High-frequency properties of thin amorphous ribbons

Magnetic energy losses have been investigated in Co-based near-zero-magnetostriction amorphous ribbons from DC to 10 MHz. Attention has been devoted to the properties of field-annealed ribbons thinned down to 5.8 μm and their behavior at high frequencies. A rationale is provided for the frequency dependence of the magnetic losses over the investigated many-decade range through analysis of the loss components. Ribbons annealed under transverse field benefit by limited irreversible domain wall activity and correspondingly reduced hysteresis and excess losses. Based on the near-linear response of the material and the permeability–energy loss relationship, the separate contributions of domain wall displacements and rotations to the magnetization process and the related dissipation effects are singled out at all frequencies. Very thin amorphous ribbons are shown to display lower loss and higher permeability (i.e. higher Snoek's product) than Mn–Zn ferrites at all frequencies.     

Hysteresis loss component under non-sinusoidal flux waveforms

Separation of total energy dissipation per magnetisation cycle into a frequency-dependent dynamic component and a frequency-independent hysteresis component is a common practise in evaluating electromagnetic losses in Si–Fe electrical steel sheet. The assumed frequency-independent hysteresis component is defined by a coefficient C₀ (J/kg). In this work, the value of C₀ was determined using a linear extrapolation method and quasi-static hysteresis energy loss per cycle. The extrapolation method gave a considerable error when applied to non-sinusoidal excitation voltages (pulse width modulation and square) in a frequency range from 25 to 100 Hz. For this reason the coefficient values obtained from the quasi-static measurements at 0.01 Hz were assumed.     

Polarization-dependent fractional loss improvement of laser scribed GO FeSi steels

Magnetization curves of untreated and laser scribed GO FeSi steels were measured for 19 different frequencies from 0.05 to 500 Hz and for four polarizations from 1.4 to 1.7 T. From hysteresis loops, hysteresis losses were separated and frequency-dependent anomaly factors were calculated. Frequency-dependent anomaly factors for all measured polarizations can be very well described by an empirical equation. This behavior can be explained by the fact that an increase in polarization at a fixed magnetizing frequency corresponds to an increase of magnetizing frequency at a fixed polarization. Both an increase in frequency and an increase in polarization activate a higher number of domain walls in the magnetization process. The power losses can be described only by the frequency dependence of the anomaly factor and by the additional knowledge of hysteresis loss.     

Power frequency magnetic properties and aging of 4130 steel

Cr–Mo steels are utilized in large, high-speed rotating machines where the mechanical stress requirements limit available soft magnetic laminate choices. Because this is currently a niche application, the magnetic properties of these steels are relatively undocumented. This paper presents the magnetic hysteresis behavior of a quenched and tempered 4130 steel at alternating frequencies up to 1200 Hz and temperatures up to 100 °C. The high coercivities and core losses are contrasted with a 3.2%Si–Fe alloy. “Aging” of this behavior over time of cyclic field application was not observed in 300 h. However, surface embrittlement was observed. Designers should be aware that cyclic magnetic fields, even in the absence of temperature excursions and mechanical stress, can lead to a relaxation of the 4130 microstructure and possible deterioration of yield strength.     

Effects of annealing temperature on the structural and photoluminescence properties of nanocrystalline ZrO2 thin films prepared by sol-gel route

Highly transparent nanocrystalline zirconia thin films were prepared by the sol-gel dip coating technique. XRD pattern of ZrO₂ thin film annealed at 400 °C shows the formation of tetragonal phase with a particle size of 13.6 nm. FT-IR spectra reveal the formation of Zr-O-Zr and the reduction of OH and other functional groups as the temperature increases. The transmittance spectra give an average transmittance greater than 80% in the film of thickness 262 nm. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra give intense band at 391 nm and a broad band centered at 300 nm. The increase of PL intensity with elevation of annealing temperature is related to reduction of OH groups, increase in the crystallinity and reduction in the non-radiative related defects. The luminescence dependence on defects in the film makes it suitable for luminescent oxygen-sensor development. The “Red shift” of excitation peak is related to an increase in the oxygen content of films with annealing temperature. The “Blue shift” of PL spectra originates from the change of stress of the film due to lattice distortion. The defect states in the nanocrystalline zirconia thin films play an important role in the energy transfer process.     

