Determination of surface-spin orientations of rare-earth iron garnet films by depth-selective Mössbauer spectroscopy

Abstract
Spin orientations of a rare-earth iron garnet film grown by a liquid-phase-epitaxial method on a gadolinium gallium garnet substrate were determined as a function of depth by means of the depth-selective conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy. The spin-tilt angle from the surface normal was found to increase from the bulk value up to 30° at the top of the surface. This phenomenon can be explained by the widening of the domain wall width toward the surface.