A simple induction anisometer

Magnetic anisotropy of rotationally symmetric samples is measured by a simple induction method based on transverse susceptibility measurements. The sample is magnetically saturated by a d.c. field perpendicular to the axis of rotation. A small a.c. field is applied in the direction perpendicular to both the d.c. field and the axis of rotation. The transverse a.c. susceptibility is measured by a Hartshorn bridge of mutual inductance. From the transverse susceptibilities along different directions the anisotropy constants as well as the saturation magnetization can be determined.     

Comparative ultrastructural analysis of different regions of two digital flexor tendons of pigs

Tendons are parallel arrays of collagenous fibers which are specialized in resisting and transmitting tensile forces. In this work we examined the structure of the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) and the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) of pigs, which are considered "wrap around" tendons and so receive compression and tension forces. In both tendons, fibrocartilaginous areas were observed in the regions subjected to compression plus frictional loading. Histological and ultrastructural analyses of the tensional region showed an extracellular matrix (ECM) rich in collagen bundles, that were all arranged in the same direction. Fibroblasts were seen closely associated with the collagen bundles. Chondrocyte-like cells and high levels of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were observed in the compressional regions. The collagen bundles in the compressional region were arranged in several directions and were associated with proteoglycans (PGs). The crimp pattern detected in the tensional region showed that the collagen fibrils were ordered aggregates which formed helical superstructures.     

Transverse anisotropy field and lattice plane anisotropy of stress annealed Fe–Cu–Nb–Si–B ribbons

The transverse magnetic anisotropy and lattice plane anisotropy of stress-annealed Fe–Cu–Nb–Si–B amorphous ribbons have been studied. The GMI effect or impedance ratio decreased gradually with increasing applied tensile stress. The transverse anisotropy field (H_k) corresponded to the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the GMI curves. A linear response was found between the applied tensile stress (σ) and the transverse anisotropy field (H_k), and it was seen from the linear expression that annealing without stress resulted in a very small H_k of ～200 A/m. We also calculated the strains from the elongations obtained during the stress annealing process, the results showed that the strain and applied stress were linearly related and for a zero-tensile stress, the elastic strain was negative (?0.0219) showing that contraction dominates during annealing without tensile stresses. The lattice plane anisotropy (Δd) calculated from XRD peaks was also linearly related to the applied tensile stress. The lattice spacing in the direction parallel to the tensile stress was elongated while the lattice spacing in the direction perpendicular to the tensile stress was compressed.     

Effect of crystallization annealing under loading on the magnetic properties and the structure of a soft magnetic FeSiNbCuB alloy doped with chromium

The changes of quasi-static magnetic hysteresis loops and X-ray diffraction patterns of the Fe_73.5Si_13.5B₉Nb₃Cu₁ doped to 10 at % chromium instead of iron have been studied to elucidate the influence of the thermomechanical treatment consisting of annealing and cooling of the alloy under the tensile stress (tensile-stress annealing (TSA)) on the magnetic properties and the structure of these alloys. It is shown that the treatment results in the induction of the magnetic anisotropy of the hard axis type at which the magnetization reversal along the direction of applying the external stress during annealing is hampered. The energy of the induced magnetic anisotropy decreases as the chromium content increases. During TSA, the nanocrystal lattices are deformed, and the deformation is retained after cooling. The interplanar spacings increase along the extension direction and decrease in the transverse direction. The deformation anisotropy is observed for crystallographic directions. The anisotropic deformation of the bcc lattice of nanocrystals with high content of the ordered Fe₃Si phase characterized by a negative magnetoelastic interaction is the cause of formation of the state with the transverse magnetic anisotropy of the hard axis type.     

Strain-induced matrix and droplets anisotropic deformation in liquid crystalline cellulose dispersed liquid crystal films

The present work deals with the preparation of new liquid crystalline cellulose dispersed liquid crystal films (100 μm) using a shearing casting technique. The matrix of the films presents the so-called band texture perpendicular to the shear direction. The nematic low molecular weight liquid crystal is encapsulated in micron and submicron size ellipsoids. The ratio between the lengths of the main axis and the short axis is around 1.23. The main axis is oriented, on average, 28° away from the shear direction. The evolution of the band texture and of the ellipsoidal liquid crystal droplets is investigated by polarizing optical microscopy and light scattering techniques as a function of the strain imposed along and perpendicular to the shear direction. Stretch along shear with strain equal to 0.8 seems to have no effect on the banded structure of the matrix, while the nematic liquid crystal ellipsoids slightly orient the main axis to the stress direction and their shape anisotropy increases by a factor of 2. Deformation in the direction transverse to the shear direction induces a deep change of the polymeric matrix and, at the end, a fibrillar structure is found. The nematic ellipsoids rotate their main axis and align along the stretch direction. Their shape anisotropy evolves from a value of 1.23 to 1 for intermediate deformations with strain equal to 0.5, to a final value of 5 with strain equal to 0.8, in the perpendicular direction.     

