Synthesis of Co submicrospheres self-assembled by Co nanosheets via a complexant-assisted hydrothermal approach

Co submicrospheres with the typical diameter of ca. 500 nm, and possessing beautiful morphologies composed of dense Co nanosheets ca. 10 nm thick, were synthesized by a facile and low-cost complexant-assisted hydrothermal approach. Magnetic measurement at room temperature indicated the coercivity of the submicrospheres reached 268 Oe, which was much higher than that of bulk Co and of some microstructure cobalt materials reported previously. Hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and face-centered cubic (fcc) cobalt phases in the materials were identified by X-ray diffractometer (XRD). It was revealed that the addition of the complexant sodium tartrate played a crucial role in the formation of the hierarchical architectures of the Co submicrospheres. We believe that the high coercivity of the synthesized submicrospheres may result from their special nano-micro structure, and we suggest that this low-cost and facile synthesis approach can be used for large-scale production of Co magnetic materials with special structures and morphologies, as well as excellent magnetic properties.     

Characterization and Magnetic Properties of Iron-Based Alloy Antidot Arrays

Fe29Cerl and Fe19Ni81 antidot arrays, with different dimensions, are prepared with the rf magnetron sputtering method onto the porous alumina substrate. The size and shape of antidot arrays are characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The glancing angle x-ray diffraction patterns of Fe29C071 and FelgNi81 antidot arrays indicate the bcc and fcc structures, respectively. The coercivities of both the alloys show abnormal thickness dependence, which are discussed qualitatively by considering the pinning and the thickness effect to the films.     

The effect of structure on magnetic properties of Co nanowire arrays

Co nanowire arrays with three typical diameters of 20, 50 and 120 nm have been fabricated into anodic alumina oxide templates using an ac electrodeposition method. It is found that the crystal texture of the Co nanowires depends on the pH value of the deposition electrolyte. X-ray diffraction results show that the (1 0 0) texture appears at pH 6.2, while the diffraction peaks of (1 0 0) and (1 0 1) appear at pH 6.4 with the diameter of 20 nm. In addition, the (0 0 2), (1 0 0) and (1 0 1) peaks appear with an increase of pH value for the nanowire arrays with diameters of 50 and 120 nm, respectively. Magnetic measurements indicate the effect of structure on the magnetic properties of the nanowire arrays, which depend strongly on the different diffraction peaks, as adjusted by the pH value.     

THz Generation by Optical Rectification and Competition with Other Nonlinear Processes

We present a study of the competition between tera-hertz （THz） generation by optical rectification in （110） ZnTe crystals, two-photon absorption, second harmonic generation and free-carrier absorption. The two-photon nonlinear absorption coefficient, second harmonic generation efficiency and free-carrier absorption coefficient in the THz range are measured independently. The incident pump field is shown to be depleted by two-photon absorption and the THz radiation is shown to be reduced, upon focusing, by free-carrier absorption. The reduction of the generated THz radiation upon tight focusing is explained, provided that one also takes into account diffraction effects from the sub-wavelength THz source.     

Electrical Properties of Nanostructured Magnetic Colloid and Influence of Magnetic Field

We investigate the electrical properties of the nanostructured magnetic colloid without and with magnetic field. The competition between the directional motion of the charged magnetic nanoparticles and other minor nonmagnetic impurities （also small amount of ions） under applied voltage and their random orientation due to thermal activation is implemented to elaborate the electrically conduction mechanism under zero magnetic field. Two equivalent electric circuits are employed for explaining the charging and discharging processes. The tunnelling conduction mechanism upon application of externally magnetic field may exist in the nanostructured magnetic colloid. The alternation of the two conduction mechanisms accounts for the current spikes when the magnetic field is switched on or off. This work presents the peculiar electrical phenomena of the magnetically colloidal system.     

Fabrication and Mossbauer Study of FeCo Alloy Nanotube Array

Arrays of FeCo nanotubes are fabricated in the pores of porous anodic aluminium oxide templates. Transmission electron microscopic result shows that the nanotubes are regular and uniform. Magnetic hysteresis loops measured at room temperature are different from those of nanowires with the same composition, which are caused by the unique shape of nanotubes. The M6ssbauer spectra show that the hyperfine field is smaller than that of the bulk＇s and increases with decrease of measuring temperature. However, the areas of the doublets appeared in M6ssbauer spectra decrease with decrease of measuring temperature.     

The influence of thermal annealing on the structural and magnetic properties of gold nanoparticles

In the past few years ferromagnetic-like behavior has been reported in metal gold nanoparticles coated with diverse organic surfactants. In this work we report on the effect of thermal annealing on the ferromagnetic-like behavior of oleic acid and oleylamine coated gold nanoparticles of about 7 nm size. The magnetic moment of the “as prepared” sample is about 3×10⁻² emu/g and the coercive field is 200 Oe at 10 kOe and 5 K, after the annealing the behavior changes from ferromagnetic-like to paramagnetic and the magnetization at 10 kOe decreases at a factor of 10. These results are compared with those obtained for oleylamine coated gold nanoparticles, which are diamagnetic at room temperature.     

