Unraveling the role of disorder in the electronic structure of high entropy alloys

Abstract

Disorder in high entropy alloys, arising from the random distribution of multiple elements, plays a crucial role in their novel properties desirable for various advanced engineering applications. We investigate the role of compositional and structural disorder on the electronic structure of osmium-based superconducting high entropy alloys, (Ru/Re)${}_{0.35}$Os${}_{0.35}$Mo${}_{0.10}$W${}_{0.10}$Zr${}_{0.10}$, using photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT). Elemental and cumulative core level shifts are found to be commensurate with elemental electronegativities and valence electron counts (VEC), respectively. Valence band spectra together with DFT results indicate that the crystal structure plays an important role in deciding the electronic structure of these high entropy alloys. Through temperature dependent high-resolution spectra, we unveil strongly suppressed spectral density of states (SDOS) in the close vicinity of Fermi level. Energy and temperature dependence of the SDOS in accordance with Altshuler-Aronov theory confirms localization of charge carriers in the presence of strong intrinsic disorder. Computed electron-phonon coupling strength and superconducting transition temperature aligning reasonably well with experiments further shed light on phonon-mediated pairing mechanism and role of disorder in these systems. Our results provide a way forward to the understanding of superconducting high entropy alloys through strategic control of disorder, VEC and crystal structure.

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