Magnetic measurements of Fe-Ni-Nb-B and Fe-Co-Mo-Cu-B in the vicinity of the Curie temperature

The study of the transition between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states has been investigated on selected metallic glass systems based on Fe-Ni-Nb-B and Fe-Co-Mo-Cu-B with T_C close to room temperature. Samples in the form of ribbons were prepared by planar flow casting and magnetostriction in parallel and perpendicular directions and saturation magnetostrictions have been determined on these samples in as-cast states together with hysteresis loops. In addition, a magneto-optic device for dynamic domain observation has been used for observation of domain structure. Magnetostriction measurements using direct method of measurement show the decrease of saturation magnetostriction towards zero upon approaching T_C. In paramagnetic state the field dependencies of magnetostriction in parallel and perpendicular configurations exhibit a linear dependence on the external magnetic field. In the transition region of temperatures the dependencies are a combination of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic field dependencies. The coercivity H_C in the materials investigated exhibits values below 20 A/m. The observed magnetic domains are typical for this class of amorphous alloys. The polarization in paramagnetic state increases gradually with increase in magnetizing field, reflecting the increasing amount of polarized regions.     

Fast domain wall dynamics in amorphous and nanocrystalline magnetic microwires

We have studied the effect of thermal treatment on the domain wall dynamics of FeSiB and FeCoMoB microwires. It was shown that annealing in transversal magnetic field increases the domain wall mobility as well as the domain wall velocity. Annealing under the tensile stress hinders the appearance of the monodomain structure but application of tensile stress leads to the magnetic bistability having the domain wall mobility twice higher that in as-cast state. Further increase of the tensile stress reduces the domain wall mobility but the domain wall velocity increases as a result of the decrease of critical propagation field. Annealing of the FeCoMoB microwire by Joule heating leads to introduction of the circular anisotropy that favors the vortex domain wall. Such treatment increases the domain wall mobility as well as the maximum domain wall velocity.     

Magnetic domain wall dynamics in an inhomogeneous magnetic field

A new experimental method for the study of single magnetic domain wall dynamics in bistable microwires is presented. It raises new possibilities for experimenting with a single magnetic domain wall moving in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Models for a wall with fixed length were confronted with experimental data obtained on amorphous glass-coated ferromagnetic Fe_77.5B₁₅Si_7.5${\mathrm{Fe}}_{77.5}{\mathrm{B}}_{15}{\mathrm{Si}}_{7.5}$ microwire. These models qualitatively describe the observed behavior. The accord between models and experiment increases as the field disturbance decreases due to its inhomogeneity. A better match between experimental and model curves can probably be obtained if the changes in the wall dimensions and wall mass are taken into account.     

Fast domain wall dynamics in amorphous glass-coated microwires

Here we report on the domain wall dynamics in amorphous glass-coated FeCuNbSiB microwires measured in the temperature range from 77 up to 400 K. At low temperatures below 200 K, the domain wall velocity is proportional to the applied magnetic field. At temperatures above 200 K, two regions have been found: one with low domain wall mobility at low fields and another one with high domain wall mobility at high fields. The different regions of the domain wall dynamics are treated in terms of the change of the domain wall configuration from transversal to vortex one. Moreover, non-linear regime is shown at low fields at the temperature 373 K as a result of the domain wall interaction with the local defects.     

Magnetoelastic contribution in domain wall dynamics of amorphous microwires

We studied the domain wall (DW) propagation of magnetically-bistable Fe–Co-rich microwires paying attention to the effect of applied and internal stresses. Magnetic field, H, dependences of DW velocity, v, were measured in Co_41.7Fe_36.4Si_10.1B_11.8 microwires with metallic nucleus diameters (from 13 μm to 18 μm) and with different ρ-ratio between the metallic nucleus diameter, d, and total microwire diameter, D. DW velocity decreased under the application of stresses. From measured dependences we evaluated DW mobility, S, dependence on the applied stresses. The results obtained for Co_41.7Fe_36.4Si_10.1B_11.8 sample show that S decreases with the increasing of applied stresses, σ_a. The observed dependences manifest that increasing of magnetoelastic anisotropy results in the decreasing of DW mobility and DW velocity     

Physical properties and giant magnetoimpedance sensitivity of rapidly solidified magnetic microwires

