Search

CoNi/Ni multisegmented cylindrical nanowires were synthesized via an electrochemical route. The wires are 140 nm in diameter, with 1000 nm long Ni segments and CoNi segments between 600 and 1400 nm in length. The magnetic configuration was imaged by XMCD-PEEM in the demagnetized state and at remanence after magnetizing axially and perpendicularly. Ni segments, with cubic crystal symmetry, show an axial magnetic configuration with a small curling component at the surface. In turn, CoNi segments, with hexagonal crystal symmetry and a strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy perpendicular to the nanowires, show a single vortex state in the shorter segments and multivortex or multitransverse magnetic configurations in medium and long segments, respectively. A detailed study by micromagnetic simulations reveals that the magnetic configuration is determined mainly by the coupling between soft Ni and harder CoNi segments. For short CoNi segments, Ni segments are magnetostatically coupled and the chirality of the single vortex formed in CoNi remains the same as that of the curling in neighboring Ni segments. For longer CoNi segments, the remanent state is either the multivortex or multitransverse state depending on whether the previously applied field was parallel or perpendicular to the magnetocrystalline axis. The results point out the relevance of the cylindrical geometry to promote the occurrence of complex magneto-chiral effects and provide key information for the design of cylindrical magnetic nanowires for multiple applications.

We investigate the superconducting critical current density (Jc), transition temperature (Tc), and flux pinning properties under hydrostatic pressure (P) for Cr0.0009NbSe2 single crystal. The application of P enhances Tc in both electrical resistivity (∼0.38 K GPa−1: 0 ≤ P ≤ 2.5 GPa) and magnetization (∼0.98 K GPa−1: 0 ≤ P ≤ 1 GPa) measurements, which leads to a monotonic increase in Jc and flux pinning properties. The field-dependent Jc at various temperatures under P is analyzed within the collecting pinning theory and it shows that δTc pinning is the crossover to δl pinning above the critical pressure (Pc ∼0.3 GPa). Our systematic analysis of the flux pinning mechanism indicates that both the density of pinning centers and pinning forces greatly increase with the application of P, which leads to an enhancement in the vortex state. Structural studies using synchrotron X-ray diffraction under pressure illustrate a stable hexagonal phase without any significant impurity phase and lattice parameter reduction with P shows highly anisotropic nature.

We experimentally studied the effect of meter-range electromagnetic field (tens of MHz) on the current-voltage characteristic (I-V curve) of a wide superconducting film. The vortex resistivity region is shown to significantly extend under the effect of meter-range (MR) electromagnetic irradiation owing to rapid suppression of critical current with a slower change in the upper boundary of stability of the vortex state. We found that as the MR irradiation power increases, the I-V curve structure related to phase slip lines is smoothed out to eventually vanish. A model of the film I-V curve in the adiabatic regime is proposed that explains the effect of blurring of voltage steps and suppression of critical current.We experimentally studied the effect of meter-range electromagnetic field (tens of MHz) on the current-voltage characteristic (I-V curve) of a wide superconducting film. The vortex resistivity region is shown to significantly extend under the effect of meter-range (MR) electromagnetic irradiation owing to rapid suppression of critical current with a slower change in the upper boundary of stability of the vortex state. We found that as the MR irradiation power increases, the I-V curve structure related to phase slip lines is smoothed out to eventually vanish. A model of the film I-V curve in the adiabatic regime is proposed that explains the effect of blurring of voltage steps and suppression of critical current.

Vortex dynamics in superconductors have received a great deal of attention from both fundamental and applied researchers over the past few decades. Because of its critical role in the energy relaxation process of type-II superconductors, vortex dynamics have been deemed a key contributor to the response rate of the emerging superconducting single photon detector (SSPD). With the support of electrical transport measurements under external magnetic fields, vortex dynamics in superconducting a-MoSi thin films are investigated in this work. It is ascertained that the vortex state changes from pinned to flux flow under the influence of the Lorentz force. The critical vortex velocity v* and quasi-particle inelastic scattering time {\tau}* under different magnetic fields are derived from the Larkin-Ovchinnikov model. Under high magnetic fields, the v* power law dependence (v*~B-1/2) collapses, i.e., v* tends to zero, which is attributed to the obstruction of flux flow by the intrinsic defects, while the {\tau}* increases with the increasing magnetic field strength. In addition, the degree of vortex rearrangement is found to be enhanced by photon-induced reduction in potential barrier, which mitigates the adverse effect of film inhomogeneity on superconductivity in the a-MoSi thin films. The thorough understanding of the vortex dynamics in a-MoSi thin films under the effect of external stimuli is of paramount importance for both further fundamental research in this area and optimization of SSPD design.

Magnetic nanodots are of high interest for basic research due to their broad spectrum of possible magnetic states and magnetization reversal processes. Besides, they are of technological interest since they can be applied in magnetic data storage, especially if vortex states occur in closed dots or open rings. While producing such nanorings and nanodots from diverse magnetic materials by lithographic techniques is quite common nowadays, these production technologies are naturally prone to small deviations of the borders of these nanoparticles. Here we investigate the influence of well-defined angular-dependent roughness of the edges, created by building the nanoparticles from small cubes, on the resulting hysteresis loops and magnetization reversal processes in five different round nanodots with varying open areas, from a thin ring to a closed nanodot. By varying the orientation of the external magnetic field, the impact of the angle-dependent roughness can be estimated. Especially for the thinnest ring, significant dependence of the transverse magnetization component on the field orientation can be found.

