Abstract
Controlling changes in magnetic anisotropy across epitaxial film interfaces is an important prerequisite for many spintronic devices. For the canonical dilute magnetic semiconductor GaMnAs, magnetic anisotropy is highly tunable through strain and doping, making it a fascinating model system for exploration of anisotropy control in a carrier-mediated ferromagnet. Here, we have used transmission electron microscopy and polarized neutron reflectometry to characterize the interface between GaMnAs-based layers designed to have anisotropy vectors oriented at right angles from one another. For a bilayer of Ga1-xMnxAs1-yPy and Ga1-xMnxAs, we find that the entirety of the Ga1-xMnxAs layer exhibits in-plane magnetic anisotropy and that the majority of the Ga1-xMnxAs1-yPy exhibits perpendicular anisotropy. However, near the Ga1-xMnxAs interface, we observe a thin Mn-rich region of the nominally perpendicular Ga1-xMnxAs1-yPy that instead exhibits in-plane anisotropy. Using first-principles energy considerations, we explain this sublayer as a natural consequence of interfacial carrier migration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 054410 |
| Journal | Physical Review Materials |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 May |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank S. Rouvimov for providing the TEM results, and Xiang Li for taking the XRD measurements. This work was supported by NSF Grants DMR14-00432 and DMR-19-05277, supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2018R1D1A1A02042965). R.F.N. acknowledges support from the National Research Council Research Associateship Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Physical Society.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science(all)
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)