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Tetragonal CuMnAs was the first antiferromagnet where reorientation of the N\'eel vector was reported to occur by an inverse spin galvanic effect. A complicating factor in the formation of phase-pure tetragonal CuMnAs is the formation of an orthorhombic phase with nearly the same stoichiometry. Pure-phase tetragonal CuMnAs has been reported to require an excess of Cu to maintain a single phase in traditional solid state synthesis reactions. Here we show that subtle differences in diffraction patterns signal pervasive inhomogeneity and phase separation, even in Cu-rich Cu$_{1.18}$Mn$_{0.82}$As. From calorimetry and magnetometry measurements, we identify two transitions corresponding to the N\'eel temperature (T$_N$) and an antiferromagnet to weak ferromagnet transition in Cu$_{1.18}$Mn$_{0.82}$As and CuMn$_{0.964}$As$_{1.036}$. These transitions have clear crystallographic signatures, directly observable in the lattice parameters upon in-situ heating and cooling. The immiscibility and phase separation could arise from a spinoidal decomposition that occurs at high temperatures, and the presence of a ferromagnetic transition near room temperature warrants further investigation of its effect on the electrical switching behavior., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, added author middle initial, additional text and figures in supplementary, and resizing the figures

U$_3$Si$_2$ nuclear fuel is corroded in deuterated steam with in situ neutron diffraction. Density functional theory is coupled with rigorous thermodynamic description of the hydride including gas/solid entropy contributions. H absorbs in the 2$b$ interstitial site of U$_3$Si$_2$H$_x$ and moves to 8$j$ for $x\ge 0.5$. Hydriding forces lattice expansion and change in $a/c$ ratio linked to site preference. Rietveld refinement tracks the corrosion reactions at 350-500 \deg C and preference for the 8j site. Above 375 \deg C, formation of UO$_2$, U$_3$Si$_5$ and USi$_3$ take place in the grain boundaries and bulk. Hydriding occurs in bulk and precedes other reactions.

We have performed ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the alkali-metal dynamics in the Al-doped (KAl0.33W1.67O6 and RbAl0.33W1.67O6) and undoped (KW2O6 and RbW2O6) defect pyrochlore tungstates. The K atoms exhibit novel rattling dynamics in both the doped and undoped tungstates while the Rb atoms do not. The KAl0.33W1.67O6 experimental thermal conductivity curve shows an unusual depression between ~ 50 K and ~ 250 K, coinciding with two crossovers in the K dynamics: the first at ~ 50 K, from oscillatory to diffusive, and the second at ~ 250 K, from diffusive back to oscillatory. We found that the low-temperature crossover is a result of the system transitioning below the activation energy of the diffusive dynamics whereas the high-temperature crossover is driven by a complex reconstruction of the local potential around the K atoms due to the cage dynamics. This leads to a hardening of the K potential with increasing temperature. This unusual reconstruction of the potential may have important implications for the interpretation of finite-temperature dynamics based on zero-temperature potentials in similar materials. The key result is that the novel K rattling, involving local diffusion, leads to a significant reduction in the thermal conductivity. We suggest that this may open a new route in the phonon engineering of cage compounds for thermoelectric materials where the rattlers are specifically selected to reduce the lattice thermal conductivity by the mechanism of local diffusion., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

Rattling dynamics have been identified as fundamental to superconductivity in defect pyrochlore osmates and aluminium vanadium intermetallics, as well as low thermal conductivity in clathrates and filled skutterudites. Combining inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements and ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we use a new approach to investigate rattling in the Al-doped defect pyrochlore tungstates: AAl0.33W1.67O6 (A = K, Rb, Cs). We find that although all the alkali metals rattle, the rattling of the K atoms is unique, involving local diffusion within a cage as well as vibrations at a range of frequencies. We show that the novel K rattling is driven by the strong anharmonicity and anisotropy of the local potentials around the K atoms, both of which are a consequence of the small size of the K rattler. Our findings may open new possibilities for phonon engineering in thermoelectric materials., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures and 3 tables

We investigate the temperature response of the alkali-metal rattling modes in {\beta}-pyrochlores, AOs2O6 (A = K, Rb, Cs), from the results of ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations performed at 20 K, 100 K, and 300 K. Our results show that the temperature response of the T1u mode is clearly different from that of the T2g mode for all three pyrochlores. In this regard, two features are of particular note for both K and Rb; (1) the T1u mode exhibits a distinctly stronger softening response with decreasing temperature compared to the T2g mode, and (2) the T1u mode becomes stronger and sharper with decreasing temperature. These two findings suggest that the T1u mode is significantly more anharmonic and sensitive to the cage dynamics than the T2g mode. Examination of the local potentials around the alkali-metal atoms reveals that K has the flattest and most anharmonic potential at all temperatures while Cs exhibits the narrowest potential. The temperature dependence of the local potentials reveals that, for K, the potential at a higher temperature is not a simple extrapolation to higher energy of that at a lower temperature. Instead, we find significant reconstruction of the potential at different temperatures. Finally, we explore the temperature response of the coupling between the alkali metals and find a complex temperature dependence which suggests that the origin of the coupling may be more complex than a pure Coulomb interaction. We also find an unexpected increase in the static disorder of the system at low temperatures for the K and Rb pyrochlores., Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures