The shrinking size of spintronics devices has increased the interest in magnetization reversal phenomena exhibited by magnetic particles with micronic and submicronic length scale.

The itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO₃ is a material characterized by very large uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy (anisotropy field of ~ 7 T) and large spin polarization of its conducting electrons which make it particularly suitable for studying different forms of magnetization reversal.

I will present our study which indicates current-induced magnetization reversal in uniformly magnetized SrRuO₃ film while excluding trivial effects such as current-generated heating and/or Oersted field [1]. In addition, I will discuss the role of thermal fluctuations and show how they assist the current-induced magnetization reversal [2].

I will also present our study of superparamagnetism[3] and macroscopic quantum tunneling [4] using patterned nanoparticles of SrRuO₃. In this study we were able to monitor the superparamagnetic behavior of an individual and confirm directly the applicability of the Langevin equation and its underlying dynamics. In addition, we found clear evidence for macroscopic quantum tunneling up to 10 K, an order of magnitude higher than previously seen in individual magnetic nanoparticles.

[1] Yishai Shperber, Omer Sinwani, Netanel Naftalis, Daniel Bedau, James W. Reiner, and Lior Klein, Current-induced magnetization reversal in SrRuO₃, Phys. Rev. B 86, 085102 (2012)

[2] Yishai Shperber, Omer Sinwani, Netanel Naftalis, Daniel Bedau, James W. Reiner, and Lior Klein, Thermally assisted current-induced magnetization reversal in SrRuO₃, Phys. Rev. B 87, 115118 (2013)

[3] Omer Sinwani, James W. Reiner, and Lior Klein, Monitoring superparamagneticLangevin Behavior of individual SrRuO3 nanostructures, Phys. Rev. B 89, 020404(R) (2014).

[4]  Omer Sinwani, James W. Reiner, and Lior Klein, Indication for macroscopic quantum tunneling below 10 K in nanostructures of SrRuO₃, Phys. Rev. B 86, 100403(R) (2012).