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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Hexagonal Rare-Earth Manganites As Promising Photovoltaics And Light Polarizers, Xin Huang, Tula R. Paudel, Shuai Dong, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal Dec 2015

Hexagonal Rare-Earth Manganites As Promising Photovoltaics And Light Polarizers, Xin Huang, Tula R. Paudel, Shuai Dong, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Ferroelectric materials possess a spontaneous electric polarization and may be utilized in various technological applications ranging from nonvolatile memories to solar cells and light polarizers. Recently, hexagonal rareearth manganites, h-RMnO3 (R is a rare-earth ion), have attracted considerable interest due to their intricate multiferroic properties and improper ferroelectricity characterized by a sizable remnant polarization and high Curie temperature. Here we demonstrate that these compounds can serve as very efficient photovoltaic materials and, in addition, possess remarkable optical anisotropy properties. Using first-principles methods based on density functional theory and considering h-TbMnO3 as a representative …


Contact Resistance To Srruo3 And La0.67Sr0.33Mno3 Epitaxial Films, Mohammad Abuwasib, Hyungwoo Lee, Alexei Gruverman, Chang-Beom Eom, Uttam Singisetti Dec 2015

Contact Resistance To Srruo3 And La0.67Sr0.33Mno3 Epitaxial Films, Mohammad Abuwasib, Hyungwoo Lee, Alexei Gruverman, Chang-Beom Eom, Uttam Singisetti

Alexei Gruverman Publications

Contact resistance to the metallic oxide electrodes, SrRuO3 (SRO) and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO), is an important parameter that affects the ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) device performance. We have systematically studied the contact resistance between metallic oxide electrodes (SRO, LSMO) and contact metal overlayers (Ti, Pt) after exposure to various processing environments. Specific contact resistivity (ρc) for Ti and Pt contact metals and the sheet resistance (Rsh) of the metallic oxides are measured after exposure to different reactive ion plasma process steps. Sheet resistance degradation was observed for both SRO and …


Effect Of Sm Content On Energy Product Of Rapidly Quenched And Oriented Smco5 Ribbons, Wenyong Zhang, Xingzhong Li, Shah R. Valloppilly Nov 2015

Effect Of Sm Content On Energy Product Of Rapidly Quenched And Oriented Smco5 Ribbons, Wenyong Zhang, Xingzhong Li, Shah R. Valloppilly

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

The Sm-content dependence of phase composition, anisotropy, and other magnetic properties of Sm1+δCo5 (δ ≤ 0.12) ribbons melt spun at 10 m/s has been studied. The samples consist of hexagonal SmCo5 grains whose c axes are preferentially aligned along the long direction of the ribbon. The lattice parameter a and the cell volume (V) increase with increasing Sm content δ, whereas c decreases. Sm addition appears to improve the degree of the preferred orientation of the c-axis and to increase the mean grain size, which weakens the effective intergranular exchange …


Reconfigurable Large-Area Magnetic Vortex Circulation Patterns, Robert Streubel, Florian Kronast, Ulrich K. Rößler, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov Sep 2015

Reconfigurable Large-Area Magnetic Vortex Circulation Patterns, Robert Streubel, Florian Kronast, Ulrich K. Rößler, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

Magnetic vortices in nanodots own a switchable circulation sense. These nontrivial magnetization configurations can be arranged into extended and interacting patterns. We have experimentally created large arrays of magnetically reconfigurable vortex patterns in nonplanar honeycomb lattices using particle lithography. Optimizing height asymmetry of the vertices and applying an in-plane magnetic field provide means to switch between homocircular and staggered vortex patterns with a potentially high impact on magnonics and spintronics relying on chiral noncollinear spin textures. To this end, exchange coupling of extended vortex lattices with an out-of-plane magnetized layer allows one to realize artificial skyrmionic core textures with controllable …


