Thickness driven spin reorientation transition of epitaxial LaCrO3 films.

We grew fully strained epitaxial LaCrO₃ (LCO) films on SrTiO₃(001) under layer-by-layer control up to the film thickness of <italic>t</italic> = 130 nm using a pulsed laser deposition method. The spin axis of the antiferromagnetic LCO film was systematically examined as a function of <italic>t</italic> by using Cr <italic>L</italic>_2,3-edge x-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD). The XMLD results manifest a spin reorientation transition (SRT) across a transition thickness of <italic>t_T</italic> ∼ 60 nm. This SRT is well explained in terms of two competing magnetic anisotropy energies of the surface/interface (<italic>K_S</italic>) and the LCO film itself (<italic>K_V</italic>). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]