Anomalous B–H behaviour of electrical steels at very low flux density

The behaviour of ferromagnetic materials under very low magnetic field was investigated more than a century ago by Lord Rayleigh. However, it has been shown since that the so-called Rayleigh law fails for very low magnetic fields, although the explanation for this phenomenon was not given. An anomalous B–H behaviour at very low alternating peak flux density in conventional grain-oriented (GO) and non-oriented (NO) electrical steels is reported. It has been found that the initial permeability is constant for all the measured frequencies (from 20 to 400 Hz) at peak flux density below 0.1 mT, and in this region the magnetisation is almost reversible (for both GO and NO). At higher flux density the B–H loops become visibly irreversible, with a relatively narrow (for GO) or very wide (for NO) transition region. For GO the B–H loop becomes visibly “distorted” for all frequencies at around 2 mT. The eddy current loss calculated from the so-called “classical” equation gives values higher than the measured total losses at lower frequencies. Both these measured results are difficult to explain.     

Magnetostriction trend of non-oriented 6.5% Si–Fe

Non-oriented electrical steel is produced in strip form typically 0.35–1.0 mm thick and containing 0–3 wt% silicon. It is well-known that non-oriented electrical steel is not quite isotropic but has small anisotropy. In the last decade, NKK produced 0.1 mm thick, non-oriented steel 6.5% Si which has applications such as in high-frequency transformer due to its high electrical resistivity, low core losses, near zero magnetostriction, and high permeability. The magnetostriction of 6.5% silicon steel samples with dimensions 280 mm×30 mm×0.1 mm was measured when magnetised sinusoidally between 0.5 and 1.0 T at frequencies between 0.5 and 6 kHz. Test samples were clamped at one end and the peak-to-peak displacement of the free end was measured with the aid of the single-point laser vibrometer. The average peak–peak magnetostriction was 0.2–0.25 με apart from a sharp rise to 1.2 με at 2 kHz magnetising frequency. This agrees well with the predicted value of 2 kHz for l=0.28 m, d=7430 kg/m³ and E=166 GPa. This shows that although the 6.5% silicon steel is often thought of as having near zero magnetostriction, care is needed to avoid lamination lengths corresponding to resonance points which could induce higher noise in laminated cores.     

Bandwidth tuning of hybrid liquid-crystal Šolc filters based on an optical cancelling technique

We demonstrate that in addition to their role in tuning the wavelength of an N-stage hybrid liquid-crystal Šolc filter, liquid-crystal cells can also be used to vary the transmission bandwidth of such filter around any of the tuned wavelength. This bandwidth tuning is based on the variation of the number of stages by what we call here an “optical cancelling technique”. This is achieved by varying the birefringence of the liquid-crystal cells whose optical path difference switches between two particular values. We show that for a 10-stage filter and at λ_i = 1.532 μm, the calculated 3-dB bandwidth varies from 2.6 to 11.8 nm when the number of “optically-cancelled” hybrid plates increases from 0 to 8. During the tuning process, the contrast ratio remains equal to that of the equivalent classical Šolc filter.     

