Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy of (Ga,Mn)(As,P) by ion irradiation


Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy of (Ga,Mn)(As,P) by ion irradiation

Yuan, Y.; Rushforth, A.; Sawicki, M.; Dietl, T.; Helm, M.; Zhou, S.

The rich phenomena in the magnetic anisotropy of diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors (DFS) have opened new concepts for spintronics beyond conventional electronic logic devices [1]. As an example, the magnetic anisotropy of (Ga,Mn)(As,P) can be changed from in-plane to out-of-plane by low temperature annealing [2, 3]. In this work, we demonstrate another flexible approach to tune the magnetic anisotropy by He+ ion irradiation, which is a well-developed chip-technology. For the as-prepared (Ga,Mn)(As,P), the low-temperature long-time annealing suppresses the compensation from Mn interstitials, resulting in a higher carrier concentration and the switching of the magnetic easy axis from the in-plane [100] to the out-of-plane [001] direction [3]. By He+ irradiation, we can turn the magnetic easy axis gradually back to the out-of-plane direction. Therefore, ion irradiation combined with low-temperature long-time annealing boosts the prospects of flexible tailoring of the magnetic anisotropy of DFS material, allowing for the development of new concepts for spintronic devices.

[1] T. Dietl et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 86, 187-251 (2014).
[2] M. Sawicki et al., Phys. Rev. B 70, 245325 (2004).
[3] A. Casiraghi et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 122504 (2010).

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