Magnetic properties of SrTiO₃/Pr_2/3Ca _1/3MnO₃ multilayers

Nanoscale ferromagnetic (FM) clusters embedded within insulating (I) layers of the antiferromagnetic Pr_2/3Ca_1/3MnO₃ (PCMO) are known to improve the magnetoresistance ratio of FM-I magnetoresistive multilayers. Here, we study the magnetic properties of perovskite superlattices comprised of five PCMO layers of variable thickness t separated by 5nm-thick spacers of SrTiO₃ (STO). Several multilayers (1.5 nm ≤ t ≤ 8 nm) were grown on (001) STO substrates by magnetron sputtering. We show that the magnetic moment of PCMO due to the FM inclusions presents a maximum for t ∼ 3 nm, accompanied by an abrupt increase of coercivity and exchange bias field. The nonmagnetic nature of the neighboring STO layers demonstrates that the observed behavior is not related to any interlayer exchange coupling, but the geometrical matching between layer thickness and FM domain size is the key driver for the enhancement of the FM moment and anisotropy energy. These results open a new door for the optimization of perovskite based spintronic devices.