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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Twofold Andreev reflections and coherent transport in ferromagnetic semiconductor/d-wave superconductor/ferromagnetic semiconductor double tunneling junctions

Coherent transport in a ferromagnetic semiconductor (FS)/d-wave superconductor (SC)/FS structure with (110) interfaces is studied by extending Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation into eight components, in which the interband coupling of heavy and light hole bands in the FS, the strengths of potential scattering at the interfaces, and the mismatches in the effective mass and Fermi vector between the FS and SC are taken into account. Twofold Andreev reflections exist due to the existence of two bands in the FS, in which the incident hole and the two Andreev-reflected electrons, belonging to the different spin subbands, form twofold spin-singlet pairing states near the FS/SC interface. It is shown that due to the interplay of the SC with unconventional d-wave pairing symmetry and FS, the differential conductance and tunneling magnetoresistance exhibit an abundant dependence on not only the interband coupling in the FS but also the strengths of potential scattering at the interfaces. More importantly, the properties are found to be quite different from those in the FS/s-wave SC/FS structure with conventional pairing symmetry for the SC.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Unusual multiferroicity in Cu{sub 3}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 8}

Cu{sub 3}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 8} is an anti-ferromagnetic - ferroelectric material in which the non-collinear spin alignment leads to breaking of spatial inversion symmetry. We confirm that the ferroelectricity and magnetic anomaly both occur at T{sub N1} = 25K. The emergence of ferroelectricity due to complex spin ordering is investigated by the temperature dependent low temperature measurements of magnetization, dielectric constant and electric polarization. The microscopic origin to explain magneto-electric coupling in this compound is based on a model based on ferroaxial coupling rather than inverse Dzyalonshkii-Moria interaction.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Local control of magnetic damping in ferromagnetic/non-magnetic bilayers by interfacial intermixing induced by focused ion-beam irradiation

The influence of interfacial intermixing on the picosecond magnetization dynamics of ferromagnetic/non-magnetic thin-film bilayers was studied. Low-dose focused-ion-beam irradiation was used to induce intermixing across the interface between a 10 nm Ni{sub 81}Fe{sub 19} layer and a 2–3 nm capping layer of either Au or Cr. Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect was used to study magnetization dynamics as a function of ion-beam dose. With an Au cap, the damping of the un-irradiated bilayer was comparable with native Ni{sub 81}Fe{sub 19} and increased with increasing ion dose. In contrast, for Ni{sub 81}Fe{sub 19}/Cr the damping was higher than that for native Ni{sub 81}Fe{sub 19}, but the damping decreased with increasing dose.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Direct observation of spin-resolved full and empty electron states in ferromagnetic surfaces

We present a versatile apparatus for the study of ferromagnetic surfaces, which combines spin-polarized photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopies. Samples can be grown by molecular beam epitaxy and analyzed in situ. Spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy analysis is done with a hemispherical electron analyzer coupled to a 25 kV-Mott detector. Inverse photoemission spectroscopy experiments are performed with GaAs crystals as spin-polarized electron sources and a UV bandpass photon detector. As an example, measurements on the oxygen passivated Fe(100)-p(1×1)O surface are presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Off-axis electron holography of ferromagnetic multilayer nanowires

We have used electron holography to investigate the local magnetic behavior of isolated ferromagnetic nanowires (NWs) in their remanent states. The NWs consisted of periodic magnetic layers of soft, high-saturation magnetization CoFeB alloys, and non-magnetic layers of Cu. All NWs were fabricated by pulsed-potential electrodeposition in nanoporous alumina membranes. The NW composition and layer thicknesses were measured using scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The magnetization of individual NWs depended upon the thicknesses of the layers and the direction of an external magnetic field, which had been applied in situ. When the CoFeB was thicker than the diameter (50 nm), magnetization was axial for all external field directions, while thinner layers could be randomized via a perpendicular field. In some cases, magnetization inside the wire was detected at an angle with respect to the axis of the wires. In thinner Cu/CoFeB (<10 nm each) multilayer, magnetic field vortices were detected, associated with opposing magnetization in neighbouring layers. The measured crystallinity, compositions, and layer thicknesses of individual NWs were found to be significantly different from those predicted from calibration growths based on uniform composition NWs. In particular, a significant fraction of Cu (up to 50 at. %) was present in the CoFeB layers such that the measured magnetic induction was lower than expected. These results will be used to better understand previously measured effective anisotropy fields of similar NW arrays.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Spin and orbital magnetic moments of Fe in the n-type ferromagnetic semiconductor (In,Fe)As

