%0 Journal Article
%K Anisotropy
%K Calculations
%K Epitaxial strain
%K Strain engineering
%K Electronic structure
%K Magnetocrystalline anisotropy
%K Ab initio electronic structure calculations
%K In-plane direction
%K Orbital character
%K Spin-orbit couplings
%K Spintronic applications
%K Strain-induced shifts
%K Magnetic logic devices
%A G Zheng
%A S.-H Ke
%A M Miao
%A J Kim
%A Ramamoorthy Ramesh
%A N Kioussis
%B AIP Advances
%D 2017
%G eng
%I American Institute of Physics Inc.
%R 10.1063/1.4974059
%T Epitaxial strain controlled magnetocrystalline anisotropy in ultrathin FeRh/MgO bilayers
%V 7
%X Using ab initio electronic structure calculations we have investigated the effect of epitaxial strain on the magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) of ultrathin FeRh/MgO heterostructures. Analysis of the energy- and k-resolved distribution of the orbital character of the band structure reveals that MCA largely arises from the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) between dx2−y2 and dxz/dyz orbitals of Fe atoms at the FeRh/MgO interface. We demonstrate that the strain has significant effects on the MCA: It not only affects the value of the MCA but also induces a switching of the magnetic easy axis from perpendicular to in-plane direction. The mechanism is the strain-induced shifts of the SOC d-states. Our work demonstrates that strain engineering can open a viable pathway towards tailoring magnetic properties for antiferromagetic spintronic applications. © 2017 Author(s).