Seminars Archive
Spectro-Microscopic Studies of NiO(001) films
Abstract
Thursday, July 10, 2003, 16:00
Seminar Room, ground floor, Building "T"
Sincrotrone Trieste, Basovizza
Spectro-Microscopic Studies of NiO(001) films
Boris Sinkovic
(University of Connecticut, Physics Department, 2152 Hillside
Road, Unit-3046, Storrs, CT 06269 USA)
Abstract
Magnetism of thin ferromagnetic metallic films, down to a single atomic
layer, has been intensely investigated in the last decade. In contrast,
there have been relatively few studies of magnetic oxide films at that
length scale, in part due to difficulties in probing the antiferromagnetic
state, which is prevalent among magnetic oxides. In this talk we
will present studies of one of the simplest 3d transition metal oxides,
NiO. The antiferromagnetism of NiO was probed by Magnetic Linear Dichroism
(MLD) at the Ni L-edge focusing on effects of substrate induced lattice
strain on the antiferromagnetic anisotropy and the critical temperature.
The microscopic studies have been performed utilizing PhotoEmission Electron
Microscopy (PEEEM). The antiferromagnetism of NiO has been also studied
in connection with exchange biasing of ferromagnetic layers. We have
investigated the depth dependence of exchange biasing by specially grown
NiO/CoO layered structures. We find that a thin CoO layer inserted
into the NiO film at different depth from the ferromagnetic interface induces
a significant changes in the exchange biasing strength.