Tailoring of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in Permalloy thin films using nanorippled Si substrates.

In this work the investigation of in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced by the morphology due to ion beam erosion of Si(1 0 0) has been done. Ion beam erosion at an oblique angle of incidence generates a well-ordered nanoripple structure on the Si surface and ripple propagates in a direction normal to ion beam erosion. Permalloy thin films grown on such periodic nanopatterns show a strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with easy axis of magnetization in a direction normal to the ripple wave vector. The strength of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is found to be high for the low value of ripple wavelength; it is decreasing with increasing value of ripple wavelength. Similarly, the strength of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy decreases with increasing Permalloy film thickness. Grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering data reveals an anisotropic growth of Permalloy thin films with preferential orientation of grains in the direction normal to the ripple wave vector. Permalloy thin film growth is highly conformal with the film surface replicating the substrate ripple morphology up to a film thickness of 50 nm has been observed. Correlation between observed uniaxial magnetic anisotropy to surface modification has been addressed.

Topological insulator n-p-n junctions in a magnetic field.

Electrical transport in three dimensional topological insulators (TIs) occurs through spin-momentum locked topological surface states that enclose an insulating bulk. In the presence of a magnetic field, surface states get quantized into Landau levels giving rise to chiral edge states that are naturally spin-polarized due to spin momentum locking. It has been proposed that p-n junctions of TIs exposed to external magnetic fields can manifest unique spin dependent effects, apart from forming basic building blocks for highly functional spintronic devices. Here, for the first time we study electrostatically defined n-p-n junctions of dual-gated devices of the three dimensional topological insulator BiSbTe1.25Se1.75 in the presence of a strong magnetic field, revealing striking signatures of suppressed or enhanced electrical transport depending upon the chirality of quantum Hall edge states created at the n-p and p-n junction interfaces. Theoretical modeling combining the electrostatics of the dual gated TI n-p-n junction with the Landauer Buttiker formalism for transport through a network of chiral edge states explains our experimental data. Our work not only opens up a route towards exotic spintronic devices but also provides a test bed for investigating the unique signatures of quantum Hall effects in topological insulators.

Granular topological insulators.

We demonstrate experimentally that a macroscopic topological insulator (TI) phase can emerge in a granular conductor composed of an assembly of tunnel coupled TI nanocrystals of dimension ∼10 nm × 10 nm × 2 nm. Electrical transport measurements on thin films of Bi2Se3 nanocrystals reveal the presence of decoupled top and bottom topological surface states that exhibit large surface state penetration depths (∼30 nm at 2 K). By tuning the size of the nanocrystals and the couplings between them, this new class of TIs may be readily tuned from a non-topological to a topological insulator phase, that too with designer properties. Paradoxically, this seemingly 'dirty' system displays properties that are closer to an ideal TI than most known single crystal systems, making granular/nanocrystalline TIs an attractive platform for future TI research.

Intermediate stages of surface state formation and collapse of topological protection to transport in Bi2Se3.

Surface states consisting of helical Dirac fermions have been extensively studied in three-dimensional topological insulators. Yet, experiments to date have only investigated fully formed topological surface states (TSS) and it is not known whether preformed or partially formed surface states can exist or what properties they could potentially host. Here, by decorating thin films of Bi2Se3 with nanosized islands of the same material, we show for the first time that not only can surface states exist in various intermediate stages of formation but they exhibit unique properties not accessible in fully formed TSS. These include tunability of the Dirac cone mass, vertical migration of the surface state wave-function and the appearance of mid-gap Rashba-like states as exemplified by our theoretical model for decorated TIs. Our experiments show that an interplay of Rashba and Dirac fermions on the surface leads to an intriguing multi-channel weak anti-localization effect concomitant with an unprecedented tuning of the topological protection to transport. Our work offers a new route to engineer topological surface states involving Dirac-Rashba coupling by nano-scale decoration of TI thin films, at the same time shedding light on the real-space mechanism of surface state formation in general.

Simple quadratic magneto-optic Kerr effect measurement system using permanent magnets.

In recent times, quadratic magneto-optic Kerr effect (QMOKE) is emerging as an important experimental tool to investigate higher-order spin-orbit interactions in magnetic thin films and heterostructures. We have designed and constructed a simple, cost-effective QMOKE measurement system using permanent magnets. The permanent magnets are mounted on the inner surface of a cylindrical ferromagnetic yoke which can be rotated about its axis. Our system is sensitive to both the quadratic and linear MOKE signals. We use rotating field method to extract the QMOKE components in saturation. This system is capable of extracting the QMOKE signal from single crystals and thin film samples. Here we present the construction and working of the QMOKE measurement system using permanent magnets and report, for the first time, the QMOKE signal from Fe3O4 single crystal.

Evolution of ferromagnetism from a frustrated state in LixNi(2-x)O2 (0.67 < x < 0.98).

