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.     

A quantitative analysis of magnetic vortices in Permalloy nanoparticles characterized by electron holography

The present work investigates experimentally curling magnetic configurations locally observed in almost dispersed Permalloy nanoparticles in the remanent state. Magnetic analysis is performed in a field emission TEM using off-axis electron holography. Particularly, electron holography is used to characterize the magnetic microstructure of Fe₃₀Ni₇₀ nanoparticles, whose average diameter (50 nm) is expected to be close to the critical size for a curling magnetic structure (vortex) formation. The vortex core diameter D_core and the bulk magnetic profile of the vortex are measured and compared with a “rigid vortex” micromagnetic model. The connection between vortex structure and the characteristic micromagnetic length of the system deduced from magnetization curve measurements is discussed.     

High concentration of hematite nanoparticles in a silica matrix: Structural and magnetic properties

The α-Fe₂O₃/SiO₂ nanocomposite containing 45 wt% of hematite was prepared by the sol-gel method followed by heating in air at 200 °C. The so-obtained composite of iron(III) nanoparticles dissolved in glassy silica matrix was investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry. XRPD confirms the formation of a single-phase hematite sample, whereas TEM reveals spherical particles in a silica matrix with an average diameter of 10 nm. DC magnetization shows bifurcation of the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) branches up to the room temperature with a blocking temperature T_B=65 K. Isothermal M(H) dependence displays significant hysteretic behaviour below T_B, whereas the room temperature data were successfully fitted to a weighted Langevin function. The average particle size obtained from this fit is in agreement with the TEM findings. The small shift of the T_B value with the magnetic field strength, narrowing of the hysteresis loop at low applied field, and the frequency dependence of the AC susceptibility data point to the presence of inter-particle interactions. The analysis of the results suggests that the system consists of single-domain nanoparticles with intermediate strength interactions.     

Electronic and magnetic properties of CeAl2 nanoparticles

We presented the X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies of heavy fermion compound CeAl₂ bulk and 8 nm nanoparticles, performed at the Ce M_4,5- and L₃- absorption edges. XMCD and XAS revealed that Ce in bulk CeAl₂ exhibits localized 4f¹ character with magnetic ordering. The Ce in nanoparticles, on the other hand, shows a small amount delocalized 4f⁰ character with non-magnetic Kondo behavior. By applying general sum rules, an estimation of the orbital and spin contribution to those Ce 4f moments can be obtained. Our results also demonstrated that the magnetic behavior in CeAl₂ is very sensitive to the degree of localization of the 4f electrons.     

Determination of anisotropy constants of protein encapsulated iron oxide nanoparticles by electron magnetic resonance

Angle-dependent electron magnetic resonance was performed on 4.9, 8.0, and 19 nm iron oxide nanoparticles encapsulated within protein capsids and suspended in water. Measurements were taken at liquid nitrogen temperature after cooling in a 1 T field to partially align the particles. The angle dependence of the shifts in the resonance field for the iron oxide nanoparticles (synthesized within Listeria-Dps, horse spleen ferritin, and cowpea chlorotic mottle virus) all show evidence of a uniaxial anisotropy. Using a Boltzmann distribution for the particles’ easy-axis direction, we are able to use the resonance field shifts to extract a value for the anisotropy energy, showing that the anisotropy energy density increases with decreasing particle size. This suggests that surface anisotropy plays a significant role in magnetic nanoparticles of this size.     

Synthesis and magnetic properties of CoFe2O4 ferrite nanoparticles

CoFe₂O₄ ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by a modified chemical coprecipitation route. Structural and magnetic properties were systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction results showed that the sample was in single phase with the space group . The results of field-emission scanning electronic microscopy showed that the grains appeared spherical with diameters ranging from 20 to 30 nm. The composition determined by energy-dispersive spectroscopy was stoichiometry of CoFe₂O₄. The Curie temperature in the process of increasing temperature was slightly higher than that in the process of decreasing temperature. This can be understood by the fact that heating changed Co²⁺ ion redistribution in tetrahedral and in octahedral sites. The coercivity of the synthesized CoFe₂O₄ samples was lower than the theoretical values, which could be explained by the mono-domain structure and a transformation from ferrimagnetic to superparamagnetic state.     

Synthesis and application of iron-filled carbon nanotubes coated with FeCo alloy nanoparticles

FeCo alloy nanoparticles were coated onto the iron-filled carbon nanotubes by an electroless plating method. As-prepared samples were then annealed at different temperatures. The morphologies and structures of the samples were characterized, and the relationship between the soft magnetic properties and the Fe/Co ratios of the samples was established. The microwave absorbing characteristics of the samples were also evaluated. The results show that the soft magnetic characteristics of iron-filled carbon nanotubes can be improved after being coated with FeCo alloy nanoparticles and then heat treated, which results in more effective microwave absorption.     

Numerical micromagnetics of interacting superparamagnetic nanoparticles assembled in clusters with different dimensionalities

We analyze here the equilibrium magnetization state of densely packed interacting superparamagnetic nanoparticles assembled in clusters of various sizes and dimensionalities by comparison with the non-interacting case. We demonstrate that the average magnetization of individual particles is strongly increased in linear chains aligned parallel with the external magnetic field. Two-dimensional (2D) distributions of superparamagnetic nanoparticles present weaker increases of their average magnetization with respect to the non-interacting approximation whereas volume distributions (3D) are almost equivalent with the non-interacting case. A large number of nanoparticles densely packed in 2D superparamagnetic clusters present almost the same magnetic moment as infinite superparamagnetic chains. The effect of mutual interactions on the total magnetic moment of 3D surfaces (spheroids with various aspect ratios) uniformly covered with densely packed monolayers of superparamagnetic nanoparticles is also investigated.     

