Artificially modulated chemical order in thin films: A different approach to create ferro/antiferromagnetic interfaces

Abstract

We report on a unique magnetic exchange interaction in a thin film of FePt3, comprising an artificially created ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) modulation, but homogeneous chemical composition and epitaxy throughout the film. The chemical order, on the other hand, is modulated resulting in the formation of alternating FM/AFM layers. To determine the existence and form of the magnetic structure within the monostoichiometric thin film, we use a unique combination of polarized neutron reflectometry, x-ray/neutron diffraction, and conventional magnetometry. This artificial stratified AFM/FM FePt3 exhibits a high magnetic exchange bias thus opening up possibilities to study such magnetic phenomena in a perfectly lattice-matched system.

Description
Keywords
MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES, EXCHANGE BIAS, ANISOTROPY, ALLOYS, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Physics, Applied, Physics, Condensed Matter, Materials Science, Physics
Citation
Saerbeck, T., et al. (2010): Artificially Modulated Chemical Order in Thin Films: A Different Approach to Create Ferro/antiferromagnetic Interfaces. Physical Review B, 82(13). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.134409