Tuning magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Pr0.6Sr0.4MnO3 through size modifications

Particle size as an effective tool for controlling the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Pr0.6Sr0.4MnO3 samples has been studied. In the present work, a direct influence of particle size on the magnitude of magnetization and magnetic transition temperature, TC, can be seen. The TC drops from 309 to 242 K, while the saturation magnetization (MS) decreases from 3.6 to 0.5 μB/f.u. as the particle changes from 120 to 9 nm. Concurrently, coercivity (HC) exhibits a drastic rise emphasizing the enhanced surface disorder in the nanoparticles. Another interesting observation is in the magnetic entropy change, ΔS, which though decreases in magnitude from 5.51 to 3.90 J/Kg-K as particle size decreases from 120 to 30 nm, but the temperature range of ΔS (i.e., relative cooling power, RCP) increases from 184.33 to 228.85 J/Kg. Such interplay between magnitude and wider temperature range of ΔS, which can be fine-tuned by particle size, provides an interesting tool for using surface spin disorder, as a control mechanism in modifying physical properties.

Spin stress contribution to the lattice dynamics of FePt

Invar-behavior occurring in many magnetic materials has long been of interest to materials science. Here, we show not only invar behavior of a continuous film of FePt but also even negative thermal expansion of FePt nanograins upon equilibrium heating. Yet, both samples exhibit pronounced transient expansion upon laser heating in femtosecond x-ray diffraction experiments. We show that the granular microstructure is essential to support the contractive out-of-plane stresses originating from in-plane expansion via the Poisson effect that add to the uniaxial contractive stress driven by spin disorder. We prove the spin contribution by saturating the magnetic excitations with a first laser pulse and then detecting the purely expansive response to a second pulse. The contractive spin stress is reestablished on the same 100-ps time scale that we observe for the recovery of the ferromagnetic order. Finite-element modeling of the mechanical response of FePt nanosystems confirms the morphology dependence of the dynamics.