A magnetic nanoring model with surface anisotropy by bending a single-walled nanotube was proposed and was placed in an inhomogeneous magnetic field produced by an electric current passing through the center of the nanoring and perpendicular to the ring plane. The ground state with vortex spin structure was determined and the magnetization was calculated by using the spin Green’s function method. It is found that the strong surface anisotropy can ensure the spins vortex state of the system. With the increase of temperature, the total order parameter of the spins gradually decreases to zero from their classical values. As the radius of the nanoring increases, the transition temperature of the system decreases rapidly and then gradually tends to a finite value. Changing the direction of the current, the generated reverse toroidal magnetic field can switch the magnetic state of spins from a vortex state to a reversal vortex state. The value of the current required for magnetization switching shows monotonic relationship to the radius of nanoring, surface anisotropy and the temperature which is far below the transition temperature. When the temperature is greater than the transition temperature, system shows the paramagnetic behavior.

Magnetic nanodots are of high technological importance in diverse storage and spintronics applications, especially in bit patterned media. Magnetization reversal in such nanodots typically occurs either by coherent rotation of the magnetization or along a vortex state. Other mechanisms of magnetization reversal are scarcely described in the literature. Understanding and predicting the magnetization reversal processes, however, is of utmost importance due to the varying stray fields in the different states under evolution, influencing neighboring nanodots in an array or matrix-like structure. Besides, the stability of vortex states against magnetic field changes – which corresponds to typically broad field ranges with reversible modifications of the magnetic state – influences the robustness of magnetically stored information as well as the necessary external fields for writing new information. Here we report on micromagnetic simulations on nanodots with 10 different, representative diameters and 10 dot thicknesses, respectively, giving rise to 8 possible magnetization reversal processes and suggesting the preconditions for the nucleation and propagation of one or two vortices in cylindrical iron disks. We show the impact of the dimensions and aspect ratios on all phases of magnetization reversal. This study results in a phase diagram of the different magnetization reversal processes.

Due to its potential application in magnetic memory, the vortex magnetization configuration has drawn much attention, which had been found in many magnetic nanostructure. In this paper, static and dynamic characteristics of magnetism in permalloy oval nanoring are investigated with varying thickness and arm width via micromagnetic simulation. Two magnetization configuration (vortex and onion states) were found in oval nanoring and the vortex state is a stable state. Although onion is a metastable state, it become more stable with the decrease of thickness. The magnetic hysteresis loop along long axis of oval nanoring is simulated and coercive forces are investigated as function of arm width and thickness. Coercive force increases firstly and then decrease with the increase of thickness. In meanwhile, the dynamic magnetic susceptibility of vortex state in oval nanoring is simulated for varying arm width and thickness. Uniform resonance mode and edge resonance mode can be found when thickness is above 25 nm. However, there is a single uniform resonance mode in oval nanoring with thickness less 20 nm. The resonance frequency can be significantly modulated in the region of 8.2–13.7 GHz when thickness changes from 4 to 100 nm.

Finite element micromagnetics are used to simulate remanence, hysteresis and dynamic switching in crescent shaped permalloy caps, a geometry that corresponds to either normal or oblique deposition of films on nanosphere arrays. Oblique deposition breaks the symmetry and favours onion states rather than vortices. It introduces in-plane shape anisotropy analogous to that of an elongated island and increases the in-plane coercivity. In isolated caps, the critical diameter above which the vortex state is the minimum energy state, is D = 123 nm for angles below θ = 20 deg. It increases with θ up to a vlaue of D = 157 nm at θ = 45 deg. Even for sizes for which the onion state is the lowest energy state, vortex states can be stabilized in isolated caps but the interparticle magnetostatic interactions tend to destabilize them driving the system to its ground state. The switching field of onion states can be reduced by 36% using microwave resonance at frequencies approaching the resonant (Kittel mode) frequencies.

We investigate various magnetic configurations caused by the dipole--dipole interaction in thin-film magnets with perpendicular anisotropy under open boundary conditions. Two different approaches are simulated: one starts from a random magnetic configuration and decreases temperatures stepwisely; the other starts from the saturated out-of-plane ferromagnetic state to evaluate its metastability. As typical patterns of magnetic configuration, five typical configurations are found: an out-of-plane ferromagnetic, in-plane ferromagnetic, vortex, multidomain, and canted multidomain states. Notably, the canted multidomain forms a concentric magnetic-domain pattern with an in-plane vortex structure, resulting from the open boundary conditions. Concerning the coercivity, a comparison of the magnetic configurations in both processes reveals that the out-of-plane ferromagnetic state exhibits metastability in the multidomain state, but not in the vortex state. We also confirm that the so-called Neel-cap magnetic-domain-wall structure, which is originally discussed in the in-plane anisotropy system, appears at the multidomain state.

Round magnetic nano-dots belong to the frequently investigated magnetic nanostructures since they can often reverse magnetization via a vortex state which is characterized by low stray fields, making them useful for data storage applications. Nano-rings, with an open aperture in the middle, regularly show flux-closed vortex states without a vortex core, again reducing stray fields. Here we theoretically investigate “Pac-Man” shaped iron nanostructures with varying aperture, i.e. structures ranging from a thin ring to a solid cylinder with a triangular cut. Our results show that in most cases, a vortex-like state without vortex core along the whole nanostructure occurs during magnetization reversal. Depending on the angle of the external magnetic field and the nanostructure thickness, different magnetization reversal processes have been found, including domain wall nucleation and propagation as well as small vortex states with cores. The occurrence of such special magnetic states can be attributed to the interaction of the shape anisotropy with the relatively high magneto-crystalline anisotropy of iron. Our simulations reveal the possibilities to use such structures for data storage applications as well as their importance in basic research, enabling formation of asymmetric magnetic structures beyond common onion and symmetric vortex states.

