Multipurpose setup for low-temperature conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy

We describe an experimental setup for conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) at low temperature. The setup is composed of a continuous flow cryostat (temperature range of 4.2-500 K), detector housing, three channel electron multipliers, and corresponding electronics. We demonstrate the capabilities of the setup with CEMS measurements performed on a sample consisting of a thin enriched ⁵⁷Fe film, with a thickness of 20 nm, deposited on a silicon substrate. We also describe exchangeable adaptations (lid and sample holder) which extend the applicability of the setup to emission Mössbauer spectroscopy as well as measurements under an applied magnetic field.

Lattice Location of Mg in GaN: A Fresh Look at Doping Limitations

Radioactive ^{27}Mg (t_{1/2}=9.5  min) was implanted into GaN of different doping types at CERN's ISOLDE facility and its lattice site determined via β^{-} emission channeling. Following implantations between room temperature and 800 °C, the majority of ^{27}Mg occupies the substitutional Ga sites; however, below 350 °C significant fractions were also found on interstitial positions ∼0.6  Å from ideal octahedral sites. The interstitial fraction of Mg was correlated with the GaN doping character, being highest (up to 31%) in samples doped p type with 2×10^{19}  cm^{-3} stable Mg during epilayer growth, and lowest in Si-doped n-GaN, thus giving direct evidence for the amphoteric character of Mg. Implanting above 350 °C converts interstitial ^{27}Mg to substitutional Ga sites, which allows estimating the activation energy for migration of interstitial Mg as between 1.3 and 2.0 eV.

Relaxor ferroelectricity and magnetoelectric coupling in ZnO-Co nanocomposite thin films: beyond multiferroic composites

ZnO-Co nanocomposite thin films are synthesized by combination of pulsed laser deposition of ZnO and Co ion implantation. Both superparamagnetism and relaxor ferroelectricity as well as magnetoelectric coupling in the nanocomposites have been demonstrated. The unexpected relaxor ferroelectricity is believed to be the result of the local lattice distortion induced by the incorporation of the Co nanoparticles. Magnetoelectric coupling can be attributed to the interaction between the electric dipole moments and the magnetic moments, which are both induced by the incorporation of Co. The introduced ZnO-Co nanocomposite thin films are different from conventional strain-mediated multiferroic composites.

Paramagnetism and antiferromagnetic interactions in single-phase Fe-implanted ZnO

As the intrinsic origin of the high-temperature ferromagnetism often observed in wide-gap dilute magnetic semiconductors becomes increasingly debated, there is a growing need for comprehensive studies on the single-phase region of the phase diagram of these materials. Here we report on the magnetic and structural properties of Fe-doped ZnO prepared by ion implantation of ZnO single crystals. A detailed structural characterization shows that the Fe impurities substitute for Zn in ZnO in a wurtzite Zn(1-x)Fe(x)O phase which is coherent with the ZnO host. In addition, the density of beam-induced defects is progressively decreased by thermal annealing up to 900 ° C, from highly disordered after implantation to highly crystalline upon subsequent annealing. Based on a detailed analysis of the magnetometry data, we demonstrate that isolated Fe impurities occupying Zn-substitutional sites behave as localized paramagnetic moments down to 2 K, irrespective of the Fe concentration and the density of beam-induced defects. With increasing local concentration of Zn-substitutional Fe, strong nearest-cation-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions favor the antiparallel alignment of the Fe moments.

Lift-off protocols for thin films for use in EXAFS experiments

Lift-off protocols for thin films for improved extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements are presented. Using wet chemical etching of the substrate or the interlayer between the thin film and the substrate, stand-alone high-quality micrometer-thin films are obtained. Protocols for the single-crystalline semiconductors GeSi, InGaAs, InGaP, InP and GaAs, the amorphous semiconductors GaAs, GeSi and InP and the dielectric materials SiO2 and Si3N4 are presented. The removal of the substrate and the ability to stack the thin films yield benefits for EXAFS experiments in transmission as well as in fluorescence mode. Several cases are presented where this improved sample preparation procedure results in higher-quality EXAFS data compared with conventional sample preparation methods. This lift-off procedure can also be advantageous for other experimental techniques (e.g. small-angle X-ray scattering) that benefit from removing undesired contributions from the substrate.

Tuning quantum corrections and magnetoresistance in ZnO nanowires by ion implantation

Using ion implantation, the electrical as well as the magnetotransport properties of individual ZnO nanowires (NWs) can be tuned. The virgin NWs are configured as field-effect transistors which are in the enhancement mode. Al-implanted NWs reveal a three-dimensional metallic-like behavior, for which the magnetoresistance is well described by a semiempirical model that takes into account the presence of doping induced local magnetic moments and of two conduction bands. On the other hand, one-dimensional electron transport is observed in Co-implanted NWs. At low magnetic fields, the anisotropic magnetoresistance can be described in the framework of weak electron localization in the presence of strong spin-orbit scattering. From the weak localization, a large phase coherence length is inferred that reaches up to 800 nm at 2.5 K. The temperature-dependent dephasing is shown to result from a one-dimensional Nyquist noise-related mechanism. At the lowest temperatures, the phase coherence length becomes limited by magnetic scattering.

