9,572 research outputs found
Direct observation of superconducting vortex clusters pinned by a periodic array of magnetic dots in ferromagnetic/superconducting hybrid structures
Strong pinning of superconducting flux quanta by a square array of 1
m-sized ferromagnetic dots in a magnetic-vortex state was visualized by
low-temperature magnetic force microscopy (LT-MFM). A direct correlation of the
superconducting flux lines with the positions of the dots was derived. The
force that the MFM tip exerts on the individual vortex in the depinning process
was used to estimate the spatial modulation of the pinning potential. It was
found, that the superconducting vortices which are preferably located on top of
the Py dots experience about 15 times stronger pinning forces as compared to
the pinning force in the pure Nb film. The strong pinning exceeds the repulsive
interaction between the superconducting vortices and allows the vortex clusters
to be located at each dot. Our microscopic studies are consistent with global
magnetoresistace measurements on these hybrid structures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Domain structure of epitaxial Co films with perpendicular anisotropy
Epitaxial hcp Cobalt films with pronounced c-axis texture have been prepared
by pulsed lased deposition (PLD) either directly onto Al2O3 (0001) single
crystal substrates or with an intermediate Ruthenium buffer layer. The crystal
structure and epitaxial growth relation was studied by XRD, pole figure
measurements and reciprocal space mapping. Detailed VSM analysis shows that the
perpendicular anisotropy of these highly textured Co films reaches the
magnetocrystalline anisotropy of hcp-Co single crystal material. Films were
prepared with thickness t of 20 nm < t < 100 nm to study the crossover from
in-plane magnetization to out-of-plane magnetization in detail. The analysis of
the periodic domain pattern observed by magnetic force microscopy allows to
determine the critical minimum thickness below which the domains adopt a pure
in-plane orientation. Above the critical thickness the width of the stripe
domains is evaluated as a function of the film thickness and compared with
domain theory. Especially the discrepancies at smallest film thicknesses show
that the system is in an intermediate state between in-plane and out-of-plane
domains, which is not described by existing analytical domain models
Exhaustion of Nucleation in a Closed System
We determine the distribution of cluster sizes that emerges from an initial
phase of homogeneous aggregation with conserved total particle density. The
physical ingredients behind the predictions are essentially classical:
Super-critical nuclei are created at the Zeldovich rate, and before the
depletion of monomers is significant, the characteristic cluster size is so
large that the clusters undergo diffusion limited growth. Mathematically, the
distribution of cluster sizes satisfies an advection PDE in "size-space".
During this creation phase, clusters are nucleated and then grow to a size much
larger than the critical size, so nucleation of super-critical clusters at the
Zeldovich rate is represented by an effective boundary condition at zero size.
The advection PDE subject to the effective boundary condition constitutes a
"creation signaling problem" for the evolving distribution of cluster sizes
during the creation era.
Dominant balance arguments applied to the advection signaling problem show
that the characteristic time and cluster size of the creation era are
exponentially large in the initial free-energy barrier against nucleation, G_*.
