Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Ferrimagnetic insulators are central to both fundamental magnetism and diverse technologies, including spintronics, photonics, and microwave engineering. Their low damping, electrical insulation, and tunable magnetism make them ideal, especially for low‐power spintronic devices. Controlling key magnetic properties —particularly the magnetic compensation— is essential for accessing ultrafast dynamics, and advanced spintronic functionalities. Here, it is demonstrated that the magnetic compensation temperature ( T M ) of an archetype ferrimagnetic insulator, terbium iron garnet (Tb 3 Fe 5 O 12 , TbIG), can be continuously tuned and raised to ambient temperature by partially substituting magnetic Fe atoms with nonmagnetic Al. This substitution, achieved by high‐temperature co‐sputtering of TbIG and Al 2 O 3 , is confirmed by atomically resolved electron microscopy. Near T M , a giant intrinsic exchange bias of up to 2.5 kOe is observed. The exchange bias exhibits deterministic or stochastic behavior depending on the cooling conditions, and its polarity can be controlled via an external magnetic field. To explain the observed phenomena, a phenomenological model is developed that takes into account a distribution of local T M values induced by magnetic site disorder. These findings provide an efficient strategy for controlling T M and enabling exchange bias in TbIG that may add new functionalities for room‐temperature spintronic and photonic applications.
Source: Advanced Materials
Institution: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $6,070
Funders: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, European Commission, Generalitat de Catalunya, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, European Research Council, Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, European Regional Development Fund, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, European Social Fund
Awards: G1105844351, G1175115578, G1455481585, G1610934229, G2064873908, G210041235, G2106936123, G2262748287, G234454427, G2601397997, G288263039, G2906055632, G3005324705, G300979063, G3213393237, G3331922608, G34346518, G3480869486, G3681454997, G3966942642, G4042783231, G410571670, G425668148, G434337789, G451917667, G491712853, G5080475149, G5417250019, G5852091828, G586857820, G5967599077, G6218905885, G624877701, G677611228, G69051668, G7016589888, G7084143925, G7420629364, G7805626310, G7806443470, G7863371703, G8497050386, G929308097
OpenAlex ID: W4414328376