On the Structural Origin of the Single-ion Magnetic Anisotropy in LuFeO3

Authors

Shi Cao, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Xiaozhe Zhang, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Tula R. Paudel, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kishan Sinha, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Xiao Wang, Bryn Mawr CollegeFollow
Xuanyuan Jiang, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Wenbin Wang, Fudan University
Stuart Brutsche, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Jian Wang, Canadian Light Source
Philip J. Ryan, Argonne National LaboratoryFollow
Jong-Woo Kim, Argonne National Laboratory
Xuemei Cheng, Bryn Mawr College
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Peter A. Dowben, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Xiaoshan Xu, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

4-20-2016

Citation

Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 28, 156001 (2016).

Comments

Copyright (c) 2016 IOP Publishing. Used by permission.

Abstract

Electronic structures for the conduction bands of both hexagonal and orthorhombic LuFeO₃ thin films have been measured using x-ray absorption spectroscopy at oxygen K (O K) edge. Dramatic differences in both the spectra shape and the linear dichroism are observed. These differences in the spectra can be explained using the differences in crystal field splitting of the metal (Fe and Lu) electronic states and the differences in O 2p-Fe 3d and O 2p-Lu 5d hybridizations. While the oxidation states has not changed, the spectra are sensitive to the changes in the local environments of the Fe³⁺ and Lu³⁺ sites in the hexagonal and orthorhombic structures. Using the crystal-field splitting and the hybridizations that are extracted from the measured electronic structures and the structural distortion information, we derived the occupancies of the spin minority states in Fe³⁺, which are non-zero and uneven. The single ion anisotropy on Fe³⁺ sites is found to originate from these uneven occupancies of the spin minority states via spin-orbit coupling in LuFeO₃.