Abstract
Using x-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism techniques, we demonstrate a collinear exchange coupling between an epitaxial antiferromagnet, tetragonal CuMnAs, and an Fe surface layer. A small uncompensated Mn magnetic moment is observed which is antiparallel to the Fe magnetization. The staggered magnetization of the 5 nm thick CuMnAs layer is rotatable under small magnetic fields, due to the interlayer exchange coupling. This allows us to obtain the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism spectra for different crystalline orientations of CuMnAs in the (001) plane. This is a key parameter for enabling the understanding of domain structures in CuMnAs imaged using x-ray magnetic linear dichroism microscopy techniques.
Highlights
Antiferromagnetic (AF) spintronics is an emerging field which aims to utilize the particular properties of AF materials for information storage and processing applications1
The Mn x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is consistent with the interface atomic layer of the CuMnAs film orienting antiparallel to the epitaxial FM Fe layer as well as to the neighbouring CuMnAs magnetic sublattice, other possible contributions to the measured XMCD signal cannot be ruled out
The AF spins in the CuMnAs layer are rotatable by reorienting the Fe magnetization under relatively small external magnetic fields
Summary
Using x-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism techniques, we demonstrate a collinear exchange coupling between an epitaxial antiferromagnet, tetragonal CuMnAs, and an Fe surface layer. The staggered magnetization of the 5 nm thick CuMnAs layer is rotatable under small magnetic fields, due to the interlayer exchange coupling This allows us to obtain the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism spectra for different crystalline orientations of CuMnAs in the (001) plane. Crystalline anisotropy of XMLD spectra, in which the spectral lineshape depends strongly on the direction of the x-ray polarization vector with respect to the crystallographic axes, has been observed in theoretical and experimental studies of a wide variety of magnetic materials including metals , oxides and. We utilize the exchange coupling between the Fe layer and rotatable AF CuMnAs spins to reveal the anisotropic XMLD spectra for tetragonal CuMnAs, which are compared to ab initio calculations
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