AIP Advances (Oct 2014)

Magnetic anisotropies in epitaxial Fe3O4/GaAs(100) patterned structures

  • W. Zhang,
  • P. K. J. Wong,
  • D. Zhang,
  • S. J. Yuan,
  • Z. C. Huang,
  • Y. Zhai,
  • J. Wu,
  • Y. B. Xu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4897963
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 10
pp. 107111 – 107111-6

Abstract

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Previous studies on epitaxial Fe3O4 rings in the context of spin-transfer torque effect have revealed complicated and undesirable domain structures, attributed to the intrinsic fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the ferrite. In this Letter, we report a viable solution to this problem, utilizing a 6-nm-thick epitaxial Fe3O4 thin film on GaAs(100), where the fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy is negligible. We demonstrate that in the Fe3O4 planar wires patterned from our thin film, such a unique magnetic anisotropy system has been preserved, and relatively simple magnetic domain configurations compared to those previous reports can be obtained.