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Two-dimensional electrides can acquire topologically non-trivial phases due to intriguing interplay between the cationic atomic layers and anionic electron layers. However, experimental evidence of topological surface states has yet to be verified. Here, via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), we probe the magnetic Weyl states of the ferromagnetic electride $[Gd_{2}$C]^{2+}\cdot2e^{-}$. In particular, the presence of Weyl cones and Fermi-arc states is demonstrated through photon energy-dependent ARPES measurements, agreeing with theoretical band structure calculations. Notably, the STM measurements reveal that the Fermi-arc states exist underneath a floating quantum electron liquid on the top Gd layer, forming double-stacked surface states in a heterostructure. Our work thus not only unveils the non-trivial topology of the $[Gd_{2}$C]^{2+}\cdot2e^{-}$ electride but also realizes a surface heterostructure that can host phenomena distinct from the bulk., Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures

This work presents electronic properties of the kagome metal ScV6Sn6 using de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The torque signal with the applied fields up to 43 T shows clear dHvA oscillations with six major frequencies, five of them are below 400 T (low frequencies) and one is nearly 2800 T (high frequency). The Berry phase calculated using the Landau level fan diagram near the quantum limit is approximately {\pi}, which suggests the non-trivial band topology in ScV6Sn6. To explain the experimental data, we computed the electronic band structure and Fermi surface using DFT in both the pristine and charge density wave (CDW) phases. Our results confirm that the CDW phase is energetically favorable, and the Fermi surface undergoes a severe reconstruction in the CDW state. Furthermore, the angular dependence of the dHvA frequencies are consistent with the DFT calculations. The detailed electronic properties presented here are invaluable for understanding the electronic structure and CDWorder in ScV6Sn6, as well as in other vanadium-based kagome systems., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

To investigate the structural and magnetic properties of Cr-doped M-type strontium hexaferrite (SrFe$_{12}$O$_{19}$) with x = (0.0, 0.5, 1.0), we perform first-principles total-energy calculations relied on density functional theory. Based on the calculation of the substitution energy of Cr in strontium hexaferrite and formation probability analysis, we conclude that the doped Cr atoms prefer to occupy the 2a, 12k, and 4f$_{2}$ sites which is in good agreement with the experimental findings. Due to Cr$^{3+}$ ion moment, 3 {$\mu_B$}, smaller than that of Fe$^{3+}$ ion, 5 {$\mu_B$}, saturation magnetization (M$_{s}$) reduce rapidly as the concentration of Cr increases in strontium hexaferrite. The magnetic anisotropic field $\left(H_{a}\right)$ rises with an increasing fraction of Cr despite a significant reduction of magnetization and a slight increase of magnetocrystalline anisotropy $\left(K_{1}\right)$.The cause for the rise in magnetic anisotropy field $\left(H_{a}\right)$ with an increasing fraction of Cr is further emphasized by our formation probability study. Cr$^{3+}$ ions prefer to occupy the 2a sites at lower temperatures, but as the temperature rises, it is more likely that they will occupy the 12k site. Cr$^{3+}$ ions are more likely to occupy the 12k site than the 2a site at a specific annealing temperature (>700{\deg}C)., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1811.04101

Purely quantum electron systems exhibit intriguing correlated electronic phases by virtue of quantum fluctuations in addition to electron-electron interactions. To realize such quantum electron systems, a key ingredient is dense electrons decoupled from other degrees of freedom. Here, we report the discovery of a pure quantum electron liquid, which spreads up to ~ 3 {\AA} in the vacuum on the surface of electride crystal. An extremely high electron density and its weak hybridisation with buried atomic orbitals evidence the quantum and pure nature of electrons, that exhibit a polarized liquid phase as demonstrated by our spin-dependent measurement. Further, upon enhancing the electron correlation strength, the dynamics of quantum electrons changes to that of non-Fermi liquid along with an anomalous band deformation, suggestive of a transition to a hexatic liquid crystal phase. Our findings cultivate the frontier of quantum electron systems, and serve as a platform for exploring correlated electronic phases in a pure fashion., Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, 10 extended data figures

The electronic and magnetic properties of cobalt (Co) doped monolayer (ML) tungsten diselenide (WSe2) are investigated using the density functional theory with the on-site Hubbard potential correction (DFT+U) for the localized d orbitals of Co atom taking into account the spin orbit coupling (SOC) interaction. The results show that the substitution of Co at the W sites of ML WSe2 is energetically favorable under Se rich environment. We noticed that the Hund's exchange splitting (\Delta H_{ex}) is dominant over the crystal field splitting (\Delta_{cf}). The induced magnetic moment due to the Co-doped defect is ~3.00 \mu_B per Co atom. The magnetic interaction between two Co atoms at the nearest neighbor separation depends mainly on the concentration of the impurity atoms. The calculated value of curie temperature (TC) is increasing with increasing impurity concentration satisfying the Zener model. Based on the results, it can be proposed that the Co-doped WSe2 monolayer is potential candidate to apply in spintronics, optoelectronics, and magnetic storage devices.

