Magnetic patterning of FeRh thin films by energetic light ion microbeam irradiation

Koide, Tetsuya*; Sato, Takahiro; Koka, Masashi; Saito, Yuichi; Kamiya, Tomihiro; Okochi, Takuo*; Kotsugi, Masato*; Kinoshita, Toyohiko*; Nakamura, Tetsuya*; Iwase, Akihiro*; Matsui, Toshiyuki*

We previously reported that the magnetic state of FeRh can be controlled by irradiation with ion beams. In this paper, we evaluate possibility of magnetic patterning on FeRh thin films using energetic light ion microbeam irradiation with various shapes and dimensions. Proton microbeam irradiation with 2 MeV was performed at JAEA-Takasaki to produce micron-sized magnetic patterns. XMCD-PEEM observation was performed at SPring8 to confirm the synthesized magnetic patterns. As a result, the XMCD-PEEM images of the various micrometer sized patters in FeRh film were observed using 2 MeV H ion beam. The observed bright regions are considered to have ferromagnetic spin orders, in contrast that the gray areas have anti-ferromagnetic spin order. Since the brightness of the PEEM images is strongly correlated with the magnetization of the samples, we reveal that the magnetic state in local regions of the FeRh thin films can be controlled by changing the ion fluences.