NEUTRON-POWDER-DIFFRACTION STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Nd2Fe14Si3

The crystal and magnetic structures of Nd₂Fe₁₄Si₃ at room temperature were refined by Rietveld analysis of neutron-powder-diffraction data. It was found that silicon atoms occupy preferentially both 18h and 18f of Th₂Zn₁₇-type structure with occupancies 0.36 and 0.14, respectively, The Fe-Fe bond-lengths computed with the refined crystallographic parameters have optimum values, as compared with those of Nd₂Fe₁₇ compounds, which can explain well why the Curie temperature rises strongly when the unit cell volume reduces with the substitution of silicon for iron in Nd₂Fe₁₇.     

Vortex Pinning due to Dynamic Spin-Vortex Interaction in aSuperconductor/Ferromagnet Multilayer

We investigate the mutual interaction between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in a Nb/Ni81 Ee19 multilayer by ac susceptibility measurements. Compared with a pure superconducting Nb film, the critical current density of the multilayer is apparently enhanced in a low magnetic field region but remains nearly the same in high magnetic fields, which indicates that a continuous ferromagnetic layer with in-plane magnetization can produce strong vortex pinning in a low field region. We interpret this unusual vortex-pinning phenomenon as a consequence of dynamic spin vortex interaction which induces a spin rotation following vortex movement. In addition, we propose that this dynamic interaction could be used for spin manipulation via a superconductor.     

Determination of the magnetic anisotropy constant of Cu/Fe/SiO2/Si by a magneto-optical Kerr effect susceptometer

The magneto-optical Kerr effect susceptometry technique is proposed to determine the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy(UMA) constant Ku. The magnetic properties of Cu/Fe/SiO2/Si grown by dc magnetron sputtering were investigated. The in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy was probed by the magneto-optical Kerr effect(MOKE). The value of UMA, Ku= 2.5×103J/m3, was simulated from the field dependence of ac susceptibility along the hard axis according to the Stoner–Wohlfarth(S–W) model, which is consistent with Ku= 2.7×103J/m3 calculated from the magnetic hysteresis loops. Our results show that the magneto-optical Kerr effect susceptometry can be employed to determine the magnetic anisotropy constant owing to its high sensitivity.     

Influence of the Jahn—Teller distortion on magnetic ordering in TbMn1-xFexO3

The Jahn-Teller distortion plays an important role in determining the exchange interaction in rare-earth manganites.In this work we study the influence of the Jahn-Teller distortion on the magnetic structures of TbMn1-xFexO3（x = 0,0.02,0.05,0.10,and 0.20） single crystals in the basal MnO2 plane.The decrease in the quadruple splitting with the increasing Fe doping indicates the reduction of the Jahn-Teller distortion,which makes the nearest neighboring（NN） FM interaction dominant over the next nearest neighbor（NNN） AFM interaction.This alteration is favorable for the development of A-type AFM ordering instead of the spiral magnetic ordering,which collapses when x ≥ 0.05.The analysis of dielectric data indicates that the ferroelectricity is arising from the peculiar spiral magnetic ordering.     

Effects of oxygen vacancy location on the electronic structure and spin density of Co-doped rutile TiO₂ dilute magnetic semiconductors

According to density functional theory (DFT) using the plane wave base and pseudo-potential, we investigate the effects of the specific location of oxygen vacancy (VO) in a (Ti,Co)O 6 distorted octahedron on the spin density and magnetic properties of Co-doped rutile TiO2 dilute magnetic semiconductors. Our calculations suggest that the V O location has a significant influence on the magnetic moment of individual Co cations. In the case where two Co atoms are separated far away from each other, when the V O is located at the equatorial site of a Co-contained octahedron, the ground state of the two Co cations is d6 (t3 2g ↑, t 3 2g ↓) without any magnetic moment. However, if the V O is located at the apical site, these two Co sites have different ground states and magnetic moments. The spin densities are also observed to be modified by the exchange coupling between the Co cations and the location of V O . Some positive spin polarization is induced around the adjacent O ions.     

STRUCTURE, MAGNETIC PROPERTIES AND GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE OF YMn6Sn6-xGax (x=0-0.6) COMPOUNDS

Structure, magnetic and transport properties of YMn₆Sn_6-xGa_x (0≤x≤0.6) compounds with a HfFe₆Ge₆-type structure were investigated. It was found that the Ga substitution leads to a contraction of the unit-cell volume. A transition from an antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic) state can be observed for samples (0.1≤x≤0.2) with increasing temperature. The antiferro-ferromagnetic transition for samples with x≤0.2 can also be induced by an external field. The required field is very low, and decreases with increasing Ga concentration. More Ga concentration (x≥0.3) leads to the samples being ferromagnetic in the whole temperature range below the Curie temperature. The Ga substitution weakens the interlayer magnetic coupling between the Mn spins. Corresponding to the metamagnetic transition, a magnetoresistance as large as 32% under a field of 5 T was observed at 5 K for the sample with x=0.2.     

Antiferromagnetic spin dynamics in exchanged-coupled Fe/GdFeO3 heterostructure

We investigate the ultrafast spin dynamics of an antiferromagnet in a ferromagnet/antiferromagnet heterostructure Fe/GdFeO₃ via an all-optical method. After laser irradiation, the terahertz spin precession is hard to be excited in a bare GdFeO₃ without spin reorientation phase but efficiently in Fe/GdFeO₃. Both quasi-ferromagnetic and impurity modes, as well as a phonon mode, are observed. We attribute it to the optical modification of interfacial exchange coupling between Fe and GdFeO₃. Moreover, the excitation efficiency of dynamics can be modified significantly via the pump laser influence. Our results elucidate that the interfacial exchange coupling is a feasible stimulation to efficiently excite terahertz spin dynamics in antiferromagnets. It will expand the exploration of terahertz spin dynamics for antiferromagnet-based opto-spintronic devices.     

High-frequency properties of oil-phase-synthesized ZnO nanoparticles

Monodispersive ZnO nanoparticles each with a hexagonal wurtzite structure are facilely prepared by the hightemperature organic phase method.The UV-visible absorption peak of ZnO nanoparticles presents an obvious blue-shift from 385 nm of bulk ZnO to 369 nm.Both the real part and the image part of the complex permittivity of ZnO nanoparticles from 0.1 GHz to 10 GHz linearly decrease without obvious resonance peak appearing.The real parts of intrinsic permittivity of ZnO nanoparticles are about 5.7 and 5.0 at 0.1 GHz and 10 GHz respectively,and show an obvious size-dependent behavior.The dielectric loss angle tangent(tan 5) of ZnO nanoparticles with a different weight ratio shows a different decreasing law with the increase of frequency.     

Growth of Mn5Ge3 ultrathin film on Ge（111）

The growth of Mn5Ge3 ultrathin films with different thicknesses, prepared by solid phase epitaxy, is studied. The results of scanning tunnelling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction studies show that the film can be formed and it is terminated with a （√3 × √3） R30° surface reconstruction when the thickness of Mn exceeds 3 monolayers. The magnetic properties show that the Curie temperature is about 300 K and the T^2-dependent behaviour is observed to remain up to 220 K.     

Magnetic properties of Nd0.5Pb0.5-xSrxMnO3 materials

The structure and magnetic properties of Nd0.5Pb0.5-xSrxMnO3 (0≤x≤0.4) manganites were systematically investigated. Significant changes in Curie temperature and metal-insulator (MI) transition temperature of the samples were observed. All samples exhibited a transition from paramagnetic semiconducting to ferromagnetic metallic state.Curie temperature Tc and the MI transition temperature Tp increased with increasing Sr content. We attributed these behaviours to the enhancing of both the double exchange mechanism and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon coupling.