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arXiv · 1508.00198

Magnetism and electronic structure of YTiO$_3$ thin films

Yanwei Cao·P. Shafer·Xiaoran Liu·D. Meyers·M. Kareev·S. Middey·J. W. Freeland·E. Arenholz·J. Chakhalian
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Abstract

High-quality (001)-oriented (pseudo-cubic notation) ferromagnetic YTiO$_3$ thin films were epitaxially synthesized in a layer-by-layer way by pulsed laser deposition. Structural, magnetic and electronic properties were characterized by reflection-high-energy-electron-diffraction, X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, and element-resolved resonant soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy. To reveal ferromagnetism of the constituent titanium ions, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy was carried out using four detection modes probing complimentary spatial scale, which overcomes a challenge of probing ferromagnetic titanium with pure Ti3+(3d$^1$). Our work provides a pathway to distinguish between the roles of titanium and A-site magnetic rare-earth cations in determining the magnetism in rare-earth titanates thin films and heterostructures.

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Yanwei Cao, P. Shafer, Xiaoran Liu, D. Meyers, M. Kareev, S. Middey, J. W. Freeland, E. Arenholz, J. Chakhalian. 2015-08-02. Magnetism and electronic structure of YTiO$_3$ thin films. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4931039

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