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    Quantum interference corrections in a magnetic-fluctuation-controlled metallic state of Fe1−xCrxSi

    Sankararao Yadam1, Tatarao Donepudi2, Bunty Rani Roy3, Rajasekhar Boya4, S. Shanmukharao Samatham3,5,*, Swathi Anem6, Prabhu Rajagiri7,†, Muralikrishna Patwari8, Tirupathi Patri9 et al.

    R. Rawat10 and V. Ganesan11,‡

    • 1Department of Physics, CVR College of Engineering, Ibrahimpatnam, Ranga Reddy, Telangana 501510, India
    • 2Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Aditya University, Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh 533437, India
    • 3Department of Physics, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Gandipet, Hyderabad 500075, India
    • 4Department of Physics, Sri Rama Bhaktha Gentela Narayana Rao Government Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Yellandu X Road, Khammam, Telangana 507002, India
    • 5Department of Physics, SUNY Buffalo State University, Buffalo, New York 14222, USA
    • 6Department of Engineering Physics, AU College of Engineering (Autonomous), Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 530003, India
    • 7Department of Physics, B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, Medak, Telangana 502313, India
    • 8Department of Chemistry, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Gandipet, Hyderabad 500075, India
    • 9Department of Physics, Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Ravindra Bhavan Road, Sitanabad, Bhagalpur, Bihar 812007, India
    • 10UGC DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 452001, India
    • 11Medicaps University, AB Road, Pigdamber, Rau, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 453331, India

    • *Contact author: shanmukharao_physics@cbit.ac.in
    • †Contact author: rajagiriprabhu@gmail.com
    • ‡UGC DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore 452 001, Madhya Pradesh, India.

    Phys. Rev. B 114, 185130 – Published 25 September, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3g11-qc9k

    Abstract

    We present a comprehensive investigation of the magnetic, thermodynamic, and transport properties of Fe0.925Cr0.075Si to clarify the origin of its low-temperature metallic behavior. Although Cr substitution introduces a small number of itinerant d electrons and modestly enhances the high-temperature electronic specific heat, the conduction-electron density of states inferred from χ0 and γel remains low and nearly temperature independent, indicating that impurity-band filling plays only a minor role in establishing metallicity. At elevated temperatures the system behaves as a narrow-gap semiconductor, whereas below 150 K it enters a metal-insulator crossover regime characterized by a competition between a thermally activated insulating channel and an unconventional metallic channel. Magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and electrical resistivity consistently demonstrate that this emergent metallic state is driven not by enhanced itinerancy but by strong, predominantly finite-q spin fluctuations with a characteristic scale TSF≈20K. The large low-temperature enhancement of γ combined with only a weak increase in the uniform susceptibility yields a Wilson ratio and Stoner enhancement factor far below unity, underscoring the non-Pauli, fluctuation-dominated nature of the metallic state. At the lowest temperatures (<4K), the resistivity upturn is well described by quantum-interference corrections in the dirty-metal limit, indicating that coherence effects develop atop a fluctuation-renormalized diffusive electronic background. These results establish Fe0.925Cr0.075Si as a rare example of a correlated semiconductor in which a spin-fluctuation-induced metallic phase dominates over impurity-band contributions and evolves into a quantum-corrected regime at ultralow temperatures.

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