CrO_2 thin films fabricated on single crystal TiO_2 (100) substrates by vapor phase transport grow with strongly textured growth characteristics and strong preferential orientation of the crystallites. We have used magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and alternating gradient force magnetometry (AGFM) to study the in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Both the coercive field, H_C, and remnant magnetization M_r/M_s show strong twofold in-plane symmetry and the results, vs. angle, fit a coherent rotation model of domain reversal. We verify that the magnetic easy axis is along the c-axis of the crystal and the first order anisotropy constant, K_1, is estimated to be about (2.3+-0.2)X10~5 erg/cm~3, consistent with the previous results. Near T_c, there are strong indications that the contributions to the magnetic anisotropy are strongly altered.
展开▼
Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Center for Materials Research and Analysis (CMRA), 255 Behlen Laboratory of Physics, University f Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0111 USA;
