Pressure-driven evolution of the covalent network in CaB6.

We synthesized and solved an unexpectedly complex crystal structure of CaB(6) under high pressures (up to 44 GPa) and temperatures. The only known crystal structure in the large family of metal hexaborides, a simple cubic cP7 type discovered over 80 years ago, is shown here to transform into a tetragonal tI56 configuration comprised of unfamiliar 24-atom boron units. The interpretation of the convoluted x-ray diffraction pattern was accomplished with an ab initio evolutionary search which identified the tI56 structure (28 atoms per primitive unit cell) without any parameter input. The exotic CaB(6) phase was successfully quenched down to ambient pressure.

Spin waves and revised crystal structure of honeycomb iridate Na2IrO3.

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements on Na2IrO3, a candidate for the Kitaev spin model on the honeycomb lattice. We observe spin-wave excitations below 5 meV with a dispersion that can be accounted for by including substantial further-neighbor exchanges that stabilize zigzag magnetic order. The onset of long-range magnetic order below T(N)=15.3 K is confirmed via the observation of oscillations in zero-field muon-spin rotation experiments. Combining single-crystal diffraction and density functional calculations we propose a revised crystal structure model with significant departures from the ideal 90° Ir-O-Ir bonds required for dominant Kitaev exchange.

New superconducting and semiconducting Fe-B compounds predicted with an ab initio evolutionary search.

New candidate ground states at 1:4, 1:2, and 1:1 compositions are identified in the well-known Fe-B system via a combination of ab initio high-throughput and evolutionary searches. We show that the proposed oP12-FeB2 stabilizes by a break up of 2D boron layers into 1D chains while oP10-FeB4 stabilizes by a distortion of a 3D boron network. The uniqueness of these configurations gives rise to a set of remarkable properties: oP12-FeB2 is expected to be the first semiconducting metal diboride and oP10-FeB4 is shown to have the potential for phonon-mediated superconductivity with a T(c) of 15-20 K.

Chemically doped double-walled carbon nanotubes: cylindrical molecular capacitors.

A double-walled carbon nanotube is used to study the radial charge distribution on the positive inner electrode of a cylindrical molecular capacitor. The outer electrode is a shell of bromine anions. Resonant Raman scattering from phonons on each carbon shell reveals the radial charge distribution. A self-consistent tight-binding model confirms the observed molecular Faraday cage effect, i.e., most of the charge resides on the outer wall, even when this wall was originally semiconducting and the inner wall was metallic.