Modulated magnetic structure of a nonuniformly stressed FeBO3 single crystal

The magnetization of a nonuniformly stressed FeBO₃ crystal along any of the two specific directions in the basal plane (the easy plane) at a temperature of T < 140 K in a magnetic field exceeding the threshold value H ₀ is found to lead to a transition of the crystal from the uniform magnetic state to the spatially modulated one. The modulated magnetic phase arising under these conditions exists in a certain temperature-dependent field range H ₀ ≤ H ≤ H _c and is representable in the form of a static spin wave that is linearly polarized in the easy plane of the crystal and has a wave vector k oriented at an angle of ～30° to the magnetization axis. The field, temperature, and orientation dependences of k are investigated. A physical mechanism is proposed to explain the modulation of the magnetic order parameter of the crystal under study. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the magnetic ripple theory.     

Incommensurate phases in ferromagnetic spin-chains with weak antiferromagnetic interchain interaction

We study planar ferromagnetic spin-chain systems with weak antiferromagnetic inter-chain interaction and dipole-dipole interaction. The ground state depends sensitively on the relative strengths of antiferromagnetic exchange and dipole energies κ = J′a ² c/(g _L μ _B )². For increasing values of κ, the ground state changes from a ferromagnetic via a collinear antiferromagnetic and an incommensurate phase to a 120° structure for very large antiferromagnetic energy. Investigation of the magnetic phase diagram of the collinear phase, as realized in CsNiF₃, shows that the structure of the spin order depends sensitivly on the direction of the magnetic field in the hexagonal plane. For certain angular domains of the field incommensurate phases appear which are seperated by commensurate phases. When rotating the field, the wave vector characterizing the structure changes continously in the incommensurate phase, whereas in the commensurate phase the wave vector is locked to a fixed value describing a two-sublattice structure. This is a result of the competition between the exchange and the dipole-dipole interaction.     

Specificity of magnetoelectric effects in a new GdMnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> magnetic ferroelectric

A complex study of the magnetic, electric, magnetoelectric, and magnetoelastic properties of GdMnO₃ single crystals has been performed in the low-temperature region in strong pulsed magnetic fields up to 200 kOe. An anomaly of the dielectric constant along the a axis of a crystal has been found at 20 K, where a transition from an incommensurate modulated phase to a canted antiferromagnetic phase, as well as electric polarization along the a and b axes of the crystal induced by the magnetic field H‖ b (H_cr ～ 40 kOe), is observed. Upon cooling the crystal in an electric field, the magnetic-field-induced electric polarization changes its sign depending on the sign of the electric field. The occurrence of the electric polarization is accompanied by anisotropic magnetostriction, which points to a correlation between the magnetoelectric and magnetoelastic properties. Based on these results, it has been stated that GdMnO₃ belongs to a new family of magnetoelectric materials with the perovskite structure.     

Sinusoidal incommensurate structure in spiral antiferromagnets

It is shown, that in hexagonal antiferromagnets, the form of incommensurate structure depends on the ratio of dipole-dipole energy to the anisotropic interaction energy at fixed values of exchange constants. In CsCuCl₃-type compounds, in which the spiral magnetic structure realizes along the c-axis and 120° structure - in the c-plane, there appears a new sinusoidal phase in the external field H>H_c, where H_c is a critical field. Thus, in result, two modulated structures form at intermediate temperatures.     

Magnetic barrier in a two-dimensional hole gas

Transport properties of a magnetic barrier in a Ga_xAl_1−xAs based two-dimensional hole gas are reported. A ferromagnetic cobalt film, separated by an AlO_x layer from the semiconductor in order to prevent leakage currents, is magnetized in-plane, such that the fringe field generates a localized perpendicular magnetic field acting as a magnetic barrier. The resistance as a function of the in-plane magnetic field shows a characteristic minimum at the coercive field of the ferromagnetic film. Semiclassical simulations based on the Landauer–Büttiker formalism show good agreement with the experiment.     

