Reversal of coherent‐state spins in square magnetic nanodots induced by a magnetic microwave field

We study the coherent state excitation of spins in square nanodots induced by a magnetic microwave field. We present a new mechanism of spin reversal in nanodots. That is, the microwave field directly induces the reversal of the coherent‐state spins instead of indirectly through the magnetic vortex. We obtain the space distribution of coherent‐state spins in terms of a quantum theory, and calculate the time of spin reversal. This spin‐reversal process may be used to serve as a storage mechanism of binary information.     

Systematic study of magnetization reversal in square Fe nanodots of varying dimensions in different orientations

Ferromagnetic nanoparticles can be used for data storage, spintronics, and other applications. Especially vortex states are often suggested to be used to store information. Due to the shape anisotropy dominating in nanoparticles, magnetization reversal processes can be expected to depend not only on the dimensions, but also on the orientation with respect to the external magnetic field. While several papers evaluate magnetization dynamics, including vortex precessions, in round nanodots, square nanodots are less often investigated. Here we report on different magnetization reversal processes found in micromagnetic simulations of square Fe nanodots with lateral dimensions between 100 nm and 500 nm and thicknesses between 10 nm and 50 nm. Choosing magnetic field orientations parallel to one of the square edges and under 45^°, seven different reversal mechanisms were found, most of them including a single-vortex state, while in some cases two, three or more vortex-antivortex pairs were found. The ground state, i.e. the magnetic state at vanishing external magnetic field, was often a single-vortex state, making the nanodot with the respective dimensions suitable for data storage applications. The stability of this state, i.e. the field range over which it existed, depended strongly on the lateral dimensions and the dot thickness and was largest for small lateral dimensions and large thicknesses.     

Nonlinear microwave response of YBCO single crystal in constant magnetic field

The generation of a microwave second harmonic by a YBCO single crystal in a dc magnetic field was studied. We found that the signal existed only when there was a direct screening current. As a result, the pinning current as a function of magnetic field can be derived directly from the second harmonic intensity versus the magnetic field. The experimental data were interpreted in terms of a generalized model of the critical state taking into account diffusion of vortices and the absence of a barrier stopping vortices from leaving the sample. We have shown that, in a decreasing dc magnetic field, the current density is considerably lower than both the critical and screening current densities in an increasing dc field. Our experiments indicate that vortices are not the sources of radiation at the double frequency. A relation between the mechanism of harmonic generation in the Meissner phase and modulation of the order parameter by the microwave magnetic field (Ginzburg-Landau nonlinearity) is discussed. It is remarkable that, by measuring the second harmonic intensity in the Meissner state versus temperature, one can obtain the magnetic field penetration depth as a function of temperature with fairly good accuracy. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 2242–2253 (June 1999)     

Nanomagnets for sensors and data storage

Miniaturized magnetic devices are ubiquitous in the hard disks of computers and in tape storage systems. Giant magnetoresistance was discovered as recently as 1988 but already sensors using the effect are being incorporated into read heads for the highest density hard disk systems. As a result of intensive research and development, storage density on hard disks has increased dramatically at a rate greater than 60% per year. At sub-micron and nano-scale dimensions the properties of magnetic devices are strongly affected by their size and shape in a complex way resulting from the interplay between different types of magnetic energy. In some cases this causes a deterioration in the performance of existing devices, however it has also enabled entirely new devices to be proposed. Arrays of nanomagnets could be used for ultra-high density storage on hard disks or for fast and dense, non-volatile, solid state memory. Storage applications are possible because hysteresis in the nanomagnets creates two oppositely magnetized states which are stable in zero applied field and can store binary data. Magnetic sensors based on giant magnetoresistance in layered magnetic structures are among the most sensitive available for operation at room temperature and above. This paper describes the physical properties of nanomagnets and their role in present and future applications.     

