Quantum theory of the magneto-optical effect induced by Ni ions in barium ferrites

To reveal the physical origin of the giant magneto-optical enhancement of Ni²⁺ ions in barium ferrite, quantitative calculations of the contributions of both the intra-ionic electric dipole transition between the 3d⁸ and 3d^{7 4p} configurations of the Ni²⁺ ions and the intra-ionic electric dipole transition induced by odd-parity crystal field terms are presented. It is deduced that the transition is important in the origin of the considered magneto-optical enhancement. The most important factor is the Ni-Fe superexchange interaction; since it is strong enough, the Faraday rotation produced by the Ni²⁺ ions is large though the energy difference between the 3d⁸ and 3 d7 4 p configurations is large. It is demonstrated that though the intra-ionic electric dipole transition does produce Faraday rotation peaks in the visible range, their magnitude is too small to explain the observed Faraday rotation. The effect of the spin-orbit interaction on the Faraday rotation is analysed. The spin-orbit interaction of the ground configuration plays a very important role in the occurrence of Faraday effects, but the Faraday rotation does not increase linearly with the strength of the spin-orbit coupling. On the contrary, the spin-orbit interaction of the excited configuration has almost no effect on the Faraday rotation. It is shown that the mixing of the different multiplets of the ground term induced by the crystal field has a great influence on the magneto-optical properties. Received 7 January 1998     

Growth and characterization of cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet single crystals for magneto-optical applications

This paper is concerned with the preparation and characterization of cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnets, which are known to be oxides having a large Faraday rotation effect. Using the improved flux method we successfully grew bulk single crystals of iron garnet doped with Ce³⁺ ions with maximum substitutions up to 0.349. Here we investigate different solution compositions for maximum Ce³⁺ substitution. The Faraday rotation and optical absorption spectra were measured in the near infrared region for different Ce³⁺ ion substituted iron garnets. The specific Faraday rotation of Ce_0.349Eu_0.195Y_2.456Fe₅O₁₂ was found to be 1430 deg/cm at a wavelength of 780 nm and –1280 deg/cm at 1150 nm. The Ce substitution prominently enhances the Faraday rotation effect, and Yb³⁺ and Eu³⁺ ions substituted for Y³⁺ in the dodecahedral sites of YIG can increase the concentration of Ce³⁺ ions, depressing the formation of nonmagnetic Ce⁴⁺ ions by charge compensation. Received: 24 January 2001 / Accepted: 2 March 2001 / Published online: 27 June 2001     

Magneto-optical Faraday and Kerr effect of orthoferrite thin films at high temperatures

Orthoferrites present, as bulk materials, reorientation transitions of their magnetic moment alignment at temperatures depending on the rare-earth (RE) ion. In particular, orthoferrites (REFeO₃) with RE = Sm, Dy, present this transition at T _SRT = 443 K and 36 K, respectively. The spectra of the complex Kerr and Faraday angle have been measured on orthoferrite thin films (RE = Sm, Dy, Y), which were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on amorphous quartz substrates. The obtained spectra exhibit contributions of both surfaces and interfaces. Propagation effects of the polarized light in the magneto-optical medium which is interpreted in terms of a simplified theoretical formalism, is also observed. For selected photon energies, temperature dependent Faraday rotation measurements, , on orthoferrite thin films (RE = Sm, Dy, Y) have been performed. A quite different thermal variation compared to the bulk magnetization has been observed. Curie temperatures are found to be close to the bulk values or slightly larger by 10 K to 20 K as in the case of DyFeO₃ and YFeO₃. For RE = Sm and Dy, increases with increasing temperature contrary to the saturation magnetization, passes through a maximum at about 460 K and vanishes with a T _C of 647±18 K, 695 K for RE = Sm and Dy respectively. Received 28 July 2000     

Optimized factor of merit of the magneto-optical Kerr effect of ferromagnetic thin films

This paper deals with the optimization of the factor of merit of the magneto-optical Kerr effect of a resonant multilayer cavity including a ferromagnetic film. This optimization is of interest in the context of optical storage technology. Using numerical simulations based on the Green's dyadic technique, we discuss a route to obtain magneto-optical multilayers with a vanishing ellipticity and factors of merit (with respect to the bulk magnetic material) larger than 3 on a broad range of wavelengths, significantly higher than the actual state of the art. Received 21 May 1999     

Polar Kerr rotation of the ferromagnet

Magneto-optical data on EuB ₆ , a ferromagnet with a Curie temperature T _C ∼ 15 K, are presented and discussed in detail. We have measured the polar Kerr rotation, covering a spectral range from the infrared up to the ultraviolet, as a function of temperature between 1.5 and 20 K and in external magnetic fields between 0 and 10 T. The Kerr rotation in high fields and at low temperatures is enormous. Our observations, which implicitly reflect the large magnetoresistive effects, are shown to discriminate between the spectroscopic response of localized and itinerant electronic states. Our data analysis is based on the phenomenological Lorentz-Drude model, following from the classical dispersion theory and appropriately extended to magneto-optical experiments. Received 30 January 2003 / Received in final form 21 March 2003 Published online 23 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: degiorgi@solid.phys.ethz.ch     

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     

Exchange coupling in ultrathin epitaxial yttrium iron garnet films

Magnetic exchange coupling has been observed for ultrathin films of yttrium iron garnet (Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ or YIG). Single-crystalline YIG films were prepared on yttrium aluminium garnet (Y₃Al₅O₁₂ or YAG) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. (111) and (110) oriented substrates were used. Film thicknesses were varied from 180 ? to 4600 ?. Epitaxial growth of YIG on YAG was obtained in spite of the lattice mismatch of 3%. Magnetic hysteresis loops recorded for ultrathin YIG films have a “bee-waist” shape and show a coupling between two different magnetic phases. The first phase is magnetically soft YIG. A composition study by secondary ion mass spectroscopy shows the second phase to be Y₃Fe_5-xAl_xO₁₂ due to the interdiffusion of Fe and Al at the film/substrate interface. This compound is known to be magnetically harder and to have weaker magnetization than YIG. The coupling of the two phases leads to a hysteresis loop displacement at low temperatures. This displacement varies differently with film thickness for two substrate orientations. Assuming an interfacial coupling, the maximal interaction energy is estimated to be about 0.17 erg/cm² at 5 K for (111) oriented sample. Received 3 June 2002 / Received in final form 7 October 2002 Published online 27 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Presently at LPM, Université H. Poincaré, BP 239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy e-mail: popova@lpm.u-nancy.fr     

Magnetic studies on mass-selected iron particles

We have investigated the magnetic properties of mass-selected iron clusters using the Magneto-Optical Kerr effect (MOKE) in longitudinal geometry. For the production of these clusters, a newly developed continuous arc cluster ion source (ACIS) was applied. The source is based on cathodic arc erosion in inert gas environment and subsequent expansion into high vacuum. Its intensity and stability allows mass selection within a wide size range. The source efficiency is demonstrated in deposition experiments and transmission electron microscopy. For mass-selected iron particles deposited into a silver matrix we could observe a change in the magnetic behaviour from ferromagnetism to superparamagnetism around a size of 10 nm at room temperature. Received 1st December 2000     

Enhanced magneto-optical Kerr effects in nanocrystalline Sc-doped CoFe2O4 thin films

Nanocrystalline CoFe_2−xSc_xO₄ (x=0-0.4) thin films were prepared on silicon substrates at reduced temperature by a sol-gel process, and the doping effects of scandium on the microstructure, magnetism and polar magneto-optical Kerr effects of the as-deposited films were examined. It was shown that the intensities of both of the Kerr rotation peaks increase with the doping content x of Sc³⁺. The increase for the peak at 540 nm is due to the decrease of the electrostatic polarization of O²⁻ resulting from the relatively large radius of Sc³⁺, and that for the peak at 620 nm was a result of the migration of Co²⁺ from octahedral to tetrahedral sites in the presence of the dopant of Sc³⁺.     

First order spin flop transition in yttrium iron garnet (YIG)

We have studied the field dependence of the sublattice magnetization of ferrimagnetic yttrium iron garnet (YIG) using neutron scattering. In contrast to the macroscopic spontaneous magnetization that shows the normal field dependence of a soft ferromagnet (sudden saturation at the demagnetization field and no hysteresis) in neutron scattering a field induced first order spin flop transition with considerable hysteresis is observed at a critical field of H_c∼580 G (external field). Considering that with neutron scattering the antiferromagnetic component of ∼4/5 of the total moment is detected preferentially while in the macroscopic magnetization samples the ferromagnetic component of ∼1/5 exclusively it becomes clear that ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic component have a completely independent field (and temperature) dependence. This indicates that the two magnetic structures have to be viewed as two weakly coupled order parameters. In the zero field ground state the moment orientations of the two ordering structures are orthogonal. Only for fields H₀>H_c a nearly collinear ferrimagnetic order is established by the field.     

