6,341 research outputs found
Magnetic relaxation in metallic films: Single and multilayer structures
The intrinsic magnetic relaxations in metallic films will be discussed. It will be shown that the intrinsic damping mechanism in metals is
caused by incoherent scattering of itinerant electron-hole pair
excitations by phonons and magnons. Berger [L. Berger, Phys. Rev. B
54, 9353 (1996)] showed that the interaction between spin waves and
itinerant electrons in multilayers can lead to interface Gilbert
damping. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) studies were carried out using
magnetic single and double layer films. The FMR linewidth of the Fe
films in the double layer structures was found to always be larger than
the FMR linewidth measured for the single Fe films having the same
thickness. The increase in the FMR linewidth scaled inversely with the
film thickness, and was found to be linearly dependent on the microwave
frequency. These results are in agreement with Berger's predictions.
(C) 2002 American Institute of Physics
Growth-Induced In-Plane Uniaxial Anisotropy in VO/Ni Films
We report on a strain-induced and temperature dependent uniaxial anisotropy
in VO/Ni hybrid thin films, manifested through the interfacial
strain and sample microstructure, and its consequences on the angular dependent
magnetization reversal. X-ray diffraction and reciprocal space maps identify
the in-plane crystalline axes of the VO; atomic force and scanning
electron microscopy reveal oriented rips in the film microstructure.
Quasi-static magnetometry and dynamic ferromagnetic resonance measurements
identify a uniaxial magnetic easy axis along the rips. Comparison with films
grown on sapphire without rips shows a combined contribution from strain and
microstructure in the VO/Ni films. Magnetization reversal
characteristics captured by angular-dependent first order reversal curve
measurements indicate a strong domain wall pinning along the direction
orthogonal to the rips, inducing an angular-dependent change in the reversal
mechanism. The resultant anisotropy is tunable with temperature and is most
pronounced at room temperature, which is beneficial for potential device
applications
All-optical control of ferromagnetic thin films and nanostructures
The interplay of light and magnetism has been a topic of interest since the
original observations of Faraday and Kerr where magnetic materials affect the
light polarization. While these effects have historically been exploited to use
light as a probe of magnetic materials there is increasing research on using
polarized light to alter or manipulate magnetism. For instance deterministic
magnetic switching without any applied magnetic fields using laser pulses of
the circular polarized light has been observed for specific ferrimagnetic
materials. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, optical control of
ferromagnetic materials ranging from magnetic thin films to multilayers and
even granular films being explored for ultra-high-density magnetic recording.
Our finding shows that optical control of magnetic materials is a much more
general phenomenon than previously assumed. These results challenge the current
theoretical understanding and will have a major impact on data memory and
storage industries via the integration of optical control of ferromagnetic
bits.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
Nucleation of magnetisation reversal, from nanoparticles to bulk materials
We review models for the nucleation of magnetisation reversal, i.e. the
formation of a region of reversed magnetisation in an initially magnetically
saturated system. For small particles models for collective reversal, either
uniform (Stoner-Wohlfarth model) or non-uniform like curling, provide good
agreement between theory and experiment. For microscopic objects and thin
films, we consider two models, uniform (Stoner-Wohlfarth) reversal inside a
nucleation volume and a droplet model, where the free energy of an inverse
bubble is calculated taking into account volume energy (Zeeman energy) and
surface tension (domain wall energy). In macroscopic systems, inhomogeneities
in magnetic properties cause a distribution of energy barriers for nucleation,
which strongly influences effects of temperature and applied field on
magnetisation reversal. For these systems, macroscopic material parameters like
exchange interaction, spontaneous magnetisation and magnetic anisotropy can
give an indication of the magnetic coercivity, but exact values for nucleation
fields are, in general, hard to predict.Comment: 12 pages; Published in a Special Issue of the C. R. Physique devoted
to nucleation. C.R. Physique 7, 977 (2006). Corrected version, as publishe
Nonlinear acousto-magneto-plasmonics
We review the recent progress in experimental and theoretical research of
interactions between the acoustic, magnetic and plasmonic transients in hybrid
metal-ferromagnet multilayer structures excited by ultrashort laser pulses. The
main focus is on understanding the nonlinear aspects of the acoustic dynamics
in materials as well as the peculiarities in the nonlinear optical and
magneto-optical response. For example, the nonlinear optical detection is
illustrated in details by probing the static magneto-optical second harmonic
generation in gold-cobalt-silver trilayer structures in Kretschmann geometry.
