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    Defect control via Cu enrichment enhances multifunctional properties in the polar semiconductor Cu1+xMn1−ySiTe3

    Subrata Ghosh1,2,*,†, Yu Liu1,2,*, Saugata Sarker3, Boyang Zheng1,2, Sreekant Anil3, Soumi Mondal2, Yuxi Zhang3, Sai Venkata Gayathri Ayyagari3, Mingyu Xu4 et al.

    Yingdong Guan1,2, Tsung-Han Yang5, Xiaoping Wang5, Vincent H. Crespi1,2, Nasim Alem3, Weiwei Xie4, Venkatraman Gopalan2,3, Qiang Zhang5,‡, and Zhiqiang Mao1,2,3,§

    • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
    • †Contact author: smg7204@psu.edu
    • ‡Contact author: zhangq6@ornl.gov
    • §Contact author: zim1@psu.edu

    Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 104415 – Published 20 October, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bjx1-dp34

    Abstract

    Polar materials have recently attracted significant interest due to their rich multifunctional properties. The chalcogenide polar semiconductor Cu1−xMn1+ySiTe3 (Cu-deficient, 0.04≤x≤0.26; 0.03≤y≤0.15) 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 nonstoichiometry, can be substantially reduced by increasing the Cu content. Cu-enriched samples, Cu1+xMn1−ySiTe3 (0.04≤x≤0.3;0.13≤y≤0.31), 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 Néel temperature of TN∼33 K without a glassy state but manifest a distinct metamagnetic 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.

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