Fine grain growth of nickel electrodeposit: effect of applied magnetic field during deposition

The electrodeposition of nickel from a nickel sulphamate bath in the presence of a magnetic field applied at an angle of 45° to the cathode surface produces a nickel deposit with a fine grain structure. The sizes of grains vary from 17 to 25 nm. We have used scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to characterize the surface morphology of the deposit. The SEM pictures show the formation of domain growth of nickel in which the nickel nanoparticles are mostly concentrated at domain boundaries while STM and XRD analysis show the existence of individual nanoparticles. From the chronopotentiometry studies during magnetoelectrolysis of nickel, we find a significant lowering of overpotential with time and large negative shift in electrode potential in the presence of a magnetic field. We believe from these results that magnetic field induced convection increases the mass transfer rate, reduces the concentration polarisation and leads to the growth of fine grain deposit. The large shift in electrode potential on the application of magnetic field is attributed to the field-induced shift in chemical potential of the ferromagnetic nickel electrode. We have used cyclic voltammetry (CV) to determine the roughness factor and steady state current-potential plots to study the hydrogen evolution reaction on the nickel-electrodeposited surface.     

Aggregation of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic atoms at edges of graphenes and graphite

In this work we report that when ferromagnetic metals (Fe,Co and Ni) are thermally evaporated onto n-layer graphenes and graphite,a metal nanowire and adjacent nanogaps can be found along the edges regardless of its zigzag or armchair structure.Similar features can also be observed for paramagnetic metals,such as Mn,Al and Pd.Meanwhile,metal nanowires and adjacent nanogaps cannot be found for diamagnetic metals (Au and Ag).An external magnetic field during the evaporation of metals can make these unique features disappear for ferromagnetic and paramagnetic metal;and the morphologies of diamagnetic metal do not change after the application of an external magnetic field.We discuss the possible reasons for these novel and interesting results,which include possible one-dimensional ferromagnets along the edge and edge-related binding energy.     

Conductance through atomic contacts created by scanning tunneling microscopy

We investigate conductance through contacts created by pressing a hard tip, as used in scanning tunneling microscopy, against substrates. Two different substrates are considered, one a normal metal (Cu) and another a semi-metal (graphite). Our study involves the molecular dynamics simulations for the atomic structure during the growth of the contact, and selfconsistent field electronic structure calculations of deformed bodies. We develop a theory predicting the conductance variations as the tip approaches the surface. We offer an explanation for a quasiperiodic variation of conductance of the contact on the graphite surface, a behavior which is dramatically different from contacts on normal metals.     

High-resolution magnetic imaging by local tunneling magnetoresistance

We give an overview over our recent efforts of high-resolution magnetic imaging using scanning tunneling microscopy with a ferromagnetic tip. Magnetic sensitivity is obtained on the basis of local tunneling magnetoresistance between a soft magnetic tip and the sample. The magnetisation of the tip is switched periodically with a small coil, leading to variations of the tunneling current due to the tunneling magnetoresistance effect. These variations are detected with a lock-in amplifier to separate spin-dependent parts from the topographic parts of the tunneling current such that the topography and the magnetic structure of the sample can be recorded simultaneously. Crucial for this method is to avoid mechanical vibrations of the tip, that may also lead to variations in the tunneling current. Exemplary studies of polycrystalline Ni and the closure domain pattern of Co(0001) are presented, showing high contrast at acquisition times as low as 3 ms/pixel and a lateral resolution of the order of 1 nm. Further it is demonstrated that besides topography and magnetisation, also local information about the magnetic susceptibility can be obtained. Received: 28 April 2000 / Accepted: 15 May 2000 / Published online: 7 March 2001     

Structural change of radiation defects in graphite crystals induced by STM probing

It was found that STM (scanning tunneling microscopy) images of defects in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite introduced by bombardment of 400 eV Ar⁺ ions in ultra-high vacuum exhibit substantial changes in the course of STM probing. Detailed examination of abrupt changes in the tunneling current measured at defect sites during voltage scans shows that the primary cause of the defect-image change was found to be neither the injected current nor the injected power but the absolute value of the voltage applied between the probe tip and the sample. We propose that an electric polarization induced force attracting the sample surface toward the probe tip widens the layer spacing of the graphite surface, leading to an acceleration of the lateral diffusion of interstitial atoms introduced by the ion irradiation, which results in a change in the defect structures and the accompanying electronic structures sensible in the STMimaging. Received: 14 June 2001 / Accepted: 7 September 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Local observation of reverse-domain superconductivity in a superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid

Nanoscale magnetic and superconducting properties of the superconductor-ferromagnet Nb/PbFe12O19 hybrid were studied as a function of applied magnetic fields. Low-temperature scanning laser microscopy (LTSLM) together with transport measurements were carried out in order to reveal local variations of superconductivity induced by the magnetic field template produced by the ferromagnetic substrate. Room temperature magnetic force microscopy (MFM) was performed and magnetization curves were taken at room and low temperature to investigate the magnetic properties of the hybrid. Comparative analysis of the LTSLM and the MFM images has convincingly demonstrated the presence of the reverse-domain superconductivity.     

