Pinning landscapes in modern second generation coated conductors are excellent candidates for studies of vortex pinning. The ability to produce engineered defects in thin films of high temperature superconductors allows one to investigate representative distinct pinning sites, with the objective of understanding how different pinning centers contribute, compete and evolve under varying conditions of magnetic field strength and orientation, and temperature.New contact-free methods were developed specifically to investigate this system in new ways, especially the dependence of the critical current density Jc on orientation of the magnetic field. A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)-based magnetometer was used to determine angular critical current density profiles. The induced currents produced in contact-free methods allow one to investigate a range of temperatures that is difficult to access by traditional transport measurements.Materials with three distinctive pinning landscapes were investigated: Specifically, samples were studied that were dominated by columnar defects, by isotropic defects, or a mixture of these two types of pins. These studies over an expanded temperature-field-orientation phase-space clearly show competition between not only strong and weak pinning centers, but also between the angularly selective and nonselective pinning. This evidence is seen in critical current density profiles, the α [alpha]-values describing the falloff of Jc with magnetic field, and matching field effects in the three samples studied.

[abstract] In the process of nucleation, the decay of a metastable state is initiated by the formation of a spatially localised region called a nucleus of critical size. In many realistic situations nucleation is initiated at an impurity or defect; such as a dust particle, an irregularity in a sample, or a crack in the wall of a container. The aim of this thesis is to identify and understand the fundamental changes different types of defect make to nucleation by studying a one-dimensional continuum model used to describe solitons. A well established theory due to Langer is extended to calculate the rate of decay of a metastable state due to the nucleation of solitons at defects. Results are used to find the rate of thermally activated magnetisation reversal for a ferromagnetic nanowire with defects in the uniaxial anisotropy. Defects which are narrower than the soliton width (point-like defects) and wider than the soliton width (step defects) are both modelled. An attractive defect breaks the translational symmetry of a soliton and leads to pinning. The pinning of solitons is found to reduce the activation energy required for nucleation, reduce the critical field above which a metastable state becomes unstable, alter the mechanism by which a metastable state decays, and modify the prefactor for the rate of decay. Changes to the prefactor are interpreted in terms of entropy and the dynamics of metastable decay when a defect is present.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf [162]-180.

The study of supercooled liquids and glasses remains one of the most divisive and divided fields in modern physics. Despite a vast amount of effort and research time invested in this topic, the answers to many central questions remain disputed and incomplete. However, the link between the behaviour of supercooled liquids and their energy landscapes is well established and widely accepted. Understanding this link would be a key step towards resolving many of the mysteries and controversies surrounding the glass transition. Therefore the study of glassy energy landscapes is an important area of research. In this thesis, I report some of the most detailed computational studies of glassy potential energy landscapes ever performed. Using geometry optimisation techniques, I have sampled the local minima and saddle points of the landscapes for several supercooled liquids to analyse their dynamics and thermodynamics. Some of my analysis follows previous work on the binary Lennard-Jones fluid (BLJ), a model atomic liquid. BLJ is a fragile glass former, meaning that its transport coefficients have super-Arrhenius temperature dependence, rather than the more usual Arrhenius behaviour exhibited by strong liquids. The difference in behaviour between these two classes of liquid has previously been attributed to differing degrees of structure in the relevant energy landscapes. I have studied models for both fragile and strong glass formers: the molecular liquid ortho-terphenyl (OTP) and viscous silica (SiO$_{2}$) respectively. My results for OTP agree closely with trends