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Magnetoelasticity in Fe/GaAs(110) films: Depth profile of magnetic anisotropy

Aleksandra Lindner1,*, Rodolfo A. Gallardo2, Andreas Henschke1, Fabian Ganss1,3, Javier Pablo-Navarro1, Gabriel Gray1,4, Ruslan Salikhov1, Kilian Lenz1, Toni Hache1 et al.

Dirk Sander5, Gauravkumar Patel1, Sebastian Fähler1, Olav Hellwig1,3, Jürgen Fassbender1,4, and Jürgen Lindner1

  • *Contact author: a.lindner@hzdr.de
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 094438 – Published 31 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z5gt-knhb

Abstract

Despite extensive studies of epitaxial Fe(110) films on GaAs(110), the magnetic properties of films thicker than 20 nm remain largely unexplored, even though this thickness range exhibits rich and unconventional magnetic behavior. In this work, we investigate epitaxial, Ag-capped bcc Fe(110) films with thicknesses ranging from 5 to 100 nm grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Their magnetic and structural properties are characterized using ferromagnetic resonance, vibrating sample magnetometry, x-ray diffraction, and microfocused Brillouin light scattering. Our measurements reveal the coexistence of cubic and uniaxial magnetic anisotropies, that in combination generate an easy axis aligned along the in-plane 〈001〉 directions, which persists throughout the film volume even for thicknesses as large as 100 nm, having a magnitude comparable to that of the cubic anisotropy. To quantify the uniaxial volume anisotropy in thicker films, we fit the experimental data using a layer-resolved magnetic model that allows for a depth-dependent variation of magnetic properties across the film thickness. The precession-amplitude profiles of the perpendicular standing spin-wave modes across the film thickness lead to a depth-selective sensitivity of different modes, enabling the sensing of the local anisotropy landscape, from which a depth profile of anisotropy can be retrieved. X-ray diffraction measurements demonstrate that anisotropic strain—characterized by lateral anisotropic expansion accompanied by vertical compression—is the microscopic origin of the observed in-plane uniaxial anisotropy, persisting even in films with thicknesses up to 100 nm.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 094438– Published 31 August, 2026
  • Received 11 February 2026
  • Revised 15 June 2026
  • Accepted 7 July 2026
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