Hall effect and electronic structure of films

Abstract Tunneling experiments have shown that in order to retain half-metallicity at room temperature not only a large gap is required but also a Fermi energy considerably distant from the minority band edges. We correlate the position of the Fermi energy in the spin minority gap obtained from band structure calculations to Hall effect experiments. As a model system we chose Co 2 Fe x Mn 1 - x Si , where the Fermi energy was calculated to move from the valence band edge of the minority states to the conduction band edge with increasing x . On high quality laser ablated epitaxial films we observe a sign change of both the normal and the anomalous Hall effect with doping. The experimental da…

Single device offset-free magnetic field sensing principle with tunable sensitivity and linear range based on spin-orbit-torques

We propose a novel device concept using spin-orbit-torques to realize a magnetic field sensor, where we eliminate the sensor offset using a differential measurement concept. We derive a simple analytical formulation for the sensor signal and demonstrate its validity with numerical investigations using macrospin simulations. The sensitivity and the measurable linear sensing range in the proposed concept can be tuned by either varying the effective magnetic anisotropy or by varying the magnitude of the injected currents. We show that undesired perturbation fields normal to the sensitive direction preserve the zero-offset property and only slightly modulate the sensitivity of the proposed sens…

Conductance control at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3-interface by a multiferroic BiFeO3 ad-layer

Multilayered BiFeO3 (BFO)/LaAlO3 (LAO) thin film samples were fabricated on SrTiO3 (STO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. In this work, the ferroelectric polarization of a multiferroic BFO ad-layer on top of the quasi-two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the LAO/STO interface is used to manipulate the conductivity of the quasi-2DEG. By microstructuring the conductive area of the LAO/STO-interface, a four-point geometry for the measurement of the resistivity was achieved. Piezo force microscopy allows for imaging and poling the spontaneous ferroelectric polarization of the multiferroic layer. The resistance changes showed a linear dependence on the area scanned and a hysteretic behav…

Ellipsoid-shaped superparamagnetic nanoclusters through emulsion electrospinning.

Ellipsoid-shaped nanoclusters composed of single superparamagnetic nanoparticles can be generated by emulsion electrospinning. Stretching and subsequent solvent evaporation of iron oxide loaded emulsion droplets during the emulsion electrospinning process enables the creation of such structures embedded in polymer nanofibers. Dissolution of the polymer fibers yields an aqueous dispersion of the inorganic clusters which are the first example of ellipsoid-shaped superparamagnetic nanoclusters with a high saturation magnetization (∼47 emu g(-1)).

Vortex instability and vortex-glass transition in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 and YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 thin films

We investigated the current-voltage (I-V) curves of high-T c superconductors at very low and very high dissipation levels. In the limit of low driving currents the barriers for vortex movement become infinite in the vortex-glass state. Using long measurement bridges up to 0.5 m we were able to sample an electric field range from 1 V/m down to 10 -8 V/m in one experimental setup. The resulting I-V curves allowed us to verify an excellent glass scaling of the I-V curves, which revealed an increased dynamical exponent of the glass transition. We also found a considerable dependence of the vortex-glass scaling on the probed electric-field range. At very high dissipation levels the I-V curves of…

Setup for Characterization of the Non-Linear Electric Susceptibility in the Microwave Range Applied to a Glass Ceramic

A resonator method exciting eigenresonances of three coupled cylindrical dielectric resonators allows characterizing the non-linear response of low loss and high permittivity materials at frequencies of about 1 GHz. To reach the necessary sensitivity for dielectric non-linearities, the setup ensures that the measured intermodulation can be ascribed to the material under test while all other intermodulation sources are excluded. Electric field amplitudes of several V/mm are obtained at an input power of 100 W. The setup was used to characterize the third order non-linear susceptibility of a glass ceramic.

Magnetic Exchange Interaction in Nitronyl Nitroxide Radical-Based Single Crystals of 3d Metal Complexes: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

Two stable nitronyl nitroxide free radicals {R1 = 4′-methoxy-phenyl-4,4,5,5,-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (NNPhOMe) and R2 = 2-(2′-thienyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline 3-oxide 1-oxyl (NNT)} are successfully synthesized using Ullmann condensation. The reactions of these two radicals with 3d transition metal ions, in the form of M(hfac)2 (where M = Co or Mn, hfac: hexafluoroacetylacetone), result in four metal–organic complexes Co(hfac)2(NNPhOMe)2, 1; Co(hfac)2(NNT)2·(H2O), 2; Mn(hfac)2(NNPhOMe)·x(C7H16), 3; and Mn(hfac)2(NNT)2, 4. The crystal structure and magnetic properties of these complexes are investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, dc magnetization, infrared, and …

Magnetic tunneling junctions with the Heusler compound

Abstract Certain Heusler phases belong to the materials which are discussed as potential half metals. Here, results of tunneling experiments with the full-Heusler alloy Co 2 Cr 0.6 Fe 0.4 Al are presented. The Heusler alloy is used as an electrode of magnetic tunneling junctions. The junctions are deposited by magnetron DC sputtering using shadow mask techniques with AlO x as a barrier and cobalt as counter electrode. Measurements of the magnetoresistive differential conductivity in a temperature range between 4 and 300 K are shown. An analysis of the barrier properties applying the Simmons model to the bias dependent junction conductivity is performed. VSM measurements were carried out to …

Magnetotransport Properties of Thin Films of Magnetic Perovskites

In this article we show magnetotransport of two prototypical (nearly) half metallic perowskites La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 and Sr2FeMoO6. In a half metal the spin polarisation at the Fermi energy is complete and tunneling magnetoresistive devices of high sensitivity can be realized with small external magnetic fields. In the vicinity of the metal-insulator phase transition (MIT) temperature of the manganite an external magnetic field can induce ’colossal’ magnetoresistive effects. In the simple perovskites La1-x Ca x MnO3 the charge transport above the MIT is of polaronic nature. Hall-effect measurements on the compound La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 below the MIT show a compensated Fermi-surface consisting of elect…

Terahertz spectroscopy for all-optical spintronic characterization of the spin-Hall-effect metals Pt, W and Cu80Ir20

Identifying materials with an efficient spin-to-charge conversion is crucial for future spintronic applications. In this respect, the spin Hall effect is a central mechanism as it allows for the interconversion of spin and charge currents. Spintronic material research aims at maximizing its efficiency, quantified by the spin Hall angle and the spin-current relaxation length . We develop an all-optical contact-free method with large sample throughput that allows us to extract and . Employing terahertz spectroscopy and an analytical model, magnetic metallic heterostructures involving Pt, W and Cu80Ir20 are characterized in terms of their optical and spintronic properties. The validity of our …

Recent Progress in FSMA Microactuator Developments

The giant magneto-strain effect is particularly attractive for actuator applications in micro- and nanometer dimensions as it enables contact-less control of large deformations, which can hardly be achieved by other actuation principles in small space. Two different approaches are being pursued to develop ferromagnetic shape memory (FSMA) microactuators based on the magnetically induced reorientation of martensite variants: (1) the fabrication of free-standing epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga thin film actuators in a bottom-up manner by magnetron sputtering, substrate release and integration technologies and (2) the top-down approach of thickness reduction of bulk Ni-Mn-Ga single crystals to foil specime…

Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and chiral magnetic textures in a ferrimagnetic insulator

The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) in multilayers of heavy metal and ferromagnetic metals enables the stabilization of novel chiral spin structures such as skyrmions. Magnetic insulators, on the other hand can exhibit enhanced dynamics and properties such as lower magnetic damping and therefore it is of interest to combine the properties enabled by interfacial DMI with insulating systems. Here, we demonstrate the presence of interfacial DMI in heterostructures that include insulating magnetic layers. We use a bilayer of perpendicularly magnetized insulating thulium iron garnet (TmIG) and the heavy metal platinum, and find a surprisingly strong interfacial DMI that, comb…

Compositional dependence of element-specific magnetic moments in Ni2MnGa films

Element-specific magnetic moments were investigated for epitaxial Ni2Mn1+xGa1−x and (Ni2MnGa)1−x(Co2FeSi)x Heusler films using x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray circular magnetic dichroism in transmission. The epitaxial films of the Ni2MnGa-derived compositions were prepared by dc-sputtering on Al2O3 substrates at 773 K. X-ray diffraction confirms a (1 1 0) oriented growth. An increase in the Mn concentration reduces the magnetic spin moment of both Mn and Ni. An increase in the content of Co2FeSi in the Ni2MnGa compound leads to an increase in the Mn and Ni spin moments and to a decrease in Tm for 5% Co2FeSi and finally to a suppression of the phase transition for 20% Co2FeSi. The or…

A facile semi-open method for synthesis of non-centrosymmetric superconducting Li2(Pd,Pt)3B bulks and thin films

Abstract Non-centrosymmetric superconductor Li 2 (Pd 1− x Pt x ) 3 B, x  = 0–1 was synthesized from mixtures of the elements. A simple semi-open method is proposed using endings-pressed stainless steel tubes placed in a high-vacuum furnace. Heating regime employed a short-time overheating at 900 °C and a slow cooling step between T s and 550 °C within 3 h. To adequately compensate Li-losses and attain maximum critical temperature, the optimum T s and starting Li-content were found to change from 720 to 740 °C and from Li 2.4 to Li 2.6 , respectively, when x was changing from 0 to 1. It was shown that placing Li separately in the tube also produces superconducting samples, Li being supplied …

Determination of two-dimensional zero-magnetic-fieldI-Vexponent inBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ

Impact of pump wavelength on terahertz emission of a cavity-enhanced spintronic trilayer

We systematically study the pump-wavelength dependence of terahertz pulse generation in thin-film spintronic THz emitters composed of a ferromagnetic Fe layer between adjacent nonmagnetic W and Pt layers. We find that the efficiency of THz generation is essentially at for excitation by 150 fs pulses with center wavelengths ranging from 900 to 1500 nm, demonstrating that the spin current does not depend strongly on the pump photon energy. We show that the inclusion of dielectric overlayers of TiO2 and SiO2, designed for a particular excitation wavelength, can enhance the terahertz emission by a factor of of up to two in field.

Origin of the fast magnetization relaxation at low temperatures in HTS with strong pinning

The temperature T variation of the normalized magnetization relaxation rate S in high-temperature superconductors (HTS) with strong vortex pinning exhibits a maximum in the low-T range. This was reported for various HTS, and the origin of the faster relaxation at low T appearing in standard magnetization relaxation measurements was usually related to specific pinning properties of the investigated specimens. Since the observed behaviour seems to be characteristic to all HTS with enhanced pinning (generated by random and/or correlated disorder), we show that the S(T) maximum can be explained in terms of classic collective vortex creep. The influence of thermo-magnetic instabilities in the lo…

Description of intermodulation generation of nonlinear responses beyond the validity of the power series expansion

Weakly nonlinear responses are commonly described by a power series expansion. However, intermodulation distortion products that cannot be described by a power series have been observed in a variety of physical systems. As the power series description is only applicable within its radius of convergence, we choose an alternative approach based on Fourier coefficients to describe intermodulation levels beyond the convergence of the power series. The description over a wide power range allows us to make a decision about models and to determine previously inaccessible model parameters. We apply the approach to data obtained from the characterization of the nonlinear dielectric susceptibility of…

Synergy of Miniemulsion and Solvothermal Conditions for the Low-Temperature Crystallization of Magnetic Nanostructured Transition-Metal Ferrites

Crystalline first-row transition-metal (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) ferrites were prepared by an unprecedented synergetic combination of miniemulsion synthesis and solvothermal route, pursuing unconventional conditions in terms of space confinement, temperature, and pressure. This synergy allowed for obtaining six different crystalline ferrites at much lower temperature (i.e., 80 °C) than usually required and without any postsynthesis thermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that analogous ferrites synthesized by miniemulsion at ambient pressure or in bulk (i.e., from an aqueous bulk solution and not in the confined space of the miniemulsion droplets) either at ambient pressure o…

Modification of magnetic anisotropy in Ni thin films by poling of (011) PMN-PT piezosubstrates

ABSTRACTThis study reports the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of 20 nm thick polycrystalline Ni films deposited by magnetron sputtering on unpoled piezoelectric (011) [PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3]0.68-[PbTiO3]0.32 (PMN-PT) substrates. The magnetoresistance (MR), as well as the magnetization reversal, is found to depend on the polarization state of the piezosubstrate. Upon poling the PMN-PT substrate, which results in a transfer of strain to the Ni film, the MR value decreases by a factor of 12 at room temperature and a factor of 21 at 50 K for the current direction along the PMN-PT [100] direction, and slightly increases for the [01] current direction. Simultaneously, a strong increase in the …

Finite range scattering of Ni and Zn impurities in Y-123 thin films

Abstract We investigated YBa 2 (Cu 1− z M z ) 3 O 7-δ (M Ni,Zn) thin films and determined the decrease of T c and the increase of residual resistivity due to Cu-site substitution, taking into account the CuO-chain contributions to the total conductivity. Although Zn suppresses T c stronger than Ni by a factor of 2.3 the increase of resistivity differs only slightly. Furthermore the observed resistivities are too high to be explained within scattering from point-like defects. To reconcile these contradictions, we assumed finite size scattering potentials, which lead to scattering phase shifts δ l of higher angular momebtum l > 0. T c -suppression is discussed qalitatively within this picture.

