Magnetization Process of High Anisotropy Copt Nanosized Dots

The magnetization reversal process of the CoPt dot was investigated in this paper. It was observed that the magnetization reversal of the dot was initiated by the rotation process of a nucleus with the volume of (17 nm)/sup 3/

Switching field and thermal stability of CoPt/Ru dot arrays with various thicknesses

The switching fields and thermal stability of CoPt/Ru dot arrays with various dot thickness delta (5-20 nm) were experimentally investigated as a function of the dot diameter, D, (130-300 nm). All dot arrays showed a single domain state, even after removal of an applied field equal to the remanence coercivity Hr. The angular dependence of Hr for the dot arrays indicated coherent rotation of the magnetization during nucleation. We estimated the values of the "intrinsic" remanence coercivity H0 obtained by subtracting the effect of thermal agitation on the magnetization and the stabilizing energy barrier to nucleation E0/(kBT). The variation in H0 as a function of delta and D was qualitatively in good agreement with that of the effective anisotropy field at the dot center Hk eff(r=0), calculated taking account of the demagnetizing field in the dots. The ratio of H 0 to Hk eff(r=0) for the dot arrays with delta=10 nm increased from 0.53 to 0.70 as D decreased from 300 to 140 nm, and no significant difference in the H0/Hk eff(r=0) ratio due to the difference in delta was observed. On the other hand, E0/(k BT) decreased as delta decreased. E0/(kBT) increased slightly as D decreased, but, was not so sensitive to D over the present D rang

Quantum Transport with Spin Dephasing: A Nonequilibrium Green's Function Approach

A quantum transport model incorporating spin scattering processes is presented using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism within the self-consistent Born approximation. This model offers a unified approach by capturing the spin-flip scattering and the quantum effects simultaneously. A numerical implementation of the model is illustrated for magnetic tunnel junction devices with embedded magnetic impurity layers. The results are compared with experimental data, revealing the underlying physics of the coherent and incoherent transport regimes. It is shown that small variations in magnetic impurity spin-states/concentrations could cause large deviations in junction magnetoresistances.Comment: NEGF Formalism, Spin Dephasing, Magnetic Tunnel Junctions, Magnetoresistanc

The first choristoderan record from the Upper Cretaceous of Asia, Tamagawa Formation, Kuji Group, Japan

Choristoderes are freshwater diapsid reptiles that are distributed through Laurasia in Jurassic–Miocene deposits. The group shows great diversity in the Early Cretaceous of Asia, with all recognized morphotypes recorded from that region. However, there is then a substantial gap in the Asian record until choristoderes are reported from the Paleocene of Kazakhstan. This gap has raised questions as to whether the group became extinct in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, with subsequent reinvasion from either North America or Europe. Here we report the discovery of vertebrae attributable to Choristodera indet. from the lower Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) of the Tamagawa Formation, Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. This is the first record of Choristodera from the Upper Cretaceous of Asia, and may imply that the group persisted in this region from the Jurassic to the Paleocene. The challenge for the future will be to recover a more complete record of Choristodera in the Upper Cretaceous of Asia

Influence of s-d interfacial scattering on the magnetoresistance of magnetic tunnel junctions

We propose the two-band s-d model to describe theoretically a diffuse regime of the spin-dependent electron transport in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ's) of the form F/O/F where F's are 3d transition metal ferromagnetic layers and O is the insulating spacer. We aim to explain the strong interface sensitivity of the tunneling properties of MTJ's and investigate the influence of electron scattering at the nonideal interfaces on the degradation of the TMR magnitude. The generalized Kubo formalism and the Green's functions method were used to calculate the conductance of the system. The vertex corrections to the conductivity were found with the use of "ladder" approximation combined with the coherent-potential approximation (CPA) that allowed to consider the case of strong electron scattering. It is shown that the Ward identity is satisfied in the framework of this approximation that provides the necessary condition for a conservation of a tunneling current. Based on the known results of ab-initio calculations of the TMR for ballistic junctions, we assume that exchange split quasi-free s-like electrons with the density of states being greater for the majority spin sub-band give the main contribution to the TMR effect. We show that, due to interfacial inter-band scattering, the TMR can be substantially reduced even down to zero value. This is related to the fact that delocalized quasi-free electrons can scatter into the strongly localized d sub-band with the density of states at the Fermi energy being larger for minority spins compared to majority spins. It is also shown that spin-flip electron scattering on the surface magnons within the interface leads to a further decrease of the TMR at finite temperature.Comment: REVTeX4, 20 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys.Rev.B; In Version 2 the text is substantially improved, the main results and conclusions left the sam