• Mcconney, Michael E.
• Meng, Keng-Yuan
• Mahat, Sushant
• Li, Dongyao
• Haugstad, Greg
• Arenholz, Elke
• Alaan, Urusa S.
• Shafer, Padraic
• Cahill, David G.
• Gray, Matthew T.
• Howe, Brandon M.
• Hill, Madelyn
• Mahalingam, Krishnamurthy
• Schmitt, Maxwell
• Sun, Nian X.
• Bornstein, Alexander C.
• Jander, Albrecht
• Peoples, Joseph
• Ndiaye, Alpha T.
• Jeon, Hyung-Min
• Dhagat, Pallavi
• Yang, Fengyuan
• Gray, Benjamin A.
• Emori, Satoru

Abstract

Low-loss magnetization dynamics and strong magnetoelastic coupling are generally mutually exclusive properties due to opposing dependencies on spin-orbit interactions. So far, the lack of low-damping, magnetostrictive ferrite films has hindered the development of power-efficient magnetoelectric and acoustic spintronic devices. Here, magnetically soft epitaxial spinel NiZnAl-ferrite thin films with an unusually low Gilbert damping parameter (<3 × 10-3 ), as well as strong magnetoelastic coupling evidenced by a giant strain-induced anisotropy field (≈1 T) and a sizable magnetostriction coefficient (≈10 ppm), are reported. This exceptional combination of low intrinsic damping and substantial magnetostriction arises from the cation chemistry of NiZnAl-ferrite. At the same time, the coherently strained film structure suppresses extrinsic damping, enables soft magnetic behavior, and generates large easy-plane magnetoelastic anisotropy. These findings provide a foundation for a new class of low-loss, magnetoelastic thin film materials that are promising for spin-mechanical devices.

Topics

• thin film
• magnetization