Physical vapor deposition of Bi2S3 as absorber material in thin film photovoltaics

Abstract In order to investigate alternative absorber materials for inorganic solar cells, thin films of bismuth trisulfide (Bi2S3) were deposited under high vacuum conditions by the thermal evaporation method from compound material. The effects of the substrate temperature during deposition on the structural, stoichiometric, optical and electrical properties were investigated. Polycrystalline thin films close to an ideal stoichiometry could be deposited for temperatures TSub = 80–290 °C; thereby a transition from rough needle-shaped particles with (hk0)-orientation parallel to the surface of the substrate towards block shaped grains with a preferred direction out of the surface could be ob…

Interface magnetization of ultrathin epitaxial Co2FeSi(110)/Al2O3films

Element-specific magnetic properties of ultrathin epitaxial Co2FeSi(110) films were measured using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The epitaxial Heusler films were grown by RF magnetron sputtering on substrates. The magnetization of thicker films as determined by XMCD is smaller than expected for a half-metallic material. In addition, the magnetization decreases considerably for films thinner than 10 nm. The thickness dependence of the magnetic moment can be described by introducing a certain number of dead layers representing a deficiency of magnetization at the interfaces. Quantitative evaluation results in a dead layer thickness of 0.8 nm at room temperature, consisting of a te…

Tailoring large magnetoresistance in Dirac semimetal SrIrO3 films

Perovskite SrIrO3 is a special Dirac material with fascinating effects due to its strong electron correlation and spin–orbit coupling. In this work, a large magnetoresistance (MR) was observed not only in epitaxial SrIrO3 films but also in a SrIrO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 epitaxial heterostructure with a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the external electric field. The magnetoresistance of SrIrO3 (10 nm) and SrIrO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (10 nm/30 nm) reach values as large as 40% and 110% at 9 T and 5 K, respectively. We believe that the unusual magnetoresistance is from the Dirac/Weyl state. Especially, the SrIrO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 bilayer shows negative magnetoresistance with strong oscillations close…

Ferroelectricity and structure of BaTiO grown on YBa Cu O thin films

We have investigated the crystal structure and the ferroelectric properties of BaTiO3 thin films with YBa2Cu3O \(_{7 - \delta }\) as the bottom and Au as the top electrode. Epitaxial heterostructures of YBa2Cu3O \(_{7 - \delta }\) and BaTiO3 were prepared by dc and rf sputtering, respectively. The crystal structure of the films was characterised by X-ray diffraction. The ferroelectric behaviour of the BaTiO3 films was confirmed by hysteresis loop measurements using a Sawyer Tower circuit. We obtain a coercive field of 30 kV/cm and a remanent polarisation of 1.25 μC/cm2. At sub-switching fields the capacitance of the films obeys a relation analogous to the Rayleigh law. This behaviour indica…

Hole localization in thermoelectric half-Heusler (Zr0.5Hf0.5)Co(Sb1−xSn ) thin films

Abstract The (Ti, Zr, Hf)Co(Sb 1 − x Snx) material class has recently come into focus as an attractive p-type high-temperature thermoelectric material. This study experimentally demonstrates that homogeneous, highly textured (Zr0.5Hf0.5)Co(Sb 1 − x Snx) thin films can be grown on single crystalline MgO. By varying the sputter power, samples with both positive and negative Seebeck coefficient can be grown. The underlying reason for the sign change is the segregation of Sn nano-inclusions, which lower the effective doping of the half-Heusler matrix. Similarly the Hall constant also switches sign at low temperatures, which is modeled assuming semi-metal behavior and low temperature hole locali…

Preparation, scaling behavior of activation energy, Hall effect, and flux-flow anisotropy of (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2O6+δHTS thin films

Abstract We have prepared fully textured (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2O6+δ (HgRe-1212) thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and post-annealing. The films exhibit sharp superconducting transitions at Tc=124 K with transition width ΔTc≃2 K. Conditions for reproducible film preparation have been found. The resistive transitions have been investigated in magnetic fields up to 8 T (parallel to the c-axis) and 10 T (perpendicular to the c-axis). We have determined the activation energy of thermally activated flux-motion for both magnetic field orientations. The Hall resistivity (ρxy) of HgRe-1212 superconductor thin films has been measured in the ab-plane at 8 T. In the mixed state a power-law beha…

Normal and mixed state Hall effect in (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2O6+δ fully textured HTSC thin films

Abstract Temperature and magnetic field dependence of the Hall effect in the normal and mixed state of fully textured (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2O6+δ (HgRe-1212) HTSC thin films prepared by laser ablation deposition have been studied. The longitudinal resistivity ρxx and Hall resistivity ρyx of HgRe-1212 superconductor thin films were measured for a wide range of magnetic fields from 125 mT to 12 T with the field perpendicular to the ab plane and the current in the ab plane. A sign change of the Hall resistivity is observed in fields below 3 T in the region close to the superconducting onset temperature. The temperature dependencies ρxx ∝ T and ρyx ∝ 1/T have been observed for HgRe-1212 thin films…

Pulsed laser deposition of epitaxial yttrium iron garnet films with low Gilbert damping and bulk-like magnetization

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG, Y [subscript 3]Fe[subscript 5]O[subscript 12]) films have been epitaxially grown on Gadolinium Gallium Garnet (GGG, Gd[subscript 3]Ga[subscript 5]O[subscript 12]) substrates with (100) orientation using pulsed laser deposition. The films were single-phase, epitaxial with the GGG substrate, and the root-mean-square surface roughness varied between 0.14 nm and 0.2 nm. Films with thicknesses ranging from 17 to 200 nm exhibited low coercivity (<2 Oe), near-bulk room temperature saturation moments (∼135 emu cm[superscript −3]), in-plane easy axis, and damping parameters as low as 2.2 × 10[superscript −4]. These high quality YIG thin films are useful in the investigation…

Correlation of local disorder and electronic properties in the Heusler alloy Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al

For the fully ordered Heusler alloy Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al half-metallic ferromagnetism has been predicted. Local disorder other than the Al–Cr/Fe (B2)-type disorder is known to destroy the half-metallic bandgap. The usage of appropriate buffer layers improves the structural quality of thin films. We correlate the structural properties of thin magnetron sputtered films determined by x-ray diffraction with details of the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra. From the value of the magnetic moment located at the Cr atom and features of the Co absorption spectra we conclude that the buffer layers lead also to an improvement in the local atomic order. The atomic ordering gradually approaches the l…

Vortex–antivortex unbinding in oxygen-deficient YBa2Cu3O7− films

Abstract In-plane zero-magnetic-field current–voltage ( I – V ) characteristics of oxygen-deficient YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− δ films (7 −  δ  ∼6.5, 6.55, and 6.65) were thoroughly investigated. A good agreement with the quasi two-dimensional (2D) vortex–antivortex unbinding scenario was observed, similar to the behaviour of highly anisotropic Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+ δ films. The temperature variation of the I – V exponent allows the determination of the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition temperature T KT at the superconducting Cu–O layer level, and the mean-field critical temperature T c0 . We found that both T KT and T c0 increase with increasing doping, and T c0 remains in the region of the …

Identifying the origin of the nonmonotonic thickness dependence of spin-orbit torque and interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in a ferrimagnetic insulator heterostructure

Electrical manipulation of magnetism via spin-orbit torques (SOTs) promises efficient spintronic devices. In systems comprising magnetic insulators and heavy metals, SOTs have started to be investigated only recently, especially in systems with interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI). Here, we quantitatively study the SOT efficiency and iDMI in a series of gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) / thulium iron garnet (TmIG) / platinum (Pt) heterostructures with varying TmIG and Pt thicknesses. We find that the non-monotonic SOT efficiency as a function of the magnetic layer thickness is not consistent with the 1/thickness dependence expected from a simple interfacial SOT mechanism. Mor…

Small-polaron transport inLa0.67Ca0.33MnO3thin films

We present a detailed study of the activated resistivity of ${\mathrm{La}}_{0.67}{\mathrm{Ca}}_{0.33}{\mathrm{MnO}}_{3}$ films up to 600 K under the influence of high magnetic fields. Data in zero field can be explained by small polaron hopping as treated in the Friedman-Holstein theory. Based on the spin orientation of ferromagnetic clusters in a magnetic field, we develop a phenomenological model describing the temperature and field dependence of the resistivity with a minimum of free parameters. We find that the polarons have a magnetic contribution to their activation energy for hopping which depends on the variation of the spin order with increasing temperature and can be modified by a…

Dünne epitaktische Filme der Heusler-Phase Co2Cr0,6Fe0,4Al

Origin of the spin Seebeck effect probed by temperature dependent measurements in Gd$_{3}$Fe$_{5}$O$_{12}$

We probe the spin Seebeck effect in Gd$_{3}$Fe$_{5}$O$_{12}$/Pt hybrid structures as a function of temperature and observe two sign changes of the spin Seebeck signal with decreasing temperature. A first sign change occurs at a temperature close to the Gd$_{3}$Fe$_{5}$O$_{12}$ magnetic compensation point at around 280 K. There the spin Seebeck signal changes sign abruptly with unaltered amplitude, indicating that the spin current is mainly caused by the magnetic Fe sub-lattices, which reorient their directions at this temperature. A second, more gradual sign change takes place around the ordering temperature of the Gd sub-lattice in the range of 65-85 K, showing that the Gd magnetic sub-lat…

Broadband infrared conductivity in an YBa2Cu3O6.7 thin film

Infrared reflectivity of an oxygen reduced YBa2Cu3O6.7 thin film was measured in the frequency range 30 cm-1 < v < 7000 cm-1 and for temperatures 5 K < T < 300 K. At lower frequencies, 3 cm-1 < v < 40 cm-1, the complex conductivity σ*=σ1+iσ2 was measured directly using a transmission technique. Both data sets were combined to obtain the reflectivity in a broad frequency range and thus to improve substantially the quality of the Kramers-Kronig analysis at low frequencies. The analysis of the conductivity spectra reveals that the low-frequency spectral weight strongly depends on temperature directly above TC but saturates for T ≥ 150 K.

The challenge in realizing an exchange coupled BiFeO3-double perovskite bilayer

Abstract In this work we propose a device design for efficient voltage control of magnetism. The magnetization of a ferrimagnetic double perovskite may be manipulated by an exchange coupled layer of multiferroic BiFeO3. Bilayers of Barium doped BiFeO3 and ferrimagnetic double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition motivated by the possibility of strong interlayer exchange coupling. While single layers of each material show high quality we observe that in both stacking orders the first layer decomposes during the deposition of the second layer. The reason for the decomposition are strongly differing growth conditions for BiFeO3 and Sr2FeMoO6. This means that the g…

Crystal Structure and Transport Properties of Sr&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;FeMoO&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; Thin Films

Tailoring of the electrical and thermal properties using ultra-short period non-symmetric superlattices

Thermoelectric modules based on half-Heusler compounds offer a cheap and clean way to create eco-friendly electrical energy from waste heat. Here we study the impact of the period composition on the electrical and thermal properties in non-symmetric superlattices, where the ratio of components varies according to (TiNiSn)���:(HfNiSn)���������, and 0 ��� n ��� 6 unit cells. The thermal conductivity (��) showed a strong dependence on the material content achieving a minimum value for n = 3, whereas the highest value of the figure of merit ZT was achieved for n = 4. The measured �� can be well modeled using non-symmetric strain relaxation applied to the model of the series of thermal resistanc…

Enhancing domain wall velocity through interface intermixing in W-CoFeB-MgO films with perpendicular anisotropy

We study the influence of He+ irradiation induced interface intermixing on magnetic domain wall (DW) dynamics in W-CoFeB (0.6 nm)-MgO ultrathin films, which exhibit high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and large Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) values. Whereas the pristine films exhibit strong DW pinning, we observe a large increase in the DW velocity in the creep regime upon He+ irradiation, which is attributed to the reduction of pinning centers induced by interface intermixing. Asymmetric in-plane field-driven domain expansion experiments show that the DMI value is slightly reduced upon irradiation, and a direct relationship between DMI and interface anisotropy is demonstrated. …

Heavy ion induced columnar defects: a sensitive probe for the 2D/3D behaviour of vortex matter in high-temperature superconductors

Abstract Heavy ion irradiation is used to create columnar defects in high-temperature superconductors (HTS). The heavy ion induced defects are not only very well controlled in shape and density, but also in the direction of the tracks with respect to the crystallographic c-axis. Pinning of the flux lines as a function of magnetic field orientation then becomes dependent on vortex dimensionality. The two-dimensional (2D)/three-dimensional (3D) behaviour of flux lines was investigated in the highly anisotropic Bi-based superconducting oxide. Results obtained from transport current measurements with epitaxial films, measurements with small single crystals in flux transformer geometry and muon …

Epitaxial growth and properties of (001)-oriented TbBaCo2O6−δ films

Thin epitaxial films of TbBaCo2O6−δ cobaltites have been synthesized using pulsed laser deposition. It was found that the film properties are extremely sensitive to the oxygen pressure during deposition, temperature of the substrate, and the cooling rate. Growth parameters were optimized for δ≈0.5 films with ordered Tb and Ba ions, as well as oxygen vacancies. The properties of these c-axis oriented films are similar to bulk TbBaCo2O5.5: they show a metal-insulator phase transition at TMI≈350 K, ferromagnetic order below TC=285 K, and antiferromagnetism at T<Ti≈230 K.

Origin of the spin Seebeck effect in compensated ferrimagnets

Magnons are the elementary excitations of a magnetically ordered system. In ferromagnets, only a single band of low-energy magnons needs to be considered, but in ferrimagnets the situation is more complex owing to different magnetic sublattices involved. In this case, low lying optical modes exist that can affect the dynamical response. Here we show that the spin Seebeck effect (SSE) is sensitive to the complexities of the magnon spectrum. The SSE is caused by thermally excited spin dynamics that are converted to a voltage by the inverse spin Hall effect at the interface to a heavy metal contact. By investigating the temperature dependence of the SSE in the ferrimagnet gadolinium iron garne…

Metal Oxide/Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles with Versatile Functionality Prepared by Controlled Surface Crystallization

Metal oxide/polymer hybrids are prepared from polystyrene nanoparticles functionalized at the surface with phosphonate and phosphate groups. The polymer particles are synthesized with specifically designed surface-active monomers (surfmers) and used as nucleation surfaces for the controlled in situ crystallization of cerium, iron, and zinc oxide nanocrystals. The formation of the metal oxide is driven by the addition of a base to suspensions of the polymer particles containing the corresponding precursor. The crystal formation at the particle surface is studied for the different hybrid systems by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The potential catalytic activity …

Exchange stiffness in the Co2FeSi Heusler compound

Using Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy, we determine the spin-wave exchange stiffness D and the exchange constant A for thin films of the full Heusler compound Co2FeSi prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The thermal spin-wave spectra were measured in various magnetic fields, for different transferred spin-wave momenta, and for different film thicknesses. Fitting the observed spin-wave frequencies, we find an extraordinarily large value of

Element-specific magnetic moments from core-absorption magnetic circular dichroism of the doped Heusler alloyCo2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al

The magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of core-level absorption (x-ray absorption spectroscopy, XAS) spectra in the soft x-ray region has been measured for the ferromagnetic Heusler alloy ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cr}}_{0.6}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{0.4}\mathrm{Al}$ at the Co, Fe, and Cr ${L}_{II,III}$ edges. The comparison of XAS spectra before and after in situ cleaning of polished surfaces revealed a pronounced selective oxidation of Cr in air. For clean surfaces we observed a MCD for all three elements with Fe showing the largest moment per atom. The MCD can be explained by the density of states of the $3d$ unoccupied states, predicted by linear muffin-tin orbital atomic sphere approximation. For …

Luminescent and Magnetoresponsive Multifunctional Chalcogenide/Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles

Cadmium sulfide/magnetite/polymer multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles are prepared by crystallizing CdS in a controlled manner on the surface of phosphonate-functionalized polystyrene particles with a magnetic core. The supporting polymer magnetoresponsive nanoparticles are produced by a modified miniemulsion polymerization process: a first miniemulsion containing the core monomer (styrene) and a phosphonate-functionalized surface-active monomer is mixed with a second miniemulsion containing magnetite nanoparticles capped with oleic acid and the same surface-active monomer. The chalcogenide formation occurs in situ at the surface of the polymer particles by adding a precipitating agent (so…

Assembly of iron oxide nanosheets at the air-water interface by leucine-histidine peptides

The fabrication of inorganic nanomaterials is important for a wide range of disciplines. While many purely inorganic synthetic routes have enabled a manifold of nanostructures under well-controlled conditions, organisms have the ability to synthesize structures under ambient conditions. For example, magnetotactic bacteria, can synthesize tiny ‘compass needles’ of magnetite (Fe3O4). Here, we demonstrate the bio-inspired synthesis of extended, self-supporting, nanometer-thin sheets of iron oxide at the water–air interface through self-assembly using small histidine-rich peptides.

