Measurements of magnetostriction of paramagnetic Fe–Mo–Cu–B metallic glasses

Magnetostriction of amorphous Fe₇₉Mo₈Cu₁B₁₂, (Fe₁₂Co₁)₇₉Mo₈Cu₁B₁₂ and (Fe₉Co₁)₇₉Mo₈Cu₁B₁₂ prepared by planar flow casting was measured using a direct method. The results indicate that magnetostriction in parallel (_λ∥)$({\lambda }_{\parallel })$ and perpendicular (_λ⊥)$({\lambda }_{\perp })$ directions of applied magnetic field is linearly dependent on magnetic field. In order to determine the influences of chemical composition and the conditions of sample preparation the magnetostriction of pure BCC-Fe, Cu and Mo were also measured. Samples containing Co with Curie temperatures slightly above room temperatures were shown to exhibit a hybrid magnetostriction behaviour with both ferromagnetic and paramagnetic features.     

Multiscale modeling of the magneto-mechanical behavior of grain-oriented silicon steels

The prediction of the magnetic and magnetostrictive behavior of grain-oriented (GO) silicon steels is discussed. An experimental procedure for the measurement of the magneto-mechanical quantities is first detailed. Experimental measurements of the anhysteretic magnetization and magnetostriction are compared to results from the literature. A multiscale model, based on an energetic approach and infinite medium hypothesis, is used. Significant discrepancies between experiments and predictions are highlighted. The specimen shape combined to large grain size induces some strong boundary (surface) conditions leading to a change in the definition of the local potential energy. A specific demagnetizing term is introduced in the definition of the potential energy, creating an initial heterogeneous distribution of the magnetic domains and saturating the magnetostriction along the rolling direction. This modification strongly increases the ability of the model to predict the magneto-mechanical behavior of GO steels.     

The coupling effect between ferroelectric and frustrated antiferromagnetic ordering in hexagonal ferroelectromagnet

Effects of the magnetoelectric coupling between the frustrated antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric ordering in hexagonal ferroelectromagnet are investigated by the soft-mode theory and molecular-field approximation. Applying the Heisenberg model for frustrated triangular antiferromagnets with exchange anisotropy and Diffour model for ferroelectric interaction, we discuss thermodynamic properties of the hexagonal ferroelectromagnetic system, including mean magnetization 〈s_i〉, polarization p, magnetization susceptibility χ_m, and polarization susceptibility χ_p, in a possible coupling form related to a combination of electric polarization and spin correlation. It is found that polarization induced by magnetic coupling leads to an anomaly in χ_p and a cusp in χ_m at low-temperature, which is consistent qualitatively with experimental results in hexagonal ferroelectromagnet YMnO₃.     

Anisotropy and magnetization process in soft magnets: Principles,experiments, applications

Understanding and controlling the anisotropy energy and its effects has proved vital to the development of soft magnetic materials and their applications. Indeed, acting on composition and structure and working out specific annealing treatments, a large variety of anisotropy-governed behaviors under DC and AC excitation can be obtained. These are discussed in the present paper, together with special problems arising in the characterization of anisotropic soft magnets and a few significant applications. It is stressed how features like J$J$–H$H$ loop shape, energy losses, and magnetoresistance effects can be controlled, in crystalline and amorphous materials, by the methods of induced anisotropy. The high-frequency behavior of these materials can be strongly affected by the anisotropy field via resonant absorption of energy. This calls for tradeoff between the values of permeability and resonance frequency.     

Temperature behavior of bound magnetic polarons in antiferromagnetic chain

The behavior of a one-dimensional antiferromagnetic (AF) chain doped by non-magnetic donor impurities is analyzed, in the limit of low impurity density n  . The doping leads to the formation of ferromagnetically correlated regions localized near impurities (bound magnetic polarons or ferrons). The temperature evolution of the chain is calculated using an approximate variational method, and a Monte Carlo simulation. Both these methods give the similar results. The analysis of correlation functions for neighboring local spins demonstrates that the ferromagnetic correlations inside a ferron are significant even at high temperatures. The AF correlations in the rest part of the chain decay much faster with temperature. So, the ferron is a stable object that does not disappear even above the Néel temperature _TN$T_{\mathrm{N}}$. At rather small values of the electron–impurity coupling energy V$V$ (for V$V$ lower then the electron hopping integral t  ), the bound ferron depins from impurity retaining its magnetic structure. Such a depinning occurs at T∼V$T\sim V$.     