The electronic and magnetic properties of Fe atoms in the ferromagnetic semiconductor (In,Fe)As codoped with Be have been studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Fe L{sub 2,3} edge. The XAS and XMCD spectra showed simple spectral line shapes similar to Fe metal, but the ratio of the orbital and spin magnetic moments (M{sub orb}/M{sub spin}) estimated using the XMCD sum rules was significantly larger than that of Fe metal, indicating a significant orbital moment of Fe 3d electrons in (In,Fe)As:Be. The positive value of M{sub orb}/M{sub spin} implies that the Fe 3d shell is more than half-filled, which arises from the hybridization of the Fe{sup 3+} (d{sup 5}) state with the charge-transfer d{sup 6}L{sub ¯} states, where L{sub ¯} is a ligand hole in the host valence band. The XMCD intensity as a function of magnetic field indicated hysteretic behavior of the superparamagnetic-like component due to discrete ferromagnetic domains.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Spin-glass behavior and anomalous magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic Ge{sub 1-x}Fe{sub x}Te epilayer

We report that the Ge{sub 1-x}Fe{sub x}Te thin film exhibits spin-glass behavior when the Fe concentration increases to 0.08. A large bifurcation between the zero-field cooling and field cooling temperature-dependent magnetization was observed. The hysteresis loops after zero-field cooling and field cooling show an exchange bias effect. A time-dependent thermoremanent magnetization follows power-law decay, which confirms the existence of spin glass. The anomalous magnetotranport properties present a further evidence for spin-glass behavior and give a freezing temperature T{sub g} ∼ 5 K in the Ge{sub 0.92}Fe{sub 0.08}Te thin film.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Shear strain mediated magneto-electric effects in composites of piezoelectric lanthanum gallium silicate or tantalate and ferromagnetic alloys

Shear strain mediated magneto-electric (ME) coupling is studied in composites of piezoelectric Y-cut lanthanum gallium silicate (LGS) or tantalate (LGT) and ferromagnetic Fe-Co-V alloys. It is shown that extensional strain does not result in ME effects in these layered composites. Under shear strain generated by an ac and dc bias magnetic fields along the length and width of the sample, respectively, strong ME coupling is measured at low-frequencies and at mechanical resonance. A model is discussed for the ME effects. These composites of Y-cut piezoelectrics and ferromagnetic alloys are of importance for shear strain based magnetic field sensors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Graphene spin diode: Strain-modulated spin rectification

Strain effects on spin transport in a ferromagnetic/strained/normal graphene junction are explored theoretically. It is shown that the spin-resolved Fermi energy range can be controlled by the armchair direction strain because the strain-induced pseudomagnetic field suppresses the current. The spin rectification effect for the bias reversal occurs because of a combination of ferromagnetic exchange splitting and the broken spatial symmetry of the junction. In addition, the spin rectification performance can be tuned remarkably by manipulation of the strains. In view of this strain-modulated spin rectification effect, we propose that the graphene-based ferromagnetic/strained/normal junction can be used as a tunable spin diode.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

On magnon mediated Cooper pair formation in ferromagnetic superconductors

Identification of pairing mechanism leading to ferromagnetic superconductivity is one of the most challenging issues in condensed matter physics. Although different models have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, a quantitative understanding about this pairing is yet to be achieved. Using the localized-itinerant model, we find that in ferromagnetic superconducting materials both triplet pairing and singlet pairing of electrons are possible through magnon exchange depending upon whether the Debye cut off frequency of magnons is greater or lesser than the Hund's coupling (J) multiplied by average spin (S) per site. Taking into account the repulsive interaction due to the existence of paramagnons, we also find an expression for effective interaction potential between a pair of electrons with opposite spins. We apply the developed formalism in case of UGe{sub 2} and URhGe. The condition of singlet pairing is found to be fulfilled in these cases, as was previously envisaged by Suhl [Suhl, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 167007 (2001)]. We compute the critical temperatures of URhGe at ambient pressure and of UGe{sub 2} under different pressures for the first time through BCS equation. Thus, this work outlines a very simple way to evaluate critical temperature in case of a superconducting system. A close match with the available experimental results strongly supports our theoretical treatment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dynamic selective switching in antiferromagnetically-coupled bilayers close to the spin reorientation transition

We have designed a bilayer synthetic antiferromagnet where the order of layer reversal can be selected by varying the sweep rate of the applied magnetic field. The system is formed by two ultra-thin ferromagnetic layers with different proximities to the spin reorientation transition, coupled antiferromagnetically using Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interactions. The different dynamic magnetic reversal behavior of both layers produces a crossover in their switching fields for field rates in the kOe/s range. This effect is due to the different effective anisotropy of both layers, added to an appropriate asymmetric antiferromagnetic coupling between them. Field-rate controlled selective switching of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy layers as shown here can be exploited in sensing and memory applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Chemical reaction at ferromagnet/oxide interface and its influence on anomalous Hall effect

