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Epitaxially induced anisotropy in thin films of Laves phase compounds

1996; Institute of Physics; Volume: 36; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1209/epl/i1996-00292-4

1286-4854

V. Oderno, C. Dufour, K. Dumesnil, Ph. Bauer, Ph. Mangin, G. Marchal, Louis Hennet, G. Patrat,

Magnetic Properties of Alloys

Thin films of DyFe2 and ErFe2 have been epitaxially grown along the [110] direction. At 4.2 K, the easy magnetization axis in the films, determined by Mössbauer spectroscopy, is the same as in bulk compounds (i.e. ⟨100⟩ for DyFe2 and ⟨111⟩ for ErFe2). At 300 K, the magnetic moments, which remain in the same direction as at 4.2 K in bulk compounds, rotate towards ⟨110⟩ directions in thin films: they are close to the in-plane [10] direction in DyFe2 films, and close to the perpendicular-to-the-plane [110] direction in ErFe2 films. These modifications of the magnetic anisotropy are related to the epitaxial strains, and to the sign and the relative importance of the anisotropy and magnetoelastic constants of the compound.