Upper bound for the magnetic force gradient in graphite

In this work we investigate possible ferromagnetic order on the graphite surface by using magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Our data show that the tip-sample interaction along the steps is independent of an external magnetic field. Moreover, by combining kelvin probe force microscopy and MFM, we are able to separate the electrostatic and magnetic interactions along the steps obtaining an upper bound for the magnetic force gradient of 16 μN/m. Our experiments suggest the absence of ferromagnetic signal in graphite at room temperature.     

扫描探针显微学在材料表面纳米级结构研究中的新进展

应用扫描探针显微技术（ＳＰＭ）「包括扫描隧道显微镜（ＳＴＭ）、原子力显微镜（ＡＦＭ）、磁力显微镜（ＭＦＭ）等」,比较系统地研究了一些无机、有机和生物材料的表面精细结构;在极高分辨率的水平上,解释了如Ｃ６０Ｌａｎｇｍｕｉｒ－Ｂｌｏｄｇｅｔｔ膜、有机磁性薄膜的样品制备、形成条件的关系;研究并揭示了碱金属与半志体表面吸附相互作用,红细胞表面结构等;拓宽了扫描探针显微技术的范围,在实验方法和研究成果上具有     

Simulation of spin-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy: influence of the magnetization of surface and tip

We develop a first principles method to compute the magnetic axis of a crystal surface from corrugation amplitudes of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. In this paper, we present the detailed electronic structure information of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic Mn overlayers on W(1 1 0), our model system for spin-polarized tunneling on the atomic scale. We also perform image simulations on all surfaces. It is shown that the images of Mn overlayers are very sensitive to magnetic ordering of the surface, and while a high magnetic contrast can in principle be obtained, surface corrugation itself is generally at the lower limit of image resolution.     

Strain imaging of a magnetic material

Magnetic microscopies developed to date sense or utilize stray magnetic fields, magneto-optical effects, interactions with electron beams, and so on, while a novel magnetic microscopy presented in this paper detects a strain induced by an external magnetic field using a scanning probe microscope (SPM). As the strains involve factors depending on the magnetization of each domain, we can observe the magnetic domain structure by detecting the strains. SPMs that have high sensitivity to surface displacements caused by strains enable us to detect small strains and provide high-resolution magnetic images. PACS 61.16.Ch; 85.70.Ge; 75.80.+q; 75.60.Ch     

Observation of a complex nanoscale magnetic structure in a hexagonal Fe monolayer

We have observed a novel magnetic structure in the pseudomorphic Fe monolayer on Ir(111). Using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy we find a nanometer-sized two-dimensional magnetic unit cell. A collinear magnetic structure is proposed consisting of 15 Fe atoms per unit cell with 7 magnetic moments pointing in one and 8 moments in the opposite direction. First-principles calculations verify that such an unusual magnetic state is indeed lower in energy than all solutions of the classical Heisenberg model. We demonstrate that the complex magnetic structure is induced by the strong Fe-Ir hybridization.     

STM studies of the electronic structure of vortex cores in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta)

We report on low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of the electronic structure of vortex cores in Bi 2Sr 2CaCu 2O (8+delta). At the vortex core center, an enhanced density of states is observed at energies near Omega = +/-7 meV. Spectroscopic imaging at these energies reveals an exponential decay of these "core states" with a decay length of 22+/-3 A. The fourfold symmetry sometimes predicted for d-wave vortices is not seen in spectroscopic vortex images. A locally nodeless order parameter induced by the magnetic field may be consistent with these measurements.     

Photonic anisotropic magnetoresistance in dense co particle ensembles

In this Letter, we experimentally show that the amplitude and arrival time of the terahertz optical transmission through dense ensembles of subwavelength-size ferromagnetic particles is strongly dependent on the orientation of an externally applied magnetic field. The attenuation and delay have the same magnetic field orientation dependence as the electrical anisotropic magnetoresistance inherent to bulk ferromagnetic metals. We envision the application of this magnetic effect in terahertz photonic devices.     

