Absence of Ferromagnetism in Mn-doped Tetragonal Zirconia

In a recent letter, it has been predicted within first principle studies that Mn-doped ZrO2 compounds could be good candidate for spintronics application because expected to exhibit ferromagnetism far beyond room temperature. Our purpose is to address this issue experimentally for Mn-doped tetragonal zirconia. We have prepared polycrystalline samples of Y0.15(Zr0.85-yMny)O2 (y=0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 & 0.20) by using standard solid state method at equilibrium. The obtained samples were carefully characterized by using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, elemental color mapping, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and magnetization measurements. From the detailed structural analyses, we have observed that the 5% Mn doped compound crystallized into two symmetries (dominating tetragonal & monoclinic), whereas higher Mn doped compounds are found to be in the tetragonal symmetry only. The spectral splitting of the Mn 3s core-level x-ray photoelectron spectra confirms that Mn ions are in the Mn3+ oxidation state and indicate a local magnetic moment of about 4.5 {\mu}B/Mn. Magnetic measurements showed that compounds up to 10% of Mn doping are paramagnetic with antiferromagnetic interactions. However, higher Mn doped compound exhibits local ferrimagnetic ordering. Thus, no ferromagnetism has been observed for all Mn-doped tetragonal ZrO2 samples.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

YAG nano-light sources with high Ce concentration

We investigate the luminescence properties of 10 nm YAG nanoparticles doped with Ce ions at 0.2%, 4% and 13% that are designed as active probes for Scanning Near field Optical Microscopy. They are produced by a physical method without any subsequent treatment, which is imposed by the desired application. The structural analysis reveals the amorphous nature of the particles, which we relate to some compositional defect as indicated by the elemental analysis. The optimum emission is obtained with a doping level of 4%. The emission of the YAG nanoparticles doped at 0.2% is strongly perturbed by the crystalline disorder whereas the 13% doped particles hardly exhibit any luminescence. In the latter case, the presence of Ce4+ ions is confirmed, indicating that the Ce concentration is too high to be incorporated efficiently in YAG nanoparticles in the trivalent state. By a unique procedure combining cathodoluminescence and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, we demonstrate that the enhancement of the particles luminescence yield is not proportional to the doping concentration, the emission enhancement being larger than the Ce concentration increase. Time-resolved photoluminescence reveals the presence of quenching centres likely related to the crystalline disorder as well as the presence of two distinct Ce ions populations. Eventually, nano-cathodoluminescence indicates that the emission and therefore the distribution of the doping Ce ions and of the defects are homogeneous

Bottom-up strategies for the assembling of magnetic systems using nanoclusters

International audienceIn the frame of the 20th Anniversary of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research (JNR), our aim is to start from the historical context twenty, years ago and to give some recent results and perspectives concerning nanomagnets prepared from clusters preformed in the gas phase using the Low Energy Cluster Beam Deposition (LECBD) technique. In this paper, we focus our attention on the typical case of Co clusters embedded in various matrices to study interface magnetic anisotropy and magnetic interactions as a function of volume concentrations, and on still current and perspectives through two examples of binary metallic 3d-5d TM (namely CoPt and FeAu) clusters assemblies to illustrate size-related and nanoalloy phenomena on magnetic properties in well-defined mass-selected clusters. The structural and magnetic properties of these cluster assemblies were investigated using various experimental techniques that include High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometry, as well as synchrotron techniques such as Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) and X-Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD). Depending on the chemical nature of both NPs and matrix, we observe different magnetic responses compared to their bulk counterparts. In particular, we show how finite size effects (size reduction) enhance their magnetic moment and how specific relaxation in nanoalloys can impact their magnetic anisotropy

Correlation between the Extraordinary Hall Effect and Resistivity

We study the contribution of different types of scattering sources to the extraordinary Hall effect. Scattering by magnetic nano-particles embedded in normal-metal matrix, insulating impurities in magnetic matrix, surface scattering and temperature dependent scattering are experimentally tested. Our new data, as well as previously published results on a variety of materials, are fairly interpreted by a simple modification of the skew scattering model

Non-magnetic impurity induced magnetism in rutile TiO2:K compounds

International audienceRecent ab initio studies have theoretically predicted room temperature ferromagnetism in several oxide materials of the type AO2 in which the cation A4+ is substituted by a non-magnetic element of the 1 A column. Our purpose is to address experimentally the possibility of magnetism in Ti1−xKxO2 compounds. The samples have been synthesized via the solid state route method at equilibrium. Our study has shown that Ti1−xKxO2 is thermodynamically unstable and leads to a phase separation, in contradiction with the hypothesis of ab initio calculations. In particular, the crystalline TiO2 grains appear to be surrounded by K-based phase. The oxidization state of the Ti ion is found to be in Ti4+ as confirmed from the x-ray photoelectron spectra measurement. Nevertheless, K:TiO2 compounds exhibit weak paramagnetism with the highest magnetic moment of ~0.5 μB K−1 but no long-range ferromagnetic order. The observed moment in these compounds remains much smaller than the predicted moment of 3 μB by ab initio calculation. The apparent contradictions between our experiments and first-principles studies are discussed

ZnO nanostructures for Mid-IR plasmonics

13-17 juin 2016International audienceno abstrac

Tunable mid IR plasmon in GZO nanocrystals

International audienceDegenerate metal oxide nanoparticles are promising systems to expand the significant achievements of plasmonics into the infrared (IR) range. Among the possible candidates, Ga-doped ZnO nanocrystals are particularly suited for mid IR, considering their wide range of possible doping level and thus of plasmon tuning. In the present work, we report on the tunable mid IR plasmon induced in degenerate Ga-doped ZnO nanocrystals. The nanocrystals are produced by a plasma expansion and exhibit unprotected surfaces. Tuning the Ga concentration allows tuning the localized surface plasmon resonance. Moreover, the plasmon resonance is characterized by a large damping. By comparing the plasmon of nanocrystals assemblies to that of nanoparticles dispersed in an alumina matrix, we investigate the possible origins of such damping. We demonstrate that it partially results from the self-organization of the naked particles but also from intrinsic inhomogeneity of dopants