Low-energy electron microscopy/x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy study of epitaxial MnAs on GaAs

Abstract

Epitaxial MnAs films on GaAs͑001͒ substrates are studied at room temperature and in the completely ferromagnetic state below room temperature with low-energy electron microscopy, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy, and low-energy electron diffraction. The combination of these techniques shows a clear relation between the two-phase structure of the layers and their magnetic domain structure.

The nature of charged zig-zag domains in MnAs thin films

“…The magnetic properties were investigated by SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) magnetometry, and the domains were imaged at different temperatures by magnetic force microscopy (MFM) [11] and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy (XMCDPEEM) [12]. MnAs exhibits a magnetic easy plane perpendicular to the c-axis direction (which is the hard axis of magnetization) [13], however the shape anisotropy of the film leads to the formation of an easy axis of magnetization along the in-plane a-axis direction (along MnAs½1 12 0) [14].…”

Nanomagnetism studies with spin‐polarized low‐energy electron microscopy and x‐ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy

“…The misfit at the film/substrate interface is 7.7% in the h11-20i direction. The initial studies 7 were made on 40 nm thick films in which the misfit strain broke up the equivalence of the three easy directions so that M was completely in-plane. This led to a relatively simple magnetic domain structure in the transition region consisting of long ferromagnetic stripes perpendicular to the high strain direction.…”

Epitaxial hybrid ferromagnet-semiconductor structures: growth, structural and magnetic properties

“…Insight into the large asymmetry of this ferromagneticparamagnetic phase transition provides a recent study of the MnAs films with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy (XMCDPEEM) [26]. As schematically shown in Fig.…”