arXiv subjects

A. K. Nigam

Publications and source records attributed to A. K. Nigam.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Heat capacity and magnetocaloric effect in polycrystalline Gd1-xSmxMn2Si2

We report the magnetocaloric effect in terms of isothermal magnetic entropy change as well as adiabatic temperature change, calculated using the heat capacity data. Using the zero field heat capacity data, the magnetic contribution to the heat capacity has been estimated. The variations in the magnetocaloric behavior have been explained on the basis of the magnetic structure of these compounds. The refrigerant capacities have also been calculated for these compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Role of coexisting ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases on the magnetocaloric effect in metamagnetic Tb2Ni2Sn

We report the anomalous magnetocaloric behavior in the polycrystalline compound Tb2Ni2Sn. The magnetization measurements show that this compound shows multiple magnetic transitions, which are attributed to the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases at low temperatures. With increase in field and temperature, the compound undergoes a metamagnetic transition to a ferromagnetic state. In the temperature range where the antiferromagnetic phase is dominant, it exhibits inverse (negative) magnetocaloric effect. At temperatures close to the Neel temperature, the compound shows positive magnetocaloric effect. Below the critical field needed for the metamagnetic transition, the temperature variation of the magnetocaloric effect is seen to be correlated with the ferromagnetic fraction.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Correlation between magnetism and magnetocaloric effect in RCo2-based Laves phase compounds

By virtue of the itinerant electron metamagnetism (IEM), the RCo2 compounds with R=Er, Ho and Dy are found to show first order magnetic transition at their ordering temperatures. The inherent instability of Co sublattice magnetism is responsible for the occurrence of IEM, which leads to interesting magnetic and related properties. The systematic studies of the variations in the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the RCo2-based compounds show that the magnetovolume effect plays a decisive role in determining the nature of magnetic transitions and hence the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in these compound. It is found that the spin fluctuations arising due to the magnetovolume effect reduce the strength of IEM in these compounds, which subsequently lead to a reduction in the MCE. Most of the substitutions at the Co site are found to result in a positive magnetovolume effect, leading to an initial increase in the ordering temperature. Application of pressure, on the other hand, causes a reduction in the ordering temperature due to the negative magnetovolume effect. A comparative study of the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of RCo2 compounds under various substitutions and applied pressure is presented. Analysis of the magnetization data using the Landau theory has shown that there is a strong correlation between the Landau coefficient (B) and the MCE. The variations seen in the order of magnetic transition and the MCE values seem to support the recent model proposed by Khmelevskyi and Mohn for the occurrence of IEM in RCo2 compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Role of Fe substitution on the anomalous magnetocaloric and magnetoresistance behavior in Tb(Ni1-xFex)2 compounds

We report the magnetic, magnetocaloric and magnetoresistance results obtained in Tb(Ni1-xFex)2 compounds with x=0, 0.025 and 0.05. Fe substitution leads to an increase in the ordering temperature from 36 K for x=0 to 124 K for x=0.05. Contrary to a single sharp MCE peak seen in TbNi2, the MCE peaks of the Fe substituted compounds are quite broad. We attribute the anomalous MCE behavior to the randomization of the Tb moments brought about by the Fe substitution. Magnetic and magnetoresistance results seem to corroborate this proposition. The present study also shows that the anomalous magnetocaloric and magnetoresistance behavior seen in the present compounds is similar to that of Ho(Ni,Fe)2 compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Effect of Ge substitution for Si on the anomalous magnetocaloric and magnetoresistance properties of GdMn2Si2 compounds

The effect of Ge substitution on the magnetization, heat capacity, magnetocaloric effect and magnetoresistance of GdMn2Si2-xGex (x=0, 1, and 2) compounds has been studied. The magnetic transition associated with the Gd ordering is found to change from second order to first order on Ge substitution. Magnetic contributions to the total heat capacity and the entropy have been estimated. Magnetocaloric effect has been calculated in terms of adiabatic temperature change (deltaTad) as well as isothermal magnetic entropy change (deltaSM) using the heat capacity data. The temperature dependence of the magnetocaloric effect in all the three compounds have shown broad peaks. The maximum values of deltaSM and deltaTad for GdMn2Ge2 are found to be 5.9 J/kgK and 1.2 K, respectively. The magnetoresistance is found to be very large and positive with a maximum value of about 22% in the case of GdMn2Ge2. In the other two compounds also, the magnetoresistance is predominantly positive, except in the vicinity of the Gd ordering temperature. The anomalous nature of the magnetocaloric effect and the magnetoresistance has been attributed to the canted magnetic structure of these compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Measurement of pressure effects on the magnetic and the magnetocaloric properties of the intermetallic compounds R(Co1-xSix)2 [R=Dy and Er]

