A selfconsistent theory of current-induced switching of magnetization

A selfconsistent theory of the current-induced switching of magnetization using nonequilibrium Keldysh formalism is developed for a junction of two ferromagnets separated by a nonmagnetic spacer. It is shown that the spin-transfer torques responsible for current-induced switching of magnetization can be calculated from first principles in a steady state when the magnetization of the switching magnet is stationary. The spin-transfer torque is expressed in terms of one-electron surface Green functions for the junction cut into two independent parts by a cleavage plane immediately to the left and right of the switching magnet. The surface Green functions are calculated using a tight-binding Hamiltonian with parameters determined from a fit to an {\it ab initio} band structure.This treatment yields the spin transfer torques taking into account rigorously contributions from all the parts of the junction. To calculate the hysteresis loops of resistance versus current, and hence to determine the critical current for switching, the microscopically calculated spin-transfer torques are used as an input into the phenomenological Landau-Lifshitz equation with Gilbert damping. The present calculations for Co/Cu/Co(111) show that the critical current for switching is $\approx 10^7A/cm^2$, which is in good agreement with experiment.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figure

Reflection mechanism for generating spin transfer torque without charge current

A reflection mechanism for generating spin-transfer torque is proposed. It is due to interference of bias-driven nonequilibrium electrons incident on a switching junction, with the electrons reflected from an insulating barrier inserted in the junction after the switching magnet. It is shown, using the rigorous Keldysh formalism, that this out-of-plane torque T⊥ is proportional to an applied bias and is as large as the torque in a conventional junction generated by a strong charge current. However, the charge current and the in-plane torque T∥ are almost completely suppressed by the insulating barrier. This junction thus offers the highly applicable possibility of bias-induced switching of magnetization without charge current

Reflection mechanism for generating spin transfer torque without charge current

A reflection mechanism for generating spin-transfer torque is proposed. It is due to interference of bias-driven nonequilibrium electrons incident on a switching junction, with the electrons reflected from an insulating barrier inserted in the junction after the switching magnet. It is shown, using the rigorous Keldysh formalism, that this out-of-plane torque T ? is proportional to an applied bias and is as large as the torque in a conventional junction generated by a strong charge current. However, the charge current and the in-plane torque T k are almost completely suppressed by the insulating barrier. This junction thus offers the highly applicable possibility of bias-induced switching of magnetization without charge current. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://d

Strong enhancement of the tunneling magnetoresistance by electron filtering in an Fe/MgO/Fe/GaAs(001) junction

Calculations of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of an epitaxial Fe/MgO/Fe tunneling junction attached to an n-type GaAs lead, under positive gate voltage, are presented. It is shown that for realistic GaAs carrier densities the TMR of this composite system can be more than 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of a conventional Fe/MgO/Fe junction. Furthermore, the high TMR is achieved with modest MgO thicknesses and is very robust to disorder at the Fe/GaAs interface and within the GaAs layer itself. The significant practical advantage of this system is that huge TMRs should be attainable for junctions with modest resistances. For a GaAs carrier density of 1019??cm-3 the system is calculated to have a TMR in excess of 10?000% but its resistance is equivalent to that of a conventional Fe/MgO/Fe junction with only 6–7 at. planes of MgO

Interplay of Chemical, Electronic, and Structural Effects in the Triple-Conducting BaFeO3-Ba(Zr,Y)O3 Solid Solution

Triple-conducting oxides with mobile protons, oxygen vacancies, and holes are key functional materials for protonic ceramic fuel/electrolysis cells. We comprehensively investigate the Ba(Zr,Y,Fe)O3-delta perovskite solid solution series ranging from electrolyte to electrode-type materials depending on iron content. From thermogravimetry and impedance spectroscopy, the proton and oxygen vacancy concentrations as well as electronic and ionic conductivities are determined. X-ray spectroscopy (Fe K-edge XANES, O K-edge Raman scattering, Fe, Zr, Y K-edge EXAFS) elucidates the finer features of the electronic structure and local distortions. A low Fe content of <= 10% strongly decreases the degree of hydration, while comparably high Fe concentrations of >= 70% are required to obtain an electronic conductivity sufficient for an electrode material. The transport of ionic and electronic carriers is interrelated in a complex way and is closely linked to details of the electronic structure (strength of Fe-O hybridization) and geometrical distortions (Fe-O-Fe and Fe-O-(Zr,Y) buckling). As a result, an optimum combination of proton concentration and electronic conductivity is not obtained in the middle of the solid solution series but rather found for Fe-rich materials with 20-30% doping with oversized, redox-inactive cations. A similar behavior is also expected for related solid solutions between a large-band gap electrolyte and small-band gap redox-active perovskites

Nonmonotonic inelastic tunneling spectra due to surface spin excitations in ferromagnetic junctions

