Magnetoelectric switching of exchange bias

The perpendicular exchange bias field, H(EB), of the magnetoelectric heterostructure Cr2O3(111)/(Co/Pt)(3) changes sign after field cooling to below the Néel temperature of Cr2O3 in either parallel or antiparallel axial magnetic and electric freezing fields. The switching of H(EB) is explained by magnetoelectrically induced antiferromagnetic single domains which extend to the interface, where the direction of their end spins controls the sign of H(EB). Novel applications in magnetoelectronic devices seem possible.     

Interfacial pinning in the superfluid 3He A-B transition in aerogel

Continuous-wave NMR studies of 3He in the presence of 99.3% porosity silica aerogel at 34.0 bars and in a magnetic field of 28.4 mT reveal a first-order phase transition between A-like and B-like superfluid phases on both warming and cooling. NMR spectra show that the phases on warming are the same as the phases on cooling, and the interface between them is found to be strongly pinned, even close to T(c,aero). The observed behavior is consistent with spatial variation of pinning strengths within the aerogel.     

Room temperature exchange bias in multiferroic BiFeO<Subscript>3</Subscript> nano- and microcrystals with antiferromagnetic core and two-dimensional diluted antiferromagnetic shell

Exchange bias (EB) of multiferroics presents many potential opportunities for magnetic devices. However, instead of using low-temperature field cooling in the hysteresis loop measurement, which usually shows an effective approach to obtain obvious EB phenomenon, there are few room temperature EB. In this article, extensive studies on room temperature EB without field cooling were observed in BiFeO₃ nano- and microcrystals. Moreover, with increasing size the hysteresis loops shift from horizontal negative exchange bias (NEB) to positive exchange bias (PEB). In order to explain the tunable EB behaviors with size dependence, a phenomenological qualitative model based on the framework of antiferromagnetic (AFM) core-two-dimensional diluted antiferromagnet in a field (2D-DAFF) shell structure was proposed. The training effect (TE) ascertained the validity of model and the presence of unstable magnetic structure using Binek’s model. Experimental results show that the tunable EB effect can be explained by the competition of ferromagnetic (FM) exchange coupling and AFM exchange coupling interaction between AFM core and 2D-DAFF shell. Additionally, the local distortion of lattice fringes was observed in hexagonal-shaped BiFeO₃ nanocrystals with well-dispersed behavior. The electrical conduction properties agreed well with the space charge-limited conduction mechanism.     

金属离子掺杂对CuO基纳米复合材料的交换偏置调控

为了研究反铁磁基体中掺杂的金属离子对交换偏置效应的影响, 本文采用非均相沉淀法制备了纳米复合材料. X射线衍射图(XRD)和场发射扫描电子显微镜(SEM) 照片清晰表明CuO纳米复合样品具有统一的颗粒尺寸, 约为80 nm. 通过体系中掺杂磁性金属离子Ni和Fe, 实现了亚铁磁MFe₂O₄ (M=Cu, Ni)晶粒镶嵌在反铁磁(AFM) CuO 基体中. 在CuO基体中加入少量的Ni能改变两相交界面的磁无序从而生成类自旋玻璃相, 相应提高对铁磁相磁矩的钉扎作用. 同时, 场冷过程中反铁磁相内形成磁畴, 冻结在原始状态或磁场方向上, 畴壁也起到钉扎铁磁自旋的作用, 进而提高交换偏置效应. 随后加入的Ni 会生成各向异性能较大的NiO, 也能够提高交换偏置场. 在带场冷却下, 所有样品均发生垂直交换偏置, 也证明了样品在场冷过程中形成了自旋玻璃相, 正是由于亚铁磁与自旋玻璃相界面上的磁交换耦合, 才导致回线在整个测量范围内发生了向上偏移. 零场冷却和场冷却(ZFC/FC)情况下磁化强度与温度变化曲线(M-T)说明在这些复合材料中的交换偏置效应是由于存在亚铁磁颗粒和类自旋玻璃相界面处的交换耦合作用. 研究发现随着持续掺杂Ni离子, 交换偏置场先缓慢增加后又急剧增加, 生成各向异性能高的反铁磁相NiO 和反铁磁相内的畴态组织是这一结果的原因.     

Antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling of (111)-oriented La_(0.67)Sr_(0.33)MnO_3/SrRuO_3 superlattices

We report a strong antiferromagnetic(AFM) interlayer coupling in ferromagnetic La_(0.67)Sr_(0.33)MnO_3/SrRuO_3(LSMO/SRO) superlattices grown on(111)-oriented SrTiO_3 substrate. Unlike the(001) superlattices for which the spin alignment between LSMO and SRO is antiparallel in the in-plane direction and parallel in the out-of-plane direction, the antiparallel alignment is observed along both the in-plane and out-of-plane directions in the present sample. The low temperature hysteresis loop demonstrates two-step magnetic processes, indicating the coexistence of magnetically soft and hard components. Moreover, an inverted hysteresis loop was observed. Exchange bias tuned by the temperature and cooling field was also investigated, and positive as well as negative exchange bias was observed at the same temperature with the variation of the cooling field. A very large exchange field(H_(EB)) was observed and both magnitude and sign of the H_(EB)depend on the cooling field, which can be attributed to an interplay of Zeeman energy and AFM coupling energy at the interfaces. The present work shows the great potential of tuning a spin texture through interfacial engineering for the complex oxides whose spin state is jointly determined by strongly competing mechanisms.     

Analysis of exchange bias effect of NiO+NiFe2O4 composites

Exchange bias (EB) and magnetic properties of ferrimagnetic (FI) NiFe₂O₄ and antiferromagnetic (AFM) NiO bulk composites, prepared by a chemical co-precipitation and post-thermal decomposition method from Fe-doped NiO matrix, have been investigated. Enhanced coercivities and shifted hysteresis loops are still observed for these samples after field cooling. But the vertical magnetization shifts are not observed. In comparison with the bulk samples, a NiO/10% NiFe₂O₄ nanocomposite was also prepared via direct mixture, in which both the horizontal and vertical shift in the hysteresis loops are observed at 10 K. The observed phenomena are explained in terms of interfacial exchange interaction between the two phases and the finite-size effect, respectively.     

Cooling-field dependence of exchange bias in Mg-diluted Ni1−xMgxO/Ni granular systems

The exchange-bias (EB) properties of Mg-diluted Ni_1−xMg_xO/Ni (0?x?0.3) granular systems have been investigated. Magnetic dilution with Mg greatly affects the EB field and the coercivity. The temperature dependence of the EB field and the coercivity can be explained in terms of formation of domain states. The value of the EB field increases and shows a maximum value with increasing cooling field, which can be explained by the competition between the field-dependent Zeeman energy and the exchange interaction at the interface.     

Spin chirality and electric polarization in multiferroic compounds (, Er)

Polarized neutron diffraction experiments have been performed on multiferroic materials RMn₂O₅ (R=Ho, Er) under electric fields in the ferroelectric commensurate (CM) and the low-temperature incommensurate (LT-ICM) phases, where the former has the highest electric polarization and the latter has reduced polarization. It is found that, after cooling in electric fields down to the CM phase, the magnetic chirality is proportional to the electric polarization. Also we confirmed that the magnetic chirality can be switched by the polarity of the electric polarization in both the CM and LT-ICM phases. These facts suggest an intimate coupling between the magnetic chirality and the electric polarization. However, upon the transition from the CM to LT-ICM phase, the reduction of the electric polarization is not accompanied by any reduction of the magnetic chirality, implying that the CM and LT-ICM phases contain different mechanisms of the magnetoelectric coupling.     