Phantom Friedmann cosmologies and higher-order characteristics of expansion

We discuss a more general class of phantom (p < −?) cosmologies with various forms of both phantom (w < −1), and standard (w > −1) matter. We show that many types of evolution which include both Big-Bang and Big-Rip singularities are admitted and give explicit examples. Among some interesting models, there exist non-singular oscillating (or “bounce”) cosmologies, which appear due to a competition between positive and negative pressure of variety of matter content. From the point of view of the current observations the most interesting cosmologies are the ones which start with a Big-Bang and terminate at a Big-Rip. A related consequence of having a possibility of two types of singularities is that there exists an unstable static universe approached by the two asymptotic models—one of them reaches Big-Bang, and another reaches Big-Rip. We also give explicit relations between density parameters Ω and the dynamical characteristics for these generalized phantom models, including higher-order observational characteristics such as jerk and “kerk.” Finally, we discuss the observational quantities such as luminosity distance, angular diameter, and source counts, both in series expansion and explicitly, for phantom models. Our series expansion formulas for the luminosity distance and the apparent magnitude go as far as to the fourth-order in redshift z term, which includes explicitly not only the jerk, but also the “kerk” (or “snap”) which may serve as an indicator of the curvature of the universe.     

Multi-fractal formulation of compressible fully developed turbulence: Parabolic-profile approximation for the singularity spectrum

A parabolic-profile approximation (PPA) for the singularity spectrum D (h) in the multi-fractal model for compressible fully developed turbulence (FDT) is considered and is then extrapolated to the Kolmogorov microscale regime. The generalization of Kolmogorov’s “4/5th law” relating the third-order velocity structure function to the mean energy dissipation rate ε to compressible FDT is considered. The PPA is also shown to afford, unlike the generic multi-fractal model, an analytical calculation of probability distribution function (PDF) of velocity gradients and to describe intermittency corrections for this PDF that complement those provided by homogeneous-fractal model.     

High-frequency permeability of electroplated CoNiFe and CoNiFe–C alloys

We have investigated CoNiFe and CoNiFe–C electrodeposited by pulse reverse plating (PRP) and direct current (DC) techniques. CoNiFe(PRP) films with composition Co_59.4Fe_27.7Ni_12.8 show coercivity of 95 A m⁻¹ (1.2 Oe) and magnetization saturation flux (μ₀M_s) of 1.8 T. Resistivity of CoNiFe (PRP) is about 24 μΩ cm and permeability remains almost constant μ_r′ ∼475 up to 30 MHz with a quality factor (Q) larger than 10. Additionally, the permeability spectra analysis shows that CoNiFe exhibits a classical eddy current loss at zero bias field and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) when biased with 0.05 T. Furthermore, a crossover between eddy current and FMR loss is observed for CoNiFe-PRP when baised with 0.05 T. DC and PRP plated CoNiFe–C, which have resistivity and permeability of 85, 38 μΩ cm, μ_r′=165 and 35 with Q>10 up to 320 MHz, respectively, showed only ferromagnetic resonance losses. The ferromagnetic resonance peaks in CoNiFe and CoNiFe–C are broad and resembles a Gaussian distribution of FMR frequencies. The incorporation of C to CoNiFe reduces eddy current loss, but also reduces the FMR frequency.     

Absence of the fifth force problem in a model with spontaneously broken dilatation symmetry

A scale invariant model containing dilaton ? and dust (as a model of matter) is studied where the shift symmetry ? → ? + const. is spontaneously broken at the classical level due to intrinsic features of the model. The dilaton to matter coupling “constant” f appears to be dependent of the matter density. In normal conditions, i.e. when the matter energy density is many orders of magnitude larger than the dilaton contribution to the dark energy density, f becomes less than the ratio of the “mass of the vacuum” in the volume occupied by the matter to the Planck mass. The model yields this kind of “Archimedes law” without any especial (intended for this) choice of the underlying action and without fine tuning of the parameters. The model not only explains why all attempts to discover a scalar force correction to Newtonian gravity were unsuccessful so far but also predicts that in the near future there is no chance to detect such corrections in the astronomical measurements as well as in the specially designed fifth force experiments on intermediate, short (like millimeter) and even ultrashort (a few nanometer) ranges. This prediction is alternative to predictions of other known models.     

