Room temperature ferromagnetism in chemically synthesized ZnO rods

We report structural and magnetic properties of pure ZnO rods using X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization hysteresis (M-H) loop and near edge x-ray fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) study at O K edge. Sample of ZnO was prepared by co-precipitation method. XRD and selective area electron diffraction measurements infer that ZnO rods exhibit a single phase polycrystalline nature with wurtzite lattice. Field emission transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy micrographs infers that ZnO have rod type microstructures with dimension 200 nm in diameter and 550 nm in length. M-H loop studies performed at room temperature display room temperature ferromagnetism in ZnO rods. NEXAFS study reflects absence of the oxygen vacancies in pure ZnO rods.Comment: 8 Pages, 3 Figure

Colossal magnetooptical conductivity in doped manganites

We show that the current carrier density collapse in doped manganites, which results from bipolaron formation in the paramagnetic phase, leads to a colossal change of the optical conductivity in an external magnetic field at temperatures close to the ferromagnetic transition. As with the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) itself, the corresponding magnetooptical effect is explained by the dissociation of localized bipolarons into mobile polarons owing to the exchange interaction with the localized Mn spins in the ferromagnetic phase. The effect is positive at low frequencies and negative in the high-frequency region. The present results agree with available experimental observations.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX 3.0, two eps-figures included in the tex

Impurity-induced transition and impurity-enhanced thermopower in the thermoelectric oxide NaCo_{2-x}Cu_x$O_4

Various physical quantities are measured and analysed for the Cu-substituted thermoelectric oxide NaCo_{2-x}Cu_xO_4. As was previously known, the substituted Cu enhances the thermoelectric power, while it does not increase the resistivity significantly. The susceptibility and the electron specific-heat are substantially decreased with increasing x, which implies that the substituted Cu decreases the effective-mass enhancement. Through a quantitative comparison with the heavy fermion compounds and the valence fluctuation systems, we have found that the Cu substitution effectively increases the coupling between the conduction electron and the magnetic fluctuation. The Cu substitution induces a phase transition at 22 K that is very similar to a spin-density-wave transition.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.