TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlling mesoscopic phase separation near electronic topological transitions via quenched disorder in ternary diborides
AU - Palmisano, Valerio
AU - Simonelli, Laura
AU - Puri, Alessandro
AU - Fratini, Michela
AU - Busby, Yan
AU - Parisiades, P.
AU - Liarokapis, Efthimios
AU - Brunelli, Michela
AU - Fitch, A. N.
AU - Bianconi, Antonio
PY - 2008/10/7
Y1 - 2008/10/7
N2 - A phase separation driven by the negative compressibility of the electron gas, near electronic topological transitions (ETT), could drive the system at the verge of a catastrophe. We show here that the metastable phases very close to the ETT transition are observed in a mesoscopic phase separation (MePhS) driven by the quenched lattice disorder. By using high resolution synchrotron radiation x-ray powder diffraction we have identified the MePhS for the intermetallic ternary Mg1-xAlxB2 in the proximity of two ETTs: the first at x1 = 0.1 and the second at x 2 = 0.3. We have identified the competition between a first 'relaxed' (R) hole poor and a second 'tense' (T) hole rich phase, and by micro-Raman we observe the splitting of the in-plane phonon E2g mode in the proximity of the first ETT at x = 0.1. The anisotropic quenched disorder due to a random distribution of Al3+ and Mg2+ ions both in the axial (c axis) direction and planar (ab plane) direction, probed by x-ray diffraction and Raman data, is proposed to be the physical variable that allows the formation of metastable phases near the critical points of electronic topological transitions, where Feshbach shape resonances in interband pairing amplifies the superconducting critical temperature.
AB - A phase separation driven by the negative compressibility of the electron gas, near electronic topological transitions (ETT), could drive the system at the verge of a catastrophe. We show here that the metastable phases very close to the ETT transition are observed in a mesoscopic phase separation (MePhS) driven by the quenched lattice disorder. By using high resolution synchrotron radiation x-ray powder diffraction we have identified the MePhS for the intermetallic ternary Mg1-xAlxB2 in the proximity of two ETTs: the first at x1 = 0.1 and the second at x 2 = 0.3. We have identified the competition between a first 'relaxed' (R) hole poor and a second 'tense' (T) hole rich phase, and by micro-Raman we observe the splitting of the in-plane phonon E2g mode in the proximity of the first ETT at x = 0.1. The anisotropic quenched disorder due to a random distribution of Al3+ and Mg2+ ions both in the axial (c axis) direction and planar (ab plane) direction, probed by x-ray diffraction and Raman data, is proposed to be the physical variable that allows the formation of metastable phases near the critical points of electronic topological transitions, where Feshbach shape resonances in interband pairing amplifies the superconducting critical temperature.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=56449120591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/0953-8984/20/43/434222
DO - 10.1088/0953-8984/20/43/434222
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:56449120591
SN - 0953-8984
VL - 20
JO - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
JF - Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
IS - 43
M1 - 434222
ER -