Iron oxide nanorings have great promise for biomedical applications because of their magnetic vortex state, which endows them with a low remanent magnetization while retaining a large saturation magnetization. Here we use micromagnetic simulations to predict the exact shapes that can sustain magnetic vortices, using a toroidal model geometry with variable diameter, ring thickness, and ring eccentricity. Our model phase diagram is then compared with simulations of experimental geometries obtained by electron tomography. High axial eccentricity and low ring thickness are found to be key factors for forming vortex states and avoiding net-magnetized metastable states. We also find that while defects from a perfect toroidal geometry increase the stray field associated with the vortex state, they can also make the vortex state more energetically accessible. These results constitute an important step toward optimizing the magnetic behavior of toroidal iron oxide nanoparticles.

Topological magnonics has attracted intense interest for application in energy efficient computational devices. Here, we show reconfigurable magnonic band structure and band gap by a bias-field controlled spin texture in chains of connected ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{80}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{20}$ submicron dots. Particularly for an identical field value, we achieve both ``$S$'' and shifted-core vortex states based on magnetic history leading to a drastic change in magnonic band structure. A first-order phase transition from the saturation to vortex state drives this change, as opposed to a continuous change from the saturation to $S$ state.

Self-field imaging of current distribution in Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 superconductor is used to study the effect of drive on the low-field vortex solid to liquid melting phase transformation. At low fields, the current induced drive on the vortices aids in thermally destabilizing the vortex state thereby shifting the low field melting phase boundary. We show that the current induced drive shifts solid-liquid boundaries and prepones the vortex melting phenomenon compared to the equilibrium situation. The analysis shows that for currents above 50 mA, Joule heating effects shift the melting line while below 50 mA, an effective temperature concept for driven system viz., a drive dependent shaking temperature, explains the shift. The observation of a transformation from inhomogeneous to homogeneous current flow in the sample at low fields as a function of the driving force is reconciled via an inverse dependence of the shaking temperature on vortex velocity, which is incorporated in our analysis.

Magnetic enhancement of Chinese loess‐paleosol sequences has been used extensively as a proxy for East Asian summer monsoon variations. However, the pedogenic magnetic particles contributing to this magnetic enhancement are difficult to extract, so it is not clear how they formed. In this study, we reveal pedogenic magnetite and hematite using electron microscopy, synchrotron radiation X‐ray diffraction, and rock magnetic methods. First‐order reversal curves indicate that superparamagnetic/single domain/vortex state magnetic properties dominated both loess and paleosol samples. Samples of muscovite and chlorite, which are paramagnetic, have weak spontaneous magnetization. The 1‐ to 10‐μm‐sized fraction of host silicatesis responsible for most of the magnetic enhancement of paleosols. In the paleosol fraction, we found weathered phyllosilicates (muscovite/chlorite), including many elongated submicron to a few microns authigenic magnetite and hematite particles between layers; however, few such interlayer particles were found in phyllosilicates of the loess fraction. The concentration of magnetite/hematite particles within paleosol muscovite/chlorite grains and in aggregates of phyllosilicate fragments is much higher than that of the submicron iron oxides found on silicate surfaces. Interlayer magnetite particles are dominantly prism‐shaped with aspect ratios >~4. The authigenic magnetite must be mainly responsible for the spontaneous magnetization of the muscovites and chlorites and the paleosol magnetic properties. The protective silicates account for the low extraction efficiency and also the near absence of surface oxidation of pedogenic magnetite. Based on our results, we suggest that magnetite/hematite in weathered phyllosilicates contribute significantly to the magnetic enhancement of mature paleosols.

The magnetic configurations of cylindrical Co-rich CoNi nanowires have been quantitatively analyzed at the nanoscale by electron holography and correlated to local structural and chemical properties. The nanowires display grains of both face-centered cubic (fcc) and hexagonal close packed (hcp) crystal structures, with grain boundaries parallel to the nanowire axis direction. Electron holography evidences the existence of a complex exotic magnetic configuration characterized by two distinctly different types of magnetic configurations within a single nanowire: an array of periodical vortices separating small transverse domains in hcp-rich regions with perpendicular easy axis orientation and a mostly axial configuration parallel to the nanowire axis in regions with fcc grains. These vastly different domains are found to be caused by local variations in the chemical composition modifying the crystalline orientation and/or structure, which give rise to change in magnetic anisotropies. Micromagnetic simulations, including the structural properties that have been experimentally determined, allow for a deeper understanding of the complex magnetic states observed by electron holography.

Theoretically, the vortex melting phenomenon occurs at both low and high magnetic fields at a fixed temperature. While the high-field melting has been extensively investigated in high-${T}_{c}$ cuprates, the low-field melting phenomena in the presence of disorder has not been well explored. Using bulk magnetization measurements and a high-sensitivity differential magneto-optical imaging technique, we detect a low-field vortex melting phenomenon in a single crystal of ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{0.6}{\mathrm{K}}_{0.4}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}{\mathrm{As}}_{2}$. The low-field melting is accompanied with a significant change in local magnetization, \ensuremath{\sim}3 G, which decreases with increasing applied field. The observed vortex melting phenomenon is traced on a field-temperature phase diagram, which lies very close to theoretically predicted Lindemann criteria based low-field melting line. Our analysis shows a Lindemann number ${c}_{L}=0.14$ associated with the low-field melting. Imaging of low-field vortex melting features shows that the process nucleates via formation of extended fingerlike projections which spreads across the sample with increasing field or temperature, before entering into an interaction-dominated vortex solid phase regime. Magnetization scaling analysis and ngular dependence of bulk magnetization hysteresis loop shows extended pins naturally present in the sample. These defects create a low-field glassy vortex phase sustaining a finite critical current present in the phase diagram below the low-field liquid phase. We construct a vortex matter phase diagram, which identifies boundaries demarcating a low-field glassy vortex state from a dilute vortex liquid phase and a weakly interacting solid phase above it. All these phases are shown to be present well below the interaction dominated vortex state shown in the phase diagram.

