Effect of temperature-dependent shape anisotropy on coercivity with aligned Stoner-Wohlfarth soft ferromagnets

The temperature variation effect of shape anisotropy on the coercivity, HC(T), for the aligned Stoner-Wohlfarth (SW) soft ferromagnets, such as fcc Ni, fcc Co and bcc Fe, are investigated within the framework of Neel-Brown (N-B) analysis. An extended N-B equation is thus proposed,by introducing a single dimensionless correction function, the reduced magnetization, m(\tao) = MS(T)/MS(0), in which \tao = T/TC is the reduced temperature, MS(T) is the saturation magnetization, and TC is the Curie temperature. The factor, m(\tao), accounts for the temperature-dependent effect of the shape anisotropy. The constants, H0 and E0, are for the switching field at zero temperature and the potential barrier at zero field, respectively. According to this newly derived equation, the blocking temperature above which the properties of superparamagnetism show up is described by the expression, TB = E0m^2(\tao)/[kBln(t/t0)], with the extra correction factor m^2(\tao). The possible effect on HC(T) and the blocking temperature, TB, attributed to the downshift of TC resulting from the finite size effect has been discussed also.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, Accepted by Phys. Rev.

Spherical magnetic nanoparticles: magnetic structure and interparticle interaction

The interaction between spherical magnetic nanoparticles is investigated from micromagnetic simulations and ananlysed in terms of the leading dipolar interaction energy between magnetic dipoles. We focus mainly on the case where the particles present a vortex structure. In a first step the local magnetic structure in the isolated particle is revisited. For particles bearing a uniaxial magnetocrystaline anisotropy, it is shown that the vortex core orientation relative to the easy axis depends on both the particle size and the anisotropy constant. When the particles magnetization present a vortex structure, it is shown that the polarization of the particles by the dipolar field of the other one must be taken into account in the interaction. An analytic form is deduced for the interaction which involves the vortex core magnetization and the magnetic susceptibility which are obtained from the magnetic properties of the isolated particle.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures Published in Journal of Applied Physics. To be found at: http://link.aip.org/link/?jap/105/07391

Theory of the spin-torque-driven ferromagnetic resonance in a ferromagnet/normal-metal/ferromagnet structure

We present a theoretical analysis of current driven ferromagnetic resonance in a ferromagnet/normal-metal/ferromagnet tri-layer. This method of driving ferromagnetic resonance was recently realized experimentally by Tulapurkar et al. [Nature 438, 339 (2005)] and Sankey et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 227601 (2006)]. The precessing magnetization rectifies the alternating current applied to drive the ferromagnetic resonance and leads to the generation of a dc voltage. Our analysis shows that a second mechanism to generate a dc voltage, rectification of spin currents emitted by the precessing magnetization, has a contribution to the dc voltage that is of approximately equal size for the thin ferromagnetic films used in the experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, final version. Changed title, updated references, added discussions in section I

Molecular evidence for zoonotic transmission of Giardia duodenalis among dairy farm workers in West Bengal, India

No study in the past has examined the genetic diversity and zoonotic potential of Giardia duodenalis in dairy cattle in India. To assess the importance of these animals as a source of human G. duodenalis infections and determine the epidemiology of bovine giardiasis in India, fecal samples from 180 calves, heifers and adults and 51 dairy farm workers on two dairy farms in West Bengal, India were genotyped by PCR-RFLP analysis of the β-giardin gene of G. duodenalis followed by DNA sequencing of the nested PCR products. The overall prevalence of G. duodenalis in cattle was 12.2% (22/180), the infection being more prevalent in younger calves than in adult cattle. Zoonotic G. duodenalis Assemblage A1 was identified in both calves and workers although the most prevalent genotype detected in cattle was a novel Assemblage E subgenotype. These findings clearly suggest that there is a potential risk of zoonotic transmission of G. duodenalis infections between cattle and humans on dairy farms in India

Field Tuning of Ferromagnetic Domain Walls on Elastically Coupled Ferroelectric Domain Boundaries

We report on the evolution of ferromagnetic domain walls during magnetization reversal in elastically coupled ferromagnetic-ferroelectric heterostructures. Using optical polarization microscopy and micromagnetic simulations, we demonstrate that the spin rotation and width of ferromagnetic domain walls can be accurately controlled by the strength of the applied magnetic field if the ferromagnetic walls are pinned onto 90 degrees ferroelectric domain boundaries. Moreover, reversible switching between magnetically charged and uncharged domain walls is initiated by magnetic field rotation. Switching between both wall types reverses the wall chirality and abruptly changes the width of the ferromagnetic domain walls by up to 1000%.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Experimental observation of an enhanced anisotropic magnetoresistance in non-local configuration

