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Peter Varga

Publications and source records attributed to Peter Varga.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2018

The growth of metastable fcc Fe78Ni22 thin films on H-Si(100) substrates suitable for focused ion beam direct magnetic patterning

We have studied the growth of metastable face-centered-cubic, non-magnetic Fe78Ni22 thin films on silicon substrates. These films undergo a magnetic (paramagnetic to ferromagnetic) and structural (fcc to bcc) phase transformation upon ion beam irradiation and thus can serve as a template for direct writing of magnetic nanostructures by the focused ion beam. So far, these films were prepared only on single crystal Cu(100) substrates. We show that transformable Fe78Ni22 thin films can also be prepared on a hydrogen-terminated Si(100) with a 130-nm-thick Cu(100) buffer layer. The H-Si(100) substrates can be prepared by hydrofluoric acid etching or by annealing at 1200°C followed by adsorption of atomic hydrogen. The Cu(100) buffer layer and Fe78Ni22 fcc metastable thin film were deposited by thermal evaporation in an ultra-high vacuum. The films were consequently transformed in-situ by 4keV Ar+ ion irradiation and ex-situ by a 30 keV Ga+ focused ion beam, and their magnetic properties were studied by magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry. The substitution of expensive copper single crystal substrate by standard silicon wafers dramatically expands application possibilities of metastable paramagnetic thin films for focused ion beam direct magnetic patterning.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2018

Pt$_3$Zr(0001): A substrate for growing well-ordered ultrathin zirconia films by oxidation

We have studied the surface of pure and oxidized Pt$_3$Zr(0001) by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), Auger electron microscopy, and density functional theory (DFT). The well-annealed alloy surface shows perfect long-range chemical order. Occasional domain boundaries are probably caused by nonstoichiometry. Pt$_3$Zr exhibits ABAC stacking along [0001]; only the A-terminated surfaces are seen by STM, in agreement with DFT results showing a lower surface energy for the A termination. DFT further predicts a stronger inward relaxation of the surface Zr than for Pt, in spite of the larger atomic size of Zr. A closed ZrO$_2$ film is obtained by oxidation in $10^{-7}$ mbar O$_2$ at 400 $^\circ$C and post-annealing at $\approx 800 ^\circ$C. The oxide consists of an O-Zr-O trilayer, equivalent to a (111) trilayer of the fluorite structure of cubic ZrO$_2$, but contracted laterally. The oxide forms a $(\sqrt{19} \times \sqrt{19})$R23$^\circ$ superstructure. The first monolayer of the substrate consists of Pt and contracts, similar to the metastable reconstruction of pure Pt(111). DFT calculations show that the oxide trilayer binds rather weakly to the substrate. In spite of the O-terminated oxide, bonding to the substrate mainly occurs via the Zr atoms in the oxide, which strongly buckle down towards the Pt substrate atoms, if near a Pt position. According to DFT, the oxide has a bandgap; STM indicates that the conduction band minimum lies $\approx 2.3$ eV above $E_\mathrm{F}$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2018

Focused ion beam direct writing of magnetic patterns with controlled structural and magnetic properties

Focused ion beam irradiation of metastable Fe$_{78}$Ni$_{22}$ thin films grown on Cu(100) substrates is used to create ferromagnetic, body-centered-cubic patterns embedded into paramagnetic, face-centered-cubic surrounding. The structural and magnetic phase transformation can be controlled by varying parameters of the transforming gallium ion beam. The focused ion beam parameters as ion dose, number of scans, and scanning direction can be used not only to control a degree of transformation, but also to change the otherwise four-fold in-plane magnetic anisotropy into the uniaxial anisotropy along specific crystallographic direction. This change is associated with a preferred growth of specific crystallographic domains. The possibility to create magnetic patterns with continuous magnetization transitions and at the same time to create patterns with periodical changes in magnetic anisotropy makes this system an ideal candidate for rapid prototyping of a large variety of nanostructured samples. Namely spin-wave waveguides and magnonic crystals can be easily combined into complex devices in a single fabrication step.

physics.app-ph↗
arXiv2010

Observation and destruction of an elusive adsorbate with STM: O$_2$/TiO$_2$

When a slightly defective rutile TiO$_2$(110) surface is exposed to O$_2$ at elevated temperatures, the molecule dissociates at defects, filling O vacancies (\ov) and creating O adatoms (\oad) on {\tifc} rows. The adsorption of molecular O$_2$ at low temperatures has remained controversial. Low-Temperature Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (LT-STM) of O$_2$, dosed on TiO$_2$(110) at a sample temperature of $\approx$ 100 K and imaged at 17 K, shows a molecular precursor at \ov as a faint change in contrast. The adsorbed O$_2$ easily dissociates during the STM measurements, and formation of \oad's at both sides of the original \ov is observed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2001

Crystallographic structure of ultrathin Fe films on Cu(100)

We report bcc-like crystal structures in 2-4 ML Fe films grown on fcc Cu(100) using scanning tunneling microscopy. The local bcc structure provides a straightforward explanation for their frequently reported outstanding magnetic properties, i.e., ferromagnetic ordering in all layers with a Curie temperature above 300 K. The non-pseudomorphic structure, which becomes pseudomorphic above 4 ML film thickness is unexpected in terms of conventional rules of thin film growth and stresses the importance of finite thickness effects in ferromagnetic ultrathin films.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv1997

Minimax Games, Spin Glasses and the Polynomial-Time Hierarchy of Complexity Classes

We use the negative replica method, which was originally developed for the study of overfrustation in disordered system, to investigate the statistical behaviour of the cost function of minimax games. These games are treated as hierarchical statistical mechanical systems, in which one of the components is at negative temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv1997

A Modification of Nambu's Mechanics

The Poisson, contact and Nambu brackets define algebraic structures on $C^{\infty}(M)$ satisfying the Jacobi identity or its generalization. The automorphism groups of these brackets are the symplectic, contact and volume preserving diffeomorphism groups. We introduce a modification of the Nambu bracket, which defines an evolution equation generating the whole diffeomorphism group. The relation between the modified and usual Nambu brackets is similar to the relation between the Poisson and contact structures. We briefly discuss the problem of quantization of the modified bracket.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1997

Taming of the wild group of magnetic translations

We use a theorem of Auslander and Kostant on the representation theory of solvable Lie-groups for the study of some groups necessary for the description of certain quasi-periodic systems of solid-state physics. We show that the magnetic translation group is tame (Type I) if the magnetic field is not constant but fluctuating.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