Magnetic nanostructures have been widely studied due to its poten¬tial applicability into several research fields such as data storage, sensing and biomedical applications. In this work, micromagnetic simulations (mumax3) of sub-micron iron discs are performed for different normalized inter-dot distance (distance/diameter), to better understand the magnetic behaviour of these nanos-tructures. Two sets of samples were studied: ideal circular discs and disc-shaped nanostructures (based on images of real samples). By analyzing the nucleation and annihilation fields and the magnetic susceptibility, it was found that the (ideal) discs could be considered as isolated for inter-dot distances greater than twice the raidus of the disc (2R). The difference in the shape of the disc-shaped nanostructures resulted in an in-plane anisotropy, noticeable on the hysteresis loops for different directions.

Switching the chirality of the vortex state in asymmetric ferromagnetic rings is interesting for multistate memory devices, logic elements, and stray-field-based rotation sensors. This study shows that different magnetic states can be configured by carefully tuning the magnetic field angle. Using time-resolved scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis to image the magnetization dynamics of these rings, the authors detect competing switching pathways for certain field angles. These different pathways do not change the resulting magnetic states, though, which is advantageous for engineering reliable devices for a range of potential spintronic applications.

Topologically non-trivial structures such as magnetic skyrmions are nanometric spin textures of outstanding potential for spintronic applications due to their unique features. It is well known that Néel skyrmions of definite chirality are stabilized by the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya exchange interaction (DMI) in bulk non-centrosymmetric materials or ultrathin films with strong spin–orbit coupling at the interface. In this work, we show that soft magnetic (permalloy) hemispherical nanodots are able to host three-dimensional chiral structures (half-hedgehog spin textures) with non-zero tropological charge. They are observed at room temperature, in absence of DMI interaction and they can be further stabilized by the magnetic field arising from the Magnetic Force Microscopy probe. Micromagnetic simulations corroborate the experimental data. Our work implies the existence of a new degree of freedom to create and manipulate complex 3D spin-textures in soft magnetic nanodots and opens up future possibilities to explore their magnetization dynamics., M. J., E. B., J. A. F. R and A. A. acknowledge the support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) under projects no. S2018/NMT 4321, MAT2015-73775-JIN and MAT2016-76824-C3-1-R. E. B. acknowledges the financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. M. G-G. and A.G-A. acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish MINECO project MAT2017-83632-C3 and from the Basque Government through IT1245-19 project and M. G. G. postdoctoral fellowship. M. J. also acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through The “María de Maeztu” Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0377) and from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid through the project SI1/PJI/2019-00055. J. P.-N., C. M. and J. M. D. T. acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through Projects MAT2018-102627-T and MAT2017-82970-C2, and from the Aragon Regional Government (Construyendo Europa desde Aragón) through Project E13_20R, with European Social Fund funding. A grant to J. P.-N. was funded by the Ayuda para Contratos Predoctorales para la Formación de Doctores, Convocatoria Res. 05/06/15 (BOE 12/06/15) of the Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación in the Subprograma Estatal de Formación of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with the participation of the European Social Fund. K. G. acknowledges support by IKERBASQUE (the Basque Foundation for Science). The work of K. G. and O. C.-F. was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the project FIS2016-78591-C3-3-R.

Vortex-mediated magnetization reversal in individual ultra-small (∼100 nm) ferromagnetic particles at low temperatures is studied by nanoSQUID magnetometry. At zero applied bias field, the flux-closure magnetic state (vortex) and the quasi uniform configuration are bi-stable. This stems from the extremely small size of the nanoparticles that lies very close to the limit of single-domain formation. The analysis of the temperature-dependent (from 0.3 to 70 K) hysteresis of the magnetization allows us to infer the nature of the ground state magnetization configuration. The latter corresponds to a vortex state as also confirmed by electron holography experiments. Based on the simultaneous analysis of the vortex nucleation and annihilation data, we estimate the magnitude of the energy barriers separating the quasi single-domain and the vortex state and their field dependence. For this purpose, we use a modified power-law scaling of the energy barriers as a function of the applied bias field. These studies are essential to test the thermal and temporal stability of flux-closure states stabilized in ultra-small ferromagnets., This work was partly funded through the Spanish MINECO (MAT2015-73914-JIN and MAT2015-64083-R), the Aragón Regional Government through project E09_17R (Construyendo Europa desde Aragón), the European Union Seventh Framework Program under Grant Agreement 312483-ESTEEM2 (Integrated Infrastructure Initiative–I3) and the COST action NANOCOHYBRI (Grant No. CA 16218). B. M. acknowledges funding by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, and J. Lin acknowledges funding by the Chinese Research Council (CRC). E. S. acknowledges the French National Research Agency under the “Investissement d'Avenir” program reference no. ANR-10-EQPX-38-01. We acknowledge K. Guslienko for fruitful discussions and the use of Servicio General de Apoyo a la Investigación-SAI, Universidad de Zaragoza.

