title: Atomic-scale control of magnetic anisotropy via novel spin-orbit coupling effect in La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/SrIrO3 superlattices.
abstract: Magnetic anisotropy (MA) is one of the most important material properties for modern spintronic devices. Conventional manipulation of the intrinsic MA, i.e., magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA), typically depends upon crystal symmetry. Extrinsic control over the MA is usually achieved by introducing shape anisotropy or exchange bias from another magnetically ordered material. Here we demonstrate a pathway to manipulate MA of 3d transition-metal oxides (TMOs) by digitally inserting nonmagnetic 5d TMOs with pronounced spin-orbit coupling (SOC). High-quality superlattices comprising ferromagnetic La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO) and paramagnetic SrIrO3 (SIO) are synthesized with the precise control of thickness at the atomic scale. Magnetic easy-axis reorientation is observed by controlling the dimensionality of SIO, mediated through the emergence of a novel spin-orbit state within the nominally paramagnetic SIO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; yid@berkeley.edu jianliu@utk.edu.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996; Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720; yid@berkeley.edu jianliu@utk.edu.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: Shang-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996;
authors.forename: Lipeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439;
authors.forename: Yongseong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439;
authors.forename: Jong-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: Zuhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Clarkson
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: Claudy R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Serrao
authors.affiliation: Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arenholz
authors.affiliation: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439;
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996;
authors.forename: Haixuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Birgeneau
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: Ramamoorthy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramesh
keywords: complex oxides; emergent magnetism; interfacial physics; magnetic anisotropy; strong spin–orbit coupling