Optical spectroscopy of low-dimensional rare-earth iron borates

The family of RFe₃(BO₃)₄ borates (R=Pr, Nd, Eu-Er, Y) was studied by high-resolution optical absorption and Raman spectroscopies. Structural and magnetic phase transitions were detected and the types of magnetic structure were determined. Energy of crystal-field (CF) levels and exchange splitting of the ground state of the R³⁺ ion were obtained from the analysis of optical spectra. CF calculations were carried out. Effective magnetic field at the R³⁺ site was found, using the calculated value of the magnetic g-factor. Some peculiarities of modeling the paramagnetic susceptibility of NdFe₃(BO₃)₄ are discussed.     

Optical isolators using Bi-substituted rare-earth iron garnet films

Using Bi-substituted rare-earth iron garnet film, (GdBi)₃ (FeAlGa)₅O₁₂ or (YbTbBi)₃ Fe₅O₁₂, grown by liquid phase epitaxy technique, we have fabricated a compact, low cost and high performance optical isolator for near-infrared wavelength region, in comparison with conventional isolator using yttrium iron garnet (YIG) single crystal as Faraday rotator. Typical insertion loss and isolation of developed isolators are 0.6 dB and 35 dB respectively at =1.31 m and the size is 6×6 mm. The isolators, which could be used in the wavelength range of 1.31 to 1.55 m, are also fabricated with insertion loss of less than 1.1 dB and isolation of more than 35 dB.     

Magnetic properties of amorphous rare-earth—Iron alloys

The magnetic properties of various amorphous alloys of the type R_1-xFe_x (R = Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Lu) have been determined in the concentration range 0.3 ? x ? 0.5. With the exception of the Gd and Lu alloys pronounced thermomagnetic history effects were observed in the temperature dependence of the magnetization. These effects are due to a strong temperature dependence of the coercive force (H_c) which is found to obey an exponential law of the form H_c ∞ exp(-αT). ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectra were obtained on the alloys of a composition close to 40 at% Fe. From the combined results of the Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements it is derived that the Fe moment decreases if one passes through the rare-earth series. It is postulated that this decrease is due to small differences in the compositional short-range order in the amorphous alloys caused by the heat of mixing becoming more negative in the same sense.     

Optical properties and electronic structure of rare-earth ferroborates

The optical absorption spectra of single-crystal ferroborate GdFe₃(BO₃)₄ and GdFe_2.1Ga_0.9(BO₃)₄ are measured and interpreted. It is found that the absorption edge and the absorption bands A, B, and C observed below the edge are close to those for FeBO₃. A many-electron model of the band structure of GdFe₃(BO₃)₄ is suggested including strong electron correlations between the iron d states. It is shown that GdFe₃(BO₃)₄ has a charge-transfer dielectric gap. A rise in pressure is predicted to result in a crossover between the high-spin and low-spin states of the Fe³⁺ ion, collapse of the magnetic moment, a weakening of Coulomb correlations, an abrupt reduction in the energy gap, and an insulator-semiconductor transition.     

Note on the magnetic properties of amorphous rare-earth nickel alloys

The magnetic properties of several amorphous rare-earth nickel alloys close to 30 at% Ni have been studied in the temperature range 4.2–300 K. The Curie temperatures range from 2 K in Pr₆₉Ni₃₁. Alloys in which the rare-earth component has an orbital moment show large intrinsic coercive forces below T_c. These coercive forces vary considerably with temperature, the temperature dependence of the alloys Dy₆₉Ni₃₁ and Tb₆₉Ni₃₁ is satisfactorily described by means of an exponential law of the form H_c(_T) = H_c(0) exp(-αT).     

High-pressure behaviour and elastic properties of heavy rare-earth Gd monopnictides

Pressure-induced structural phase transition of gadolinium monopnictides GdX (X=As and Sb) has been studied theoretically using an inter-ionic potential theory. This method has been found quite satisfactory in case of the pnictides of rare-earth and describes the crystal properties in the framework of rigid-ion model. We have modified the ionic charge so that it may include the Coulomb-screening effect by the delocalization of f electron of the rare-earth ion. The anomalous structural properties of these compounds with many f electrons have been interpreted in terms of the hybridization of f electrons with the conduction band and strong mixing of f states of Gd ion with the p orbital of neighbouring pnictogen ion. Both the compounds are found to undergo from their initial NaCl (B₁) structure to body centered tetragonal (BCT) structure at high pressure and agree well with the experimental results. The BCT structure is viewed as distorted CsCl structure and is highly anisotropic with c/a=0.82–0.85. The nature of bonds between the ions is predicted by simulating the ion–ion (Gd–Gd and Gd–X) distance at high pressure. Elastic properties of these compounds have also been studied with their second-order elastic constants.     

Microwave absorbing properties of rare-earth elements substituted W-type barium ferrite

W-type barium ferrites Ba(MnZn)_0.3Co_1.4R_0.01Fe_15.99O₂₇ with R=Dy, Nd and Pr were prepared by chemical coprecipitation method. Effects of rare-earth elements (RE) substitution on microstructural and electromagnetic properties were analyzed. The results show that a small amount of RE³⁺ ions can replace Fe³⁺ ions and adjust hyperfine parameters. An obvious increase in natural resonance frequency and high frequency relaxation, and a sharp decrease for complex permittivity have been observed. Furthermore, the matching thickness and the reflection loss (RL) of one-layer ferrite absorber were calculated. It reveals that thin and broad-band can be obtained by RE-substitution. But only when the magnetic moment of RE³⁺ is higher than that of Fe³⁺, can substitution be effective for higher RL. Dy-substituted ferrite composite has excellent microwave absorption properties. The frequency (with respect to −10 dB RL) begins from 9.9 GHz, and the bandwidth reaches far more than 8.16 GHz. The peak value is −51.92 dB at a matching thickness of 2.1 mm.     

Magnetooptics and magnetic ordering in ferrite nanoparticles in glass doped with iron and rare-earth elements

Magnetic circular dichroism and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the structure and magnetooptical properties of nanoparticles formed in potassium-aluminum-germanium-boron glass doped with iron and rare-earth elements. It is demonstrated that in thermally processed glass, the main magnetic phase of the formed nanoparticles is γ-Fe₂O₃ maghemite.     

The effects of light and heavy rare-earth elements on magnetic ordering in Sm

The effect of 5% of Pr, Nd, Gd and Tb on the magnetic ordering temperatures of Sm has been examined by susceptibility and resistivity measurements. Neither transition correlates with the average de Gennes factor. The data for the as cast Gd and Tb alloys reveal the presence of the dhcp structure.     

Optical properties of polarization-dependent geometric phase elements with partially polarized light

The behavior of geometric phase elements illuminated with partially polarized monochromatic beams is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The element discussed in this paper is composed of wave plates with π-retardation and a space-variant orientation angle. We found that a beam emerging from such an element comprises two polarization orders; right-and left-handed circularly polarized states with conjugate geometric phase modification. This phase equals twice the orientation angle of the space-variant wave plate comprising the element. Apart from the two polarization orders, the emerging beam coherence polarization matrix includes a “vectorial interference matrix” which contains information concerning the correlation between the two orthogonal, circularly polarized portions of the incident beam. In this paper we measure this correlation by a simple interference experiment. In addition, we found that the equivalent mutual intensity of the emerging beam is modulated according to the geometric phase induced by the element. Other interesting phenomena concerning propagation will be discussed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. The experiment made use of a spherical geometric phase element that was realized by use of a space-variant subwavelength grating illuminated with CO₂ laser radiation of 10.6 μm wavelength.     

Magnetic susceptibility of heavy rare-earth sesquioxides

Measurement of magnetic susceptibility of the powder samples of heavy rare-earth (Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb) sesquioxides have been reported in the temperature range 300 to 900 K. Curie-Weiss law behaviour has been observed for all samples. The Curie constant, the paramagnetic Curie temperature and the magneton number for magnetic ions in each material have also been evaluated.     

