Uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced by vicinal surfaces in half metallic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films

Paolo Perna (1) , E. Jiménez (2) , F. J. Teran (3) , Laurence Méchin (4) , Julio Camarero (3, 2) , R. Miranda (3, 2)

1 électronique
2 FMC - Departamento de Fisica de la Materia Condensada [Madrid]
3 Instituto IMDEA Nanociencia [Madrid]
4 Equipe Electronique - Laboratoire GREYC - UMR6072

We present a detailed study of the angular dependence of the magnetization reversal at room temperature of well characterized epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (001) thin films grown onto SrTiO3 (001) vicinal substrates. The step edges at the substrate surface promote a topological modulation of the films along the step direction, breaking the four-fold magneto crystalline symmetry and favoring a two-fold magnetic anisotropy term. The competition between the biaxial and uniaxial anisotropy is depicted within the framework of the current theory, resulting in a vanishing biaxial contribution. The films hence show the magnetization easy (hard) direction parallel (perpendicular) to the steps direction. The thickness-dependent of both anisotropy and magnetization reversal are discussed in terms of topographic changes.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Paolo Perna, E. Jiménez, F. J. Teran, Laurence Méchin, Julio Camarero, et al.. Uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced by vicinal surfaces in half metallic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films. MRS Fall Meeting, Nov 2010, Boston, United States. pp.1198-E01-04. ⟨hal-00976876⟩