Paramagnetism and antiferromagnetic interactions in Cr-doped GaN

We report on the magnetic and structural properties of Cr-doped GaN prepared by ion implantation of epitaxial thin films. Based on a detailed analysis of the magnetometry data, we demonstrate that the magnetic interactions between Cr moments in GaN are antiferromagnetic (AFM). Increasing the Cr fractional concentration up to 0.35, we observe that strong nearest cation neighbor AFM coupling results in the reduction of the effective moment per Cr atom. The uncompensated Cr moments exhibit paramagnetic behavior and we discuss to what extent the effects of an anisotropic crystal field and AFM interactions can be inferred from the magnetization data. We discuss the observed changes in magnetic and structural properties induced by thermal annealing in terms of defect annealing and Cr aggregation.

Simultaneous polarized neutron reflectometry and anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements

A novel experimental facility to carry out simultaneous polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) measurements is presented. Performing both techniques at the same time increases their strength considerably. The proof of concept of this method is demonstrated on a CoO/Co bilayer exchange bias system. Although information on the same phenomena, such as the coercivity or the reversal mechanism, can be separately obtained from either of these techniques, the simultaneous application optimizes the consistency between both. In this way, possible differences in experimental conditions, such as applied magnetic field amplitude and orientation, sample temperature, magnetic history, etc., can be ruled out. Consequently, only differences in the fundamental sensitivities of the techniques can cause discrepancies in the interpretation between the two. The almost instantaneous information obtained from AMR can be used to reveal time-dependent effects during the PNR acquisition. Moreover, the information inferred from the AMR measurements can be used for optimizing the experimental conditions for the PNR measurements in a more efficient way than with the PNR measurements alone.

Artificial neural networks applied to the analysis of synchrotron nuclear resonant scattering data

The capabilities of artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been investigated for the analysis of nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) data obtained at a synchrotron source. The major advantage of ANNs over conventional analysis methods is that, after an initial training phase, the analysis is fully automatic and practically instantaneous, which allows for a direct intervention of the experimentalist on-site. This is particularly interesting for NRS experiments, where large amounts of data are obtained in very short time intervals and where the conventional analysis method may become quite time-consuming and complicated. To test the capability of ANNs for the automation of the NRS data analysis, a neural network was trained and applied to the specific case of an Fe/Cr multilayer. It was shown how the hyperfine field parameters of the system could be extracted from the experimental NRS spectra. The reliability and accuracy of the ANN was verified by comparing the output of the network with the results obtained by conventional data analysis.

On the interface magnetism of thin oxidized Co films: orbital and spin moments

An x-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of a polycrystalline Co/CoO bilayer is presented. Using both the chemical specificity and surface sensitivity in the core level techniques, we find that uncompensated Co(2+) spin moments participate in the remanent ferromagnetic response of the bilayer that has oxygen nearest neighbors. These are likely located at the Co/CoO interface. As intermixing of magnetic species is not present in Co/CoO, it is concluded that the observed interface moments are due to interface roughness. Given their direction, these moments appear to not directly correlate to the exchange bias in these bilayers.

Enhanced asymmetric magnetization reversal in nanoscale Co/CoO arrays: competition between exchange bias and magnetostatic coupling

Magnetization reversal was studied in square arrays of square Co/CoO dots with lateral size varying between 200 and 900 nm. While reference nonpatterned Co/CoO films show the typical shift and increased width of the hysteresis loop due to exchange bias, the patterned samples reveal a pronounced size dependence. In particular, an anomaly appears in the upper branch of the magnetization cycle and becomes stronger as the dot size decreases. This anomaly, which is absent at room temperature in the patterned samples, can be understood in terms of a competition between magnetostatic interdot interaction and exchange anisotropy during the magnetic switching process.

Local Observation of Field Polarity Dependent Flux Pinning by Magnetic Dipoles

A scanning Hall probe microscope is used to study flux pinning in a thin superconducting Pb film covering a square array of single-domain Co dots with in-plane magnetization. We show that single flux quanta of opposite sign thread the superconducting film below T(c) at the opposite poles of these dipoles. Depending on the polarity of the applied field, flux lines are attracted to a specific pole of the dipoles, due to the direct interaction with the vortexlike structures induced by the local stray field.

Impurity spin magnetization of thin Fe doped Au films

In order to probe the influence of the surface-induced anisotropy on the impurity spin magnetization, we measure the anomalous Hall effect in thin AuFe films at magnetic fields up to 15 T. The observed suppression of the anomalous Hall resistivity at low fields as well as the appearance of a minimum in the differential Hall resistivity at higher fields can be explained by our theoretical model, which takes into account the influence of a polycrystalline film structure on the surface-induced anisotropy. Our results imply that the apparent discrepancy between different experimental results for the size effects in dilute magnetic alloys can be linked to a different microstructure of the samples.