arXiv subjects

D. Venus

Publications and source records attributed to D. Venus.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Renormalization group analysis of the finite 2DXY model with fourfold anisotropy: Application to the magnetic susceptibility of a ferromagnetic ultrathin film

The renormalization group equations describing a finite 2DXY system with fourfold anisotropy are solved in two steps, in order to study the magnetic transition to paramagnetism in an ultrathin film. First, the equations are linearized near the critical coupling $K=J/k_BT=2/\pi$. An exact solution of the linearized equations confirms that a finite-size Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition occurs in the presence of weak fourfold anisotropy, and that an Ising transition occurs for strong anisotropy. The behaviour of a given system is determined by the product of an anisotropy parameter and the logarithm of the system size. The linearized RG equations are not quantitatively reliable across the full temperature range of the finite-size transition, but they define the parameter space where a second approach, where the fourfold anisotropy is treated as a perturbation, is valid. This perturbative treatment provides a quantitative determination of the renormalized exchange coupling, vortex density, and anisotropy throughout the transition. In particular, the coupling has a universal point of inflection where vortex-antivortex pairs unbind (as opposed to a "universal jump"), and goes to zero asymptotically in the paramagnetic state, as is expected for a finite system. These results are used to calculate the magnetic susceptibility as the system moves from one dominated by spin waves to one dominated by a free vortex gas. The presence of anisotropy makes it necessary to include both the susceptibility $\chi_{||}$ due to fluctuations of the magnitude of the magnetization, and $\chi_\perp$ due to angular fluctuations of the magnetization about a fourfold easy axis. A comparison to recent measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of ultrathin Fe/W(001) films is very encouraging.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

\txtit{In situ} determination of the anisotropy field in ferromagnetic films using magnetic susceptibility measurements by MOKE

An alternate method of measuring anisotropy fields in thin film ferromagnets is demonstrated. The method relies on the magnetic susceptibility in a small a.c. magnetic field, measured \txtit{in situ} using the magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE), and will be useful in situations where more specialized apparatus are not available, or constraints discourage the use of a large, static magnetic field. The method is demonstrated for Co/W(110) films, where it yields anisotropy fields in agreement with previous studies using more conventional torque magnetometry. The sensitivity of the method is demonstrated using CoO/Co/W(110) bilayer films, where the anisotropy due to interfacial exchange coupling is detected and used to find the N\'{e}el temperature of the thin CoO layer.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Finite-size Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in 2DXY Fe/W(001) ultrathin films

Magnetic susceptibility measurements of 3-4 ML Fe/W(001) ferromagnetic films demonstrate that this is a 2DXY system in which a finite-size Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition occurs. The films are grown in ultrahigh vacuum and their magnetic response is measured using the magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE). The analysis of many independently grown films shows that the paramagnetic tail of the susceptibility is described by $\chi(T) \sim \exp \bigr{(}B/(T/T_{KT}-1)^a\bigl{)}$, where $a=0.50\pm0.03$ and $B=3.48\pm0.16$, in quantitative agreement with KT theory. Below the finite-size transition temperature $T_C(L)$, the behavior is complicated by dissipation (likely related to the re-emergence of fourfold anisotropy and magnetic domains). A subset of measurements with very small dissipation most closely represents the idealized system treated by theory. In these, the temperature interval between the fitted Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature and the finite-size transition temperature is $T_C(L)/T_{KT} -1=0.065\pm0.016$. This yeids an estimate of the finite size $L$ affecting the film of order micrometers. This gives experimental support to the idea that even a mesoscopic limitation of the vortex-antivortex gas results in a substantial finite-size effect at the KT transition. In contrast, fitting the paramagnetic tail to a power law, appropriate to a second order critical transition, does not give reasonable results. The effective critical exponent $\gamma_{eff} \approx 3.7 \pm 0.7$ does not correspond to a known universality class, and the fitted transition temperature is much further below the peak in the susceptibility than is reasonable.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Dynamics of topological defects in a two-dimensional magnetic domain stripe pattern

