“…. For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal….” (Sir Arthur Eddington, The Philosophy of Physical Science.) In this paper we shall review the theoretical and experimental results obtained on simple magnetic model systems. We shall consider the Heisenberg, XY and Ising type of interaction (ferro and antiferromagnetic), on magnetic lattices of dimensionality 1, 2 and 3. Particular attention will be paid to the approximation of these model systems in real crystals, viz. how they can be realized or be expected to exist in nature. A large number of magnetic compounds which, according to the available experimental information, meet the requirements set by one or the other of the various models are considered and their properties discussed. Many examples will be given that demonstrate to what extent experiments on simple magnetic systems support theoretical descriptions of magnetic ordering phenomena and contribute to their understanding. It will a...

Experiments on simple magnetic model systems

Thin oxide films with perovskite or related structures and with transition metal doping show a reproducible switching in the leakage current with a memory effect. Positive or negative voltage pulses can switch the resistance of the oxide films between a low- and a high-impedance state in times shorter than 100 ns. The ratio between these two states is typically about 20 but can exceed six orders of magnitude. Once a low-impedance state has been achieved it persists without a power connection for months, demonstrating the feasibility of nonvolatile memory elements. Even multiple levels can be addressed to store two bits in such a simple capacitor-like structure.

Reproducible switching effect in thin oxide films for memory applications

Magnetic flux can penetrate a type-II superconductor in the form of Abrikosov vortices (also called flux lines, flux tubes, or fluxons) each carrying a quantum of magnetic flux phi 0=h/2e. These tiny vortices of supercurrent tend to arrange themselves in a triangular flux-line lattice (FLL), which is more or less perturbed by material inhomogeneities that pin the flux lines, and in high-Tc superconductors (HTSCs) also by thermal fluctuations. Many properties of the FLL are well described by the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory or by the electromagnetic London theory, which treats the vortex core as a singularity. In Nb alloys and HTSCs the FLL is very soft mainly because of the large magnetic penetration depth lambda . The shear modulus of the FLL is c66~1/ lambda 2, and the tilt modulus c44(k)~(1+k2 lambda 2)-1 is dispersive and becomes very small for short distortion wavelengths 2 pi /k<< lambda . This softness is enhanced further by the pronounced anisotropy and layered structure of HTSCs, which strongly increases the penetration depth for currents along the c axis of these (nearly uniaxial) crystals and may even cause a decoupling of two-dimensional vortex lattices in the Cu-O layers. Thermal fluctuations and softening may `melt` the FLL and cause thermally activated depinning of the flux lines or ofthe two-dimensional `pancake vortices` in the layers. Various phase transitions are predicted for the FLL in layered HTSCs. Although large pinning forces and high critical currents have been achieved, the small depinning energy so far prevents the application of HTSCs as conductors at high temperatures except in cases when the applied current and the surrounding magnetic field are small.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/58/11/003/pdf

The flux-line lattice in superconductors

Magnetic flux can penetrate a type-II superconductor in form of Abrikosov vortices. These tend to arrange in a triangular flux-line lattice (FLL) which is more or less perturbed by material inhomogeneities that pin the flux lines, and in high-$T_c$ supercon- ductors (HTSC's) also by thermal fluctuations. Many properties of the FLL are well described by the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory or by the electromagnetic London theory, which treats the vortex core as a singularity. In Nb alloys and HTSC's the FLL is very soft mainly because of the large magnetic penetration depth: The shear modulus of the FLL is thus small and the tilt modulus is dispersive and becomes very small for short distortion wavelength. This softness of the FLL is enhanced further by the pronounced anisotropy and layered structure of HTSC's, which strongly increases the penetration depth for currents along the c-axis of these uniaxial crystals and may even cause a decoupling of two-dimensional vortex lattices in the Cu-O layers. Thermal fluctuations and softening may melt the FLL and cause thermally activated depinning of the flux lines or of the 2D pancake vortices in the layers. Various phase transitions are predicted for the FLL in layered HTSC's. The linear and nonlinear magnetic response of HTSC's gives rise to interesting effects which strongly depend on the geometry of the experiment.

The Flux-Line Lattice in Superconductors

Materials showing reversible resistive switching are attractive for today’s semiconductor technology with its wide interest in nonvolatile random-access memories. In doped SrTiO3 single crystals, we found a dc-current-induced reversible insulator–conductor transition with resistance changes of up to five orders of magnitude. This conducting state allows extremely reproducible switching between different impedance states by current pulses with a performance required for nonvolatile memories. The results indicate a type of charge-induced bulk electronic change as a prerequisite for the memory effect, scaling down to nanometer-range electrode sizes in thin films.

/pdf/current-driven-insulator-conductor-transition-and-38nvjzgy5s.pdf

Current-driven insulator–conductor transition and nonvolatile memory in chromium-doped SrTiO3 single crystals

A nonresonant microwave absorption has been observed at fields below the thermodynamic critical field, H/sub c//sub 1//sup (//sup T//sup )/, in the new copper oxide superconductors. This is associated with flux slippage and allows an estimation of the average area of the uniform phase in the superconducting glass state.

Low-field microwave absorption in the superconducting copper oxides

Magnetic-field-induced microwave absorption in sintered high-Tc copper oxide superconductors is found to be proportional to the surface area of samples and not to their volume, establishing that absorption takes place near the sample surface. The surface resistance and reactance increase with magnetic field as a result of energy loss through fluxons driven by superconducting currents. When the magnetic field is modulated, absorptive and dispersive signals arise from modulation of the complex surface impedance through processes induced by the changing magnetic fields.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1209/0295-5075/5/5/015/pdf

Microwave Magneto-Surface Impedance of High-Tc Superconductors

Microwave study of the critical state in high-Tc superconductors

Electron paramagnetic resonance of Mn4+ in BaTiO3

Nominally undoped YAl${\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ shows broad intense absorption bands in the visible after irradiation with visible and near uv light at 77 K; they become especially strong after subsequent irradiation with near ir. The bands could be correlated with an ESR spectrum arising from holes, which are trapped at ${\mathrm{O}}^{2\ensuremath{-}}$ ions near unidentified defects or are possibly self-trapped. A similar spectrum appeared after heating to 200 K. It was rather weak and a corresponding absorption could not definitely be identified. The optical absorption is explained by treating the holes together with their accompanying lattice distortions as small polarons. A theory based on this model is presented which is a generalization of an earlier treatment of bound-small-polaron absorption. Information on further absorption of the crystals up to 4 eV is given. Most of this absorption is related to the formation or quenching of the polaron bands.

K. W. Blazey

Papers

Low-field microwave absorption in the superconducting copper oxides

Microwave Magneto-Surface Impedance of High-Tc Superconductors

Microwave study of the critical state in high-Tc superconductors

Electron paramagnetic resonance of Mn4+ in BaTiO3

ESR and optical absorption of bound-small polarons in YAl O 3