Electronic and magnetic properties of (1 1 1)-oriented CoCr$_2$O$_4$ epitaxial thin film

ORAL

Abstract

We report on the fabrication of high quality (1 1 1)-oriented ferrimagnetic normal spinel CoCr$_2$O$_4$ epitaxial thin films on single crystal Al$_2$O$_3$ substrates. The structural, electronic and magnetic properties were characterized by $in$-$situ$ reflection high energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometry and element resolved resonant X-ray magnetic scattering. The comprehensive characterization reveals that no disorder in the cation distribution or multivalency issue is present in the samples. As a result, Kagom\'e and triangular layers are naturally formed via this specific growth approach. These findings offer a pathway to fabricate two dimensional Kagom\'e heterostructures with novel quantum many-body phenomena by means of geometrical design.

*J.C. was supported by the DOD-ARO under Grant No. 0402-17291. Work at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne is supported by the U.S. DOE under Grant No. DEAC02 06CH11357.

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Authors

  • Xiaoran Liu

    • Department of Physics, University of Arkansas

  • Mikhail Kareev

    • Department of Physics, University of Arkansas
    • Univ of Arkansas-Fayetteville

  • Yanwei Cao

    • Department of Physics, University of Arkansas
    • University of Arkansas

  • Jian Liu

    • University of California, Berkeley
    • Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley

  • Srimanta Middey

    • Department of Physics, University of Arkansas

  • Derek Meyers

    • University of Arkansas
    • Department of Physics, University of Arkansas

  • John Freeland

    • Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
    • Argonne National Laboratory
    • Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Lab, Argonne, IL

  • Jack Chakhalian

    • Department of Physics, University of Arkansas
    • University of Arkansas