The phenomenology of Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati cosmologies

Cosmologists today are confronted with the perplexing reality that the universe is currently accelerating in its expansion. Nevertheless, the nature of the fuel that drives today's cosmic acceleration is an open and tantalizing mystery. There exists the intriguing possibility that the acceleration is not the manifestation of yet another mysterious ingredient in the cosmic gas tank (dark energy), but rather our first real lack of understanding of gravity itself, and even possibly a signal that there might exist dimensions beyond that which we can currently observe. The braneworld model of Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati (DGP) is a theory where gravity is altered at immense distances by the excruciatingly slow leakage of gravity off our three-dimensional Universe and, as a modified-gravity theory, has pioneered this line of investigation. I review the underlying structure of DGP gravity and those phenomenological developments relevant to cosmologists interested in a pedagogical treatment of this intriguing model.     

Monte Carlo investigation of the magnetic anisotropy in Fe/Dy multilayers

By Monte Carlo simulations in the canonical ensemble, we have studied the magnetic anisotropy in Fe/Dy amorphous multilayers. This work has been motivated by experimental results which show a clear correlation between the magnetic perpendicular anisotropy and the substrate temperature during elaboration of the samples. Our aim is to relate macroscopic magnetic properties of the multilayers to their structure, more precisely their concentration profile. Our model is based on concentration dependent exchange interactions and spin values, on random magnetic anisotropy and on the existence of locally ordered clusters that leads to a perpendicular magnetisation. Our results evidence that a compensation point occurs in the case of an abrupt concentration profile. Moreover, an increase of the non-collinearity of the atomic moments has been evidenced when the Dy anisotropy constant value grows. We have also shown the existence of inhomogeneous magnetisation profiles along the samples which are related to the concentration profiles.     

Maximum entropy production principle in physics,chemistry and biology

The tendency of the entropy to a maximum as an isolated system is relaxed to the equilibrium (the second law of thermodynamics) has been known since the mid-19th century. However, independent theoretical and applied studies, which suggested the maximization of the entropy production during nonequilibrium processes (the so-called maximum entropy production principle, MEPP), appeared in the 20th century. Publications on this topic were fragmented and different research teams, which were concerned with this principle, were unaware of studies performed by other scientists. As a result, the recognition and the use of MEPP by a wider circle of researchers were considerably delayed. The objectives of the present review consist in summation and analysis of studies dealing with MEPP. The first part of the review is concerned with the thermodynamic and statistical basis of the principle (including the relationship of MEPP with the second law of thermodynamics and Prigogine's principle). Various existing applications of the principle to analysis of nonequilibrium systems will be discussed in the second part.     

Brownian rotational relaxation and power absorption in magnetite nanoparticles

We present a study of the power absorption efficiency in several magnetite-based colloids, to asses their potential as magnetic inductive hyperthermia (MIH) agents. Relaxation times τ$\tau$ were measured through the imaginary susceptibility component χ^″(T)${\chi }^{″}(T)$, and analyzed within Debye's theory of dipolar fluid. The results indicated Brownian rotational relaxation and allowed to calculate the hydrodynamic radius close to the values obtained from photon correlation. The study of the colloid performances as power absorbers showed no detectable increase of temperature for dextran-coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, whereas a second Fe₃O₄-based dispersion of similar concentration could be heated up to 12 K after 30 min under similar experimental conditions. The different power absorption efficiencies are discussed in terms of the magnetic structure of the nanoparticles.     

Magnetism of Fe,Co, and Ni nanowires encapsulated in carbon nanotubes

We have investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe, Co, and Ni nanowires encapsulated in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using spin polarized ab initio calculation. The incorporated systems with hollow region between the nanowire and the C shell have the enhanced magnetic moments compared to the ferromagnetic nanowires tightly wrapped by CNTs. The Co nanowire encapsulated in CNTs is a strong ferromagnet and has high spin polarization regardless of the distance between the nanowire and the C shell. The results show that the Co-filled CNTs are useful for spin polarized transport nanodevice.     

