Raju Baral

The magnetic structure adopted by a material relies on symmetry, the hierarchy of exchange interactions between magnetic ions and local anisotropy. A direct pathway to control the magnetic interactions is to enforce dimensionality within the material, from zero-dimensional isolated magnetic ions, one-dimensional (1D) spin-chains, two-dimensional (2D) layers to three-dimensional (3D) order. Being able to design a material with a specific dimensionality for the phenomena of interest is non-trivial.

Abstract A comprehensive x-ray scattering study of spontaneous magnetostriction in hexagonal MnTe, an antiferromagnetic semiconductor with a Néel temperature of TN = 307 K, is presented. The largest spontaneous magnetovolume effect known for an antiferromagnet is observed, reaching a volume contraction of |ΔV/V| > 7 × 10−3.

Abstract The antiferromagnetic semiconductor MnTe has recently attracted significant interest as a potential high-performance thermoelectric material. Its promising thermoelectric properties are due in large part to short-range magnetic correlations in the paramagnetic state, which enhance the thermopower through the paramagnon drag effect.