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This paper presents a new idea of wireless power transfer (WPT) and fault diagnosis (FD) of high-voltage power line via robotic bird. The key is to present the conceptual robotic bird with WPT coupling coil for detecting and capturing the energy from the high-voltage power line. If the power line works in normal condition, the robotic bird is able to stand on the power line and extract energy from it. If fault occurs on the power line, the corresponding magnetic field distribution will become different from that in the normal situation. By analyzing the magnetic field distribution of the power line, the WPT to the robotic bird and the FD by the robotic bird are performed and verified.

Gas breakdown is typically driven by Townsend avalanche and predicted mathematically by Paschen’s law (PL). Gas breakdown deviates from PL at microscale due to field emission, which depends critically on electrode condition; however, understanding of the impact of initial electrode surface roughness and multiple breakdown events on breakdown voltage is incomplete. This paper assesses the variation of breakdown voltage for a pin-to-plate electrode setup in air at atmospheric pressure for gap distances of 1 ± 0.5 μm, 5 ± 0.5 μm, and 10 ± 0.5 μm with different surface roughnesses. Breakdown voltage generally increases with increasing gap distance and decreasing surface roughness for a single breakdown event; however, the breakdown voltage after ten breakdown events does not depend on initial gap distance. Atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy show that multiple discharges create circular craters on the flat cathode up to 40 μm deep, with more pronounced craters created at smaller gap sizes and greater cathode surface roughness. The resulting effective gap distances (deff, the sum of cathode placement distance and crater depth) for subsequent breakdown events are similar to those of the initially larger gap distances. Moreover, deff becomes sufficiently large to exceed the Meek criterion for streamer formation, indicating a potential for breakdown mechanisms to change from field emission to Townsend avalanche to streamer formation for a single electrode separation distance. The resulting impact of this change in the breakdown mechanism could have significant implications for ensuring consistent microdevice operation.Gas breakdown is typically driven by Townsend avalanche and predicted mathematically by Paschen’s law (PL). Gas breakdown deviates from PL at microscale due to field emission, which depends critically on electrode condition; however, understanding of the impact of initial electrode surface roughness and multiple breakdown events on breakdown voltage is incomplete. This paper assesses the variation of breakdown voltage for a pin-to-plate electrode setup in air at atmospheric pressure for gap distances of 1 ± 0.5 μm, 5 ± 0.5 μm, and 10 ± 0.5 μm with different surface roughnesses. Breakdown voltage generally increases with increasing gap distance and decreasing surface roughness for a single breakdown event; however, the breakdown voltage after ten breakdown events does not depend on initial gap distance. Atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy show that multiple discharges create circular craters on the flat cathode up to 40 μm deep, with more pronounced craters created at smaller gap sizes and great...

This paper proposes, analyzes, and demonstrates a method to characterize fluids by monitoring the rotational dynamics of 2.5-μm-diameter magnetic microdiscs in suspension via optical interrogation. The free-floating discs function like synchronized micro-shutters when actuated by an external magnetic field. Their motion is monitored via light transmission in response to a rotating magnetic field. The disc rotation is found, both theoretically and experimentally, to depend on the amplitude and the rotation frequency of the applied magnetic field with a high sensitivity to fluid viscosity changes from 1 to 2 mPa s, independent of the disc concentration in the solution from 20 to 120 M/ml. Consequently, the discs can function as microsensors via simple optical measurements.

This paper reports on the ohmic contact formed by the conductive glass layer found at the interface of Ag/Si contacts on lowly doped emitter silicon solar cells due to the presence of semimetal nanoparticles. The scanning electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscope analyses revealed an interface glass layer (IGL) thickness of greater than 380 nm, which was enriched with micro-sized alloys composed of semimetal nanoparticles. This IGL was conductive as confirmed by conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). The presence of these semimetal nanoparticles, identified as Ag 2Te and PbTe, was both endowed with low bandgap energies as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. These semimetal nanoparticles were found only in the IGL and formed a “bridge” to connect the Ag gridline and Si emitter for carrier transport. Based on the modified Fowler–Nordheim tunneling process, the modeled C-AFM I–V characteristic curve showed a barrier height of 0.1 eV corresponding to an IGL thickness of only 18 nm. Thus, the carrier transport mechanism “through the conductive bridge” was formed by the semimetal nanoparticles embedded in the IGL. Therefore, the high conductivity of the interface glass led to the specific contact resistance to be independent of the emitter peak doping concentration.

