Antiferromagnetic structure in tetragonal CuMnAs thin films

Wadley, P.; Hills, Victoria Anne; Shahedkhah, M. R.; Edmonds, K. W.; Campion, R. P.; Novák, V.; Ouladdiaf, B.; Khalyavin, D.; Langridge, S.; Saidl, V.; Němec, P.; Rushforth, A. W.; Gallagher, B. L.; Dhesi, S. S.; Maccherozzi, F.; Železný, J.; Jungwirth, T.

Abstract

Tetragonal CuMnAs is an antiferromagnetic material with favourable properties for applications in spintronics. Using a combination of neutron diffraction and x-ray magnetic linear dichroism, we determine the spin axis and magnetic structure in tetragonal CuMnAs, and reveal the presence of an interfacial uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. From the temperature-dependence of the neutron diffraction intensities, the Néel temperature is shown to be (480 ± 5) K. Ab initio calculations indicate a weak anisotropy in the (ab) plane for bulk crystals, with a large anisotropy energy barrier between in-plane and perpendicular-to-plane directions.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 25, 2015
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 17079
• APA6 Citation: Wadley, P., Hills, V. A., Shahedkhah, M. R., Edmonds, K. W., Campion, R. P., Novák, V., …Jungwirth, T. (2015). Antiferromagnetic structure in tetragonal CuMnAs thin films. Scientific Reports, 5(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/srep17079
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep17079
• Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep17079
• Related Public URLs: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep17079
• Copyright Statement: Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0