Oxide Thin Films for Spintronics

Laser molecular beam epitaxy (laser-MBE), also known as pulsed laser deposition (PLD), allows growing oxide thin films with crystalline quality approaching semiconductor standards. Moreover, in close analogy to the well-known GaAs/AlAs heteroepitaxy it is possible to grow complex heterostructures composed of different oxides on suitable substrates in a layer-by-layer or block-by-block mode. We are steadily working on ...

• Fabrication of high-quality epitaxial oxide thin films and heterostructures on different single crystalline substrates
• Development of multifunctional materials and devices based on heteroepitaxial oxide thin film multilayers

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG, Y₃Fe₅O₁₂) is one of the rare electrically insulating ferromagnets. It has become particularly important for the investigation of pure spin currents since the spin transport in YIG is not influenced by a simultaneous propagation of charges. Replacing Y³⁺ by magnetic rare earth elements like Gd³⁺ introduces another magnetic sublattice and causes magnetic compensation effects. We investigate ...

• Magnetic structure of rare earth (RE) iron garnets (RE₃Fe₅O₁₂)
• Proximity magnetism of normal metals (e.g. Pt) deposited on RE₃Fe₅O₁₂
• RE₃Fe₅O₁₂ as a source or sink for spin currents