Order parameters and magnetocrystalline anisotropy of off-stoichiometric D22 Mn2.36Ga epitaxial films grown on MgO (001) and SrTiO3 (001)

Abstract

We study the relationship between long range order parameters and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of off-stoichiometric D022 Mn2.36Ga (MnGa) epitaxial films grown on MgO (001) and SrTiO3 (STO) (001) single crystalline substrates. MnGa films deposited on MgO (001) show rather large irregular variation in magnetization with increasing substrate temperature in spite of the improved long range order of total atomic sites. The specific site long range order of Mn-I site characterized in the [101] orientation revealed the fluctuation of the occupation fraction of two Mn atomic sites with elevated substrate temperature, which appears more relevant to the observed magnetization change than the long range order of the total atomic sites. In case of MnGa films grown on the lattice-matched STO (001), high long range order of the total atomic sites in spite of the existence of secondary phase represents that the lattice mismatch plays a crucial role in determining the atomic arrangement of Mn and Ga atoms in the off-stoichiometric compositional case of MnGa.