Effect of ion irradiation on magnetic property of exchange coupled interfacial structures of Fe/NiO and NiO/Fe on Si substrates

The role of defects on the magnetic behaviour of exchange coupled interfacial structures of Fe/NiO and NiO/Fe on Si substrates has been studied. For introduction of defects in the structures, swift (～ 100 MeV) heavy ion irradiation has been used, which is known to cause structural and microstructural modifications. In our earlier study [Srivastava, N; Srivastava, P.C. J. Appl. Phys. 2012, 111, 123909] on similar structures, the significant magnetic behaviour (of exchange bias (EB) and coercivity) for Fe/NiO/nSi interfacial structure was observed and discussed in the realm of interfacial structural modification in the antiferromagnetic layer of the structure. The irradiated interfacial structures have been characterized from X-ray diffraction and M–H characteristics. Structural investigation has shown the formation of various silicide and oxide phases due to the irradiation-induced interfacial intermixing. A significant enhancement in EB field and coercivity has been observed for Fe/NiO/nSi interfacial structure on the irradiation (as compared to unirradiated ones). The observed enhanced EB and coercivity on the irradiation has been understood due to the creation of domain wall pinning centres across the interface as a result of ion irradiation. Moreover, the present study confirms the role of defects in the antiferromagnetic layer to cause the significant change in EB and coercivity. The observation supports the domain state model of EB in the exchange-coupled structures.     

Exchange‐Biased Fe3−xO4‐CoO Granular Composites of Different Morphologies Prepared by Seed‐Mediated Growth in Polyol: From Core–Shell to Multicore Embedded Structures

Magnetically contrasted granular hetero‐nanostructures are prepared by seed‐mediated growth in polyol, properly combining two oxide phases with different magnetic order, ferrimagnetic (F) partially oxidized magnetite Fe_3−xO₄ and antiferromagnetic (AF) cobalt oxide. Spinel Fe_3−xO₄ nanoparticles are first synthesized and then used as seeds for rock salt CoO nanocrystals growth. Three different hetero‐nanostructure designs are realized, acting on the content ratio between the seeds and the deposit's precursors during the synthesis. For all of them, the spinel and the rock salt phases are confirmed by X‐ray diffraction and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy. Both phases are obtained in high‐crystalline quality with a net epitaxial relationship between the two crystallographic lattices. Mössbauer spectrometry confirms the cobalt cation diffusion into the spinel seeds, giving favorable chemical interfacing with the rock salt deposit, thus prevailing its heterogeneous nucleation and consequently offering the best condition for exchange‐bias (EB) onset. Magnetic measurements confirm EB features. The overall magnetic properties are found to be a complex interplay between dipolar interactions, exchange anisotropy at the F/AF interface, and magnetocrystalline anisotropy enhancement in the F phase, due to Co²⁺ diffusion into iron oxide's crystalline lattice. These results underline the powerfulness of colloidal chemistry for functional granular hetero‐nanostructured material processing.     

Relative-thickness dependence of exchange bias in bilayers and trilayers

We consider the models of ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers and trilayers and perform a modified Monte Carlo method to study their exchange bias (EB) properties at low temperature after field cooling on increasing one component thickness at the expense of the other one. The results indicate that EB is insensitive to the thickness variations as the FM layer is thicker than the AFM one. Otherwise, it has a steep increase with the decrease of FM thickness, but the purely inverse proportion is no longer valid due to the dual influences of FM and AFM thicknesses. EB in trilayers should be approximately twice larger than that in bilayers because there is a double interfacial area in the trilayers compared with the bilayers, but the dispersed FM/AFM distributions may break this relation as a result of thermal destabilization. Moreover, EB is independent of FM/AFM stacking sequences probably because of the ideal interface between them. It has been clarified unambiguously that such control of EB through varying the FM/AFM dimensions in heterostructures is attractive for spintronics applications.     

Growth and Properties of Ferromagnet-SemiconDuctor Hetero-Structures for Spin Injection

Molecular-beam epitaxial growth and interface formation is investigated and optimized for the material systems Fe-on-GaAs(001) and MnAs-on-GaAs(001), which represent model systems for the integration of magnetic materials with semiconductors and the investigation of spin injection. In view of interface reactions as a key problem for the first system and in order to optimize the surface morphology, the Fe films are grown at reduced temperature. For MnAs-on-GaAs, an abrupt interface with an anisotropic lattice-mismatch accommodation mechanism is observed, which explains the unexpected high quality of the films. It is shown that the phase transition between paramagnetic g MnAs and ferromagnetic f MnAs during cooling after growth plays an important role and leads, at appropriate conditions, to strain-mediated self-organized structures. Electrical injection of spin polarized electrons through the ferromagnet-semiconductor interfaces is observed by analyzing the electroluminescence signal of GaAs/(In, Ga)As light emitting diodes capped with Fe or MnAs.     

