Accurate characterization of room-temperature long range magnetic order in GaN: Mn by magnetic force microscope

Room-temperature ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature higher than 380 K was studied in GaN: Mn thin films grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. By etching artificial microstructures on the GaN: Mn layer,strong magnetic responses were observed in the magnetic force microscopy (MFM) measurement,which revealed that the films were independent of dopant particles and clusters. Numerical simulation on the data of atomic force microscope (AFM) and MFM measurements covering the whole microstructure validated the formation of long range magnetic order. This result excluded a variety of controversial origins of room-temperature ferromagnetism in the GaN: Mn and gave a strong evidence of our GaN: Mn as the intrinsic diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS). The forwarded method for accurate characterization of long range magnetic order could be applied to a wide range of DMS and diluted magnetic oxide (DMO) systems.

Characterization of Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of NdFeB Magnet with Dy, Al and Cu Additions

A new alloy of Nd33.5Dy0.99Febal.Al0.52Cu0.1B1.15 (%, mass fraction) was fabricated by powder metallurgy. The effects of Dy, Al and Cu additions on the microstructure and magnetic properties of sintered NdFeB magnet were investigated. The additions of Dy, Al and Cu are effective to refine grains and improve coercivity. Moreover, suitable amounts of Dy, Al and Cu lead to a demagnetization curve with good rectangularity. It is found that the sintered NdFeB magnet has relatively high magnetic performance of Br=12.17 kGs, jHc=13.52 kOe and (BH)max=34.71 MGOe. The sintered NdFeB sample was examined by magnetic force microscope which revealed the domain structures at the surface. It is revealed that the mean Nd2Fe14B grain size is significantly larger than the average scale of the magnetic contrast. An explanation about this is that most Nd2Fe14B grains in sintered NdFeB alloy are dominated with the multidomain structures when the magnet is in thermally demagnetization state.

Visualization of tunnel magnetoresistance effect in single manganite nanowires

We reported a study of tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR)effect in single manganite nanowire via the combination of magnetotransport and magnetic force microscopy imaging.TMR value up to 290%has been observed in single(La1-yPry)1-x CaxMnO3 nanowires with varying width.We find that the TMR effect can be explained in the scenario of opening and blockade of conducting channels from inherent magnetic domain evolutions.Our findings provide a new route to fabricate TMR junctions and point towards future improvements in complex oxide-based TMR spintronics.

Magnetic properties,crystalline and magnetic microstructures of dual-main-phase(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B sintered magnets

The(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B sintered magnets were prepared by a dual-main-phase(DMP)process under the same conditions using different combinations of Nd-Fe-B with Ce-Fe-B and(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B strips.The crystalline and magnetic microstructures of DMP(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B magnets with the remanence of 11.92-12.68 kGs,the intrinsic coercivity of 3.97-5.31 kOe,and the maximum energy product of 23.08-32.99 MGOe have been investigated.Magnetic force microscope(MFM)investigations reveal that the DMP(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B magnets show maze-like patterns,which are like that of standard anisotropy Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets by and large.However,much finer domain structures mixing with coarse ones can be observed obviously in DMP(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B sintered magnets.The size distribution of the domain width of the DMP(Nd,Ce)-Fe-B magnet is not uniform obviously.The average domain width is W=0.912μm,and the fine domain width has only 0.216μm.The smaller domain width and more branch domain patterns exist in poorer coercivity DMP magnets.This is caused by the non-uniform Ce composition of poorer property DMP magnets and the grain boundary microstructure that is not conducive to improving the coercivity.Furthermore,it is found that some domains of rare-earth-rich grain boundary phases exhibit the characteristics of plate-like patterns rather than no-contrast by using MFM,indicating their ferromagnetism.Obvious correlations between the crystalline microstructure,chemical composition of phases,and magnetic structure were demonstrated for the DMP magnets.

Critical fluctuations upon photoinduced phase transition in manganite strips

Light,acting as an external stimulus to induce various intriguing phenomena ranging from photovoltaics to photoinduced catalysis,exerts prominent effects in strongly correlated systems.It would be of particular interest to investigate photon-induced emerging phenomena in spatially confined strongly correlated systems,which are important for applications of these materials in future electronic devices.Colossal magnetoresistive manganites materials offer an ideal platform for such study due to their sensitivity to photo-excitation.Here,we fabricated 900 nm wide La_(0.325)Pr_(0.3)Ca_(0.375)Mn O_3strips,whose width is comparable to the size of the electronic phase separation(EPS)domains in this system.We observed the photoinduced critical fluctuations in the strips,where abrupt resistivity jumps occurred upon photoinduced phase transition depending sensitively on the light intensity.Based on the microscopic views of the EPS domains under photoexcitation,we conclude that such photo-induced resistivity fluctuations originate from the photoinduced phase fluctuations of individual EPS domains when their size becomes comparable to the strip width.