ALBERT

Notes: Surface magnetic properties of epitaxial Gd(0001) films grown on W(110) were studied with spin-polarized resonant 4f photoemission. Films grown at room temperature and subsequently annealed to 550 °C show 66% polarization at 150 K, whereas films grown at 400 °C show only 46% polarization. Both types of films exhibit surface enhanced magnetic order, with the highest observed surface critical temperature exceeding the bulk value by as much as 60 K. For the first time, a rich variety of novel surface magnetic phenomena, i.e., sizeable perpendicular polarization component and unusual temperature hysteresis in the spin polarization, are observed, demonstrating that surface magnetic reconstruction is present in Gd(0001) films.

Notes: Fe(110)/Ag(111) heterostructures, composed of fixed 3 monolayer (ML) Fe bilayers and variable-thickness Ag bilayers, were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy and investigated by transmission Mössbauer spectroscopy in the temperature range from 4.2 to 300 K. We found that as the Ag layer is thick enough ((approximately-greater-than)17 ML) to magnetically isolate the neighboring Fe layers, a quasilinear temperature dependence of the Mössbauer hyperfine field results due to the two-dimensional spin-wave excitations. As the Ag layer is reduced to 4 ML, a dimensional crossover in the spin-wave excitations is induced by the magnetic interaction between neighboring Fe layers which makes the magnetic temperature dependence change from a two-dimensional T-linear relation to a three-dimensional T3/2 dependence.

Notes: The effects of Fe doping on the superconducting and magnetic properties of GdBa2Cu3O7−δ superconductors have been thoroughly examined. Fe doping not only depresses the global superconducting transition temperature Tc, but also locally destroys superconductivity in small regions around the Fe dopants. Mössbauer measurements at 4.2 K revealed magnetic hyperfine structure for samples doped with ≥3% of Fe. Its origin is determined here to be Fe-induced short-range spin correlations of the Cu spins in the nonsuperconductive regions. Upon oxygen depletion, the short-range spin correlations evolve into the familiar long-range 3D antiferromagnetic ordering.

Notes: Epitaxial Fe(100)/Ni and Fe(110)/Ni heterostructures were grown using a Perkin-Elmer PHI 430B molecular-beam-epitaxy system equipped with (RHEED) and quadrupole mass analysis. The growth system typically achieved a base pressure of less than 5×10−10 Torr, and a growth pressure of less than 3×10−9 Torr. Typical growth rates were 3 A(ring)/min for Fe and 2 A(ring)/min for Ni. For all the heterostructures, the Ni thickness was held at 14 A(ring), the number of repetitions varied between 8 and 15 cycles, and growth always began with the Fe bilayer. Protective Ag covers were grown on all films. Three Fe (100)/Ni heterostructures were grown on 5-kA(ring) single-crystal Ag(100) bases grown on NaCl(001).1 The single-crystal Fe(100) bilayer thicknesses were 3, 8, or 12 monolayers (ML). The substrate growth temperature for this series was ramped from 40 to 80 °C due to radiant heating from the effusion cells. Four Fe(110)/Ni heterostructures were grown with Fe bilayer thicknesses of 2, 4, 8, and 12 ML. These heterostructures were grown on 5-kA(ring) Ag(111) single-crystal bases grown on single-crystal natural muscovite mica.An intervening epilayer of NaCl (150 A(ring)) deposited between the mica and Ag base facilitated film removal from the Fe-contaminated mica for ex situ transmission 57Fe Mössbauer analysis. The substrate growth temperature for this series was held at 180 °C, since this appears to be optimal for Fe(110) growth on Ag(111).2 Note that the resultant Fe(110) growth is mosaic with Fe[001] parallel to Ag〈110〉 (threefold symmetry). The RHEED observation of the growth of Ni on Fe(100) always resulted in the Ni RHEED pattern closely following that of the Fe (100) pattern, with broader Ni RHEED lines apparent. The characteristic behavior of our Ni RHEED patterns mimicked that observed by Heinrich et al. for bcc Ni(100),3 and did not match that of fcc Ni. The Ni-on-Fe(110) growth was analogous in RHEED characteristics to that of the (100) case. The Ni RHEED patterns again closely matched that of Fe(110), the only real difference being the broadening of the Ni RHEED streaks. Note that fcc Ni(111) was seen to grow on Ag(111) under similar growth parameters. It is likely that a metastable bcc Ni(110) structure analogous to bcc Ni(100) was observed. The quality of the Fe/Ni RHEED patterns did not seem to significantly worsen from bilayer to bilayer throughout the growths of either series. Furthermore, the respective Ag cover layers for all films showed excellent RHEED patterns. All the observed Mössbauer spectra for both series of Fe/Ni multilayers show sextets at room temperature, except for the 2-ML Fe(110) film, which exhibited a very small additional single-line central feature. At 4.2 K, the 2-ML Fe(110) film had no change in central feature, ruling out superparamagnetism as a cause. All films exhibited in-plane magnetization, and thinner Fe bilayers exhibited a growing isomer-shifted second sextet-site presence, suggestive of an interfacial Fe site at the Fe/Ni interface.An enhanced hyperfine field is seen for the thinnest Fe bilayer films at 4.2 K. This enhancement is greatest for the Fe(100) system [most enhanced Fe(100) site=365 kOe vs most enhanced Fe(110) site=351 kOe, compared to 341 kOe for bulk]. The thickest Fe bilayer films for both series showed nearly-single-site, bulklike hyperfine-field behavior. The Mössbauer spectra observed for these epitaxial Fe/Ni heterostructures are different than that previously reported for polycrystalline fcc Fe/fcc Ni films.4 More detailed structural and magnetic studies of the novel bcc Ni reported here should be pursued.

Notes: By doping a very small amount of 57Fe into La2CuO4, Mössbauer spectroscopy has been applied to study the magnetic property of the parent compound. From the measurement of the magnetic hyperfine field at the Fe nuclei for various temperatures between 4.2 K and TN, the temperature dependence of the sublattice magnetization for La2CuO4 has been discussed. A theoretical calculation shows that, with temperature increasing a 3D-2D dimensional crossover occurs in the magnetic dynamics of an anisotropic antiferromagnetic, which is indeed confirmed by the data. The best fit to the data using this theory yields J=1600 K and r=0.011.

Notes: 1.5% of Fe has been substituted for Cu in several "2212'' and "2223'' Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu superconductors. All of the samples show a reduction of Tc by about 13 K due to the Fe impurities. Mössbauer measurements at room temperature reveal structural characteristics such as stacking faults and intergrowth of different phases in these Bi-based compounds on the microscopic scale. The suppression of Tc due to Fe doping in the Bi "2212'' or " 2223'' system is comparable to that of the "123'' system, but much smaller than that of the "214'' system. The interplanar correlation existing in the "123'' and the Bi "2212'' and "2223''systems seems to play an important role in sustaining the high-temperature superconductivity and weakening the detrimental effect of impurity elements on superconductivity in these two systems.

Notes: It is well known that two-dimensional spin-wave excitations result in a linear temperature dependence of the magnetization in a quasi-two-dimensional ferromagnetic system. However, it has been shown also that magnetic relaxation from small islands inside a film can also result in a similar linear temperature dependence. In this paper, it is found that comparative Mössbauer measurements with and without a weak magnetic field can clearly distinguish these two different mechanisms: The linear temperature dependence of the magnetization is unaffected by the external field if 2D spin-wave excitations are responsible for the linear behavior, while the linear slope of the temperature dependence of the magnetization is reduced by the external field if magnetic relaxation is involved.