Nanoscale origins of Non-Joulian magnetostriction in Fe-Ga alloys

ORAL

Abstract

Recently, a new class of single-crystalline magnets exhibiting a `giant' non-volume-conserving or non-Joulian magnetostriction was discovered [1]. Electronic-structural mechanism giving rise to this unusual phenomenon is not well understood. Here we show the results of our recent investigations of non-Joulian Fe-Ga alloys using high-resolution polarization-dependent photoelectron microscopy (XMCD-PEEM), x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and hard x-ray nanodiffraction. Strong coupling between the nanoscale modulations in the magnetic and structural properties is observed. The results are compared with the state-of-the-art first-principles theoretical calculations. Combining spectromicroscopic techniques that probe electronic, magnetic and structural degrees of freedom on the nanoscale provides a powerful experimental platform for studying such materials. [1] H. D. Chopra and M. Wuttig, Non-Joulian magnetostriction, Nature 521, 340 (2015).

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Authors

  • Alexander Gray

    • Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
    • Department of Physics, Temple University, Phialdelphia, PA, USA

  • Ravini Chandrasena

    • Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
    • Department of Physics, Temple University, Phialdelphia, PA, USA

  • Weibing Yang

    • Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

  • Andreas Scholl

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
    • Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab

  • Elke Arenholz

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

  • Martin Holt

    • Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA

  • Jan Minar

    • Department Chemie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, Munchen, Germany

  • Hubert Ebert

    • Department Chemie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, Munchen, Germany
    • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Muenchen
    • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen

  • Harsh Deep Chopra

    • Mechanical Engineering Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA