Size effect on magnetic coupling in all-ferromagnetic superlattices

The switching of ferromagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic coupling of magnetization in the superlattices consisting of two ferromagnetic metals La 0.7Sr 0.3MnO 3 (LSMO) and SrRuO 3 (SRO) grown on (001) oriented SrTiO 3 has been observed by changing the orientation of the field from out-of-plane to in-plane direction. Such switching of magnetic coupling strongly depends on the stacking order of La 0.7Sr 0.3MnO 3 and SrRuO 3 layers in the superlattice of 20 unit cell (u.c.)/n (=3 or 5) u.c. thickness configuration. This is explained by the structural distortion in the MnO 6 and RuO 6 octahedra along the out-of-plane direction due to the observed stress. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.