Control of the Speed of a Light-Induced Spin Transition through Mesoscale Core-Shell Architecture.
The rate of the light-induced spin transition in a coordination polymer network solid dramatically increases when included as the core in mesoscale core-shell particles. A series of photomagnetic coordination polymer core-shell heterostructures, based on the light-switchable Rb aCo b[Fe(CN)6] c· mH2O (RbCoFe-PBA) as core with the isostructural K jNi k[Cr(CN)6] l· nH2O (KNiCr-PBA) as shell, are studied using temperature-dependent powder X-ray diffraction and SQUID magnetometry. The core RbCoFe-PBA exhibits a charge transfer-induced spin transition (CTIST), which can be thermally and optically induced. When coupled to the shell, the rate of the optically induced transition from low spin to high spin increases. Isothermal relaxation from the optically induced high spin state of the core back to the low spin state and activation energies associated with the transition between these states were measured. The presence of a shell decreases the activation energy, which is associated with the elastic properties of the core. Numerical simulations using an electro-elastic model for the spin transition in core-shell particles supports the findings, demonstrating how coupling of the core to the shell changes the elastic properties of the system. The ability to tune the rate of optically induced magnetic and structural phase transitions through control of mesoscale architecture presents a new approach to the development of photoswitchable materials with tailored properties.
Magnetic Structures of 2D and 3D Nanoparticles
Abstract The minimization of exchange interactions and dipolar interactions in 2D and 3D nanoparticles is obtained from a powerful variational approach of the local spin Hamiltonian and leads to a different set of equations which correspond to different levels of screening of the long range dipolar interactions. These equations are shown to introduce topological defects which are analyzed on the basis of elementary spin clusters. Four basic topological defects are deduced for 2D nanoparticles, as observed in magnetic samples and simulations and 10 basic topological defects are deduced for 3D nanoparticles. These singularities induce complex variations of magnetization around them and non-linear properties.
Temperature and vortex gyrotropic motion in 2-D magnetic nanodots by Langevin simulations
Abstract Vortex gyrotropic motion was simulated in two-dimensional square magnetic dots of three-dimensional spin vectors of nanometric size. The Landau–Lifshitz equation with exchange and dipolar interactions was integrated at different temperatures with initial conditions consisting in a single vortex shifted aside from the central position. The gyrotropic frequency is computed. The experimental observation that this frequency decreases as temperature is increased is confirmed: we suggest that the reason is the thermal dependence of the damping coefficient in Thieleʼs equation. Pinning of the vortex-core motion by the underlying lattice is also observed.