Magnetic ordering in nanocrystalline gadolinium: A neutron diffraction study

in Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (2013), 87(064408), 1-6

Grain-size-dependent magnetic susceptibility of nanocrystalline terbium

in Journal of Applied Physics (2009), 105(7), 7011-7013

This paper reports grain-size-dependent magnetic susceptibility data on nanocrystalline bulk Tb. We find that at small grain size Curie–Weiss behavior is not present for temperatures up to about 80 K ... [more ▼]

This paper reports grain-size-dependent magnetic susceptibility data on nanocrystalline bulk Tb. We find that at small grain size Curie–Weiss behavior is not present for temperatures up to about 80 K above the transition temperature and that the helical antiferromagnetic phase is absent. Possible origins for the suppression of the helix phase in nanoscaled Tb are discussed in terms of internal magnetostatic fields and competing length scales (grain size versus wavelength of the helix phase). [less ▲]

Spin disorder at Gd grain boundaries

in Europhysics News (2009), 40/3

Magnetic Nanorods: Genesis, Self-Organization and Applications

in Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie (2008), 222(2-3), 229-255

Magnetic-field-assisted self-assembly of magnetic dipole moment carrying iron nanoparticles is shown to result in the formation of magnetic and mechanically stiff nanoscale rods. The cooperative behavior ... [more ▼]

Magnetic-field-assisted self-assembly of magnetic dipole moment carrying iron nanoparticles is shown to result in the formation of magnetic and mechanically stiff nanoscale rods. The cooperative behavior of an ensemble of such rods and bundles thereof exhibits self-organized pattern formation on different length scales. Pattern formation on large length scales reveals great similarity with physical systems undergoing spinodal decomposition. Possible applications for dipolar magnetic nanorods in the field of perpendicular storage media are highlighted. We discuss an aerosol-synthesis-route allowing to prepare ferrofluids (FF) with shape-anisotropic particles constituting the magnetic phase immersed in the nonmagnetic carrier fluid. These so-called nanorod FF unveil a two orders of magnitude increase of viscosity enforced by an applied field of 10mT even at shear rates larger than 10-2s. This raises prospects for applications in microfluidics and MEMS. [less ▲]

Angular dependence of coercivity and remanence of Ni nanowire arrays and its relevance to magnetoviscosity

in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (2008), 320(7), 1340-1344

Ni nanowire arrays with varying wire dimensions (diameter d, length l) and center-to-center distances dCC were synthesized by pulsed electrodeposition of Ni in porous Al templates. The magnetization ... [more ▼]

Ni nanowire arrays with varying wire dimensions (diameter d, length l) and center-to-center distances dCC were synthesized by pulsed electrodeposition of Ni in porous Al templates. The magnetization-reversal behavior of the arrays was investigated by means of magnetometry for different angles θ between the wire axes and the applied magnetic field. The functional dependences of the characteristic parameters coercivity HC(θ) and reduced remanence mR/mS(θ) exhibit a strong dependence on the wire dimensions and the center-to-center distance. For instance, for nanowire arrays with d=40 nm, dCC=100 nm, and for θ=0°, the coercivity takes on a rather large value of μ0HC=85 mT and mR/mS=94%; reducing dCC to 30 nm and d to 17 nm results in μ0HC=49 mT and mR/mS=57%, an observation which suggests an increasing magnetostatic interwire interaction at increased (d/dCC)-ratio. The potential application of nanowires as the constituents of ferrofluids is discussed. [less ▲]

Synthesis of a nanorod ferrofluid and characterisation by magnetic-field-dependent small-angle X-ray scattering

in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (2007), 316(e), 779-782

Compared to conventional ferrofluids, which contain mostly spherical particles, a dispersion of highly anisometric particles such as rods or chains is expected to give rise to an enhancement or ... [more ▼]

