Magnetic domain wall motion in SrRuO$_3$ thin films

Influence of substrate miscut on magnetization dynamics in SrRuO$_3$ (SRO) thin films was studied. Two films were grown on SrTiO$_3$ substrates with high ($\sim1^{\circ}$) and low ($\sim0.1^{\circ}$) miscut angles, respectively. As expected, high miscut angle leads to suppression of multi-variant growth. By means of SQUID magnetometry, comparable relaxation effects were observed in both the multi-variant and the nearly single-variant sample. Differences in the magnetization reversal process were revealed by magnetic force microscopy. It showed that the multi-variant growth leads to higher density of defects acting as pinning or nucleation sites for magnetic domains, which consequently results in deterioration of magnetic properties. It was demonstrated that the use of high miscut substrate is important for fabrication of high quality SRO thin films with low density of crystallographic defects and excellent magnetic properties.
Comment: 9 pages plus graphical abstract and highlights