Structural, magnetic, and magneto optical properties of Fe3O4/NiO bilayers on MgO(001)

Joachim Wollschläger; Tobias Schemme; Olga Kuschel; Matthäus Witziok; Timo Kuschel; Karsten Kuepper

doi:10.1117/12.2219627

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27 February 2016 Structural, magnetic, and Magneto optical properties of Fe₃O₄/NiO bilayers on MgO(001)

Joachim Wollschläger, Tobias Schemme, Olga Kuschel, Matthäus Witziok, Timo Kuschel, Karsten Kuepper

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Proceedings Volume 9749, Oxide-based Materials and Devices VII; 974917 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219627
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2016, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Ultrathin magnetite (Fe₃O₄) films are attractive for applications in the field of spintronics due to their ferrimagnetic behavior with assumed high degree of spin polarized electrons at the Fermi energy. For these applications, it is necessary to form epitactical bilayer structure combining ferrimagnetic magnetite with an antiferromagnetic layer. Therefore, here we study Fe₃O₄/NiO bilayers on MgO(001) substrates. Bilayers grown by reactive molecular beam epitaxy are stoichiometric and have well-developed surface and interface structures. The NiO layers are laterally pinned to the structure of the MgO(001) substrate while the magnetite films gradually relax. The interfaces show smooth morphologies and the films have very homogeneous film thickness necessary for spintronical applications. The magnetic and magneto optical properties of the Fe₃O₄/NiO bilayers were probed by the magneto optical Kerr effect. Compared to single Fe₃O₄ layers on MgO(001), the bilayers show complicated ferrimagnetic behavior depending on the azimuthal direction of the external applied field. The coercive field of the bilayers, however, is increased with the coercive field of single layer Fe₃O₄/MgO(001) structures making the Fe₃O₄/NiO bilayers attractive for spintronic applications.

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Joachim Wollschläger, Tobias Schemme, Olga Kuschel, Matthäus Witziok, Timo Kuschel, and Karsten Kuepper "Structural, magnetic, and Magneto optical properties of Fe₃O₄/NiO bilayers on MgO(001)", Proc. SPIE 9749, Oxide-based Materials and Devices VII, 974917 (27 February 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219627

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