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We have studied the possibility of above bandgap light induced depolarization of CdZnTe planar radiation detector operating under high flux of X-rays by Pockels effect measurements. In this contribution, we show a similar influence of X-rays at 80 kVp and LED with a wavelength of 910 nm irradiating the cathode on polarization of the detector due to an accumulation of a positive space charge of trapped photo-generated holes. We have observed the depolarization of the detector under simultaneous cathode-site illumination with excitation LED at 910 nm and depolarization above bandgap LED at 640 nm caused by trapping of drifting photo-generated electrons. Although the detector current is quite high during this depolarization, we have observed that it decreases relatively fast to its initial value after switching off the depolarizing light. In order to get detailed information about physical processes present during polarization and depolarization and, moreover, about associated deep levels, we have performed the Pockels effect infrared spectral scanning measurements of the detector without illumination and under illumination in polarized and optically depolarized states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employed measurement of the Pockels electro-optic effect to study the electric field and space charge dynamics in semi-insulating CdTe doped with indium. We performed measurements of time and temperature dependence of the electric field. The polarization due to space charge build-up decreases with increasing temperature. Increase of temperature, therefore, leads to de-polarization in CdTe:In detectors which are opposite to the CdTe:Cl samples studied to date. We have shown that the thermally activated depolarization cannot be explained by the conventional model used for the description of space charge formation so far and an alternative model involving a recombination level was suggested and successfully used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic skyrmions, topologically-stabilized spin textures that emerge in magnetic systems, have garnered considerable interest due to a variety of electromagnetic responses that are governed by the topology. The topology that creates a microscopic gyrotropic force also causes detrimental effects, such as the skyrmion Hall effect, which is a well-studied phenomenon highlighting the influence of topology on the deterministic dynamics and drift motion. Furthermore, the gyrotropic force is anticipated to have a substantial impact on stochastic diffusive motion; however, the predicted repercussions have yet to be demonstrated, even qualitatively. Here we demonstrate enhanced thermally-activated diffusive motion of skyrmions in a specifically designed synthetic antiferromagnet. Suppressing the effective gyrotropic force by tuning the angular momentum compensation leads to a more than 10 times enhanced diffusion coefficient compared to that of ferromagnetic skyrmions. Consequently, our findings not only demonstrate the gyro-force dependence of the diffusion coefficient but also enable ultimately energy-efficient unconventional stochastic computing., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

A key issue for skyrmion dynamics and devices are pinning effects present in real systems. While posing a challenge for the realization of conventional skyrmionics devices, exploiting pinning effects can enable non-conventional computing approaches if the details of the pinning in real samples are quantified and understood. We demonstrate that using thermal skyrmion dynamics, we can characterize the pinning of a sample and we ascertain the spatially resolved energy landscape. To understand the mechanism of the pinning, we probe the strong skyrmion size and shape dependence of the pinning. Magnetic microscopy imaging demonstrates that in contrast to findings in previous investigations, for large skyrmions the pinning originates at the skyrmion boundary and not at its core. The boundary pinning is strongly influenced by the very complex pinning energy landscape that goes beyond the conventional effective rigid quasi-particle description. This gives rise to complex skyrmion shape distortions and allows for dynamic switching of pinning sites and flexible tuning of the pinning., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Fe 75-x Mn 25 Ga x Heusler-like compounds were investigated in a wide range of Fe/Ga ratios while keeping the Mn content constant and equal 25 at% in order to elucidate the interplay between magnetic properties and composition. Materials were prepared by arc-melting from pure elements and subsequently annealed. Experimental investigations were focused on magnetization behavior in a wide temperature range from 4 to 1000 K and magnetic field up to 9 T. Optical and magneto-optical (MO) measurements were employed to shed more light on the magnetic state and electronic structure of investigated materials. Magnetization measurements indicated that in the vicinity of stoichiometry (Fe 2 MnGa) the compounds are ferro/ferrimagnetic, whereas the Fe-deficient compound is paramagnetic and at high Fe concentration the antiferromagnetic interaction prevails. Theoretical calculations of corresponding ordered and disordered stoichiometric compounds were carried out and compared to the experiment on the level of net magnetic moment as well as magneto-optical spectra. This comparison suggests that the Heusler crystal structure, L2 1 , is not present even close to stoichiometry. Moreover, the comparison of density of states (DOS) for ordered and disordered structures allowed us to explain missing martensitic transformation (MT) in investigated materials., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Unlike ferromagnetic materials, ferrimagnetic metals have recently received considerable attention due to their bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, low net magnetization and tunable magnetic properties. This makes them perfect candidates for the research of recently discovered spin-torque related phenomena. Among other ferrimagnetic metals, GdFe has an advantage in relatively large magnetic moments in both sublattices and tunability of compensation point above the room temperature by small changes in its composition. We present a systematic study of optical and magneto-optical properties of amorphous Gd x Fe (100-x) thin films of various compositions (x = 18.3, 20.0, 24.7, 26.7) prepared by DC sputtering on thermally oxidized SiO 2 substrates. A combination of spectroscopic ellipsometry and magneto-optical spectroscopy in the photon energy range from 1.5 to 5.5 eV with advanced theoretical models allowed us to deduce the spectral dependence of complete permittivity tensors across the compensation point. Such information is important for further optical detection of spin related phenomena driven by vicinity of compensation point in nanostructures containing GdFe.

