We report the discovery of a boundary-induced body-centered tetragonal (bct) iron phase in thin films deposited on MgAl2O4 (001) substrates. We present evidence for this phase using detailed x-ray analysis and ab-initio density functional theory calculations. A lower magnetic moment and a rotation of the easy magnetisation direction are observed, as compared to body-centered cubic (bcc) iron. Our findings expand the range of known crystal and magnetic phases of iron, providing valuable insights for the development of heterostructure devices using ultra-thin iron layers.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2401.05990,
title = {Boundary-induced phase in epitaxial iron layers},
author = {Anna L. Ravensburg and Mirosław Werwiński and Justyna Rychły-Gruszecka and Justyn Snarski-Adamski and Anna Elsukova and Per O. Å. Persson and Ján Rusz and Rimantas Brucas and Björgvin Hjövarsson and Peter Svedlindh and Gunnar K. Pálsson and Vassilios Kapaklis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.05990},
year = {2024}
}