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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Understanding curvature effects on the magnetization reversal of patterned permalloy Archimedean spirals

Geometric curvature in magnetic systems can induce several unique magnetic interactions, the most notable of which are the curvature induced magnetic anisotropy and the curvature introduced Dzyaloshinski-Moria (DM) like interaction. Of the two, the DM-like interaction is particularly interesting as it provides a unique way to control domain wall motion, which is particularly relevant to the field of spintronics. In this work, we study the effect of geometric curvature on magnetization reversal in Permalloy strips patterned into Archimedean spirals with varying widths. Specifically, we simulated the magnetization reversal of Permalloy strips for several widths ranging from microscale to nanoscale to determine a lengthscale at which the curvature effects are strong. Simulations showed that in the microscale spirals, magnetization reversal primarily occurs through the appearance of magnetization ripple in which domains with reversed magnetization nucleate. On the other hand, the nanoscale spirals showed that reversal primarily proceeded through the motion of domain walls into the arms of the spiral. Our experimental in situ Lorentz transmission electron microscopy data of the microscale spirals, however, showed that magnetization reversal occurred with both mechanisms. At the nanoscale, the effect of local variation of curvature leads to hysteresis loops with stepped behavior. This behavior is characteristic of the curvature induced DM-like interaction affecting domain wall motion in the arms of the nanoscale spirals.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Imaging orbital ferromagnetism in a moiré Chern insulator

Capturing exotic magnetism Ferromagnetism is associated with the breaking of time-reversal symmetry, most frequently by the spin degree of freedom. Although the orbital motion of electrons can also contribute to ferromagnetism, in most materials, it is small relative to the spin contribution. Tschirhart et al. showed that the reverse is true in an unusual magnetic state hosted by twisted bilayer graphene. Their scanning magnetometry measurements were consistent with ferromagnetism of predominantly orbital origin. Science , abd3190, this issue p. 1323

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Transition to Petschek Reconnection in Subrelativistic Pair Plasmas: Implications for Particle Acceleration

While relativistic magnetic reconnection in pair plasmas has emerged in recent years as a candidate for the origin of radiation from extreme astrophysical environments, the corresponding subrelativistic pair-plasma regime has remained less explored, leaving open the question of how relativistic physics affects reconnection. In this paper, we investigate the differences between these regimes by contrasting two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of reconnection in pair plasmas with relativistic magnetization (σ ≫ 1) and subrelativistic magnetization (σ < 1). By utilizing unprecedentedly large domain sizes and outflow boundary conditions, we demonstrate that lowering the magnetization results in a change in the reconnection geometry from a plasmoid chain to a Petschek geometry, where laminar exhausts bounded by slow-mode shocks emanate from a single diffusion region. We attribute this change to the reduced plasmoid production rate in the low-σ case: When the secondary tearing rate is sufficiently low, plasmoids are too few in number to prevent the system from relaxing into a stable Petschek configuration. This geometric change also affects particle energization: We show that while high-σ plasmoid chains generate power-law energy spectra, low-σ Petschek exhausts merely heat incoming plasma and yield negligible nonthermal acceleration. These results have implications for predicting the global current sheet geometry and the resulting energy spectra in a variety of systems.

Plasma astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2018

Stellarator microinstabilities and turbulence at low magnetic shear

Gyrokinetic simulations of drift waves in low-magnetic-shear stellarators reveal that simulation domains comprised of multiple turns can be required to properly resolve critical mode structures important in saturation dynamics. Marginally stable eigenmodes important in saturation of ion temperature gradient modes and trapped electron modes in the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) stellarator are observed to have two scales, with the envelope scale determined by the properties of the local magnetic shear and an inner scale determined by the interplay between the local shear and magnetic field-line curvature. Properly resolving these modes removes spurious growth rates that arise for extended modes in zero-magnetic-shear approximations, enabling use of a zero-magnetic-shear technique with smaller simulation domains and attendant cost savings. Analysis of subdominant modes in trapped electron mode (TEM)-driven turbulence reveals that the extended marginally stable modes play an important role in the nonlinear dynamics, and suggests that the properties induced by low magnetic shear may be exploited to provide another route for turbulence saturation.

