thin films*

Epitaxial growth of rare earth iron garnet (REIG) films offers a unique opportunity to control the magnetic properties such as the magnetic anisotropy and Gilbert damping [1,2]. To achieve desired perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), for example, different REIG require suitable substrates to deliver either tensile or compressive strain due to different magnetostriction coefficients. In this work, we present an experimental study of the magnetic anisotropy in europium iron garnet (EuIG) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition. Atomically flat EuIG films of varying thickness (10nm – 100nm) were deposited on (100)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet substrates. All films show compressive strain as characterized by X-ray diffraction. The magnetometry and angular dependent ferromagnetic resonance results indicate correlation between PMA and strain on the EuIG lattice. PMA was corroborated by spin pumping and anomalous Hall effect experiments on Pt devices fabricated on the EuIG thin films.

¹ Tang, C., Applied Physics Letters 108 (10), 102403 (2016).
² Tang, C., Physical Review B 94 (14), 140403 (2016).