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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. B » Volume 79 » Issue 14
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Phys. Rev. B 79, 140407(R) (2009) [4 pages]

Critical thickness for itinerant ferromagnetism in ultrathin films of SrRuO3

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Jing Xia1,2, W. Siemons1,3, G. Koster1,3, M. R. Beasley1,4, and A. Kapitulnik1,2,4
1Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
2Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
3Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands
4Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

Received 16 March 2009; published 16 April 2009

See accompanying Physics Synopsis

Ultrathin films of the itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO3 were studied using the transport and magneto-optic polar Kerr effect. We find that below 4 monolayers, the films become insulating and their magnetic character changes as they loose their simple ferromagnetic behavior. We observe a strong reduction in the magnetic moment which for 3 monolayers and below lies in the plane of the film. Exchange-bias behavior is observed below the critical thickness and may point to induced antiferromagnetism in contact with ferromagnetic regions.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.140407
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.79.140407
PACS:
75.70.−i, 75.30.Cr, 75.30.Gw, 75.60.−d
 
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