稀土Fe基3：29和1：12型化合物的磁性研究

稀土Fe基3：29和1：12型磁性合金化合物显示硬磁性特征,具有发展成为新型永磁材料的可能性.研究其磁性机理有助于理解其磁性的本质.本文发展了传统的磁价模型,并将其适用性由强磁合金拓展到亚铁磁性的弱磁性合金.利用发展的磁价模型系统研究RFe12xMx,R3Fe29xMx和R2Fe17xMx（R=稀土元素,M=第三掺杂金属元素）稀土合金化合物及其渗碳和吸氮化合物的磁性.理论与实验相符.研究表明：稀土Fe基3：29和1：12型合金化合物的磁性与稀土磁矩相关.合金的弱磁性源于合金内部存在的亚铁磁性.渗碳或吸氮处理,导致合金内部亚铁性-铁磁性转变.导带中的sp电子对于磁性的贡献与重稀土的极化、碳和氮原子的俘获密切相关.发展的磁价模型甚至可以根据稀土化合物的结构式对其磁性进行预测.     

Strong coupling between local moments and superconducting 'heavy' electrons in UPd2Al3

The electronic structure of heavy-fermion compounds arises from the interaction of nearly localized 4f- or 5f-shell electrons (with atomic magnetic moments) with the free-electron-like itinerant conduction-band electrons. In actinide or rare-earth heavy-fermion materials, this interaction yields itinerant electrons having an effective mass about 100 times (or more) the bare electron mass. Moreover, the itinerant electrons in UPd2Al3 are found to be superconducting well below the magnetic ordering temperature of this compound, whereas magnetism generally suppresses superconductivity in conventional metals. Here we report the detection of a dispersive excitation of the ordered f-electron moments, which shows a strong interaction with the heavy superconducting electrons. This 'magnetic exciton' is a localized excitation which moves through the lattice as a result of exchange forces between the magnetic moments. By combining this observation with previous tunnelling measurements on this material, we argue that these magnetic excitons may produce effective interactions between the itinerant electrons, and so be responsible for superconductivity in a manner analogous to the role played by phonons in conventional superconductors.     

Magnetoresistance from quantum interference effects in ferromagnets

The desire to maximize the sensitivity of read/write heads (and thus the information density) of magnetic storage devices has stimulated interest in the discovery and design of new magnetic materials exhibiting magnetoresistance. Recent discoveries include the 'colossal' magnetoresistance in the manganites and the enhanced magnetoresistance in low-carrier-density ferromagnets. An important feature of these systems is that the electrons involved in electrical conduction are different from those responsible for the magnetism. The latter are localized and act as scattering sites for the mobile electrons, and it is the field tuning of the scattering strength that ultimately gives rise to the observed magnetoresistance. Here we argue that magnetoresistance can arise by a different mechanism in certain ferromagnets--quantum interference effects rather than simple scattering. The ferromagnets in question are disordered, low-carrier-density magnets where the same electrons are responsible for both the magnetic properties and electrical conduction. The resulting magnetoresistance is positive (that is, the resistance increases in response to an applied magnetic field) and only weakly temperature-dependent below the Curie point.     

Hidden magnetism and quantum criticality in the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn5

With only a few exceptions that are well understood, conventional superconductivity does not coexist with long-range magnetic order (for example, ref. 1). Unconventional superconductivity, on the other hand, develops near a phase boundary separating magnetically ordered and magnetically disordered phases. A maximum in the superconducting transition temperature T(c) develops where this boundary extrapolates to zero Kelvin, suggesting that fluctuations associated with this magnetic quantum-critical point are essential for unconventional superconductivity. Invariably, though, unconventional superconductivity masks the magnetic phase boundary when T < T(c), preventing proof of a magnetic quantum-critical point. Here we report specific-heat measurements of the pressure-tuned unconventional superconductor CeRhIn5 in which we find a line of quantum-phase transitions induced inside the superconducting state by an applied magnetic field. This quantum-critical line separates a phase of coexisting antiferromagnetism and superconductivity from a purely unconventional superconducting phase, and terminates at a quantum tetracritical point where the magnetic field completely suppresses superconductivity. The T --> 0 K magnetic field-pressure phase diagram of CeRhIn5 is well described with a theoretical model developed to explain field-induced magnetism in the high-T(c) copper oxides, but in which a clear delineation of quantum-phase boundaries has not been possible. These experiments establish a common relationship among hidden magnetism, quantum criticality and unconventional superconductivity in copper oxides and heavy-electron systems such as CeRhIn5.     

