Superparamagnetic-like behaviour of magnetic alloys

The effect of antiferromagnetic interaction on a binary Ising ferromagnetic alloy A_pB_1?p is studied based on cluster-variational method and assuming either J_AB or J_BB or both exchange interactions to be of antiferromagnetic type. In a ferromagnetic state the moment saturates to a value much lower than its full value. Within the temperature interval where moment saturates, the system exhibits superparamagnetic-like behaviour. The induced moment becomes a function of $\text{h}\text{T}$ only, and the zero-field susceptibility follows Curie law. The incomplete saturation of moment persists up to a large value of $\text{h}\text{T}$. The short-range order parameter at T = 0 is much less than that of homogeneous ferromagnet.     

Evidence against reentrant magnetic behaviour in AuFe alloys

The temperature and concentration dependence of the transferred hyperfine field in Au_1−xFe_x with 0.15<x<0.28, was measured by perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the hyperfine field at the ¹¹¹Cd probe shows a slope change at T/T_c=0.25 for all concentrations below 20 at% Fe, but an almost continuous behaviour for higher concentrations. These results manifest a percolation-like magnetic behaviour but no magnetic double transition.     

Unusual magnetic behaviour of Mn spin in magnetic PtFe alloys: Nuclear orientation study

The low temperature nuclear orientation of⁵⁴Mn in Pt₉₉Fe₁, Pt₉₉,₉Fe_0.1 and Pt₉₉,₉₅Fe_0.05 has been studied in the temperature rangé 5–60 mK and in the external magnetic field range 0–9 T. A considerable noncollinearity of Mn magnetic moments with respect to B_ext has been found even at rather high B_ext.     

The Invar behaviour of iron-nickel-platinum alloys

The ordering temperatures of alloys in the quasi-binary section Fe₃(Ni_xPt_1−x) have been determined experimentally, and are found to be consistent with theoretical predictions. Lattice constants and expansion coefficients vary smothly between Fe_0.75Ni_0.25 and Fe_0.75Pt_0.25 and are basically in agreement with the predictions of the Weiss 2_γ state theory except in a region very close to Fe_0.75Pt_0.25. The effect of heat treatments below the ordering temperature is placed in an overall context of competing phase transformations, which can also be used to rationalise conflicting views on the existence of Fe₃Ni, and the role of ordering on the Invar effect in general.     

Photomaganetization in diluted magnetic semiconductors

Starting from a many–body Hamiltonian for a system of photogenerated electrons and holes, spin-split by magnetic ions in diluted magnetic semiconductors, we derive, presumably for the first time, an expression for the photomagnetization as a function of the photon power, frequency, excitonic interaction and the magnetic ion concentration. Damping of nonequilibrium carriers and spin excitons is considered phenomenologically. Our results agree qualitatively with some of the systematics of the photomagnetization observed in Hg _1?x Mn _x Te.     

Magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors

A review will be given of the magnetic characteristics of diluted magnetic semiconductors and the relation with the driving exchange mechanisms. II–VI as well as IV–VI compounds will be considered. The relevance of the long-range interaction and the role of the carrier concentration will be emphasized.     

Theory of diluted magnetic semiconductor ferromagnetism

We present a theory of carrier-induced ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors ( III1-xMnxV) which allows for arbitrary itinerant-carrier spin polarization and dynamic correlations. Both ingredients are essential in identifying the system's elementary excitations and describing their properties. We find a branch of collective modes, in addition to the spin waves and Stoner continuum which occur in metallic ferromagnets, and predict that the low-temperature spin stiffness is independent of the strength of the exchange coupling between magnetic ions and itinerant carriers. We discuss the temperature dependence of the magnetization and the heat capacity.     

Theoretical study of diluted Co/Cu alloys

This study employs the self-consistent Green's function method to study the magnetic properties of diluted _CoxCu1-x${\mathrm{Co}}_x{\mathrm{Cu}}_{1-x}$ alloys from a consideration of their spin dynamics characteristics. The numerical results show that in dilute cobalt concentrations (i.e. x?0.4$x?0.4$), the critical temperatures vary linearly with x for different itinerant carrier concentration conditions. Interestingly, the carrier concentration does not affect the degree of dependency of the temperature on the cobalt concentration when the carrier concentration is less than the atomic number concentration of the alloy.     

