Paper MI+OX-WeA10
The Highly Polarized Surface of Magnetoelectric Antiferromagnet
Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 5:00 pm, Room 006
| Session: |
Spintronics, Magnetoelectrics, Multiferroics |
| Presenter: |
N. Wu, University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
| Authors: |
N. Wu, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
X. He, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Santana, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
E. Vescovo, Brookhaven National Laboratory
C. Binek, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
P.A. Dowben, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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| Correspondent: |
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Manipulation of magnetically ordered states by electrical means is among the most promising approaches towards novel spintronic devices. Electric control of the exchange bias can be realized when the passive antiferromagnetic pinning layer is replaced by a magneto-electric antiferromagnet, like the prototypical magneto-electric Cr2O3(0001). Chromia works well in this case so long as there is also a finite remanent spin polarization at the surface or boundary, which can be achieved by cooling the thin film in the presence of both magnetic and electrics fields. We have demonstrated that a very unusual high polarization can exist at the surface of the Cr2O3 (0001) from spin-polarized photoemission [1] and is robust against surface roughness. Both magnetic single domain and multi-domains were imaged by magnetic force microscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism – photoemission electron microscopy (XMCD-PEEM) [2] as achieved by field cooling in the presence of electrics fields. The similar boundary magnetization has also been observed on the (110) surface of Fe2TeO6 by the XMCD-PEEM, which suggests this possible interface spin polarization to be a more universal phenomenon for magnetoelectric antiferromagnets.References:
[1] Xi He, Yi Wang, Ning Wu, Anthony N. Caruso, Elio Vescovo, Kirill D. Belashchenko, Peter A. Dowben and Christian Binek, Nature Materials 9, 579 (2010).
[2] Ning Wu, Xi He, Aleksander L. Wysocki, Uday Lanke, Takashi Komesu, Kirill D. Belashchenko, Christian Binek, and Peter A. Dowben, Physical Review Letters 106, 087202 (2011).