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Lead-free halide double perovskites provide a promising solution for the long-standing issues of lead-containing halide perovskites, i.e., the toxicity of Pb and the low stability under ambient conditions and high-intensity illumination. Their light-to-electricity or thermal-to-electricity conversion is strongly determined by the dynamics of the corresponding lattice vibrations. Here, we present the measurement of lattice dynamics in a prototypical lead-free halide double perovskite, i.e., Cs2NaInCl6. Our quantitative measurements and first-principles calculations show that the scatterings among lattice vibrations at room temperature are at the timescale of ~ 1 ps, which stems from the extraordinarily strong anharmonicity in Cs2NaInCl6. We further quantitatively characterize the degree of anharmonicity of all the ions in the single Cs2NaInCl6 crystal, and demonstrate that this strong anharmonicity is synergistically contributed by the bond hierarchy, the tilting of the NaCl6 and InCl6 octahedral units, and the rattling of Cs+ ions. Consequently, the crystalline Cs2NaInCl6 possesses an ultralow thermal conductivity of ~0.43 W/mK at room temperature, and a weak temperature dependence of T-0.41. Our findings here uncovered the underlying mechanisms behind the dynamics of lattice vibrations in double perovskites, which could largely benefit the design of optoelectronics and thermoelectrics based on halide double perovskites.

Tuning the thermal transport properties of hybrid halide perovskites is critical for their applications in optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, and photovoltaics. Here, we demonstrate an effective strategy to modulate the thermal transport property of hybrid perovskites by halide alloying. A highly tunable thermal conductivity of mixed-halide hybrid perovskites is achieved due to halide-alloying and structural distortion. Our experimental measurements show that the room temperature thermal conductivity of MAPb(BrxI1-x)3 (x = 0-1) can be largely modulated from 0.27 W/mK (x = 0.5) to 0.47 W/mK (x = 1). Molecular dynamics simulations further demonstrate that the thermal conductivity reduction of hybrid halide perovskites results from the suppression of the mean free paths of the low-frequency acoustic and optical phonons. It is found that halide alloying and the induced structural distortion can largely increase the scatterings of optical and acoustic phonons, respectively. The confined diffusion of MA+ cations in the octahedra cage is found to act as an additional thermal transport channel in hybrid perovskites and can contribute around 10-20% of the total thermal conductivity. Our findings provide a strategy for tailoring the thermal transport in hybrid halide perovskites which may largely benefit their related applications.

The search for two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) multiferroics is an exciting yet challenging endeavor. Room-temperature 2D vdW few-layer multiferroic is a much bigger insurmountable obstacle. Here we report the discovery of an unconventional 2D vdW multiferroic with out-of-plane ferroelectric polarization and long-range magnetic orders in trilayer NiI2 device from 10 K to 295 K. The evolutions of magnetic domains with magnetic field, and the evolutions between ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phase have been unambiguously observed. More significantly, we realize a robust mutual control of magnetism and ferroelectricity at room temperature. The magnetic domains are manipulated by a small voltage ranging from 1 V to 6 V at 0 T and 295 K. This work opens opportunities for exploring multiferroic physics at the limit of few atomic layers., Comment: 4 figures

Magneto-optical effect refers to a rotation of polarization plane, which has been widely studied in traditional ferromagnetic metal and insulator films and scarcely in two-dimensional layered materials. Here we uncover a new nonreciprocal magneto-inelastic light scattering effect in ferromagnetic few-layer CrI3. We observed a rotation of the polarization plane of inelastic light scattering between -20o and +60o that are tunable by an out-of-plane magnetic field from -2.5 to 2.5 T. It is experimentally observed that the degree of polarization can be magnetically manipulated between -20% and 85%. This work raises a new magneto-optical phenomenon and could create opportunities of applying 2D ferromagnetic materials in Raman lasing, topological photonics, and magneto-optical modulator for information transport and storage.

Valley pseudospin in two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) allows optical control of spin-valley polarization and intervalley quantum coherence. Defect states in TMDs give rise to new exciton features and theoretically exhibit spin-valley polarization; however, experimental achievement of this phenomenon remains challenges. Here, we report unambiguous valley pseudospin of defect-bound localized excitons in CVD-grown monolayer MoS2; enhanced valley Zeeman splitting with an effective g-factor of -6.2 is observed. Our results reveal that all five d-orbitals and the increased effective electron mass contribute to the band shift of defect states, demonstrating a new physics of the magnetic responses of defect-bound localized excitons, strikingly different from that of A excitons. Our work paves the way for the manipulation of the spin-valley degrees of freedom through defects toward valleytronic devices.

The Zeeman effect offers unique opportunities for magnetic manipulation of the spin degree of freedom (DOF). Recently, valley Zeeman splitting, referring to the lifting of valley degeneracy, has been demonstrated in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) at liquid helium temperature. However, to realize the practical applications of valley pseudospins, the valley DOF must be controllable by a magnetic field at room temperature, which remains a significant challenge. Magnetic doping in TMDs can enhance the Zeeman splitting, however, to achieve this experimentally is not easy. Here, we report unambiguous magnetic manipulation of valley Zeeman splitting at 300 K (g = -6.4) and 10 K (g = -11) in a CVD-grown Fe-doped MoS2 monolayer; the effective g factor can be tuned to -20.7 by increasing the Fe dopant concentration, which represents an approximately fivefold enhancement as compared to undoped MoS2. Our measurements and calculations reveal that the enhanced splitting and geff factors are due to the Heisenberg exchange interaction of the localized magnetic moments (Fe 3d electrons) with MoS2 through the d-orbital hybridization.

Long-range magnetic orders in atomically thin ferromagnetic CrI3 give rise to new fascinating physics and application perspectives. The physical properties of two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetism CrI3 are significantly influenced by interlayer spacing and stacking order, which are sensitive to the hydrostatic pressure and external environments. However, there remains debate on the stacking order at low temperature. Here, we study the interlayer coupling and stacking order of non-encapsulated 2-5 layer and bulk CrI3 at 10 K by Raman spectroscopy; demonstrate a rhombohedral stacking in both antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic CrI3. The opposite helicity dependence of Ag and Eg modes arising from phonon symmetry further validate the rhombohedral stacking. An anomalous temperature-dependent behavior is observed due to spin-phonon coupling below 60 K. Our work provides insights into the interlayer coupling and stacking orders of 2D ferromagnetic materials.

Dual meson condensates as possible order parameters for deconfinement are investigated in a Polyakov-loop enhanced linear sigma model of QCD at both zero and finite isospin chemical potential $\mu_I$. We find that the rapid rise of the dual sigma condensate (corresponding to the dressed Polyakov-loop) with $T$ is driven by the chiral transition, no matter whether the Polyakov-loop dynamics is included or not. For $\mu_I>m_\pi/2$, the dual sigma condensate shows abnormal thermal behavior which even decreases with $T$ below the melting temperature $T_c^{I_3}$ of pion superfluidity; On the other hand, even the dual pion condensate always increases with $T$, its maximum slope locates exactly at $T_c^{I_3}$ rather than the deconfinement temperature $T_c^{P}$ determined by the Polyakov-loop. All these are qualitatively consistent with the previous results obtained in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio type models. The dual vector meson condensate for $\mu_I>m_\pi/2$ is also calculated. This quantity is more sensitive to the chiral transition when taking into account the Dirac-sea contribution. Our study further suggests that it should be cautious to use dual observables to indicate the deconfinement transition, especially in QCD models., Comment: 9 pages,7 figures, discussions added, references added, typos corrected