Epitaxial growth and magnetic properties of Sr₂ CrReO₆ thin films

The double perovskite Sr₂ CrReO₆ is an interesting material for spintronics, showing ferrimagnetism up to 635 K with a predicted high spin polarization of ≈ 86 %. We fabricated Sr₂ CrReO₆ epitaxial films by pulsed laser deposition on (0 0 1)-oriented SrTiO₃ substrates. Phase-pure films with optimum crystallographic and magnetic properties were obtained by growing at a substrate temperature of 700 ^{{ring operator}} C in pure O₂ of 6.6 × 10^{- 4} mbar. The films are c-axis oriented, coherently strained, and show less than 20% anti-site defects. The magnetization curves reveal high saturation magnetization of 0.8 μ_B/formula unit and high coercivity of 1.1 T, as well as a strong magnetic anisotropy.