Epitaxial growth of uniaxial antiferromagnetic FeF2 thin films

ORAL

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials are potential candidates for future spintronic applications owing to their ultrafast spin dynamics. AFM spintronics devices require high-quality thin films with controlled spin orientations. Here, we report the epitaxial growth of the (110)-oriented FeF2 thin films, an AFM material, on MgF2(110) substrate using molecular beam epitaxy. The structure of the FeF2(110) thin film is characterized by both ex-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) studies. The uniaxial AFM spin configuration of FeF2(110) films is further confirmed by the exchange bias effect in both FeF2/Co and FeF2/Ni bilayers. A clear exchange bias is observed when an external magnetic field (HFC) is applied along the [001] direction while absent when the HFC is along the [1-10] direction. The blocking temperature of a 50 nm FeF2(110) film is ~80K, which is close to the Néel temperature of bulk FeF2 (78K). Our epitaxial FeF2(110) thin films will open up a promising direction for exploring AFM spintronic devices.

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Presenters

  • Junxue Li

    Univ of California - Riverside, Physics and Astronomy, University of Calirfornia, Riverside, Physics, Univ of California - Riverside, University of California, Riverside, Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Riverside

Authors

  • Junxue Li

    Univ of California - Riverside, Physics and Astronomy, University of Calirfornia, Riverside, Physics, Univ of California - Riverside, University of California, Riverside, Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Riverside

  • Mark Lohmann

    Univ of California - Riverside, Physics, Univ of California - Riverside

  • Weimin Zhou

    Univ of California - Riverside, Physics, Univ of California - Riverside

  • Peng Wei

    Univ of California - Riverside, Physics, Univ of California - Riverside, Physics, University of California

  • Jing Shi

    Univ of California - Riverside, Physics and Astronomy, University of Calirfornia, Riverside, University of California, Riverside, Physics, Univ of California - Riverside, Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Riverside