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The measurement of the relative change in exchange bias with two magnetoresisitance (MR) readings at a selected field value is discussed. The optimal performance is achieved by engineering the device parameters so that the maximum magnetoresistance occurs near the exchange bias field and the width of the MR curve is twice the field value of this maximum MR.

The electronic, magnetic and transport properties of iron-doped cobalt ferrite (Co1-xFe2+xO4) thin films grown epitaxially on MgO (001) substrates are investigated by soft x-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, and resistivity measurements. The crystal structure for Co1-xFe2+xO4 is determined to be nearly inverse spinel, with the degree of inversion increasing for increased doping until it becomes fully inverse spinel for Fe3O4. The doped iron cations have a valency of 2+ and reside solely on octahedral sites, which allows for conduction owing to hopping between Fe2+ and Fe3+ octahedral cations. The addition of Fe2+ cations increases the electron density of states near the Fermi energy, shifting the Fermi level from 0.75 to 0 eV with respect to the top of the valence band, as the doping increases from x = 0.01 to 1. This change in electronic structure results in a change in resistivity by over two orders of magnitude. In contrast, the magnetic properties of CoFe2O4 thin films, characterized by a significantly reduced saturation magnetization compared to the bulk and large magnetic anisotropies, are affected less significantly by doping in the range from 0 to 0.63. These results show that Co1-xFe2+xO4 has tunable electronic properties while maintaining magnetic properties similar to CoFe2O4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic properties of iron-doped cobalt ferrite (Co1-xFe2+xO4) (001) thin films grown epitaxially on MgO (001) substrates are investigated by superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry and soft x-ray magnetic linear and circular dichroisms. All Co1-xFe2+xO4 (0.01 ⩽ × ⩽ 0.63) samples have out-of-plane magnetic easy axes and large coercive fields, unlike Fe3O4, due to a large Co2+ orbital moment. The magnetic moments for those samples are significantly reduced from their bulk values; however, as x increases, the magnetic moments tend nearer to their bulk values and increase more rapidly as x approaches 1. This reduction in magnetic moment is attributed to spin canting among the Co2+ cations, owing to a small in-plane tensile strain in the film and to an increased antiferromagnetic alignment among all the cations caused by a partially inverse spinel cubic structure and the likely presence of antiphase boundaries. Our results show that small changes in stoichiometry can lead to significant changes in the magnetic moment of Co1-xFe2+xO4, especially at large values of x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chromium-doped gallium sesquiselenide, Cr:Ga2Se3, is a member of a new class of dilute magnetic semiconductors exploiting intrinsic vacancies in the host material. The correlation among room-temperature ferromagnetism, surface morphology, electronic structure, chromium concentration, and local chemical and structural environments in Cr:Ga2Se3 films grown epitaxially on silicon is investigated with magnetometry, scanning tunneling microscopy, photoemission spectroscopy, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Inclusion of a few percent chromium in Ga2Se3 results in laminar, semiconducting films that are ferromagnetic at room temperature with a magnetic moment ⩾4μB/Cr. The intrinsic-vacancy structure of defected-zinc-blende β-Ga2Se3 enables Cr incorporation in a locally octahedral site without disrupting long-range order, determined by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, as well as strong overlap between Cr 3d states and the Se 4p states lining the intrinsic-vacancy rows, observed with photoemission. The highest magnetic moment per Cr is observed near the solubility limit of roughly one Cr per three vacancies. At higher Cr concentrations, islanded, metallic films result, with a magnetic moment that depends strongly on surface morphology. The effective valence is Cr3+ in laminar films, with introduction of Cr0 upon islanding. A mechanism is proposed for laminar films whereby ordered intrinsic vacancies mediate ferromagnetism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study the precessional dynamics of magnetization in thin film heterostructures. It provides valuable information about the mechanisms of exchange bias, spin angular momentum transfer across interfaces, and excitation of magnons. A key desirable feature of FMR spectrometers is the capability to study magnetization dynamics over a wide phase space of temperature (T), frequency (f), and magnetic field (B). The design, fabrication, and testing of such a spectrometer, which uses frequency modulation techniques for improved detection of microwave absorption, reduces heat load in the cryostat and allows simultaneous measurements of inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) induced dc voltages, is described in this paper. The apparatus is based on a 2-port transmitted microwave signal measurement using a grounded co-planar waveguide. The input radio frequency (RF) signal, frequency modulated at a tunable f-band, excites spin precession in the sample, and the attenuated RF signal is measured phase sensitively. The sample stage, inserted in the bore of a superconducting solenoid, allows magnetic field and temperature variability of 0 to ±5 T and 2-310 K, respectively. We demonstrate the working of this Cryo-FMR and ISHE spectrometer on thin films of Ni80Fe20 and Fe60Co20B20 over a wide T, B, and f phase space., (© 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)