We report direct imaging of boundary magnetization associated with antiferromagnetic domains in magnetoelectric epitaxial Cr2O3 thin films using diamond nitrogen vacancy microscopy.
Utilizing pulsed laser deposition, a film of EuO 1−x was deposited onto a Si(001) substrate with MgO buffer and compared to the same heterostructure with an additional BaTi 2 O 5 thin film on top of the EuO 1−x surface. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicates the films crystallize into a preferred EuO(111) orientation; it also reveals the clear presence of EuSi 2, which suggests Si or Eu diffuses across the MgO buffer layer. EuO 1−x films exhibit a ferromagnetic (FM) signature and temperature-dependent exchange bias, indicated by MOKE measurements, suggesting the presence of a magnetic order well above the EuO Curie temperature with possible origins in charge carrier density near the interface. In comparison, an antiferromagnetic character persists well above the EuO Curie temperature of 69 K and the enhanced Curie temperature of 150 K for BaTi 2 O 5 films grown on the EuO 1−x films. The antiferromagnetic behavior is not seen in thicker EuO 1−x thin films when integrated with other ferroelectric (FE) phases of the BaO−TiO 2 system, suggesting an origin in the perturbed charge population at the BaTi 2 O 5 /EuO 1−x interface.
Correction for ‘Nanoscale imaging of antiferromagnetic domains in epitaxial films of Cr2O3via scanning diamond magnetic probe microscopy’ by Adam Erickson et al., RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 178–185, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA06440E
Heterostructures
consisting of 10 Å thick chromia films and
50 Å thick titania films display significant exchange bias at
and above room temperature. Chromia films ∼10 Å thick
were deposited by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of Cr at room temperature
in ultrahigh vacuum on 50 Å thick TiO2–x
(111) films (x < 0.3) also deposited epitaxially
by MBE on Al2O3(0001). Cr deposition yields
increased Ti(III) formation in the titania substrate and the formation
of a Cr2O3 overlayer, without Cr/Ti interfacial
mixing, as determined by in situ photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). In situ low-energy electron
diffraction (LEED) and XPS data indicate that the chromia overlayer
is hexagonally ordered and ∼10 Å thick. Longitudinal and
polar magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements at 285–315
K provide evidence of strong exchange bias between the boundary layer
magnetization of chromia and the ferromagnetic substrate. These data
demonstrate the robust room-temperature interaction of the boundary
layer magnetization of a multiferroic antiferromagnet with a d0 ferromagnetic substrate.
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