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Register a new userIn-plane uniaxial anisotropy rotations in (Ga,Mn)As thin films
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We show, by SQUID magnetometry, that in (Ga,Mn)As films the in-plane uniaxial magnetic easy axis is consistently associated with particular crystallographic directions and that it can be rotated from the [-110] direction to the [110] direction by low temperature annealing. We show that this behavior is hole-density-dependent and does not originate from surface anisotropy. The presence of uniaxial anisotropy as well its dependence on the hole-concentration and temperature can be explained in terms of the p-d Zener model of the ferromagnetism assuming a small trigonal distortion.
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We theoretically investigate the interplay between local lattice distortions around $rm{Mn^{2+}}$ ion impurity and the ions magnetic polarization, mediated through spin-orbit coupling of hole. We show that the tetrahedral symmetry around $rm{Mn^{2+}}$ ion impurity is spontaneously broken even in the paramagnetic regime. Modest local lattice distortions around the impurity $rm{Mn^{2+}}$ ion, along with the growth strain, stabilize magnetization along $< 110 >$ directions, in the ferromagnetic regime. We explain the experimentally observed in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy seen in this system using this symmetry-breaking mechanism.
Historically, comprehensive studies of dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors, e.g., $p$-type (Cd,Mn)Te and (Ga,Mn)As, paved the way for a quantitative theoretical description of effects associated with spin-orbit interactions in solids, such as crystalline magnetic anisotropy. In particular, the theory was successful in explaining {em uniaxial} magnetic anisotropies associated with biaxial strain and non-random formation of magnetic dimers in epitaxial (Ga,Mn)As layers. However, the situation appears much less settled in the case of the {em cubic} term: the theory predicts switchings of the easy axis between in-plane $langle 100rangle$ and $langle 110rangle$ directions as a function of the hole concentration, whereas only the $langle 100rangle$ orientation has been found experimentally. Here, we report on the observation of such switchings by magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance studies on a series of high-crystalline quality (Ga,Mn)As films. We describe our findings by the mean-field $p$-$d$ Zener model augmented with three new ingredients. The first one is a scattering broadening of the hole density of states, which reduces significantly the amplitude of the alternating carrier-induced contribution. This opens the way for the two other ingredients, namely the so-far disregarded single-ion magnetic anisotropy and disorder-driven non-uniformities of the carrier density, both favoring the $langle 100rangle$ direction of the apparent easy axis. However, according to our results, when the disorder gets reduced a switching to the $langle 110rangle$ orientation is possible in a certain temperature and hole concentration range.
Describing the origin of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) is generally problematic in systems other than single crystals. We demonstrate an in-plane UMA in amorphous CoFeB films on GaAs(001) which has the expected symmetry of the interface anisotropy in ferromagnetic films on GaAs(001), but strength which is independent of, rather than in inverse proportion to, the film thickness. We show that this volume UMA is consistent with a bond-orientational anisotropy, which propagates the interface-induced UMA through the thickness of the amorphous film. It is explained how, in general, this mechanism may describe the origin of in-plane UMAs in amorphous ferromagnetic films.
Atomic Force Microscopy and Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction measurements have revealed the presence of ripples aligned along the $[1bar{1}0]$ direction on the surface of (Ga,Mn)As layers grown on GaAs(001) substrates and buffer layers, with periodicity of about 50 nm in all samples that have been studied. These samples show the strong symmetry breaking uniaxial magnetic anisotropy normally observed in such materials. We observe a clear correlation between the amplitude of the surface ripples and the strength of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy component suggesting that these ripples might be the source of such anisotropy.
The static and dynamic magnetic properties of tetragonally distorted Mn--Ga based alloys were investigated. Static properties are determined in magnetic fields up to 6.5~T using SQUID magnetometry. For the pure Mn$_{1.6}$Ga film, the saturation magnetisation is 0.36~MA/m and the coercivity is 0.29~T. Partial substitution of Mn by Co results in Mn$_{2.6}$Co$_{0.3}$Ga$_{1.1}$. The saturation magnetisation of those films drops to 0.2~MA/m and the coercivity is increased to 1~T. Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) is used to probe the high-frequency dynamics of Mn--Ga. The ferromagnetic resonance frequency extrapolated to zero-field is found to be 125~GHz with a Gilbert damping, $alpha$, of 0.019. The anisotropy field is determined from both SQUID and TR-MOKE to be 4.5~T, corresponding to an effective anisotropy density of 0.81~MJ/m$^3$. Given the large anisotropy field of the Mn$_{2.6}$Co$_{0.3}$Ga$_{1.1}$ film, pulsed magnetic fields up to 60~T are used to determine the field strength required to saturate the film in the plane. For this, the extraordinary Hall effect was employed as a probe of the local magnetisation. By integrating the reconstructed in--plane magnetisation curve, the effective anisotropy energy density for Mn$_{2.6}$Co$_{0.3}$Ga$_{1.1}$ is determined to be 1.23~MJ/m$^3$.
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