Temperature measurement of air convection using a Schlieren system

In this work, we have developed a procedure for full-field measurement of temperature of a fluid flow by using the schlieren technique. The basic idea is to relate the intensity level of each pixel in a schlieren image to the corresponding knife-edge position measured at the exit focal plane of the system. The method is applied in the measurement of temperature fields of the air convection caused by a heated rectangular metal plate (7.3 cm×12 cm). Our tests are carried out at plate temperatures of 50 °C and 80 °C. To validate the proposed method, the schlieren temperature results are compared to those obtained by a thermocouple. Thermocouple data are obtained along two mutually perpendicular directions (one direction along the optical axis, z-direction, and other direction along the x-axis, which is perpendicular to the optical axis) at points located on a 9×9 grid with a variable spacing. The thermocouple measurements were integrated along the z-axis in order to be compared with the measurements obtained by the schlieren technique. The results from the two methods show good agreement between them.     

Absorption effects on the longitudinal bulk plasmon–polariton modes in 1D heterostructures containing anisotropic metamaterials

The transmission properties of electromagnetic waves through a one-dimensional layered system containing alternate layers of air and a uniaxial anisotropic left-handed material are investigated. The optical axis of such heterostructure is along the stacking direction and the components of the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability tensors that characterize the metamaterial are modeled by a Drude-type response and a split-ring resonator metamaterial response, respectively. Different plasmon frequencies are considered for directions parallel and perpendicular to the optical axis. For oblique incidence, longitudinal bulk-like plasmon polariton modes are found in the neighborhood of the plasmon frequency along the optical axis and anisotropy leads to the unfolding of nearly dispersionless plasmon–polariton bands either above or below the plasmon frequency. Moreover, it is shown that, even in the presence of loss/absorption, these plasmon polariton modes do survive and, therefore, should be experimentally detected.     

Deformation behaviour of body centered cubic iron nanopillars containing coherent twin boundaries

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to understand the role of twin boundaries on deformation behaviour of body-centred cubic (BCC) iron (Fe) nanopillars. The twin boundaries varying from 1 to 5 providing twin boundary spacing in the range 8.5–2.8 nm were introduced perpendicular to the loading direction. The simulation results indicated that the twin boundaries in BCC Fe play a contrasting role during deformation under tensile and compressive loadings. During tensile deformation, a large reduction in yield stress was observed in twinned nanopillars compared to perfect nanopillar. However, the yield stress exhibited only marginal variation with respect to twin boundary spacing. On the contrary, a decrease in yield stress with increase in twin boundary spacing was obtained during compressive deformation. This contrasting behaviour originates from difference in operating mechanisms during yielding and subsequent plastic deformation. It has been observed that the deformation under tensile loading was dominated mainly by twin growth mechanism. On the other hand, the deformation was dominated by nucleation and slip of full dislocations under compressive loading. The twin boundaries offer a strong repulsive force on full dislocations resulting in the yield stress dependence on twin boundary spacing. The occurrence of twin–twin interaction during tensile deformation and dislocation–twin interaction during compressive deformation has been discussed.     

磁场对模板法制备的Co纳米线结构和磁性的影响

在用二次氧化法制备的高度有序的氧化铝模板上通过交流电化学方法制备了Co纳米线阵列．研究了外加磁场及电解液pH值对纳米线生长的影响．在pH值为6.0和6.5的电解液中分别在不加磁场和沿纳米线轴向施加0.3 T磁场情况下制备了hcp结构的Co纳米线阵列．实验数据表明,沉积时外加磁场和调节pH值能有效影响纳米线中hcp结构的Co晶粒的易磁化轴沿纳米线长轴方向生长．由于晶粒的磁晶各向异性和纳米线沿长度方向的宏观形状各向异性叠加,制备的Co纳米线阵列具有高垂直各向异性,高矫顽力和较高矩形比． 关键词： Co纳米线阵列 织构 磁性     

Magnetic anisotropy and anisotropic ballistic conductance of thin magnetic wires

The magnetocrystalline anisotropy of thin magnetic wires of iron and cobalt is quite different from the bulk phases. The spin moment of monatomic Fe wire may be as high as 3.4 μ_B, while the orbital moment as high as 0.5 μ_B. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) was calculated for wires up to 0.6 nm in diameter starting from monatomic wire and adding consecutive shells for thicker wires. I observe that Fe wires exhibit the change sign with the stress applied along the wire. It means that easy axis may change from the direction along the wire to perpendicular to the wire. We find that ballistic conductance of the wire depends on the direction of the applied magnetic field, i.e. shows anisotropic ballistic magnetoresistance. This effect occurs due to the symmetry dependence of the splitting of degenerate bands in the applied field which changes the number of bands crossing the Fermi level. We find that the ballistic conductance changes with applied stress. Even for thicker wires the ballistic conductance changes by factor 2 on moderate tensile stain in our 5×4 model wire. Thus, the ballistic conductance of magnetic wires changes in the applied field due to the magnetostriction. This effect can be observed as large anisotropic BMR in the experiment.     

Modeling of the loading path dependent magnetomechanical behavior of Galfenol alloy

The magnetomechanical behavior of single-crystal Galfenol alloy was found to be strongly dependent on the loading paths. An energy-based anisotropic domain rotation model, assuming that the interaction between domains can be ignored and the probability of the magnetic moment pointing along a particular direction is related to the free energy along this direction, is used to simulate the magnetostriction versus magnetic field and stress curve and to track the magnetic domain motion trail. The main reason for loading path dependent effect is the rotation/flipping of the magnetic domains under different loading paths. The effect of loading and unloading paths on 90° magnetic domain motion was studied by choosing different loading and unloading state and paths. The results show that prior loading magnetic field can make the 90° magnetic domains flip to the directions of 45° domains because the magnetic field is the driving force to make the domains rotate, and the final loading state and the loading path both have great influence on the motion of 90° magnetic domains.     

Mechanical properties of kirigami phosphorene via molecular dynamics simulation

The newly discovered two-dimensional phosphorene suffers low stretchability which limits its application in flexible devices. Herein we employ kirigami technique to overcome this limitation. Molecular dynamics simulation is employed to investigate the mechanical properties of kirigami-phosphorene under shear and tensile loadings. Our simulation results show that loading type, intrinsic structural anisotropy, and the height of middle cuts are three key factors that govern the mechanical response of kirigami-phosphorene. Under the tensile loading along the armchair direction, phosphorene exhibits a considerable increase in its tensile strain. By contrast, phosphorene is too weak to stand any structural modification induced by kirigami in the zigzag direction. Under shear loading, there is merely no improvement in the shear properties of kirigami-phosphorene. Our results demonstrate the prospective applications of kirigami-phosphorene along the armchair direction in modern wearable, and stretchable electronics and optoelectronics devices.     

Influence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy on the magnetization reversal mechanism in exchange bias Co/CoO bilayers

We investigated the reversal mechanism in a Co/CoO exchange bias bilayer with a pronounced magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the ferromagnet. The anisotropy, which is induced by the growth of a highly textured Co layer, imposes a distinct reversal mechanism along the magnetically easy and hard direction. It is shown that exchange bias can be induced along both directions, despite the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The interplay between the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and exchange bias induces a different reversal mechanism for the subsequent reversals in the two crystallographic directions. Along the hard axis, the magnetization reverses according to the reversal mechanism observed before in polycrystalline exchange bias bilayers, i.e. domain wall nucleation and motion for the first reversal and coherent rotation for the subsequent ones. Along the easy axis, domain wall motion remains the dominant reversal mechanism and magnetization rotation has only a minor contribution.     

Interface biquadratic coupling and magnon scattering in exchange-biased ferromagnetic thin films grown on epitaxial FeF2

The magnetic anisotropy of ferromagnetic (FM) Ni, Co, and Fe polycrystalline thin films grown on antiferromagnetic (AF) FeF(2)(110) epitaxial layers was studied, as a function of temperature, using ferromagnetic resonance. In addition to an in-plane anisotropy in the FM induced by fluctuations in the AF short-range order, a perpendicular (biquadratic) magnetic anisotropy, with an out-of-plane component, was found which increased with decreasing temperature above the AF Neél temperature (T(N) = 78.4 K). This is a surprising result given that the AF's uniaxial anisotropy axis was in the plane of the sample, but is consistent with prior experimental and theoretical work. The resonance linewidth had a strong dependence on the direction of the external magnetic field with respect to in-plane FeF(2) crystallographic directions, consistent with interface magnon scattering due to defect-induced demagnetizing fields. Below T(N), the exchange bias field H(E) measured via FMR for the Ni sample was in good agreement with H(E) determined from magnetization measurements if the perpendicular out-of-plane anisotropy was taken into account. A low field resonance line normally observed at H ≈ 0, associated with domain formation during magnetization in ferromagnets, coincided with the exchange bias field for T < T(N), indicating domain formation with the in-plane FM magnetization perpendicular to the AF easy axis. Thus, biquadratic FM-AF coupling is important at temperatures below and above T(N).     

Anisotropy of Long-term Resistivity Relaxations Induced in p -(0 0 1)GaAs/Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As by Uniaxial Stress

Anisotropy of the piezoresistance relaxations has been observed in p -(0 0 1)GaAs/Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As heterostructures. The character of relaxation process depends on the direction of the applied uniaxial compression: after loading along [1 m 1 0] direction the specimen resistance relaxes down to the lower magnitude while after loading along [1 1 0] direction it relaxes up to the higher magnitude. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and Hall effect measurements indicate that variation of the carrier concentration j N in the quantum well during relaxation processes has different signs for uniaxial compression along [1 m 1 0] and [1 1 0] directions and correlates with the corresponding change of the resistance. The piezoelectric field that in GaAs can reach the magnitude E =1.152 2 10 6 V/m at uniaxial stress P =1 kbar along d 1 1 0 ¢ directions is supposed to be responsible for the metastable state after loading (unloading) and redistribution of carriers during the relaxation process.     

Temperature-induced magnetic phase transitions in crystals with competing single-ion and interionic magnetic anisotropies

Temperature-induced phase transitions in a uniaxial ferromagnetic system of spins S = 1 with competing one-particle and two-particle anisotropies are studied. It is shown that, in the case where easy-plane single-ion anisotropy dominates over easy-axis two-particle anisotropy, the transition from the paramagnetic state to a ferromagnetic state with magnetization perpendicular to the anisotropy axis is a second-order displacive magnetic phase transition. In the opposite case, where two-particle anisotropy dominates over single-particle anisotropy, the transition to a ferromagnetic state with magnetization perpendicular to the anisotropy axis is also continuous but of the order-disorder type. In a system with competing second-order one-and two-particle anisotropies, the orientational first-order phase transition can occur to a state with the magnetization directed along or perpendicular to the anisotropy axis.     

Effect of external stress on discontinuous precipitation in a Cu–2.1 wt % Be alloy

The influence of an applied stress on discontinuous precipitation (DP) in a Cu–2.1 wt % Be alloy aged at 300°C was examined. A compressive stress accelerates the growth of DP cells, which consist of lamellae of the precipitated γ phase and the solute-depleted α phase, but a tensile stress does not essentially change it. The cell growth rates along the loading direction under the compressive and tensile stress are identical to those along the direction perpendicular to the loading direction under the same stress. Both the compressive and tensile stresses have no influence on the incubation time to initiate DP. From measurements of the specimen length change and investigations of the distribution of γ variants in cells in a particular case, specific γ variants among crystallographically equivalent ones are found to be formed, depending on the sense of the applied stress. This result, together with the dependence of the cell growth rate on the sense of the applied stress, can be well understood through the interaction energy between the external stress and the misfit strains of discontinuous γ precipitates.     

Giant magnetocrystalline anisotropies of 4d transition-metal monowires

The magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) for ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic freestanding monowires of 4d transition metals is investigated on the basis of first-principles calculations. Across the 4d series, the easy axis of the magnetization oscillates between two directions: perpendicular and along the wire axis. The largest values of the MAE occur at the end of the series. Giant values of 30-60 meV/atom can be obtained upon stretching Ru or Rh wires. Ru and Pd chains change the magnetization direction upon wire stretching, opening new perspectives in controlling the spin-dependent ballistic conductance in these structures.     

Relaxation effects and thermal vibrations in a Pt(111) surface measured by medium energy ion scattering

Medium energy ion scattering, in conjunction with channeling and blocking has been applied to search for differences in the planar spacing of the first two layers of a Pt(111) crystal surface as compared to the spacing in the bulk. We find a small expansion of 1.5 ± 1%. The measurements have yielded a value for the transverse rms thermal vibration amplitude of a surface atom relative to its neighbour along the [001] direction and likewise for the [110] axis. The results are giving evidence for an enhanced amplitude for the surface atom perpendicular to the surface. A strong blocking effect has been observed along the [110] axis, which may be due to correlation effects, although the role of surface defects cannot be ruled out.     

Remanence in high-density recording media

The uniaxial anisotropy of independent single domain ferromagnetic grains in high density CoCrPtTa longitudinal recording media was derived from remanence measurements. The distribution of the uniaxial anisotropy axis directions was estimated from a measurement of the Kerr rotation in a perpendicular field. The dispersion of anisotropy fields was estimated from the remanence measurements after application of pulse fields in the film plane. Application of an external field to 45° from the film plane results in sharp magnetization reversal with a minimum writing field.