observed for BLJ, suggesting that the same diffusion mechanism is applicable to fragile molecular liquids as well as to atomic. However, the dynamics and energy landscape of OTP are made complicated by the molecular orientational degrees of freedom, making the analysis more challenging for this system. Dynamics of BLJ, OTP and silica are all dominated by cage-breaking events: structural rearrangements in which atoms change their nearest neighbours. I propose a robust and general method to identify cage breaks for small rigid molecules, and compare some properties of cage breaks between strong and fragile systems. The energy landscapes of BLJ and OTP both display hierarchical ordering of potential energy minima into metabasins. These metabasins can be detected by the cage-breaking method. It has previously been suggested that metabasins are responsible for super-Arrhenius behaviour, and are absent from the landscapes of strong liquids such as SiO2. My results indicate that metabasins are present on the silica landscape, but that they each contain fewer minima than metabasins in BLJ or OTP. Metabasins are associated with anticorrelated particle motion, mediated by reversed transitions between minima of the potential energy landscape. I show that accounting for time-correlation of particle displacement vectors is essential to describe super-Arrhenius behaviour in BLJ and OTP, but also required to reproduce strong behaviour in silica. I hypothesise that the difference between strong and fragile liquids arises from a longer correlation timescale in the latter case, and I suggest a number of ways in which this proposition could be tested. I have investigated the effect on the landscape of freezing the positions of some particles in a BLJ fluid. This “pinning” procedure induces a dynamical crossover that has been described as an equilibrium “pinning transition”, related to the hypothetical ideal glass transition. I show that the pinning transition is related to (and probably caused by) a dramatic change in the potential energy landscape. Pinning a large fraction of the particles in a supercooled liquid causes its energy landscape to acquire global structure and hence structure-seeking behaviour, very different from the landscape of a typical supercooled liquid. I provide a detailed description of this change in structure, and investigate the mechanism underlying it. I introduce a new algorithm for identifying hierarchical organisation of a landsape, which uses concepts related to the pinning transition but is applicable to unpinned liquids as well. This definition is complementary to metabasins, but the two methods often identify the same higher-order structures. The new “packings” algorithm offers a route to test thermodynamic theories of the glass transition in the context of the potential energy landscape. Over the course of this thesis, I discuss several different terms and methods to identify higher-order structures in the landscapes of model glass formers, and investigate how this organisation varies between different systems. Although little variation is immediately apparent between most glassy landscapes, deeper analysis reveals a surprising diversity, which has important implications for dynamical behaviour in the vicinity of the glass transition.

L'optimisation des structures aéronautiques fabriquées en composite a mené EADS-IW à développer une technique d’assemblage par cloutage qui a pour objectif la fabrication à coût réduit de sous ensembles structuraux avec un fort niveau d'intégration. L'objectif de ce travail de thèse est d'étudier le comportement mécanique des assemblages cloutés et de proposer des modélisations associées. Dans le cadre d'une démarche multi-niveau, le comportement des liaisons clou/résine et clou stratifié a d'abord été étudié. Des campagnes expérimentales ont montré l'influence du diamètre du clou et de la profondeur d'enfoncement sur la tenue en arrachement ainsi que des similitudes entre le comportement du clou noyé dans de la résine et implanté dans le stratifié. Une modélisation capable d'estimer la tenue en arrachement d'un clou a été développée. Au niveau éprouvettes technologiques, des éprouvettes cloutées représentatives de structures aéronautiques de type « L » ou « T » ont été testé en sollicitations statiques montrant l'influence des paramètres de conception et les possibles avantages du cloutage. Finalement, des modélisations basées sur les études élémentaires ont permis de simuler le comportement de ces éprouvettes cloutées retrouvé en essai et notamment de prédire leur tenue sous sollicitations différentes validant ainsi la démarche multi-niveau.

