Interfaces in superconducting hybrid heterostructures with an antiferromagnetic interlayer

The structural, X-ray diffraction, and electrophysical studies of hybrid superconducting hetero-structures with an interlayer of cuprate antiferromagnetic Ca_{1 ? x} Sr _x CuO₂ (CSCO) with the upper electrode Nb/Au and the lower electrode Y_Ba₂Cu₃O_{7 ? δ} (YBCO) have been carried out. It has been experimentally shown that the epitaxial growth of two cuprates, YBCO and CSCO, results in the formation of an interface on which the enrichment of the CSCO interlayer with charge carriers proceeds to a depth of about 20 nm. In this case, the conduction of the enriched CSCO region proves to be closer to metallic, whereas the CSCO film deposited onto the NdGaO₃ substrate is a Mott insulator with hopping conduction.     

Josephson effect in hybrid oxide heterostructures with an antiferromagnetic layer

Josephson coupling between an s- and d-wave superconductor through a 50 nm thick Ca1-xSrxCuO2 antiferromagnetic layer was observed for the hybrid Nb/Au/Ca1-xSrxCuO2/YBa2Cu3O7-delta heterostructures and investigated as a function of temperature, magnetic field, and applied millimeter-wave electromagnetic radiation. The magnetic field dependence of the supercurrent I(c)(H) exhibits anomalously rapid oscillations, which is the first experimental evidence of the theoretically predicted giant magneto-oscillations in Josephson junctions with antiferromagnetic interlayers.     

Spatially modulated antiferromagnetic structures in an easy-plane multiferroic

Possible types of spatially modulated periodic antiferromagnetic structures in a uniaxial rhombohedral multiferroic with BiFeO₃ crystal symmetry have been studied depending on the ratio of the uniaxial anisotropy and magnetoelectric interaction parameters. It has been shown that, along with symmetric cycloid antiferromagnetic structures with zero transverse component of the antiferromagnetism vector, there are changes in the antiferromagnetism vector direction with both right and left nonzero components of the antiferromagnetic moment, which are branched from the high-symmetry spatially modulated distribution. These solutions degenerate into a homogeneous state at a critical value of the normalized easy-plane anisotropy parameter. The existence of the found spatially inhomogeneous antiferromagnetic states with an incommensurate period can lead to additional features in magnetoelectric properties in multiferroics of the type under consideration near magnetic phase transitions in electric and magnetic fields.     

Anomalous proximity effect in superconducting oxide structures with an antiferromagnetic layer

The electrophysical parameters of superconductor/antiferromagnetic insulator structures based on the Nb/Au/Ca_1?x Sr _x CuO₂/YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ hybrid heterostructure have been examined. YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ and Ca_1?x Sr _x SuO₂ epitaxial films are grown by the laser ablation method on NdGaO₃ single crystal substrates, the thickness of the Ca_1?x Sr _x CuO₂ layer varies from 20 to 50 nm, and x = 0.15 and 0.5. The superconducting pair potential in the interface between the YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ superconductor and Ca_1?x Sr _x CuO₂ antiferromagnet is found to penetrate into the antiferromagnet at distances much larger than the coherence length calculated for the ferromagnetic layer. The critical current of the superconducting transition manufactured at such an interface is highly sensitive to the magnetic field.     

Tuning the contact resistance in organic thin-film transistors with an organic-inorganic hybrid interlayer

We demonstrated the tunable contact resistance in pentacene thin film transistor (TFT) by inserting an organic-inorganic hybrid interlayer between Au electrode and pentacene layer. The contact resistance of pentacene-TFT varies with concentration of pentacene-TFT varies with concentration of MoO_x in organic-inorganic hybrid interlayer. MoO_x in organic-inorganic hybrid interlayer. The contact resistance of the device with 55 wt% MoO_x doped pentacene interlayer is about 7.8 times smaller than that of device without interlayer at the gate voltage of −20 V. Comparing the properties of pentacene-TFT without interlayer, the performance of the pentacene-TFT with 55 wt% MoO_x doped pentacene was significantly improved: saturation mobility increased from 0.39 to 0.87 cm²/V s, threshold voltage reduced from −21.3 to −7.2 V, and threshold swing varied from 3.75 to 1.39 V/dec. Our results indicated that the organic-inorganic hybrid interlayer is an effective way to improve the performance of p-channel OTFTs.     

