Search results for "General Physics"
showing 10 items of 13583 documents
High pressure crystal structures of orthovanadates and their properties
2020
Pressure-induced phase transitions in orthovanadates have led to interesting physical phenomena. The observed transitions usually involve large volume collapses and drastic changes in the electronic and vibrational properties of the materials. In some cases, the phase transitions implicate coordination changes in vanadium, which has important consequences in the physical properties of vanadates. In this Perspective, we explore the current knowledge of the behavior of MVO4 vanadates under compression. In particular, we summarize studies of the structural, vibrational, and electronic properties and a few illustrative examples of high-pressure research in the compounds of interest are discusse…
The influence of AlN buffer over the polarity and the nucleation of self-organized GaN nanowires
2015
We experimentally investigate the influence of AlN buffer growth on the nucleation and the polarity of a self-organized assembly of GaN nanowires (NWs) grown on Si. Two complementary growth mechanisms for AlN buffer deposited on Si are demonstrated. Both emphasize the aggregation of Si on the AlN surface and the growth of large cubic crystallites, namely, AlN pedestals. Further growths of GaN NWs assembly reveal that the GaN 2D layer found at the bottom of the NW assembly is the result of the coalescence of Ga-polar pyramids, whereas AlN pedestals are observed as preferential but not exclusive NW nucleation sites. NWs are N-polar or exhibit inversion domains with a Ga-polar core/N-polar she…
Spin Hall magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic insulators
2020
Antiferromagnetic materials promise improved performance for spintronic applications, as they are robust against external magnetic field perturbations and allow for faster magnetization dynamics compared to ferromagnets. The direct observation of the antiferromagnetic state, however, is challenging due to the absence of a macroscopic magnetization. Here, we show that the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) is a versatile tool to probe the antiferromagnetic spin structure via simple electrical transport experiments by investigating the easy-plane antiferromagnetic insulators $\alpha$-Fe2O3 (hematite) and NiO in bilayer heterostructures with a Pt heavy metal top electrode. While rotating an ext…
Tailoring the anomalous Hall effect of SrRuO$_3$ thin films by strain: a first principles study
2021
Motivated by the recently observed unconventional Hall effect in ultra-thin films of ferromagnetic SrRuO$_3$ (SRO) we investigate the effect of strain-induced oxygen octahedral distortion in the electronic structure and anomalous Hall response of the SRO ultra-thin films by virtue of density functional theory calculations. Our findings reveal that the ferromagnetic SRO films grown on SrTiO$_3$ (in-plane strain of $-$0.47$\%$) have an orthorhombic (both tilting and rotation) distorted structure and with an increasing amount of substrate-induced compressive strain the octahedral tilting angle is found to be suppressed gradually, with SRO films grown on NdGaO$_3$ (in-plane strain of $-$1.7$\%$…
Large Zero-Field Cooled Exchange-Bias in BulkMn2PtGa
2013
We report a large exchange-bias (EB) effect after zero-field cooling the new tetragonal Heusler compound Mn2PtGa from the paramagnetic state. The first-principle calculation and the magnetic measurements reveal that Mn2PtGa orders ferrimagnetically with some ferromagnetic (FM) inclusions. We show that ferrimagnetic (FI) ordering is essential to isothermally induce the exchange anisotropy needed for the zero-field cooled (ZFC) EB during the virgin magnetization process. The complex magnetic behavior at low temperatures is characterized by the coexistence of a field induced irreversible magnetic behavior and a spin-glass-like phase. The field induced irreversibility originates from an unusual…
Phase segregation in Mg$_{x}$Zn$_{1-x}$O probed by optical absorption and photoluminescence at high pressure
2017
The appearance of segregated wurtzite Mg$_x$Zn$_{1-x}$O with low Mg content in thin films with $x>0.3$ affected by phase separation, cannot be reliably probed with crystallographic techniques owing to its embedded nanocrystalline configuration. Here we show a high-pressure approach which exploits the distinctive behaviors under pressure of wurtzite Mg$_x$Zn$_{1-x}$O thin films with different Mg contents to unveil phase segregation for $x>0.3$. By using ambient conditions photoluminescence (PL), and with optical absorption and PL under high pressure for $x=0.3$ we show that the appearance of a segregated wurtzite phase with a magnesium content of x $\sim$ 0.1 is inherent to the wurtzit…
Amorphous ultra-wide bandgap ZnOx thin films deposited at cryogenic temperatures
2020
Crystalline wurtzite zinc oxide (w-ZnO) can be used as a wide band gap semiconductor for light emitting devices and for transparent or high temperature electronics. The use of amorphous zinc oxide (a-ZnO) can be an advantage in these applications. In this paper we report on X-ray amorphous a-ZnOx thin films (~500 nm) deposited at cryogenic temperatures by reactive magnetron sputtering. The substrates were cooled by a nitrogen flow through the copper substrate holder during the deposition. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, infrared, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopies, and ellipsometry. The a-ZnOx films on glass and Ti substrates were obtained at the substrate holder temp…
A half-metallic half-Heusler alloy having the largest atomic-like magnetic moment at optimized lattice constant
2016
For half-Heusler alloys, the general formula is XYZ, where X can be a transition or alkali metal element, Y is another transition metal element, typically Mn or Cr, and Z is a group IV element or a pnicitide. The atomic arrangements within a unit-cell show three configurations. Before this study, most of the predictions of half-metallic properties of half-Heusler alloys at the lattice constants differing from their optimized lattice constant. Based on the electropositivity of X and electronegativity of Z for half-Heusler alloys, we found that one of the configurations of LiCrS exhibits half-metallic properties at its optimized lattice constant of 5.803Å, and has the maximum atomic-like magn…
45° sign switching of effective exchange bias due to competing anisotropies in fully epitaxial Co3FeN/MnN bilayers
2017
We report an unusual angular-dependent exchange bias effect in ferromagnet/antiferromagnet bilayers, where both ferromagnet and antiferromagnet are epitaxially grown. Numerical model calculations predict an approximately 45° period for the sign switching of the exchange-bias field, depending on the ratio between magnetocrystalline anisotropy and exchange-coupling constant. The switching of the sign is indicative of a competition between a fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the ferromagnet and a unidirectional anisotropy field of the exchange coupling. This predicted unusual angular-dependent exchange bias and its magnetization switching process are confirmed by measurements on fully …
Determination of fine magnetic structure of magnetic multilayer with quasi antiferromagnetic layer by using polarized neutron reflectivity analysis
2020
We carried out polarized neutron reflectivity (PNR) analysis to determine the fine magnetic structure of magnetic multilayers with quasi-antiferromagnetic (quasi-AFM) layers realized by 90-deg coupling using two Co90Fe10 layers, and quantitatively evaluated the magnetization of quasi-AFM layers. Two types of samples with different buffer layers, Ru buffer and a NiFeCr buffer, were investigated and the average angles between the respective magnetization of the two Co90Fe10 layers were estimated to be +/− 39 degrees and +/− 53 degrees. In addition, less roughness was found in the NiFeCr buffer sample resulting stronger 90-deg coupling. A perfect quasi-AFM is expected to be realized by a flat …