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(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO(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(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO(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. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3673295]