729 research outputs found
Noncollinear magnetic order in quasicrystals
Based on Monte-Carlo simulations, the stable magnetization configurations of
an antiferromagnet on a quasiperiodic tiling are derived theoretically. The
exchange coupling is assumed to decrease exponentially with the distance
between magnetic moments. It is demonstrated that the superposition of
geometric frustration with the quasiperiodic ordering leads to a
three-dimensional noncollinear antiferromagnetic spin structure. The structure
can be divided into several ordered interpenetrating magnetic supertilings of
different energy and characteristic wave vector. The number and the symmetry of
subtilings depend on the quasiperiodic ordering of atoms.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 5 low-resolution color figures (due to size
restrictions); to appear in Physical Review Letter
Superconductivity of lanthanum revisited: enhanced critical temperature in the clean limit
The thickness dependence of the superconducting energy gap
of double hexagonally close packed (dhcp) lanthanum islands grown on W(110) is
studied by scanning tunneling spectroscopy, from the bulk to the thin film
limit. Superconductivity is suppressed by the boundary conditions for the
superconducting wavefunction at the surface and W/La interface, leading to a
linear decrease of the critical temperature as a function of the inverse
film thickness. For thick, bulk-like films, and are
40% larger as compared to literature values of dhcp La measured by other
techniques. This finding is reconciled by examining the effects of surface
contamination as probed by modifications of the surface state, suggesting that
the large originates in the superior purity of the samples investigated
here.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Evidence for Induced Magnetization in Superconductor-Ferromagnet Hetero-structures: a Scanning Tunnelling Spectroscopy Study
We performed scanning tunneling spectroscopy of c-axis oriented YBCO films on
top of which ferromagnetic SRO islands were grown epitaxially in-situ. When
measured on the ferromagnetic islands, the density of states exhibits small
gap-like features consistent with the expected short range penetration of the
order parameter into the ferromagnet. However, anomalous split-gap structures
are measured on the superconductor in the vicinity of ferromagnetic islands.
This observation may provide evidence for the recently predicted induced
magnetization in the superconductor side of a superconductor/ ferromagnet
junction. The length scale of the effect inside the superconductor was found to
be an order of magnitude larger than the superconducting coherence length. This
is inconsistent with the theoretical prediction of a penetration depth of only
a few superconducting coherence lengths. We discuss a possible origin for this
discrepancy
Magnetic properties of substitutional Mn in (110) GaAs surface and subsurface layers
Motivated by recent STM experiments, we present a theoretical study of the
electronic and magnetic properties of the Mn-induced acceptor level obtained by
substituting a single Ga atom in the (110) surface layer of GaAs or in one of
the atoms layers below the surface. We employ a kinetic-exchange tight-binding
model in which the relaxation of the (110) surface is taken into account. The
acceptor wave function is strongly anisotropic in space and its detailed
features depend on the depth of the sublayer in which the Mn atom is located.
The local-density-of-states (LDOS) on the (110) surface associated with the
acceptor level is more sensitive to the direction of the Mn magnetic moment
when the Mn atom is located further below the surface. We show that the total
magnetic anisotropy energy of the system is due almost entirely to the
dependence of the acceptor level energy on Mn spin orientation, and that this
quantity is strongly dependent on the depth of the Mn atom.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
Interplay between magnetic and spatial order in quasicrystals
The stable magnetization configurations of antiferromagnets on quasiperiodic tilings are investigated theoretically. The exchange coupling is assumed to decrease exponentially with the distance between magnetic moments. It is demonstrated that the combination of geometric frustration and the quasiperiodic order of atoms leads to complicated non-collinear ground states. The structure can be divided into subtilings of different energies. The symmetry of the subtilings depends on the quasiperiodic order of magnetic moments. The subtilings are spatially ordered. However, the magnetic ordering of the subtilings in general does not correspond to their spatial arrangements. While subtilings of low energy are magnetically ordered, those of high energy can be completely disordered due to local magnetic frustration
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