Due to the lack of the long-range order in their molecular structure, amorphous polymers possess a considerable free volume content in their inter-molecular space. During finite deformation, these free volume holes serve as the potential sites for localized permanent plastic deformation inclusions which are called shear transformation zones (STZs). While the free volume content has been experimentally shown to increase during the course of plastic straining in glassy polymers, thermal analysis of stored energy due to the deformation shows that the STZ nucleation energy decreases at large plastic strains. The evolution of the free volume, and the STZs number density and nucleation energy during the finite straining are formulated in this paper in order to investigate the uniaxial post-yield softening-hardening behavior of the glassy polymers. This study shows that the reduction of the STZ nucleation energy, which is correlated with the free volume increase, brings about the post-yield primary softening of the amorphous polymers up to the steady-state strain value; and the secondary hardening is a result of the increased number density of the STZs, which is required for large plastic strains, while their nucleation energy is stabilized beyond the steady-state strain. The evolutions of the free volume content and STZ nucleation energy are also used to demonstrate the effect of the strain rate, temperature, and thermal history of the sample on its post-yield behavior. The obtained results from the model are compared with the experimental observations on poly(methyl methacrylate) which show a satisfactory consonance.

In contact-mode scanning probe microscopy (SPM), the cantilever's dynamics are conventionally investigated by assuming the tip to be always in contact with the sample's surface. At high scanning speeds, however, the cantilever's inertia becomes dominant and the tip can therefore completely detach from the surface and start impacting upon it. Experiments at the macro-scale cannot emulate the complex micro-scale dynamics, as the system exhibits negligible effects due to meniscus forces and the surrounding medium's squeeze film damping; however, they can provide qualitative insight into the cantilever's dynamics at high frequencies, corresponding to those likely to be excited during video-rate SPM imaging. This paper investigates such intermittent impact dynamics for an upscaled cantilever, analytically, numerically, and experimentally. In contact-mode scanning, a critical scan speed exists beyond which the cantilever's tip loses contact with the sample's surface; a closed-form expression for this contact loss frequency is derived. At high scan speeds, impacts cause the cantilever to switch between different contact regimes: in-, off-, and grazing-contact; within each regime, the system's modal configuration is different. Experimentally-obtained Poincare maps indicate quasi-periodic behaviour at frequencies for which the response is repetitive, as is also predicted by the model. Intermittent impacts excite the sub-and super-harmonics of the excitation frequency, which are related to the natural frequencies of different system configurations based on the "effective" tip-end boundary conditions. The cantilever's response exhibits several phenomena, such as modal transition, beating, grazing, and possible chaotic behaviour, depending upon the relation between the excitation harmonics and the natural frequencies. Published by AIP Publishing.

This paper presents a computationally efficient constitutive model for magnetostrictive materials. High computational efficiency is achieved through the use of local linearization (about easy axes) and discrete energy-averaging techniques. The model is applied to iron-gallium alloys (Galfenol) and tested for different magnetic field orientations relative to the easy axes. It is observed that the model accurately predicts both sensing and actuation characteristics while reducing the computation time by a large factor ( >1000 times) when compared to the nonlinear energy minimization models. Furthermore, the average error observed in λ– H and B– H curves is less than 3.5% with the error increasing at magnetic field orientations farther from easy axes, particularly at large magnetic field values. Finally, the model is integrated with a finite element framework to predict the response of a Galfenol rod transducer system, and parametric studies are performed for different current and prestress conditions to optimize the device performance.

Magnetic random access memories based on the spin transfer torque phenomenon (STT-MRAMs) have become one of the leading candidates for next generation memory applications. Among the many attractive features of this technology are its potential for high speed and endurance, read signal margin, low power consumption, scalability, and non-volatility. In this paper, we discuss our recent results on perpendicular STT-MRAM stack designs that show STT efficiency higher than 5 kBT/μA, energy barriers higher than 100 kBT at room temperature for sub-40 nm diameter devices, and tunnel magnetoresistance higher than 150%. We use both single device data and results from 8 Mb array to demonstrate data retention sufficient for automotive applications. Moreover, we also demonstrate for the first time thermal stability up to 400 °C exceeding the requirement of Si CMOS back-end processing, thus opening the realm of non-volatile embedded memory to STT-MRAM technology.

International audience; Contractile forces generated by cells and the stiffness of the surrounding extracellular matrix are two central mechanical factors that regulate cell function. To characterize the dynamic evolution of these two mechanical parameters during tissue morphogenesis, we developed a magnetically actuated micro-mechanical testing system in which fibroblast-populated collagen microtissues formed spontaneously in arrays of microwells that each contains a pair of elastomeric microcantilevers. We characterized the magnetic actuation performance of this system and evaluated its capacity to support long-term cell culture. We showed that cells in the microtissues remained viable during prolonged culture periods of up to 15 days, and that the mechanical properties of the microtissues reached and maintained at a stable state after a fast initial increase stage. Together, these findings demonstrate the utility of this microfabricated bio-magneto-mechanical system in extended mechanobiological studies in a physiologically relevant 3D environment.

