Magnetic functionality of thin film perovskite hybrids

Organic-inorganic perovskite-like hybrids combine the properties of both the perovskite structure and metal-organic framework compounds. We investigated the magnetic properties of a Cu-based hybrid material grown as a thin film by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. We show that the long alkyl spacers in the hybrid thin film only slightly reduce the ferromagnetic transition temperature in comparison with the bulk. Most interestingly, the single ion anisotropy is larger for the Cu-based hybrid film than for the bulk hybrid. The hybrid thin film consists of two polymorphs in which the ferromagnetic domains are effectively pinned by an antiferromagnetic phase. This leads to a large enhancement of the coercive field enabling memory functionality.