The effect of external pressure on the magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect of R(Co1-xSix)2 [R= Er, Dy and x=0, 0.025 and 0.05] compounds has been studied. The ordering temperatures of both the parent as well as the Si substituted compounds are found to decrease with pressure. In all the compounds, the critical field for metamagnetic transition increases with pressure. It is seen that the magnetocaloric effect in the parent compounds is almost insensitive to pressure, while there is considerable enhancement in the case of Si substituted compounds. Spin fluctuations arising due to the magnetovolume effect play a crucial role in determining the pressure dependence of magnetocaloric effect in these compounds. Analysis of the magnetization data using the Landau theory has shown that the magnitude of the Landau coefficient (C3) decreases with Si concentration whereas it is found to increase with pressure. The isothermal magnetic entropy change is found to behave in the same manner as C3, both with Si concentration (at ambient pressure) as well as with the applied pressure.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Effect of Y substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of Dy1-xYxCo5 compounds

Structural and magnetization studies were carried out on Dy1-xYxCo5 [x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1] compounds which crystallize in the hexagonal CaCu5-type structure. Lattice parameters and unit-cell volume increase with Y concentration. Large thermomagnetic irreversibility between the field-cooled and the zero-field cooled magnetization data has been observed in all the compounds, which has been attributed to the domain wall pinning effect. Temperature dependence of magnetization data shows that except DyCo5 and YCo5, all the compounds show spin reorientation transitions in the range of 5-300 K. The spin reorientation temperature decreases from 266 K for x=0.2 to 100 K for x=0.8. Powder x-ray diffractograms of the magnetically aligned samples show that DyCo5 has planar anisotropy at room temperature whereas all the other compounds possess axial anisotropy. The spin reorientation transition has been attributed to a change in the easy magnetization direction from the ab-plane to the c-axis, as the temperature is increased. The anisotropy field and the first order anisotropy constant are found to be quite high in all the compounds except DyCo5. The magnetic properties have been explained by taking into account the variations in contributions arising from the rare earth and transition metal sublattices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Magnetoresistance in granular CrO2 : influence of crystallographic and magnetic microstructure

We report magnetotransport measurements on high purity sintered samples of spintronic CrO2 in an unexplored crystallographic regime between 5-300 K. The negative magnetoresistance (MR) as derived from RH isotherms is observed to be unhysteretic up to temperatures as high as 200 K. Between 240-290 K, RH isotherms exhibit some unusual features including a positive MR and strong pinning effects. These feature disappear above 290 K and is apparently related with the antiferromagnetic ordering of the insulating grain boundary. Qualitatively similar features with significantly enhanced MR are also observed when the GB density is increased. These results bring out the role played by the magnetic and crystallographic microstructure on the magnitude, sign and hysteresis of the magnetoresistance in this technologically important material.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Observation of fluctuation induced tunneling conductance in polycrystalline CrO2

Intergranular conduction in half metallic CrO2 is known to occur through a combination of spin dependent tunneling (driven by Coulomb Blockade (CB) effects) together with certain spin independent (SI) hopping processes. We present evidence that in polycrystalline CrO2 with enhanced grain size, both these process (CB effect and SI Hopping) are suppressed and the functional form of conductance is best described by Fluctuation Induced Tunneling (FIT) in a wide temperature range. Similar features are observed when grain boundary density is increased by Cr2O3 or Cr2O5.The spin dependent tunneling driven by FIT results in the observation of significant enhancement and monotonic temperature dependence of magnetoresistance. Overall, the magnetotransport measurements in a thus far unexplored crystallographic regime of CrO2 reveal that the functional form of conductance strongly influences its magnetoresistive properties.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Critical exponents and the correlation length in the charge exchange manganite spin glass Eu_{0.5}Ba_{0.5}MnO_{3}

