Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of HoCo2 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition
Abstract
We report the growth and physical properties of HoCo2 thin films on Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition. Well-defined Kiessig fringes in the x-ray reflectivity data yield a film thickness of 35 ± 1~nm and demonstrate smooth film surface and interface profiles. Atomic force microscopy confirms the high morphological quality of the films, revealing subnanometer surface roughness of ∼170~pm. Two independently prepared films exhibit a reproducible ferrimagnetic transition at TC=77±3~K, demonstrating retention of the characteristic magnetic ordering of bulk HoCo2. However, the absence of resolvable thermal hysteresis indicates a predominantly continuous, second-order like transition in the films, in contrast to the first-order transition of bulk HoCo2. At 5~K, the films exhibit clear magnetic hysteresis with a coercive field of ∼600~Oe, substantially larger than the negligible coercivity of bulk HoCo2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals comparable Ho 4d and Co 2p core-level line shapes and broadly similar valence-band spectra for the bulk and film, indicating preservation of the essential local electronic environment and occupied electronic structure.
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BibTeX
@misc{kumar2026structural,
title = {{Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of HoCo$_2$ thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition}},
author = {Ajay Kumar and Christopher Burgio and Anis Biswas and Yaroslav Mudryk},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.06655},
eprint = {2610.06655},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.06655},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of HoCo_2 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition
AU - Ajay Kumar
AU - Christopher Burgio
AU - Anis Biswas
AU - Yaroslav Mudryk
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.06655
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.06655
AB - We report the growth and physical properties of HoCo_2 thin films on Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition. Well-defined Kiessig fringes in the x-ray reflectivity data yield a film thickness of 35 ± 1~nm and demonstrate smooth film surface and interface profiles. Atomic force microscopy confirms the high morphological quality of the films, revealing subnanometer surface roughness of ∼170~pm. Two independently prepared films exhibit a reproducible ferrimagnetic transition at T_C=77±3~K, demonstrating retention of the characteristic magnetic ordering of bulk HoCo_2. However, the absence of resolvable thermal hysteresis indicates a predominantly continuous, second-order like transition in the films, in contrast to the first-order transition of bulk HoCo_2. At 5~K, the films exhibit clear magnetic hysteresis with a coercive field of ∼600~Oe, substantially larger than the negligible coercivity of bulk HoCo_2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals comparable Ho 4d and Co 2p core-level line shapes and broadly similar valence-band spectra for the bulk and film, indicating preservation of the essential local electronic environment and occupied electronic structure.
ER -