A Self-Organised Bilocal Magnetic Field in the Electron Plasma of Metals

Within the simplest model of metals, namely a gas of electrons with Coulomb interactions, in the presence of a uniform background of positive charge to enforce electric neutrality of the system, we have derived a mechanism by which the Coulomb interaction between the electrons generates a new kind of magnetism. The ground state of the metal is represented by a magnetically ordered state described by a non-local magnetic field. This non-local magnetic field does not produce spin polarisation of electrons, but induces a special long range correlation between electrons of opposite spin. This mechanism results in a theoretical value for the binding energy per electron, which is lower than the corresponding value for the unmagnetised state of the metal. The new magnetic order, proposed and analysed theoretically here, can in principle be experimentally tested.     

Dynamic origin of vortex core switching in soft magnetic nanodots

The magnetic vortex with in-plane curling magnetization and out-of-plane magnetization at the core is a unique ground state in nanoscale magnetic elements. This kind of magnetic vortex can be used, through its downward or upward core orientation, as a memory unit for information storage, and thus, controllable core switching deserves some special attention. Our analytical and micromagnetic calculations reveal that the origin of vortex core reversal is a gyrotropic field. This field is induced by vortex dynamic motion and is proportional to the velocity of the moving vortex. Our calculations elucidate the physical origin of the vortex core dynamic reversal, and, thereby, offer a key to effective manipulation of the vortex core orientation.     

Localized pits and peaks in forbush decrease, associated with stratified structure of disturbed and undisturbed magnetic fields

Summary Forbush decrease (FD) is generally interpreted as a result of diffusion-convection of cosmic rays in a disturbed interplanetary magnetic field associated with the magnetohydrodynamic shock wave caused by solar flare. In this paper, we point out that a large number of FDs contain an isolated region or regions with pit-type time profile, in which cosmic rays are not in a diffusion-convection state but in a trapped state in undisturbed, uniform and strong magnetic field perpendicular to the solar wind. The trapped state is also characterized with a large ratio of the magnetic to ion thermal energy. The median duration time of the state is about 8 hours. About half of these states are associated with the northward (or southward) magnetic field, while the other half with the eastward (or westward) magnetic field. Flares responsible for the former state seem to be concentrated in an eastward region from about 30°W on the solar disk, while those for the latter state seem rather symmetric with respect to the centre of the solar disk. It is suggested that the trapped state is produced inside a magnetic tube of force which is not of a small scale such as that of the magnetic bubble pointed out by Klein and Burlaga, but of a large scale, having a horseshoe structure with its ends supposed to be connected to somewhere in an inner region near the Sun and with its cross-section supposed to be of a thin filament with radial and transverse dimensions of ≈0.1 a.u. and ≈1.1 a.u. at the Earth’s orbit. This belt-like tube of force is supposed to be produced on the solar surface or near the Sun and to be carried out by solar wind in a frozen state, trapping in itself low-density cosmic rays near the Sun. In addition to the pits, we point out also the existence of some peaks which are observed not only in the trapped region but also in a region of extremely disturbed magnetic field neighbouring in between two trapped regions. It is suggested that cosmic rays in the region of the latter type are supposed to be guided freely (or easily) from outer space through a path with similarly disturbed magnetic state, and therefore, they could maintain their density in the region always higher than in the neighbouring regions. Two kinds of cosmic-ray-guiding mechanism in the above can be regarded as being at opposite poles.     

Magnetic fields boosted by gluon vortices in color superconductivity

We investigate the effects of an external magnetic field in the gluon dynamics of a color superconductor with three massless quark flavors. In the framework of gluon mean-field theory at asymptotic densities, we show that the long-range component H[over ] of the external magnetic field that penetrates the color-flavor locked phase produces an instability when its strength becomes larger than the Meissner mass of the charged gluons. As a consequence, the magnetic field causes the formation of a vortex state characterized by the condensation of charged gluons and the creation of magnetic flux tubes. Inside the flux tubes, the magnetic field is stronger than the applied one. This antiscreening effect is connected to the anomalous magnetic moment of the gluon field. We suggest how this same mechanism could serve to remove the chromomagnetic instabilities existing in gapless color superconductivity.     

