Solubility and diffusion of H in ordered (L12) and disordered Pd3Mn

Hydrogen isotherms have been measured from 423 to 573 K for the disordered and L1₂ ordered forms of Pd₃Mn and, from these equilibrium isotherms, Δ_HH$\mathrm{\Delta }{H}_{\mathrm{H}}$ and Δ_SH$\mathrm{\Delta }{S}_{\mathrm{H}}$ have been determined over a range of r values where r  =H-to-metal, atom ratio. Δ_HH$\mathrm{\Delta }{H}_{\mathrm{H}}$ values are significantly more negative for the L1₂ ordered form than for the disordered form. H diffusion constants have been determined for the L1₂ and disordered forms of Pd₃Mn from gas phase H permeation measurements through Pd₃Mn membranes (423–573 K). The activation energy for diffusion of H in the L1₂ form is 35.2 kJ/mol H which is more reasonable than the value of 76.3 kJ/mol H previously reported. The diffusion constant is greater for the disordered than for the L1₂ form.     

Magnetic and transport properties of single-crystal Yb3Cu4Ge4

The magnetic and transport properties of single-crystal Yb₃Cu₄Ge₄ with the Gd₃Cu₄Ge₄-type orthorhombic structure are presented. Magnetization along the b-axis at 2 K saturates to 2.8_μB/Yb$2.8{\mu }_{\mathrm{B}}/\mathrm{Yb}$ at 3 kOe, while that along the a- and c-axes at 2 K are gradually increasing to the value of 1.5_μB/Yb$1.5{\mu }_{\mathrm{B}}/\mathrm{Yb}$ and 0.39_μB/Yb$0.39{\mu }_{\mathrm{B}}/\mathrm{Yb}$ at 50 kOe, respectively. The electrical resistivity within the ab-plane shows a metallic behavior in contrast to a broad maximum at around 30 K for that along the c-axis. Each resistivity for the principal axis suddenly decreases below 8 K. The specific heat shows a λ-type$\lambda \mathrm{-}\mathrm{type}$ sharp peak at 7.8 K. The electronic specific heat coefficient is estimated to be 29.4 mJ/mol Yb K² by fitting the magnetic part of the specific heat below 3 K. The magnetic entropy released up to T_C is 68% of that of R ln 2, expected for the doublet ground state. It is revealed that Yb₃Cu₄Ge₄ is categorized to a weak heavy-fermion system showing a ferromagnetic transition at 7.8 K with uniaxial anisotropy along the b-axis.     

Pressure dependence of the irradiation-induced ferromagnetism in Fe–Ni invar alloys

Pressure dependence of the irradiation-induced ferromagnetism recently found in Fe–Ni invar alloys was investigated under hydrostatic pressures up to 7.5 GPa. A rectangular sheet of Fe–30.2 at% Ni invar alloy was irradiated with 80 MeV Xe ions. The range was much smaller than the thickness of the sample. The Curie temperature of the irradiated part increased by 63 K, and the absolute value of the pressure coefficient, dT_C/dp   was smaller than that of non-irradiated part. The relation p≈(_TC0-_TC)ⁿ$p\approx (T_{{\mathrm{C}}_0}-T_{\mathrm{C}}{)}^n$ holds with n=2$n=2$ for both non-irradiated and irradiated part. The itinerant character was not so much modified by irradiation.     

Magnetic properties of Fe–Pt thick-film magnets prepared by RF sputtering

Thick films of L1₀ ordered Fe–Pt alloy magnet with a high maximum energy product were prepared by using a three-dimensional sputtering apparatus. With decreasing the Ar pressure from 3 to 0.6 Pa, the films annealed at 600 °C underwent a gradual phase transformation from the disordered FCC phase to the ordered FCT one. With further decreasing the pressure to 0.43 Pa, the disordered phase appeared again. The values of _Hc$H_{\mathrm{c}}$ and (_BH)max$({\mathrm{BH})}_{\max }$ were maximized to be approximately 399 kA/m and 90 kJ/m³ at 0.6 Pa of Ar pressure, respectively. While varying the input power at a stable pressure of 0.6 Pa, the as-deposited samples were dominated by the disordered phase at the applied power of 100 W RF, and the heat treatment resulted in a change to such L1₀ ordered phase. At input power higher than 120 W, both the as-deposited and annealing samples were ordered to the hard L1₀ FCT phase, and high _Hc$H_{\mathrm{c}}$ and (_BH)max$({\mathrm{BH})}_{\max }$ values of about 446 kA/m and 124 kJ/m³, respectively, were obtained on the sample deposited at the input power of 180 W.     