Non-Contact Acousto-Thermal Signature (NCATS) analysis uses conversion of acoustic energy to heat to characterize evolving damage in materials. In the past, the observed temperature changes were interpreted using phenomenological approaches. This paper presents details of the mechanisms and the theoretical models to predict the temperature change due to conversion of acoustic energy to heat. NCATS experimental measurements performed using 20 kHz high amplitude acoustic waves on as received and fatigued polycrystalline Ti-6Al-4V are compared with theoretical calculations based on the mechanisms of transverse thermal currents, inter-crystalline thermal currents, and dislocation density changes. In the as received samples, the transverse thermal currents contribution has been found to be negligible compared with inter-crystalline thermal currents contribution. The experimentally measured maximum temperature change in the as received sample has been found to be 0.5 °C, and the theoretical prediction based on ...

In the present paper, we present results of thermal conductivity measurements in free standing carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn-like fibers. The measurements are made using a T-type experimental configuration utilizing a Wollaston-wire hot probe inside a scanning electron microscope. In this technique, a suspended platinum wire is used both as a heater and a thermal sensor. A low frequency alternating current source is used to heat the probe wire while the third harmonic voltage across the wire is measured by a lock-in amplifier. The conductivity is deduced from an analytical model that relates the drop in the spatially averaged temperature of the wire to that of the sample. The average thermal conductivity of the neat CNT fibers and the CNT –polymer composite fibers is found to be 448 W/m-K and 225 W/m-K, respectively. These values for conductivity are amongst the highest measured for CNT yarn-like fibers fabricated using a dry spinning process from vertically aligned CNT arrays. The enhancement in thermal conductivity is understood to be due to an increase in the CNT fiber elastic stiffness during the draw and twist operations, lower CNT thermal contact resistance due to increase in CNT contact area, and better alignment of the CNT fibrils along the length of the fiber.

In this paper, we report the effect of 1.5 MeV proton beam irradiation dose on the structural and electrical properties of TiO2 thin films deposited on n-Si substrates. The formation and transformation of different TiO2 phases in the irradiated thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that the as grown film was rich in Ti5O9 phase and then converted to mixed phases of TiO2 (rutile and anatase) after exposure with radiation doses up to 5 x 10(14) cm(-2). The XPS results revealed the formation of oxygen vacancy (negative) traps in the exposed TiO2 films, which showed strong dependence on the dose. The C-V measurements showed that proton radiations also damaged the Si substrate and created deep level defects in the substrate, which caused a shift of 0.26 +/- 0.01V in the flat band voltage (V-FB). I-V measurements showed that the ideality factor increased and the rectification ratio dropped with the increase in the radiation dose. The present study showed the stability of TiO2/Si interface and TiO2 film as an oxide layer against proton radiations. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

WOS:000335643700657; International audience; This paper is a proposal to embed tree-shaped vasculatures in a wall designed such that the wall withstands without excessive hot spots and peak stresses the intense heating and pressure that impinge on it. The vasculature is a quilt of square-shaped panels, each panel having a tree vasculature that connects the center with the perimeter. The vascular designs for volumetric cooling can be complemented by the shaping and distributing of channels for maximum strength and thermal performance at the same time. Numerical simulations of heat flow and thermal stresses in three directions show that it is possible to determine the optimal geometric features of configurations with radial channels and trees with radial and one level of bifurcations. The global performance is evaluated in terms of the overall thermal resistance and peak von Mises stresses. The dendritic design is superior under the studied thermal condition.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of easy axis direction against magnetoimpedance elements on stepped impedance properties. The angle between the easy axis and the element width is changed from 0° to 90°, and we examine the resulting impedance profiles. The magnetic field at which impedance is highest shifts to a lower field with increasing easy axis angles, which can be explained by a bias susceptibility theory. On the other hand, stepped impedance changes appear for the elements with an easy axis angle in the range of 35°–75°. We confirmed the stepped impedance property through our observations that those impedance jumps occur at transitional points of domain structure between single and multi domains by domain observations. The area where the impedance shows relatively low value and the element has multiple domains becomes narrower with increasing easy axis angles, which can be explained qualitatively on the basis of a simplified domain structure model.

Magnetic gears can transmit torque without any mechanical contact. Hence, they have low vibration, no wear, and fatigue, which ensure maintenance-free operation. There are various types of magnetic gears. Among them, a planetary type magnetic gear, which consists of coaxial inner and outer rotors with surface-mounted permanent magnet and ferromagnetic stationary parts called pole-pieces, has recently attracted interest since it offers higher torque than other type magnetic gears. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation of the influence of geometry and position of the pole-pieces on torque characteristic based on finite element analysis and experiment. Surveyed parameters of the pole-pieces include lengths in the radial and axial directions and position in the radial direction. Finally, it is demonstrated that the maximum torque of the improved prototype magnetic gear is increased by 45% and the maximum efficiency achieves up to about 99%, which is equal to or more than a conventional planetary t...