Optical properties of semiconducting iron disilicide thin films

The iron silicides samples were prepared by annealing of iron films evaporated onto silicon wafers and capped with amorphous silicon thin overlayers. Semiconducting FeSi₂ phase is formed by annealing at the temperatures from 550°C to 850°C. The optical properties of the FeSi₂ layers have been deduced from reflectance and transmittance measurements carried out in the temperature range of (77–380) K. The spectral dependence of the absorption coefficient favours direct allowed transitions with forbidden energy gap of 0.87eV at the room temperature. The application of a simple three-parameter semiempirical formula to the temperature dependence of the direct energy gaps leads to the following best fit parameters: the band gap at zero temperature E _g (0) = (0.895 ± 0.004)eV, the dimensionless coupling parameter S = 2.0 ± 0.3, and the average phonon energy <hw> = (46 ± 8)meV. By examining all the reported triplets of parameters for -FeSi₂ fabricated by different techniques and thermal processes, an obvious discrepancy can be found for the lattice coupling parameter and average phonon energy, although the bandgaps at 0 K are very similar. Unlike the theoretical prediction and the earlier reported result, our results do not show any evidence of a particularly strong electron-phonon interaction, which would give the lower carrier mobilities. -FeSi₂ seems to be an intriguing material where states with energies near the band edges permit ambiguous interpretation of the character of transitions. From optical model for the thin film-substrate system we found the index of refraction to be (5–5.9) in the photon energy interval from 0.65 to 1.15eV. There is also indication of an additional higher-energy absorption edge at l.05eV.     

Interplay of iron and rare-earth magnetic order in rare-earth iron pnictide superconductors under magnetic field

The magnetic properties of iron pnictide superconductors with magnetic rare-earth ions under strong magnetic field are investigated based on the cluster self-consistent field method. Starting from an effective Heisenberg model, we present the evolution of magnetic structures on magnetic field in RFeAsO(R = Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, and Tb) and RFe_2As_2(R =Eu) compounds. It is found that spin-flop transition occurs in both rare-earth and iron layers under magnetic field, in good agreement with the experimental results. The interplay between rare-earth and iron spins plays a key role in the magneticfield-driven magnetic phase transition, which suggests that the rare-earth layers can modulate the magnetic behaviors of iron layers. In addition, the factors that affect the critical magnetic field for spin-flop transition are also discussed.     

Amorphous rare-earth alloys: random-anisotropy antiferromagnetism

The model of randomly oriented single-ion uniaxial anisotropy field is extended to the case of antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between rare-earth ions. A self-consistent two-spin cluster approximation is used to calculate the magnetization curves for a model system of spin 1. The results are in good qualitative agreement with experimental data on amorphous RE_xCu_1?x and RE_xAg_1?x alloys (RE = Tb, Dy, Ho). In particular, the observed increase of the “coercive” field with increasing x in RE_xCu_1?x alloys is accounted for.     

Resistivity and magnetoresistivity of amorphous rare-earth alloys

The resistivity and magnetoresistivity of amorphous rare-earth alloys are studied starting from the general approach of Van Peski-Tinbergen and Dekker. The random axial crystal-field and the magnetic correlations between the rare-earth ions are consistently taken into account. The characteristic features of the available experimental data are explained both of the case of random ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic order.     

Hydrogen absorption and its effect on the magnetic properties of rare-earth iron intermetallics

X-ray diffraction studies of the hydrogen absorption in several YFe and CeFe intermetallic compounds showed that no structural changes occur upon hydrogen absorption in Y₆Fe₂₃, YFe₃, YFe₂. The lattice constants of the hydrides were found to be appreciably larger than those of the pure intermetallic compounds. The magnetic properties of the hydrides were determined and compared with the original compounds. In all cases the magnetic moment per Fe atom proved to be much larger in the hydride phases. Hydrogen absorption can lead to a decrease as well as to an increase of the magnetic ordering temperature (T_c). These changes in T_c could adequately be explained in terms of the observed increases in lattice constant and the data available for the pressure derivative of T_c of these compounds.     

Effect of rare-earth elements on nanophase evolution, crystallization behaviour and mechanical properties in Al-Ni-R (R = La/Mischmetal) amorphous alloys

The crystallization behaviour and evolution of nanoparticles in amorphous Al-Ni-Mischmetal (Mm) and Al-Ni-La alloys during heat treatment have been studied. Rapidly solidified ribbons were obtained by induction melting and ejecting the melt onto a rotating Cu wheel in an Ar atmosphere. The crystallization behaviour of the melt-spun ribbons was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). XRD studies confirmed that all the ribbons were fully amorphous. Al-Ni-Mm systems showed a three-stage crystallization process whereas Al-Ni-La system, in general, showed a two-stage crystallization process on annealing. Crystallization kinetics was analysed by Kissinger and Johnson-Mehl-Avrami approaches. In Al-Ni-La alloys, the crystallization pathways depend on the La concentration. Microhardness of all the ribbons was examined at different temperatures and correlated with the corresponding evolution of phases.