Ni_（50-x）Mn_（10＋x）Ga_（30）Cu_（10）系列Heusler合金的结构、马氏体相变和磁性研究

通过实验和第一性原理研究了Ni50-xMn10＋xGa30Cu10（x=0-10）系列Heusler合金的结构、马氏体相变和磁性.实验研究发现,当用Mn原子在化学上替换Ni原子,合金的晶格参数随成分线性增大,相应体系的马氏体相变温度线性降低;理论分析认为,体系合金的单胞尺寸和电子浓度的共同作用使马氏体相变温度随成分变化线性降低直至消失;体系中Mn对Ni原子的替换使交互作用较强的Ni（A,C）-Mn（B）原子对逐渐形成,这增强了磁性原子间总的交换耦合作用,实验观测到体系合金的居里温度随成分逐渐上升.基于KKR-CPA-LDA的第一性原理计算结果表明,在体系合金中Mn原子磁矩始终与Ni原子磁矩保持铁磁排列,且Mn原子为体系分子磁矩的主要贡献者,因此体系合金的分子磁矩随Mn原子数量线性增加,这与实验结果相一致.     

Doping a semiconductor to create an unconventional metal

Landau-Fermi liquid theory, with its pivotal assertion that electrons in metals can be simply understood as independent particles with effective masses replacing the free electron mass, has been astonishingly successful. This is true despite the Coulomb interactions an electron experiences from the host crystal lattice, lattice defects and the other approximately 10(22) cm(-3) electrons. An important extension to the theory accounts for the behaviour of doped semiconductors. Because little in the vast literature on materials contradicts Fermi liquid theory and its extensions, exceptions have attracted great attention, and they include the high-temperature superconductors, silicon-based field-effect transistors that host two-dimensional metals, and certain rare-earth compounds at the threshold of magnetism. The origin of the non-Fermi liquid behaviour in all of these systems remains controversial. Here we report that an entirely different and exceedingly simple class of materials-doped small-bandgap semiconductors near a metal-insulator transition-can also display a non-Fermi liquid state. Remarkably, a modest magnetic field functions as a switch which restores the ordinary disordered Fermi liquid. Our data suggest that we have found a physical realization of the only mathematically rigorous route to a non-Fermi liquid, namely the 'undercompensated Kondo effect', where there are too few mobile electrons to compensate for the spins of unpaired electrons localized on impurity atoms.     

Co/AlO/FeNi三层膜的磁结构特性

利用多靶离子束溅射配合振动样品磁性分析技术对Co/AlO/FeNi纳米三层膜进行了分步制备与磁特性研究.分析结果表明,Co膜与FeNi膜的层间耦合强度及类型取决于中间隔离层(铝膜或氧化铝膜)的性能和厚度;垂直样品膜平面的电流输运机制源于电子隧穿和自旋电子流对铁磁层局域磁矩的作用.     

庞磁电阻效应材料中的低温电阻率反常现象

发现在La1/3Nd1/3Ba1/3MnO3和La1/3Nd1/3Sr1/3MnO3材料中存在低温电阻率极小值现象·经曲线拟合分析后,认为其机理在于材料中存在类似于磁性杂质对传导电子自旋散射造成的近藤效应(KondoEffect),是出现局域磁有序的结果     

The break-up of heavy electrons at a quantum critical point

The point at absolute zero where matter becomes unstable to new forms of order is called a quantum critical point (QCP). The quantum fluctuations between order and disorder that develop at this point induce profound transformations in the finite temperature electronic properties of the material. Magnetic fields are ideal for tuning a material as close as possible to a QCP, where the most intense effects of criticality can be studied. A previous study on the heavy-electron material YbRh2Si2 found that near a field-induced QCP electrons move ever more slowly and scatter off one another with ever increasing probability, as indicated by a divergence to infinity of the electron effective mass and scattering cross-section. But these studies could not shed light on whether these properties were an artefact of the applied field, or a more general feature of field-free QCPs. Here we report that, when germanium-doped YbRh2Si2 is tuned away from a chemically induced QCP by magnetic fields, there is a universal behaviour in the temperature dependence of the specific heat and resistivity: the characteristic kinetic energy of electrons is directly proportional to the strength of the applied field. We infer that all ballistic motion of electrons vanishes at a QCP, forming a new class of conductor in which individual electrons decay into collective current-carrying motions of the electron fluid.     

