X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of the induced spin polarization of Cu in Co/Cu and Fe/Cu multilayers

We present an x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study of Co/Cu and Fe/Cu multilayers, finding that the Cu atoms in these structures exhibit an induced magnetic moment in the d shell. The average Cu spin moment is shown to fall-off inversely with the thickness of the Cu layer. Further, for comparable Cu layer thicknesses, the Cu moments in Fe/Cu and Co/Cu multilayers are found to be nearly equal, despite the fact that the Cu layers in the Co/Cu multilayers are shown to be fee while those in the Fe/Cu structures are bcc. These observations suggest that the induced moment is primarily situated at the Co/Cu and Fe/Cu interfaces and is resultant from short range chemical hybridization between the ferromagnetic and Cu atoms. Results from a local spin density functional theory are presented and found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. These results indicate that the Cu d electrons play a central role in mediating the exchange coupling between successive ferromagnetic layers.     

The effect of the ferromagnetic metal layer on tunnelling conductance and magnetoresistance in double magnetic planar junctions

Based on the free-electron approximation,we investigate the effect of the ferromagnetic metal layer on the tunnelling magnetoresistance(TMR) and tunnelling conductance(TC)in the double magnetic tunnel junctions(DMTJs) of the structure NM/FM/I(S)/NM/I(S)/FM/NM,where FM,NM and I(S) represent the ferromagnetic metal,nonmagetic metal and insulator(Semiconductor),respectively,The FM,I(S)and inner NM layers are of finite thickness,while the thickness of the outer NM layer is infinite.The calculated results show that,due to the spin-dependent interfacial potential barriers caused by electronic band mismatch between the various magnetic and nonmagnetic layers,the dependences of the TMR and TC on the thicknesses of the FM layers exhibit oscillations,and a much higher TMR can be obtained for suitable thicknesses of FM layers.     

Electronic and magnetic properties of multishell Co nanowires coated with Cu

The structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of ultrathin Cu-coated Co nanowires have been studied by using empirical genetic algorithm simulations and a tight-binding spd model Hamiltonian in the unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation. For some specific stoichiometric compositions, Cu atoms occupy the surface, while Co atoms prefer to stay in the interior, forming the perfect coated multishell structures. The outer Cu layers lead to substantial variations in the magnetic moment of interior Co atoms, depending on the structure and thickness of Cu layers. In particular, single Co atom row at the center of nanowire is found to be nonmagnetic when coated with two Cu layers. All the other Co nanowires in the coated Cu shell are still magnetic but the magnetic moments are reduced as compared with Co nanowires without Cu coating. The interaction between Cu and Co atoms induces nonzero magnetic moment for Cu atoms.     

Structural,electronic, and magnetic properties of transition metal doped ReS<Subscript>2</Subscript> monolayer

Magnetic properties of transition-metal (TM) atoms (TM = Co, Cu, Mn, Fe, and Ni) doped ReS₂ monolayer are investigated by ab initio calculations. It is found that magnetism appears in the cases of Co, Fe, and Ni. Among all the samples, the Co-doped system has the largest magnetic moment. Therefore, we further study the interaction in the two-Co-doped system. Our results show that the interaction between two Co atoms is always ferromagnetic (FM), but such FM interaction is obviously depressed by the increasing Co–Co distance, which is well described by a simple Heisenberg model based on the Zener theory. Our results provide useful insight for promising applications of TM-doped ReS₂ monolayer in the future.     

Asymmetric reversal in inhomogeneous magnetic heterostructures

Asymmetric magnetization reversal is an unusual phenomenon in antiferromagnet/ferromagnet (AF/FM) exchange biased bilayers. We investigated this phenomenon in a simple model system experimentally and by simulation assuming inhomogeneously distributed interfacial AF moments. The results suggest that the observed asymmetry originates from the intrinsic broken symmetry of the system, which results in local incomplete domain walls parallel to the interface in reversal to negative saturation of the FM. The magneto-optical Kerr effect unambiguously confirms such an asymmetric reversal and a depth-dependent FM domain wall in accord with the magnetometry and simulations.     

Parallel versus antiparallel interfacial coupling in exchange biased Co/FeF2

By using the surface and element specificity of soft x-ray magnetic dichroism we provide direct experimental evidence for two different types of interfacial uncompensated Fe moments in exchange biased Co/FeF2 bilayers. Some moments are pinned and coupled antiparallel to the ferromagnet (FM). They give rise to a positive exchange bias and vanish above T(N) = 78 together with the antiferromagnet (AF) order. Other interfacial Fe moments are unpinned and coupled parallel to the FM. They persist up to 300 K and give rise to magnetic order at the AF surface even above T(N) .     

A polycrystalline model for magnetic exchange bias

This work introduces a realistic model for the magnetic behavior of polycrystalline ferromagnet/antiferromagnet (FM/AF) systems with granular interfaces. It considers that, for strong enough interface exchange coupling, the AF layer breaks the adjacent FM into small-sized domains and that at the interface there exist grains with uncompensated spins interacting with the FM magnetizations; the classification of these grains as unstable (rotatable, responsible for a coercivity enhancement) or stable (adding to the bias) depends on both the anisotropy and the magnetic coupling with the adjacent FM. The distinctive characteristic of the model is that the effective rotatable anisotropy changes when the external magnetic field is varied resulting in a non-zero hard-axis coercivity, a feature commonly observed, though little understood and often ignored. The applicability of this model was checked on a typical magnetron-sputtered IrMn/Co bilayer and excellent agreement between experiment and simulation was achieved.     