Sensitivity analysis for estimation of power losses in magnetic cores using neural network

Experimental data from a sample of 42 cores made from grain oriented 0.27 mm thick 3% SiFe electrical steel with dimensions ranging from 35 to 160 mm outer diameter, 25-100 mm inner diameter and 10-70 mm strip width and a flux density range 0.2-1.7 T have been obtained at 50 Hz and used as training data to a feed forward neural network. An analytical equation for prediction of power loss as depends on input parameters from the results of sensitivity analysis has been obtained. The calculated power losses with the analytical expression have also been compared with power loss obtained from the Preisach model after it has been applied to toroidal cores. The results show the proposed model can be used for estimation of power losses in the toroidal cores.     

The nano-structural properties of hydrogenated a-Si and Si-C thin films alloys by GISAXS and vibrational spectroscopy

Amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) with high hydrogen content (10-40 at.%), and non-stehiometric silicon-carbon (Si_1−xC_x) thin films with a variation of the carbon to silicon ratio up to 0.3, were deposited by using a magnetron sputtering source. The Si_1−xC_x thin films were partially crystallised after deposition by thermal annealing up to 1050 °C.The GISAXS (Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering) spectra of all of the prepared specimens indicate the presence of “particles” in the “bulk” of the films. For the a-Si:H samples, “particles” are most probably voids agglomerates with a variation in size between 3 and 6 nm. The mean value of the size distribution of the “particles” increases while its width slightly decreases with the hydrogen content in the film. This indicates a better structural ordering which is consistent with the results of Raman spectroscopy that show a decrease of the ratio between intensities of transversal acoustic (TA) and transversal optic (TO) phonon peaks, I_TA/I_TO, and a narrowing of the TO peak with increasing hydrogen content. These results are discussed as a consequence of the beneficial influence of hydrogen bombardment during the film growth.For Si_1−xC_x thin films, the “particles” are assumed to be SiC nano-crystals with a size between 2 and 14 nm and they are larger in films with a higher carbon concentration. Inside each of the films, the crystals are larger closer to surface and they grow faster in the direction parallel to the surface than in that which is perpendicular to it.     

Gain-assisted propagation of electromagnetic energy in subwavelength surface plasmon polariton gap waveguides

The propagation of electromagnetic energy via coupled surface plasmon polariton modes in a metal-insulator-metal heterostructure is analyzed analytically for a core material exhibiting optical gain. It is shown that a sufficiently large gain can completely compensate for the absorption losses due to energy dissipation in the metallic boundaries, enabling long-range transport with a confinement below the diffraction limit for on-chip switching and sensing applications. For a free-space wavelength of 1500 nm, lossless propagation in a gold-semiconductor-gold waveguide with a core size of 50 nm is predicted for a gain coefficient γ = 4830 cm⁻¹, comparable to that of semiconductor gain media. The gain requirements decrease with the use of low-index nanocrystal-doped glasses or polymers as core materials.     

Magnetic properties of electroplated wires coated by ferrofluid

Low-frequency magnetic properties of ferromagnetic composite wires were studied with and without coating by ferrofluid. Non-magnetic CuBe wires of 0.1 mm diameter were electroplated with FeCoNi layer of 1 μm thickness. Magnetization curves were measured in the frequency range of 10 Hz–3 kHz. The composite CuBe/FeCoNi/ferrofluid material shows a hysteretic behaviour in a small field. The hysteresis loop of ferrofluid covered electroplated wire is not a simple sum of the ferrofluid “wire” plus non-covered wire signals. It indicates an interaction between magnetic wire and ferrofluid which can be revealed by low-frequency measurements. The combination “electroplated wire/ferrofluid” can be considered as a new type of composite magnetic material consisting of solid magnetic core coated by complementary liquid magnetic material. Low-frequency measurements in presence of ferrofluid can be a useful method to study magnetic properties of ferromagnets.     