Faber, B. J. (ORCID:000000034934400X)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Persistent dynamic magnetic state in artificial honeycomb spin ice

Abstract Topological magnetic charges, arising due to the non-vanishing magnetic flux on spin ice vertices, serve as the origin of magnetic monopoles that traverse the underlying lattice effortlessly. Unlike spin ice materials of atomic origin, the dynamic state in artificial honeycomb spin ice is conventionally described in terms of finite size domain wall kinetics that require magnetic field or current application. Contrary to this common understanding, here we show that a thermally tunable artificial permalloy honeycomb lattice exhibits a perpetual dynamic state due to self-propelled magnetic charge defect relaxation in the absence of any external tuning agent. Quantitative investigation of magnetic charge defect dynamics using neutron spin echo spectroscopy reveals sub-ns relaxation times that are comparable to the relaxation of monopoles in bulk spin ices. Most importantly, the kinetic process remains unabated at low temperature where thermal fluctuation is negligible. This suggests that dynamic phenomena in honeycomb spin ice are mediated by quasi-particle type entities, also confirmed by dynamic Monte-Carlo simulations that replicate the kinetic behavior. Our research unveils a macroscopic magnetic particle that shares many known traits of quantum particles, namely magnetic monopole and magnon.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for the chiral magnetic effect through beam energy dependence of charge separation using event shape selection

High-energy, heavy-ion collisions can create local domains of chirality-imbalanced quarks, reflecting the topological features of quantum chromodynamics. The chiral magnetic effect (CME) predicts an electric charge separation of quarks in such topological domains along the magnetic field ($\vec{B}$) generated by the passing of two high-Z nuclei. Here, we use a correlation observable Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}$ between charged meson pairs to detect the CME-induced charge separation and a novel event shape selection (ESS) method to mitigate the background effects related to elliptic flow (𝑣 2 ). The ESS method classifies events based on the emission pattern of final-state particles and determines Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}_{ESS}$ from the zero-flow limit. We reconstruct the $\vec{B}$ field direction from the spectator nucleons, which minimizes backgrounds unrelated to the collective motion of the system. In this work, we report the measurements of Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}$ and a background indicator Δ⁢𝛾$^{132}$ in Au+Au collisions from the Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Beam Energy Scan phase II and at the top RHIC energy. After background suppression, Δ⁢𝛾$^{132}_{ESS}$ aligns with zero, and Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}_{ESS}$ is reduced to no more than 20% of Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}$. We observe a finite residual charge separation with 2.5⁢𝜎, 3⁢𝜎, and 3.2⁢𝜎 significance in the 20–50% centrality range of Au + Au collisions at 11.5, 14.6, and 19.6 GeV. The results at 17.3 and 27 GeV also show positive values but with a lower significance of 1.3⁢𝜎 and 1.1⁢𝜎, respectively. The corresponding Δ⁢𝛾$^{112}_{ESS}$ values at 7.7, 9.2, and 200 GeV are consistent with zero within uncertainties.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pressure effect on magnetism and valence in ferromagnetic superconductor Eu(Fe 0.75 Ru 0.25 ) 2 As 2

Eu(Fe 0.75 Ru 0.25 ) 2 As 2 is an intriguing system with unusual coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism, providing a unique platform to study the nature of such coexistence. To establish a magnetic phase diagram, time-domain synchrotron Mössbauer experiments in 151 Eu have been performed on a single crystalline Eu(Fe 0.75 Ru 0.25 ) 2 As 2 sample under hydrostatic pressures and at low temperatures. Upon compression the magnetic ordering temperature increases sharply from 20 K at ambient pressure, reaching ~49 K at 10.1GPa. With further compression, the magnetic order is suppressed and eventually collapses. Isomer shift values from Mössbauer measurements and x-ray absorption spectroscopy data at Eu L 3 edge show that pressure drives Eu ions to a homogeneous intermediate valence state with mean valence of ~2.4 at 27.4 GPa, possibly responsible for the suppression of magnetism. Synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction experiment reveals a tetragonal to collapsed-tetragonal structural transition around 5 GPa, a lower transition pressure than in the parent compound. Furthermore, these results provide guidance to further work investigating the interplay of superconductivity and magnetism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetoelastic properties of multiferroic hexagonal ErMnO 3