Magnetic properties of p-doped GaMnN diluted magnetic semiconductors containing clusters

Magnetic properties of p-doped GaMnN diluted magnetic semiconductors, having both randomly distributed Mn ions and Mn_xN_y clusters, are presented under the theory based on the hole-mediated ferromagnetism. The critical temperature of the second order phase transition between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases and the magnetization as a function of temperature are obtained from the free energy calculation. The Curie temperature of the p-doped GaMnN containing clusters depends not on the type of clusters but on the composition rate of clusters. The behavior of the spontaneous magnetization as a function of temperature is strongly affected by carrier concentration. The p-doped GaMnN diluted magnetic semiconductors containing clusters have room temperature ferromagnetism regardless of the magnetic type of clusters, as long as hole-mediated spin-spin interactions occur in them.     

Formation of room-temperature ferromagnetic Zn1−xCoxO nanocrystals

Optical and magnetic properties of Co²⁺-doped ZnO nanocrystals were studied. Optical measurements confirm the incorporation of Co²⁺ in ZnO lattice with tetrahedral geometry. Optical absorption spectra also reveal the partial bleaching of the excitonic feature attributable to an increase in electron concentration. Magnetization measurements indicate the ferromagnetic ordering in Co²⁺-doped ZnO nanocrystals with saturation magnetization . No structural changes were observed in lightly doped ZnO nanocrystals. The present investigations are important in obtaining the ferromagnetic Zn_1−xCo_xO nanocrystals.     

Properties of laser gain of Li:CdZnO/ZnMgO quantum well

The many-body optical gain in Li:CdZnO/MgZnO quantum well (QW) structures with spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric polarization, and ferroelectric dipole moment is investigated by using the non-Markovian gain model with many-body effects. The CdZnO/MgZnO QW structure with high Cd composition is found to have smaller optical gain because the strain-induced piezoelectric polarization and the spontaneous polarization in the well increase with the inclusion of Cd. The internal field is reduced due to the additional polarization by Li in the CdZnO/MgZnO QW structure. These results show that Li:CdZnO-based QW lasers are promising candidates for optoelectric applications in visible and UV regions.     

Magnetic anisotropy study of triangular-shaped Co nanostructures

Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) have been used to measure the magnetic and geometrical characteristics of triangular-shaped Co structures of lateral size 730 nm and thickness 32 nm, prepared by nanosphere lithography (NSL). Evidence of in-plane six-fold magnetic anisotropy induced by the symmetry of the structure has been found. By means of XMCD measurements, performed at remanence after applying a pulsed field, a structure rotation angle-dependent oscillation of about 15% with a periodicity of 60° has been observed for both the orbital and spin moments. Furthermore, the system exhibits the angular hysteresis effect. The magnetic measurements performed by MFM show a reduction of the magnetic configurations to only two states, one quasi-single domain Y state and second, a combination of vortex and Y state.     

A study of nanosized Ni substituted Co–Zn ferrite prepared by coprecipitation

Nanoparticles of Ni_0.25Co_0.25Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ with different particle sizes were synthesized by chemical coprecipitation technique. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized and studied by X-ray diffraction, room temperature ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and DC magnetization. Increase in annealing temperature leads to inversion of cations from their normal configurations which results in an increase in the hyperfine fields at both tetrahedral A and octahedral B sites. The decrease in saturation magnetization values with an increase in annealing temperature can be attributed to the variation in proportions of superparamagnetic phase and also the redistribution of cations in these ferrite nanoparticles. Variation of coercivity with annealing temperatures can be explained in terms of the size effect.     

Microwave Magnetic Permeability of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

Well-dispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles are synthesized via an oxidization method with NANO2 as oxidant. The microwave magnetic properties of the composites are studied with different volume fractions of fe3O4 nanoparticles. It is found that a lower volume fraction corresponds to a higher magnetic resonance frequency. This could be ascribed to the enhancement of exchange interaction with a weakened dipolar interaction when the volume fraction decreases.     

Effect of carbon content on structure and magnetic properties for (Fe,Ni)1−xCx by mechanical alloying

FCC (Fe₅₅Ni₄₅)_1−xC_x   supersaturated solid solution was prepared in a wide concentration range (0?x?0.9)$(0?x?0.9)$ by mechanical alloying of nanocrystalline Fe₅₅Ni₄₅ with graphite. The lattice constant of Fe₅₅Ni₄₅ increases linearly with increasing carbon content up to x=0.25$x=0.25$. At the same time, it is found that the magnetic moment per metal atom (Fe, Ni) decreases linearly with increasing carbon content for 0?x?0.25$0?x?0.25$ with a slope of 1.2 μ_B/at. For high carbon content, x?0.5$x?0.5$, it is observed that the decrease of lattice constant and increase of moment per metal atom (Fe, Ni) with increasing C content, indicates that the dissolution of carbon is hindered by the high-volume fraction of graphite in the initial powder mixture. The complete amorphization of x=0.5$x=0.5$ does not occur after the extended ball milling. The alloying effect of carbon on the magnetization is compared with other metalloid B, P, and Si in Fe- and Ni-based binary system.     

