Thermal switching of the magnetization in an iron film on a magnetically active template MnAs/GaAs(001)

Abstract

We show that the magnetization direction of a thin Fe film can be fully reversed in a thermal cycle of a few degrees close to room temperature, without making use of an external magnetic field. This result is obtained by depositing the Fe film on MnAs/GaAs(001), which displays a temperature-controlled self-organized pattern of submicron-wide stripes, alternating ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic phases. The temperature-dependent dipolar fields generated by this magnetically active template can be used to control the magnetization of the Fe overlayer.