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Magnetocrystalline anisotropy and uniaxiality of MnAs/GaAs(100) films

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Author

  • J. Magnus Wikberg
  • Ronny Knut
  • Sumanta Bhandary
  • Igor di Marco
  • Mikael Ottosson
  • Janusz Sadowski
  • Biplab Sanyal
  • Pal Palmgren
  • Cheuk W. Tai
  • Olle Eriksson
  • Olof Karis
  • Peter Svedlindh
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Summary, in English

We present an investigation of the magnetic behavior of epitaxial MnAs films grown on GaAs(100). We address the dependence of the magnetic moment, ferromagnetic transition temperature (T-c), and magnetocrystalline anisotropy constants on epitaxial conditions. From thorough structural and magnetic investigations, our findings indicate a more complex relationship between strain and magnetic properties in MnAs films than a simple stretch/compression of the unit cell axes. While a small increase is seen in the anisotropy constants, the enhancement of the magnetic moment at saturation is significant. Results of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism show a behavior of the spin and orbital moment that is consistent with a structural transition at T-c. In particular, we find that the ratio of the orbital to the spin moment shows a marked increase in the coexistence region of the ferromagnetic alpha- and paramagnetic beta-phases a result that is well in accord with the observed increase in the c/a ratio in the same temperature region. The ab initio density functional calculations reveal that the magnetic properties are more sensitive towards change in the ab-plane compared to change in the c-axis which is explained by the analysis of band structures. The effects of electron correlation in MnAs using ab initio dynamical mean field theory are also presented.

Department/s

Publishing year

2011

Language

English

Publication/Series

Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)

Volume

83

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Physical Society

Topic

  • Natural Sciences
  • Physical Sciences

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1098-0121