Magnetic Structure in Fe/Sm-Co Exchange Spring Bilayers with Intermixed Interfaces

The depth profile of the intrinsic magnetic properties in an Fe/Sm-Co bilayer fabricated under nearly optimal spring-magnet conditions was determined by complementary studies of polarized neutron reflectometry and micromagnetic simulations. We found that at the Fe/Sm-Co interface the magnetic properties change gradually at the length scale of 8 nm. In this intermixed interfacial region, the saturation magnetization and magnetic anisotropy are lower and the exchange stiffness is higher than values estimated from the model based on a mixture of Fe and Sm-Co phases. Therefore, the intermixed interface yields superior exchange coupling between the Fe and Sm-Co layers, but at the cost of average magnetization.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures and 1 tabl

Driven lattice glass as a ratchet and pawl machine

Boundary-induced transport in particle systems with anomalous diffusion exhibits rectification, negative resistance, and hysteresis phenomena depending on the way the drive acts on the boundary. The solvable case of a 1D system characterized by a power-law diffusion coefficient and coupled to two particles reservoirs at different chemical potential is examined. In particular, it is shown that a microscopic realisation of such a diffusion model is provided by a 3D driven lattice-gas with kinetic constraints, in which energy barriers are absent and the local microscopic reversibility holds.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, minor change

High magnetization FeCo/Pd multilayers.

We have fabricated multilayer samples with varying superlattice periodicity and interlayer thicknesses to determine the nature of the enhanced moment in this intriguing thin film system. Magnetic characterization experiments show an enhanced magnetic moment in the multilayers as compared to a single layer film containing the same amount of FeCo. However, since the magnetization is defined as the magnetic moment divided by the sample volume, the sample exhibits an overall reduction in the magnetization when the volume of the Pd layers is also taken into account. Our experimental findings are also supported by theoretical calculations which identify the origin of the increased magnetic moment in the multilayer system. Polarized neutron reflectivity experiments will be used to determine the lateral distribution of the magnetization in a number of superlattice samples. © 2008, American Vacuum Societ

Frozen O2_{2} layer revealed by neutron reflectometry

A 63 Å thick film originating from frozen air on a solid substrate has been investigated via neutron reflectometry. The experiment shows that neutron reflectometry allows performing chemical surface analysis by quantifying the composition of this frozen layer and identifies the film to be frozen oxyge