Том 107, № 4 (2018)

Nuclear reaction analysis online technique has been applied to study the diffusion of deuterium in metals. Investigations ensuring the application of the new method have been performed. These investigations include the development of a device for diffusion annealing of samples in the chamber of an accelerator and an algorithm for taking into account the effect of radiation defects on the diffusion coefficients. Test measurements of the diffusion coefficients of deuterium in nickel in the temperature range from 130 to–60°С have been performed. For negative temperatures, experimental data on the diffusion of a hydrogen isotope in a metal have been obtained for the first time by a direct method and it has been shown that the online nuclear reaction analysis provides reliable data.

Changes in the local magnetic and structural properties of Sm₂Fe₁₇ alloys at nitrogenation and hydrogenation of samples have been studied by the X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) technique at the Fe K absorption edge and Sm L₃ absorption edge using synchrotron radiation. The results have been discussed in comparison with X-ray diffraction data and macroscopic vibration magnetometry measurements. The observed changes in XMCD spectra indicate a noticeable effect of nitrogenation on the local magnetic properties of sublattices of both iron and samarium, whereas hydrogenation of samples makes a small effect. The mentioned effects have been analyzed and discussed in terms of the effect of nitrogen (N) and hydrogen (H) interstitial atoms on Sm 5d and Fe 4p electronic states. The effect of nitrogenation is larger than the effect of hydrogenation because the volume expansion of the crystal lattice of initial Sm₂Fe₁₇ in the case of nitrogenation is larger than that in the case of hydrogenation. The studied local magnetization curves for samarium and iron sublattices in magnetic fields up to 17 T also indicate a strong increase in the magnetocrystalline anisotropy at nitrogenation.

Resonance magnetic tunneling in heterostructures formed by graphene single sheets separated by a hexagonal boron nitride barrier and bounded by two gates has been investigated in a strong magnetic field, which has allowed observing transitions between spin- and valley-split Landau levels with various indices belonging to different graphene sheets. An unexpected increase with the temperature in the interlayer tunneling conductance owing to transitions between the Landau levels in strong magnetic fields cannot be explained by existing theories.

The magnetic properties of the α-Fe₂O₃ hematite at a high hydrostatic pressure have been studied by synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy (nuclear forward scattering (NFS)) on iron nuclei. Time-domain NFS spectra of hematite have been measured in a diamond anvil cell in the pressure range of 0–72 GPa and the temperature range of 36–300 K in order to study the magnetic properties at a phase transition near a critical pressure of ~50 GPa. In addition, Raman spectra at room temperature have been studied in the pressure range of 0–77 GPa. Neon has been used as a pressure-transmitting medium. The appearance of an intermediate electronic state has been revealed at a pressure of ~48 GPa. This state is probably related to the spin crossover in Fe³⁺ ions at their transition from the high-spin state (HS, S = 5/2) to a low-spin one (LS, S = 1/2). It has been found that the transient pressure range of the HS–LS crossover is extended from 48 to 55 GPa and is almost independent of the temperature. This surprising result differs fundamentally from other cases of the spin crossover in Fe³⁺ ions observed in other crystals based on iron oxides. The transition region of spin crossover appears because of thermal fluctuations between HS and LS states in the critical pressure range and is significantly narrowed at cooling because of the suppression of thermal excitations. The magnetic P–T phase diagram of α-Fe₂O₃ at high pressures and low temperatures in the spin crossover region has been constructed according to the results of measurements.

The Monte Carlo method has been used to study phase transitions and the structure of the ground state of the antiferromagnetic Ising model on a body-centered cubic lattice taking into account the interactions of nearest and next nearest neighbors. All possible magnetic structures of the ground state have been obtained for the first time as a function of the ratio of exchange interactions r. It is shown that six different orderings in the ground state are possible in the system as a function of the r value. The phase diagram of the dependence of the critical temperature on the interaction of the next nearest neighbors is constructed. For the first time, a narrow region (2/3 < r ≤ 0.75) is found in the diagram where the transition from the antiferromagnetic phase to the paramagnetic phase occurs as a first-order phase transition. It is shown that the competition between exchange interactions at the value r = 2/3 does not lead to the frustration and degeneracy of the ground state.

The effect of static and pulsed magnetic fields (~1 T) on the electrical conductivity of CdTe crystals has been revealed. With a delay after the magnetic exposure of crystals, the effect is observed in the form of two peaks of their conductivity with the subsequent relaxation return. The first peak at both types of magnetic treatment is observed ~1 h after exposure and its amplitude exceeds the background value by ~23–36% (the larger value corresponds to the static field). The second peak appears in both cases also at commensurate but much larger delays of ~50–60 h, and its amplitudes are much different for the two types of exposure, exceeding the background by ~60% for the static field and only by ~11% for the pulsed field. Possible mechanisms of the observed effects have been discussed.