Stabilization of ferromagnetism in Mn doped ZnO with C co-doping

We present a method for stabilizing ferromagnetism in Mn doped ZnO. We find that Mn doped ZnO show anti-ferromagnetic order in the absence of additional carriers. When Mn doped ZnO is co-doped with C atom at O sites ferromagnetic state gets stabilized. The C doping creates holes which leads to stabilization of ferromagnetic state via hole mediated double exchange mechanism.     

A comparison of the magnetic properties of proton- and iron-implanted graphite

In this work we have investigated the changes of the magnetic properties of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite samples after irradiation either with ~3×10¹⁴ protons or 3.5×10¹³ ... 3.5×10¹⁴ iron ions with energies in the MeV range. Our results show that iron and proton irradiations can produce similar paramagnetic contributions depending on the implantation temperature. However, only protons induce a ferromagnetic effect.     

Noise effect on Grover algorithm

The decoherence effect on Grover algorithm has been studied numerically through a noise modelled by a depolarizing channel. Two types of error are introduced characterizing the qubit time evolution and gate application, so the noise is directly related to the quantum network construction. The numerical simulation concludes an exponential damping law for the successive probability of the maxima as time increases. We have obtained an allowed-error law for the algorithm: the error threshold for the allowed noise behaves as ε_th(N) ∼1/N^1.1 (N being the size of the data set). As the power of N is almost one, we consider the Grover algorithm as robust to a certain extent against decoherence. This law also provides an absolute threshold: if the free evolution error is greater than 0.043, Grover algorithm does not work for any number of qubits affected by the present error model. The improvement in the probability of success, in the case of two qubits has been illustrated by using a fault-tolerant encoding of the initial state by means of the [[7,1,3]] quantum code.     

Monte Carlo simulations of electron dynamics in N2/CO2 mixtures

Motivated by experimental investigations of electrical discharges in N₂/CO₂/H₂O, Monte Carlo (MC) electron dynamics simulations in atmospheric N₂/CO₂ mixtures were performed. The goal was to obtain electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs), mean free path, drift velocity, collision frequency and mean energy of electrons, rate coefficients of electron-impact reactions, ionisation and attachment coefficients, as functions of the reduced electric field strength (E/N) and of the concentration of individual gas components. The results obtained by MC simulations were fitted with polynomials of up to the 3rd order with reasonable accuracy for E/N above 80 Td. The studied parameters below 80 Td were strongly non-linear as functions of E/N. This is mostly due to the influence of elastic collisions of electrons with CO₂ molecules prevailing in CO₂-dominant mixtures for E/N < 40 Td, and vibrational excitation collisions of N₂ species prevailing in N₂-dominant mixtures for E/N from 40 to 80 Td. The effect of these electron-impact processes was specific for each of the studied parameters.     

Anisotropic ferromagnetism induced in rutile single crystals by Co implantation

The magnetic and electrical properties of Co-implanted single crystalline TiO₂ rutile are presented. For fluences of the order of 10¹⁷ cm^-2 and implantation energy of 150 keV the maximum atomic concentration of cobalt is 13 at% at a depth of 65 nm from the surface. The as implanted single crystals exhibit superparamagnetic behaviour attributed to the formation of nanosized cobalt clusters. After annealing at 1073 K an anisotropic ferromagnetic behaviour emerges with the easy magnetization axis lying in the (001) plane of rutile. The ferromagnetic behaviour is associated with oriented cobalt aggregates. Electrical conductivity of the implanted samples annealed in vacuum also exhibits anisotropic behaviour at low temperatures, but no magnetoresistive effects were detected.     

Electronic transport properties and Microstructures of TiO2:Co magnetic semiconductors

TiO₂:Co thin films of high Co concentration were investigated by the high resolution transmission electron microscopy, physical property measurement system and energy dispersive X-ray. The as-deposited films are amorphous magnetic semiconductors and we did not find any Co metal particles in them. The electronic transport process in the low-temperature range below 80 K could be described by the spin-dependent variable-range-hopping process. However, after the samples were annealed at 300 °C, large amounts of Co metal particles were observed to connect each other and the films show a metallic behavior. The origin of ferromagnetism of the thin films is also discussed.     

Monte Carlo simulations of donor band exchange in (Zn,Co)O

We present results of a Monte Carlo study over the ferromagnetism of Co-doped ZnO. The magnetic interaction has the form of the donor impurity band exchange model, where the Co magnetic moments are exchange coupled to band electrons. These are assumed to occupy large hydrogenic orbitals and originate from shallow intrinsic ZnO defects. A number of parameters of this model remain uncertain and here we investigate the dependence of the Curie temperature on the strength of the magnetic coupling. We find an unusual concave upward shape in the magnetization curves consistent with other Monte Carlo studies for dilute systems and we predict high temperature ferromagnetism for sufficiently strong coupling.     

Observation of ferromagnetism at room temperature for Cr ions implanted ZnO thin films

Single crystalline ZnO films were grown on c-plane GaN/sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Cr⁺ ions were implanted into the ZnO films with three different doses, i.e., 1 × 10¹⁴, 5 × 10¹⁵, and 3 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻². The implantation energy was 150 keV. Thermal treatment was carried out at 800 °C for 30 s in a rapid thermal annealing oven in flowing nitrogen. X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy, Raman measurements, transmission electron microscopy and superconducting quantum interference device were used to characterize the ZnO films. The results showed that thermal annealing relaxed the stress in the Cr⁺ ions implanted samples and the implantation-induced damage was partly recovered by means of the proper annealing treatment. Transmission electron microscopy measurements indicated that the first five monolayers of ZnO rotated an angle off the [0 0 0 1]-axis of the GaN in the interfacial layer. The magnetic-field dependence of magnetization of annealed ZnO:Cr showed ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature.     

Carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in N co-doped (Zn, Mn)O-based diluted magnetic semiconductors

Mn-doped ZnO is anti-ferromagnetic spin glass state, however, it becomes half-metallic ferromagnets upon hole doping. In this Letter we report a theoretical study of (Zn, Mn)O system codoped with N, and show that this codoping can change the ground state from anti-ferromagnetic to ferromagnetic. We have carried out the first-principles electronic structure calculations and report total energy to estimate whether the ferromagnetic state was stable or not. Our approach is based on the spin-polarized relativistic Korringa–Kohn–Rostoker (SPR–KKR) density functional theoretical (DFT) method, within the coherent potential approximation (CPA). Self-consistent electronic structure calculations were performed within the local density approximation, using the Vosko–Wilk–Nusair parameterization of the exchange-correlation energy functional. Our results for energy difference between ferromagnetic sate and spin glass state as well as their dependence on concentrations were presented and discussed.     

Ordinary and extraordinary Coulomb blockade magnetoresistance in a (Ga, Mn)As single electron transistor

In the conventional Ohmic regime, magnetoresistance effects comprise the ordinary responses to the external magnetic field and extraordinary responses to the internal magnetization. Here we study magnetoresistance effects in the Coulomb blockade regime using a ferromagnetic (Ga, Mn)As single electron transistor. We report measurements of the magneto-Coulomb blockade effect due to the direct coupling of high external magnetic fields and the Coulomb blockade anisotropic magnetoresistance associated with magnetization rotations in the ferromagnet. The latter, extraordinary magnetoresistance effect is characterized by low-field hysteretic magnetoresistance which can exceed three orders of magnitude. The sign and size of this magnetoresistance signal is controlled by the gate voltage, and the data are interpreted in terms of anisotropic electrochemical shifts induced by magnetization reorientations. Non-volatile transistor-like applications of the Coulomb blockade anisotropic magnetoresistance are briefly discussed.