No Arabic abstract
A theoretical study of the magnetization curves of quasiperiodic magnetic multilayers is presented. We consider structures composed by ferromagnetic films (Fe) with interfilm exchange coupling provided by intervening nonferromagnetic layers (Cr). The theory is based on a realistic phenomenological model, which includes the following contributions to the free magnetic energy: Zeeman, cubic anisotropy, bilinear and biquadratic exchange energies. The experimental parameters used here are based on experimental data recently reported, which contain sufficiently strong biquadratic exchange coupling.
A theoretical study of the specific heat C(T) as a function of temperature in Fibonacci magnetic superlattices is presented. We consider quasiperiodic structures composed of ferromagnetic films, each described by the Heisenberg model, with biquadratic and bilinear coupling between them. We have taken the ratios between the biquadratic and bilinear exchange terms according to experimental data recently measured for different regions of their regime. Although some previous properties of the spin wave specific heat are also reproduced here, new features appear in this case, the most important of them being an interesting broken-symmetry related to the interlayer biquadratic term.
We use neutron reflectometry to investigate the interlayer exchange coupling between Ga$_{0.97}$Mn$_{0.03}$As ferromagnetic semiconductor layers separated by non-magnetic Be-doped GaAs spacers. Polarized neutron reflectivity measured below the Curie temperature of Ga$_{0.97}$Mn$_{0.03}$As reveals a characteristic splitting at the wave vector corresponding to twice the multilayer period, indicating that the coupling between the ferromagnetic layers are antiferromagnetic (AFM). When the applied field is increased to above the saturation field, this AFM coupling is suppressed. This behavior is not observed when the spacers are undoped, suggesting that the observed AFM coupling is mediated by charge carriers introduced via Be doping. The behavior of magnetization of the multilayers measured by DC magnetometry is consistent with the neutron reflectometry results.
We report the synthesis and characterization of a new quantum magnet [2-[Bis(2-hydroxybenzyl)aminomethyl]pyridine]Ni(II)-trimer (BHAP-Ni3) in single-crystalline form. Our combined experimental and theoretical investigations reveal an exotic spin state that stabilizes a robust 2/3 magnetization plateau between 7 and 20 T in an external magnetic field. AC-susceptibility measurements show the absence of any magnetic order/glassy state down to 60 mK. The magnetic ground state is disordered and specific-heat measurements reveal the gapped nature of the spin excitations. Most interestingly, our theoretical modeling suggests that the 2/3 magnetization plateau emerges due to the interplay between antiferromagnetic Heisenberg and biquadratic exchange interactions within nearly isolated spin $S$ = 1 triangles.
Motivated by the recent discovery of superconductivity in doped NdNiO$_2$, we study the magnetic exchange interaction $J$ in layered $d^9$ nickelates from first principles. The mother compounds of the high-$T_{rm c}$ cuprates belong to the charge-transfer regime in the Zaanen-Sawatzky-Allen diagram and have $J$ larger than 100 meV. While this feature makes the cuprates very different from other transition metal oxides, it is of great interest whether layered $d^9$ nickelates can also have such a large $J$. However, one complexity is that NdNiO$_2$ is not a Mott insulator due to carrier doping from the block layer. To compare the cuprates and $d^9$ nickelates on an equal basis, we study RbCa$_2$NiO$_3$ and $A_{2}$NiO$_{2}$Br$_2$ ($A$: a cation with the valence of $2.5+$), which were recently designed theoretically by block-layer engineering. These nickelates are free from the self-doping effect and belong to the Mott-Hubbard regime. We show that these nickelates share a common thread with the high-$T_{rm c}$ cuprates in that they also have a significant exchange interaction $J$ as large as about 100 meV.
We investigate the influence of biquadratic exchange interactions on the low-lying excitations of a S=1/2-ladder using perturbation theory, numerical diagonalization of finite systems and exact results for ladders with matrix product ground states. We consider in particular the combination of biquadratic exchange interactions corresponding to ring exchange on the basic ladder plaquette. We find that a moderate amount of ring exchange reduces the spin gap substantially and makes equal bilinear exchange on legs and rungs consistent with experimentally observed spectra.