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.     

Synthesis and magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic Co3O4 nanoparticles

Antiferromagnetic Co₃O₄ nanoparticles with diameter around 30 nm have been synthesized by a solution-based method. The phase identification by the wide-angle X-ray powder diffraction indicates that the Co₃O₄ nanoparticle has a cubic spinel structure with a lattice constant of 0.80843(2) nm. The image of field emission scanning electron microscope shows that the nanoparticles are assembled together to form nanorods. The magnetic properties of Co₃O₄ fine particles have been measured by a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer. A deviation of the Néel temperature from the bulk is observed, which can be well described by the theory of finite-size scaling. An enhanced coercivity as well as a loop shift are observed in the field-cooled hysteresis loop. The exchange bias field decreases with increasing temperature and diminishes at the Néel temperature. The training effect and the opening of the loop reveal the existence of the spin-glass-like surface spins.     

Persistent currents in superconducting quantum interference devices

Starting from the reduced dynamical model of a two-junction quantum interference device, it shown that a quantum analog of the system can be exhibited. This quantum model extends the well-known properties of the device when its characteristic dimensions are of the order of mesoscopic length scales. By finding eigenvalues of the corresponding Hamiltonian operator, the persistent currents flowing in the ring have been obtained. The resulting quantum analog of the overdamped two-junction quantum interference device can be seen as a supercurrent qubit operating in the limit of negligible capacitance and finite inductance.     

Structural and magnetic features of heterogeneously nucleated Fe-oxide nanoparticles

Iron oxide nanoparticles of diameter 14 nm were synthesized by applying Pt seed-assisted heterogeneous thermal decomposition of Fe(CO)₅ in a two-stage procedure. The intense heating treatment resulted in a remarkable mean volume increment compared to previous studies. This method is able to control the nanoparticle mean diameter, keeping the demand for thermal energy at low levels. High-resolution electron microscopy images and the corresponding electron diffraction patterns revealed the appearance of a FePt₃ core in each nanoparticle, surrounded by highly crystallized inverse spinel Fe₃O₄ formed after atmospheric oxidation, as shown by a combination of X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis. Magnetic measurements indicated that the presence of Pt-rich core does not cause any visible modification to the values of saturation magnetization and anisotropy constant of nanoparticles, compared to homogeneously nucleated iron oxide particles of the same size.     

Equilibrium magnetic properties of dipolar interacting ferromagnetic nanoparticles

We use Monte Carlo simulations to study the influence of dipolar interaction on the equilibrium magnetic properties of monodisperse single-domain ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Low field magnetizations simulated in zero field cooling (ZFC)/field cooling (FC) procedures and field-dependent magnetization curves above the blocking temperatures show strong dependence on the concentration and the spatial arrangement (cubic or random) of the magnetic particles. The field-dependent magnetizations can not be simply described by the T^* model at relative low temperatures due to the interplay between anisotropy and dipolar interactions, as well as the spatial arrangement effect.     

Micromagnetic simulation of the magnetic dispersion angle and effective damping factor for the single-phase soft magnetic films

The micromagnetic structure of the single-phase soft magnetic films was simulated using the model of two-dimensional hexagonal lattices by micromagnetic method. The typical micromagnetic ripple structure of magnetic films was obtained. Thus, the magnetic dispersion angle was calculated from the static magnetic structure of the film. Furthermore, the relationship between the magnetic dispersion angles and the corresponding magnetic parameters of the film was discussed. The technique also demonstrated the microwave permeability of the films and the magnetic spectra well fitted by the permeability equation, which was deduced from the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert (LLG) function when the film was considered as a single domain. The fitting data of effective damping factor as a function of the magnetic dispersion angle were investigated.     

Measurement of the magnetic moment in a cold worked 304 stainless steel using HTS SQUID

The magnetic properties of stainless steel have been investigated using a radio frequency (RF) high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device)-based susceptometer. The nuclear grade 304 stainless steel is nonmagnetic at a normal condition but it changes to a partially ferromagnetic state associated with martensitic transformation under a plastic deformation. The magnetic moment of the 304 stainless steels was increased with an increasing cold work rate, and decreased with an increasing annealing temperature. The change of mechanical properties such as yield strength and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) are also analyzed in terms of deformation-induced martensitic transformation.     

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.     

Realization of Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger （GHZ） and W Entangled States with Multiple Superconducting Quantum-Interference Device Qubits in Cavity QED

An alternative scheme is proposed for generating the Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger （GHZ） and W types of the entangled states with multiple superconducting quantum-interference device （SQUID） qubits in a single-mode microwave cavity field. In this scheme, there is no transfer of quantum information between the SQUIDs and the cavity, the cavity is always in the vacuum and thus the requirement on the quality of cavity is greatly loosened. In addition, during the process of the generation of the W entangled state, the present method does not involve a real excitation of intermediate levels. Thus, decoherence due to energy relaxation of intermediate levels is minimized.