Micromagnetic properties of epitaxial MnAs films on GaAs surfaces

Journal article

We present a systematic study of the micromagnetic properties of MnAs deposited by molecular-beam epitaxy on GaAs(001) and GaAs(111)B surfaces. In epitaxial MnAs films, the strain state in MnAs-on-GaAs(001) (anisotropic) and MnAs-on-GaAs(111)B (isotropic) has a strong influence on the magneto-structural phase transition and thus the micromagnetic properties. The ferromagnetic α and the β phase coexist over a wide temperature range exhibiting self-organized, magnetically coupled nanostructures. Independent of the substrate orientation, magnetic flux-closure domain patterns are formed in the basal plane of MnAs. The spatial distribution of the phases in equilibrium (stripes and quasi-hexagonal islands, respectively) stabilizes various magnetic states, which were found experimentally and confirmed by micromagnetic simulations. © 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA.

Authors: Hesjedal, T; Engel-Herbert, R; Schaadt, D; Ploog, K

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Physica Status Solidi C - Current Topics in Solid State Physics, Vol 4, No 5
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1763-1766
• Publication date: 2007-01-01
• DOI: 10.1002/pssc.200674270
• EISSN: 1610-1642
• ISSN: 1610-1634
• Language: English