Epitaxy and magnetotransport ofSr2FeMoO6thin films

By pulsed-laser deposition epitaxial thin films of ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{FeMoO}}_{6}$ have been prepared on (100) ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ substrates. Already for a deposition temperature of 320 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C epitaxial growth is achieved. Depending on deposition parameters the films show metallic or semiconducting behavior. At high (low) deposition temperature the FeMo sublattice has a rock-salt (random) structure. The metallic samples have a large negative magnetoresistance which peaks at the Curie temperature. The magnetic moment was determined to $4{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$ per formula unit (f.u.), in agreement with the expected value for an ideal ferrimagnetic ar…

CADEM: calculate X-ray diffraction of epitaxial multilayers

This article presents a powerful yet simple program, based on the general one-dimensional kinematic X-ray diffraction (XRD) theory, which calculates the XRD patterns of tailor-made multilayers and thus enables quantitative comparison of measured and calculated XRD data. As the multilayers are constructed layer by layer, the final material stack can be entirely arbitrary.

Influence of thickness and interface on the low-temperature enhancement of the spin Seebeck effect in YIG films

The temperature-dependent longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) in heavy metal (HM)/Y_{3}Fe_{5}O_{12} (YIG) hybrid structures is investigated as a function of YIG film thickness, magnetic field strength, and different HM detection materials. The LSSE signal shows a large enhancement with reductions in temperature, leading to a pronounced peak at low temperatures. We find that the LSSE peak temperature strongly depends on the film thickness as well as on the magnetic field. Our result can be well explained in the framework of magnon-driven LSSE by taking into account the temperature-dependent effective propagation length of thermally excited magnons in the bulk of the material. We further …

Structural and Magnetic Dynamics in the Magnetic Shape Memory Alloy Ni$_2$MnGa

Magnetic shape memory Heusler alloys are multiferroics stabilized by the correlations between electronic, magnetic and structural order. To study these correlations we use time resolved x-ray diffraction and magneto-optical Kerr effect experiments to measure the laser induced dynamics in a Heusler alloy Ni$_2$MnGa film and reveal a set of timescales intrinsic to the system. We observe a coherent phonon which we identify as the amplitudon of the modulated structure and an ultrafast phase transition leading to a quenching of the incommensurate modulation within 300~fs with a recovery time of a few ps. The thermally driven martensitic transition to the high temperature cubic phase proceeds via…

Spin–orbit torque driven multi-level switching in He + irradiated W–CoFeB–MgO Hall bars with perpendicular anisotropy

We have investigated the spin–orbit torque-driven magnetization switching in W/CoFeB/MgO Hall bars with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. He+ ion irradiation through a mask has been used to reduce locally the effective perpendicular anisotropy at a Hall cross. Anomalous Hall effect measurements combined with Kerr microscopy indicate that the switching process is dominated by domain wall (DW) nucleation in the irradiated region followed by rapid domain propagation at a current density as low as 0.8 MA/cm2 with an assisting in-plane magnetic field. Thanks to the implemented strong pinning of the DW at the transition between the irradiated and the non-irradiated region, an intermediate Hall r…

Reconstruction of an effective magnon mean free path distribution from spin Seebeck measurements in thin films

A thorough understanding of the mean-free-path (MFP) distribution of the energy carriers is crucial to engineer and tune the transport properties of materials. In this context, a significant body of work has investigated the phonon and electron MFP distribution, however, similar studies of the magnon MFP distribution have not been carried out so far. In this work, we used thickness-dependence measurements of the longitudinal spin Seebeck (LSSE) effect of yttrium iron garnet films to reconstruct the cumulative distribution of a SSE related effective magnon MFP. By using the experimental data reported by Guo et al. [Phys. Rev. X 6, 031012 (2016)], we adapted the phonon MFP reconstruction algo…

Vortex-creep activation energy in YBa2Cu3O7/PrBa2Cu3O7 superlattices

Abstract YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 /PrBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (YBCO/PBCO) superlattices with a different ratio of the superconducting and insulating layer thicknesses were prepared by high pressure dc sputtering. The vortex-creep activation energy U 0 was determined by analyzing the in-plane resistive transition of 200 μm wide bridges with the external magnetic field B oriented along the c axis. It was found that U 0 is proportional to the thickness of the YBCO layers, and does only weakly depend on the PBCO layer thickness, when the latter exceeds two unit cells. We observed a change in the variation of U 0 with the current I in the specimen: U 0 exhibits a plateau in the low- I region, then decreases signific…

Element-specific magnetic properties of Co2(Mn1−xFex)Si films probed by x-ray magnetic circular/linear dichroism

Element-specific magnetic properties of epitaxial Co${}_{2}$Fe${}_{x}$Mn${}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$Si/MgO(100) Heusler films prepared by laser ablation are measured by circular dichroism in x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XMCD). Surface and bulk magnetization of the 100-nm-thick films are equal as tested by comparing the total electron yield and transmission measurements and follow the generalized Slater-Pauling rule. For Co${}_{2}$FeSi, the large magnetization of 6 ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$ per formula unit indicates half-metallic behavior. Calculations using the local spin density approximation (LDA) result in a half-metallic band structure for this compound when an additional electron-electron…

Propagation Length of Antiferromagnetic Magnons Governed by Domain Configurations.

Spintronics seeks to functionalize antiferromagnetic materials to develop memory and logic devices operating at terahertz speed and robust against external magnetic field perturbations. To be useful, such functionality needs to be developed in thin film devices. The key functionality of long-distance spin-transport has, however, so far only been reported in bulk single crystal antiferromagnets, while in thin films, transport has so far been limited to a few nanometers. In this work, we electrically achieve a long-distance propagation of spin-information in thin films of the insulating antiferromagnet hematite. Through transport and magnetic imaging, we demonstrate a strong correlation betwe…

Half-Heusler superlattices as model systems for nanostructured thermoelectrics

The efficiency of thermoelectric materials is directly related to the dimensionless figure of merit , therefore, one of the means to improve ZT is to reduce the thermal conductivity. Our research focuses on half-Heusler superlattices (SLs) and the relationship between the SL period and the thermal conductivity. The cross-plane thermal conductivity of DC-sputtered TiNiSn/HfNiSn SLs was measured by the 3 method at room temperature and a clear reduction of was achieved for all SL periods, in particular for periods smaller than 20 nm. Moreover, the thermal conductivities of TiNiSn and HfNiSn single films display reduced values compared to the literature data for bulk materials. Furthermore, we …

Transport Properties of Co2(Mn, Fe)Si Thin Films

Thin Heusler films with the composition Co2Mn1−x Fe x Si were grown by both sputter and pulsed laser deposition. The samples show a high degree of structural order and very good magnetic properties. The availability of thin film samples on dielectric substrates allowed the systematic investigation of their electronic properties by transport experiments. The normal Hall effect shows a transition from a hole-like charge transport in Co2MnSi to an electron-like transport in Co2FeSi. This is in agreement with calculations, which predict that the substitution of Mn by Fe leads to a band filling and a shift of the Fermi energy. Furthermore, the behavior of the anomalous Hall effect was studied. I…

Spin polarization of magnetoresistive materials by point contact spectroscopy

In the strive to find a straightforward method for determining the spin polarization, the analysis of the Andreev reflection process in point contact junctions has attracted much interest. However, the prerequisite for anevaluation of the transport spin polarization in this scheme is the existence of elastic (ballistic or diffusive) transport, which cannot be assumed a priori. We therefore also include inelastic processes in our analysis and exemplify that thermal effects can have a significant effect on data evaluation. As ferromagnetic samples with a predicted half metallic behavior and comparably low conductivity we used thin films of the double perovskite Sr 2 FeMoO 6 and bulk material …

Electrical detection of the spin reorientation transition in antiferromagnetic TmFeO3 thin films by spin Hall magnetoresistance

TmFeO$_3$ (TFO) is a canted antiferromagnet that undergoes a spin reorientation transition (SRT) with temperature between 82 K and 94 K in single crystals. In this temperature region, the N\'eel vector continuously rotates from the crystallographic $c$-axis (below 82 K) to the $a$-axis (above 94 K). The SRT allows for a temperature control of distinct antiferromagnetic states without the need for a magnetic field, making it apt for applications working at THz frequencies. For device applications, thin films of TFO are required as well as an electrical technique for reading out the magnetic state. Here we demonstrate that orthorhombic TFO thin films can be grown by pulsed laser deposition an…

Raman scattering studies of ultrathin-layer YBa2Cu3O7/PrBa2Cu3O7 superlattices

We present Raman scattering studies ofc-oriented ultrathin-layer superconducting (YBa2Cu3O7) m /(PrBa2Cu3O7) n superlattices. For the superlattice with (m=2,n=1) sequence, Raman spectra reveal a new line in the spectral region around 320 cm−1. It is interpreted as a mode representing a combination of IR optical phonons of the Y-sublayers with an admixture of aB1g type Raman active vibration in the Pr sublayers. This new line, which is similar to those from the interior of the Brillouin zone of the original lattice, does not exhibit superconductivity-induced self-energy effects, although its counterpart in the pure substance does. No additional line is found in the (m=1,n=2) superlattice in …

Resistivity and irreversibility line of (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2O6+δ HTS thin films

Abstract High-quality epitaxial (Hg 0.9 Re 0.1 )Ba 2 CaCu 2 O 6+ δ HTS thin films were successfully prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of Hg-free precursor material on (1 0 0)-oriented SrTiO 3 substrates with subsequent Hg vapour annealing. (Hg 0.9 Re 0.1 )Ba 2 CaCu 2 O 6+ δ HTS thin films exhibit sharp superconducting transitions at T c ≈122 K. The electrical resistance for c -axis oriented HgRe-1212 films has been studied as a function of temperature and dc magnetic fields up to 10 T parallel to the crystallographic c -axis. The irreversibility line for the HgRe-1212 has been deduced from the data and investigated as a function of reduced temperature T / T c . The result of the irr…

Location of the mean-field critical temperature of underdopedYBa2Cu3Oyfilms

We determined the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature ${T}_{\mathit{KT}}$ at the superconducting layer level and the mean-field critical temperature ${T}_{c0}$ in oxygen-deficient $\mathrm{Y}{\mathrm{Ba}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{y}$ films ($y\ensuremath{\sim}6.5$, 6.55, and 6.65). We used the $T$ dependence of the quasi-two-dimensional $I\text{\ensuremath{-}}V$ exponent for $T\ensuremath{\leqslant}{T}_{\mathit{KT}}$, and the analysis of the resistive transition in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau two-dimensional Coulomb gas model for $Tg{T}_{\mathit{KT}}$. Both procedures give essentially the same results, with ${T}_{c0}$ remaining in the domain of the elect…

Importance of the crossover-current density for a vortex-glass analysis

Recent experimental results obtained from transport measurements on extremely long measurement bridges [1] have questioned the validity of previous vortex-glass analyses. For electric-field windows restricted to relatively high values of E > 10 -5 V/m the dynamic exponent of the vortex-glass transition z 6, in agreement with theoretical predictions and previous experimental results. However, for extended windows (10 -1 > E > 10 -8 V/m) - while the characteristics of a vortex-glass transition are preserved - all analyses result in z ≥ 9. A combined analysis of the crossover-current density J + 0 and crossover-electric field E + 0 , which limit the critical regime of the vortex-glass transiti…

Probing ultrafast changes of spin and charge density profiles with resonant XUV magnetic reflectivity at the free-electron laser FERMI

We report the results of resonant magnetic XUV reflectivity experiments performed at the XUV free-electron laser FERMI. Circularly polarized XUV light with the photon energy tuned to the Fe M2,3 edge is used to measure resonant magnetic reflectivities and the corresponding Q-resolved asymmetry of a Permalloy/Ta/Permalloy trilayer film. The asymmetry exhibits ultrafast changes on 240 fs time scales upon pumping with ultrashort IR laser pulses. Depending on the value of the wavevector transfer Qz, we observe both decreasing and increasing values of the asymmetry parameter, which is attributed to ultrafast changes in the vertical spin and charge density profiles of the trilayer film.

Growth mechanism and transport properties of thin La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 films

Abstract We prepared thin films of La 0.67 Ca 0.33 MnO 3 on different substrates with DC sputtering. The measured transport and magnetic properties could be explained by a lattice mismatch induced by the substrate. Hall effect measurements showed a holelike charge carrier density n * h = 1.3 per unit cell below T C . The magnetoresistance results from an increase of the mobility of the charge carriers in magnetic field.

Nanoscale subsurface dynamics of solids upon high-intensity laser irradiation observed by femtosecond grazing-incidence x-ray scattering

Observing ultrafast laser-induced structural changes in nanoscale systems is essential for understanding the dynamics of intense light-matter interactions. For laser intensities on the order of $10^{14} \, \rm W/cm^2$, highly-collisional plasmas are generated at and below the surface. Subsequent transport processes such as heat conduction, electron-ion thermalization, surface ablation and resolidification occur at picosecond and nanosecond time scales. Imaging methods, e.g. using x-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL), were hitherto unable to measure the depth-resolved subsurface dynamics of laser-solid interactions with appropriate temporal and spatial resolution. Here we demonstrate picosecond…

Electric-Field Control of Spin-Orbit Torques in Perpendicularly Magnetized W/CoFeB/MgO Films

Controlling magnetism by electric fields offers a highly attractive perspective for designing future generations of energy-efficient information technologies. Here, we demonstrate that the magnitude of current-induced spin-orbit torques in thin perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB films can be tuned and even increased by electric-field generated piezoelectric strain. Using theoretical calculations, we uncover that the subtle interplay of spin-orbit coupling, crystal symmetry, and orbital polarization is at the core of the observed strain dependence of spin-orbit torques. Our results open a path to integrating two energy efficient spin manipulation approaches, the electric-field-induced strain a…

Ferroelectric Properties and Crystal Structure of YBa2Cu3O7/BaxSr(1−x)TiO3 Heterostructures

ABSTRACTEpitaxial YBa2Cu3O7/Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (YBCO/BST) and YBCO/BaTiO3 (BTO) heterostructures were prepared by dc and rf sputtering on SrTiO3 and MgO substrates. The YBCO/BTO bilayers exhibit an inductive superconducting transition temperature of 85 K and the ferroelectric phase transition of BST shows a Curie-Weiss temperature of 310 K. Microstructure was investigated by x-ray-diffraction and atomic force microscopy. In this work we also studied the insulator's conductivity and the contribution of domain walls to permittivity.

