Critical behavior of sputter-deposited magnetoelectric antiferromagnetic Cr$_2$O$_3$ films near N\'eel temperature

Abstract

Chromium(III) oxide is a classical collinear antiferromagnet with a linear magnetoelectric effect. We are presenting the measurements of the magnetoelectric susceptibility $\alpha$ of a sputter-deposited 500-nm film and a bulk single-crystal of Cr$_\mathrm{2}$O$_\mathrm{3}$. We investigated the magnetic phase-transition and the critical exponent $\beta$ of the sublattice magnetization near N\'eel temperature. For the films, an exponent of 0.49(1) was found below 293 K, and changed to 1.06(4) near the N\'eel temperature of 298 K. For the single-crystal, the exponent was constant at 0.324(4). We investigated the reversal probability of antiferromagnetic domains during magnetoelectric field cooling. For the sputtered films, reversal probability was zero above 298 K and stabilized only below 293 K. We attribute this behavior to formation of grains during film growth, which gives different intergrain and intragrain exchange-coupling energies. For the single-crystal, reversal probability was stabilized immediately at the N\'eel temperature of 307.6 K.