Enhancing entanglement of entangled coherent states by single-mode coherent superposition of photon subtraction and addition

We introduce a new entangled quantum state generated by applying single-mode coherent superposition of photon subtraction and addition (a^† cos θ + a sin θ)^m to the entangled coherent state |Ψ_±(α,0)〉$|{\Psi }_{\pm }\left(\alpha ,0\right)〉$, and then investigate the entanglement properties affected by coherent superposition operation. It is shown that this operation can be applied to enhance the entanglement of the state |Ψ₊(α,0)〉$|{\Psi }_{+}\left(\alpha ,0\right)〉$. In addition, the effects of the coherent operation is better to improve the entanglement than that of the creation operation (a^†m) for |Ψ₊(α,0)〉$|{\Psi }_{+}\left(\alpha ,0\right)〉$ in a small-amplitude regime and for |Ψ₋(α,0)〉$|{\Psi }_{-}\left(\alpha ,0\right)〉$ in any regime.     

Local anodization of permalloy film by atomic force microscope

Local anodization on a permalloy (_Ni80Fe20)${\mathrm{Ni}}_{80}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{20})$ thin film by an atomic force microscope (AFM) in air was studied. Fabrication of uniform structure on the permalloy film was difficult in comparison with that on a Si(1 0 0) substrate. On the permalloy film, threshold voltage for the AFM anodization increased until 3 h after exposure to air. With passage of time, I–V$I–V$ curves on the permalloy film also changed from metallic behavior to insulating one. In addition, I–V$I–V$ curves varied at positions on the permalloy film. The oxide layer with time- and position-dependencies can induce non-uniform structure in AFM anodization. However, uniformity of structure was able to be improved by using method of fabrication of dots.     

Physical properties of the cubic spinel LiMn2O4

We have performed an ab initio study of structural, electronic, magnetic, vibrational and thermal properties of the cubic spinel LiMn₂O₄ by employing the density functional theory, the linear-response formalism, and the plane-wave pseudopotential method. An analysis of the electronic structure with the help of electronic density of states shows that the density of states at the Fermi level (N (E_F)) is found to be governed by the Mn 3d electrons with some contributions from the 2p states of O atoms. It is important to note that the contribution of Mn 3d states to N(_EF)$N\left(E_F\right)$ is as much as 85%. From our phonon calculations, we have obtained that the main contribution to phonon density of states (below 250 cm⁻¹) comes from the coupled motion of Mn and O atoms while phonon modes between 250 cm⁻¹ and 375 cm⁻¹ are characterized by the vibrations of all the three types of atoms. The contribution from Li increases rapidly at higher frequency (above 375 cm⁻¹) due to the light mass of this atom. Finally, the specific heat and the Debye temperature at 300 K are calculated to be 249.29 J/mol K and 820.80 K respectively.     

Soft magnetic properties of NiFe compacted powder alloys

It is known that Ni–Fe based alloys (permalloys) are important soft magnetic materials, which have been widely applied in the field of electronic devices and industry. The most suitable permalloys for application exhibit low value of coercivity and magnetostriction (for about 80 at% Ni), high saturation magnetic induction (for about 50 at% Ni), higher electrical resistivity (for about 35 at% Ni). The aim of this work was to investigate the structure and magnetic properties of _Ni81Fe19${\mathrm{Ni}}_{81}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{19}$ (wt%) compacted powder material in the form of small cylinders.     

Effects of Gd substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of strontium hexaferrites

The effect of Gd substitution in M-type strontium hexaferrites has been examined in two series of samples, (_Sr1-xGdx)O·5.25$({\mathrm{Sr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Gd}}_x)\mathrm{O}·5.25$_Fe2O3${\mathrm{Fe}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ and _{Sr1-xGdxFe12-xCoxO19}${\mathrm{Sr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Gd}}_x{\mathrm{Fe}}_{12-x}{\mathrm{Co}}_x{\mathrm{O}}_{19}$, both prepared by the ceramic method, where x=0–0.40$x=0–0.40$. The samples have been characterized by XRD, VSM and SEM-EDAX techniques. All substituted samples present primarily the hexaferrite structure. Sample (_{Sr0.95Gdx0.05})O·5.25$({\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.95}{\mathrm{Gd}}_{x0.05})\mathrm{O}·5.25$_Fe2O3${\mathrm{Fe}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ is single phase. Formation of impurity phases is affected by stoichiometry and presence of Co. In Sr–Gd samples, coercivity showed a maximum value of 305 kA/m (3.8 kOe) for x=0.20$x=0.20$, while remanence and saturation magnetization did not decrease. Coercivity and magnetization in the Sr–Gd–Co series decreased steadily with substitution degree.     