Magnetocaloric properties of the La0.7Pr0.3Fe13−xSix compounds

Magnetic entropy change ΔS_m, hysteresis loss and refrigerant capacity of NaZn₁₃-type La_0.7Pr_0.3Fe_13−xSi_x (1.5?x?2.0) compounds have been investigated. The Curie temperature T_C increases linearly with the increase of silicon concentration. Although the maximum value of ΔS_m under a field change of 0−5 T decreases from 30.5 to 11.4 J/kg K as x increases from 1.5 to 2.0, the hysteresis loss at T_C reduces remarkably from 89.2 J/kg for x=1.5 to zero for x=2.0 because the increase of Si content can weaken the itinerant electron metamagnetic transition. The effective refrigerant capacity RC_eff is maintained at high values of 362−439 J/kg for a field change of 0−5 T. This implies that a large ΔS_m and a high RC_eff can be achieved simultaneously in the La_0.7Pr_0.3Fe_13−xSi_x compounds.     

Elongation rate measurements of nanofilms by microbump method induced by laser pulse

A laser pulse-induced microbump method that aims to measure the elongation rate of nanofilms is proposed. The sample structure is designed as “substrate/active layer/nanofilm” and the laser pulse is used as energy source to heat the active layer and to create microbump. These cause the nanofilm to expand and elongate. The surface area and length change of nanofilm is calculated by measuring the deflections and diameters of the microbumps, as well as to obtain the elongation rate of the nanofilms. A series of microbumps with different deflections are obtained. The deflections are measured precisely by atomic force microscopy (AFM) by taking AgO_x and ZnS-SiO₂ as the active layer and nanofilm, respectively, and by controlling pulse laser parameters. The line elongation rate and plane elongation rate of ZnS-SiO₂ nanofilm are measured at thickness of only 10 nm. Results show that both the two elongation rates linearly increases with laser power from 3.2 to 5.2 mW. Plane elongation rate is a little higher than the line elongation rate at the same laser power. The rupture at 5.4 mW laser power corresponds to fracture strength of the film. The maximum line elongation rate and plane elongation rate are 13.241% and 19.766%, respectively. This method applies a reproducible and efficient method for its applications in the near future.     

Charge kinetics in spinel and yttria-stabilized zirconia

Spinel and zirconia were studied by measuring the total secondary electron emission (SEE) yield σ in a dedicated scanning electron microscope (SEM) especially equipped to study the fundamental aspects of the charge trapping in insulating materials during a 1.1 keV electron irradiation at room temperature. The variation of the total SEE yield with the injected dose for both spinel and zirconia is different. In spinel the coefficient σ starts from its intrinsic value σ₀ = 4 and reaches a plateau at σ = 1 at the end of irradiation, which corresponds to the self-regulated regime. The continuity of the curves, shot after shot, proves that the trapped charges are stable and does not spread out in the material as injection proceeds. In this case spinel is called “trapper insulator”. In contrast with the spinel, σ in zirconia, never reaches unity while the injected charge increases: it evolves from its intrinsic yield σ₀ = 2.3 to a steady value a few percent above 1. The curve shows the relaxation of the positive generated charge. In this case zirconia is called “conductive insulator”. The difference in the charging kinetics of the two materials is attributed to the difference in conductivities.     

Optical, thermal, dielectric and ferroelectric behaviour of sodium acid phthalate (SAP) single crystals

Sodium acid phthalate (SAP), an efficient semi-organic crystal having dimensions 17×8×2 mm³ has been grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation technique at room temperature within the period of 2 weeks. The lattice parameters of the grown crystals were determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The presence of functional groups was estimated qualitatively by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. The band gap energy was determined using optical absorption studies. The TG/DTA analysis reveals that the SAP crystal is thermally stable up to 141.6 °C. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss was studied as a function of frequency and the corresponding activation energy (E_a) has been calculated for the grown crystal. Scanning electron microscope studies enunciate the ferroelectric domain patterns of the SAP crystal. Ferroelectric property of the grown crystal was confirmed by hysteresis loop studies.