Furthermore, we show experimentally how the nonlinear reshaping of giant
ultrashort acoustic pulses propagating in gold can be quantified by
time-resolved plasmonic interferometry and how these ultrashort optical pulses
dynamically modulate the optical nonlinearities. The effective medium
approximation for the optical properties of hybrid multilayers facilitates the
understanding of novel optical detection techniques. In the discussion we
highlight recent works on the nonlinear magneto-elastic interactions, and
strain-induced effects in semiconductor quantum dots.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, to be published as a Topical Review in the
Journal of Optic
Nonlocal magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic heterostructures
Two complementary effects modify the GHz magnetization dynamics of nanoscale
heterostructures of ferromagnetic and normal materials relative to those of the
isolated magnetic constituents: On the one hand, a time-dependent ferromagnetic
magnetization pumps a spin angular-momentum flow into adjacent materials and,
on the other hand, spin angular momentum is transferred between ferromagnets by
an applied bias, causing mutual torques on the magnetizations. These phenomena
are manifestly nonlocal: they are governed by the entire spin-coherent region
that is limited in size by spin-flip relaxation processes. We review recent
progress in understanding the magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic
heterostructures from first principles, focusing on the role of spin pumping in
layered structures. The main body of the theory is semiclassical and based on a
mean-field Stoner or spin-density--functional picture, but quantum-size effects
and the role of electron-electron correlations are also discussed. A growing
number of experiments support the theoretical predictions. The formalism should
be useful to understand the physics and to engineer the characteristics of
small devices such as magnetic random-access memory elements.Comment: 48 pages, 21 figures (3 in color
Domain wall behaviour in ferromagnetic nanowires with interfacial and geometrical structuring
The magnetic behaviour in nanoscale structures is of great interest for the fundamental understanding of magnetisation processes and also has importance for wide ranging technological applications. This thesis examines mechanisms for the enhanced control of domain walls in these structures via focussed ion beam modifications to magnetic nanowires and through the inclusion of periodic geometrical modifications to the nanowires geometry.
A detailed investigation into the effect of focussed ion beam irradiation on the structure of NiFe/Au bilayers was performed through x-ray reflectivity and fluorescence techniques. This analysis revealed the development of interfacial intermixing with low dose irradiation. This is associated with complex changes of the magnetic behaviour including a rapid decrease, followed by a recovery of the saturation magnetisation with low dose irradiation. This behaviour is attributed to changes in the local environment of the atoms at the interface; resulting in modifications to the magnetic moment on Ni and Fe. The development of an induced moment on Au and a change in the spin-orbit interaction is also suggested.
Localised control of the magnetic properties in nanowires demonstrates the ability to manipulate domain walls in these structures. Here, irradiated regions provide pinning sites where the width and dose of the irradiated region give control over the pinning potential.
The inclusion edge modulation to nanowires geometry provides additional control over their magnetic behaviour. The direct magnetisation reversal field of these structures is explained by an analytical model based on the torque on the spins following the modulated wire geometry. This model is scalable for different modulation parameters and combines with the effect of localised regions of orthogonal anisotropy along the wire; explaining the reversal behaviour over the entire parameter space.
Domain wall mediated reversal in modulated wires was also investigated in these structures. The inclusion of modulation shows an improvement in dynamic properties by the suppression of Walker breakdown. This is due to the relationship between geometrical modulations and the periodicity of micromagnetic domain wall structural changes during the Walker breakdown process. The combination of this work shows a route to the optimisation of the dynamic properties whilst minimising the detrimental increase in the de-pinning field from the modulation
A Comprehensive Study of Magnetic and Magnetotransport Properties of Complex Ferromagnetic/Antiferromagnetic- IrMn-Based Heterostructures
Manipulation of ferromagnetic (FM) spins (and spin textures) using an antiferromagnet (AFM) as an active element in exchange coupled AFM/FM heterostructures is a promising branch of spintronics. Recent ground-breaking experimental demonstrations, such as electrical manipulation of the interfacial exchange coupling and FM spins, as well as ultrafast control of the interfacial exchange-coupling torque in AFM/FM heterostructures, have paved the way towards ultrafast spintronic devices for data storage and neuromorphic computing device applications.[5,6] To achieve electrical manipulation of FM spins, AFMs offer an efficient alternative to passive heavy metal electrodes (e.g., Pt, Pd, W, and Ta) for converting charge current to pure spin current. However, AFM thin films are often integrated into complex heterostructured thin film architectures resulting in chemical, structural, and magnetic disorder.
