National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Multiband superconductors can have several types of domains that are inhibited in conventional single-band superconductors. These domains are phase domains and chiral domains and their domain wall are an interband phase difference soliton. In a superconductor with an odd number of electronic bands (five or more) and with positive interband Josephson interactions, we find other types of domains with different interband phase differences. We call these domains configuration domains because pseudo-order parameters for each band are dispersed in the complex plain and several configurations, which have several local minima. Fractional vortices serve as hubs for phase difference solitons (configuration domain walls). The divergence of the number of configurations with local minima would pose a serious problem for the stability of superconductivity. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The first field for magnetic flux penetration H in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta (Bi-2212) single crystals near the critical temperature T-c was investigated from the local magnetic hysteresis loops registered for different magnetic field H sweeping rates by using a scanning Hall probe microscope (SHPM) with similar to 1 mu m effective spatial resolution. Evidences for a significant role of the surface barrier were obtained: the asymmetric shape of the magnetization loops and an anomalous change in the slope of H-p(T) close to T-c. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel nanocomposite FePt-based exchange-coupled magnet has been synthesized and structurally and magnetically characterized. We report for the first time the direct formation of the L1(0) FePt phase without the need for post-synthesis annealing procedures in Fe-Pt-based melt-spun ribbons, obtained by a conventional melt spinning method. The structure and magnetic properties are investigated and the occurrence of the L1(0) ordered phase in the as-cast state of Fe-Pt-Ag-B melt-spun ribbons is confirmed by XRD and magnetic measurements. A microstructure consisting of fine, uniformly dispersed, 22-24 nm FePt grains dispersed within a soft magnetic matrix is observed by scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging. Coercive fields as high as 727 kAm(-1), saturation magnetization of about 1.2 T and energy product around 87 kJm(-3) are determined from 270 K hysteresis loops of the as-cast ribbons, making one of the best FePt-based nanocomposite magnet ribbons even without further annealing treatments.

We show that the optical infrared magneto-refractive effect can be used to probe magneto-resistance effects in absolute terms. A spin valve sample with synthetic anti-ferromagnet has been studied using non-contact infrared reflection spectroscopy measurements. Direct experimental comparison shows excellent agreement between electrical and optical measurements in both shape of the magneto-resistance curves and absolute values. This opens the possibility of developing fast and efficient tests of magneto-resistive samples and sensors using an in situ, non-contact, non-destructive optical approach, without the need to determine a calibration factor between the electrical and optical measurements. [doi:10.1063/1.3631778]

The relaxation of the irreversible magnetic moment m(t) in YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) (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 standard magnetization measurements is elastic, (ii) the observed strong increase of the time scale for creep and the decrease of the creep exponent with increasing H beyond the theoretical predictions can be attributed to the crossover elastic-creep-plastic-creep generated by the macroscopic currents induced in the specimen during magnetization measurements, and (iii) the creep parameters extracted with the interpolation formula are highly affected by the m(t) data registered at short t, which may lead to unphysical creep parameter values.