Heusler合金Mn50–xCrxNi42Sn8的相变、磁性与交换偏置效应

研究了Mn50–xCrxNi42Sn8 (x=0, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8)多晶样品的相变、磁性和交换偏置效应.结果表明,该系列合金在室温下都具有非调制的四方马氏体结构.马氏体逆相变温度随Cr含量增加而逐渐降低. 20 k Oe磁场下的M-T曲线表明,该系列合金的磁性比较弱.两相之间的磁性差最大为△M=7.61 emu/g.磁性的变化主要与Mn-Mn间距的变化以及Ni(A位)-Mn(D位)间杂化作用的强弱有关.在低温下,马氏体相的磁性随着Cr含量增加而增强.在500 Oe的外加磁场作用下,从室温冷却到5 K,在Mn50Ni42Sn8合金中观察到高达2624 Oe的交换偏置场.随着Cr含量的增加,交换偏置场逐渐减小.当Cr含量x=0.8时,随着冷却场的增加, 5 K时的交换偏置场先迅速增加然后逐渐减小.当冷却场为500 Oe时,交换偏置场最大.这主要归因于自旋玻璃态与反铁磁性区域的界面交换耦合作用的变化.     

On the possibility of using dark magneto-optical lattices to achieve Bose condensation of atoms

We show that in dark magneto-optical lattices, effects associated with the Bose statistics of atoms can be observed even at laser cooling temperatures (10⁻⁴–10⁻⁶ K), which exceed evaporative cooling temperatures in magnetic traps by several orders of magnitude. Quasicondensation occurs, i.e., the wave function is formed over the distances on which atoms are localized near the bottom of a separate potential well. In addition, switching off the magnetic field adiabatically reduces the temperature significantly, as a result of which Bose condensation in the entire volume of the gas can be observed. We propose a configuration of the light and magnetic fields in which the shape of the three-dimensional magneto-optical potential is independent of the phases of the emerging light waves. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 2056–2064 (June 1998)     

Response of colloidal liquids containing magnetic holes of different volume densities to magnetic field characterized by transmission measurement

This paper systematically investigates the response of colloidal liquids containing magnetic holes of different volume densities to magnetic field by conventional transmission measurements. It finds that the enhancement in the transmission of such a colloidal liquid under a magnetic field exhibits a strong dependence on the volume density of magnetic holes. A linear increase in the maximum enhancement factor is observed when the volume density of magnetic holes is below a critical level at which a maximum enhancement factor of ～150 is achieved in the near infrared region. Once the volume density of magnetic holes exceeds the critical level, a sharp drop of the maximum enhancement factor to ～2 is observed. After that, the maximum enhancement factor increases gradually till a large volume density of ～9%. By monitoring the arrangement of magnetic holes under a magnetic field, it reveals that the colloidal liquids can be classified into three different phases, i.e., the gas-like, liquid-like and solid-like phases, depending on the volume density of magnetic holes. The response behaviour of colloidal liquids to magnetic field is determined by the interaction between magnetic holes which is governed mainly by their volume density. A phase transition, which is manifested in the dramatic reduction in the maximum enhancement factor, is clearly observed between the liquid-like and solid-like phases. The optical switching operations for colloidal liquids in different phases are compared and the underlying physical mechanisms are discussed.     

