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Thermal evolution of magnetic behavior in MBE-grown [50 Å ErFe2/150 Å YFe2]20 superlattice

K. WANG1,2,* , K. N. MARTIN1, C. G. MORRISON1, A. R. BUCKINGHAM1, R. C. C. WARD3, G. J. BOWDEN1, P. A. J. DE GROOT1

Affiliation

  1. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
  2. Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, China
  3. Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom

Abstract

In this letter, we report the thermal evolution of magnetic behavior of MBE-grown YFe2-dominated [50 Å ErFe2/150 Å YFe2]20 multilayers. The evolution from an exchange-spring magnet, to a two-phase-type magnet and eventually into a single-phase-type magnet is revealed in this multilayer from cryogenic to room temperature. In the low temperature region the loops with a negative coercivity and a vertical exchange-spring developed in the soft YFe2 layers are presented. At the medium temperature, magnetic re-orientation occurs and the loops with a two-phase-type feature are observed, in line with a spin-flop transition driven by exchange-spring (Martin et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 89,132511, 2006). Particularly, at room temperature a single-phase-type magnet is witnessed. The slanted loops observed in this joined switching agree with the behavior of predominated magnetically soft YFe2 layers in this case. A magnetic phase diagram based on temperature is successfully established, serving as a guide for the application of magnetic devices based on such materials.

Keywords

Epitaxial Laves phase films, Thermal evolution, Magnetic phase diagram, RE-TM superlattice, Exchange spring.

Citation

K. WANG, K. N. MARTIN, C. G. MORRISON, A. R. BUCKINGHAM, R. C. C. WARD, G. J. BOWDEN, P. A. J. DE GROOT, Thermal evolution of magnetic behavior in MBE-grown [50 Å ErFe2/150 Å YFe2]20 superlattice, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 1, 1, January 2007, pp.5-7 (2007).

Submitted at: Nov. 28, 2006

Accepted at: Jan. 12, 2007