Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 38: Magnetic Materials II

MA 38.4: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 10:15–10:30, HSZ 403

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial DyCo₅ thin films — •Benjamin Schleicher^{1, 2}, Marietta Seifert¹, Ludwig Schultz^1,2, and Volker Neu¹ — ¹IFW Dresden, Institute for Metallic Materials, P.O. Box 270116, 01171 Dresden — ²Technische Universität Dresden, Institute for Solid State Physics, 01062 Dresden

The ferrimagnetic DyCo₅ phase was prepared as epitaxial thin films with a thickness of 50 nm by pulsed laser deposition from elementary targets in an UHV environment. The use of Cr-buffered MgO(110) substrates results in an in-plane growth of the unit cells’ crystallographic c-axis. Structural properties were investigated with XRD and texture measurements and the (1:5)-phase was confirmed through the successful verification of the appropriate XRD-peaks and pole figures. The remanent magnetization has been measured in a temperature range from 20 K to 400 K along distinct crystallographic directions as well as hysteresis loops at discrete temperatures to probe the anisotropic behavior of the samples. Furthermore, MFM measurements were carried out in a temperature range from 300 K to 400 K. The ferrimagnetic coupling between the heavy rare earth Dy and the transition metal Co was confirmed by identifying a minimum of the magnetization of the sample at the so called spin compensation temperature. The value of roughly 110 K is in qualitative agreement with literature data of single crystals and varies with the amount of Dy in the film. A spin reorientation transition from easy c-axis via easy cone to easy plane was observed between 400 K and 325 K, and leads to a perpendicular anisotropy of the film below 325 K with an out-of-plane easy axis.