Epitaxial Growth of Rare Earths on Rare Earth Fluorides and Rare Earth Fluorides on Rare Earths: Two New Epitaxial Systems Accessed by MBE

ABSTRACTWe report two new epitaxial systems, prepared by MBE: basal plane epitaxy of the rare earth metal Dy onto LaF3 films and vice versa. SQUID magnetometry studies indicate that buried epitaxial Dy films, of ∼300Å thick, order ferromagnetically at similar temperatures to bulk Dy crystals.These epitaxial systems are one member of a new family of epitaxial systems of basal plane epitaxy of rare earth metals on rare earth fluorides and vice versa. Such systems may be used to probe the effects of strain and dimensionality on magnetic ordering in rare earth metal films and multilayers.