Josep Nogués

A.c. susceptibility and intergranular critical current density of high Tc superconductors

Abstract The general behaviour of a.c. susceptibility and its dependence on temperature, a.c. field amplitude and frequency and d.c. bias field in high Tc superconductors is described. This behaviour is explained by supposing that these superconductors consist of high Jc and high Hc1 grains embedded in a normal or poorly superconducting matrix or network through which supercurrents flow. Kims critical-state model is found to be useful for describing intergranular critical current density Jc(Hi), where Hi is the local field. For a sample with rectangular cross section, useful expressions and tables are presented for a.c. susceptibility and Jc(Hi). Based on these expressions and tables, local as well as average intergranular critical current density can be determined from experimental a.c. susceptibility data.

Applications of exchange coupled bi-magnetic hard/soft and soft/hard magnetic core/shell nanoparticles

A B S T R A C T The applications of exchange coupled bi-magnetic hard/soft and soft/hard ferromagnetic core/shell nanoparticles are reviewed. After a brief description of the main synthesis approaches and the core/shell structural-morphological characterization, the basic static and dynamic magnetic properties are presented. Five different types of prospective applications, based on diverse patents and research articles, are described: permanent magnets, recording media, microwave absorption, biomedical applications and other applications. Both the advantages of the core/shell morphology and some of the remaining challenges are discussed.

Designer Magnetoplasmonics with Nickel Nanoferromagnets

We introduce a new perspective on magnetoplasmonics in nickel nanoferromagnets by exploiting the phase tunability of the optical polarizability due to localized surface plasmons and simultaneous magneto-optical activity. We demonstrate how the concerted action of nanoplasmonics and magnetization can manipulate the sign of rotation of the reflected light’s polarization (i.e., to produce Kerr rotation reversal) in ferromagnetic nanomaterials and, further, how this effect can be dynamically controlled and employed to devise conceptually new schemes for biochemosensing.

Plasmonic nickel nanoantennas.

The fundamental optical properties of pure nickel nanostructures are studied by far-field extinction spectroscopy and optical near-field microscopy, providing direct experimental evidence of the existence of particle plasmon resonances predicted by theory. Experimental and calculated near-field maps allow for unambiguous identification of dipolar plasmon modes. By comparing calculated near-field and far-field spectra, dramatic shifts are found between the near-field and far-field plasmon resonances, which are much stronger than in gold nanoantennas. Based on a simple damped harmonic oscillator model to describe plasmonic resonances, it is possible to explain these shifts as due to plasmon damping.

Magnetic susceptibility of sintered and powdered Y-Ba-Cu-O

The real and imaginary parts of ac susceptibility of a sintered Y1Ba2Cu3O7−δ superconductor were measured before and after powdering. The temperature‐dependent susceptibility may be separated into two contributions, one sensitive and the other relatively insensitive to the magnitude of the measuring field. The former is partially suppressed by coarsely crushing the sample. It is completely suppressed after finely powdering, whereupon the susceptibility curves become insensitive to the magnitude of the measuring field. Several models apparently consistent with the results are discussed.

Size-dependent passivation shell and magnetic properties in antiferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic core/shell MnO nanoparticles.

The magnetic properties of bimagnetic core/shell nanoparticles consisting of an antiferromagnetic MnO core and a ferrimagnetic passivation shell have been investigated. It is found that the phase of the passivation shell (gamma-Mn(2)O(3) or Mn(3)O(4)) depends on the size of the nanoparticles. Structural and magnetic characterizations concur that while the smallest nanoparticles have a predominantly gamma-Mn(2)O(3) shell, larger ones have increasing amounts of Mn(3)O(4). A considerable enhancement of the Néel temperature, T(N), and the magnetic anisotropy of the MnO core for decreasing core sizes has been observed. The size reduction also leads to other phenomena such as persistent magnetic moment in MnO up to high temperatures and an unusual temperature behavior of the magnetic domains.

Strongly exchange coupled inverse ferrimagnetic soft/hard, MnxFe3−xO4/FexMn3−xO4, core/shell heterostructured nanoparticles

Inverted soft/hard, in contrast to conventional hard/soft, bi-magnetic core/shell nanoparticles of Mn(x)Fe(3-x)O(4)/Fe(x)Mn(3-x)O(4) with two different core sizes (7.5 and 11.5 nm) and fixed shell thickness (∼0.6 nm) have been synthesized. The structural characterization suggests that the particles have an interface with a graded composition. The magnetic characterization confirms the inverted soft/hard structure and evidences a strong exchange coupling between the core and the shell. Moreover, larger soft core sizes exhibit smaller coercivities and loop shifts, but larger blocking temperatures, as expected from spring-magnet or graded anisotropy structures. The results indicate that, similar to thin film systems, the magnetic properties of soft/hard core/shell nanoparticles can be fine tuned to match specific applications.

Two-, three-, and four-component magnetic multilayer onion nanoparticles based on iron oxides and manganese oxides.

Magnetic multilayered, onion-like, heterostructured nanoparticles are interesting model systems for studying magnetic exchange coupling phenomena. In this work, we synthesized heterostructured magnetic nanoparticles composed of two, three, or four components using iron oxide seeds for the subsequent deposition of manganese oxide. The MnO layer was allowed either to passivate fully in air to form an outer layer of Mn(3)O(4) or to oxidize partially to form MnO|Mn(3)O(4) double layers. Through control of the degree of passivation of the seeds, particles with up to four different magnetic layers can be obtained (i.e., FeO|Fe(3)O(4)|MnO|Mn(3)O(4)). Magnetic characterization of the samples confirmed the presence of the different magnetic layers.

Continuously graded anisotropy in single (Fe53Pt47)100−xCux films

We report on continuously graded anisotropy. During deposition, a compositional gradient is achieved by varying the Cu concentration from Cu-rich (Fe53Pt47)70Cu30 to Cu-free Fe53Pt47. The anisotropy gradient is then realized after annealing using the composition dependence of the low-anisotropy (A1) to high-anisotropy (L10) ordering temperature. The critical role of the annealing temperature on the resultant anisotropy gradient is investigated. Magnetic measurements support the creation of an anisotropy gradient in properly annealed films which exhibit both a reduced coercivity and moderate thermal stability. These results demonstrate that an anisotropy gradient can be realized, and tailored, in single continuous films without the need for multilayers.

Enhanced Magnetic Properties in Antiferromagnetic-Core/Ferrimagnetic-Shell Nanoparticles

Bi-magnetic core/shell nanoparticles are gaining increasing interest due to their foreseen applications. Inverse antiferromagnetic(AFM)/ferrimagnetic(FiM) core/shell nanoparticles are particularly appealing since they may overcome some of the limitations of conventional FiM/AFM systems. However, virtually no simulations exist on this type of morphology. Here we present systematic Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations of the exchange bias properties of such nanoparticles. The coercivity, HC, and loop shift, Hex, present a non-monotonic dependence with the core diameter and the shell thickness, in excellent agreement with the available experimental data. Additionally, we demonstrate novel unconventional behavior in FiM/AFM particles. Namely, while HC and Hex decrease upon increasing FiM thickness for small AFM cores (as expected), they show the opposite trend for large cores. This presents a counterintuitive FiM size dependence for large AFM cores that is attributed to the competition between core and shell contributions, which expands over a wider range of core diameters leading to non-vanishing Hex even for very large cores. Moreover, the results also hint different possible ways to enhance the experimental performance of inverse core/shell nanoparticles for diverse applications.