The paper addresses inelastic spin-flip tunneling accompanied by surface spin excitations (magnons) in ferromagnetic junctions. The inelastic tunneling current is proportional to the magnon density of states which is energy-independent for the surface waves and, for this reason, cannot account for the bias-voltage dependence of the observed inelastic tunneling spectra. This paper shows that the bias-voltage dependence of the tunneling spectra can arise from the tunneling matrix elements of the electron-magnon interaction. These matrix elements are derived from the Coulomb exchange interaction using the itinerant-electron model of magnon-assisted tunneling. The results for the inelastic tunneling spectra, based on the nonequilibrium Green's function calculations, are presented for both parallel and antiparallel magnetizations in the ferromagnetic leads.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, version as publishe

Theory of a quodon gas. With application to precipitation kinetics in solids under irradiation

Rate theory of the radiation-induced precipitation in solids is modified with account of non-equilibrium fluctuations driven by the gas of lattice solitons (a.k.a. quodons) produced by irradiation. According to quantitative estimations, a steady-state density of the quodon gas under sufficiently intense irradiation can be as high as the density of phonon gas. The quodon gas may be a powerful driver of the chemical reaction rates under irradiation, the strength of which exponentially increases with irradiation flux and may be comparable with strength of the phonon gas that exponentially increases with temperature. The modified rate theory is applied to modelling of copper precipitation in FeCu binary alloys under electron irradiation. In contrast to the classical rate theory, which disagrees strongly with experimental data on all precipitation parameters, the modified rate theory describes quite well both the evolution of precipitates and the matrix concentration of copper measured by different methodsComment: V. Dubinko, R. Shapovalov, Theory of a quodon gas. With application to precipitation kinetics in solids under irradiation. (Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 2014

Studies of concentration and temperature dependencies of precipitation kinetics in iron-copper alloys using kinetic monte carlo and stochastic statistical simulations

The earlier-developed ab initio model and the kinetic Monte Carlo method (KMCM) are used to simulate precipitation in a number of iron-copper alloys with different copper concentrations x and temperatures T. The same simulations are also made using the improved version of the earlier-suggested stochastic statistical method (SSM). The results obtained enable us to make a number of general conclusions about the dependencies of the decomposition kinetics in Fe-Cu alloys on x and T. We also show that the SSM describes the precipitation kinetics in a fair agreement with the KMCM, and employing the SSM in conjunction with the KMCM enables us to extend the KMC simulations to the longer evolution times. The results of simulations seem to agree with available experimental data for Fe-Cu alloys within statistical errors of simulations and the scatter of experimental results. Comparison of results of simulations to experiments for some multicomponent Fe-Cu-based alloys enables us to make certain conclusions about the influence of alloying elements in these alloys on the precipitation kinetics at different stages of evolution.Comment: 18 pages, 17 postscript figures, LaTe

Fluctuation Induced Non-Fermi Liquid Behavior near a Quantum Phase Transition in Itinerant Electron Systems

The signature for a non-Fermi liquid behavior near a quantum phase transition has been observed in thermal and transport properties of many metallic systems at low temperatures. In the present work we consider specific examples of itinerant ferromagnet as well as antiferromagnet in the limit of vanishing transition temperature. The temperature variation of spin susceptibility, electrical resistivity, specific heat, and NMR relaxation rates at low temperatures is calculated in the limit of infinite exchange enhancement within the frame work of a self consistent spin fluctuation theory. The resulting non-Fermi liquid behavior is due to the presence of the low lying critically damped spin fluctuations in these systems. The theory presented here gives the leading low temperature behavior, as it turns out that the fluctuation correlation term is always smaller than the mean fluctuation field term in three as well as in two space dimensions. A comparison with illustrative experimental results of these properties in some typical systems has been done. Finally we make some remarks on the effect of disorder in these systems.Comment: File RevTex, 7 Figures available on request, Abstract and text modified, To appear in Phys. Rev.

Mineralogy and microporous structure of rocks from a natural CO2 reservoir

Different experimental approaches have been combined to reconstruct the mineral association and microporous structure of rocks from a natural CO2 reservoir. The fluid reservoir (Caprese Reservoir), was discovered while drilling PSS1 (Pieve Santo Stefano 1) wellbore in San Cassiano Basin (Eastern Tuscany, Central Italy, and consists of sedimentary rocks (Burano Fm.) interbedded with altered volcanic rocks, its depth being about 3,300 m with respect to the land surface. At 3,700 m depth fluid pressure and temperature are 700 bar and 120 \ub0C respectively, with a density for the supercritical CO2\u2013rich fluid of 840 Kg\ub7m-3. The study was conducted on the volcanic rocks altered by CO2 from the PSS1 wellbore drillcores and on some volcanic rocks unaffected by the presence of CO2. Lastly, rocks from the Burano Formation, unavailable from PSS1, have been sampled on outcrop. Focus is on rocks samples corresponding to the depth 3,864-3,871 m with respect to PSS1 log, which have been investigated with SEM-EDS and XRD for mineralogical characterization. Moreover, Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) experiments at LLB (Saclay, France) served for microporous structure investigation of PSS1 rocks, and other volcanic rocks from Eastern Alps (IG1) and the Albani Hills (IG2 and IG3) unaffected by CO2, as well as Burano Formation rocks from outcrop