Magnetic domain pattern asymmetry in (Ga, Mn)As/(Ga, In)As with in-plane anisotropy

L Herrera Diez , C. Rapp , W. Schoch , W. Limmer , Catherine Gourdon (1) , V. Jeudy (2, 3) , J. Honolka , K. Kern (4)

1 INSP - Institut des Nanosciences de Paris
2 GPS - Groupe de Physique des Solides
3 UCP - Université de Cergy Pontoise
4 Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung

Appropriate adjustment of the tensile strain in (Ga, Mn)As/(Ga,In)As films allows for the coexistence of in-plane magnetic anisotropy, typical of compressively strained (Ga, Mn)As/GaAs films, and the so-called cross-hatch dislocation pattern seeded at the (Ga, In) As/GaAs interface. Kerr microscopy reveals a close correlation between the in-plane magnetic domain and dislocation patterns, absent in compressively strained materials. Moreover, the magnetic domain pattern presents a strong asymmetry in the size and number of domains for applied fields along the easy [1 (1) over bar0] and hard [110] directions which is attributed to different domain wall nucleation/propagation energies. This strong influence of the dislocation lines in the domain wall propagation/nucleation provides a lithography-free route to the effective trapping of domain walls in magneto-transport devices based on (Ga, Mn) As with in-plane anisotropy. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4704385]

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

L Herrera Diez, C. Rapp, W. Schoch, W. Limmer, Catherine Gourdon, et al.. Magnetic domain pattern asymmetry in (Ga, Mn)As/(Ga, In)As with in-plane anisotropy. Journal of Applied Physics, 2012, 111 (8), ⟨10.1063/1.4704385⟩. ⟨hal-01229179⟩