Chemical, electronic, and magnetic structure of LaFeCoSi alloy: Surface and bulk properties

Journal Article · Wed May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4879195· OSTI ID:22304371

Lollobrigida, V. ^[1]; Basso, V.; Kuepferling, M.; Coïsson, M.; Olivetti, E. S.; Celegato, F. ^[2]; Borgatti, F. ^[3]; Torelli, P.; Panaccione, G. ^[4]; Tortora, L. ^[5]; Stefani, G.; Offi, F. ^[1]

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1. Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma Tre, I-00146 Rome (Italy)
2. Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM), I-10135 Torino (Italy)
3. CNR, Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (ISMN), I-40129 Bologna (Italy)
4. CNR, Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM), Lab. TASC, I-34149 Trieste (Italy)
5. Laboratorio di Analisi di Superficie, Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre, I-00146 Rome (Italy)

We investigate the chemical, electronic, and magnetic structure of the magnetocaloric LaFeCoSi compound with bulk and surface sensitive techniques. We put in evidence that the surface retains a soft ferromagnetic behavior at temperatures higher than the Curie temperature of the bulk due to the presence of Fe clusters at the surface only. This peculiar magnetic surface effect is attributed to the exchange interaction between the ferromagnetic Fe clusters located at the surface and the bulk magnetocaloric alloy, and it is used here to monitor the magnetic properties of the alloy itself.

• OSTI ID: 22304371
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
COBALT COMPOUNDS
CURIE POINT
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
EXCHANGE INTERACTIONS
IRON COMPOUNDS
LANTHANUM COMPOUNDS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIC SURFACES
QUATERNARY ALLOY SYSTEMS
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SURFACES