942 research outputs found
The interparticle interaction and crossover in critical lines on field-temperature plane in PrSrMnO nanoparticles
The magnetic properties and the effects of interparticle interaction on it
have been studied in nanoparticles of half doped PrSrMnO.
Three samples consisting of nanoparticles of different average particle sizes
are synthesized to render the variation in interparticle interaction. Though
all the samples crystallize in the same structure to that of their bulk
compound, the low temperature ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic transition, which
is present in bulk compound, is not evident in the nanoparticles. Linear as
well as nonlinear ac susceptibility coupled with dc magnetic measurements have
shown the superparamagnetic behavior of these nanoparticles where the blocking
temperature increases with the increasing particle size. Presence of
interparticle interaction is confirmed from the temperature variation of
coercive field and the analysis of frequency dependent ac susceptibility. We
have identified the nature of this interaction to be of dipolar type, and show
that its strength decreases with the increasing particle size. The effect of
this dipolar interaction on magnetic properties is intriguing as the compounds
exhibit crossover from de Almeida-Thouless to Gabay-Toulouse like critical
lines on field-temperature plane above their respective interaction field. In
agreement with theoretical prediction, we infer that this crossover is induced
by the unidirectional anisotropy arising from interparticle interaction, and
this is confirmed from the presence of exchange bias phenomenon.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.
Manipulating superconductivity through the domain structure of a ferromagnet: experimental aspects and theoretical implications
In the present work we study experimentally the influence that the domain
structure of a fer- romagnet (FM) has on the properties of a superconductor
(SC) in bilayers and multilayers of La0.60Ca0.40MnO3/Nb and FePt/Nb proximity
hybrids. Specific experimental protocols that were employed in the performed
magnetization measurements enabled us to directly uncover a generic property of
FM/SC hybrids: in the absence of an external magnetic field, the multidomain
struc- ture of the FM promotes the nucleation of superconductivity, while its
monodomain state strongly suppresses it. Our experimental findings support
recent theoretical studies proposing that when an inhomogeneous exchange field
is offered by the FM to the SC the superconducting pairs are not susceptible to
pair-breaking.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Nanocrystallization and Amorphization Induced by Reactive Nitrogen Sputtering in Iron and Permalloy
Thin films of iron and permalloy Ni80Fe20 were prepared using an Ar+N2
mixture with magnetron sputtering technique at ambient temperature. The
nitrogen partial pressure, during sputtering process was varied in the range of
0 to 100%, keeping the total gas flow at constant. At lower nitrogen pressures
RN2<33% both Fe and NiFe, first form a nanocrystalline structure and an
increase in nitrogen partail pressure results in formation of an amorphous
structure. At intermediate nitrogen partial pressures, nitrides of Fe and NiFe
were obtained while at even higher nitrogen partial pressures, nitrides
themselves became nanocrystalline or amorphous. The surface, structural and
magnetic properties of the deposited films were studied using x-ray reflection
and diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, polarized neutron
reflectivity and using a DC extraction magnetometer. The growth behavior for
amorphous film was found different as compared with poly or nanocrystalline
films. The soft-magnetic properties of FeN were improved on nanocrystallization
while those of NiFeN were degraded. A mechanism inducing nanocrystallization
and amorphization in Fe and NiFe due to reactive nitrogen sputtering is
discussed in the present article.Comment: 13 Pages, 15 Figure
Quenching of lamellar ordering in an n-alkane embedded in nanopores
We present an X-ray diffraction study of the normale alkane nonadecane
C_{19}H_{40} embedded in nanoporous Vycor glass. The confined molecular crystal
accomplishes a close-packed structure by alignment of the rod-like molecules
parallel to the pore axis while sacrificing one basic principle known from the
bulk state, i.e. the lamellar ordering of the molecules. Despite this disorder,
the phase transitions observed in the confined solid mimic the phase behavior
of the 3D unconfined crystal, though enriched by the appearance of a true
rotator phase known only from longer alkane chains.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Spin Disorder and Magnetic Anisotropy in Fe3O4 Nanoparticles
We have studied the magnetic behavior of dextran-coated magnetite
(FeO) nanoparticles with median particle size \left=8 .
