Tuning Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy by Oxygen Octahedral Rotations in (La_{1-x}Sr_{x}MnO_{3})/(SrIrO_{3}) Superlattices

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 119; no. 7; p. 077201
• Main Authors: Yi, Di, Flint, Charles L, Balakrishnan, Purnima P, Mahalingam, Krishnamurthy, Urwin, Brittany, Vailionis, Arturas, N'Diaye, Alpha T, Shafer, Padraic, Arenholz, Elke, Choi, Yongseong, Stone, Kevin H, Chu, Jiun-Haw, Howe, Brandon M, Liu, Jian, Fisher, Ian R, Suzuki, Yuri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 14.08.2017
• ISSN: 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.077201

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) plays a critical role in the development of spintronics, thereby demanding new strategies to control PMA. Here we demonstrate a conceptually new type of interface induced PMA that is controlled by oxygen octahedral rotation. In superlattices comprised of La_{1-x}Sr_{x}MnO_{3} and SrIrO_{3}, we find that all superlattices (0≤x≤1) exhibit ferromagnetism despite the fact that La_{1-x}Sr_{x}MnO_{3} is antiferromagnetic for x>0.5. PMA as high as 4×10^{6}  erg/cm^{3} is observed by increasing x and attributed to a decrease of oxygen octahedral rotation at interfaces. We also demonstrate that oxygen octahedral deformation cannot explain the trend in PMA. These results reveal a new degree of freedom to control PMA, enabling discovery of emergent magnetic textures and topological phenomena.