Abstract
A La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin film epitaxially grown on a LaAlO3 (001) substrate by pulsed laser deposition has been investigated by means of low-temperature magnetic force microscopy under high stability conditions. The ferromagnetic film exhibits a stress-induced perpendicular easy axis of magnetization. The domain structure was imaged at zero field after (i) thermal demagnetization, (ii) saturation in an in-plane field and (iii) saturation in an out-of-plane magnetic field, respectively. Stripe domains were observed in all cases, however, contrast and domain width are increased after out-of-plane saturation while alignment of stripe domains in field direction occurs after in-plane saturation. A quantitative analysis of the image contrast suggests a variable in-plane component of the magnetization, dependent on the magnetic history of the sample. Calculations of domain width and contrast from the relevant energy contributions are compared with experimental results.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 51-59 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials |
| Volume | 280 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2004 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant No. Wi 1277/18-1 and through the Graduiertenkolleg “Physik nanostrukturierter Festkörper”), from the Ministry of Education through the BK21 program, and from the Ministry of Science and Technology, South Korea, is gratefully acknowledged.
Keywords
- Domain structure
- Magnetic force microscopy
- Manganites
- Stripe domains
- Thin films