Magnetic anisotropies in epitaxial Fe3O4/GaAs(100) patterned structures

Previous studies on epitaxial Fe3O4 rings in the context of spin-transfer torque effect have revealed complicated and undesirable domain structures, attributed to the intrinsic fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the ferrite. In this Letter, we report a viable solution to this pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: W. Zhang, P. K. J. Wong, D. Zhang, S. J. Yuan, Z. C. Huang, Y. Zhai, J. Wu, Y. B. Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2014-10-01
Series:AIP Advances
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4897963
Description
Summary:Previous studies on epitaxial Fe3O4 rings in the context of spin-transfer torque effect have revealed complicated and undesirable domain structures, attributed to the intrinsic fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the ferrite. In this Letter, we report a viable solution to this problem, utilizing a 6-nm-thick epitaxial Fe3O4 thin film on GaAs(100), where the fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy is negligible. We demonstrate that in the Fe3O4 planar wires patterned from our thin film, such a unique magnetic anisotropy system has been preserved, and relatively simple magnetic domain configurations compared to those previous reports can be obtained.
ISSN:2158-3226