Localized axion photon states in a strong magnetic field

We consider the axion field and electromagnetic waves with rapid time dependence, coupled to a strong time independent, asymptotically approaching a constant at infinity “mean” magnetic field, which takes into account the back reaction from the axion field and electromagnetic waves with rapid time dependence in a time averaged way. The direction of the self consistent mean field is orthogonal to the common direction of propagation of the axion and electromagnetic waves with rapid time dependence and parallel to the polarization of these electromagnetic waves. Then, there is an effective U(1) symmetry mixing axions and photons. Using the natural complex variables that this U(1) symmetry suggests we find localized planar soliton solutions. These solutions appear to be stable since they produce a different magnetic flux than the state with only a constant magnetic field, which we take as our “ground state”. The solitons also have non-trivial U(1) charge defined before, different from the uncharged vacuum. These solitons represent a new, non-gravitational mechanism, of trapping light. They could also affect the vacuum structure in models of the QCD vacuum that incorporate a magnetic condensate, introducing may be gluon axion solitons.     

Astroid curves of high-moment antiferromagnetic nanoparticles with tunable magnetic properties

We have determined astroids for high-moment antiferromagnetic nanoparticles (AN), which have been recently discovered and used in numerous biomedical applications. The astroid curves for such a system, which is a stack of two isolated disk-shaped ferromagnetic nanoparticles interacting antiferromagnetically, show the regions in the magnetic field plane where different numbers of minima associated with stable or metastable states may exist. We describe the properties of these ANs and estimate their other characteristic parameters such as magnetic saturation field and exchange antiferrtomagnetic coupling. We argue that the finding of these astroids and the properties of ANs is crucial for the use of ANs in numerous applications and for modeling stable information storage devices.     

Ground-state cooling of a suspended nanowire through inelastic macroscopic quantum tunneling in a current-biased Josephson junction

We demonstrate that a suspended nanowire forming a weak link between two superconductors can be cooled to its motional ground state by a supercurrent flow. The predicted cooling mechanism has its origins in magnetic field induced inelastic tunneling of the macroscopic superconducting phase associated with the junction. Furthermore, we show that the voltage drop over the junction is proportional to the average population of the vibrational modes in the stationary regime, a phenomenon which can be used to probe the level of cooling.     

Sixteen-state magnetic memory based on the extraordinary Hall effect

We report on a proof-of-concept study of split-cell magnetic storage in which multi-bit magnetic memory cells are composed of several multilevel ferromagnetic dots with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Extraordinary Hall effect is used for reading the data. Feasibility of the approach is supported by realization of four-, eight- and sixteen- state cells.     

有磁和无磁状态下YIG和YAG晶体高压下的声速和衰减

 YAG晶体是一种无磁石榴石,YIG晶体是铁磁石石榴石。通过对YAG和YIG晶体在高压加磁场和不加磁场条件下,研究铁磁石榴石和无磁石榴石晶体的超声行为。采用“回波重合法”测量声速,通过比较回波的幅度进行衰减的测量。我们发现,不存在磁场时,有磁石榴石和无磁石榴石在高压条件下声速和声衰减有类似的变化行为。我们也发现,无论有无高压,在YAG晶体中不存在磁声相互作用,而在YIG晶体中,则存在磁声相互作用。     

Electric-field-modified Feshbach resonances in ultracold atom–molecule collision

We present a detailed analysis of near zero-energy Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions of atom and molecule,taking the He–PH system as an example, subject to superimposed electric and magnetic static fields. We find that the electric field can induce Feshbach resonance which cannot occur when only a magnetic field is applied, through couplings of the adjacent rotational states of different parities. We show that the electric field can shift the position of the magnetic Feshbach resonance, and change the amplitude of resonance significantly. Finally, we demonstrate that, for narrow magnetic Feshbach resonance as in most cases of ultracold atom–molecule collision, the electric field may be used to modulate the resonance, because the width of resonance in electric field scale is relatively larger than that in magnetic field scale.     

C掺杂FePt铁磁薄膜光诱导超快退磁动力学研究

FePt合金薄膜由于具有较强的磁各向异性而在磁信息和磁光信息存储中具有重要的应用.C掺杂可精确调控薄膜的磁各向异性,从而可有效地改变薄膜的矫顽场.通过超短激光脉冲与铁磁薄膜相互作用,可以获得非平衡状态下电子、自旋和晶格等自由度之间的动态耦合参数,这是研究超快磁记录材料的物理基础.本文基于瞬态磁光Kerr效应,研究了两种C掺杂浓度下FePt薄膜的超快磁光响应.实验结果表明:瞬态Kerr信号与外加磁场正相关,磁场反向,Kerr信号反号,而瞬态反射率与外加磁场无关;不同C掺杂的FePt薄膜的矫顽场不同,软磁的退磁时间显著小于硬磁薄膜的退磁时间.我们还观测到超快激光在铁磁薄膜中诱导频率约为49 GHz的相干声学声子,该声子的频率与外加磁场无关.实验结果为设计和研制新型磁光薄膜提供了实验依据.     

Development of underwater laser cutting technique for steel and zircaloy for nuclear applications

In nuclear field, underwater cutting and welding technique is required for post-irradiation examination, maintenance, decommissioning and to reduce storage space of irradiated materials like used zircaloy pressure tubes etc., of nuclear power plants. We have developed underwater cutting technique for 4.2 mm thick zircaloy pressure tubes and up to 6 mm thick steel using fibre-coupled 250 W average power pulsed Nd:YAG laser. This underwater cutting technique will be highly useful in various nuclear applications as well as in dismantling/repair of ship and pipe lines in water.     

Zero temperature phase diagram of the ferromagnetic Kondo lattice

We study numerically the one-dimensional ferromagnetic Kondo lattice, a model widely used to describe nickel and manganese perovskites. Due to the competition between double and super-exchange, we find a region where the formation of magnetic islands induces a charge-ordered state. This ordering is present even in the absence of any inter-site Coulomb repulsion and presents an insulating gap associated to the charge structure. We study the metal–insulator transition induced by a magnetic field which removes simultaneously both charge and spin orderings. This new mechanism should be taken into account in theories of charge ordering involving spin degrees of freedom.     

Avian magnetoreception model realized by coupling a magnetite-based mechanism with a radical-pair-based mechanism

Many animal species have been proven to use the geomagnetic field for their navigation, but the biophysical mechanism of magnetoreception has remained enigmatic. In this paper, we present a special biophysical model that consists of magnetite-based and radical-pair-based mechanisms for avian magnetoreception. The amplitude of the resultant magnetic field around the magnetic particles corresponds to the geomagnetic field direction and affects the yield of singlet/triplet state products in the radical-pair reactions. Therefore, in the proposed model, the singlet/triplet state product yields are related to the geomagnetic field information for orientational detection. The resultant magnetic fields corresponding to two materials with different magnetic properties are analyzed under different geomagnetic field directions. The results show that ferromagnetic particles in organisms can provide more significant changes in singlet state products than superparam- agnetic particles, and the period of variation for the singlet state products with an included angle in the geomagnetic field is approximately 180 when the magnetic particles are ferromagnetic materials, consistent with the experimental results obtained from the avian magnetic compass. Further, the calculated results of the singlet state products in a reception plane show that the proposed model can explain the avian magnetoreception mechanism with an inclination compass.     

Ultracold collision properties of metastable alkaline-earth atoms

Ultracold collisions of spin-polarized 24Mg, 40Ca, and 88Sr in the metastable 3P2 excited state are investigated based on molecular potentials obtained from ab initio calculations. We calculate the long-range interaction potentials and estimate the scattering length and the collisional loss rate as a function of magnetic field. The scattering lengths show resonance behavior due to the appearance of a molecular bound state in a purely long-range interaction potential and are positive for magnetic fields below 50 mT. A loss-rate model shows that losses should be smallest near zero magnetic field and for fields slightly larger than the resonance field, where the scattering length is also positive.     

Vortex polarity switching by a spin-polarized current

The spin-transfer effect is investigated for the vortex state of a magnetic nanodot. A spin current is shown to act similarly to an effective magnetic field perpendicular to the nanodot. Then a vortex with magnetization (polarity) parallel to the current polarization is energetically favorable. Following a simple energy analysis and using direct spin-lattice simulations, we predict the polarity switching of a vortex. For magnetic storage devices, an electric current is more effective to switch the polarity of a vortex in a nanodot than the magnetic field.