Anomalous behavior of the second magnetization peak inLa1.81Sr0.19CuO4single crystals: Possible influence of two-band superconductivity

We report an anomalous temperature $T$ variation of the field ${H}_{\text{on}}$ for the onset of the second magnetization peak in ${\text{La}}_{1.81}{\text{Sr}}_{0.19}{\text{CuO}}_{4}$ single crystals with the external magnetic field $H$ oriented parallel to the $c$ axis. While the peak field ${H}_{p}$ has a continuous decrease with increasing $T$, ${H}_{\text{on}}$ exhibits a sudden decrease for $T\ensuremath{\sim}11--15\text{ }\text{K}$. This behavior appears to be related to the particular $T$ dependence of the superfluid density in the case of two-band superconductivity affecting the $T$ variation of the elastic energy of the vortex system at low $H$.

Investigation of a novel material for magnetoelectronics: Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al

Heusler compounds are promising candidates for future spintronics device applications. The electronic and magnetic properties of Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al, an electron-doped derivative of Co2CrAl, are investigated using circularly polarized synchrotron radiation and photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM). Element specific imaging reveals needle shaped Cr rich phases in a homogeneous bulk of the Heusler compound. The ferromagnetic domain structure is investigated on an element-resolved basis using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) contrast in PEEM. The structure is characterized by micrometre-size domains with a superimposed fine ripple structure; the lateral resolution in these images is abo…

Martensite transition and microscopic magnetism of epitaxial Ni2MnGa films

AbstractA magnetically induced shape memory effect in Ni2MnGa results in huge magnetostrictive effects of several percent. Using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) we investigated element specific magnetic moments and electronic structure of single crystalline, (110) oriented Ni2MnGa films on a-plane Al2O3 substrates in the austenite and martensite state. The structural phase transition of the samples is evident from temperature dependent x-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements. The Ni XAS differ significantly for temperatures above and below the martensite transition in agreement with published ab-initio calculations. Using XAS in transmissi…

Influence of disorder on anomalous Hall effect for Heusler compounds

The anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is a long known but still not fully understood transport effect. Most theory papers focus on the influence of one particular contribution to the AHE. Actual measured experimental data, however, often are not in accord with idealized assumptions. In this work we discuss the data analysis for materials with low residual resistivity ratios. As prototypical materials we study half metallic Heusler compounds. Here the influence of defects and disorder is apparent in a material with a complex topology of the Fermi surface. Using films of different degree of disorder, we show how different scattering mechanisms can be separated. For ${\text{Co}}_{2}{\text{FeSi}}_{0.…

Terahertz Spin‐to‐Charge Conversion by Interfacial Skew Scattering in Metallic Bilayers

The efficient conversion of spin to charge transport and vice versa is of major relevance for the detection and generation of spin currents in spin‐based electronics. Interfaces of heterostructures are known to have a marked impact on this process. Here, terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy is used to study ultrafast spin‐to‐charge‐current conversion (S2C) in about 50 prototypical F|N bilayers consisting of a ferromagnetic layer F (e.g., Ni81Fe19, Co, or Fe) and a nonmagnetic layer N with strong (Pt) or weak (Cu and Al) spin‐orbit coupling. Varying the structure of the F/N interface leads to a drastic change in the amplitude and even inversion of the polarity of the THz charge current. Rem…

Heisenberg Exchange and Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya Interaction in Ultrathin Pt(W)/CoFeB Single and Multilayers

We present results of the analysis of Brillouin light-scattering (BLS) measurements of spin waves performed on ultrathin single and multirepeat CoFeB layers with adjacent heavy metal layers. From a detailed study of the spin-wave dispersion relation, we independently extract the Heisenberg exchange interaction (also referred to as symmetric exchange interaction), the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI, also referred to as antisymmetric exchange interaction), and the anisotropy field. We find a large DMI in CoFeB thin films adjacent to a Pt layer and nearly vanishing DMI for CoFeB films adjacent to a W layer. Furthermore, the influence of the dipolar interaction on the dispersion relatio…

Thermal conductance of thin film YIG determined using Bayesian statistics

Thin film YIG (${\mathrm{Y}}_{3}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$) is a prototypical material for experiments on thermally generated pure spin currents and the spin Seebeck effect. The $3\ensuremath{\omega}$ method is an established technique to measure the cross-plane thermal conductance of thin films, but cannot be used in YIG/GGG (${\mathrm{Ga}}_{3}{\mathrm{Gd}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$) systems in its standard form. We use two-dimensional modeling of heat transport and introduce a technique based on Bayesian statistics to evaluate measurement data taken from the $3\ensuremath{\omega}$ method. Our analysis method allows us to study material systems that have not been accessible with the c…

Investigations on the c-axis transport properties of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-δ//PrBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-δ/ thin film superlattices

In this paper we report on the c-axis transport properties of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta///PrBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// superlattices. We describe the preparation, characterisation and patterning of thin film superlattices into suitable mesa structures via standard photolithography. Resistive measurements were carried out which point towards an inhomogenous current distribution in the normal state resistance. Below T/sub c/, the c-axis properties determine the temperature dependent resistance. Resonant tunneling is observed with no Josephson current.

Multiferroic BiFeO&lt;inf&gt;3&lt;/inf&gt; for conductance control at the LaAlO&lt;inf&gt;3&lt;/inf&gt;/SrTiO&lt;inf&gt;3&lt;/inf&gt;-interface

Multiferroic materials possessing both magnetic and ferroelectric order enable in principle to switch order parameters using not the direct reciprocal field, e.g. to switch the magnetization by an electric field or the electric polarization by a magnetic field. A recent breakthrough was achieved by the demonstration of the ferromagnetic switching of a Co layer with an electric field employing the multiferroic BiFeO 3 [1]. The latter material is a perovskite based oxide that shows stable ferro-electricity as well as an antiferromagnetic order at room temperature [2,3]. Due to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction induced by rotation of oxygen octahedra leading to noncollinear Fe-O-Fe bonds a s…

Transport properties of Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ Bicrystal Grain Boundary Josephson Junctions and SQUIDs

Josephson junctions and SQUIDs on 36.8° SrTiO 3 bicrystal substrates were prepared from epitaxial Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O 10+δ thin films with critical temperatures around 95K. The current-voltage characteristics are well described by the resistively and capacitively shunted junction model. I c R n products of 50μV at 77K and 0.7mV at 4.2K have been reached. The I c (B) dependence is symmetric to B = 0 with an I c suppression of 90% in the first minimum. Nevertheless it turns out, that the junctions are inhomogeneous on a μm scale. SQUID modulations observed at 78K indicate a flux-voltage transfer function of 2.7μV/Φ 0 at this temperature.

Current induced chiral domain wall motion in CuIr/CoFeB/MgO thin films with strong higher order spin–orbit torques

We investigate the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) and spin–orbit torque effects in CuIr/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures. To this end, harmonic Hall measurements and current induced domain wall motion experiments are performed. The motion of domain walls at zero applied field due to current demonstrates the presence of DMI in this system. We determine the strength of the DMI to be D = + 5 ± 3 μ J / m 2 and deduce right-handed chirality in domain walls showing a partial Neel type spin structure. To ascertain the torques, we perform a second harmonic measurement to quantify the damping- and field-like current induced effective fields as a function of the magnetization direction. From the a…

Magnetoresistivity and crystal structure of epitaxial La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 films

Abstract We investigated thin-film growth of doped manganites by sputter deposition on SrTiO 3 (1 0 0), MgO (1 0 0) and r -plane Al 2 O 3 (1 0 1¯2) substrates and found an in-plane-oriented growth. The unit cell of the films showed distortions from the simple cubic perovskite structure, represented by a tetragonal unit cell with a′ = b′ = √2 a ; c′ = 2 a . By scanning electron microscopy we investigated the growth morphology of the films. We determined the magnetotransport properties above and below room temperature. Transport at high temperatures is best described by polaron hopping.

Magnetic domain structure of La0.7Sr0.3MnO 3 thin-films probed at variable temperature with scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis

The domain configuration of 50 nm thick La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 films has been directly investigated using scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis (SEMPA), with magnetic contrast obtained without the requirement for prior surface preparation. The large scale domain structure reflects a primarily four-fold anisotropy, with a small uniaxial component, consistent with magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements. We also determine the domain transition profile and find it to be in agreement with previous estimates of the domain wall width in this material. The temperature dependence of the image contrast is investigated and compared to superconducting-quantum interference device magnetometry …

Picosecond energy relaxation in

Abstract Investigating the reflectance response dynamics of La 0.67 Ca 0.33 MnO 3 thin films after excitation by femtosecond laser pulses, we identify for the first time a picosecond relaxation step which only exists below the Curie temperature T C . The relaxation time increases from zero at T C to several picoseconds at low temperatures. The data can be explained with the existence of a magnetization-related effective energy gap, and assuming relaxation between these states to be mediated by a Frohlich-type electron–lattice interaction.

Structural characterization and anomalous Hall effect of Rh2MnGe thin films

Abstract We present the preparation, structural investigations, and transport properties of L21-ordered epitaxial Rh2MnGe Heusler thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition. The films grow (1 0 0) oriented on (1 0 0)MgO substrate with [ 0 1 1 ] Rh 2 MnGe ∥ [ 0 1 0 ] MgO . The rocking curve widths of (4 0 0) reflections are below 1° and decrease with increasing deposition temperature. The flat surface of the thin films allowed lithographic patterning enabling quantitative magnetotransport measurements. We measured resistivity and the Hall effect. We suggest skew scattering as the dominant effect in the temperature dependent anomalous Hall effect, consistent with the theoretically expected s…

Determination of the origin of the spin Seebeck effect - bulk vs. interface effects

The observation of the spin Seebeck effect in insulators has meant a breakthrough for spin caloritronics due to the unique ability to generate pure spin currents by thermal excitations in insulating systems without moving charge carriers. Since the recent first observation, the underlying mechanism and the origin of the observed signals have been discussed highly controversially. Here we present a characteristic dependence of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect amplitude on the thickness of the insulating ferromagnet (YIG). Our measurements show that the observed behavior cannot be explained by any effects originating from the interface, such as magnetic proximity effects in the spin detec…

Pulsed laser deposition of Sr2FeMoO6 thin films

Abstract The effect of various deposition conditions and after-growth protocols on the magnetic and transport properties of Sr 2 FeMoO 6 films has been explored. It is found that the saturation magnetization and the magnetoresistance (MR) are dominated by the degree of cationic order, and the strain effects are clearly evidenced in a lower T C . The after-growth annealing of the films and the deposition of a buffer layer has been found to relax the film strains. This translates into a clear increase of the measured low-field magnetoresistance ratios.

Length-scale-dependent vortex-antivortex unbinding in epitaxialBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δfilms

The supercurrent transport properties of epitaxial ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}$ films in zero applied magnetic field were investigated in a temperature interval of \ensuremath{\approx}20 K below the mean-field critical temperature ${T}_{c0}.$ The modification of the shape of the $I\ensuremath{-}V$ curves observed by varying the temperature was explained in terms of vortex-fluctuation-induced layer decoupling and vortex-antivortex unbinding, revealing a strong probing-length dependence. The change of the effective dimensionality of thermally excited vortices involved in the dissipation process leads to the appearance of …

Magnetization relaxation in YBCO films with improved supercurrent transport properties

The relaxation of the irreversible magnetization in optimally doped YBCO films with natural and artificial pinning centres was measured in zero-field cooling conditions using SQUID magnetometry. The external magnetic field H was oriented along the c axis. An appropriate method for the determination of the characteristic vortex pinning energy from the normalized vortex-creep activation energy is discussed. This is based on the existence of a crossover elastic (collective) vortex creep at low temperatures T – plastic vortex creep at high T, caused by the T dependent macroscopic currents induced in the sample during magnetization measurements.

Direct observation of the quasiparticle relaxation in YBa2Cu3O7

Abstract The real and imaginary parts of the optical conductivity ( σ 1 + iσ 2 ) in the superconducting state of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−δ thin films have been obtained by submillimeter spectroscopy for frequencies from 3 to 35 cm −1 . The quasiparticle relaxation can be directly observed in this frequency range. A Drude-type analysis allows to extract the temperature dependence of the scattering rate. The collapse of the relaxation rates provides clear experimental evidence that the spin fluctuations become gapped below T C .

Transport and magnetic properties of La1−xCaxMnO3-films (0.1&lt;x&lt;0.9)

Abstract By laser ablation we prepared thin films of the colossal magnetoresistive compound La1−xCaxMnO3 with doping levels 0.1 10 13 Ω have been measured with an electrometer setup. While the transport data indicate polaronic transport for the metallic samples above the Curie temperature the low-doped ferromagnetic insulating samples show a variable range hopping like transport at low-temperature.

Vortex-system ordering during magnetisation measurements in YBa2Cu3O7−δ films at low temperatures

Abstract Zero-field-cooling dc magnetisation relaxation measurements performed on optimally doped epitaxial YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− δ films with the external magnetic field H oriented parallel to the c -axis reveal the ordering of the creeping vortex-system in the low temperature T domain, due to the macroscopic currents induced in the sample. This dynamic ordering manifests itself through the appearance of a maximum in the T variation of the normalised vortex-creep activation energy. The location of this maximum in the H – T plane describes a well-defined current induced order–disorder line. Our results suggest the absence of a static elastic vortex glass in disordered high-temperature superconduc…

Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ based Josephson junctions and SQUIDs

Josephson junctions and SQUIDs on SrTiO3 bicrystal substrates were prepared from epitaxial Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ thin films with critical temperatures around 95K. The current-voltage characteristics are well described by the resistively and capacitively shunted junction model.I c R n products of 50μV at 77K and 0.7m V at 4.2K have been reached. TheI c (B) dependence is symmetric toB=0 with anI c suppression of 90% in the first minimum. Nevertheless it turns out, that the junctions are inhomogeneous on a μm scale. The flux-voltage transfer function of a SQUID reached 2.7μV/Ф0 at 78K.