A wide variety of Earth and planetary materials are very good recorders of paleomagnetic information. However, most magnetic grains in these materials are not in the stable single domain grain size range but are larger and in nonuniform vortex magnetization states. We provide a detailed account of vortex phenomena in geologic materials by simulating first‐order reversal curves (FORCs) via finite‐element micromagnetic modeling of magnetite nanoparticles with realistic morphologies. The particles have been reconstructed from focused ion beam nanotomography of magnetite‐bearing obsidian and accommodate single and multiple vortex structures. Single vortex (SV) grains have fingerprints with contributions to both the transient and transient‐free zones of FORC diagrams. A fundamental feature of the SV fingerprint is a central ridge, representing a distribution of negative saturation vortex annihilation fields. SV irreversible events at multiple field values along different FORC branches determine the asymmetry in the upper and lower lobes of generic bulk FORC diagrams of natural materials with grains predominantly in the vortex state. Multivortex (MV) FORC signatures are modeled here for the first time. MV grains contribute mostly to the transient‐free zone of a FORC diagram, averaging out to create a broad central peak. The intensity of the central peak is higher than that of the lobes, implying that MV particles are more abundant than SV particles in geologic materials with vortex state fingerprints. The abundance of MV particles, as well as their single domain‐like properties point to MV grains being the main natural remanent magnetization carriers in geologic materials.

The magnetization reversal process of hexagonal ordered CoFe nanodot arrays was investigated as a function of nanodot thickness ( t d ) varying from 10 to 30 nm with fixed diameter. For this purpose, ordered CoFe nanodots with a diameter of 80 ± 4 nm were grown by sputtering using ultra-thin alumina mask. The vortex annihilation and the dynamic spin configuration in the ordered CoFe nanodots were analyzed by means of magnetic hysteresis loops in complement with the micromagnetic simulation studies. A highly pinched hysteresis loop observed at 20 nm thickness suggests the occurrence of vortex state in these nanodots. With increase in dot thickness from 10 to 30 nm, the estimated coercivity values tend to increase from 80 to 175 Oe, indicating irreversible change in the nucleation/annihilation field of vortex state. The measured magnetic properties were then corroborated with the change in the shape of the nanodots from disk to hemisphere through micromagnetic simulation.

Vortex state and magnetic response in a disk with an array of weakly-superconducting (or normal regions) created in the sample increasing the temperature T locally by using a continuous wave laser (CWL) that emits a beam with a controlled heat output, beam duration and intensity are studied. The time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau theory is used to describe the interaction of the light with the superconductor, where the defects are include through the spatially-dependent temperature. Vortices penetrating into the weak-superconducting regions which are generated considering that T > Tc (Tc is the critical temperature of the sample) where the CWL is pointing. Qualitative changes are observed in the dynamics of the superconducting condensate in the presence of pinning with different shapes and sizes which are possible to be modified in the same superconducting sample without any structural changes that could include metals, permanent magnets and implantation of heavy ions.

We report the temperature and magnetic field dependence of magnetization of Pr1-xNdxPt4Ge12 (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.1) and PrPt3.88Fe0.12Ge12 below 10 K and up to 2 T magnetic field. When compared to the parent PrPt4Ge12, while the critical current density and flux pinning properties are enhanced in the Pr1-xNdxPt4Ge12 samples, they are considerably diminished in the PrPt3.88Fe0.12Ge12 sample. We argue that the observed changes are related to the way the substituting atoms at different crystallographic sites influence the superconductivity in these Germanide skutterudites.

We study the evolution of the magnetic field-induced switching between the stable domain configurations of permalloy nanoring structures, when magnetic nano-wires are attached to them. Magnetoresistance measurements were performed on such devices for two configurations of the attached nano-wires: (i) when they are at diametrically opposite ends of the nanoring, and (ii) when the nanowires are at an obtuse angle with respect to each other. During the measurements, the direction of application of the in-plane magnetic field is varied to understand the switching properties of the devices. Micromagnetic simulations were carried out in order to understand the domain configuration and reversal mechanism. We show that due to the nature of domain walls created by the presence of the nano-wires in the obtuse configuration, a vortex state can be stabilized in the nano-ring. We extended our studies to various nanoring devices with different widths while keeping a constant thickness.

Electrospun nanofibers produced from magnetic materials form a magnetic network which may be used for neuromorphic computing and other novel applications. While the influence of bending radii on the magnetization reversal in such nanofibers was already discussed in the literature, the often occurring beads along the fibers have not yet been investigated in detail. It can be assumed that such beads will support domain wall formation due to a reduction of the relative impact of the shape anisotropy, in this way influencing magnetization reversal along the fiber. Here, we simulate magnetization reversal processes in iron, nickel, cobalt and magnetite fibers with a bead in the middle, produced in three typical dimensions gained by electrospinning. In most cases a vortex state occurs during magnetization reversal, independent from the material and the dimensions. For some angular orientations of the external magnetic field, double-vortex or meander states are visible, usually also followed by vortex states. These simulations underline the strong and highly reliable impact of beads along electrospun fibers, making these structures useful for data storage, transport and other applications.

We report the voltage regulation of electrodeposited elliptical magnetostrictive Ni nanodot arrays from single-domain to nonvolatile vortex state at room temperature. On the piezoelectric substrate, isolated elliptical Ni nanodots are fabricated between a pair of square electrodes, with the long axis parallel to the joint line of the electrodes. By applying a voltage to the surface electrodes pair, local stress is generated to induce the magnetization of the nanodots from single-domain to vortex state. The magnetization state of the nanodots is characterized by a magnetic force microscope. Even after the voltage is removed or applying another voltage, the nanodots maintain a stable vortex magnetization state, which shows that the vortex state after regulation is nonvolatile. These results are of great significance for the study of the low-energy-consumption regulation of the nano-dimensional magnetic material and vortex state-based nonvolatile memory.