We compare non-local magnetoresistance measurements in multi-terminal Ni nanostructures with corresponding local experiments. In both configurations, the measured voltages show the characteristic features of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). However, the magnitude of the non-local AMR signal is up to one order of magnitude larger than its local counterpart. Moreover, the non-local AMR increases with increasing degree of non-locality, i.e., with the separation between the region of the main current flow and the voltage measurement region. All experimental observations can be consistently modeled in terms of current spreading in a non-isotropic conductor. Our results show that current spreading can significantly enhance the magnetoresistance signal in non-local experiments

Fast magnetization switching of Stoner particles: A nonlinear dynamics picture

The magnetization reversal of Stoner particles is investigated from the point of view of nonlinear dynamics within the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert formulation. The following results are obtained. 1) We clarify that the so-called Stoner-Wohlfarth (SW) limit becomes exact when damping constant is infinitely large. Under the limit, the magnetization moves along the steepest energy descent path. The minimal switching field is the one at which there is only one stable fixed point in the system. 2) For a given magnetic anisotropy, there is a critical value for the damping constant, above which the minimal switching field is the same as that of the SW-limit. 3) We illustrate how fixed points and their basins change under a field along different directions. This change explains well why a non-parallel field gives a smaller minimal switching field and a short switching time. 4) The field of a ballistic magnetization reversal should be along certain direction window in the presence of energy dissipation. The width of the window depends on both of the damping constant and the magnetic anisotropy. The upper and lower bounds of the direction window increase with the damping constant. The window width oscillates with the damping constant for a given magnetic anisotropy. It is zero for both zero and infinite damping. Thus, the perpendicular field configuration widely employed in the current experiments is not the best one since the damping constant in a real system is far from zero.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. submitted to PR

Magnetic transitions and magnetodielectric effect in the antiferromagnet SrNdFeO4_4

We investigated the magnetic phase diagram of single crystals of SrNdFeO$_{4}$ by measuring the magnetic properties, the specific heat and the dielectric permittivity. The system has two magnetically active ions, Fe$^{3+}$ and Nd$^{3+}$. The Fe$^{3+}$ spins are antiferromagnetically ordered below 360 K with the moments lying in the ab-plane, and undergo a reorientation transition at about 35-37 K to an antiferromagnetic order with the moments along the c-axis. A short-range, antiferromagnetic ordering of Nd$^{3+}$ along the c-axis was attributed to the reorientation of Fe$^{3+}$ followed by a long-range ordering at lower temperature [S. Oyama {\it et al.} J. Phys.: Condens. Matter. {\bf 16}, 1823 (2004)]. At low temperatures and magnetic fields above 8 T, the Nd$^{3+}$ moments are completely spin-polarized. The dielectric permittivity also shows anomalies associated with spin configuration changes, indicating that this compound has considerable coupling between spin and lattice. A possible magnetic structure is proposed to explain the results.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR

Andreev reflection at half-metal-superconductor interfaces with non-uniform magnetization

Andreev reflection at the interface between a half-metallic ferromagnet and a spin-singlet superconductor is possible only if it is accompanied by a spin flip. Here we calculate the Andreev reflection amplitudes for the case that the spin flip originates from a spatially non-uniform magnetization direction in the half metal. We calculate both the microscopic Andreev reflection amplitude for a single reflection event and an effective Andreev reflection amplitude describing the effect of multiple Andreev reflections in a ballistic thin film geometry. It is shown that the angle and energy dependence of the Andreev reflection amplitude strongly depends on the orientation of the gradient of the magnetization with respect to the interface. Establishing a connection between the scattering approach employed here and earlier work that employs the quasiclassical formalism, we connect the symmetry properties of the Andreev reflection amplitudes to the symmetry properties of the anomalous Green function in the half metal.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Lattice-mismatch-induced granularity in CoPt-NbN and NbN-CoPt superconductor-ferromagnet heterostructures: Effect of strain

The effect of strain due to lattice mismatch and of ferromagnetic (FM) exchange field on superconductivity (SC) in NbN-CoPt bilayers is investigated. Two different bilayer systems with reversed deposition sequence are grown on MgO (001) single crystals. While robust superconductivity with high critical temperature (T_c ~ 15.3 K) and narrow transition width DelT_c ~ 0.4 K) is seen in two types of CoPt-NbN/MgO heterostructures where the magnetic anisotropy of CoPt is in-plane in one case and out-of-plane in the other, the NbN-CoPt/MgO system shows markedly suppressed SC response. The reduced SC order parameter of this system, which manifests itself in Tc, temperature dependence of critical current density J_c (T), and angular (Phi) variation of flux-flow resistivity Rho_f is shown to be a signature of the structure of NbN film and not a result of the exchange field of CoPt. The Rho_f (H,T,Phi) data further suggest that the domain walls in the CoPt film are of the Neel type and hence do not cause any flux in the superconducting layer. A small, but distinct increase in the low-field critical current of the CoPt-NbN couple is seen when the magnetic layer has perpendicular anisotropy.Comment: 9 figure