Thermal conductivity of thermoelectric Al-substituted ZnO thin films

ZnO:Al thin films with a low electrical resistivity were grown by magnetron sputtering on sapphire substrates. The cross-plane thermal conductivity (κ = 4.5 ± 1.3 W/mK) at room temperature is almost one order of magnitude lower than for bulk materials. The thermoelectric figure of merit ZT at elevated temperatures was estimated from in-plane power factor and the cross-plane thermal conductivity at room temperature. It is expected that the thermal conductivity drops with increasing temperature and is lower in-plane than cross-plane. Consequently, the thin film ZT is at least three times higher than for bulk samples at intermediate temperatures. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinh…

Length Scale of the Spin Seebeck Effect

We investigate the origin of the spin Seebeck effect in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) samples for film thicknesses from 20 nm to 50  μm at room temperature and 50 K. Our results reveal a characteristic increase of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect amplitude with the thickness of the insulating ferrimagnetic YIG, which levels off at a critical thickness that increases with decreasing temperature. The observed behavior cannot be explained as an interface effect or by variations of the material parameters. Comparison to numerical simulations of thermal magnonic spin currents yields qualitative agreement for the thickness dependence resulting from the finite magnon propagation length. This allow…

Josephson junctions and SQUIDs based on artificial grain boundaries in Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O 10 -thin films

ABSTRACT High quality thin films of Bi2 Sr Ca2 Cu3 0 with critical temperatures of 95 K were used to prepare grainboundary josephson junctions on commercial 36.8° SrTiOg-bicrystal substrates. IR-products of 50 pV at 77 Kand 0.7 mV at 4.2 K have been reached. For temperatures higher than 50 K the current-voltage curves of thejunctions can be well described by the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model and show no hysteresis. Fromthe hysteretic behavior at low temperature we estimate a junction capacitance of 2ljiF/cm2. The Fraunhoferpattern of the critical current in an external applied field shows, that the junctions are inhomogeneous on a pm scale. The SQUID modulation of a 30 x 40 pm2 w…

Temperature dependence of the non-local spin Seebeck effect in YIG/Pt nanostructures

We study the transport of thermally excited non-equilibrium magnons through the ferrimagnetic insulator YIG using two electrically isolated Pt strips as injector and detector. The diffusing magnons induce a non-local inverse spin Hall voltage in the detector corresponding to the so-called non-local spin Seebeck effect (SSE). We measure the non-local SSE as a function of temperature and strip separation. In experiments at room temperature we observe a sign change of the non-local SSE voltage at a characteristic strip separation d0, in agreement with previous investigations. At lower temperatures however, we find a strong temperature dependence of d0. This suggests that both the angular momen…

Enhanced thermally-activated skyrmion diffusion in synthetic antiferromagnetic systems with tunable effective topological charge

Magnetic skyrmions, topologically-stabilized spin textures that emerge in particular magnetic systems, have attracted attention due to a variety of electromagnetic responses that are governed by the topology. A well-studied effect of topology on the deterministic and drift motion under a nonequilibrium excitation is the so-called skyrmion Hall effect. For stochastic diffusive motion, the effect of topology is expected to have a drastically stronger impact, but the predicted even qualitative impact has not been demonstrated. The required tuning of the topology to achieve zero effective topological charge can be achieved using antiferromagnetic skyrmions. However, the diffusive motion has pre…

Microstructure Design for Fast Lifetime Measurements of Magnetic Tunneling Junctions

The estimation of the reliability of magnetic field sensors against failure is a critical point concerning their application for industrial purposes. Due to the physical stochastic nature of the failure events, this can only be done by means of a statistical approach which is extremely time consuming and prevents a continuous observation of the production. Here, we present a novel microstructure design for a parallel measurement of the lifetime characteristics of a sensor population. By making use of two alternative designs and the Weibull statistical distribution function, we are able to measure the lifetime characteristics of a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB tunneling junction population. The main param…

Optical determination of the oxygen content of YBa2Cu3O6+x thin films by IR reflectance and transmittance measurements

Abstract Recent studies of the optical properties of YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO) single crystals by several authors have shown that the optical conductivity in the infrared spectral region is a sensitive function of the oxygen content of the samples. Infrared spectroscopy thus offers a possibility for oxygen concentration analysis and is an alternative to other methods such as (i) the X-ray determination of the length of the c-axis and (ii) spectroscopic ellipsometry at an electronic transition band centered around 4.1 eV whose strength decreases with increasing oxygen content. We explore the applicability of the IR optical method for the case of YBCO thin films of about 300 nm thickness which are e…

Effect of precursor concentration on size evolution of iron oxide nanoparticles

Thermal decomposition is a promising route for the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles. The simplicity of the synthesis method is counterbalanced by the complex chemistry of the system such as precursor decomposition and surfactant–reducing agent interactions. Control over nanoparticle size is achieved by adjusting the reaction parameters, namely, the precursor concentration. The results, however, are conflicting as both an increase and a decrease in nanoparticle size, as a function of increasing concentration, have been reported. Here, we address the issue of size-controlled synthesis via the precursor concentration. We synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles with sizes from 6 nm to 24 nm wit…

Magnetism of Co-doped ZnO thin films

We have investigated magnetic and transport properties of 5% Co-doped and undoped ZnO thin films deposited on $r$ plane ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The Co doped films showed paramagnetic and ferromagnetic behavior as well as a high magnetoresistance and a small anomalous Hall effect. In a range of $0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}5\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{T}$ at low temperatures we observed a double sign change of the magnetoresistance. For undoped ZnO films, prepared by the same conditions, only a negative MR was observed, but surprisingly also a very small anomalous Hall effect. We explain our results…

Modulating the polarization of broadband terahertz pulses from a spintronic emitter at rates up to 10 kHz

Reliable modulation of terahertz electromagnetic waveforms is important for many applications. Here, we rapidly modulate the direction of the electric field of linearly polarized terahertz electromagnetic pulses with 1–30 THz bandwidth by applying time-dependent magnetic fields to a spintronic terahertz emitter. Polarity modulation of the terahertz field with more than 99% contrast at a rate of 10 kHz is achieved using a harmonic magnetic field. By adding a static magnetic field, we modulate the direction of the terahertz field between angles of, for instance, −53° and 53° at kilohertz rates. We believe our approach makes spintronic terahertz emitters a promising source for low-noise modula…

Complex Terahertz and Direct Current Inverse Spin Hall Effect in YIG/Cu1-xIrx Bilayers Across a Wide Concentration Range

We measure the inverse spin Hall effect of Cu1-xIrx thin films on yttrium iron garnet over a wide range of Ir concentrations (0.05 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.7). Spin currents are triggered through the spin Seebeck effect, either by a continuous (dc) temperature gradient or by ultrafast optical heating of the metal layer. The spin Hall current is detected by electrical contacts or measurement of the emitted terahertz radiation. With both approaches, we reveal the same Ir concentration dependence that follows a novel complex, nonmonotonous behavior as compared to previous studies. For small Ir concentrations a signal minimum is observed, whereas a pronounced maximum appears near the equiatomic composition. We …

Electronic properties of Co2FeSi investigated by X-ray magnetic linear dichroism

We present experimental XMLD spectra measured on epitaxial (001)-oriented thin Co$_{2}$FeSi films, which are rich in features and depend sensitively on the degree of atomic order and interdiffusion from capping layers. Al- and Cr-capped films with different degrees of atomic order were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering by varying the deposition temperatures. The local structural properties of the film samples were additionally investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. The XMLD spectra of the different samples show clear and uniform trends at the $L_{3,2}$ edges. The Al-capped samples show similar behavior as previous measured XMLD spectra of Co$_2$FeSi$_{0.6}$Al$_{0.4…

Bi-2212 and Y123 highly curved single-crystal-like objects: whiskers, bows and ring-like structures

High-temperature superconducting objects of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and Y Ba2Cu3O7 highly curved in the ab-plane, such as curved/kinked whiskers, bows and ring-like structures, were obtained within a solid?liquid?solid (SLS) grass-like growth mechanism. As-grown objects are crystals with three-dimensional epitaxy similar to conventional single crystals: they can be viewed as crystal parts ?cut? from a conventional rectangular crystal. Between our curved objects and conventional crystals, whiskers or thin films there are some differences in the superconducting properties induced only by the shape factors and no new physics is observed. Some details of the growth mechanism are discussed, emphasizing cu…

Magnetic and Electronic Properties of Heusler Alloy Films Investigated by X-Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism

We have investigated the magnetic properties of epitaxial Heusler alloy films using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism∈dex{x-ray!magnetic circular dichroism} (XMCD) in the transmission (TM) and in the surface sensitive total electron yield (TEY) mode. We have investigated Ni_2MnGa based shape memory alloys and half-metallic Co2Cro.6Feo.4 films. Single crystalline Ni2MnGa(110)/Al2O3(1120) and Ni2MnGa(100)/MgO(100) films show a martensitic transition from a cubic high temperature phase to a martensitic low-temperature phase at 250–275 K as concluded from magnetometry and x-ray diffraction. The martensitic transition of this Heusler compound is shifted in…

Magnetic Coupling in Y3Fe5O12/Gd3Fe5O12 Heterostructures

Ferrimagnetic ${\mathrm{Y}}_{3}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$ (YIG) is the prototypical material for studying magnonic properties due to its exceptionally low damping. By substituting the yttrium with rare earth elements that have a net magnetic moment, we can introduce an additional spin degree of freedom. Here, we study the magnetic coupling in epitaxial ${\mathrm{Y}}_{3}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$/${\mathrm{Gd}}_{3}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$ (YIG/GIG) heterostructures grown by pulsed laser deposition. From bulk sensitive magnetometry and surface sensitive spin Seebeck effect and spin Hall magnetoresistance measurements, we determine the alignment of the heterostruct…

Magnetic and structural properties of the double-perovskite Ca2FeReO6

Abstract We suceeded in the preparation of polycrystalline Ca2FeReO6 which has a Curie temperature TC of 540 K, the highest value of all magnetic perovskites investigated till now. This material has been characterised by X-ray and neutron powder diffraction. We found at 548 K, a monoclinic unit cell (space group P21/n) with a=5.4366(5) A , b=5.5393(5) A , c=7.7344(5) A , and β=90.044(4)°. For temperatures below 400 K, a phase separation in two monoclinic phases with identical cell volume is observed in neutron scattering. The two phases possess different magnetic structure and coercivity. The conductivity is thermally activated for all temperatures and no significant magnetoresistivity is o…

Charge transfer in high-Tc(Y/Pr)Ba2Cu3O7superlattices

We comment on the charge-transfer model for the unique softening of the apex [O(4)] oxygen observed in Raman spectra of a- and c-oriented (${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$${)}_{\mathit{m}}$(${\mathrm{PrBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$${)}_{\mathit{n}}$ superlattices presented in a recent paper by Ham et al. [Phys. Rev. B 50, 16 598 (1994)]. We find the size of the charge transfer necessary for the observed shift too large to explain the observations. In addition, a conclusion about the unique behavior of both types of superlattices can only be drawn if the sample quality is properly considered. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Thermoelectric properties of p-type Bi2Sr2Co2O9 glass-ceramics

In the oxide system of Bi–Sr–Co glass melts have been prepared by adding a small amount of glass formers. A crystallization leads to crystalline phases of Bi8Sr8Co4O25, BiSrCo2Ox and Bi2Sr2Co2O9 (BC-222) densely embedded into a residual glass phase. This work shows the possibility of obtaining microstructured bulk material with low thermal conductivity and relatively high electrical conductivity via such a glass ceramic approach. Furthermore the stability of these materials under thermal cycling for temperatures up to 700 °C is shown. A characterization of the thermoelectric properties leads to a figure of merit (ZT) between 0.008 and 0.018.

Fabrication and characterization of semiconducting half Heusler YPtSb thin films

The semiconducting half Heusler compound YPtSb was predicted theoretically to be capable of changing into topological insulator under proper strain. In this work, p type semiconducting half-Heusler YPtSb thin films were prepared by magnetron co-sputtering method from a specially designed target for the first time. Textured structure with (111) plane paralleling with (001) of MgO substrate was observed when YPtSb thin films were grown on MgO (100) substrate at 600{\deg}C.Electrical measurements show that the resistivity of YPtSb films decreases with increasing temperature, indicating a semiconductor-like behavior. The carrier density is as high as 1.15 X 10^21 cm-3 at 300 K. The band gap of …

Analysis of magnetization relaxation in MgB2 bulk samples obtained by electric-field assisted sintering

Abstract The relaxation of the irreversible magnetization of MgB2 bulk samples obtained by electric-field assisted sintering was investigated using the SQUID magnetometry for a magnetic field H up to 50 kOe applied in zero-field-cooling conditions. We observed a crossover plastic creep at high temperatures T-elastic creep at low T, described by H ∝ T−2 in the low T range, which appears to be caused by the macroscopic currents induced in the sample during magnetization measurements. By decreasing T below this line the determined creep exponent rapidly overcomes the widely accepted theoretical values for elastic (collective) pinning. This behaviour can easily be explained through the occurren…

Flux-flow instability and heating effects in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and YBa2Cu3O7 thin films

Abstract We investigated current–voltage curves of Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 and YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 thin films. Voltage jumps due to flux-flow instabilities at high vortex-velocities were found and interpreted in the framework of the theory of Larkin and Ovchinnikov. The extensions introduced by Bezuglyj et al. account for quasiparticle heating during the measurement. While in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 the instability is found in the vortex-liquid phase, in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 we observed it in the vortex-glass phase. Moreover, we studied the temporal behavior of the instability in current–voltage curves with a time resolution in the microsecond range.

Universal relationship between the penetration depth and the normal-state conductivity in YBaCuO

The absolute values of the conductivity in the normal state sigma_n and of the low temperature penetration depths lambda(0) were measured for a number of different samples of the YBaCuO family. We found a striking correlation between sigma_n and 1/lambda^2, regardless of doping, oxygen reduction or defects, thus providing a simple method to predict the superconducting penetration depth and to have an estimate of the sample quality by measuring the normal-state conductivity.

Frequency-dependent relaxation rate in superconductingYBa2Cu3O6+δ

The submillimeter-wave $3 {\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}l\ensuremath{\nu}l40 {\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ complex conductivity of the reduced ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{6+\ensuremath{\delta}}$ film ${(T}_{C}=56.5 \mathrm{K})$ was investigated for temperatures $4 \mathrm{K}lTl300 \mathrm{K}$ and compared to the properties of the same film in the optimally doped state. The frequency dependence of the effective quasiparticle scattering rate $1/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{*}(\ensuremath{\nu})$ was extracted from the spectra. $1/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{*}$ is shown to be frequency independent at low frequencies and high temperatures. A gradual change to $1/{\ensuremath{\tau}}^{…

Patterning of Suitable Structures for the Investigation of the Josephson Effect in YBa2Cu3O7/PrBa2Cu3O7 Superlattices

The aim of our work is to investigate the Josephson effect in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ /PrBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ superlattices. In the case of current flow along c axis direction the superlattice forms an array of artificial Josephson junctions where the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ layers are the superconducting electrodes which are separated but Josephson coupled by the PrBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ sheets. In this paper we report on the preparation, characterisation and patterning of the superlattices into suitable structures via standard photolithograpy and lift-off technique.

Relaxation of remnant magnetisation in YBa2Cu3O7−δ films

Abstract The relaxation of the remnant magnetisation in optimally doped disk-shaped YBa2Cu3O7−δ films with the initially applied magnetic field H oriented along the c axis was measured using dc SQUID magnetometry. The temperature (T) dependence of the experimentally observed normalised magnetisation relaxation rate S exhibits three distinct regions. At high T, S(T) increases with increasing T, which can be explained in terms of plastic vortex creep. The well known plateau in the S(T) variation at intermediate T appears to be caused by collective (elastic) creep in a dynamically ordered vortex system. At low T, where S increases again with increasing T, the magnetisation relaxation is not in…

Antenna-coupled spintronic terahertz emitters driven by a 1550 nm femtosecond laser oscillator

We demonstrate antenna-coupled spintronic terahertz (THz) emitters excited by 1550 nm, 90 fs laser pulses. Antennas are employed to optimize THz outcoupling and frequency coverage of ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic metallic spintronic structures. We directly compare the antenna-coupled devices to those without antennas. Using a 200 μm H-dipole antenna and an ErAs:InGaAs photoconductive receiver, we obtain a 2.42-fold larger THz peak-peak signal, a bandwidth of 4.5 THz, and an increase in the peak dynamic range (DNR) from 53 dB to 65 dB. A 25 μm slotline antenna offered 5 dB larger peak DNR and a bandwidth of 5 THz. For all measurements, we use a comparatively low laser power of 45 mW from a comme…

Harnessing Orbital-to-Spin Conversion of Interfacial Orbital Currents for Efficient Spin-Orbit Torques.