In this paper, we report on self-assembled Co nanoparticles deposited in and on porous silicon (PS) matrix by using UHV evaporation. Four samples were prepared by varying the Co deposited thickness (t = 3, 5, 7 and 10 nm). All samples have been investigated by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Physical Properties Measurement System (PPMS). The increase of t has induced an increase of the nanoparticle diameter from 3 nm to about 150 nm. Referring to the magnetic characterizations, this increase has been followed by a single to multi-domain transition. Therefore, this has been evidenced by a switching from superparamagnetism to purely ferromagnetism accompanied by a change in the magnetic reversal dynamics. Thus, by performing micromagnetic calculation, we have shown that a transition from the uniform rotation to vortex state occurs at a critical diameter of about 55 nm.

Micromagnetic simulations for Cobalt hexagonal shape nanorings show onion (O) and vortex state (V) along with new state named “tri-domain state”. The tri-domain state is observed in sufficiently large width of ring. The magnetic reversible mechanism and transition of states are explained with help of vector field display. The transitions from one state to other occur by propagation of domain wall. The vertical parts of hexagonal rings play important role in developing the new “tri-domain” state. The behaviors of switching fields from onion to tri-domain (HO-Tr), tri-domain to vortex state (HTr--V) and vortex to onion state and “states size” are discussed in term of geometrical parameter of ring.

The possibilities for preparation of bilayers containing magnetic Fe-oxide (Fe-O) and high temperature superconducting (HTS) YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) thin films were investigated. For this purpose, Fe-O films were deposited using reactive magnetron sputtering at comparatively low temperatures T≤250 °C onto dielectric (for example, LaAlO3 (LAO)) substrates, covered with a HTS YBCO film. The sputtering of the Fe-O layer at such conditions did not lead to a crucial damage of the critical temperature TC of the YBCO film, but could affect the width of the superconducting transition. A decrease of the critical temperature of the (Fe-O)/YBCO/LAO bilayer kept at ambient conditions was observed, possibly due to the negative effects of the water vapour on the sample characteristics. The double peak structure of the imaginary component of the response signal to the AC harmonic magnetic field, observed in such a (Fe-O)/YBCO/LAO sample, was ascribed from two possible views: as a consequence of morphology determined inter- and intra-granular contributions and/or as transitions from dominant irreversible processes as Bean-Livingston barrier to vortex state chains formation.

International audience; Flower and easy-axis vortex states are well-known magnetic configurations that can be stabilized in small particles. However, vortex (V), i.e. a vortex state with its core axis along the hard-axis direction, has been recently evidenced as a stable configuration in Fe nanocubes of intermediate sizes in the flower/vortex transition. In this context, we present here extensive micromagnetic simulations to determine the different magnetic ground states in ferromagnetic nanocuboids exhibiting cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA). Focusing our study in the single-domain/multidomain size range (10–50 nm), we showed that V is only stable in nanocuboids exhibiting peculiar features, such as a specific size, shape and magnetic environment, contrarily to the classical flower and easy-axis vortex states. Thus, to track experimentally these V states, one should focused on (i) nanocuboids exhibiting a nearly perfect cubic shape (size distorsion being only observed in virgin or remanent states.

The magnetization reversal process for elliptical and rectangular permendur (CoFe) nanostructures were compared using micromagnetic simulations. Single domain states were observed in 10 nm thick elliptical and rectangular nanomagnets. The magnetization reversal along the major and minor axis in 60 nm thick elliptical nanomagnets occurred through the formation of double vortex states. In rectangular nanomagnets, it occurred through the formation of single vortex state along 225 nm and double vortex state along 335 nm.

Magnetic bistability between vortex and single domain states in nanostructures are of great interest from both fundamental and technological perspectives. In soft magnetic nanostructures, the transition from a uniform collinear magnetic state to a vortex state (or vice versa) induced by a magnetic field involves an energy barrier. If the thermal energy is large enough for overcoming this energy barrier, magnetic bistability with a hysteresis-free switching occurs between the two magnetic states. In this work, we tune this energy barrier by tailoring the composition of FePd alloys, which were deposited onto self-assembled particle arrays forming magnetic vortex structures on top of the particles. The bifurcation temperature, where a hysteresis-free transition occurs, was extracted from the temperature dependence of the annihilation and nucleation field which increases almost linearly with Fe content of the magnetic alloy. This study provides insights into the magnetization reversal process associated with magnetic bistability, which allows adjusting the bifurcation temperature range by the material properties of the nanosystem.

Ferroelectric vortices are promising candidates for developing high-capacity memory devices and discovery of intriguing electromechanical properties. It is well known that the ferroelectric vortex state tends to stabilize at poor screening conditions and a relatively good screening condition would give rise to a polar state. However, what happens at the intermediate screening condition remains unclear. In this work, by including a Bardeen screening model into phase-field simulations, we explore the screening-mediated state stabilization in ferroelectric nanodots. A state coexistence regime where the polar and toroidal orders can both stabilize in a ferroelectric nanodot is found at certain range of screening (that is, screening length from 0.011 to 0.022 nm at room temperature). The mechanism of state coexistence is analyzed by construction of the input-dependent free-energy profile according to the energy minimum principle. The coexistence regime is further revealed to be tunable by geometrical parameters. Importantly, the polar and vortex states can be readily switched between each other via electrical and mechanical loads, paving the way towards a type of nonvolatile multilevel memory. Moreover, a screening-mediated morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) with strong dielectric and piezoelectric responses is demonstrated. Our study thus discovers a stability crossover of polar and toroidal orders in ferroelectric nanodots at intermediate screening condition accompanied with superior electromechanical properties and the feasibility in multilevel memory application.