Anomalous antiferromagnetic structures in metals

The many-sublattice antiferromagnetic NNSS and NNNSSS structures may be stable in metals with isotropic indirect exchange provided it is strongly non-Heisenbergian (e.g. metals with a quasi-one-dimensional electron energy spectrum). This makes it possible to explain other anomalies of metals of the CeSb type by the non-Heisenberg exchange. Under certain conditions it may cause the canted two-sublattice structure to be most energetically favoured in isotropic metals of the GdMg type.     

Superconducting current in hybrid heterojunctions of metal-oxide superconductors: Size and frequency dependences

We have detected experimentally considerable deviations of the frequency dependences of the Shapiro step amplitudes and the critical current of Nb/Au/YBa₂Cu₃O_x thin-film hybrid Josephson heterojunctions prepared on YBa₂Cu₃O_x metal-oxide superconductor films with a tilted c axis from the regularities inherent in Josephson junctions of traditional superconductors with an s-symmetry of the order parameter. It is shown that possible formation of “splintered” fluxons with a size λ_s<λ_J due to faceting of the interface and formation of a chain of nanosize 0 and π junctions must be taken into account in describing processes in lumped heterojunctions (whose size L is smaller than the Josephson penetration depth λ_J determined from the averaged value of the critical current density). For heterojunctions with a size λ_s < L < λ_J, a substantial decrease in the maximal amplitude of the first Shapiro step with increasing voltage (Josephson oscillation frequency) is observed at voltages much smaller than the energy gap in niobium (V « Δ_Nb/e); this effect is manifested most strongly when the size L is greater than λ_s. A fractional Shapiro step and a subharmonic detector response have been observed in the current-voltage characteristics of heterojunctions; the dynamic processes responsible for their emergence and indicating the presence of the second harmonic in the current-phase relation are studied. It is shown that the effect of interface faceting on the current-phase relation increases with a heterojunction size L>λ_s.     

Probing antiferromagnetic order with heat capacity in exchange-biased structures

We explore the magnetic heat capacity in exchange-biased ferromagnet/antiferromagnet bilayers theoretically. We show that changes in the antiferromagnetic structure due to the reversal of the ferromagnet layer can be detected by distinct features in the heat capacity. This offers a method for probing antiferromagnetic domains in exchange-biased systems.     

Anomalies in the polariton dynamics of a one-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal with antiferromagnetic interlayer ordering in an external DC electric field

The effect of an external dc electric field on the electrodynamic properties of a one-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal (MPC) with antiferromagnetic interlayer ordering is analyzed within the effective-medium method with regard to the quadratic magneto-optical interaction. The magnetizations of adjacent tangentially magnetized ferromagnetic layers are antiparallel. In particular, the effect of a magnetic compensation point on the character of polariton dynamics in this type of MPCs is revealed.     

Antiferroquadrupolar and antiferromagnetic structures in TmGa3

Magnetization processes and magnetic phase diagrams have been studied in magnetic fields applied along the three main crystallographic directions of the cubic cell in TmGa₃. Large magnetization jumps occur at well-defined critical fields. Each of the corresponding magnetic phases has been characterized by means of neutron diffraction on monocrystalline samples. They are shown to be stabilized by antiferroquadrupolar pair interactions within the trigonal symmetry which favours multiaxial spin arrangements: in the spontaneous triple q-structure, the spins point along the four threefold axes. A comparison with the magnetic properties of dysprosium intermetallic compounds within the CsCl-type structure is given. The difficulties of studying antiferroquadrupolar interactions and orderings in rare earth intermetallics are then underlined.     

