Studying the effect of boron doping and temperature on antiferromagnetic domains in epitaxial Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> films using diamond magnetometry

ORAL

Abstract

The antiferromagnetic (AFM) magnetoelectric chromia (Cr2O3) is an archetypical oxide that permits voltage-control of the Néel vector in the presence of an applied magnetic field, but it suffers practical limitations due to its low Néel Temperature (TN) ~ 307 K [1]. Boron doping increases TN to 400 K and allows realizing voltage controlled Néel vector at zero magnetic field [2], a promising result for AFM spintronics. To date there is no direct measurement of TN in B-Cr2O3, and it is not clear how doping affects its AFM properties. Here we use nitrogen vacancy (NV)-magnetometry [3, 4] to directly study the effect of B doping and temperature on the properties of AFM domains in 200-nm thick Cr2O3 and B-Cr2O3 films grown by pulsed laser deposition on AL2O3 substrates. Magnetic contrast, domain size, domain width, and TN are compared for different temperatures, growth and interfacial conditions. By using reverse propagation protocol [3,4], we measure the magnetization profile, which shows well-defined magnetized nano-domains, affected strongly by temperature and B doping. [1] N. Wu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 087202 (2011). [2] A. Mahmood et al. Nat. Comm. 12, 1674 (2021). [3] P. Appel et al., Nano Lett. 19, 1682 (2019). [4] A. Erickson et al., RSC Advances, Under review (2022).

*This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation/EPSCoR RII Track-1: Emergent Quantum Materials and Technologies (EQUATE), Award OIA-2044049. IF acknowledges support from ERAF project 1.1.1.5/20/A/001. The research was performed in part in the Nebraska Nanoscale Facility: National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience (and/or NERCF), which are supported by the National Science Foundation under Award ECCS: 2025298, and the Nebraska Research Initiative.

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Presenters

  • Adam D Erickson

    • Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Authors

  • Abdelghani Laraoui

    • Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    • dowran@unl.edu
    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln

  • Adam D Erickson

    • Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Ather Mahmood

    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Syed Qamar Abbas Shah

    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Ilja Fescenko

    • Laser Center, University of Latvia

  • Rupak Timalsina

    • Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Christian Binek

    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln