Co doping enhanced giant magnetocaloric effect in Mn1-xCoxAs films epitaxied on GaAs (001)

A giant magnetocaloric effect was found in series of Mn1-xCoxAs films epitaxied on GaAs (001). The maximum magnetic entropy change caused by a magnetic field of 4 T is as large as 25 J/kg K around room temperature, which is about twice the value of pure MnAs film. The observed small thermal hysteresis is more suitable for practical application. Growing of layered Mn1-xCoxAs films with Co concentration changing gradually may draw layered active magnetic regenerator refrigerators closer to practical application. Our experimental result may provide the possibility for the combination of magnetocaloric effect and microelectronic circuitry.

Ultrafast dynamics of four-state magnetization reversal in (Ga,Mn)As

The ultrafast dynamics of in-plane four-state magnetization reversal from compressively strained (Ga,Mn)As film was investigated by magneto-optical Kerr rotation measurement. The magnetization reversal signal was dramatically suppressed upon pumping, and recovered slowly with time evolution. The low switching field H-c1 increased abruptly from 30 to 108 G on the first several picoseconds and recovered back to the value before optical pumping within about 500 ps, whereas the high switching field H-c2 did not change obviously upon pumping, implying a domain-wall nucleation/propagation at low fields and coherent magnetization rotation at high fields in the magnetization reversal process.

Spin relaxation and dephasing mechanism in (Ga,Mn)As studied by time-resolved Kerr rotation

Spin dynamics in (Ga,Mn)As films grown on GaAs(001) was investigated by Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. The Kerr signal decay time of (Ga,Mn)As without external magnetic field applied was found to be several hundreds picoseconds, which suggested that photogenerated polarized holes and magnetic ions are coupled as a ferromagnetic system. Nonmonotonic temperature dependence of relaxation and dephasing (R&D) time and Larmor frequency manifests that Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism dominates the spin R&D time at low temperature, while D'yakonov-Perel mechanism dominates the spin R&D time at high temperature, and the crossover between the two regimes is Curie temperature.

Structure, magnetization, and low-temperature spin dynamic behavior of zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As nanoclusters embedded in GaAs

We have fabricated a set of samples of zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As clusters embedded in GaAs matrices by annealing (Ga,Mn)As films with different nominal Mn content at 650 degrees C. For the samples with Mn content no more than 4.5%, the Curie temperature reaches nearly 360 K. However, when Mn content is higher than 5.4%, the samples exhibit a spin-glass-like behavior. We suggest that these different magnetic properties are caused by the competing result of dipolar and Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction among clusters. The low-temperature spin dynamic behavior, especially the relaxation effect, shows the extreme creeping effect which is reflected by the time constant tau of similar to 10(11) s at 10 K. We explain this phenomenon by the hierarchical model based on the mean-field approach. We also explain the memory effect by the relationship between the correlation function and the susceptibility.

Structures and physical properties of n=3 Ruddlesden-Popper compounds Ca4Mn3-xNbxO10 (0 <= x <= 0.2)

The Ruddlesden-Popper series of compounds Ca4Mn3-xNbxO10(x = 0-0.2) have been prepared by solid-state methods. Structural, magnetic, electrical, and magnetoresistive studies were performed on the compounds. Nb doping caused increases in both unit cell volume and octahedral distortion. The magnetization measurements indicated that the doped samples displayed ferromagnetism-like behavior, which could be explained by the double-exchange interaction between Mn4+ and Mn3+ induced by the charge-compensation effect.

MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF LANTHANUM MANGANITE AND VALENCE EQUILIBRIA OF MANGANESE

The paramagnetic susceptibility of lanthanum manganite has been measured over a wide temperature range (100-1073 K). On the basis of the thermodynamic equilibria between the various manganese ions with different valence and spin states and the magnetic interactions between the various manganese ions, a semiempirical formula has been proposed to calculate the paramagnetic susceptibilities of lanthanum manganite at different temperatures. The results indicate that most of the discrepancies between the calculated and experimental reciprocal susceptibilities of lanthanum manganite are less than 10% and that the relative contents of the various manganese ions in lanthanum manganite vary with temperature. The relative content of the trivalent manganese ion with a high spin state is dominant over the whole temperature range, while be relative content of the tetravalent manganese ion with a high spin state decreases monotonously with increasing temperature. At 300 K the calculated relative content of the tetravalent manganese ion in lanthanum manganite is about 34%, which is in good agreement with the experimental result (30%). There are some divalent manganese ions present in lanthanum manganite from low temperature to high temperature. The ratio of the relative contents of the tetravalent and divalent manganese ions in the compound varies with temperature. Above 750 K the relative content of the tetravalent manganese ion is less than that of the divalent manganese ion. The variation in the electrical resistivity of lanthanum manganite with temperature has also been interpreted reasonably.