| 1. |
- George, Sebastian, 1990-
(författare)
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Amorphous Magnetic Materials : A Versatile Foundation for Tomorrow’s Applications
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Amorphous magnetic materials exhibit a number of key differentiating properties with respect to crystalline magnets. In some cases, the differences may simply be in the values of macroscopic properties such as saturation magnetization, coercivity, Curie temperature, and electrical conductivity. Other cases are more fundamental, such as the possibility for many amorphous alloys to be produced with nearly arbitrary composition, something that is not always possible in crystal structures that may only be stable for certain specific compositions.Fundamentally, these properties arise due to the disordered arrangement of atoms in amorphous materials. However, this structure is challenging to probe and characterize, either experimentally or theoretically. A significant contribution of this thesis is the development of a new approach for studying the local atomic structure of amorphous materials, specifically amorphous SmCo and FeZr alloys. The strategy combines extended x-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS) measurements with stochastic quenching (SQ) simulations in a way that provides more information than either method can offer alone. Additionally, this approach offers the potential for identifying any shortcomings in the theoretical models obtained via SQ.Having an accurate model of the atomic arrangement is not, however, a prerequisite for developing technical applications of amorphous magnetic materials. For that, it is sufficient to quantify those macroscopic properties that are relevant for a given application. Such is the value of the magnetic characterization of amorphous TbCo and CoFeZr alloy thin films presented here. Both investigations used methods such as vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements to highlight the high tunability of the magnetic properties in these materials, which can be achieved simply by changing the chemical composition.The final portion of this thesis examines what can be achieved by combining amorphous SmCo and TbCo alloys together in bilayer structures. This is a step away from the alloy characterization studies, as it focuses on how new properties can be realized when multiple materials are brought together. MOKE measurements were used to identify the conditions under which the bilayers spontaneously become magnetized parallel to the film plane versus when the TbCo magnetization begins to tilt out of the plane. Further investigation combining x-ray circular magnetic dichroism (XMCD) measurements and micromagnetic simulations provided a depth-resolved model of the magnetization throughout the bilayers in the presence of a broad range of external field strengths and directions. These models also showed that the local magnetization just above and just below the SmCo/TbCo interface can be aligned either parallel or antiparallel to one another simply by varying the TbCo composition. This discovery offers a novel method for controlling the magnetic behavior in these materials, and may well be useful for all-optical switching or spintronics applications where amorphous TbCo alloys have already drawn attention.
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| 2. |
- George, Sebastian, 1990-, et al.
(författare)
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Local structure in amorphous SmxCo1-x : a combined experimental and theoretical study
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0022-2461 .- 1573-4803. ; 55, s. 12488-12498
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using a combination of extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurements, stochastic quenching (SQ) calculations and Voronoi tessellation analysis, the local atomic environments in thin films of amorphous SmxCo1−x (x= 0.10, 0.22 and 0.35) are investigated and also compared with crystalline stoichiometric Sm–Co alloys of similar compositions. It is found that the variations in local environment around Co atoms in the amorphous films increase with increasing x and that none of the films exhibit any pronounced short-range order around the Sm atoms. There are, however, signs of clustering of Sm atoms in the SQ-generated simulated amorphous materials. Furthermore, good agreement is observed between experimentally obtained parameters, e.g., interatomic distances and coordination numbers, and those extracted from the simulated alloys. This is a strong indication that SQ provides a powerful route to reliable local structure information for amorphous rare earth–transition metal alloys and that it could be used for designing materials with properties that meet the demands of specific applications.
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| 3. |
- Magnus, Fridrik, et al.
(författare)
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Tuneable exchange-spring stiffness in amorphous magnetic trilayer structures
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 0953-8984 .- 1361-648X. ; 33:44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate the magnetic properties of amorphous Sm10Co90/Co-60(Al70Zr30)(40)/Co-85(Al70Zr30)(15) exchange-spring magnet trilayers. The magnetically soft Co-85(Al70Zr30)(15) layer is coupled to the magnetically hard Sm10Co90 layer through the weakly magnetic low-T (c) Co-60(Al70Zr30)(40) spacer layer. The strength of the coupling can be controlled with temperature and the coupling persists above the intrinsic T (c) of the spacer layer due to a long-range magnetic proximity effect. Polarized neutron reflectivity is used to examine the magnetic profile of the trilayers during magnetization reversal. A two-step switching occurs, with the switching angle of the soft layer strongly dependent on the strength of the coupling. In the strong coupling regime a magnetic state can be achieved where the soft layer magnetization is perpendicular to the hard layer whereas in the weak coupling regime the soft layer reverses fully.
