Tuning Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy by Oxygen Octahedral Rotations in (La1–xSrxMnO3)/(SrIrO3) Superlattices

Here, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) plays a critical role in the development of spintronics, thereby demanding new strategies to control PMA. Here we demonstrate a conceptually new type of interface induced PMA that is controlled by oxygen octahedral rotation. In superlattices comprised of La_1–xSr_xMnO₃ and SrIrO₃, we find that all superlattices (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) exhibit ferromagnetism despite the fact that La_1–xSr_xMnO₃ is antiferromagnetic for x > 0.5. PMA as high as 4 × 10⁶ erg/cm³ is observed by increasing x and attributed to a decrease of oxygen octahedral rotation at interfaces. We also demonstrate that oxygen octahedral deformation cannot explain the trend in PMA. These results reveal a new degree of freedom to control PMA, enabling discovery of emergent magnetic textures and topological phenomena.