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Precise control of Jeff= 12 magnetic properties in Sr2IrO4 epitaxial thin films by variation of strain and thin film thickness

Geprags, Stephan ; Skovdal, Björn Erik ; Scheufele, Monika ; Opel, Matthias ; Wermeille, Didier ; Thompson, Paul B.J. ; Bombardi, Alessandro ; Simonet, Virginie ; Grenier, Stéphane and Lejay, Pascal , et al. (2020) In Physical Review B 102(21).
Abstract

We report on a comprehensive investigation of the effects of strain and film thickness on the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial thin films of the prototypal Jeff=1/2 compound Sr2IrO4 by advanced x-ray scattering. We find that the Sr2IrO4 thin films can be grown fully strained up to a thickness of 108 nm. By using x-ray resonant scattering, we show that the out-of-plane magnetic correlation length is strongly dependent on the thin film thickness, but independent of the strain state of the thin films. This can be used as a finely tuned dial to adjust the out-of-plane magnetic correlation length and transform the magnetic anisotropy from two-dimensional to three-dimensional behavior by incrementing film thickness. These... (More)

We report on a comprehensive investigation of the effects of strain and film thickness on the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial thin films of the prototypal Jeff=1/2 compound Sr2IrO4 by advanced x-ray scattering. We find that the Sr2IrO4 thin films can be grown fully strained up to a thickness of 108 nm. By using x-ray resonant scattering, we show that the out-of-plane magnetic correlation length is strongly dependent on the thin film thickness, but independent of the strain state of the thin films. This can be used as a finely tuned dial to adjust the out-of-plane magnetic correlation length and transform the magnetic anisotropy from two-dimensional to three-dimensional behavior by incrementing film thickness. These results provide a clearer picture for the systematic control of the magnetic degrees of freedom in epitaxial thin films of Sr2IrO4 and bring to light the potential for a rich playground to explore the physics of 5d transition-metal compounds.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review B
volume
102
issue
21
article number
214402
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85097572648
ISSN
2469-9950
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.102.214402
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Funding Information: This work was supported by the German Research Foundation via Germany's Excellence Strategy (Grant No. EXC-2111-390814868) and by the European Synchrotron Radiation facility (ESRF) via HC1821 on XMaS and 02-02-855 on D2AM as well as the Diamond Light Source via MT12770. XMaS is a UK National Research Facility funded by EPSRC and managed by the Universities of Liverpool and Warwick. The authors further thank J. Fischer for support in fabricating SIO thin films as well as T. Brenninger, A. Habel, and K. Helm-Knapp for technical support. D.M. thanks Tim Ziman for fruitful discussions. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 American Physical Society.
id
19a58023-47bd-47df-85e0-b505fa40effb
date added to LUP
2022-03-31 14:00:16
date last changed
2022-04-23 23:09:48
@article{19a58023-47bd-47df-85e0-b505fa40effb,
  abstract     = {{<p>We report on a comprehensive investigation of the effects of strain and film thickness on the structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial thin films of the prototypal Jeff=1/2 compound Sr2IrO4 by advanced x-ray scattering. We find that the Sr2IrO4 thin films can be grown fully strained up to a thickness of 108 nm. By using x-ray resonant scattering, we show that the out-of-plane magnetic correlation length is strongly dependent on the thin film thickness, but independent of the strain state of the thin films. This can be used as a finely tuned dial to adjust the out-of-plane magnetic correlation length and transform the magnetic anisotropy from two-dimensional to three-dimensional behavior by incrementing film thickness. These results provide a clearer picture for the systematic control of the magnetic degrees of freedom in epitaxial thin films of Sr2IrO4 and bring to light the potential for a rich playground to explore the physics of 5d transition-metal compounds.</p>}},
  author       = {{Geprags, Stephan and Skovdal, Björn Erik and Scheufele, Monika and Opel, Matthias and Wermeille, Didier and Thompson, Paul B.J. and Bombardi, Alessandro and Simonet, Virginie and Grenier, Stéphane and Lejay, Pascal and Chahine, Gilbert Andre and Quintero-Castro, Diana Lucia and Gross, Rudolf and Mannix, Danny}},
  issn         = {{2469-9950}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{21}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review B}},
  title        = {{Precise control of Jeff= 12 magnetic properties in Sr2IrO4 epitaxial thin films by variation of strain and thin film thickness}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.214402}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevB.102.214402}},
  volume       = {{102}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}