journal article·2019-06-01Open access

Magnetic anisotropy of half-metallic Co2FeAl ultra-thin films epitaxially grown on GaAs(001)

Bolin Lai, Xiaoqian Zhang, Xianyang Lu, Long Yang, Junlin Wang, Yequan Chen, Yafei Zhao, Yao Li, Xuezhong Ruan, Xuefeng Wang, Jun Du, Wenqing Liu, Fengqiu Wang, Liang He, Bo Liu, Yongbing Xu

AIP Advances· Volume 9· Issue 6

Abstract

Single crystalline Co2FeAl films with different thicknesses varying from 3.6 to 10.6 nm have been grown on GaAs (001) using Molecule Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The magnetic characteristics were investigated by in-situ magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). For all the samples, the angle dependent magnetization energy has a relatively high and steep peak around [110] direction which is the hard axis, and a wide basin from [11¯0] to [100] which is the range of the easy axis. More interestingly, the magnetic anisotropy includes a strong uniaxial component due to the Co2FeAl/GaAs interface, a cubic one from Co2FeAl crystalline structure, and an unexpected localized anisotropy term around the [110] direction. All the three anisotropy components overlap their own hard axis around [110] direction resulting in a steep energy barrier, which leads to unusual inverted hysteresis loops around [110]. Our findings add a building block for using half-metallic Co2FeAl thin films in the application of magnetic storage devices.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Magnetic properties of thin films · Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism · Heusler alloys: electronic and magnetic properties

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University 1 , Nanjing 210093, China

York-Nanjing Joint Centre (YNJC) for Spintronics and Nano Engineering, Department of Electronics, The University of York 2 , YO10 3DD, United Kingdom

National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University 3 , Nanjing 210093, China

Department of Electronic Engineering, Royal Holloway University of London 4 , Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom

Zhejiang Hikstor Technology Co., Ltd. 5 , Hangzhou 311305, China

Funding

Jiangsu Shuangchuang Program · National Basic Research Program of China · National Key Research and Development Program of China · UK EPSRC · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province

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