Epitaxial growth and magnetic characterization of EuSe thin films with various crystalline orientations

TL;DR

This study explores the epitaxial growth of EuSe thin films on various substrates, revealing different orientations and magnetic properties, including hysteresis effects, and enabling new investigations into interfacial exchange interactions with topological insulators.

Contribution

It demonstrates the controlled epitaxial growth of EuSe films with various orientations on different substrates, revealing new magnetic behaviors and interfaces with topological insulators.

Findings

EuSe grows predominantly in (001) orientation on GaAs and Bi2Se3

Strong hysteresis observed for the antiferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic transition

Epitaxial growth enables investigation of interfacial exchange interactions

Abstract

We report different growth modes and corresponding magnetic properties of thin EuSe films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF2, Pb1-xEuxSe, GaAs, and Bi2Se3 substrates. We show that EuSe growth predominantly in (001) orientation on GaAs(111) and Bi2Se3, but along (111) crystallographic direction on BaF2 (111) and Pb1-xEuxSe (111). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal an abrupt and highly crystalline interface for both (001) and (111) EuSe films. In agreement with previous studies, ordered magnetic phases include antiferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, and ferromagnetic phases. In contrast to previous studies, we found strong hysteresis for the antiferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic transition. An ability to grow epitaxial films of EuSe on Bi2Se3 and of Bi2Se3 on EuSe enables further investigation of interfacial exchange interactions between various phases of an insulating metamagnetic material and a topological insulator.