Direct Observation of a Systematic Change of the Magnetic-Domain Structure With Temperature in 50-nm-MnAs/GaAs(001).

We present the results of a systematic change of magnetic-domain structure of epitaxial Mans film on GaAs(001) in a temperature range of 17.5 °C-45 °C by magnetic-force microscopy (FM). As temperature decreases, the small localized domains are formed and gradually collapse to the stripe domains. Finally, at 17.5 ° C the whole film turns to be a nearly single magnetic domain including only a small fraction of the non ferromagnetic β-Mans phase, as directly confirmed in the FM experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]