Two dimensional magnetic films with perpendicular magnetization spontaneously form magnetic domain patterns that evolve or undergo symmetry transformations as a function of temperature. When the system is driven from equilibrium by a rapid change in temperature, topological pattern defects are the elementary pattern excitations that affect this evolution. An elastic continuum model is adapted to describe how a metastable population of topological defects alters the domain density and the magnetic susceptibility of the "stripe" magnetic domain pattern. Temporal changes in the susceptibility are interpreted using a dynamical equation describing the defect population. Recent experiments provide a quantitative verification of the model, and illustrate the use of the magnetic susceptibility to follow the population dynamics of topological defects in this system, and its potential role in investigating a pattern melting phase transition.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Two-dimensional percolation transition in two atomic layers of Fe on W(110): Direct measurement of a static percolation critical exponent in a two-dimensional Ising system

When the coverage of the second atomic layer of Fe in an Fe/W(110) ultrathin film reaches a critical value, the system moves suddenly from a frustrated magnetic state without long-range order to an in-plane ferromagnetic state with long-range order, and displays many features of a percolation transition. Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility as the films are grown at 255 K show power law scaling that is limited by noise at low deposition, and by the dynamics of the paramagnetic, frustrated state at high deposition. Because the measurements represent a system driven by a finite field oscillating at a finite frequency, it is demonstated that the threshold deposition for percolation is bounded by the depositions where the real and imaginary components of the susceptibility have maxima. Fitting for the critical exponent of the static susceptibility at these bounds gives a bounded value for $\gamma_p=2.39\pm0.04$, in agreement with theory.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Comparison of dynamical and equilibrium surface spin-reorientations: Inferences on the nature of the phase transitions in the presence of dipole interactions

The influence of long-range dipole interactions on two dimensional magnetism has been studied extensively in the spin-reorientation transition of ferromagnetic ultrathin films. Although there is a great deal of experimental information on the perpendicular domain phase that is stabilized by dipole interactions, the transitions to or from the domain phase are subtle and difficult to characterize experimentally. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show no divergence in the vicinity of the spin-reorientation transition as a function of thickness -- a null result that is difficult to interpret with confidence. This article reports separate dynamical and equilibrium versions of the reorientation transition in Fe/2ML Ni/W(110) films, using measurements of the magnetic susceptibility as the films are grown. The dynamical version occurs when increasing the film thickness causes the domain walls to depin, and the system moves from a configuration that minimizes local energetics to one that minimizes global energetics. The dynamical transition \textit{is} marked by a divergent magnetic susceptibility measured with a field applied along the in-plane W[001] direction. A comparative study of the two versions of the same spin-reorientation transition aids in the experimental characterization of the effects of dipole interactions on the phase transitions. This comparison confirms the original null result found in magnetic susceptibility measurements of the equilibrium transition; despite its name, the spin-reorientation transition in ferromagnetic ultrathin films has no critical phase transition in either the magnetization or its orientation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

The 2D percolation transition at finite temperature: The phase boundary for in-plane ferromagnetism in $\approx$2 ML Fe/W(110) films

A two dimensional (2D) percolation transition in Fe/W(110) ultrathin magnetic films occurs when islands in the second atomic layer percolate and resolve a frustrated magnetic state to produce long-range in-plane ferromagnetic order. Novel measurements of the magnetic susceptibility $χ(θ)$ as the films are deposited at a constant temperature, allow the long-range percolation transition to be observed as a sharp peak consistent with a critical phase transition. The measurements are used to trace the paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic phase boundary between the $T=0$ percolation magnetic transition and the thermal Curie magnetic transition of the undiluted film. A quantitative comparison to critical scaling theory is made by fitting the functional form of the phase boundary. The fitted parameters are then used in theoretical expressions for $χ(T)$ in the critical region of the paramagnetic state to provide an excellent, independent representation of the experimental measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Local and long-range realizations of a spin-reorientation surface phase transition

