Magnetization Reversal Dynamics in Ferromagnetic Semiconductors

Liza Herrera Diez
EPFL, 2011
EPFL thesis

Abstract

This thesis is dedicated to the study of the magnetization reversal dynamics in compressively strained (Ga,Mn)As and differently functionalized (Ga,Mn)As materials. In the first part the domain wall dynamics of pure (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs materials is in the focus. The changes in the magnetic anisotropy energy landscape occurring as a function of temperature are monitored in detail by different experimental techniques. These measurements provide the necessary information for the identification of the temperature ranges corresponding to different magnetic anisotropy regimes. Knowing the biaxial anisotropy and uniaxial anisotropy dominated regimes the dependence of the domain wall dynamics on the magnetic anisotropy landscape is studied. Critical changes in domain wall alignment observed by Kerr microscopy are found upon changing from biaxial to uniaxial anisotropy. These changes could be partially attributed to the tendency of the system to minimize magnetic free poles at the domain boundaries. To complement the space resolved studies of the magnetization reversal, magnetic time relaxation effects are addressed. In particular the magnetic aftereffect in (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs is studied in detail. The irreversible aftereffect is evidenced as a critical reduction of the domain wall velocity with time under a constant applied magnetic field below coercivity. This time relaxation is tracked as a function of both time and magnetic field. The measurements show that the overall relaxation is composed of two relaxation processes acting in parallel at short and long time scales. By fitting these experimental results the values of the relaxation times of both relaxation processes were obtained. By this modeling also the values of the activation volumes for two independent (Ga,Mn)As materials are estimated. In the second part of this thesis the possibilities of tuning the electrical and magnetic properties of (Ga,Mn)As by volume and surface treatments are explored. As for the volume modification, oxygen species were incorporated into the (Ga,Mn)As films by means of exposure to an oxygen plasma. The incorporation of oxygen was evidenced by depth profile X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This treatment is found to weaken the ferromagnetism, visible as a reduction in the Curie temperature, and to hinder the electrical transport evidenced as an increase in the electrical resistance. In agreement with theories accounting for the hole mediated ferromagnetism in (Ga,Mn)As this behaviour was related to a hole compensation mechanism arising from the presence of oxygen impurities sitting in interstitial positions of the (Ga,Mn)As Zinc blende structure. In the last part, the modulation of the electrical and magnetic properties via surface functionalization is presented. The effects produced by the adsorption of molecular species on (Ga,Mn)As are similar to those found after oxygenation, namely a strong weakening of the magnetic properties and an increase in the values of the electrical resistance. However, in this case the distinctive feature is provided by the possibility of regulating the hole quenching effect by exploiting the additional degree of freedom provided by the chemical properties of the adsorbates. The adsorbate chosen for these experiments are dye molecules that absorb light in the visible range, in this way allowing for a light modulated interaction with the substrate. Using this concept is was possible to observe a modulation of the ferromagnetic transition temperature, the coercive field and the electrical resistance upon illumination. These observations provide a proof of principle for the realization of photo-sensitized (Ga,Mn)As devices where the magnetic properties can be regulated by light.

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Liza Herrera Diez
EPFL, 2011
EPFL thesis

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/154778?ln=en

About this result

Related concepts (42)

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Related publications

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In this thesis, the magnetic and structural properties of layered epitaxial film systems and clusters are presented. A main achievement is the investigation of the direct correlation between magnetism and structural or morphological details of ultrathin films. For this purpose, the film structure has been accessed directly by means of surface science methods. The effect of structural changes on the magnetism were observed in-situ by magneto-optical techniques. First, epitaxial Fe films grown at low temperature (∼ 120K) on Cu(100) have been investigated. Such layers assume an fcc-crystal structure due to their interaction with the underlying Cu substrate. Within this work it is shown that the morphology of these films can be altered by annealing treatments. The thermally-induced morphological changes have direct consequences for domain wall propagation and result in increased coercivity and in modified surface anisotropy. Flat fcc-Fe layers on Cu(100) have been used as templates to form fcc-Fe/Cu/Fe trilayers with coupled perpendicular magnetization. Such systems might be of relevance for data storage applications. The perpendicular coupling is ascribed to the realignment of the magnetization of the bottom Fe layer within the stray field produced by the top Fe layer magnetization. The magnetic coupling has been investigated as a function of the thickness of the top and the bottom Fe layer as well as the Cu spacer thickness. It was found that the magneto-static interaction is a direct consequence of the fcc-structure of both Fe layers and the interface roughness. It is demonstrated that Fe films with fcc-structure and perpendicular magnetization can also be prepared on other fcc-templates, such as Pt substrates. Monatomic steps on the substrate surface are exploited to steer the growth of the film and with it the magnetism. Despite significant differences in the morphology and the atomic structure of Fe films on flat Pt(111) and stepped Pt(997), the critical thickness for the spin reorientation transition is similar on the two surfaces. However, the local atomic arrangement above three monolayer film thickness determines in-plane easy magnetization axis parallel to the step edges. For all layered systems investigated in this thesis, epitaxial strain is a the driving force which influences the film structure and triggers structural transitions. The strain dependence of the morphology and the magnetism was probed by a comparative study of Fe deposited on Pt substrates with and without a noble gas buffer layer. The formation of relaxed Fe clusters during Xe layer desorption is favored in the absence of the overlayer-substrate interaction. Striking differences in the magnetic anisotropy between the systems are attributed to magneto-elastic contributions. Measurements of the blocking temperature of the Fe clusters allow estimating the cluster size. All samples have been investigated under ultra high vacuum conditions. The study of the sample magnetic properties study was done by in-situ magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements and Kerr microscopy. Structural characterization was done by low energy electron diffraction and, in collaboration with other scientists, by scanning tunnelling microscopy.

EPFL2006

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EPFL2014

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EPFL2013