Dr Dharmalingam Prabhakaran

Abstract:

The magnetic susceptibility χ of RMnO3 (R = La, Y) manganites was measured for paramagnetic phase as a function of the hydrostatic pressure P up to 2 kbar at some fixed temperature in the range from 78 to 300 K. A pronounced magnitude of the pressure effect dlnχ/dP was found to be positive in sign for LaMnO3 and negative for YMnO3, both being strongly temperature dependent. Analysis of the experimental data, based on the Curie-Weiss behavior of χ(T), allowed to estimate the pressure derivative of the paramagnetic Curie temperature to be dΘ/dP = (0.25 ± 0.03) and −(2.4 ± 0.4) K/kbar for LaMnO3 and YMnO3, respectively.

Abstract:

According to previous theoretical work, the binary oxide CuO can become a room temperature multiferroic via tuning of the superexchange interactions by application of pressure. Thus far, however, there has been no experimental evidence for the predicted room-temperature multiferroicity. Here, we show by neutron diffraction that the multiferroic phase in CuO reaches 295 K with the application of 18.5 GPa pressure. We also develop a spin Hamiltonian based on density functional theory and employing superexchange theory for the magnetic interactions, which can reproduce the experimental results. The present study provides a stimulus to develop room-temperature multiferroic materials by alternative methods based on existing low temperature compounds, such as epitaxial strain, for tunable multifunctional devices and memory applications.

Abstract:

The generation and control of terahertz pulses is vital for realizing the potential of terahertz radiation in several sectors, including 6G communication, security and imaging. In this work, we present the topological Dirac semimetal cadmium arsenide as a novel helicity-dependent terahertz source. We show both broadband (single-cycle) and narrowband (multi-cycle) terahertz pulses upon near-infrared photoexcitation at oblique incidence. By varying the incident angle of the photoexcitation pulse, control of the emission frequency can also be achieved, providing a candidate for a tuneable narrowband terahertz source.