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Kinetically Stabilized 4 f –5 d Pyrochlore Thin Films: A Route to Magnetic Fragmentation

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Magnetic fragmentation in 4f–5d pyrochlores, such as Ho2Ir2O7, offers a route to monopole-driven physics, but translating this physics into thin-film form remains a severe synthesis problem. The challenge is to crystallize the pyrochlore phase by creating a metastable precursor that preserves iridium chemistry within a narrow kinetic window. Here we identify plume thermalization as the key synthesis variable that controls this metastable pathway. In pulsed-laser deposition followed by in situ solid-phase epitaxy (SPE), xenon, the heaviest stable noble gas, mass-selectively governs plume kinetics and produces an atomically flat metastable amorphous precursor with uniform Ho/Ir chemistry. Structural probes and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm that this precursor retains local pyrochlore connectivity without long-range translational order. The SPE-stabilized crystalline films are single-phase, [111]-oriented, electrically conductive, and magnetically active. Mass-selective plume control can open the narrow kinetic window required to synthesize and explore new magnetic pyrochlore materials.
Source: Nano Letters
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c04477
Authors: Mikhail Kareev, Michael Terilli, Christian Zaprianov, Jiayun Pei, Hongze Li, Jungho Kim, Christoph J. Sahle, Maryia Zinouyeva, Zelong Li, Xun Jia, Marco Moretti Sala, Yue Cao, Jianshi Zhou, Jak Chakhalian
Institutions: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, The University of Texas at Austin, Argonne National Laboratory, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Politecnico di Milano, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of High Energy Physics, University of Chicago
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,500
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Office of Science, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University, Division of Materials Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Argonne National Laboratory
Awards: G102163711, G107546177, G1286251239, G1313983767, G1372744343, G1419553934, G1500824199, G1664757510, G2287611682, G262962599, G2888672020, G3075337988, G3589692066, G426311843, Quantum Materials Workshops and Scientist Exchange Program, Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials, G498139845, G5122498638, G513797252, G5387317844, G6725192607, G6918803902, G7583137537, G8239528670, Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials, G880751848, G993149817
OpenAlex ID: W7224085719
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Cites: 63
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