What is it about?

Magnetically ordered insulators are of key interest for spintronics applications, but most of them have not yet been explored in depth regarding their magnetic properties. In our recent work, we study the static and dynamic magnetic properties of epitaxially strained γ-Fe2O3 (maghemite) thin films grown via pulsed-laser deposition on MgO substrates by cryogenic broadband ferromagnetic resonance experiments. The observed nonlinear magnetic damping properties induced by slowly relaxing impurities and strain-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy render maghemite an interesting material platform for spintronics devices.

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Why is it important?

Spinel ferrites such as maghemite constitute a promising alternative material platform to iron garnets offering the perspective to grow highly crystalline films at relatively low temperatures and on conventional substrate materials such as MgO allowing for their integration into more complex heterogeneous devices.

Perspectives

Our results can be used as input for the theoretical understanding of damping due to slowly relaxing impurities and might find applications for magnetization damping engineering of magnetic materials for example to enhance the damping for magnetic sensor applications. Moreover, the observed perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in maghemite is of interest for energy efficient data storage devices based on magnetic textures.

Manuel Müller

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This page is a summary of: Reduced effective magnetization and damping by slowly relaxing impurities in strained γ-Fe2O3 thin films, Journal of Applied Physics, December 2022, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0128596.
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