Magnetization Dynamics Of Imprinted Non-Collinear Spin Textures, Robert Streubel, Peter Fischer, Martin Kopte, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov Sep 2015

Magnetization Dynamics Of Imprinted Non-Collinear Spin Textures, Robert Streubel, Peter Fischer, Martin Kopte, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

We study the magnetization dynamics of non-collinear spin textures realized via imprint of the magnetic vortex state in soft permalloy into magnetically hard out-of-plane magnetized Co/Pd nanopatterned heterostructures. Tuning the interlayer exchange coupling between soft- and hard-magnetic subsystems provides means to tailor the magnetic state in the Co/Pd stack from being vortex- to donut-like with different core sizes. While the imprinted vortex spin texture leads to the dynamics similar to the one observed for vortices in permalloy disks, the donut-like state causes the appearance of two gyrofrequencies characteristic of the early and later stages of the magnetization dynamics. The dynamics …


Nanomechanics Of Flexoelectric Switching, J. Očenášek, Haidong Lu, C. W. Bark, Chang-Beom Eom, J. Alcalá, G. Catalan, Alexei Gruverman Jul 2015

Nanomechanics Of Flexoelectric Switching, J. Očenášek, Haidong Lu, C. W. Bark, Chang-Beom Eom, J. Alcalá, G. Catalan, Alexei Gruverman

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: Faculty Publications

We examine the phenomenon of flexoelectric switching of polarization in ultrathin films of barium titanate induced by a tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM). The spatial distribution of the tip-induced flexoelectricity is computationally modeled both for perpendicular mechanical load (point measurements) and for sliding load (scanning measurements), and compared with experiments. We find that (i) perpendicular load does not lead to stable ferroelectric switching in contrast to the load applied in the sliding contact load regime, due to nontrivial differences between the strain distributions in both regimes: ferroelectric switching for the perpendicular load mode is impaired by a strain …


Retrieving Spin Textures On Curved Magnetic Thin Films With Full-Field Soft X-Ray Microscopies, Robert Streubel, Florian Kronast, Peter Fischer, Dula Parkinson, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov Jul 2015

Retrieving Spin Textures On Curved Magnetic Thin Films With Full-Field Soft X-Ray Microscopies, Robert Streubel, Florian Kronast, Peter Fischer, Dula Parkinson, Oliver G. Schmidt, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

X-ray tomography is a well-established technique to characterize 3D structures in material sciences and biology; its magnetic analogue - magnetic X-ray tomography - is yet to be developed. Here we demonstrate the visualization and reconstruction of magnetic domain structures in a 3D curved magnetic thin films with tubular shape by means of full-field soft X-ray microscopies. The 3D arrangement of the magnetization is retrieved from a set of 2D projections by analysing the evolution of the magnetic contrast with varying projection angle. Using reconstruction algorithms to analyse the angular evolution of 2D projections provides quantitative information about domain patterns and …


Titanium Trisulfide Monolayer: Theoretical Prediction Of A New Direct-Gap Semiconductor With High And Anisotropic Carrier Mobility, Jun Dai, Xiao Cheng Zeng Jun 2015

Titanium Trisulfide Monolayer: Theoretical Prediction Of A New Direct-Gap Semiconductor With High And Anisotropic Carrier Mobility, Jun Dai, Xiao Cheng Zeng

Xiao Cheng Zeng Publications

A new two-dimensional (2D) layered material, namely, titanium trisulfide (TiS3) monolayer, is predicted to possess novel electronic properties. Ab initio calculations show that the perfect TiS3 monolayer is a direct-gap semiconductor with a bandgap of 1.02 eV, close to that of bulk silicon, and with high carrier mobility. More remarkably, the in-plane electron mobility of the 2D TiS3 is highly anisotropic, amounting to about 10,000 cm2 V−1 s−1 in the b direction, which is higher than that of the MoS2 monolayer, whereas the hole mobility is about two orders of magnitude lower. …


Enhancement Of Local Piezoresponse In Polymer Ferroelectrics Via Nanoscale Control Of Microstructure, Yoon-Young Choi, Pankaj Sharma, Charudatta Phatak, David J. Gosztola, Yunya Liu, Joonseok Lee, Byeongdu Lee, Jiangyu Li, Alexei Gruverman, Stephen Ducharme, Seungbum Hong Feb 2015

Enhancement Of Local Piezoresponse In Polymer Ferroelectrics Via Nanoscale Control Of Microstructure, Yoon-Young Choi, Pankaj Sharma, Charudatta Phatak, David J. Gosztola, Yunya Liu, Joonseok Lee, Byeongdu Lee, Jiangyu Li, Alexei Gruverman, Stephen Ducharme, Seungbum Hong

Stephen Ducharme Publications

Polymer ferroelectrics are flexible and lightweight electromechanical materials that are widely studied due to their potential application as sensors, actuators, and energy harvesters. However, one of the biggest challenges is their low piezoelectric coefficient. Here, we report a mechanical annealing effect based on local pressure induced by a nanoscale tip that enhances the local piezoresponse. This process can control the nanoscale material properties over a microscale area at room temperature. We attribute this improvement to the formation and growth of β-phase extended chain crystals via sliding diffusion and crystal alignment along the scan axis under high mechanical stress. We believe …


Electric Control Of Spin Injection Into A Ferroelectric Semiconductor, Xiaohui Liu, John D. Burton, M. Ye. Zhuravlev, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal Jan 2015

Electric Control Of Spin Injection Into A Ferroelectric Semiconductor, Xiaohui Liu, John D. Burton, M. Ye. Zhuravlev, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Electric-field control of spin-dependent properties has become one of the most attractive phenomena in modern materials research due to the promise of new device functionalities. One of the paradigms in this approach is to electrically toggle the spin polarization of carriers injected into a semiconductor using ferroelectric polarization as a control parameter. Using first-principles density-functional calculations, we explore the effect of ferroelectric polarization of electron-doped BaTiO3 (n-BaTiO3) on the spin-polarized transmission across the SrRuO3/n-BaTiO3(001) interface. Our study reveals that, in this system, the interface transmission is negatively spin polarized …


Effect Of Strain On Ferroelectric Field Effect In Strongly Correlated Oxide Sm0.5Nd0.5Nio3, Le Zhang, Chen, H. J. Gardner, Mark A. Koten, Jeffrey E. Shield, Xia Hong Jan 2015

Effect Of Strain On Ferroelectric Field Effect In Strongly Correlated Oxide Sm0.5Nd0.5Nio3, Le Zhang, Chen, H. J. Gardner, Mark A. Koten, Jeffrey E. Shield, Xia Hong

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

We report the effect of epitaxial strain on the magnitude and retention of the ferroelectric field effect in high quality PbZr0.3Ti0.7O3 (PZT)/3.8–4.3 nm Sm0.5Nd0.5NiO3 (SNNO) heterostructures grown on (001) LaAlO3 (LAO) and SrTiO3 (STO) substrates. For SNNO on LAO, which exhibits a first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT), switching the polarization of PZT induces a 10K shift in the transition temperature TMI, with a maximum resistance change between the on and off states of ΔR = Ron ~75%. In sharp contrast, only up to 5% resistance change has been …


Magnetic Force Microscopy Study Of Zr2co11-Based Nanocrystalline Materials: Effect Of Mo Addition, Lanping Yue, Yunlong Jin, Wenyong Zhang, David J. Sellmyer Jan 2015

Magnetic Force Microscopy Study Of Zr2co11-Based Nanocrystalline Materials: Effect Of Mo Addition, Lanping Yue, Yunlong Jin, Wenyong Zhang, David J. Sellmyer

