Orbital and spin moments of 5 to 11nm Fe3O4 nanoparticles measured via x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Y. P. Cai, K. Chesnel, M. Trevino, A. Westover, R. G. Harrison, J. M. Hancock, S. Turley, A. Scherz, A. Reid, B. Wu, C. Graves, T. Wang, T. Liu, H. Dürr

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Abstract

The orbital and spin contributions to the magnetic moment of Fe in Fe 3O4 nanoparticles were measured using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Nanoparticles of different sizes, ranging from 5 to 11nm, were fabricated via organic methods and their magnetic behavior was characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). An XMCD signal was measured for three different samples at 300K and 80K. The extracted values for the orbital and spin contributions to the magnetic moment showed a quenching of the orbital moment and a large spin moment. The calculated spin moments appear somewhat reduced compared to the value expected for bulk Fe3O 4. The spin moments measured at 80K are larger than at 300K for all the samples, revealing significant thermal fluctuations effects in the nanoparticle assemblies. The measured spin moment is reduced for the smallest nanoparticles, suggesting that the magnetic properties of Fe3O 4 nanoparticles could be altered when their size reaches a few nanometers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number17B537
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume115
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - May 7 2014
Externally publishedYes

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