Paramagnon drag in high thermoelectric figure of merit Li-doped MnTe

Local thermal magnetization fluctuations in Li-doped MnTe are found to increase its thermopower α strongly at temperatures up to 900 K. Below the Néel temperature (TN ~ 307 K), MnTe is antiferromagnetic, and magnon drag contributes αmd to the thermopower, which scales as ~T3. Magnon drag persists into the paramagnetic state up to >3 × TN because of long-lived, short-range antiferromagnet-like fluctuations (paramagnons) shown by neutron spectroscopy to exist in the paramagnetic state. The paramagnon lifetime is longer than the charge carrier–magnon interaction time; its spin-spin spatial correlation length is larger than the free-carrier effective Bohr radius and de Broglie wavelength. Thus, to itinerant carriers, paramagnons look like magnons and give a paramagnon-drag thermopower. This contribution results in an optimally doped material having a thermoelectric figure of merit ZT > 1 at T > ~900 K, the first material with a technologically meaningful thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency from a spin-caloritronic effect.

CO CLUSTER FORMATION IN TiO2 DMS AND A METHOD OF ESTIMATION

The paper presents experimental observations of the Co cluster formation in TiO2/Co powder samples prepared by the Sol-Gel method. The obtained X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman scattering show that the anatase phase of TiO2 was successfully synthesized at an annealing temperature of 450°C. Comprehensive studies by means of X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, thermal magnetization in a temperature range of 300–1000 K and magnetic hysteresis at room temperature confirm that a part of Co did not substitute for Ti in TiO2 structure, otherwise it has reasonably formed cluster of Co in samples. Based on the thermal magnetization curves a method to estimate the magnetic moment per one Co ion substituted for Ti in TiO2 structure was proposed. By means of this method the volume of Co substituted for Ti has been estimated for samples annealed at various temperatures around 450°C. The obtained results show that the volume of Co cluster rises when the annealing temperature increases. This obtained result persuasively explains the large divergence in the magnetic moment per one Co ion reported in the most published papers.

Field Dependence of Switching Currents in an Exchange Biased Spin Valve

Current induced magnetic reversal due to spin transfer torque is a promising candidate in advanced information storage technology. It has been intensively studied. This work reports the field-dependence of switching-currents for current induced magnetization switching in a uncoupled nano-sized cobalt-based spin valve of exchange biased type. The dependency is investigated in hysteretic regime at room temperature, in comparison with that of a trilayer simple spin valve. In the simple spin valve, the switching currents behave to the positive and the negative applied magnetic field symmetrically. In the exchange biased type, in contrast, the switching currents respond to the negative field in a quite unusual and different manner than to the positive field. A negative magnetic field then can shift the switching-currents into either negative or positive current range, dependently on whether a parallel or an antiparallel state of the spin valve was produced by that field. This different character of switching currents in the negative field range can be explained by the effect of the exchange bias pinning field on the spin-polarizer (the fixed Co layer) of the exchange biased spin valve. That unidirectional pinning filed could suppress the thermal magnetization fluctuation in the spin-polarizer, leading to a higher spin polarization of the current, and hence a lower switching current density than in the simple spin valve.