Magnetostriction domain structure in a periodic system of magnetoelastic and elastic nonmagnetic layers

The spectrum of magnetoelastic waves in a periodic structure of alternating ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic layers was studied. In the case of ferromagnetic layers with easy magnetization axes parallel to the layer surfaces, an orientational phase transition induced by an external tangential magnetic field H_e was considered. The formation of an inhomogeneous phase with a spatially modulated order parameter, which is caused by the magnetization being coupled through magnetostriction to lattice strains near the interfaces separating the magnetoelastic from elastic media, is predicted. It is shown that at a certain critical field in excess of the orientational phase transition field in the system without magnetostriction, a magnetoelastic wave propagating in a direction parallel to the in-plane magnetization vector M becomes unstable at finite values of the wave vector and condenses into a magnetostriction domain structure. A phase diagram in the (L, T, H_e) coordinates is constructed, and the regions of existence of thermodynamically equilibrium collinear, canted, and domain phases are established (L and T are the thicknesses of the ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic layers, respectively).     

Micromagnetic simulation of magnetic vortex cores in circular permalloy disks: Switching behavior in external magnetic field

Switching behaviors of magnetic vortex cores under external magnetic field in submicron circular permalloy disks have been systematically studied by using micromagnetic simulations. Simulation results show that the vortex core is stable in out-of-plane field even when it is located at the edge of the disk. The out-of-plane switching field H_sw is strongly dependent on the thickness of the disk. The core polarity and the vortex chirality can be modulated simultaneously on purpose by using a tilted field far smaller than the out-of-plane switching field H_sw. Moreover, it is found that the core polarities in asymmetric disks do not follow the direction of the z projection of the external saturation field.     

Effect of inhomogeneity on magnetic, magnetocaloric, and magnetotransport properties of La0.6Pr0.1Ca0.3MnO3 single crystal

The effect of magnetic inhomogeneity on magnetic, magnetocaloric, and transport properties of the colossal magnetoresistance manganites with first order ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic phase transition is studied. The experiments were performed on the single-crystalline samples of La_0.6Pr_0.1Ca_0.3MnO₃. The inhomogeneity is described by the Curie temperature distribution function, which is found from the magnetization data. The temperature dependence of the magnetic field induced change in the entropy is shown to be determined by the distribution function and the shift of the transition temperature in a magnetic field. Similarly, magnetoresistance in the transition region is determined by the resistivity at H=0 and the shift of the transition temperature. The maximum entropy change as well as maximum magnetoresistance can be achieved in the magnetic field of order δT_C/B_M where δT_C is the transition width and B_M is the rate of change of the Curie temperature with magnetic field.Our approach to analysis of the effects of inhomogeneity is general and therefore can be used for all compounds with the first order magnetic phase transition.     

Interplay between a homogeneous magnetic field and an antiferromagnetic field in one-dimensional superconductors

Mean-field theory applied to superconductors with one-dimensional band in the presence of both the homogeneous magnetic field H₀ and the antiferromagnetic field H_Q, the second-order phase transition temperature is investigated for the arbitrary angle θ between H₀ and H_Q. It is found that the remarkable superconducting region in the case of θ = 0 is retained only for small θ and that the spatially dependent order parameter coexists with the spatially uniform order parameter except for θ = τ/2.     

NDMAP: the best material to study the Haldane's prediction

As predicted by Haldane, spin, S=1 one-dimensional (1D) Heisenberg antiferromagnet (HAF) has an energy gap between the singlet ground state and first excited triplet. On application of magnetic field, the triplet state Zeeman splits and the energy of one of the triplet state becomes zero at a critical field, H_c. Above H_c the system recovers magnetism. Then, we expect that a quasi-1D HAF will show a magnetic long-range ordering (LRO) at low temperatures due to the inter-chain coupling. This field-induced LRO has not been observed before due to complication of the crystal structure in the materials studied so far and/or technical difficulty.From a heat capacity measurement on a single crystal of an S=1 quasi-Q1D HAF, Ni(C₅H₁₄N₂)₂N₃(PF₆), we found an anomaly at a temperature in finite fields indicating a field-induced phase transition. A magnetic LRO is confirmed by a neutron diffraction measurement on the same sample. The temperature versus magnetic field phase diagram of this compound is constructed and discussed.     

