SPIN

Antiferroelectric (AFE) materials with adjacent dipoles oriented in antiparallel directions have a double polarization hysteresis loops. An electric field (E-field)-induced AFE–ferroelectric (FE) phase transition takes place in such materials, leading to a large lattice strain and energy change. The high dielectric constant and the distinct phase transition in AFE materials provide great opportunities for the realization of energy storage devices like super-capacitors and energy conversion devices such as AFE MEMS applications. Lots of work has been done in this field since 60–70 s. Recently, the strain tuning of the spin, charge and orbital orderings and their interactions in complex oxides and multiferroic heterostructures have received great attention. In these systems, a single control parameter of lattice strain is used to control lattice–spin, lattice–phonon, and lattice–charge interactions and tailor properties or create a transition between distinct magnetic/electronic phases. Due to the large strain/stress arising from the phase transition, AFE materials are great candidates for integrating with ferromagnetic (FM) materials to realize in situ manipulation of magnetism and lattice-ordered parameters by voltage. In this paper, we introduce the AFE material and it's applications shortly and then review the recent progress in AFEs based on multiferroic heterostructures. These new multiferroic materials could pave a new way towards next generation light, compact, fast and energy efficient voltage tunable RF/microwave, spintronic and memory devices promising approaches to in situ manipulation of lattice-coupled order parameters is to grow epitaxial oxide films on FE/ferroelastic substrates.

L1₀-ordered FePt and CoPt (collectively called L1₀-Fe(Co)Pt in this review) have become potential materials for future ultrahigh density perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) media due to their high magnetocrystalline anisotropy, rendering small grains with high thermal stability. However, PMR media using such high anisotropy faces the well-known trilemma issues among thermal stability, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and writability. This paper will provide an overview of the impact of L1₀-Fe(Co)Pt on overcoming the superparamagnetic limit and balancing the trilemma issues for ultrahigh density PMR media. Here the research and development of L1₀-Fe(Co)Pt materials will be presented, from the perspectives of enhancing thermal stability, SNR and writability. Furthermore, we will provide some combined approaches to tackle the challenges in balancing the trilemma issues, focusing on materials engineering.

The thermally activated dynamics of an uniaxial superparamagnetic particle are studied here from the point of view of approach towards a steady state minor hysteresis loop representing a limiting cycle. The particle is initially at an arbitrary state, and is driven by a sufficiently small external applied ac magnetic field till the limiting minor hysteresis loop is reached with a desired precision. The number of periods required to reach the limiting cycle is found to satisfy an Arrhenius-type law, with an exponential dependence on the inverse ambient temperature. We tentatively associate this result with energy dissipation, its origin, however, remains quite unclear.

We present a theoretical and experimental study on electronic and magneto-optical properties of p-type paramagnetic InMnAs dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) alloys in ultrahigh (> 100 T) external magnetic fields (B). Theoretical calculations are based on an 8-band Pidgeon–Brown model which is generalized to include the wavevector dependence of the electronic states along B as well as s–d and p–d exchange interactions with localized Mnd-electrons. The spin-dependent electronic structure as a function of Mn doping is computed and the dependence of the valence band structure on parameters such as the sp–d exchange interaction strength and effective masses in paramagnetic p-InMnAs alloys are examined. The cyclotron resonance (CR) and magneto-optical properties of InMnAs are calculated using Fermi's golden rule. Two strong CR peaks are observed in p-type InMnAs alloys which correspond to the transitions within either heavy-hole (HH) or light-hole (LH) Landau levels. Furthermore, we also observed strong resonance absorption for electron-active polarization which can occur in p-type semiconductors originating from transitions between the light and heavy hole Landau levels.

In this paper, spin-dependent multiple reflection effect on spin-transfer torque (STT) has been theoretically and numerically studied in a spin valve nanopillar with a single or dual spin-polarizer. By using a scattering matrix method, we formulate an analytical expression of STT that contains the multiple interfacial reflection effect. It is found that the multiple reflections could enhance the STT efficiency and reduce the critical switching current. The STT efficiency depends on the spin polarization of both the free layer and polarizer. In the nanopillars with a dual spin polarizer, the multiple reflections would cause an asymmetric frequency dependence on the applied current, albeit exactly the same parameters are used in all three ferromagnetic layers, indicating that the frequency in the negative current varies much faster than that in the positive case.