0000000000342372

AUTHOR

Theoretical Physics

Structural sensitivity of the spin Hall magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic thin films

A. Ross and M.K. acknowledge support from the Graduate School of Excellence Materials Science in Mainz (Grant No.DFG/GSC 266). This work was supported by the Max Planck Graduate Center with the Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz (MPGC). A. Ross, R.L., and M.K. acknowledge support from the DFG Projects No. 423441604 and No. 403502522. R.L. acknowledges the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement FAST No. 752195. All authors from Mainz also acknowledge support from both MaHoJeRo (DAAD Spintronics network, Project No. 57334897), SPIN+X (DFG SFB TRR 173, Project No. A01) and KAUST (Grant No. OSR-2019-CRG8-4048.2). D.A.G.…

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Engineering Topological Nodal Line Semimetals in Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupled Atomic Chains

We study an atomic chain in the presence of modulated charge potential and modulated Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) of equal period. We show that for commensurate periodicities $\lambda=4 n$ with integer $n$, the three-dimensional synthetic space obtained by sliding the two phases of the charge potential and RSOC features a topological nodal line semimetal protected by an antiunitary particle-hole symmetry. The location and shape of the nodal lines strongly depend on the relative amplitude between the charge potential and RSOC.

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Dense ionic fluids confined in planar capacitors: in- and out-of-plane structure from classical density functional theory

The ongoing scientific interest in the properties and structure of electric double layers (EDLs) stems from their pivotal role in (super)capacitive energy storage, energy harvesting, and water treatment technologies. Classical density functional theory (DFT) is a promising framework for the study of the in- and out-of-plane structural properties of double layers. Supported by molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate the adequate performance of DFT for analyzing charge layering in the EDL perpendicular to the electrodes. We discuss charge storage and capacitance of the EDL and the impact of screening due to dielectric solvents. We further calculate, for the first time, the in-plane str…

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Control of mesogen configuration in colloids of liquid crystalline polymers

We report on a method to chemically predetermine the surface anchoring of mesogens in liquid crystalline colloids formed by different types of dispersion polymerization, and hence to achieve control over the mesogen configuration in such colloids. The surface anchoring is controlled by the chemical linkage of the polymers forming the colloids to the surfactants stabilizing the colloids towards the dispergent. We find that the hydroxypropyl cellulose used in conventional dispersion poylmerization induces parallel mesogen surface anchoring that in turn leads to bipolar director-field configurations, while a methacrylate terminated polysiloxane stabilizer, which is used in nonpolar dispersion …

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Heat-to-current conversion of low-grade heat from a thermocapacitive cycle by supercapacitors

Thermal energy is abundantly available, and especially low-grade heat is often wasted in industrial processes as a by-product. Tapping into this vast energy reservoir with cost-attractive technologies may become a key element for the transition to an energy-sustainable economy and society. We propose a novel heat-to-current converter which is based on the temperature dependence of the cell voltage of charged supercapacitors. Using a commercially available supercapacitor, we observed a thermal cell-voltage rise of around 0.6 mV K-1 over a temperature window of 0 degrees C to 65 degrees C. Within our theoretical model, this can be used to operate a Stirling-like charge-voltage cycle whose eff…

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