This paper reports morphology, structure, and magnetic properties of air-stable soft magnetic FexCo100−x (x = 65, 50, and 34) and Fe50Ni50 (at. %) submicron and nanosize particles fabricated by template-free thermal decomposition of nitrates of Fe, Co, and Ni and subsequent hydrogen reduction. The particle compositions were tuned by modification of the precursor solution concentrations. The as-synthesized Fe-Co and Fe50Ni50 particles have body centered cubic and face centered cubic poly-nanocrystalline structures, respectively. The Fe-Co and Fe50Ni50 particles have particle sizes in the range of 28–200 nm and 70–480 nm, and average grain sizes of 16–29 nm and 20–24 nm, respectively. The particle and grain sizes were controlled by tuning particle composition, and the temperature and time of hydrogen reduction. Saturation magnetization Ms as high as 207–224 emu/g and intrinsic coercivity Hci of 59–228 Oe were obtained in the Fe-Co particles reduced at 550 °C for 90 min. Of special note, the Ms of 224 emu/g ...

This paper presents a development of a microtransformer device fabricated using MEMS technology. The device is designed for higher switching frequencies beyond to 50 MHz power applications. The microtransformer features a closed magnetic core and six identity coils (three coils on primary and three coils on secondary side). Depending on connecting technique, this design allows a wide flexibility to set different values of inductance and of transformer winding ratio. As a magnetic core material Fe-Co alloy is applied, this device shows a significant improvement compared to the first fabricated prototypes with Ni-Fe magnetic core.

In this paper, we discuss a phenomenological approach for the numerical modeling of static hysteresis of grain oriented (GO) steels at macro-magnetic scale. The modeling is inspired to a generalization in 2-d of the Preisach model (this generalization can be easily extended in 3-d, but it is not necessary here), and the magnetization dependent state of the model parameters is represented by two distinct vectors, named the interaction field and the operative field, suitably defined. In this way, the very complex behavior of the GO steel circularly or linearly polarized is reproduced with accuracy, as shown in the numerical tests reported in the paper.

This paper presents a secure inductive wireless power transfer (WPT) system for electric vehicle (EV) applications, such as charging the electric devices inside EVs and performing energy exchange between EVs. The key is to employ chaos theory to encrypt the wirelessly transferred energy which can then be decrypted by specific receptors in the multi-objective system. In this paper, the principle of encrypted WPT is first revealed. Then, computer simulation is conducted to validate the feasibility of the proposed system. Moreover, by comparing the WPT systems with and without encryption, the proposed energy encryption scheme does not involve noticeable power consumption.

This paper gives a quantitative comparison of magnetic couplers for electric vehicle (EV) wireless charging applications. Circular pad with ferrite spokes and coreless rectangular coils are specially selected for analysis. The dynamic flux density between couplers under high misalignment is studied by calculating the uncompensated power of the pick-up coupler. By using finite element analysis, the performance of each type of coupler is evaluated, and its adaptation to on-road EV charging are compared according to the flux distribution and effective charging area.

This paper proposes the method to accurately predict the 180° basic domain width (Dw) in demagnetized states of the grooved Fe3%Si(110) single crystal with the tilt angle of [001] out of the sheet surface (β). The evaluation of Dw enables the estimation of the anomalous eddy current losses. In this paper, Dw is optimized to minimize the magnetic Gibbs free energy represented by vector potentials using the finite element method and the conjugate gradient method. The μ*-method is adopted to approximate the magnetization relaxation. The stray field energy generated by the magnetic charges occurring on both grooves cross section and sheet surfaces is considered in our proposed method. The validity of the proposed method was confirmed by comparison with the observed Dw. As a result, we could reveal the β dependence of Dw against the groove depth. Moreover, the theoretical threshold of the domain refinement due to the grooves has been suggested.

Perspective magneto-dielectric materials with high permeability are potential substrates to miniaturize the patch antenna without deteriorating its performance. Besides its high permeability at high frequency, patterned Permalloy (Py) also presents tunable permeability by applying DC current. A performance enhanced miniaturized and electrically tunable patch antenna with patterned Py thin film is first presented and developed in this paper. To suppress the magnetic loss, the Py thin film layer is consisted of an array of 2 μm × 2 μm square Py patterns between the copper patch antenna and dielectric substrate. The DC current could be applied directly on Py patterns through the copper strip lines beneath the Py patterns along the length of patch antenna. The copper strip lines are specially designed with the same width of Py patterns and the thickness much less than the skin depth at the operating frequency, which can reduce their deteriorating effects to the performance of antenna. The structure of the antenna is presented and simulated with high frequency structure simulator. The results show that compared with non-magnetic antenna, the performance of Py thin film based antenna is improved with 50% bandwidth increase from 4 MHz to 8 MHz and 1.2 dB gain enhancement from 1.16 dB to 2.36 dB. The resonant frequency of the antenna could be continuously tuned from 937 MHz to 911 MHz with the permeability of Py thin film changing from 1750 to 1 900 by applying the DC current.