The spin reorientation transition of an ultrathin film from perpendicular to in-plane magnetization is driven by a competition between dipole and anisotropy energies. \textit{In situ} measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of Fe/2 ML Ni/W(110) films as a function of Fe coverage, made as the films are deposited at constant temperature, show two clear peaks; one at the long-range and one at the local realization of the transition. In the long-range realization, the susceptibility probes the striped domain pattern that is formed in response to the balance of energetics on a mesoscopic scale. Here the reorientation transition occurs at a non-integer layer thickness. In the local realization, the susceptibility probes the response of small islands with in-plane anisotropy in the 3rd atomic Fe layer that are grown on the 2nd atomic Fe layer, which has perpendicular anisotropy. It is a response to the local finite-size, metastable energetics due to discrete steps in thickness. An excellent quantitative description of the susceptibility data is obtained when both local and long-range aspects of the spin reorientation transition are included.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Observation of mixed anisotropy in the critical susceptibility of an ultrathin magnetic film

Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of Fe/W(110) films with thickness in the range of 1.6 to 2.4 ML Fe, show that in addition to the large response along the easy axis associated with the Curie transition, there is a much smaller, paramagnetic hard axis response that is not consistent with the 2D anisotropic Heisenberg model used to describe homogeneous in-plane ferromagnets with uniaxial anisotropy. The shape, amplitude, and peak temperature of the hard axis susceptibility, as well as its dependence upon layer completion close to 2.0 ML, indicate that inhomogeneities in the films create a system of mixed anisotropy. A likely candidate for inhomogeneities that are magnetically relevant in the critical region are the closed lines of step edges associated with the incomplete layers. According to the Harris criterion, the existence of magnetically relevant inhomogeneities may alter the critical properties of the films from those of a 2D Ising model. Experiments in the recent literature are discussed in this context.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Dynamical signature of a domain phase transition in a perpendicularly-magnetized ultrathin film

Domain phases in ultrathin Fe/Ni/W(110) films with perpendicular anisotropy have been studied using the ac magnetic susceptibility. Dynamics on time scales of minutes to hours were probed by quenching the system from high temperature to the stripe phase region, and varying the constant rate of temperature increase as the susceptibility traces were measured. The entire susceptibility peak is observed to relax slowly along the temperature axis, with the peak temperature increasing as the rate of heating is decreased. This is precisely opposite to what would happen if this slow relaxation was driven by changes in the domain density within the stripe phase. The data are instead consistent with a simple model for the removal of a significant density of pattern defects and curvature trapped in the quench from high temperature. A quantitative analysis confirms that the relaxation dynamics are consistent with the mesoscopic rearrangement of domains required to remove pattern defects, and that the experiment constitutes a "dynamical" observation of the phase transition from a high temperature, positionally disordered phase to the low temperature, ordered stripe phase.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2003

Critical Susceptibility Exponent Measured from Fe/W(110) Bilayers

The critical phase transition in ferromagnetic ultrathin Fe/W(110) films has been studied using the magnetic ac susceptibility. A statistically objective, unconstrained fitting of the susceptibility is used to extract values for the critical exponent (gamma), the critical temperature Tc, the critical amplitude (chi_o) and the range of temperature that exhibits power-law behaviour. A fitting algorithm was used to simultaneously minimize the statistical variance of a power law fit to individual experimental measurements of chi(T). This avoids systematic errors and generates objective fitting results. An ensemble of 25 measurements on many different films are analyzed. Those which permit an extended fitting range in reduced temperature lower than approximately .00475 give an average value gamma=1.76+-0.01. Bilayer films give a weighted average value of gamma = 1.75+-0.02. These results are in agreement with the -dimensional Ising exponent gamma= 7/4. Measurements that do not exhibit power-law scaling as close to Tc (especially films of thickness 1.75ML) show a value of gamma higher than the Ising value. Several possibilities are considered to account for this behaviour.

cond-mat↗