The critical regime of the charge exchange (CE) manganite spin glass Eu_{0.5}Ba_{0.5}MnO_{3} is investigated using linear and non linear magnetic susceptibility and the divergence of the third ordered susceptibility (chi{_3}) signifying the onset of a conventional freezing transition is experimentally demonstrated. The divergence in chi{_3}, dynamical scaling of the linear susceptibility and relevant scaling equations are used to determine the critical exponents associated with this freezing transition, the values of which match well with the 3D Ising universality class. Magnetic field dependence of the spin glass response function is used to estimate the spin correlation length which is seen to be larger than the charge/orbital correlation length reported in this system.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Magnetic and transport properties of Mo substituted La0.67Ba0.33Mn1-xMoxO3 perovskite system

The effect of doping Mo for Mn on the magnetic and transport properties of the colossal magnetoresistance material, La0.67Ba0.33MnO3, has been studied. Compounds of the series La0.67Ba0.33Mn1-xMoxO3 (x=0.0 to 0.1) have been prepared and found to crystallize in the orthorhombic structure (space group Pbnm). Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX) measurements confirm the stoichiometry of all the samples. Magnetotransport and magnetization measurements reveal that the metal-insulator transition temperature (Tp) decreases from 330K for x=0 to 255K for x=0.1. The change in Tp on Mo substitution is relatively much smaller than the corresponding change observed on substitution by other transition elements, such as Ti, Fe, Co, Ni, etc. Further, the ferromagnetic transition temperature (TC) is nearly unchanged by Mo substitution. This is in striking contrast to the large decrease in TC observed with substitution of above-mentioned 3d elements. These unusual magnetic and transport properties of La0.67Ba0.33Mn1-xMoxO3 may be either due to the formation of magnetic pair between Mn and Mo or due to strong Mo(4d)-O(2p) overlap, which in turn, may affect the Mn-Mn interaction via the oxygen atoms

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Sharp magnetization step across the ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition in doped-CeFe$_2$ alloys

Very sharp magnetization step is observed across the field induced antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in various doped-CeFe$_2$ alloys, when the measurement is performed below 5K. In the higher temperature regime (T$>$5K) this transition is quite smooth in nature. Comparing with the recently observed similar behaviour in manganites showing colossal magnetoresistance and magnetocaloric material Gd$_5$Ge$_4$ we argue that such magnetization step is a generalized feature of a disorder influenced first order phase transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Relaxation of thermo-remanent magnetization in Fe-Cr GMR multilayers

The time decay of the thermo-remanent magnetization (TRM) in Fe-Cr giant magnetoresistive (GMR) multilayers has been investigated. The magnetization in these multilayers relaxes as a function of time after being cooled in a small magnetic field of 100 Oe to a low temperature and then the magnetic field is switched off. Low-field ($<$ 500 Oe) magnetization studies of these samples have shown hysteresis. This spin-glass-like behavior may originate from structural imperfections at the interfaces and in the bulk. We find that the magnetization relaxation is logarithmic. Here the magnetic viscosity is found to increase first with increasing temperature, then it reaches a maximum around T$_g$, and then it decreases with increasing temperature. This behavior is different from that of conventional spin glasses where the logarithmic creep rate is observed to increase with temperature. Power law also gives good fits and it is better than the logarithmic fit at higher temperatures. The dynamical effects of these multilayers are related to the relaxation of thermally blocked superparamagnetic grains and magnetic domains in the film layers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Role of heterostructures and multiple magnetic phases in the low-field magnetization of Fe-Cr GMR multilayers

Zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) magnetization along with ac-magnetization vs. temperature and m-h loop measurements are reported for two series of ion-beam sputtered Fe-Cr GMR multilayers where the interface roughness is different. The exchange coupling between the Fe layers varies from ferromagnetic (FC) to antiferromagnetic (AF) depending upon the Cr layer thickness. The ZFC and FC magnetization data follow different curves below an irreversible temperature ($T_{irr}$). The FC data shows a $T^{3/2}$ thermal demagnetization behavior at lower temperatures with very small spin-wave stiffness constant (as compared with that of bulk Fe obtained from Bloch's $T^{3/2}$ law) but it goes as 1/T at higher temperatures (above ($T_{irr}$)). This behavior is interpreted in terms of the coexistence of spin-glass (SG)/superparamagnetic, FM and AF phases. ac-magnetization vs. temperature shows a peak at $T_g$. This peak shifts towards higher temperatures and its amplitude decreases with increasing frequency of the driving ac field.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Magnetocaloric effect in the intermetallic compound DyNi

Magnetic and heat capacity measurements have been carried out on the polycrystalline sample of DyNi which crystallizes in the orthorhombic FeB structure (space group Pnma). This compound is ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature of 59 K. Magnetization-field isotherms at low temperatures shows a step-like behavior characteristic of metamagnetic transitions. The magnetocaloric effect has been measured both in terms of isothermal magnetic entropy change and adiabatic temperature change for various applied magnetic fields. The maximum values of the entropy change and the temperature change are found to be 19 Jkg-1K-1 and 4.5 K, respectively, for a field of 60 kOe. The large magnetocaloric effect is attributed to the field-induced spin-flop metamagnetism occurring in this compound, which has a noncollinear magnetic structure at low fields.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Heat capacity and magnetoresistance in Dy(Co,Si)2 compounds

Magnetocaloric effect and magnetoresistance have been studied in Dy(Co1-xSix)2 [x=0, 0.075 and 0.15] compounds. Magnetocaloric effect has been calculated in terms of adiabatic temperatue change (Delta Tad) as well as isothermal magnetic entropy change (Delta SM) using the heat capacity data. The maximum values of DeltaSM and DeltaTad for DyCo2 are found to be 11.4 JKg-1K-1 and 5.4 K, respectively. Both DSM and DTad decrease with Si concentration, reaching a value of 5.4 JKg-1K-1 and 3 K, respectively for x=0.15. The maximum magnetoresistance is found to about 32% in DyCo2, which decreases with increase in Si. These variations are explained on the basis of itinerant electron metamagnetism occurring in these compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2004

Low temperature synthesis, magnetic and magnetotransport properties of (La1-xLux)0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (0 < x < 0.12) system

We have been able to synthesize Lu+3 substituted La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LCMO) by an auto-combustion method. Synthesis of this compound is not successful by conventional ceramic or other chemical methods. Magnetic and electrical transport properties of the Lu substituted LCMO [(La1-xLux)0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (0 < x < 0.12)] system have been investigated and compared with those of the Y+3, Pr+3, Dy+3 and Tb+3 substituted LCMO systems. All the compounds show a ferromagnetic metal to paramagnetic insulator transition at TC. The tolerance factor reduces from 0.917 for x = 0 to 0.909 for x = 0.12 and for this range all are ferromagnetic metals indicating the dominance of the coupling between spins due to double exchange over the antiferromagnetic superexchange interaction. The transition temperatures and magnetization decrease as the Lu concentration increases. This is satisfactorily accounted for on the basis of transition from ferromagnetic at x = 0 to canted spin order for x > 0. All the samples show higher magnitude of MR compared to that in pure LCMO at 80 kOe field in the temperature range of 5 to 320K. A fairly high value of low field magnetoresistance (LFMR) of about 30% is obtained in all the samples at a field less than 5 kOe.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2004

Magneto-transport studies on (Pr1/3Sm2/3)2/3A1/3MnO3 (A = Ca, Sr and Ba) compounds

Magnetic and transport properties of (Pr1/3Sm2/3)2/3A1/3MnO3 (A = Ca, Sr and Ba) compounds, prepared by the citrate gel route, have been investigated. These compounds are found to crystallize in the orthorhombic structure. Charge ordering transport behavior is indicated only in Ca-substituted compound. The Sr- and Ba-substituted compounds show metal-insulator transition and semiconducting-like behavior, respectively. The magnetoresistance is highest in the Ba substituted compound. All the three samples show irreversibility in magnetization as a function of temperature in zero-field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) plots. The non-saturating magnetization, even at 5K and 4 Tesla field, are observed in Ca as well Ba-substituted compounds.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