Magnetization reversal and confinement effects across the metamagnetic phase transition in mesoscale FeRh structures
Abstract
The effects of mesoscale confinement on the metamagnetic behavior of lithographically
patterned FeRh structures are investigated via Kerr microscopy. Combining the temperatureand
field-dependent magnetization reversal of individual sub-micron FeRh structures provides
specific phase-transition characteristics of single mesoscale objects. Relaxation of the epitaxial
strain caused by patterning lowers the metamagnetic phase transition temperature by more
than 15 K upon confining FeRh films below 500 nm in one lateral dimension. We also observe
that the phase transition becomes highly asymmetric when comparing the cooling and heating
cycles for 300 nm-wide FeRh structures. The investigation of FeRh under lateral confinement
provides an interesting platform to explore emergent metamagnetic phenomena arising from
the interplay of the structural, magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom at the mesoscopic
length scale.
Keywords
FeRh, first-order phase transition, mesoscale confinement, magnetization reversal, Kerr microscopy, strain relaxation, phase transition asymmetryPersistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11012/138316Document version
PostprintSource
Journal of Physics D - Applied Physics. 2018, vol. 51, issue 10, p. 1-12.http://iopscience.iop.org.ezproxy.lib.vutbr.cz/article/10.1088/1361-6463/aaaa5a/meta