Vortex-like state observed in ferromagnetic contacts

Point-contacts (PC) offer a simple way to create high current densities, 10^9 A/cm^2 and beyond, without substantial Joule heating. We have shown recently (Nano Letters, 7 (2007) 927) that conductivity of nanosized PCs between a normal and ferromagnetic metals exhibits bi-stable hysteretic states versus both bias current and external magnetic field - the effect typical for spin-valve structures. Here we report that apart from the bi-stable state a third intermediate-resistance state is occasionally observed. We interpret this state as due to a spin-vortex in the PC, nucleated either by Oersted field of the bias current and/or by the circular geometry of PC. The observed three-level-states in the PC conductivity testify that the interface spins are both weakly coupled to the spins in the bulk and have depressed exchange interaction within the surface layer.Comment: 4 pgs., 4 figs. submitted to ICM-09 (July 26-21, Karlsruhe) V2: corrected typos, accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Conf. Serie

Spectroscopy of phonons and spin torques in magnetic point contacts

Phonon spectroscopy is used to investigate the mechanism of current-induced spin torques in nonmagnetic/ferromagnetic (N/F) point contacts. Magnetization excitations observed in the magneto-conductance of the point contacts are pronounced for diffusive and thermal contacts, where the electrons experience significant scattering in the contact region. We find no magnetic excitations in highly ballistic contacts. Our results show that impurity scattering at the N/F interface is the origin of the new single-interface spin torque effect.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figs., accepted for publication in PR

Point-contact-spectroscopy evidence of quasi-particle interactions in RNi2B2C (R=Ho, Y)

The point-contact (PC) d2V/dI2-spectra of HoNi2B2C and YNl2B2C reveal structure at applied voltages corresponding to the phonon frequencies. At about 4 meV a maximum is observed in the phonondensity of states by analogy to the soft-phonon structure in neutron scattering experiments for LuNi2B2C [P. Dervenagas et al., Phys. Rev. B52, R9839 (1995)]and YNl2B2C [H. Kawano et al., Czech. J. Phys. 46, S2-825 (1996), Phys. Rev. Lett.77, 4628 (1996)]. In the Ho compound the low-energy phonon peak is suppressed by an applied magnetic field in an anisotropic way, pointing to an interaction between the phonons and the magnetic systems. Surprisingly, in the nonmagnetic Y compound the 4-meV peak is also suppressed by a magnetic field. In the Ho-compound contacts which show the 〈quasi-thermal〉 behavior, the detailed magnetic-field and temperature dependences of PC spectra suggest that the magnetic order is destroyed due to the coupled phonon-magnon subsystem which is driven out of equilibrium by electrons that pass through the contact, by analogy with the nonequilibrium phonon-induced destruction of the superconducting state in point contacts [I. K. Yanson et al., JETP Lett. 45, 543 (1987)]. The PC electron-phonon interaction(EPI) spectral functions are reconstructed and the estimates for the λ-parameter yield the values of the order of 0.1. Comparison with PC EPI spectra of nonsuperconducting and nonmagnetic LaNi2B2C. [I. K. Yanson et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 935 (1997)], as well as the comparative study of PC EPI and Andreev-reflection spectra for various contacts with superconducting Ho and Y compounds suggest that the low-energy part of the electron-quasi-particle interaction spectral function is responsible for the Cooper pairing in these materials