The system generates two errors of "Bad character(s) in field Abstract" for no reason. Please refer to the manuscript for the full abstract.

Detailed photoluminescence study of vapor deposited Bi2S3 films of different surface morphology (Phys. Status Solidi B 11/2014)

Determining Magnetite/Maghemite Composition and Core–Shell Nanostructure from Magnetization Curve for Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles produced by chemical synthesis are usually composed of both magnetite and maghemite phases. Information about the phase composition is typically obtained using Mos...

Inhibition of the detrimental double vortex-kink formation in thick YBa2Cu3O7films with BaZrO3nanorods

We investigated the temperature (T) variation of the normalized magnetization relaxation rate S and of the corresponding normalized vortex-creep activation energy U* = T/S for YBa2Cu3O7 films containing BaZrO3 nanorods, with the external magnetic field H oriented perpendicular to the film surface. It was found that by increasing the film thickness and using nanodot decorated substrates the high-T S(T) maximum appearing at low H is substituted by a minimum in S(T). As revealed by the analysis of the current density dependence of U*, this behaviour is due to the inhibition of vortex excitations involving double vortex-kinks and superkinks formation in the investigated thick films, owing to th…

Imprinting the complex dielectric permittivity of liquids into the spintronic terahertz emission

We report an approach in time-domain terahertz (THz) spectroscopy for measuring the dielectric response of liquids based on inherent properties of spintronic THz emitters (STEs). The THz electric field radiated from the STE is inversely proportional to the sum of the complex refractive indices of the media surrounding the thin metallic stack of the STE and the stack's conductivity. We demonstrate that by bringing a liquid in contact with the emitter, its complex refractive index and accordingly its dielectric response are imprinted into the radiated electromagnetic field from the emitter. We use water as the test liquid and ascertain its dielectric loss and permittivity in the range of ∼0.…

Flux-flow instability and its anisotropy inBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δsuperconducting films

We report measurements on voltage instability at high flux-flow velocities in ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}$ superconducting films. Current-voltage $(I\ensuremath{-}V)$ characteristics have been measured as a function of temperature, magnetic field, and angle between the field and the c axis of the sample. Voltage jumps were observed in $I\ensuremath{-}V$ characteristics taken in all magnetic-field directions and in extended temperature and field ranges. An analysis of the experimental data, based on a theory for viscous flux-flow instability with a finite heat-removal rate from the sample, yielded the inelastic scatterin…

Tuning of interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and domain structures in magnetic thin film multilayers

We investigate the magnetic domain structures and the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) arising in CoFeB films interfaced with selected heavy metal (HM) layers with large spin Hall angles in HM/CoFeB/MgO (HM = W, Pt, Pd, W x Ta1−x ) stacks as a function of CoFeB thickness and composition for both as-deposited and annealed materials stacks. The coercivity and the anisotropy fields of annealed material stacks are higher than for the as-deposited stacks due to crystallisation of the ferromagnetic layer. Generally a critical thickness of MgO > 1 nm provides adequate oxide formation at the top interface as a requirement for the generation of PMA. We demonstrate that in stacks with Pt as th…

Vortex-liquid entanglement inBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δfilms in the presence of quenched disorder

We have investigated the thermally activated behavior of the in-plane electrical resistivity of ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}$ films for magnetic fields $Bl~{10}^{4}\mathrm{G}$ applied parallel to the $c$ axis. The activation energy in the vortex-liquid state changes suddenly at a crossover field ${B}_{\mathrm{cr}}.$ The anisotropy reduction generated by oxygen annealing leads to the increase of the crossover field. For $Bl{B}_{\mathrm{cr}},$ the activation energy $U$ is weakly magnetic-field dependent. For $Bg{B}_{\mathrm{cr}},$ $U(B,T)\ensuremath{\sim}(1\ensuremath{-}{T/T}_{c0}{)/B}^{1/2},$ which corresponds to an entan…

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Epitaxial Ni&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;MnGa Thin Films

We report on the preparation and investigation of epitaxial thin films of the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni2MnGa. For samples close to the stoichiometric composition we find that the phase transformation temperature is affected by the crystallographic orientation. Changes in the crystal structure due to the transformation are observed using temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction. Films with higher manganese content are in the martensitic state at room temperature. Those samples on Al2O3(11-20) reveal the 7-layered orthorhombic structure that allows strains up to 10 %. To avoid blocking of magnetostrictive effects by the substrate, free-standing films are prepared using water-soluble NaCl(…

Microscopic origin of magnetic anisotropy in martensitic Ni2MnGa

The microscopic origin of magnetic anisotropy in the shape memory alloy Ni${}_{2}$MnGa is investigated by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in transmission mode. Field- and angle-dependent dichroism spectra of epitaxial Ni${}_{2}$MnGa(101)/MgO(001) films reveal pronounced differences for magnetization aligned parallel and perpendicular to the film plane. These differences are related to an anisotropy of the orbital magnetic moment in agreement with the observed out-of-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The spectral variation of the x-ray absorption originates from changes in the spin-projected density of states when the magnetization vector is rotated from the easy to the hard ma…

Flux Pinning by Columnar Defects in Bi&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;Sr&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;CaCu&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O&lt;sub&gt;8&lt;/sub&gt;-Thin Films

High-Performance Flexible Magnetic Tunnel Junctions for Smart Miniaturized Instruments

Structure and Microscopic Magnetism of Epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga Films

We report on the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial thin films of the ferromagnetic shape memory material Ni–Mn–Ga prepared by DC magnetron sputter deposition. Different substrate materials, i.e., MgO(100) and Al2O3(11−20) allow for a tailored epitaxial growth. Using a sacrificial chromium buffer layer freestanding epitaxial films are obtained. In combination with photolithography partially freestanding structures such as microbridges are fabricated. The complex martensite crystal structure in substrate-constrained and freestanding films is studied by means of X-ray diffraction. The identified asymmetric twin variant configuration is associated with a macroscopic surface patter…

Broadband Terahertz Probes of Anisotropic Magnetoresistance Disentangle Extrinsic and Intrinsic Contributions

Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) is a ubiquitous and versatile probe of magnetic order in contemporary spintronics research. Its origins are usually ascribed to extrinsic effects (i.e. spin-dependent electron scattering), whereas intrinsic (i.e. scattering-independent) contributions are neglected. Here, we measure AMR of polycrystalline thin films of the standard ferromagnets Co, Ni, Ni81Fe19 and Ni50Fe50 over the frequency range from DC to 28 THz. The large bandwidth covers the regimes of both diffusive and ballistic intraband electron transport and, thus, allows us to separate extrinsic and intrinsic AMR components. Analysis of the THz response based on Boltzmann transport theory revea…

The effect of interface roughness on exchange bias in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 - BiFeO3 heterostructures

We characterized the interfaces of heterostructures with different stack sequences of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/BiFeO3 (LSMO/BFO) and BFO/LSMO using TEM revealing sharp and rough interfaces, respectively. Magnetometry and magnetoresistance measurements do not show a detectable exchange bias coupling for the multistack with sharp interface. Instead, the heterostructures with rough and chemically intermixed interfaces exhibit a sizable exchange bias coupling. Furthermore, we find a temperature-dependent irreversible magnetization behavior and an exponential decay of coercive and exchange bias field with temperature suggesting a possible spin-glass-like state at the interface of both stacks.

Magnetic field dependent thermal conductance in La0.67Ca0.33MnO3

Abstract Using the differential 3 ω technique we measured the low-temperature out-of-plane thermal conductance of heteroepitaxial thin film La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LCMO). The magnetic field dependence of the thermal conductance reached values of up to 23%. The effect was observed to be largest in the vicinity of the metal–insulator transition, since the enhancement in thermal conductance is triggered by the colossal magnetoresistance effect increasing the electronic contribution to the thermal conductance. The point of the maximal change was adjusted by post-annealing the samples in an oxygen atmosphere. Samples with a higher transition temperature and lower epitaxial strain displayed a lower mag…

Enhancement of spin Hall conductivity in W-Ta alloy

Generating pure spin currents via the spin Hall effect in heavy metals has been an active topic of research in the last decade. In order to reduce the energy required to efficiently switch neighbouring ferromagnetic layers for applications, one should not only increase the charge- to-spin conversion efficiency but also decrease the longitudinal resistivity of the heavy metal. In this work, we investigate the spin Hall conductivity in W_{1-x}Ta_{x} / CoFeB / MgO (x = 0 - 0.2) using spin torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements. Alloying W with Ta leads to a factor of two change in both the damping-like effective spin Hall angle (from - 0.15 to - 0.3) and longitudinal resistivity (60 - 120…

Epitaxial films of the magnetic shape memory material

Abstract By DC-sputtering from a stoichiometric target onto sapphire substrates we prepared epitaxial films of Ni 2 MnGa . X-ray diffraction in two circle geometry shows only the Ni 2 MnGa peaks corresponding to a (1 1 0) oriented growth on the (1 1 0) oriented sapphire substrate. Rocking curve scans shows that the out of plane orientation has a width of only 1 . 1 ∘ . By four circle X-ray diffraction we find an in-plane aligned growth. The Curie temperature as determined by SQUID magnetometry is 368 K. On cooling down the low field magnetization drops at around 260–280 K indicating the austenite to martensite transition. The presence of two different phases at high and low temperature also…

Preparation and characterization of (Hg0.7Mo0.3)Sr2(Ca0.7Y0.3)Cu2Ox and (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2Oy superconducting films by laser ablation

Abstract Oriented (Hg 0.7 Mo 0.3 )Sr 2 (Ca 0.7 Y 0.3 )Cu 2 O x and (Hg 0.9 Re 0.1 )Ba 2 CaCu 2 O y superconducting films were prepared on SrTiO 3 substrates using laser ablation and post-Hg-vapor annealing. Due to the stability of Mo 0.3 Sr 2 (Ca 0.7 Y 0.3 )Cu 2 O x and Re 0.1 Ba 2 CaCu 2 O y in air, no special handling was needed during the grinding, mixing and pressing of the precursor targets. The superconductivity of the films was characterized with the temperature dependence of the ac susceptibility ( χ - T ) and the resistance ( R - T ) while the crystallography was probed with x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Gilbert damping of CoFe-alloys

We report structural, magnetic and dynamic properties of polycrystalline Coalt;subagt;xalt;/subagt;Fealt;subagt;1-xalt;/subagt;-alloy films on Sapphire, Silicon and MgO substrates across the full composition range, by using a Vector Network Analyser ferromagnetic resonance measurement technique (VNA-FMR), Superconducting Quantum Interference Device magnetometry (SQUID) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). In the approximate vicinity of 28% Co, we observe a minimum of the damping parameter, associated with a reduction in the density of states to a minimum value at the Fermi energy level. For films on all substrates, we find magnetic damping of the order of 4-5⋅10alt;supagt;-3alt;/supagt;, showing th…

Superconductivity in high‐quality (Hg 0.9 Re 0.1 )Ba 2 CaCu 2 O 6+ δ HTSC thin films

High-quality epitaxial (Hg0.9Re0.1)Ba2CaCu2O6+δ (HgRe-1212) HTS thin films were successfully prepared using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of the Re0.1Ba2CaCu2O6+δ precursor and subsequent Hg vapor annealing. The thin films exhibit a sharp superconducting transition at Tc ≈ 120 K. The resistive transitions have been investigated in magnetic fields up to 6 T parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis. We have determined the activation energy of thermally activated flux-motion for both magnetic field orientations. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Evidence of charge-carrier compensation effects inLa0.67Ca0.33MnO3

We report on detailed Hall-effect measurements of thin films of ${\mathrm{La}}_{0.67}{\mathrm{Ca}}_{0.33}{\mathrm{MnO}}_{3}$ above and below the metal-insulator transition. In the metallic ferromagnetic regime, we find a temperature-independent holelike nominal charge-carrier density ${n}_{h}^{*}=1.3$ per unit cell, consistent with a partly compensated Fermi surface. The mobility is only 92 ${\mathrm{mm}}^{2}/\mathrm{V}\mathrm{}\mathrm{s}$ at 4 K, and decreases with increasing temperature. Huge negative magnetoresistivity results from an increase in mobility. In low magnetic fields or at high temperatures, an anomalous electronlike contribution dominates the Hall voltage. For possible side …

History dependence of the magnetization of thin HTSC films: an explanation for distorted SQUID signals

Abstract The magnetizations of thin film disk-shaped type-II superconductors in perpendicular magnetic fields are considered by aid of Mikheenko's critical state model which has been corrected by Zhu for the case of a time-varying periodic field. This paper presents the application of this scheme to an arbitrary nonperiodic time dependence H ( t ). We calculate the influence of field inhomogeneities in a magnetometer on the current density distribution of a disk-shaped type-II superconductor. The resulting SQUID pickup signals and magnetic moments are compared to measurements performed on a 200 nm thick YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 film in the irreversible regime of the phase diagram. Theory and experime…

Electrical detection of the spin reorientation transition in antiferromagnetic TmFeO3 thin films by spin Hall magnetoresistance

$\mathrm{Tm}\mathrm{Fe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ (TFO) is a canted antiferromagnet that undergoes a spin reorientation transition (SRT) with temperature between 82 and 94 K in single crystals. In this temperature region, the N\'eel vector continuously rotates from the crystallographic $c$ axis (below 82 K) to the $a$ axis (above 94 K). The SRT allows for a temperature control of distinct antiferromagnetic states without the need for a magnetic field, making it apt for applications working at terahertz frequencies. For device applications, thin films of TFO are required as well as an electrical technique for read-out of the magnetic state. Here, we demonstrate that orthorhombic TFO thin films can be…

Thin epitaxial films of the Heusler compound

Abstract We prepared thin films of the Heusler compound Co 2 Cr 0.6 Fe 0.4 Al with the B2 structure on a-plane (1 1  2 ¯  0) Al 2 O 3 by sputtering. Films grown at high temperatures ( T ⩾ 600 ∘ C ) on Al 2 O 3 are fully epitaxial with the (1 1 0) and (1  1 ¯  0) planes of the film parallel to the (1 1  2 ¯  0) and (0 0 0 1) planes of the substrate, respectively. These epitaxial films possess a higher surface roughness than films grown at room temperature. The films show nearly rectangular hysteresis loops with coercive fields of the order of 10 mT. Magnetooptical Kerr measurements show an in-plane anisotropy of the magnetization with the easy axis in { 0 0 1 } direction. Hall measurements s…

Off-stoichiometry in Co2FeSi thin films sputtered from stoichiometric targets revealed by nuclear magnetic resonance