自旋轨道矩调控的垂直磁各向异性四态存储器结构

利用氧化钽缓冲层对垂直各向异性钴铂多层膜磁性的影响,构想并验证了一种四态存储器单元.存储器器件包含两个区域,其中一区域的钴铂多层膜[Pt(3 nm)/Co(0.47 nm)/Pt(1.5 nm)]直接生长在热氧化硅衬底上,另一个区域在磁性膜和衬底之间沉积了一层氧化钽作为缓冲层[TaO x(0.3 nm)/Pt(3 nm)/Co(0.47 nm)/Pt(1.5 nm)],缓冲层导致两个区域的垂直磁各向异性不同.在固定的水平磁场下对器件施加与磁场同向的电流,由于电流引起的自旋轨道耦合力矩,两个区域的磁化取向均会发生翻转,且拥有不同的临界翻转电流.改变通过器件导电通道的电流脉冲形式,器件的磁化状态可以在4个态之间切换.本文器件的结构为设计自旋轨道矩存储器件提供了新的思路.     

Magnetic anisotropy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism of MnNi surface alloy: Ab initio studies

The magnetic properties of MnNi surface alloy grown on fcc Co(0 0 1) surface have been explored through the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method. It has been found that one monolayer (ML) of Mn_0.5Ni_0.5 alloy on Co(0 0 1) surface has a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state. We suggest that the direct exchange coupling between Mn and Ni plays an essential role for the ferromagnetism. The vertical position of Mn is higher by 0.26 Å than that of Ni, i.e., the surface has a buckling geometry. In contrast to pure fcc Co(0 0 1) film which has in-plane magnetization, we have obtained that the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of MnNi/Co(0 0 1) due to spin-orbit interaction is perpendicular to the film surface and the magnetic anisotropy energy is 146 μeV/cell. In addition, the theoretically calculated X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is presented.     

Exchange bias and domain evolution at 10 nm scales

For a fixed 2 μm×2 μm area of a Co/Pt-CoO perpendicular exchange bias system we image the ferromagnetic (FM) domains for various applied fields with 10-nm resolution by magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Using quantitative MFM we measure the local areal density of pinned uncompensated spins (pinUCS) in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) CoO layer and correlate the FM domain structure with the UCS density. Larger applied fields drive the receding domains to areas of proportionally higher pinUCS aligned antiparallel to FM moments. The data confirm that the evolution of the FM domains is determined by the pinUCS in the AFM layer, and also present examples of frustration in the system.     

Magnetic properties and electronic structures of hcp Fe,Co and Ni nanowires encapsulated in a zigzag (12,0) BN nanotube

The magnetic properties and electronic structures of ferromagnetic nanowires (FM=Fe, Co and Ni) encapsulated inside a zigzag (12,0) boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) are investigated by first-principle calculations. The relaxed geometry structures of FM/BNNT systems have only slightly changed. Formation energy analysis shows that the combining processes of Co/BNNT and Ni/BNNT systems are exothermic, and therefore the Co and Ni nanowires can be encapsulated into a semiconducting zigzag (12,0) BNNT and form stable hybrid structures. The charges are transferred from ferromagnetic nanowires to more electronegative BNNTs, and the formed FM–N bonds have covalent bond characteristics. The magnetic moments of FM/BNNT systems are smaller than those of the freestanding ferromagnetic nanowires, especially for the atoms on the outermost shell of the nanowires. The stable FM/BNNT systems exhibit higher magnetic moments, which can be useful for a wide variety of next-generation nanoelectronic device components.     

Spontaneous and field-induced magnetic transitions in YBaCo2O5.5

A detailed study of magnetic properties of cobaltite YBaCo₂O_5.5 has been performed in high (up to 35 T) magnetic fields and under hydrostatic pressure up to 0.8 GPa. The temperatures of paramagnet-ferromagnet (PM-FM) and ferromagnet-antiferromagnet (FM-AF) phase transitions and their pressure derivatives have been determined. It has been revealed that in the compound with yttrium, in contrast to those with magnetic rare earth atoms, the AF-FM field-induced magnetic phase transition is accompanied by a considerable field hysteresis below 240 K, and the magnetic field of 35 T is not sufficient to complete this transition at low temperatures. The hysteresis value depends on the magnetic field sweep rate, which considered as an evidence of magnetic viscosity that is especially strong in the region of coexistence of the FM and AF phases. High values of susceptibility for the field-induced FM phase show that Co spin state in these compounds changes in strong magnetic field.     

