Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 11: Magnetic Thin Films I

MA 11.1: Talk

Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 10:15–10:30, H10

Structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial Pr-Co films with varying rare-earth content — •Ajit Kumar Patra^1,2, Volker Neu^1,2, Sebastian Fähler^1,2, Rainer Groetzschel³, Subhankar Bedanta⁴, Wolfgang Kleemann⁴, and Ludwig Schultz^1,2 — ¹IFW Dresden, Institute for Metallic Materials, P.O. Box 270116, 01171 Dresden, Germany — ²Institute for Physics of Solids, Department of Physics, Dresden University of Technology, 01062 Dresden, Germany — ³Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, P.O. Box 510119, 01314 Dresden, Germany — ⁴Angewandte Physik, Universität Duisburg-Essen, D-47048 Duisburg, Germany

Pulsed laser deposited epitaxial Pr_xCo_{100 − x} (x = 8.7 to 27.6 at.%) thin films were systematically studied as a function of Pr content. Structural and magnetic measurements reveal different phases for specific composition range and in some cases the phases observed are in contrast to their bulk counterpart. Uniaxial anisotropy at room temperature is observed in all the films enabling excellent hard magnetic properties. For the optimum combination of coercivity and polarization, the measured (BH)_max reaches values of 310 kJ/m³, which exceeds the highest energy product value reported for RE-Co (RE = Rare Earth) systems. Temperature dependent ac susceptibilty measurements reveal that films x = 8.7 to 20.4 undergo a spin reorientation from easy axis to easy cone, but films with x = 22.9 to 27.6 maintain their uniaxial anisotropy throughout the temperature range of investigation.