Recently, the two dimensional (2D) materials have become a potential candidates for various technological applications in spintronics and optoelectronics. In the present study, the structural, electronic, and phase stability of 2D layered ZnSb compounds of four different phases viz. wurzite(w), tetragonal (t), hexagonal (h), and orthorhombic (o) have been tuned using the first principle calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). We invoked the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) functional and the projected augmented wave (PAW) method during all the calculations. Based on our numerical results, we predicted the novel tetragonal phase as stable phase of ZnSb next to existing orthorhombic structure. We reported the pressure induced phase transition between orthorhombic to tetragonal phase at 12.48 GPa/atom. The projected density of states indicates the strong p-d hybridization between Sb-5p and Zn-3d states confirming the nature of strong covalent bonding between them. The electronic band structures suggest that t-ZnSb, w-ZnSb, and h-ZnSb are metallic in nature whereas o-ZnSb is semiconducting with narrow band gap of 0.03 eV using PBE. We predicted the possibility of extracting the two dimensional (2D) monolayer sheet in t-ZnSb and o-ZnSb according to the exfoliation energy criterion. In addition, the 2D monolayer (ML) of o-ZnSb has been predicted to be dynamically stable but that of t-ZnSb is not stable as manifested in phonon dispersion bands. Surprisingly, the semiconducting band gap nature of o-ZnSb changes from indirect and narrow to direct and sizable while going from 3D bulk to 2D ML structure. Further, we estimated the value of work functions for the surfaces of t-ZnSb and o-ZnSb as 4.61 eV and 4.04 eV respectively. Such materials can find the niche applications in next generation electronic devices utilizing 2D hetero-structures.

We demonstrate the gate-tunability of the long-range magnetic order in a p-type V-doped WSe2 monolayer using ab initio calculations. We found that at a low V-doping concentration limit, the long-range ferromagnetic order is enhanced by increasing the hole density. In contrast, the short-range antiferromagnetic order is manifested at a high electron density by full compensation of the p-type V doping concentration. The hole-mediated long-range magnetic exchange is ~70 meV, thus strongly suggesting the ferromagnetism in V-doped WSe2 at room temperature. Our findings on strong coupling between charge and spin order in V-doped WSe2 provide plenty of room for multifunctional gate-tunable spintronics., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

The site preference and magnetic properties of Zn, Sn and Zn-Sn substituted M-type strontium hexaferrite (SrFe$_{12}$O$_{19}$) have been investigated using first-principles total energy calculations based on density functional theory. The site occupancy of substituted atoms were estimated by calculating the substitution energies of different configurations. The distribution of different configurations during the annealing process at high temperature was determined using the formation probabilities of configurations to calculate magnetic properties of substituted strontium hexaferrite. We found that the magnetization and magnetocrystalline anisotropy are closely related to the distributions of Zn-Sn ions on the five Fe sites. Our calculation show that in SrFe$_{11.5}$Zn$_{0.5}$O$_{19}$, Zn atoms prefer to occupy $4f_1$, $12k$, and $2a$ sites with occupation probability of 78%, 19% and 3%, respectively, while in SrFe$_{11.5}$SnO$_{19}$, Sn atoms occupy the $12k$ and $4f_2$ sites with occupation probability of 54% and 46%, respectively. We also found that in SrFe$_{11}$Zn$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$O$_{19}$, (Zn,Sn) atom pairs prefer to occupy the ($4f_1$, $4f_2$), ($4f_1$, $12k$) and ($12k$, $12k$) sites with occupation probability of 82%, 8% and 6%, respectively. Our calculation shows that the increase of magnetization and the reduction of magnetic anisotropy in Zn-Sn substituted M-type strontium hexaferrite as observed experimentally is due to the occupation of (Zn,Sn) pairs at the ($4f_1$, $4f_2$) sites., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

We use first-principles total-energy calculations based on density functional theory to study the site occupancy and magnetic properties of Al-substituted $M$-type strontium hexaferrite SrFe$_{12-x}$Al$_{x}$O$_{19}$ with $x=0.5$ and $x=1.0$. We find that the non-magnetic Al$^{3+}$ ions preferentially replace Fe$^{3+}$ ions at two of the majority spin sites, $2a$ and $12k$, eliminating their positive contribution to the total magnetization causing the saturation magnetization $M_s$ to be reduced as Al concentration $x$ is increased. Our formation probability analysis further provides the explanation for increased magnetic anisotropy field when the fraction of Al is increased. Although Al$^{3+}$ ions preferentially occupy the $2a$ sites at a low temperature, the occupation probability of the $12k$ site increases with the rise of the temperature. At a typical annealing temperature ($> 700\,^{\circ}{\rm C}$) Al$^{3+}$ ions are much more likely to occupy the $12k$ site than the $2a$ site. Although this causes the magnetocrystalline anisotropy $K_1$ to be reduced slightly, the reduction in $M_s$ is much more significant. Their combined effect causes the anisotropy field $H_a$ to increase as the fraction of Al is increased, consistent with recent experimental measurements., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1209.5143