Programmable bias field observed in graded ferromagnetic semiconductor films with broken symmetry
- Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Nanjing Univ. (China)
- Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Korea Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
- Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Korea Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
We report on the observation of a field-induced magnetic bias effect in a Ga0.94Mn0.06As1-yPy thin film with digitally graded phosphorus content. Although phosphorus concentration in the sample is changed in steps from y approximate to 0.03 to y approximate to 0.28, the magnetometry and magnetotransport data display a coherent magnetic response typical for single-layer in-plane magnetized films with cubic and weak [110] uniaxial anisotropy. Unexpectedly, low-temperature planar Hall resistance loops exhibit remarkable asymmetry tunable by application of strong in-plane initial magnetic field HIni. We discuss this unusual memory effect, resembling the magnetization asymmetry in the exchange biased magnetic bilayers, in terms of a unidirectional bias field Hb induced by HIni. We show that such bias field defines the delayed or accelerated nucleation of domains with chiral domain walls performing the magnetization reversal.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Science Foundation (NSF); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Ministry of Science, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Future Planning of Korea; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1559286
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1546486
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 7; ISSN 2475-9953
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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