Two-dimensional triangular-lattice antiferromagnetic systems continue to be an interesting area in condensed matter physics and LiNiO2 is one such among them. Here we present a detailed experimental magnetic study of the quasi-stoichiometric LixNi2-xO2 system (0.67 < x < 0.98). It exhibits a variety of magnetic ground states-namely spin glass, cluster glass, re-entrant spin glass and ferromagnetic. This study deals with the magnetic properties of these four distinct ground states. The spin glass state is evidenced by the frequency-dependent peak shift as well as the time-dependent slow dynamics (magnetic relaxation, magnetic memory effect etc). By tuning the Li deficiency in a controlled manner, an increase in the ordering temperature is observed. Most strikingly, with the Li deficiency the nature of the magnetic ground state is changed from spin glass to ferromagnetic, with two intermediate states-namely cluster glass and re-entrant spin glass. The critical behaviour of the re-entrant spin glass is also studied here. The critical exponents (ß, γ and δ) are extracted from the modified Arrot plot, Kouvel-Fisher method, and critical isotherm analysis. The critical exponents match with the long-range mean-field model. The values of the critical exponents are confirmed by the Widom scaling law: δ = 1 + Î³ß(-1). Furthermore, the universality class of the scaling relations is verified, where the scaled m and scaled h collapse into two branches. Finally, based on our observations, a phase diagram is constructed.

A critical re-examination and a revised phase diagram of La(1 - x)Sr(x)CoO3.

We report the results of a comprehensive study on dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, and the magnetotransport properties of the La(1 - x)Sr(x)CoO3(0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) system. At higher Sr doping (x ≥ 0.18), the system exhibits Brillouin-like field cooled magnetization (M(FC)). However, for x < 0.18, the system exhibits a kink in the M(FC), a peak at the intermediate field in the thermoremnant magnetization and a non-saturating tendency in the M-H plot that all point towards the characteristic of spin glass behavior. More interestingly, dc magnetization studies for x < 0.18 do not suggest the existence of ferromagnetic correlation that can give rise to an irreversible line in the spin glass regime. The ac susceptibility study for x > 0.2 exhibits apparently no frequency dependent peak shift around the ferromagnetic transition region. However, a feeble signature of glassiness is verified by studying the frequency dependent shoulder position in χ('')(T) and the memory effect below the Curie temperature. But, for x < 0.18, the ac susceptibility study exhibits a considerable frequency dependent peak shift, time dependent memory effect, and the characteristic spin relaxation time scale τ(o) approximately 10(- 13) s. The reciprocal susceptibility versus temperature plot adheres to Curie-Weiss behavior and does not provide any signature of preformed ferromagnetic clusters well above the Curie temperature. The magnetotransport study reveals a cross over from metallic to semiconducting-like behavior for x ≤ 0.18. On the semiconducting side, the system exhibits a large value of magnetoresistance (upto 75%) towards low temperature and it is strongly connected to the spin dependent part of the random potential distribution in the spin glass phase. Based on the above observations, we have reconstructed a new magnetic phase diagram and characterized each phase with associated properties.

Observation of the intense de-pairing effect in YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-δ) due to the spin injection from La(0.5)Sr(0.5)CoO(3).

We report experimental evidence for a huge pair breaking effect induced by spin polarized quasiparticles in a YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-δ)/La(0.5)Sr(0.5)CoO(3) bi-layer fabricated by pulsed laser deposition. The temperature dependent magnetization measurements show evidence for the presence of both ferromagnetic and diamagnetic phases in the bi-layer. The current dependent electrical transport studies in the bi-layer exhibit a significant reduction in the superconducting transition temperature with the increase in applied current as compared to a single YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-δ) layer and it follows a I(2/3) dependence in accordance with the pair breaking effect. Here, we find that the current driven from a ferromagnetic electrode with low spin polarization, such as La(0.5)Sr(0.5)CoO(3) (-11%), into the superconductor can act as a strong pair breaker. This indicates that the spin polarization of the injecting electrode is not the only criterion in determining the pair breaking effect, rather the transparency of the interface for the spin polarization may also be significant. More interestingly, the spin diffusion length for YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-δ) has a much longer length scale than that reported earlier in the study of ferromagnetic/superconducting heterostructures.

Thermal spin-wave scattering in hot-electron magnetotransport across a spin valve.

The role of thermal scattering in spin-dependent transport of hot electrons at 0.9 eV is studied using a spin-valve transistor with a soft Ni(80)Fe(20)/Au/Co base. Spin-dependent scattering makes the collected electron current depend sensitively on the magnetic state of the base. The magnetocurrent reaches 560% at 100 K, decays with increasing temperature, and a huge effect of 350% still remains at room temperature. The results demonstrate that thermal spin waves produce quasielastic spin-flip scattering of hot electrons, resulting in mixing of the two spin channels.