Evolution of magnetism in U(Ni 1- xPd x) Si single crystals

Single crystals of U(Ni_1-xPd_x)₂Si₂ with x = 0.05, 0.09 and 0.135 have been grown. Magnetization and electrical resistivity measurements were performed in a wide range of temperatures and magnetic fields in order to study stability of magnetic phases in the solid solutions between UNi₂Si₂ and UPd₂Si₂ with a special emphasis on the type of ground state. In UPd₂Si₂ the simple AFI-type antiferromagnetic structure of U moments is observed at low temperatures. UNi₂Si₂ adopts the uncompensated AF structure (UAF) with the + + - stacking of U moments along the c-axis and consequently this compound exhibits a spontaneous magnetization corresponding to 1/3 of the U moment. The substitution of Pd for Ni leads to a rapid decay of the spontaneous magnetization. The evolution of magnetization and electrical resistivity behavior with Pd doping is tentatively attributed to the coexistence of the AF-I and UAF phases in the ground state of U(Ni_0.91Pd_0.09)₂Si₂ and U(Ni_0.865Pd_0.135)₂Si₂. In this scenario, the volume fraction of the AF-I phase rapidly grows with Pd doping on account of the UAF. At lowest temperatures an irreversible transition to the UAF phase is observed when a sufficiently high magnetic field is applied along the c-axis. Received 28 March 2002 / Received in final form 8 August 2002 Published online 19 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: sech@mag.mff.cuni.cz     

Magnetic field-induced cluster formation and variation of magneto-optical signals in zinc-substituted ferrofluids

Fine magnetic particles (size≅100 Å) belonging to the series Zn_xFe_1−xFe₂O₄ were synthesized by cold co-precipitation methods and their structural properties were evaluated using X-ray diffraction. Magnetization studies have been carried out using vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) showing near-zero loss loop characteristics. Ferrofluids were then prepared employing these fine magnetic powders using oleic acid as surfactant and kerosene as carrier liquid by modifying the usually reported synthesis technique in order to induce anisotropy and enhance the magneto-optical signals. Liquid thin films of these fluids were prepared and field-induced laser transmission through these films was studied. The transmitted light intensity decreases at the centre with applied magnetic field in a linear fashion when subjected to low magnetic fields and saturate at higher fields. This is in accordance with the saturation in cluster formation. The pattern exhibited by these films in the presence of different magnetic fields was observed with the help of a CCD camera and was recorded photographically.     

Magnetic relaxation in spinel Mo-ferrite and Ti substituted Mo-ferrite

A compensation temperature of 138 K was observed in the temperature-dependent magnetization curves of MoFe₂O₄. Relatively slow magnetization relaxation characterized the transitions between different spin states (compensated and uncompensated). Large magnetic after effect was found in time-dependent magnetization curves after heating or cooling from different characteristic temperatures for different spin states. The magnetic relaxation was nearly independent on magnetic field, supporting the presence of spin states and no involvement of domain structure. For the Ti substituted Mo_0.6Ti_0.4Fe₂O₄ sample, there were a compensation at ∼ 100 K and a maximum of magnetization at ∼ 175 K. Similar results of anomalous magnetic relaxation was observed in Ti substituted Mo-ferrite (Mo_0.6Ti_0.4Fe₂O₄). If the Mo_0.6Ti_0.4Fe₂O₄ sample was heated from 100 K to 235 K, the time-dependent magnetization curve could be considered as a combination of two magnetic relaxation processes. However, if the sample was heated from 100 K to 295 K, the time- dependent magnetization curve became complex. Received 30 October 2001 and Received in final form 21 January 2002     

Dynamic magnetization of <Emphasis Type="Bold">γ</Emphasis>- nanoparticles isolated in an amorphous matrix

