Planar Hall effect and magnetic anisotropy in epitaxially strained chromium dioxide thin films Available to Purchase

We have measured the in-plane anisotropic magnetoresistance of $100nm$ thick $CrO2$ thin films at liquid He temperatures. In low magnetic fields $H$⁠, both the longitudinal and the transverse (planar Hall) resistance show abrupt switches, which characteristically depend on the orientation of $H$⁠. All the experimental findings consistently demonstrate that the magnetic anisotropy in these $CrO2$ thin films is biaxial. We show that the biaxial magnetic anisotropy is due to epitaxial coherency strain, and that it naturally explains the complex magnetic switching behavior reported recently in $CrO2$ films with thicknesses of $50nm⩽d⩽250nm$⁠.