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Hard-soft bilayers are analogous to prototype exchange-biased ferromagnetic -antiferromagnetic systems as the minor loop of the soft layer is biased by the hard and furthermore they offer bias layer tunability. In sputtered CoPt/Co hard-soft bilayers we demonstrate that the exchange bias field shows a linear dependence on the hard layer magnetization, while the coercivity shows a quadratic dependence. Analysis of the minor hysteresis loop features supported by Monte-Carlo simulations provide clear evidence that the coercivity of the soft layer is mainly determined by the tunable randomness of the domain state of the hard layer., Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures

The hydrogen sorption performance of V55Ti21Cr17Fe7 and V55Ti21Mn17Fe7 alloys and their ribbons were evaluated by pressure composition temperature tests. Their hydrogen absorption kinetic properties were studied through hydrogen absorption curves. The crystallographic structures and microstructure of these alloys and ribbons before hydrogen absorption and after hydrogen desorption PCT tests were identified by Xray diffraction and Scanning electron microscopy analysis, respectively. Hydrogen storage characteristics of such materials were investigated by volumetric method using Sieverts type apparatus and gravimetric method with suspension balance., Comment: Hydrogen Storage, Metal hydrides, Composites

Titanium borates show promissing hydrogen storage characteristics. Structural relaxation around individual hydrogen atoms and the binding energies are studied by means of the density functional theory methods for a number of hydrogenated TiB2, TiB and Ti2B structures. Starting with the possible symmetric hydrogen sites a random structure searching has been performed, in addition to locate all energetically stable adsorption sites. It is shown that for the three bulk compounds considered, the lowest binding energies are obtained for TiB2 (in the 0.3-1.8 eV range), the largest for Ti2B (in the 3.9-4.7 eV range), while for TiB they are intermediate (in the 2.8-3.5 eV range). Calculations performed on hydrogenated Ti2B result in two energetically stable sites for two different starting environments, suggesting a posible soft mode solution.

In this work we present magnetization data on hybrids consisting of multilayers (MLs) of man- ganites [La0.33Ca0.67MnO3/La0.60Ca0.40MnO3]15 in contact with a low-Tc Nb superconductor (SC). Although a pure SC should behave diamagnetically in respect to the external magnetic field in our ML-SC hybrids we observed that the magnetization of the SC follows that of the ML. Our intriguing experimental results show that the SC below its TSC c becomes ferromagnetically coupled to the ML. As a result in the regime where diamagnetic behaviour of the SC was expected its bulk magne- tization switches only whenever the coercive field of the ML is exceeded. By employing specific experiments where the ML was selectively biased or not we demonstrate that the ML inflicts its magnetic properties on the whole hybrid. Possible explanations are discussed in connection to recent theoretical proposals and experimental findings that were obtained in relative hybrids., Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. B

We report on magnetic measurements as a function of field, temperature and time (relaxation) in superconducting Nb films of critical temperature Tc = 9.25 K. The magnetic measurements as a function of field exhibited a second magnetization peak (SMP) which in general is accompanied by thermomagnetic instabilities (TMIs). The lines where the SMP occurs and where the first flux jump in the virgin magnetization curves is observed, end at a characteristic point (To,Ho)=(7.2 K,80 Oe). Relaxation measurements showed that for TTo=7.2 K both Uo and S present a conventional monotonic behavior. These results indicate that the SMP behavior observed in our Nb films is promoted by the anomalous relaxation of the magnetization., Comment: To appear in Physica C

We report on combined resistance and magnetic measurements in a hybrid structure (HS) of randomly distributed anisotropic CoPt magnetic nanoparticles (MN) embedded in a 160 nm Nb thick film. Our resistance measurements exhibited a sharp increase at the magnetically determined bulk upper-critical fields Hc2(T). Above these points the resistance curves are rounded, attaining the normal state value at much higher fields identified as the surface superconductivity fields Hc3(T). When plotted in reduced temperature units, the characteristic field lines Hc3(T) of the HS and of a pure Nb film, prepared at exactly the same conditions, coincide for H<10 kOe, while for fields H>10 kOe they strongly segregate. Interestingly, the characteristic value H=10 kOe is equal to the saturation field of the MN. The behavior mentioned above is observed only for the case where the field is normal to the HS, while is absent when the field is parallel to the film. Our experimental results suggest that the observed enhancement of surface superconductivity field Hc3(T) is possibly due to the not uniform local reduction of the external magnetic field by the dipolar fields of the MN., Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev. B