The structural and magnetic disorder in AFM/FM-based spintronic devices can lead to highly undesirable properties, namely thermal dependence of the AFM anisotropy energy barrier, fluctuations in the magnetoresistance, non-linear operation, interfacial spin memory loss, extrinsic contributions to the effective magnetic damping in the adjacent FM, decrease in the effective spin Hall angle, atypical
magnetotransport phenomena and distorted interfacial spin structure. Therefore, controlling the magnetic order down to the nanoscale in exchange coupled AFM/FM-based heterostructures is of fundamental importance. However, the impact of fractional variation in the magnetic order at the nanoscale on the magnetization reversal, magnetization dynamics, interfacial spin transport, and the interfacial domain structure of AFM/FM-based heterostructures remains a critical barrier.
To address the aforementioned challenges, we conduct a comprehensive experimental investigation of chemical, structural, magnetization reversal (integral and element-specific), magnetization dynamics, and magnetotransport properties, combined with high-resolution magnetic imaging of the exchange coupled Ni3Fe/IrMn3-based heterostructures.
Initially, we study the chemical, structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of epitaxially textured MgO(001)/IrMn3(0-35 nm)/Ni3Fe(15 nm)/Al2O3(2.0 nm) heterostructures. We reveal the impact of magnetic field annealing on the interdiffusion at the IrMn3/Ni3Fe interface, electrical resistivity, and magnetic properties of the heterostructures. We further present an AFM IrMn3 film thickness
dependence of the exchange bias field, coercive field, magnetization reversal, and magnetization dynamics of the exchange coupled heterostructures. These experiments reveal a strong correlation between the chemical, structural and magnetic properties of the IrMn3-based heterostructures. We find a significant decrease in the spin-mixing conductance of the chemically-disordered IrMn3/Ni3Fe
interface compared to the chemically-ordered counterpart. Independent of the AFM film thickness, we unveil that thermally disordered AFM grains exist in all the samples (measured up to 35-nm-thick IrMn3 films). We develop an iterative magnetic field cooling procedure to systematically manipulate the orientation of the thermally disordered and reversible AFM moments and thus, achieve tunable magnetic, and magnetotransport properties of exchange coupled AFM-based heterostructures. Subsequently, we investigate the impact of fractional variation in the AFM order on the magnetization reversal and magnetotransport properties of the epitaxially textured ɣ-phase IrMn3/Ni3Fe, Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe, and Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe/CoO heterostructures.
We probe the element-specific (FM: Ni and Co, and AFM: Mn) magnetization reversal properties of the exchange coupled Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe/Co/CoO heterostructures in various magnetic field cooled states. We present a detailed procedure for separating the spin and orbital moment contributions for magnetic elements using the XMCD sum rule. We address whether Mauri-type domain walls can develop at the (polycrystalline) exchange coupled Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe interfaces. We further study the impact of magnetic field cooling on the AFM Mn (near L2,3-edges) X-ray absorption spectra. Finally, we employ a combination of in-field high-resolution magnetic force microscopy, magnetooptical Kerr effect magnetometry with micro-focused beam, and micromagnetic simulations to study the magnetic vortex structures in exchange coupled FM/AFM and AFM/FM/AFM disk structures. We examine the magnetic vortex annihilation mechanism mediated by the emergence and subsequent annihilation of the vortex-antivortex (V-AV) pairs in simple FM and exchange coupled FM/AFM as well as AFM/FM/AFM disk structures. We image the distorted magnetic vortex structures in exchange coupled FM/AFM disks proposed by Gilbert and coworkers. We further emphasize crucial magnetic vortex properties, such as handedness, effective vortex core radius, core displacement at remanence, nucleation field, annihilation field, and exchange bias field.
Our experimental inquiry offers profound insight into the interfacial exchange interaction, magnetization reversal, magnetization dynamics, and interfacial spin transport of the AFM/FM-based heterostructures. Moreover, our results pave the way towards nanoscale control of the magnetic properties in AFM-based heterostructures and point towards future opportunities in the field of AFM
spintronic devices.:1. Introduction
2. Magnetic Interactions and Exchange Bias Effect
3. Materials
4. Experimental Methods
5. Structural, Electrical, and Magnetization Reversal Properties of Epitaxially Textured ɣ-IrMn3/ Ni3Fe Heterostructures
6. Magnetization Dynamics of MgO(001)/IrMn3/Ni3Fe Heterostructures in the Frequency Domain
7. Tunable Magnetic and Magnetotransport Properties of MgO(001)/Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe/ CoO/Pt Heterostructures
8. Element-Specific XMCD Study of the Exchange Couple Ni3Fe/IrMn3/Ni3Fe/Co/CoO Heterostructures
9. Distorted Vortex Structure and Magnetic Vortex Reversal Processes in Exchange Coupled Ni3Fe/IrMn3 Disk Structures
10. Conclusions and Outlook
Addendum
Acronyms
Symbols
Publication List
Author Information
Acknowledgments
Statement of Authorshi
- …