New magnetic phase transition between electron-hole drops and free-excitons in pure Ge

We have discovered a new magnetic phase transition between free-excitons and electron-hole drops in high purity Ge near the critical point of the liquid-gas phase diagram. The critical magnetic field is found to be H_c ≈ 0.4 T. For H?H_c the electron-hole drops are stable to higher temperatures by about 1 K with respect to zero field.     

Compensation of nonlinear phase noise in an in-plane-magnetized anisotropic spin-torque oscillator

A theory of generation linewidth of a spin-torque oscillator (STO) based on an in-plane-magnetized nano-pillar with an anisotropic “free” magnetic layer has been developed. It is predicted that by choosing the direction of the in-plane bias magnetic field H₀ along the “hard” anisotropy axis of the STO “free” layer and the magnitude of this field to be four times larger than the anisotropy field H_A (H₀=4H_A) it would be possible to compensate the nonlinear phase noise and to achieve the minimum value of the generation linewidth, characteristic for an auto-oscillator without a nonlinear frequency shift.     

Magnetic and superconducting phase diagrams in ErNi2B2C

We present measurements of the superconducting upper critical field H_c2(T) and the magnetic phase diagram of the superconductor ErNi₂B₂C made with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The magnetic field was applied in the basal plane of the tetragonal crystal structure. We have found large gapless regions in the superconducting phase diagram of ErNi₂B₂C, extending between different magnetic transitions. A close correlation between magnetic transitions and H_c2(T) is found, showing that superconductivity is strongly linked to magnetism.     

Longitudinal sound measurements on UPt3 in a magnetic field

A new feature (a peak) is found in the magnetic field dependence of the longitudinal ultrasound attenuation in UPt₃. Below the peak, the attenuation varies linearly with field. Above the peak Δα = α(H_c2)-α(H) ∼(H_c2-H)². The peak, at the change over from linear to parabolic behavior, may correspond to a phase transition in the vortex lattice.     

Commensurate and incommensurate states of a spin density wave in a quasi-two-dimensional system with an anisotropic energy spectrum in an external magnetic field of arbitrary direction relative to magnetization

A theory of thermodynamic properties of a spin density wave (SDW) in a quasi-two-dimensional system (with a preset impurity concentration x) is constructed. We choose an anisotropic dispersion relation for the electron energy and assume that external magnetic field H has an arbitrary direction relative to magnetic moment M _Q . The system of equations defining order parameters M _Q ^z , M _Q ^σ , M _z , and M ^σ is constructed and transformed with allowance for the Umklapp processes. Special cases when H ‖ M _Q and H ⊥ M _Q (H _Z H ^σ = 0) are considered in detail as well as cases of weak fields H of arbitrary direction. The condition for the transition of the system to the commensurate and incommensurate states of the SDW is analyzed. The concentration dependence of magnetic transition temperature T _M is calculated, and the components of the order parameter for the incommensurate phase are determined. The phase diagram (T,~x) is constructed. The effect of the magnetic field on magnetic transition temperature T _M is analyzed for H _Z H ^σ = 0, and longitudinal magnetic susceptibility χ‖ is calculated; this quantity demonstrates the temperature dependence corresponding to a system with a gap for x < x _c and to a gapless state for x > x _c . In the immediate vicinity of the critical impurity concentration (x ～ x _c ), the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility acquires a local maximum. The effect of anisotropy of the electron energy spectrum on the investigated physical quantities is also analyzed.     

