Evolution of the Kondo lattice electronic structure above the transport coherence temperature.

The temperature-dependent evolution of the Kondo lattice is a long-standing topic of theoretical and experimental investigation and yet it lacks a truly microscopic description of the relation of the basic f-c hybridization processes to the fundamental temperature scales of Kondo screening and Fermi-liquid lattice coherence. Here, the temperature dependence of f-c hybridized band dispersions and Fermi-energy f spectral weight in the Kondo lattice system CeCoIn5 is investigated using f-resonant angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) with sufficient detail to allow direct comparison to first-principles dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) calculations containing full realism of crystalline electric-field states. The ARPES results, for two orthogonal (001) and (100) cleaved surfaces and three different f-c hybridization configurations, with additional microscopic insight provided by DMFT, reveal f participation in the Fermi surface at temperatures much higher than the lattice coherence temperature, [Formula: see text] K, commonly believed to be the onset for such behavior. The DMFT results show the role of crystalline electric-field (CEF) splittings in this behavior and a T-dependent CEF degeneracy crossover below [Formula: see text] is specifically highlighted. A recent ARPES report of low T Luttinger theorem failure for CeCoIn5 is shown to be unjustified by current ARPES data and is not found in the theory.

In Situ Temperature-Dependent Transmission Electron Microscopy Studies of Pseudobinary mGeTe·Bi2Te3 (m = 3-8) Nanowires and First-Principles Calculations.

Phase-change nanowires (NWs) have emerged as critical materials for fast-switching nonvolatile memory devices. In this study, we synthesized a series of mGeTe·Bi2Te3 (GBT) pseudobinary alloy NWs-Ge3Bi2Te6 (m = 3), Ge4Bi2Te7 (m = 4), Ge5Bi2Te8 (m = 5), Ge6Bi2Te9 (m = 6), and Ge8Bi2Te11 (m = 8)-and investigated their composition-dependent thermal stabilities and electrical properties. As m decreases, the phase of the NWs evolves from the cubic (C) to the hexagonal (H) phase, which produces unique superlattice structures that consist of periodic 2.2-3.8 nm slabs for m = 3-8. In situ temperature-dependent transmission electron microscopy reveals the higher thermal stability of the compositions with lower m values, and a phase transition from the H phase into the single-crystalline C phase at high temperatures (400 °C). First-principles calculations, performed for the superlattice structures (m = 1-8) of GBT and mGeTe·Sb2Te3 (GST), show an increasing stability of the H phase (versus the C phase) with decreasing m; the difference in stability being more marked for GBT than for GST. The calculations explain remarkably the phase evolution of the GBT and GST NWs as well as the composition-dependent thermal stabilities. Measurement of the current-voltage curves for individual GBT NWs shows that the resistivity is in the range 3-25 mΩ·cm, and the resistivity of the H phase is lower than that of the C phase, which has been supported by the calculations.