Chemical reactions at the ferromagnet/oxide interface in [Pt/Fe]{sub 3}/MgO and [Pt/Fe]{sub 3}/SiO{sub 2} multilayers before and after annealing were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that Fe atoms at the Fe/MgO interface were completely oxidized in the as-grown state and significantly deoxidized after vacuum annealing. However, only some of the Fe atoms at the Fe/SiO{sub 2} interface were oxidized and rarely deoxidized after annealing. The anomalous Hall effect was modified by this interfacial chemical reaction. The saturation anomalous Hall resistance (R{sub xy}) was greatly increased in the [Pt/Fe]{sub 3}/MgO multilayers after annealing and was 350% higher than that in the as-deposited film, while R{sub xy} of the [Pt/Fe]{sub 3}/SiO{sub 2} multilayer only increased 10% after annealing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

(Ga,Fe)Sb: A p-type ferromagnetic semiconductor

A p-type ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga{sub 1−x},Fe{sub x})Sb (x = 3.9%–13.7%) has been grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on GaAs(001) substrates. Reflection high energy electron diffraction patterns during the MBE growth and X-ray diffraction spectra indicate that (Ga,Fe)Sb layers have the zinc-blende crystal structure without any other crystallographic phase of precipitates. Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy characterizations indicate that (Ga,Fe)Sb has the zinc-blende band structure with spin-splitting induced by s,p-d exchange interactions. The magnetic field dependence of the MCD intensity and anomalous Hall resistance of (Ga,Fe)Sb show clear hysteresis, demonstrating the presence of ferromagnetic order. The Curie temperature (T{sub C}) increases with increasing x and reaches 140 K at x = 13.7%. The crystal structure analyses, magneto-transport, and magneto-optical properties indicate that (Ga,Fe)Sb is an intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconductor.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Long-range triplet supercurrents induced by singlet supercurrents parallel to magnetic interfaces

Employing a spin-parameterized Keldysh-Usadel technique for the diffusive regime, we demonstrate that even in the low proximity limit, considerable long-ranged triplet supercurrents can be effectively generated by spin-singlet supercurrents flowing parallel to the interfaces of uniform double ferromagnet interlayers with noncollinear exchange fields independent of actual junction geometry. The triplet supercurrents are found to be most pronounced when the thicknesses of the ferromagnet strips are unequal. To experimentally verify this generic phenomenon, we propose an accessible and controllable structure that can fully isolate the long-range triplet effects.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nanoparticles of spinel and perovskite ferromagnets and prospects for their application in medicine

In this work, nanoparticles of La{sub 0.75}Sr{sub 0.25}MnO{sub 3} compounds with perovskite structure and AFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} (A = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn) with spinel structure have been synthesized by precipitation from diethylene glycol and microemulsion using Triton X-100 surfactant. Comparative X-ray diffraction and magnetic studies of the synthesized nanoparticles have been carried out. Magnetic fluids prepared from synthesized nanopowders have been characterized by calorimetric measurements of specific loss power (SLP)

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ultrafast magnetization switching by spin-orbit torques

Spin-orbit torques induced by spin Hall and interfacial effects in heavy metal/ferromagnetic bilayers allow for a switching geometry based on in-plane current injection. Using this geometry, we demonstrate deterministic magnetization reversal by current pulses ranging from 180 ps to ms in Pt/Co/AlO{sub x} dots with lateral dimensions of 90 nm. We characterize the switching probability and critical current I{sub c} as a function of pulse length, amplitude, and external field. Our data evidence two distinct regimes: a short-time intrinsic regime, where I{sub c} scales linearly with the inverse of the pulse length, and a long-time thermally assisted regime, where I{sub c} varies weakly. Both regimes are consistent with magnetization reversal proceeding by nucleation and fast propagation of domains. We find that I{sub c} is a factor 3–4 smaller compared to a single domain model and that the incubation time is negligibly small, which is a hallmark feature of spin-orbit torques.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Peculiar long-range supercurrent in superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junction containing a noncollinear magnetic domain in the ferromagnetic region

We study the supercurrent in clean superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor heterostructure containing a noncollinear magnetic domain in the ferromagnetic region. It is demonstrated that the magnetic domain can lead to a spin-flip scattering process, which reverses the spin orientations of the singlet Cooper pair and simultaneously changes the sign of the corresponding electronic momentum. If the ferromagnetic layers on both sides of magnetic domain have the same features, the long-range proximity effect will take place. That is because the singlet Cooper pair will create an exact phase-cancellation effect and gets an additional π phase shift as it passes through the entire ferromagnetic region. Then, the equal spin triplet pair only exists in the magnetic domain region and can not diffuse into the other two ferromagnetic layers. So, the supercurrent mostly arises from the singlet Cooper pairs, and the equal spin triplet pairs are not involved. This result can provide a approach for generating the long-range supercurrent.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