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Spin gapless semiconductors are known to be strongly affected by structural disorder when grown epitaxially as thin films. The magnetic properties of Mn2CoAl thin films grown on GaAs (001) substrates are investigated here as a function of annealing. This study investigates the atomicspecific magnetic moments of Mn and Co atoms measured through X-ray magnetic circular dichroism as a function of annealing and the consequent structural ordering. The results indicate that the structural distortion mainly affects the Mn atoms as seen by the reduction of the magnetic moment from its predicted value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present measurements of element- and time-resolved ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in magnetic thin films at gigahertz frequencies via an implementation of time-resolved x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (TR-XMCD). By combining TR-XMCD and FMR, using a rf excitation that is phase locked to the photon bunch clock, the dynamic response of individual layers or precession of individual elements in an alloy can be measured. The technique also provides extremely accurate measurements of the precession cone angle (to 0.1°) and the phase of oscillation (to 2°, or ∼5 ps at 2.3 GHz). TR-XMCD combined with FMR can be used to study the origins of precessional damping by measuring the relative phase of dissimilar precessing magnetic moments. We have used the technique to measure the response of specific elements and separate layers in several alloys and structures, including a single Ni81Fe19 layer, a pseudo-spin-valve structure (Ni81Fe19/Cu/Co93Zr7), magnetic bilayers consisting of low damping (Co93Zr7) and high damping (Tb-doped Ni81Fe19) layers joined across a common interface, and elemental moments in Tb-doped Ni81Fe19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface, interface and element specificity of x-ray resonant magnetic scattering in combination with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism are used for spatially resolving the polarization and the spin accumulation in Mn high susceptibility material in close proximity to a ferromagnetic layer. The size of the Mn and Cu [L.sub.2-3]-edge dichroism has shown a decrease in the polarization for increasing copper thickness indicating the dominant interfacial nature of the Cu and Mn spin polarization.

Annealing is necessary to achieve giant tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) values in sputtered CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). In this study three complementary techniques were used to study the resulting changes in junction microstructure. The as-deposited TMR was modest, 5%, but rose to 101% after annealing at 325 °C for 1 h, corresponding to the tunneling spin polarization rising from 16% to 58%. Soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering showed a roughening of the magnetic interfaces of the MTJ free layer, confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, which also showed the changes in the CoFeB and MgO to a lattice-matched polycrystalline form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial Fe48Rh52 thin films of nominal thickness 500 Å were grown on MgO (001) substrates via molecular beam epitaxy and capped with 20 Å of either Au or MgO. The presence of the anticipated magnetostructural phase transition from antiferromagnetism to ferromagnetism at ∼350 K was confirmed by superconducting quantum interference device and magneto-optic Kerr effect magnetometry. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) experiments were carried out at the L2,3 edges; measurements were done in both total electron yield (TEY) mode and indirect transmission mode. At room temperature, the indirect transmission XMCD data show no detectable dichroism, consistent with bulk antiferromagnetic behavior. However, room-temperature TEY data originating from the films’ surface reveal an appreciable dichroic signal indicating the presence of ferromagnetism. This near-surface/interfacial magnetism may be modified by choice of capping layer; the MgO-capped sample exhibited a considerably smaller ferromagnetic XMCD signal. The results have potential impact on the application of FeRh thin films as temperature-variable pinning layers in exchanged-biased systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assembled arrays of nanospheres have been used to pattern a Co/Pt multilayer into nanopillars. On top of this has been deposited a Co/Ru multilayer, which is antiferromagnetically coupled. The nanopillars introduce a known structural and magnetic lateral modulation into the multilayer. Soft x-ray magnetic scattering was used to observe the interference patterned from the patterned substrate. This has allowed us to show how the magnetic roughness correlates with the structural roughness and obtain selective magnetometry of the various magnetic elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in-plane magnetic properties of Co0.7Fe0.3 films sputtered onto Al0.1Ga0.9As and Al0.1Ga0.9As/GaAs epilayers are consistent with a strongly oriented bcc crystal structure with clean metal-semiconductor interfaces. However, the interface induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is oriented along one of the in-plane <100>, rather than <110>, as is the case in molecular beam epitaxy—grown films. Resonant x-ray measurements show interfacial magnetic disorder in films on Al0.1Ga0.9As, which accounts for the difference in magnetic anisotropy behavior between samples on Al0.1Ga0.9As and Al0.1Ga0.9As/GaAs epilayer substrates, and which may have significant consequences for the spin-injection efficiency across such interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of the metal-insulator transition in thin films and superlattices of LaNiO3 only a few unit cells in thickness remains elusive despite tremendous effort. Quantum confinement and epitaxial strain have been evoked as the mechanisms, although other factors such as growth-induced disorder, cation non-stoichiometry, oxygen vacancies, and substrate–film interface quality may also affect the observable properties of ultrathin films. Here we report results obtained for near-ideal LaNiO3 films with different thicknesses and terminations grown by atomic layer-by-layer laser molecular beam epitaxy on LaAlO3 substrates. We find that the room-temperature metallic behavior persists until the film thickness is reduced to an unprecedentedly small 1.5 unit cells (NiO2 termination). Electronic structure measurements using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and first-principles calculation suggest that oxygen vacancies existing in the films also contribute to the metal-insulator transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present experimental techniques to measure magnetization precession of individual layers in a “spin-valve” trilayer. Precessional motions of individual Ni81Fe19 and Co93Zr7 layers have been separated in Ni81Fe19/Cu/Co93Zr7 using ±45 ps time-resolved x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (tr-XMCD) at Fe and Co edges. We compare the efficacy of two experimental configurations in this paper. Pulsed-field tr-XMCD measurements in reflectivity are compared with resonant-field tr-XMCD measurements in transmission. Despite the order of magnitude larger angles of precession excited in pulsed-field reflectivity measurements, data quality is found to be superior in resonant-field transmission measurements. Relative roles of sample preparation and timing jitter in the different techniques are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co2MnSi thin films were grown on Al2O3 sa planed and GaAs (001) substrates and on thin silicon nitride windows using pulsed laser deposition. Angle-dependent magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements reveal both a uniaxial and a fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy for films grown on GaAs (001). X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra were measured at the L2,3 edges of the thin films as a function of aluminum cap layer thickness, and transmission mode L2,3 x-ray absorption through a 1000-Å Co2MnSi film grown on a silicon nitride membrane were measured, indicating that deviations from metalliclike spectra are likely due oxidation or contamination. Element-specific moments for Co and Mn were calculated from the X-ray magnetic circular dichroism data of a nonoxidized film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present transmission-mode XMCD characterization of Fe, Ni, and Tb moment alignment in Tb-doped Ni81Fe19 thin films. The use of transmission geometry measurements has allowed the extraction of absolute projected elemental moments in the alloy. A very low projected Tb moment at 6% doping level, which nonetheless reverses with low applied fields (40 Oe), indicates a sperimagnetic alignment with respect to the Fe and Ni elements in the cosputtered polycrystalline alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]