Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme
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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus
MA 34: Functional Antiferromagnetism
MA 34.5: Talk
Thursday, September 8, 2022, 16:00–16:15, H48
Role of substrate clamping on anisotropy and domain structure in the canted antiferromagnet α-Fe2O3 — Angela Wittmann1, Olena Gomonay1, Kai Litzius2, Alexandra Churikova3, Norman Birge4, Felix Büttner5, Sebastian Wintz2, Mohamad Mawass5, Markus Weigand5, Florian Kronast5, Jairo Sinova1, Gisela Schütz2, Geoffrey Beach3, and •Elizaveta Tremsina1 — 1Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany — 3Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA — 4Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA — 5Helmholtz-Zentrum für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Antiferromagnets are at the forefront of research in spintronics and demonstrate high potential for revolutionizing memory technologies. For this, understanding the formation and driving mechanisms of the domain structure is paramount. In this work, we investigate the domain structure in a thin-film canted antiferromagnet α-Fe2O3 using x-ray linear dichroism (XMLD) and spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) measurements. We find that the internal destressing fields driving the formation of domains do not follow the crystal symmetry of α-Fe2O3 but fluctuate due to substrate clamping. This leads to an overall isotropic distribution of the Néel order with locally varying effective anisotropy in antiferromagnetic thin films. The insights gained from our work serve as a foundation for further studies of electrical and optical manipulation of the domain structure of antiferromagnetic thin films.