Direct evidence for the spin cycloid in strained nanoscale bismuth ferrite thin films

Joel Bertinshaw (), Ronald Maran, Sara J. Callori, Vidya Ramesh, Jeffery Cheung, Sergey A. Danilkin, Wai Tung Lee, Songbai Hu, Jan Seidel, Nagarajan Valanoor and Clemens Ulrich ()
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Joel Bertinshaw: School of Physics, The University of New South Wales
Ronald Maran: School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales
Sara J. Callori: School of Physics, The University of New South Wales
Vidya Ramesh: School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales
Jeffery Cheung: School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales
Sergey A. Danilkin: The Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Wai Tung Lee: The Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Songbai Hu: School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales
Jan Seidel: School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales
Nagarajan Valanoor: School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales
Clemens Ulrich: School of Physics, The University of New South Wales

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Magnonic devices that utilize electric control of spin waves mediated by complex spin textures are an emerging direction in spintronics research. Room-temperature multiferroic materials, such as bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3), would be ideal candidates for this purpose. To realize magnonic devices, a robust long-range spin cycloid with well-known direction is desired, since it is a prerequisite for the magnetoelectric coupling. Despite extensive investigation, the stabilization of a large-scale uniform spin cycloid in nanoscale (100 nm) thin BiFeO3 films has not been accomplished. Here, we demonstrate cycloidal spin order in 100 nm BiFeO3 thin films through the careful choice of crystallographic orientation, and control of the electrostatic and strain boundary conditions. Neutron diffraction, in conjunction with X-ray diffraction, reveals an incommensurate spin cycloid with a unique [11 ] propagation direction. While this direction is different from bulk BiFeO3, the cycloid length and Néel temperature remain equivalent to bulk at room temperature.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12664

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