Abstract
The recovery of a modulated magnetic structure in epitaxial BiFeO 3 thin films as revealed by neutron diffraction is reported. The magnetic structure in thin films is found to strongly depend on substrate orientation. The substrate orientation causes different strain-relaxation processes resulting in different thin-film crystal structures. The (110) oriented film with a monoclinic structural phase has a single-domain modulated magnetic structure where the magnetic moment lies in the HHL plane. For the (111) oriented film that has a rhombohedral structure, a modulated structure superimposed on the G-type antiferromagnetic order is found. These results indicate that slight structural modifications in the BiFeO3 thin film cause drastic changes in the magnetic structure.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 1567-1574 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Advanced Functional Materials |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 10 2011 |