Ab initio study of pressure-induced magnetic transition in manganese pnictides

We report a density functional calculation on the NiAs-type Mn-based pnictides. The total energy as a function of volume is obtained by means of self-consistent tight-binding linear muffin–tin orbital method by performing spin and non-spin polarized calculation. From the present study, we predict a magnetic-phase transition from ferromagnetic (FM) to non-magnetic (NM) around 49 and 35.7 GPa for MnAs and MnSb, respectively. The pressure-induced transition is found to be a second-order transition. The band structure and density of states (DOS) are plotted for FM and NM states. Apart from this the ground-state properties like magnetic moment, lattice parameter and bulk modulus are calculated and are compared with the available results. Under large volume expansion these compounds exist in zinc-blende (ZB) structure, which shows half metallicity. The magnetic moment and equilibrium lattice constants for ZB structure are obtained as well as band structure and DOS are presented.     

Ab initio calculation and analysis of the properties of digital magnetic heterostructures and diluted magnetic semiconductors of IV and III-V groups

We present the first-principles calculations of digital magnetic heterostructures Si/M, Ge/M. GaAs/M, GaSb/M, GaN/M and GaN/M (50%) with M=Cr, Mn, Fe, and Co. The interaction between magnetic dopants results in a wide spin-polarized two-dimensional band inside the gap. It is found that beginning occupation of the minority-spin band greatly increases the energy of the ferromagnetic (FM) state and leads, as a rule, to the antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin ordering. This mechanism causes transition to the AFM state, when interaction between magnetic atoms is too strong, and defines the optimum of Curie temperature as a function of transition element concentration in magnetic layers.     

A tight-binding study of surface magnetic anisotropy of the Co (0001) and its perturbation by Cu and CO

Recent experiments show that on rather thick Co films deposition of Cu or adsorption of CO or C can switch the magnetization direction along the surface normal. We present semi-empirical self-consistent tight-binding calculations for a semi-infinite hcp Co(0001) crystal. It appears that the contribution of the magnetic anisotropy-energy from the surface layer favors the in-plane alignment of magnetic moments. Various surface perturbations (Cu deposition or CO adsorption, artificial suppression of surface magnetization), however, reduce this contribution considerably or even change the sign of the electronic part of the magnetic anisotropy energy, thus making conditions for perpendicular magnetization more favourable.     

Exchange-coupling-induced fourfold magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB/FeRh bilayer grown on SrTiO3(001)

Exchange coupling across the interface between a ferromagnetic (FM) layer and an antiferromagnetic (AFM) or another FM layer may induce a unidirectional magnetic anisotropy and/or a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, which has been extensively studied due to the important application in magnetic materials and devices. In this work, we observed a fourfold magnetic anisotropy in amorphous CoFeB layer when exchange coupling to an adjacent FeRh layer which is epitaxially grown on an SrTiO₃(001) substrate. As the temperature rises from 300 K to 400 K, FeRh film undergoes a phase transition from AFM to FM phase, the induced fourfold magnetic anisotropy in the CoFeB layer switches the orientation from the FeRh$\langle 110\rangle $ to FeRh$\langle 100\rangle $ directions and the strength is obviously reduced. In addition, the effective magnetic damping as well as the two-magnon scattering of the CoFeB/FeRh bilayer also remarkably increase with the occurrence of magnetic phase transition of FeRh. No exchange bias is observed in the bilayer even when FeRh is in the nominal AFM state, which is probably because the residual FM FeRh moments located at the interface can well separate the exchange coupling between the below pinned FeRh moments and the CoFeB moments.     

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.     

Theoretical study of the magnetic moments and anisotropy energy of CoRh nanoparticles

The role of size, structure and chemical order on the magnetic moments and magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of CoRh nanoparticles are studied in the framework of a self-consistent real-space tight-binding method. Our results show that a Rh core in a geometry having a large surface/volume ratio and with Co–Rh mixing at the interface is the most likely chemical arrangement. A local analysis reveals that the orbital and spin moments at the Co–Rh interface are largely responsible for the increase of the magnetic moments and magnetic anisotropy. Moreover, the local moments induced at the Rh atoms, which amount to about 20% of the moment per Co atom [ μ_Rh = (0.2–0.3) μ_B] and the orbital moments of Co atoms play a crucial role on the interpretation of experiment. The results are discussed in the context of the interplay between chemical order and magnetic properties.     

Dynamic Monte Carlo simulation of film–substrate interface mixing in the deposition of Co on Cu (001)

Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations are performed to investigate the interface mixing of Co atoms deposited on a Cu (001) substrate. A tight-binding potential was used to determine the input parameters (jump probabilities and energy barriers) for the Dynamic Monte Carlo model. The results show that more Co adatoms penetrate into the substrate as the temperature rises and/or as the deposition rate decreases, and that the intermixing between the layers becomes concomitantly more pronounced. Cu atoms migrating into the Co layer via exchange processes during the growth of consecutive Co layers are proposed to be responsible for the intermixing. Furthermore, an initial Co clustering followed by a layer-by-layer growth mode was observed in the simulations, with the surface concentration of Cu atoms depending on the fraction of migrating Cu atoms and decaying into the Co film following a power law. The fraction of Cu atoms migrating into the Co layer can be adjusted by varying the deposition rate and the substrate temperature.