Giant Tunneling Magnetoresistance, Glassiness, and the Energy Landscape at Nanoscale Cluster Coexistence

We present microscopic results on the giant tunneling magnetoresistance that arises from the nanoscale coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic (FMM) and antiferromagnetic insulating (AFI) clusters in a disordered two dimensional electron system with competing double exchange and superexchange interactions. Our Monte Carlo study allows us to map out the different field regimes in magnetotransport and correlate it with the evolution of spatial structures. At coexistence, the isotropic O(3) model shows signs of slow relaxation, and has a high density of low energy metastable states, but no genuine glassiness. However, in the presence of weak magnetic anisotropy, and below a field dependent irreversibility temperature $T_{irr}$, the response on field cooling (FC) differs distinctly from that on zero field cooling (ZFC). We map out the phase diagram of this `phase coexistence glass', highlight how its response differs from that of a standard spin glass, and compare our results with data on the manganites.Comment: Final published versio

Wear of SLS Materials under Plastic and Elastic Contact Conditions

Sliding wear behaviour of two SLS materials: LaserForm and DirectSteel has been investigated using Fretting tests, Pin-on-disc tests and microfretting tests. Wear test conditions were determined by calculating Hertzian pressure for various loading conditions, and wear tests were performed under both plastic and elastic contact conditions. Wear analysis was subsequently done to find out the wear resistance of materials. The wear volumes are presented against applied loads and dissipated energies. It has been found out that LaserForm is better than DirectSteel and there is no clear relation between hardness and wear resistance of materials.Mechanical Engineerin

Can re-entrance be observed in force induced transitions?

A large conformational change in the reaction co-ordinate and the role of the solvent in the formation of base-pairing are combined to settle a long standing issue {\it i.e.} prediction of re-entrance in the force induced transition of DNA. A direct way to observe the re-entrance, i.e a strand goes to the closed state from the open state and again to the open state with temperature, appears difficult to be achieved in the laboratory. An experimental protocol (in direct way) in the constant force ensemble is being proposed for the first time that will enable the observation of the re-entrance behavior in the force-temperature plane. Our exact results for small oligonucleotide that forms a hairpin structure provide the evidence that re-entrance can be observed.Comment: 12 pages and 5 figures (RevTex4). Accepted in Europhys Lett. (2009

The Contribution of Hot Electron Spin Polarization to the Magnetotransport in a Spin-Valve Transistor at Finite Temperatures

The effect of spin mixing due to thermal spin waves and temperature dependence of hot electron spin polarization to the collector current in a spin-valve transistor has been theoretically explored. We calculate the collector current as well as the temperature dependence of magnetocurrent at finite temperatures to investigate the relative importance of spin mixing and hot electron spin polarization. In this study the inelastic scattering events in ferromagnetic layers have been taken into account to explore our interests. The theoretical calculations suggest that the temperature dependence of hot electron spin polarization has substantial contribution to the magnetotransport in the spin-valve transistor.Comment: 8 pages and 6 figure