Abstract
Magnetite (Fe3O4) thin-films are among the most stimulating systems for electronic applications, in particular given that their electric and magnetic properties can be controlled by substrate strain. Here we investigate the electronic structure of a 38 nm Fe3O4/SrTiO3(001) thin-film by a unique set of x-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD) measurements. We show that it is only possible to uncover the orbital character of the Fe sites in Fe3O4 by a systematic analysis of the XMLD angular distribution. The local symmetry of the Fe2+ B site in the thin-film is found to be trigonally distorted. Our results highlight that the combination of state-of-the-art XMLD measurements and theoretical simulations is indispensable for investigating the electronic structure of oxide thin-films and heterostructures.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 024415 |
| Journal | Physical Review Materials |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Feb 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The synchrotron experiments were performed at the I06 beamline of Diamond Light Source, UK under proposal number SI-17588. We are grateful for the help of beamline I06 staff to setup and perform the experiments. We are thankful for the fruitful discussions with Ch. Brouder, P. Sainctavit, M.-A. Arrio, and M. W. Haverkort. This work was financed by the ERC advanced Grant XRAYonACTIVE No. 340279.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Physical Society.
Funding
The synchrotron experiments were performed at the I06 beamline of Diamond Light Source, UK under proposal number SI-17588. We are grateful for the help of beamline I06 staff to setup and perform the experiments. We are thankful for the fruitful discussions with Ch. Brouder, P. Sainctavit, M.-A. Arrio, and M. W. Haverkort. This work was financed by the ERC advanced Grant XRAYonACTIVE No. 340279.