Here, the strength and dynamics of magnetoelastic coupling through the paramagnetic (PM) – antiferromagnetic (AFM) – ferrimagnetic (FIM) transitions in multiferroic hexagonal ErMnO 3 have been investigated by Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy. Elastic stiffening by up to 2% below the PM – AFM transition at 80 K arises from biquadratic coupling between strain and the magnetic order parameter with relaxation times longer than ~10 -6 s for the response of spins to changes in strain. In contrast with YMnO 3 , the PM – AFM transition in ErMnO 3 is accompanied by a peak in acoustic loss immediately below the Néel point which is interpreted in terms of strain relaxation accompanying ordering of spins of Er 3+ at 4b sites. Changes in the magnetic ordering scheme at the AFM – FIM transition near 3 K are accompanied by elastic softening of ~0.03 %. During poling of the low temperature ferrimagnetic structure round magnetic hysteresis loops, small changes in elastic stiffness which arise due to the contribution of piezomagnetic and/or piezoelectric moduli are detected. Contributions of piezoelectric moduli to acoustic resonance frequencies also permit changes in the configuration of ferroelectric domains to be detected in response both to cycling through this transition and to application of a magnetic field. A peak in acoustic loss in the vicinity of 250 K is attributed to strain-mediated pinning/freezing of some aspect of the domain microstructure with an activation energy of ~0.25–0.3 eV. A return to the original elastic properties on heating to temperatures above ~250 K is interpreted in terms of backswitching of domains to the configuration they had at the start. These observations confirm the existence of subtle variations in magnetoelastic coupling behaviour relating to both the magnetic order parameters and magnetic domain structures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Chirality switching of an antiferromagnetic spiral wall and its effect on magnetic anisotropy

An antiferromagnetic NiO spiral wall in Fe / NiO / C o 0.5 N i 0.5 O / vicinal Ag(001) was created by rotating Fe magnetization and investigated using x-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD). Different from the Mauri's 180° spiral wall, we find that the NiO spiral wall always switches its chirality at ~ 90 ° rotation of the Fe magnetization, and unwinds the spiral wall back to a single domain with a further rotation of the Fe magnetization from 90° to 180°. The effect of this chirality switching on the magnetic anisotropy was studied using rotational magneto-optic Kerr effect (ROTMOKE) on Py / NiO / C o 0.5 N i 0.5 O / vicinal Ag(001). We find that the original Mauri's model has to be corrected by an energy folding due to the chirality switching, which consequently converts the exchange bias from the Mauri's 180° spiral wall into a uniaxial anisotropy and a negative fourfold anisotropy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Single‐Domain Multiferroic Array‐Addressable Terfenol‐D (SMArT) Micromagnets for Programmable Single‐Cell Capture and Release

Abstract Programming magnetic fields with microscale control can enable automation at the scale of single cells ≈10 µm. Most magnetic materials provide a consistent magnetic field over time but the direction or field strength at the microscale is not easily modulated. However, magnetostrictive materials, when coupled with ferroelectric material (i.e., strain‐mediated multiferroics), can undergo magnetization reorientation due to voltage‐induced strain, promising refined control of magnetization at the micrometer‐scale. This work demonstrates the largest single‐domain microstructures (20 µm) of Terfenol‐D (Tb 0.3 Dy 0.7 Fe 1.92 ), a material that has the highest magnetostrictive strain of any known soft magnetoelastic material. These Terfenol‐D microstructures enable controlled localization of magnetic beads with sub‐micrometer precision. Magnetically labeled cells are captured by the field gradients generated from the single‐domain microstructures without an external magnetic field. The magnetic state on these microstructures is switched through voltage‐induced strain, as a result of the strain‐mediated converse magnetoelectric effect, to release individual cells using a multiferroic approach. These electronically addressable micromagnets pave the way for parallelized multiferroics‐based single‐cell sorting under digital control for biotechnology applications.

