Unusual Behavior of the Coercive Field in a (CoFeB){sub x}(LiNbO{sub y}){sub 100 –x} Nanocomposite with a High Content of Magnetic Ions in an Insulating Matrix
The temperature behavior of the coercive field H{sub c}(T) and the magnetic anisotropy in (CoFeB){sub x}(LiNbO{sub y}){sub 100 –x} nanocomposite films with a ferromagnetic alloy content x = 33–48 at % near the metal–insulator transition (x{sub c} ≈ 42 at %) have been studied by the magnetometry and ferromagnetic resonance methods. The films were ensembles of CoFe granules with lateral sizes of 2–4 nm, which are highly elongated (up to 10–15 nm) in the nanocomposite growth direction and embedded in a LiNbO{sub y} matrix with a high content of magnetic Fe{sup 2+} and Co{sup 2+} ions (up to 3 × 10{sup 22} cm{sup –3}). A nonmonotonic behavior of H{sub c}(T), viz., a sharp minimum at a temperature T{sub F} ≈ 50 K close to the blocking temperature (T{sub b}{sup ∗} ≈ 70 K) of the granule magnetic moment, has been detected in samples with x < 42 at %. The effective field of the perpendicular growth anisotropy (0.4–0.8 kOe) turns out to be an order of magnitude lower than the field of the granule shape anisotropy (about 7 kOe) and increases with x. The revealed peculiarities are explained by the fact that, apart from the ferromagnetic intergranular exchange interaction in an infinite cluster, the surface anisotropy effects involving magnetic ions in a thin layer adjacent to the cluster and responsible for the surface interaction fluctuations play a big role in the investigated percolation nanocomposites, enhancing the nanocomposite demagnetization at T ≈ T{sub F} ~ T{sub b}{sup ∗}.