The ferromagnetic state of topological insulators showing quantum anomalous Hall effect is surprisingly superparamagnetic.

Conversion of electric current into heat involves microscopic processes that operate on nanometer length scales and release minute amounts of power. Although central to our understanding of the electrical properties of materials, individual mediators of energy dissipation have so far eluded direct observation. Using scanning nanothermometry with submicrokelvin sensitivity, we visualized and controlled phonon emission from individual atomic-scale defects in graphene. The inferred electron-phonon "cooling power spectrum" exhibits sharp peaks when the Fermi level comes into resonance with electronic quasi-bound states at such defects. Rare in the bulk but abundant at graphene's edges, switchable atomic-scale phonon emitters provide the dominant dissipation mechanism. Our work offers insights for addressing key materials challenges in modern electronics and enables control of dissipation at the nanoscale.

Atomically sharp oxide heterostructures exhibit a range of novel physical phenomena that are absent in the parent compounds. A prominent example is the appearance of highly conducting and superconducting states at the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3. Here we report an emergent phenomenon at the LaMnO3/SrTiO3 interface where an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator abruptly transforms into a nanoscale inhomogeneous magnetic state. Upon increasing the thickness of LaMnO3, our scanning nanoSQUID-on-tip microscopy shows spontaneous formation of isolated magnetic nanoislands, which display thermally activated moment reversals in response to an in-plane magnetic field. The observed superparamagnetic state manifests the emergence of thermodynamic electronic phase separation in which metallic ferromagnetic islands nucleate in an insulating antiferromagnetic matrix. We derive a model that captures the sharp onset and the thickness dependence of the magnetization. Our model suggests that a nearby superparamagnetic–ferromagnetic transition can be gate tuned, holding potential for applications in magnetic storage and spintronics.

No abstract

We present a new nanoscale superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) whose interference pattern can be shifted electrically in-situ. The device consists of a nanoscale fourterminal/four-junction SQUID fabricated at the apex of a sharp pipette using a self-aligned threestep deposition of Pb. In contrast to conventional two-terminal/two-junction SQUIDs that display optimal sensitivity when flux biased to about a quarter of the flux quantum, the additional terminals and junctions allow optimal sensitivity at arbitrary applied flux, thus eliminating the magnetic field "blind spots". We demonstrate spin sensitivity of 5 to 8 µ B /Hz 1/2 over a continuous field range of 0 to 0.5 T, with promising applications for nanoscale scanning magnetic imaging.KEYWORDS: superconducting quantum interference device, SQUID on tip, nanoscale magnetic imaging, current-phase relations 2 In recent years, there has been a growing effort to develop and apply nanoscale magnetic imaging tools in order to address the rapidly evolving fields of nanomagnetism and spintronics.These include magnetic force microscopy (MFM) 1,2 , magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) [3][4][5] , nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers sensors [6][7][8][9] , scanning Hall probe microscopy (SHPM) 10-12 , x-ray magnetic microscopy (XRM) 13 , and micro-or nano-superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] based scanning microscopy (SSM) [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] . Scanning micro-and nanoscale SQUIDs are of particular interest for magnetic imaging due to their high sensitivity and large bandwidth 15,19 . The two main technological approaches to the fabrication of scanning SQUIDs are based on planar lithographic methods 21,26,[33][34][35][36] and on self-aligned SQUIDon-tip (SOT) deposition 22,24,37 .In the planar SQUID architecture, spatial resolution is limited but pickup and modulation coils can be integrated to allow operation of the SQUID at optimal flux bias conditions using a fluxlocked loop (FLL) feedback mechanism 15,18,19,21,33,38,39 . Because the magnetic field of the sample is not coupled to the SQUID loop directly, but rather through a pickup coil, integration of a modulation coil or an integrated current-carrying element 15,19,21,33,38,39 allows the total flux in the SQUID loop to be maintained at its optimal bias while the magnetic field of the sample is varied independently.SOTs, in contrast, have better spatial resolution due to their small size and close proximity to the sample, attain higher spin sensitivity, and can operate at high magnetic fields 24 . The nanoscale proximity of the SOT to the sample surface, which is its key advantage, dictates however that the flux in the SQUID loop is directly coupled to the local field of the sample and therefore cannot be modified independently. As a result, the FLL concept cannot be implemented in direct nanoscale magnetic imaging. This poses a significant drawback, since the high sensitivity of the SOT is achieved only at specific field va...