A Platform for Addressing Individual Magnetite Islands Grown Epitaxially on Ru(0001) and Manipulating Their Magnetic Domains

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to grow high-quality magnetite islands on ruthenium substrates and demonstrates how their magnetic domains can be manipulated using electrical currents and magnetic fields, with potential applications in spintronics.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel fabrication platform for epitaxial magnetite islands on Ru(0001) and shows how to control their magnetic domains via current-induced Oersted fields.

Findings

Magnetite islands grown with high quality and precise control.

Magnetic domains can be modified by current pulses and magnetic fields.

The fabrication method is adaptable to other oxide materials.

Abstract

We have grown high-quality magnetite micrometric islands on ruthenium stripes on sapphire through a combination of magnetron sputtering (Ru film), high-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (oxide islands), and optical lithography. The samples have been characterized by atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray absorption and magnetic circular dichroism in a photoemission microscope. The magnetic domains on the magnetite islands can be modified by the application of current pulses through the Ru stripes in combination with magnetic fields. The modification of the magnetic domains is explained by the Oersted field generated by the electrical current flowing through the stripes underneath the magnetite nanostructures. The fabrication method is applicable to a wide variety of rock salt and spinel oxides.