Compared to conventional ferrofluids, which contain mostly spherical particles, a dispersion of highly anisometric particles such as rods or chains is expected to give rise to an enhancement or modification of well-known ferrofluid properties. This contribution reports on the synthesis of a ferrofluid containing stable chains of iron nanoparticles and on its microstructural characterisation by means of transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The SAXS measurements develop a pronounced anisotropy of the scattering pattern as a function of an increasing external magnetic field. Evaluation of the radially averaged SAXS curves in terms of basic scattering functions is discussed. [less ▲]

Spin structure of nanocrystalline terbium

in Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (2004), 69

We present an experimental study of the magnetic microstructure in the nanocrystalline hard magnet Tb. Field-dependent small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data are analyzed quantitatively in terms of ... [more ▼]

We present an experimental study of the magnetic microstructure in the nanocrystalline hard magnet Tb. Field-dependent small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data are analyzed quantitatively in terms of the correlation function of the spin misalignment. We find that up to applied fields of several tesla the magnetization remains “locked in” to the basal planes of the hcp crystal lattice of each individual crystallite, but that the in-plane orientation of the spins is highly nonuniform within each grain. This spin disorder at the nanoscale can be suppressed by a large applied field, but in the remanent state the disorder reduces the magnetization to values considerably below the Stoner limit. In field-dependent SANS, the intragrain spin disorder gives rise to a crossover of the scattering curves, and to the unusual finding that the scattering cross section at small scattering vector increases with increasing magnetic field. As the origin of the internal spin disorder within the grains, we propose an extra magnetic anisotropy energy at small grain size, presumably due to microstrain, a suggestion which is supported by analysis of ac-susceptibility data in the paramagnetic state. Our finding of a reduced remanence at small grain size is contrary to the remanence enhancement that is observed in other nanocrystalline hard magnets. We also report an unusual logarithmic field dependence of the magnetization over wide ranges of the applied field and temperature. [less ▲]

A lower bound for the volume-averaged mean-square magnetostatic stray field

in European Physical Journal B -- Condensed Matter (2002), 29

Magnetic small-angle neutron scattering by nanocrystalline terbium

in Scripta Materialia (2001), 44(8), 2357-2361

We present an experimental study of the magnetic microstructure in the nanocrystalline hard magnet Tb. Field-dependent SANS data are analyzed quantitatively in terms of the correlation function of the ... [more ▼]

We present an experimental study of the magnetic microstructure in the nanocrystalline hard magnet Tb. Field-dependent SANS data are analyzed quantitatively in terms of the correlation function of the spin misalignment. We find that up to applied fields of several Tesla the magnetization remains ‘locked in’ to the basal planes of the hcp crystal lattice of each individual crystallite; But that the in-plane orientation of the spins is highly nonuniform within each particle. This internal structure can be suppressed by the applied field. [less ▲]

Modelling the influence of grain-size-dependent solute drag on the kinetics of grain growth in nanocrystalline materials

in Acta Materialia (1999), 47(7), 2143-2152

The large relative change in total grain-boundary area that accompanies grain growth in a nanocrystalline material has a potentially strong influence on the kinetics of grain growth whenever grain ... [more ▼]

The large relative change in total grain-boundary area that accompanies grain growth in a nanocrystalline material has a potentially strong influence on the kinetics of grain growth whenever grain-boundary migration is controlled by solute (impurity) drag. As the grain-boundary area decreases, the concentration of solute or impurity atoms segregated to the boundaries is expected to increase rapidly, introducing a grain-size dependence to the retarding force on boundary migration. We have modified the Burke equation—which assumes the drag force to be independent of the average grain size—to take into account a linear dependence of grain-boundary pinning on grain size. The form of the resulting grain-growth curve is surprisingly similar to Burke's solution; in fact, a constant rescaling of the boundary mobility parameter is sufficient to map one solution approximately onto the other. The activation energies for grain-boundary motion calculated from the temperature dependence of the mobility parameter are therefore identical for both models. This fact provides an explanation for the success of Burke's solution in fitting grain-growth data obtained in systems, such as nanocrystalline materials, for which the assumption of grain-size-independent solute drag is incorrect. [less ▲]