Crystallographic structure of ultrathin Fe films on Cu(100)

We report the observation of bcc-like crystal structures in 2-4 monolayer (ML) Fe films grown on fcc Cu(100) using scanning tunneling microscopy. The local bcc structure provides a straightforward explanation for their frequently reported outstanding magnetic properties, i.e., ferromagnetic ordering in all layers with a Curie temperature above 300 K. The nonpseudomorphic structure, which becomes pseudomorphic above 4 ML film thickness, is unexpected in terms of conventional rules of thin film growth and stresses the importance of finite thickness effects in ferromagnetic ultrathin films.     

Absence of field anisotropy in the intrinsic ferromagnetic signals of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

We have measured the magnetization of bulk samples of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) at magnetic fields applied parallel and perpendicular to the graphene layers. Within experimental error the intrinsic ferromagnetic signals of the samples show similar magnetic moments at saturation for the two magnetic field directions, in contrast to recently published data (J. ?ervenka et al., Nat. Phys. 5 (2009) 840). To check that the SQUID device provides correctly the small ferromagnetic signals obtained after subtracting the 100 times larger diamagnetic background, we have prepared a sample with a superconducting Pb-film deposited on one of the HOPG surfaces. We show that the field dependence of the measured magnetic moment and after the background subtraction is highly reliable even in the sub-μ emu range providing the real magnetic properties of the embedded small ferromagnetic and superconducting signals.     

Inelastic tunneling of electrons through a quantum dot with an embedded single molecular magnet

We report a theoretical analysis of electron transport through a quantum dot with an embedded biaxial single-molecule magnet (SMM) based on mapping of the many-body interaction-system onto a one-body problem by means of the non-equilibrium Green function technique. It is found that the conducting current exhibits a stepwise behavior and the nonlinear differential conductance displays additional peaks with variation of the sweeping speed and the magnitude of magnetic field. This observation can be interpreted by the interaction of electron-spin with the SMM and the quantum tunneling of magnetization. The inelastic conductance and the corresponding tunneling processes are investigated with normal as well as ferromagnetic electrodes. In the case of ferromagnetic configuration, the coupling to the SMM leads to an asymmetric tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), which can be enhanced or suppressed greatly in certain regions. Moreover, a sudden TMR-switch with the variation of magnetic field is observed, which is seen to be caused by the inelastic tunneling.     

Spin-Polarized Electron Tunneling TD:\pdf\.PDFhrough a Quantum Dot

Nonequilibrium Green's function is uscd to study spin-polarized electron tunneling through a quantum dot connected to two ferromagnetic electrodes with different orientations via two insulating barriers (FM/I/QD/I/FA.f). Intra-level Coulomb interaction in the dot is considered. General formula of tunneling current which can be used for arbitrary angle between the two electrodes' magnetizations is derived for both the weak and strong intra-dot interactions.We find that the transport current can be divided into two parts: the current with the spin-flip and the current without the spin-flip, which critically depend on the linewidth function near the Fermi level of the ferromagnetic electrodes. If a magnetic field is applied in the quantum dot, different behaviors will be found for weak and strong interactions.     

铁磁/半导体/铁磁结构的双量子环自旋输运的特性

研究了与铁磁/半导体/铁磁结构相关的双量子环自旋输运的规律,研究结果表明：总磁通为零条件下,铁磁电极磁化方向反平行时,双量子环与单量子环相比提高了自旋电子透射概率的平均值.铁磁电极磁化方向平行时,双量子环对提高自旋向下电子平均透射概率的效果更明显;双量子环受到Rashba自旋轨道耦合作用影响时,自旋电子的平均透射概率明显高于单量子环,即使再加上外加磁场的影响,透射概率较高这一特征依然存在;双量子环所含的δ势垒具有阻碍自旋电子输运的作用,随δ势垒强度Z的增大透射概率 关键词： 双量子环 Rashba自旋轨道耦合 透射概率 δ势垒')" href="#">δ势垒     

Pair density wave in the pseudogap state of high temperature superconductors

Recent scanning tunneling microscopy experiments of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) have shown evidence of real-space organization of electronic states at low energies in the pseudogap state [Science 303, 1995 (2004)]]. We argue based on symmetry considerations as well as model calculations that the experimentally observed modulations are due to a density wave of d-wave Cooper pairs without global phase coherence. We show that scanning tunneling microscopy measurements can distinguish a pair density wave from more typical electronic modulations such as those due to charge density wave ordering or scattering from an on site periodic potential.