磁增强正负电晕放电比较

磁增强电晕放电是指将小块永磁铁置于放电极附近形成一个局部磁场,从而使自由电子发生拉莫运动,在电晕区中自由电子通过拉莫运动提高空气分子的电离,使电晕放电电流增加。磁增强放电技术是一种新的有效的放电技术,具有广泛的应用前景。本文对磁增强正电晕和磁增强负电晕的独特性质进行了对比和分析。通过试验发现:在磁场磁通量密度一定的情况下,由于电场强度的增加所引起的放电电流的增加存在一个增长的最大值,即得出了电场和磁场的最佳搭配问题。     

Spin-galvanic effect

There is much recent interest in exploiting the spin of conduction electrons in semiconductor heterostructures together with their charge to realize new device concepts. Electrical currents are usually generated by electric or magnetic fields, or by gradients of, for example, carrier concentration or temperature. The electron spin in a spin-polarized electron gas can, in principle, also drive an electrical current, even at room temperature, if some general symmetry requirements are met. Here we demonstrate such a 'spin-galvanic' effect in semiconductor heterostructures, induced by a non-equilibrium, but uniform population of electron spins. The microscopic origin for this effect is that the two electronic sub-bands for spin-up and spin-down electrons are shifted in momentum space and, although the electron distribution in each sub-band is symmetric, there is an inherent asymmetry in the spin-flip scattering events between the two sub-bands. The resulting current flow has been detected by applying a magnetic field to rotate an optically oriented non-equilibrium spin polarization in the direction of the sample plane. In contrast to previous experiments, where spin-polarized currents were driven by electric fields in semiconductor, we have here the complementary situation where electron spins drive a current without the need of an external electric field.     

Lanthanide contraction and magnetism in the heavy rare earth elements

The heavy rare earth elements crystallize into hexagonally close packed (h.c.p.) structures and share a common outer electronic configuration, differing only in the number of 4f electrons they have. These chemically inert 4f electrons set up localized magnetic moments, which are coupled via an indirect exchange interaction involving the conduction electrons. This leads to the formation of a wide variety of magnetic structures, the periodicities of which are often incommensurate with the underlying crystal lattice. Such incommensurate ordering is associated with a 'webbed' topology of the momentum space surface separating the occupied and unoccupied electron states (the Fermi surface). The shape of this surface-and hence the magnetic structure-for the heavy rare earth elements is known to depend on the ratio of the interplanar spacing c and the interatomic, intraplanar spacing a of the h.c.p. lattice. A theoretical understanding of this problem is, however, far from complete. Here, using gadolinium as a prototype for all the heavy rare earth elements, we generate a unified magnetic phase diagram, which unequivocally links the magnetic structures of the heavy rare earths to their lattice parameters. In addition to verifying the importance of the c/a ratio, we find that the atomic unit cell volume plays a separate, distinct role in determining the magnetic properties: we show that the trend from ferromagnetism to incommensurate ordering as atomic number increases is connected to the concomitant decrease in unit cell volume. This volume decrease occurs because of the so-called lanthanide contraction, where the addition of electrons to the poorly shielding 4f orbitals leads to an increase in effective nuclear charge and, correspondingly, a decrease in ionic radii.     

Fe1-xCox合金电子结构和磁性的理论研究

Fe1-xCox合金的磁性强烈依赖于合金的结构以及合金中Fe、Co的含量．该文从第一性原理出发，应用线性缀加平面波(LAPW)的方法，计算了Co含量分别在x=0．00，0．25，0．50，0．75，1．00时合金的电子结构和磁性．随着x值的增大，合金中原子总的平均磁矩和Fe原子的平均磁矩都呈现出先增加后减小的趋势，而Co原子磁矩在不同成分下基本保持不变．计算结果和试验结果较好地解释了Fe1-xCox合金的磁学性质．     

La位Dy替代对La0.67-xDyxSr0.33 MnO3体系磁性的影响

研究了La067-xDyxSr0.33MnO3磁结构的变化规律,结果表明,所有样品在居里温度Tc处发生顺磁-铁磁相变,掺杂样品在TN＜T＜Tc温区进入团簇玻璃态,且在低温区出现反铁磁现象;高掺杂样品M-T曲线在奈耳温度TN处出现磁化强度峰.用替代离子的磁性效应对磁结构的变化规律进行了解释,La(Dy)亚晶格的磁畴旋转导致出现磁化强度峰.     

