CMD30 FisMat2023 - Submission - View

Abstract title: Effect of periodicity on the magnetic anisotropy in spinel oxide superlattices
Submitting author: Federico Motti
Affiliation: Istituto Officina dei Materiali IOM-CNR
Affiliation Address: Q2 Building in Area Science Park Strada Statale 14 km 163,5 34149 Basovizza - Trieste
Country: Italy
Other authors and affiliations: Lauren Riddiford (Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institut), Diana Vaclavkova (Paul Scherrer Institut), Sourav Sahoo (Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institut) , Arnold Milenko Müller (Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich) , Christof Vockenhuber (Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich) , Ali Baghi Zadeh (Scientific Center for Optical and Electron Microscopy, ETH Zürich) , Cinthia Piamonteze (Paul Scherrer Institut) , Christof Schneider (Paul Scherrer Institut) , Valerio Scagnoli (Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institut) , Laura Heyderman (Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems, ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institut)
Abstract
Metamaterials fabricated by assembling different compounds at the nanoscale can have properties not found in naturally occurring materials, and therefore offer new avenues to develop novel devices. In the realm of spintronics, the quest for such new functional materials has expanded towards magnetic oxides, where finding methods to control their magnetic anisotropy is crucial to achieve higher memory density and longer stability. In order to address this challenge, we combined two oxides with a spinel crystal structure, synthesizing CoCr2O4/CoFe2O4 superlattices with layers only few unit cells thick. I will show that the superlattices present a reorientation of the magnetic easy axis from in-plane to out-of-plane when warmed up, at a temperature determined by the periodicity. We can describe this with a model that includes the strain-induced anisotropy of the two materials and their different temperature dependence. This approach to create new artificial materials, involving engineering superlattices to tailor the magnetic anisotropy, can be generalized to a wide range of compounds that can be grown strained on suitable substrates.