[en] The magnetic properties of double layer microwires consisting of a soft FeSiBP amorphous core, an intermediate non-magnetic glass spacer and a softer FeNi outer shell have been investigated. As in the case of other magnetostatically coupled two-phase systems, the hysteresis loops are characterized by two well-defined Barkhausen jumps corresponding each to the magnetization reversal of the individual phases, separated by a plateau. The strong dipolar interaction that leads to the appearance of the plateau is investigated in terms of the microwire geometry. It is shown that this source of coupling is capable of increasing up to one order of magnitude the switching field of the Fe-rich core. Thus, magnetic bistability can be effectively controlled in these kinds of composite wires.

[en] The aim of this work is to report on the influence of the presence of a magnetically hard layer with large thickness on the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) behaviour of soft/hard biphase microwires. Such microwires consist of a FeSiB soft nucleus, an intermediate glass layer and a CoNi hard outer shell, and are prepared by the combined quenching and drawing technique with electrochemical deposition. The unusual FMR response observed for this biphase system is characterized by the presence of a multipeak absorption spectrum that depends on the static field and on the thickness of the hard phase by means of magnetoelastic coupling. For a thick enough CoNi layer, the internal stresses induced in the nucleus during the electroplating process are very strong, giving rise to three electromagnetic absorptions: one at a low frequency related to the CoNi shell and two at higher frequencies corresponding to the FeSiB nucleus which are ascribed to two well-defined magnetization regions with different magnetic anisotropies.

[en] In the given work, the influence of diffusional damping on the domain wall dynamics of heat treated FeSiBP microwires is presented. Two regions of the domain wall dynamics have been found. At low applied fields diffusion damping prevails, keeping the domain wall velocity and mobility low. At higher fields, the diffusional effects are overcomed and domain wall velocity increases steeply and so does the domain wall mobility.

[en] A high-sensitivity ac hysteresis loop tracer has been developed to measure the low frequency hysteresis loop of soft magnetic materials. It has been applied successfully to characterize straight pieces of amorphous glass-covered microwires with metallic nucleus down to 1.5 μm thick. Based on the electromagnetic induction law, the proposed design is extremely simple and exploits the capabilities of commercially available data acquisition cards together with digital signal processing in order to achieve high-sensitivity without the need of expensive analog equipment.

[en] We report on the fabrication and characterization of iron oxide nanoparticle thin film superlattices. The formation into different film morphologies is controlled by tuning the particle plus solvent-to-substrate interaction. It turns out that the wetting vs dewetting properties of the solvent before the self-assembly process during solvent evaporation plays a major role in determining the resulting film morphology. In addition to layerwise growth three-dimensional mesocrystalline growth is also evidenced. The understanding of the mechanisms ruling nanoparticle self-assembly represents an important step towards the fabrication of novel materials with tailored optical, magnetic or electrical transport properties. (papers)

[en] The deliberate control over the spatial arrangement of nanostructures is the desired goal for many applications such as, for example, in data storage, plasmonics or sensor arrays. Here we present a novel method to assist the self-assembly process of magnetic nanoparticles. The method makes use of nanostructured aluminum templates obtained after anodization of aluminum discs and the subsequent growth and removal of the newly formed alumina layer, resulting in a regular honeycomb-type array of hexagonally shaped valleys. The iron oxide nanoparticles, 20 nm in diameter, are spin-coated onto the surface of honeycomb nanostructured Al templates. Depending on the size, each hexagon site can host up to 30 nanoparticles. These nanoparticles form clusters of different arrangements within the valleys, such as collars, chains and hexagonally closed islands. Ultimately, it is possible to isolate individual nanoparticles. The strengths of the magnetic interaction between particles in a cluster are probed using the memory effect known from the coupled state in superspin glass systems.

[en] Novel nanocrystalline glass-coated Fe₄₀Co₃₈Mo₄B₁₈ microwires are introduced. They combine the advantages of nanocrystalline alloys exhibiting simultaneously increased Curie temperature and magnetic bistability, which is required for modern sensoric and spintronic devices. Positive magnetostriction of the crystalline FeCo grains results in a magnetic bistability, whereas good soft magnetic properties remain stabilized. As a result of the mechanical stress induced by the glass coating, the optimum temperature range for thermal treatment is enhanced up to 600 ⁰C.

[en] We report about a combined structural and magnetometric characterization of self-assembled magnetic nanoparticle arrays. Monodisperse iron oxide nanoparticles with a diameter of 20 nm were synthesized by thermal decomposition. The nanoparticle suspension was spin-coated on Si substrates to achieve self-organized arrays of particles and subsequently annealed at various conditions. The samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction, and bright and dark field high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The structural analysis is compared to magnetization measurements obtained by superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry. We can identify either multi-phase Fe_xO/γ-Fe₂O₃ or multi-phase Fe_xO/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The Fe_xO/γ-Fe₂O₃ system shows a pronounced exchange bias effect which explains the peculiar magnetization data found for this system.

[en] The magnetization reversal of magnetic multilayers with spin-valve like characteristics, patterned into an array of parallel stripes, was structurally and magnetically analyzed, in detail, via x-ray scattering, magnetometry, and polarized neutron reflectivity. Each stripe contains a multiple repetition of the layer sequence [Fe/Cr/Co/Cr]. X-ray and neutron scattering maps of the patterned multilayer show rich details resulting from the superposition of Bragg peaks representing the lateral in-plane periodicity and the out-of-plane multilayer period. Detailed analysis of specular and off-specular polarized neutron intensity was used to ascertain the antiparallel alignment of the Co and Fe magnetization within the kink region of their combined hysteresis loop between the coercive fields of Fe and Co layers. This includes also an examination of domain formation and inter- as well as intra-stripe correlation effects upon magnetization reversal. Our combined study shows that the shape induced anisotropy via patterning is capable of overriding the four-fold crystal anisotropy but is unable to eliminate the ripple domain state of the Co layers, already present in the continuous multilayer

[en] We have investigated the structure and magnetism of self-assembled, 20 nm diameter iron oxide nanoparticles covered by an oleic acid shell for scrutinizing their structural and magnetic correlations. The nanoparticles were spin-coated on an Si substrate as a single monolayer and as a stack of 5 ML forming a multilayer. X-ray scattering (reflectivity and grazing incidence small-angle scattering) confirms high in-plane hexagonal correlation and a good layering property of the nanoparticles. Using polarized neutron reflectivity we have also determined the long range magnetic correlations parallel and perpendicular to the layers in addition to the structural ones. In a field of 5 kOe we determine a magnetization value of about 80% of the saturation value. At remanence the global magnetization is close to zero. However, polarized neutron reflectivity reveals the existence of regions in which magnetic moments of nanoparticles are well aligned, while losing order over longer distances. These findings confirm that in the nanoparticle assembly the magnetic dipole–dipole interaction is rather strong, dominating the collective magnetic properties at room temperature. (paper)