Quantitative analysis of the angle dependence of planar Hall effect observed in ferromagnetic GaMnAs film

Abstract

The angle dependence of the planar Hall effect has been analyzed based on the magnetic free energy including the magnetic anisotropy and the Zeeman effects. The Zeeman effect dominated the magnetic anisotropy in high field and only a single energy minimum is shown in free energy over entire field angle, which leads to the coherent rotation of the magnetization in the form of a single domain state. When the field strength is reduced below 300 Oe, multiple energy minima appear in the angle dependence of free energy due to the increase in the relative importance of magnetic anisotropy. In the low field region, reorientation of magnetization experiences abrupt transition between the free energy minima. The pinning fields obtained from the analysis showed systematic dependence on the strength of external field, which was used to rotate magnetization. We understood such pinning energy dependence in terms of the difference in the free energy density profile for the different field strengths. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3055354]