Indirect control of antiferromagnetic domain walls with spin current

The indirect controlled displacement of an antiferromagnetic domain wall by a spin current is studied by Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert spin dynamics. The antiferromagnetic domain wall can be shifted both by a spin-polarized tunnel current of a scanning tunneling microscope or by a current driven ferromagnetic domain wall in an exchange coupled antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic layer system. The indirect control of antiferromagnetic domain walls opens up a new and promising direction for future spin device applications based on antiferromagnetic materials.     

Thermodynamic fluctuations in two-dimensional degenerate antiferromagnetic structures

A model of a two-dimensional antiferromagnet with an arbitrary anisotropic interaction that allows for degeneracy of the ground state is proposed. The lifting of degeneracy by thermodynamic fluctuations and the accompanying effects are studied by a method of self-consistent calculations of Gaussian angular fluctuations that is asymptotically exact at low temperatures. Fluctuations are shown to lead to collinear ordering of the orientations of magnetic sublattices, an effect that initiates long-range orientational order in systems with anisotropic interaction but retains only short-range order in systems with isotropic short-range interaction. The temperature patterns of the orientational correlators are given for the particular cases of dipole and isotropic short-range interaction models. The nature of the Ising-like behavior of the system is discussed for the case of a strong anisotropy of the correlators, which corresponds to quasi-one-dimensional behavior. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 669–680 (February 1997)     

Influence of a transport current on a domain wall in an antiferromagnetic metal

We consider the influence of an electric current on the position of a domain wall in an antiferromagnetic metal. We first microscopically derive an equation of motion for the Néel vector in the presence of current by performing, in the transport steady state, a linear-response calculation in the deviation from collinearity of the antiferromagnet. This equation of motion is then solved variationally for an antiferromagnetic domain wall. We find that, in the absence of dissipative or non-adiabatic coupling between magnetization and current, the current displaces the domain wall by a finite amount and that the domain wall is then intrinsically pinned by the exchange interactions. In the presence of dissipative or non-adiabatic current-to-domain-wall coupling, the domain wall velocity is proportional to the current and is no longer pinned.     

Effect of host and interlayer structures on device performances of hybrid white organic light-emitting diodes

The effect of host and interlayer structures on device performances of hybrid white organic light emitting diodes was studied by changing the energy level of host and interlayer materials. A mixed layer of hole transport type and electron transport type materials was used as a host and an interlayer. In the red:green/interlayer/blue stacked structure, a red shift of emission color was observed by increasing the highest occupied molecular orbital of the electron transport type material in the mixed layer. An optimization of the device structure gave a high current efficiency of 32.4 cd/A with a color coordinate of (0.44, 0.45).     

Stochastic high-frequency precession of magnetization in layered structures with antiferromagnetic ordering

The conditions for the appearance of self-oscillating and stochastic regimes in an exchange-coupled multilayer structure in the presence of a longitudinal high-frequency magnetic field are studied. Bifurcational diagrams are constructed that reveal various types of dynamic states of magnetic moments in the multilayer structure and transitions between these states with varying the frequency of the ac field. Attractors of stochastic oscillations are studied, and Lyapunov exponents determining the divergence of their phase trajectories are numerically calculated.     

Spin-filter tunneling in superconducting mesa structures with a ferromagnetic manganite interlayer

We have studied the current transport and magnetism in epitaxial hybrid superconducting mesa structures consisting of a cuprate superconductor and superconducting niobium with a manganite LaMnO₃ (LMO) interlayer. We have shown experimentally using magnetic resonance that the magnetization, magnetic anisotropy parameters, and transition temperature to the ferromagnetic state of the interlayer of the structures are analogous to those of an autonomous LMO film grown on a neodymium gallate substrate. The estimate of the barrier height obtained from the dependence of the characteristic resistance of mesa structures on the interlayer thickness has shown the barrier height variation with the thickness in the range of 5–30 mV. The temperature dependences of the conductivity of the mesa structure in the range between superconducting transition temperatures of the superconductors can be described in the theory taking into account the d-wave nature of the superconductivity for one of the electrodes and the spin-filtering of carriers passing through the tunnel interlayer. Spin-filtering is confirmed by the tunnel magnetoresistance and the high sensitivity of mesa structures to a weak external magnetic field in a voltage interval smaller than the gap of niobium.