Ferrimagnetic properties of Co/(Gd–Co) multilayers

Co/(Gd–Co) multilayers have been prepared by rf-sputtering and investigated by means of Transverse Magnetooptic Kerr Effect (TMOKE), SQUID and VSM magnetometry. The composition of amorphous _Gd0.36Co0.64${\mathrm{Gd}}_{0.36}{\mathrm{Co}}_{0.64}$ layers was chosen so that their saturation magnetization was dominated by Gd moments in all the temperature range. Co and Gd–Co layers formed a macroscopic ferrimagnetically coupled system displaying a compensation temperature. Complete magnetic moment compensation was found at such point. An inversion of TMOKE hysteresis loops and a divergent behaviour of coercivity were also observed. By changing the layers thickness it has been possible to control the magnetic characteristics of the Co/(Gd–Co) structures, in particular the compensation takes place at different temperatures.     

The periodic Anderson model: Symmetry-based results and some exact solutions

The topic “magnetic impurities in metals” is certainly one of the most studied problems of the solid-state physics in the last years. The interest toward this argument relies on the fact that the interaction between the magnetic moment of the impurities and the conduction electrons of the host metal, is responsible for a large variety of physical phenomena.     

The method of increments—a wavefunction-based ab initio correlation method for solids

An overview of wavefunction-based correlation methods generalised for the application to solids is presented. Those methods based on a preceding Hartree–Fock treatment explicitly calculate the many-body wavefunction in contrast to the density-functional theory which relies on the ground-state density of the system. This review focus on the so-called method of increments where the correlation energy of the solid is expanded in terms of localised orbitals or of a group of localised orbitals. The method of increments is applied to a great variety of materials, from covalent semiconductors to ionic insulators, from large band-gap materials like diamond to the half-metal α$\alpha$-tin, from large molecules like fullerenes over polymers, graphite to three-dimensional solids. Rare-gas crystals where the binding is van der Waals like are treated as well as solid mercury, where the metallic binding is entirely due to correlation. Strongly correlated systems are examined and the correlation driven metal–insulator transition is described at an ab initio level.     

Fitting the flow curve of a plastically deformed silicon steel for the prediction of magnetic properties

We report measurements and modelling of magnetic effects due to plastic deformation in 2.2% Si steel, emphasizing new tensile deformation data. The modelling approach is to take the Ludwik law for the strain-hardening stress and use it to compute the dislocation density, which is then used in the computation of magnetic hysteresis. A nonlinear extrapolation is used across the discontinuous yield region to obtain the value of stress at the yield point that is used in fitting Ludwik's law to the mechanical data. The computed magnetic hysteresis exhibits sharp shearing of the loops at small deformation, in agreement with experimental behavior. Magnetic hysteresis loss is shown to follow a Ludwik-like dependence on the residual strain, but with a smaller Ludwik exponent than applies for the mechanical behavior.     

The antiferromagnetic Ising model for a bilayer Bethe lattice

The totally antiferromagnetic Ising model is analyzed on a bilayer Bethe lattice in detail by studying the order-parameters, response functions, i.e. susceptibility and specific heat, and free energy by using the recursion relations in a pairwise approach. The ground state phase diagrams of the model are also obtained on the (_J2/|_J1|,_J3/q|_J1|)$(J_2/|J_1|,J_3/q|J_1|)$ plane for given values of H/q|_J1|$H/q\left|J_1\right|$ and on the (H/q|_J1|,_J3/q|_J1|)$(H/q|J_1|,J_3/q|J_1|)$ plane for given _J2/|_J1|$J_2/\left|J_1\right|$. As a result, we have obtained the temperature-dependent phase diagrams for various values of the coordination number q   on the (_J3/|_J1|,kT/|_J1|)$(J_3/|J_1|,\mathit{kT}/|J_1|)$ and (H/|_J1|,kT/|_J1|)$(H/|J_1|,\mathit{kT}/|J_1|)$ planes for given values of the rest of the system parameters.