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

The addition of Molybdenum was used to modify the nanostructure and enhance coercivity of rare-earth-free Zr2Co11-based nanocrystalline permanent magnets. The effect of Mo addition on magnetic domain structures of melt spun nanocrystalline Zr16Co84−xMox (𝑥 = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.0) ribbons has been investigated. It was found that magnetic properties and local domain structures are strongly influenced by Mo doping. The coercivity of the samples increases with the increase in Mo content (𝑥 ≤ 1.5). The maximum energy product (𝐵𝐻)max increases with increasing 𝑥 from 0.5 MGOe for 𝑥 …


Electrostatic Charge On Flying Hummingbirds And Its Potential Role In Pollination, Marc Badger, Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez, Lisa Von Ribenau, Ashley Smiley, Robert Dudley, Alexei Gruverman , Editor Jan 2015

Electrostatic Charge On Flying Hummingbirds And Its Potential Role In Pollination, Marc Badger, Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez, Lisa Von Ribenau, Ashley Smiley, Robert Dudley, Alexei Gruverman , Editor

Alexei Gruverman Publications

Electrostatic phenomena are known to enhance both wind- and insect-mediated pollination, but have not yet been described for nectar-feeding vertebrates. Here we demonstrate that wild Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) can carry positive charges up to 800 pC while in flight (mean ± s.d.: 66 ± 129 pC). Triboelectric charging obtained by rubbing an isolated hummingbird wing against various plant structures generated charges up to 700 pC. A metal hummingbird model charged to 400 pC induced bending of floral stamens in four plants (Nicotiana, Hemerocallis, Penstemon, and Aloe spp.), and also attracted falling Lycopodium spores at distances of < 2 mm. Electrostatic forces may therefore influence pollen transfer onto nectar-feeding birds.


Magnetic Chiral Spin Textures By Imprinting, Robert Streubel, F. Kronast, U. Rössler, O. G. Schmidt, P. Fischer, D. Makarov Jan 2015

Magnetic Chiral Spin Textures By Imprinting, Robert Streubel, F. Kronast, U. Rössler, O. G. Schmidt, P. Fischer, D. Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

The unique properties of non-trivial topological states, e.g. magnetic skyrmions [1] may path the way towards novel spintronic devices [2]. However, these spin textures have only been observed in special classes of materials possessing non-centrosymmetric crystal structure [1,3-6] and at low temperatures, which limits their application potential. We offer an alternate route to design synthetic magnetic heterostructures that resemble swirls, vortices or skyrmions with distinct topological charge densities at room temperature. By vertically stacking two magnetic nanopatterns with in-and out-of-plane magnetization and tailoring the interlayer exchange coupling, non-collinear spin textures with tunable topological charge can be imprinted (Fig. 1a).


Multiferroic Tunnel Junctions And Ferroelectric Control Of Magnetic State At Interface, Y. W. Yin, M. Raju, W. J. Hu, John D. Burton, Y.-M. Kim, A. Y. Borisevich, S. J. Pennycook, S. M. Yang, T. W. Noh, Alexei Gruverman, X. G. Li, Z. D. Zhang, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Qi Li Jan 2015

Multiferroic Tunnel Junctions And Ferroelectric Control Of Magnetic State At Interface, Y. W. Yin, M. Raju, W. J. Hu, John D. Burton, Y.-M. Kim, A. Y. Borisevich, S. J. Pennycook, S. M. Yang, T. W. Noh, Alexei Gruverman, X. G. Li, Z. D. Zhang, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Qi Li

Alexei Gruverman Publications

As semiconductor devices reach ever smaller dimensions, the challenge of power dissipation and quantum effect place a serious limit on the future device scaling. Recently, a multiferroic tunnel junction (MFTJ) with a ferroelectric barrier sandwiched between two ferromagnetic electrodes has drawn enormous interest due to its potential applications not only in multi-level data storage but also in electric field controlled spintronics and nanoferronics. Here, we present our investigations on four-level resistance states, giant tunneling electroresistance (TER) due to interfacial magnetoelectric coupling, and ferroelectric control of spin polarized tunneling in MFTJs. Coexistence of large tunneling magnetoresistance and TER has been observed …