Fluctuating valence in a correlated solid and the anomalous properties of delta-plutonium

Although the nuclear properties of the late actinides (plutonium, americium and curium) are fully understood and widely applied to energy generation, their solid-state properties do not fit within standard models and are the subject of active research. Plutonium displays phases with enormous volume differences, and both its Pauli-like magnetic susceptibility and resistivity are an order of magnitude larger than those of simple metals. Curium is also highly resistive, but its susceptibility is Curie-like at high temperatures and orders antiferromagnetically at low temperatures. The anomalous properties of the late actinides stem from the competition between itinerancy and localization of their f-shell electrons, which makes these elements strongly correlated materials. A central problem in this field is to understand the mechanism by which these conflicting tendencies are resolved in such materials. Here we identify the electronic mechanisms responsible for the anomalous behaviour of late actinides, revisiting the concept of valence using a theoretical approach that treats magnetism, Kondo screening, atomic multiplet effects and crystal field splitting on the same footing. We find that the ground state in plutonium is a quantum superposition of two distinct atomic valences, whereas curium settles into a magnetically ordered single valence state at low temperatures. The f(7) configuration of curium is contrasted with the multiple valences of the plutonium ground state, which we characterize by a valence histogram. The balance between the Kondo screening and magnetism is controlled by the competition between spin-orbit coupling, the strength of atomic multiplets and the degree of itinerancy. Our approach highlights the electronic origin of the bonding anomalies in plutonium, and can be applied to predict generalized valences and the presence or absence of magnetism in other compounds starting from first principles.     

Transient ferromagnetic-like state mediating ultrafast reversal of antiferromagnetically coupled spins

Ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic spin ordering is governed by the exchange interaction, the strongest force in magnetism. Understanding spin dynamics in magnetic materials is an issue of crucial importance for progress in information processing and recording technology. Usually the dynamics are studied by observing the collective response of exchange-coupled spins, that is, spin resonances, after an external perturbation by a pulse of magnetic field, current or light. The periods of the corresponding resonances range from one nanosecond for ferromagnets down to one picosecond for antiferromagnets. However, virtually nothing is known about the behaviour of spins in a magnetic material after being excited on a timescale faster than that corresponding to the exchange interaction (10-100?fs), that is, in a non-adiabatic way. Here we use the element-specific technique X-ray magnetic circular dichroism to study spin reversal in GdFeCo that is optically excited on a timescale pertinent to the characteristic time of the exchange interaction between Gd and Fe spins. We unexpectedly find that the ultrafast spin reversal in this material, where spins are coupled antiferromagnetically, occurs by way of a transient ferromagnetic-like state. Following the optical excitation, the net magnetizations of the Gd and Fe sublattices rapidly collapse, switch their direction and rebuild their net magnetic moments at substantially different timescales; the net magnetic moment of the Gd sublattice is found to reverse within 1.5 picoseconds, which is substantially slower than the Fe reversal time of 300 femtoseconds. Consequently, a transient state characterized by a temporary parallel alignment of the net Gd and Fe moments emerges, despite their ground-state antiferromagnetic coupling. These surprising observations, supported by atomistic simulations, provide a concept for the possibility of manipulating magnetic order on the timescale of the exchange interaction.     

Diamagnetic activity above Tc as a precursor to superconductivity in La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films

Superconductors show zero resistance to electric current, and expel magnetic flux (the Meissner effect) below the transition temperature (Tc). In conventional superconductors, the 'Cooper pairs' of electrons that are responsible for superconductivity form only below Tc. In the unconventional high-Tc superconductors, however, a strong electron correlation is essential for pair formation: there is evidence that some pairs are formed above Tc in samples that have less than the optimal density of charge carriers (underdoped) and an energy gap-the 'pseudogap'-appears to be present. Moreover, excitations that look like the vortices that carry magnetic flux inside the superconducting state have been reported above Tc (refs 6, 7). Although the origin of the pseudogap remains controversial, phase fluctuations above Tc, leading to some form of local superconductivity or local pairing, seem essential. Here we report magnetic imaging (scanning SQUID microscopy) of La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films. Clear quantized vortex patterns are visible below Tc (18-19 K), and we observe inhomogeneous magnetic domains that persist up to 80 K. We interpret the data as suggesting the existence of diamagnetic regions that are precursors to the Meissner state.     

Environmental magnetic studies of lacustrine sediments

In recent decades, environmental magnetism has become an important method for studying past global climatic and environmental changes. For an environmental magnetic study, it is important to understand the magnetic properties, of various magnetic minerals in lacustrine sedimcuts and the processes involved in the formation, transport,and preservation of these magnetic minerals. The magnetic response of lacustrine sediments to climatic change may vary widely from lake to lake. To reconstruct the processes contributing to paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental change, it is, therefore, necessary to derive a complete understanding of the potential origin of the magnetic signal observed.