Complex oxide films stabilized by epitaxial growth can exhibit large populations of point defects which have important effects on their properties. The site occupancy of pulsed laser‐deposited epitaxial terbium iron garnet (TbIG) films with excess terbium (Tb) is analyzed, in which the terbium:iron (Tb:Fe)ratio is 0.86 compared to the stoichiometric value of 0.6. The magnetic properties of the TbIG are sensitive to site occupancy, exhibiting a higher compensation temperature (by 90 K) and a lower Curie temperature (by 40 K) than the bulk Tb3Fe5O12garnet. Data derived from X‐ray core‐level spectroscopy, magnetometry, and molecular field coefficient modeling are consistent with occupancy of the dodecahedral sites by Tb3+, the octahedral sites by Fe3+, Tb3+and vacancies, and the tetrahedral sites by Fe3+and vacancies. Energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy in a scanning transmission electron microscope provides direct evidence of TbFeantisites. A small fraction of Fe2+is present, and oxygen vacancies are inferred to be present to maintain charge neutrality. Variation of the site occupancies provides a path to considerable manipulation of the magnetic properties of epitaxial iron garnet films and other complex oxides, which readily accommodate stoichiometries not found in their bulk counterparts.
Actinide materials have various applications that range from nuclear energy to quantum computing. Most current efforts have focused on bulk actinide materials. Tuning functional properties by using strain engineering in epitaxial thin films is largely lacking. Using uranium dioxide (UO2) as a model system, in this work, the authors explore strain engineering in actinide epitaxial thin films and investigate the origin of induced ferromagnetism in an antiferromagnet UO2. It is found that UO2+
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10381627
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Science
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 33
- ISSN:
- 2198-3844
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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