Orientadores: Edson Moschim, Oscar Ferreira de Lima / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T22:58:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vieira_KleberBetini_M.pdf: 5146160 bytes, checksum: 696a41837ed744dda41722755ffb45c3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Desde a descoberta do fenômeno da supercondutividade no diboreto de magnésio (MgB2) no ano 2001, a dinâmica dos vórtices neste material tem sido muito estudada, pois este fenômeno pode causar a destruição do estado supercondutor. Este trabalho tem o objetivo de avaliar o impacto no aprisionamento dos vórtices e analisar o comportamento da densidade de corrente crítica (Jc) em amostras de MgB2 misturadas com nanopartículas de níquel (Ni) em várias proporções. As amostras foram preparadas no National Physical Laboratory (Índia). Os pós de Mg e B foram misturados em proporções estequiométricas e mantidos em uma atmosfera de argônio (Ar) por 5h a 800 ºC. Em seguida, foram misturadas as nanopartículas de Ni com 0,5%, 1%, 2%, 3% e 5% em relação à massa da amostra de MgB2. A seguir elas foram homogeneizadas, prensadas e sinterizadas. Foram realizadas medições, em um sistema PPMS (Physical Property Measurement System) da Quantum Design, do: a) momento magnético em função da temperatura, para a determinação da temperatura crítica Tc das amostras; e b) momento magnético DC em função do campo magnético aplicado, para determinar o laço de histerese magnética das amostras. Com auxilio do Modelo de Bean foi determinada a corrente crítica Jc. Através de técnicas de mapeamento por imagem foram analisados: a) os domínios magnéticos presentes na amostra, através das técnicas de Microscopia de Força Atômica e de Força Magnética (AFM/MFM); e b) a granulometria média e homogeneidade, pela técnica de Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura com detecção de Energias dos Raios-X Dispersos (MEV-EDX). Com o auxílio da Difração de Raios-X (DRX) foi analisada a formação da matriz de MgB2 e sua alteração com as adições do Ni, a formação de novos compostos e a presença de contaminantes. Através do nosso estudo podemos observar que as nanopartículas de Ni causaram o aprisionamento dos vórtices de Abrikosov, gerando um aumento na densidade de corrente crítica do MgB2. Apesar de uma pequena fração de Ni ter sido dissolvido na estrutura cristalina do MgB2, a degradação da temperatura crítica causada não é relevante frente ao aumento de Jc / Abstract: Since the discovery of the phenomenon of superconductivity in magnesium diboride (MgB2) in the year 2001, the vortex dynamics in this material has been widely studied, because this phenomenon can cause the destruction of the superconducting state. This study intends to assess the impact on the pinning of vortex and the behavior of the critical current density (Jc) in samples of MgB2, mixed with nickel nanoparticles in many proportions. Samples were prepared at the National Physical Laboratory (India). The Mg and B powders were mixed in stoichiometric proportion and maintained in an atmosphere of argon (Ar) for 5h at 800 °C. Then, they were mixed with the Ni nanoparticles in fractions of 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 5% of the mass of the sample. After they were homogenized, pressed and sintered. The following measurements were performed in a PPMS (Physical Property Measurement System) of Quantum Design: a) magnetic moment as a function of temperature, for determining the critical temperature Tc of the samples, and b) DC magnetic moment as a function of applied magnetic field, to determine the magnetic hysteresis loop of the samples. Using the Bean Model the critical current (Jc) was determined. Through techniques of image mapping there were analyzed: a) the magnetic domains present in the sample, through the techniques of Atomic Force Microscopy, and Magnetic Force (AFM / MFM), and b) the average grain size and uniformity by the technique of Scanning Electron Microscopy with the detection of dispersive X-ray energies (SEM-EDX). With the aid of X-Rays Diffraction (DRX) there has been examined the formation of the matrix MgB2 and the effects of Ni additions, the formation of new compounds and the presence of contaminants. Through our study we could observe that the Ni nanoparticles of lead to the pinning of Abrikosov vortices, generating an increase in the critical current density of the MgB2. Despite a small fraction of Ni that was dissolved in the crystal structure of MgB2, the degradation of the critical temperature is not relevant in face of the Jc increase / Mestrado / Eletrônica, Microeletrônica e Optoeletrônica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Dans cette thèse, les mécanismes de rayures en contact glissant sur des empilements de couches minces de faible adhésion ont été étudiés grâce à un tribomètre bille/plan à vision in-situ. Dans le cadre de ce travail, des expériences ont été menées sur un empilement modèle : verre/ZnO/Ag/ZnO/Si3N4 et l'impact de plusieurs paramètres a été étudié : force, taille de la bille, épaisseur de la surcouche, adhésion