The relation between the magnetoimpedance and the magnetic properties of a wide set of soft magnetic microwires from several sources has been studied. Magnetic properties were obtained by vibrating sample magnetometry and ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The magnetoimpedance voltage sensitivity of each sample, the criterion of interest for high sensitivity magnetometer design, was then evaluated at several frequencies and drive currents. It appears that all samples possess roughly similar properties, regardless of their fabrication process or chemical composition. The voltage sensitivity of the samples obtained from experimental measurement is compared with a simple model of sensitivity. The general trends predicted by the model provide useful insights for materials optimization. Averaged sensitivity over the sample set is around 10 kV/T/cm at 10 MHz. The critical importance for sensitive magnetometry of the maximum excitation current permissible in each wire is also highlighted.     

Effect of Nb and Cr incorporation on the structural and magnetic properties of rapidly quenched FeCoSiB microwires

Rapidly quenched microwires with a nominal composition of Fe₃₉Co₃₉Si₈B₁₄ (#A_O), Fe₃₇Co₃₇Nb₄Si₈B₁₄ (#A_N) and Fe₃₆Co₃₆Nb₄Cr₂Si₈B₁₄ (#A_NC) have been investigated. Devitrification of as-quenched microwires showed that crystallization temperatures increased with simultaneous incorporation of Nb and Cr as in #A_NC alloy. Addition of these elements also contributed to an increase in activation energy in #A_N and #A_NC alloys. Nb addition reduced the particle size, which became much finer in the case of the Cr-containing alloy. Although Nb addition did not have much effect on lowering the Curie temperature T_C of the amorphous phase, Cr substitution lowered T_C to 698 K from high values of 785 K and 787 K observed in the #A_O and #A_NC alloys, respectively. However, the Cr addition revealed a better Giant magneto-impedance (GMI) response compared to the other alloys. Such improved GMI properties in the Cr-containing alloy are attributed to lower values of the coercivity and magnetostriction in the alloy containing both Nb and Cr.     

Magneto-optical properties and exciton dynamics in diluted magnetic semiconductor nanostructures

Nanostructures of diluted magnetic semiconductors were fabricated to study novel magneto-optical properties that are derived from quantum confined band electrons interacting with magnetic ions. Quantum dots (QDs) of Cd_0.97Mn_0.03Se were grown by the self-organization on a ZnSe substrate layer. QDs of Zn_0.69Cd_0.23Mn_0.08Se and quantum wires (QWRs) of Cd_0.92Mn_0.08Se and Zn_0.69Cd_0.23Mn_0.08Se were fabricated by the electron beam lithography. A single quantum well (QW) of ZnTe/Zn_0.97Mn_0.03Te and double QWs of Cd_0.95Mn_0.05Te–CdTe were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Magneto-optical properties and the formation and relaxation dynamics of excitons were investigated by ultrafast time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Excitons in these nanostructures were affected by the low-dimensional confinement effects and the interaction with magnetic ion spins. The exciton luminescence of the Cd_0.97Mn_0.03Se QDs shows the confined exciton energy due to the dot size of 4–6 nm and also shows marked increase of the exciton lifetime with increasing the magnetic field. The QDs of Zn_0.69Cd_0.23Mn_0.08Se fabricated by the electron beam lithography display narrow exciton PL spectrum due to the uniform shape of the dots. The exciton luminescence from the QWRs of Cd_0.92Mn_0.08Se and Zn_0.69Cd_0.23Mn_0.08Se shows the influence of the one-dimensional confinement effect for the exciton energy and the luminescence is linearly polarized parallel to the wire direction. The transient PL from the ZnTe/Zn_0.97Mn_0.03Te QWs displays, by the magnetic field, the level crossing of the exciton spin states of the nonmagnetic and magnetic layers and the spatial spin separation for the excitons. Cd_0.95Mn_0.05Te–CdTe double QWs show the injection of the spin polarized excitons from the magnetic well to the nonmagnetic QW.     

Magnetic behavior and domain structure in as-quenched, annealed, and stress-annealed CoFeCrSiB ribbons

Combination of magneto-optical (MO) vector magnetometry and magneto-optical Kerr microscopy is used to investigate the surface magnetic properties of amorphous CoFeCrSiB ribbons. Strongly inhomogeneous magnetic behavior of ribbons in as-quenched state is improved by field-annealing and stress-annealing processes that induce weak uniaxial longitudinal and transverse anisotropy. It was shown that values of coercive and anisotropy field increase with increasing annealing temperature. Inclination of easy axis from the ribbon axis is estimated by comparing the measured surface hysteresis loops with the Stoner–Wohlfarth model, and is supported also by the Kerr microscopy. Method with the current flowing through the ribbon is proposed for magnetic domains observations.     