Co2FeSi is predicted to be a half-metallic ferromagnet with an extraordinary high magnetic moment and Curie temperature. However, a low tunnel magneto-resistance ratio, a lower spin polarization and a lower magnetic moment were experimentally observed in thin film samples. Consequently, thin Co2FeSi films of different groups were studied using spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR probes the local hyperfine fields of the active atoms, which strongly depend on the local environment. NMR is thus able to reveal the next neighbouring shells of the Co-59 nuclei in the Co2FeSi thin films. As expected, our NMR study shows the main resonance line corresponding to Co-59 nuclei in the L2(1)…

Combined Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Heating Rate on Growth of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Thermal decomposition is a promising route for the synthesis of highly monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles. However, the apparent simplicity of the synthesis is counterbalanced by the complex interplay of the reagents with the reaction variables that determine the final particle size and dispersity. Here, we present a combined experimental and theoretical study on the influence of the heating rate on crystal growth, size, and monodispersity of iron oxide nanoparticles. We synthesized monodisperse nanoparticles with sizes varying from 6.3 to 27 nm simply by controlling the heating rate of the reaction. The nanoparticles show size-dependent superparamagnetic behavior. Using numerical calcula…

Alloy-like behaviour of the thermal conductivity of non-symmetric superlattices

In this work, we show a phenomenological alloy-like fit of the thermal conductivity of (A)d1:(B)d2 superlattices with d1 /= d2, i.e. non-symmetric structure. The presented method is a generalization of the Norbury rule of the summation of thermal resistivities in alloy compounds. Namely, we show that this approach can be also extended to describe the thermal properties of crystalline and ordered-system composed by two or more elements, and, has a potentially much wider application range. Using this approximation we estimate that the interface thermal resistance depends on the period and the ratio of materials that form the superlattice structure

Optical conductivity inYBa2Cu3O7−δthin films

The real and imaginary parts of the optical conductivity ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{1}+i{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{2}$ of partly untwinned ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{7\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}}$ thin films were measured by submillimeter spectroscopy for frequencies from 100 GHz to 1 THz. The frequency dependence of the conductivity below ${T}_{C}$ can be described by a narrow Drude-like peak with strongly temperature-dependent relaxation rates. ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{1}(\ensuremath{\nu})$ does not extrapolate to the universal d-wave value at 0 K. Impurity scattering significantly different to the unitary limit has to be assumed to achieve agreement with recent theor…

High-temperature transport properties of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 films

Abstract The giant negative magnetoresistance in manganites has been investigated from the Curie temperature T c up to 600 K (2.6 T c ) in magnetic fields up to 8 T. Nonadiabatic small polaron hopping can successfully describe the temperature dependence of the resistivity. The magnetic field influence on the activation energy is explained by the interaction of unclustered ions with small spin clusters of four ions.

Epitaxial growth and thermoelectric properties of TiNiSn and Zr0.5Hf0.5NiSn thin films

Abstract Due to their exceptional thermoelectric properties Half-Heusler alloys like MNiSn (M = Ti,Zr,Hf) have moved into focus. The growth of single crystalline thin film TiNiSn and Zr 0.5 Hf 0.5 NiSn by dc magnetron sputtering is reported. Seebeck and resistivity measurements were performed and their dependence on epitaxial quality is shown. Seebeck coefficient, specific resistivity and power factor for Zr 0.5 Hf 0.5 NiSn at room temperature were measured to be 63 μV K − 1 , 14.1 μΩ m and 0.28 mW K − 2  m − 1 , respectively. Multilayers of TiNiSn and Zr 0.5 Hf 0.5 NiSn are promising candidates to increase the thermoelectric figure-of-merit by decreasing thermal conductivity perpendicular …

Thermal conductivity of half-Heusler superlattices

Thin films and superlattices (SLs) of TiNiSn and ZrHfNiSn layers have been grown by dc magnetron sputtering on MgO (100) substrates to reduce the thermal conductivity, aiming for improvement of the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT. The thermal conductivity of 1 Wm−1K−1 was measured by the differential 3ω method for an SL with a periodicity of 8.8 nm. In addition to x-ray diffraction analysis of the SL crystal structure, smooth interfaces were confirmed by scanning/transmission electron microscopy.

Rapid online solid-state battery diagnostics with optically pumped magnetometers

Applied Sciences 10(21), 7864 (2020). doi:10.3390/app10217864

Flexible Magnetoresistive Sensors for Guiding Cardiac Catheters

Cardiac catheterization is a procedure, in which a long thin tube that is called a “catheter” is inserted into the heart for diagnosis or treatment. Due to the excessive use of x-ray doses and contrast agents for orientation detection during the surgery, there is a need to find a better alternative. This paper presents magnetic tunnel junction sensors on flexible Si attached to the catheter tip for orientation detection during minimally invasive surgeries. Due to the small size of catheters, extreme minimization in terms of size, weight, thickness and power consumption is needed for any device implemented on it. The fabricated flexible magnetic tunnel junctions fulfill those requirements wi…

Efficient metallic spintronic emitters of ultrabroadband terahertz radiation

Terahertz electromagnetic radiation is extremely useful for numerous applications such as imaging and spectroscopy. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have an efficient table-top emitter covering the 1-to-30-THz window whilst being driven by a low-cost, low-power femtosecond laser oscillator. So far, all solid-state emitters solely exploit physics related to the electron charge and deliver emission spectra with substantial gaps. Here, we take advantage of the electron spin to realize a conceptually new terahertz source which relies on tailored fundamental spintronic and photonic phenomena in magnetic metal multilayers: ultrafast photo-induced spin currents, the inverse spin-Hall effect an…

Microstructure of freestanding single-crystalline Ni2MnGa thin films

Abstract The complex crystal structure and variant distribution of single-crystalline freestanding Ni–Mn–Ga films was studied in detail using X-ray diffraction in two- and four-circle geometry. Selective chemical etching of a chromium buffer layer facilitates the release of the rigid MgO substrate that would inhibit magnetically induced reorientation (MIR) of variants. The substrate-constrained as well as the freestanding films possess identical crystal structure featuring a seven-layered (pseudo-)orthorhombic modulation (7 M/14 M). Of the 12 different variants observed before and after releasing the film from the substrate, four are predominantly represented. These have the short c -axis a…

Magnetic states in low-pinning high-anisotropy material nanostructures suitable for dynamic imaging

We present magnetic domain states in a material configuration with high (perpendicular) magnetic anisotropy and particularly low magnetic pinning. This material, a B-doped Co/Pt multilayer configuration, exhibits a strong magnetic contrast in x-ray transmission experiments, making it apt for dynamic imaging with modern synchrotron techniques, providing high spatial and high temporal resolution simultaneously. By analyzing the static spin structures in nanodisks at variable external fields, we show that CoB/Pt multilayers exhibit low enough domain wall pinning to manipulate the domain pattern with weak stimuli and in particular to move domains and domain walls. We demonstrate in a proof-of-p…

Crystal structure and magnetism of the double perovskites A2FeReO6 (A=Ca, Sr, Ba)

Abstract We synthesized a series of double perovskites A 2 FeReO 6 (A=Ca, Sr, Ba) with Curie temperatures above room-temperature. Neutron and X-ray diffraction analysis have been performed in order to determine the structural and (local) magnetic properties of these materials. While Ba 2 FeReO 6 stays cubic over the whole temperature range we examined, the Sr-compound shows a tetragonal distortion of the perovskite structure which does not completely vanish up to about 520 K far above T C . Ca 2 FeReO 6 has a monoclinic unit cell at high temperatures. Below 400 K a phase separation in two monoclinic phases with identical cell volume is observed in neutron scattering.

Perpendicular transport properties of YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}/PrBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta} superlattices

The coupling between the superconducting planes of YBa2Cu3O{7-\delta}/ PrBa2Cu3O{7-\delta} superlattices has been measured by c-axis transport. We show that only by changing the thickness of the superconducting YBa2Cu3O{7-\delta} layers, it is possible to switch between quasi-particle and Josephson tunneling. From our data we deduce a low temperature c-axis coherence length of 0.27 nm.

Origin of the plateau in the temperature dependence of the normalized magnetization relaxation rate in disordered high-temperature superconductors

The temperature $T$ dependence of the normalized magnetization relaxation rate $S$ in optimally doped ${\text{YBa}}_{2}{\text{Cu}}_{3}{\text{O}}_{7\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}}$ films with the external dc magnetic field $H$ oriented along the $c$ axis exhibits the well-known plateau in the intermediate $T$ range, associated with the presence of elastic (collective) vortex creep. The disappearance of the $S(T)$ plateau in the high-$H$ domain $(H\ensuremath{\ge}20\text{ }\text{kOe})$ is not completely understood. We show that in the case of high-temperature superconductors with significant quenched disorder the $S(T)$ plateau is directly related to a crossover in the vortex-creep process…

Effect of DC Electric Field on the Emitted THz Signal of Antenna-Coupled Spintronic Emitters

We study the impact of an external electric DC field on antenna-coupled spintronic THz emitters driven by a 90 fs, 1550 nm laser oscillator. Simultaneous application of external electric and magnetic field shows a quadratic decrease in peak-peak THz pulse with increase in the bias voltage. We ascribe this decrease to Joule heating caused by the DC current flowing through the spintronic material.

Absence of element specific ferromagnetism in Co doped ZnO investigated by soft X-ray resonant reflectivity

On the quest for the intrinsic origin of ferromagnetism (FM) in ZnO doped with a few percent transition metal, we show detailed X-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity (XRMR) measurements, performed at the Co L2,3 and the O K edges of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) prepared samples. These samples show ferromagnetism at room temperature (RT) (QUID: about 2μB /Co). But in contrast to the QUID measurements, element specific reflection measurements as a function of angle (θ-2θ scans) and energy (const. qz) do not show any sign of ferromagnetism. Therefore, we can exclude without doubt Co as a possible origin for FM in this system. Our results are in perfect agreement with earlier published XMCD dat…

Organic-Inorganic Hybrids: Metal Oxide/Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles with Versatile Functionality Prepared by Controlled Surface Crystallization (Adv. Funct. Mater. 4/2013)

Transition of laser-induced terahertz spin currents from torque- to conduction-electron-mediated transport

Spin transport is crucial for future spintronic devices operating at bandwidths up to the terahertz range. In F|N thin-film stacks made of a ferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic layer F and a normal-metal layer N, spin transport is mediated by (1) spin-polarized conduction electrons and/or (2) torque between electron spins. To identify a crossover from (1) to (2), we study laser-driven spin currents in F|Pt stacks where F consists of model materials with different degrees of electrical conductivity. For the magnetic insulators yttrium iron garnet, gadolinium iron garnet (GIG) and γ−Fe2O3, identical dynamics is observed. It arises from the terahertz interfacial spin Seebeck effect (SSE), is fully det…

Nondiverging vortex pinning barriers at low current densities across the putative elastic vortex-glass–vortex-liquid transition inYBa2Cu3O7−δfilms

A detailed analysis of the electric field--current density $(E\ensuremath{-}J)$ characteristics of ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{7\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\delta}}$ films across the putative thermally induced elastic vortex-glass--vortex-liquid transition predicted by the $E(J)$ curve scaling reveals that the expected increase of the collective pinning barriers with decreasing J is cut off in the low-$J$ region, signaling a dissipation process which involves the plastic deformation of the vortex system. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the pinning barriers at low J does not change across the scaling-predicted glass transition line. For the investigated m…

Enhanced thermoelectric properties of lightly Nb doped SrTiO3 thin films

Novel thermoelectric materials developed for operation at room temperature must have similar or better performance along with being as ecofriendly as those commercially used, e.g., BiTe, in terms of their toxicity and cost. In this work, we present an in-depth study of the thermoelectric properties of epitaxial Nb-doped strontium titanate (SrTiNbO) thin films as a function of (i) doping concentration, (ii) film thickness and (iii) substrate type. The excellent crystal quality was confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The thermoelectric properties were measured by the three-omega method (thermal conductivity) and van der Pauw method (el…

Subamorphous thermal conductivity of crystalline half-Heusler superlattices

The quest to improve the thermoelectric figure of merit has mainly followed the roadmap of lowering the thermal conductivity while keeping unaltered the power factor of the material. Ideally an electron-crystal phonon-glass system is desired. In this work, we report an extraordinary reduction of the cross-plane thermal conductivity in crystalline (TiNiSn):(HfNiSn) half-Heusler superlattices (SLs). We create SLs with thermal conductivities below the effective amorphous limit, which is kept in a large temperature range (120–300 K). We measured thermal conductivity at room temperature values as low as 0.75 W m−1 K−1, the lowest thermal conductivity value reported so far for half-Heusler compou…

Vortex creep crossover in YBCO/PrBCO superlattices during standard magnetization relaxation measurements

We investigated the relaxation of the irreversible magnetization in a series of 200?nm thick YBa2Cu3O7/PrBa2Cu3O7 [(YBCO)n/(PrBCO)m] superlattices, where the thickness m of the nonsuperconducting PrBCO layer (measured in unit cells) was kept to m = 4 (sufficient to decouple the superconducting YBCO layers), whereas the thickness n of the YBCO layer was varied between 2 and 20 unit cells. The analysis of standard zero-field-cooling dc magnetization relaxation data obtained in the low temperature T region with the applied magnetic field H oriented along the c axis reveals the occurrence of a crossover elastic (collective) vortex creep at low T?plastic vortex creep at high T, generated by the …

Reduced thermal conductivity of TiNiSn/HfNiSn superlattices

Diminution of the thermal conductivity is a crucial aspect in thermoelectric research. We report a systematic and significant reduction of the cross-plane thermal conductivity in a model system consisting of DC sputtered TiNiSn and HfNiSn half-Heusler superlattices. The reduction of $\kappa$ is measured by the 3$\omega$ method and originates from phonon scattering at the internal interfaces. Heat transport in the superlattices is calculated based on Boltzmann transport theory, including a diffusive mismatch model for the phonons at the internal interfaces. Down to superlattice periodicity of 3 nm the phonon spectrum mismatch between the superlattice components quantitatively explains the re…

Enhanced orbital magnetic moments in the Heusler compounds ,,

Abstract Using the magnetic circular dichroism in X-ray absorption at the L2,3-edges of the 3d-transition metals, we determined the element specific ratio between orbital and spin magnetic moment of the Heusler compounds Co 2 CrAl , Co 2 Cr 0.6 Fe 0.4 Al and Co2FeAl. The orbital magnetic moment per spin is large (0.1–0.2) compared to bulk values of Fe and Co metals.

