Continuous spin reorientation transition in epitaxial antiferromagnetic NiO thin films

Abstract

Fe/NiO/MgO/Ag(001) films were grown epitaxially, and the Fe and NiO spin orientations were determined using x-ray magnetic dichroism. We find that the NiO spins are aligned perpendicularly to the in-plane Fe spins. Analyzing both the in-plane and out-of-plane spin components of the NiO layer, we demonstrate unambiguously that the antiferromagnetic NiO spins undergo a continuous spin reorientation transition from the in-plane to out-of-plane directions with increasing of the MgO thickness.