In the so-called 'step-shape' angular spin distribution model for layered systems, the non-collinear directions of the atomic magnetic moments are confined to the film plane and form a homogeneous fan spanning inside an (in-plane) angular interval Delta phi centered at an angle phi(0). A general approach for deriving the two parameters phi(0) and Delta phi via Fe-57 Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements is discussed. The analysis extends our previously reported treatment, which assumed that the angular aperture Delta phi develops symmetrically versus a fixed direction phi(0) (e.g., the in-plane easy axis of magnetization) oriented either along or perpendicular to the in-plane projection of the Mossbauer gamma-ray direction. The proposed approach is also applicable for those cases when not only the spin aperture Delta phi is changing but also the aperture center phi(0) is rotating under the influence of different external parameters, such as applied field, temperature, stress, etc. The method is suitable for applications to nanoscale layered heterostructures with in-plane uniaxial or unidirectional magnetic anisotropy. The method is applied to experimental data obtained on a 2-nm thick defected Fe layer with in-plane magnetic texture. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The results of the electric and magnetic measurements performed on PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3-BiFeO3 symmetric structures, deposited on Pt/Si wafers, were compared for different number of layers in order to analyse the effect of interfaces over the macroscopic properties. It was found that the shape and magnitude of the capacitance-voltage characteristic, as well as the shape and parameters of the ferroelectric and magnetic hysteresis, depend on the number of interfaces in the intended multilayer structure. A temperature induced gradual transition from a magnetically disordered spin glass like phase of low temperature to an uncompensated antiferromagnetic phase at room temperature takes place in the BiFeO3 films, under low applied magnetic fields. A partial ferromagnetic like order can be obtained at low temperatures by increasing the field. The observed changes in the electric and magnetic behaviour of the systems were related to an increased degree of disorder for electric dipoles and magnetic moments, due to the increased number of layers and crystallization treatments. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ac susceptibility measurements as a function of temperature T and the ac magnetic field amplitude, Hac, have been performed on five superconducting Bi1.8Pb0.4Sr2Ca2-xYxCu3Ox polycrystalline samples (x = 0, 0.005, 0.04, 0.15 and 0.36, and with the volume fraction of the Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy (2223) phase, f approximate to 100%, 100%, 64%, 0% and 0%, respectively. By using the Muller model for granular superconductors, we found that the pinning force density obtained from the imaginary peak of chi ''(T) is strongly dependent on the doping level. To describe this dependence we adopted the multilayer model (a stack of superconducting, S, and normal, N, layers) of a superconductor. In the framework of this model, we demonstrated that (a) the yttrium addition influences the degree of coupling between the adjacent S layers (and thereby, the pinning strength) through the modification of the carrier concentration and of the effective thickness of the N layers, and (b) the intergrowth of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O delta (2212) layers within the 2223 grains has an important influence on the thickness of N. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CeO2 films were prepared from solutions of different concentrations (0.05-1.0 M) on textured Ni substrates. Homogeneous nucleation and growth of CeO2 nanocrystals <8 nm occurs upon calcination at 350-500 degrees C. At the heating and sintering stage, the homogeneous growth is inhibited in favor of the development of grains with (0 0 1) texture. The grain growth normal to the film surface is well described by a stretched exponential function with a relaxation time of up to 60 min and with Kohlrausch exponent values of less than unity. The increase in grain size is accompanied by the relaxation of the microstrain. During the relaxation time, the grain coarsening is controlled by surface diffusion characterized by an activation energy as low as 0.6 eV. At the relaxation time, the surface morphology is strongly concentration dependent. The surface morphology changes from separated (agglomerated) grains to a continuous grain configuration as the concentration increases from 0.05 M to 0.8 M. After the relaxation time, both the grain size normal to the film surface and the lateral grain size continue to grow, and the grain configuration continues to change. These processes are concentration dependent. In the films with a nominal thickness >170 nm (>0.8 M), the transition to classical curvature-driven grain-growth kinetics is evident (at 1000 degrees C, below the literature value of 1100 degrees C). The decrease in the Kohlrausch exponent for these thick films suggests that the grain coarsening through grain boundary migration is responsible for the stretched regime of grain-size relaxation. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nanostructured powders processed by ball milling of a mixture of Fe and Fe3O4 at room temperature are shown to undergo an incomplete redox reaction with formation of FeO during the milling process. This reaction is favored by the high energy introduced during the mechano-alloying process. Concurrent effects of milling such as grain refinement down to the nanometre scale lead at the end of the milling processes to a mixed multiphase powder of nanograins, with Fe and Fe oxide grains inter-dispersed. We show that in the as-milled Fe/Fe3O4 powder, during milling process, wustite (FeO) is formed as a consequence of the redox reaction. Moreover, with increasing temperature, the system undergoes an inverse phase transformation towards the initial Fe and Fe3O4 phases until about 450 degrees C. Above this temperature the reduction reaction Fe + Fe3O4 = 4FeO is reinitiated, resulting in sharp decrease of Fe and Fe3O4 content from about 550 degrees C and almost complete disappearance of these phases at about 900 degrees C. This transformation was investigated via an energy-dispersive in situ X-ray diffraction experiment using the synchrotron radiation. This study allows direct collection of X-ray patterns after few minutes exposure, at selected temperatures, ranging between 20 degrees C and 1000 degrees C. The structural and magnetic characterizations of the nanograin powders, as-milled and annealed at several temperatures, are studied using XRD, SEM and magnetic measurements. Such ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic composites are extensively studied as they exhibit exchange bias effect, with a large impact in technological applications. The magnetic behaviour and intrinsic mechanisms leading to the occurrence of exchange bias effects are discussed and related to the samples microstructural features. A significant exchange bias effect, related to FeO content, is observed for as-milled sample, the effect being less pronounced upon annealing the nanograin powder. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.