Defect Control via Cu Enrichment Enhances Multifunctional Properties in the Polar Semiconductor Cu1+xMn1-ySiTe3

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ghosh, Subrata, Liu, Yu, Sarker, Saugata, Zheng, Boyang, Anil, Sreekant, Mondal, Soumi, Zhang, Yuxi, Ayyagari, Sai Venkata Gayathri, Xu, Mingyu, Guan, Yingdong, Yang, Tsung-Han, Wang, Xiaoping, Crespi, Vincent H., Alem, Nasim, Xie, Weiwei, Gopalan, Venkatraman, Zhang, Qiang, Mao, Zhiqiang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866918509520355328
author Ghosh, Subrata
Liu, Yu
Sarker, Saugata
Zheng, Boyang
Anil, Sreekant
Mondal, Soumi
Zhang, Yuxi
Ayyagari, Sai Venkata Gayathri
Xu, Mingyu
Guan, Yingdong
Yang, Tsung-Han
Wang, Xiaoping
Crespi, Vincent H.
Alem, Nasim
Xie, Weiwei
Gopalan, Venkatraman
Zhang, Qiang
Mao, Zhiqiang
author_facet Ghosh, Subrata
Liu, Yu
Sarker, Saugata
Zheng, Boyang
Anil, Sreekant
Mondal, Soumi
Zhang, Yuxi
Ayyagari, Sai Venkata Gayathri
Xu, Mingyu
Guan, Yingdong
Yang, Tsung-Han
Wang, Xiaoping
Crespi, Vincent H.
Alem, Nasim
Xie, Weiwei
Gopalan, Venkatraman
Zhang, Qiang
Mao, Zhiqiang
contents Polar materials have recently attracted significant interest due to their rich multifunctional properties. The chalcogenide polar semiconductor Cu1-xMn1+ySiTe3 (Cu-deficient) is an emerging multiferroic system in which electric polarization is coupled to magnetization. However, its macroscopic ferroelectric polarization is strongly suppressed due to the presence of a high density of stacking faults. In this work, we demonstrate that these crystal defects, likely originating from non-stoichiometry, can be substantially reduced by increasing the Cu content. Cu-enriched samples, Cu1+xMn1-ySiTe3, crystallize in a noncentrosymmetric monoclinic structure (space group Pm) as the Cu-deficient counterpart but show a nearly stacking-fault-free phase, which is attributed to the emergence of an interstitial site. Consequently, the Cu-enriched samples show a pronounced enhancement of the second-harmonic generation (SHG) response compared to Cu-deficient compositions. Magnetically, the Cu-enriched crystals retain long-range antiferromagnetic order with a Neel temperature of TN ~ 33 K without a glassy state but manifest a distinct spin-flop transition along the polar b-axis that is absent in the Cu-deficient compositions. Furthermore, the electronic ground state evolves from insulating to doped semiconducting behavior upon Cu enrichment. Together, these results establish this material system as a unique and versatile platform for elucidating the interplay among composition, crystal defects, and multifunctional properties, offering a route to design magnetic polar systems with tunable quantum functionalities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_18584
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Defect Control via Cu Enrichment Enhances Multifunctional Properties in the Polar Semiconductor Cu1+xMn1-ySiTe3
Ghosh, Subrata
Liu, Yu
Sarker, Saugata
Zheng, Boyang
Anil, Sreekant
Mondal, Soumi
Zhang, Yuxi
Ayyagari, Sai Venkata Gayathri
Xu, Mingyu
Guan, Yingdong
Yang, Tsung-Han
Wang, Xiaoping
Crespi, Vincent H.
Alem, Nasim
Xie, Weiwei
Gopalan, Venkatraman
Zhang, Qiang
Mao, Zhiqiang
Materials Science
Polar materials have recently attracted significant interest due to their rich multifunctional properties. The chalcogenide polar semiconductor Cu1-xMn1+ySiTe3 (Cu-deficient) is an emerging multiferroic system in which electric polarization is coupled to magnetization. However, its macroscopic ferroelectric polarization is strongly suppressed due to the presence of a high density of stacking faults. In this work, we demonstrate that these crystal defects, likely originating from non-stoichiometry, can be substantially reduced by increasing the Cu content. Cu-enriched samples, Cu1+xMn1-ySiTe3, crystallize in a noncentrosymmetric monoclinic structure (space group Pm) as the Cu-deficient counterpart but show a nearly stacking-fault-free phase, which is attributed to the emergence of an interstitial site. Consequently, the Cu-enriched samples show a pronounced enhancement of the second-harmonic generation (SHG) response compared to Cu-deficient compositions. Magnetically, the Cu-enriched crystals retain long-range antiferromagnetic order with a Neel temperature of TN ~ 33 K without a glassy state but manifest a distinct spin-flop transition along the polar b-axis that is absent in the Cu-deficient compositions. Furthermore, the electronic ground state evolves from insulating to doped semiconducting behavior upon Cu enrichment. Together, these results establish this material system as a unique and versatile platform for elucidating the interplay among composition, crystal defects, and multifunctional properties, offering a route to design magnetic polar systems with tunable quantum functionalities.
title Defect Control via Cu Enrichment Enhances Multifunctional Properties in the Polar Semiconductor Cu1+xMn1-ySiTe3
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.18584