Magnetization curves and in-field M\"ossbauer spectroscopy measurements showed
that the magnetic moment of the particles was much smaller than the bulk
material. However, we found no evidence of magnetic irreversibility or
non-saturating behavior at high fields, usually associated to spin canting. The
values of magnetic anisotropy from different techniques indicate that
surface or shape contributions are negligible. It is proposed that these
particles have bulk-like ferrimagnetic structure with ordered A and B
sublattices, but nearly compensated magnetic moments. The dependence of the
blocking temperature with frequency and applied fields, ,
suggests that the observed non-monotonic behavior is governed by the strength
of interparticle interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 Table
Magnetic phases evolution in the LaMn1-xFexO3+y system
We have investigated the crystal structure and magnetic properties for
polycrystalline samples of LaMn1-xFexO3+y, in the whole range x=0.0 to x=1.0,
prepared by solid state reaction in air. All samples show the ORT-2
orthorhombic structure that suppresses the Jahn-Teller distortion, thus
favoring a ferromagnetic (FM) superexchange (SE) interaction between
Mn^{3+}-O-Mn^{3+}. For x=0.0 the oxygen excess (y ~ 0.09) produces vacancies in
the La and Mn sites and generates a fraction around 18% of Mn^{4+} ions and 82%
of the usual Mn^{3+} ions, with possible double exchange interaction between
them. The Fe doping in this system is known to produce only stable Fe^{3+}
ions. We find an evolution from a fairly strong FM phase with a Curie
temperature T_{C} ~ 160 K, for x=0.0, to an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase with
T_{N} = 790 K, for x=1.0, accompanied by clear signatures of a cluster-glass
behavior. For intermediate Fe contents a mixed-phase state occurs, with a
gradual decrease (increase) of the FM (AFM) phase, accompanied by a systematic
transition broadening for 0.2 < x < 0.7. A model based on the expected exchange
interaction among the various magnetic-ion types, accounts very well for the
saturation-magnetization dependence on Fe doping.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figure
Magnetic properties of HO2 thin films
We report on the magnetic and transport studies of hafnium oxide thin films
grown by pulsed-laser deposition on sapphire substrates under different oxygen
pressures, ranging from 10-7 to 10-1 mbar. Some physical properties of these
thin films appear to depend on the oxygen pressure during growth: the film
grown at low oxygen pressure (P ~= 10-7 mbar) has a metallic aspect and is
conducting, with a positive Hall signal, while those grown under higher oxygen
pressures (7 x 10-5 <= P <= 0.4 mbar) are insulating. However, no intrinsic
ferromagnetic signal could be attributed to the HfO2 films, irrespective of the
oxygen pressure during the deposition.Comment: 1
Validity of the N\'{e}el-Arrhenius model for highly anisotropic Co_xFe_{3-x}O_4 nanoparticles
We report a systematic study on the structural and magnetic properties of
Co_{x}Fe_{3-x}O_{4} magnetic nanoparticles with sizes between to nm,
prepared by thermal decomposition of Fe(acac)_{3} and Co(acac)_{2}. The large
magneto-crystalline anisotropy of the synthesized particles resulted in high
blocking temperatures ( K \leqq K for d nm ) and large coercive fields ( kA/m for K).
The smallest particles ( nm) revealed the existence of a magnetically
hard, spin-disordered surface. The thermal dependence of static and dynamic
magnetic properties of the whole series of samples could be explained within
the N\'{e}el-Arrhenius relaxation framework without the need of ad-hoc
corrections, by including the thermal dependence of the magnetocrystalline
anisotropy constant through the empirical Br\"{u}khatov-Kirensky
relation. This approach provided values very similar to the bulk
material from either static or dynamic magnetic measurements, as well as
realistic values for the response times ( s).
Deviations from the bulk anisotropy values found for the smallest particles
could be qualitatively explained based on Zener\'{}s relation between
and M(T)
Low frequency noise characteristics of sub-micron magnetic tunnel junctions
We report that low frequency (up to 200 kHz) noise spectra of magnetic tunnel
junctions with areas ~10^{-10}cm^2$ at 10 Kelvin deviate significantly from the
typical 1/f behavior found in large area junctions at room temperature. In most
cases, a Lorentzian-like shape with characteristic time between 0.1 and 10 ms
is observed, which indicates only a small number of fluctuators contribute to
the measured noise. By investigating the dependence of noise on both the
magnitude and orientation of an applied magnetic field, we find that
magnetization fluctuations in both free and reference layers are the main
sources of noise in these devices. At small fields, where the noise from the
free layer is dominant, a linear relation between the measured noise and
angular magnetoresistance susceptibility can be established.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Electric-field-induced phase transition of <001> oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals
oriented 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 single crystals were poled under
different electric fields, i.e. Epoling=4 kV/cm and Epoling=13 kV/cm. In
addition to the temperature-dependent dielectric constant measurement, X-ray
diffraction was also used to identify the poling-induced phase transitions.
Results showed that the phase transition significantly depends on the poling
intensity. A weaker field (Epoling=4 kV/cm) can overcome the effect of random
internal field to perform the phase transition from rhombohedral ferroelectric
state with short range ordering (microdomain) FESRO to rhombohedral
ferroelectric state with long range ordering (macrodomain) FElRO. But the
rhombohedral ferroelectric to tetragonal ferroelectric phase transition
originating from to polarization rotation can only be induced by a
stronger field (Epoling=13 kV/cm). The sample poled at Epoling=4 kV/cm showed
higher piezoelectric constant, d33>1500 pC/N, than the sample poled at
Epoling=13 kV/cm.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
- …