Manipulating Topological States By Imprinting Non-Collinear Spin Textures, Robert Streubel, Luyang Han, Mi Young Im, Florian Kronast, Ulrich K. Rößler, Florin Radu, Radu Abrudan, Gungun Lin, Oliver G. Schmidt, Peter Fischer, Denys Makarov Jan 2015

Manipulating Topological States By Imprinting Non-Collinear Spin Textures, Robert Streubel, Luyang Han, Mi Young Im, Florian Kronast, Ulrich K. Rößler, Florin Radu, Radu Abrudan, Gungun Lin, Oliver G. Schmidt, Peter Fischer, Denys Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

Topological magnetic states, such as chiral skyrmions, are of great scientific interest and show huge potential for novel spintronics applications, provided their topological charges can be fully controlled. So far skyrmionic textures have been observed in noncentrosymmetric crystalline materials with low symmetry and at low temperatures. We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the design of spin textures with topological charge densities that can be tailored at ambient temperatures. Tuning the interlayer coupling in vertically stacked nanopatterned magnetic heterostructures, such as a model system of a Co/Pd multilayer coupled to Permalloy, the in-plane non-collinear spin texture of one layer can be …


Magnetic Soft X-Ray Tomography Of Magnetic Swiss Roll Architectures, Robert Streubel, F. Kronast, P. Fischer, O. G. Schmidt, D. Makarov Jan 2015

Magnetic Soft X-Ray Tomography Of Magnetic Swiss Roll Architectures, Robert Streubel, F. Kronast, P. Fischer, O. G. Schmidt, D. Makarov

Robert Streubel Papers

A further increase in performance of state-of-the-art spin-electronics can be achieved by either miniaturizing its functional components or harnessing the third dimension. The first route, however, faces physical limitations as properties of nanostructures and their response to external stimuli can drastically change in reduced dimensions. An alternative way is to go from planar 2D structures to 3D architectures [1]. Such 3D functional elements can be obtained for example by rolling up initially planar strained thin films into Swiss roll like objects with multiple windings (Fig. 1a). A major advantage of this technology platform is the possibility to fabricate compact multifunctional …


Magnetization Pumping And Dynamics In A Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Magnet, Alexey Kovalev, Utkan Güngördü Jan 2015

Magnetization Pumping And Dynamics In A Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Magnet, Alexey Kovalev, Utkan Güngördü

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We formulate a phenomenological description of thin ferromagnetic layers with inversion asymmetry where the single-domain magnetic dynamics experiences magnon current-induced torques and leads to magnon-motive forces. We first construct a phenomenological theory based on irreversible thermodynamics, taking into account the symmetries of the system. Furthermore, we confirm that these effects originate from Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions from the analysis based on the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. Our phenomenological results generalize to a general form of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and to other systems, such as pyrochlore crystals and chiral magnets. Possible applications include spin current generation, magnetization reversal and magnonic cooling.


Strategies For Increasing The Néel Temperature Of Magnetoelectric Fe2Teo6, Sai Mu, Kirill D. Belashchenko Jan 2015

Strategies For Increasing The Néel Temperature Of Magnetoelectric Fe2Teo6, Sai Mu, Kirill D. Belashchenko

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Ways to increase the Néel temperature TN in the magnetoelectric Fe2TeO6 antiferromagnet are explored with the help of first-principles calculations. Substitution of larger ions like Zr or Hf for tellurium increases the superexchange angles. The compensating O vacancies tend to form bound complexes with Zr dopants, which do not degrade the electronic band gap. TN is estimated to increase by 15% at 12.5% Te → Zr substitution with such compensation. Substitution of N for O is favorable due to the decreased charge-transfer gap. The overall effect for N3 substitution compensated by O vacancies …