et coefficient de frottement.Nous avons montré que la rayure se déroule en trois phases successives : initiation, développement et régime stationnaire. L'initiation débute par une fissuration transverse de l’empilement suivi par un délaminage due à la bifurcation de la fissure à l’interface au-dessus de l’argent. Seule la taille caractéristique de ces phénomènes dépend de paramètres comme l'épaisseur des couches ou l'adhésion. Après l'initiation, un phénomène de plissage en milieu confiné se produit et permet de débuter la construction d'un tas de débris à l’avant du frotteur par accumulation. Finalement, en régime stationnaire, on constate que la rayure est uniquement pilotée par l’interaction entre le tas de débris et la couche. On a montré que la complexité de cette interaction rend toute mesure d’adhésion à partir des caractéristiques post-mortem de la rayure quasi-impossible.Finalement, il a été montré qu'il est possible d'améliorer la résistance à la rayure d’un empilement en texturant à l'échelle nanométrique sa couche d'argent. L’origine de cette amélioration vient d’une augmentation de l'adhésion par un effet de piégeage qui a été étudié à l'aide d'expériences de clivage. / In this PhD thesis, the scratch mechanisms during sliding contact on thin layers with low adhesion have been investigated with a ball on plane tribometer that allows in-situ microscopic observations. In this work, experiments were carried out on glass/ZnO/Ag/ZnO/Si3N4 model stacks and the impact of several parameters was studied: force, size of the ball, thickness of the overcoat, adhesion and friction coefficient.We have shown that the scratch process has three successive phases: initiation, development and steady state. Initiation begins with transverse cracks in the stack followed by delamination due to crack bifurcation at the interface above the silver layer. Only the characteristic size of these phenomena depends on parameters such as the thickness of the layer or its adhesion. After initiation, a phenomenon of pleating occurs even if confined under the contact and leads to the building of a pile of debris at the front of the contact zone by accumulation. Finally, in steady state, the scratch is only driven by the interaction between the pile of debris and the layers. It has been shown that the complexity of this interaction makes quasi-impossible any measure of adhesion based on the post mortem characteristics of the scratch.Finally, it has been shown that it is possible to improve the scratch resistance of a stack by patterning its silver layer at nanoscale. The origin of this improvement derives from an increase of adhesion due to pinning effect which has been demonstrated by using cleavage experiments.

The past few decades have witnessed a race towards developing smaller, faster, cheaper and ultra high capacity data storage technologies. In particular, this race has been accelerated due to the emergence of the internet, consumer electronics, big data, cloud based storage and computing technologies. The enormous increase in data is paving the path to a data capacity gap wherein more data than can be stored is generated and existing storage technologies would be unable to bridge this data gap. A novel approach could be to shift away from current two dimensional architectures and onto three dimensional architectures wherein data can be stored vertically aligned on a substrate, thereby decreasing the device footprint. This thesis explores a data storage concept based on vertically aligned cylindrical magnetic nanowires which are promising candidates due to their low fabrication cost, lack of moving parts as well as predicted high operational speed. In the proposed concept, data is stored in magnetic nanowires in the form of magnetic domains or bits which can be moved along the nanowire to write/read heads situated at the bottom/top of the nanowire using spin polarized current. Cylindrical nanowires generally exhibit a single magnetic domain state i.e. a single bit, thus for these cylindrical nanowire to exhibit high density data storage, it is crucial to pack multiple domains within a nanowire. This dissertation demonstrates that by introducing compositional variation i.e. multiple segments along the nanowire, using materials with differing values of magnetization such as cobalt and nickel, it is possible to incorporate multiple domains in a nanowire. Since the fabrication of cylindrical nanowires is a batch process, examining the properties of a single nanowire is a challenging task. This dissertation deals with the fabrication, characterization and manipulation of magnetic domains in individual nanowires. The various properties of are investigated using electrical measurements, magnetic microscopy techniques and micromagnetic simulations. In addition to packing multiple domains in a cylindrical nanowire, this dissertation reports the current assisted motion of domain walls along multisegmented Co/Ni nanowires, which is a fundamental step towards achieving a high density cylindrical nanowire-based data storage device.

