P.D. Babu

Neutron diffraction evidence for kinetic arrest of first order magneto-structural phase transitions in some functional magnetic materials

Neutron diffraction measurements, performed in the presence of an external magnetic field, have been used to show structural evidence for the kinetic arrest of the first order phase transition from (i) the high temperature austenite phase to the low temperature martensite phase in the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni37Co11Mn42.5Sn9.5, (ii) the higher temperature ferromagnetic phase to the lower temperature antiferromagnetic phase in the half-doped charge ordered compound La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and (iii) the formation of glass-like arrested states in both compounds. The cooling and heating under unequal fields protocol has been used to establish phase coexistence of metastable and equilibrium states, and also to demonstrate the devitrification of the arrested metastable states in the neutron diffraction patterns. We also explore the field–temperature dependent kinetic arrest line TK(H), through the transformation of the arrested phase to the equilibrium phase. This transformation has been observed isothermally in reducing H, as also on warming in constant H. TK is seen to increase as H increases in both cases, consistent with the low-T equilibrium phase having lower magnetization.

Concentration dependence in kinetic arrest of the first-order magnetic transition in Ta doped HfFe2

Magnetic behavior of the pseudo-binary alloy Hf(1-x)Ta(x)Fe(2) has been studied, for which the zero-field ferromagnetic (FM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition temperature is tuned near to T = 0 K. Our studies show that such composition lies around x = 0.230. Detailed magnetization studies on x = 0.225, 0.230 and 0.235 show thermomagnetic irreversibility at low temperature due to kinetic arrest of the first-order AFM-FM transition. All three compositions studied show a reentrant transition in the zero-field-cooled warming curve and non-monotonic variation of the upper critical field. The region in H-T space where these features of kinetic arrest manifest themselves increases with increasing Ta concentration.

Investigation of atomic anti-site disorder and ferrimagnetic order in the half-metallic Heusler alloy Mn2V Ga

The band structure calculation for the compound Mn(2)VGa carried out using the plane wave self-consistent field package with generalized gradient approximation shows that the compound is nearly half-metallic at the equilibrium lattice parameter. However, theoretical investigations have shown that a certain percentage of atomic anti-site disorder can destroy the half-metallic nature of the sample. Hence it is important to quantify the site disorder in these systems. We have deduced the percentage of atomic anti-site disorder from the refinement of the higher angle room temperature (300 K) neutron diffraction (ND) pattern and it was observed to be roughly 8% in our sample. The field variation of resistance recorded at different temperatures shows a positive slope at low temperatures and a negative slope at higher temperatures, indicating the half-metallic character at low temperatures. The ab initio calculations predict a ferrimagnetic ground state for this system. The analysis of the magnetic structure from ND data measured at 6 K yields magnetic moment values of 1.28 μ(B) and -0.7 μ(B) for Mn and V, respectively, confirming the ferrimagnetic ordering.

Complex Magnetic Behavior of the Heusler Alloy—Cu 2 Mn 0.75 Fe 0.25 Al

We investigated the structural and magnetic properties of Cu2Mn1-xFexAl (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75) alloys. Among the three compositions, only x = 0.25 composition crystallizes in single phase with L21 structure but its magnetic response indicates a complex magnetic structure. The magnetic isotherms were fitted to modified Langevin equation which indicates the presence of clusters with large magnetic moment. The ac susceptibility studies showed the presence of a superparamagnetic phase in the system over and above ferromagnetic order. To determine the nature of the interactions among the clusters, the variation of freezing temperature (Tf) with applied ac frequency was analyzed using different models (Néel-Arrhenius, Vogel-Fulcher, and critical slowing down model).

Unconventional thermal effects across first-order magnetic transition in the Ta-dopedHfFe2intermetallic

Novel thermal effects across the first order antiferromagnetic (AFM) - ferromagnetic (FM) transition in an intermetallic alloy are reported. They show instances of warming when heat is extracted from the sample, and cooling when heat is provided to the sample across AFM-FM transition in Ta doped

Novel thermal effects across first order magnetic transition in Ta doped

HfFe_2

HfFe_2

, thus providing indisputable evidence of metastable supercooled AFM and superheated FM states, respectively. Such thermal effects in a magnetic solid prepared from commercially available materials has been reported for the first time. The transition proceeds in multiple steps which is interpreted in the framework of quenched disorder broadening of AFM-FM transition and classical nucleation theory. Measurements in the presence of magnetic field conform to above frame work.

intermetallic

Novel thermal effects across the first order antiferromagnetic (AFM) - ferromagnetic (FM) transition in an intermetallic alloy are reported. They show instances of warming when heat is extracted from the sample, and cooling when heat is provided to the sample across AFM-FM transition in Ta doped

Neutron diffraction studies on the full heusler alloy Co2FeGe

HfFe_2

Magnetic properties of electron-doped Y1−xCexMnO3 compounds

, thus providing indisputable evidence of metastable supercooled AFM and superheated FM states, respectively. Such thermal effects in a magnetic solid prepared from commercially available materials has been reported for the first time. The transition proceeds in multiple steps which is interpreted in the framework of quenched disorder broadening of AFM-FM transition and classical nucleation theory. Measurements in the presence of magnetic field conform to above frame work.