Khojah, Reem↗
DOE OSTI2018

Nonlinear multiphysics and multiscale modeling of dynamic ferromagnetic–thermal problems

A coupled ferromagnetic–thermal solver is developed for the multiphysics and multiscale modeling and simulation of nonlinear magnetic materials in the time domain. By adopting a temperature-dependent dynamic hysteresis model, the power loss is characterized and calculated from the solution of Maxwell's equations, which serves as the heat source for the thermal problem. By solving the thermal problem, the temperature change is obtained, and its effect on the magnetic material property can be quantified, which is then coupled back to Maxwell's equations. Due to different temporal characteristics of the electromagnetic fields and the thermal response, the resulting coupled ferromagnetic–thermal system has two significantly different time scales. Such a temporal multiscale issue is addressed with a proposed multiscale time integration method to account for the multiscale coupling between the two physics. With the proposed multiphysics and multiscale modeling method, both the electromagnetic fields and the thermal responses can be captured accurately in a dynamic operation.

Yan, Su (ORCID:0000000273763493)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Magnetic imaging and statistical analysis of the metamagnetic phase transition of FeRh with electron spins in diamond

Magnetic imaging based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has emerged as a powerful tool for probing magnetic phenomena in fields ranging from biology to physics. A key strength of NV sensing is its local-probe nature, enabling high-resolution spatial images of magnetic stray fields emanating from a sample. However, this local character can also form a drawback for analyzing the global properties of a system, such as a phase transition temperature. Here, we address this challenge by using statistical analyses of magnetic-field maps to characterize the first-order temperature-driven metamagnetic phase transition from the antiferromagnetic to the ferromagnetic state in FeRh. After imaging the phase transition and identifying the regimes of nucleation, growth, and coalescence of ferromagnetic domains, we statistically characterize the spatial magnetic-field maps to extract the transition temperature and thermal hysteresis width. By analyzing the spatial correlations of the maps in relation to the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and external magnetic field, we detect a reorientation of domain walls across the phase transition. The employed statistical approach can be extended to the study of other magnetic phenomena with NV magnetometry or other sensing techniques.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance estimation of resonance-enhanced dual-buoy wave energy converter using coupled time-domain simulation

This article presents the modeling methodology and performance evaluation of the resonance-enhanced dual-buoy WEC (Wave Energy Converter) by HEM (hydrodynamic & electro-magnetic) fully-coupled-dynamics time-domain-simulation program. The numerical results are systematically compared with the authors’ 1/6-scale experiment. With a direct-drive linear generator, the WEC consists of dual floating cylinders and a moon-pool between the cylinders, which can utilize three resonance phenomena from moon-pool dynamics as well as heave motions of inner and outer buoys. The contact and friction between the two buoys observed in the experiment are also properly modeled in the time-domain simulation by the Coulomb-friction model. Moon-pool resonance peaks significantly exaggerated in linear potential theory are empirically adjusted through comparisons with measured values. A systematic comparative study between the simulations and experiments with and without PTO (power-take-off) is conducted, and the relative heave displacements/velocities and power outputs are well matched. Then, parametric studies are carried out with the simulation program to determine optimum generator parameters. The performance with various wave conditions is also assessed.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2020

Robust A -Type Order and Spin-Flop Transition on the Surface of the Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulator MnBi 2 Te 4

Here, we present microscopic evidence of the persistence of uniaxial A-type antiferromagnetic order to the surface layers of MnBi 2 Te 4 single crystals using magnetic force microscopy. Our results reveal termination-dependent magnetic contrast across both surface step edges and domain walls, which can be screened by thin layers of soft magnetism. The robust surface A-type order is further corroborated by the observation of termination-dependent surface spin-flop transitions, which have been theoretically proposed decades ago. Our results not only provide key ingredients for understanding the electronic properties of the antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi 2 Te 4 , but also open a new paradigm for exploring intrinsic surface metamagnetic transitions in natural antiferromagnets.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electrical Detection of Single-Domain Néel Vector Reorientation across the Spin–Flop Transition in Cr 2 O 3 Crystals

Electrical transport measurements in heterostructures of antiferromagnetic Cr 2 O 3 bulk crystals and a thin Pt layer exhibit sharp responses as the Néel vector of Cr 2 O 3 undergoes the spin−flop transition. This abrupt change can arise from several distinct mechanisms including magnetostriction, proximity-induced anomalous Hall, spin Hall anomalous Hall, and spin Hall planar Hall effects. While large Pt devices sensing multiple up/ down domains can produce indistinguishable Hall signal jumps due to different initial Néel vector orientations, smaller Pt devices that sense single domains isolate the proximity-induced Hall signals. This allows direct electrical detection of Néel vector reorientation across the spin−flop transition in single-domain regions. Furthermore, the single-domain state can be prepared by magnetic field cooling or magnetoelectric cooling. We demonstrate a method to control and characterize the three-dimensional orientation of single-domain Néel vectors by exploiting Hall measurements and cooling techniques, crucial for future antiferromagnetic spintronic applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Magnetic field-dependent low-energy magnon dynamics in α–RuCl 3

