2018, Baek, S.-H., Bhoi, D., Nam, W., Lee, B., Efremov, D.V., Büchner, B., Kim, K.H.

Strong interplay of spin and charge/orbital degrees of freedom is the fundamental characteristic of the iron-based superconductors (FeSCs), which leads to the emergence of a nematic state as a rule in the vicinity of the antiferromagnetic state. Despite intense debate for many years, however, whether nematicity is driven by spin or orbital fluctuations remains unsettled. Here, by use of transport, magnetization, and 75As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, we show a striking transformation of the relationship between nematicity and spin fluctuations (SFs) in Na1-x Li x FeAs; For x ≤ 0.02, the nematic transition promotes SFs. In contrast, for x ≥ 0.03, the system undergoes a non-magnetic phase transition at a temperature T 0 into a distinct nematic state that suppresses SFs. Such a drastic change of the spin fluctuation spectrum associated with nematicity by small doping is highly unusual, and provides insights into the origin and nature of nematicity in FeSCs.

2017, Liu, F., Krylov, D.S., Spree, L., Avdoshenko, S.M., Samoylova, N.A., Rosenkranz, M., Kostanyan, A., Greber, T., Wolter, A.U.B., Büchner, B., Popov, A.A.

Increasing the temperature at which molecules behave as single-molecule magnets is a serious challenge in molecular magnetism. One of the ways to address this problem is to create the molecules with strongly coupled lanthanide ions. In this work, endohedral metallofullerenes Y 2 @C 80 and Dy 2 @C 80 are obtained in the form of air-stable benzyl monoadducts. Both feature an unpaired electron trapped between metal ions, thus forming a single-electron metal-metal bond. Giant exchange interactions between lanthanide ions and the unpaired electron result in single-molecule magnetism of Dy 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) with a record-high 100 s blocking temperature of 18 K. All magnetic moments in Dy 2 @C 80 (CH 2 Ph) are parallel and couple ferromagnetically to form a single spin unit of 21 μ B with a dysprosium-electron exchange constant of 32 cm -1. The barrier of the magnetization reversal of 613 K is assigned to the state in which the spin of one Dy centre is flipped.

2018, Kamashev, A.A., Validov, A.A., Schumann, J., Kataev, V., Büchner, B., Fominov, Y.V., Garifullin, I.A.

We have studied superconducting properties of spin-valve thin-layer heterostructures CoOx/F1/Cu/F2/Cu/Pb in which the ferromagnetic F1 layer was made of Permalloy while for the F2 layer we have taken a specially prepared film of the Heusler alloy Co2Cr1-xFexAl with a small degree of spin polarization of the conduction band. The heterostructures demonstrate a significant superconducting spin-valve effect, i.e., a complete switching on and offof the superconducting current flowing through the system by manipulating the mutual orientations of the magnetization of the F1 and F2 layers. The magnitude of the effect is doubled in comparison with the previously studied analogous multilayers with the F2 layer made of the strong ferromagnet Fe. Theoretical analysis shows that a drastic enhancement of the switching effect is due to a smaller exchange field in the heterostructure coming from the Heusler film as compared to Fe. This enables to approach an almost ideal theoretical magnitude of the switching in the Heusler-based multilayer with a F2 layer thickness of ca. 1 nm. © 2018 Kamashev et al.

2018, Krehl, J., Guzzinati, G., Schultz, J., Potapov, P., Pohl, D., Martin, J., Verbeeck, J., Fery, A., Büchner, B., Lubk, A.

Plasmonic nanostructures and -devices are rapidly transforming light manipulation technology by allowing to modify and enhance optical fields on sub-wavelength scales. Advances in this field rely heavily on the development of new characterization methods for the fundamental nanoscale interactions. However, the direct and quantitative mapping of transient electric and magnetic fields characterizing the plasmonic coupling has been proven elusive to date. Here we demonstrate how to directly measure the inelastic momentum transfer of surface plasmon modes via the energy-loss filtered deflection of a focused electron beam in a transmission electron microscope. By scanning the beam over the sample we obtain a spatially and spectrally resolved deflection map and we further show how this deflection is related quantitatively to the spectral component of the induced electric and magnetic fields pertaining to the mode. In some regards this technique is an extension to the established differential phase contrast into the dynamic regime. © 2018, The Author(s).

2018, Ghunaim, R., Scholz, M., Damm, C., Rellinghaus, B., Klingeler, R., Büchner, B., Mertig, M., Hampel, S.

In the present work, we demonstrate different synthesis procedures for filling carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with equimolar binary nanoparticles of the type Fe-Co. The CNTs act as templates for the encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles and provide a protective shield against oxidation as well as prevent nanoparticle agglomeration. By variation of the reaction parameters, we were able to tailor the sample purity, degree of filling, the composition and size of the filling particles, and therefore, the magnetic properties. The samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The Fe-Co-filled CNTs show significant enhancement in the coercive field as compared to the corresponding bulk material, which make them excellent candidates for several applications such as magnetic storage devices.

2018, Bastien, G., Garbarino, G., Yadav, R., Martinez-Casado, F.J., Beltrán, Rodríguez, R., Stahl, Q., Kusch, M., Limandri, S.P., Ray, R., Lampen-Kelley, P., Mandrus, D.G., Nagler, S.E., Roslova, M., Isaeva, A., Doert, T., Hozoi, L., Wolter, A.U.B., Büchner, B., Geck, J., Van Den Brink, J.

Magnetization and high-resolution x-ray diffraction measurements of the Kitaev-Heisenberg material α-RuCl3 reveal a pressure-induced crystallographic and magnetic phase transition at a hydrostatic pressure of p∼0.2 GPa. This structural transition into a triclinic phase is characterized by a very strong dimerization of the Ru-Ru bonds, accompanied by a collapse of the magnetic susceptibility. Ab initio quantum-chemistry calculations disclose a pressure-induced enhancement of the direct 4d-4d bonding on particular Ru-Ru links, causing a sharp increase of the antiferromagnetic exchange interactions. These combined experimental and computational data show that the Kitaev spin-liquid phase in α-RuCl3 strongly competes with the crystallization of spin singlets into a valence bond solid.

2018, Ghunaim, R., Damm, C., Wolf, D., Lubk, A., Büchner, B., Mertig, M., Hampel, S.

In the present work, different synthesis procedures have been demonstrated to fill carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with Fe1-xNix alloy nanoparticles (x = 0.33, 0.5). CNTs act as templates for the encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles, and provide a protective shield against oxidation as well as prevent nanoparticles agglomeration. By variation of the reaction parameters, the purity of the samples, degree of filling, the composition and size of filling nanoparticles have been tailored and therefore the magnetic properties. The samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Bright-field (BF) TEM tomography, X-ray powder diffraction, superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The Fe1-x Nix-filled CNTs show a huge enhancement in the coercive fields compared to the corresponding bulk materials, which make them excellent candidates for several applications such as magnetic storage devices.

2017, Aliabadi, A., Büchner, B., Kataev, V., Rüffer, T.

For future molecular spintronic applications the possibility to modify and tailor the magnetic properties of transition-metal complexes is very promising. One of such possibilities is given by the countless derivatization offered by carbon chemistry. They allow for altering chemical structures and, in doing so, to tune magnetic properties of molecular spin-carrying compounds. With emphasis on the interplay of the spin density distribution of mononuclear and magnetic superexchange couplings of trinuclear bis(oxamato)- type complexes we review on efforts on such magneto-structural correlations.