Chiral thermodynamics in a magnetic field

The phase structure of the QCD vacuum in a magnetic field H is investigated at low temperatures T. The free energy of the hadronic phase in a constant homogeneous magnetic field is calculated in the one-loop approximation of chiral perturbation theory. The quark and the gluon condensate are found as functions of temperature and the field strength. It is shown that the order parameter $\left\langle {\bar qq} \right\rangle $ for the chiral phase transition remains constant when the temperature T and the magnetic field H change in such a way that H=const×T ².     

Commensurability effects in a Josephson tunnel junction in the field of an array of magnetic particles

Commensurability effects have been theoretically studied in a hybrid system consisting of a Josephson junction located in a nonuniform field induced by an array of magnetic particles. A periodic phase-difference distribution in the junction that is caused by the formation of a regular lattice of Abrikosov vortices generated by the magnetic field of the particles in superconducting electrodes is calculated. The dependence of the critical current through the junction I _c on the applied magnetic field H is shown to differ strongly from the conventional Fraunhofer diffraction pattern because of the periodic modulation of the Josephson phase difference created by the vortices. More specifically, the I _c(H) pattern contains additional resonance peaks, whose positions and heights depend on the parameters and magnetic state of the particles in the array. These specific features of the I _c(H) dependence are observed when the period of the Josephson current modulation by the field of the magnetic particles and the characteristic scale of the change in the phase difference by the applied magnetic field are commensurable. The conditions that determine the positions of the commensurability peaks are obtained, and they are found to agree well with experimental results.     

Alternating magneto-birefringence of ionic ferrofluids in crossed fields

A dynamic probing of magnetic liquids is performed experimentally, using a static magnetic field modulated by another smaller field, normal and alternating. The optical magneto-birefringence under these crossed magnetic fields is recorded as a function of the frequency for different field intensities and different sizes of the magnetic nanoparticles. A general reduced behavior is found for the in-phase and the out-of-phase optical response which is well-described by a simple mechanical model. Depending on the value H _ani of the anisotropy field of the nanoparticles, we can distinguish two different high magnetic field regimes: - a rigid dipole regime (large anisotropy energy with respect to k _B T) for cobalt ferrite nanoparticles with a relaxation time inversely proportional to the field intensity H _C(H _C < H _ani), - a soft dipole regime (anisotropy energy of the order of k _B T) for maghemite nanoparticles with a relaxation time independent of the field intensity H _C(H _C > H _ani). Received 5 June 2000 and Received in final form 8 January 2001     

Suitability of water based magnetic fluid with CoFe2O4 particles in hyperthermia

Magnetic susceptibility of the magnetic fluid with CoFe₂O₄ particles was measured in the low-frequency range in order to determine mean values of the magnetic grain size and the saturation magnetisation. The volume concentration of the solid phase (CoFe₂O₄) was also found. Results of the calorimetric measurements, in the range from 70 kHz to 1.7 MHz, confirmed the suitability of use of the medium studied in magnetic fluid hyperthermia, especially in the frequency region 600–800 kHz. The H²–law-type dependence of the specific absorption rate on the square amplitude of the magnetic field testified to the presence of superparamagnetic particles in the magnetic fluid. The minimum magnetic field intensity needed for successful hyperthermal treatment was experimentally determined.     

Magnetic superconductors of HoMo6S8 type: The effect of magnetic field and supercurrent

We study the magnetic superconductors for which the second order phase transition to the ferro-magnetic state would take place at the temperature θ_c ? T_c1 if the superconductivity was absent. In this case the inhomogeneous magnetic structure of domain-like type (DS phase) appears in superconductors below T_M ≈ θ_c. The effect of the magnetic field H on DS phase is analysed and the region of DS phade existence in the plane (H, T) is found. The new peaks 2nQ (n is integer) should appear in the neutron scattering in the presence of the magnetic field. The wavevector Q of magnetic structure decreases with the growth of magnetic field or supercurrent.