We have studied the magnetization of a system of γ-Fe₂O₃ (0.68 vol.%) nanoparticles isolated in an SiO₂ amorphous matrix placed in an alternating magnetic field with a frequency of 640 Hz and in the temperature range of (77-300) K. Compared to temperatures closer to 300 K (where the system has a superparamagnetic behaviour), at lower temperatures, the magnetization has a dynamic hysteresis loop due to the magnetization's phase shift between the field and the magnetization. The delay of the magnetization (attributed to the Néel relaxation processes) increases with the decrease of temperature. It has been shown that the relaxation time resulting from the Néel theory is determined by an effective anisotropy constant ( K ) that takes into account the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, as well as the shape, surface and strain anisotropies. In the following we will show that the surface and strain anisotropy components have the most significant influence. When the temperature decreases from 300 to 77 K, the relative increase of the saturation magnetization of the nanoparticles is much higher than that of the (spontaneous) saturation magnetization of bulk γ-Fe₂O₃. This increase is due to the increase of the mean magnetic diameter of the particles attached to the core of aligned spins, from 10.16 nm to 11.70 nm, as a result of the modification of the superexchange interaction in the surface layer. Received 25 April 2002 / Received in final form 11 August 2002 Published online 14 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: ccaizer@physics.uvt.ro     

Characterization of magnetic colloids by means of magnetooptics

A new, efficient method for the characterization of magnetic colloids based on the Faraday effect is proposed. According to the main principles of this technique, it is possible to detect the stray magnetic field of the colloidal particles induced inside the magnetooptical layer. The magnetic properties of individual particles can be determined providing measurements in a wide range of magnetic fields. The magnetization curves of capped colloids and paramagnetic colloids were measured by means of the proposed approach. The registration of the magnetooptical signals from each colloidal particle in an ensemble permits the use of this technique for testing the magnetic monodispersity of colloidal suspensions.     

Magnetic behavior and role of the antiphase boundaries in Fe3O4 epitaxial films sputtered on MgO (001)

Magnetite Fe₃O₄ films were grown on single crystal MgO (001) substrates using facing target sputtering technique. Conversion Electron M?ssbauer Spectroscopy and magneto optical polar Kerr spectra have confirmed the stoichiometric repartition of Fe cations corresponding to the inverse spinel structure and the electronic structure characteristic of bulk Fe₃O₄. Hysteresis loops carried out at room temperature show that, in a 1 T applied magnetic field, only 60% of the saturation magnetization is detected. This behavior is discussed in correlation to the antiphase boundaries (APBs) observed by electron microscopy. Magnetic force microscopy studies show that magnetic domains are larger than the mean distance between APBs. Received 2 July 2001     

Polar Kerr rotation spectra in yttrium iron garnet and lithium ferrite: A comparative study

Polar Kerr rotation (PKR) spectra in the range 2.0–5.7 eV at 295 K of lithium ferrite and yttrium iron garnet (YIG) single crystals are reported. The spectra show more details and cover a more extended energy region than those published so far. The interpretation of the spectra is based on the assumptions that 1) PKR is an odd function of the sublattice magnetic moments 2) the origin of PKR in both compounds is of similar nature, the differences due to the different crystal structures (garnet and spinel) being less important. The calculated PKR sublattice components show some similarities in their energy dependences, the magnitude of the tetrahedral sublattice component being higher than that of the octahedral one. The components were used in the calculation of the PKR spectra in diamagnetically substituted yttrium iron garnet (J. Appl. Phys.49, 2212, 1978). The results correctly predict the trends observed experimentally.     

Magnetic properties of ErFe6Fa6 studied by magnetization and neutron diffraction

Neutron-diffraction experiments reveal that ErFe₆Ga₆ forms in the tetragonal ThMn₁₂-type of structure (space group I₄/mmm). The Fe sublattice orders ferromagnetically below K. The Er moments order antiparallel to the Fe moments which, below about 250 K, leads to a decrease of the total magnetization. The easy magnetization direction of ErFe₆Ga₆ is perpendicular to the c-axis in the whole temperature range. Refinement at 2 K shows that ErFe₆Ga₆ orders ferrimagnetically with Er moments of 8.5 (2) and Fe moments at the 8(j) site of 1.9 (1) and at the 8(f) site of 1.7 (1) , respectively. At room temperature, ErFe₆Ga₆ exhibits the same type of magnetic order, however with substantially lower Er moments of 1.0 (4) and Fe moments at the 8(f) site of 1.2 (2) . The Fe moments at the 8(j) site amount to 1.9 (5) /Fe. Received 24 November 1999 and Received in final form 27 March 2000