Magnetic skyrmions in thin films can be efficiently displaced with high speed by using spin-transfer torques 1,2 and spin-orbit torques 3-5 at low current densities. Although this favourable combination of properties has raised expectations for using skyrmions in devices 6,7 , only a few publications have studied the thermal effects on the skyrmion dynamics 8-10 . However, thermally induced skyrmion dynamics can be used for applications 11 such as unconventional computing approaches 12 , as they have been predicted to be useful for probabilistic computing devices 13 . In our work, we uncover thermal diffusive skyrmion dynamics by a combined experimental and numerical study. We probed the dynamics of magnetic skyrmions in a specially tailored low-pinning multilayer material. The observed thermally excited skyrmion motion dominates the dynamics. Analysing the diffusion as a function of temperature, we found an exponential dependence, which we confirmed by means of numerical simulations. The diffusion of skyrmions was further used in a signal reshuffling device as part of a skyrmion-based probabilistic computing architecture. Owing to its inherent two-dimensional texture, the observation of a diffusive motion of skyrmions in thin-film systems may also yield insights in soft-matter-like characteristics (for example, studies of fluctuation theorems, thermally induced roughening and so on), which thus makes it highly desirable to realize and study thermal effects in experimentally accessible skyrmion systems.

Magnetic skyrmions promise breakthroughs in future memory and computing devices due to their inherent stability and small size. Their creation and current driven motion have been recently observed at room temperature, but the key mechanisms of their formation are not yet well-understood. Here it is shown that in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures, pulsed currents can drive morphological transitions between labyrinth-like, stripe-like, and skyrmionic states. Using high-resolution X-ray microscopy, the spin texture evolution with temperature and magnetic field is imaged and it is demonstrated that with transient Joule heating, topological charges can be injected into the system, driving it across the stripe-skyrmion boundary. The observations are explained through atomistic spin dynamic and micromagnetic simulations that reveal a crossover to a global skyrmionic ground state above a threshold magnetic field, which is found to decrease with increasing temperature. It is demonstrated how by tuning the phase stability, one can reliably generate skyrmions by short current pulses and stabilize them at zero field, providing new means to create and manipulate spin textures in engineered chiral ferromagnets., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

We studied the growth of the surface oxide layer on four different CdTe and CdZnTe X-ray and gamma-ray detector-grade samples using spectroscopic ellipsometry. We observed gradual oxidization of CdTe and CdZnTe after chemical etching in bromine solutions. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements, we found that the oxide consists only of oxygen bound to tellurium. We applied a refined theoretical model of the surface layer to evaluate the spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. In this way we studied the dynamics and growth rate of the oxide layer within a month after chemical etching of the samples. We observed two phases in the evolution of the oxide layer on all studied samples. A rapid growth was visible within five days after the chemical treatment followed by semi-saturation and a decrease in the growth rate after the first week. After one month all the samples showed an oxide layer about 3 nm thick. The oxide thickness was correlated with leakage current degradation with time after surface preparation.