A method for measuring the nonlinear response in dielectric spectroscopy through third harmonics detection

We present a high sensitivity method allowing the measurement of the non linear dielectric susceptibility of an insulating material at finite frequency. It has been developped for the study of dynamic heterogeneities in supercooled liquids using dielectric spectroscopy at frequencies 0.05 Hz < f < 30000 Hz . It relies on the measurement of the third harmonics component of the current flowing out of a capacitor. We first show that standard laboratory electronics (amplifiers and voltage sources) nonlinearities lead to limits on the third harmonics measurements that preclude reaching the level needed by our physical goal, a ratio of the third harmonics to the fundamental signal about 7 orders of magnitude lower than 1. We show that reaching such a sensitivity needs a method able to get rid of the nonlinear contributions both of the measuring device (lock-in amplifier) and of the excitation voltage source. A bridge using two sources fulfills only the first of these two requirements, but allows to measure the nonlinearities of the sources. Our final method is based on a bridge with two plane capacitors characterized by different dielectric layer thicknesses. It gets rid of the source and amplifier nonlinearities because in spite of a strong frequency dependence of the capacitors impedance, it is equilibrated at any frequency. We present the first measurements of the physical nonlinear response using our method. Two extensions of the method are suggested.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figure

Evidence of growing spatial correlations at the glass transition from nonlinear response experiments

The ac nonlinear dielectric response $\chi_3(\omega,T)$ of glycerol was measured close to its glass transition temperature $T_g$ to investigate the prediction that supercooled liquids respond in an increasingly non-linear way as the dynamics slows down (as spin-glasses do). We find that $\chi_3(\omega,T)$ indeed displays several non trivial features. It is peaked as a function of the frequency $\omega$ and obeys scaling as a function of $\omega \tau(T)$, with $\tau(T)$ the relaxation time of the liquid. The height of the peak, proportional to the number of dynamically correlated molecules $N_{corr}(T)$, increases as the system becomes glassy, and $\chi_3$ decays as a power-law of $\omega$ over several decades beyond the peak. These findings confirm the collective nature of the glassy dynamics and provide the first direct estimate of the $T$ dependence of $N_{corr}$.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures. With respect to v1, a few new sentences were added in the introduction and conclusion, references were updated, some typos corrected

Observation of superspin glass state in magnetically textured ferrofluid (gamma-Fe2O3)

Magnetic properties in a magnetically textured ferrofluid made out of interacting maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) nanoparticles suspended in glycerin have been investigated. Despite the loss of uniform distribution of anisotropy axes, a superspin glass state exists at low temperature in a concentrated, textured ferrofluid as in the case of its non-textured counterpart. The onset of superspin glass state was verified from the sample's AC susceptibility. The influence of the anisotropy axis orientation on the aging behavior in the glassy states is also discussed

Resistance Noise Scaling in a Dilute Two-Dimensional Hole System in GaAs

We have measured the resistance noise of a two-dimensional (2D)hole system in a high mobility GaAs quantum well, around the 2D metal-insulator transition (MIT) at zero magnetic field. The normalized noise power $S_R/R^2$ increases strongly when the hole density p_s is decreased, increases slightly with temperature (T) at the largest densities, and decreases strongly with T at low p_s. The noise scales with the resistance, $S_R/R^2 \sim R^{2.4}$, as for a second order phase transition such as a percolation transition. The p_s dependence of the conductivity is consistent with a critical behavior for such a transition, near a density p* which is lower than the observed MIT critical density p_c.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Experimental search for dynamic heterogeneities in molecular glass formers

We have measured the linear dielectric susceptibility of two molecular glass formers close to Tg in order to estimate the size of the dynamically correlated clusters of molecules which are expected to govern the physics of glass formation. This size has been shown to be related to the dynamic dielectric susceptibility dEps(w)/dT (Eps : dielectric susceptibility, T : temperature, w&#61472;: frequency). To allow for an accurate determination of the T derivative, we scanned the interval 192 < T < 232 K every 1 K for glycerol and 159 < T < 179 K every 0.5 K for propylene carbonate. The resolution on T variations was about 1 mK. The result for glycerol is that the number of correlated molecules increases by a factor 3 when T goes from 226 to 195 K. It has been shown that the non-linear susceptibility provides a direct measurement of dynamic correlations. To measure it, we used a standard Lockin technique yielding the third harmonic of the current flowing out of a capacitor. We obtained only an upper limit on the ratio of the third to the first harmonic, due to the non-linear response of standard electronics.Comment: 7 page

Superspin glass aging behavior in textured and nontextured frozen ferrofluid

The effect of magnetic anisotropy-axis alignment of individual nanoparticles on the collective aging behavior in the superspin glass state of a frozen ferrofluid has been investigated. The ferrofluid studied here consists of maghemite nanoparticles (\gamma-Fe2O3, mean diameter = 8.6 nm) dispersed in glycerin at a volume fraction of ~15%. The low temperature aging behavior has been explored through 'zero-field cooled magnetization' (ZFCM) relaxation measurements using SQUID magnetometry. The ZFCM response functions were found to scale with effective age of the system in both textured and non-textured superspin glass states, but with markedly different scaling exponents, \mu. The value of {\mu} was found to shift from ~0.9 in non-textured case to ~ 0.6 in the textured case, despite the identical cooling protocol used in both experiments

1/f noise in a dilute GaAs two-dimensional hole system in the insulating phase

We have measured the resistance and the 1/f resistance noise of a two-dimensional low density hole system in a high mobility GaAs quantum well at low temperature. At densities lower than the metal-insulator transition one, the temperature dependence of the resistance is either power-like or simply activated. The noise decreases when the temperature or the density increase. These results contradict the standard description of independent particles in the strong localization regime. On the contrary, they agree with the percolation picture suggested by higher density results. The physical nature of the system could be a mixture of a conducting and an insulating phase. We compare our results with those of composite thin films.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; to appear in Physica E (EP2DS-16 proceedings

A local noise measurement device for magnetic physical systems

International audienceWe present an experimental setup developed to measure locally the fluctuations of the magnetization of physical systems such as spin and superspin glasses. It is based on micronic and submicronic Hall probes. We present the noise reduction at ambient temperature owing to the use of the spinning current technique. Finally, we show why, with such probes, the noise measured on a macroscopic sample probes only a microscopic volume of the sample

Low temperature magnetization of the S = 1/2 kagome antiferromagnet ZnCu3 (O H) 6CL 2

International audienceThe dc magnetization of the unique S= 1/ 2 kagome antiferromagnet Herbertsmithite has been measured downto 0.1 K. No sign of spin freezing is observed in agreement with former SR and ac-susceptibility results. The low temperature magnetic response is dominated by a defect contribution which exhibits an energy scale 1 K, likely reflecting the coupling of the defects. The defect component is saturated at low temperature by H8 T applied magnetic fields which enables us to estimate an upper bound for the nonsaturated intrinsic kagome susceptibility at T=1.7 K