Specifically, the characteristic time is proportional to exp(2 G_*/ 5 k_B T)
and the characteristic number of monomers in a cluster is proportional to
exp(3G_*/5 k_B T). The exponentially large characteristic time and cluster size
give a-posteriori validation of the mathematical signaling problem. In a short
note, Marchenko obtained these exponentials and the numerical pre-factors, 2/5
and 3/5. Our work adds the actual solution of the kinetic model implied by
these scalings, and the basis for connection to subsequent stages of the
aggregation process after the creation era.Comment: Greatly shortened paper. Section on growth model removed. Added a
section analyzing the error in the solution of the integral equation. Added
reference
Monopolelike probes for quantitative magnetic force microscopy: calibration and application
A local magnetization measurement was performed with a Magnetic Force
Microscope (MFM) to determine magnetization in domains of an exchange coupled
[Co/Pt]/Co/Ru multilayer with predominant perpendicular anisotropy. The
quantitative MFM measurements were conducted with an iron filled carbon
nanotube tip, which is shown to behave like a monopole. As a result we
determined an additional in-plane magnetization component of the multilayer,
which is explained by estimating the effective permeability of the sample
within the \mu*-method.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Quantitative assessment of pinning forces and the superconducting gap in NbN thin films from complementary magnetic force microscopy and transport measurements
Epitaxial niobium-nitride thin films with a critical temperature of Tc=16K
and a thickness of 100nm were fabricated on MgO(100) substrates by pulsed laser
deposition. Low-temperature magnetic force microscopy (MFM) images of the
supercurrent vortices were measured after field cooling in a magnetic field of
3mT at various temperatures. Temperature dependence of the penetration depth
has been evaluated by a two-dimensional fitting of the vortex profiles in the
monopole-monopole model. Its subsequent fit to a single s-wave gap function
results in the superconducting gap amplitude Delta(0) = 2.9 meV = 2.1*kB*Tc, in
perfect agreement with previous reports. The pinning force has been
independently estimated from local depinning of individual vortices by lateral
forces exerted by the MFM tip and from transport measurements. A good
quantitative agreement between the two techniques shows that for low fields, B
<< Hc2, MFM is a powerful and reliable technique to probe the local variations
of the pinning landscape. We also demonstrate that the monopole model can be
successfully applied even for thin films with a thickness comparable to the
penetration depth.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, 2 table
Igniting homogeneous nucleation
Transient homogeneous nucleation is studied in the limit of large critical
sizes. Starting from pure monomers, three eras of transient nucleation are
characterized in the classic Becker-D\"oring kinetic equations with two
different models of discrete diffusivity: the classic Turnbull-Fisher formula
and an expression describing thermally driven growth of the nucleus. The latter
diffusivity yields time lags for nucleation which are much closer to values
measured in experiments with disilicate glasses. After an initial stage in
which the number of monomers decreases, many clusters of small size are
produced and a continuous size distribution is created. During the second era,
nucleii are increasing steadily in size in such a way that their distribution
appears as a wave front advancing towards the critical size for steady
nucleation. The nucleation rate at critical size is negligible during this era.
After the wave front reaches critical size, it ignites the creation of
supercritical clusters at a rate that increases monotonically until its steady
value is reached. Analytical formulas for the transient nucleation rate and the
time lag are obtained that improve classical ones and compare very well with
direct numerical solutions.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Rigorous mean field model for CPA: Anderson model with free random variables
A model of a randomly disordered system with site-diagonal random energy
fluctuations is introduced. It is an extension of Wegner's -orbital model to
arbitrary eigenvalue distribution in the electronic level space. The new
feature is that the random energy values are not assumed to be independent at
different sites but free. Freeness of random variables is an analogue of the
concept of independence for non-commuting random operators. A possible
realization is the ensemble of at different lattice-sites randomly rotated
matrices. The one- and two-particle Green functions of the proposed hamiltonian
are calculated exactly. The eigenstates are extended and the conductivity is
nonvanishing everywhere inside the band. The long-range behaviour and the
zero-frequency limit of the two-particle Green function are universal with
respect to the eigenvalue distribution in the electronic level space. The
solutions solve the CPA-equation for the one- and two-particle Green function
of the corresponding Anderson model. Thus our (multi-site) model is a rigorous
mean field model for the (single-site) CPA. We show how the Llyod model is
included in our model and treat various kinds of noises.Comment: 24 pages, 2 diagrams, Rev-Tex. Diagrams are available from the
authors upon reques
Dynamic and static deuterium inventory in ASDEX Upgrade with tungsten first wall
Hydrogen retention in the divertor tokamak ASDEX Upgrade is studied by surface analysis and gas balances methods. Comparing carbon and tung-sten plasma facing components (PFCs), the deuterium content of deposits at the divertor plates has dropped by a factor of 13. With tungsten PFCs only 0.7 % of the puffed hydrogen is retained, including a significant amount deep implanted in the tungsten coatings at the outer divertor. Gas balances for ITER relevant high density H-mode discharges leads to a hydrogen reten-tion averaged over a discharge of 8.2±3.3 % for tungsten PFCs and 23±7% for carbon PFCs. For tungsten PFCs wall saturation is observed, i.e. only 1.5 ± 3.5 % of the puffed gas is retained after reaching steady state condi-tions. Within the accuracy of the gas balance measurements all hydrogen outgasses within 15 min
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