Interface study of ion irradiated Cu/Ni/Cu(0 0 2)/Si magnetic thin film by X-ray reflectivity

The irradiation effect of 1 MeV C⁺ on the interface and magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Cu/Ni system with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was investigated by using magneto-optical Kerr effects, grazing incident diffraction and X-ray reflectivity. The magnetic easy-axis was altered from the direction along the surface normal to in-plane and the strain in the Ni layer was relaxed after ion irradiation. Though the interface between the top Cu layer and the Ni layer becomes rough, the contrast of electron densities of Cu and Ni layer increases and the grain-growth occurs during ion irradiation. These phenomena arise from thermo-chemical driving force, i.e. heat of formation, which may be a crucial factor in determining the interface shape in the case of indirect energy transfer mechanism. Therefore, the change of the magnetic anisotropy of the Ni/Cu system after ion irradiation is not due to the formation of the intermixed layer at the interface. The ion irradiation effects on the grain-growth and enhancement of the electronic contrast between Ni and Cu are explained by the interfacial atomic movement caused by thermo-chemical driving force.     

Electrical and Magnetic Properties of FeSi2 Nanowires

We report the characterization of self-assembled epitaxially grown FeSi₂ nanowires (NWs) in terms of electrical and magnetic properties. NWs grown by reactive deposition epitaxy (RDE) on silicon (110) show dimensions of 10nm×5nm, and several micrometres in length. By using conductive-AFM (c-AFM), electron transport properties of one single NW is measured, resistivity of a single crystalline FeSi₂ NW is estimated to be 225μ\Ω ・cm. Using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), we measure a magnetic moment of 0.3±0.1 Bohr magneton per iron atom for these FeSi₂ NWs.     

Magnetic and microstructural characterizations of CoFe and CoFeB nanowires

Magnetic and microstructural characterizations of cobalt-rich CoFe and CoFeB nanowires fabricated in commercially available alumite templates were investigated. The modifications in magnetic and microstructural behaviors of crystalline CoFe and amorphous CoFeB nanowires were observed after magnetic field annealing and reannealing of the samples.     

Microstructures and coercivities of SmCox and Sm(Co,Cu)5 films prepared by magnetron sputtering

We have investigated the influence of composition and annealing conditions on the magnetic properties and microstructural features of SmCo_x films that were prepared by sputtering and subsequent annealing. A huge in-plane coercivity of 5.6 T was obtained from an optimally annealed Sm–Co film, which was attributed to the nanometer sized polycrystalline microstructure of the highly anisotropic SmCo₅ phase. Although a high density of planar defects were observed in the films that were annealed at high temperatures, they did not act as strong pinning sites for domain wall motion. The effect of Cu on [SmCo_4.5(9 nm)/Cu(xnm)]₁₀ multilayer thin films was also studied. An appropriate Cu content increased the coercivity.     

Magnetic properties of Co nanoparticle granular films capped with Pt

Magnetization and susceptibility measurements have been performed on Co granular (Al₂O₃/Co/Pt)₂₅ multilayers. A cusp-like anomaly is present in the susceptibility, which together with magnetization measurements suggests that the samples behave as an amorphous Correlated-Super-Spin system. The presence of CoPt partial alloying is proven by the XANES spectra. The XMCD spectra show that the interfacial Pt atoms become magnetically polarized by hybridization of the Pt 5d and Co 3d electrons, and are ferromagnetically coupled to the Co particle moments. The Pt layer is effective in transmitting interparticle exchange coupling.     

Permeability-frequency spectra of (Fe1−xcox)73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 nanocrystalline alloys under different magnetic fields

Under various amplitude of AC magnetic fields domain wall motion is the main mechanism in the magnetization process. This includes domain wall bulging and domain wall displacing. In this paper complex permeability-frequency spectra of (Fe_1−xCo_x)_73.5Cu₁Nb₃Si_13.5B₉ (x=0,0.5$x=0,0.5$) nanocrystalline alloys were measured as a function of the AC magnetic field, ranging from 0.001 to 0.04 Oe. Obvious changes have been found in complex permeability spectra for alloy x=0$x=0$ with the change of the amplitude of AC magnetic field, but variation of AC magnetic field has little effect on complex permeability spectra for alloy x=0.5$x=0.5$. This is attributed to the increased pinning field after substitution of Fe with Co in Fe_73.5Cu₁Nb₃Si_13.5B₉ nanaocrystalline alloy.