Enhancement of Curie temperature in thin-films of SrRuO$_{3}$*

SrRuO$_{3}$ (SRO) is an itinerant ferromagnet that has generated a large amount of interest due to its potential use as an electrode layer in complex oxide heterostructures. We present the results of our ongoing study of the ferromagnetic properties of thin-films of SRO, which have been measured using a scanning Sagnac microscope. By varying the thickness of the a non-ferromagnetic capping-layer, we have observed enhancement of the Curie temperature of over 20 K as compared to uncapped films of the same thickness. The amount of enhancement can be tuned by varying the thickness of the capping-layer. Further, we have performed density functional theory calculations that suggest the enhancement may be due to rotations of the oxygen octahedrons in the SRO near the interface between the SRO and capping-layer.