Giant tunnel magnetoresistance and high annealing stability in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions with synthetic pinned layer

We investigated the relationship between tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio and the crystallization of CoFeB layers through annealing in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with MgO barriers that had CoFe/Ru/CoFeB synthetic ferrimagnet pinned layers with varying Ru spacer thickness (tRu). The TMR ratio increased with increasing annealing temperature (Ta) and tRu, reaching 361% at Ta = 425C, whereas the TMR ratio of the MTJs with pinned layers without Ru spacers decreased at Ta over 325C. Ruthenium spacers play an important role in forming an (001)-oriented bcc CoFeB pinned layer, resulting in a high TMR ratio through annealing at high temperatures.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Applied Physics Letter

Josephson Vortex States in Intermediate Fields

Motivated by recent resistance data in high $T_c$ superconductors in fields {\it parallel} to the CuO layers, we address two issues on the Josephson-vortex phase diagram, the appearances of structural transitions on the observed first order transition (FOT) curve in intermediate fields and of a lower critical point of the FOT line. It is found that some rotated pinned solids are more stable than the ordinary rhombic pinned solids with vacant interlayer spacings and that, due to the vertical portion in higher fields of the FOT line, the FOT tends to be destroyed by creating a lower critical point.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. To appear in J.Phys.Soc.Jpn. 71, No.2 (February, 2002

Theoretical Description of Resistive Behavior near a Quantum Vortex-Glass Transition

Resistive behaviors at nonzero temperatures (T > 0) reflecting a quantum vortex-glass (VG) transition (the so-called field-tuned superconductor-insulator transition at T=0) are studied based on a quantum Ginzburg-Landau (GL) action for a s-wave pairing case containing microscopic details. The ordinary dissipative dynamics of the pair-field is assumed on the basis of a consistency between the fluctuation conductance terms excluded from GL approach and an observed negative magnetoresistance. It is shown that the VG contribution, G_{vg}(B=B_{vg}, T \to 0),to 2D fluctuation conductance at the VG transition field B_{vg} depends on the strength of a repulsive-interaction between electrons and takes a universal value only in the ordinary dirty limit neglecting the electron-repulsion. Available resistivity data near B_{vg} are discussed based on our results, and extensions to the cases of a d-wave pairing and of 3D systems are briefly commented on.Comment: Explanation of data in strongly disordered case, as well as Fig.2 and 3, was renewed, and comments on recent publications were added. To appear in J.Phys.Soc. Jp

Universal Irreversibility of Normal Quantum Diffusion

Time-reversibility measured by the deviation of the perturbed time-reversed motion from the unperturbed one is examined for normal quantum diffusion exhibited by four classes of quantum maps with contrastive physical nature. Irrespective of the systems, there exist a universal minimal quantum threshold above which the system completely loses the past memory, and the time-reversed dynamics as well as the time-reversal characteristics asymptotically trace universal curves independent of the details of the systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Nonlinear behavior of geometric phases induced by photon pairs

In this study, we observe the nonlinear behavior of the two-photon geometric phase for polarization states using time-correlated photons pairs. This phase manifests as a shift of two-photon interference fringes. Under certain arrangements, the geometric phase can vary nonlinearly and become very sensitive to a change in the polarization state. Moreover, it is known that the geometric phase for $N$ identically polarized photons is $N$ times larger than that for one photon. Thus, the geometric phase for two photons can become two times more sensitive to a state change. This high sensitivity to a change in the polarization can be exploited for precision measurement of small polarization variation. We evaluate the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurement scheme using the nonlinear behavior of the geometric phase under technical noise and highlight the practical advantages of this scheme.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Evidence for realignment of the charge density wave state in ErTe3_3 and TmTe3_3 under uniaxial stress via elastocaloric and elastoresistivity measurements

We report the evolution of a charge density wave (CDW) state in the quasi-2D rare-earth tritellurides ($R$Te$_3$ for $R$=Er,Tm) as a function of in-plane uniaxial stress. Measurements of the elastocaloric effect, resistivity, and elastoresistivity allow us to demonstrate the importance of in-plane antisymmetric strain on the CDW and to establish a phase diagram. We show that modest tensile stress parallel to the in-plane $a$-axis can reversibly switch the direction of the ordering wavevector between the two in-plane directions. This work establishes $R$Te$_3$ as a promising model system for the study of strain-CDW interactions in a quasi-2D square lattice.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Uniaxial-Pressure induced Ferromagnetism of Enhanced Paramagnetic Sr3Ru2O7

We report a uniaxial pressure-dependence of magnetism in layered perovskite strontium ruthenate Sr3Ru2O7. By applying a relatively small uniaxial pressure, greater than 0.1 GPa normal to the RuO2 layer, ferromagnetic ordering manifests below 80 K from the enhanced-paramagnet. Magnetization at 1 kOe and 2 K becomes 100 times larger than that under ambient condition. Uniaxial pressure dependence of Curie temperature T_C suggests the first order magnetic transition. Origin of this uniaxial-pressure induced ferromagnetism is discussed in terms of the rotation of RuO6 octahedra within the RuO2 plane.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. to be published in Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, vol.73, No.5 (2004

EFFECT OF SOLVENT ON PROTON TUNNELING IN THE REACTIONS OF 4-NITROPHENYLNITROMETHANE WITH 1-ETHYLPIPERIDINE AND 1,8-DIAZABICYCLO [5.4.0] UNDEC-7-ENE

A kinetic study has been carried out on the proton-transfer reactions from 4-nitrophenylnitromethane (4NPNM) to 1-ethylpiperidine (EP) and to 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) in acetonitrile and dichloromethane by means of a stopped-flow method, the attention being focused to solvent effect on kinetic isotope effect (k_f^H/k_f^D) and degree of tunneling. For the 4NPNM-EP system, k_f^H/k_f^D at 25℃ was 17.2 and the activation energy difference, E_af^D-E_af^H, was as large as 10.8 kJmol^-, which suggested that the degree of proton-tunneling was significant. On the contrary, for the 4NPNM-DBU system the degree of proton-tunneling in both acetonitrile and dichloromethane was not so significant as 4NPNM-EP reaction. The semi-empirical analysis on the basis of the Bell\u27s treatment showed that the barrier width for 4NPNM-EP was larger and barrier height became much higher in comparison to the reaction of 4NPNM with the bases such as DBU or tetramethylguanidine (TMG). Those results were considered from the viewpoints of solvation effect on the transition state