Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2013 Feb 27;25(8):086002. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/25/8/086002. Epub 2013 Jan 30.
Ar(+) ions have been implanted into Laves phase epitaxial thin films of YFe(2) and DyFe(2). Magneto-optical Kerr effect and vibrating sample magnetometry experiments show that the easy and hard axes of magnetization in both materials rotate through an in-plane angle of 90°, whilst the strength of the magnetic anisotropy remains unaltered. This is supported by OOMMF computational modelling. Atomic force microscopy confirms that the film roughness is not affected by implanted ions. X-ray diffraction data show that the lattice parameter expands upon ion implantation, corresponding to a release of strain throughout the entire film following implantation with a critical fluence of 10(17) Ar(+) ions cm(-2). The anisotropy of the films is linked to the strain and from these data it is concluded that the source of anisotropy alters from one where magnetoelastic and magnetocrystalline effects compete to one which is governed solely by magnetocrystalline effects. The ability to locally tune the source of magnetic anisotropy without affecting the film surface and without inducing or eliminating anisotropy could be important in the fabrication of high density magnetic data storage media, spintronic devices and magneto-optical materials.
Ar(+) 离子已被注入 YFe(2) 和 DyFe(2) 的 Laves 相外延薄膜中。磁光克尔效应和振动样品磁强计实验表明，两种材料的易磁化轴和难磁化轴都通过平面内 90°的角度旋转，而磁各向异性的强度保持不变。这得到了 OOMMF 计算模型的支持。原子力显微镜证实，薄膜粗糙度不受注入离子的影响。X 射线衍射数据表明，晶格参数在离子注入后会膨胀，这对应于整个薄膜在注入 10(17) Ar(+)离子 cm(-2)的临界通量后释放应变。薄膜的各向异性与应变有关，从这些数据可以得出结论，各向异性的来源从磁弹和磁晶各向异性竞争的来源改变为仅由磁晶各向异性决定的来源。在不影响薄膜表面、不引入或消除各向异性的情况下，局部调整磁各向异性的来源的能力，可能对高密度磁数据存储介质、自旋电子器件和磁光材料的制造具有重要意义。