High sensitivity characterization of the nonlinear electric susceptibility of a glass ceramic in the microwave range

The nonlinear electric susceptibility of a glass ceramic is characterized in the microwave range by measuring intermodulation of two high-power signals. To achieve the necessary sensitivity for dielectric nonlinearities, the setup ensures that the measured intermodulation can be ascribed to the material under test while all other intermodulation sources are suppressed. This is achieved by coupling three dielectric resonators in a cut-off waveguide. The third order nonlinearity of the glass ceramic is found to be χ3/er = (1.6 ± 0.8) × 10−15 m2/V2 at 950 MHz. The magnitude is comparable to the previously measured high-end sintered ceramics. The power of the intermodulation signal as a functio…

Absence of correlated flux pinning by columnar defects in irradiated epitaxial Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 thin films

Abstract Using heavy-ion irradiation, we produced columnar defects of different density and orientation in epitaxial Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 thin films. Although this increases the normal state resistivity and the critical temperature is reduced proportionally to the volume fraction of damaged material, pinning-related quantities like critical current density, activation energy and depinning field are enhanced in external magnetic fields. Transport measurements in dependence of the magnetic field and its orientation consistently indicate two-dimensional pinning of pancake vortices at the columnar defects. We observe the absence of correlated flux pinning by columnar defects and compare to heav…

An interface effect in c-oriented (Y/Pr)Ba2Cu3O7 Superlattices: Raman scattering by ‘Forbidden’ phonons

Abstract Raman results of ultrathin layer high Tc superlattices ( Y m Pr 1 )Ba2Cu3O7 (m = 2, 3, 4) exhibit a common feature: new peaks, absent in the bulk compounds. These peaks are attributed to oxygen B1u symmetry modes confined in the YBa2Cu3O7 layers. To explain their Raman activity a mechanism based on the asymmetry of crystal field at Y-Pr layer interfaces is proposed.

Comment on “Nonlocal In-Plane Resistance due to Vortex-Antivortex Dynamics in High-TcSuperconducting Films”

A Comment on the Letter by Y. Kopelevich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4048 (1998). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply.

Influence of the MgO barrier thickness on the lifetime characteristics of magnetic tunnelling junctions for sensors

Magnetic tunnelling junctions increasingly enter the market for magnetic sensor applications. Thus, technological parameters such as the lifetime characteristics become more and more important. Here, an analysis of the lifetime characteristics of magnetic tunnelling junctions using the Weibull statistical distribution for CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB junctions is presented. The Weibull distribution is governed by two parameters, the characteristic lifetime η of the population and the shape parameter β, which gives information about the presence of an infant mortality. The suitability of the Weibull distribution is demonstrated for the description of dielectric breakdown processes in MgO-based tunnelling…

Large modulation of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in a BiFeO3/Al2O3/Pt/Co/Pt multiferroic heterostructure via spontaneous polarizations

Magnetism control has a variety of applications in magnetic storage and spintronic devices. Instead of the control of direct magnetoelectric coupling via strain, voltage, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, the polarization-dependent coupling in multiferroic materials such as BiFeO3 is employed for the electric-field control of magnetizations in this work. A perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) has been realized in a BiFeO3/Al2O3/Pt/Co/Pt multiferroic structure at room temperature. Interestingly, a distinct change of coercivity field (∼400%) has been observed in the structure with opposite polarization directions, which can be attributed to the different oxidation degree at the Pt/Co …

Improvement of the critical current density of spark plasma sintered MgB2by C60addition

We investigated the influence of fullerene (C60) addition on the superconducting parameters of MgB2 bulk samples obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS). It was found that 1.5?wt% C60 addition leads to the reduction of the critical temperature by a few K, whereas the magnetically determined critical current density increases by approximately one order of magnitude in an applied magnetic field H = 70?kOe at temperature T = 10?K. This indicates substitution of B by C in C60 added MgB2 processed by SPS, contrary to some data reported in the literature obtained using conventional methods. For our relatively large specimens, the occurrence of macroscale flux jumps was observed over a wide (H, T…

Large negative magnetoresistance effects in Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al

Abstract Materials, which display large changes in resistivity in response to an applied magnetic field (magnetoresistance) are currently of great interest due to their potential for applications in magnetic sensors, magnetic random access memories, and spintronics. Guided by striking features in the electronic structure of several magnetic compounds, we prepared the Heusler compound Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al. Based on our band structure calculations, we have chosen this composition in order to obtain a half-metallic ferromagnet with a van Hove singularity in the vicinity of the Fermi energy in the majority spin channel and a gap in the minority spin channel. We find a magnetoresistive effect of 30% …

Electric field modification of magnetotransport in Ni thin films on (011) PMN-PT piezosubstrates

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 062404 (2015) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4907775 This study reports the magnetotransport and magnetic properties of 20 nm-thick polycrystalline Ni films deposited by magnetron sputtering on unpoled piezoelectric (011) [PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3]0.68-[PbTiO3]0.32 (PMN-PT) substrates. The longitudinal magnetoresistance (MR) of the Ni films on (011) PMN-PT, measured at room temperature in the magnetic field range of −0.3 T < μ0H < 0.3 T, is found to depend on the crystallographic direction and polarization state …

Ultrabroadband single-cycle terahertz pulses with peak fields of 300 kV cm-1 from a metallic spintronic emitter

To explore the capabilities of metallic spintronic thin-film stacks as a source of intense and broadband terahertz electromagnetic fields, we excite a W/CoFeB/Pt trilayer on a large-area glass substrate (diameter of 7.5 cm) by a femtosecond laser pulse (energy 5.5 mJ, duration 40 fs, wavelength 800 nm). After focusing, the emitted terahertz pulse is measured to have a duration of 230 fs, a peak field of 300 kV cm$^{-1}$ and an energy of 5 nJ. In particular, the waveform exhibits a gapless spectrum extending from 1 to 10 THz at 10% of amplitude maximum, thereby facilitating nonlinear control over matter in this difficult-to-reach frequency range and on the sub-picosecond time scale.

On the determination of vortex creep parameters in superconductors using standard magnetization relaxation data

The relaxation of the irreversible magnetic moment m(t) in YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films was investigated as a function of temperature T and the external magnetic field H along the c axis applied in zero-field cooling conditions, for the determination of vortex creep parameters. The data analysis was performed using the T and current density dependence of the normalized vortex creep activation energy, or by the fit of the m(t) data with the well known interpolation formula in the framework of the general vortex creep equation. It was found that (i) even for specimens with strong static pinning the characteristic pinning energy remains small in the low-T range, where the vortex creep appearing in s…

Full Tunability of Strain along the fcc-bcc Bain Path in Epitaxial Films and Consequences for Magnetic Properties

Strained coherent film growth is commonly either limited to ultrathin films or low strains. Here, we present an approach to achieve high strains in thicker films, by using materials with inherent structural instabilities. As an example, 50 nm thick epitaxial films of the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{70}{\mathrm{Pd}}_{30}$ magnetic shape memory alloy are examined. Strained coherent growth on various substrates allows us to adjust the tetragonal distortion from $c/{a}_{\mathrm{bct}}=1.09$ to 1.39, covering most of the Bain transformation path from fcc to bcc crystal structure. Magnetometry and x-ray circular dichroism measurements show that the Curie temperature, orbital magnetic moment, and magnetocrysta…

Thermal generation of spin current in epitaxial CoFe2O4 thin films

The longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) has been investigated in high-quality epitaxial CoFe2O4 (CFO) thin films. The thermally excited spin currents in the CFO films are electrically detected in adjacent Pt layers due to the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). The LSSE signal exhibits a linear increase with increasing temperature gradient, yielding a LSSE coefficient of ~100 nV/K at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the LSSE is investigated from room temperature down to 30 K, showing a significant reduction at low temperatures, revealing that the total amount of thermally generated magnons decreases. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the spin Seebeck effect is an effective to…

Impact of the interplay of piezoelectric strain and current-induced heating on the field-like spin–orbit torque in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/Co20Fe60B20/Ta/MgO film

Spin–orbit torques (SOTs) are known to be the most efficient way to manipulate the magnetization direction by electrical currents. While, conventionally, one symmetry component of the SOTs, namely, the damping-like torque, was considered to play a primary role, recently, the significance of the other component, the field-like torque, has been revised, owing to the non-trivial dynamics it can induce in heavy metal/ferromagnet multilayers. In this work, we first discuss the unusual behavior of the field-like SOT in a Ta/CoFeB/Ta/MgO multilayer system with a reduced magnetic anisotropy and demonstrate an energy-efficient approach to manipulate the magnitude of the SOT effective fields. Finally…

Shift of the surface-barrier part of the irreversibility line due to columnar defects in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 thin films

We report the results of studying the influence of the uranium-ion irradiation of the Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 thin films on the high-temperature part (close to critical temperature) of their irreversibility line. We studied irreversible properties of the films by measuring the hysteresis of nonresonant microwave absorption. The results have revealed the shift of irreversibility line towards low temperatures and magnetic fields. The effect is most significant for the films irradiated with large doses, more than 1T. This fact is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction by Koshelev and Vinokur of suppression of surface barrier by columnar defects.

Generation of broadband THz transients via metallic spintronic emitters driven by 20-fs pulses at 1030 nm

We explore power and bandwidth scaling for the generation of highly-temporally-confined THz transients from spintronic emitters, driven by the 250-fs and 20-fs pulses of a high-power 28-MHz Yb-based laser, spectrally centered at 1030 nm.

Impact of Annealing Temperature on Tunneling Magnetoresistance Multilayer Stacks

The effect of annealing temperatures on the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) has been investigated for annealing between 190 and 370°C. The TMR shows a maximum value of 215% at an annealing temperature of 330°C. A strong sensitivity of the TMR and the exchange bias of the pinned ferromagnetic layers on the annealing temperature are observed. Depending on sensor application requirements, the MTJ can be optimized either for stability and pinning strength or for a high TMR signal by choosing the appropriate annealing temperature. The switching mechanism of the ferromagnetic layers in the MTJ and the influence of the annealing on the layer properties,…

Epitaxial film growth and magnetic properties ofCo2FeSi

We have grown thin films of the Heusler compound ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{Fe}\mathrm{Si}$ by RF magnetron sputtering. On (100)-oriented MgO substrates we find fully epitaxial (100)-oriented and $L{2}_{1}$ ordered growth. On ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}(11\overline{2}0)$ substrates, the film growth is (110)-oriented, and several in-plane epitaxial domains are observed. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity shows a power law with an exponent of $7∕2$ at low temperatures. Investigation of the bulk magnetic properties reveals an extrapolated saturation magnetization of $5.0{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}∕\mathrm{f.u.}$ at $0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$. The films on $…

Spin-resolved unoccupied density of states in epitaxial Heusler-alloy films

We investigate the electronic properties of epitaxial ${\text{Co}}_{2}({\text{Fe}}_{x}{\text{Mn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x})\text{Si}$, ${\text{Co}}_{2}\text{Fe}({\text{Al}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Si}}_{x})$, and ${\text{Co}}_{2}({\text{Cr}}_{0.6}{\text{Fe}}_{0.4})\text{Al}$ films on MgO(100) substrates using circular dichroism in x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XMCD). Considering final-state electron correlations, the spin-resolved partial density of states at the Co atom can be extracted from XMCD data. The experimental results corroborate the predicted half-metallic ferromagnetic properties of these alloys and reveal a compositional dependence of the Fermi energy position within the minority b…

Quantitative analysis of magnetization reversal in Ni thin films on unpoled and poled (0 1 1) [PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3]0.68–[PbTiO3]0.32piezoelectric substrates

The field angle dependence of the magnetization reversal in 20 nm thick polycrystalline Ni films grown on piezoelectric (0 1 1) [PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3](0.68)-[PbTiO3](0.32) (PMN-PT) substrates is analysed quantitatively to study the magnetic anisotropy induced in the film by poling the piezosubstrate. While the PMN-PT is in the unpoled state, the magnetization reversal is almost isotropic as expected from the polycrystalline nature of the film and corresponding to an orientation ratio (OR) of 1.2. The orientation ratio is obtained by fitting the angular dependence of normalized remanent magnetization to an adapted Stoner-Wohlfarth relation. Upon poling the piezosubstrate, a strong uniaxial anisotr…

Enhanced Magneto-optic Kerr Effect and Magnetic Properties ofCeY2Fe5O12Epitaxial Thin Films

Integrated magneto-optical components require magnetic thin films for tuning of their parameters, and for many applications yttrium iron garnet (YIG) is the material of choice. The authors study high-quality cerium-substituted YIG thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition, which possess tunable magnetic anisotropy and a greatly enhanced magneto-optic Kerr effect, compared to conventional films. This discovery presents new opportunities for engineering tomorrow's magneto-optical and spintronic logic devices.

Confined and extended optical phonons in an ultrathin-layerYBa2Cu3O7/PrBa2Cu3O7superlattice

Raman-scattering studies of a high-quality ultrathin-layer (${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$${)}_{4}$/(${\mathrm{PrBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7}$${)}_{1}$ superconducting superlattice resolve, in addition to the combined ${\mathit{B}}_{1\mathit{u}}$ mode at 310 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ previously reported for a 2:1 sample, a peak at 350 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ at low temperature. This peak and also others have been interpreted by a lattice-dynamical calculation for the superlattice. The results are compared with confined or extended phonon pictures. The superlattice mode is not renormalized below the superconducti…

Detailed photoluminescence study of vapor deposited Bi2S3 films of different surface morphology

authorenWe present a temperature- and intensity-dependent photoluminescence (PL) study of the binary semiconductor on the mm-scale and a laterally resolved PL measurement with a resolution of nm. The films can show a rather rough surface with needles and flakes of with different orientations as well as very flat and smooth surface morphology. Despite a band gap of eV the films show a splitting of quasi-Fermi levels (QFL) of meV at room temperature. By means of temperature-dependent PL we have located several radiative and non-radiative defect states in the band gap. For a better understanding of this thin film semiconductor a full analysis of the laterally resolved PL measurement including …

Femtosecond formation dynamics of the spin Seebeck effect revealed by terahertz spectroscopy

Understanding the transfer of spin angular momentum is essential in modern magnetism research. A model case is the generation of magnons in magnetic insulators by heating an adjacent metal film. Here, we reveal the initial steps of this spin Seebeck effect with &lt;27fs time resolution using terahertz spectroscopy on bilayers of ferrimagnetic yttrium-iron garnet and platinum. Upon exciting the metal with an infrared laser pulse, a spin Seebeck current $j_\textrm{s}$ arises on the same ~100fs time scale on which the metal electrons thermalize. This observation highlights that efficient spin transfer critically relies on carrier multiplication and is driven by conduction electrons scattering …

Phonon Bridge Effect in Superlattices of Thermoelectric TiNiSn/HfNiSn With Controlled Interface Intermixing

© 2020 by the authors

Charge-carrier density collapse in and epitaxial thin films

We measured the temperature dependence of the linear high field pH of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 Tc = 232K) and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 Tc = 345K) thin films in the temperature range from 4 K up to 360 K in magnetic fields up to 20 T. At low temperatures we find a charge-carrier density of 1.3 and 1.4 holes per unit cell for the Ca- and Sr-doped compound, respectively. In this temperature range electron-magnon scattering contributes to the longitudinal resistivity. At the ferromagnetic transition temperature Tc a dramatic drop in the number of charge-carriers n down to 0.6 holes per unit cell, accompanied by an increase in unit cell volume, is observed. Corrections of the Hall data due to a non saturated ma…