Magnetic properties of rare-earth iron garnet films subjected to a uniaxial strain
Phys. Rev. B 113, 014416 – Published 14 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/f399-mljw
Abstract
Understanding the magnetic properties of rare-earth iron garnet ultrathin films subjected to a strain is of essence from both fundamental science and technological perspectives. In this work, we report on the results of a combined first-principles calculations and classical Monte Carlo simulations study of magnetic properties of gadolinium iron garnet thin-films subjected to a uniaxial strain. We employ first-principles calculations to compute the magnetic exchange coupling constants for thin films subjected to uniaxial strains including both compressive and tensile cases. The magnetic exchange coupling constants were then used to construct an effective magnetic Hamiltonian, which includes symmetry-breaking effects, and perform Monte Carlo simulations. Using the latter, we study the dependences of magnetic properties on temperature and strain in gadolinium iron garnet thin-film systems, subjected to a uniaxial strain. To further advance our understanding of the magnetic behavior, we also consider a simple analytical model, which is based on the Néel molecular field theory for ferrimagnetics and incorporates magnetic exchange coupling constants taken from the first-principles calculations. The case of uniaxial strains, considered in this work, is compared to the behavior of biaxially-strained thin films, studied in a previous work, and the theoretical results of this work are also compared with available experimental data on rare-earth iron garnets subjected to an external strain. The implications of the obtained results for use of layered rare-earth iron garnets-based materials for magnetic technologies are also discussed.
