Epitaxial Growth of Complex Metal Oxides

6.6. Future of epitaxy of complex-oxide magnets

6.6.1. Frustrated systems

A magnetic material in which all of the pairwise magnetic interactions cannot be simultaneously satisfied is called frustrated. Magnetic frustration is common in bulk materials, exemplified by the spin ice pyrochlores, such as Dy₂Ti₂O₇ (Bramwell & Gingras, 2001; Ramirez, Hayashi, Cava, Siddharthan, & Shastry, 1999). Epitaxial thin films provide a unique opportunity for studying and perturbing magnetic frustration, since they enable the opportunity to alter both the symmetry of the system through epitaxial strain and the strength of the magnetic interactions through chemical substitution. While magnetic frustration exists in many oxide systems—such as spinel ferrites and chromates ...