Competing interface and bulk anisotropies in Co-rich TbCo amorphous thin films.

We study the magnetic properties of amorphous TbCo100-xfilms within the range 8-12 at% and with a thickness of 5-100 nm. In this range the magnetic properties are shaped by a competition between a perpendicular bulk magnetic anisotropy and an in-plane interface anisotropy, in addition to the changes in magnetization. This results in a temperature controllable spin reorientation transition from in-plane to out-of-plane which is thickness and composition dependent.

Reversible exchange bias in epitaxial VO/Ni hybrid magnetic heterostructures.

In this work we present a temperature and angular dependent study of the structural and magnetic properties in highly crystalline VO/Ni/Zr magnetic heterostructure films. Our investigation focuses on the coupling between the ferromagnetic Ni layer and VOlayer which undergoes an antiferromagnetic/paramagnetic phase transition coupled to the structural phase transition of the material at around 150 K. Structural investigations using x-ray diffraction reveal highly crystalline films of a quality which has previously not been reported in the literature.

Tuneable exchange-spring stiffness in amorphous magnetic trilayer structures.

We investigate the magnetic properties of amorphous SmCo/Co(AlZr)/Co(AlZr)exchange-spring magnet trilayers. The magnetically soft Co(AlZr)layer is coupled to the magnetically hard SmColayer through the weakly magnetic low-Co(AlZr)spacer layer. The strength of the coupling can be controlled with temperature and the coupling persists above the intrinsicof the spacer layer due to a long-range magnetic proximity effect.

Controlling metal-insulator transitions in reactively sputtered vanadium sesquioxide thin films through structure and stoichiometry.

We present a study of [Formula: see text] thin films grown on c-plane [Formula: see text] substrates by reactive dc-magnetron sputtering. Our results reveal three distinct types of films displaying different metal-insulator transitions dependent on the growth conditions. We observe a clear temperature window, spanning 200 [Formula: see text]C, where highly epitaxial films of [Formula: see text] can be obtained wherein the transition can be tuned by controlling the amount of interstitial oxygen in the films through the deposition conditions.

Gold nanoisland substrates for SERS characterization of cultured cells.

We demonstrate a simple approach for fabricating cell-compatible SERS substrates, using repeated gold deposition and thermal annealing. The substrates exhibit SERS enhancement up to six orders of magnitude and high uniformity. We have carried out Raman imaging of fixed mesenchymal stromal cells cultured directly on the substrates.