Title
Manifestation of finite temperature size effects in nanogranular magnetic graphite
Date Issued
28 December 2009
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Sergeenkov S.
Souza N.S.
Speglich C.
Cardoso C.A.
Pardo H.
Mombrú A.W.
Araújo-Moreira F.M.
Universidad Federal de Sao Carlos
Abstract
In addition to the double phase transition (with the Curie temperatures TC =300 K and TCt =144 K), a low-temperature anomaly in the dependence of the magnetization is observed in the bulk magnetic graphite (MG) (with an average granular size of L≃10 nm), which is attributed to the manifestation of the size effects below the quantum temperature T L∞h2/L2 and is well fitted by the periodic function ML (T) sin [M (T) (T) /L] with M (T) being the bulk magnetization and (T) /T the thermal de Broglie wavelength. The best fits of the high-temperature data (using the mean-field Curie-Weiss and Bloch expressions) produced reasonable estimates for the model parameters, such as defects mediated effective spin exchange energy J≃12 meV (which defines the intragranular Curie temperature TC) and proximity mediated interactions between neighboring grains (through potential barriers U created by thin layers of nonMG) with energy Jt =exp (-d/) J≃5.8 meV (which defines the intergranular Curie temperature TCt) with d≃1.5 nm and /U≃2 nm being the intergranular distance and characteristic length, respectively. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.
Volume
106
Issue
11
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Termodinámica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-72449175227
Source
Journal of Applied Physics
ISSN of the container
00218979
Sponsor(s)
This work has been financially supported by the Brazilian agencies CNPq, CAPES, and FAPESP.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus