Enhanced spin-orbit coupling in tetragonally strained Fe-Co-B films

J Phys Condens Matter. 2017 Jul 12;29(27):275802. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aa7498. Epub 2017 May 22.

Abstract

Tetragonally strained interstitial Fe-Co-B alloys were synthesized as epitaxial films grown on a 20 nm thick Au0.55Cu0.45 buffer layer. Different ratios of the perpendicular to in-plane lattice constant c/a = 1.013, 1.034 and 1.02 were stabilized by adding interstitial boron with different concentrations 0, 4, and 10 at.%, respectively. Using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) we found that the total orbital magnetic moment significantly increases with increasing c/a ratio, indicating that reduced crystal symmetry and interstitial B leads to a noticeable enhancement of the effect of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the Fe-Co-B alloys. First-principles calculations reveal that the increase in orbital magnetic moment mainly originates from B impurities in octahedral position and the reduced symmetry around B atoms. These findings offer the possibility to enhance SOC phenomena-namely the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the orbital moment-by stabilizing anisotropic strain by doping 4 at.% B. Results on the influence of B doping on the Fe-Co film microstructure, their coercive field and magnetic relaxation are also presented.