Slow wave elements are promising structures to design compact RF (radio frequency) and mmwave components. This paper reports a comparative study on different types of coplanar wave-guide (CPW) slow wave structures (SWS). New techniques including the use of defected ground structure and the different signal conductor shape have been implemented to achieve higher slow wave effect with comparative loss. Results show that over 42% and 35% reduction in length is reported in the expense of only 0.3 dB and 0.1 dB insertion loss, respectively, which can end up with 66% and 58% area reduction for the design of a branch line coupler. Implementation of the sub micrometer patterned Permalloy (Py) thin film on top of the simple SWS has been demonstrated for the first time to increase the slow wave effect. Comparing with the traditional slow wave structure, with 100 nm thick Py patterns, the inductance per unit length of the SWS has been increased from 879 nH/m to 963 nH/m. The slow wave effect of the designed structure is also tunable by applied DC current. Measured results have shown that the phase shift can be changed from 94° to 90.5° by applying 150 mA DC current. This provides a solution in designing RF passive components which can work in multiple frequency bands.

In millimeter wave frequency range, hexagonal ferrites with high uniaxial anisotropic magnetic fields are used as absorbers. These ferrites include M-type barium ferrite (BaFe12O19) and strontium ferrite (SrFe12O19), which have natural ferromagnetic resonant frequency range from 40 GHz to 60 GHz. However, the higher frequency range lacks suitable materials that support the higher frequency ferromagnetic resonance. A new series of gallium-substituted e-iron oxides (e-GaxFe2−xO3) are synthesized which have ferromagnetic resonant frequencies appearing over the frequency range 30 GHz–150 GHz. The e-GaxFe2−xO3 is synthesized by the combination of reverse micelle and sol-gel techniques or the sol-gel method only. The particle sizes are observed to be smaller than 100 nm. In this paper, the free space magneto-optical approach has been employed to study these newly developed e-GaxFe2−xO3 particles in millimeter waves. This technique enables to obtain precise transmission spectra to determine the dielectric and magnetic properties of both isotropic and anisotropic ferrites in the millimeter wave frequency range from a single set of direct measurements. The transmittance and absorbance spectra of e-GaxFe2−xO3 are shown in this paper. Strong ferromagnetic resonances at different frequencies determined by the x parameter are found.

In this paper, a novel low-loss NiZnCo ferrite prepared by a hydrothermal method has been developed for miniaturization and performance enhancement of mobile handset antennae. XRD analysis revealed that in weakly alkaline solution, H+ ions generated in the reaction process result in an acid-alkali imbalance. In a strongly alkaline solution, Fe(OH)3 readily loses water to generate α-Fe2O3 and is no longer able to act as a nucleation skeleton. With powders prepared at pH = 10, the ceramic samples consisted of a pure phase, with compact and uniform microstructure, leading to relatively high permeability, very low dielectric constant, and with low losses. A miniaturization factor of about 6.2 and normalized impedance of about 1 were obtained for the developed substrate ferrite when used in a helical antenna operating in the terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) band for a mobile handset.

Recently, the reduced coercivity of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets was explained by distortion of the Nd-Fe-B region at the grain boundaries using classical molecular dynamics and phenomenological theory regarding magnetoelastic anisotropy. In this paper, we investigate how the deformation of Nd2Fe14B affects the crystal field parameter A20 of the Nd ions using first-principles calculations. By examining some cases of crystalline deformation, we confirm that the compressive deformation of Nd ions within the c-plane forces A20 to negative values. This is qualitatively consistent with the results of a previous study. However, quantitatively, the first-principles calculation shows that the magnetic anisotropy constant Ku is less sensitive to the distortion of Nd2Fe14B than suggested from the results obtained using classical and phenomenological theories.

This paper reports the morphology, structure, and magnetic properties of Sm2Fe17Nδ and Nd(Fe,Mo)12Nx anisotropic flakes prepared by surfactant–assisted high energy ball milling (HEBM). Sm14Fe86Nδ jet milled microparticles with a size of 1–2.5 μm and NdFe10.5Mo1.5Nx nitride crushed microparticles with a size of 1–80 μm were subjected to HEBM in heptane with 10 or 20 wt. % oleic acid. As the milling time increased, first, single-crystal, and then [001] textured poly-nanocrystalline nitride flakes with micron, submicron, or nanosized thicknesses were synthesized. The intrinsic coercivity, Hci, of Sm14Fe86Nδ flakes initially increases and reaches a maximum value of 12.3 kOe upon milling for 3 h, at which point the thickness becomes less than 250 nm and the length is 1–4 μm. A maximum Hci value of 8.7 kOe for NdFe10.5Mo1.5Nx flakes was obtained after milling for 12 h, with the thickness less than 100 nm and the length 1–16 μm. Anisotropic magnetic behavior was observed for all of the nitride flakes.

In this paper, we studied the magnetic hardening mechanism of SmCo6.6Nb0.4 nanoflakes prepared by surfactant-assisted high energy ball milling. The hysteresis loop with the initial magnetization curve and the corresponding differential susceptibility curve of thermally demagnetized SmCo6.6Nb0.4 nanoflakes were studied. It is concluded that the magnetization reversal process of the specimen is determined by domain wall motion, i.e., the magnetic hardening mechanism of the magnetic powders is dominated by domain wall pinning. Moreover, the dependence of coercive field of the nanoflakes on the maximum applied field derived from minor hysteresis loops also confirms the pinning effect in the magnetization reversal.

This paper presents a batch-fabrication approach to imprint complex magnetic pole patterns (perpendicular north/south poles) into hard magnetic films using fine-scale, laser-machined iron foil “masks.” In this approach, pulsed magnetic fields varying between 0.1 and 1.0 T are used in conjunction with the field-concentrating effect of the iron foil masks to selectively reverse the magnetization of selected regions of 10-μm-thick Co80Pt20 films (Br = 1 T, Hci = 340 kA/m). Simple stripe array patterns are systematically studied both experimentally and via simulation, achieving patterned feature sizes (poles) down to 30 μm. Double exposures are also explored to create checkerboard patterns from simple stripe-like masks. Finally, masks with more complex patterns are used to demonstrate the viability of the approach to imprint arbitrary features.

A new model to explore negative remanent magnetization is presented. Recently, a model for magnetic materials that have wasp-waist hysteresis loops was applied to a homogeneous thin film. This model postulated two interacting antiferromagnetically coupled media: one medium with low moment and relatively high coercivity, and one medium with a relatively high moment and low coercivity. This model is applicable to the situation where the "width" of the loop near zero is "negative." The major loop of such a material crosses itself, leading to negative remanent magnetization. The present paper introduces a new concept of a need for a third dimension to add to the usual magnetization versus applied field graph, demonstrates that there is no crossing, and discusses the nature of the losses in these materials.

Mn-Ga binary alloys have shown promising magnetic properties, even though these alloys contain no rare-earth metals. Both theoretical predictions and experimental work have indicated that nanoscaled Mn-Ga samples (thin films) possess remarkable magnetic properties. Whether the same properties occur in macroscale ingots, however, require the investigation and production of bulk materials, which are needed for majority of the applications that require a strong magnetic field. We have used mechanically milling followed by heat treatment to produce bulk Mn1−xGax alloys. In this paper, we report annealed Mn1−xGax bulk composites that exhibit coercivity up to 18.8 kOe.

MnBi attracts great attention in recent years for its great potential as permanent magnet materials. MnBi phase is difficult to obtain because of the rather drastic peritectic reaction between Mn and Bi. In this paper, we report our effort on synthesizing high purity MnBi compound using conventional powder metallurgical approaches. Neutron diffraction was carried out to investigate the crystal and nuclear structure of the obtained powder. The result shows that the purity of the obtained powder is about 91 wt. % at 300 K, and the magnetic moment of the Mn atom in MnBi lattice is 4.424 and 4.013 μB at 50 K and 300 K, respectively.

In this paper, Mn3Ga2 alloys with high saturation magnetization and high Curie temperatures were prepared by levitation melting high pure Mn and Ga elements followed by annealing. The effect of annealing temperature on phase structure and magnetic properties was investigated by means of x-ray diffraction and a vibrating sample magnetometer. A single phase alloy Mn3Ga2, which has tetragonal P4/mmm structure, was obtained with an annealing temperature of 773 K and annealing time of 24 h. The hysteresis curve of its easy axis for this single phase alloy shows that the room temperature coercivity and saturation magnetization are 4.18 kOe and 50.81 emu/g, respectively. The thermomagnetic curves indicate that the Curie temperature is about 650 K and a phase transformation occurs above 823 K.

The magnetic properties, microstructure, and reversible temperature coefficient of magnetic flux of Alnico 8 alloys with the different Co and Ti have been investigated in this paper. The Alnico alloys containing 34, 36, 38, and 40 mass percent cobalt were fabricated by the conventional casting method including thermomagnetic treatment. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) testing shows that there are more α1 phases particles with the diameter of less than 10 nm appearing in the matrix with the increasing of the content of Co and Ti. The thermal stability of Alnico 8 alloys deteriorates with the increasing of the content of Co and Ti, which are caused mainly by the decrease of the degree of particle alignment and particle perfection.

Heusler alloys feature both conventional and inverse magnetocaloric effects near room temperature as they undergo two different transitions. In this paper, new data are presented and analyzed and a new mechanism to explain the complex hysteretic behavior of a Ni48Co2Mn35In13Ga2 Heusler alloy is developed. This mechanism explains isothermal loops near room temperature. The various descriptions and classifications of these transitions, however, is not critical to this analysis.

In this paper, we investigate grain growth behaviors in Fe-Al-NbC rolled sheets annealed under a sulfur atmosphere at temperatures of 1000–1300 °C for NbC additions of 0.75%, 1.0%, and 1.5%. In Fe80Al20 sheet plus 0.75% NbC, abnormal grain growth (AGG) occurred at higher temperature than 1150 °C. Large single (011) grains that covered 74%–90% of sample surface were fully grown at temperatures of 1200–1300 °C. For these samples, the remaining 10%–26% of the surface was comprised of small isolated island-like grains that were dispersed throughout the single grain Goss matrix. The single-grain-oriented Fe-Al sheet sample annealed at 1250 °C for 5 h exhibited magnetostriction of 133 ppm along the rolling direction (RD). A maximum magnetostriction value of 143 ppm along the RD was obtained in samples annealed at 1200 °C for 24 h. Of particular interest is that the magnetostriction response along ⟨100⟩ in these samples shows 177 ppm, approaching ∼94.4% of the magnetostrictive performance of single crystal at 19.5 at. % Al. In addition, we observed that the temperature at which the onset of AGG occurred increased with increasing the NbC content, which can be explained by an enhanced particle pinning force.

Enhancement of the Faraday rotation of rare-earth iron garnet thin films offers the promise for development of compact and higher performance polarization dependent optical devices. Faraday rotation enhancement has been achieved utilizing strong localized electric fields induced by the excitation of plasmon resonances in gold nanoparticles deposited on garnet films. This paper presents experimental results that reveal strong Faraday rotation enhancement in bismuth-doped garnet films with gold nanoparticles of various dimensions and separations deposited on the epitaxial films. Stronger enhancements can be obtained by increasing the height and relative spacing between the nanoparticles formed on the garnet film surfaces.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) offers the possibility of non-invasive treatment of brain disorders in humans. Studies on animals can allow rapid progress of the research including exploring a variety of different treatment conditions. Numerical calculations using animal models are needed to help design suitable TMS coils for use in animal experiments, in particular, to estimate the electric field induced in animal brains. In this paper, we have implemented a high-resolution anatomical MRI-derived mouse model consisting of 50 tissue types to accurately calculate induced electric field in the mouse brain. Magnetic field measurements have been performed on the surface of the coil and compared with the calculations in order to validate the calculated magnetic and induced electric fields in the brain. Results show how the induced electric field is distributed in a mouse brain and allow investigation of how this could be improved for TMS studies using mice. The findings have important implications in f...

In this paper, we studied the critical diameter of superparamagnetic core-shell particles. One pot method and microwave-assisted technique were used to synthesize Ag-Ni core-shell nanoparticles with diameters of 10 nm and 30 nm. From the experimental results of hysteresis (M-H curves) and temperature dependent magnetization (M-T curves), the theoretical critical diameter does not agree with the experimental observation of the core-shell structure. Furthermore, the blocking temperature equation should be reconsidered.

Hyperthermia induced by the heating of magnetic particles (MPs) in alternating magnetic field receives a considerable attention in cancer therapy. An interesting development in the studies dedicated to magnetically based hyperthermia is the possibility to control the temperature using MPs with selective magnetic absorption properties. This paper analyzes the temperature field determined by the heating of MPs having low Curie temperature (a FeCrNbB particulate system) injected within a malignant tissue, subjected to an ac magnetic field. The temperature evolution within healthy and tumor tissues was analyzed by finite element method simulations in a thermo-fluid model. The cooling effect produced by blood flowing in blood vessels was considered. This effect is intensified at the increase of blood velocity. The FeCrNbB particles, having the Curie temperature close to the therapeutic range, transfer the heat more homogeneous in the tumor keeping the temperature within the therapeutic range in whole tumor volume. Having the possibility to automatically control the temperature within a tumor, these particle type opens new research horizons in the magnetic hyperthermia.

Smaller cross track thermal spot size and larger down track thermal gradient are desired for increasing the density of heat assisted magnetic recording. Both parameters are affected significantly by the thermal energy accumulation and diffusion in the recording media. Pulsed laser heating is one of the ways to reduce the thermal diffusion. In this paper, we describe the benefits from the pulsed laser heating such as the dependences of the cross track thermal width, down track thermal gradient, the required laser pulse/average powers, and the transducer temperature rise on the laser pulse width at different media thermal properties. The results indicate that as the pulse width decreases, the thermal width decreases, the thermal gradient increases, the required pulse power increases and the average power decreases. For shorter pulse heating, the effects of the medium thermal properties on the thermal performances become weaker. This can greatly relax the required thermal properties of the media. The results also show that the pulsed laser heating can effectively reduce the transducer temperature rise and allow the transducer to reach its “dynamically” stable temperature more quickly.

The inter-track interference (ITI) can severely degrade the system performance of bit-patterned media recording (BPMR). One way to alleviate the ITI effect is to encode an input data sequence before recording to avoid some data patterns that easily cause an error at the data detection process. This paper proposes a constructive ITI (CITI) coding scheme for a multi-track multi-head BPMR system to eliminate the data patterns that lead to severe ITI. Numerical results indicate that the system with CITI coding outperforms that without CITI coding, especially when an areal density (AD) is high and/or the position jitter is large. Specifically, for the system without position jitter at bit-error rate of 10−4, the proposed scheme can provide about 3 dB gain at the AD of 2.5 Tb/in.2 over the system without CITI coding.