Structure, morphology, magnetic state and magnetocaloric effect of single-phase nanopowder La 0.6 Sr 0.4 MnO 3 manganites have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, BET, SEM, and magnetic methods. According to X-ray diffraction, BET and SEM data, an average size of particles for the La 0.6 Sr 0.4 MnO 3 composition is tens of nanometers. On the basis of analysis of the magnetic data, the magnetic states, phase transition temperatures, magnetocaloric effect as well as critical sizes of particles, i.e. boundary sizes of a single-domain state, a vortex state and a multi-domain state, have been determined. The most part of nanoparticles of the La 0.6 Sr 0.4 MnO 3 composition are in the single-domain state.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is used for aerial spraying, the downwash airflow generated by the UAV rotor will interact with the crop canopy and form a conical vortex shape in the crop plant. The size of the vortex will directly affect the outcome of the spraying operation. Six one-way spraying were performed by the UAV in a rice field with different but random flying altitude and velocities within the optimal operational range to form different vortex patterns. The spraying reagent was clear water, which was collected by water sensitive paper (WSP), and then the WSP was analyzed to study the droplets deposition effects in different vortex states. The results showed that the formation of the vortex significantly influenced the droplet deposition. To be specific, the droplet deposition amount in the obvious-vortex (OV) state was about 1.5 times of that in the small-scale (SV) vortex state, and 7 times of that in the non-vortex (NV) state. In the OV state, the droplets mainly deposited directly below and on both sides of the route. The deposition amount, coverage rate and droplet size increased from top to bottom of the crops with the deposition amount, coverage rate, and volume median diameter (VMD) ranging 0.204-0.470 μL/cm2, 3.31%-7.41%, and 306-367μm, respectively. In the SV state, droplets mainly deposited in the vortex area directly below the route. The deposition amount in the downwind direction was bigger than that in the upwind direction. The maximum of deposition amount, coverage rate and droplet size were found in the middle layer of the crops, the range are 0.177-0.334μL/cm2, 2.71%-5.30%, 295-370μm, respectively. In the NV state, the droplet mainly performed drifting motion, and the average droplet deposition amount in the downwind non-effective region was 29.4 times of that in the upwind non-effective region and 8.7 times of the effective vortex region directly below the route. The maximum of deposition amount, coverage rate and droplet size appeared in the upper layer of the crop, the range are 0.006-0.132μL/cm2, 0.17%-1.82%, 120-309μm, respectively, and almost no droplet deposited in the middle and lower part of the crop. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the droplet deposition amount was less than 40% in the state of obvious-vortex and small-scale vortex, and the worst penetration appeared in the non-vortex amounting to 65.97%. This work offers a basis for improving the spraying performance of UAV.

We report a numerical modeling of single vortex depinning and its subsequent dynamics in HTS film with extended linear defects under the influence of the transport current. Numerical simulation of stable pinned vortex state and its escape from a linear defect has been performed. The non-stationary dynamics of vortex escape has been investigated and time-dependent solution for vortex displacement from the defect has been obtained. The delay effect in vortex escape process has been studied and the time delay has been estimated. The impact of processes being studied on electrodynamic properties of a superconductor has also been discussed. The dynamics of vortex escape from columnar pinning site described in the present work is important both for understanding of vortex dynamics and applying high-Tc superconductors with columnar defects.

The superconducting condensate in a bilayer normal-metal–superconducting film has a nonuniform dependence throughout the layer. For sufficiently thin normal metallic films, the superconducting correlations induced by the contacting superconducting layer result in the formation of a minigap and the characteristic length scales governing the response of the condensate will be different. In this work we use scanning tunneling spectroscopy to visualize the vortex states as a function of the applied magnetic field in a Au-MoGe nanostructure. By comparing the obtained zero-bias conductance maps with time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations, we directly confirm that the observed vortex distributions can only be explained by taking into account the impact of the normal metallic layer. We illustrate this impact on the vortex state for two lithographically fabricated mesoscopic bilayer structures containing an identical antidot array but having different lateral sizes., R.P., B.R, V.V.M., and J.V.d.V. acknowledge support from the Methusalem funding by the Flemish government and the Flemish Science Foundation (Grant No. G0B5315N). C.X. acknowledges support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11702218) and the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2018JM1003). This work has been supported by the COST action NanoCoHybri (Grant No. CA16218).

The spin valve principle is the most prominent sensor design among giant- (GMR) and tunneling (TMR) magnetoresistive sensors. A new sensor concept with a disk shaped free layer enables the formation of a flux-closed vortex magnetization state if a certain relation of thickness to diameter is given. The low frequency noise of current-in-plane GMR sensing elements with different free layer thicknesses at different external field strengths has been measured. The measurements of the 1/f noise in external fields enabled a separation of magnetic and electric noise contributions. It has been shown that while the sensitivity is increasing with a decreasing element thickness, the pink noise contribution is increasing too. Still the detection limit at low frequencies is better in thinner free layer elements due to the higher sensitivity.

We demonstrate a magneto-optical microscopy technique to create two-dimensional images of the pinning behavior of a vortex state as it is translated through a soft ferromagnetic film. The resulting information yields a map of how defects and inhomogeneities in the material serve to trap high-energy-density magnetization configurations such as vortex cores or domain walls. We raster scan a vortex core within a thin permalloy disk using in-plane magnetic fields, and monitor the vortex displacement using the magneto-optical Kerr effect. The differential nature of the measurement yields spatial resolution ≈ 5 nm, much less than the diffraction limit, and minimum resolvable pinning energy ≈ 0.4 eV. The technique produces two images, one displaying the pinning-induced vortex displacement relative to the expected free motion, and the other displaying hysteretic vortex displacement between the trace and re-trace. We demonstrate the technique on two samples, extract quantitative statistics about the pinning landscape, and compare to simulated results with a pinning landscape derived from the measured surface topography of the samples.

