Thin film quantum materials

Abstract:

Magnetic devices have shown the potential to be used not only as storage elements but also as nonvolatile and programmable logic devices. We present a magnetic logic device element-the S state element-that consists of a single magnetic layer. Its output can be controlled by orthogonal magnetic inputs. The reconfigurable logic element can be easily integrated with common magnetoresistive device concepts, such as spin valves or magnetic tunnel junctions. Using Permalloy as an example, we demonstrate the feasibility of magnetologic operation through micromagnetic simulations. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract:

Elastic properties of nanoscopic materials, structures and thin films are important parameters controlling their growth, as well as their optical and electronic properties. Acoustic microscopy is a well-established method for elastic imaging. In order to overcome its micrometer-scale diffraction-limited lateral resolution, scanning probe microscopy-based acoustic near-field techniques have been developed. Among the acoustic modes used for microscopy, surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are especially suited for probing very small and thin objects due to their localization in the vicinity of the surface. Moreover, the study of SAWs is crucial for the design of frequency filter devices as well as for fundamental physical studies, for instance, the probing of composite fermions in two-dimensional electron systems. This review discusses the capabilities and limitations of SAW-based scanning probe microscopy techniques. Particular emphasis is laid on the review of surface acoustic waves and their interaction with elastic inhomogeneities. Scattering, diffraction and wave localization phenomena will be discussed in detail. Finally, the possibilities for quantitative acoustic microscopy of objects on the nanoscale, as well as practical applications, are presented. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

The magnetic domain structure of MnAs stripes exhibits a number of domain transitions that are inclined with respect to the system's easy axis. Among them are laterally confined slanted and V-shaped domain walls, as well as extended zigzag shaped transitions that are running along the stripe axis. The nature of these unusual domain transitions was investigated with the help of micromagnetic simulations and compared with experimental magnetic force microscopy (MFM) images. All types of inclined walls result from the underlying three-dimensional domain structure of the wires. In the domain transition region, the underlying flux closure pattern gets asymmetrically distorted in the cross-sectional wire plane as the system changes its domain types. The results of the simulations are in excellent qualitative agreement with the stray field patterns observed with MFM. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Abstract:

We investigate the temperature-dependent hysteresis of the stripe state of MnAs thin films on GaAs(001) in the phase coexistence regime. The underlying magnetic domain structure is described employing an analytic model for stripe arrays with perpendicular anisotropy. In the framework of this model the magnetic properties of the MnAs stripe array can be unraveled as a combined effect of magnetostatic coupling of neighboring ferromagnetic stripes and the tendency to form antiparallel magnetic domains within the individual ferromagnetic stripes. The detailed analysis reveals the balance of demagnetization energy and domain-wall energy for the domain structure. It is capable to quantitatively predict the temperature dependency of the coercive field of MnAs thin films on GaAs(001) in the phase coexistence regime. Further, the analytic model allows for an understanding of the unusual magnetic reversal properties as a consequence of the temperature-driven geometrical variations in the stripe array. Here, it is the energy difference of the single and the multidomain states associated with the geometrical variations, which is the driving factor, rather than the temperature dependence of the magnetic properties themselves. Although the stripe array of MnAs thin films can be in an interstripe as well as in an intrastripe coupling state, the magnetization reversal is entirely determined by interstripe coupling. © 2008 The American Physical Society.