Quasiparticle dynamics in ferromagnetic compounds of the Co-Fe and Ni-Fe systems

We report a theoretical study of the quasiparticle lifetime and the quasiparticle mean free path caused by inelastic electron-electron scattering in ferromagnetic compounds of the Co-Fe and Ni-Fe systems. The study is based on spin-polarized calculations, which are performed within the $GW$ approximation for equiatomic and Co- and Ni-rich compounds, as well as for their constituents. We mainly focus on the spin asymmetry of the quasiparticle properties, which leads to the spin-filtering effect experimentally observed in spin-dependent transport of hot electrons and holes in the systems under study. By comparing with available experimental data on the attenuation length, we estimate the contribution of the inelastic mean free path to the latter.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

ULTRASONIC ATTENUATION DUE TO ZENER RELAXATION IN SINGLE-CRYSTAL PALLADIUM HYDRIDE

Attenuation measurements have been performed for the longitudinal and the two transverse ultrasonic waves propagating along the [110] crystalline axis in single-crystal α' phase PdH .64. Attenuation peaks are observed for all three modes. For a measuring frequency of 10.8 MHz the attenuation maxima occur at approximately 190K for the longitudinal and C' transverse modes and approximately 180K for the C44 mode. The relative magnitudes of the peaks are interpreted in terms of the gradients of the hydrogen-vacancy ordering energies at nearest and second-nearest neighbor positions

Neutron scattering studies of an antiferromagnetic Kondo compound: Ce8Pd24Ga

The antiferromagnet Ce8Pd24Ga with TN = 3.1 K has been investigated using neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Rietveld analysis of neutron diffraction data reveals that Ce8Pd24Ga crystallizes in the cubic structure with space group Pmbar 3m. Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) studies show two well-defined crystal-field excitations at 3.2 meV and 12.8 meV. The crystal-field parameters have been estimated from the analysis of INS data. The heat capacity calculated from the crystal-field level scheme shows a Schottky peak at 15 K which agrees well with the reported experimental results. The resistivity exhibits -ln T behaviour at high temperature followed by a peak at 8 K and eventually drops at TN. The peak in the resistivity at 8 K arises due to the combined effect of crystalline electric fields and Kondo interactions. The analysis of the resistivity data in the magnetically ordered state reveals a gap of 16.1 K in the spin-wave spectrum. At 1.8 K the magnetoresistance is positive and it changes to negative at 3 K. The positive magnetoresistance at 1.8 K is consistent with the antiferromagnetic ground state. The negative magnetoresistance shows a scaling behaviour that yields a low-temperature Kondo temperature of 5.8 K. The magnetic susceptibility exhibits Curie-Weiss behaviour between 20 K and 300 K with an effective paramagnetic moment µeff = 2.33 µB and paramagnetic Curie temperature theta(p) = -18.8 K. The present studies reveal that the physical properties of Ce8Pd24Ga are governed by the Kondo, crystal-field and Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions