Structural and magnetic properties of Ni/Pt multilayers

In this work, the variation of the magnetic moments of the Ni/Pt multilayers are studied using the linearized augmented plane waves (LAPW) method in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT) implemented in the version of WIEN2K program. The systems have been modeled by seven layers slab separated in z direction by a vacuum region of four substrate layers. We present the results of the dependence of the magnetic properties with respect to the thickness variation of the different multilayers. The modeling of these systems finds an important empirical support. Experiment and theory show the same trends for the magnetic moments: hybridization effects between Ni and Pt are mostly localized at the interface.     

Electrical and magnetic properties of CoFeAlO thin films

Influences of oxygen-partial pressure and annealing on the electrical and magnetic properties of CoFeAlO thin films were systematically investigated by means of resistivity, permeability, magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. It was found that, with increasing oxygen-partial pressure or under annealing, the electrical resistivity of the film increased and the magnetic softness decreased, which is attributed to the microstructural change of the film. Interestingly, an as-deposited Co_45.30Fe_20.65Al_19.34O_14.71 film was found to exhibit an inverted hysteresis loop with negative coercivity, and this peculiar phenomenon disappeared upon effects of oxygen-partial pressure and annealing. It was also found that the as-deposited films owned a narrow FMR line width that increased with increasing oxygen-partial pressure or under annealing.     

Hard collisions of spinning protons: Past,present and future

There will be a review of the history of polarized proton beams, and a discussion of the unexpected and still unexplained large transverse spin effects found in several high-energy proton-proton spin experiments at the ZGS, AGS and Fermilab. Next, there will be a discussion of present and possible future experiments on the violent elastic collisions of polarized protons at IHEP-Protvino's 70GeV U-70 accelerator in Russia and the new high-intensity 50GeV J-PARC facility being built at Tokai in Japan.     

Domain morphology in ultrathin ferromagnetic films with perpendicular magnetization

We determine the minimal domain structure for the equilibrium thickness of stripes as well as for the minimal energy of the domain configuration in ultrathin films of ferromagnetically coupled spins, where the easy direction of magnetization is perpendicular to the film. It is found that the equilibrium thickness of stripes and walls depend on the exchange energy. The normalized anisotropy, f, depends on interplay between the magnetic and anisotropy energies and is almost independent of the exchange energy inside the wall. The results are compared with the experimental data for thin Ag/Fe/Ag (0 0 1) films and a good coincidence is obtained between both results.     

Exploring magnetic properties of ultrathin epitaxial magnetic structures using magneto-optical techniques

We describe magneto-optic Kerr effect studies of ultrathin Fe and Ni films on single crystal surfaces of Ag and Cu. Monolayer Fe films on Ag(100) exhibit the theoretically predicted spin-orbit anisotropy, but also yield some interesting discrepancies between behavior predicted by Kerr effect and by spin-polarized photoemission experiments. Layer-dependent studies of the magnetic moment of Ni on Ag(111) and Ag(100) suggest sp-d hybridization effects quench the first layer magnetic moment on Ag(111) but not on Ag(100). Temperature dependent studies of thin film magnetization obtained from Kerr effect measurements yield thickness dependent Curie temperatures, and critical exponents for several thin film systems.     

Nonlinearities in sedimentation: a microscopic study

Effect of temperature and surface tension on surface during sedimentation is studied using atomic force microscopy. Effects of surface tension is incorporated by using ∼1 mm radius water droplets. Surface tension of water droplet directed the deposition of dissolved particles around the perimeter of the droplet; leaving almost hollow circle in the middle with light deposition due to the particles being close to the surface. Evaporating shallow water solutions left random salt structures on the surface. Growth exponents are calculated along with the fractal dimension. For sedimentation process in shallow water (depth of ∼2 mm), a transition is observed from continuum model (1.88±0.2) to KPZ (0.406±0.082) universality class around ∼1 μm at room temperature. For droplets evaporation, turbulent (multi-affine) to self-affine transition is observed. Fractal dimensions (FD) for the droplets are found to be between one and two. The FD values are consistent with the fact that competing nonlinear terms are present in the system.     

Stable atomic structure and magnetism of Pt–Cr binary surface alloys on Pt(0 0 1): First-principle calculations

The possibility of Pt–Cr surface alloys formation on Pt(0 0 1) was investigated and their magnetism was calculated by the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method with eight different atomic configurations. The most stable structure was calculated to be the Pt-segregated L1₂ ferromagnetic surface alloy. A₃B types (L1₂ or D0₂₂) were more stable compared to AB types (L1₀). It implies that the A₃B type surface alloys may be formed when depositing a monolayer of Cr on Pt(0 0 1). It was found from the total energy calculations that there exists a strong tendency of the Pt segregation. The segregation further stabilizes the surface alloy significantly. The work function of the most stable surface alloy was calculated to be 6.02 eV and the magnetic moment of the surface Cr was much enhanced to 3.3 μ_B. It is a quite interesting finding that the coupling between Cr and Pt atoms on the surface plane is ferromagnetic in the Pt-segregated L1₂ ferromagnetic surface alloy, while the coupling is antiferromagnetic in the bulk.     

An effective method for improving diffraction performance of magnetostatic backward volume wave-based magneto-optic Bragg cells by using an appropriately tilted bias magnetic field in YIG film plane

The universal magneto-optic (MO) coupled-mode equations for magnetostatic waves (MSWs) and guided optical waves (GOWs) under arbitrarily tilted bias magnetic fields are presented for the first time and, as an example, applied to the noncollinear Stokes interaction between the incident TE₀-mode light and magnetostatic backward volume wave (MSBVW) excited by single-element microstrip line transducer in yttrium–iron–garnet (YIG) film. Our calculation indicates that, for the case of magnetization parallel to the MSBVW propagation direction, the diffraction efficiency (DE) is equal to the mode-conversion efficiency of the diffracted lights (MCDE) and the calculated curve of relative DE for the MSBVW-based MO Bragg cell in pure YIG waveguide is in good agreement with the experimental data. In contrast, the diffraction performance can be greatly improved by optimizing the bias magnetic field and the DE gain can be increased by 6.3 dB in the tangentially magnetized film. The angular dependences of the DE and the corresponding Bragg angle upon the magnetization direction are also discussed in the paper.     

Structure and electrical transport properties of bismuth thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

Bismuth thin films were prepared on glass substrates with RF magnetron sputtering and the effects of deposition temperature on surface morphology and their electrical transport properties were investigated. Grain growth of bismuth and the coalescence of grains were observed above 393 K with field emission secondary electron microscopy. Continuous thin films could not be obtained above 448 K because of the segregation of grains. Hall effect measurements showed that substrate heating yields the decrease of carrier density and the increase of mobility in exponential ways until 403 K. Resistivity of sputter deposited bismuth films has its minimum (about 0.7 × 10⁻³ Ω cm) in range of 403-433 K. Annealing of bismuth films deposited at room temperature was carried out in a radiation furnace with flowing hydrogen gas. The change of resistivity was not significant due to the cancellation of the decrease of carrier density and the increase of mobility. However, the abrupt change of electrical properties of film annealed above 523 K was observed, which is caused by the oxidation of bismuth layer.