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Uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced by vicinal surfaces in half metallic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Paolo Perna
Affiliation:
paolo.perna@imdea.org, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain
Erika Jiménez
Affiliation:
paolo.perna@imdea.org, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain
Francisco J. Terán
Affiliation:
paolo.perna@imdea.org, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain
Laurence Méchin
Affiliation:
paolo.perna@imdea.org, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain
Julio Camarero
Affiliation:
paolo.perna@imdea.org, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain
Rodolfo Miranda
Affiliation:
paolo.perna@imdea.org, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia IMDEA-Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain
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Abstract

We present a detailed study of the angular dependence of the magnetization reversal at room temperature of well characterized epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (001) thin films grown onto SrTiO3 (001) vicinal substrates. The step edges at the substrate surface promote a topological modulation of the films along the step direction, breaking the four-fold magneto crystalline symmetry and favoring a two-fold magnetic anisotropy term. The competition between the biaxial and uniaxial anisotropy is depicted within the framework of the current theory, resulting in a vanishing biaxial contribution. The films hence show the magnetization easy (hard) direction parallel (perpendicular) to the steps direction. The thickness-dependent of both anisotropy and magnetization reversal are discussed in terms of topographic changes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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