6,669 research outputs found
Modelling exchange bias in core/shell nanoparticles
We present an atomistic model of a single nanoparticle with core/shell
structure that takes into account its lattice strucutre and spherical geometry,
and in which the values of microscopic parameters such as anisotropy and
exchange constants can be tuned in the core, shell and interfacial regions. By
means of Monte Carlo simulations of the hysteresis loops based on this model,
we have determined the range of microscopic parameters for which loop shifts
after field cooling can be observed. The study of the magnetic order of the
interfacial spins for different particles sizes and values of the interfacial
exchange coupling have allowed us to correlate the appearance of loop
asymmetries and vertical displacements to the existence of a fraction of
uncompensated spins at the shell interface that remain pinned during field
cycling, offering new insight on the microscopic origin of the experimental
phenomenology.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Contribution presented at HMM 2007 held at Napoli
4-6 June 2007. To be published in J. Phys. Condens. Matte
Modeling Two Dimensional Magnetic Domain Patterns
Two-dimensional magnetic garnets exhibit complex and fascinating magnetic
domain structures, like stripes, labyrinths, cells and mixed states of stripes
and cells. These patterns do change in a reversible way when the intensity of
an externally applied magnetic field is varied. The main objective of this
contribution is to present the results of a model that yields a rich pattern
structure that closely resembles what is observed experimentally. Our model is
a generalized two-dimensional Ising-like spin-one Hamiltonian with long-range
interactions, which also incorporates anisotropy and Zeeman terms. The model is
studied numerically, by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Changing the model
parameters stripes, labyrinth and/or cellular domain structures are generated.
For a variety of cases we display the patterns, determine the average size of
the domains, the ordering transition temperature, specific heat, magnetic
susceptibility and hysteresis cycle. Finally, we examine the reversibility of
the pattern evolution under variations of the applied magnetic field. The
results we obtain are in good qualitative agreement with experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Size-dependent magnetization fluctuations in NiO nanoparticles
The finite size and surface roughness effects on the magnetization of NiO
nanoparticles is investigated. A large magnetic moment arises for an
antiferromagnetic nanoparticle due to these effects. The magnetic moment
without the surface roughness has a non-monotonic and oscillatory dependence on
, the size of the particles, with the amplitude of the fluctuations varying
linearly with . The geometry of the particle also matters a lot in the
calculation of the net magnetic moment. An oblate spheroid shape particle shows
an increase in net magnetic moment by increasing oblateness of the particle.
However, the magnetic moment values thus calculated are very small compared to
the experimental values for various sizes, indicating that the bulk
antiferromagnetic structure may not hold near the surface. We incorporate the
surface roughness in two different ways; an ordered surface with surface spins
inside a surface roughness shell aligned due to an internal field, and a
disordered surface with randomly oriented spins inside surface roughness shell.
Taking a variational approach we find that the core interaction strength is
modified for nontrivial values of which is a signature of
multi-sublattice ordering for nanoparticles. The surface roughness scale
is also showing size dependent fluctuations, with an envelope decay
. The net magnetic moment values calculated using
spheroidal shape and ordered surface are close to the experimental values for
different sizes.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Visual task identification and characterisation using polynomial models
Developing robust and reliable control code for autonomous mobile robots is difficult, because the interaction between a physical robot and the environment is highly complex, subject to noise and variation, and therefore partly unpredictable. This means that to date it is not possible to predict robot behaviour based on theoretical models. Instead, current methods to develop robot control
code still require a substantial trial-and-error component to the software design process. This paper proposes a method of dealing with these issues by a) establishing task-achieving sensor-motor couplings through robot training, and b) representing these couplings through transparent mathematical functions that can be used to form hypotheses
and theoretical analyses of robot behaviour. We demonstrate the viability of this approach by teaching a mobile robot to track a moving football and subsequently modelling
this task using the NARMAX system identification technique
Comparing robot controllers through system identification
In the mobile robotics field, it is very common to find different control programs designed to achieve a particular robot task. Although there are many ways to evaluate these controllers qualitatively, there is a lack of formal methodology to compare them from a mathematical point of view. In this paper we present a novel approach to compare robot control codes quantitatively based on system identification: Initially the transparent mathematical models of the controllers are obtained using the NARMAX system identification process. Then we use these models to analyse the general characteristics of the cotrollers from a mathematical point of view. In this way, we are able to compare different control programs objectively based on quantitative measures. We demonstrate our approach by comparing two different robot control programs, which were designed to drive the robot through door-like openings
A Novel Approach to the Cosmological Constant Problem
We propose a novel infinite-volume brane world scenario where we live on a
non-inflating spherical 3-brane, whose radius is somewhat larger than the
present Hubble size, embedded in higher dimensional bulk. Once we include
higher curvature terms in the bulk, we find completely smooth solutions with
the property that the 3-brane world-volume is non-inflating for a continuous
range of positive values of the brane tension, that is, without fine-tuning. In
particular, our solution, which is a near-BPS background with supersymmetry
broken on the brane around TeV, is controlled by a single integration constant.Comment: 20 pages, revte
Magnetic Field scaling of Relaxation curves in Small Particle Systems
We study the effects of the magnetic field on the relaxation of the
magnetization of small monodomain non-interacting particles with random
orientations and distribution of anisotropy constants. Starting from a master
equation, we build up an expression for the time dependence of the
magnetization which takes into account thermal activation only over barriers
separating energy minima, which, in our model, can be computed exactly from
analytical expressions. Numerical calculations of the relaxation curves for
different distribution widths, and under different magnetic fields H and
temperatures T, have been performed. We show how a \svar scaling of the
curves, at different T and for a given H, can be carried out after proper
normalization of the data to the equilibrium magnetization. The resulting
master curves are shown to be closely related to what we call effective energy
barrier distributions, which, in our model, can be computed exactly from
analytical expressions. The concept of effective distribution serves us as a
basis for finding a scaling variable to scale relaxation curves at different H
and a given T, thus showing that the field dependence of energy barriers can be
also extracted from relaxation measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Glassy magnetic phase driven by short range charge and magnetic ordering in nanocrystalline LaSrFeO: Magnetization, Mossbauer, and polarised neutron studies
The charge ordered LaSrFeO (LSFO) in bulk and
nanocrystalline forms are investigated using ac and dc magnetization,
M\"{o}ssbauer, and polarised neutron studies. A complex scenario of short range
charge and magnetic ordering is realized from the polarised neutron studies in
nanocrystalline specimen. This short range ordering does not involve any change
in spin state and modification in the charge disproportion between Fe
and Fe compared to bulk counterpart as evident in the M\"{o}ssbauer
results. The refinement of magnetic diffraction peaks provides magnetic moments
of Fe and Fe are about 3.15 and 1.57 for bulk, and
2.7 and 0.53 for nanocrystalline specimen, respectively. The
destabilization of charge ordering leads to magnetic phase separation, giving
rise to the robust exchange bias (EB) effect. Strikingly, EB field at 5 K
attains a value as high as 4.4 kOe for average size 70 nm, which is zero
for the bulk counterpart. A strong frequency dependence of ac susceptibility
reveals cluster-glass like transition around 65 K, below which EB
appears. Overall results propose that finite size effect directs the complex
glassy magnetic behavior driven by unconventional short range charge and
magnetic ordering, and magnetic phase separation appears in nanocrystalline
LSFO.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Fig. 1 available upon request or in
http://www.ffn.ub.es/oscar/Articles.html. Accepted in Phys. Rev.
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