Electric-field control of the magnetic anisotropy in an ultrathin (Ga,Mn)As/(Ga,Mn)(As,P) bilayer

Tarik Niazi (1) , Mathieu Cormier (1) , Damien Lucot (1) , Ludovic Largeau (1) , Vincent Jeudy (2, 3) , Joel Cibert (4) , Aristide Lemaître (1)

1 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures
2 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
3 UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise
4 NEEL - NPSC - Nanophysique et Semiconducteurs

We report on the electric control of the magnetic anisotropy in an ultrathin ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As/(Ga,Mn)(As,P) bilayer with competing in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropies. The carrier distribution and therefore the strength of the effective anisotropy is controlled by the gate voltage of a field effect device. Anomalous Hall Effect measurements confirm that a depletion of carriers in the upper (Ga,Mn)As layer results in the decrease of the in-plane anisotropy. The uniaxial anisotropy field is found to decrease by a factor ~ 4 over the explored gate-voltage range, so that the transition to an out-of-plane easy-axis configuration is almost reached.

Mots clés: Ferromagnetic semiconductor; Magnetic Anisotrop; Electric-Field control

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Tarik Niazi, Mathieu Cormier, Damien Lucot, Ludovic Largeau, Vincent Jeudy, et al.. Electric-field control of the magnetic anisotropy in an ultrathin (Ga,Mn)As/(Ga,Mn)(As,P) bilayer. Applied Physics Letters, 2013, 102 (12), pp.122403. ⟨10.1063/1.4798258⟩. ⟨hal-00757345⟩