Nous avons cherché dans cette thèse à caractériser la phase vitreuse formée par des molécules organiques. Pour cela, nous y avons dilué des molécules sur lesquelles on a greffé un fragment d’azobenzène, de façon à pouvoir les orienter sélectivement en les illuminant. On souhaite ainsi s’approcher de la procédure de clouage aléatoire, qui permet en théorie et par simulations de caractériser d’une manière nouvelle la phase vitreuse "idéale", stable thermodynamiquement, qui se formerait pendant la transition vitreuse. On caractérise en temps réel les effets de l’illumination sur ces molécules modifiées (isomérisations cis-trans, orientation) par spectroscopie d’absorption UV polarisée. On mesure l’impact de l’illumination sur la transition vitreuse de leur matrice par spectroscopie diélectrique. Nous avons observé une accélération de la dynamique pendant illumination (diminution du temps de relaxation alpha). Celle-ci n’est pas due à l’orientation de l’azobenzène mais aux autres effets de l’illumination : les isomérisations cycliques cis-trans, et la présence d’isomères cis. Au total, la viscosité du verre est divisée par presque 50 en dessous de Tg, ce qui représente une augmentation de la température effective de l’échantillon de plus de 6K, alors que le chauffage réel dû à l’illumination est inférieur à 100mK. Derrière ces deux effets majoritaires, nous avons repéré que plus l’orientation est grande, plus le temps de relaxation alpha est grand, toute chose égale par ailleurs. Cette influence de l’orientation semble être très forte car nos fractions orientées sont faibles. En suivant les prédictions de la théorie RFOT, on trouve que la transition vitreuse idéale aurait lieu pour une concentration en molécules orientées entre 0,5 et 2% à Tg. Les expériences de random pinning sur des verres moléculaires semblent donc bien réalisables avec l’azobenzène. On jette dans cette thèse les bases d’une nouvelle voie expérimentale qui nous semble prometteuse pour l’étude de la transition vitreuse. / In this thesis we have sought to characterize the glassy phase formed by organic molecules. To do this, we diluted molecules on which we grafted an azobenzene fragment, so that we could selectively orient them by illuminating them. In this way, we wish to approach the random pinning procedure, which makes it possible in theory and by simulations to characterize in a new way the "ideal" thermodynamically stable glass phase that would be formed during the glass transition. The effects of illumination on these modified molecules (cis-trans isomerizations,orientation) are characterized in real time by polarized UV absorption spectroscopy. The impact of illumination on the glass transition of the matrix is measured by dielectric spectroscopy. We observed an acceleration of the dynamics during illumination (decrease of the alpha relaxation time). This is not due to the orientation of azobenzene but to other effects of illumination : cyclic cis-trans isomerizations, and the presence of cis isomers. In total, the viscosity of the glass is divided by almost 50 below Tg, which represents an increase in the effective temperature of the sample of more than 6K, while the actual heating due to illumination is less than 100 mK. Behind these two majority effects, we have identified that the greater the orientation, the greater the alpha relaxation time, all other things being equal. This influence of orientation seems to be very strong because our oriented fractions are small. Following the predictions of the RFOT theory, we find that the ideal glass transition would occur for a concentration of oriented molecules between 0.5 and 2% at Tg. Therefore random pinning experiments on molecular glasses seem to be feasible using azobenzene. In this thesis, we are laying the foundations for a new experimental approach that seems promising to us for the study of glass transition.

No description available.