No Arabic abstract
We present a new type of temperature driven spin reorientation transition (SRT) in thin films. It can occur when the lattice and the shape anisotropy favor different easy directions of the magnetization. Due to different temperature dependencies of the two contributions the effective anisotropy may change its sign and thus the direction of the magnetization as a function of temperature may change. Contrary to the well-known reorientation transition caused by competing surface and bulk anisotropy contributions the reorientation that we discuss is also found in film systems with a uniform lattice anisotropy. The results of our theoretical model study may have experimental relevance for film systems with positive lattice anisotropy, as e.g. thin iron films grown on copper.
The design and fabrication of materials that exhibit both semiconducting and magnetic properties for spintronics and quantum computing has proven difficult. Important starting points are high-purity thin films as well as fundamental theoretical understanding of the magnetism. Here we show that small molecules have great potential in this area, due to ease of insertion of localised spins in organic frameworks and both chemical and structural purity. In particular, we demonstrate that archetypal molecular semiconductors, namely the metal phthalocyanines (Pc), can be readily fabricated as thin film quantum antiferromagnets, important precursors to a solid state quantum computer. Their magnetic state can be switched via fabrication steps which modify the film structure, offering practical routes into information processing. Theoretical calculations show that a new mechanism, which is the molecular analogue of the interactions between magnetic ions in metals, is responsible for the magnetic states. Our combination of theory and experiments opens the field of organic thin film magnetic engineering.
The finite-temperature magnetism of a monolayer on a bcc (110) surface was examined using a model Hamiltonian containing ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic exchange interactions, Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions and easy-axis on-site anisotropy. We examined the competition between the collinear ground state parallel to the easy axis and the spin spiral state in the plane perpendicular to this axis preferred by the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction. Using approximative methods to calculate the magnon spectrum at finite temperatures, it was found that even if the ground state is collinear, increasing the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction strongly decreases the critical temperature where this collinear order disappears. Using atomistic spin dynamics simulations it was found that at this critical temperature the system transforms into the non-collinear state. Including external magnetic field helps stabilising the ferromagnetic state. An effect due to the finite size of the magnetic monolayer was included in the model by considering a different value for the anisotropy at the edges of the monolayer. This effect was shown to stabilize the spin spiral state by fixing the phase at the ends of the stripe.
A quantitative mathematical model for the critical thickness of strained epitaxial metal films is presented, at which the magnetic moment experiences a reorientation from in-plane to perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The model is based on the minimum of the magnetic anisotropy energy with respect to the orientation of the magnetic moment of the film. Magnetic anisotropy energies are taken as the sum of shape anisotropy, magnetocrystalline anisotropy and magnetoelastic anisotropy, the two latter ones being present as constant surface and variable volume contributions. Other than anisotropy materials constants, readily available from literature, only information about the strain in the films for the determination of the magnetoelastic anisotropy energy is required. Application of the epitaxial Bain path allows to express the strain in the film in terms of substrate lattice constant and film lattice parameter, and thus to obtain an approximate closed expression for the reorientation thickness in terms of lattice mismatch. The model can predict the critical spin reorientation transition thickness with surprising accuracy.
A magnetic-field-driven transition from metallic- to semiconducting-type behavior in the basal-plane resistance takes place in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite at a field $H_c sim 1~$kOe applied along the hexagonal c-axis. The analysis of the data reveals a striking similarity between this transition and that measured in thin-film superconductors and Si MOSFETs. However, in contrast to those materials, the transition in graphite is observable at almost two orders of magnitude higher temperatures.
X-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism (XMCD and XMLD) have been used to investigate the Fe magnetic response during the spin reorientation transition (SRT) in TmFeO3. These experiments are complemented with resonant magnetic diffraction experiments at the Tm M5 edge to study simultaneously the induced magnetic order in the Tm 4f shell and the behavior of the Tm orbitals through the SRT. Comparing the Fe XMLD results with neutron diffraction and magnetization measurements on the same sample indicate that the SRT has an enhanced temperature range in the near surface region. This view is supported by the resonant soft x-ray diffraction results at the Tm M5 edge. These find an induced magnetic moment on the Tm sites, which is well-described by a dipolar mean field model originating from the Fe moments. Even though such a model can describe the 4f response in the experiments, it is insufficient to describe the SRT even when considering a change in the 4f anisotropy. Moreover, the results of the Fe XMCD are indicative of a decoupling of spin canting and antiferromagnetic spin rotation in the near surface regime close to the SRT, which remains to be understood.