Engineering an easy-plane anisotropy in an epitaxial europium iron garnet (110) film

We demonstrate a thin film ferrimagnet, 48-nm-thick (110)-oriented europium iron garnet, in which the easy plane is perpendicular to the film plane and the hard axis lies in the film plane. We describe the individual contributions to the magnetic anisotropy and the tuning parameters that enable the easy-plane anisotropy landscape to be engineered. The anisotropy landscape is characterized using spin-Hall magnetoresistance measurements. The cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy, often neglected for iron garnets, is shown to influence the magnetization reversal within the easy plane.