Comparison of ferromagnetic resonance between amorphous wires and microwires

Measurements of magnetoimpedance in amorphous wires and microwires at the GHz region are presented here. The maxima observed in the magnetoimpedance of different samples in the high frequency range are attributed to the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) that occurs when a sample is submitted to a longitudinal static magnetic field and an oscillating transversal field. While the appearance of a peak on the resistance and the drop of the inductance is explained by means of FMR, the dependence of the width of that resonance with different parameters (magnetic field, stress distribution, sample size, etc.) is not clearly understood, and therefore additional works to explain the value of the resonance width are needed. It is interesting to consider firstly, the influence of the diameter of the sample and thus the stress distribution on the FMR. The size and position of the FMR is found to be completely different for diameters ranging from 24 to 171 μm. The dependence of the frequency value at which the peak of the resistance is found can be explained by the different values of the anisotropy field in the sample. The width of the FMR changes drastically with the diameter of the sample and with the applied magnetic field and they will be discussed in this paper.     

Surface microstructure and magnetic behavior in FeSiB amorphous ribbons from magneto-optical Kerr effect

The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) completed by other surface sensitive methods as integral low-energy and conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and by X-ray diffraction have been used with the aim to trace the surface microstructure and magnetic properties of FeSiB amorphous ribbons prepared by planar flow casting. The general composition of studied samples is Fe₈₀Si_xB_20−x, where x=4, 6, 8, 10 at.%.It is shown that MOKE used for magnetization, hysteresis loop, and domain structure determination is highly beneficial in a detection of both surface crystallization and local ordering of atoms into magnetically different clusters of amorphous structure. Moreover, a combination of blue and red laser with different penetration depths yields unique results concerning the surface anisotropy and depth sensitivity. In the case of samples with 4, 6, and 8 at.% Si MOKE detects two magnetically different phases diverging in coercivity values H_c, however, not varying with the sample composition. These phases have been identified by Mössbauer measurements as FeSi and FeB clusters. Their relationship changes with Si concentration. On the other hand, a strong increase in the surface H_c found for the sample with 10 at.% Si has indicated a nanocrystallization. It was confirmed by electron microscopy, Mössbauer and X-ray diffraction results. The size of nanocrystals has varied between 200 nm and 500 nm.     

Effect of a planar magnetic field on the domain wall dynamics in a double-layer uniaxial magnetic film

Motion of an isolated domain wall in a double-layer uniaxial magnetic film, where the film layers differ in characteristic length, saturation magnetization and damping parameter, is investigated by solving the Slonczewski equation. A planar magnetic field is applied normal to the domain-wall plane. The dependences of the threshold field and limiting velocity of disruption of the steady-state motion of the domain wall on the planar magnetic field value are obtained. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 60–63, December, 2008.     

Domain wall dynamics and Hall effect in eddy current loop in amorphous ferromagnetic wire with small helical anisotropy

Small helical anisotropy was induced in amorphous ferromagnetic Co_68.2Fe_4.3Si_12.5B₁₅ wire by current annealing and simultaneous application of tensile stress and torsion. Presence of helical anisotropy was confirmed by measurement and analysis of the circular magnetic flux versus axial magnetic field hysteresis loops. These measurements also showed that a single domain wall between circular domains can be created by placing the wire in a sufficiently high inhomogeneous magnetic field generated by Helmholtz coils with opposite currents. The domain wall velocity versus axial driving field was measured. The results show that the basic dynamic properties (magnitude of the wall mobility, field interval in which linear dependencies between velocity and field are observed, accelerated increase of the velocity for higher fields) are very similar to those obtained for the domain wall between circular domains driven by a constant circular field. The Hall effect was detected in the eddy current loop generated by the moving domain wall.     