Asymmetrical phase separation in Nd0.25La0.25Ca0.5MnO3

The highly metastable region across the metal-insulator transition in Nd_0.25La_0.25Ca_0.5MnO₃ is probed by transport and magnetic measurements. The metal-insulator transition observed around 130 K is associated with large thermal hysteresis between temperatures 50-150 K. Observation of minor hysteresis loops across the region indicates coexistence of both metallic and insulating phases. The field-cooled heating and the zero-field-cooled heating susceptibilities deviate from each other from 205 K, signifying thermo-magnetic irreversibility arising from magnetic pinning and/or glassy magnetic behaviour. The magnetoresistance measured on the heating and cooling loops are found to be different in magnitude and nature. The cooling-cycle magnetoresistance was found to be highly irreversible with an open-ended hysteresis loop. We also observe change in the nature of the magnetic relaxation data on the heating and cooling protocols. This indicate strong thermal history dependence of magneto-transport behaviour in the present compound.     

Tunable exchange bias in La1.5Sr0.5CoMnO6 double perovskite doped with nonmagnetic Ga ions

The crystal structure, electronic structure, and magnetic behaviors of nonmagnetic Ga ions doped double perovskite La_1.5Sr_0.5CoMnO₆ single phase crystals have been investigated. Different from the traditional magnetic dilution effect of nonmagnetic doping, Ga doping in La_1.5Sr_0.5CoMnO₆ enhances the ferromagnetic (FM) exchange interaction of Co³⁺-O-Mn³⁺. Moreover, both conventional and spontaneous exchange bias (EB) effects can be tuned by modulating the Ga doping content, which is accompanied by the variation of the Co^3+/4+ and Mn^3+/4+ and the effective magnetic moment. The EB field and magnetization can be improved by nonmagnetic Ga³⁺ doping with content lower than 0.2. The evolution of conventional and spontaneous EB effects in La_1.5Sr_0.5Co_1-xGa_xMnO₆ can be understood in terms of the unidirectional interface anisotropic coupling between FM/anti-FM, and/or FM/spin glass, which is affected by antisite disorder, spin glass, and the uncompensated coupling between Co and Mn.     

Interface induced exchange bias effect in La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/SrIrO3 multilayer

Epitaxial superlattices of ferromagnetic/paramagnetic La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃/SrIrO₃ materials have been prepared on SrTiO₃ (100) substrate using pulse laser deposition technique. An unexpected onset of interface magnetic interaction has been observed around 40 K. Interestingly, magnetic exchange bias effect has been observed in both field cooled and zero field cooled magnetization loops, however, the shifting of loop is opposite in both measurements. Exchange bias field vanishes as temperature increases to interface magnetic ordering temperature. Moreover, exchange bias field is found to decrease with increasing cooling field. We believe that tuning of magnetic exchange at interface during field cooling induces this evolution in nature of exchange bias field.     

The effect of magnetic fields on the stability of a cylindrical flow with mass and heat transfer

The effect of axial and radial magnetic fields on the Kelvin-Helmholtz stability of a cylindrical interface between the vapor and liquid phases of a fluid is studied when the vapor is hotter than the liquid and the two phases are enclosed between two cylindrical surfaces coaxial with the interface, and when there is mass and heat transfer across the interface. Both axisymmetric and asymmetric disturbances are considered. The linear dispersion relations are obtained and discussed. It is found that a uniform axial magnetic field has a stabilizing effect on the interface, while the effect of a radial magnetic field depends strongly on the choice of some physical parameters of the system. It is also found that the instability criterion is independent of heat and mass transfer coefficient, but it is different fromthat in the same problem without heat and mass transfer. Finally, the heat and mass transfer has a destabilizing influence on the system.     

A nonlinear response of the BiSrCaCuO single crystal in the microwave region

Third-harmonic microwave radiation of the BiSrCaCuO superconducting single crystal was studied. Two modes of microwave field-sample interactions were observed. In a weak field, a strong increase in the intensity of radiation after switching on a constant magnetic field, a hysteresis between opposite scan directions, and different harmonic amplitudes depending on the conditions of cooling (in the presence or absence of a magnetic field) were observed. These observations can be described by the generalized Ginzburg-Landau functional taking into account higher spatial derivatives of the order parameter. At a high intensity of incident waves, a magnetic field almost did not influence third-harmonic radiation, and, accordingly, hysteresis was absent. This is likely to be evidence that, at high powers, third-harmonic radiation arises as a result of generation of vortices under the action of a high-frequency magnetic field.