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| 4. |
- Qviller, A. J., et al.
(författare)
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Direct observation of magnetic proximity effects in amorphous exchange-spring magnets by neutron reflectometry
- 2020
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Ingår i: Physical Review Materials. - 2475-9953. ; 4:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we report a direct observation of a magnetic proximity effect in an amorphous thin-film exchange-spring magnet by the use of neutron reflectometry. The exchange-spring magnet is a trilayer consisting of two ferromagnetic layers with high T-c separated by a ferromagnetic layer, which is engineered to have a significantly lower T-c than the embedding layers. This enables us to measure magnetization depth profiles at which the low-T-c material is in a ferromagnetic or paramagnetic state, while the embedding layers are ferromagnetic. A clear proximity effect is observed 7 K above the intrinsic T-c of the embedded layer, with a range extending 50 angstrom.
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| 5. |
- Warnatz, Tobias
(författare)
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Magnetic Properties of Epitaxial Metal/Oxide Heterostructures
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The work in this dissertation is devoted to tailoring and studying magnetic properties of epitaxial metal/oxide heterostructures. The aim is to understand the fundamental principles governing these properties and how they affect each other. The acquired knowledge can prove useful for the development of future spintronic devices. A variety of experimental techniques is used to fabricate and characterize the epitaxial structures. For fabrication, a combination of direct-current and radio-frequency sputtering is used, whereas x-ray reflectivity and diffraction measurements are the main tools for the structural characterization of the heterostructures. The magnetic characterization of these structures is done by a combination of longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr-effect measurements, Kerr-microscopy and polarized neutron reflectometry. First, it is shown how strain affects the magnetic properties of metal/oxide heterostructures by comparing Fe/MgO and Fe/MgAl2O4 superlattices. Subsequently, an antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling in Fe/MgO superlattices is revealed and attributed to a spin-polarized-tunneling mechanism. The coupling strength can be tuned by changing the MgO thickness leading to the stabilization of different remanent states as well as to different reversal mechanisms. It is shown that the interlayer exchange coupling in Fe/MgO superlattices is a consequence of two distinct components. These components can be interpreted as beyond-nearest-neighbor interactions and a contribution arising from the total thickness of the heterostructures.The interlayer exchange coupling is further investigated via temperature dependent magnetization measurements. It is shown that different remanent states and reversal mechanisms occur at different temperatures. Furthermore, a large increase in interlayer exchange coupling strength with reduced temperature is revealed. Finally, it is shown that Fe84Cu16/MgO superlattices exhibit a reduced magnetocrystalline anisotropy and interlayer exchange coupling strength, as compared to pure Fe/MgO superlattices. Patterning such Fe84Cu16/MgO superlattices in circular islands leads to an increased saturation field with decreasing island diameter.
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| 6. |
- Warnatz, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of number of repeats N on the interlayer exchange in [Fe/MgO]N(001) superlattices
- 2021
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The strength of the interlayer exchange coupling in [Fe/MgO]N(001) superlattices with 2 <= N <= 10 depends on the number of bilayer repeats (N). The exchange coupling is antiferromagnetic for all the investigated thicknesses while being nine times larger in a sample with N = 4 as compared to N = 2. The sequence of the magnetic switching in two of the samples (N = 4, N = 8) is determined using polarized neutron reflectometry. The outermost layers are shown to respond at the lowest fields, consistent with having the weakest interlayer exchange coupling. The results are consistent with the existence of quantum well states defined by the thickness of the Fe and the MgO layers as well as the number of repeats (N) in [Fe/MgO]N(001)superlattices.
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| 7. |
- Warnatz, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
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The influence of diameter on the magnetic saturation in Fe 84 Cu 16 /MgO [001] multilayered islands
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-8853 .- 1873-4766. ; 496
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The saturation field of circular islands, consisting of [Fe84Cu16/MgO]9Fe84Cu16 multilayers, increases with decreasing diameter of the islands. When the diameter of the islands is below 450 nm the field induced changes are dominated by a coherent rotation of the moment of the Fe84Cu16 layers. For diameters of 2 μm and larger, a signature of domain nucleation and evolution is observed. The changes in the saturation field with diameter of the islands are ascribed to the interplay between interlayer exchange coupling, stray field coupling at the edges and the crystalline anisotropy of the Fe84Cu16 layers.
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