optical, photonic, and plasmonic materials High-refractive-index materials screening from machine learning and ab initio methods Pedro J. M. A. Carriço, Márcio Ferreira, Tiago F. T. Cerqueira, Fernando Nogueira, and Pedro Borlido Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015201 (2024) – Published 3 January 2024   Editors' Suggestion Excitation protocols for nonlinear phononics in bismuth and antimony Anubhab Haldar, Zhengjie Huang, Xuedan Ma, Pierre Darancet, and Sahar Sharifzadeh Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015202 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024 Coherent interactions between electromagnetic waves and extended vibrational degrees of freedom in solids (phonons) enable the stabilization of non-equilibrium states of matter with potentially desirable properties. However, the breakdown of the harmonic approximation in a material experiencing a structural phase transition results in large anharmonic deviations that limit the applicability of standard illumination protocols based on periodic drives. In this study, the authors propose a new illumination protocol that enables amplification of vibrations far into the non-linear regime for broken-symmetry materials.     Broadband circular polarization selector and converter based on multilayer metamaterials with stacked split-rings Xiaojun Lin, Zhe Shen, and Dingxin Huang Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015203 (2024) – Published 10 January 2024   Chiral symmetry-preserving coupling method for topological acoustic metamaterials Ssu-Ying Chen and Camelia Prodan Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015204 (2024) – Published 16 January 2024   Materials for energy harvesting, storage, and generation Unraveling the intricacies of surface salt formation on Mg(0001): Implications for chloride-ion batteries Kanchan Sarkar, Darius Hübner, Daniel Stottmeister, and Axel Groß Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015401 (2024) – Published 5 January 2024   Selenium and the role of defects for photovoltaic applications Hadeel Moustafa, Jiban Kangsabanik, Fabian Bertoldo, Simone Manti, Kristian S. Thygesen, Karsten W. Jacobsen, and Thomas Olsen Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015402 (2024) – Published 5 January 2024   Independent regulation of the lithium-ion conductivity of LiF using elemental doping: A first-principles study Na Yang, Xian-Qi Xu, and Jia-Xin Zheng Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015403 (2024) – Published 12 January 2024   Ab initio study of alkali-metal-based bismuth selenides (ABiSe2; A= K, Na) for photovoltaic and thermoelectric applications Simeon A. Abolade, Shittu B. Akinpelu, David O. Obada, Syam Kumar R, Fedwa El-Mellouhi, Stefano Sanvito, and Akinlolu Akande Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015404 (2024) – Published 29 January 2024   Soft, molecular, and amorphous materials Phase behavior of triblock copolymer and homopolymer blends: Effect of copolymer topology Jiayu Xie and An-Chang Shi Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015601 (2024) – Published 11 January 2024 This study sheds new light on the blend properties of block copolymers with different topologies. The phase diagrams of homologous ABA and BAB linear symmetric triblock copolymers are similar, with a slight difference due to their topologies. The authors discover that this slight difference is greatly amplified with the addition of A homopolymers, leading to distinct phase behaviors in ABA/A and BAB/A blends. BAB/A exhibit much poorer miscibility than ABA/A, resulting in much smaller stable windows for the Frank-Kasper phases. The Lifshitz point of these two blends has different characteristics, changing from continuous in ABA/A to discontinuous in BAB/A.     Accelerated discovery and mapping of block copolymer phase diagrams Elizabeth A. Murphy, Stephen J. Skala, Dimagi Kottage, Phillip A. Kohl, Youli Li, Cheng Zhang, Craig J. Hawker, and Christopher M. Bates Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015602 (2024) – Published 25 January 2024 Block copolymers spontaneously self-assemble into well-defined nanostructures, but the vast and ever-growing design space of these intriguing materials complicates studying and anticipating useful structure–property relationships a priori. This study reports a versatile and efficient strategy to accelerate materials discovery by building expansive and high-quality block copolymer libraries through a combination of controlled polymerization and automated chromatographic separation. The power of this method was highlighted through the rapid generation of over 300 distinct and well-defined samples, yielding comprehensive phase diagrams with exceptional compositional and structural resolution.     Self-assembled complex micelle phase stability in ABA-type triblock copolymers and related core-shell bottlebrushes Michael G. Karavolias and Mahesh K. Mahanthappa Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 015603 (2024) – Published 31 January 2024 Block copolymer self-assembly offers access to functional nanostructured materials with properties that depend on the underlying microphase-separated morphologies. While linear A/B block copolymer phase behavior is well-studied, that of architecturally complex, nonlinear copolymers is less well-understood. This study describes the melt microphase separation of A/B core-shell bottlebrush polymers, made by linking the midpoints of ABA triblock copolymers. These core-shell bottlebrushes form tetrahedrally close-packed Frank-Kasper A15 and σ phases. Changes in the preferred brush molecular conformations as a function of backbone length suggest a star-to-bottlebrush transition, which enables subtle manipulation of the preferred interfacial curvature and consequent supramolecular morphology.     Nanomaterials Editors' Suggestion Vibrations and transitions across barrier of strained nanoribbons at finite temperature Paul Z. Hanakata, Sourav S. Bhabesh, David Yllanes, David R. Nelson, and Mark J. Bowick Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 016001 (2024) – Published 9 January 2024 Thermalized crystalline sheets, such as graphene liberated from a substrate, are driven by height fluctuations. The authors study the nonlinear dynamics of doubly-clamped nanoribbons as prototypical graphene resonators. Such ribbons exhibit a thermalized version of Euler buckling, with both up and down local minima. Treating the ribbon as a Brownian particle confined to a double-well potential, they determine transition rates across the two wells and oscillations inside a given well via molecular dynamics simulations. The dynamical behavior found is very different from Arrhenius behavior. The rate-controlling exponential factor depends only on the geometry, as opposed to the temperature, providing a new pathway for the experimental control of thermalized two-dimensional metamaterials.     Behavior of strain stripe networks in barium titanate nanocrystals on crossing its ferroelectric phase transition Jiecheng Diao, Longlong Wu, Ana F. Suzana, Emil S. Bozin, Edoardo M. Zatterin, Steven J. Leake, Ross J. Harder, Wonsuk Cha, Milinda Abeykoon, Jiadong Fan, Huaidong Jiang, and Ian K. Robinson Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 016002 (2024) – Published 23 January 2024   Role of electron-electron interactions in electron emission from nanotube materials Naira Grigoryan and Piotr Chudzinski Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 016003 (2024) – Published 29 January 2024   Materials for Quantum Technologies Structure transition and zigzag magnetic order in Ir/Rh-substituted honeycomb lattice α−RuCl3 Zachary Morgan, Iris Ye, Colin L. Sarkis, Xiaoping Wang, Stephen Nagler, and Jiaqiang Yan Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 016201 (2024) – Published 8 January 2024   Structural and physical properties of the chiral antiferromagnet CeRhC2 Yu Liu (刘育), M. O. Ajeesh, A. O. Scheie, C. R. dela Cruz, P. F. S. Rosa, S. M. Thomas, J. D. Thompson, F. Ronning, and E. D. Bauer Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 016202 (2024) – Published 17 January 2024     American Physical Society: 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740 ©2024 American Physical Society | All rights reserved   You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to Table of Content alerts. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please update your preferences.