High pressure powder X-ray diffraction study of Cr2As and pressure-induced structural phase transition

Cr₂As, which is an intermetallic compound of Cu₂Sb-type with Strukturbericht designation C38 was studied under a pressure of up to 32.5 GPa at room temperature using in situ synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction with a diamond anvil cell. From the X-ray diffraction analysis, our results showed that the Cu₂Sb (C38)-type phase of Cr₂As undergoes a pressure-induced structural phase transition near 15.4 GPa. The high-pressure (HP) phase of Cr₂As is suggested as an orthorhombic structure. No additional structural phase transition was observed up to 32.5 GPa, and the initial low-pressure (LP) Cu₂Sb (C38)-type structure was recovered as the pressure was released, implying that the observed pressure-induced structural phase transformation was reversible. The pressure–volume data of Cr₂As was fitted to a second-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state, which yielded a bulk modulus of $B_0=125\left(3\right)$ and 340 (12) GPa for the LP and the HP phases, respectively. Furthermore, the $a$ axis is more compressible than the $c$ axis for the LP phase of Cr₂As. The anisotropic compressibility of the studied crystal is discussed in terms of the crystallography stacking.     

Thermodynamic geometry of a kagome Ising model in a magnetic field

We derived the thermodynamic curvature of the Ising model on a kagome lattice under the presence of an external magnetic field. The curvature was found to have a singularity at the critical point. We focused on the zero field case to derive thermodynamic curvature and its components near the criticality. According to standard scaling, scalar curvature R   behaves as |β−_βc|^α−2${|\beta -{\beta }_c|}^{\alpha -2}$ for α>0$\alpha >0$ where β is the inverse temperature and α is the critical exponent of specific heat. In the model considered here in which α is zero, we found that R   behaves as |β−_βc|^α−1${|\beta -{\beta }_c|}^{\alpha -1}$.     

Magnetic linear dichroism studies of in situ grown NiO thin films

We report thickness dependence of magnetic linear dichroism (MLD) of in situ grown NiO(0 0 1) films on Ag(0 0 1) substrate at the Ni L₂ absorption edge. Antiferromagnetic domains at the surface of NiO(0 0 1) films are found to be preferentially aligned in-plane. For films thinner than a critical thickness _tc$t_{\mathrm{c}}$ (20–40ML), we observe a softening of the in-plane magnetic domain alignments with increasing film thickness, arising from the strain-relaxation effects. Films thicker than _tc$t_{\mathrm{c}}$ exhibits a residual in-plane anisotropy, possibly related to the finite-thickness effects.     

Effect of continuous layer in CGC perpendicular recording media

The effect of continuous layer on CoCrPt–SiO₂ granular layer is studied in coupled granular continuous (CGC) perpendicular recording media. In the cross-section transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation, magnetic grain in the granular layer shows columnar structure, while Co/Pd multilayer shows continuous layer. The plane-view TEM image of the granular layer shows well-isolated grain structure with average grain size of around 6 nm, and grain-to-grain separation width of around 2 nm. Therefore, the interactions among the grains are negligible (J∼0). By depositing a continuous layer on a CoCrPt–SiO₂ granular layer, the grains in the granular layer are magnetically coupled through capping layer that leads to the suppression of magnetic anisotropy dispersion. This CGC structure reduces the coercivity dispersion (Δ_Hc/_Hc$\mathrm{\Delta }{H}_{\mathrm{c}}/H_{\mathrm{c}}$) from 0.26 to 0.15 and saturation field (H_s) from 10.4 to 6.7 kOe. The reduction of H_s and Δ_Hc/_Hc$\mathrm{\Delta }{H}_{\mathrm{c}}/H_{\mathrm{c}}$ improves the OW by 21.3 dB. The small Δ_Hc/_Hc$\mathrm{\Delta }{H}_{\mathrm{c}}/H_{\mathrm{c}}$ also maintains SNR of CGC media with strong magnetic exchange coupling. Furthermore, the coupling of grains through continuous layer enlarges the magnetic nucleation field (H_n) from 0.4 to −1.7 kOe. Consequently, CGC media shows better thermal stability compared to non-CGC media.     

The spin-ladder and spin-chain system (La,Y,Sr,Ca)14Cu24O41: Electronic phases,charge and spin dynamics