Thickness induced magnetic anisotropic properties of Tb-Fe-Co thin films

The influence of Tb₂₅Fe₆₁Co₁₄ thin film thicknesses varying from 2 to 300 nm on the structural and magnetic properties has been systematically investigated by using of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, magnetization, and magneto-optic Kerr effect microscopy measurements. Thin film growth mechanism is pursued and controlled by ex-situ X-ray refractometry measurements. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the Tb₂₅Fe₆₁Co₁₄ films are amorphous regardless of thin films thicknesses. The magnetic properties are found to be strongly related to thickness and preferred orientation. With an increase in film thickness, the easy axis of magnetization is reversed from in-plane to out-of-plane direction. The change in the easy axes direction also affects the remanence, coercivity and magnetic anisotropy values. The cause for the magnetic anisotropy direction change from in-plane to out-of-plane can be related to the preferred orientation of the thin film which depends on the large out-of-plane coercivity and plays an important role in deciding the easy axes direction of the films. According to our results, up to the 100 nm in-plane direction is dominated over the whole system under major Fe-Fe interaction region, after that point, the magnetic anisotropy direction change to the out-of-plane under major Tb-Fe/Tb-Co interaction region and preferred orientation dependent perpendicular magnetic anisotropic properties become more dominated with 2.7 kOe high coercive field values.     

用表面磁光克尔原理测量薄膜材料的磁性参数

以表面磁光克尔原理为机理,测量薄膜材料的磁性参数,实验上求得了饱和状态下坡莫合金的克尔偏转角,并测出了其磁滞回线.     

磁流体制备及性质研究

采用化学共沉淀法制备了纳米Fe3O4磁性颗粒,将其均匀分散在载液中获得磁流体.给出了表征所制备样品的宏观和微观特性图谱,探究了样品的磁热效应、法拉第效应和克尔效应,并制作了磁流体薄膜显示器.通过对磁流体样品的分析,获得其最佳的油酸钠包裹量为0.0216g/mL,样品颗粒小,稳定性高,磁热效应明显.研究发现磁流体薄膜的透射率随磁场变化明显,测量费尔德系数时必须考虑透射率的影响.磁流体样品存在异常克尔信号.     

Universal magnetic domain wall dynamics in the presence of weak disorder

The motion of elastic interfaces in disordered media is a broad topic relevant to many branches of physics. Field-driven magnetic domain wall motion in ultrathin ferromagnetic Pt/Co/Pt films can be well interpreted within the framework of theories developed to describe elastic interface dynamics in the presence of weak disorder. Indeed, the three theoretically predicted dynamic regimes of creep, depinning, and flow have all been directly evidenced in this model experimental system. We discuss these dynamic regimes and demonstrate how field-driven creep can be controlled not only by temperature and pinning, but also via interactions with magnetic entities located inside or outside the magnetic layer. Consequences of confinement effects in nano-devices are briefly reviewed, as some recent results on domain wall motion driven by an electric current or assisted by an electric field. Finally new theoretical developments and perspectives are discussed.     

Novel trends in the study of magnetically soft Co-based amorphous glass-coated wires

An overview of the recent progress and state-of-the-art results in the investigation of the amorphous glass-coated wires with nearly zero magnetostriction is presented. These versatile microwires display enhanced soft magnetic properties, which make them suitable as sensing elements in various sensors for biomedical and automotive applications. Current results on their magnetic characteristics refer to a major refinement of their core-shell magnetic structure by taking into account the interdomain wall and to the thorough analysis of the magnetization within the outer shell. Experimental techniques such as giant magneto-impedance, magneto-resistance, and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements are employed to prove the outcome of the theoretical calculations. The impact of the magnetic structure of the outer shell on the propagation of domain walls in bistable amorphous wires is analyzed. Very recent results on the magnetization process in nearly zero magnetostrictive amorphous glass-coated wires with submicron dimensions are also reviewed.     

Current induced domain wall motion in nanostripes with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

We report micromagnetic modeling results of current induced domain wall (DW) motion in magnetic devices with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by solving the Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation including adiabatic and non-adiabatic terms. A nanostripe model system with dimensions of 500 nm (L)×25 nm (W)×5 nm (H) was selected for calculating the DW motion and its width, as a function of various parameters such as non-adiabatic contribution, anisotropy constant (K_u), saturation magnetization (M_s), and temperature (T). The DW velocity was found to increase when the values of K_u and T were increased and the M_s value decreased. In addition, a reduction of the domain wall width could be achieved by increasing K_u and lowering M_s values regardless of the non-adiabatic constant value.