Electrically-driven phase transition in magnetite nanostructures

Magnetite (Fe$_{3}$O$_{4}$), an archetypal transition metal oxide, has been used for thousands of years, from lodestones in primitive compasses[1] to a candidate material for magnetoelectronic devices.[2] In 1939 Verwey[3] found that bulk magnetite undergoes a transition at T$_{V}$ $\approx$ 120 K from a high temperature "bad metal" conducting phase to a low-temperature insulating phase. He suggested[4] that high temperature conduction is via the fluctuating and correlated valences of the octahedral iron atoms, and that the transition is the onset of charge ordering upon cooling. The Verwey transition mechanism and the question of charge ordering remain highly controversial.[5-11] Here we show that magnetite nanocrystals and single-crystal thin films exhibit an electrically driven phase transition below the Verwey temperature. The signature of this transition is the onset of sharp conductance switching in high electric fields, hysteretic in voltage. We demonstrate that this transition is not due to local heating, but instead is due to the breakdown of the correlated insulating state when driven out of equilibrium by electrical bias. We anticipate that further studies of this newly observed transition and its low-temperature conducting phase will shed light on how charge ordering and vibrational degrees of freedom determine the ground state of this important compound.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Conserved induction of distinct antiviral signalling kinetics by primate interferon lambda 4 proteins

Interferon lambdas (IFNλ) (also known as type III IFNs) are critical cytokines that combat infection predominantly at barrier tissues, such as the lung, liver, and gastrointestinal tract. Humans have four IFNλs (1–4), where IFNλ1–3 show ~80%–95% homology, and IFNλ4 is the most divergent displaying only ~30% sequence identity. Variants in IFNλ4 in humans are associated with the outcome of infection, such as with hepatitis C virus. However, how IFNλ4 variants impact cytokine signalling in other tissues and how well this is conserved is largely unknown. In this study, we address whether differences in antiviral signalling exist between IFNλ4 variants in human hepatocyte and intestinal cells, comparing them to IFNλ3. We demonstrate that compared to IFNλ3, wild-type human IFNλ4 induces a signalling response with distinct magnitudes and kinetics, which is modified by naturally occurring variants P70S and K154E in both cell types. IFNλ4’s distinct antiviral response was more rapid yet transient compared to IFNλ1 and 3. Additionally, divergent antiviral kinetics were also observed using non-human primate IFNλs and cell lines. Furthermore, an IFNλ4-like receptor-interacting interface failed to alter IFNλ1’s kinetics. Together, our data provide further evidence that major functional differences exist within the IFNλ gene family. These results highlight the possible tissue specialisation of IFNλs and encourage further investigation of the divergent, non-redundant activities of IFNλ4 and other IFNλs

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Low frequency noise peak near magnon emission energy in magnetic tunnel junctions

We report on the low frequency (LF) noise measurements in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) below 4 K and at low bias, where the transport is strongly affected by scattering with magnons emitted by hot tunnelling electrons, as thermal activation of magnons from the environment is suppressed. For both CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB and CoFeB/AlO x /CoFeB MTJs, enhanced LF noise is observed at bias voltage around magnon emission energy, forming a peak in the bias dependence of noise power spectra density, independent of magnetic configurations. The noise peak is much higher and broader for unannealed AlO x -based MTJ, and besides Lorentzian shape noise spectra in the frequency domain, random telegraph noise (RTN) is visible in the time traces. During repeated measurements the noise peak reduces and the RTN becomes difficult to resolve, suggesting defects being annealed. The Lorentzian shape noise spectra can be fitted with bias-dependent activation of RTN, with the attempt frequency in the MHz range, consistent with magnon dynamics. These findings suggest magnon-assisted activation of defects as the origin of the enhanced LF nois

Field sensing in MgO double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions with a superparamagnetic Co50Fe50 free layer

