Magnetization dynamics at the nanoscale in nanoparticles and thin films: single-molecule magnets, magnetic vortices, and magnetic droplet solutions

摘要

[eng] Research in magnetic materials leads to new devices and technologies. As the technology progresses, the devices become smaller and this miniaturization allows more storage capacity and lower costs in the production of new technologies. As new and smaller materials are fabricated, new phenomena appear and thus new physics is needed to describe them. Nanomaterials meet characteristics of both the microscopic quantum world and the macroscopic classic world. This intermediate length scale is known as mesoscale. Nanomaterials can be obtained in a variety of forms, being nanoparticles and magnetic ultra-thin films some of the most used. These magnetic systems are very different in their composition: nanoparticles are grown with chemical reactions, and thin films are grown on a substrate by nanofabrication techniques such as sputtering or electron-beam evaporation. The magnetization might not be uniform in a magnetic thin film or in a large magnetic nanoparticle leading to the formation of magnetic domains. Magnetic domains are static structures that appear due to competition of the different magnetic energies and can be used to store and transport information. In all these systems, the magnetization dynamics gives rise to new behavior not visible in static measurements: quantum steps of the magnetization in molecular magnets; characteristic resonant frequencies that can be used to control the magnetic state of vortices; and formation of magnetic droplet solitons in thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Understanding the dynamics of nanomaterials and the evolution of the magnetization is a key process to develop faster devices and technologies. The early studies of molecular magnets showed quantum effects at the macroscopic scale, which have allowed a better understanding of spin. Magnetic vortices have been proposed for multiple applications, from magnetic storage of information to cancer cell destruction. The recently discovered magnetic droplet soliton is also a very good candidate for technological applications due to the low current and magnetic field needed for its generation, and it is now a system with a growing interest in spintronics. In this dissertation we show some new dynamic phenomena. In the first part of the thesis we study systems that allow a macroscopic-spin model where spatial variations of magnetization are neglected. We develop a theory that sets the requirements for the observation of the rotational Doppler effect in a ferromagnetic system and we measure quantum effects in randomly oriented nanoparticles of a single-molecule magnet, which might be a good candidate for the observation of the Doppler effect. In the second part of the thesis, we study the magnetization dynamics in macroscopic systems that require a spatial dependence of the magnetic moment. We generate and control the dynamic states of the magnetic domains with oscillating fields, in the case of magnetic vortices, and with electrical currents, in the case of droplet solitons.