Magnetic anisotropy of doped Cr₂O₃antiferromagnetic films evaluated by utilizing parasitic magnetization

In Cr2O3 thin films doped with Al or Ir, we have discovered a parasitic magnetization, accompanied by the antiferromagnetic order, with tunable direction and magnitude. In this study, by utilizing the parasitic magnetization, the antiferromagnetic anisotropy KAF of the doped Cr2O3 thin films was evaluated. A much greater improvement of KAF was obtained for Al-doped Cr2O3 films than that of bulk. The maximum KAF in this study was ∼9 × 104 J/m3, obtained for the Al 3.7%-doped Cr2O3 film sample. The enhancement of the magnetic dipole anisotropy KMD due to the site-selective substitution is speculated for the dominant origin of the enhancement. Furthermore, based on the obtained KAF, the influence of the parasitic magnetization on the exchange bias blocking temperature TB of the doped-Cr2O3/Co exchange coupled system was discussed. TB greatly increases when the parasitic magnetization is coupled antiparallel to ferromagnetic moment, such as Al-doped Cr2O3/Co systems.