Linear response and low frequency noise have been investigated in MgO double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions with a superparamagnetic Co50Fe50 free layer. Linear and hysteresis-free switching was observed for the Co50Fe50 thickness t???1?nm. A tunneling magnetoresistance ratio of up to 108% and large magnetic field sensitivity value of 61%/mT were obtained at room temperature when t?=?1?nm. The angular dependence of magnetoresistance suggests that weak coupling between superparamagneticislands in a t???1?nm free layer permits continuous rotation of magnetization, whereas the islands in a 0.8nm layer switch rather independently. The frequency dependence of noise power spectrum density and field dependence of Hooge parameter(a) also behave differently for junctions with 0.8 and 1.0nm free layers. The noise sensitivity of 1.0nm free layer junctions is independent of bias, and it is estimated to reach 400 pT/Hz0.5 at 500?kH

CoTaZr/Pd multilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

We report a novel perpendicularly magnetized thin film [Co91.5 Ta 4.5Zr4/Pd]5 multilayer, which exhibits strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy when grown on 5 nm of Pd and Ru seed layers. The Pd-seeded multilayer annealed at 300??C shows an effective uniaxial anisotropy constant, K eff = 1.1 MJ?m?3, with an anisotropy field as high as 1.6 T. The perpendicular anisotropy is sustained on annealing at 400??C for 1 h. X-ray diffraction on multilayers with 30 repeats suggests that the use of amorphous CoTaZr reduces the stress of the stack, compared to [Co/Pd] multilayer

Magnetic Modes in Rare Earth Perovskites: A Magnetic-Field-Dependent Inelastic Light Scattering study

Here, we report the presence of defect-related states with magnetic degrees of freedom in crystals of LaAlO3 and several other rare-earth based perovskite oxides using inelastic light scattering (Raman spectroscopy) at low temperatures in applied magnetic fields of up to 9 T. Some of these states are at about 140?meV above the valence band maximum while others are mid-gap states at about 2.3?eV. No magnetic impurity could be detected in LaAlO3 by Proton-Induced X-ray Emission Spectroscopy. We, therefore, attribute the angular momentum-like states in LaAlO3 to cationic/anionic vacancies or anti-site defects. Comparison with the other rare earth perovskites leads to the empirical rule that the magnetic-field-sensitive transitions require planes of heavy elements (e.g. lanthanum) and oxygen without any other light cations in the same plane. These magnetic degrees of freedom in rare earth perovskites with useful dielectric properties may be tunable by appropriate defect engineering for magneto-optic applications

Vortex state in ferromagnetic nanoparticles

The evolution of the magnetic state of a soft ferromagnetic nanoparticle with its size is usually thought to be from superparamagnetic single domain to blocked single domain to a blocked multidomain structure. N?el pointed out that a vortex configuration produces practically no stray field at the cost of an increase in the exchange energy, of the order of , where JS 2 is the bond energy, R is the particle radius, and c is of the order of the exchange length. A vortex structure is energetically cheaper than single domain when the radius is greater than a certain value. The correct sequence should include a vortex configuration between the single domain and the multidomain states. The critical size is calculated for spherical particles of four important materials (nickel, magnetite, permalloy, and iron) both numerically and analytically. A vortex state is favored in materials with high magnetisation

Spin-flip noise due to nonequilibrium spin accumulation

When current flows through a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), there is spin accumulation at the electrode-barrier interfaces if the magnetic moments of the two ferromagnetic electrodes are not aligned. Here we report that such nonequilibrium spin accumulation generates its own characteristic low frequency noise (LFN). Past work viewed the LFN in MTJs as an equilibrium effect arising from resistance fluctuations (SR) which a passively applied current (I) converts to measurable voltage fluctuations (SV=I2SR). We treat the LFN associated with spin accumulation as a nonequilibrium effect, and find that the noise power can be fitted in terms of the spin-polarized current by SIf=aIcoth(Ib)?ab, resembling the form of the shot noise for a tunnel junction, but with current now taking the role of the bias voltage, and spin-flip probability taking the role of tunneling probability