No Arabic abstract
We report on the first experimental visualization of domain structure in films of weakly ferromagnetic Cu$_{0,47}$Ni$_{0,53}$ alloy with different thickness at liquid helium temperatures. Improved high-resolution Bitter decoration technique was used to map the magnetic contrast on the top of the films well below the Curie temperature T$_{Curie}$ ($sim$ 60 K). In contrast to magnetic force microscopy, this technique allowed visualization of the domain structure without its disturbance while the larger areas of the sample were probed. Maze-like domain patterns, typical for perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, were observed. The average domain width was found to be about 100 nm.
Magnetic domain walls in thin films can be well analyzed using polarized neutron reflectometry. Well defined streaks in the off-specular spin-flip scattering maps are explained by neutron refraction at perpendicular N{e}el walls. The position of the streaks depends only on the magnetic induction within the domains, whereas the intensity of the off-specular magnetic scattering depends on the spin-flip probability at the domain walls and on the average size of the magnetic domains. This effect is fundamentally different and has to be clearly distinguished from diffuse scattering originating from the size distribution of magnetic domains. Polarized neutron reflectivity experiments were carried out using a $^3$He gas spin-filter with a analyzing power as high as 96% and a neutron transmission of approx 35%. Furthermore, the off-specular magnetic scattering was enhanced by using neutron resonance and neutron standing wave techniques.
We report a direct observation of magnetic domain evolution near the Verwey transition (TV) in Fe3O4 films. We found the stripe domains in the Fe3O4/Mg2TiO4 film while the irregular domains in the Fe3O4/MgO film and the similar characters of magnetic domains in the vicinity of TV for both samples: the bigger domain size and the higher contrast of the phase signal below TV and the more disordered domain images at TV. Remarkably, the magnetic behaviors can be well understood and the domain-wall energy and the demagnetizing energy can be calculated from the magnetic domains near TV in the Fe3O4/Mg2TiO4 film. Our work presents a demonstration of the low temperature magnetic domains and gives a new perspective to understand the Verwey transition in Fe3O4 thin films.
Transparent pure and Cu-doped (2.5, 5 and 10 at. %) anatase TiO2 thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition technique on LaAlO3 substrates. The samples were structurally characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The magnetic properties were measured using a SQUID. All films have a FM-like behaviour. In the case of the Cu-doped samples, the magnetic cycles are almost independent of the Cu concentration. Cu atoms are forming CuO and/or substituting Ti in TiO2. The thermal treatment in air promotes the CuO segregation. Since CuO is antiferromagnetic, the magnetic signals present in the films could be assigned to this Cu substitutionally replacing cations in TiO2.
A Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire-type nonlinear phenomenological theory is presented, which enables the thermodynamic description of dense laminar polydomain states in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films. The theory explicitly takes into account the mechanical substrate effect on the polarizations and lattice strains in dissimilar elastic domains (twins). Numerical calculations are performed for PbTiO3 and BaTiO3 films grown on (001)-oriented cubic substrates. The misfit strain-temperature phase diagrams are developed for these films, showing stability ranges of various possible polydomain and single-domain states. Three types of polarization instabilities are revealed for polydomain epitaxial ferroelectric films, which may lead to the formation of new polydomain states forbidden in bulk crystals. The total dielectric and piezoelectric small-signal responses of polydomain films are calculated, resulting from both the volume and domain-wall contributions. For BaTiO3 films, strong dielectric anomalies are predicted at room temperature near special values of the misfit strain.
Domain structures in CoFeB-MgO thin films with a perpendicular easy magnetization axis were observed by magneto-optic Kerr-effect microscopy at various temperatures. The domain wall surface energy was obtained by analyzing the spatial period of the stripe domains and fitting established domain models to the period. In combination with SQUID measurements of magnetization and anisotropy energy, this leads to an estimate of the exchange stiffness and domain wall width in these films. These parameters are essential for determining whether domain walls will form in patterned structures and devices made of such materials.