The quasi-one-dimensional cuprates (La,Y,Sr,Ca)₁₄Cu₂₄O₄₁, consisting of spin-chains and spin-ladders, have attracted much attention, mainly because they represent the first superconducting copper oxide with a non-square lattice. Theoretically, in isolated hole-doped two-leg ladders, superconductivity is tightly associated with the spin gap, although in competition with a charge-density wave (CDW). Indeed, both the gapped spin-liquid and CDW states have been established in the doped spin-ladders of _{Sr14-xCaxCu24O41}${\mathrm{Sr}}_{14-x}{\mathrm{Ca}}_x{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41}$, however the relevance of these objects to electronic properties and superconductivity is still subject of intensive discussion. In this treatise, an appreciable set of experimental data is reviewed, which has been acquired in recent years, indicating a variety of magnetic and charge arrangements found in the chains and ladders of underdoped (La,Y)_y(S,Ca)_14−yCu₂₄O₄₁ and fully doped _{Sr14-xCaxCu24O41}${\mathrm{Sr}}_{14-x}{\mathrm{Ca}}_x{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41}$. Based on these data, phase diagrams are constructed for the chains of underdoped systems (as a function of La, Y-substitution), as well as for the chains and ladders of the fully doped ones (as a function of Ca-substitution). We try to reconcile contradictory results concerning the charge dynamics in the ladders, like the hole redistribution between ladders and chains, collective modes and pseudogap, field-dependent transport and the temperature scales and doping levels at which the two-dimensional CDW develops in the ladder planes. The remaining open issues are clearly extracted. In the discussion the experimental results are contrasted with theoretical predictions, which allows us to conclude with two important remarks concerning the nature of the competing CDW and superconducting ground states. A density wave in ladders, characterized by a sinusoidal charge modulation, belongs to the class of broken symmetry patterns, which is theoretically predicted for strongly correlated low-dimensional electron systems; however its precise texture and nature is still an open issue. As for superconductivity, the presence of the spin gap in the normal state points towards d  -wave symmetry and magnetic origin of the attractive interaction. However, there is a finite density of mobile quasi-particles that appears for high Ca contents and increases with pressure, concomitantly with increased two-dimensionality and metallicity. For this reason the superconductivity in the doped ladders of _{Sr14-xCaxCu24O41}${\mathrm{Sr}}_{14-x}{\mathrm{Ca}}_x{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41}$ which occurs under high pressure cannot simply be a stabilization of the d-wave superconductivity expected for a pure single ladder system.     

The role of dipolar interaction in nanocomposite permanent magnets

The effects of dipolar interactions on the magnetization behaviors and magnetic properties of the nanocomposite magnets have been studied by micromagnetic simulations. Numerical results show that the dipolar interaction plays an important role during the demagnetization process, especially in the magnets with large soft-phase content _vs$v_{\mathrm{s}}$. For the isotropic nanocomposites, the remanence enhancement can be controlled through adjustments of the grain size D   and _vs$v_{\mathrm{s}}$. However, the appearance of magnetic vortex state leads to a very low remanence in the magnets with large D   and _vs$v_{\mathrm{s}}$. The dependence of coercivity on D   and _vs$v_{\mathrm{s}}$ can be attributed to the exchange-induced magnetization reversal near the grain boundaries and the low nucleation field of soft phase, respectively. For the anisotropic nanocomposites, the reduced remanence _mr$m_{\mathrm{r}}$ is equal to 1.0$1.0$ for the magnets with small D   or with low _vs$v_{\mathrm{s}}$. However, _mr$m_{\mathrm{r}}$ decreases with increasing _vs$v_{\mathrm{s}}$ for the magnet with large D   due to the influence of dipolar interactions. The difference between the calculated coercivity _Hc$H_{\mathrm{c}}$ with and without considering dipolar interaction shows that the dipolar interaction plays a more important role during the magnetization reversal in the soft phase than that in the hard phase. The maximum calculated energy product of the isotropic nanocomposites is only about 40 MGOe due to the conflicting relation between remanence and coercivity, while that of the anisotropic nanocomposites is 112 MGOe. This reminds us that the alignment of hard grain is important to obtain high performance.     

Effect of La doping on magnetotransport and magnetic properties of double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 system

We have investigated the magnetotransport and magnetic properties on polycrystalline samples of Sr_2−xLa_xFeMoO₆ (x=0$x=0$, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0). The magnitude of intergrain tunneling magnetoresistance with low magnetic field of 0.88 T for x=0.2$x=0.2$ and 0.4$0.4$ samples are as large as 5% and 7% at room temperature and 13% and 10% at 10 K, respectively. The increase of coercivity (_Hc$H_{\mathrm{c}}$), ratio of remanent magnetization with respect to saturation magnetization (_Mr/_Ms$M_{\mathrm{r}}/M_{\mathrm{s}}$), high saturation fields, and reduction of the saturation magnetization indicate that random disorder of spin orientation is mainly responsible for enhancement of the low-field magnetoresistance for samples with x?0.4$x?0.4$. Whereas rapid drop of _Hc$H_{\mathrm{c}}$, _Mr/_Ms$M_{\mathrm{r}}/M_{\mathrm{s}}$, _Mr$M_{\mathrm{r}}$, and saturation fields for samples with x>0.4$x>0.4$ signifies the growth of antiphase boundary, which gives rise to lower values of low-field MR.