Hemispherical caps of in-plane exchange biased IrMn/CoFe layer systems have been fabricated on top of regularly arranged spherical silica particles by magnetron sputtering, creating magnetic Janus particles. In this thin film layer system cap, the magnetic shape anisotropy of the topographically non-flat hemispheres competes with the unidirectional anisotropy induced by the exchange bias. The magnetic properties of this non-trivial system have been investigated by longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry, where a characterization method has been developed considering both the curved layer system and the signal contributions of flat parts of the sputtered thin film system. Both remagnetization curves, from Kerr magnetometry and the magnetic force microscopy images, reveal an onion state in the magnetic caps of the ensemble. Additional micromagnetic simulations show a stabilization of the onion state due to the introduced unidirectional anisotropy also in individual hollow hemispheres as compared to the vortex state exhibited by purely ferromagnetic caps.

We analyzed the role of the inclusion of anti-dots on the vortex state and some calorimetric properties of a mesoscopic superconducting square immersed in an external applied magnetic field. We calculated the magnetization, entropy, Gibbs free energy, density of Cooper pairs and specific heat for this system in a zero field cooling process, solving the time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau equations. We found that the critical temperature is non-dependent on the number of anti-dots and dependent slightly on the size of the defects. Oscillations in the entropy and specific heat are found due the temperature dependence of the superconducting characteristics length.

The irreversible evolution of magnetic coercivity in arrays of 75 nm diameter Fe 80 Ni 20 nanowires (NWs) has been explored by means of first-order reversal curve (FORC) analysis as a function of the angle between the magnetic field and the NW axis (0°≤ θ ≤90°). The Fe 80 Ni 20 NWs with lengths up to 60 μm were fabricated using a pulsed electrodeposition method into hard-anodic aluminum oxide templates with an interpore distance of 275 nm. Investigating the interwire and intrawire magnetostatic interactions, the angular FORC (AFORC) diagrams indicated enhanced intrawire interactions with increasing length and θ ( θ =83° for 60 μm long NWs. At θ =90°, the NWs reversed magnetization through transverse domain wall, involving a reversible component by a fraction of 95%. Furthermore, the transition angle between the reversal modes was found to decrease with increasing aspect ratio from 200 to 800. The irreversible angular-dependent coercivity ( H c Irrev ( θ )) of Fe 80 Ni 20 NWs was extracted from the AFORC measurements and compared with the major angular dependence of coercivity ( H c Major ( θ )) obtained from the conventional hysteresis loop measurements. While H c Major ( θ ) showed a non-monotonic behavior, H c Irrev ( θ ) constantly increased with increasing θ ( H c Irrev ( θ ) for irreversible switching of VDW when 0°≤ θ ≤86°.

We report experimental manipulation of the magnetic states of elliptical cobalt magnetostrictive nanomagnets (with nominal dimensions of ∼340 nm × 270 nm × 12 nm) delineated on bulk 128° Y-cut lithium niobate with acoustic waves (AWs) launched from interdigitated electrodes. Isolated nanomagnets (no dipole interaction with any other nanomagnet) that are initially magnetized with a magnetic field to a single-domain state with the magnetization aligned along the major axis of the ellipse are driven into a vortex state by acoustic waves that modulate the stress anisotropy of these nanomagnets. The nanomagnets remain in the vortex state until they are reset by a strong magnetic field to the initial single-domain state, making the vortex state nonvolatile. This phenomenon is modeled and explained using a micromagnetic framework and could lead to the development of extremely energy efficient magnetization switching methodologies for low-power computing applications.

(CoFe2O4)x/Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2Cu3O10−δ {(CoFe2O4)x/CuTl-1223}; (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) nanoparticles-superconductor composites were synthesized by solid–state reaction technique and dissipative mechanism was investigated by infield measurements and analysis. Activation energy {Uo(H)} was calculated from Arrhenius plots of infield resistivity measurements. The infield resistive properties of superconductors depend upon the fluxoid motion, which causes resistive transition broadening by shifting Tc (0) towards lower temperature values. The enhancement of transition broadening is attributed to spread of upper critical field in vortex state and dissipation process with applied magnetic field. Addition of magnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles reduces the fluxoid motion by introducing nano-sized defects in the host CuTl-1223 superconducting matrix, which act as effective flux pinning centers. An overall increase in the activation energy Uo(H) has been observed with increasing contents of magnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles, which elucidate the enhanced flux pinning with increasing CoFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles content up to x = 1.5 wt. % in CuTl-1223 superconducting matrix.

We studied the magnetoresistance of symmetric cobalt nanorings with nanowires attached at diametrically opposite positions. Deterministic switching, induced by an external magnetic field between the stable magnetization states, is demonstrated using histograms of the resistance changes as a function of an external magnetic field. The changes of the switching fields were studied as the lateral dimensions of these elements were varied systematically. The field required to switch between the vortex state and the onion state of the rings decreases as the line widths of the elements were increased. The vortex state is unstable at the larger line widths. Our experimental observations are explained using micromagnetic simulations.

We report results of first-order reversal curves (FORCs) measurements for hollow Fe3O4 submicron spherical particles, varying particle size from 400 to 700 nm. For all the samples, the FORC diagrams exhibit a butterfly-like feature of distribution peaks, being characteristic to the vortex formation. With increasing temperature from 10 K nucleation and annihilation fields of a vortex sharply increase and become almost constant above the Verwey transition temperature ( T v ∼ 115 K). This reflects temperature-dependent magnetocrystalline anisotropy, associated with a structural transition at T v . Above T v the field range at which a vortex state is stable increases with increasing particle size, indicating that an increasing contribution of demagnetizing fields dominates a vortex stability for larger hollow particles.