Revealing the spin excitations of complex quantum magnets is key to developing a minimal model that explains the underlying magnetic correlations in the ground state. We investigate the low-energy magnons in α-RuCl 3 by combining time-domain terahertz spectroscopy under an external magnetic field and model Hamiltonian calculations. We observe two absorption peaks around 2.0 and 2.4 meV, which we attribute to zone-center spin waves. Using linear spin-wave theory with only nearest-neighbor terms of the exchange couplings, we calculate the antiferromagnetic resonance frequencies and reveal their dependence on an external field applied parallel to the nearest-neighbor Ru-Ru bonds. Furthermore, we find that the magnon behavior in an applied magnetic field can be understood only by including an off-diagonal Γ exchange term to the minimal Heisenberg-Kitaev model. Such an anisotropic exchange interaction that manifests itself as a result of strong spin-orbit coupling can naturally account for the observed mixing of the modes at higher fields strengths.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Exchange coupling in $\mathrm{Bi_2}$ $\mathrm{Se_3}$ / $\mathrm{EuSe}$ heterostructures and evidence of interfacial antiferromagnetic order formation

Spatial confinement of electronic topological surface states (TSSs) in topological insulators poses a formidable challenge because TSSs are protected by time-reversal symmetry. In previous works formation of a gap in the electronic spectrum of TSSs has been successfully demonstrated in topological insulator/magnetic material heterostructures, where ferromagnetic exchange interactions locally lift the time-reversal symmetry. Here we report experimental evidence of exchange interaction between a topological insulator $\mathrm{Bi_2}$ $\mathrm{Se_3}$ and a magnetic insulator EuSe. Spin-polarized neutron reflectometry reveals a reduction of the in-plane magnetic susceptibility within a 2 nm interfacial layer of EuSe, and the combination of superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry and Hall measurements points to the formation of an interfacial layer with a suppressed net magnetic moment. This suppressed magnetization survives up to temperatures five times higher than the Néel temperature of EuSe. Its origin is attributed to the formation of an interfacial antiferromagnetic state. Abrupt resistance changes observed in high magnetic fields are consistent with antiferromagnetic domain reconstruction affecting transport in a TSS via exchange coupling. Importantly, the high-temperature local control of TSSs with zero net magnetization unlocks new opportunities for the design of electronic, spintronic, and quantum computation devices, ranging from quantization of Hall conductance in zero fields to spatial localization of non-Abelian excitations in superconducting topological qubits.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Correlation of coercivity, microstructure, and surface defects in HDDR-processed Nd-Fe-B powders for bonded magnet applications

Hydrogenation-Disproportionation-Desorption-Recombination (HDDR) is an effective method for producing high coercivity, anisotropic powder from either fresh Nd-Fe-B alloy or recycled Nd-Fe-B magnets for use in bonded magnets. We investigated the impact of surface defects on the coercivity of HDDR-processed Nd-Fe-B using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), magnetic measurements, and micromagnetic simulations. We observed that coercivity decreases as particle size reduces, with SEM revealing surface defects and the detachment of Nd 2 Fe 14 B grains and Nd-rich phases from the particle surface. Micromagnetic simulations indicate that demagnetization initiates at the particle surface, where these defects are most concentrated, leading to reduced coercivity. The reduction in squareness of demagnetization curve, knee point field and coercivity for smaller HDDR particles is attributed to an increased specific surface area, which exhibits reduced nucleation field and weak domain wall pinning field during magnetization reversal. By addressing the role of surface defects in coercivity degradation, this study provides insights for improving both new powder production and recycling strategies, ultimately leading to enhanced performance of bonded magnets and contributing to more sustainable practices in the rare earth supply chain. One potential strategy to enhance the performance of HDDR Nd-Fe-B materials involves reducing the fraction of fine particles ($<$35 µm) and promoting the formation of grain boundary phases on particle surfaces.

Liu, Xubo B. [Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (Un↗