A novel approach to the calculation of plasmon resonance in metallic nanoparticle located nearby a dielectric object is presented. The plasmon resonance problem for such structure is formulated as a constrained eigenvalue problem for specific coupled boundary integral equations. By solving this eigenvalue problem, the resonance frequencies (wavelengths) of the metallic nanoparticle as well as the corresponding plasmon modes are computed. In this paper, two examples of application are considered and a good agreement between the computational results and analytical solution as well as with available experimental and numerical data is demonstrated.

In this paper, magnetic and structural properties of near-equiatomic CoPt thin films, which exhibited a high coercivity in the film-normal direction—suitable for perpendicular magnetic recording media applications—are reported. The films exhibited a larger coercivity of about 6.5 kOe at 8 nm. The coercivity showed a monotonous decrease as the film thickness was increased. The transmission electron microscopy images indicated that the as fabricated CoPt film generally consists of a stack of magnetically hard hexagonal-close-packed phase, followed by stacking faults and face-centred-cubic phase. The thickness dependent magnetic properties are explained on the basis of exchange-coupled composite media. Epitaxial growth on Ru layers is a possible factor leading to the unusual observation of magnetically hard hcp-phase at high concentrations of Pt.

This paper introduces three-dimensional transition characterization on perpendicular and shingled magnetic recording. Writing and reading are synchronized to enable precise data capture. A modified read response model and a modified transition model were proposed and applied in transition analysis. Transitions recorded at various conditions were characterized.

In this paper, we investigate the influence of the writing and reading intertrack interferences (ITIs) in terms of bit aspect ratio (BAR) in shingled magnetic recording by computer simulation using a read/write model which consists of a writing process based on Stoner–Wohlfarth switching asteroid by a one-side shielded isosceles triangular write head and a reading process by an around shielded read head for a discrete Voronoi medium model. The results show that BAR should be 3 to reduce the influence of writing and reading ITIs, media noise, and additive white Gaussian noise in an assumed areal density of 4.61Tbpsi.

At high recording density, the readback signal of two-dimensional magnetic recording is inevitably corrupted by the two-dimensional (2D) interference consisting of inter-symbol interference and inter-track interference (ITI), which can significantly degrade the overall system performance. This paper proposes an iterative ITI mitigation method using three modified 2D soft-output Viterbi algorithm (2D-SOVA) detectors in conjunction with an iterative processing technique to combat the 2D interference. The codeword of the outer code is divided and then written on three separate tracks. For every iteration, all 2D-SOVA detectors exchange the soft information to improve the reliability of the a priori information and use it in the branch metric calculation, before feeding the refined soft information to the outer decoder. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms the conventional receiver and the existing partial ITI mitigation method.

In this paper, high quality BiAlDyIG thin films with different bismuth contents have been prepared by using a sol-gel method and post-treated by a rapid recurrent thermal annealing (RRTA) method. Results indicate that the RRTA method improves the Faraday Effect of the films notably, a maximum Faraday angle of −4.9° in the 450 nm thickness film (Bi1.96Dy1.04Fe4AlO12) was obtained at the wavelength of 520 nm, which is about two times larger than that of the common thermal annealed sample, and furthermore the reason of giant Faraday angle was also analyzed in detail. These results are potentially helpful to improve the recording density and signal-to-noise ratio of magneto-optical disk.

The molecular rheology of PFPE becomes critically important in designing optimal lubricants that control the friction/wear and air-bearing by tuning elastic or viscous shear/elongation deformations, which affect the performance and reliability of the hard disk drive. In this paper, we examine the rheological responses of nano blended PFPEs including storage (elastic) and loss (viscous) moduli (G′ and G″), by monitoring the time-dependent-stress-strain relationship via non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. By introducing binary blend of nonfunctional and functional PFPEs, we control the degree of liquid/solid-like behavior using the rheology as a complementary tool for design criteria by tuning molecular conformation and diffusion with nano blend ratio.

Buff/Wipe (B/W) process is commonly used in disk drive manufacturing to remove the particles and asperities on the lubricated disk surface. In this paper, we investigated how B/W process impacts the physicochemical properties of perfluoropolyethers (PFPE) nano-films through the study of surface energy and bonded ratio. Two-liquid geometric method was used to analyze the surface energy of nonfunctional PFPE, i.e., Z03, and functional PFPE, i.e., Zdol, lubricated media before and after B/W process. It was found that the dispersive surface energy of Z03 films greatly decreased after B/W, which was more significant in the submonolayer regime. In addition, the bonded ratio slightly increased. However, B/W effect on the surface energy and bonded ratio was not detected for Zdol films. It is hypothesized that nonfunctional PFPE behaves liquid-like on the carbon overcoat due to the weak interaction between lubricant and overcoat. External mechanical stress as applied with B/W can change the conformation and increase the surface coverage for nonfunctional PFPE. On the other hand, functional PFPEs behave solid-like due to the strong attraction between lubricant and overcoat; therefore, it is difficult to change the conformation by external stress from B/W process.