Peculiar magnetic aftereffect of highly diluted frozen magnetic fluids

A very stably dispersed magnetic fluid (mother MF) and its 1000-times diluted solution were independently zero-field-cooled from room temperature to 5 K followed by application of a magnetic field of 2.86 MA/m for 300 s. After the field was removed (t=0)$(t=0)$, its residual magnetization M was measured as a function of time t for 80 000 s. After measurement, the MF sample was heated to room temperature, and the experiment was repeated after cooling to 5 K and again applying and removing the 2.86 MA/m field. We performed the same experiment several times, and obtained a different M vs t curve each time. With each cycle, the average M increased and the M vs t curve converged to a universal curve. In the initial few cycles, the value of M is very small, fluctuates and surprisingly increases with t in some time region. These characteristics are common in both the mother MF and diluted MF. We consequently propose the following physical model. When the MF is cooled, the isolated surfactant molecules in the solvent trigger the generation of magnetic colloid micelles. In other words, there occurs a phase transition from the magnetic colloids’ monodispersed phase to a micelle phase. The magnetic dipoles of the micelle's colloids make a closed magnetic flux loop. That is the origin of the anomalously small value of the residual magnetization in the early cycles. After a certain time elapses the micelles spontaneously break due to their residual stress, and a finite magnetic moment of the individual micelle develops. Consequently, M increases with t during this period.     

Griffiths phase in diluted magnetic semiconductors

We study the effects of disorder in the vicinity of the ferromagnetic transition in a diluted magnetic semiconductor in the strongly localized regime. We derive an effective polaron Hamiltonian, which leads to the Griffiths phase above the ferromagnetic transition point. The Griffiths-McCoy effects yield nonperturbative contributions to the dynamic susceptibility. We explicitly derive the long-time susceptibility, which has a pseudoscaling form, with the dynamic critical exponent being expressed through the percolation indices.     

Bound-magnetic-polaron molecule in diluted magnetic semiconductors

We formulate a complete microscopic theory of a coupled pair of bound magnetic polarons, the bound-magnetic-polaron molecule (BMPM) in a diluted magnetic semiconductor by taking into account both the proper two-body nature of the impurity-electron wavefunction and within the general spin-rotation-invariant approach to the electronic states. Also, the model takes into account both the Heisenberg and the antiferromagnetic kinetic-exchange interactions, as well as the ferromagnetic coupling within the common spin BMPM cloud. In this manner, we correct, unify and extend the weakly interacting BMP pair models of Wolff-Bhatt-Durst (2002 Phys. Rev. B 65 235205) and the model of nonoverlapping polarons considered by Angelescu and Bhatt (2002 Phys. Rev. B 65 75211). The resulting BMPM Hamiltonian is solved within the continuum-medium and the effective-mass approximations for the donor case and the thermodynamics is derived. In our approach the thermodynamic fluctuations of magnetization of the spins within BMPM are taken as Gaussian. It appears that the fluctuations can strongly stabilize the spin-triplet state, which may constitute a precursor effect of a ferromagnetic ordering in a many-impurity system.     

Magnetic percolation in diluted magnetic semiconductors

We demonstrate that the magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors are dominated by short ranged interatomic exchange interactions that have a strong directional dependence. By combining first principles calculations of interatomic exchange interactions with a classical Heisenberg model and Monte Carlo simulations, we reproduce the observed critical temperatures of a broad range of diluted magnetic semiconductors. We also show that agreement between theory and experiment is obtained only when the magnetic atoms are randomly positioned. This suggests that the ordering of diluted magnetic semiconductors is heavily influenced by magnetic percolation, and that the measured critical temperatures should be very sensitive to details in the sample preparation, in agreement with observations.     

Polaron percolation in diluted magnetic semiconductors

We theoretically study the development of spontaneous magnetization in diluted magnetic semiconductors as arising from a percolation of bound magnetic polarons. Within the framework of a generalized percolation theory we derive analytic expressions for the Curie temperature and the magnetization in the limit of low carrier density, obtaining excellent quantitative agreement with Monte Carlo simulation results and good qualitative agreement with experimental results.     

Electron states in diluted magnetic semiconductors

One of the remarkable properties of the II–VI diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) quantum dot (QD) is the giant Zeeman splitting of the carrier states under application of a magnetic field. This splitting reveals strong exchange interaction between the magnetic ion moment and electronic spins in the QD. A theoretical study of the electron spectrum and of its relaxation to the ground state via the emission of a longitudinal optical (LO) phonon, in a CdSe/ZnMnSe self-assembled quantum dot, is proposed in this work. Numerical calculations showed that the strength of this interaction increases as a function of the magnetic field to become more than 30 meV and allows some level crossings. We have also shown that the electron is more localized in this DMS QD and its relaxation to the ground state via the emission of one LO phonon is allowed.